Magicorum Box Set (Books 1-5)

26. Chapter Twenty-Six-2

“Bryar Rose.” When the queen addresses me, the entire chamber falls silent. “You have arrived.”

“Yes.” I’m pretty happy with how calm and level my voice sounds now. “And I have great news for you all.”

My aunties grin from ear to ear. Mirabelle bobs happily on the balls of her feet, a movement that makes her muu muu puff out into a muffin shape.

They think they know what my news is. But they have no idea.

Lauralei steps forward and raises her glass. “Let me guess. You have fulfilled your—”

“No!” I’m even happier with my loud exclamation here, because it shuts Lauralei right up. “I want to announce this news in a special way…by holding a battle of riddles with Queen Nyxa.”

The smiles melt away from all three of my aunties. “What?” asks Lauralei. “I forbid it.”

Nyxa rounds on Lauralei. “Who are you to forbid me anything?” She grins so sweetly, you’d hardly think she was the kind of fairy who killed servants for fun. But she is. “I should very much like to engage Bryar Rose in a battle of riddles.”

I curtsy. “Thank-you.”

“What is the prize?” asks Nyxa slowly.

“The winner can request any boon she wants of the other, and I’ll go first.”

Please, let me go first.

“Absolutely not. I am queen here, and I set the rules. I shall ask you first.” She taps her chin with one long orange finger. “Let me think…”

My heart starts beating so loudly, I can actually hear my pulse in my ears. I’ve watched Nyxa play these riddle games for years. Usually, she always starts off with an easy question. Otherwise, she says the game is over too quickly.

“I have it.” Nyxa claps her hands. “Why is a raven like a writing desk?”

I could cheer, I am so excited for this question. It’s a real stumper, but not for me. It’s from Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, after all. I give Nyxa my best grin. “Ask the Mad Hatter.”

Now, I’m not a hundred percent sure that’s the right answer, but based on how Nyxa is gritting her teeth right now? I’m pretty sure I nailed it. “Fine,” she says quickly. “Ask your question.”

I swallow past the knot of worry in my throat. Nyxa is a massively powerful fairy, and this is a huge gamble. She won’t like losing. “Who has my heart?”

Nyxa tips her head back and laughs. “Why, that’s easy. Jules, the leader of the Denarii. I’m sure he’s captured it both in the metaphorical and physical sense by now, yes?” She makes a slurping noise as she drinks, which is number one, unnecessary and number two, totally disgusting.

“Not exactly.” I pull back the wide neckline of my sweater to show the unmarked skin on my shoulder. “As you can see, my heart is still where it’s always been.” I cup my hand by my mouth. “Knox, we’re ready for you now.”

The door slams open, and Knox strides into the room. He’s all messy black hair, leather pants, big boots, and attitude. I’ve always noted how his presence fills up a room. Now, I’m thinking that’s his alpha warden vibe. Even though the room is filled with obnoxious fairies, suddenly it’s like there is only him and me. I can’t help it; I stare at his full mouth. Dark bristle lines his chin. I want nothing more than to rub my fingertips over his skin.

Knox’s eyes glow golden with werewolf power. An electric sense of connection seems to fill the air between us. Before I know what’s happening, his heavy arms are around me, and he’s pulled me against his firm body. I don’t need any more invitation than that. I lean in and kiss him, hard.

I don’t know how long things go on like that, but no one says a word. Eventually, Knox breaks the kiss. “When you told me about your plan, you didn’t say the exact words of your riddle.” He leans his forehead against mine. “Is that true?”

“Yes, Knox. You hold my loving heart.” I can’t stop smiling like a fool.

“Glad to hear it. You have mine too, yeah?”

“Yeah.”

Nyxa’s voice takes on a nasal shriek. “Where is Jules? It’s this thing’s eighteenth birthday.” She points a long finger at me. Evidently, I’m considered a “thing” in her vocabulary. “She was supposed to marry Jules! What’s going on?”

I fold my arms over my chest. “That’s the precise question I was going to ask my aunties. Jules is dead. I will never marry him.”

“What?” ask my aunties in unison.

“And since I won the battle of riddles, I will now name my prize. From now on, my aunties must tell me the truth. Make it happen, Nyxa.”

Nyxa sniffs. “Fairies don’t lie.”

“You don’t tell the full truth, either.”

Nyxa fans her chest with her hand. “This party is boring me to death. I should be going. In fact, it’s beyond time everyone left.”

“But what about my wish?”

“I’ll grant it…someday. Come find me, and we’ll talk.” She raises her arms, and the room fills with the silver light of fairy dust. When the air clears, the only ones left are my aunties, Knox, and me.

Go find her? Finding fairies is impossible unless they want to be found or you have their real name and can summon them. Leave it to a fairy to weasel out of a bargain.

My aunties stalk toward me, and they do not look happy. Moving in unison, they all raise their arms and summon fairy dust to them. My body freezes with fear. My aunties don’t crack out magic often, but when they do? Look out.

I straighten my back and firm up my resolve. After all, this was the situation I’d hoped for in the first place, right? That my aunties would be here alone so I could confront them? Getting Nyxa out of the way was just phase one of my plan.

