Page 108 of Possess Me at Midnight
“I vote Mathias.” Camden’s voice shakes as he enters his vote, and no wonder, with the evil man himself sitting there.
Rage builds in my chest. I wish I could pour myself through that fucking mirror and attack Mathias, make him twist with pain and writhe in agony as he deserves. Instead, I clench my fists and glance at Sabelle. Her stare clings to me as she nods in support.
“One more vote for Mathias d’Arc decides it,” Blackbourne reminds.
As if anyone needs to hear that.
“He won’t have my vote,” Bram vows. “Rykard will represent the Deprived well. He knows them, will listen, and can carry our message to them. Smooth relations, as it were.”
Blackbourne snorts. “Your opinion. This is not the time for commentary. O’Shea? Keep in mind that a vote for Rykard sends us to a dreadful tie that should be avoided at all costs. No Council has ever had to enforce a challenge to dispute a tie.”
Tynan clears his throat. “Well, I’m sorry to say, then, that my first official vote as a Council member will bring about something dreadful.”
Hope flares. I hold my breath.
“My vote is for Rykard,” Tynan finishes with a defiant scowl.
“Bloody stupid—” Blackbourne curses, then shrugs, as if getting himself under control. “Well, then. Tomorrow, an hour past dawn, both candidates will present themselves at the gate of my estate for the challenge. God help you both.”
With that, Blackbourne severs the connection. The others follow suit. I pause, unease skittering through me. “Challenge?”
“Indeed.” He exhales, looks at Sabelle with regret, then shakes his head. “I never imagined Blackbourne would actually enforce this. I thought for certain he would devise something else. It’s his right as Council elder to do so.”
“But he chose not to, so what happens next?” Sabelle demands.
Bram swallows. “Tomorrow morning, Ice will appear at Blackbourne’s estate as instructed. He will battle with Mathias there for the right to the Council seat.”
“What sort of battle?” Her eyes narrow. “What do you mean?”
Bram sucks in a sharp breath, then looks at me with apology. “A battle that ends only when one of you surrenders or dies.”
Sabelle
The following morning, predawn gray gathers outside. Inside, shadows move across the cave walls like ghostly secrets into the flickering torchlight as everyone gathers around Ice’s long dining table. Bram stands nearby yet apart from everyone—arms folded, jaw tight, eyes shadowed with the same insidious thing that both terrifies me and breaks my heart.
“You won’t be going to Blackbourne’s, Sabelle,” he announces as if that is the end of the conversation, then sips his coffee.
I feel the internal tick-tock of time passing down to the hour when the challenge for the disputed Council seat will take Ice away from me—possibly forever. My gut cramps into a thousand knots, and I yearn for a few minutes alone with Ice. To touch him, reassure myself.
I want to Bind to him so badly. All night, I considered doing just that. After all, once it’s done, my brother can’t undo it. But almost as if he knew what I was thinking, he monopolized Ice all night, discussing the challenge, developing a strategy, and analyzing Mathias’s potential weaknesses. Now, time slips through my fingers, and the panic that I might never see Ice alive threatens to steal my composure.
“You’re not,” Ice agrees, approaching from behind, coffee in hand. I turn to him, close enough to smell the musky-pine scent of him…yet so far away.
“It’s taking all I’ve got not to beg you to call off this challenge and withdraw your nomination. If I had known when I suggested your name what this fight would come to…”
Ice’s face closes up. “I can’t withdraw. Mathias can’t be allowed to govern even a sliver of magickind. And I won’t fail Gailene by taking the coward’s way out.”
Even at the expense of your life? But he prizes his sister’s memory above almost everything. And why should he compromise that for the witch who can never become his mate? After two centuries of grief, he needs closure. Revenge. “I know, but I beg you… Don’t leave me here to bite my nails and wonder. Let me come with you and help.”
“Only Councilmen and candidates may attend the challenge.” Bram shrugs as if that settles the matter.
“Along with their mate or source of energy.” At their matching shocked expressions, I smile. “I had a little chat with Sterling last night. Most helpful.”
Bram curses. “Too clever by half.”
Ice sits in the chair beside me at the long table and shakes his head. “I won’t let you anywhere near Mathias. I know the atrocities he’s capable of. The energy I have will be sufficient.”
“To fight off one of the most powerful dark wizards ever? Look at the spell he felled Bram with, a simple wave of his hand. It nearly killed him.”
