Page 5

Dread settled its cold, unshakable grip along my spine. My pulse quickened as I put my hand on my mage stone. Pushing out my consciousness, I sent a message.

“Dad! No matter what you’re doing, take my call. The Great Ward is in grave danger!”

The answer was almost instantaneous. “Roderick? What’s wrong?”

I had no right to make demands of my father, even if he wasn’t mage chancellor, but I didn’t have time for niceties. “ Where’s Lucius Hoffman?”

“What?”

“Dad, please. Don’t ask questions, just answer and I’ll explain.”

Most parents would push back, but my father had trusted me for decades and knew I wasn’t playing a game. His immediate response reinforced his faith in me. “He’s right in front of me. Now, what’s going on?”

Only a lifetime of training prevented me from devolving into utter panic. I took a settling breath and let it out. Looking Cinaed in the eye, I said, “Tell your father the king has been compromised. The mage he’s meeting with is not Lucius Hoffman.”

I prayed he trusted me enough not to ask questions because I still needed to answer my father.

“Someone claiming to be Lucius contacted the king and told Ailpein they were coming to Scotland to help resolve any concerns Ailpein had. The king is meeting with that being right now. I fear the worst. I’ll keep my call open, but I need to find the king. ”

“I told him,” Cinaed said. “He wants to know the source of your information.”

We didn’t have time for distrust. Even now it was probably too late to save the king. “We can explain on our way to wherever the king was meeting this impostor.”

Thankfully, Cinaed kept his head in a crisis and led us on a mad dash through the palace while he answered his father’s questions. I’d managed to get Otto and Bart into the link with Dad and they were headed to join us.

Malachy advised us the king had agreed to meet the purported inquisitor general in a private study just off the throne room. Although the crown prince was shocked and disappointed he hadn’t been invited to the meeting, he’d witnessed his father’s recent erratic behavior and dropped the matter.

“He’s going to blame himself for not pushing harder if something happens to Grandfather,” Cinaed said when we’d kicked everyone else out of the links.

The crown prince probably would, because good beings tried to save those they loved. It didn’t matter that Ailpein didn’t want or think he needed saving, his son wouldn’t forgive himself. “Let’s hope we get there before it’s too late.”

Despite my words, I expected the worst. Ailpein had been a fool, and fools were the easiest to dupe. Blackstone had played this hand too perfectly. We wouldn’t get there in time.

The hallway leading to the King’s private study was eerily quiet. There should have been guards or staff moving around if there was a meeting. I didn’t need to voice my concerns to Cinaed. The way he searched the area validated my assessment.

Something foul assailed my magical senses. I’d never fought a demon, been attacked by black magic, or stood over the edge of a klarion pit, but I was pretty certain I felt corruption. It tainted the air and saturated the stones.

Cinaed was a step ahead of me, his normally fluid movements taut with barely restrained urgency. He turned the corner and came to a halt. The door to Ailpein’s study had been blasted open. We were too late.

“Cinaed,” I whispered, grabbing his arm to keep him from charging headlong into danger. “We should wait for the others.”

He glanced back at me, golden eyes fierce but shadowed with fear. “They’ve attacked my home!” Flame crackling in his words. “We don’t have time.”

“If they’re still in the office, they can’t get out without our seeing them,” I said, still grasping his arm. “There is nothing to gain by rushing headlong into the unknown. The others will be here in a few seconds.”

He hesitated, conflict written across his features. I was right, but that didn’t stop his need to do something immediately. Finally, he gave a terse nod. “You’re right.”

I pointed my mage stone at the ruined grand doors to the king’s private chambers.

My white diamond sparkled with the energy I fed it, daring someone to come out and challenge me.

Splinters of mahogany mixed with shards of crystal and stone littered the hallway floor.

The fight must’ve been fierce to cause this level of destruction.

Which begged a question. “How did this happen with no one sounding an alarm and rushing to investigate?”

Cinaed snorted. “Grandfather dampened the sound coming from this area. He wanted to make sure no one violated his private space.”

“Fool” was too kind a word for Ailpein. Father had warned him of the danger, but Ailpein had been so convinced of his superiority and invulnerability that he ignored common sense in favor of appearance. His stupidity threatened the safety of the entire world.

Otto and Bart arrived before I responded to Cinaed. With my brothers for backup, I led Cinaed into the office. The devastation that greeted us defied even my worst fears.

The room was in complete disarray. Furniture had been shattered, the tapestries were ripped and scorched, and a mage lay dead on the charred carpet, his green gem inches from his prone body. The most disturbing sight, however, was the royal guards.

Four phoenixes stood frozen in grotesque stillness. They’d been encased in faceted crystals that pulsed with a malevolent energy. Their faces were masks of shock and pain, capturing their last moments.

Someone had planned this attack meticulously. The guards were dead, but unable to regenerate until they were freed from their translucent prisons. It was a perfect plan for dealing with a foe you couldn’t kill outright.

Cinaed sucked in a sharp breath beside me. “This is truly dark magic.”

I’d never heard of such a spell, but it was a brilliant execution of how to incapacitate a phoenix. Cinaed stepped toward the nearest guard, but I quickly pulled him back.

“Don’t,” I said as gently as I could. “The spell might ensnare you too.”

“Is that possible?” He didn’t wait for an answer to shrink back.

“All things are possible.” I turned toward Bart and Otto. “It would be prudent to know what we’re facing before we test our theories.”

Bart examined one guard, bathing the crystal in purple light from his stone. He was engrossed in his examination when Prince Malachy, two of Cinaed’s siblings, and several guards entered the office.

“What in the gods happened?” Malachy asked.