Bound by Stone (Protectors of Magic Book 3) Page 2

  “What is a fae doing here?” I asked in a sharp voice, power rippling across my skin. The Unseelies had promised to leave, taking their dead king with them to their realm. They shouldn’t be here. And the fact Rebecca was with one did little to calm my unease.

  The fae’s yellow eyes landed on me, and he smiled. “Ah. You must be the demigoddess. I hear you had a run-in with my old friend, Oberon.”

  I stilled, the blood in my veins turning to ice. “He was your friend? Get. Out.”

  “Stop being weird, Belzus. You’re just going to freak her out.” The girl rolled her eyes at the fae before turning to me with a half-smile, half-grimace. Her dark hair hung in waves around her shoulders, and there was something about her...something I couldn’t put my finger on. Like she was different than anyone I’d ever met in my life. There was a fierceness in her eyes I couldn’t ignore, but it was softened somehow. “Oberon and Belzus here weren’t really friends. This one’s from the Seelie Court, though all he does now is guard a bunch of graves in the human realm. He’s fae through and through, sure, but he rarely ever deals with them.”

  I flicked my gaze to Rebecca, the shadow witch who I hadn’t seen in weeks. After she’d helped me escape from the dungeons in London, she’d vanished into thin air. And now, she was here in the city, with a fae and two other strangers. She’d helped me, but she’d also been right in the thick of things with the hunters. While I wanted to trust her, I was finding it a bit difficult right now.

  I crossed my arms. “Rebecca, what’s going on?”

  “Yeah, I’d like to know the same thing,” Eli said quietly. “The last time a fae came here, a lot of people died.”

  “Sorry.” Rebecca flashed me an apologetic smile. “Let me introduce you to everyone. This is Zoe Bennett. She’s a shadow witch, but she was raised in the Bone Coven. After the demon war, the coven voted for her to take over. And this is one of her Enforcers—”

  “Dorian Kostas,” I murmured as I finally took notice of the man who stood a mere inch behind Zoe. He was taller than her by at least a foot, and he was as muscular as a gargoyle. There was a strange invisible bond between the two of them, so strong that I swore I could feel it shimmering in the air. Marcus had told me this warlock had once been a hybrid Unbound—a mage cursed with vampirism. But looking at his bright eyes and the healthy glow of his skin, I couldn’t imagine him ever being a bloodsucker. He looked so...so alive. And happy.

  “That’s right.” Dorian gave a nod. “I believe you used my castle to hide some blood mages from the fae.”

  Whoops. Was he angry about that? He didn’t look particularly pleased, but he didn’t have an expression of much of anything. The ultimate poker face.

  “I’m sorry,” I said. “We didn’t have anywhere to go, and Marcus said—”

  “Marcus and I go way back. It’s fine.” Dorian’s expression remained the same. “And while the Blood Coven is no longer our ally, we’re horrified to hear what they’ve endured.”

  “What you’ve all endured,” Zoe said, cutting in. “We know you’ve fought off the Unseelies, but the magic hunters are still a massive problem here in Europe. They shot at us with arrows on our way here, and we passed by a massive boat holding what looked like an army and a bunch of helicopters. Further along, we spotted yet another boat. Smaller with fewer soldiers, but still armed. They’re getting ready to come here and fight you. I imagine the smaller boat could be here within hours.”

  Kipling ran a hand down his face and began pacing the length of the spacious room. “We knew this was coming, but it is not good news. We’re still recovering from the fight against the fae. Our numbers have dwindled. Our witches are tired.”

  My heart squeezed tight. Not only had we lost several witches in the fight, we were down a gargoyle now, too.

  And it’s all your fault, a little voice whispered into my mind.

  “Look,” Zoe said, holding up her hands. “Basically, here’s the deal. I know shadow witches are steeped in darkness, and I know the blood mages are doing weird-ass shit to take down vampires, but we’re all targets here. We’re all mages, and just because I don’t agree with how things are run doesn’t mean I think anyone else should die.”

  “Steeped in darkness?” I asked with a frown.

