by Leia Stone
“It wasn’t your fault,” I rushed to say. “I didn’t even know blood mages existed two minutes ago, much less how powerful they are. Declan did a crappy job of preparing you for this.” Shaking my head, I tried to make a mental note to ask Gramps why the high mages deferred the lower mage problems to the wolves.
Raising my gaze, it caught on Rage’s washboard abs.
Those were very nice.
Reaching out, I tucked my fingers into his waistband and pulled him toward me.
Rage caught my hand and moaned. “Nai.”
“Hey,” I said, tugging him closer. “Justice is fine. All’s well that ends well, right?”
He nodded. “Speaking of ending well…” He brought my hand to his lips. “I don’t like this arrangement. I miss you all day. Ten minutes isn’t nearly enough. You’re my mate. My wife. My queen. I want you here … with me.” He growled.
Need and desire surged up within me, and I yanked Rage’s hand, pulling him down on top of me.
Perfect.
“If I’m your queen, does this mean I get a crown?” I breathed huskily into his ear.
Pulling back, he braced himself on his arms and looked down at me, his lips pulling up into a cocky grin. His gaze trailed down my face to my mouth, and then he captured my lips in a toe-curling kiss. He lowered his body until his weight settled on top of me, and I moaned when I felt his hardness line up with my center. There were so many running jokes about newly mated couples constantly wanting to have sex. I thought it was a joke.
It’s not.
I wanted him. Now, later, tomorrow, always. I reached down to pull my t-shirt over my head when a knock at the door made me flinch.
“Go away!” Rage and I both said at the same time.
“Nope.” Reyna’s clipped voice called through the thick oak door, and I cringed. She must’ve asked someone to open the portal door for her. Pounding her fist on the wood, she continued, “Not going to happen, Nai. Get out here, now.”
Crap.
Reyna wouldn’t come here unless it was serious.
“Rain check?” I asked Rage, wincing.
Rage sighed, leaning down and kissing my collarbone and up my neck, leaving a trail of fire behind. My mind fritzed again, but before I could kiss him back, he rolled off of me.
“This sucks,” he grumbled, staring up at the ceiling while I scooted off the bed.
There were so many things I could say to that. “Yes, but—”
“I know,” he said, and the rumple of fabric indicated he was not far behind me.
Pulling the door open, I found Reyna dressed in full battle gear with a black duffle bag by her side. Her dark hair was pulled back in a low ponytail, and her tight expression made me feel like if I hadn’t pulled open the door, she would’ve come in and hauled me off.
Pointing at me, she shook her head. “Emergency High Mage Council meeting. All high mages and their first heirs must attend.”
I looked over my shoulder at Rage and smiled apologetically. “See you tomorrow? Four p.m.?”
He waved me off. “Yeah, yeah. You’d better go.”
Reyna scooped up the bag and took off down the hall at a sprint, leaving me to race after her.
“You can’t spend all this time on Shifter Island when you’re the future high mage of spirit!” she snapped, slowing her pace as we exited the castle. “You have responsibilities on High Mage Island.”
“I know, but—”
“No, you don’t. You don’t know shit.” She turned to face me with a wild look in her eye. “Listen, I think your grandfather said he had a few months, so he wouldn’t pressure you. But you don’t have months, okay? You have a hell of a lot to learn, and you have days, maybe weeks to do it, or all of his magic goes to Kian and the others. You need to focus.”
I wanted to snap back at her, but … I couldn’t. She was right. Dammit! She was right. I gave her a curt nod, and she shoved the duffle bag at me.
“When we get to the office, you need to change. You look like you were just interrupted while having sex.” She grinned.
I could feel the heat rising to my cheeks. “I just saved Justice’s life … but I understand what it looks like.” I shook the bag. “Thanks for bringing me clothes.”
She sighed and jerked her chin toward the Alpha Academy campus. “Sorry to bust your balls, but the council’s in a panic.”
I nodded. “My balls are fine. Let’s go.”
With two smirks, we ran the rest of the way to the library portal.
