Blood Tied (22 page)

I couldn’t feel their anger the way Aiden could, but different types of magic coalesced around us. What other creatures had the shadow weaver amassed? “But they’re standing their ground,” I said. “If they wanted us dead, they would have attacked by now.”

“Why doesn’t that make me feel better?” Aiden asked.

It didn’t make me exactly want to jump for joy either. There was still some purpose either Aiden or I served, and not knowing what that was made me uneasy. If it was only me, I could handle whatever the bastard threw at me, but if it was Aiden he was after, I’d rip him apart before he laid one hand on him. He was my fairy, and no one but me was going to touch him.

“Wow!” Aiden said, coming to an abrupt halt. “I felt that.”

I glanced around, drawing him into my protective embrace. “What?”

“You,” he answered, brushing his lips against mine.

“I don’t understand.”

“Your passion for me, to protect me, exploded from you like a solar flare.” He leaned his entire body against mine. “It was beautiful.”

“And I mean it,” I said, pressing my body to his. “I won’t let anything happen to you.”

“I know you won’t,” he said. “That’s why I’m not as scared or as angry anymore. Because of you.”

I smiled at Aiden before glancing at the huge red door before us. “Should we?”

He nodded. “Allow me.” He waved his hand at the door, and it flew open, slamming back against the wall inside. He cocked one eyebrow at me and grinned. “You’re not the only one who can be badass, you know?”

I laced his fingers with mine before replying, “I had no doubt.”

We walked up the steps and crossed the threshold as one.

Our footfalls echoed off the marble floors, where each tile had been buffed to a reflective shine. Exquisite paintings of various landscapes adorned the walls of the foyer. A set of double staircases, one on the right and one on the left, spiraled to the second floor, which appeared to be as abandoned as the rest of the castle. The wooden railings of the staircases had been engraved with vines and flower blooms that trailed all the way to the top.

Six large, evenly spaced stone pillars kept the second floor from crashing down upon the first. The stone columns had been intricately carved in a style more Renaissance than fae.

“That leads to the library,” Aiden said as we passed a grand red door to the right. “The one on the left leads to my mother’s greenhouse.”

But I kept my gaze focused straight ahead. A magical blind spot had erected itself within the room at the end of the twenty-foot long hall. That was where we’d find the shadow weaver. “What’s up there?” I asked.

“The throne room.”

It made sense.

“That’s where he is, isn’t he?”

I nodded.

Aiden tensed, and his grip around my hand tightened. He was clearly doing his best not to fly into the throne room, hurling fireballs at everyone within. Thankfully, our joined hands allowed him to draw from my strength as easily as I drew from his.

As we approached the double golden doors that opened to the throne room, I saw scorch marks had been etched into the cold marble floor, and the acrid scent of smoke clung to the air. There had been a battle, and judging from the lack of devastation, the fire fae had been taken off guard and easily dispatched.

“Thad!” Aiden said, pointing to the evidence of a struggle.

“I know,” I said, rubbing my thumb along the back of his hand. “Stay focused and whatever you do, don’t let go of my hand.”

“Why?”

I had no clue. I just knew it was important. “Ready?”

He nodded.

“
Aperite
,” I muttered, and the double doors slowly swung inward.

THE WALLS
inside were decorated with bas-relief, depicting the various kingdoms of Otherworld as Aiden had described them to me earlier: the whispering fields of the Sylphs, the kingdom of Atlantis belonging to the Undines, and Mount Matakin, where the Gnomes lived.

On the left, the room opened up. Tapestries and long, narrow windows decorated either side, which was bisected by a red-carpeted walkway. At the end, a three-stepped platform led up to a high-backed chair constructed from a dark, red wood.

On the throne sat a man who looked familiar but whom I didn’t recognize. He had a full head of white hair and sparkling green eyes.

“Dad!” Aiden shouted. He released my hand and ran toward his father.

“Aiden, wait!” I yelled.

Shadows quickly engulfed the room, forming a barrier between Aiden and me. He snapped around, cursing his impulsiveness. He hurled fireball after fireball at the opaque ebon wall, but it caused no damage.

