AllFreeNovel
Share Us
I believed now more than ever that Mia Day—daughter of a brilliant witch and a fallen angel—was the weapon I was looking for. Fate or the universe or that elusive God who’d set things in motion liked balance, and this was balance. Heaven and Hell and Earth were represented in those children. Well, they weren’t children anymore. They were the keys to defeating the greatest threat the inner planes had ever known, and one of them was missing.
And I wouldn’t find her if I was stuck under Myrddin’s spell.
“Your brother is fine, as is your mother, and I’m sure at this point they’ve reunited with your dads,” Gray continued. “Zoey lost the grimoire, but she brought us this gift.”
I reached into the bag that did not look like it should be able to hold Gladys, but when I opened it, there she was. Something that had been tight inside me eased as I felt her weight in my hand, brought her out of the darkness she’d been left in all these years. “Hello, friend.”
“That is a bag of holding. They’re very rare,” Tix was saying. “But of course the sword is much rarer. I can feel the power coming off her. She does have magic. She has his magic. I can feel it. Why would she have Myrddin’s magic?”
“According to my brother, the gossip is Myrddin nicked his fingers on her when he was experimenting before the royals were lost. King Daniel allowed Myrddin to study the sword. When the queen decided to steal the grimoire, she took Gladys, too. How can you feel it?” I didn’t like Tix knowing so much about Gladys.
“I’m descended from the same line of angels that created her,” Tix explained. “I’m a cousin of the prophet Jacob, though I was born in Hell, my mother descending long, long ago. So I can hear some of her whisperings. She can defend you, Lady Sloane. She can use Myrddin’s own magic to fight the witch. All you need is to prime her.”
“I can handle it without priming Gladys. Unless you want to pop over to Dallas and bring the queen and king back, since she pretty much has to die in order to prime Gladys.” I wasn’t about to shove a sword through Evan.
“We can handle it,” Gray corrected. “Evan, you should hide and don’t come out until either Kelsey or I come for you. Do you want me to pop over to Trent and see if Eddie can bring him back?”
“I’ve been promised all teleporters are locked out for the time being,” I explained. “You really can’t bring anyone with you?”
“I’m sorry. I could bring Jacob if he needed a lift for some reason, but I’ve tried on others and it doesn’t work,” Gray explained. “Tix could teleport you, but we would have to leave Evan behind. He can only teleport those who belong to the house he serves.”
“I can stay behind.” Evan’s chin had come up in a stubborn expression. “If they manage to catch me, you have to know they won’t kill me. They need me alive when they get the sword back. Kelsey can take the sword with her and then we’re safe. That way Kelsey and the baby get out okay, and my parents have some time to come up with a plan to free me. Could someone take Puff?”
“Of course,” Tix assured her.
“No,” I said at the same time. Evan wasn’t thinking. No, they wouldn’t kill Evan, but they could torture her in ways she couldn’t imagine. Her body would be alive, but they could take her soul, and that wasn’t happening on my watch. I wouldn’t be able to look the queen in the eye again if I lost her daughter.
Tix turned to Gray. “Lord Sloane, I think it best that we leave here. You have a contract, and I believe attacking Myrddin’s favorite witches would be deemed in violation of that contract.”
“I’m not attacking. I’m defending my wife,” Gray growled, and I could see he was already getting into battle mode. His horns had started to poke through his hair, his eyes going dark purple. In a moment they would be pure black.
“I don’t think the satans will see it that way,” Tix said with a tsking sound. “Would you like me to evacuate Lady Sloane?”
“Don’t you lay a hand on her, Tix,” Gray ordered.
“As you wish.” Tix then moved to Gray and put a hand on him. “But you know I must protect the house. I cannot allow you to break the contract.”
I heard Gray shout and then he was gone.
“What the actual fuck?” I hissed, shocked to find myself alone with Evan again.
Evan held Puff close and seemed to be readying herself for what was to come. “He can override Gray if Gray’s in danger. His highest purpose is to protect the House of Sloane and its lord. Gray won’t be able to come back. We’re on our own, which is why you should have let Tix take you, too. You can call him but Gray gave him an order not to touch you, and he won’t disobey Gray.”
“Except when it comes to allowing Gray to fight beside his wife.” The words came out bitter, but there was a certain irony to Gray’s predicament. There had absolutely been a time when he would have carted me off if he could. Now he knew how annoying it was to have an overly protective boyfriend. Who I might murder.
“Kelsey, we can’t let them take us both,” Evan said, her tone soft. “Do you understand that if they take the two of us and Gladys back to the Coven House, Myrddin has everything he needs. He has someone who can wield the sword and someone who can prime it.”
“We don’t know that you can prime it,” I whispered back.
“I can. I know it,” Evan said with a surety that made my hands tremble. “As Lee is my dad’s son and Rhys has as much power as Papa, I am my mother’s daughter. I can prime that sword and Myrddin knows it.”
“Then we’re going to get out.” I wasn’t sure how, but I was going to make it happen. “So hide. The longer it takes for them to find you, the better shot we have at the primals waking and saving us. Rose knows what’s going on. She’ll do her best to wake them, and some of the strongest should be able to. Any minute now they’ll breach our doors, and we won’t be alone in this. I assure you those primals might prefer a nonviolent life, but they can fight when they need to. I’m going to have a talk with my bestie. You do whatever you have to to stay out of their hands.”
I turned to the door, but it was already opening.
A witch stepped through, her hands already crackling with magic. I braced myself.
The battle was about to begin.
