The Dragon of Cecil Court (The Treasure of Paragon Book 5) Page 19

  “Welcome back to Paragon,” Nathaniel said. “Let’s hope this visit is short. I can already tell you it won’t be sweet.”

  “By the Mountain, you’ve done it,” Rowan whispered. “We’re inside the ward.”

  Alexander released his arm, his gaze passing over the door and then tracing up the side of the mountain. “I fucking hate this place.”

  Rowan rested her hands on her hips. “I’m not much of a fan either. What’s the plan, Nathaniel?”

  Nathaniel tested the door and found it unlocked. Good. He’d thought as much. At this time of day in Paragon, the day shift would be finishing their rounds and transitioning their duties. He’d hoped they wouldn’t have locked up yet. He reached into his pocket and pulled out his pipe, tamping down Warwick’s tobacco and giving it a light. He worked the smoke over his tongue, gathering magic.

  “Really, brother, is this the time for a smoke?” Alexander asked.

  Nathaniel glanced at his brother and nodded, then released three tiny smoke hummingbirds from his mouth. He cracked the door to the servants’ entrance and allowed the birds inside.

  “First we must find out where Gabriel, Tobias, and Raven are. Thus the birds,” Nathaniel said. “Then we divide and conquer.” He waited, listening at the door.

  Alexander narrowed his eyes at his brother. “It’s frightening what you can do with that pipe, and this is coming from someone who witnessed Raven bring his mate back from the dead.”

  “You should see what I can do with a stone circle.” Nathaniel concentrated on his smoke. A tiny green puff rose from his pipe, and he opened the door. The three smoke birds fluttered in front of him, then flew directly back into his mouth. He inhaled them, digesting what information they contained, then coughed violently.

  Rowan patted him on the back. “What is it? What did they see?”

  “Tobias is in his room. He appears well. Gabriel’s room is warded. They could not confirm he’s inside it, but the magic does seem to have been performed from the inside. Likely his ward, not Mother’s. There’s a prisoner in the dungeon, but the birds could not identify who it is. The enchantments down there likely interfered with my magic.”

  “I can get Tobias,” Rowan said. “His old room was across from mine. I know a servants’ passage that was rarely used when I was a kid. I used it to sneak out.”

  Alexander frowned. “I can try Gabriel’s room. If he did lay the ward, he’ll let me in.”

  Nathaniel agreed. “I’ll investigate the dungeon. The wards there are complex and there will be guards. If Mother is holding one of them there, I’ll have the best chance of getting them out.”

  “It’s a plan,” Rowan said.

  “It’s very important we meet back here. You can’t open a portal without me on this side of the wards. If you run into trouble…”

  Rowan brushed her hair back from her face. “We get it. Don’t get into trouble or we may be fighting our way out the front door.”

  Nathaniel tipped his head in agreement, then blew a puff of gray smoke over both of them. Members of the Obsidian Guard were trained to detect invisible assailants, a necessity when most of the population of Paragon could become invisible. “That will mask your scent for the next several hours. Make them count.”

  Both Alexander and Rowan blinked out of sight. The door opened and he felt a disturbance in the air as they disappeared inside. Following suit, Nathaniel made himself invisible and slipped into the hall. Sounds of pots and pans clanging in the kitchen met his ears and then the gossiping voices of the kitchen staff.

  “Sir Tobias is fantastically handsome. I’d never seen him up close before. He was gone before I started working here. I finally understand his reputation,” a woman’s voice said.

  “Mountain yes, but Gabriel is far more desirable. He’s the heir after all. The dragon who catches his eye could be queen,” another woman quipped.

  Nathaniel glanced into the kitchen as he passed, frowning. It sounded like his brothers had been welcomed back into the fold. And odder still, the servants seemed not to respect Gabriel’s mated relationship. That was rare for dragons.

  “Don’t you believe it,” a heavyset woman washing dishes growled out. “The empress will never step down. Mated or not, Gabriel will be playing second fiddle to his mother for centuries. Mark my words. You couldn’t pry the power from that woman’s hands if it were tied to a mountain horse.”

