Fate Forsaken (10 page)

“Maybe.” The slender woman rose from her seat and slinked around the table, sizing up Rho with critical eyes. “Your aura is definitely tainted. I’ve never worked a spell against a polluted aura before.”

Great. Nothing like a little boost of confidence before you let someone test magickal skills on you like a lab rat. “Do you think you can fix it?”

“I can try.”

The window over the kitchen sink showcased a lush backyard, lit up with strands of Christmas lights. If this woman decorated all of this herself, she had an interesting mind. Nothing flowed together, yet somehow it all…worked.

“I’ll need to cast an identification spell to see exactly what was used against you.” Trinador followed Rho’s stare into the garden. “The possibility exists that the spell was tainted when it was transferred to you, so I need to rule that out.”

Rho met the woman’s eyes. “What do you need me to do?”

“Just stand there. Don’t move.”

Eldon stepped into Rho’s line of sight, lifting her chin with his finger. “I’m going to stay with you while she does it, but I can’t touch you or I’ll mess up the results. I’ll be here the whole time.”

“Okay.” She was glad he wasn’t leaving. This woman didn’t seem to like Rho any more than the other women in his life did, and she wasn’t sure she wanted to be a guinea pig without a little supervision in the room.

Eldon stepped into the far corner, exactly where Rho could still see him but he wouldn’t be in the way. He gave her a half-smile, but she didn’t return the favor. They were going to have a
talk
when they got out of this place. He should never have taken her to meet his ex-girlfriend without at least giving them both a heads up. Talk about a shitty stunt.

Trinador lifted her left hand. Her palm was only inches away from Rho’s forehead, the gesture snapping Rho back into reality.

The emulator’s right hand wove intricate patterns into the air as her left remained near Rho’s face. She murmured softly, “
Qui vos a, ubi sunt a
.” With a dramatic gesture, she flicked her right hand toward the ground. “
Cognosco!
”

Trinador’s eyes went wide as she stared at Rho then she shuddered.

Oh, that couldn’t be good. “What is it?”

“Definitely a death mark.”

Well, duh. “Why are you looking at me like that?”

“Because it has a timeline connected to it. I’ve only ever read about this, never actually seen it.”

Rho vaguely recognized Eldon stepping out of the corner. She gulped. “And?”

Brows furrowed, Trinador glanced at Eldon then Rho. “You have a month, tops.”

The words hit Rho like a stack of bricks. Even though she’d been preparing herself and didn’t regret her decision to take the mark, hearing the actual timeline forced her heart to her feet.

A month. Only recently had she recognized her relationship with Eldon for what it truly was. Thirty days was hardly enough time for her to explore the possibilities that remained. They hadn’t been on a vacation together. Or gone out for a fancy night on the town. Or finished their mission.

She’d told Eldon earlier he shouldn’t get his hopes up, but obviously she should have been saying that to herself. Had she truly thought her vampire nature could circumvent the spell? Did she think she was going to live forever?

She had. And she wasn’t ready to give her life up yet. Especially now that she had so much more to live for.

“Can you fix it?” Eldon grabbed onto Rho’s shoulder and pulled her into a tight hug. Her expression must have given away her fears because he held on to her so tightly she could barely breathe. Not that she needed to.

His arms were the only things keeping her together. This woman—who had clearly slept with Eldon and in all likelihood hated her—was the only person they could turn to. She might be able to fix whatever had been done.

“I’ll need to do a complete reading,” Trinador said.

“Do it.” Rho’s voice was muffled as she spoke against Eldon’s chest, but she hoped it came out strong. The sour stench of jealousy touched her nostrils, reminding her that she was hardly acting appropriately considering Eldon and Trinador’s history.

“It’s going to take a couple of hours.”

Rho pulled gently away from Eldon to glance at the woman who held Rho’s life in her hands. “Whatever it takes. Just do it.”

Trinador nodded slightly and disappeared into another room.

Rho settled her head back into Eldon’s chest, tugging at his waist to get him even closer while Trinador was gone. He always grounded her. She inhaled deeply, breathing in the scent of him, allowing his essence to sink into her skin. God, she wasn’t ready to give him up. She’d just gotten him.

