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HALLOWEEN WAS ONLY a couple of nights away when Kade Sinclair found himself back in the cemetery in the Fae District. His spirits were low and he felt like a failure. He hadn’t found a way to get into Lord Dallinar’s secret conjuring room so he could steal his spell books yet. There didn’t seem to be a way for him to find and enter it without alerting the fairy lord.
He stood in front of an unmarked headstone with his hood pulled up to cover his face. Sensing someone standing behind him, he instinctively knew who it was. “I don’t know why I feel drawn to this grave,” he said without turning around. “I’ve been coming here ever since I was a little boy,” he continued as the Guardian of Nox came to a stop beside him. “Do you know why I feel a connection to this grave, Ms. Evora?”
The huntress wasn’t alone. An invisible elemental creature clung to her shoulders. It let out a small cry of distress, then wept in sadness. “Your mother is buried here,” Xiara told him sadly. “Her name was Inilvian and she was my friend.”
Kade turned to her and she flinched from his raw anguish. “You knew my mother?” he asked in hope that was mixed with disbelief.
“She was only six when we met,” she said. “Her mother was killed and some men took her away. I never saw her alive again.”
“Can I share your memory?” Kade asked. He reached out, but his hand hovered a few inches away from her face. The elemental creature took matters into its own hands. Its tiny paw touched his finger and he saw what had happened the night her mistress had been taken from her home when she’d been a small child. “The Immortal Triumvirate murdered my grandmother and kidnapped my mother!” the warlock exclaimed in shock when the images faded. “My mother was kept a prisoner and was forced to become pregnant with me?” The fae creature had shown him more than just the night his mother had been stolen. It had also shown him the night she’d died.
“Yeah,” Ms. Evora confirmed and had to clear her throat before she could continue. “Inilvian was a good kid. She didn’t deserve what happened to her, but you can take comfort in one thing.”
“What’s that?” he asked bleakly as hatred for the Immortal Triumvirate began to burn brightly inside him.
“A fortune teller told me that Inilvian and others like her are going to be the catalyst for change.”
“What sort of change?” Kade asked, then took a wary step back when she held what looked like a cushion cover out to him. “What’s that?”
“It’s a present from your Mom,” she told him. “She would have wanted you to have what’s in the box. I hear Jardine will know what it is and what it can do.”
He made no move to take the gift. “Who is Jardine?” he asked, unwilling to trust her.
“Sebastian will know who she is,” she replied. He flinched that she knew he’d met with the master vampire. “There’s three spells with the box. They’re a gift from the Night Cursed beings.”
That piqued his interest and he reached out to take the cushion cover. “What do the spells do?”
“Notes have been added to explain them,” she said vaguely. “You’ll also find a vial of dragon blood in there,” she added and he gaped at her in shock. “That one is a gift from me. Use it wisely, Kade Sinclair.” She turned to leave, then paused and looked at him over her shoulder. “You have your mother’s eyes,” she told him.
Kade bent his head in grief as the elemental creature lifted the Guardian of Nox into the air and flew away with her.
Consumed with sorrow for the mother he’d never known, Kade teleported home. He sank down onto a comfortable couch in his living room and dropped the gifts Ms. Evora had given him to the floor. Sobs of misery and loneliness wracked him as he succumbed to his emotions.
When his tears finally petered out, he walked into the bathroom to wash his face. He stared at his reflection in the mirror, finally knowing what his true heritage was. His mother was indeed a fairy and his father was a warlock. For all he knew, Guild Master Hahn could have sired him. He grimaced at that thought. The ex-Guild Master had been ancient and his mother had been young and beautiful. The thought of Inilvian being forced to breed against her will was abhorrent to him. “The Triumvirate will pay for this,” he said. His amethyst eyes hardened and he strode back to the living room.
Kade picked up the cushion cover and carefully withdrew the contents. Several sheets of paper held spells that had been written in a precise hand. He glanced at the black wooden box and put it aside for now. It was heavily warded, but he didn’t think he would have any trouble opening it. He read the spells and his eyebrows rose in shock. The enchantments were exactly what he needed in order to topple their rulers. In fact, they went beyond just overthrowing them. If he went through with this, new rulers would be able to take over Nox.
After reading through the spells a few times, the warlock read the final note. When he was done, he stared blankly into the flames that flickered in his fireplace. The final note had been written in a different, far more feminine hand. Xiara Evora was the author and she’d spelled out what he would need to do in order to defeat his enemies.
He contemplated the idea of ridding the City of Night of its evil overlords and looked at the vial of dragon blood and the box. Curiosity had him reaching out and passing his hand over the black container. The wards were easy enough to dispel for someone with his level of power. Most of his magic was instinctual and they dissipated without a trace. Kade picked the box up and opened the lid. A tablet made of silver lay inside. It was inscribed with strange runes that he couldn’t decipher. He felt a complex enchantment on it, but he wasn’t sure what it was designed for. He figured it would be best not to tamper with it until he found out more about it and closed the lid. He put the wards back in place so the tablet wouldn’t be discovered by anyone.
Kade picked up the vial and peered at the red and gold dragon blood. He’d heard the magical substance could boost spells exponentially. If he used it during the spell that would bind him to two other beings, it would strengthen their alliance. “We could become a new triumvirate,” he said. The thought was both exciting and frightening. The warlock had never wanted to rule, yet now that he knew how malevolent their leaders were, he couldn’t just stand by and do nothing.
It was Halloween tomorrow night and he didn’t have much time to prepare. He needed to make sure he knew the binding spell backwards and forwards before he could attempt to cast it. Putting the black box in a cupboard in his conjuring den, Kade warded it so it was invisible and couldn’t be detected. He then sat down at his worktable and began studying harder than he ever had in his life.
