Chapter 22
I jabbed my elbow behind me, striking my opponent hard as he pulled me into what appeared to be a small library, but he didn’t let go. I might’ve taken the form of a vamp, but I still wasn’t as strong as one. My glamour could only go so far.
“Onyx. It’s me.”
The vamp’s smooth, low voice swept over me, compelling me to drop the glamour. I let it fall away as emotion swelled in my chest, and I shrunk, losing height by the second. Once again, I was Onyx Logan.
I whirled, heart swelling. Could it really be him?
A tall, well-built blond man stood inches away and trained his arctic blue eyes on me. I blinked. This had to be a trick of the light. I was imagining things in the dimmed room.
I blinked, but he remained. Thorsten. Alive.
I studied his body, the leather jacket that was open to reveal a tight gray shirt and the outline of his unhurt muscles. Thorsten took my arms and squeezed, no sign of any injury plaguing him.
“You can’t be here,” I gasped.
“I know. It wasn’t easy to get in. What did Olwen do to you?”
My jaw dropped. Somewhere distant in the mansion, guards shouted.
Thorsten shouldn’t have survived what I’d done. He’d taken multiple daggers to his torso and chest. Had I somehow missed his heart?
More importantly, he shouldn’t be here. I had tried to murder him. On the bridge, a part of me had wanted to, a part of me that was savage and vicious.
“He gave me a mind manipulation potion,” I choked out.
He nodded and ran his hand through his hair. “I heard rumors that Olwen creates some of the vamps’ blood crystals—”
“He does.” I bit my lip. “Thorsten, I’m—”
He hugged me tightly, cutting off my next words. “I know you’re not evil, Onyx. I could see it in your eyes. You didn’t want to attack me. Why else would Olwen’s guard have been there? I saw him drive you to the bridge.”
I nestled into Thorsten’s wide chest. He had healed despite taking multiple ice spikes. Or did he? Maybe Petra was making me hallucinate. It could be another trap. A tremor went through me, and he tightened his grip on me. “Are you real?” I whispered.
“Yes. I faked death in the river. I knew if it didn’t, you’d come after me. So I lay still as my wounds healed slowly. I reached my car just before the sun rose. I took a few more days to fully recover. I wanted to come to you earlier, but I needed to be in full strength in case Olwen had done something permanent to you.” His arctic gaze looked right into my soul. “But I never doubted you. I knew it wasn’t your fault.”
I couldn’t let my guard down. “Prove you are you. Petra’s here, and she’s playing games.” I forced myself out of his grasp and backed to the door. I had cruelly made Petra bathe in Preston’s death. She might be doing the same to me. What if she had used glamour to take on Thorsten’s form?
“She and Vulthus have banded together.” Thorsten eyed the door, which he had closed to the corridor.
“Prove that you are Thorsten,” I repeated, arms at my sides, shaking. Petra might be playing a cruel joke or worse Olwen was testing my loyalty. If I broke the oath, he could break his end, hand me over, and get out of here unscathed. I backed away from the image of Thorsten. “My loyalty is to Olwen now.”
Hurt flashed across Thorsten’s features. “What do I need to say to prove to you, I am me?”
When I didn’t reply immediately, he said, “How about we met for the first time on Nocturnal Academy’s grounds. You were trying to escape but realized that you wouldn’t survive it. I let you back into the castle using a secret door near the gym.”
I tilted my head, trying to figure out if anyone else might know about this. Other guards could’ve seen us and for whatever reason chosen not to interfere.
“I was the one who flooded the room with light on the day of the Wild Hunt.”
My breath caught. Nobody knew about that besides Thorsten, Lily, and me.
“I was ready to strangle Kassius and Kayden when I found them in the wine cellar with you.”
I had not uttered the last thing to even Lily, and the twins would never talk about failing to bed me and being thrown out by a simple guard.
This was Thorsten. He was alive. My heart pumped life through my veins.
“I believe you.” I stepped forward.
Thorsten gave me a small smile. “Good. I know where Vulthus keeps his servants. We can free them. Get them to help us fight.”
