Night had already fallen by the time Vek and Fen arrived at the base of the mountain. As he stared toward the blessedly people-free summit, Vek shuddered at the memory of the countless cars Fen had woven their own vehicle around. How could the humans abide living and travelling in such numbers? Though this world was fascinating, he didn’t foresee enduring such conditions for long.
“You’re not still upset, are you?” Fen asked. “We didn’t crash.”
Vek lifted a brow. “You cut across three lanes of traffic.”
Grinning, Fen shrugged. “I didn’t want to miss the exit.”
“If you had—”
“You can’t even drive a car.” Fen laughed. “Seriously, dude. Just admit when you don’t know something.”
Vek’s teeth ground together at the unwelcome reminder. If he did decide to stay, he would have to learn to drive, and he would never live it down if he had to ask Fen to teach him. But that was a worry for later. With a rude gesture at his nephew, Vek started the long climb up. Better to get this over with.
The soles of his feet tingled with the energy emanating from below. Unlike the surges that still reverberated, this was power contained in the mountain itself. Fortunately, the increased energy was harder to detect without physically touching the ground, so it didn’t appear to have been discovered by other fae yet. But once the surges settled down, it would no doubt be more obvious that this mountain held a massive amount of natural magic.
At the small clearing where the cave entrance had been, Vek halted. The Moranaians had closed it. Only a slight impression remained in the stone where the gap had once been. Though he was grateful to Ralan and Aris for their help with Fen, anger at their high-handedness began to overtake appreciation. That barrier had been built by the Unseelie, and the Moranaians had no right to shut him away from the remnants of it.
“I should have left you with the Moranaians and sealed that damn wall,” Vek muttered.
Fen’s brow furrowed. “Why do you care that they moved the entrance?”
“Moved?”
“Sure.” Fen waved toward the summit. “It’s up there now. Heavily shielded but easy enough for an earth mage to find. Double for me, considering how familiar I am with the area.”
Yes, his nephew would know. Fen had worked with Kien setting up a web of poisoned energy in this region. Still, Vek hated being bested in knowledge by the younger man—practically a child, at that. If he’d stopped to think instead of reacting, he would have detected the entrance on his own.
Eventually.
“Let’s go break in,” Vek said, heading up the slope.
Though he chuckled beneath his breath, Fen followed without argument. Vek could sense the small shielded gap now that he was looking for it, but it was more of a strain than he liked. It had been far too many years since he’d taken blood from a powerful earth mage, and that lack was beginning to show. Too bad his ability to duplicate others’ powers when he took their blood wasn’t permanent, and asking his nephew for a refresh was out of the question.
After an annoyingly steep hike, they finally reached the hidden gap, just large enough for a single person to descend through. Vek paused, lifting an eyebrow at Fen. Breaths coming sharp and fast, his nephew bent with his hands resting against his knees. The lad was barely in his twenties, a solid millennium younger than Vek, and he couldn’t handle a little hike?
“Perhaps I should have left you in the car,” Vek said.
Fen shoved himself upright. “Hey, I was almost dead a week or so ago.”
He peered at his nephew’s pale face. “And you were fully healed. Or so I thought. Have you been hiding something from me?”
“No,” Fen said. He even sounded sincere. “But I haven’t been climbing in a while, and I haven’t thought to feed in a few days.”
“Dammit, why—”
“I haven’t been low on energy.” Fen raised his hands. “Promise. Maybe it’s just this place.”
Vek held out his wrist. “You should take some of my blood.”
Grimacing, Fen shook his head. “That would overload me. Anyway, I haven’t noticed you going out at night to feed, either. You sure you don’t need some of mine?”
For a moment, Vek debated saying yes, but he resisted. He already possessed the dark, corrosive power of the Unseelie, an inborn magic that could eat through shields. He could drain energy from any whose blood he’d tasted or use his magic to seal and bind, and that didn’t include the assortment of spells he’d picked up from his more unusual talent of mimicry. But Fen was powerful, unlike the last earth mage Vek had taken blood from, and an infusion like that could cause Vek more trouble than it was worth. Besides, his nephew’s pallor suggested he couldn’t afford to lose more energy.
