Page 24 of Vengeance and Vipers

‘Well?’ he turns with a snarl to Iron. ‘Did it work?’

‘I still can’t tell,’ Iron mutters from his seated position. ‘He’s done something to it.’

‘Who?’

‘Maddox, I think. Suspicious fucker has locked me out somehow, and I can’t figure out what he’s …’

He trails off, going silent, and my eyes narrow at him. Maybe he is playing us, making us think he’s trying to help us to keep us distracted from going to save Jules.

He jumps up. ‘I need to go to the Sunroom. It’s easier to focus my magick. Maybe I can figure out what he’s done from there.’

Jayce and I glance at each other. ‘Why didn’t he do that from the start?’ Jayce mutters. ‘I’m telling you, he’s fucking with us.’

‘We can’t actually do anything until the border conjure comes down or lets us out. He’s our best bet even if he fucks it up accidentally because he has no clue what he’s doing.’

That draws a reluctant chuckle from Jayce. ‘Aye, maybe you’re right.’

We follow a very distracted Iron upstairs into the round sunroom, painted in blues and golds with magickal fae symbols meant to increase and focus power. He sits cross-legged in the middle of a circle, already closing his eyes and breathing deeply.

He used to do this all the time when he first joined the clan, when Maddox first had the Sunroom made for him in the hopes that it would bring out his latent power, but it never did. It took the Mountain to bring it out, or so he believes. But something about that niggles at me. He can’t be the only part-fae ever sent there, so why weren’t any others leveling up inside that prison? The inmates gossiped like neighborhood moms. If it was a thing, we would have heard about it while we were there.

It makes me think that maybe Iron has it wrong. Maybe it wasn’t the Mountain at all. But what? Maybe a defense mechanism from being in such a dangerous place for more than a few hours, I muse.

‘This is weird,’ he mutters almost to himself.

Cue another shared look with Jayce, who closes his eyes and shakes his head.

‘I thought I sensed it before, but it’s not … How is this possible?’

‘What?’

‘What is it?’

We both ask at the same time as we move to the edge of the circle.

‘What the fuck?’ Iron suddenly exclaims. ‘That sonofabitch!’

There’s a whoosh, and he’s thrown backward, hitting the invisible side of the circle that keeps any conjures inside of it and falling to the carpeted stone floor with a low thud.

He doesn’t move.

‘Iron!’

‘Get him out of there!’

Jayce hits the emergency button on the wall that opens the sprinklers in the ceiling, spraying salt all over the room. The circle dissipates immediately, and we rush to where Iron is lying on his front, his eyes closed.

‘He’s breathing,’ I say, checking his pulse. ‘He’s just knocked out cold.’

‘What was that?’ Jayce asks with a frown. ‘Never seen anything like it before, not inside a circle.’

I tut. ‘Maddox,’ I mutter. ‘He probably put in a booby trap or something in case we started messing with the estate’s defenses.’

Jayce looks doubtful. ‘Maddox knows even less than Iron does about the border conjures. They’re old magick; legacy spells from his forebears. He has to get that fae kid in every time he needs something messed with.’

‘He did until Iron found his way to power,’ I correct. ‘Maybe the half-fae dick did something dumb. You know fae shit. It never goes the way you expect.’

We turn Iron over carefully and give him a once-over, making sure he’s not seriously hurt. When we’re satisfied, we leave the prick on the floor.