Page 62 of Possess Me at Midnight (Doomsday Brethren #4)

Chapter Forty-One

Ice

I scan Blackbourne’s winter-ravaged gardens. The spindle-branched trees devoid of leaves scarcely register. Bram holding my blood-soaked sword and the empty challenge ring blaze across my brain.

On the far side, the Council elders’ verbal praise of Mathias’s battle prowess is both loud and effusive. It’s akin to the vilest ass licking. Do they really think flattery will save them once they’ve outlived their usefulness?

I roll my eyes. “Where’s Mathias?”

Bram’s tense expression says he’s struggling to tune out Blackbourne and company’s grandstanding and suppress the shadow inside him. “He hasn’t returned.”

He’s still in the manor? I flick my gaze toward the grand house, expecting to see Sabelle emerge. She was getting out of bed when I left her. She shouldn’t be long…

“Fuck.” Bram looks me up and down with a growl. “You couldn’t possibly muster that blinding energy on your own. I wish you’d leave my sister alone.”

“I love Sabelle, and I’ve made my intentions very clear.”

“Was it necessary to flaunt her so publicly?”

“She insisted and brushed aside my refusal. You must know your sister can be quite determined.”

I send another glance to the manor doors, my unease growing. Where is she?

“Why can’t you just fucking—” Bram drags in an angry, shuddering breath, then seems to regain control of his temper. “Don’t touch Sabelle again.”

“Did you ask what she wants? She’s a grown witch, not a child in need of your guidance. She loves you, but she’s smart and strong enough to make her own choices. Nothing you or I say will sway her.”

Speaking of, she should be emerging from the manor at any moment. But another glance in that direction proves the doorway is still empty.

My panic ticks up. What could be keeping her?

Bram clenches his jaw so tightly, I wonder if it will break. “Unless you win the Council seat, this conversation is over. Then if she truly chooses you…” Bram thrusts the sword at me. “Take this. What the devil do you intend to do with it, anyway?”

Now isn’t the time to argue. “I think I’ve found the means to win this challenge. It may even kill Mathias,” I mutter absently. My attention is riveted to those damn doors. Nothing.

Where is she?

Bram sits up straighter. “Truly?”

“The black cloud passing through me gave me an idea…”

“How did you fight that off?”

I choose my words carefully. “It didn’t find a home in me.”

Sabelle still isn’t coming out of those doors. My growing alarm becomes full-blown panic. I look for excuses. Maybe she fell asleep. Maybe she decided to shower.

In the middle of the most important battle for magickind in centuries?

She wouldn’t. But I shouldn’t jump to the worst conclusions. Would Mathias truly risk the Council seat he murdered and lied for by committing another atrocity on a Councilman’s sister while a guest on the Council Chancellor’s property, with the whole Council looking on?

A normal wizard wouldn’t. But this is Mathias.

“Because you aren’t susceptible to the dark?” Bram demands. “That’s what Mathias intimated.”

Because I don’t live for power or greed, don’t covet anyone else’s mate, don’t kill for sport.

Nothing in my soul can be used to tempt me to evil.

Bram, on the other hand, has always been ruthlessly ambitious, but since being smothered by the forbidden spell, it rules nearly his every thought and deed.

Rather than voice those thoughts—an argument starter I don’t have time or energy for—I change the subject. “How much longer before the end of the break?”

“Less than two minutes.”

Not long, but right now, it feels like an eternity. Both Mathias and Sabelle are still inside. Together. I try to think of reasons why neither have emerged with mere seconds left before the challenge resumes. I can only find one.

Sabelle!

Tossing the sword at Bram again, I set off at a dead run for the house. Suddenly, Bram is by my side, the sword now leaning against the challenge ring’s invisible walls.

“Go back to the match, or you’ll forfeit,” Bram orders.

“If it means letting Mathias hurt Sabelle, I don’t bloody care!”

“She’s my sister. I’ll find her!”

“And she’s the mate of my heart. If Emma were here, would you let Mathias anywhere near her?”

“Bastard.”

I don’t know if Bram means me or Mathias, and I don’t much care. I reach the back door first and yank it open. Just as I prepare to charge in, Mathias shoves out, looking entirely unruffled and brimming with energy.

“Going somewhere?” he asks, blocking the doorway. “The challenge is about to resume. Or are you admitting defeat?”

Narrowing my eyes at the ruthless wizard, I glare. “Why are you late?”

“One minute!” Blackbourne calls.

“I’m not.” Mathias smiles. “Just keeping Rhea occupied for as long as possible.”

I don’t believe him. A demand to know if he’s seen or harmed Sabelle perches on the tip of my tongue. But I don’t want to give the villain any ideas, just in case.

Still, it seems unlike her not to watch this upcoming phase of the match. Is there any chance that refusing to allow her to Bind to me hurt her more than I’d believed?

Once I might have thought so, but I know my princess now. She has far too much spine to crumble and cry at such a crucial moment.

I sidestep Mathias to peek inside, see if I can get a glimpse of Sabelle.

Mathias wedges himself in front of me, his face a mask of perfect politeness. “Um, a word, Rykard, before we begin again?”

“We have nothing to say.” I shove him aside and lunge for the doors.

Mathias grabs my arm. “Actually, we do.”

Bram glares at the evil menace. “What the devil do you want?”

“To talk to Rykard alone, wizard to wizard.”

