Unlocking Void (Book 3) (22 page)

He would have to push the images far down in his subconscious so they would not interfere. Yet, he had to be honest with himself. As beautiful and seductive as Maxine was, he did not want her. He wanted Robyn, the girl who with one glance could know his thoughts and mood, who was noble enough to keep his secrets, who saw him at his worst and still accepted him…or
had
. She was probably romanced by the Prince of Arconia by now. He hoped the Prince was worthy of her.

He stripped and dressed in sleeping clothes, picking up Coal on his way to bed. Sleep eluded him as his mind raced, but somewhere in the early morning he finally slipped off.

The attack came at night. Fire Mages lit the sky with burning globes. They crashed into Balien’s camp setting fire to tents. But Balien was ready. Poppy coursed in his veins to combat the pain of slight wounds he took. The Shalabane sat for days to plan their move which gave him plenty of time to send scouts searching for wolfsbane, strychnine, and death-sap to dip all their weapons in. His men were instructed to shoot arrows only when they were sure of shot and to aim for the Mages first.

The first wave was simple soldiers backed by Fire Mages who stood a safe distance away. When Balien’s men brought the soldiers down, the Shalabane sent another wave, larger this time and backed with Earth Mages. They made the stones fall and roots rip from the ground.

Balien knew they were outmatched, but the night was on their side. Diggers, soldiers in black, crept into the Shalabane camp. They picked men and Mages off from behind and put out the Fire Mages’ energy sources.

Yet, death still fell around them. Good soldiers crushed beneath stones, burned to death, or died by the sword. Balien rallied his men and sent more into the darkness, all the while slaying men with his own blade. It was little time before his golden sword
Harbinger
was slick with gore. He, too, dripped with blood, though none of it was his. Shalabane fought with short curved swords which made them light and easily maneuverable, but Balien’s long sword gave him reach. It was a heavy sword, but he was young and strong.

A man to his left swiped a scimitar over his leg, but Balien could not feel the pain.

“Commander, we must pull back!” one of his guards shouted as the night droned on.

“Do not admit defeat!” Balien yelled back, slashing another screaming Shalabane. They could not give the land up and retreat to a better location. There was nothing better. Cities and towns lay behind them, and if he failed, people would die.

“We’ve lost the Spirit Mages, my lord.”

“Then we fight without intent of injury! We fought a thousand battles before Battle Mages joined, and we will do it again.”

Mages broke ranks and joined the soldiers, ripping earth and snapping the air. Balien could feel the earth rumble beneath his boots, and he rushed forward to take a Fire Mage’s head on. The man hurled a ball of flames at him, catching his arm, but Balien swung his sword and decapitated the Mage. He patted the flames out and lunged for a Water Mage drawing moisture out of one of his fallen men who was still alive.

Balien brought his sword down on the Mage’s arm, cutting it off. He impaled the Mage as he screamed. The earth rumbled again, and somewhere men shouted. He rushed down an embankment and saw a man in a white sash fall between four Mages. More swarmed the rocks.

“Oh, stars,” Balien whispered. There were just so many of them.

“My lord, we must fall back,” his guard called again.

Balien clenched his jaw but knew the man was correct. He hated to push the command from his lips. “Order a retreat to Ratlin.”

The earth shook violently, and rocks tumbled from above the quarry. Balien and the guard fell to the unstable ground, throwing their arms up to keep debris off their heads. As the ground steadied, Balien fought to his feet when his guard yell “My lord!”

Balien heard the crash of the boulder and spun to face it. It ricocheted off a pillar, and he watched for a second before it slammed into him.

Chapter 27

Robyn slept in exhausted slumber, waking well after the family had tea ready for her. The Aidenmarians were very fond of their teas; warm, cold, or fermented. She helped them pack the camp, braided Felicity’s hair, and tied her horse to the back of their carriage. As Demi and Malain tacked the teams, she saw to the children.

They were back on the road an hour after sunrise. Robyn stayed in the carriage with the children, and the men out front. Felicity, delighted to have a female in company, told her everything a child would find interesting, from how many dresses she had to how much she loved to draw. She talked until she fell asleep after a quick lunch, and Flynn was well ahead of her. Robyn slipped out the window and shimmied over to the front seat to join the men. Malain’s eyes widened when he saw her. “My—let me pull the carriage over.”

“No bother, Malain,” she replied, plopping herself beside him.

“I have never seen a lady do tha’.”

“I am no lady in leggings.”

“Nor in dresses,” Demi teased. She reached across Malain to smack him.

The terrain was rocky and the road narrow as they wound up the switchbacks that would take them to the main road.

Malain sighed. “What am I going t’ tell the Head Mage regarding you?”

Robyn raised her brows. “What makes you think I’m going to…?”

“You made it very far without a guard.”

“Ahh…” she clenched her eyes. “When did you figure it out?”

“As soon as Demi pulled you off the rock. I saw your face many times after I was released.”

Demi leaned forward. “In the Kilkiny Palace?”

