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KIDNAP YOUR FATHER-IN-LAW (VILLAIN STYLE)

KAZIMIR

I felt the air pop, thin and smelling of damp earth mixed with something sickeningly sweet—pure Solandris. The scent of leather polish and steel still clung to me and Arabella as we stepped from the ragged portal and onto the moonlit Solandris road.

A sharp pain lanced through my chest, radiating from the main rune carved over my heart. I choked back a groan, but Arabella caught the tightness in my expression, her eyes narrowing with concern.

“Are the runes acting up again?” she asked, scooting closer until our shoulders brushed. That small contact soothed the worst of the ache, though it didn’t banish it completely.

“It’s nothing,” I lied, scanning the road for threats.

“It’s getting worse.” She frowned. “I don’t know why you keep lying about it.”

“And I don’t know why you keep pointing it out.” Damn her truth-sense. It was growing more and more irritating. I sighed. “Perhaps it’s worse than usual,” I admitted. “But now isn’t the time to chat about it.”

I kept my hand at the small of Arabella’s back while she tugged her leathers into place. She’d only half-laced them before we left Skyspire. “So,” she asked without meeting my eyes, “what happens next?”

I nodded toward a merchant’s cart rattling our way, its driver humming, blissfully unaware of the Dark Lord and his wife materializing in the middle of the night. “I plan to persuade him to drive us farther west.”

She lifted an eyebrow. “Persuade?”

“I can ask nicely. On occasion.”

“Right,” she said flatly. “So compulsion, then.”

It took only a whisper of dominion to brush the man’s mind. The horse stopped. The driver blinked, his face smoothing to the vacant calm of someone who now existed for the sole purpose of driving me wherever I wanted. Simple minds were refreshingly easy.

Two shadow warriors took shape from the darkness beneath the trees, wolf-like silhouettes that prowled on either side of the carriage.

I coaxed four more from the night, sending them to scout ahead.

Holding that many shadows in Solandris—despite the magical bond I shared with Arabella—felt like juggling sharp blades while balancing on a fraying rope, but I was taking no chances.

We climbed into the carriage and sat side-by-side. My hand landed on her thigh, mostly to cool the burning in my bones, and I knocked on the carriage roof. At once, we set off at a lively clip.

I studied Arabella in profile as the moonlit fields swept past. She wore that determined set to her jaw. I’d seen that look enough to know she was already plotting whatever confrontation lay ahead at Evenfall Manor.

“What’s your plan when you see him?” I asked softly.

She kept her gaze on the horizon. “I haven’t decided.”

A lie. Her craving for answers—vengeance, maybe—nearly vibrated in the air. But if she wanted to keep secrets, that was her call. I could respect it.

The shadows prowled alongside us, half-formed beasts that flickered between wolves and formless dark.

A deeper burn flared along my spine, the runes buzzing like wasp stings against my bones.

Solandris always pushed back at my magic with its smug, sanctimonious aura.

Normally, I wouldn’t get this close to the Golden Rose Fields without extensive preparations.

But with Arabella tangled in my magic, her heroic blood buffering the worst of it, the agony was… less.

My thoughts circled back to that vision we both glimpsed during the enchantment. Something old. Something hungry.

“You’re thinking about what we saw,” Arabella remarked, her tone neutral.

I met her eyes. Denying it was pointless. “I was.”

“What exactly was it?”

“I have no clue,” I admitted. “But it all felt too familiar. Like it called to the runes in my bones.”

Arabella’s face softened just a fraction.

One of my shadow warriors flickered then vanished, the thread of its connection snapping in my mind. I flinched.

“Your magic’s hurting you.”

“I can handle it.”

She turned to stare at Evenfall Manor’s outline wreathed in distant moonlit haze. Her fists clenched on her thighs. “Maybe we should take him back to Skyspire.”

I raised an eyebrow. “You want to drag your father from his estate all the way to the citadel?”

“I don’t want you getting drained in Solandris,” she said, glancing at me, “and I’d rather not rush the inevitable conversation with him.”

It was irritatingly sensible. Another shadow warrior blinked out. “Your call,” I said as evenly as I could manage.

She shot me a look, as if I’d just handed her something precious. “You’d give me that choice?”

“Why not?” I shrugged. “He’s your wretched father, after all.”

Her hesitation broke with a quick nod. “Fine. I want him in Skyspire.”

I slid closer and draped my arm across the back of the seat, letting my fingertips brush her shoulder. “Done,” I told her quietly, letting my voice drop lower. “Whatever you require.”

She gave a short laugh. “Careful, Kazimir. People might suspect you’re turning heroic.”

Obviously, she hadn’t expected me to agree so quickly. But this was a simple matter of letting Arabella direct our next move. She deserved it.

