Page 59 of Ancient Magic

“You?”

Lynx shook his head. “It’s a family name.”

Skye rolled her eyes. “Predictable.”

The fairy ignored her, continuing with his monologue. “The story is also true when it claims that the original Lynx was betrayed by his most trusted warrior. The bastard stuck a cursed dagger in his back. My grandfather used his dying breath to wrap it in a powerful magic that would keep it hidden until his true heir could retrieve it.” He tapped the center of his chest. “Me.”

“Then who created this place?” Skye demanded.

“Lynx. He always knew there was a chance he would be deceived, so he planted the story about the lovers and built this temple.” He looked excessively pleased with himself. “He paid a mage to hex it and keep his secret safe. Until I could get my hands on it.”

“Then why are we here?”

“The location of the sword remains hidden by the magic.” Lynx held up the hilt, using his fingers to wiggle the decorative crystal out of the pommel. “I need the compass to locate it.”

“A chunk of glass?”

“Not to me. Watch.”

Lynx tossed aside the hilt and balanced the smooth crystal on the palm of his open hand. For a moment nothing happened and Skye quickly whispered the words to a magical snare. If she could trap him before he could call for his waiting servants, they could bring this to an end. But even as the magic tingled through her, the fairy’s aura began to pulse, the silver streaks zigzagging through the green until it was almost blinding.

As the silver surrounded Lynx’s fingers, a glow abruptly appeared in the depths of the red crystal, as if a fire had been stroked to life by Lynx’s touch.

“Micha,” Skye breathed in warning.

She didn’t know what was happening, but she knew it wasn’t good.

With a low roar, Micha reached up to rip off the wire around his neck. Skye felt an irrational stab of annoyance. Aggravating leech. He could have let her know he’d managed to disable the device. Instead he made her think he’d rather have his head blown off than let her help him.

Lynx’s eyes widened, clearly blindsided by the realization that Micha was off the leash, quite literally, but he didn’t panic. Not even when Micha launched himself forward. Pulling a metal object from his pocket, he tossed it in Skye’s direction. She frowned as the thing rolled across the marble floor, halting as it hit the toe of her shoe.

“Choose, vampire,” Lynx warned as he raced past Skye, heading toward the door.

On the point of running after him, Skye’s air was knocked from her lungs as a freight train smashed into her back, slamming her to the ground. A second later she realized that it wasn’t a freight train that pinned her to the marble, but a very heavy vampire. Trying to process what the hell was going on, her thoughts were shattered when a large explosion rocked the temple.

Shards of marble blasted through the air like miniature daggers, slicing and stabbing into Micha as he covered her with his large form. If he hadn’t been on top of her, Skye knew that she would be in serious danger.

Unfortunately, he couldn’t protect her from everything. The vibrations from the explosion were still shaking the ground when the roof abruptly collapsed and a cinder block smacked her on the back of the head.

For the second time in less than twenty-four hours, Skye was knocked unconscious.

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