Page 56 of Deadly Alliances

My eyes fell on the shadowy form laying on the couch beyond her, and my heart shattered, silencing even my never-ending inner monologue.

The body splayed on that couch was little more than a shell of my beloved Julian. His hands were bound in front of him, caught between shining steel cuffs, his head lolled back. His skin had a sickly greenish tint to it, his cheeks sunken, and a haunted lookto his glassy eyes.

I wanted to run to him, to scoop him into my arms and kiss him everywhere and reassure him that everything was going to be okay. But I had a part to play, and I locked my broken emotions deep down inside, determined to pretend I felt nothing for him—for his sake.

His eyes widened when they eventually spotted me, the recognition that sparked there both reassuring and terrifying. “Shea?”

Marguerite turned to pass a scrutinizing gaze over her captive. “You know her?”

Julian didn’t respond, lolling his head to the other side, either in feigned or actual deliria, I didn’t know.

“Yes,” Hadrian answered for him. “Our young witch here ran into Julian in Chicago. Apparently he commissioned her to resurrect Alice.”

Marguerite returned her pensive eyes to me. “Did he now? And were you successful?”

Like I’d tell you, hell whore.

“No,” I said in as cool a tone as I could manage. “Like I told Hadrian, such a spell doesn’t exist. I was only using Julian to get what I wanted.” I had faith that Julian would know I was lying.

Her eyes drilled me for a long moment, but I didn’t back down from her probing stare. “Hmm,” she finally hummed with a shrug. “Well, are we going to do this or not?”

Hadrian held out a hand to invite me to proceed. I stepped past him and the demon slut to kneel beside Julian. He rolled his head back in my direction, his sallow eyes fixed on me. And though his face was an unreadable mask, his eyes held allthe love that I’d hoped was still there—and that I hoped would remain after this.

I hadn’t anticipated how painful it would be to be so close to him and not be able to touch him or do anything to help him. It shredded my heart. But I had to get through it. I had to do this now so that he and I could have even a shot at forever. This was only temporary.

With my back to the vampires, I mouthed the words, “I love you. Trust me.”

I slid my bag off my shoulder and pulled out the grimoire, doing a quick study of the words of the spell and mentally translating the words I’d need to accomplish this.

Closing my eyes, I took a deep breath and began, a slight tremble in my voice. “Hetem kekeru sa en ra. Ra sa sheni em eb, nai em ba.”

I ended the spell strong and sure, letting the magic flow slowly through me, setting every intention for what I wanted it to do. I needed Julian to show a weakness to the sun to convince Hadrian of my compliance, but I didn’t want to completely destroy the magic that had allowed him to walk in light for so long.

I could feel that old magic, the protection balling tight within Julian as my spell did its work. It was as if I’d formed a box around Alice’s magic, locking away his daywalking ability until we were ready to release it.

I opened my eyes and looked into Julian’s, hoping he could read every emotion I tried to convey with that one look.

Then I stood, turning to Marguerite and Hadrian. “It’s done.”

Hadrian lifted a brow. “That remains to be seen. Marguerite?”

The succu-bitch nodded, then in the next blink she was across the room and scooping Julian’s limp form into her arms.

“Follow me, Shea,” Hadrian ordered, turning and leaving the room with Marguerite and Julian in tow.

Oh God, where the hell were we going? What was I going to be forced to do? Alice, give me the strength for whatever is coming next.

Chapter 21

Caesar

I rocked back and forth over my crossed legs inside the tent, trying to wrestle my tumultuous emotions into submission. This mission was already going so wrong.

Typical Arthur, sending his own son on a rescue mission for his precious siren. Was there nothing he wouldn’t sacrifice for his pride? Tobias had never seen true combat before, had no experience with stealth operations, but clearly Dracul didn’t give two shits. All he cared about was winning this war, no matter the casualties.

The knowledge that Tobias was in Hadrian’s clutches had nausea twisting my insides. It would be a miracle if he wasn’t dead already, and if he wasn’t, that meant we had one more person to rescue—two, actually; Shea said someone else was captured with him.

What a fucking shit show!

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