Page 29 of Alpha's Magic

I had always suspected Rozamond of being an evil person, and even more so after what she did to Rory, but we never had any real proof of deliberate evil. We certainly never had any proof she was operating as a dark witch. But could Harrison possibly have known what she was all along and just hadn’t acted against her?

I immediately dismissed the thought as disloyal. No, he couldn’t. It wasn’t possible.

A knock came on the door and when I shouted for whoever it was to come in, the door opened to admit the innkeeper and several of his staff. A man carrying a tub came in first and he placed it by the fire and arranged the cloth in the bottom. Meanwhile, a small table was set up and a tray laden with steaming bowls of what smelled like beef stew were set down on top of it, along with a huge loaf of bread, a slab of yellow butter and tankards of ale. Other servants carrying buckets of hot water appeared and soon the tub was ready.

Leo’s eyes were wide as he took it all in and then looked up at me in wonder. “This will cost a fortune.”

“I have enough. Now come and let’s get you out of your clothes and into the bath. You can eat in the tub.”

His face was wreathed in blushes before I got him settled, but I knew he was uncomfortable, cold and hungry, and I had to fix it if I could. Besides, I thought he needed a bit of pampering after all he’d been through.

I ate my supper too and watched him sit in the steaming water and enjoy his food. Though I couldn’t resist taking the sponge in my hand and soaping it up to bathe him in all his “sore parts,” when he was done. Since I had no intention of making love to him tonight, it was torture for both of us, but he laughed a lot as he playfully dodged my hand and then reached for it again to pull it back between his legs. I was glad to see some of the sadness that had plagued him since Grimora’s death subsiding a little.

After his bath, I helped him dry off and then scooped him up to put him in the sheets. The maids had put in bedwarmers when they came in, so he sighed as he slid inside them, and I covered him with the quilts. I quickly took off my own clothes, turned down the lamps and joined him, wrapping him up in my arms.

I didn’t get much sleep with his scent teasing my nostrils and his sweet, soft body cuddled up to mine, but I closed my eyes and endured, because he needed to sleep.

The next morning over breakfast, I decided to hire a coach to take us the rest of the way to Morovia. Lex’s men could accompany us as guards. It would be safer and more comfortable for my omega. Leo had risen and stretched that morning with much groaning and wincing whenever he moved. Being able to stretch out in a carriage might help. Besides that, the weather was turning as the skies darkened and it looked like snow would start soon. Leo wasn’t used to being exposed to bad weather conditions and it was getting too cold for him to ride on horseback.

The coach I hired arrived just before noon. It was a slightly older model, but clean enough and in good repair. The horses all looked fairly healthy. The innkeeper’s men loaded the luggage, including our saddle packs, which left the horses’ loads much lighter. We were soon off, with Lex’s men following along behind. I spent the first hour or so inside the carriage with Leo, making sure he was comfortable. There was a small brazier inside it for warmth, and I put down the heavy cloth curtains over the windows as well and heaped him with furs. Since Leo had the seats all to himself, he could stretch out his legs and make himself comfortable.

I transferred back to my horse just before we crossed the Morovian border a couple of hours later. I had left Leo resting, and the rocking motion was already lulling him to sleep.

We were heading through the Doleful Woods, a huge, ancient forest that stretched for over twenty miles in any direction at its heart and eventually led to the capitol city and Harrison’s palace. The road that passed through the forest was dappled with sunlight, but the shadows lay deep on either side. The trees were ancient oaks and elms, and they leaned over the road like nosy old men, inquiring what our business might be in these woods and trying to decide whether or not to let us pass.

We were getting near the forest’s edge and about to come out on the high road to the palace, when without warning, an arrow suddenly struck me high on the shoulder, close to my chest. It was a hard blow and so unexpected that I lost my breath for a moment. Beside me, I heard the captain of the guard, a tall, highly decorated soldier named Dellon, gasp and reach for me, as I began to slide off my saddle. There was a roaring in my ears, drowning out his concerned cries, the whinnies of the horses and the alarmed shouting of the other soldiers.

