Bound by Spells (Bound Series Book 2) (8 page)

“Where were you, really? The night they had Amelia’s best friend, when you were supposed to be helping us, where were you?” Cole questioned.

“I was there. With Elias,” Derreck answered, his voice steady as his jaw muscles clenched. “I tried to get to him before she did. To stop whatever it was he was trying to do. But honestly, he didn’t want anything but her time. And what he told her she needed to know. She needs to understand the truth of what’s happening, Cole. She needed to hear him, see it, and believe in this rebellion. So I stood back in the trees and watched. She did great. She was strong and controlled, and I was proud of her.”

Cole’s instant reaction to Derreck’s words shocked me. Charlie immediately started to growl, a low vibration deep in his throat as he bared his teeth at Derreck.

“You knew about everything this whole time, didn’t you? Get out. Now. Just get out.” His words were measured, cold. Cole’s eyes were burning green coals as he stared his uncle down.

Derreck looked first shocked, then accepting. He stood and as he turned to go, he said, “You’re going to need to understand, too, Cole. This is bigger than her. It’s bigger than anything you’ve given up. She has to do this. She has to fight with us. Every Immortal has a stake in this.”

“The only thing my sister has to do now is survive, and while you were all plotting your rebellion, no one bothered to teach her how. So you and your buddy, Elias, better pray she’s okay up there. Because when I find her—and I will—I'm going to get her out and you’re going to do more than fly into a wall when she sees you again. Now, get out.”

Cole never turned toward Derreck. He didn’t move until the door clicked shut. Then he walked to the windows and dropped his head against the glass. Charlie stepped up beside him and with a small whimper, ducked his head under Cole’s palm. Cole wrapped Charlie’s head in his hand, pulling him into his leg.

“I’m sorry, Amelia. I’m sorry for failing you. I’m so sorry.” His words floated down in a soft whisper, his voice thick.

I thought the memory would fade and Charlie would let me out. Instead, the moment disappeared and a new one took its place. This time, it was confusing. The images flashed in my mind and I could barely make one out before the next was there and gone. Charlie’s agitation was growing and he was having a hard time showing me what he wanted to. The images started to repeat themselves.

The door crashing open. Swarms of men in long leather jackets with dark skin and white hair. Cole screaming at Charlie to hide. Cole blasting green bursts of lightning from his palms as he fought. Charlie going after them and being immobilized. I heard a voice say, “Lock the Sentinel away, where he can’t cause us any problems.” What was a Sentinel? Clearly, Charlie was more than simply man’s best friend.

The leather jackets laughed as Cole tried to fight, the largest of them walking straight up to Cole as he shot blasts. The man absorbed them without a flinch, until he reached out a hand and, without touching Cole, lifted him off the ground and pinned him against the glass windows. Cole’s head whipped left and then right, bruises formed and his cheek split open. Blood dripped steadily from his cheek to the glass, pooling onto the floor where I’d found it in the apartment. Charlie’s barking was so loud in his own head, I couldn’t hear the words of the man. The last thing I caught was, “The Queen requests your presence, Mage.” Cole tried to spit the blood from his busted lip at the man and he simply laughed. He shot one bolt of orange and Cole slid down the glass to the ground, unconscious.

As Charlie finally removed his paw from my leg and the flashes stopped, I fell back into the front door and onto the floor. Bethany was crouched in front of me in an instant, snapping her fingers in my face and clapping, shaking my shoulders. I could hear her, but the words were miles away. I could see her mouth moving, but whatever Charlie had done to me had sapped my energy and left my brain in a fog.

I looked over at him, sitting perfectly still and straight, his eyes never leaving mine. He cocked his head again and I heard him in my head, saying, “So, what are you gonna do about it?” I dropped my head back, actually satisfied to hear the
thunk
of it landing against the hollow paneling of the door. Bethany’s words were becoming more high-pitched and I simply held up a hand.

“Elias. You have to take me to Elias,” I said. I barely got the last word out before everything caught up with me and I, too, lost consciousness.

I
woke up still on the floor, a blanket covering me, and Charlie stretched out beside me. His length wasn’t far from my own and there was something comforting about his quiet snorts. I opened my eyes to see Bethany, now dressed and apparently properly caffeinated, tapping her foot repeatedly as she stared over at me from her chair.

“You mind telling me what the hell that was all about? I’ve only seen that happen once and it was when Elias did it to Amelia, but she didn’t lose it afterward. Well, I guess she did, but not like you did.” Bethany’s tone was clipped, but laced with worry.

I struggled to sit up, disrupting Charlie as I shoved myself back against the wall, massaging my stiff neck with one hand while I scratched his head with the other. “I don’t get it, Bethany. I don’t know what’s happening either. Every day, it seems like I can do more than the day before. Apparently, today’s accomplishment was having a dog show me his memories.”

I filled her on what I saw of Cole, both with Derreck and the men. She paled.

“The men who took him, you said they wore long leather jackets and had white hair? They had orange magic?” She cowered a little in her seat, the vision clearly making her uncomfortable.

“Yes. Why? Who are those guys? Obviously they work for the Queen.”

Bethany slowly nodded. "They do. They are Hunters and they’re evil, Aidan. They kill and they torture and they are the reason for all of this. They are the ones who took Amelia and me. They are the ones who killed her mother and betrothed her to...him. I think they find joy in other people’s pain.”