“I am well enough,” Vek said.
He focused on the shielding around the entrance before Fen could waste more time arguing. The intricate piece of work had the dragon’s energy signature all through it, but he could tell from the frequency of the hum that she’d used Earth’s power and not just her own. It would take hours to unravel, if he bothered with such a fool’s errand. But he had a better idea.
“Fen,” he mused. “Think you could create another small entrance a few paces away from this one? The shielding doesn’t extend far into the surrounding stone.”
His nephew paced the area, and relief filled Vek to see that his color had already returned to normal. Finally, Fen stopped an arm’s span away and nodded. “Here. I should have plenty of energy for something that simple. I feel fine, really. Guess I’ve been sitting around playing video games too much.”
Though doubt twisted Vek’s stomach, there wasn’t time to explore the problem further. They needed to get in and out quickly. “Do it. Quietly.”
“I know how to break in to a place, Uncle.”
Grinning, Fen extended a faint tendril of his power into the ground beneath them. After a few heartbeats’ time, another gap opened in the earth.
They were in.
Dria ran her finger along the edge of the tall, freestanding mirror someone had placed on the far side of her room. Magic prickled against her skin and thrummed in her blood from the contact, and she smiled. This was a powerful artifact, the glass and frame imbued with multiple connections. After a quick probe, she discovered communication links to a wide array of places on Moranaia, a few here on Earth, and several more to various fae realms. Had Ralan enchanted this? One of the links led to Gessen’s mirror, something far too specific to be random.
Perhaps her brother had some lingering care for her feelings, though how he knew about her friendship with Gessen, she had no idea. His visions? Court gossip?
It didn’t matter. She would take it.
Her smile widened as she activated the connection and waited for Gessen to answer. She’d told her friend she would let him know when she was safely settled, but she hadn’t expected it to be this easy. Maybe this assignment wouldn’t be too bad. If nothing else, at least she wasn’t completely disconnected from the only world she knew.
Her reflection disappeared, replaced by the image of Gessen’s tense form. But his shoulders relaxed, and the confusion on his face morphed into pleasure as he realized who was calling. “Dria! I’d hoped you would find a way to send me a message. How did you set up a link already?”
She shrugged. “It was imbued into the mirror in my room.”
“But how did—”
“My brother is a seer,” Dria said with a snicker. “You never know what random stuff will happen when he’s involved.”
Gessen squinted. “Are you in a cave?”
“I can’t tell you where I am, but I can say that you have always been the perceptive type.” She quirked her brow, and he grinned. “I made it to the secret location safely, as you can see, and will probably be here for some time. But you can attempt to call through the mirror when…”
Dria’s words trailed off when her attention was snagged by a faint but somehow familiar energy signature elsewhere in the cave network. Someone was intruding. But how? She’d keyed herself into the spell guarding the entrance, and that hadn’t been disturbed. No, it was as if the ground itself heralded something momentous. Or maybe the air. The fine hair on her arms prickled with the unusual sensation of a foreign presence.
“I have to go,” she said, careful to keep her tone steady. “Something needs my attention.”
Gessen frowned. “Something dangerous?”
“Nothing I can’t handle,” Dria answered with a confidence she absolutely felt.
This was not the day to annoy her.
After Gessen bid farewell, Dria cut the connection and darted out the door. Quickly, she sent her magic ahead of her, sweeping her senses along the tunnel and into the central portal chamber. Nothing but the guards at the bottom. She directed a warning into their minds to be on alert and turned her attention toward the top.
This place had too many blasted rooms. Dria jogged up the long spiral staircase, examining each corridor and chamber that branched off along the way. At the end of the stairs, she navigated a large room intended for crop-growing that was situated before the entryway chamber.
Once beyond the tilled soil and mage lights, Dria halted as her seeking spell detected two men through the door on the far end. She probed the shielding around the hidden entrance once more. Undisturbed. After a bracing breath, she drew power into herself and reinforced her own protections. Then she sidled out of sight, ducking behind a column as she readied a containment spell.
