CHAPTER 30
Helena woke up slowly, enjoying the feeling of being curled around Von. He ran his hands over her hair, pressing his lips into the top of her head, “Good morning, Mate.”
“Morning, my love,” she whispered, snuggling deeper into him.
“Timmins has already sent word. The Circle is meeting to discuss the formal steps of declaring war against the traitor Rowena.”
Helena scowled, annoyed that the bitch had found a way to sour her morning already.
“We cannot put it off much longer, Mira,” Von said with soft understanding, “her army is vast already. We need to call on our allies if we are to have any hope of defeating her.”
She pressed her face into his neck and muttered inaudibly.
“What was that?” he laughed, pulling away to see her face.
“I know,” she sighed, rolling her eyes and sitting up.
Von’s gaze darkened as he took in the sight of her naked body, his hands moving to trace over the sparkling swirls of her Jaka. He replaced his fingers with his lips, pressing a lingering kiss over the central mark between her ribs before looking up at her with hopeful eyes.
She slapped his hand away with a breathless laugh, “You’re the one that said we had to go.”
He frowned, looking like a child that had been denied his favorite toy, “What’s five more minutes? We’re late already.”
Helena smirked, “Only five minutes?”
Von grinned lasciviously and made to move on top of her when a knock sounded on the door.
They each let out annoyed sighs and pulled the discarded remnants of clothing up to quickly dress. Helena laughed when she found the torn dress she’d worn the night before, Von winking as she used her magic to repair the damage.
Alina popped her head in, her smile radiant as she took in her mistress slapping away the hands of her Mate. “They are calling for you, Kiri,” she announced once she caught their attention, trying not to laugh at Helena’s flustered expression.
“We’re on our way,” Helena informed her maid.
With a quick nod, Alina disappeared back through the door.
Once they were both dressed, and appeared mostly unrumpled, Von grasped Helena’s hand in his and led her down towards the Circle’s Chambers.
The men were milling around the hallway, chatting in quiet but jovial voices when they rounded the corner. Helena smiled when she saw that Ronan had been invited to join them. Still an unofficial member of the Circle, he had more than proven that he deserved a place as one of her trusted advisors. Helena had briefly contemplated asking if he would consider being the leader of the Rasmiri, but his loyalty to Von and the people of Daejara had held her back. Perhaps it was something she and Von could discuss later.
A sense of peace greeted her at the sight of the ones she had come to love; safe and whole at home. There had been a moment, when Helena had considered unleashing everything she had at Rowena, but the energy required for such an attack would have left the rest of them vulnerable. She’d had to choose between eliminating her enemy and protecting thousands of nameless others, or saving the lives of the ones she’d already sworn to protect and letting Rowena go. It had not been an easy choice, but she’d made it gladly. Seeing them here, now, laughing and joking with one another, only reinforced that she’d made the right choice. They would deal with Rowena together.
Kragen saw her first, lifting an arm to wave, “There they are! We were about to draw straws to see which of us was going to have to haul you two lovebirds out of bed.”
From the glower on Darrin’s face, Helena could already tell who had drawn the short straw.
“Lucky for all of you, none of you were foolish enough to try,” Von drawled as he punched Ronan on the arm by way of greeting.
Ronan frowned and rubbed his shoulder, “What was that for? I wasn’t the one that was going to interrupt you…” he trailed off, smirking smugly as he added, “this time.”
Von grinned, “That would have earned you a punch in the balls instead.”
Ronan gave Von a skeptical sidelong glance as he protectively placed his hands in front of his crotch; years of friendship and familiarity causing him to doubt such a blow wasn’t about to be delivered anyway.
Noting the stance, Von snickered, “At ease, bastard. I was only paying you back for touching my Mate.”
Ronan looked confused for a moment, trying to ascertain when he’d inappropriately touched Helena, before his knitted brows lifted and he laughed with understanding.
“It was beautifully done,” Von added in a more subdued tone, referring to the Jaka he’d so lovingly traced earlier that morning, “I could not have done better myself.”
The red-haired warrior shrugged in a show of dismissal, but Helena noted the way his cheeks tinged red at the compliment.
“It was also incredibly useful,” Helena added, offering her own appreciative smile.
The two men made murmurs of agreement, although Von’s lips twitched with laughter as he threatened, “Don’t think that means you can do it again.”
Ronan winked at Helena, “Only if the lady asks me to.”
“Dream on,” Von sneered, punching his friend again.
Ronan’s shoulders shook with laughter and Helena shook her head in amusement at their antics before kissing Von’s cheek and stepping past them towards the others. “Shall we get started?” The men nodded and followed her as she made her way into the familiar room.
A black lacquered box sat unopened in the middle of the table shining in the soft glow of the firelight. “What’s this?” she asked with delighted surprise as she stepped into the room. “A present? It’s not my name day.”
She stepped towards it quickly, filled with giddy anticipation. Her hands eagerly reached for the lid, lifting a cream piece of parchment. It had been sealed with a deep purple wax; a knot of thorns its emblem.
Helena looked up from the box and back towards her Circle. The smile began to fade from her face as she took in the expressions of confusion and unease. The same feelings grated against her mind’s inner barrier through her connection to each of them.
Her blood turned to ice and her brows knit together.
“Helena,” Joquil cautioned. Her aqua eyes were transitioning to iridescent as she scanned the box for any lingering sense of magic, something that would indicate who it was from or what was inside it. There was nothing.
Using a nail to peel back the seal, Helena unfolded the small piece of parchment. Two words were scrawled in a feminine hand: Your move. The note fell from Helena’s trembling fingers. Kragen moved quickly to snatch it before it hit the ground. She struggled to open the box’s latch until it finally came free with a soft click.
“Helena!” Von shouted, realizing who the package was from after reading the words over Kragen’s shoulder. Her name also reverberated within her mind as he reinforced the cry through their bond.
He blinked, crossing the distance between them with his power, but he was still too late. Helena had already opened the box. Her face drained of all color and her mouth opened on a keening wail that amplified the men’s fear tenfold. The Circle closed in around her.
Von looked into the box and felt his stomach lurch. He made a move to grab Helena when her knees buckled and she fell to the floor. He caught her and fell with her so that they both knelt on the floor. He tried to comfort her by tucking her into his body.
“No,” she sobbed, seeming to gasp for air. All traces of the happiness she’d felt just moments ago completely vanished and were replaced by bone-deep terror. Von tried again to wrap his arms around his shaking Mate, but she pushed him off. On her hands and knees she panted, struggling to breathe.
Darrin peered into the box before staggering back. Horror and revulsion stole across his handsome face. He heaved and barely made it to the window before becoming violently ill.
“Breathe. Breathe, my love,” Von murmured, stroking her back and adding through their bond, “Please, Mira. You’ve got to try.”
Helena took a deep shuddering breath, her entire body shaking. Von winced as he felt her nails crack and break as she scraped them along the ground. He watched as she grasped and crumpled the forgotten piece of parchment that Kragen had let slip through his fingers, blood smearing along its creamy surface. Watched as she slowly sat back on her heels, threw her head back, and screamed.
The scream shattered every piece of glass in the Palace, and echoed through the grounds and beyond. Birds scattered from their perches in the trees, taking flight in an attempt to flee the pain and rage that created that sound.
In her fist, the note began to smoke and caught fire. It burned quickly until all that remained was a smoldering pile of ash. The men paled as they took in the sight of her. Her hair flew around her like flame and her eyes glowed with swirling light as she stared past them, unseeing, and snarled the words that were both promise and verdict.
“My turn.”
To be continued…