  Zoe cocked her head and furrowed her eyebrows. “Yeah, that’s the thing with shadow witches, right? Anyway, we’re here because we want to help. Belzus here is an old friend of mine, and he doesn’t want to see all the witches in the world killed either. So, he wants to offer you the same deal the Unseelies offered. He’ll cast an illusion around the city in order to hide it. That way, you can stay safe.”

  I blinked, pummelled by the shock of her words. A fae had come here. To offer us a deal. If it wasn’t so horrifying, I might laugh.

  Kipling, on the other hand, had no issue with laughing. He shook his head and chuckled. “Is this some kind of trick? A joke? You cannot possibly expect us to agree to a deal with the fae.”

  Zoe frowned. “I understand you had a horrible experience with the Unseelies, but Belzus is not like the others. For one, he’s Seelie. Plus, he helped us fight against the demons, something I’m pretty sure no one else here did.”

  The room went silent. I didn’t know if the gargoyles had been involved in the demon war or not, but I remembered all too clearly the Queen’s reaction when we’d heard about the impending war with the demons several years ago. There had been a hole in the veil between the mortal realm and the demon realm, and the creatures were coming through to consume human souls. Several of the covens had fought together to defeat them. Every one save for the Shadow Coven. The Queen had refused to put her witches at risk. A decision I’d questioned at the time, but I’d been nothing but a weakly thing locked in a tower. I’d had no sway.

  “What do you want in return?” I asked, addressing Belzus. The fae had kept mostly quiet during the exchange, watching us all with eyes that were far wiser and older than the rest of his luminous body appeared.

  He flashed me a smile, one that made me shiver. He might not be Unseelie, but he had jagged teeth all the same. “You will owe me a single favor. One day I will return to collect it.”

  I narrowed my eyes. “What kind of favor?”

  He lifted his shoulder in a slight shrug. “How can I know? I don’t need a favor from you yet.”

  I glanced at Zoe.

  “I know. He’s annoying, isn’t he?” She shook her head at the fae. “Thing is, he’s one of the only people in the world I know I can trust. He’ll demand a favor at some point in the future, but it won’t be anything you’re not willing to do. If he ever does come collecting, that is. Sometimes, I think he just likes having something to hang over people’s heads.”

  “The last deal I made with a fae included a stipulation that I must be trapped here. I could never leave. And if I did, the gargoyles would become permanent stone.”

  “I have no interest in making the situation in this city any worse,” Belzus said, his yellow eyes flashing. “The world needs the gargoyles. And your magic.”

  With a sigh, I crossed my arms over my chest and stared hard at the fae. Despite my hesitance to trust him, he didn’t appear anything less than frank and honest. There were no strange twists in his words. No tricky double meanings. The favor I would owe him was vague and meaningless—for now. It could come back to haunt me, but I’d made far worse deals with the fae in order to protect this city and everyone within it.

  “Ro,” Eli said in a low voice as he grabbed my elbow. “You’re not actually considering this, are you?”

  I turned to him, eyebrows raised. “Of course I’m considering it. Aren’t you? The hunters are readying an army. They have more helicopters now. More soldiers. If we don’t hide the city behind an illusion, we’ll have to face another fight. Everyone is tired. Everyone is weak. We may have won the last battle, but it wasn’t without a terrible cost.”

  “We cannot make another deal with the fae,” Eli said. Normally, he w
as the quieter, kinder one, but his voice had morphed into something hard and dangerous. “I will not allow it.”

  Irritation shook through me, and I turned to Kipling. “Surely you’ll back me up on this. You don’t want another battle any more than I do right now.”

  “I’m sorry, Rowena, but I agree with Eli.” He shook his head, eyes sad, before turning to our visitors. “The answer to your deal is no.”

  Chapter 4

  Silence punctuated Kipling’s words until the fae gave Zoe a knowing look. “I told you they would not be open to this. We’ve come all this way for nothing.”

  The witch blew out a heavy breath and crossed her arms. “Yeah, well. Can’t say I didn’t try.”

  “Don’t be silly,” Rebecca interjected, her face drawn up into a scowl. I could see that she wasn’t any happier about Kipling’s response than I was. “You guys came all the way here at my request. I’m telling you, Kipling, you need to make the deal with the fae.”

