Daha's words—the things he'd said in that strange voice after our reading—came back to me then. Whoever had spoken through him had vowed to have vengeance against the Gods who had wronged him. The Gods! Those weren't the words of a God; it was the vow of a man. Someone who could jump into the body of a seer and use him as a messenger for his malice. Someone who could get past Daha's defenses because even though he could take spiritual form, he wasn't actually a spirit. He wasn't dead.
He was a Jinn.
The Jinn can shift into a spiritual form. While in this form, they're immune to physical injury and they can possess humans. There were no records of Jinn possessing Beneathers. It was assumed that they couldn't—that the magic inside a Beneather would prevent a Jinn from taking control—but assumptions are often wrong, especially when it comes to magic. And if this was the man I believed it to be, he had a good reason to attempt it. A reason to seek vengeance.
Lucifer, Darcraxis, and I had killed the woman he loved.
The stranger finally withdrew his attack but kept a hold on me while he stared down into my eyes. His lips stretched into a wicked smile then he pushed me away from him.
“Take off your clothes. I want to see what's mine now that I can fully enjoy it.”
I swallowed past the dryness in my throat and gauged the distance between myself and the bed. I didn't dare glance at that bag or move a hand toward my charms; I only had one shot of this. I leapt for the bed, and he went with me, grabbing the charms on my necklace a second before I could. We landed on the bed and rolled; he came out on top. Slate's face twisted into a triumphant grin, and I went cold with shivers.
His stare focused on mine. The edges of his eyes trembled. His body tensed. Then his expression twisted in another way; a painful rictus. He cried out as his hand jerked open, releasing my charms. With stilted movements, he pushed himself away from me.
Slate—my Slate—shouted, “Go, Elaria! Go now!”
I wrapped one hand around my traveling stone and grabbed the leather bag with the other. The last thing I saw was Slate's silver gaze filling with fury and emptying of all trace of him.
Chapter Twenty-One
I reformed within my tower at Kyanite Castle and the first thing I did was snatch the key out of the bag and open the collar. I gasped as RS and Kyanite came rushing back along with my magic.
My love!
El!
“I'm all right,” I assured them out loud. “But RS, I need you to contact Torin and Declan. Tell them to ward their castles so no one can travel in via charm. Then have one of them go to Banning and ward the Crouching Lion for him. Warn them about Slate. Tell them he's possessed by Petra's Jinn lover.”
That's who that was? RS screeched. Fuck me! He's in Slate? How?
“Just go!”
All right! I'm going!
I ran to the castle's contact charm that hung by the door. It only worked within the castle; a sort of magical intercom. I used it to call for my steward, William.
“Yes, Your Majesty?” His voice came through the large chunk of barite as if it were a speaker.
“William, I need you to ward the castle so that no one can get in with a traveling charm. Can you do that?”
“Yes, of course, Your Majesty. But why—”
“I don't have time to explain. I need you to do it now! Right this fucking second! And close the gates. If Slate Devon shows up, do not let him in.”
“Yes, Your Majesty!”
Even as I feared for him, I hoped that Slate would buy us some time; that he'd restrain the Jinni long enough for us to protect ourselves. I dropped the castle charm and picked up the contact charm on my necklace. I slipped it in my ear and called out, “Darcraxis.”
“My fire?” Darc's voice came through after a few seconds. “What's wrong?”
“Where are you?”
“El?” Gage came walking in from the balcony.
“Hold on, baby,” I said to Gage.
“I'm in the courtyard,” Darc answered at the same time.
“Get up to the tower,” I said to Darc. “We have a problem.”
“On my way.”
I turned to Gage. “Call Banning, please. Tell him to travel to Kyanite after his club is warded, but warn him that he'll have to aim for just outside the curtain wall; we just cast a ward.”
“What the fuck?” Gage gaped at me.
“Just do it. I have to call the others.”
My contact charm chimed. Since it was still in my ear, it gave me a start. “Hello?”
“Elaria, I've done as you asked. Declan went to help Banning. RS told us about Slate. Are you all right?” It was Torin.
“I barely escaped him. I need you to meet me in Kyanite, but you'll have to—”
“Travel to the gates,” he finished for me. “Yes, I assumed you warded Kyanite as well.”
“Yes.” I sent Gage a grateful look when I heard him relaying the same travel instructions to Banning. I ended my conversation with Torin with, “See you soon.”
“Declan's with Banning,” Gage reported. “They're both on their way.”
“Good,” I whispered in relief.
I needed them with me. It would take all of us to come up with a plan to free Slate and likely all of our power united to free him. It may take even more than that. I looked down at the neckline of my dress where a corner of paper peeked out.
It may take a blue Dragon.
Chapter Twenty-Two
After explaining everything I'd learned, I showed my men the letter.
“Him again,” Banning grumbled.
We all knew who the Blue Dragon was and my guys looked as hesitant to contact him as I was. Not that any of us hated King Verin; quite the opposite. He had saved my life and
