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CAMBION

Oronrel

My magic isn’t what it should be, but I slip into the corridor with a simple cloaking spell. Unseelie guards, dressed in their armor, line the walls. They’re unaware I move among them. Though I wish to help my brother, I must first check on Aima. She’s my friend and former love, but most of all, she’s part of our quest to bring peace to the realms. I can’t and won’t abandon her.

The dungeon is heavily guarded and encrypted with spells strong enough to discourage anyone trying to stage an uprising. I’m tempted to slit throats and bathe in the blood of those who attacked my allies in the Veil, but I look beyond my anger and wait for one of the guards to open the door. When he does, I slip through and follow him to the dungeons.

There, I see her. Aima lays on her side within one of the cells, curled into a ball with her arms around herself. I wait until the guard finishes his business and exits the dungeon, never realizing I’m here with him.

Once he leaves, I take the steps separating me from Aima. Then I reach through the prison bars and brush my fingertips against her cheek. She immediately opens her eyes, then pulls back in shock and scrambles to her knees, fear in her pitch-black gaze. She can’t see me, just as the guard couldn’t.

“Aima,” I whisper as I remove the concealment spell. “It’s me.”

“Cambion?” she says as recognition settles over her.

“What have they done to you?”

“Nothing I can’t handle,” she assures me. But I know the truth. She’s close to breaking, even if her pride keeps her from admitting as much. “What are you doing here? If they catch you—”

“They won’t.”

“You don’t know that! Go back to wherever they’re keeping you! So long as you’re obedient, Theren won’t kill you. Especially if he thinks you’re valuable to Morrigan.”

“I won’t leave you, Aima.”

“You have to!”

“No, we can escape—together. I’m working on pulling together a plan. It’s dangerous, but I’m confident it will work.”

“Cambion,” she sighs. “Stop trying to save me. I’m not your responsibility.”

“I can get us out of here.”

“How?” she demands.

“The mirror I took from Pyre’s secret room may be able to home in on his specific magic signature.”

“What does that mean?”

“It means the mirror might be able to reveal our whereabouts.”

She inhales deeply and then shakes her head as she looks at me. “You’re nearly as bad as Kolvar, you know that?” she says with a fond smile.

“I would prefer you not compare me to a satyr, thank you,” I grumble.

Her smile deepens. “He’s not just a satyr. He took so many beatings for me when we were here the last time, I lost count. He nearly died for me, and I didn’t know him for as long as I’ve known you.” She takes a breath and faces me in earnest. “I don’t want to shoulder the guilt of causing someone’s death, especially yours.”

“Having friends who wish to save you isn’t a burden, Aima, it’s a blessing.”

“I don’t look at it the same way.” She unfolds her limbs and slides up the wall to gain some form of balance. “And if you’re trying to do this simply to find redemption for your actions, then go fuck yourself.”

“I'm not after redemption. At least, not yet,” I reply. My knees creak as I move closer to the bars. Hanging her head, Aima scrubs her hands over her face. I lower my tone and try a gentler approach to obtain the information I want. “If Theren is no longer at the head of the Unseelie Court, it was not by Morrigan’s doing.”

“What do you mean?”

I shrug. “Morrigan wouldn’t want her pawn to lose power.”

Aima nods. “Someone infiltrated Oronrel. I don’t know who it was, but I can sense a foreign magic here in the palace.”

“A foreign magic?” I ask, my tone laced with doubt.

Aima nods. “You’ve been gone so long, you can’t tell the difference anymore.” She stretches, and I hear her spine pop as she adjusts herself. The color drains from her face and she breathes through the pain. “But, I know it’s true. Once I find out who it is, I can put an end to the unlawful executions.”

“ If you find out who it is,” I respond before shaking my head. “You need to understand

there’s more at stake than finding a spy. We need to get back to our group if we have any chance of making it through this—“

The sound of approaching boots cuts me off, and I cast the concealment spell only seconds before the door bursts open. Aima glances up briefly as two guards enter the dungeon. One of them forces open her cell while the other enters. Aima dodges his attempt to restrain her.

I make it across the dungeon just as she slams her knee into the guard’s abdomen. Aima is loyal to the Unseelie, which means she won’t stop until she sets them free. Regardless, I won’t leave her behind. The sounds of her fighting continue behind me as I move unseen out of the dungeon. I hurry back to my bedchamber, easing the door shut behind me before collapsing onto the bed.

My entire body throbs with pain.

***

BARON

The Veil

“You’re catching on quickly, Baron,” Pyre says as he instructs me through the process of closing one of the ancient rifts in the Veil.

My hands quiver and sweat pours down my face, but I ease the tear shut with unwavering concentration. Green is the color of my particular magic as it shifts and contorts the portal until the spell is complete.

Pyre spins me around and slowly hovers a hand in front of my face, as though he’s using his power to probe my energies.

“There aren’t many who can close a portal that old on their first try,” he says.

“You don’t sound very excited about that.”

“Don’t get me wrong, I’m very impressed with your growth,” Pyre says as he steps back and hands me a small tool to carve new runes into the stones surrounding the old portal. “But the last Guardian of The Veil who learned that quickly turned dark long before I came along. From what I know, he was killed by the Sentinels for trying to taint the wellspring. Your aptitude reminds me how easy it is to turn.”

“Turn?”

