Blood Tied (23 page)

“What’s this?” the king asked. “He’s using the magic of the fae.”

That pissed off the banshees and the fire fairies. They redoubled their efforts to break through and kill me, but their struggle was no longer necessary.

“
Propellit
,” I uttered with a wave of my hand as I lowered my shield. The majority of the enemies around me flew backward, crashing through the walls and out into the courtyard below.

A second wave of fire fae converged, raining fireballs down upon me. I pointed at the onslaught before flicking my hand at them and reciting a spell. My words halted their flaming missiles in midflight before returning them to their casters. The fireballs struck their mark, and the fae cried out in pain as they crashed to the marble floor.

I still had no idea how I had managed to tap into the magic of this world and overpower their abilities or knew what to do. It was like some instinct within me had been turned on.

As long as it continued to work, I’d follow the lead of the magic that somehow wielded me.

A shrill cry filled the air, causing every windowpane in the room to explode outward. I covered my ears as a group of banshees prepared to attack. They inhaled big breaths to summon screams that would no doubt shatter my eardrums. “
Sin aere este
,” I chanted, stealing all air from where they had gathered. Their yellow eyes grew wide, and they clasped their throats.

“Die!”

Claws grasped me from behind and threw me into one of the stone columns. I landed with a thud just in time to see the return of the vampyren and the others I had knocked outside the castle.

While spells might continue to work against the fae and the banshees, the vampyren built up an immunity that would eventually make them invulnerable. I had to switch things up and use the other weapons in my arsenal.

I tapped into my ice powers and let them loose. A flash freeze covered the entire room in ice, instantly freezing everyone who touched the ground. Dozens of ice statues stood around me, trapped within my icy grip. The only parts of their bodies that could move were their eyes, and their hatred burned hotter than the sun.

Gathering my breath, I kneeled on the ground, eying my prisoners. The low hum of the banshees’ powers caught my attention. They were attempting to shatter their prisons, while the ice around the fire fae began to melt.

I had only a few minutes to do what needed to be done.

I was sprinting over to the king, concocting a spell I hoped would free him from Ben’s sway, when the ice around him exploded outward. I tumbled across the floor from the force of the explosion and shielded my face from the shards that bit into my flesh.

“You have bastardized our magic,” King Oberon said. A fiery broadsword formed in his hand as he walked toward me. “I will not allow this perversion to last one moment longer.”

Flaming wings, bigger and grander than Aiden’s, sprouted from his back as he lunged at me. I managed to roll out of the way seconds before his sword struck.

Out of nowhere, a storm of blazing arrows headed toward me. “You must listen,” I said, dodging the fiery onslaught. The power I sensed from him was immense. If he managed to land even one blow, I would be dead. I hid behind one of the pillars as the arrows rained down, melting everything they touched. “You’re being controlled by blood magic.”

“I’m the king of the fae,” he announced, slicing through the column where I’d taken shelter. “No one controls me.” The stone fractured and crumbled, falling into a rocky heap. With one of the supports now gone, the ceiling above creaked, and cracks formed in the plaster overhead.

The angry crimson lines wrapped tightly around him. Perhaps that was what I needed to attack. With my index and middle finger, I formed a makeshift pair of scissors. “
Inseco
,” I said while snapping them closed.

The lines around King Oberon shuddered but did not break. I repeated the spell again with the same result. The increase in my power still wasn’t strong enough to break Ben’s enchantment.

With surprising speed, the king crashed into me. I slammed against the wall and before I could summon forth any of my powers, he wrapped his flaming hands around my forearm. I screamed in pain as my flesh sizzled and he tossed me across the room where I landed in a heap.

He gestured at the others, and a heat wave spread across the room, instantly melting the ice that held them captive. Freed, they advanced toward me, each of them ready to end my threat.

There were too many of them. I couldn’t take them all on by myself, but if I didn’t, Aiden would pay the price for my failure. I couldn’t allow that to happen. I had to focus on him, use the memory of the strength his touch gave me.

I’d made a promise I wouldn’t let anything happen to him, and it was a promise I intended to keep.