  A chill of apprehension ran along Nathaniel’s shoulders, and he hurried toward the dungeon. The servant women didn’t even seem to know about Raven. That was ominous. He’d never met the witch, didn’t know her well enough to inherently care for her well-being, but Clarissa’s power was reliant on Raven surviving. Avery’s happiness too. They were three sisters, and although he didn’t yet understand the nature of their connection, he knew his mate would never have what she wanted most without it.

  He reached the stairs that led down into the dungeon. Two guards stood at attention on either side of the door. He drew a puff from his pipe and blew a cloud of purple smoke in their faces.

  “Do you smell that?” one guard asked the other.

  Before either could react, their eyes rolled to the back of their heads and they flopped to the floor as if their bodies had gone boneless. He stepped over them and entered the stairwell to the dungeon.

  As he descended, he took another puff, this time blowing blue smoke rings, one after another. The magic drifted out in front of him, passing undisturbed around the bend of the staircase, and he descended slowly behind them. It wasn’t until he reached the third level that the smoke slid into an invisible barrier before circling back toward him. A current of air brushed his cheek, and he took another puff of tobacco and blew. The outline of a man appeared in the smoke.

  “Who’s there?” the invisible guard asked before slumping onto the landing, unconscious.

  “Thank you, Warwick, old pal. I knew I liked you for a reason.” Nathaniel used his foot to shove the man aside, then reached down and retrieved the set of keys from the man’s belt, slowly and carefully slipping them into his own pocket to avoid making any noise.

  He strode through the door into the dungeon behind another blue ring of smoke. Apparently palace security considered it almost impossible for someone to get this far, because there were no more guards here, just torches illuminating a row of cells behind iron bars.

  He strode down the aisle, peering into each of the cells. Empty. Empty. Empty. He paused in front of the fourth cell. The smell of human was strong in this one, but the cell was empty. She wasn’t here anymore.

  Fuck.

  A growl rumbled from the next cell over. The stench of filthy dragon met his nose, an animal scent, unwashed and feral. Nathaniel eased over and peered into the shadowy interior. A man paced in the shadows, pale skin, chestnut hair. Nathaniel narrowed his eyes to get a better look, but the dragon was agitated, mumbling to himself, and Nathaniel couldn’t see his face.

  “Got to bring the box. She’s got to bring the box. Tell Gabriel to bring the box,” he mumbled.

  “How do you know Gabriel?” Nathaniel asked.

  The dragon swung his head around and raced toward the bars, his eyes sweeping the hall. He was filthy and his hair hung in his face, but Nathaniel recognized him immediately. He dropped his invisibility.

  “Sylas?” He hadn’t seen his younger brother in centuries. Not since they’d parted ways in northern Italy back in 1698. But he would never forget the face of his kindhearted sibling.

  “Nathaniel? Praise the Mountain it’s you.”

  Nathaniel fished the keys from his pocket and began trying each one. The lock rattled with his efforts.

  “Why are you in here?” Nathaniel asked.

  Sylas opened his mouth and closed it again. “You mean you didn’t come for me?”

  Nathaniel furrowed his brow. “I didn’t even know you were here until this very minute.”

  “Then why are you here?”

  He didn’t have time for t
his. “This is very important, Sylas. Have you seen a girl, Gabriel’s mate?”

  “Yes. They bring her to the cell beside this one during the day. Poor human bakes in here for twelve or more hours before they take her back upstairs. I was afraid she’d die today. It’s not meant for her kind down here.”

  “It’s not meant for any kind.” Nathaniel frowned.

  “So that’s who you came for, the girl?”

  Nathaniel looked both ways. “Perhaps, but now I’m here for you.”

  Finally the latch clicked and he opened the cell door. His brother stepped into full light. He was thin. Pale. Wild-eyed. And dirty.

  Nathaniel growled. “How long have you been here?”

  “Three weeks.”

  Nathaniel bristled. “Did they feed you at all?”

  “Every second or third day,” Sylas said flatly.

  Nathaniel felt sick. If Eleanor could do this to her own son, she could do it to anyone. “Make yourself invisible. I’ll help you get out.”

  Sylas frowned. “Can’t. She took my ring.”