But now that I see my aunties conjuring up magic against Knox and me? I think about all the times they wiped my nose and changed my diapers. They conjured me dinners and tucked me in at night.

Now that it comes to it, I don’t know if I can fight them, after all.

My aunties lower their arms. Long, thin branches burst out of the floor and wrap around Knox.

Not me. Knox.

The thorns dig into his skin. The copper scent of blood fills the air. Rage corkscrews up my spine.

“Jules can’t be dead!” Lauralei is shrieking now. “It’s all this werewolf’s fault. He’s lying to her.”

Suddenly, different memories fill my mind. Mirabelle telling me I’m a failure and worthless. Fanna handing me Predator’s Bane and making me thank her for it. Lauralei inviting me to a birthday party to celebrate my own murder.

And now? Torturing my mate. What little shred of affection I kept for these three ladies vanishes under the fires of my rage.

A voice roars with rage inside my head. “Attack!” It’s my wolf speaking to me again.

Once again, I agree with her.

Before I know what’s happening, my wolf form tears out of my body. It’s agony as my limbs realign. Sinews tear, and bone stretches. My great white wolf faces down my aunties. My muzzle trembles as I snarl with rage. “Set. Him. Loose.”

I don’t know what surprises them more—the fact that I’m a wolf or that I talk. Either way, the three of them only stare dumbfounded at me. I stalk over to Knox. The thorny branches they’ve tied him with have silver bark. Something about it is forcing him to stay in his human form. I raise my front paw, claws extended. With a flash of talons, I slice through the cords that bind him.

Knox steps free. Within seconds, his own wolf bursts from his skin. His eyes flare with golden light as he approaches my aunties. “That wasn’t smart.”

“He t-t-t-alks,” stutters Mirabelle.

“They both talk,” adds Fanna.

Lauralei raises her arms. “We need more thorns, I see.” A fresh cloud of fairy dust sparkles around her hands.

Fresh fury courses through my veins. If I live to be a thousand, I never want to see those damned Sleeping Beauty thorns again. I reach deep within me to the place where Colonel Mallory locked up my magic. This time, I do find it.

So I set it loose.

Leaning back my head, I let out a howl. Silver fairy dust surrounds my entire wolf, growing thicker and stronger as my howl grows. Knox adds his voice into the mix, and I can feel his alpha power giving me hope and strength. By the time I finish my howl, the mist is so thick, it’s almost a liquid. I lower my head, and the fairy dust speeds off to my aunties, growing larger as it flies forward.

My magic slams into my aunties, knocking them onto their backs. I lower my voice to a rumble. I have no idea how to cast a spell, but I know what I want to happen here. “No more magic for you.”

The fairy dust I sent over encompasses the three women, twisting round their bodies like small cyclones. Within seconds, their skin begins to glow. Somehow, I know that’s their power—their fairy dust—being drawn out of them. Their bodies shine more and more brightly until the room is bathed in silver light.

After that, the light disappears. From the bottom of my soul, I know their powers are gone as well.

Lauralei scrambles to sit upright. She raises her hands, staring at them like she’s never seen them before. Her voice comes out a rough whisper. “What did you do to my powers?”

“I can’t pull any fairy dust,” whines Fanna.

“Nor me,” adds Mirabelle.

Knox gives me a quick look. I still don’t know him too well, but I can tell that he’s wondering what I did to their powers, too.

I wish I knew. I reach into my soul to find my lockbox of power, and it’s closed down tightly once more. Why can I access it sometimes but not others? I shake my head. There must be some kind of logic to it, but that’s something to wonder about another day. Preferably when I have a fully translated Book of Magic in front of me.

Right now, I have to deal with my aunties.

Still in my wolf form, I stalk up to Lauralei. “I want some questions answered.”

Lauralei’s face creases into a simpering smile. “You wouldn’t hurt your aunties, would you?”

Wolf-Knox stalks forward. “She might not, but I definitely will. Answer her questions.” All three of my aunties gasp in terror. I’m not sure what it says about me as a person, but I find it a super-satisfying sight.

Lauralei quickly recovers, though. The next thing I see, she’s done gasping and is lifting her chin instead. “Never.”

Mirabelle scrambles to stand. “I’ll answer.”

“Don’t you dare,” scolds Lauralei.

I stalk around them slowly. “Listen to me closely. I know Philpot was really Jules, the leader of the evil Denarii. You set me up to become his zombie bride.”

Lauralei pales. “Don’t talk nonsense.” I must be getting more werewolf-y, because I can smell her lie like it was last week’s garbage.

“I’m not playing this game anymore. You’re going to tell me what happened with Jules, why you did it, and who my parents really are. Otherwise, things are going to get ugly.”

Wolf-Knox scrapes the floor with his four-inch long claws. “Give me an excuse to make it ugly. Please.”

Mirabelle waddles forward. “Jules approached us years ago. He asked us to do little things in exchange for magical tokens. Then, he said he had one last favor to ask of us before he gave us fairy magic beyond our wildest dreams. We didn’t have a lot of power to begin with. That lured us in.”

