Page 61 of Shadows of Fate

I always had work to do in the Court of Wolves. The Court of Ravens was a moderate amount. The Court of Shadows, though? I normally only came here to spend time along The Black Sea. Something about the energy here made my soul happy. Now I guess I could chalk that up to my soul searching for Raiden.

I looked down at my left wrist, running my fingers over the black line work that made up a full loop of roses wrapping around my entire wrist. The soul-bond mark, that once we found it, caused a bout of hysterical laughter to erupt from both of us. It wasn’t overwhelming like Raiden said he’d seen some of them between mates. Nevertheless, it was front and center. Not easy to miss for anyone. His matched, of course. It only added to the line work he already had inked along his body.

He said he’d had an artist ink his tattoos with black ink mixed in with ground shadow stone. I asked if it hurt, and he laughed telling me of course it had. But he’d wanted something to cover up the scars from his previous life.

“I’ll find you, my love,”I whispered through the bond. I wasn’t sure if he could hear me, but if he could… well, he needed to know I wasn’t going to stop. For anything.

I’d burn it all down for him.

* * *

It took a bit, but Cedar finally came shuffling back through the door. It had taken all of my willpower not to go search for him, and if I hadn’t been here with an unconscious Bastian, I would have.

He pushed a bloody and beaten Delano through the front door of the house, and I jumped to my feet, shadow stone dagger already in my hand.

“Sorry it took me a bit, Silv. I found this one roaming the streets. Apparently, he’d used up his usefulness and instead of bolting like a smart little lackey, he decided to stick around.” Cedar kicked Delano farther into the room, the male grunting under the pain as he slid across the wooden floor.

I walked over and used my foot to roll him onto his back. He glared up at me, his brown eyes filled with distaste. “Where is Raiden?” I growled.

“Fuck you. It’s your fault he was even taken, so you have no one to blame but yourself. Just had to be into shit that didn’t have to do with you,” Delano replied, his words slightly slurred.

I knelt down next to his bleeding body and held my dagger to his throat. “Where is my mate?” I pressed the blade against his skin, willing him to speak, but he just stared at me.

“That’s fine. Another question. What’s on the blade?” I asked him instead.

“Wolf venom,” he fumed.

I smirked, pleased with this information. “Good. You’re coming with us, Delano, and we’re going to have loads of fun.” I shoved the dagger Cedar had pulled from Bastian’s back through the front of Delano’s throat. He tried to scream in pain, but nothing came out. After a few moments, he passed out.

I rose to my feet, looking over at Cedar and Aeric. Cedar was leaning against the far wall, his posture saying he was relaxed but his face saying anything but. Aeric was still pacing.

“Aeric—speak. All that pacing has to have given you some clue as to what the fuck your friend over here was planning,” I raged.

Aeric stopped in the middle of the room and stared at me for a moment. “May I speak plainly, My Lady?”

“Don’t call me that, and please. I don’t have time to waste. I’m assuming since Cedar came back with this shit and not my male, that he didn’t find anything else,” I stated.

Cedar folded his arms across his chest and looked down at the floor. I didn’t blame him, which I hoped he knew, but I was also lacking the energy to be kind. The shock was wearing off, and anger was taking its place. Anger I could work with. Anger was my default setting. Sitting here on the floor, shocked and speechless, wasn’t me. I wasn’t interested in being that female—ever again.

Aeric cleared his throat. “I… uhm… well I think it was a setup.”

“Speak quicker before I decide you’re more useful dead,” I retorted.

“Right, well, I overheard you four talking about the fact that you’d been here before for a… job. Before you came to the Court of Shadows. I don’t particularly believe in coincidences, ya know? So what if it was a setup? You’d already been here, you’d feel comfortable just barging in. They only left three males here with three girls whom they’d just taken. I’m assuming if we dove into their backgrounds, they aren’t even candidates to be taken. What if it was all a ploy to take Raiden and set you off?” Aeric took a breath and when I didn’t make a move to kill him, he continued. “I’m not sure how much Delano has told anyone else about his powers, but I heard rumors in our training camp when I was part of Raiden’s Shadow Brigade that he was able to… steal people’s shadow magic.”

Cedar stood up quickly and looked over at us. “What do you mean? He’s a devolver?”

“What the fuck is a devolver? Did you just make that up?” I asked sharply.

Cedar rolled his eyes. “No, Silv. For fuck’s sake. A devolver has the ability to essentially borrow someone else’s magic. While they do, though, the person they take it from doesn’t have any of their abilities. So if Aeric is right, and Delano is a devolver, it would explain how he was able to take him. He essentially rendered him powerless and that pain you felt upstairs? What if it was him getting hit with a shadow stone blade dipped in the wolf venom like Bastian was?”

“They would’ve just carried him right out of here,” I muttered more to myself. “Cedar, how are we getting him back? That’s all great, having a theory on how he was taken, but what now?”

“We’re going home. Bastian needs time to wake up, and you need space to torture this one.” Cedar kicked Delano in the ribs. “We’re going to burn all of this shit down and leave a path of destruction in our wake until you find him. Sound good?”

I nodded my head.

“Okay, Aeric. If you could collect the girls from upstairs. We can drop them off at the safe house on our way back to the manor. I’ll take Bastian, Silv… well. Just drag Delano. If you want.” He shrugged and hauled Bastian over his shoulder.

---