Page 29 of Mantle (IMMORTAL FLAME #3)

~Ariana~

I staggered slightly as I landed just outside the Maven Academy ward, my wings folding behind me in a sweep of gold and white light.

Upset and frustration was taking me over.

We still hadn’t found Ketheron.

I’d just come back from working with Cassius.

Following our training, which was taking a lot out of me, because we were going extremely hardcore and fast-paced with it, we’d headed out to one of the sites where Ketheron was possibly being held.

Unfortunately, that had been Silverwood Wolf Pack lands.

It was now a mass burial ground.

Nothing at all left of my dad’s former pack but bones and ash.

Draco had committed that massacre a couple of decades back when he’d risen.

It had been absolutely brutal and it was an emotional place for our family.

And going there had proven fruitless as well because Ketheron hadn’t been there.

So, with all of that in play, I just needed a moment.

I had class with the guys in ten minutes— Arcane Combustion & Elemental Synergy— and I had to tell them that I’d had another dream last night.

It had been the exact same one as before, Ketheron once again opening up that mental link between us.

It hadn’t revealed anything new. But it had unsettled me.

The fact that it kept happening.

The fact that he was still in so much pain.

The fact that we hadn’t found him yet—the fucking failure of it when I was operating at a supreme level now, completely in control of my magic and mastering so much more with Cassius every single day and at a rapid rate.

In spite of all of that, I hadn’t succeeded.

I felt so… impotent.

And my boys weren’t going to be happy about me suffering another mental invasion from Ketheron.

I’d considered not telling them, but I couldn’t do that.

Not doing so when it came to Sylas’ warning was bad enough.

But them knowing that would risk tipping them over the edge.

All of them were too raw right now with everything they’d suffered through.

Besides, I literally couldn’t be killed.

It was stupid. Unfounded. A mistake on the necromancer’s part.

“Ariana.”

I spun around just as a chill rolled through the air.

And then one hell of a surprise greeted me.

Not the good kind.

Talk about a blast from the past.

I actually had to do a double take, questioning what I was seeing—who I was seeing.

There he was, short, slicked back blond hair styled with meticulous care, not a strand out of place.

He was wearing one of his usual tailored blazers, this one dark and sharply cut and patterned in a muted check, the fabric decadent.

His black shirt beneath was unbuttoned low enough to tease skin in his infamous seductive way.

It brushed the waistband of his navy tailored pants.

He was wearing a lot of chunky rings and bracelets, one of his signature fashion choices.

And then there were his steely eyes.

They stared into mine with a familiarity I didn’t care for, nor did I want to recall.

A wave of heated embarrassment rolled through me—and I hated it. I hated that it still impacted me, that him standing here now was the living embodiment of that mortifying night and my former failings.

I wasn’t that person anymore.

I’d learned. I’d grown. I’d accepted who I was.

I liked who I was.

I was finally comfortable with the real me.

Being around my boys helped to enforce that.

But being around him , even just for these brief moments so far, threatened to unravel that, to transport me back to that uncomfortable and hopeless time before, to being that clueless girl who’d spent so long running from who and what she was.

“Corvin,” I uttered, my voice steady despite the shock.

He didn’t take weakness well. He was all about strength and power.

It was one of the reasons I’d chosen him—to be with him for my first time. He’d wanted the challenge. He’d wanted to take it. And I’d thought he could.

I’d been really wrong about that.

When I lost control of my power during that… intimate act… he’d almost died.

An Ancient Vampire–Sorcerer, with all that endurance and might, had almost perished because I lost control.

I hadn’t heard from him since that night.

The last thing I remembered was him telling me it wasn’t my fault.

It might’ve been a noble thing to say, considering he’d been severely injured at the time.

But then he’d followed it up by admitting he’d been majorly turned on—witnessing and experiencing my explosion of power all over him.

Unfortunately, several of my family members had overheard it. They’d been there, tending to the aftermath… including the structural damage to Polaris .

To say his comment had been strange—and honestly, kind of creepy—didn’t begin to do it justice.