“I’m not going to give you up, either,” Eldon murmured in her ear. Their telepathic connection wasn’t open, but it didn’t need to be. The fears were very real in both their minds.

She traced her nails along his spine. “Do you think she can fix it?”

“We can only ask her to try.”

They couldn’t ask for anything more.

Trinador stepped back through the doorway, arms full of a myriad of jars, baggies, and boxes. Eldon and Rho quickly released their holds on each other and rushed to Trinador’s side to help, snagging various items and setting them on the countertop.

“Thanks.” Trinador unloaded the last items in her arms onto the flat surface. With quick hands, she started to organize the various items, which appeared to be spell ingredients. “You ready to try this?”

No. “Sure. Let’s do it.”

Chapter Ten

E
ldon watched Trinador with anxious eyes. She sorted through the items on the table efficiently, laying them out in the order she’d require them.

He shook his head, silently cursing himself. He’d shown up on Trinador’s front door and all but begged for her help, and here she stood. In her kitchen. Trying to figure out how to trace a death mark.

For him. He rubbed a hand on his chest, the guilt making it harder to breathe. She deserved so much better.

“Stand here,” Trinador ordered to Rho and pointed at the ground.

He gave Rho a slight nod, and she trudged to the empty space in the center of the kitchen. Rho shifted her weight, ready to bolt. He couldn’t blame her. This whole damn thing set him on edge, too.

Still, a twitchy vampire was never a good thing.

He cleared his throat. “It’ll be fine. Don’t worry.”

The words were empty advice, probably ones he should heed himself, but he didn’t know what else he could say. Rho had only been in his life for a few months. It wasn’t fair for her to leave this world so soon, especially when it was all his fault. If she hadn’t taken the mark, he’d be the one standing in the middle of that circle, not her.

Trinador’s focus was absolute, a stark reminder of both the gravity of the situation and what he stood to lose. She plucked five black candles from the box on the countertop and spaced them evenly in a circle surrounding Rho.

The five points of the imaginary pentagram stood proudly. Trinador kneeled down and brushed a hand over each one, whispering the spell to bring them to life. One by one, the wicks lit. When they all burned strong, she grabbed a handful of purified salt.

“I’m going to try to map the spell.” Trinador glanced around the circle at Rho’s feet and frowned. “This may not work. You need to know that.”

“I understand.” Rho stood in the center of the glowing candlelight, her chin lifted and her shoulders squared. Although somehow he knew the confidence was only a front.

He wished he could be inside her mind, just to root around and see how she was holding up. Always strong, never cowering in the face of a challenge. That was Rho. At least, that was what she’d allowed people to see.

Trinador paced slowly, sprinkling salt along the outer rim of the circle with each step. As the granules hit the flames, they flared and turned blue, the seal of the magick set. When the last candle flared, the flames grew taller, reaching upward like the tiny torch of a Bunsen burner.

Emulation wasn’t exactly a rare gift, but it could be a real challenge to control. He’d known a few people with the ability when he was in school, but Trinador was the only one he’d ever considered a master of the craft. To be able to identify and untangle a spell with any level of accuracy was truly a feat.

With a graceful move, Trinador fell to her knees outside the circle. She held up her hands.

“Wait,” Eldon interrupted. “Do the spell in English.”

Trinador dropped her hands.

“It’s okay—” Rho started.

He shot Rho a hard look, and she stopped talking. It wasn’t fair to ask her to put her life on the line without letting her know what was happening.

Trinador frowned. “It isn’t our tradition.”

“She has a right to know what you’re saying,” he said. Trinador had always been a traditionalist, adhering to the oldest codes of the magick movers. Her reverence for their craft was admirable.

She sat still for a moment before lifting a shoulder. “Fine. It shouldn’t change anything.” As she lifted her hands again, the blue flames burned even higher than before. “To this woman, a spell is bound. Let the spell now be unwound. In its stead, protection make. Show me now the spell to break.”

Trinador set her fingers down gently on the line of salt.