  Nathaniel looked down at his brother’s bare hand and had to swallow down the urge to vomit. “How? She’d have to… she’d have to remove its connection to your heart.”

  He nodded slowly and his face turned into a mask of suffering. “It hurts, Nathaniel, when she does it. It’s dark magic. Blood magic.” He rubbed his chest. “It feels like she stripped my soul right out of me. I watched her put it in a box and store it on a shelf in her goddamned library. For three weeks I’ve sat in that cell without it, feeling empty, feeling like I’d never be whole again. I have to get it back.”

  “You asked Raven to bring it to you. That’s what you meant by wanting her to bring you the box.”

  “Yes.”

  Nathaniel opened the cell that whiffed of human. “What’s the girl like?”

  “Kind. Honest. Nothing like Mother.”

  Nathaniel spotted something on the floor in the corner and swept it up. Interesting. He slid it into his pocket. “So why were you arrested in the first place?”

  “Rebellion,” Sylas said. “We call ourselves the Defenders of the Goddess. We’ve been gathering forces from all five kingdoms. More and more citizens see that what Eleanor is doing is wrong. Someone had to do something, so I stepped up.”

  Nathaniel did a double take. “But how did you end up back here? I left you in Italy.”

  “I returned,” Sylas said, his brows rising. “A long time ago. Something didn’t seem right to me about Marius’s death.”

  Nathaniel waited for more of an explanation, but none came.

  “How is it that Gabriel fell in love with a human anyway?” Sylas asked as Nathaniel came out of the cell.

  “Didn’t. She’s a witch,” Nathaniel said bluntly. “Eleanor stole her power the same as she stole yours.”

  Sylas grunted. “A witch? It’s a wonder Mother hasn’t killed her already. But then Raven did tell me Eleanor needed something to hold over our brother’s head.”

  Nathaniel thought about that along with the conversation he’d overheard among the kitchen staff. It all made more sense now. He tucked his pipe between his teeth and held out his hand to his brother. “Come, let’s find your ring. I’m going to need your help.”

  Sylas grabbed on and Nathaniel turned them both invisible. He led his brother out of the dungeon, over the collapsed guard, and into the palace proper.

  Chapter Thirty-Three

  Raven felt like she’d barely fallen to sleep when she heard a familiar voice come from the direction of the door. At first she thought she might be dreaming, but a loud whisper came again from that direction.

  “Gabriel? Are you in there?”

  She stirred and shook Gabriel by the shoulder. He grumbled out something that sounded like “not yet.”

  “Gabriel, there’s someone at the door. It sounds like… Alexander.”

  When he didn’t move, Raven scrambled out of bed and opened the door. She could see Alexander through the wavy magic of Gabriel’s ward although she knew he would not be able to see her from the outside. He looked nervous and glanced furtively down the hall.

  “Raven? Gabriel?” he whispered. “If you’re there, let me in.”

  Finally awake, Gabriel leaped to his feet, his wings snapping out. He held a hand in front of Raven’s chest. “Wait. It could be a trick. Dragons can make themselves appear any way they choose. That could be Eleanor.”

  Alexander couldn’t see through the ward, but apparently he could hear through it. His expression turned annoyed.

  “By the Mountain, Gabriel, I watched Raven bring Maiara back from the dead with a bowl and some stones. Don’t leave me out here. I had to snap this idiot’s neck to get this far, and I’d prefer not to have to incapacitate anyone else.” He reached beyond the door, just out of sight, and lifted the head of a guard into view, then set it back down.

  “Is he dead?” Raven stage-whispered.

  Gabriel shook his head. “He is a dragon. Alexander broke his neck, but in order to kill him he’d have to completely sever the head. He’ll heal, but he’ll take a long nap before he wakes.”

  “It’s Alexander. Let him in!” Raven said.

  Gabriel’s emerald ring glowed to life. He drew a few symbols in the air. Alexander passed through the ward, and Raven closed the door behind him. Clearly Gabriel no longer questioned Alexander’s identity because he embraced him before Raven could even say hello. She was so tired she felt nauseated, but she was also incredibly excited to see a kind face.

  “What are you doing here? How did you get in?” Gabriel asked.

