CHAPTER TWENTY
Instead of preparing to defend himself, the dragon sank to his knees in front of the beast.
The tiger went still except for its snapping tail, muscles coiling to pounce.
Definitely an idiot. “Get up,” Vaughn said quietly. “Move, now.”
Kel ignored him.
The tiger launched himself forward, sailing right over Kel’s head and disappearing down the passageway.
Elena whistled. “Well if Morgana wasn’t pissed at the world before, heads are gonna roll when she finds out Constantine flew the coup.”
Without responding, Kel rose and entered the blonde’s cell. The woman shuddered, sobs wracking her shoulders.
“Hey!” Elena called out, gripping the bars like she could channel the dragon’s strength.
The dragon carefully scooped the woman into his arms as if she might break at any moment.
“Put her down,” Elena snapped.
A flash of iridescent scales layered in oily black darkened Kel’s skin and then vanished. His eyes burned with a need that Vaughn recognized all too well.
He caught Elena’s hand. “It’s okay.”
“I don’t—”
“She’s his mate,” he interrupted.
Elena blew out a breath, tossing him a look. For real?
He nodded.
“And I thought Briana had her hands full.”
The blonde’s arms didn’t look strong enough to hold on, but she wrapped them around Kel’s neck, staring blankly in their direction.
“Trust and slumber,” she said.
“Wait a second,” Elena hollered after them. “How about a little help here?”
Kel laughed and kept walking, the pair vanishing from view.
His sorceress stepped back from the bars. “Fair enough. I would have left him here, too.”
Alone, the events of the past day caught up with Vaughn. The attack at the library, Elena’s alter ego, their surprise visitor. And now they were trapped with no signs of movement from above or below. He hoped like hell someone was left alive somewhere, or they might be waiting a while for someone to find them.
“We should have at least asked him to get you some pants,” Elena mused, crossing to the bench carved into the back wall of their cell.
“I do think better when I’m wearing them.” He grinned and sat next to her, looking her over. “Are you okay?”
It was the first time he’d gotten a good look at her after the fight in the library. “Did he hurt you?” Vaughn was torn between hoping Kel had roasted the bastard he recognized from Mac’s party and wishing he’d get the chance to tear the asshole in half himself.
She shook her head. “No, but I have had better days.”
“Like when you’re sneaking around undermining Morgana?”
“Something like that.” A shy smile that he doubted few people ever saw curved her lips. It slowed his heart in his chest, right before it twisted painfully at the thought of anything happening to her.
“Hey.” She ran her fingers through his hair. “I promise I’m good. All in one piece.”
And how many days had she gone home when that probably hadn’t been the case? He knew the job, knew how many close calls there were for people like them, how often they almost didn’t make it home at all.
There were too many active Shadows to know everyone, but damn it, he should have known about her. The fucking Shadow’s Angel.
Someone should have said something. Dare. Or Elena. She’d been teasing him about being a Shadow since Vegas and the whole time she’d been a part of the rebellion.
And then there was Rutger. What had the leader of the rebellion been thinking signing off on her abduction in the first place, even if he hadn’t known she was Vaughn’s mate? It didn’t make any sense.
“I wouldn’t want to be whoever you’re thinking about killing right now,” Elena said, reading his mood better than ever. “So… How about we get back to the part where you were going to going to kiss the hell out of me.” She slid into his lap.
The moment her arms wrapped around him, he buried his face against her throat, breathing her in. “You should know that if this is just a tactic meant to distract me—” he leaned back to stare into his mate’s stunning gray eyes “—it has a high probability of success.”
“Until you go back to wanting to strangle me?” she teased, her attention sliding down to his mouth.
Heat kicked up through his chest, and even though they were going to have a find a way out of here and back to Dare, both man and wolf needed a minute to hold Elena, to know for sure that she was okay.
He brushed her hair back from her face, curling his fingers around her nape. He slid his other hand beneath her shirt, her skin so warm, and gods she smelled like heaven.
One taste, one moment to lose himself in her and then he’d figure a way out of this mess. He’d find a way to save Piper and hold on to the incredible woman softening against him, her mouth parting so sweetly for his…
”Get the hell away from my daughter!”
Elena stumbled off him. “Dad?”
And the good times just kept coming. The only thing worse than kidnapping a powerful sorcerer’s daughter was getting caught with his hand up her shirt.
