mythean arcana 06 - master of fate (25 page)

Aurora was too slow. The dagger pierced her chest, a pain unlike any she had ever felt. First fire, then the sensation of being torn apart from the inside. Her body arced in pain, but her attacker leaned into her, her gaze ferocious. Aurora shrieked as the woman pulled the blade free. It was impossible, but the pain was greater. As if part of her was being torn away.

As her vision blackened, the flame-haired woman plunged the dagger into her own chest. Fear and pain drowned Aurora.

CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

Felix roared and fought the souls that bound him to the ice. Fear for Aurora drove him wild. She’d passed out on her slab of ice. He had to get to her.

“Oh, calm down!” the Seer snapped.

He ignored her, his muscles straining at the souls that bound him. She’d never used this kind of power on him before, but with the specially designed tower that neutralized his strength and his wolf, she hadn’t needed to.

“Aren’t you even the least bit interested in me?” she said.

He glanced at her briefly, at the wild red hair and pale skin he remembered in his nightmares. Her black eyes were more crazed now, gleaming with an eerie light. 

A little black demon crept along at her side. He remembered the little bastard from his imprisonment. The thing was a malicious beast.

He wanted to tell her and her demon familiar to fuck off. But he couldn’t unless he could fight. That left one unpalatable option. “What do you want? Release Aurora and I’ll give it to you.” 

“You’re hardly in a position to bargain.” She twirled a black glass dagger and grinned her evil smile. The sight made his skin prickle.

“Whatever you want, I’ll do it. Just release her. Please.” Begging made his stomach turn, but for Aurora, he’d do whatever evil thing she wanted.

The Seer plucked at the skirt of her drab dress, as if distracted. “No. Of course not. How else would I get her power? I need her tied up, just like I need you tied up.”

She dropped her skirt and approached with the knife, her steps so graceful that she appeared to float towards him. It was eerie against the backdrop of the blue ice that surrounded them on all sides. “I’ve been working on this for a very long time, you see. I’m not about to alter my plans.”

“The portal? What the hell do you need a portal for?” If he could keep her talking, maybe he could find a way out.

“Idiot. To get Aurora here. I’d hoped it would work to bring my sisters back, but alas, I’m not that skilled with portals.” She frowned. “I knew I needed the two of you, though. Or your powers, at least. So it did serve that purpose.” Her frown morphed to a manic grin and she twirled the knife.

“What the hell?” He had no idea what she was talking about. 

“Oh shut up. I don’t have time for you anymore.”

“Do it, mistress, do it! Stab! Stab! Steal!” the little demon hissed. Its yellow eyes were bright with excitement.

A blur of black fur hurtled out of a crevice in the glacier. Mouse dove at the demon, leaping upon it and tearing its throat out. Her fur and fangs flashed white against black until crimson splattered the ice. She leapt from the corpse of the demon to the Seer’s neck, sinking her teeth into the flesh.

The Seer shrieked and flung out her arm. A horde of glimmering souls surrounded Mouse and pulled her away until the cat floated in midair, flailing and hissing, trying to reach the Seer.

Blood dripped from the Seer’s neck, and her face twisted with rage. “That’s what I get for wasting time. That little shit is last. She has nothing I want, but I’ll slice her up just for the fun of it.” She kicked her demon. “Get up!”

The bloody monster climbed to its feet and hissed at Mouse, its eyes shooting venom as its throat healed.

Determination glinting in her eyes, the Seer climbed on top of Felix and straddled him on the ice slab. He roared and tried to buck her off, but the souls held him fast. His muscles strained.

If she killed him, Aurora would be defenseless. 

The Seer raised the dagger high over her head and plunged it downward.

As the blade pierced his chest, power surged out of him. A great silver apparition flew out of his chest. His wolf. Its glimmering form caught the Seer by the throat and dragged her to the ground, crouching over her and tearing at her with its fangs. She shrieked in surprise.

The souls binding Felix faded away as the Seer fought his wolf, too distracted to control the souls. He leapt from the ice block. Mouse fell from mid air, landed on her feet, and hurtled toward Aurora. The Seer collapsed on the ground, his wolf upon her. He started toward the Seer to finish the job, but the sound of Aurora crying out made him spin. She was convulsing violently. The souls that had bound her were gone, but she wasn’t awake. Huge shudders wracked her body and her head thrashed. She shrieked.

A spell? Was she dying? It sounded and looked like it. Fear lanced him as he surged toward Aurora, leaving the Seer on the ground. His wolf followed, returning to his body.

He swept her up in his arms. She needed medical attention
now. 

Mouse pressed herself against his legs and he aetherwalked them away. He took them directly to what he remembered as the infirmary at the university. Fortunately, it still was. White beds lined the walls and light gleamed in through the tall windows at one end of the narrow room.

“Help!” he called.

He fell to his knees, Aurora still in his arms. Weakness suddenly stole over his limbs, leaching his strength until he slowly collapsed. He lay Aurora on the floor as gently as he could before he fell over onto his side. 

Dimly, he realized that pain shot through his chest. Warm blood soaked the ground under him. He kept his gaze on Aurora’s still form as his vision blurred to darkness.

CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO

Felix gasped and shot off the bed. His chest tore with pain. “Aurora!”

“Hey, chill out!” Malcolm stepped in front of his infirmary bed. Esha rushed up to them, her face drawn with worry.

“Where is she? Is she all right?” He ignored his brother’s presence—distinctly unusual in and of itself—and started to climb out of the bed to find her.

Malcolm pushed him back against the pillows. “She’s fine! Just recovering. You got her out of there just in the nick of time. She was trapped in some kind of hallucination. The healers got her out just in time or she might have been trapped.”

“I want to see her.”

“You need to lie down. That chest wound hasn’t healed yet. Give it another hour.”

He glanced down at his chest to see that he was shirtless, a thick white bandage wrapped around him. A bright spot of blood soaked it. “Don’t care. I want to see her.” 

Esha gestured to the left. “She’s there.”

A small figure lay in a bed a dozen feet away from him. He ached to go to her. His chest felt like he was being stabbed all over again as he pushed Malcolm away and painfully climbed out of the bed. 

“Your funeral,” his brother muttered as Felix staggered toward Aurora. 

He was out of breath by the time he reached Aurora, but he pushed the healers aside. Aurora lay in the bed, her eyes closed and her breathing shallow. Mouse lay on her legs, staring at Aurora’s face. His hand shook as he reached out to cup her cheek.

When her eyes fluttered open, a sigh of relief escaped him. “Are you all right?”

“I think so. Just need to rest.” Her eyes fluttered closed again.

He glanced up at the healers. “What’s wrong with her?”

“Shock, we think.”

“Why don’t you lie down in this bed, idiot,” his brother said. “You’re not exactly looking top-notch yourself.”

Felix met his brother’s worried gaze. “Why are you here?” 

“My wolf felt your wolf’s distress,” Malcolm said.

Of course. Malcolm had done that once before, when he’d saved him from the Seer’s prison after she’d disappeared. Fortunately, this time, the Seer’s headquarters didn’t have the rare ability to neutralize a wulver’s powers, else his wolf’s soul wouldn’t have been able to escape his body. She must have hoped the power of her souls would be enough. How the hell she had possession of those, he had no idea, but his chest hurt so badly that he pushed the thought aside for later.

He sat on the bed next to Aurora’s and looked at his brother. “Thank you for coming.”

Malcolm nodded. “Seems like you’re on the mend. Why don’t you rest, let that chest wound heal the rest of the way, then when Aurora wakes, we can talk about what happened.”

“Is everyone else all right?” Felix asked.

“Yeah,” Esha said. “We all got caught up in some fierce freaking snow. But by the time it faded, you were gone. We tried to find the entrance to the Seer’s lair but couldn’t. When we made it back here, you were collapsed on the floor, getting blood everywhere.”

“My apologies,” he said wryly. Exhaustion dragged at him. He lay back on the bed and let the blackness fall over him.

Aurora woke to see a concerned Felix leaning over her bed. His hair was wet and he looked freshly showered. She started to smile up at him, then memories of what had happened crashed into her.

“Are you okay?” she asked as she sat up. Mouse sat on her legs, kneading the blanket and purring.

“I’m good.” He rubbed his chest.

“What happened to you? I saw the Seer standing over you with a knife.” Understanding hit her. “The demon knife. Did she stab you?”

“Briefly, but my wolf got her. I was going to kill her, but then it looked like you were dying.”

Fear pounded through Aurora. Words tumbled from her lips. “But she couldn’t leave the knife in? Didn’t pull it out and stab herself? Do you feel whole?”

“What? Aye, why?”

“She tried to steal your soul. She’s not a full-blooded soulceress. We can steal souls with a touch. She needs the blade to do it. She’d have had to leave the knife in for a moment, then pull it out and stab herself. You’d have felt like you were being torn apart.” The memory made her gut churn.

“I dinna feel that.”

Her breathing slowed. Okay, good. If he hadn’t felt it, then she definitely hadn’t stolen part of his soul. The thought made her want to retch. Tears prickled at the backs of her eyes. “I have a big problem.”

“We’ll fix it,” he said immediately, concern flashing across his features.

She gripped the blanket as a tear tumbled down her cheek. Felix sat on the side of the bed and pulled her into his arms. She curled into him, reaching out to touch Mouse as well. “You aren’t having as much trouble with touch.”

He hesitated. “I find that when you need me, it becomes much less a concern.”

Her heart twisted at that.

“Tell me what’s wrong,” he said.

“First, I want a shower. And I want to go back to my place. Then we’ll discuss.”

“All right. Do you want the others there?”

She hesitated, feeling too raw to deal with a group of people. “Later. Let’s talk first. Then we can tell them what they need to know.”

“Works for me. I’ll aetherwalk us now.” 

She nodded and he took them to her living room. She was getting used to him doing the aetherwalking for them. At first, it had been about conserving her power. They’d been doing so many crazy things in locales without many Mytheans that she’d had a hard time fueling up. It was practical. But now, she thought it was as much about his having an excuse to touch her as anything else.