Voices echoed into the room. “They couldn’t have done that.”
“It bears closer examination,” another man said. “But I believe we will find I am correct.”
As the grumbling timbre of the second voice flowed around her, Dria stiffened. An odd tickle, like the dance of leaves caught in an air spell, tumbled through her stomach, and her heart began to drum. She shook her head, trying to dispel the suspicion taking root in her core. Not now.
Not. Now.
“Wouldn’t it take a lot of planning to make a portal between worlds? You’d need someone to manipulate the threads of the Veil, someone who could channel that much power, and…I don’t even know what else.”
“A god, probably,” the other man muttered.
Footsteps echoed closer. “Vek, that’s—”
Dria spun around the column and released her containment spell at the approaching men. The one nearest froze, still as a statue, but the man to the right and just behind kept advancing as the spell shattered against his shielding.
Miaran.
Fury flushed color into his pale skin, and he snarled, revealing a hint of fang. A blood elf.
Shock hit her as the dancing in her stomach morphed into a tornado, but she was trained for shock. She grabbed for more power, manipulating it into a clear, solid wall in front of her. The blood elf must have detected the spell, for he halted a breath away from her impromptu shield.
Electricity crackled in her palms as she met his light brown eyes. “You will cease this intrusion at once,” she demanded.
Gods, Dria hoped her voice didn’t tremble. It was him. She’d suspected when she heard him speak, but feeling his energy brush against hers confirmed it. His power thrummed in time with hers, his very spirit a thread that could weave into her soul.
Her potential soulbonded.
Of course he would be a criminal. A threat. Did she have any other kind of luck?
If his snarl was anything to go by, he didn’t feel the connection. “Release my nephew or suffer the consequences. Your hold on him goes beyond the bounds of politeness.”
Dria laughed. “Politeness? You’re jesting. You have entered Moranaian territory uninvited. Surely you didn’t expect that to go unchallenged.”
“Have I?” One pale eyebrow lifted. “Entered Moranaian lands? I thought I was in a cave on Earth. There was no shielding to prevent the creation of any tunnels. Seems a valid invitation to any earth mage exploring the area.”
As a blood elf, he was most likely Unseelie. And she knew just how to needle him. “I’ve always heard that your kind prides itself on giving the harsh, blunt truth. Such prevarication is unworthy of your people.”
His eyes narrowed. “Watch yourself.”
“I could say the same to you.” Dria analyzed his shield and adjusted the lightning’s current slightly. Only then did she let the wall between them drop. “Who are you, and what is your purpose here?”
The stranger drew in a sharp breath. “Neither is your concern. I’ll speak with the person in charge or no one.”
What had the other man called him? Vek? The name sounded familiar, but she didn’t have time to tease out the memory. “You won’t have to go far. I’m the leader of this outpost.”
Unfortunately—but he didn’t need to know her reluctance.
A dubious frown pinched his forehead. “Really? Prince Ralan ceded control so readily? I don’t believe you. The leader would have guards or some other retinue.”
She allowed no sign her annoyance to show, though inside she seethed at the slight. “I am Princess Dria Moreln, Ralan’s sister. He was happy enough to place me in charge, but you’ll have to speak to him about his reasons. And as you can see, I do not require a retinue.”
He fell silent, studying her face with an intensity that would have made a lesser woman squirm. Dria resisted the urge to do just that—but not because of intimidation. He was gorgeous in a way she couldn’t describe. His unusually pale skin, white hair, and light, almost-taupe eyes combined with his dangerous predatory energy to send an unusual frisson of heat straight through her. But he wasn’t her type at all.
Not that she’d encountered many blood elves to test that attraction.
The stranger eased closer. Their personal shields bumped, an almost-visible spark crackling between them. He sucked in a breath, and if possible, his skin grew paler. He jerked away, stumbling back a few steps. Sheer panic lit his eyes for a single heartbeat, a panic she empathized with all too well.