Before I could reply, loud noises reverberated through the castle again and something shattered. Olwen’s guards had arrived and were clashing with the vamps. We had no time to make up. Love could come later, if we survived.
If I accepted Thorsten’s help, I might not get out of here alive. But if I didn’t, the same could happen, and I could lose him for good.
Blair and the other fae might slow us down, but she could also use her fire magic to help us.
“Onyx, we can free them and get them out.” Thorsten pulled me into a kiss.
I inhaled his fresh mountain scent as he rubbed his hands along my back, holding me close, and the remainder of my doubt melted away. This was Thorsten. No one else could ever make the icy wall I had built around me crumble this fast. I wrapped my arms around him, merging with him. Everything I had tried to suppress came back to life. Yes, I wanted revenge, but not at any cost. I wasn’t Olwen’s pawn. I made my own decisions.
I pulled away from Thorsten. “Where are the servants?”
Thorsten smiled. “That’s the Onyx I fell in love with.”
His confession made my breath hitch, but now was not the time to dwell on it.
Thorsten must’ve realized the same, because he said, “Follow me. This place is full of secret corridors that Vulthus uses.”
Something else shattered nearby, and we paused at the library door, waiting. When things quieted, Thorsten opened the door, peeked out, and waved me down the silent corridor. The fighting was taking place somewhere else in the castle.
Thorsten inched along the wall as I stayed behind him. He felt along the stone bricks until he found one that gave. He pushed it in and the wall swung open to reveal a secret door similar to the one at Nocturnal Academy, which moved along tracks. We slipped inside a narrow walkway made of stone and reeking of dust. I held in a sneeze as Thorsten slid the door shut behind us, and darkness descended.
Thorsten took my hand and squeezed reassuringly, then led me along a pitch-black maze. Cobwebs brushed against me, and I shuddered. My fae nature hated the tunnels, but I could easily imagine Vulthus slithering through here like a snake to ambush servants and guards who displeased him.
Thorsten and I made turn after turn, descending steps, stopping at the faint sounds of shouts, and moving again once the coast was clear. At last, light invaded the tunnel as another door slid open.
Though the light was faint, I squinted and stepped through the threshold. The basement of Vulthus’s castle was damp, and the disgusting stink of mildew hung in the air. The floor and walls were packed with dirt, and stumps of previously tall candles burned along the walls.
But worst of all were the cages. There were lots of them. Thorsten and I froze, surveying the seven by seven iron contraptions. Each held a dirty cot and a bucket probably used for bathroom purposes. About six cages stood in each row. I wasn’t sure how many rows in total there were. Some cages stood empty, but others had occupants.
I stepped forward. Fae occupied half the cages, most of them wearing plain gray uniforms. Male and female fae slowly turned up their heads at us, but most didn’t get off their cots. They were the walking dead. Former husks of themselves.
There was no way they could help us fight. They would only complicate everything, but we couldn’t simply leave them here to rot.
“Where are the keys?” I asked as I searched the cages for a familiar bob of flaming red hair. I found it near the corner of the basement. Blair, also wearing a gray uniform, turned her hea
d up at me. She stood, unlike most of the other fae, and her dead eyes landed on me.
“Onyx?” she mouthed, her voice a barely audible whisper.
“The keys.” My heart swelled. Blair was still alive, and she seemed a bit better off than the others.
“Over there.” Blair pointed to a door that led to a small guard office. I flung the door open, ready to fight. But there were no guards. The guards who managed the prisoners were probably off fighting Olwen and his reinforcements. All hands were on deck. Thorsten and I searched the desk. Luckily for us, the keyring was inside a drawer. Clearly, the vamps didn’t think the fae servants could do much damage, which didn’t surprise me given the state they were in.
I took the keys, which were also iron, and ran to Blair’s cage, holding my breath against the smell of the room. I unlocked and tossed the padlock to the floor. The fae stirred and muttered. Slowly, the zombies were coming back to life.
“Onyx!” Blair shot out of her cage and wrapped her arms around me. She felt thinner. Weaker. But her grip was warm, almost hot, and I knew she’d spent time honing her fire abilities. “What are you doing here? And who is this vamp?” She turned her gaze to Thorsten as the mutters in the room increased.
