Lure of Lightning, page 16
“Briony didn’t hurt him …” Beaufort continues, trailing off as the crowd in front of him parts, people bowing their heads, and the Empress herself sweeps forward.
She’s dressed in even more finery this evening, her dress made from a rainbow of colors that shimmer in the light, her hair woven into a spectacular knot on the top of her head and her crown twinkling with rubies, sapphires, and diamonds.
“What is the meaning of this?” she booms, her silver eyes flaring with anger.
“Beaufort’s whore attacked me,” Aaron groans from his knees.
The Empress assesses her older son and then me, before her eyes land on Beaufort.
“We do not remember extending an invitation to your thrall, Beaufort Lincoln. Are we incorrect?”
“No, your imperial majesty,” Beaufort says, bowing down low. Around me everyone does the same, even the supposedly injured man on the floor. Dray nudges me and I manage a not-very-elegant curtsey. Partly because I don’t know how and partly because of these stupid heels Fly made me wear. “But it was urgent that we speak with you.”
The Empress frowns. “We understand that we are meeting with you at the end of this week.”
“That’s not soon enough!” I can’t help but cry out. “We need to talk to you now!”
There’re more shocked gasps and I’m guessing I’ve once again done something awful.
The Empress pays no attention to me, directing her displeasure towards her younger son instead.
“You come to this state event, bringing uninvited guests, you disobey a direct order and you bring violence inside my walls!”
“It’s not his fault!” I persist, because I’ve broken all the rules already, what the hell does it matter? Besides, this isn’t my world – not really! I’ll be damned if I scrape and bow and play nice any longer. Fox is out there somewhere and he needs me. “It’s mine! In fact, Beaufort has tried to have me follow all the rules. Don’t you see, that’s why we’re here! But I can’t wait any longer. I need your permission to go out into the demon realm and I need your permission to take Beaufort and his bond brothers with me.”
A stunned silence grips the hall. You could hear a pin drop. Even the Empress appears somewhat startled, her beautifully sculptured golden brows rising a fraction up her forehead.
“Such violence will not be tolerated in our palaces!” the Empress says sternly; she nods towards her head guard. “Sir Cecil, escort these intruders to the adjoining room. We will follow and we will deal with them there.” She spins so sharply her robe swishes around her.
“Your imperial majesty,” an older man dressed in fine robes calls out, “this is most irregular. This woman has attacked a prince of the realm with dark magic and–”
The Empress snaps her head around and peers over her shoulder at him. “Lord Hardy, you and the other members of the privy council may accompany us.”
I peer up at Beaufort anxiously. He nods, taking a grip of my elbow, and then we’re being escorted out of the hall, the guards surrounding us in tight formation and a handful of elegantly dressed men and women trailing after us.
We’re led through a side room, where the Empress is already waiting for us, thunder on her brow.
“You attacked one of our children!” she booms at me, anger flashing in her eyes.
“The cunt deserved it,” Dray snaps. “You should have heard the things he said to her.”
“Ahhh, Dray Eros, we see you are wearing clothes this evening. What a great improvement. We remind you to watch that tongue of yours, if you wish that tongue to remain in your mouth!”
Dray slams shut his mouth. The Empress returns her sharp gaze to mine.
“We do not tolerate violence inside the walls of our palace. We certainly do not tolerate an attack of one of the royal children of this realm. The punishment for this is imprisonment, if not banishment.”
“I’m sorry,” I say, really not caring about the consequences right now. All night I’ve had to endure snide comments and rude looks. Beaufort’s brother was the final straw. “But Dray’s right, he deserved it.”
There are more shocked gasps and the Empress narrows her eyes. “You always speak so freely?”
“She does,” Beaufort says, “but you have to remember, Briony’s not from here. She doesn’t understand …” The Empress raises her hand and her son trails off.
“We remind you that you were not invited to our banquet. There is no reason for you to be here in the first place – something I assume Prince Aaron was pointing out.”
