mythean arcana 06 - master of fate (28 page)

CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR

It felt like years before Felix’s head cleared enough that he could focus on his surroundings. Aurora lay atop him, limp and smelling so good that he couldn’t get enough of her scent. His head dropped back on the couch.

That had been the best sex of his life. It hadn’t been worry-free. There had been moments when she’d touched him—particularly on his shoulders—that he’d had to push away memories of the Seer. But he’d had to trust her, and that had made it all the better.

He pulled out of her gently and stood, cradling her against his chest.

“What are we doing?” she asked.

“Getting into bed.”

“Genius.” She kissed him on the side of his neck. “We’ll get a good night’s sleep, then tomorrow we’ll go after my soul, right? And kill that bitch?”

Her voice was light, but he could tell she was trying not to focus on how dangerous it was going to be. Or how much was actually at stake now. “Aye. Though first, we’ll need a plan. In her ice palace, she said something about how she’s been planning this for a long time.”

“Like a creepy spider lying in wait?” she asked.

He gave a dark laugh as he set her on the bed. “Exactly.”

“But how long could she have been planning it if she disappeared in 1705? Why did she disappear? And the same year I did?” Her eyes widened with some sort of realization. “Holy shit. She was sucked into the aether with me. She had part of my soul. When the witches cast the spell to banish me to the aether, they did it by banishing my soul. Of course! That’s where she’s been all these years. Trapped with me.”

The idea that the Seer had been so close to Aurora in the aether made him shudder. “But you didn’t sense her there?”

Aurora seemed to close in on herself. She grasped the aether stone hanging around her neck and after a while, some of the tension in her shoulders seemed to seep out. “I never could have. You’re completely alone in the blackness. Alone in the cold dark. It’s the worst part of it.”

Under the Seer’s torture, he’d suffered to save her, but her suffering in the aether had saved him from the Seer. A terrible, tragic circle. One that he’d see was never repeated. He climbed into bed and wrapped her in his arms. “So she was released with you when you escaped.”

“I guess so. And she’s been adjusting to modern life. It took me a while too.”

“And she must have realized her sisters had died. So now she’s trying to bring them back.”

Aurora grimaced. “While I can sympathize with that motivation, she’s handling it in pretty much the most evil way one could.”

“She was evil to start with and she’ll be evil to the end.”

“I was evil once. I still am, considering how I can’t get near someone without itching to take their soul.”

“You were grief-stricken and did something terrible by stealing Warren’s soul. You weren’t actually evil until after that. You were polluted by the souls you stole. And what you’re going through now is because the Seer has part of your soul. We’ll fix it.”

She nodded. “I hope so. In the past, I tried to stick to the truly evil Mytheans and mortals. I used my ability to see the evil in their souls before I took them. Which probably just made me worse, now that I think of it. Gods, I had a stupid youth.”

He pulled her down to lie in the crook of his arm. “You’re no’ stupid anymore. And we’ll get your soul back and you’ll see that’s the missing part of you that makes you afraid you’ll snap and steal more souls.”

She sighed and snuggled into him. A sense of intense comfort—one that would never be turned into torture or pain—suffused him. He wouldn’t give this up for anything.

“We’ll get it back,” he repeated.

CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE

The next morning, Aurora pounded on Esha’s door, Felix beside her. The sun was just beginning to peek over the horizon. At this time of year, that meant it was sometime after ten.

“Wake the hell up!” she yelled. 

The Chairman howled on the other side of the door. Mouse twitched her tail.

A few minutes later, a sleepy-looking Esha pulled open the door. She was wearing a ratty T-shirt and her raven hair was piled on top of her head. The Chairman stood at her heels, looking not much better himself. He clearly hadn’t yet gotten to his grooming. From the way Mouse’s tail continued to twitch, she didn’t approve.

“You look a lot better,” Esha said. “Come on in.”

She shuffled down the hall. Aurora caught sight of neon green slippers that looked like alien heads and was instantly jealous. She had to get herself a pair of those. 

Any therapist would tell her that she was trying to distract herself from what was coming up, and she wouldn’t argue. 

Esha led Aurora and Felix into the cozy kitchen. When she’d gotten together with Warren last year, she’d moved into his cottage at the edge of campus. Aurora could see touches of her everywhere now and liked it. It looked like her sister was at home here. It was a wonderful, easy comfort.

If she could just get the rest of her soul back and kill the bitch who’d tortured Felix, maybe she could find something like this too. If she was willing to take the risk. Fear still clogged her throat every time she thought about losing him. But she wasn’t so sure she could walk away from this the way she’d initially thought she could. 

Esha handed her and Felix cups of steaming black coffee and said, “What the hell do you want at this ungodly hour?”

“It’s ten-thirty. You’ve got to get up.”

“You know how I feel about my beauty sleep.”

“Like you don’t give a damn?”

Esha shrugged and sipped her coffee. “True. What’s your plan for dealing with the Seer? I’m all in, whatever it is.”

Aurora’s heart warmed. “I know. Thanks. I need the soulceress dagger Warren used to free the souls from me.” She vaguely remembered Warren plunging the blade into her flesh, the crushing terror and freedom of having the souls escape her grip. If she could use it on the Seer, she’d be able to destroy her immense power. Then she’d just be a seer. Easy to kill as a bug.