“It’s a long story,” I said, unable to contain my smile. “We’re ending Vulthus tonight. Can you help us?” I wondered how many scars Blair now carried under her gray uniform, mental and physical. The whipping she’d gotten at Summer Prep for trying to escape had only been the beginning.
As she stepped away from the cage, Blair held out her palm and summoned a ball of dancing fire. Light fell on the surrounding cages. Thorsten took the keys from me and unlocked the puzzled fae. He went to work, explaining the situation to them.
Blair extinguished her fire. “I’m all for ending Vulthus, but do you really think we can take him on?”
She hadn’t heard about my abilities. I smiled and lifted my own hands, gathering the moisture of the basement. I sensed all eyes on me as the muttering died down. Even Thorsten went silent. “We need to catch up on a lot of things.” I let a dozen stakes float around my palms.
Gasps went through the basement. Fae drew closer, mesmerized by the sight. The stakes sparkled in the pale candlelight, offering something they hadn’t felt in a long time: hope.
I was hope, not evil.
Letting the stakes vanish, I took Blair’s hand. Olwen could do what he wanted, but I wouldn’t let him take Thorsten, Lily, and Blair from me.
“Come on.” I took Blair’s hand. “With our fire and ice combined, we will end Vulthus.”
Chapter 23
I turned to Thorsten. “You need to get the fae servants out. They can’t fight in their condition.”
He shook his head. “I’m not leaving you alone.”
“Please.” His lips flattened into a tight line. “Olwen can’t see you here, or he’ll turn on me.”
“I’m not leaving you alone,” he repeated.
I stepped closer. “Thorsten, if you stay, I won’t be able to focus fully on Vulthus. I need to face him myself and not worry about Olwen’s men attacking you.”
A muscle feathered in Thorsten’s jaw, and I took his hands. “Plus, it would really mean a lot to me if you could get the fae out. Revenge is not the only thing I care about. We need to do what it is right.”
Thorsten nodded slowly. “I’ll return as soon as they’re safe.” He opened his mouth to say more, but I cut him off, pressing my lips against his. We kissed, and I heard a gasp behind me. Right, Blair and the other fae must be super confused about me kissing a vamp.
“I love you too, Thorsten,” I whispered. “I’ll see you after all of this is over.”
His face softened before determination took over his features. He motioned at the fae, who had huddled in a silent group. “If you want your freedom back, follow me.”
Nobody moved.
“You can trust him. You have my word.” I stood tall and let my voice boom, mimicking Olwen. “I am Onyx Vinter, princess of the Winter Court. I came here to free you. You’ve seen my magic. Now go!”
My shouts woke the fae from their deathly state. Murmuring, they moved toward the tunnel exit Thorsten had found, though some looked back at me. I exhaled with relief, glad that they didn’t know that as a halfblood, I could lie and was only bound by proper oaths. I followed them, holding Blair’s hand, and waited for Thorsten to open the secret tunnel. Still no guards came down the stairway. We were lucky.
Thorsten led the way through the tunnels, getting us all back to the main floor. I squeezed past the fae with Blair, who pressed themselves to the walls for us. At the final door, he gripped my hand. “Are you sure about this?”
“Yes.” I gave him another quick peck, committing the feel of his lips against mine to memory before shoving the door open.
Crashes, shouts, and shattering sounded from the right, echoing down the hallway. That’s where Blair and I would go while Thorsten headed away. The three of us looked at each other. I nodded and pulled Blair toward the cacophony somewhere around the corner. Behind me, I knew, Thorsten was leading the fae out. As the battle grew louder and louder, I realized there was one crucial fact Blair still didn’t know. I grabbed her hand and whispered, “If you see a tall, blonde fae from the Summer Court, don’t trust her. She’s evil. And she has crazy plant magic, so stay out of her way.”
Blair’s forehead wrinkled and her eyes sparkled with questions I couldn’t answer right now. “Are you talking about Petra Kallan?”
I nodded. “How did you know?”
“I overheard at one of the parties Vulthus took me to that they were searching for her after her escape.”