Her knees gave out and she collapsed to the ground. A seizure ripped through her body, forcing her back to arch from the ground.

“Eldon!” Rho shouted.

Trinador’s body twisted, contorting into an unnatural form. She gasped for air as she flopped against the tile floor, the muscles in her neck straining and her eyes rolling to the back of her head.

Rho’s fear-struck eyes met his. “What’s happening? Do something!”

He shook his head. “She’s in the middle of a reading.”

“This can’t be normal.”

“It is.” He’d seen her do this before, and every time he’d hated to watch. Emulation was a sloppy business. They’d have to wait for this to pass. “She’ll be done soon.”

Rho’s gaze bounced from him to Trinador, as if she were considering stopping the whole thing.

“Don’t move,” Eldon ordered. “You’ll hurt her if you move.”

Rho’s hands flexed into tight fists. She stared down at Trinador’s tiny body, the burning desire to help reading clearly in her face.

Touching Trinador right now would be akin to plugging a butter knife into a light socket. Trinador was running heavy magick, and Rho had no way of controlling the ley lines. Even if she could somehow siphon them.

Long moments passed before Trinador’s body finally fell still. Her stomach lay flat against the tile, her arms spread to the sides. When she opened her eyes, Eldon let out a sigh of relief.

“Trinador?” A nervous knot tightened in his stomach as she blinked the world into focus. “You okay?”

She nodded and slowly pushed herself up to her knees.

He fought the urge to run over to her. She’d still be a hot zone of energy until they finished. “Did you get it?”

“Yeah.” She grunted and lifted her hands again. “Rho, sit down.”

“You think you can undo it?” Eldon asked.

Rho lowered herself to the ground without a word, her face a mask of concern. Trinador nodded and positioned herself on the hard tile floor.

“She’s found the imprint of the spell.” Eldon directed his words to Rho and stared at him, unblinking. “Now she’s going to try and unbind you.”

“Now?” Rho asked.

“Yes, right now. While the spell is fresh in my mind.” Trinador lifted her hands again and squeezed her eyes shut. She sat completely still for several minutes, seeming to gather herself before she finally spoke. “To the owner, fix this thrall. Give her back her curse in all.”

The blue flames rose higher, and Rho’s gaze shot up to meet his. He kept his focus on her, trying to keep her calm. He’d never witnessed an actual unbinding so he wasn’t sure what to expect, but he couldn’t have Rho jumping out of the circle and accidently hurting Trinador. Even if things were awkward as hell, he didn’t want anyone hurt.

“To her soul return the power, pass it to her in this hour,” Trinador chanted.

Ley line fire rose from the circle of salt, completely surrounding Rho. Rho pulled her knees to her chest and wrapped her arms around them, as if making herself smaller would keep her from touching the flames. Eldon could see her frightened face through the flickers of blue, her eyes focused on him like a lifeline. He held her stare, offering her whatever strength she could find there.

“Return to her this magick born, return it for her soul to mourn.”

Waves of energy cascaded from the circle, but he kept his focus. Rho was sitting in the epicenter of the storm. Fear and wonder flittered across her face as the blue flames spun faster.

“From this soul, remove the night.” Trinador’s voice was low, the blue fire beginning to rage as the binding started its release. “Bring this child back to the light.”

Blue light exploded in the tiny kitchen, and Trinador flew across the room, her back slamming into the wall near the table. The ley line fire vanished, the candles extinguishing themselves instantly.

Without a thought, Eldon rushed to Trinador’s side, leaving Rho frozen inside the circle.

“Is she okay? Was that normal?” Rho asked quietly.

No, this wasn’t normal. Movers with ley line gifts always controlled the fire—it never controlled them. Ever. Somehow Trinador had let the fire get away from her.

“Trinador?” He studied the woman’s crumpled form. “Are you okay?” With a gentle hand he patted her cheek.

And fell back on his ass.

Electric energy pulsed through his hand, the sensation mottled and impure. The lines shouldn’t feel like that. This wasn’t right at all.

“Eldon?” Rho’s voice rose, but he didn’t turn around.