Mirabelle’s words smell like truth. Even more importantly, they fit with what I know of Jules. He was always trying to put together deals, even when he was pretending to be a hedge fund manager.

“Go on,” orders Knox.

“When we agreed to this final deal with Jules, we had no idea that he would bring us a baby. All the other favors were finished in an hour or so.”

Mirabelle’s words knock the breath out of me. No wonder Lauralei and Fanna acted like I was such a burden. They were expecting a few hours of work in return for a ton of magical power. Instead, they got almost eighteen years of me. A sour feeling settles into my stomach. There’s nothing like knowing you’re unwanted to ruin your day.

Wolf-Knox turns to me. He tilts his head with sympathy. “You don’t have to do this now, you know.”

“No, I need the truth. Keep talking, Mirabelle.”

Lauralei throws up her arms. “Shut your mouth, this instant. Mirabelle, if you tell Bryar Rose even one more word, then Jules will find you. He’ll come after all of us!”

Mirabelle huffs out a frustrated breath. “Don’t you get it? We’re talking about the deal between us and Jules. Should that be able to happen? He had those wizards and fairies cast about a dozen silencer spells on us.”

Lauralei’s face pales. “No. I suppose it shouldn’t.”

“You know what that means. Jules is dead. That’s why Bryar Rose is here and we can even discuss these things. There are no more excuses now. And she’s shifted into her werewolf form. There’s no point pretending.” Mirabelle turns to me. “What else do you want to know?”

I feel like a kid set loose in a candy store. All my life, I wondered who my parents really were. In fact, I dreamed up identities for them as regular humans. There’s no question what I want to know first. “Who are my parents?”

“You’re half werewolf,” answers Mirabelle. “That’s all we know. Jules dropped you off with instructions to give you Predator’s Bane. Although, considering the spell you just cast, I’d guess your other half is fairy.”

Wolf-Knox steps closer. “Half?”

Tension tightens up my neck. “Is that a bad thing?”

“No, it’s just…” Wolf-Knox bobs his head. “You’re really powerful to be half were. I could be alpha of all alphas if I wanted to, and my wolf chose you.”

Lauralei grins. “Alpha of all alphas?”

“And our Bryar Rose is your mate?” asks Fanna.

“It’s a pleasure to meet you,” says Lauralei. “Apologies for our rude greeting before, Mister…?”

“Knox. His name is Knox.” I can’t believe this. Now that Jules is dead, they’re sucking up to the next most powerful person in the room.

And that’s never going to be me. At least, not in their eyes. I’ll always be some weak foundling they were saddled with. “I have one more question for you. Colonel Mallory the Magnificent says he saved my wolf. What do you know about that?”

“Colonel Mallory? Seriously?” Lauralei waves her hands. “You’re dating an alpha, but let’s not put on airs. I doubt Colonel Mallory the Magnificent would have taken an interest in your existence.”

“Enough, Lauralei.” Mirabelle focuses on me. “Jules once said something about Colonel Mallory slipping away from him before Jules could finish him.”

Before he could finish him as a meal of dragon power, more likely.

“I think I know what happened.” Knox’s wolf-voice is low and soothing. “If Colonel Mallory was held in the same place where Jules was keeping you as a baby, maybe he ran across you there. Jules has tough prisons, but I bet Colonel Mallory could break free. He might have cast the Slumber Beast spell on you there.” Knox tilts his head and gives me a meaningful look. I know what he’s thinking.

And maybe cast another spell as well. There’s no question what spell that would be either: the lockbox in my soul.

I chuff out a breath. “I really want to talk to Colonel Mallory.”

“Good luck,” says Mirabelle. “He shows when he shows.”

Lauralei rounds on Knox. “Our Bryar Rose really knows the great Colonel Mallory the Magnificent?”

“I’m right here, Lauralei. And I already said I know Colonel Mallory.” I make a point to turn toward Mirabelle. “Thank-you for answering my questions.” I look to Knox. Now that all the excitement is over, I feel like a balloon that’s been deflated. All I want to do is go home. “Look, the computer in my bedroom has IP telephony. If I call Alec, do you think he would…?”

“He would. And while you do that, I’ll wait here and keep an eye on your aunties.”

“Thanks.” I pad off in my wolf form into my room, transform back to a human, get dressed, and call Elle. It’s the same thing as contacting Alec anyway. In short order, Alec casts some spells so Knox is dressed and we’re both back in his apartment.

Once I’m safe inside his place, I launch right into a crying jag. Knox doesn’t say a word. He simply directs me to his bedroom and tucks me under the covers. I’ve never been in a guy’s room before, but with Knox? It feels natural and safe to be in his personal den. The place is warm and comfy with lots of earth colors and leather.

Once I’m snuggled under the covers, Knox slides in beside me while keeping his own body over the covers. As I fall asleep, his fingertips brush through my hair, and his low voice whispers, “You did so well, Bryar Rose. I’m proud of you.”

And to those words of comfort, I drift off to sleep.