I gritted my teeth at the word parties, thinking of Blair in a cage. But now was not the time to get emotional. “Can you fight?” I studied her body for visible injuries.
She shook her head. “I just have a few scabs and bruises.” I knew it was more since she had trouble standing completely upright but didn’t push her.
Empathy gathered in my heart, but it wasn’t the emotion I needed right now, so I focused on the rage that should get both of our powers flowing. “Vulthus will pay for what he did to you.”
Blair glanced behind me, uncertainty on her face. “How will we get past his guards?”
I flashed her a wicked grin. “They’re fighting the Winter fae, who will have our backs.”
Blair still didn’t seem convinced, so I took both of her hands and squeezed them. “We’re no longer at Nocturnal Academy. We both have wild, untamed magic. Together, we will destroy him.”
Fierceness entered her green eyes. Finally, here was the Blair I knew. “Let’s fry Vulthus’s sorry ass.”
We rounded the corner to Vulthus’s throne room. The doors were still open. As predicted, the guards were fighting near the front of the chamber. The bone throne was empty. Vamps attacked fae while dodging ice stakes. There was about a dozen fighters on each side.
Two of the vamp guards turned at the new fae scent as Blair and I ran down the corridor. Two Winter fae guards swung at the vamps, and a fae man with a scar across his face nodded to me. The distraction worked, and the vamps charged him, opening a space for us to enter. Blair and I slipped through the doors and into the chamber.
I came to a standstill. The two vamp guards from before were gone. Atticus and the other fae guards were lying in a puddle of blood. The fae warrior was unmoving, while Atticus’s breathing labored, his eyes glassy. He was on death’s threshold.
Vulthus and Olwen were standing, facing one another. Judging by the meltwater around Vulthus’s legs and the blood staining his suit, Olwen had gotten in a few hits. But so had Vulthus. The ground around Olwen was littered with thrown daggers. Lacerations crisscrossed his face.
“Onyx,” Vulthus breathed while keeping my father in his sight. “I knew you’d return.” He pressed a finger against his cufflink, the gesture tiny, yet noticeable, and I knew we were in trouble. He had called for reinforcements.
“Let’s finish this.” I summoned a thick ice dagger and shot it at his heart, but Vulthus brought up his arm. My dagger struck his sleeve...and shot back at me. I ducked, realizing why Olwen hadn’t finished Vulthus yet. The dagger struck the wall behind me. Blair threw a fireball, but the same happened, and the ball sailed between us.
His suit was deflecting our attacks.
Panic threatened to rise into my chest. He was powerful, more powerful than I thought. Olwen threw another pair of ice daggers at him, aiming at his head, but Vulthus dodged them.
“Watch out!” Blair shouted.
“Onyx, I was wondering when you’d rejoin us.” The tinkling voice behind me could only belong to Petra.
Separating them hadn’t worked for long. I couldn’t fight her and Vulthus at the same time. Olwen whipped around, cobalt eyes shining with hatred, and he shot three ice daggers at Petra.
“Finish him,” he rasped at me, his forehead glistening with sweat. The fight with Vulthus had weakened him, but he could still take out Petra.
I stepped toward Vulthus, Blair by my side.
“Have you come to grovel? Maybe I’ll let you live if you ask nicely.” Vulthus grinned.
“Never!”
“Onyx,” Blair shouted, but it was too late.
Vulthus flashed across the room. His hands wound around my neck, and he squeezed tight. I tried to pull away, but his grip was like steel. I was breathing through a straw, then nothing. My ice died.
“Do you like my suit? It was a gift from Petra in exchange for helping her escape. It repels magic like yours.”
Spots danced in my vision. The fighting around me faded into gray. Disgust flooded through me. That was how Petra had escaped. Vulthus had worked with her all along, betraying the other vamps for selfish gains.
Spots danced around my vision. I needed to get away from Vulthus before I passed out. Suddenly, he released me. Heat singed me, and I jumped away to find that a half-burned book had fallen by his feet.
Savage Monarchs (A New Adult Prison Academy Novel) (Nocturnal Academy Book 3) Page 16