“Yes, my lad. We are in the presence of a great dignitary. It is my privilege t’ introduce you t’ Queen Robyn Bolt of Anatoly.”

Demi’s mouth fell agape. “Wh—when I called you stupid I…”

“Meant it.” Robyn interrupted with a grin, “And you were truthful. I was stupid.”

“Why didn’ you tell me sooner, father?” Demi hissed, but Malain only chuckled.

“I saw you on the Head Mage’s arm enough t’ suspect you are traveling t’ Jaden on his behalf. Considering your disguise, I imagine he does not know you are coming.”

“I would like to keep it that way.”

Malain nodded. “I will respect tha’.”

“But I will make sure he knows you desire a meeting with him immediately. He will be very happy to oblige. What is your wife’s name? You said she was a Fire Mage?”

“Yes. Her name is Anabel.”

Gabriel was on edge all day. His adrenaline spiked at every knock, every door slam, and once when Coal jumped on his desk unannounced. Mikelle even gave him a few weird glances during lunch and supper.

“You are…taciturn.”

“Agitated.” He said without looking up from his desk.

“Also that. Did you have too much black tea this morning, or not enough wine with lunch?”

“Both.”

“You are a fountain of words today.”

He looked up from his desk and smiled. “True.”

She refilled his goblet. He eyed it carefully. Balien once told him too much wine would make a man impotent for a time. Nightfall was not far off.

“How is your back?” he asked, taking a sip.

“No concerns. I sleep much better now,
and
I can drink copious amounts of wine.”

“If you were going to seduce a man, how would you do it?”

She tried very hard to keep wine from spurting out from her mouth. She was nearly successful and dabbed her chin with a glare. “You must warn me before questions like that.” She took a heavy swallow of wine. “I cannot answer.”

“Because you’re currently seducing someone I know? Lael?”

“He is very handsome, but no. Telling you would make you too powerful. A lady has great weaponry in seduction.”

“So you would wear a low-cut dress, laugh at the perfect moments, make physical contact whenever possible, be everything he wants without him knowing?”

She blinked rapidly. “No….”

“Yes,” he sighed.

“It’s the Void Mage, is it not? Do not let her push you, Gabriel. Don’t you have better things to do than worry about women?”

“Women are very worrisome.”

“For instance, you need to get me chocolate.”

“If I had a list of women that worry me…” he let his glare finish his sentence.

“Then you need to take me flying.”

“What did you do with my cat?” he cut in and looked around.

“He’s been sitting with Lael when you’re busy.”

“Traitor.”

“I know, he said he likes dogs.”

“No, the
cat.
Don’t you have places to be?”

Mikelle sighed and finished her wine. “I will find something more entertaining than you.” She stood and adjusted the front of her dress to reveal a little more, tittered amusedly, kissed his forehead, and sashayed out of the room.

“Stars above,” he muttered, listening to her laugh in the hall.

The sun sank, and he refilled his wine, grabbed a book and stoked the fire. He didn’t register any of the words. He could wait until Maxine was asleep to get the ring. He could stun her with a pattern and slip it off, but he did not want to alarm her in case she attacked. Then he would have a real problem. He could distract her enough while kissing to pin her hands in his and take the ring then. All this depended on the location they went, and if this was actually just a trap.

He was just beginning to register the words in the open book when a smoky image suddenly appeared in the corner of his vision. For a moment he thought it to be a specter, but the image solidified to Maxine.

Gabriel quickly stood. “What are you doing here?”

“I could not wait,” she said breathlessly and devoured the space between them, wrapping her arms around his neck to kiss his lips.

“Not here,” he muttered between breaths, but she paid no mind, and she pulled him across the study, tugging off his coat as they went. The coat fell, and she scrabbled at his shirt, scratching him needlessly.

Abandoning his concern and worry, he stuffed the haunting images of Arconians where they would not bother him. His hands trailed her torso. She wore a corset held together with two dozen metal clasps up the center. It looked like only an explosive pattern could unhinge it.

Her hands were relentless. She pulled him into his bedchamber by his belt and wrenched it free so fast he could feel the heat it left in its wake. He was far behind undressing her.

She slid up the edge of the bed, pulling him between her legs as she unlaced his trousers. Her eagerness only made him nervous, but he swallowed down his memories and pushed her to her back.

“Don’t rush it,” he said and climbed up beside her, wrapping a hand around her waist and pinning one of her legs down with his. He glanced to her hands and saw the Secondhand ring on her left middle finger. He took the opportunity of her passion and laced his hand through it, pinning it to the bed. She responded only with harsher lust, gripping his hair tighter and trying to pull him on top with her pinned leg. Her lips were furious and awakened the Class Ten instinct within him. He finally released his guarded nature and succumbed to her touch.

He heard the breath of a gasp, and it took him a moment to realize Maxine had not made it. His head snapped to the door.

“No,” Mikelle whispered, a hand over her mouth as she looked at Maxine. Her eyes shot to him in horror, and she ran out.