Vaughn tried his best to adjust the ripped shirt she wore and was rewarded with a scathing look from the man on the opposite side of the cell door, making him momentarily grateful that he was locked up.
As if reading his mind, the sorcerer snapped his fingers. A lick of magic sparked between the bars, and the door swung open.
Vaughn waited for the wolf to tense, but the animal inside him was surprisingly calm considering the sorcerer looked murderous.
Elena moved toward the open door, but he caught her wrist, scanning the area. They didn’t know what happened to the guy who blamed Elena for his daughter’s death and he had Fae with him. They were known for their glamours and tricking people into seeing stuff that wasn’t there—like her father and the small contingent of immortals crowded behind him.
“They’re real,” she said for his ears only, understanding his hesitation. “It’s been at least six months since he’s looked that mad,” Elena murmured.
“If you’re trying to put me at ease, you’re dropping the ball, Ivy.”
“We can hear you,” he father grumbled, sounding like it wasn’t the first time he’d reminded Elena of that. He lifted a palm, a burst a blue leaving his hand. A towel hit the ground at Vaughn’s feet.
“So it’s a family thing,” Vaughn murmured, reminded of the first time he’d met Elena when he’d been on the receiving end of that trick. He wrapped the towel around his waist.
A petite woman Vaughn recognized as Elena’s mother, Amelina, ran into the cell, sweeping her daughter into a fierce hug. “Are you okay?”
The other woman’s maternal once-over reminded Vaughn of his own mother, sending a wave of loss sweeping through him. She ran her fingers across the exposed tracings on Elena’s cheek as if seeing them for the first time.
Vaughn was pretty sure that was how he’d looked when the sorceress had chosen to reveal herself to him entirely in Vegas.
“What happened?” She didn’t wait for an explanation before catching sight of the Fae glyph. Her eyes went wide as the symbol’s purpose sank in. “That bastard, if he—” The heir to the Fae throne froze, her eyes locked on Elena’s neck.
“How did you know we were here?” Elena interrupted, flipping her hair to hide the claiming mark on her neck before anyone else spotted it.
Her father tipped his head to indicate someone to the left. Vaughn paid closer attention to the men gathered behind Rohan Lamorak, recognizing two in particular. From Vegas. The pair had followed him and Elena from the piano bar.
Elena’s gaze snapped back to her father. “You were the one having me followed that night?”
“For your own good apparently. Quite the mess you’ve gotten yourself into young lady.”
“A bad habit of mine,” she drawled.
The other immortal glowered. “This is far more serious than you’re usual fledgling rebellion,”
“Fledgling rebellion?” Vaughn nearly choked on the words.
Elena shot him a warning look.
So her father didn’t know she was the Shadow’s Angel either? At least Vaughn wasn’t the only one who’d been in the dark. What about her mother? He shot a sideways glance at Queen Titania’s daughter only to find her staring directly at him, her expression as impossible to decipher as most Fae’s.
“Is Alrick dead?” Elena asked.
Her father shook his head. “He’s wounded but alive. He’ll be—”
“—brought before Titania,” Elena’s mother interrupted looking right at Vaughn. “As will anyone involved in Elena’s abduction. Especially those who abuse magic not their own.”
Right now Vaughn didn’t care what the hell they did to him as long as it was after they got his sister back.
Her abductors had to be wondering what happened to them by now. If her father’s men had been able to track them, Piper’s kidnappers may have done the same when they didn’t show to make the trade.
At the very least he hoped like hell they figured he hadn’t intentionally bailed on the deal without a word. He was no closer to finding a way around that deal that kept both his sister and Elena alive and safe, and he definitely wouldn’t find any solutions in the cell.
They needed to go. Now.
Two others separated from the growing crowd. Mac and a Fae male he recognized who’d also attended the party in Vegas.
Mac paused in front of the cell Constantine had previously occupied. Vaughn didn’t know what the other gargoyle was doing with Elena’s father, but he’d take any ally he could get, even one who shot him an I-told-you-so look.
The other wolf crouched, running his hand across the earth in front of the empty cell, weighing the scents in the area. Mac had been close to both Kel and Constantine, and things might have turned out differently if he’d arrived at the same time as Kel.
