“I’m sorry Astri, no hard feelings. I was paid a lot of money to distract you. I did have a good time with you. And after this is all over, I’ll settle somewhere far away from Rivenna,” Lucas says, staring at me and I can’t believe he thinks this explanation is somehow okay.
I’m trying to ignore the loud throbbing inside my head. The cage is small, and my head’s touching the top. My energy’s empty, and the hollowness is slowly driving me insane, but I have a feeling their spell won’t last for more than a few hours. And I’ll tear them both apart if they try to get anywhere near me. The other mage keeps staring at me warily, rubbing his dirty face at the same time.
“No one, even the duke, has any idea what’s about to happen. We could’ve avoided all the drama if you stayed in your chamber like you were supposed to,” the mage finally says, shaking his head with disappointment and all of a sudden everything slowly makes sense.
My jaw drops, and anger flushes hotly when my eyes meet his.
“You killed Rosanna? Cassandra’s cousin, it was you–”
“It looks like you’re not as intelligent as you claim to be. Ruscal sent someone to the castle to make sure the job was completed. You were supposed to be dead. We were hired after his accomplice failed to kill you. That shifter girl from Laehori was an unfortunate victim. It’s a shame, but someone thought ahead and moved you to different chamber that night,” the mage cuts me off, and drags his hand through his messy hair. “And conveniently for Ruscal, the duke hired your boyfriend here to solve the murder. Then Pollock got mixed up in this business too, but his mind was too weak. Lucas’s job was to slow the investigation down while our mutual friend was hoping to carry out his final mission. Over time, things got complicated and there were too many people watching you.”
There’s someone in the castle, someone who’s been trying to kill me all along. I grip the bars tighter and roar with anger, but the cage is too strong, most likely enchanted by some kind of spell.
I’ve been playing Lucas’ game from the very beginning and suddenly the desire I felt for him makes me sick to my stomach. I hate the way he’s staring at me right now and I wish I had my damn fire magic back. Jorgen still has no idea what’s going on, he’s going to go ballistic.
“You cowards, get me out of this damn cage. I want to meet Jorgen’s twin. Where is he?” I shout, while my pulse pounds in my veins. The pain in my head eases off a little, but now my throat feels raw and painful. I need some energy, an herb of some sort to pull myself away from the darkness.
I’m a hunter and I’ve spent enough time in the forest to know there’s plenty of herbs nearby that can help me. I just need to get out of here.
“You’ll meet him soon enough. We thought you might show your face in the forest tonight, so we waited for hours. Ruscal should be satisfied. He’ll finally have a chance to kill you with his own hands,” the mage explains, picking his teeth with his long nails, and my stomach churns with disgust. “First off, that maid. You should have left her alone. She saw me late at night when I was heading to the castle, but I messed around with her human memories. It was too easy. The whole interview between you and Lucas was staged. Her death wasn’t entirely planned, but she would’ve complicated things for Ruscal, and had to be eliminated.”
I keep opening and closing my mouth, thinking about my options that at this point, appear to be limited. Emilia would recognise the potion those two psychopaths fed me.
“It’s such a shame. You’re the last of the Wyvern clan. It’s your nature to broadcast your power of fire. Shifters have been scared of your kind for years,” the mage continues and I want shout that he’s wrong, but he’s right, my fire magic brings death. I killed Pollock and his people – I lost control.
Jorgen’s twin has no idea there’s another Wyvern, someone who’s been protecting me all these years.
“We shouldn’t be talking to her, Morlock. She’s going to be dead in a few hours and we just have to complete our assignment,” Lucas snaps, sounding annoyed.
“Fine, then get her out of that cage and prepare her for the journey,” Morlock orders.
I glance around, but it’s too dark to see anything, and without my magic I can’t even sense any animals nearby. When they open the cage, I’ll have a chance to get away. Maybe the potion in my system is already fading, either way I’ll take pleasure in killing them both when the time comes.
