I stepped forward, knowing there was nothing I could do to help but wanting—no, needing—to be by his side.
Sensing me, his eyes roved slowly my way and stopped once our gazes met. Tears skimmed down my cheeks. When a single drop fell from his eye, mixing with blood as it trailed into his ear, a sob shook my shoulders.
“No,” I said.
I knew the exact moment he died. His lips curved as he smiled at me right before the light left his gaze. Then his limp hand slid off Allera’s arm and thumped dully to the earth beside him.
The weight of grief slammed into my chest, stealing my air. I couldn’t summon a single breath as I watched him expire.
“Urban?” Allera opened her eyes and lifted her gaze, only to gasp out a small scream. “No! No, you can’t leave me. Oh God, don’t die. Urban.”
Nicolette and Brentley forgot their guarding duties to rush over.
“Oh my God!” Nicolette cried, dropping Allera’s sword so she could slap her hands over her mouth and burst into tears. Then she backed away from the scene, slowly shaking her head in denial.
“Allera,” Brentley murmured, falling onto his knees at her side so he could clasp her shoulder with his hand.
“No,” she growled, shaking him off. “Don’t you dare give me pity. He’s not dead. He can’t be. He wouldn’t leave me like this.”
I squeezed my eyes closed, trying not to fall apart even though everything inside me was swirling into a strange panic. I felt disjointed, like a puzzle whose pieces were scattering in the wind.
This was just all wrong. It couldn’t be real. Urban was the most vivacious person I’d ever met. He was… He was… He was my one true love, dammit. I didn’t care if we could only be together in dreams, he couldn’t leave me either.
Soren appeared at my side, shaking his head. “He can’t die like this,” he chanted, looking stricken. “He can’t die like this, not saving my life. It wouldn’t be fair. He’s supposed to be my enemy, not my fucking hero. Why did he die like this?”
I turned toward him slowly. Urban had saved him. He could’ve just as easily let Soren blow himself up.
Without my husband keeping us apart, he and I could’ve finally been together.
I knew this was exactly what would’ve happened too. If Soren had died instead of him, I would’ve gone to Urban. In fact, as I stared at my discombobulated husband, it was what I wished had happened.
But Urban had saved him…for me.
Swerving to me, Soren grasped my elbow. “Vienne, you have to fix this.”
I blinked at him, utterly confused. “What?”
“Fix it,” he growled sharply. “Fix him like he fixed you. He brought you back from the dead, didn’t he? Doesn’t that mean you can bring him back? He can’t die saving me. I won’t allow it.”
“I…” With a gasp, I veered my gaze back to the dead man on the ground. It didn’t seem possible that a simple kiss could fix all this. But the hope that lit inside me had me acting immediately.
I had to at least try.
“Someone hold the baby,” I said, already thrusting my child into Yasmin’s arms.
“Move over,” I told Allera as I stepped across one of Urban’s legs. “I’m going to bring him back.”
The princess merely looked up at me through tear-stained lashes before she shook her head miserably. “I don’t know if you can. You don’t have the mark.”
“I don’t care,” I said. “I’m going to try, anyway.” As I knelt next to her, blood instantly soaked my skirt, and a sobbed worked its way up my throat.
“Oh God. Urban,” I moaned, scarcely able to see him through the thick layer of tears gushing from my eyes.
Even if I could bring him back, it would hurt terribly for him to recover from this. And his arm… How could he ever use that arm again in such a condition?
“I’m sorry,” I gushed. “I’m so sorry.”
This was all my fault. If I hadn’t been so determined to remain married to Soren, then Urban wouldn’t have felt the need to rush in and save him for me, taking his place in the explosion.
Or maybe he would’ve done it for anyone, because he was just that kind of man. A protector.
In any case, “I don’t want you to go yet,” I said softly so only he could hear me. “Not without me.” Gently cupping his face in my hands, I closed my eyes and lowered my mouth to his.