Mac lifted his head, his eyes loaded with questions he wasn’t going to ask out loud. Not everyone knew about Constantine’s reappearance during the Gauntlet and there were plenty of immortals who wanted to keep it that way.
Vaughn nodded. “Kel released him,” he said, telling the other gargoyle the only thing that mattered. The only thing that might keep Mac from tearing Kel to pieces if he managed to track the dragon.
“Is that his work upstairs?”
Vaughn nodded, intending to tell Mac about Kel’s mate, only to stop when he saw Elena go motionless.
He took a step toward her, hunting for whatever had captured her attention. She glanced at him studying him intently. Nothing on her face betrayed her emotions, but the wolf stirred within him, sensing her distress.
“Ivy?”
“Ivy?” her father repeated, not even trying to hide his disgust over the nickname.
Elena bit her lip, the gesture uncharacteristically vulnerable. “It’s complicated.”
“It’s not if you’re under his influence,” her mother began.
If her father looked ready to destroy him before.... “What do you mean under his influence?”
“She’s been forced to obey him.”
From the corner of his eye, Vaughn saw her mother gesture to the damning glyph, but didn’t tear his gaze away from his mate. Something was wrong.
“His influence is not my biggest problem.” Elena’s voice trembled, setting off every alarm bell in Vaughn’s head. She stumbled back abruptly, bumping into the wall. “She’s in my head.”
Shit. “Is it the crown? Is it close?”
“I don’t know.” She grabbed the sides of her head. “I can’t fight her.”
“Fight who?” Her father stiffened. “What the hell is happening? What crown? Who is she talking about?”
Blue lightning flashed across Elena’s irises. “The Iron Queen.” A burst of blue flame appeared in her hand and she closed her fist to extinguish it. “She’s too strong.”
Not even in the library had she admitted that the crown was too powerful for her.
She pushed away from the wall, a frantic look on her face as she stumbled toward Vaughn.
Her father intervened, grabbing her arm.
“No, stop! He needs to put me to sleep.”
“Who the fuck is she talking about?” her father boomed.
Elena fought his grip, struggling to reach Vaughn. “You don’t understand. He’s the only one who can stop her. Stop me.”
Despite his mate’s distress, the wolf remained only mildly agitated. In the library, the crown’s presence and Elena’s response to it had made the wolf nearly break free. But not this time. Why?
“Mom,” Elena begged. “Mom, please. Vaughn needs to put me to sleep. Before I lose control.”
“Ivy?” Why did it feel like he was missing something? He’d pretty much lost the ability to control her and they both knew it.
“Do it,” her mother ordered. “Put her to sleep.” She pushed aside the two men who’d crowded into the cell at some point to grab Vaughn.
“No one hurts him,” Elena said to her mother, the request barely audible to his ears.
“He kidnapped our daughter,” her father burst out, snapping his mouth shut when the Fae heiress glared at him. He held up his hands in defeat.
Vaughn kind of wished he could do the same. He didn’t have a fucking clue what was happening.
“I’ll make sure of it,” her mother promised. She nodded at Vaughn, mirroring the same do-not-fuck-with-me expression he’d seen on Elena’s face too many times to count.
“Ivy,” he pleaded, wishing he could see inside his mate’s head. If he was reading this wrong and the Iron Queen was influencing her, he had to act. But something didn’t feel right.
“Please,” Elena said.
Fuck. “Sleep,” he finally commanded.
Her eyes, lit from within by streak of blue lightning, flickered and closed, and she collapsed in his arms.
***
“She’s faking.”
Elena’s heart warmed at the sound of her twin’s voice, but she didn’t open her eyes, needing to be sure of exactly who was in the room.
“Are you sure?” a woman’s voice whispered.
“Without a doubt. Come on, Elena,” Emma chided. “You might be able to fool our father and everyone else between here and that asshole’s dungeon, but we shared a room for too many years for you to pull that crap on me.”
Someone flopped down on the bed and poked her. “You sure she’s faking?”
Nessa?
Elena opened her eyes and caught her friend’s finger before she poked her a second time.
Nessa grinned. “Guess you were right Thing Two.”
Elena knew better than to ask how long Nessa had been referencing Dr. Seuss when she talked about them. It would no doubt lead down a rabbit hole she didn’t have time for just now.
A quick glance confirmed it was only the three of them in her suite of rooms in Titania’s castle.