Lucas drags his hand through his hair and walks over to the cage while the other mage starts taking various flasks and small bags out of a large rucksack. I swallow hard, knowing that one of them disabled my magic. Those two were most likely behind the poison that was sent to my chamber or maybe it was the mage in the castle. Either way, they’re all responsible.
“Don’t even try anything, Astri or I’ll have no choice but to hurt you. The potion is weakening your system and you’ll lose your strength very quickly,” Lucas says when he stands right in front of me. I want to laugh–if I had my magic, he knows I could kill him on the spot. Coward.
I clench my fists watching how he picks up the key and swiftly unlocks the cage. Moments later, he barks at me, telling me to get out.
When I finally stand on the ground, I feel sick, nausea rolls over my stomach and I know I’m in no condition to run or fight. Whatever they gave me, screwed with my entire body and turned me into a massive ball of jelly. My body feels numb as I try to move, my knees and legs are trembling–I might fall.
Lucas grabs my elbow and drags me out towards the other mage.
“You’re a coward, and you won’t get away with this,” I snarl when he pushes me on the ground.
He laughs, and growls at the mage to hurry up with the potion. I try to get up, but my muscles refuse to obey me. At some point, I lose consciousness again for a good few minutes, experiencing even more pain.
I hear them talking, arguing about the amount they should give me. When I’m slowly coming around again, someone’s holding me down. Moments later, I feel a strong stinging pain in my left arm. Real fear erupts in my gut when the mage or Lucas injects more poison into me. I try to pull away, but I have no strength left in me to fight, so I mumble away, losing the last hope that I have.
An hour or two later, I open my eyes again. My throat’s dry and I desperately need a drink. I glance around, seeing I’m sitting under a tree, and the fire’s blazing in front of me.
Lucas and Morlock glance back at me, sitting around the fire in silence.
“She’s awake now,” Lucas says.
“Good. We’ll be leaving in a few minutes. Someone must have noticed she’s missing by now. The duke’s probably already sent a search party after her, so we can’t waste any time,” Morlock says and I rub my eyes, taking long pulls of air.
Out of the blue, I hear a wolf howling in the distance. Both shifters stop what they’re doing and exchange a worried glance. Then there’s more howling, and I instantly know there must be at least a dozen wolves surrounding us now.
“I’ll go and look around. The wolves in the Black Forest are harmless, the animals probably just smell the meat,” Lucas says, and stands up, disappearing behind the trees.
The mage doesn’t look happy and leaves me be, sitting under the tree. I start moving my hands over the ground. My breathing’s still laboured, but at least I’m not in any pain anymore.
The forest cover’s filled with dry leaves and I move my hands underneath its surface while sweat drips down my face. Soon enough, I start feeling tiny spikes underneath my fingertips. I recognise the herb as rigid tail, and if this herb grows here, then its sister, dungeon tail will be nearby too. My heart starts beating faster, filling with much needed hope. The leaves of the herb will clear all toxins from my system, which means if I chew a few leaves I’ll be able to shift again.
It’s one hell of an effort, and my muscles feels so stiff. The mage isn’t paying any attention to me, and soon we both hear the howling wolves. It seems the animals are moving closer by the minute.
I t
hink about Lenin and Jetli for a second. They’re probably worried sick about me, and now I feel a little guilty that I vanished without a word earlier on. I keep my palms on the ground, moving further away from the tree. My fingers dig through the soft soil, desperately searching for the right herb.
Long moments drag on and then I hear a loud snarling behind the trees. The mage shoots to his feet, taking out his sword. We both hear inhuman roars, then more snarling.
I swallow hard, realising that the wolves who were nearby are now fighting each other or they tracked Lucas. The wolves’ behaviour doesn’t make any sense, they normally keep away from humans or shifters. When the mage starts turning around tracking the wolves, I force my limbs to move and begin crawling.
I glance behind me and freeze on the spot, seeing at least three huge wolves surrounding him now. Their mouths dribble with saliva, and all three of them are bearing their teeth and arching their backs, ready for the attack.