  “We have to go. We’re busting you out of here,” Alexander said.

  Gabriel’s eyes widened. “How? There’s a legion of Obsidian Guards protecting the boundaries of the palace.”

  “Nathaniel,” Alexander said.

  “You found him? Truly?”

  “Yes, we did. In London. He understands Mother’s magic. It turns out he helped her develop it.”

  “What?” Gabriel’s eyes narrowed.

  “He has a magical key that got us through the side of the ward. All we have to do is get you out the servants’ entrance behind the kitchens and Nathaniel can get us all home.” He pointed a hand toward the door.

  Wild-eyed, Gabriel took Raven by the arm.

  “Wait!” She turned toward Alexander. If she didn’t ask now, she’d be afraid to ask when her voice might give them away. “How is the baby?”

  “Li’l Puff is fine,” Alexander said.

  “Li’l Puff?” Raven shook her head.

  Alexander blushed and rubbed the back of his neck. “Your, uh, sister named it. We couldn’t call it ‘the egg’ forever.”

  Her mouth gaped as Gabriel ushered her through the door and turned them both invisible. A trail of bodies dressed in red and black lined the hall, and Raven raised her eyebrows. She hadn’t known Alexander had it in him. But then, he’d fought the Wendigo and won and he’d trained in the same pits as Gabriel. Since they were heirs to the kingdom, their father, Killian, had made certain they were prepared to lead the armies of Paragon. They’d all been trained as soldiers long ago.

  But Alexander, having spent so long grieving his lost mate, Maiara, had always seemed more fragile to her than the others. Perhaps that fragility had been connected to his grief. Certainly, based on what she was seeing now, he hadn’t lost his edge.

  They were almost to the end of the hall when a tall and handsomely dark, uniformed soldier appeared in their path, a familiar-looking orb in his hand and a silver rod Raven knew was a weapon at his hip. The orb was a Paragonian grenade, and Raven was all too familiar with what it could do to a person. It was the Paragonian equivalent of nerve gas. It would cause her muscles to seize to the point she couldn’t breathe. Without her magic, she wasn’t sure she would survive it.

  “I know you’re there.” He glanced at the bodies of the soldiers in the hall and lifted the orb. “Touch me and we all go down.”
>
  Gabriel released her hand and lunged. The soldier dodged, holding the grenade above his head. Gabriel’s hands wrapped around his neck.

  The man’s nostrils flared. “Careful, Gabriel. Will your mate survive it now that she’s a fragile human?” he rasped. His gaze fixed on Raven, who was no longer invisible now that she wasn’t touching Gabriel.

  Gabriel dropped his invisibility and Alexander followed suit. “Ransom, let us go,” Gabriel said. “By order of the prince of Paragon.”

  “Who do you think you’re fooling?” Ransom grinned condescendingly and shook his head. The dimple in his chin reminded Raven of some darkly evil Ken doll. “It’s been a long time since you held any power in this court.”

  “Fuck you, Ransom,” Alexander said, eyeing the man’s uniform. “Captain of the Guard? They replaced Scoria with you? Mountain, Mother is scraping the bottom of the barrel.”

  Ransom’s gaze raked over Alexander. “You should talk. You look like you’ve spent the past three hundred years in the underworld.”

  “Don’t try to butter me up,” Alexander said. “Compliments don’t make you less of a douchebag.”

  “How exactly did you get past the guards at the gate?” Ransom asked him pointedly.

  “Never mind that now. Ransom, you must let us go,” Gabriel said. “Can’t you see what Eleanor is doing? How long do you think she can get away with this?”

  Ransom snorted. “Forever. We will get away with this forever.”

  “We? You can’t possibly think…” Raven stopped herself. Of course he did. This was how Eleanor worked. She made the vulnerable believe she was partnering with them. She’d probably told this young dragon she wanted him as her consort, possibly even slept with him. He’d do anything for her. Until it suited her to have him out of the way.

  Gabriel spread his wings and lowered himself into a fighting stance. “Alexander, get Raven out of here.”

  Alexander shook his head and whispered, “Be patient.” Of course! Alexander wasn’t here alone. All they had to do was distract Ransom until help arrived.