“We needed to talk to you. We need permission–”
“Oh yes,” she says haughtily, “permission to enter the demon realm, And why may we ask, do you wish to travel to the demon realm and so urgently at that?!”
“Professor Fox Tudor has been taken into the demon realm–”
“We assume he has. We don’t know that for sure,” Beaufort interrupts.
“There’s no doubt he has been!” I insist. “He’s in danger! We need to find him. We need to rescue him! Don’t you see every second counts!”
“And what is the professor to you?” She fixes me with her shrewd gaze.
“I … he …” I think of Stanley’s threat. I think of how much trouble Fox could be in if the truth about us ever got out.
The men and women behind us mutter to themselves. The Empress swings her silver gaze around her subjects.
“This is all nonsense,” she states. “We understand the professor is missing but we are sure there will be a reasonable explanation for his temporary disappearance. To conclude such nonsense, to suggest he has ventured into the demon realm is beyond ridiculous.”
“It’s not!” I contradict her, causing another volley of those outraged gasps. “We know that’s where the deputy headmistress has fled to. She’s taken him with her. She’s obsessed with him!”
The Empress fixes me with her steely gaze. My stomach falls. She isn’t going to let us go. I’ve ruined everything. In fact, she’s probably going to lock me up. Blaze too.
“Your majesty, is this true?” the older man who spoke earlier asks. All these people are well dressed and clearly wealthy but he gives the impression of someone who is especially so. He also looks a lot like Kratos the shadow weaver who was Odessa’s protector. “I hear from my son that the young professor is also missing. Why has this information not been communicated to us all? Especially at a time of national emergency such as this.”
I look at the older man, challenge in his eyes, then back to the Empress. She appears unflustered.
“It is true. As you know, Madame Bardin evaded arrest and we believe she has fled to the demon realm.” The man goes to speak again, but she silences him with a hard stare. “Professor Tudor Fox is also missing, although we do not know where he is or if he has been working with the deputy headmistress. Therefore, we were not in a position to share this information until we were certain. What we do know is that the Madame has some kind of connection with the demons. We are still working to understand that connection.”
“This is most disturbing. We entrusted our children to her care,” he continues. “The woman you picked to run the academy in the headmaster’s absence is in league with demons. And now it seems another member of the faculty – another bloodsucker – may also be a traitor to the realm. It seems your judgment was poor, extremely poor.”
“He’s not a traitor,” I cry, although no one is listening to me anymore.
“Watch your tone, Lord Hardy,” the Head of the Guards growls to the older man.
“It’s okay, Cecil,” the Empress says. “Lord Hardy is correct. These are our children. Our most precious and treasured assets. Their safety is our utmost concern which is why we have decided to give our son, Beaufort Lincoln, a mission. He will lead a squad of my most trusted elite guards into the demon realm with the task of capturing the Madame and, if he is there too, the professor, and bringing them back. His bond brothers and their thrall will also go.”
I blink. Did I hear that right?
“You plan to send a band of children off into the demon realm to capture a woman who you suspect to be working with the demonic creatures?” Lord Hardy sniffs.
“Beaufort Lincoln and his bond brothers are among our most powerful shadow weavers – especially when they work together. We have been impressed by their skill and their abilities.”
“And the girl?” Lord Hardy scoffs. “What use is a commoner girl?”
“The girl,” the Empress says, “has powers our realm has not seen for several centuries. She has discovered a firestone and hatched a live dragon. One she is training. One she can ride.”
Silence returns to the room. Lord Hardy breaks it almost immediately with a snort of laughter. “Your majesty can not be serious.”
“Your majesty is always serious, Lord Hardy,” the Empress says coldly. “The dragon resides in our stable at this very moment.”
“And the girl’s power?” Lady Smyte calls out from beside the lord.
“The girl can wield light.” The Empress’s silver eyes meet mine. “Show them what you can do, Briony Storm.”
