Bridget gasped and Julianna’s mismatched eyes widened.
“He doesn’t … it can’t work out,” Elise stated. What else was she supposed to say? Her emotions felt like they were spinning around in a tornado.
“Nonsense.” The old woman tucked Elise’s arm into hers. “Come. The ceremony is about to start. You’ll be right up front with us, his family—where you belong.”
Confusion fogged her brain and her heart, which was why she allowed the duchess to drag her along, all the way to the front of the ballroom. There was a small dais set up where five men were standing with Reed. He had his back to her, so he didn’t see that she was there. When the dowager pulled her to stand with the rest of the family, Eleanor beamed at her, but said nothing. It dawned on Elise that both the dowager duchess and Eleanor suspected that something had been going on between her and Reed.
In her time, during the ascension ceremony, the would-be Alpha made their vow to protect their clan and their secret by gripping the blade of the ceremonial dagger and sealing their vow in blood. It seemed the ceremony was pretty much the same now.
“… to show your commitment to the position,” the man in front of Reed said. He was likely the head of the Lycan High Council. “You must make your vow with blood.” He raised something metallic in the air. She couldn’t see the dagger clearly, but she saw Cross and Julianna take their place on the other side and the younger woman nodded, signaling that it was the same dagger Lucas had used.
Reed reached out, then turned to the rest of the people in the ballroom as he held the blade with his hand. He didn’t even flinch as he gripped harder, staining the dagger with his thick, bright red blood.
“The vow has been spoken and sealed with your blood. And now—”
A loud, crash of thunder interrupted the head of the Lycan High Council. Another one came, so loud that it shook the glass panes of the windows in the ballroom.
Eleanor glanced around. “What in the world?”
A deafening boom filled the room as the wall behind Reed and the High Council exploded, sending chunks of the brick wall and debris flying everywhere. Elise instinctively covered the dowager’s body with her own, wrapping her arms around the old woman. Smoke and singed wood assaulted her senses, but she forced herself to look up.
“Well, well, it seems my invitation got lost in the mail.”
Three figures in red hooded robes stood amidst the pile of rubble created by the flaming, gaping hole in the wall.
“Get everyone to safety,” Jeremy said to Eleanor.
His mate nodded. “I will. I love you.”
“I love you, too.” Jeremy pulled her in for a quick kiss. “Go now, my love.”
Elise unwound her arms from the dowager. “Go with your granddaughter, Your Grace.”
The older woman nodded. “You take care of him.”
“There’s no time to waste!” Eleanor already had William in her arms. “Let’s go, Grandmama, Elise.”
“I’ll be staying,” she said. Before Eleanor could protest, she put a hand on her belly. “I’ll be safe. You know it.” She wasn’t 100 percent sure right now if she was pregnant with Reed’s baby and that she was invulnerable, but at least that would make them leave without her.
Eleanor gasped. “You’re already … all right. You take care of yourself too.” And with that, she led the dowager away toward the exit doors just as they had planned. The rest of the guests were already on their way out as several Lycans began to surround the dais forming a protective wall between the mages and the escaping guests.
Julianna and Cross were already at her side. “Three mages?” Julianna exclaimed. “How can there be three of them?”
“How dare you?” Reed shouted, his voice full of power and authority. “You dare come into my home and territory, mage?”
The hooded figure in the center of the trio stepped forward. “It seems your visitors have told you about the existence of my kind. Did they also tell you where—or rather, when—they are from?”
“Who are you?” Jeremy said. “Stop being a coward and show us who you are.”
The man laughed. “I wasn’t planning on keeping that a secret. After all, you should know who your future ruler will be.” He pulled the hood down.
“Lord Daly?” Reed said. “I don’t understand.”
Elise felt like she’d been struck by lightning. Glancing at Cross and Julianna, they seemed confused too.
"That’s not the mage who attacked us,” Julianna whispered. “He’s way older.”
Elise thought back to the man who asked her for a light on the street. No, it couldn’t be! That man was about their age. Who was this, then and who were the other two mages with him?
“Yes, I’d expect you’d be confused.” But he wasn’t looking at Reed. He was looking right at Julianna, Cross, and Elise. “I was a much younger man when you met me. About thirty years ago, at least for me.” He laughed.
Her skin crawled as she recognized his voice. ‘Lord Daly’ dropped his British accent and now it was clear who he really was. Malachi. The same mage who kidnapped her and attacked them at Lucas’s ascension ceremony.
“Funny thing with unintentional time travel. I arrived in England in 1790, right in the middle of the docks. A press gang kidnapped me and put me to work on a boat on the way to West Indies. Of course, as soon as we got to the Caribbean, I escaped. For years I survived, building up my power as best I could. Then fate brought along these two.” He motioned to the two beside him.
The two figures shrugged off their hoods, revealing Simon and Beatrice. “Hello, Your Grace,” Beatrice purred.
Reed’s face went white. “You …”
“I found them being held on a sugar plantation by the native workers there. Their mother was