It had been deeply unsettling and had only added to the mortification of everything that had transpired that night.

“It’s been a long while, Celestial beauty.”

“It has. Another lifetime ago,” I responded, pointedly.

“Well, it was in your best interests to perceive it that way… given the humiliation of what happened, yes?”

I shifted my weight. “It was an experiment gone wrong.”

“An experiment? I believe it was quite a bit more than that—especially to you. Before your… loss of control, shall we say, you were also experiencing a great deal of pleasure. Courtesy of my talents in that area.” His lip curled. “Especially in determining what you needed.”

Urgh.

I pulled my jacket closed over my tank top. “Why are you here? You’d slipped into seclusion. You haven’t been seen or heard from in years.”

“Well, I needed to recover after your implosion. I was badly hurt, if you recall.”

“You’re an Ancient Vampire. Recovery wouldn’t have been that lengthy.” I shifted my weight again and asked with a firm edge to deter him from going off on a tangent again, “Why are you here, Corvin?”

He stepped closer, just shy of breaching my personal space, a sudden urgency that he hadn’t demonstrated until right now coming off him. “Does it really surprise you that I would seek you out?”

“Yes.”

He arched an eyebrow. “How so, Celestial beauty? Did you not anticipate that I would want to lay eyes on you again after deciding to forgo my life of solitude? We had a connection.”

He reached out for my hair, but I batted him away before he could even make contact.

Only my boys touched my hair.

“I have to get to class, to my men, to my life. If you actually came here to say something, say it now, or walk.”

“Oof,” he uttered, slapping his hand to his chest. “Message received. I heard you’d come into yourself lately.

Beating back that Hellfire attack at the Guardian Compound was impressive.

The supernatural world is rife with talk of it.

” He smiled. “My apologies, Ariana. You misunderstand my intentions. I merely wanted to get reacquainted with you because it has been so long, before I conveyed what I have to tell you. Actually, what I need your assistance with.”

“What sort of assistance?”

He slid his hands into his blazer pockets.

“You see, I haven’t just existed as a hermit for the last few years.

My disappearance from public life had a purpose.

I’ve been investigating Chimera Circle—in a way that the Guardian Movement and Aegis Watch could not.

It has taken time, but I’ve now succeeded in my task of infiltrating them to the point that I possess vital information that can destroy their entire network in one fell swoop. ”

I started at his revelation. “Why would you investigate Chimera Circle?”

“I’m a hybrid, Ariana. Ancient Vampire-Sorcerer.”

“You’re a born hybrid. One of the first, but you only revealed your dual nature a decade ago.”

“Do you think I don’t feel for other hybrid kind who have been forcibly made?”

“I think you don’t feel a whole lot for anybody unless it benefits you.”

He stepped closer again. “What if I told you I’ve found a way to sever Chimera Circle’s neural network permanently?

That I’m on the verge of a breakthrough—one that could collapse every lab at once?

” His gaze burned into mine. “But I need your assistance. To sever the network, I require your very special abilities—because it’s bound by Celestial power.

It was a failsafe granted by the Celestial Plane after their spectacular failure at controlling Draco.

They… invested… in Chimera Circle’s experiments, shall we say—and this protection was one of the resources they provided the network. ”

“If this is really the case, it needs to be reported to the Guardian Movement immediately.”

“That’s too risky. Giving them this information would immediately put the situation in their hands—turning it into their intel, with action delayed by policies and procedures.

They’d try to enlist a Celestial to assist with the severing, but none of them are technically Guardian Movement members anymore.

This can’t wait. It needs to happen now—before the opportunity is lost. Chimera Circle’s senior officials already know I have this intel, and every wasted moment gives them time to reinforce the network, move labs, hide research…

vanish entirely. I came to you because you have the power—and the authority to act unilaterally. ”

He was using all the right words—persuasive language meant to sway me. Not just into agreeing with him, but into doing things his way.

But those “right” words? They were chosen for an older version of me.