“Enough!” King Oberon commanded.

Aiden quickly obeyed, but his eyes lingered upon me. “I’m sorry,” he whispered.

“You apologize to that warlock and not to me?” his father asked. “You bring black magic to Otherworld, you lie with one not of our kind, and you have the gall to offer
him
contrition? You should be on bent knee, seeking forgiveness from your father and your liege.”

Aiden offered immediate supplication. “Father, there is danger here. We must protect—.”

“Do not tell me what we must do,” he said. His silver eyebrows knitted together in parental consternation. “I’m well aware of the violence you have brought to our peaceful land, but do not worry your brash little head. I have rectified what you have wrought.”

“What do you mean?”

Fire fae, dressed in black pants and with bare chests, stepped out of the shadows, carrying swords of flame in their hands. Their fiery wings spread wide as they regarded me with hatred and contempt.

Their anger made no sense, so I opened up to the magic around us and searched for an answer. The magic in the throne room vibrated with a strange crimson energy, which coiled around every fire fae in the room, including the king.

Only Aiden remained untouched by the snaking bands of magic that filled the room.

When I looked down at myself, I noted thin threads of ruby dangling from me. They clung to my hands, my chest, and my heart. How had I not noticed this before?

“I have made a pact with the shadow weaver,” the king announced. As he rose from his throne, the red cords around him pulled taut, as if they were controlling his actions. “All he requires for peace is your warlock.”

Aiden rose, crossing to his father, but armed guards quickly blocked his path. They pointed their burning swords at Aiden’s chest, ready to eviscerate him upon command. “You can’t!” he said to his father. “You don’t know what you’re doing.”

King Oberon glared down at his son. “It is
you
who knows nothing. As you always have.” He turned to address the shadows over his shoulder. “He’s yours. Take him and leave.”

A man made entirely of shadows stepped forward. He nodded at the king before turning his attention to Aiden. “You have complicated my plans, young prince,” he said. The voice was rough and gravelly, but it sounded familiar.

“It’s always a pleasure to be a pain in your ass,” Aiden spat. His hands clenched, and fire engulfed his fists. The swords of the guards encircling him drew ever closer, singing his flesh.

The shadow weaver laughed. “But I’m sure it was infinitely more fun being a pain in our Thad’s ass, wasn’t it?” The dark holes that were his eyes locked onto me. A devilish grin parted his inky lips as he approached Aiden.

“Stay away from him!” I yelled, striking the shadow wall that refused to give.

“Or what?” he teased. With a gesture, chains made from shadows shot out of the corners of the room and wrapped around Aiden’s neck, wrist, and ankles. They pulled tight and forced him to his knees.

King Oberon made no move to protect his son. His eyes had glassed over.

“Aiden!” I unleashed a barrage of ice upon the wall, but the shadowy projection absorbed the attack.

“You’ll never break through,” the shadow weaver said as he wound the chains around his hand and yanked. Aiden sprawled onto the marble in a grumble of pain. “I’ve been around a lot longer than you, and my magic is far more formidable than yours.”

“That’s the blood magic,” I said. “I can see you manipulating everyone in this room with it.”

That made him pause. “An interesting development,” he said with a slow nod. “Your powers are growing, Thad, but then again I always sensed great power in you. It was why I wanted you. With the power I have, and what remains untapped within you, we could have done anything together.” He glared down at Aiden. “But you chose the fae.”

Without even a gesture, the chains whipped Aiden into the wall, which exploded outward in a cloud of white plaster. Again the chains pulled, and Aiden flew back first into one of the stone columns and then into the ceiling before slamming onto the marbled floor.

“And your fairy will pay!”

Aiden moaned on the floor, bleeding. He tried to stand, to fight, but the shadow weaver stepped on his back and forced him flat against the marble.

“What the hell are you talking about?” I asked, trying to distract him with conversation rather than having him continue his attempts to kill Aiden. “What choice?”

“Have you forgotten me already, Red?”

My gaze crept back to the shadow weaver, who mocked me in laughter. Only one person had recently called me by that name, and I’d stood by and watched while he was killed. “Ben?”