Please work, please work, please work, I begged inside my head as his blood smeared against my lips and my tears dripped onto his cheeks. I think I love you, dammit. Don’t go yet. Don’t leave me.
As if hearing my thoughts, he tensed under me. Then he coughed against my mouth.
I jerked upright, wiping blood away from my mouth as he winced and coughed some more before clutching his chest, using the very arm I was sure he’d never be able to use again.
“Urban?” Allera asked, clutching my arm and shaking me in excitement. “Are you…are you okay?”
“Holy shit,” he muttered, squinting his eyes open. “That fucking hurt.” Then he tried to sit up, groaning and swaying until Allera, Brentley, and I surged forward to help him steady himself.
“Whoa there,” Brentley cautioned as he clasped Urban’s shoulder. “Take it easy, mate.”
Urban sent him a confused glance, his eyes still squinted as if everything were too bright for him. “What the hell happened?”
No one immediately answered; we were all too busy exchanging similar glances, amazed he could be sitting up and talking and using both his arms.
He didn’t need an explanation though. He’d already started piecing everything together. “One moment, it felt as if that damn carriage had blown my entire chest apart, and the next…”
He glanced down at his chest, only to visibly jump when he saw the ragged bits of cloth that had once been his tunic along with blood still smeared across his torso.
He lifted his hand to touch the area, but instead of gaping wounds, his fingers only encountered smooth flesh under the layer of blood.
“How is that even possible?” Yasmin murmured, shaking her head as she gaped over how quickly he’d healed. Even the wounds on his face were gone. “Not even Vienne mended that fast after she was brought back.”
“Brought back?” Urban jerked his face up, focusing immediately on me.
His eyes widened when he took me in. Then he winced. “Oh, damn. Is that my blood on your mouth?”
Lifting my hand, I wiped at my mouth again.
Urban cringed some more. “Sorry about that,” he offered. “That must’ve been quite unpleasant for you.”
I could only shake my head and laugh. He’d just had his chest ripped apart, arm nearly severed at the shoulder, then died, and healed back together again, but he seemed more worried about getting a little blood on me.
“It was worth it,” I said solemnly.
His eyes warmed with pleasure and a small smile bloomed across his face, before he glanced around at the others guiltily as if he hadn’t meant for them to see his adoration. Clearing his throat, he turned back to me. “Well, thank you for bringing me back from the dead.”
I started to nod, but Soren burst in with, “She did it at my request. You saved me by pushing me out of the way, so I saved you back by letting her kiss you. So…we’re even now. I don’t owe you anything.”
Urban sent him an incredulous glance, before he shrugged and glanced toward Brentley. “We should get everyone back to the castle. Not that I think it’s much safer there. But I feel like a sitting duck out here like this.”
Brentley nodded and helped Urban to his feet, while I retrieved my daughter from Yasmin. Allera tried to help Urban walk, but he shooed her away before taking his first experimental step. After a few hobbling shambles, he nodded and announced he was fine.
“I can feel myself mending and getting stronger with each step.”
“Too bad my own wife can’t heal my twisted ankle so quickly,” Soren grumbled, shuffling along with an even worse limp than Urb
an’s until Brentley had to lend his own body in support.
“Do you think this was the work of the dark magic bearer?” Nicolette asked as we slowly started our caravan back toward the castle, every single one of us on edge and alert.
“Well, who else could it be?” Yasmin said with an impatient roll of her eyes.
“But who knew we were headed this way?” I said, shaking my head and trying to figure it out. “It was an impromptu outing; we barely spent any time planning it. How would anyone know to set up a trap there…at that time?”
Allera and Brentley exchanged worried glances. “We were actually talking about it all morning. Anyone in the castle could’ve overheard us and had time to leave that little present in our path.”
Soren snorted. “But who would care so much to go to the trouble of killing you two?”