He reached into his pocket and yanked out his cell phone. Punching the number from memory, he brought the speaker up to his ear. “Nick? I’m at Trinador’s. I need you to get your ass over here. Right now.”

Rho stood in the center of the circle, not sure if she should move but afraid to stay. The expression on Eldon’s face told her everything she needed to know.

Something had gone wrong.

She glanced down at the inside of her forearm, a trickle of relief rushing through her chest at the sight of the massive green fae mark still staining her skin. She wanted desperately to get rid of the mark, but not at the expense of anyone else. Especially not Trinador, who’d only tried to help. She might be Eldon’s ex, but Rho’d never wish that on anyone.

A loud pop followed by a flash of light brought Rho’s attention to the doorway of the kitchen. Moments later, Nick rushed into the room. Thank God.

“Where is she?” Nick asked, his gaze darting around the room.

“Over here.” Eldon crouched on the ground beside Trinador but didn’t touch her.

Nick stepped closer then froze. “Oh…shit.”

Eldon’s gaze snapped up to meet his best friend’s. “What do you see?”

“Her aura.” Nick surveyed the air around Trinador. “It’s burned.”

“Burned?” Rho squinted to try and see what he was seeing. “What does that mean?”

With angry eyes, Nick turned his focus on Eldon. “What were you doing? Please tell me you didn’t ask her to emulate the death mark.”

Eldon’s lips tightened into two white slashes. That was
exactly
what he’d asked Trinador to do. And then they’d tried to unbind the spell.

“Why didn’t you call me? I thought you were just doing a consult,” Nick scolded.

“She said she could do it.” Eldon’s gaze traveled over Trinador’s limp body.

“You know better than to do this without backup. Bare minimum, you should have set a protection barrier around her,” Nick growled. “You could have
killed
her.”

Rho’s heart twisted in her chest. She didn’t have enough experience with magick to know how much truth that statement held, but judging by the fierceness in Nick’s expression, she’d be willing to bet Eldon had messed up badly. Whatever a protection barrier was, it sounded pretty damn important.

Trinador blinked her eyes open, her hazy stare focused on Nick as she mumbled, “We didn’t know what it would do. I accepted the risks.”

Eyes suddenly sad, Nick stood up and yanked Eldon to his feet.

“What the hell—” Eldon started.

Nick hauled him into the corner and pinned Eldon with a glower so furious, she wondered how it didn’t nail his ass in place. His voice was low, but Rho caught every word. “It’s not fair for you to play her affections against her. She helped because you asked her to. You put her in danger on purpose.”

“We didn’t know this would happen.” Eldon squared his shoulders against his friend.

“You knew it could. And you did it anyway. Without backup.”

“Like she said. She knew the risks.”

Nick’s hand held a fistful of Eldon’s shirt and he gave his best friend another shove. “This was an asshole move. Especially given your history.”

Especially given their history. As in, a history significant enough to piss off his best friend royally. Fricking awesome.

Nick released his hold on Eldon’s shirt before running both hands through his dusty blond hair. “I don’t know how to fix this.”

Eldon cast a glace back at Trinador. Her eyes were closed as her head rested against the wall. “I don’t think we can.”

“She’s going to have to wait for it to heal, if it heals at all. Maybe I can jump Jess over here so she can try to help, but I doubt she can do much.”

Rho cleared her throat. Both of the men craned their heads in her direction. “Can I step out of the circle now?” Because she really wanted to smack her boyfriend.

Nick snorted. “Spell’s over. You’re fine. Walk wherever you want.”

Eldon had done all of this on purpose. From the beginning, he’d known where they were going and exactly whom they were going to see. Without giving Rho any heads up, he’d marched her into his ex-girlfriend’s house and put that girl’s life in danger. Eldon wasn’t a magick novice, and clearly he could have done more to protect Trinador than he had.

Rho didn’t care who he thought he was or what privileges he thought he could exercise. This was not okay. Not by a long shot.

She stomped over to Eldon and smacked him in the arm. Hard. She locked on to his captivating blue eyes as she spoke. “Nick, can you take her over to the couch in the living room to rest? I think Eldon and I need to have a little talk.”