He recognized her. Their connection.
Vek opened his mouth as if to speak, but it was a moment before he managed words. “Forgive me, Princess Dria. I am Prince Vek of the Unseelie, here on behalf of my father. I sought to investigate the unusual energy I detected around this mountain.”
Forthcoming of him, but it didn’t answer the thing she most wanted to know. What did he think about their possible bond? From his fearful glance, it hadn’t been welcome news.
“I invite you to come back tomorrow morning if you wish to speak with me about the matter,” she said, her voice chill. “Make an appointment.”
His lips turned down. “Tomorrow? I am here now.”
“I am not prepared for an audience, Prince Vek of the Unseelie. Return politely and formally. Unless your mission isn’t diplomatic?”
Though his nostrils flared, he didn’t protest. “Release my nephew, and we will go.”
She undid the spell, more than anxious for them to be gone. And more than ready for this awful day to be over. “There.”
The other man stumbled forward, but he caught his balance quickly. “What—”
“Come, Fen.” The blood elf turned his back on Dria and strode to his nephew. “I know you heard what we said. We’ll return tomorrow.”
“You’re just going to…” Fen glanced between them, and his forehead wrinkled for a moment before smoothing once more. “Right. Tomorrow.”
After one last enigmatic glance over his shoulder, Vek returned the way they had come. But the feel of his heavy gaze lingered after the two had disappeared from sight. Dria tracked them with her energy until they’d returned through the short tunnel they had created and sealed the hole behind them.
Only then could she take a deep breath again.
Vek stomped down the side of the hill, ignoring Fen’s questioning glances as best he could. He didn’t have any answers—not for himself, and not for his nephew. The insanity of the king’s decree had just magnified tenfold, and Fen didn’t know a thing about it. His nephew wouldn’t approve of killing the leader of the Moranaian colony, no matter who it was.
The leader who happened to be Vek’s mate.
There weren’t enough curse words in any language to cover this scenario. If he didn’t comply with orders, or if he simply failed, there was no telling what would happen to his mother and siblings. Under normal circumstances, it would be a bit of honor lost, more jostling in the ranks of siblings and cousins and uncles and aunts as they used his misfortune for their benefit, but the king’s pointed mention of his mother had been no coincidence. King Torek wanted the new energy source badly, only Divine knew why, and there was a chance he would be willing to hurt or even kill to obtain it.
Vek had killed for the king on a few occasions, but those had been for the greater good. Like the Unseelie lord who’d begun enslaving and abusing his people and hiding the evidence with magic. The man had been a powerful mage, and if he’d gone unchecked, he would have soon outpaced the most depraved dictators in history.
But the deed weighed heavily on Vek’s heart. It wasn’t regret, precisely, but it wasn’t satisfaction, either.
He’d already doubted his ability to kill Ralan or Aris. Assassinating his mate, a woman who appeared innocent of any wrongdoing? He could never bear that. Yet he also couldn’t stand the thought of harm befalling the rest of his family. Could he watch his pregnant mother be imprisoned? Beaten? And while Vek had remained distant from his three half-siblings to keep them from catching the king’s attention, he couldn’t abide them receiving any injury on his behalf.
Vek ground his teeth and picked up his pace.
“What’s the hurry? Do you think the woman is going to chase us down the mountain?” Fen called, laughter in his tone. “She seemed happy to get rid of us, honestly.”
“Not now, Fen.”
For several more paces, Fen seemed to let the subject drop, but it turned out to be a momentary reprieve. “You’re going to have to tell me what’s going on. Especially if I’m supposed to be learning from you.”
Vek slowed until his nephew walked beside him, but he didn’t stop. Didn’t look to see Fen’s expression. The boy was correct, much as it galled him. This was too big to keep secret, since his nephew was at risk, too. The king would not grant his nephew leniency without Vek’s cooperation with the assassination.
“We will speak at home,” Vek answered.
It would undoubtedly affect the tentative if unusual friendship that had begun to form between them, but there was nothing to be done for it.
He should have known not to get attached.