  “We will do no such thing.” The steward’s voice was icy as he turned to Eli. “Gather the witches and tell them they’re needed in the Great Hall. Seems we’ll be fighting the hunters again far sooner than we thought.”

  An hour later, the entire City of Wings was packed into the Great Hall. Zoe, our guest, sat by my side with her feet kicked up onto the table as she leaned back in her chair. Dorian stood just behind her, his hands resting lightly on her shoulders, though I could tell there was far more to their “relaxed” positions than met the eye.

  Zoe was pissed off we’d responded the way we had, and her body trembled with barely-controlled tension. Dorian was keeping her grounded. The tall, towering warlock reminded me of Jasper in a way. He had the same aura of pure strength radiating off his body, his muscles rippling as he tensely scanned the room.

  If only I could do something to undo Jasper’s curse, the way Zoe had brought Dorian back from his life as a hybrid vampire warlock.

  At the head of the table, Kipling cleared his throat, and the frantic murmured voices fell into silence. Despite his small stature and hunched back, the steward commanded a strange kind of respect. Not just from the gargoyles but from the witches as well.

  “My apologies for waking you all,” he began. “Rebecca has arrived this evening with two members of the Bone Coven, and she’s come with some unfortunate news. The magic hunters will be attacking tonight.”

  A murmur rose up from the crowd, gasps echoing off the stone walls. Questions were shouted, and chairs were knocked back as witches jumped up, hands clutched to their hearts.

  I couldn’t help but notice he conveniently left off the true reason Rebecca had come to us with the leader of the Bone Coven: to extend a deal with the fae. Not to mention that Belzus was nowhere in sight. Kipling thought it best for the fae to sit out the meeting, worried that the shadow witches might react with smoke and blood.

  Zoe shot me a look. “None of this would have to happen if you’d just take the deal. There’s no reason to have this fight. There’s no reason for anyone else to die.”

  “Trust me, I know,” I whispered. “If it were up to me, I’d make the deal.”

  She raised her eyebrows. “But isn’t it up to you? You’re the one who Belzus wants to make the deal with. At the end of the day, you’re the one who needs to say yes or no.”

  I blew out a hot breath. On the one hand, I understood what she was saying. And I even agreed. On the other, I couldn’t shake what had happened the last time I’d taken it upon myself to make a deal with a fae. A lot of people had died. A lot of people had been hurt. All because I’d thought I could match wits with someone as tricky as a fae who wanted nothing more than to kill every witch on the planet.

  I couldn’t agree to the deal unless the others agreed.

  “Luckily, the hunters have made the mistake of timing their attack with the dead of night, so you will have the power of the shadows on your side,” Kipling continued, raising his voice to be heard over the crowd. “As for physical weapons, Marcus and Silas have collected swords and daggers from those left behind from the previous attack.”

  In other words, they’d taken the weapons from the bodies of the fallen fae.

  Queen Selene braced fisted hands on the table, leaning forward with firelight dancing in her endlessly black eyes. “Listen up, girls. These magic hunters are nothing but mere humans. They have training on their side but not magic. There’s no reason at all we should lose this fight.”

  A girl several witches down from me—no more than nineteen years old—stood from her chair. Her cheeks were dotted with pink, and her hair was wild from sleep. Her fingers trembled as she grasped the shoulder of the witch beside her, an older woman with curly hair and sad, tired eyes.

  “My Queen,” she said, bowing her head. “Please. We are tired. The fight with the fae is barely over. And most of us aren’t even cut out for all this war.”

  The Queen’s eyes glittered. “You are a shadow witch, Louisa. You are cut out for anything.”

  Louisa’s shoulders slumped, and her voice dropped to a whisper. “We’ve already lost so many. We were supposed to be safe here.”

  My heart squeezed. Out of the corner of my eye, I could see Zoe staring at me. The shadow witches were in desperate need of a reprieve. They needed peace, quiet, and happiness. Fight after fight kept coming their way. And I was responsible for them.

  I pushed back my chair and stood. “Anyone who doesn’t want to fight can hole up in the tower until the battle is over.”

