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CHAPTER TWENTY TWO

A heavy thump roused me from sleep, and I pulled a pillow over my head to block out the sound of the whirring pipes. They were so clunky, it was impossible to sleep through the night.

Another thump. I drew the covers up around my head too, the soft embrace of them making me sigh. But…wait, where was I again? I didn’t have bedding like this in that dingy place under the Keep.

The grogginess lifted and another thump made me sit abruptly upright, sending my pillow tumbling onto the floor.

I was in my new room, Ransom’s old quarters. Moonlight was streaming across the wooden floor in ribbons, spilling through the gaps in the half-drawn sets of curtains.

I grabbed my dagger from my nightstand, pushing to my feet as magic rushed to the fingertips of my good hand. Silently, I crept to the door, hearing another thud from beyond it and a low, hair-raising groan followed.

The feel of tiny feet crawled across my neck and I flinched as Calcifiend scurried onto my shoulder with a keen chirrup.

“For the love of the ocean,” I hissed in surprise. He hadn’t been here last night, so he must have arrived recently.

Another thud drew my attention back to the door, and I could have sworn something heavy hit the floor just beyond it.

I lowered to my knees, pressing my cheek to the floor to peek through the crack. My stomach lurched at the sight of two wide brown eyes staring back at me. The Fae was dragged abruptly away from the door with a cry of terror, and a yell of alarm escaped me.

My breaths came heavier and I shoved to my feet, pointing my dagger at the door. Whatever was out there was attacking the other neophytes.

My doorknob began to turn, slowly, the low screech of the metal raising the hairs along my arms.

I bared my teeth, my right hand tingling with magic as ice slid over it and I prepared to face whatever beast awaited me outside my room.

Could it break through the magical barrier I’d cast over the lock?

Was it even an ‘it’ or was it Fae? Beasts didn’t turn doorknobs.

And there were plenty of Fae in the Keep who could shift into vicious creatures of the night.

A ripple of magic crackled through the air and I felt my barrier snap apart. A decision shot through my head and I raced to the large wooden cabinet beside the door, climbing it and crouching on top of it, dagger poised and shards of ice ready to cast.

Do your worst, beastie.

The Fae breaking in made quick work of unlocking the door and it swung open with an ominous creak. All was dark in the hallway beyond and my pulse drummed in my ears as I waited for a shadow to sweep into my quarters.

The moment the air stirred with their approach, I leapt, silent as the wings of death as I fell toward my attacker. Nightfire scorched my veins and strong hands caught hold of me, yanking me tight against their body as they stumbled back from the impact of my landing.

“ You ,” I snarled and Kaiser tossed me to the floor.

With the litheness of a cat, I landed on my feet and aimed my dagger at him - despite knowing I wouldn’t be able to strike him. “What are you doing in my room, yon trince o kaské ? It can’t be time to share my fears again. Or are you here to try and feel something again, hollow man?”

Memories of his past flitted through my head, the brutal murder of his family and the small boy who had been left bleeding out in the street.

I’d felt something that day for this killer that I had tirelessly worked to smother.

I wasn’t going to pity him. Everyone in this world had lost someone.

It didn’t change who he was today. My mother’s murderer.

“There is a Venus-Jupiter trine in action, the beginning of a prosperous night,” Kaiser announced as if that explained why he was in my room, or why I’d seen a screaming man dragged away from my door thirty seconds ago. “I’ve been awaiting such an opportunity.”

“What happened outside my room?” I demanded, moving to step past him. He watched me go and I walked into the hallway, my breath stalling at what I found there.

Ransom, Alina, Maria and Lucas were piled up in a heap in a shadowed corner at the end of the corridor. They were twitching, groaning in terror, but they were clearly asleep.

Calcifiend let out a chirruping noise which somehow sounded like laughter. I turned to Kaiser for an explanation, confusion brimming in my head.

“Explain,” I commanded the Fury who was entirely unfazed about the current events, gazing passively at me from the doorway.

“They came to attack you. I believe your brother wanted his room back,” he said.

“Half-brother,” I snipped. “And what does that have to do with you ? My brother, my fight. So why the hell are they piled up like sacks of shit over there?”

Calcifiend nuzzled my face then flew over to land on Kaiser’s shoulder and nuzzled him instead, seeming entirely content with the situation.