We were under attack, and I glanced at the carriage and saw Leo’s pretty, shocked-looking face at the window. I yelled at him to get down, as volleys of arrows had begun to fly at us, seemingly from the ether. There were no soldiers in the trees or the underbrush beside the road. These arrows were magical and so had minds of their own. Captain Dellon had eased me to the ground and was trying to shield me with his body, while mounting a defense with his sword drawn, but a sword was useless against arrows. There was no visible army to attack, so it was an impossible task. I saw two soldiers fall from their horses, already dead, as others jumped down and tried to take cover in the trees. My shoulder was throbbing, and I looked down and saw the arrow jutting out of my flesh, with the by-now familiar corruption spreading around it slowly in a circle and seeping into my body. The tips had been dipped in the poison.

As I held the shaft in my hand, I could feel the magic inside it, and feel how much it wanted to get free of my body so it could fly again and do more damage. The ones lying on the ground around us were moving slightly, trembling with the effort to take flight again and come at us a second time. I decided to give them a new purpose and pushed magic into them to change their direction and seek new living flesh.

“Go back to where you came from and to the one who sent you. Go back! I send back to you the evil and the harm you sent to me, and I lay my own curse upon you. Begone wickedness. Fly away home!”

It was a dark curse and my magic hesitated for a second or two, not used to being used for such a black purpose. I was even a little surprised myself. But the arrows began to rise in the air eagerly again and slowly turn in the opposite direction.

“Fly away!” I called to them, and they turned in one big volley and hurtled through the air, headed north toward the capitol.

My shoulder was beginning to ache now, shockingly so, as if my body was finally realizing what was happening to it. I said a quick spell to stop the poison from going any further and checked again to make sure Leo was all right. I thought my spell might hold a while if I were lucky, but we didn’t have long until the wicked poison overcame my protection.

I grasped Captain Dellon’s arm. “Ride to the palace as quickly as you can and demand to see the king. Tell him what’s happened here and tell him to send healers. Quickly!”

He nodded and jumped on his horse to fly down the road, and soon he was out of sight. It wasn’t far now. Perhaps he could make it in time, but I didn’t really believe it. A second small volley of arrows, six or seven of them at least, came flying out of thin air and into the windows of the carriage, each of them lit up like a torch with orange and yellow flames shooting from their shafts—someone had lit them on fire, hoping perhaps to burn us to death inside the coach, as the arrows went straight for it. The heavy curtains caught rapidly. I got to my feet and wrenched open the carriage door, pulling the nearest curtain down and throwing it outside in the road, even though more were flying in. I had to get Leo out of there, but as I reached for him, everything began to spin, and I could feel my consciousness slipping away. Leo’s screams followed me as I spiraled down into darkness and collapsed half in and half out of the carriage door.

Chapter Twelve

Leo

When I saw Asher fall unconscious, I was enraged, because for one brief, horrible moment I thought he was dead. I’d already endured having Grimora taken from me. Not Asher too. Hell no.

I think I’d have truly lost my mind if that happened. I’d had a lot taken away from me in my life, but not this. I couldn’t bear this again. Not now that I was finally glimpsing happiness with Asher. It was too soon to know, but I had a feeling he could be the love of my life, and I’d be damned if I’d lose him so soon. I’d follow him into hell if I had to.

Suddenly the words came to me as clearly as if Asher were whispering them to me in my ear. As clearly as if Grimora or my father were standing behind me, telling me what to do.

You must return the spell to the one who cast it. Quickly, before it’s too late!

Return the spell? But how? I’d been watching as Asher sent the arrows from the ground spiraling into the air and turned them to head back away from us and the carriage. Had that been what he had done? But how on earth had he done it? Magic, to be sure, but he was much better at it than I could ever be. How could I possibly do what he’d done?

I heard Grimora’s voice in my head as plainly as if he’d been standing beside me.

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