“And I wasn’t faking the whole time.”
Elena hadn’t planned on sleeping at all, but between the leftover toxins in her body from Alrick’s poison and Vaughn’s command, she’d gotten a little too groggy. Probably just enough to make everything more convincing without leaving her entirely vulnerable.
She’d lost track of her surroundings somewhere between Alrick’s dungeon and Titania's castle, the magic-drenched buzz of the Fae capital humming under her skin as soon as they crossed the boundry.
Her mother’s magic had ensured a quick trip, which Elena had been counting on.
“Are you okay?” Emma asked, her brows drawing together as she looked her over. It was the same worried expression she wore since they were kids. “I didn’t even know anything happened to you. They just told me you’d been abducted.”
Nessa cocked her head. “Isn’t that usually your jam?”
Emma rolled her eyes. “What happened?”
Elena sat up, giving herself a moment to get her bearings. Being carted around left her a little disoriented.
She’d half-expected Vaughn to insist on going after Piper, but he hadn’t let go of her once she’d collapsed. He also hadn’t said a word to her despite suspecting she was up to something. He only kept her close. Which likely explained why she’d drifted off so easily.
Her father hadn’t been on board with Vaughn carrying her, although somehow Leah had been able to settle him down. Her parents had been walking on eggshells in each other’s presence for months, but her kidnapping appeared to have put them both on the same page.
Later Elena could decide if that was a good thing. Having her parents present a united front was one complication she’d managed to avoid most of her life. She really wanted to keep it that away. At least for a little longer.
“Come on, Elena.” Emma planted herself in Elena’s path the moment her feet hit the floor. “Talk.”
Elena took in the pale yellow ball gown her sister wore. Too many frills and lace for Elena’s taste, but the dress looked stunning on her twin. “Where’s the party?”
Almost glowing, Emma glanced down as if forgetting what she was wearing. “I came for the festival. Half the Fae in Avalon are downstairs for the ball.”
The festival was tonight? And half the Fae population had come.
That would make for a one hell of an audience if someone wanted to make a scene. Like the people who had been hoping to get their hands on her and the Iron Crown before Alrick showed up.
It would make everything a lot less complicated if the timing of festival and the trade was just a coincidence. After the last few days she knew she wasn’t that lucky.
“I saw your Shadow,” Nessa said, her words stopping Elena mid-stride.
Vaughn hadn’t been on board with leaving her side when they reached the castle. She’d nearly woken up to stop her father from carting Vaughn away the moment he laid her down on the bed earlier.
She didn’t have a choice but to believe that Leah would keep him safe. Otherwise he would demand an explanation for her performance and she couldn’t tell him that she’d figured out who’d taken Piper. Not yet.
“Her what?” Emma frowned.
“S-H-A-D-O-W.” Nessa rose from the bed, a shit-eating grin on her face.
“You knew Vaughn was a Shadow? Did you know when I mentioned it in Vegas?”
“I’ve known about Vaughn for quite a while. You, on the other hand…” Nessa trailed off, her brows rising.
Emma glanced back and forth between them. “Briana’s Vaughn?”
Nessa nodded at the same moment Elena practically growled, “He’s friends with Briana, but he’s not hers.”
“Someone’s feeling a little territorial,” Nessa purred.
More like not in the mood for Nessa’s ribbing.
“And Vaughn is a Shadow?” Emma continued. “I still don’t understand why he’s your—” Emma shoved Elena’s hair out of the way. “The fuck? You’re mated?” A stunned smile curved her lips.
Nessa looked ill at the thought.
“Long story. Check my Instagram page later.” Elena moved around her sister.
She didn’t have a lot of time before she’d have to go to Vaughn. By pretending the Iron Queen’s influence left her weak and vulnerable, she might push Piper’s abductors into making a foolish move sooner rather than later.
Let me make you stronger.
Okay. So maybe she hadn’t been entirely exaggerating the Iron Queen’s presence, but she had it under control.
A quiet laugh echoed in her head.
Elena hadn’t anticipated the castle’s ancient magic deepening the connection between her and the Iron Queen. Or that was her working theory anyway.
The Iron Queen felt closer somehow even though Elena wasn’t picking up on the Iron Crown’s proximity. From what she’d overhead, the crown hadn’t been found at Alrick’s. That didn’t mean someone hadn’t gotten their hands on it without anyone else noticing and masked its presence somehow.
