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Vasere Finn Silveroak made Kylir’s fucking skin crawl.
They’d arrived on the Northern Isle early that morning, and it had been fun to watch Astrid’s changing expression as she’d taken in everything. Her excitement over the snow had been adorable. The way her eyes had widened, and her mouth had fallen open when she’d caught her first glimpse of the black fortress etched into the side of the mountain had made him laugh.
The unease that had settled over her when she’d been introduced to the Vasere, however, had made him want to rip someone’s throat out. Anyone would have done. He hadn’t been overly choosy about the target of his brutality.
It wasn’t just Finn, either. Everything about the mountainous fortress felt...wrong. There was a gloom that hung over the island, a sense of sorrow that seemed to have to source. Even the entrance hall where they currently stood filled him with a melancholy that had nothing to do with the dim lighting or the black stone walls.
“Welcome to Neverwood.” A petite female with short, ebony locks and small, lavender eyes stepped toward them. “I’m Vasera Cora Silveroak. We’re so glad you could come. We don’t get many visitors these days.”
Yeah, Kylir could see why. Outwardly, he only nodded.
“Thank you,” Astrid responded, moving a little closer to his side. “We’ll try not to be an imposition.”
“Outsiders aren’t welcome here,” Finn blurted with all the inflection of a malfunctioning droid.
“Now, lieling,” Cora chided, a slight coo to her tone. “Don’t be rude to your guests.” Turning back to them, she lowered her head briefly. “Please forgive my soulmate. There have been a lot of changes recently, and it’s been hard for him. We’re all still adjusting.”
“Of course.” Astrid shuffled a little closer, watching Finn, her eyes drinking in every subtle change in his expression. “Vasere, would you like to see my research? Perhaps if you understood it, you would feel more at ease with us being here.”
Finn Silveroak stood at least six and a half feet tall with a wide chest that tapered to a narrow waist. With his height and broadness, he should have been a physically imposing presence, but it looked more like he was masquerading in someone else’s body. A body that didn’t quite fit him. His face was too thin, too angular, and Kylir had seen dead bodies with better coloring than the male. His dark hair hung in dull, limp strands that brushed over his prominent collarbones, and his blue eyes had a glassy appearance, more like a doll’s than any being Kylir had ever encountered.
“That won’t be necessary.” Cora spoke warmly, but her smile was as cold as the frozen ground. “I’ll have an attendant show you to your quarters. Will you share a room with your pet?”
As far as insults went, Kylir had been called worse. In fact, it didn’t even faze him. Astrid, however, was having none of it.
“My what?”
Cora’s gaze raked over Kylir from sternum to boots, pausing for a couple of heartbeats on his tail. “Your pet. Will he require his own quarters?”
Astrid moved faster than he could have predicted, advancing on the Vasera with her fist raised. By the time his brain had caught up with what he was seeing, she’d already moved beyond his reach, so he did the only thing he could. He swung his tail out, wrapping it around her waist, and hauled her back against his chest.
“You stupid, arrogant, vile—”
He stopped the vitriol that spewed from her lips by placing his hand over her mouth. “A single room will be fine.” He dipped his head. “Thank you, Vasera.”
The rage and indignation pouring off his mate battered against him like the mother of all galactic storms. Oh, she’d worked herself into a hell of a mad, and while her reaction had tripped all the switches on his libido, knocking Cora on her ass wouldn’t accomplish anything. Well, it would be satisfying to watch, but ultimately, he’d rather Astrid not end up in a prison cell...or worse.
When she grabbed his wrist and tugged, he didn’t move, reluctant to find out what else she might say. Then, she did it again, a little gentler this time, and he sighed in resignation. He really couldn’t deny her anything.
“Are you calm?”
She nodded.
“Are you sure?”
Another nod.
“Fine.” He did as she wanted, removing his hand from her mouth, but he kept this tail curled firmly around her midsection.
“Actually,” she said after clearing her throat to get everyone’s attention, “that won’t be necessary. If you can show me to the fountain, I can be finished before nightfall.”
“The fountain?” Cora tilted her head. “I don’t understand.”
Astrid waved her hand dismissively. “The Adderstone. Wherever you keep that. Just take me there.”
“I’ll take them.” A male dressed in a gray tunic who looked remarkably like Finn—only smaller and less like he was dying—stepped through a door at their right and bowed. “Roe Silveroak, Captain of the Northern Guard. If you have what you need, I can escort you there now.”
“Oh, well, I don’t—”
“Perfect,” Astrid said, speaking over Cora’s sputtering. “I just need to grab my case from the shuttle.”
“Should I have an attendant prepare rooms for you and your mate?”