“Are you kidding me?” Urban gaped. “The next man in line to the throne and the princess of High Cliff, whose very existence is keeping two kingdoms aligned. Yes, who indeed would concern themselves with such lowly nobodies?” Rolling his eyes, he pointed back toward the carriage we’d left behind. “That was the work of Lowden magic. Graykey family magic, specifically. They would just love to disrupt any alliance High Cliff has with Donnelly, and killing Allera would do that. That’s who was behind this.”
“But I thought Father executed everyone from the Graykey family line,” Allera said, shuddering and glancing back toward the carriage as well.
“Most of them,” Urban confirmed on a nod. “All the dangerous ones. But Father was still trying to track down a few who escaped when we left home, ones who hadn’t been involved in the war at the time, but ones who just might be determined to wreak revenge on anyone in our family for what we did to theirs.”
“Great,” Soren sneered. “So you brought the trouble with you when you came to Donnelly. Always lovely to hear.”
Urban shot him a scowl but didn’t have a response. Instead, he glanced my way, and worry littered his features, as if he agreed with Soren. He fully believed he’d personally brought danger into our lives.
Up ahead, a small group of soldiers pounded down the path toward us on horses.
“Oh joy,” Yasmin announced dryly. “The cavalry finally arrived… Nearly a quarter of an hour after we encountered trouble and nearly lost our lives.”
“My lord,” one of the men panted out as he skidded his horse to a stop in front of us, kicking up dust in our path. “We saw the explosion from our post. Is anything amiss?”
Urban sighed and shook his head. “We seriously need to work on your response time, fellows.”
Chapter 33
Urban
With the threat from dark magic turned real, I temporarily put field training on hold in order to send out all the soldiers to Mandalay and around the castle so they could keep their ears to the ground for any news they could discover.
Not twenty-four hours later, we caught a lead, and I requested an immediate audience with the king.
“You asked to see me?” Caulder said as soon as I was admitted into the Throne Room. “How’re you doing, by the way? Any permanent injuries from the explosion?”
“I’m well, Your Majesty.” I lifted my arms and rotated in a circle to show myself off. “All wounds have healed completely and without consequence.” I glanced Soren’s way since it was his wife’s fault I was doing so well.
The dick narrowed his eyes but refrained from speaking.
“That’s good to hear.” Caulder nodded. “What would you like to discuss then? I hope it’s an update on the search for dark magic.”
I glanced around before answering. The king had beefed up on security substantially. Soren, along with nearly three dozen servants, guards, pages, and dignitaries loitered about, keeping him safe. Most were soldiers, men I had personally trained and grown close to. But that didn’t mean I necessarily wanted them knowing such sensitive information, so I turned back to Caulder.
“Do you think we could have a bit more privacy for this conversation?”
“Of course.” Caulder waved the back of his hand toward his short-banged dignitary who commenced to clear the room until only Soren and six security guards stationed against the walls remained.
When the king focused on me, I drew in a breath and announced, “Yes, we have a lead on the dark magic investigation.”
“Really? You…” Caulder started to lurch to his feet but then must’ve realized a king should probably remain seated at such times, so he sank back into his chair and cleared his throat to mask his enthusiasm. In a moderated tone, he said, “Thank God. Let’s hear your news.”
“We came across information that a registered woman of magic from Lowden who’s currently residing in Mandalay is set to meet secretly with someone from inside the castle today.”
Caulder wrinkled his brow. “How did you learn of this?”
“I’ve been having all correspondence to and from the registered people of magic tracked and intercepted. And this… This note definitely came from somewhere inside the castle, but the source was untraceable and the contents of the message sketchy, which sent up immediate flags.”
Irritation tightened Caulder’s jaw. “And why couldn’t you trace the source?”
“The message was sent by pigeon, Your Majesty. One of my men was able to catch the bird and read the note before the recipient received it. After reading the message, he went ahead and allowed the pigeon to finish its delivery. Then he was able to follow it back to the castle. But as you know, anyone inside the iron walls could’ve been up to the coop and sent the message, plus there was no return reply from the Lowden woman of magic, which made it even more impossible to trace.”