“What? Now?” I blurt out.
“We understood you were impatient to be away.”
I nod and raise my hands. The group of lords and ladies seems to draw in nearer with anticipation and my heart seems to beat more frantically in my chest.
I close my eyes in an attempt to block all the staring pairs of eyes out and I lick my lips.
“Go on, Kitten,” Dray whispers beside me, “show them!”
It’s one thing calling my magic forth in the heat of battle when it’s a live-or-die situation. It’s different when I’m practicing with Fox and no one is there to judge me. It’s different when I’m on my own experimenting with this new power. But can I do this now with all these powerful people watching, most of them probably hoping I fail spectacularly?
I call Fox’s face into my mind’s eye. I focus in on how desperate I am to reach him. I feel for his magic in my chest.
And then I call the magic forth from inside me, let it run through my veins and leave my hands, and a bright beam of light bursts through – blinding me despite my closed eyelids. When I open my eyes, I see just how bright and powerful the beam of light is, dazzling the whole of this cavernous hall.
“You see how powerful she is,” the Empress says to her most trusted advisers. “A mere girl from Slate Quarter.” She turns and addresses her son now. “And so this is why, not only do we give you permission to leave for the demon realm, we give you this as a trusted assignment. You will go to the demon realm, you will seek out Madame Bardin and you will bring her back to stand trial for treason!”
“And Fox – we’re going to rescue Fox,” I say.
The Empress ignores me. “You understand the assignment we are giving to you, Beaufort Lincoln?”
“Yes, Your Majesty. But there’s no need for the girl to go. We can do this alone with the elite squad of soldiers.”
“Yeah, how about our back up?” Dray asks her.
The Empress turns her gaze his way. “As we explained, we will give you a squad of my most-trusted soldiers.”
“It’s not enough,” Thorne mutters.
“We can spare you no more. Our soldiers are already fighting incursions to the north and to the east of our realm.”
“You’re not going alone. I’m going with you!” I insist.
Beaufort shakes his head. “It’s too dangerous. We can do this without you. We have experience fighting demons, you don’t.”
“I do!”
“The girl will go with you,” the Empress says. Beaufort glares at me but his mom seems the only person in the realm he won’t argue with.
“And if Bardin resists arrest, your Majesty?” he asks.
“Then you have our permission to kill her.”
Chapter Twenty-Three
Dray
We don’t hang about after that, we’re gone before the Empress can change her mind. Pushing past all the people in their fancy clothes, most of them gaping at Briony like she isn’t human.
We’re almost at the door, when a hand catches my arm. I go to brush it off, but then my mom’s voice is in my ear, whispering, “You didn’t tell us about the girl?”
I pause, smiling over my shoulder at her. “I guess I didn’t.”
Her clever eyes roam my face. “What is she to you, Dray?”
For once, I’m glad I’m the only one of our bond brother’s without the fate marks on my wrists because if I had them, my mom would have sought them out like a fucking sniffer dog.
“She’s our thrall.”
“A thrall from Slate who can wield light.”
“Yeah, I guess we got lucky.”
“You should have informed me of this immediately.”
“I’ve been busy.”
My mom scoffs, making up her own mind about what I’ve been busy with and obviously disapproving.
I shake off her hold and go to follow the others.
“This mission is a death sentence,” my mom whispers.
I’d like to say she says it as a warning, that she’s worried about me and my safety. But my mom’s never been like that. She says it as a statement and for the first time in a long time, her words bury themselves under my skin.
To any other shitty shadow weavers, stepping out into the demon realm would be suicide. But we’re not just any shadow weavers. We’re the Princes, our fated mate has magic not seen for hundreds of years and we also have a fire-breathing dragon along for the ride.
We can do this, right? My mom simply underestimates me. Like she always has.
I shake off the bad feelings and sprint after the others. They’ve made it all the way back to Beau’s apartment before I catch up with them. Little Kitten is locked in the bathroom changing into something more suitable for fighting demons. I step inside the apartment and begin to do the same, unbuttoning my shirt and flinging it on the floor.