“I kinda thought you might say that.” She turned and poked her head into the hallway. “Warren!”

He joined them in the kitchen a few moments later and Esha relayed their request.

“All right,” he said. “The soulceress dagger is a dangerous tool. It’s in the armory. I’ll go get it.”

After he left, Felix said, “We underestimated her last time.”

“No shit,” Esha said. “Though normally, two soulceresses, a god, a demigod, a Mythean Guardian, and a wulver/timewalker hybrid should have been able to handle a seer of mysterious ability.”

“She’s no longer just a seer,” Aurora said. She explained what they’d learned. “And I think she’s stolen a ridiculous number of souls in the last year. She’s insanely powerful now.”

“That bitch,” Esha said. 

Aurora laid out the plan she and Felix had come up with. “If the witches are willing to make them, we’ll go in with cloaking charms. Something designed specifically for a soulceress so that she can’t see us, hear us, or feel our souls. If she’s really that strong, the charm won’t hide us forever. She’ll eventually feel the strength of our souls. Once that happens, everyone else is screwed. She’ll be able to draw on your power—” She glanced at Felix as she said it. “—continually fueling herself while making you helpless.”

“So we’ve got to get in and get her quick, before the charms break down?” Esha asked.

“Yes. Stab her with the soulceress dagger. It will free the souls that she has stolen.” 

“Works for me.”

“We’ll get as much help as we can and do it today,” Felix said.

The clear air on the glacier bit at Felix’s cheeks. His gaze darted around their small group, taking count. Aurora, Esha, Warren, Sylvi, Loki, and his brother all stood around him. Because of their charms, which they’d begged from the witch coven at the university, they’d been able to aetherwalk straight to the area outside the Seer’s ice palace. 

The weather was far clearer than it had been yesterday. With no wind, it was so silent he could hear his companions breathing. He glanced at Aurora, whose determined gaze was visible over the scarf wrapped around her nose and mouth. He’d do whatever it took to get her soul back for her. Then they could start a life together.

When all eyes were on him, he nodded toward the entrance and they set off. Aurora and Esha broke off, this time heading to the back of the group. They weren’t sure if the Seer would feel them drawing on her power, but they’d agreed it was best to play it safe and remain at the back. Felix liked it because Aurora wouldn’t be on the front line.

When they reached the crevice in the mountain of ice, he snapped off his skis. Sunlight glinted on the break in the ice, making the deep blue interior glow eerily. He quietly made his way into the surreal cerulean world, his companions following quietly behind him.

They made their way down a silent passage carved from the ice. None of it was familiar from their first attempt. He glanced behind him to see everyone in a line, Aurora and Esha at the back. Sylvi wore a blue cape and carried a wooden staff that he hadn’t noticed before, no doubt a manifestation of her power.

They wound their way deeper into the glacier, the strange silence only growing. There wasn’t even the crunch of ice beneath their boots. Something wasn’t right. It was the air, or the sound, or the smell. Or a combination. But something was wrong. The hair on his arms prickled.

He picked up the pace, determined to make it to the Seer before their charms wore off. 

The passage opened up to a great cavern. Ice in every shade of blue gleamed. It was the same room they’d been in before. But it was empty. 

He gestured for everyone to spread out and search the huge room. The room looked like it had been formed naturally. The walls and ceilings were amorphous, with bulges and cracks in the ice. At ground level, there were smaller rooms off the main one, some accessible through elegant archways and others through narrow fissures in the ice. 

A lot of places to search. Too many. 

He kept himself close to Aurora, cursing the fact that their nearness made it harder to protect her. He didn’t mind for himself if she took his power, but when he needed it to protect her, then he didn’t like it so much.

“Look here. This is something,” Esha whispered. Her voice carried easily through the ice chamber and he turned to make his way to her. “I think it’s—”

A great crash echoed through the chamber. Ice splintered from the ceiling, raining down and slicing any visible skin like glass. Pain shot across his cheek and hot blood welled. A shriek sounded from behind him.

He spun, terror for Aurora rising in his chest. Sylvi’s leg had been impaled by a huge ice shard. Blood pooled around her. Loki crouched over her, his enraged eyes darting around for further threat.

“Get her out of here,” Felix yelled.

Loki nodded and picked her up in his arms. Before he could aetherwalk away, the white misty forms of souls shot out from all sides of the room, surrounding them.

They grabbed Felix around the arms and legs. He thrashed, dislodging some of them, but the others took their places. Something yanked at the knife sheath strapped to his boot and the sturdy leather contraption was torn away. Horrified, he watched one of the souls absorb the soulceress dagger that Warren had given him and fly away. 

His best chance to kill the Seer was gone. He fought harder, struggling to throw them off, but their tight grip made it impossible.

 The souls surrounded everyone else, white mist blocking his companions from his vision. His wolf surged forward, snarling and biting at the souls. They shied away from him, losing their grip until he was free. 

He charged toward Aurora, who was being hauled by souls toward a shimmering spot on the ice wall behind her. 

A portal.

His heart pounded and he pushed himself toward her. Too late.

Within a second, she was through the portal, her hand reaching out as the souls dragged her through. His fingertips were centimeters from her as she disappeared.

He threw himself at the portal, but just crashed into the ice.