It was safer to work with that possibility than assume it was still back at Alrick’s leaving the Queen indefinitely stuck in her head.
“I didn’t even know you and Vaughn were a thing,” Emma continued.
“Since the Gauntlet,” Nessa said. “He was sniffing after her from the start.”
“No he wasn’t,” Elena corrected before reminding herself she didn’t have time for girl-talk. She needed to come up with her next move. Like yesterday.
“He slept outside her door in that nightmare house during the games,” Nessa confided as if Elena wasn’t even in the room.
“No, he didn’t.” He couldn’t have. She would have known. Wouldn’t she?
“Saw him drooling on his paws myself.”
He’d really watched over her during the Gauntlet? Even before he’d realized she was his mate?
Nessa took a step back, circling her finger in the air. “I know Crazy Elena and Pissed Elena. I even know Suicidal Elena and YouTube kitty-watching Elena. This though, this looks a little like Lovesick Elena.” Her friend barely got the words out without gagging.
Emma spun back to Elena. “You’re in love with him?”
“The hell she is!” Her father boomed through the barely open door.
Perfect. At least her mother wasn’t—
Right behind him. Sweet Avalon. The fates really weren’t cutting her a break.
Her father continued on as her mother slipped into the room, after him but Elena tuned him out, spotting a wrapped box with her name on it.
“I think it’s from my mother,” Leah said right before Emma rushed to defend Elena and having a gargoyle for a mate to their father.
Curious, Elena picked up the box, conscious of her mother’s gaze on her. Until fairly recently, her father hadn’t paid a lot of attention to Elena’s social life unless she was being particularly outrageous. Leah, on the other hand, had been far more attentive. Like now.
“Elena?”
“Of course I love him,” she answered absently, opening the box.
“What did she say?”
Even distracted by the silver material under the wrapping, she recognized her father’s near-panic.
She withdrew the gown, the shimmery fabric falling in two straight lines that would cling to her like a second skin from her chest to the tops of her thighs. From there a slit down each side would give her nearly full range of motion.
She almost missed the note, recognizing the familiar handwriting immediately.
When you’re done napping, we should finish this. R.
Rutger was here? Was there any place the rebellion leader couldn’t get to?
He’d set her up without a damn word of warning, and with one note he acted like it didn’t matter.
Fuck that. They needed to have a serious chat about a lot of things, not the least of which was him knowing she was Vaughn’s mate when he signed off on her abduction. If there had been any lingering doubts Vaughn hadn’t been honest about that, the note proved Rutger was very much in the loop.
Elena closed her hand around the note, lifting her head to find Leah frowning. “Looks like I’m going to the party as well.”
“You are?” Her father and Emma said at the same time.
“I can’t keep this forever,” she gestured to her brand. “And if Titania is busy with her guests, then I guess I need to go to her.” And find Rutger at the same time.
She did need to be rid of the brand to fully access her magic, and her grandmother might be one of the few people who could undo the glyph’s power.
As far as explanations for attending the party went, it made sense.
Her father pointed to her face. “What about your tracings?”
Okay. It almost made sense.
She moved to the right and glanced at her reflection in the dressing table mirror, no longer quite so startled by the curls of blue ivy that covered most of her skin. “I’m good.”
Her father visibly paled, in turn making Emma roll her eyes enough for the two of them. “What about Vaughn?” she asked.
“I’ll keep your Shadow company,” Nessa volunteered before Elena could respond. “You do what you have to. But,” she paused, her tone demanding nothing less than a blood oath. “If shit goes sideways, I want in.”
“What shit would be going sideways?” Her father looked torn between annoyance and sheer disbelief. “And what do you mean you love him?”
Leah jumped in. “I think that conversation will need to wait until later. Elena needs to get changed.”
He looked at them like they’d both lost their minds. She knew that look. He wasn’t going to let it go.
She glanced at her twin, feeling only marginally guilty as she mouthed an apology in advance. “Or,” she began, “we could talk about Emma being pregnant.”
All heads swiveled in Emma’s direction.
Emma’s eyes went wide. “How did you…”
“Now that’s the pic that should go on your Instagram,” Nessa boasted, but Elena was already slipping out of the room with the box—
And running smack into Piper’s kidnapper.