With a gesture, the shadows flew off him, revealing the cold, dark eyes and mischievous slanted grin of Ben Crane. “Took you long enough,” he said.

My vision swam, and it took every ounce of willpower at my command to keep me upright. How was this possible? How could Ben be the shadow weaver?

“This would have gone much easier had you just given in,” Ben said. “I wove a powerful blood magic spell on you after taking your blood that first night. You do remember that, don’t you?”

So that was how he had done it. When my guard was down, and he was seducing me with magic, he had taken what he needed to further his plans.

He grinned at me before continuing. “And it was working. The vise-like control with which you led your life was slipping, and every time we were together, the blood tie I created between us drew you closer and closer to me. And it would’ve worked too.” He ground his foot on Aiden’s back. “But I hadn’t counted on the fire fae or his charms. Being with him somehow canceled out my spell, severing
our
blood tie and forming an unseen tether to him. And I intend to find out how that happened.”

He made a rising gesture, and the shadow chains pulled Aiden until he was dangling in the air. Blood spilled from pale lips, splattering his bare chest with drops of crimson. He wasn’t moving, and his chest didn’t rise and fall. Was he dead?

If he was, Ben would soon follow.

“Don’t get ahead of yourself,” Ben said, shooting me a fake smile. “He’s still alive.”

“I’ll kill you,” I said through clenched teeth.

He chuckled as if I’d told the funniest joke in the world. “Your power is nothing compared to mine.” He played with the emerald pendent that hung on the chain around his neck. What was the deal with that damn stone? Was it a talisman that somehow kept us from discerning who he was?

“I was able to avoid detection from the protector covens, your High Priests, and even the Conclave themselves. And you think you’re going to somehow fare any better?”

I clenched my hands into fists, forming sharp icicles in my palms. “I’ve changed since we last met,” I said. “You’d be surprised what I can do now.”

“Like what?” he asked. “Make popsicles?”

I smirked and threw them at the wall. “
Penetrate per murum
,” I chanted as they struck the obsidian barrier. My icy missiles pierced the shroud and flew straight at Ben, who caught them in his hand.

He crushed them before clapping. “I’m impressed. Your gifts are growing, and that is cause for further investigation as well.” He motioned to the shadows. In reply to his summons, a horde of banshees stepped forward, as well as the four vampyren that had attacked us on our way to Otherworld—one of these unrecognizable monsters was Drake’s aunt Millie. He gestured toward the chains that held Aiden, and the chains holding Aiden followed him as he walked away.

“Where the hell do you think you’re going?” I asked.

He paused at the rear door of the throne room. “I have something to collect before I depart,” he said. “But don’t worry, I’m not leaving you empty-handed.”

The shadow wall fell. The banshees, vampyren, and fire fae stepped forward, ready to fight.

I glanced at Aiden, who gazed at me between half-closed eyelids. “I’ll be coming for you,” I said before the door slammed and my enemies descended.

“
PROTEGE ME
,”
I said with a flurry of hands. A dome of crystal light surrounded me. The vampyren squawked as they bounced off the protective shield. The banshees flew high above, concentrating their sonic screams on my barrier while the fire fae assaulted the wall of light with their flaming swords.

I gritted my teeth as the combined attacks threatened to collapse my protective sphere. I wasn’t going to last much longer, and I needed a plan.

“Get him!” King Oberon commanded, spittle flying from his lips. He resembled a rabid dog more than the leader of the fae. He rose from his throne and stood in the center of the room. The crimson energy Ben had used to control the king coiled around him as if a hidden marionette guided his actions.

If he was being controlled, that meant he and the other fire fairies were acting against their will, unlike the banshees and the vampyren. No crimson energy emanated from them. I had to somehow sever the blood tie Ben had created with the king. If I could do that, he might be able to snap his people out of Ben’s power and help me fight the others.

It was a long shot, but it was the only one I had.

But first, I had to get to him.

I centered myself like I had outside the drawbridge of the Hearth and called to the fairy magic once again. The snaking chords of light found me, easily penetrating my shield and once again filling me with the raw power of Otherworld.