The version he thought I still was—someone who had grown confident in wielding her immense power, sure, but who remained na?ve.

Someone who, in his mind, was still distant from the inner workings of the supernatural world. Still that girl from the last time we crossed paths.

And that was his definitive error here.

Underestimation.

“You’re right—I absolutely do have the power.

But there’s a duty that comes with that.

My own personal duty—not some obligation others have tried to force on me.

That duty is to exercise restraint when it’s needed.

To be prudent about when and how I use that power.

Because what I’m capable of doesn’t just affect me.

There’s a cost I have to be mindful of.”

Now that the supernatural world didn’t fear me in the way they used to, there was no way I was going to do anything to jeopardize that.

After me protecting the Guardian Compound that day, it had shifted things.

People had faith in me, they saw the positives of my great power, not just the dangers.

It was something I’d waited my whole life for.

“Facilitating the takedown of Chimera Circle would certainly qualify as a prudent use of your abilities.”

“Show me proof.”

“What?”

“Show me proof of this major claim. You’ve been off the grid for years, then you show up here unceremoniously with this incredible means to destroy a group the Guardian Movement has spent years fighting against. Just like that.

And all you’ve given me is your word to go on.

I’m not a gun you can just point and fire.

” My eyes narrowed. “I’m not so easily led.

I’m not unsure of myself—if that was what you were counting on. ”

His smile faltered just slightly. But undeniably. There was a dangerous shift in his energy, a tightening of his stance.

“He is the masquerade. The living embodiment of falsity cloaked in charm and allure. He’s a fucking user.”

Kai’s words regarding Corvin.

I’d played if off back then, but I hadn’t denied the truth to them.

And, here and now, I saw it clear as day.

An insidious ulterior motive beneath the polished perfectly worded exterior.

Masquerade indeed.

I stepped up into his personal space this time. “So, you want my help, show me the applicable intel. And then we’ll take it from there.”

We’d do it my way. And not the lone-wolf way he was pushing for.

The Guardian Movement would absolutely be involved.

“Foolish girl. We could have done this far more pleasantly. Alas, you’ve made the wrong choice. For you. I actually rather relish doing things the unpleasant way—especially when it comes to you.”

He moved lightning-fast with his vampiric speed, his magic sparking before I could react.

The second it touched me, I couldn’t move, my limbs and muscles locking.

A paralysis spell.

Adrenaline thrummed through me.

“Mmm,” he groaned. “Delightfully more agreeable now.”

Once again, his underestimation of me—and his own ego and incredibly over estimated prowess—hadn’t done him any favors.

A paralysis spell couldn’t hold me for long.

At my current power level, and with all the knowledge I’d worked to acquire from Cassius of late, we were talking mere seconds before I could break through the fucking thing.

I coiled my magic within me.

Even while being physically bound, my power wasn’t. It just needed to be released in another way.

I felt that heat rolling through me.

I was moments away from it bursting forth and shattering the spell to hell, when Corvin sparked something into being with his magic.

My power erupted, blowing through the spell.

But a split second later, he moved in a blur again—slapping a pair of cuffs onto my wrists. They sealed with a snap of magic.

Not just any cuffs.

I looked down to see the semi-transparent bands that pulsed with Hellfire within.

Celestial Suppression Manacles.

“You thought that was my only move? Na?ve child. I’ve been studying your kind for years.”

I grunted as something pierced my wrists—dozens of tiny, stabbing points erupting from inside the cuffs.

A sickly sensation hit me instantly, followed by a wave of dizziness that sent me stumbling back, struggling to stay on my feet.

Corvin shoved down on my shoulders with his Ancient Vampire strength—and in my weakened state, it forced me to my knees.

“Feel that poison flooding your veins? Familiar, isn’t it?”

“Oh my God,” I breathed. “You. You did—”

A brutal kick from his boot knocked me onto my back.

The last thing I saw was him standing over me, his eyes flashing with sadism—and then he struck, full force, straight to my face.

That was it.

Lights out.