Immortal Coil (42 page)

“Not getting your hands dirty, my dear?”
Xanthic
asked.

Confusion clouded her expression for a heartbeat and then recognition burned it away. “He said you were dead.”

“Actually, he said I was still in there, you just didn’t believe him.”

“
Xanthic
, I—”

“What? Planned to save me all along? Thought of me daily?” He stepped close and a strange sensation slipped through
Anaea
. It felt like regret.

“If I had known—”
Zenobia
reached a tentative hand to
Anaea’s
cheek and
Xanthic
leaned into the caress. “If only I—”

Fury filled
Anaea
. “If only,”
Xanthic
sneered. “If only. If only I hadn’t whored myself to that whale we call a Prince.”

Zenobia
jerked back, but
Xanthic
seized her wrist. “This is
my
coup, bitch!”

A new power curled out of
Anaea
, crawling up her arm and out her hand like a swarm of biting insects.
Zenobia
screamed. Blood welled on her wrist under
Xanthic’s
grasp but he held tight. His fury burned cold. She needed to suffer like he had suffered.
More.
Worse.
Painful.

He brushed the power across her face. Welts formed, burst, and her cheek collapsed, revealing stringy muscle and pocked bone. She screamed and the bone and muscle reformed, covered with flesh and burst again.

Xanthic
giggled and clapped his hands, releasing
Zenobia
. With a moan, she scrabbled away, blood weeping down her cheek.

“Oh my, I didn’t anticipate that you’d heal faster than a disintegrating touch.” He giggled and sexual pleasure billowed over
Anaea
. This was just too good. She would suffer and suffer, always healing and always disintegrating, until he got around to killing her. Perfect.

He turned his gaze to Regis and Hunter. “I’m King.
Any disputers?”

* * *

Regis’s
chambers were empty and the door hung ajar.
Capri
turned to Grey. He looked marginally better, but sweat still slicked his forehead and his skin remained pale. He really was a loyal friend. She hoped Hunter knew how good he had it.

“Looks like we missed the fight,”
Capri
said.

Grey nodded. “No bodies. They must be at the feast hall.”

“You think he’ll risk accusing Hunter in public?” That wasn’t good. With the Handmaiden missing since the attack at the rebirth chamber, Hunter’s soul could be lost in the medallion. But there weren’t a lot of other explanations.
Unless those human mages Grey had mentioned had caught up to everyone.

“They have a head start,” Gig said.

“Then we’ll just have to run.” Grey bolted down the hall.

Capri
raced after him. Hunter didn’t stand a chance if Regis accused him in public. As good as Hunter was, he couldn’t survive a fight against every drake
who’d
be in attendance at the feast. And fight he would if his inamorata’s life was on the line.

Grey skidded to a halt in front of half a dozen drakes standing guard before the feast hall doors. They all wore black and all had glazed looks in their eyes. She squinted. Something wasn’t right. Four of the six auras flickered, weak and uneven. She’d only seen that once, right before the only human mage she’d ever met called up a cyclone and killed thousands of people. No one else had seen the flickering aura, but she knew she hadn’t hallucinated. And now she knew what it meant. Those men weren’t dragons, but human mages. Shit.

Grey raised his sword, but he wasn’t in any shape to take on all six.

* * *

All the dragons in the feast hall stared at
Anaea
with wide eyes then their gazes shot to the floor.

“Not a defiant one among them,”
Xanthic
said. “Of course, we can’t have a new Royal Coterie with the old one still around.”

Xanthic
jabbed a finger at Regis. Lightning shot toward the Prince.
Anaea’s
cage ballooned, slightly, for just a moment. Hunter tackled Regis to the floor and the energy shot past them to the back of the room and burst against the doors, scorching the wood and showering the marble floor with sparks.

More energy surged in
Xanthic
. The cage expanded again, a little further.
Anaea
shoved against the gap. Hunter’s presence filled her. He was determined, ferocious, and terrified he’d lose her.

I’m still here,
she called.

Xanthic
shot another bolt. Hunter shoved Regis out of the way and jerked back, but the lightning sliced open Hunter’s side.

Xanthic
faked a yawn. “This is boring. Do you mind?” He turned to three drakes… no, human mages by the weakness of their auras, but they stared at him, trembling.

“Oh right, take the cage off.” He flicked his wrist and the shimmering cage melted around them. “Now kill him and don’t make me ask again.”

The three mages leapt at Hunter. The first grabbed him and the second slammed his fist into Hunter’s face. Hunter’s head snapped back.

Anaea
bashed against her cage.

Magic fluctuated around the third mage. He was preparing something but she couldn’t tell what.

* * *

Both drakes and humans guarding the entrance to the feast hall raised their blades. A muffled explosion shook the great doors and they shot nervous glances at each other.

“Gig, a distraction,”
Capri
said, keeping her voice low and not looking back at the young drake.
He’d know what to do. He’d sense whatever technology was in the vicinity, hopefully something like a cell phone on one of the assailants, and activate it. She stepped aside and barked her power word, ramming her magic into the minds of the four humans. She couldn’t influence the two drakes, but she could take care of the mages. She prayed she was right about the meaning of their flickering auras.

“You’re tired,” she said. “Go to sleep.”

Their weapons sagged in their hands.