“All things have a dark side, Baron,” he mutters.

Then he kneels down beside me and draws intricate runes at a speed that baffles me. “Guardians are no exception to that rule, especially when you take into account the fact that we are dark in nature.” He looks up at me. “Your job is to make sure you feed any energy you absorb back into the Veil so it can thrive. Keeping that energy inside you will only make you susceptible to corruption. Either that, or feed it into Eilish, but you must remove it from yourself.”

I stand and dust the chalk off my hands, scowling up at the sky above us, wondering if Eilish is doing the same. She’s changing me and I’m not sure it’s for the better. “I have feelings for her,” I reveal. “Feelings I shouldn’t have. And I’m afraid they’re weakening me.”

“Feelings aren’t a sign of weakness.”

I nod but I can’t say I agree. “Dragan has fallen for her hard, and I don’t want to stand in his way if it means losing him as an ally.”

“Why would you lose him as an ally?”

“Because he’s jealous of the bond Eilish and I have,” I respond.

“Could you leave her?” Pyre asks.

I swallow hard. “I don’t know.” I pause as I further consider it. “The dark bond she and I share, it’s growing. I thought it would have dwindled away by now, but that doesn’t seem to be happening.” I turn away and Pyre follows me to the next portal. We work diligently, side by side, to heal the Veil.

“Is that a problem?” he asks.

I shrug. “I shouldn’t be able to feel anything, right? I don’t have a soul.”

“It doesn’t matter what you believe you should or shouldn’t feel. The truth of the matter is that you feel what you feel, so why fight it?” he asks with a shrug. “Life is short, Baron, even for those of us who don’t have souls.”

I consider his words but then shake my head. “I can’t allow myself to get closer to Eilish. I can’t become invested in her, not when our futures lead us in different directions.”

“And why is that?”

“I want to become the Guardian of The Veil. I’m working hard at this and I have no intention of giving it up. There are so many things I still want to learn.”

“Like what?”

“Like how to save you,” I say without thinking. Pyre’s head snaps around and he glares at me, but I don’t back down. “You’re always talking about dying, how could you think I wouldn’t pay attention? Not to mention the part of the broken prophecy that says you’ll die if a particular series of events come to pass. I won’t let it happen.”

“You have no choice, Baron. It’s best that you prepare for the outcome we both know is coming.”

“Fate is changeable.”

“Not mine,” he answers with no emotion. “I’m a necromancer. I know when death approaches and approach it does.”

“I don’t want to hear that bullshit,” I snarl. “I need you, Pyre. All of us do, for different reasons. The realms won’t be the same if you aren’t here.”

“All things continue.”

“What about the fae you protect? What about Noni?” I insist as I shake my head. “No. I will find a way to save you, prophecy be damned.”

Pyre faces me with a strange smirk on his face. One that doesn’t quite reach his eyes. “You won’t give up on me,” he starts. “Yet you’re so quick to turn your back on Eilish.”

“Eilish doesn’t need me,” I protest.

“Do you truly believe that?”

“She has Dragan and Cambion and whoever else she chooses. Men fall at her feet… you’ve seen it.”

Pyre grabs my arm as if to drive home his point. “Eilish needs all of you, not one or two. All. That means you have to pull your head out of your ass and accept what’s happening.”

“What the fuck does that mean?”

“It means you have feelings for Eilish, and it’s clear to anyone with eyes that she feels something for you, too.”

“She’s a succubus. All she knows is desire and sex. Feelings don’t enter into it.”

“Are you really so stupid?”

“Fuck you,” I start but he chuckles and interrupts me.

“You’ve conveniently forgotten she’s also angel. And Eilish knows her heart as well as any of us do. Yes, she feels lust and desire but which of us don’t?” He pauses for a few seconds and then looks at me with the expression of someone who knows something I don’t. “I’ve watched the two of you.” He takes a breath. “Have you ever considered that the feelings you have for her are intentional?”

“Intentional?”

“Fate, as you called it before, has brought you together because you need one another.”

“I need Eilish because I need to syphon this excessive dark energy and she’s the only one strong enough to tolerate it?”

“Yes, that’s one of the many reasons.” He pauses. “Feeding your darkness into Eilish will keep you from corruption.”

“And what does it do for her?”

Pyre shrugs one massive shoulder. “That should be obvious?”

“It isn’t.”

“Eilish needs darkness just as much as she needs light. You can feed her darkness with your own,” Pyre finishes. “You and Dragan are only part of the darkness she requires, however. It seems all of you have forgotten that our angel-succubus is also royalty , which means she has her father’s appetite.”

“Her father’s appetite?”

“The appetite of an Incubus,” Pyre continues. “She’ll need Theren’s darkness, as well.”

“Bullshit,” I say as the word catches in my throat.

“I’m afraid not,” he replies dryly. “Have I ever misled you regarding the destinies you each must fulfill in order to restore the balance?”

I don’t answer his question because it requires no response. And I’m seething over the thought of Theren and Eilish. Theren’s a fucking backstabbing piece of shit and the idea of his cock inside my angel…

My angel.

Fuck. I do have it bad.

Pyre reaches into the lapels of his coat and pulls out the last thing I expect to see: the book of prophecies we thought was lost forever. Somehow, he’s managed to save the book of his former lover’s visions from the explosion at the cottage.