“Because you are my responsibility until I deliver you to The Matriarch. No one is to jeopardise that,” Kaiser said simply. “Harming you is an offense to me now.”

I seethed at him, stalking closer and jabbing a finger into his chest, doing it again and again with every word I spoke. “You will not take my fights from me, Fury.”

“I will do whatever is necessary to ensure you are delivered to The Matriarch in one piece.”

“Well maybe this is a good thing anyway. Because come dawn, Ransom will have the Reapers read his mind with a Cyclops and they’ll come and cut your pretty head off.” I smiled savagely at him.

“Is that what you truly believe?”

The smile slid from my lips. Of course this asshole wouldn’t have been that foolish. He would have killed them all if he wanted no witnesses.

“I snared them with my possession before they ever caught wind of me,” he continued.

“They beat each other black and blue and now they are in a coma where their worst nightmares are haunting them. Soon, they will retrace their footsteps back to their rooms and wake, uncertain of their memories and of what exactly happened to them tonight.”

“You’ve covered all bases,” I said sourly.

A large shadow fell over me from the right and I whirled around, gasping at the sight of Galomp standing there with a teddy bear clutched to his chest, wearing an honest-to-shit nightgown that fell down to his ankles and a sleep bonnet to match.

“I heard a kerfuffle,” he announced, his eyes sliding slowly from me to Kaiser. “Oh bother.”

Galomp’s teddy bear dropped to the floor as he raised his hands, a glint of water magic stirring between them.

Kaiser strode forward like an oncoming hurricane, his commanding voice splitting the air in two. “Lower your hands.”

Galomp did so at once, Kaiser’s possession spilling from him as it took hold of my friend, then the Fury cast a silencing shield around us all.

“ Stop ,” I snarled, stepping between them, but Kaiser’s power flowed into me too, forcing me to retreat.

My enemy’s eyes glinted red and darkness coated his expression as Galomp began to whimper. He clapped a hand against his own arm, then again and again, smacking at his hair and sending his sleep bonnet flying to the floor. “No, no – not the spiders, get away, get away!”

Kaiser watched him closely, feeding on Galomp’s fear then drawing a short knife from his pocket. He raised it to Galomp’s throat and panic ripped through my chest.

“No!” I screamed, fear igniting in me so forcefully that Kaiser’s attention snapped my way as he felt it too. “Don’t kill him.”

“He has seen my face, silka la vin,” Kaiser said coldly. “He is my death if I am not his first.”

“There’s another way. There has to be,” I demanded. “Galomp won’t tell if I ask him not to. He trusts me.”

Kaiser considered my words then shook his head. “It is not iron clad. I do not leave loose ends.” He raised the knife again and a tumult of power tore through me, spilling from my flesh and burning through Kaiser’s possession.

I cast a shield of ice in front of Galomp to catch the strike of Kaiser’s blade and it scored across it with a shrieking scrape.

I ran in front of the shield, ready to do more to protect Galomp, but Kaiser’s hand dropped to his side, the knife hanging loose from his fingertips.

He was regarding me intensely, his brow furrowed as true emotion blossomed in his eyes, released by the dark power I’d cast. Desire. For something Kaiser wanted more than anything in this world; I could see the depth of that want as plainly as the sun in the sky.

The knife slipped from his fingers and he stepped close, too close, his hand coming to my face and his fingers brushing against my jaw. “If I let him live, you will use this power on me whenever I request it. You will do so until I can remain in the carnage of my own mind without you.”

I inched nearer to him, closing the space so there was nothing but a breath between us. “I accept, hollow man.”

I was more than happy to use this power on him regularly, because I’d felt what it was capable of. It could fight off his possession, and one day soon, it might fight it off for good.

His hand was still on my face, the heat of his skin a furnace that rushed deep into my bones and heated me through.

His soul was bared in that moment, his eyes a dark window that gave a view to his inner torment.

He was raw and real right now and some part of me was drawn to that wound in him, wanting to pick it apart and watch it bleed.

His breaths chased mine, our bodies too close as we stared eternally and unblinkingly at each other.

His fingers tracked up my jaw, almost a caress, the need in those obsidian eyes rooting me in place. “I am not so hollow when I am with you,” he said, his voice gritty, full of truth and tempered with the darkest brand of emotions.

“I can see that,” I exhaled, wanting to withdraw but finding it hard to extract myself from the intensity of his touch. Of that look which devoured me.