The two drakes growled and Grey rushed at them.

A cell phone rang—Gig working at his finest—and distracted the drakes just long enough for Grey to slice the closest drake’s neck.

The humans stumbled back, still blocking the door. Her magic slowed their movements, but not enough. She needed more power.

Grey gasped and brought his sword across the first drake’s torso, slicing him open from crotch to sternum. She hoped he was a slow healer. No one wanted to take a dragon’s life without a medallion nearby, but she didn’t doubt Grey would do it if he had to.

Gig jabbed his short sword at the second dragon, a squat blue drake with a pale aura.

She yearned to help him but all four humans were still a danger. Pain seared
Capri
’s temples. “Go.
To.
Sleep.”

One of the humans dropped to the floor.

“Sleep.”
She wasn’t going to be fast enough, and Grey looked exhausted.

* * *

Mage number two punched Hunter in the face
again,
blood and spittle flying into mage number one’s face.

With a growl, Hunter jerked a hand free. He pulled a gun from his coat and shot mage number two in the forehead as he came in for another strike. Hunter twisted and killed the man holding him before the first one hit the ground.

His rage swept through
Anaea
. It fed her, strengthened her. She pounded and pounded at the cage holding her until a crack appeared in her confines.

Hunter shot the third mage between the eyes and rushed up the aisle toward the dais, pulling a second pistol and pointing both at her.

Two more humans dropped to the floor under
Capri
’s magic. Her head pounded. The last one started reciting a spell in ancient Egyptian, drawing power.

Gig’s strike missed. Grey seized the distraction to slash at the blue drake’s legs, but his blade was blocked. Metal clanged against metal. Blue swung at Gig’s head. The youngling ducked and Grey tackled Blue, smashing his head against the granite floor.

Capri
growled her power word again. Her magic exploded through her skull and the remaining human mage gasped. His eyes rolled back and he crumpled to the ground.

Grey rammed Blue’s head against the floor again then met
Capri
’s gaze.

She nodded at him and shoved the closest human away from the door. “Open it.”

* * *

Xanthic
jumped from the dais, hands flicking at his shimmering cages, releasing more of
Zenobia’s
mages and screaming, “Kill them! Kill Regis and his assassin!” More than a dozen men, their faces etched with fear, jerked forward and rushed across the hall to Hunter.

Panic filled
Anaea
.
Do it now, Hunter. Kill him.
The men were going to overtake him and he wouldn’t stand a chance.

Hunter bared his teeth, his guns trained on
Xanthic
, on her. His index fingers twitched near the triggers but he didn’t fire.

The great door swung open. Grey and Gig, doused in blood, and
Capri
, her aura blindingly radiant, stood in the entrance. They paused for a heartbeat,
then
raced to meet the men.

Anaea
dragged her attention back to Hunter. Screams, roars, explosions, and metal screeching against metal filled the chamber. She couldn’t look, couldn’t bear to see Hunter die. This had to end.
Xanthic
couldn’t be allowed to continue.

Hunter, please.
She rammed everything she had at the crack.
Kill him.

Xanthic
sneered and sick satisfaction washed over her.

“What’s wrong, Hunter? Can’t kill a human?”
Xanthic
held up the medallion. “Can’t kill this human?”

Hunter’s hands trembled. He wasn’t going to stop her. He couldn’t.

“I didn’t think so.” Magic swept down
Xanthic’s
hands and enveloped the medallion.

Anaea’s
heart raced. She couldn’t lose him.

Someone wailed nearby. Metal caught light and Grey brought down a mage. Lightning zinged toward him and
Capri
tackled him out of the way. No please, not Hunter, not his friends. But she couldn’t get control of her body.

The magic within her billowed and a wind snagged Hunter, dragging him the remaining few feet to
Xanthic
. She could sense Hunter’s flurry of thoughts. He’d failed her, couldn’t save her, but had to keep fighting.

The crack in
Anaea’s
cage widened.
Just enough.
It had to be enough to stop all of this.

Xanthic
giggled and shoved the medallion against Hunter’s forehead. Hunter struggled against the wind, but it held him tight, pinning his arms to his sides.
Xanthic
barked the words to activate the medallion. Blue flame leapt from his hand, surrounding Hunter.

Anaea
shoved through the crack, seizing the magic within her, but she couldn’t pull it back. It engulfed Hunter, tearing at his soul.

Please, no.

Hunter’s gaze met hers.
I love you, inamorata.

And I won’t lose you.
She released everything she felt for Hunter: love, respect, awe, determination, into the magic devouring him. She shoved it through the medallion into him.

Hunter dropped to his knees. His red aura blossomed, growing with each beat of his heart. He moaned and glanced up at her.

Her heart stuttered. Something was wrong. He gasped for breath and trembled. Then something cracked and he howled.

“Oh, God.
Hunter.” She dropped to her knees.
Her knees.
She had control!

But
Xanthic
lassoed her essence with a sticky thread. She struggled against it. She needed to stay in control of her body and help Hunter. She shot a mental bolt of light at
Xanthic
. He absorbed it and her body released a manic giggle.

Hunter collapsed to his side and hugged his gut. Something writhed under his skin, drawing another scream.

God, she’d killed him.

Xanthic
sniggered at the thought.

No, please.