“Dammit,” Caulder muttered, banging his fist against the arm of his chair. “From now on, I want a guard posted at the pigeon coop at all times, recording everyone who sends and receives messages.”
As I nodded my understanding and agreement, Soren asked, “I want to know why the hell you went ahead and allowed the message to reach its recipient? My God, it’s as if you want the dark magic to defeat us.”
I rolled my eyes. “Since we couldn’t track the magic woman’s castle contact, we thought it best to know exactly where this contact was going to be and when, which is what the message told us when we intercepted it.”
“Brilliant,” Caulder said, catching on, his eyes sparkling with eagerness. “Set a trap to catch the bastard when he goes to meet the Lowden woman. That’s perfect.”
I nodded my thanks. “We don’t have much time, though. I’d like to position a team into place outside the Lowden woman’s cottage as soon as possible. I’ll need at least a dozen. Capturing anyone containing dark magic may prove difficult, depending on just how powerful he is, and he must be to have hidden his abilities from us.”
“A team is granted, of course,” Caulder said, splaying out his hand. “I want this issue tied up and fixed as soon as possible.”
“Yes, Your Majesty,” I started, only for Soren to butt in.
“I want in on this team, too.”
I opened my mouth to protest. He’d only get in the way. But Caulder fluttered out his hand again. “So be it.”
I scowled. I didn’t want to have to work with the dick. But it appeared I would be, because I didn’t have the time to protest. The meeting would be upon us before we knew it.
“Well, come on,” I muttered, waving Soren forward. “We have a traitor to catch.”
Soren scurried to follow as I marched from the Throne Room.
Three hours later, he, twelve other guards, and I—dressed as common folk—loitered inconspicuously outside the home of the Lowden woman of magic who planned to meet her secret source from the castle anytime now. Around us, other villagers filled the area, unaware of our status, while Soren remained plastered to my side, micromanaging every move I made as I pretended to dig a rock out of the hoof of the horse I’d brought with me.
I swear, if he nit-picked one more thing I did, I’d backhand
the asshole.
“How much more time?” he grumbled, glancing around as he shifted impatiently from one foot to the other. “And why don’t you have that damn rock out of its hoof yet?”
I ground my teeth together, declined to tell him there was no fucking rock, and kept my gaze on the entrance of the cottage door. “I just told you twenty seconds ago… Anytime now.”
“Well, then where the hell is he? Why isn’t anyone—”
“Shh,” I hissed, slapping him quiet when a cloaked figure strode cautiously along the path through villagers, winding his way toward the Lowden woman’s cottage. Though many people were milling about, this one stood out. “I think that may be him.”
But no sooner than I spoke the words than my mark started to buzz with awareness.
What the hell? Why was Vienne suddenly so close? I glanced around for her, forgetting about the cloaked figure and wondering how she’d gotten within range before I’d noticed her—probably because of Soren’s moaning and complaining in my ear, distracting me the entire time.
But I couldn’t spot her anywhere.
Damn, this couldn’t be good. I didn’t want her here when we captured the bearer of dark magic. It would no doubt turn dangerous. She could get hurt.
But where the fuck was she?
Closing my eyes momentarily, I tracked her until I could pinpoint a better location. But when I opened my lashes, all I saw was the slightly stooped shoulders of the hooded figure who was still stealthily making his way toward the—
“Son of a bitch!” I hissed in realization as I gaped, unable to believe my eyes.
She’d disguised herself well. I never would’ve known it was her—or even a woman—under that cloak from the way she carried herself.
“What?” Soren demanded next to me. “What’s wrong? Why aren’t we apprehending him already?”
I shook my head, thinking fast, my brain spinning and then sputtering short. “I just want to make sure it’s him first,” I muttered, needing to save her from the clutches of the men around me who were determined to catch the bearer of dark magic.