Page 33 of Possess Me at Midnight (Doomsday Brethren #4)

Another fifteen minutes slide by as the warriors debate the pros and cons of multiple rescue strategies.

Sterling still insists that Ice, being Deprived, is expendable and often changes the subject from plotting his rescue to thwarting Mathias’s scheme to sit on the Council.

I want to scream and rail, but that isn’t productive.

Finally, Caden redirects his uncle to locate an obscure bit of Council law, bless him.

But among the Doomsday Brethren, tempers run short.

Without Bram to act as general, each argues about the best way to rescue Ice.

Duke is brilliant at organizing resources, but by his own admission, he’s no battle tactician.

Marrok and Caden are experts in warfare, but not the magical kind.

After his mate mourning, Lucan is still not himself.

And the Wolvsey twins have been members of the Doomsday Brethren for five minutes, relatively speaking.

Besides, they’ve always been lovers, not fighters.

Saving Ice is made harder by the fact that no one knows where he’s being held. The only possible source of information is Shock…and no one trusts him.

The tick-tock of the clock pounds in my ears.

My head thuds. My heart wails. I can’t sit here while these wizards waste time squabbling.

Instead, I leave the warrior business to them, insisting that I need to check on my brother and store the Doomsday Diary in a hidden location, just in case.

The men barely nod my way. As I slip from the room, I send Olivia and Sydney meaningful glances.

Then I disappear into the first available bedroom in Sterling’s sprawling estate.

Moments later, the other two ladies enter behind me.

“Sabelle?” Sydney asks softly. “Are you okay?”

Olivia hugs me. “And don’t tell us you’re fine. I know you’re not.”

“You’re right; I’m not,” I confess to my friends, barely holding in a sob. “I have to get Ice back. I’m going to.”

Olivia and Sydney exchange a glance. Obviously, they suspect Ice and I formed far more than a friendship while on the run. Wisely, neither says a word.

I unzip my pack, open the Doomsday Diary, and stare at the other ladies. “How do I use this? I know you both know. And I need to. Please.”

“The book is…really unpredictable.” Olivia frowns. “Are you sure that’s a good idea?”

“Do you have a better one? We’d be mad to assume that the handful of exhausted, banged-up warriors downstairs could infiltrate Mathias’s heavily guarded compound, wherever it might be, and suffer no injuries or casualties.

Why risk them if this bloody book can help?

I didn’t know for certain how to use it and had no time when Ice was first taken.

But Mathias has left me no choice. Every second we waste arguing, Ice could be…

” I swallow hard, unable to voice the possibility that he might already be dead.

“I can’t sit here. I won’t.” I grip their hands. “Help me.”

They share another look before Sydney nods.

“Every time I wrote in the book, I started with ‘Dear Magical Diary,’ since that’s what I believed the book to be. Of course, I thought it merely granted sexual fantasies.” She flushes, her pale skin turning almost as red as her hair. “As far as I know, all you do is jot down your wish.”

Olivia searches the room for a pen, then hands it to me.

“When I used it, I learned that for your wish to come true, you’ve got to have a powerful desire to have it granted.

The bigger the wish, the more you have to want it.

This is a big ask, so saving Ice… It has to be your heart’s deepest desire. ”

She winces at me like that’s going to be a problem. It won’t be—at all.

I ache without him. Fear gnaws at my belly every moment he’s not here.

Not knowing if he’s still alive is pure torture.

I want him beside me where I can wrap my arms around him, touch him, heal him.

I need him here so we can figure out if there’s any possible way we could untangle this world and share a future.

“No spell or other incantation necessary?”

They both shake their heads. Olivia’s violet eyes are full of soft empathy. Sydney’s dark stare glows with the suspicion that my heart belongs to a wizard I should never want.

“Perfect.” I grab the pen, my hand trembling slightly, touching it to the page as I prepare my thoughts.

Ice’s safe return, free from Mathias and by my side . Nothing has ever mattered more. I close my eyes, picturing his face—not bloodied and broken as he likely is now, but strong and defiant, green eyes blazing with life. I need him back. I need to feel him against me again.

Please, I think desperately. Let this work .

“Be warned. Your wish coming true… It takes time,” Sydney says. "The diary doesn’t work in the snap of a finger. Mine took a day, sometimes more.”

“Exactly,” Olivia added. “But…what if writing in the book makes it traceable?”

“We’ll deal with it.” Then, before anyone can try to talk me out of it, I scrawl out a few sentences in which I beg for Ice’s safe return. Then I slam the book shut. “That’s done. But I can’t leave Ice’s fate to the whims of an ancient book and even more ancient magic. I’m going to find Shock.”

Olivia gasps, mouth gaping.

“Are you out of your bloody mind?” Sydney rounds on me. “He’s supposed to be one of us, but he’s most likely sided with Mathias. He may well view you popping in as an opportunity to take you to his master for brownie points and a pat on the head.”

We know little about the elder Denzell brother. He appears when it suits him, then disappears again just as quickly. Secretive in the extreme, Shock is a mystery. But at this point, I see few options. Besides, there is one thing I understand about the man.

“I assure you, Shock is no one’s lap dog.

” In fact, my suspicion is that he’s a pragmatist, somewhat like me.

He has less skin in this fight than I have, so he’s content to play both sides.

Above all, I suspect he intends to be on the winning side.

So for now, he can sit back and watch others play political chess until he figures out who’s likely to win.

Then he’ll have positioned himself to say he fought for the victor all along.

“He’s also really freaking unreliable,” Olivia puts in.

“I’m aware Shock is neither safe nor predictable, but during the battle in the tunnel, he didn’t hurt you when he could have,” I argue. “Besides, it’s possible he’ll be away and Anka will know something useful.”

Then again, my friends could be right. Shock might abduct me on sight.

But I can’t wait around for the men downstairs to come to a decision that will risk their lives.

I’d rather risk myself than the warriors we desperately need to reclaim magickind.

And if Shock captures me…at least I might learn where Ice is being held before?—”

I can’t finish that thought.

“Let us go with you,” Sydney urges.

“No! Mathias would love to stop the anti-Anarki voice of the transcasts. You’re the only one giving magickind the valuable information it needs.

” Then I turn to Olivia. “And you have an enormous target on your back, being Morgana Le Fay’s great-granddaughter.

Everyone knows your magic will be significant once you transition.

Besides, I need you to take care of my brother and keep the diary safely under your wing.

” I hand the book to Olivia. “I don’t have to tell you to guard it with your life.

And Sydney, I need you to perform some verbal gymnastics so the wizards downstairs have no idea I’ve gone. ”

“All right. But if you’re not back in two hours, we’re coming after you,” Sydney warns.

I nod. In two hours, I’ll either be successful…or dead.