Years of not reacting to snide comments or threats of bodily harm kept Kylir immobile when the captain’s voice whispered in his ear, despite him still being on the other side of the room. He guessed anything was possible with magic, but like everything else on the island, it was creepy as fuck.
Without looking at the male, he lowered his head a fraction. Right now, Astrid was angry and not thinking rationally. Once she calmed down and regained her wits, she’d be even more pissed if she had to rush through her research instead of taking the time to do it properly. He didn’t like it any more than she did, but she’d come to do a job, and he wouldn’t let anyone jeopardize that, not even Astrid.
“One or two?”
This time, Kylir was prepared. He didn’t react at all, other than to blink once to indicate they would be sharing a room. Sleeping beside her would wreak havoc on his self-control, but there was no way in the universe he was leaving her alone.
“Kylir?”
He pushed away his concerns to focus on his mate. “Yes, onye?”
“You can let me go now.”
She seemed calmer, and he wasn’t being hammered from all sides by her emotions any longer, but it was probably still better to err on the side of caution. With his tail, he lifted her from the floor and tossed her into the air, catching her in his arms on her descent. He expected her to scream, or at least gasp in surprise. What he got instead was an indulgent grin and a sweet kiss.
“Neat trick.” She pressed their mouths together again. “Now, put me down so we can get to work. The sooner we’re off this mountain, the better.” Her expression turned stormy, and she began muttering under her breath. “Pet. Of all the fucking nerve. That ignorant, condescending, evil little cu—”
He cut off her ranting with a hard kiss and sent up a prayer to anyone listening that her words had gone unheard by their hosts. “I like it when you’re feisty, but maybe, try not to get us killed. Yeah?”
“Oh, fine.” On her feet, she adjusted the hem of her heavy coat, then flipped the hood up over her head. “If you insist.”
“Have either of you ever transported?” Roe asked, closing the distance to stand at Kylir’s elbow.
“Nope.” He and Astrid answered in unison.
“In that case, I apologize in advance. I’ve heard that it can be unsettling for some races, but it’s the only way to reach the cavern.”
Kylir had about a million questions he never got the opportunity to ask. One minute, he’d been standing in the entrance hall. The next, he’d been sucked into an empty void where all the air had been leached from his lungs. A heavy weight pressed on his chest, and pressure built in his head until his ears rang, and his temples throbbed.
The sensation lasted only seconds, and when the darkness vanished, he found himself kneeling on the edge of a cliff near the very top of the mountain. Relief at being through the void lasted only a heartbeat, because in the next instant, a loud scream rent the air, and he watched helplessly as his mate tumbled over the edge.
Not giving himself time to think about it, Kylir took a running start and flung himself off the mountain. Arms pressed close to his side, legs straight, toes pointed, he kept his body as streamline as possible as he plummeted toward his mate—and the ground. Frigid winds stung his eyes, and flecks of ice pelted his skin, but he didn’t slow his descent.
It took only seconds to catch up with Astrid, but there were the longest seconds of his life. Catching her easily with one hand around her back and the other hooked behind her knees, he righted himself and the air and unsheathed his wings.
Unfurled and stretched wide, they caught the air, halting their momentum and lifting him several feet upward. Holding Astrid close, he beat his wings against the wind, climbing higher and higher until he reached the ledge. Placing his mate firmly on her feet, he ushered her back toward the mountain face, well out of harm’s way.
“Apologies,” Roe said easily. “I’m somewhat out of prac—”
Kylir drove his fist right into the asshole’s face.
“Out of practice? Are you kidding me? You dropped her off a fucking mountain!”
“She was in no real danger. I wouldn’t have let her die.”
Well, that had been the wrong answer. “I’m going to rip your fucking head off and spit down your neck hole.” The only thing that stopped him from following through with the threat was his mate pushing her way in between them. “Move, onye.”
“Hey, look at me.” A hand landed in the center of his chest. “Look. At. Me.” Pushing the hood of her jacket off her head, she stared up at him with a coy smirk. “I’m fine. Yeah, it was a little scary, but I knew you’d save me, and you did.”
“I would never let anything happen to you.”
“See? So, everything is fine. Not a scratch on me.” She drew soothing circles over his sternum. “Breathe, big guy. Just breathe.”
He tried to do as she asked, but he just couldn’t get the image of her plummeting to her death out of his head. “Nope. I’m going to kill him.”
“You can try,” Roe taunted, and the bastard even grinned at him.
“You.” Spinning toward the captain, Astrid jabbed a finger toward his face. “Shut it. You’re not helping.” Refocusing on Kylir, she fisted her hand in his ruined jacket and jerked hard, practically bending him in half to deliver a hard, searching kiss. “Better?”
Not really, but he wasn’t any worse, either. “I’d rather keep kissing you than stop to murder him, so yeah, I guess I’m better.”