Time to face up to my responsibilities. Again. Because there was no way in hell I’d let Kian get one ounce of my grandfather’s magic.
Only after we crossed through the portal did I remember Honor. I’d just have to pick him up later. After this stupid meeting.
“The blood mages are back,” Kian announced, and then he paused dramatically to look at each of the four high mages.
The five of them were seated at a circular table in a private room off of the library, near the area grandpa had sent me to in my spirit trial. As soon as Reyna saw me duck in, she started chatting outside with the other shields. I could see her back through a large glass window between the room and the library. Each of the other three walls was unadorned with various artworks, with the exception of one or two rows of stadium-like benches.
My attention jumped to my grandfather in time to see the shock register on his face. He sat propped up in his chair with the aid of several pillows, holding on to his cane. His eyes widened and nostrils flared, and my gaze skipped over the other high mages. Orion and Heath looked surprised as well, but Snade merely nodded.
Interesting.
I’d slid into the first bench, only after realizing I’d sat down next to Kian’s son, Julian, and two other heirs: a brunette female whose voice I recognized from the library, and a young guy with blond hair. I was guessing this was Jane and Xavier. There was a final male heir I didn’t know, and that made five of us. We watched silently as our elders argued about the matter at hand.
“Well, it was bound to happen eventually,” Orion stated. “But it’s not really our problem.”
Grandpa tapped at a piece of paper in front of him. “If they’re picking off the mages in Dark Row, that’s very much our problem,” he croaked. “Look at the report, Ori.”
Kian laughed, the sound harsh and cruel. “The mages in Dark Row are the alpha king’s problem, Geoff. Old age is addling you.”
I stiffened, but Gramps cleared his throat as his gaze flicked to me. “We do pay them handsomely to honor our security contract.”
Wait … what the what?!
“Pay them handsomely?” Kian snarled, his brow furrowing. “We own the castle, the land, all of it. That island is rightfully ours. Not only that, fifty percent of the crown’s operating budget comes from us.”
What did he just say? I waited for my grandfather to deny it, but he didn’t. Instead, Grandpa shook his head, his expression tight. “The mage wine—”
“Exactly!” Snade piped up, cutting my grandfather off. “Giving the shifters the seeds to grow the acayanthic blossoms for mage wine all those years ago was a mistake. I knew it!”
Orion nodded. “We’re not even a hundred mages here, nothing compared to the thousands of shifters. We provided them with a way to garner sufficient money for their needs, and in return, they need to manage these minor problems. Not only that, aside from the mage wine fields, we give the crown a stipend—specifically for this type of occasion.”
Whoa. Whoa. Whoa! The mage wine business was what kept everyone making money … and Rage got a stipend as alpha king from the high mages?
Did he know that?
I swallowed hard, listening closer to the details that would affect my mate—and his kingdom.
The door opened to the meeting hall, and a woman strode in, looking flustered. She held a crumpled piece of paper in her fist and handed it to Kian. Leaning forward, she swallowed hard and whispered in his ear, “They’ve formed a coalition
, and the king is having them train.”
The only reason I could hear was my shifter hearing, but I was only 72.4% sure who the “they” was she referenced. I was clinging to the 27.6% chance I was wrong.
After the door was closed behind her, Kian faced me and gave me an icy glare. “It seems the lower level mages in Mageville have created a union, an idea the new alpha king gave them.”
My skin prickled, but my cheeks went pink. Shit, Rage, what are you doing?
“What’s that?” My grandfather pointed to the paper in Kian’s hand.
Kian waved it before them. “A list of demands. It seems the lower mages now think they deserve to live here, on High Mage Island.”
The room collectively burst into laughter.
“That’s preposterous,” Snade hissed. “This is a school. We have limited space. Limited resources.”
“Everything is limited,” my grandfather mumbled and snapped his fingers. Kian handed over the piece of paper, and my heart thundered as I waited for Grandpa’s verdict.
Gramps looked up and frowned. “It seems they now know about the power of the island, and they want equal access to it.”