She still couldn’t say Micah’s name. She hadn’t said it since we’d met up on the beach. It had to suck to know everything you believed had been a lie. At least I knew Amelia wanted me. She loved me. Or…I hoped she did. She’d never said it, though. Those thoughts were immediately replaced by cold fear, snaking its way down my spine and then igniting into anger. The beast roared for the first time in a while as I jumped to my feet and Charlie did the same.

“We’ve got to go. You said you could find Elias. Their uncle said they needed to find him. We need to find him. If he’s planning something, then he has to know where she is and how to get her and Cole out. They’ve got to be together. And we have to make them help us.”

Bethany looked a little wary. “B, don’t do this to me now,” I said. “We’ve got to stick together on this. She needs us.” I walked over and held out a hand. She looked up at me and I watched as the strength took over. Her eyes narrowed and she nodded.

“She’s damn lucky we love her,” she said dryly. I laughed a little. “Lead the way, pri…B.”

She arched an eyebrow as I caught my mistake again. Me and my propensity for calling girls nicknames. “After you, Bethany,” I corrected with a grin. With one look, I was both put in my place and thanked for not asking questions she hadn’t wanted to answer about where her fear really stemmed from.

I whistled and Charlie lumbered to my side as we left the apartment.

Chapter 8

I
paced my room for the fifth time. I hadn’t had a cell phone since they had taken me at Esmerelda’s and I had no way of finding Micah. I had been awake for hours, yet he hadn’t come for me. He hadn’t specifically told me I had to wait for him, but he had been with me constantly and pretty clear about his expectations. Frustrated, I yanked open the door and came face to face with Baleon.

“I’m hungry. And I want out of here.” I stood, looking up at him as I crossed my arms, trying to project my most domineering self. He didn’t even blink.

“You will not leave the room without Prince Mikail,” he said, staring directly above me.

I huffed and decided I would do what I wanted. I took a step to go around him and his arm whipped out faster than I could fathom, causing me to run into what felt like a two by four.

“You
will not
leave the room without Prince Mikail,” he said again, a growl behind the words, stopping me from a second attempt. This time, he lowered his gaze, his eyes burning brightly. The lustrous end of a firecracker right before it goes off.

“Fine,” I responded, raising my chin when I wanted to cower. “But you need to find him. Now. I’m starving and I refuse to be treated like a prisoner. I’m his fiancée. Making me your soon-to-be boss.”

One of Bale’s eyebrows lifted in an uncharacteristic response to my threat. He quickly covered it up as he shoved me back into the room and pulled the door closed. I heard him order one of the others to find Micah and I laughed a little.

Amelia, 1; Bale, 0
, I thought to myself.

It
didn’t take long for Micah to show up, and he looked inordinately pleased as he gestured me out into the hall.

“What’s gotten into you?” I grumbled, eyeing him, wondering whether good for him meant good for me.

“Well, I have a surprise for you today, Amelia,” he said, his eyes alight with mischief. His enthusiasm forced a smile from me.

“Yeah? Did your mom take a dive off the nearest cliff?” I couldn’t help it. Sarcasm was my best offense and he had left it wide open. I was surprised to hear Micah chuckle as he shook his head.

“Well, in a manner of speaking, she did. I was informed this morning the situation in the East is larger than she expected and she will be gone for the rest of the week.” He rolled his eyes as he continued, in more of a mumble, “All the better for us to bond, she said.”

I chose to ignore that last part. A betrothal was one thing; this whole consummation business was something else. “What does that mean? Have they found the—” I didn’t get to finish my sentence before Micah started speaking loudly over me, glaring at me intently as he did.

“It means we can do some uninterrupted work together and I can show you around. This home is one of my favorite places in the world and I’ve never really been able to show it to anyone.”

I mentally smacked myself in the forehead. Of course. We were in the middle of the hallway and there were Hunters everywhere. I let my questions lie and jumped into his line of conversation.

“No one? Didn’t you have friends growing up? Aren’t there other royal people you hung out with? Did they keep you away from everyone, too?” It disturbed me to think he had been as isolated as I was and I was genuinely shocked to see the sadness Micah didn’t bother to hide. He looked knowingly at me, all of his normal charm was gone and it was plain to see we weren’t so different after all.

He clasped his hands behind him as we strolled along a hall. As we turned the next corner, he grabbed my arm and quickly drew me into a room, closing the door. “There are stories I owe you. Explanations you need. But this isn’t the time nor the place for them.” Micah’s words were quick and hushed. He kept glancing over my shoulder at the door. “They are watching—always watching. They will report our every word to my mother. For both of our sakes, give me time and I’ll find a way for us to talk openly. Just try to keep your more in-depth questions to yourself. Do you understand?”

His breath was warm on my face as I nodded. A hundred questions raced through my mind and I pushed all of them back but one.

“But why? Can you just tell me why you’re helping me?” My own words were an exhale into his ear as I tried to be as quiet as I could. Micah’s lips were at my ear as footsteps moved toward us. The loud, thudding footfalls could only be the Hunters.

“Blood does not trump madness. She must be stopped, and you are the key.”

I didn’t even have time to register his full meaning before he snapped his fingers, the drapes opened, and he started loudly describing the library and the hundreds of years’ worth of knowledge stored there. The door banged open and an unknown Hunter looked disappointed to find us five feet from each other with Micah droning on about the ancient tomes of our people. Micah didn’t spare him a glance as I smiled widely and winked at him. His lips pressed into a tight slash against his light brown skin and he strode from the room, leaving the door wide open.