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Joseph held one well-groomed hand out for inspection. “I would be willing to summon Kaden for you … for a price, that is.” He met her gaze, his tiny cat-like, almond-shaped eyes boring into hers. “Kaden, as you know, is very gifted and would no doubt have Stone fixed up in the twitch of a mustache.”
She stared at him for a quick moment as the fine hairs all down her spine rose in protest. She thought for a moment she might actually shift into her wolf and tear his throat out. “You’re asking for payment when a man’s life hangs by the width of one of your cheap-ass nose hairs?” Though still in her Aralynn form with no fur showing, she leaped at him like a wolf, straight across the table and levitating just enough to make sure she cleared Stone’s massive body.
She extended her hands reaching for Joseph’s throat when suddenly she was grabbed around her waist and held suspended in the air.
Kaden had arrived.
He’d caught her midair and with a smooth motion set her on her feet. With his other hand, he grabbed Joseph by his suspenders and held him at face level. Their noses were separated by maybe two full inches.
“How many times have we discussed the importance of compassion over avarice, my friend? Will you never learn?”
Aralynn slowly backed away from the beautiful elf with long flowing brown hair, a face like a god, and eyes the color of the daytime sky.
“Hello, Kaden. We’re in trouble here.”
“Vojalie summoned me a few minutes earlier. She’d had one of her visions. And … apologies for Joseph’s extortion efforts.”
Rosamunde felt something from Kaden that she couldn’t comprehend. A pair of hyphenated words kept forming in her head – elf-lord – but it was far too absurd. Kaden couldn’t be an elf-lord. They were all extinct. They’d been hunted down and destroyed millennia ago. Yet the power that still hummed in her because of the violet wind she’d so recently made, prompted her again: Elf-lord.
As Kaden moved to the head of the marble slab, she felt his power like a warm flow of water moving through the tunnel.
Joseph drew close to Kaden then climbed monkey-like to sit on his shoulder apparently intent on observing the healing process. Joseph had known Kaden a long time.
Kaden glanced at her, and as he did a large pair of scissors appeared in his hands. “I need you to get these clothes off Mastyr Stone. All of them. They’ll cause him pain because of the poison Margetta has used.”
Poison? Oh, no.
She moved close and took the scissors. As she began quickly cutting Stone’s Guard coat away, the shimmering light of Kaden moved like a thin mist around him as he put his hands on Stone’s abdomen. Stone’s body arched once then fell immobile as it had been before.
She could feel the healing flow and the breath she drew shuddered with a few suppressed sobs.
She got his boots off without cutting them, but couldn’t help but notice that the muscles of his thighs had seized. Had to be the poison. She would have asked Kaden, but she didn’t want to disturb him.
She worked quickly to get his leathers off.
Kaden spoke quietly to Joseph, who in turn left his perch, then returned with a towel which he handed to Rosamunde. He resumed his post on Kaden’s shoulder.
Rosamunde placed the towel over Stone’s groin. His abdomen had started cramping as well, the defined muscles rising and falling in what would have been painful waves if he’d been conscious.
Her throat was unbearably tight as she watched the healing process. Kaden explained things along the way, specifically how the poison was slowly infecting Stone’s blood.
When Stone began to writhe and moan, Kaden met her gaze. “He’s beginning to return to consciousness and his abdomen is almost completely healed, but the poison is the problem now and he needs blood. You should feed him soon. That will help more than anything else could at this point to clear the taint from his system.”
Thinking about their earlier kiss, she pressed a hand to her chest. “I-I really shouldn’t do that. He has a number of doneuses he calls on to service his blood needs. I can bring one of them in.”
“I’m sorry, my Queen, but it won’t do. We don’t have time and I have reason to believe your blood carries more power than his doneuses. Without your offering in the next few minutes, he’ll fall into a lethargy and die. And afterward, I promise you, Margetta will have possession of the Nine Realms. Mastyr Stone is the key to saving our world. And you’re the key to keeping him alive.”
Rosamunde stared at Kaden for a long moment. She felt his sincerity and knew in her heart she’d reached a critical crossroads. Her faeness, despite the fact that she was still in ‘Aralynn’s’ form, told her he was right. And calling her ‘my Queen’ meant he knew exactly who she really was.
She’d sensed it as well from the moment he’d pulled that bus out of harm’s way: If Stone perished, the Nine Realms would be lost. Besides, from the time she’d first arrived at his Communication Center all those weeks ago, she’d known that part of her job was to protect him.
“Is there no other way?”
“No. And you must prepare yourself. Once you share your blood with Mastyr Stone, there will be no going back. Not now. Not ever. And there’s a good chance the vampire will break your heart.”
Chapter Three
Stone’s eyes hurt. A strange light pressed on his eyelids making him wonder if he’d been caught outside during the day.