Her laughter chased away the chill and melted a little more of his anger. “Good answer.” Turning toward Roe once again, she waved her hand almost regally. “Now that we’ve agreed no one is dying, lead the way, Captain.”
The cavern he’d mentioned turned out to be more of a wide crevice, seemingly unaltered from its natural state. Pitch black and eerily quiet, it felt like time stood still when they stepped through the entrance made of jagged stone.
There was a quiet huff beside him, then a flicker of warm light as Roe opened his hand to reveal a small, dancing flame in his palm. With a flick of his wrist, he sent the fire sailing upward to ignite the massive, rectangular chandelier that ran the length of the cavern.
“The Adderstone is there,” he said, pointing to the right.
Kylir squinted, turning his head one way, then the other. The stone itself was a deep onyx, barely discernable from the blackened wall of rock, and it didn’t glow like the others he’d seen. In fact, he might have missed it altogether if it hadn’t been for the star-shaped rune etched around it.
There was no fountain, but water trickled from the mountain itself, only to freeze halfway down the wall, the ice shining an unnerving green in the firelight. Cracks on the ground on either side of them showed where the waters had once flowed, but they sat empty now with only a thin layer of frost to coat the edges.
A few steps ahead of him, Astrid rested her hands on her hips and huffed, her breath billowing from her lips in a thick, white cloud. “I don’t understand. Where are the flowers?”
“The gya flowers haven’t bloomed here for a long time,” Roe answered, a world of sadness in his voice. “Some say our island is cursed.”
“Why isn’t anyone doing something about it?” Astrid demanded.
“The Vasere, my brother, he is...not himself.”
“Is he ill?” Kylir didn’t want to be offensive, but the guy looked an inch away from death. “I doubt he could lead the way in the dark right now, much less an entire island.”
“No,” Astrid interjected, drawing the word out slowly. “Not sick, but there’s something. I could see it in his eyes. It’s like he’s not really there.”
She would know better than most. “You think he’s drugged?”
“I don’t know. Maybe?” Her head snapped to the side, and she stared up at Roe expectantly. “You have magic. Can’t you fix him?”
“Do you think I haven’t tried?” Frustration rolled off him as he began pacing the floor in front of the Adderstone. “There’s noth—” He stopped and gagged, as if literally choking on the word. “I’ve tried,” he finished flatly.
“Have you told anyone?” Kylir asked.
Roe continued to pace, his movements agitated and jerky. “All communications are monitored, and no one is allowed to leave the island.”
Kylir frowned. He supposed the captain’s words answered his question, but it wasn’t really an answer.
“That’s why you offered to escort us here,” Astrid surmised. “You want our help.”
“You are the first visitors to the fortress in years. Not even the other rulers come here anymore.”
Kylir had no desire to get involved, and he definitely didn’t want his mate in the middle of a potentially dangerous situation. Yet, judging by the expression on her face, she had already decided to do exactly that.
“Out of curiosity,” he said, moving to stand behind his mate, “who is monitoring communications?”
Roe’s lips moved soundlessly for a moment before he gave up and shook his head.
It hadn’t escaped Kylir’s notice that the captain talked in vague terms and generalities. He just didn’t understand what that meant. If someone was watching, even as they spoke, he was more certain than ever that he didn’t want Astrid involved.
“So, what exactly do you think we can do?”
Hope, warm and bright, emanated from the captain. “Only to pass a message to Vasili Blackthorn. He must co—”
Again, he stopped, like his throat had suddenly closed around the word. What the hell was going on?
“Here. We need—”
Stars, it was just painful to watch. “You need Vasili Blackthorn to come to Neverwood?” Kylir guessed. “Is that what you’re trying to say?”
Roe nodded, just once.
It was a reasonable request, and one which involved minimal risk to either him or his female. He didn’t like it. Roe still hadn’t told them why he couldn’t contact the king himself. He hadn’t explained why he needed someone to come to the island. Obviously, something was very wrong there, but Kylir wanted details.
“One problem at a time,” Astrid intervened. It was an impressively diplomatic answer that offered no commitment either way. “Let’s see if we can figure out how to get these waters flowing again.”
Roe sighed, obviously disappointed, but he didn’t argue. “Tell me what I can do.”
“Well, I need my equipment from the shuttle.”
The captain vanished, then reappeared almost instantly with all of their belongings. “Anything else?”
“I guess we’ll be needing those rooms after all. Can you arrange that?”
Kylir exchanged glances with the male, even as Roe said, “Of course, my lady.”
Part of him wanted to help the captain, and by extension, Finn Silveroak and the people of the Northern Isle. A bigger, louder part of him wanted to grab Astrid, flee the mountain, and never look back. As the two desires warred within him, he dropped his head and sighed.
It was going to be a long damn week.