The only way I would be able to do that was if I relied on my brains, which had always served me well before, instead of my brawn.

I collapsed onto my knees, pretending defeat.

“You surrender?” King Oberon asked.

I nodded. “I’m no match for all of you.”

The banshees cackled, and the vampyren responded by snapping their jaws shut. Their tongues slithered between their razor-sharp teeth, obviously itching to tear into my flesh and drink my blood.

“Kill him,” said the Aunt Millie vampyre. Black saliva dripped from her jaws.

“Yes,” agreed one of the banshees. “Those were your orders.”

Interesting. The banshees and the vampyren were going to allow King Oberon to kill me. That wasn’t like them. Their perverted natures insisted on drawing blood, so why the change? How did my death at the king’s hands play into Ben’s plan?

“Hold him,” King Oberon commanded. The fire fae restrained my hands behind my back and forced me to my feet. Two of them held their fiery weapons poised at my neck while the king approached with his sword and murder in his eyes. “It’s time for you to die, warlock.”

Time was running out. I had to find some way to break the spell that controlled the fae, but everything I’d tried had failed. How had Aiden severed my blood ties with Ben? He hadn’t cast a spell or known what he was doing. All it took was the warmth of his flesh and the sweetness of his kisses to bring me around.

Was it because of the feelings we had for each other? Had the attraction that had grown to so much more been the cause?

“Where’s the queen?” I asked.

He hesitated. His eyes darted back and forth as if he were searching for an answer. This was what I needed. From everything Aiden had told me, King Oberon doted on Queen Una.

“Is she safe?”

“Kill him,” commanded one of the male vampyren. He dug his claws into the king’s shoulder, snapping him from his thoughts. “Do it. Now.”

“The Queen is of no consequence to you,” the king answered, but the conviction in his voice faltered slightly. The memory of his wife swirled from the depths of his soul, and the red tethers around him grew slack.

“But she is to you,” I said.

The other female vampyren charged through the crowd, knocking back the fire fae that restrained me. She grabbed me by my shirt and lifted me in the air. “Shut up! If you say one more word, I’ll bite off your tongue.” She punctuated her threat with a snap of her jaws.

“And what will your master do to you if you do that?” I asked, briefly switching my gaze to where the king stood slack. The sword disappeared from his hands. The blood ties that held him grew looser and threatened to slip free. “That wouldn’t be following orders, would it? You can’t kill me, or did I get that wrong?”

She glanced over her shoulder at the other vampyren, who hissed in reply. She let me go, and I fell to the ground.

“Wise choice,” I said, struggling to my feet. “You don’t want to piss him off. He killed the banshees he sent after Aiden.”

“He what?” asked one of the banshees. She glided over to where I stood and got in my face. An angry snarl curled her withered lips. This was news to her.

“You didn’t know?” I asked. “I figured he told you he snapped them in two for disobeying him.”

The banshees behind her wailed in anger.

“Was that not part of your deal?”

“You lie,” she said, wrapping her hands around my throat. “The shadow weaver promised us freedom from Otherworld if we followed him.”

So that
was
the carrot Ben dangled in front of the banshees. The dark fae had never appreciated being forced to live here. If they had their way, they’d tear down the barrier that separated them from Earth. “Well, he did free your three sisters,” I said matter-of-factly. “From their lives.”

She let go of me and turned to the vampyren. “Is this true?” she shrieked. “Has the shadow weaver betrayed us?”

In response, the two female vampyren sprang on her, tearing out her throat. The banshees struck back, bringing the remaining vampyren into the fray. While they fought, I inched over to King Oberon, who stood still. The faraway look in his eyes told me he wasn’t seeing the events unfolding around him. He was lost in the memory of his wife.

“You’ve got to find Queen Una,” I said. “She’s in danger.”

The fire fae, who had been distracted by the eruption of the vampyren-banshee war, grabbed me, pulling me away from their king.

“
Memento amoris
,” I said, casting a simple spell that would allow the king to remember his love. A second later, the red vines of magic around him snapped, and he fell to his knees.