“Werwolves!” Morlock shouts, and starts dropping some kind of magical powder around him, probably trying to protect himself. I stare at him transfixed when he drops his sword, then adds, “My beast will rip you all apart.”
The tiny voice in my head reminds me there’s no time to waste, so I keep crawling around the tree, searching for the herb that can save me. Werewolves aren’t common in this part of the Eastern world, and they always move around in a pack. I’m not sure why they’re here… Others will sense me soon enough – I need to hurry.
The mage’s magic is most likely drifting around, but I don’t sense it. He’s trying to shift, but the wolves attack before his magic takes over. At the same time, I feel the long, soft leaves of the dungeon tail underneath my palms. My heart pounds in my chest and my vision goes blurry.
My fingertips are starting to bleed, but I rip the herb and roll it around in my hand. The wolves are fighting with the mage, I hear snarling and roaring. I glance behind me again, realising he’s too slow. One of the wolves is biting his leg and another’s holding him down by his throat.
I shove the leaves into my mouth and start chewing. Fresh pain spreads across my knuckles, my muscles are burning up. I pant, thinking about my fire magic and praying to Hommis to wake up from this fog.
Then I hear a beast nearby, another wolf sniffing around. I back away toward the tree, still chewing the leaves. An injection of power shoots through me, and all the tiny hairs along my spine stand on end. My whole body begins to tremble, my teeth are chattering and the world’s spinning around.
Part of me realises my magic’s back, and I lift my eyes meeting the yellow gaze of another werewolf. His huge jaw’s only inches away from me. The beast bares his teeth, and fear erupts in my gut.
In the background, I hear werewolves tearing the mage apart, bones being shattered, and it kicks my magic into action.
The werewolf in front of me backs away, bending his knees and in that moment I realise I have maybe a few seconds to make a decision. I shift back on my knees, lifting my hands as sparks of electricity electrify my palms. Then everything starts happening in a slow motion.
A Werewolf jumps toward me and I release my fire magic–it streams out of me, hitting him in mid-air. I jump to the side when the beast slams down next to the tree. The fire burns him alive, and I control the slow beating of my heart.
My fire magic is everywhere, burning and spreading like a storm. A split second later, energy slams back into me. I hit the tree with the back of my head and everything goes dark.
I wake to a strong burning smell wafting around me–it’s beginning to become a common theme these days. I cough a few times, trying to see anything through the darkness. I move, and my muscles burn. My energy spreads throughout my veins and I feel great, knowing my abilities are intact. Then I spot a man by my feet.
The smell of burnt flesh sickens me; the man, presumably the werewolf who attacked me is lying flat and he’s dead. My fingertips are sparkling and shimmering in the darkness.
I feel fine, and the exhaustion is slowly fading away, my fire magic didn’t fail me. I lost control once again, but at least I’m alive.
Moments later, I come out of the bushes, noticing the mage’s fire is still burning away. There’s no sign of other wolves, and when I start walking around the camp, I spot the mage a few meters away from his rucksack. His throat’s ripped to shreds and he’s dead. The smell is horrendous, it’s the smell of death clinging to the trees, tormenting its victim. I grab what I can from his collection of potions, trying not to think about the other werewolves.
I know I need to rest because my fire magic will only hold off the exhaustion for so long, but there’s no time. I have to get back to the castle and warn Jorgen about the traitor. The werewolves spared me for a reason, and I killed their mate. This doesn’t happen, I should’ve been dead already. I start walking in the gloomy darkness, after locating my bow and arrows, wondering if there’s a special soul watching over me. For the first time in a while, I’m happy to be alive.
Chapter 24
Cassandra’s wish.
I keep moving through the forest, thinking about Lucas, silently hoping the werewolves took care of him. I’m tormented from the inside out, wondering what would’ve happened if the werewolves didn’t attack them tonight.
Deep down, I regret that I wasted my first kiss on him, regret that I ever trusted him.