Kian roared—an honest to all things holy roar—and water exploded from his hands. The spray pounded against the window, making me jump, and I scanned the room to see several wide-eyed expressions, which meant this wasn’t totally normal behavior. My mouth dried as I waited to hear the verdict.
“That good-for-nothing king has screwed up everything,” Kian growled.
“Maybe we need to teach him a lesson, help keep him in line.” As soon as Snade finished his statement, his gaze jerked to me, and fire crackled along his skin.
Part of me wanted to shrink down in my seat, and another part wanted to challenge them all. They were talking about my mate!
“What did you have in mind?” Kian asked as the heirs around me snickered.
Snade turned in his chair and faced me, the full brunt of his anger wrought on his face, his eyes like flames. “Let’s tell the king to step in line and do his duty, or not only will we burn all of the acayanthic bushes they have, cutting off their main source of income. We’ll halt all stipends and close the portals to our island so he can’t see his mate.”
My breath hitched in my throat, but before I could protest, my grandfather burst into a standing position and then swayed with seeming dizziness.
“Hold on a minute!” His voice warbled, and then he fell back in his seat, but despite his fall, he pressed forward. “He’s a new king. Let’s make sure he’s educated before we declare war against the shifters.”
Heath cleared his throat. “Maybe we just ask the king nicely to honor the contract his uncle signed. Give him the benefit of the doubt that he doesn’t know his full duties yet.”
That Heath guy was quickly becoming my second favorite high mage.
Kian shrugged as if it didn’t matter. “Very well. We’ll try asking first.”
Then he narrowed his eyes, and his icy gaze found mine. The message was clear: shape up or ship out.
‘Uhh … babe?’ I sent Rage a mind message. ‘We’ve gotta talk about … stuff.’
His reply was instant. ‘Okay. But can it wait until our date night tomorrow? I’m dealing with stupid Mageville drama.’
I winced because that stupid Mageville drama was exactly what we needed to talk about.
‘Sure.’
The meeting was dismissed, and Gramps and I waited until everyone else had left before I helped him to his feet once more. I didn’t think he wanted everyone to see him so weak, or maybe he didn’t want me to haul off and punch someone, namely Kian … and Snade.
“Thanks for sticking up for Rage,” I told him as we shuffled out the door.
He nodded, wincing as Reyna stepped in and took my place. I sidled up to his other side, and he pulled to a stop, his breath labored. “The shifters have always been the right hand of the high mages. Rage needs to toe that line—at least, for a little while. If he changes too much at first, I fear they would … take him out.”
Gramps offered me a sad smile, and even though I knew he wasn’t a threat, my wolf rose toward the surface. I sucked in a deep breath and pushed her down.
“Or they might only cut you off from him as punishment,” he added. “They could destroy the portals.”
I frowned, knowing that they could do it, but would they? “How would they go back and forth if they seal the portals?”
Gramps looked down at me. “They would be fine. Each of the high mages on the council can open portals to the mortal realms for themselves. But do either you or Rage know how to open a portal?”
I shook my head because … obviously not.
“Then it’s time you saw your mother for a lesson. She was the best portal creator this school has ever seen. She even repaired the one that leads to Montana when mages destroyed it.”
Whoa. My mom. A badass portal princess.
If the high mages could destroy the portals and keep me from seeing Rage, then I needed to learn how to make portals ASAP. Reaching up, I placed a kiss on my grandfather’s cheek. “Thanks, Gramps.”
I turned to race off to the castle and the spirit pools when my grandfather’s voice pulled me back.
“You can’t see your mother without first finding your soul stone. When and if spirit chooses you, your soul stone will help anchor the power fully into you for the first time. Without it, it may still just filter out divided among the other high mages.” Gramps swayed on his feet. “And I fear we don’t have much time left.”
I froze. “Say what now?” I mean Zia had said that I should probably work with Than on finding soul stones, but I hadn’t realized finding my soul stone would need to happen so soon. “Should I work with the ancestors on that first?”