When he looked up, anger had turned his green eyes into twin flames of emerald fire. Except this time, it wasn’t directed at me. He balled his fists, and a flaming hand appeared in the throne room.

Its sudden presence stopped the fighting.

“That is
enough
!” he commanded. The hand closed around the red strings of magic still clutching the assembled fire fae and set them on fire, freeing his people from Ben’s power.

“No!” shouted the female vampyre that wasn’t Aunt Millie. She leaped at King Oberon, but the fiery hand reached out and grabbed her. When the hand opened up, a pile of ash fell to the ground.

Evidently, wooden stakes weren’t the only way to kill a vampyre. The fire of the fae worked just as efficiently, and the others realized the danger. They took to the air and flew through the broken windows.

“After them!” King Oberon commanded, and his subjects immediately pursued. He turned his gaze to the banshees, who snarled and hissed. They were ready for a fight. He nodded at the remaining fae, who had their fiery swords already in hand, and they attacked.

“King Oberon,” I said, staring at the exit beyond his throne.

“We will handle the dark fae and find my wife,” he said. A smile spread across his wizened face. It reminded me of Aiden’s. “Go get my son.”

I ran out the same door Ben had had used.

I
would
get Aiden back, no matter what I had to do.

Chapter 9

I STOOD
in the middle of the courtyard where the door led, unsure where to go. Ben could have taken Aiden anywhere, and I didn’t have time to search every inch of the Hearth to find him. Ben was obviously after whatever relic kept Otherworld and my world separate. That was most likely why he’d taken Aiden and why I needed to get to them fast.

Once Ben had what he’d come here for, Aiden became disposable.

I took several deep breaths and closed my eyes before opening them to the vibrant web of magical energy that wove through every inch of fairyland. “
Duc me ad Aiden
,” I said, asking for the lines of power to lead me where I needed to go.

One of the red strings grew rigid and pulsed like a neon sign. It traveled through the archway about twenty feet away before ending at the door of the castle keep.

I ran, uttering a spell that would increase my speed. Within seconds, I was throwing open the doors.

A huge rectangular room opened up beyond the entrance. Arched doorways with chevrons carved along the top lined the forty-foot area, with a gallery running along each of the four floors.

The band of energy I had followed traveled up the spiral staircase on the right, so I dashed up the steps to the top floor. It continued down a six-foot long hallway before disappearing through the only door on this level.

I charged forward, a spell on my lips. In response, the mahogany door exploded inward, sending splinters of wood across the marble floor. While careful thought had saved me from certain death before, I didn’t have time to formulate a plan. Aiden’s life hung in the balance.

Along the far wall stood a fireplace constructed from faded red bricks. It spanned the entire length of the room, and the hearth was so wide at least two vehicles could have parallel parked inside with plenty of room to spare.

A fire roared at its core, sending out immense waves of heat that seared my skin from where I stood some thirty feet away.

Who had built this? Giants?

“It’s stunning, isn’t it?”

The shadows in the room parted, revealing Ben standing to the right of the fireplace. Aiden still dangled in midair from the chains. His eyes were closed, and the shifting glow of the fire made it impossible to tell if he was breathing or not.

“Let Aiden go,” I said, taking a step into the room.

Ben didn’t reply. He turned to gaze into the fire. “It’s truly a remarkable piece of masonry.” He ran his fingers along the brick. The suggestive way he bit his lip made it seem as if he was caressing a lover’s flesh instead of brick and mortar. “A true testament to fire fae construction, wouldn’t you say?”

Anger once again built up inside me. Its currents churned deep in my soul, and it longed for release. “Let. Him. Go.”

Ben glanced over his shoulder at me, a wry smile twisting his lips. “I’m pleased to see you’re still alive,” he said. “I’m not surprised though. You’ve managed to tap into the magic of this place. How did you do that?”

I had no clue, but I wasn’t going to tell him that. “If you don’t let Aiden go, I’ll show you.”

He chuckled. “You’re not powerful enough to be a threat to me,” he said, wagging his finger. “Don’t go thinking you’re all that, Thad. You’ve never encountered someone like me.” He paused for a moment, a gleeful smile spreading across his lips. “No one has, in fact.”