Page 15 of Trial By Fire

“Your mother,” I say as I brush past her, circling around again to the front of her body. Cordelia startles, another fireball flies through the air and passes straight through me.

“Leave my mother out of this! I am not going anywhere with you! If you come any closer, I will blast your ass with fire!” her voice wavers. She is curious, I know it: I can feel it.

“Come with me. You have no choice,” I say as I stand behind her again. Cordelia is still looking out into the room, unaware that I am right behind her. “It’s the only way. Only Dravyn will be able to come for you, I’m afraid. Your other mates will be detected the minute they try to cross into Incantatia.” My only hope is that Dravyn takes the hints I am giving him, and he can convince them to let him come after her. I take no joy in what I’m saying or doing. I am taking my daughter into danger instead of out of it. I should grab her and run. Cordelia stills at my words, resigned. Her hands drop to her sides, and her fires go out. I know that she is speaking to her mates telepathically as the sound of the roars vibrate the floor and walls in the room. I take a quick glimpse at Dravyn, and notice his legs and arms are twitching.

“Time’s up, daughter.” I grab Cordelia around the waist and hold her close as I wrap us both in shadow. Cordelia screams as darkness descends. She thrashes in my arms and practically growls. The roars of her mates in their Dragon forms and the yell from Dravyn, who’s now awake, call out to her, and she breaks in my arms. Cordelia sobs, begging me to let her go, unable to break free of my hold. The need to be with them is hitting her hard. I can’t imagine the anguish she is feeling through her bond. Mates aren’t meant to be separated, and yet here I am taking her away from them. I manage to clamp her arms down to stop her from fighting me.

With one arm banded around her, I take my free hand and touch the center of her forehead.“Altum Somnum,”I whisper, and she falls limp in my arms. I scoop her legs up from underneath her and hold her close to my chest. I’m thirty years too late to hold my flesh and blood in my arms, and it almost kills me to look at her unconscious form. A single tear slides down her cheek, and I only hope that I can reverse the damage I’ve done in this single meeting. I make a decision then and there. I am not taking her to Maurelle. I am not sending her to her death. I will find a way. I have to. I owe it to Thana, and I owe it to my daughter.

“Please, forgive me,” is the last thing I say to her as we pass through Realms and into the unknown.

CHAPTERELEVEN

TORIN

“Torin, you need to calm down. We will get her back, but you will level this place if you shift in this room,” I can hear Gale say, but I can’t stop the rage I feel at my own failure. It’s been weighing me down ever since we heard her pleas in our heads. We were too far away to make it to her in time. We had left her unguarded. Dravyn couldn’t protect her, we put too much trust in her being in Celestia. Now she is gone. Taken by another shadow-wielding Fae. I reach for the nearest chair and snap it in half with my bare hands and roar. My Dragon paces inside of me. By the stark fear in Silva’s eyes, I can tell my eyes are shifting back and forth. The poor woman is beside herself whimpering and crying her eyes out.

“I just left the room to bring her something to eat. When I returned, she was gone. Mister Dravyn was barely coherent himself.” She hiccups, blowing her nose into her apron as we all tower around her. She has no clue what happened, and I fear we will scar the woman for life. I manage to push down my anger and step away from her. I take a breath and look around our room. I’ve destroyed everything in here except our bed. Adrian is facing the window with his back to me. His anger is rolling off him in waves, yet he has said nothing. Gale has bounced between the two of us, doing what he does best, putting out the fires that our anger leaves behind. He even helped Dravyn, who is now sitting on the edge of the bed with his head in his hands. Clearly, whatever was done to him has taken a lot out of him. He hasn’t said a word.

“It’s not your fault, Silva.” I hold my hand out to the tiny woman as she weeps on the floor. She places her hand in mine, and I assist her up from the floor. She nods her thanks, and when no one else says anything else to her, she starts to scurry around the room.

“Silva, just leave it,” Gale says to her as we watch her pick up the mess that I made only moments ago.

“Miss Cordelia will not be happy if I leave it like this. I need to make sure it’s tidy before she returns,” Silva says.

My gut clenches as my anger rises again. How could I let this happen? How did I not see this coming? Memories of my mother and how inadequate I felt from my inability to help her come flooding back to me. She spent years held captive in her own home. Even when I became a Regent, I couldn’t free her. Thaddeus forbade it. He didn’t want another female uprising, and he didn’t want to publicly execute any more women as he had with Adrian’s sister and mother. I think ultimately he feared my mother, she was the queen’s second in command. If the women of Arcadia saw my mother walking in the streets, it would have given them hope for change and the return to the past. For that reason, Thaddeus kept her under lock and key. My mother died from heartbreak. She never let go of her own failure she felt at the loss of Thana, and I deeply believe she paid with her life eventually. I will not fail Cordelia. Damn the consequences! I will burn Incantatia to the ground! I will not let Cordelia die. I love her!

“Do you really think she is coming back?” Adrian's voice is a lethal purr, soft and menacing. Silva stops dead in her tracks. She looks at me with fear in her eyes, they’re wide with tears still lingering. I place my finger over my lips and shake my head for her to keep quiet. I know my brother, and I am certain he will be on her in a second if she replies. He is not himself. Where I can quell my anger, Adrian is a burning inferno until he destroys his target, and that could be anything and anyone. I know that he is struggling hard. He is probably in his head like I am at the moment. “In fact, why are we still here, Torin? We know exactly who has her. Why are we waiting around?” He turns to face us. His Dragon looks out at me, his calm mask slips, and he growls long and loud. The room begins to shake from the rumble from his Dragon, even the trees within the walls begin to tremble.