Gramps gave a big yawn and patted his shield’s arm. “No time for that. Reyna can go with you. You’ll need someone to watch your back lest Kian or Snade try to thwart you in that too. After you get your soul stone, you can have your first portal lesson with your mother tomorrow.”
“Okay.” I squeaked.
Soul stone hunting with Reyna.
No big deal.
Chapter Seven
Turns out soul-stone hunting was a big deal. Just like I’d feared. And while Gramps tried to explain it all to me, the whole thing sounded like mystical voodoo.
“How do you know it’s here, on High Mage Island? What if it’s really on Shifter Island? I am an alpha heir after all.”
Grandpa shook his head. Back at home, in his bed, he looked less frail—barely. After chuckling, a wheezing, asthmatic sound, he said, “High mage would be dominant.”
I thought of all the times when my wolf refused to come to the surface and shrugged.
“Your soul stone will be here, somewhere on the island. Trust me,” Grandpa went on. “Once you find it, you can put it with the others in the black pouch in the spirit pool room. That way, they’re kept safe.”
“So why are we going to the spirit pools if her soul stone is here on school grounds?” Reyna asked, her brow furrowed with confusion.
I was grateful I wasn’t the only one wondering that.
Gramps handed me a long, light blue crystal. “Because this crystal plus the water will help you connect with the energy of your soul stone. Once you’re fully in tune with spirit, your soul stone will give you a vision to lead you to it—like a magnet.”
A vision? Cool. I could get down with that.
“That’s it?” I asked, a little wary. So far, things Gramps said weren’t always simple.
He nodded and then furrowed his brow. “Well, then you’ll need to follow the vision of your soul stone, fetch it, and finally, bring it back here.”
A vision from my soul stone? Another thing I’d never heard of. Yeah … totally not worried.
“What if it doesn’t lead me to it? Like what if there isn’t a”—I waved my fingers in the air to indicate magic—“vision.”
“The young alw
ays worry about things they can’t control,” he said.
Was that to me or Reyna? Because she was maybe ten years older than me. Tops. Hardly old compared to his millennium.
“Just go with Reyna, Nai. It will all work out.” Then he faced his shield. “You’ll need to be on guard. Nai won’t be focused on the real world here, and with tensions as they are among the mages, she’ll need your eyes and ears—at the very least.”
She pursed her lips and gave him a curt nod. “I’ve got this, but will you be okay here?”
“Sure will,” he said, nestling back into the stack of pillows. “Let’s hope we don’t need anyone else but ourselves tonight. I think everyone is stressed enough to keep to their own castles, but…” He pointed at me, dressed in battle gear Reyna had loaned me. “You might want to change into selkie armor. Chances are you’ll be wandering the grounds … possibly even the island. The seal skin protection would be a good idea.”
Seal skin? “I don’t have that.”
“Not to worry, I do. A present for you from King Ozark,” Grandpa said, his eyes getting droopy. “He’s a good man … and a good king.”
I remembered the way the selkie king had handled the mage Jakko’s betrayal and nodded. I didn’t even know King Ozark knew Gramps.
“I’ll give it to her,” Reyna said and then pulled me toward the door. “Anything else?”
I waited for more directions, something more than his vague “relax and find your soul stone” pep talk, but he closed his eyes.
“Nope. That should do it.”
As soon as we stepped into the hall and the door was closed behind us, I grabbed Reyna by the arm. “Please tell me you know how this goes.”
“I’ve never done this before either,” she said, interrupting me in that brusque way that made me feel stupid. “But Geoff won’t let you fail. The only one who wants to make sure Kian doesn’t get spirit power more than you is Geoff.” She cocked her head to the side and then added, “And maybe me. Now, let’s get you that selkie armor.”
The slick black wetsuit looked similar to the leather body armor we wore but even nicer than what Reyna had leant me, and it felt like a second skin. There were layers over my vital organs, molded plating covering my chest, back, abdomen, and pelvis; only these layers of protection were practically weightless.