“Where have you been?” Beaufort says in annoyance, he’s already changed into a sweater and pants.
“My Mama wanted a chat.”
“What did she want?” Thorne asks, stepping back into the main room. He’s also changed out of his suit.
I shrug. “She thinks this mission is a death trap,” I tell the others.
“It is,” Kitten’s skinny friend says pacing by the windows. “It’s madness. You need a whole army to go fight Bardin in the demon realm.”
“The Empress is allowing us to take a group of her men with us.”
The friend appears momentarily relieved. “And how many men is that exactly?”
“Ten,” I tell him.
“That’s all?!” he cries out as Briony steps out of the bathroom, the slinky green dress I was hoping to remove tonight already gone.
“What’s wrong?” Briony asks.
“I don’t know, Cupcake. I don’t like this.”
“Like what?”
“This mission.”
“Fly, you knew that’s why we were coming to Onyx – to obtain permission to go rescue Fox.”
“Yes, but rescuing Fox is one thing, being ordered to capture Bardin another.”
“There’s no difference,” Kitten says, “there was always a likelihood we’d have to face Bardin. She’s stolen him. I know it.”
“I’ve just got a funny feeling about this. Are you sure you can trust the Empress?”
“Woah, Fly boy. You’re talking treason there.”
The boy chews on his fingernails nervously.
“Of course, we can,” Beaufort snaps. “She’s kept this realm safe for twenty years.”
Fly nods, but even I can see he’s not convinced.
Soon enough, we’re packed up and ready to go.
“You’re really going now?” Fly asks as we all head towards the door. “You shouldn’t, you know, plan this?”
“There’s no time to lose,” little Kitten insists. “We’ll make a plan on the way.”
“I’ll have someone fetch you and take you back to the academy,” Beaufort tells him.
But he won’t let us go just yet, he flings his arms around our mate and squeezes her tight, so tight my wolf growls in warning.
“Keep safe, Cupcake, and don’t do anything stupid.” Then he adds quietly, so that probably I’m the only one who hears other than the Kitten, “Be careful who you trust.”
Then he releases her, sniffing away tears. “You look after her,” he says to the three of us bond brothers, “because if anything happens to her–”
“You’ll what?” I say with amusement.
“I can be sneaky,” he warns, “and I’d make sure it was painful.”
“Understood,” Thorne says, “we’ll keep her safe.”
Briony gives him one last hug goodbye and then we’re running through the palace, retracing our steps and finding ourselves back out in the courtyard under a sky-full of stars.
The dragon’s already there waiting along with the guard who was eyeing up our girl earlier and one or two others.
“Hey dude,” I say, positioning myself firmly between him and our mate. “Where’re our soldiers?”
“They’re being diverted from Blansford. They will meet you at the Halworth border at first light.”
“Halworth,” Beaufort confirms and the guard nods.
“How are we going to get there?” Briony asks.
“Ain’t you going to ride the dragon?” I ask her.
She glances his way and shuffles slightly on his feet. While Beaufort and Thorne continue to quiz the guard on mission details and all that bullshit, I take Kitten’s hand and pull her to one side.
“What’s up, Kitten?”
“Nothing,” she says, “I’m just in a very big hurry to be away.”
I crouch down a little so our eyes are level. “Nah, it’s not that. It’s something else.” Her green eyes shift in their sockets. “Why don’t you want to ride the dragon?”
“I nearly fell.”
“Off the dragon.” She nods. “When?”
“The other night. In that storm.” I can see she’s frightened just thinking about it. I may not be the biggest fan of the scaly dude. I may believe she’d be much better off riding my wolf. But I’m not dumb. I read those stories about war dragons as a kid as well. I see what an asset he is. Especially to a group of people about to embark on a fucking mental mission. And he’s even more of an asset when our mate is riding him.
