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Inside, I found Jade’s flaming face contorted with rage. “Seriously, Alexei? Your plan sucks! I’ve been frozen to the wall forever, waiting for the guard to leave me in peace.”
“Did you have a better plan?” I snapped irritably, my heart dropping at her empty hands and visible form. “I’m assuming you had no luck in the guard’s absence? Where’s your undetection spell?”
“I lowered it to yell at you.” She stamped her foot with petulant frustration. “And of course I didn’t find the staff. There’s not one trace of dark magick on this floor. I can sense dark magick somewhere, but it’s far. He must be hiding it somewhere else.
Angling my head towards the stairs, I listened for the next rotation of guards. From what Luca’s spies discovered, they tracked the top level in ten-minute shifts, and we were swiftly running out of time. “We’ll have to work our way downstairs, then. Check each room.”
Jade ran a shaky hand through her silken mane. “This house is huge. It would take us forever to traverse each room without being discovered.”
“Then I have good and bad news. Which would you prefer first?”
“Obviously the bad news.” She took a deep breath as her hand jumped to her chest again, pressing against the amulet hidden beneath the fabric of her dress.
I opened my mouth to reveal the less-than-ideal location of Trystan’s weapons room when I heard the footsteps.
“Fuck,” I grit out as the doorknob jingled.
I didn’t give Jade a chance to react. My lips crashed into hers, drawing a surprised moan from her as I swallowed hungrily. Her eyes widened in shock before they fluttered closed at the brush of my tongue, tracing the outline of her lips. Plundering her mouth, I pushed her back against the wall, lifting her leg so that the sharp points of her heeled boots dug into my back.
The door slammed open.
“What are you doing in here?” a guard shouted.
Jade ripped away from me with a gasp, but my hand on her chin didn’t let her head turn to the vampire, revealing her identity.
“Must have gotten lost in this bloody mansion.” A slow smile spread across my lips. “We’ll show ourselves out right away.”
The guard wavered as he realized who stood before him. “I think Lord Dubois would rather you wait here, my prince, to ensure nothing is amiss.”
My fangs snapped together with rising frustration as time slipped through our fingers.
“I don’t think you understand me.” As I strode forward, I didn’t spare his drawn steel a further glance. “I am Prince of the Vasilyev royal line. Unless you require further clarification, it means I’m your future king. Your sycophant lord follows my rules, not the other way around.”
“Perhaps,” he said, bravely holding firm as he blocked my exit, “but I have my orders to follow. Regardless of my prince’s wishes.”
My fangs lengthened, but before I could slaughter the vampire, a surge of magick behind me sizzled in the air. I didn’t dare turn to Jade, but the guard's eyes widened as he beheld her with something akin to terror. He tensed to run, but I caught him in my grip.
Now that the vampire had seen Jade, he couldn’t survive. He seemed to understand his fate because his eyes flashed crimson as he snarled with renewed efforts to flee.
“Jade, cast your charm and move to the next floor. I’m right behind you,” I bit out gravely.
She didn’t reply with a furious refusal or a scathing retort as I expected. Instead, I heard her footsteps approach, still crackling with magick. When she came into my peripheral, my breath caught at the change within her. Her eyes glowed an unnatural silver and in her tight grip…
Oh, fucking Hell.
Instead of answering, her spirit magick surged toward the vampire guard like a viper, lethal and whip-fast. He seized in my arms, mouth open in a silent scream as her power ripped through him.
Snarling, I snapped the vampire's neck before Jade could finish her attack. I threw the vampire’s body across the room and turned to Jade. A whoosh of air escaped as I watched her levitate off the ground with only her toes still brushing the carpet.
“Jade, darling. Take off the amulet before you wake the dead or do something equally as impressive that will alert Trystan to our presence here,” I murmured, taking a hesitant step towards her. She trained molten eyes on me that glinted metallic in the low lights. Only flickers of the earth witch I loved remained in her icy glare.
“But we needed to stop him. And I’m so stressed, Alexei. If we don’t find the talisman before Trystan—”
“I know,” I cut her off, speaking gently. “But the amulet is feeding off your emotions. You have to take it off, so we can think clearly about this.” She wavered, her fingers twitching around the chain, and I whispered, “Please,moj draga.”
Shouts suddenly echoed down the hall as we stood suspended in the prelude to violence.
Jade’s nostrils flared as her eyes wavered between the silver of the amulet’s ancient power and her usual green. “Dark magick. Lots of it.”