  “Rowena.” The Queen’s voice went razor sharp. “I dare say that is not an option. Everyone will fight.”

  “No, those who want to will fight,” I countered, lifting my chin against her intense and piercing gaze. It was time for me to stand up to the Queen, despite every cell in my body begging me not to. “Like Kipling said, the night is pitch black. A few shadow witches combined with the force of the gargoyles? That’s enough. It won’t be a brutal fight.”

  She narrowed her eyes. “We don’t know how many they are bringing.”

  “They’re definitely readying an army,” Zoe said from where she hadn’t even budged an inch, feet still propped on the table. “That said, the boat they’ve sent ahead only had about twenty hunters on it. They’ve got some guns, but—”

  “I can try to distract their fire from everyone else. Bullets can’t harm me.”

  “Rowena Mortensen,” the Queen hissed. “I appreciate that you have a new sense of self-worth after your demigoddess discovery and your win against King Oberon, but these witches are my people. I will not have you undermining my authority. I say everyone fights, so everyone will fight.”

  “You are their leader, but this city is my domain,” Kipling said. “I agree with Zoe. Those who feel they are not up to fighting can take cover in the tower. This small skirmish will be nothing compared to when the hunters launch their full force at us.” He held up a hand when the Queen began to object. “It’s final. Now, everyone who plans to fight, it’s time to get prepared.”

  Nothing in my wardrobe was particularly battle-worthy. I had a couple of pairs of jeans, some comfy fuzzy sweaters, and several dresses I hadn’t yet worn. I spent a good ten minutes just standing in front of my clothes, dressed in nothing but my underwear. And I was still that way a few moments later when Marcus slid into my room, his eyes sparking with that delicious fire.

  “My, my,” he murmured as he slid a hand appreciatively across the small of my back. “Not the most appropriate fighting outfit, but I certainly won’t complain.”

  I turned toward him with a smile, one that died on my lips as my mind jerked back toward Jasper’s current state. With a heavy sigh, I took his hands from my waist, as much as it pained me to pull myself away from him.

  “Marcus, there’s something I need to tell you,” I said, heart pulsing with dread. “I don’t know if you noticed that Jasper wasn’t at the meeting, but—”

  “Rowena, darling.” He tucked his finger under my chin. “Kipling has
already told me what happened. I helped him move Jasper into the tower.”

  “Oh.” My heart thumped. “Are you angry with me?”

  His eyes softened. “Why in the goddess’s name would I be angry with you?”

  “I turned one of your friends to stone. A friend I was kissing.” My throat began to close up as tears threatened to spill from my eyes. I still hadn’t fully processed what had happened to Jasper. The grief hadn’t fully taken shape around my heart. There was too much to do. Too many battles. Too many fights. And I still wasn’t ready to give up, even if everyone else was.

  “It was hard,” Marcus said, his voice going dark and deep. “Seeing another one of us fall prey to the permanent stone form. Jasper and I were never really close, but it hurt all the same. But you’re not the one I blame. I blame this magic. And Hecate. It’s a stupid oath to have to make. Another one of us is gone.” His voice went rough. “And Jasper was one of the good ones.”

  His words sent a sharp stab through my heart. Jasper was gone. He was permanent stone. He’d never again spread those brilliant ebony wings and take flight through the skies. A tear sprung loose from my eye and fell down my cheek.

  Marcus wiped it away before it had even reached my chin. “I suppose this means you’ve decided you have feelings for him.”

  I pressed my hand to his warm chest and stared up into his silver-flecked eyes. “You know I…” I didn’t know how to put it into words. “I really care for you, Marcus. Everything that happened between us in Scotland. It meant something to me. I have feelings for you. I just…”

  “You also have feelings for him.”

  “Had.” I shook my head. “No, have. I refuse to believe there isn’t some way to reverse this oath, this curse. Anyway, I’m sorry. The last thing I want to do is hurt you.”

  “Rowena, love.” He gave me a sad smile. “I said it before, and I’ll say it again. It does not matter if you love another. What matters is how you feel about me. You can care for us both.”