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Chapter Three
Elias
I’d gotten used to having Skylar around all the time. It was strange how quickly her presence had settled into me. Now that she was gone, I felt an uncomfortable emptiness.
The sooner we got this spell done and over with, the better. We needed her gone so we could focus and have more space, but I didn’t like her being so far away. Especially with a large group of shifters while the stone was out of our possession.
“Hadrian just checked in,” David said. “No signs of anyone leaving or entering the palace.”
I turned to look at my brother. “Thanks.” He and I hadn’t been working toward the same goal for so long, I almost forgot how well we could work together. When we were younger, we did most things as a team. Aside from the trouble he’d find with his hellhound friends.
“We should get started,” I said.
“House is secure.” Shelly brushed her hands together as if wiping off dirt. “We’re ready.”
I could feel the tension rolling off Madison in waves. She held her chin high and wore a brave face, but I knew she was terrified. I didn’t blame her. We were trying very complicated magic. There was no telling what the cost would be and no way to predict how she’d respond. Especially since she was human.
Shelly had predicted that it might go easier since human brains were less complex without magic. But none of us had ever done this spell or seen it done.
“Let’s get this over with,” Madison said. “I want to take that bitch down and end this.”
The windows were taped off with fabric, blocking out most of the outside light. Shelly had warded everything and we were all shut in for the next twelve hours at least. If we weren’t through, she’d reapply the ward.
I walked over to the light switch. “Ready?”
The scent of a struck match floated through the air and I caught the flicker of candles out of the corner of my eye. Taking that as a confirmation that I was good to kill the lights, I flipped the switch.
The room went silent as the bright florescent glow was replaced by the soft flicker of dozens of candles.
I glanced around the room, taking in the sight. It was almost peaceful. Several tapers in crystal holders stood on the table. On the counters, there were a variety of tea lights and a few large candles in jars and a couple of tapers in various holders that didn’t match. It was like we’d walked into a second-hand store for candles.
It did the trick though, we had to have firelight to make the spell work. No sunlight was allowed. I took a deep breath and looked around at the windows one more time. We’d sealed everything off well.
“You might as well get comfortable, Madison,” David said. “You might be sitting there for a while.”
“You three better not turn me into a brain-dead zombie,” she said.
“We’re going to do our best,” Shelly said.
“Can’t be any worse than what you were before all this happened,” David said. “It’s not like you were in control of your own life or aware of who you were.”
“That’s not helping,” Madison said. She looked over at me. “I get what Skylar sees in you,” she turned her gaze to David, “but I’m not sure why she keeps you around.”
“She doesn’t have much of a choice,” David said. “She’s my mate.
“She always has a choice,” I said. “And I’m not sure why the bond chose him.”
“Can you two get along well enough to pull this off or do I need to send you away?” Shelly asked. “This is serious. We need this information and Madison deserves us doing our best. She could have run home or run to the queen and sold us out.”
“We’d have killed her if she did,” David said.
“Not the point.” I glared at him. “Shelly is right. You need to focus.”
“I’m focused,” he said. “Are we doing this shit or are we going to talk about it all night?”
I moved in front of Madison and reached my hand out. David took one and Shelly took the other. Then she held David’s other hand, completing a circle around the human.
Madison looked a little green, but I wasn’t sure if it was a trick of the light. For a woman who didn’t have any memory of being in the service of supernaturals, she was taking this all very well. She’d had to learn about our existence at the same time as learning about her captivity. It was a lot to take in. Most humans would have buckled under that kind of information.