“What do we know, Adrian? Have we fully assessed the situation? We don’t know for sure who has her. Dravyn has barely said a word. I will not—I love you, brother—but I will not jeopardize the life of our mate because you want to jump into Realms in a blind, blazing rage.” Adrian crosses the room in a flash and steps into my face, bared teeth, and itching for a fight. I really don’t have time for this shit.

He huffs out, “Who deemed you our leader again?” He cocks his head to the side, and the blue sapphire eyes of his Dragon burn into me.

“You know what, Adrian, no one did. It just seems that the two of you always deferred to me our entire lives. If you don’t want me to make the decisions, then go right ahead and do whatever the fuck you want,” I growl right back. My anger has never abated, I tried for the sake of everyone in the room to calm down, but I am tired of always putting a lid on my emotions. Especially for them.

“Guys, let’s just take a minute. Stop and think. Don’t let the past make you choose a hasty decision.” Gale steps between us, shoving us both back. “Don’t let your presumed failure cripple you into inaction or make hasty choices you will regret.” We both stare at Gale in shock. My mouth opens and closes a few times, and I struggle trying to find words. I look at Adrian, who is clearly just as shocked as I am. The truth of Gale’s words is like a slap to the face we both needed. The shadows of our past have hung over our heads for far too long, and we both need to let it go before it costs us more than we are willing to lose. That being the love of our lives. Adrian turns and begins to pace with his hand braced on top of his head in an attempt to calm down.

“Look, I am just as angry as the rest of you, but someone has got to keep a level head around here. Yes, yours truly, me, will make that sacrifice. Hand to heart, though, the next time you two want to fight it out, make sure you give a brother a bit of time to grab some popcorn.” Gale laughs and flops down beside Dravyn, who finally looks up at us. I move across the room to stand a little closer to him. His mouth opens, and he is about to speak just as someone knocks frantically on the door. Silva, who was standing stock still, finally breaks into a run toward the door. As soon as she opens the door, she bows and moves out the way for King Maddox to enter the room. Twyla follows, still leaning heavily on her mate, Gray. The giant of a Mage towers over all of us, he is like a moving mountain, and he practically carries her into the room with his arm around her waist.

“Tell me everything,” both Twyla and Maddox say at the same time. Twyla begins to cross the room, only for Gray to stop her. The look of love and concern in his eyes has me looking away from them. Their affection brings my thoughts back to Cordelia, and in order for me to remain in a clear headspace I need to push my feelings down.

“I am fine, Gray,” she reassures him, and he nods his head and steps away.

“I’m right here if you need me, Fy Nghariad.”I’m not sure what he just said, but if her face is anything to go by…it means everything to her. Twyla lifts up on her tiptoes and kisses the corner of his mouth softly. Love shines in her eyes as she steps away from him.Gray doesn’t let his emotions show, he just stands near the door like a sentry, fading into the background and never takes his eyes off Twyla. Twyla continues forward until she stands right in front of Dravyn. Her black ball gown has been replaced with a simple pair of cream linen trousers and a black t-shirt with Cordelia’s Drakes’ Naturals logo on the front. Everywhere I look I am reminded of my mate. Just this morning she was in my arms, letting me claim her for myself as I fucked her against the shower wall. I can still feel her body wrapped around me, and my cock twitches at the memory. She let me take from her without question, and I fell even further in love with her.

“Dravyn, did you see who took Cordelia?” Maddox asks.

Twyla kneels down in front of Dravyn, places her hands on his knees, and closes her eyes. Her eyes move rapidly, as if she is searching for answers magically. They were only closed for a few moments before she opens her eyes wide in surprise. She beckons her father over, and Maddox helps her to her feet.

“They helped him. Whoever incapacitated him somehow dragged his Dragon up from the depths of his soul. Can you feel him, Dravyn?” she asks optimistically. We all look at her to explain further, but she just stares back at Dravyn.

“I haven’t been able to feel my Dragon for years.” Tears well up in his eyes, and he looks away as he surreptitiously wipes them aside. If I was in his shoes, I would shed a tear as well. It must be a relief for him to know that that part of him is not lost. Now, it’s up to us to get him to the Waters of Elysium to help him Emerge. Dravyn clears his throat and collects himself before he looks up to speak again. “I heard everything. He disabled my Fae magic so that I couldn’t alert you all to his presence. This was all a distraction. He let Vivyn and her mates escape in hopes that you would catch her in the end. He wasn’t trying to cause too much damage, he just needed us out of the way so he could take her,” Dravyn states. You can tell he is struggling to recall every word as he rubs his temples as though he is fighting a headache.

“So, he took Cordelia to Incantatia. Now we just go in and grab her back. Easy!” Gale says matter-of-factly.

“It’s not that simple. He said only I could come for her. He was struggling with himself on whether to take her to Maurelle. I don’t think this Fae wanted to harm Cordelia, he wanted to protect her.” The entire room descends into a frenzy of sound as we all begin to speak at the same time. There is no way I am letting him go back to that place alone, we are in this together now. If we are going for Cordelia, we are going to do it united.

“Quiet!” Maddox shouts over the noise. “This won’t get us anywhere. Yes, we need to get to Cordelia. If she finds her way to Maurelle, who knows what will befall her. Our only hope is for Dravyn to go.” Gale opens his mouth to speak, but Maddox holds up his hands to stop him. “You three will be detected immediately. This is a stealth mission. Dravyn can use the shadows to hide and pass through without alerting the queen. It makes sense.” Maddox nods his head as if he can already see the plan working.

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