Page 27 of The Magic of Eternity
“Duck into this room,messieurs,” Napoleon ordered, and Kai pulled open a wooden door, allowing us to stumble inside before closing it behind him. Fish gave me a ‘what the fuck’ look at the sound of the mouse’s voice.
“New development,” I told him as I scanned the dimly lit room. There were shelves of what looked to be herbs, bedding supplies, and candles. A supply room then. “Napoleon, where is she?”
Kai paced the room, and I could hear his quick intakes of breath. Scenting. Napoleon was perched on his shoulder. “Her room is next to this supply room. Or it was.”
“Her scent is here,” Kai confirmed, but he looked back toward Fischer and I. “But I don’t sense her.”
“I shall sneak to her room to see if she’s there? If she’s alone? When I was last here, she wasn’t awake. For weeks, she did not wake. There was blood at first, you know?” Napoleon clasped his little paws over his eyes, and the three of us jerked as though we’d all been kicked.
“Blood?” I questioned at the same time Fischer surged forward and plucked Napoleon from Kai’s shoulder. The small mouse squeaked, and Kai growled, reaching for his furry friend.
“What do you mean, there was blood at first? Of course we don’t fucking know! I’ve been locked in a fucking torture chamber for what? Weeks, you said?” Fish glared at Napoleon, who promptly bit Fish’s thumb, earning his release. He scampered up Fish’s arm and launched his little body onto mine, scurrying up to my head.
“I have watched over our woman for all the days we have been in this place, surrounded by enemies!” Napoleon barked at Fischer, pissed as hell. “I respect you, as a fellow warrior, but I shan’t be spoken to with such utter disrespect. If you’ll excuse me, I shall go investigate and report back. Perhaps you should make yourself useful, mindfucker, and see if you can establish a mental connection with our woman!”
Kai’s face was priceless. His mouth was hanging open, his eyes volleying back and forth between the mouse and the mage who was clearly not in his right state of mind. With a huff, Napoleon sprinted down my body, slipping through a crack in the wall. Fischer just stood there, blinking slowly.
“Hey,” I said, stepping closer—but not too close. “Do you think it’ll work? Have you heard her at all since we’ve been here?”
His dark eyes locked on me and he nodded. “Once. Recently. She said the babies were alive, she loved us, and she was going to do whatever she could to get back to us. It’s, uh...” He paused and took a shaky breath, which was the first sign of the Fischer I knew coming back through the darkness. “It’s the only reason I was able to endure the... the circumstances.”
I nodded once. “I’m glad you had that, brother. When you needed her most, she was there for you. That’s our mate, isn’t it? Always knowing what we need. And now we’re going to come through for her. And for our other brothers who are still unaccounted for. And for Khol. We have to stick together now, more than ever.” I looked at both Fish and Kai, my veins suddenly being flooded with adrenaline. “I need vengeance for this. We all need it. Saige needs it. Are we ready to fucking get it?”
Kai’s rumbling growl filled the small space, and Fischer’s eyes lightened drastically.
“We have our magic. They must know by now that you two have escaped?” Fish asked us, and I smirked.
“That depends on whether Laurie has decided to confess her fuck up and face Asrael’s wrath. For all I know, nobody is aware we’ve escaped. Right now, we have the advantage.” I didn’t believe for a second she would’ve admitted her failure. She was too close to her endgame, whatever it may be. We were hurtling toward the showdown and any fuck ups on either side would be devastating.
Kai rolled his eyes. “She’d never tell. She believes this is her kingdom.”
“What was in those injections? Do you know?” Fischer held his hand out and I placed a full syringe into his palm. He held it up to the light, examining the contents.
Kai stood next to Fischer and studied the syringe. “What’d Napoleon say? Nox stone and something else?”
Fischer stiffened. “No fucking way,” he whispered, bringing the syringe closer to his eyes.
“What?” I demanded, trying not to get my hopes up that this could be a win for us.
He handed back the vaccine and leaned against the supply shelf. “The night we went to the cave in the woods with the others, I saw this stone. Nox stone. It’s possible that the entire boulder marking the entrance of the cave was actually Nox. There was only a small section of it showing, but it was dark, and what are the chances? But I told Saige about it, how rare it is. This can’t be a coincidence. When we approached the cave, I couldn’t hear any thoughts or pick up on any emotions. Everyone within the cave was shielded from me.”
“I haven’t even heard of anyone mentioning Nox in years. Gods, probably since the academy. It’s always been more of an urban legend!” Kai started pacing again; I could almost see Bagheera’s tail flicking back and forth.
If this rare stone was on Saige’s property and it just so happened to appear here in Besmet... And we weren’t the ones who’d supplied it...
“Laurie,” I spat. “It must be how she’s made herself invaluable to Asrael?”
Fischer ran a hand down his face in frustration. “Perhaps. I suspect it definitely plays a part in how she’s always able to slip away from the consequences of her actions.”
A squeak alerted us to Napoleon’s return and we all waited for him to scurry up a shelf at our level. “She’s not there. But the doctor is.”
My heart fell. Of course she wasn’t there. That’d be too simple, too easy. “Doctor?” I lifted a brow, and Napoleon nodded.
“This demon tended to her these past weeks. I suspect he is a loyalist to Bram’s family. He always treated her with kindness. He may know where she’s gone.”
Kai grinned and clapped his hands together. “Well, brothers. Let’s go meet the good doctor, hmm?” He strode to the door and froze, listening for sounds in the hall. Looking over his shoulder, he gave a nod. Coast was clear. We spilled out into the corridor and into Saige’s room within seconds.
There was one demon in the room, whose head snapped up when the door opened and the three of us charged in. We moved in formation, immediately surrounding him, and I didn’t miss the way he didn’t even flinch as we closed in. Interesting.