By the time we reached Evenfall Estate’s outer drives, the moon was high above us. My head pounded with savage pain, but I felt that familiar need to protect her from seeing me in agony.

“Maybe I should be grateful your father is such a monumental bastard. Without him, you’d never have found me so intriguing.”

She tipped her head, a smile ghosting across her lips. “If he’d been a decent father, I still wouldn’t have fit in with those Solandrian peacocks. I never belonged there.”

“Their loss,” I said, pressing a kiss to her temple.

The driver brought us to a stop just shy of the gates. I hopped out first, pulling Arabella with me. The hum of our entangled magic circled us. A silly part of me felt proud as my shadows slid across her as if they belonged at her side.

Slipping around the manor’s perimeter was embarrassingly simple. The wards were trifling, and the guards stuck to predictable routes. Two shadow warriors had more than enough cunning to handle security. The real problem was the possibility of Auremar’s assassins arriving first.

I led Arabella through a narrow side door, the same one I used the night I discovered her father’s suppression runes. He hadn’t improved his defenses even after mysteriously losing one guard. Fool.

The servants’ corridors smelled of cheap brandy and old polish. I caught a sudden wave of memory from my own youth—another set of candlelit halls, another father figure ripe for disposal. I remembered the weight of the sword, the satisfying thunk as steel met bone, the hot spray across my cheek.

Tonight the ghost of that moment followed me all the way to AtticusEvenfall’s study.

A single guard snoozed in a chair. One flick of shadow around his throat, and his eyes rolled back. He slumped to the floor with a soft exhale of breath. Arabella stepped over him, her expression set.

The door swung open. Evenfall sat behind that atrocious gilded desk. He froze mid-scribble and slowly looked up, going from scowl to full-blown terror as Arabella and I walked in.

“Arabella? How—what are you?—?”

“No theatrics, Father,” she said, her voice crisp. “You’re coming with us.”

I inspected him, letting cold menace hum in my voice. “I recommend you cooperate. The citadel’s food tastes infinitely better if you retain the use of your kneecaps.” My runes flared, cutting through my composure. I fought it, because the Dark Lord did not hunch .

Evenfall shot to his feet and shoved his chair aside. “This is abduction! The king?—”

“—has already sent assassins to deal with you,” I finished for him.

His face paled as that sank in. He tried leveling a paternal glare at Arabella like it might still work. “My dear, you’ve been ensorcelled! This demon corrupted?—”

Her eyes sparked with a swirl of gold and violet. Evenfall’s mouth clamped shut so fast I half expected his teeth to crack. He knew. Those suppression runes were nothing against her now.

“I pledge my loyalty where I choose,” she told him. “And it’s never been with you.”

I snapped my fingers, summoning coiling shadows to bind him to his chair. He yelped in panic. “Pack him,” I instructed my shadow warriors.

They lifted his entire chair, occupant and all, dragging him to the door. He let out a high-pitched squeal. “Efficient, aren’t they?” I asked Arabella lightly, keeping my hand on her back.

We wound down the servants’ staircase, Evenfall’s shrill protests leading the way, but either the servants had the good sense to stay in their rooms, or they were glad to see him go. I made sure his chair bumped around the walls and corners all the way to the door.

I leaned in to whisper, “Any regrets?”

She shook her head. “Not one.”

Outside, my shadows tipped his chair forward, dumping him onto a velvet cushion in the merchant’s carriage. He let out an ‘oof’ as I dispelled the immediate restraints. Before we could climb in ourselves, though, movement stirred by the trees.

Five figures approached, blades catching the moonlight. Auremar’s cleanup crew. So the Alchemist’s tip hadn’t been a ruse after all.

“Stay behind me,” I snapped at Arabella. Her palm flattened on my back, feeding me extra magic that cut through the worst of the pain. Lord Evenfall whimpered and tried to burrow into the cushions like a terrified mole.

I didn’t bother with pleasantries. My shadows tore two assassins apart in a flurry of snapping teeth. Another screamed when a warrior shredded his chest. I flung a dominion bolt at the fourth, though the bitter rose-laden air of Solandris snagged my spell. White-hot agony ripped through my ribs.

A knife hurtled toward Arabella, but she snapped up her hand, conjuring a flash of golden light that deflected the blade. Pride flared so bright I almost forgot the battle.

Within half a minute, the attackers were bloody heaps on the ornamental gravel. I released my remaining shadow warriors, and the abrupt release of power nearly sent me to my knees. Arabella pressed her hand harder to my back, trying to keep me upright.

“You’re not alright,” she whispered.

The world swayed. “I’ve been in worse shape,” I gasped. “Let’s get the fuck out.” We stumbled inside the carriage, with Evenfall huddled in the seat across from us. I banged the roof with shaking knuckles. “Drive!”

The carriage lurched forward. For her sake, I restrained myself from setting the entire manor ablaze.