“No, Mikelle, no!” he shouted after her. He moved so fast he was not sure of his success until it was completed. He sat up and put all his weight into Maxine’s left hand, pinched her digits, and wrenched the black ring from her finger. Her angry and astonished face said it all, but he seized Void, shifted her outside Castle Jaden, broke connection, and returned in the span of two heartbeats.

He hit the floor in a sprint, jerking closed the laces on his trousers, and he raced down the hall for Mikelle not far ahead. He spotted the hem of her dress as she passed the door into the anteroom. There was a scrape of something metallic as he rushed in, nearly colliding with a knife Mikelle had pulled off a shelf.

She lunged and caught his neck, pressing the blade against his skin and pushed him back against the bookcases. He brought his hands up, breathing heavily, and eyed her with calm concern.

“You traitor,” she whispered, her hand quivering on the blade. Her other hand pushed his shoulder back, holding him steady. He could easily have thrown his weight forward and freed himself, but now was not the time.

“It’s not what you think.” Gabriel reasoned.

“It looks exactly like it. She is your Void teacher.”

“I had no choice.”

“She is the one who healed you.”

He nodded slightly.

“You are a traitor to your people.”

“I know what it looks like, but—”

“It looks like you were bedding an Arch Mage.”

He took in a deep breath. “Mikelle, would I ever do anything to harm my Mages?”

“How long—how long have you been bedding her?”

“I haven’t.”

“Sure looked otherwise.”

“Stop,” he said sternly and looked to his hand that held ring pinched between two fingers. “See this? There are two in existence. I wear one, and she wore the other. They are the only way into Jaden.” Her frown deepened, and she pressed the blade harder. “I didn’t give it to her, I took it from her. That was how she got into Jaden to taunt us, to heal me, to bring me back from the summit before I froze. I did what I needed to get it off her.”

The knife slackened a touch. “It does not change the fact that you are consorting with Arch Mages.”

“I do what I must to save my own.” He seized Void, but she did not flinch. “I have mastered it. You said you trust me.”

“I did.” She pulled the knife off his neck, and he slowly lowered his hands. “Lael needs to know you are compromised.”

He hung his head and clenched his eyes. “Please don’t.”

She released his shoulder and walked away, dropping the knife at his feet. Gabriel picked it up and watched her go, not sure if he should go after her or return to his room. He eventually wound his way back to his bedchamber and slid down the side of his bed to face the lit hearth, twirling the knife in his fingers.

If Mikelle told Lael, he would be named a traitor, and once the Council found out, they would have him deposed. He would be one of the few Head Mages to be removed from the Seat. He would lose everything all over again. He could not suffer that shame.

He propped his elbows on his knees, looking at the long pale scar inside his left forearm, remembering the day he tried to end it. It was not the last time he tried to kill himself. A coward’s way out, but an effective one.

He considered ending it after the night with Axa. She took what he was not willing to give and robbed him of his desire to give it to Robyn. He had stood atop his balcony, considering throwing himself from it, knowing reflexively at the last moment he would transform to a tiger. He had seen a man in the courtyard watching him so pulled away. But the thought still lingered.

With the image of Axa released, the memories locked away flooded forth. Faces of soldiers he killed filled his mind, the shock of the Castrofax around his neck, and the nights in the dungeon rattled him. Never in his darkest imagination would he think up the things Nolen did to him. Things he could never wipe from his mind.

The pain was so great he could almost feel it again, but his mind would not let him break. Nolen gave him a whiplash for every Air Guard soldier he killed: 3,680. But that was just the beginning.

Then there was Axa and the Arconians. That horrible woman who would have him at any cost. He remembered her when he was with every other woman, stuck in terror that they would do something similar.

He remembered the body of a young girl, horribly mutilated, brought to him and declared to be Robyn. He could not tell otherwise, but how he wished he had realized his miscalculation before it broke him.

Memories of a public flogging, learning he had weeks to live, backhands, weakness, and utter drowning despair filled him. Worst of all, he held the Silex in his hands. But he gave it up with full knowledge that he could kill Nolen and flee with it. Gabriel had been so broken, he did anything Nolen asked, even against his better judgment and will.

Lastly came the killing blow. Mikelle would have died unless he did instead. He could not deflect the spear aimed for her with anything but his body. He remembered gasping on the ground with the spear stuck through his gut. He realized he wanted life more than anything and fighting with every ounce of strength left, only to feel it slip away as he took his last breath.

When his life was renewed, and his Elements returned, he was not unbroken. Part of him was still despairingly shattered. He did not know if he could ever be the same again.

He finally accepted that fact. The weight on his shoulders suddenly became suffocating and Gabriel wept. He could not handle the affairs of a kingdom when he was such a mess, and now ‘traitor’ was thrown in to the mix. It would be much easier to let someone else deal with the Mages than him. The Arch Mages would surely kill him by the end of the battles, so there couldn’t by any point in dragging it out. Ending it now would simplify many things.