Death Bringer

Rossa stood up. “Of course I’m not! What do you think I am, suicidal?” He bowed elaborately. “You have all the power you need to get into this stronghold and save your prince.”

“Thanks for the support.” Ella finished her coffee and handed him the empty cup. “Can I ask you one more thing before you desert me?”

“Certainly my lady.”

“Now that we’re both in Otherworld, when Morosov and I are communicating, can anyone else hear us?”

“In your thoughts, or did you mean something else entirely?” He winked lasciviously.

“I meant in our thoughts, you perv.” She frowned at him. “Sometimes I can catch other people’s internal conversations here.”

“Like the way I can communicate with you?”

“Exactly.”

“There’s definitely a familial link, but I’ve always been told that the bond between a mated couple makes those conversations impenetrable for anyone else. A family member might know that you are speaking to each other, but not what you are saying.”

“That’s a relief.

“You’re welcome. Good luck!”

He disappeared, grinning broadly, and she was alone once more. She hadn’t really expected him to join her, but it had been fun watching him charm his way out of it. She returned her attention to the task in hand. There had to be a way to get through the walls without going through the main gate. Surely there had to be a service entrance somewhere.

With that in mind, Ella walked around the perimeter of the wall, stopping every so often to scan the stone face and identify any other entrances, magical or not. Once or twice, when she detected a change in the surface, she attempted to magic herself through it, but nothing seemed to work. It was a tedious business, not helped by her awareness that she was being watched and that time was running out. Whenever she used Vadim’s magic, she was certain she was sending out a big fat “come and get me!” signal. She’d gathered so many enemies in Otherworld already, she was surprised she wasn’t being hunted down by a mob. But perhaps because she was Vadim’s mate, they were scared of her as well? It might answer the question as to why she hadn’t been killed on arrival.

She halted opposite the main gate again and studied the movement of the four guards from the shade of the trees. Would it be easier to simply walk up to the gate, ask for Adam and go right in? By the time the alarm was raised, she reckoned she could take most of the opposition out. She didn’t even need to see him. All she had to do was find where he kept his grisly trophies and take her face back.

How she was going to reattach it was another matter...

Well, it was pointless hanging about. She had to do something.

“Rossa? Come back here immediately!”

“What?” He reappeared, his expression grumpy. “I was just about to take a swim in a lake full of nubile young Water Fae.”

“They can wait. I need you.”

His smile widened and he placed his hand over his heart. “I’ve dreamed of you saying that to me. Have you decided to let fate take its course and follow your true destiny to have endless sex with me?”

“Not quite. I need you to help me create a diversion outside the main gate while I figure out a way to get in.”

He took a step back. “No way.”

She batted her eyelashes at him. “Oh, come on, Rossa. If you help me, I’ll tell Morosov not to kill you when he executes all his other relatives.”

“But if I don’t help you, he’ll die in there anyway.”

“Do you really believe that? I don’t think Adam has a clue what he’s taken on, do you?”

Rossa stared pensively at the gates. “All right, I’ll help as long as I don’t get caught...”

Chapter Twelve

“Just keep an eye on that fire and don’t let it get out of control!” Ella yelled back at Rossa as plumes of thick black smoke billowed into the air. “Two of the guards are coming over!”

She ran headfirst into the magical smoke, using her hands to push it ahead of her like a shield. Her vision blurred, but she kept her sights on the gate and the two remaining guards. No one had seen her yet; they were all too busy staring at the fire she’d started. She sidestepped one of the remaining trolls, who had deserted his post, and slammed right into the massive door. Luckily, with all the noise, no one heard her, the bang or her muttered expletive.

Dammit, the door was locked. Duh. She closed her eyes and concentrated on exhuming its secrets and its weaknesses. Even as she searched, the timber groaned and shivered under her hand like a living being.

A snap of light whizzed past her nose as the smoke began to clear. Could they see her? Rossa had tried to help her with an invisibility spell, but she wasn’t sure she had the ability to maintain it.

“Watch out!”

He was bellowing in her head. On the road behind her, she saw a figure approaching on the back of a horse, long blond hair flowing in the breeze, a hand raised to cause magical mayhem. If that wasn’t Rossa ratting her out, it had to be Vadim’s father.

Another blast of deadly power hit the door, bounced off, and buried itself in her left shoulder. It also weakened the integrity of the door. To her complete surprise, her desperate spell worked. She fell flat on her face on the other side and looked up into the unwelcoming black eyes of yet another troll, his long spear an inch from her nose.

“Hang on!” She got to her feet, arms raised, and ignored the horrendous pain in her shoulder. “I didn’t mean any harm. I was just getting away from the smoke.”

He didn’t reply, just gestured at her with his weapon to move off. She didn’t argue, and let him walk her down the narrow corridor. When he grunted, she paused obediently before a locked door. As he reached past her to unlock it, she brushed against his hand, pushing the smallest amount of power into him. Without a sound, he crumpled to the floor.

Using all her strength, she bundled the troll into one of the empty rooms and shut the door on him. She had no idea whether she’d killed him or not and didn’t have time to check. At least he hadn’t exploded all over her. A quick glance back at the entranceway confirmed her fears that Rossa and the fire’s usefulness had ended and that the guards were once again mustering at the door. Would they sense her presence? Had the Fae king seen her escape through the smoke, or had he simply been attempting to get into the castle himself?

She didn’t have time to care. With her current luck, she’d be captured before she even had a chance to look for her face. She could pick up no sense of Adam, so what should she aim for? An image of Brad and Ms. Phelps came into her head, and she focused on that instead. If she followed their empathic signals, she would hopefully find hers.

Carefully reciting the invisibility spell Rossa had hurriedly tried to teach her, she locked the door, gathered herself and ran toward the back of the massive building. Bits of her eluded the cloaking hex, so she caught the odd glimpse of her arm, her boot and her jacket like pieces of an ever-changing kaleidoscope. It was quite bizarre. Even though she was in a rush, she couldn’t fail to notice the beauty of the place. It was a monument to the work of the sect, like a treasure seeker’s private paradise where they could come and gloat about their cleverness.

There was another long hallway and, at the bottom, two huge gold doors, which were guarded. That had to be the place. Flattened against the wall, Ella spared a moment to touch her shoulder, and discovered the cloth of her jacket was still smoking and seared right through. Her skin was broken and discolored and radiated a weird metallic glaze. What the hell had the king fired at her? Molten lead? She stuffed one of Vadim’s old handkerchiefs over the wound and used magic to repair the damage to her jacket. It would have to do.