Something is wrong. Very wrong. The certainty that some harm has befallen Sabelle digs its icy claws into my gut.

I swallow fear, shrug off Mathias’s touch, then turn to Bram.

A long look passes between us. Whatever our feud, Sabelle is vital to us both.

In that silent exchange, Bram agrees to find and protect his sister while I deal with Mathias—hopefully for good.

As Bram darts into the stately manor, I watch. Dread chills me to the marrow. “We’re alone. Say whatever it is quickly and be done.”

“Back to the challenge ring!” Blackbourne calls. “Or forfeit.”

“Shall we? Can’t keep the Council waiting,” Mathias quips.

Dodgy bastard is up to something. I grit my teeth and shove down my terror for Sabelle’s sake as I march across the expanse, grab the sword, and climb inside the ring.

Mathias sidles up to me, ignoring the sword, and drops his voice. “I assume you have feelings for that lovely little siren you Called to. If you’d like to see her alive again, you’ll forfeit the match as soon as Blackbourne resumes it.”

I freeze. Then fury detonates through my system. Violence takes over, complete with the urge to kill.

“What the fuck did you do to her?”

“Nothing.” He smiles. “Yet. Should you wish to keep it that way, you’ll bow out. If not…” He shrugs. “Well, let’s say Gailene enjoyed my company far more than Miss Rion will.”

Visions of my sister’s body, twisted and broken, besiege me. I force the visions away. I can’t think about the pain and horror of the past if I want to have a future with my princess.

Clutching the sword, my fingers crush the handle. Veins bulge. My temper surges until I hear nothing more than pounding in my ears. I restrain the urge to kill Mathias—barely. I only manage because I have to know what the bastard has done to Sabelle.

“She’s still inside Blackbourne’s manor since no one can teleport out,” I snarl. “If you tried, you would be disqualified.”

Which means Rhea is holding Sabelle prisoner and probably has instructions to kill her unless Mathias signals otherwise.

“Stop assuming I had any intention of following these foolish rules and agree. You have less than thirty seconds to decide her fate. If you fail, she’ll die before you can leave the ring to save her. And don’t count on her brother. The darkness I’ve unleashed inside Mr. Rion is quite helpful.”

Christ. How the fuck am I going to save her?

I reach for my phone to call Bram, hoping against hope I can reach him before the darkness overtakes him.

Mathias’s hissed warning stops me cold. “Don’t be stupid. Forfeit now.”

All I can do is pray Bram isn’t as compromised as Mathias believes. Until then…I’m goddamned trapped. But ultimately, that doesn’t matter. Nothing does, except Sabelle’s safety.

I close my eyes. Forfeiting not only means I lose a needed Council seat, but I’ll also give up both mating with Sabelle and avenging my beloved sister after two long centuries.

But Gailene would never have wanted me to risk my life—or anyone else’s—for her memory.

She would merely want me happy. In love.

Little good it does me. I foolishly left Sabelle upstairs, believing Mathias would use the opportunity to schmooze Blackbourne and further his political aspirations, not abduct a fellow Councilman’s sister under their collective noses.

How fucking naive I was.

I’ll pay for my foolishness for the rest of my life. But I don’t deserve Sabelle if I can’t win this battle, and I would forfeit again ten times over if it means saving her life.

Please, God, let her be safe . Even if she hates me for not protecting her. Even if Bram refuses to allow me to ever speak to her again. Just knowing she’s alive and well will be enough for me.

I don’t hesitate. “I’ll forfeit.”

“Clever boy,” Mathias lauds softly. “After you’ve conceded the challenge, I’ll leave with Rhea and Miss Rion. I need one other item from you before I return your beloved: the Doomsday Diary. At midnight, you will meet me at Hyde Park with the diary. I will exchange the book for Sabelle.”

Those words hit me like a freight train into a brick wall. Mathias sought the book all along, not a seat of influence he has to share with six others, but the ultimate power to destroy or enslave magickind at will.

Bloody hell. Has Mathias discovered the means to use the Doomsday Diary?

The evil wizard knows from imprisoning Caden’s mate, Sydney, and stealing the book that only a female can write in it.

Rhea, Mathias’s whore, placed the bloody inconvenient tracking spell on the book that nearly got Sabelle and me killed after the Anarki attacked Goldcroft Manor.

But if Rhea knows how to use the diary, why didn’t she?

Mathias is many things, but not stupid. He must know that he needs a very powerful witch to manipulate the book and perform the awesome feats Mathias demands.

What witch is more powerful than Merlin’s granddaughter?

“You’re both here,” Blackbourne notes, his gaze bouncing between us as he steps into the challenge ring. “Excellent.”

Suddenly, I know two things. One, Mathias will press Sabelle to use the diary to fulfill his twisted ambitions to rule and enslave magickind by force, and when she refuses, he will kill her—painfully.

Two, I can never allow Mathias that chance.

I pray Sabelle uses that clever mind of hers to break free or that Bram rescues her before Mathias can signal Rhea to commence Sabelle’s doom.

“We are,” Mathias confirms.

“Very well, then. The challenge has officially resumed!” Blackbourne declares.

“First, my fine opponent has something to say.” Mathias glares at me.

Gripping the sword tightly and swallowing back my fury, I address Blackbourne. “I do.”

The older wizard frowns down his long, thin nose at me. “What is it, Rykard?”

“I’m ready to resume, sir.” I whirl to Mathias. “And you can fuck off.”