The forest is silent and it must be nearly dawn by now; I’ve been missing for several hours.
The heavy mass around my chest reminds me about my terrible mistake, the guilt is slowly suffocating me and I don’t know what to do. I hated him for no reason. My nightmare was real, and it showed me the truth.
Jorgen has a twin brother that no one in Rivenna knew about, and this entire time I was seeing him. There’s obviously a history between them, and there’s a reason why Jorgen never talked about him. Maybe his whole family’s been protecting this secret for years.
I grip my bow and arrows, trying to sense other shifters around, but I’m alone. There’s no sign of Lucas. The temperature’s low, and keeps dropping. I shiver with cold, moving through the bushes. Several meters later, I nearly trip over something. When I glance behind me, I spot a human body underneath my feet and blood’s everywhere. I swallow hard, recognising Lucas, his cheek’s torn and his eyes are still open. Incredible sadness envelopes me and now I regret I wished he was dead just a moment ago.
None of this should’ve happened and no one deserves to die like that. My thoughts are racing and fear settles in my stomach. There’s a reason he’s dead and I’m not. What if someone sent those wolves to protect me?
There are too many questions mounting in my head, but there’s nothing else I can do. He’s dead now and I have to keep going. I glance up, still seeing the stars, the sky’s clear and the moon shows me the way home. Magical energy hovers over my system. Soon enough. I’ll have to shift, releasing some fire magic in order to get back to the castle.
I start jogging, trying to figure out how much time’s gone by since I was taken.
Someone needs to warn Jorgen that there’s a traitor in the castle, a mage who works for his twin brother. My Pixies must have noticed that I’ve been gone for a long time, and Jorgen’s most likely organising a search party–if he hasn’t already just as the mage suggested. We haven’t seen each other since yesterday morning, when he told me to forget about our kiss.
The mountains stretch in the distance, and I know it’s too great a risk trying to shift now. What if whoever’s in the castle is watching the sky, I’ll fly right into another trap.
In the end, I decide against shifting, my beast stirs inside my core, but I can’t risk being exposed. This long, raw silence makes me uncomfortable, it feels like someone spellbound the forest to seal out any noise.
Lenin and Jetli are most likely panicking, and I hope they haven’t gone out to look for me without anyone else. Soon enough, my body indicates I pushed myself too hard tonight. The herbs cleared the potions out of my b
ody, but the after-effects are hitting me now. My legs are aching, chest burning and my vision isn’t as sharp as it was earlier. Even my energy’s affected, pounding deep within my bones. I cover several miles on foot and finally after a couple hours, I see the castle not too far in front of me. Dizziness forces me to stop and the dead body of Lucas clogs my mind.
I jog through the grounds as quietly as I can, seeing the lights are still on in the courtyard. A few guards rise back up when they spot me, but they automatically relax when they recognise me. Returning as a Wyvern wouldn’t have been wise, but it would’ve saved me the energy. The mage in the castle is dangerous, and I need to be careful who I talk to from now on. Jorgen has no idea that someone’s been spying on him this entire time.
“The duke’s gathering everyone in the main hall. Apparently, you’ve been missing all night,” one of the guards says, approaching.
“Astri, thank Hommis you’re all right. Everyone’s been worried sick,” Thayer says, suddenly materialising in front of me. “I’ll take it from here, Malcolm.”
The guard nods and I relax a little. His magic’s strong, igniting mine, I can breathe more comfortably. Thayer must have sensed me approaching.
We enter the castle and once I know no one can hear me I go over what happened in the Black Forest. Thayer keeps shaking his head, finally grabbing my elbow and stopping me.
“Astri, we have to be very careful. The duke’s been betrayed too many times,” Thayer says. “He’s in the dining room gathering his people. We must go to him right away.”
I nod, knowing it’s going to be difficult to see him. Further tormenting emotions are clogging my mind. Our kiss keeps flashing in my head, but the confusion remains. Heat radiates throughout my body, and I keep on breathing in and out, telling myself to stay calm.