Page 22 of Alpha's Magic

“Exactly. I knew I was attracted to Leo when I first caught his scent in the cave, and I thought the top of my head would come off. Then when he walked out wrapped in those furs and I saw that beautiful face…it was over. I may not have settled on my feelings at that point, but I was sure then that I wanted to claim him, and that I would never allow any other Alpha to have him.”

“I won’t fight you on it, Asher. Not if you have feelings for him. But I think he’ll be a handful. Do you think he’ll want to go to Sudfarma and stake a claim to the throne?”

“I don’t know. If Harrison knew who he was and that he was my omega, he may want us to.”

“He’d probably love having you installed there as Regent.”

“I’m afraid he would. It has to be Leo’s decision though. And I wouldn’t answer to Harrison, any more than you do.”

From behind us suddenly came a loud roar and a chimaera jumped off the ledge over our heads and landed only yards in front of us. I could see right away that the ancient magic that had formed it was deeply flawed. The thing was malformed and could barely hold up its own weight.

There was definitely something wrong about it and not just because it was an unnatural creature. Its fur was thin and patchy, and the body looked like that of a lion, but a small, spindly and unhealthy one, and its head was oddly swollen and misshapen. It looked vicious enough though with red eyes and snapping teeth when I sprang to my feet to fight it. The goat’s head turned to glare at me, and it had horns that were twisted and unnatural and so heavy the neck couldn’t hold it up properly.

The neck sprouted out of the lion’s back, like some ghastly experiment of a necromancer gone wrong. The goat opened its mouth and spat out a thin stream of green, stinking fire that I easily dodged, though a bit of the poisonous acid that spewed from it singed my cape as I jumped backward. I yanked it off, in case the corruption started to spread. Before it could build up another stream of poison, Lex cut off the goat’s head with a mighty swing of his sword. He pronounced the words of a strong enchantment over it where it lay twitching on the ground to make sure it was truly dead and that another head didn’t sprout from the bloody stump.

The lion’s body reared up on its hind legs and lunged at me, as the snake tail lifted up to menace Lex, who had come around behind it. The snake’s head hissed and spat poison at him, too, but none of it could penetrate the protective shield he’d placed around himself.

I pierced the lion’s heart with my sword, burying the blade deep in the spindly chest, and the thing fell heavily against the hilt and sagged already dead to the ground. Lex simultaneously cut off the snake’s head and then pierced the brain with the tip of his blade as it lay twitching on the rocks until it finally stopped moving. I circled around the body slowly from one side, while Lex did the same on the other, both of us making sure the chimaera was well and truly dead.

Lex checked me for any slight wounds we might have missed as I did him. If the corruption caused by a wound from a creature created by dark magic wasn’t totally cleaned and purged, it would rot the flesh and spread over a victim’s whole body, hollowing it out from the inside.

When it was over and we stood next to it looking down at its body, we both realized this was not the work of a skilled warlock. It was obvious that the chimaera was not only poorly made but made in haste by a person who didn’t know what they were doing. We had no idea what wizard or warlock could have had the power to make the thing at all, since dark magic was outlawed in Morovia and now in Igella too. But then, the warlock had not been powerful enough to make the monster correctly. It was a risky thing to do and could have backfired badly, especially if the thing had turned on the warlock who made it and tried to kill them.

Lighting the carcass on fire with our magic was almost a relief so we didn’t have to keep looking at the abomination. We waited beside it to watch it burn, because we wanted to make sure there were no traces of it left when we had to leave.

As we sat on the rocks beside the blazing fire, Lex, who had seemed lost in thought, suddenly looked over at me.

“Does the timing of this chimaera sighting seem strange to you?”

“What do you mean?” I asked. “Any sighting these days would be strange.”

“Yes, but this one was particularly odd. All of this is. Leo said it wasn’t him who attacked the village in Igella. If not him, then who? What was the ‘horde of demons’ they reported? We need to speak to the survivors.”

“We need to find out who made this chimaera too. Maybe someone who just learned of Leo’s existence and feels threatened by it.”

“So they’ve decided to eliminate the threat?” I asked.

“Yes. Maybe. Maybe it’s someone who’s now in line for the Sudfarman throne.”

“You’re talking about Rozamond’s brother, Prince Chandler?”

“Yes,” Lex agreed.

“He would know we both have powerful magic, and that I’m the Regent of Igella, so he might want us out of the way. He’s actually stayed in the castle and knows the layout.”

“But Leo was alone there in the cave for a couple of days after Grimora died, with no one to protect him. Why didn’t they come for him then?”

“Maybe they tried to, but they were tied up attending the funeral services. Then we left unexpectedly to go to the coast. No one expected us to leave the funeral as quickly as we did and go directly there.”

I got quickly to my feet. “Damn it, Lex, we need to get back. Leo and Rory are alone in your castle, and I think we may have been lured here with the chimaera just to get us out of the way. We have to go. They could both be in terrible danger.”

****

Leo

That first morning at the castle, I had to pinch myself to make sure I wasn’t still asleep and dreaming. I was propped up on pillows, luxuriating in a soft, warm bed, while servants bustled around, stoking the fire and bringing me breakfast on a tray.

While I was eating, one of them asked me if I was ready for my bath. I almost choked on my warm, buttery croissant. But I nodded, awestruck, and the girl hurried to the door to have the footmen bring in a beautifully carved old wooden tub, lined with linen, she told me, so I wouldn’t get splinters. I watched appreciatively as the footmen filled it with buckets of steaming water and the servant girl added fistfuls of perfumed bath salts.

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