I watched the man that cowered on the floor of the room swarmed by half a dozen guards with their swords drawn. He had a thick collar around his neck with chains attached to it. The chains, I realized, were attached to the floor.
The Magister moved slightly, and he flinched when the collar grazed an untouched part of his skin.
He was being held by iron.
I wondered if the shackles on his wrists over his long sleeves in front of him were iron too.
It didn't need to touch his skin directly to have an impact on magic, I learned.
The Guard around him was unnecessary. He was harmless as he was now.
The eccentric old man from the Tower that I first met was gone.
He was replaced by a shell of a man. He looked much older than before with bags under his eyes and scars along his jaw and neck. He had been cleaned up. His face was clean. I could see his high cheekbones and sunken cheeks. His hair was groomed and his beard trimmed. He wasn't wearing the dirty clothes from before, instead, he wore a plain shirt and trousers.
Despite knowing he couldn't move from the shackles or fight the guards around him or even break through Asmo's magic which I felt around him weighing him down, I was shaking.
I was shaking from fear watching him.
It held me in place as I watched him. It made my heart pump and adrenaline push through me.
He had unbound me.
He orchestrated it with Robyn. Robyn, the man that tortured me and Damien. The man that executed the Light Fae leaving me as the last known one alive.
Panic gripped me and rooted me to the spot.
In my mind, I was back in that room at that party, where Azazeal killed fae at Robyn's command.
Something fast moved in the corner of my eye. When I turned, a large lioness appeared next to me and stalked to my front. She was full grown with a lithe, muscular frame, reaching my hip. The deep gold fur rippled in the filtering sunlight of the room as she paced in front of me. Her golden eyes caught mine quickly and I realized who she was.
Mehnit transformed into the large, regal lioness Rai, the Summer Queen, promised. She wasn't the small cat that would curl up on the bed next to me at night.
The guards around me didn't even flinch as Mehnit's growls emanated from deep in her throat and rolled through the room. Her small growls reverberated through me and, amazingly, relaxed me.
The only person that did flinch was the Magister.
He met my eyes briefly but lowered them immediately. He placed both of his shackled hands on the floor in front of him and moved to place his forehead between the two hands. He stopped immediately as he tugged by the short chains around his neck. He settled back on his folded legs as he sat on the floor.
I licked my dry lips. "We need to talk about your definition of a present, Asmo."
I felt him chuckle more than heard him.
I took my hand back from him and walked towards Mehnit, placing a hand on her back. The fur felt rough under my fingers. Mehnit didn't relax her posture and didn't stop glaring at the Magister as he knelt on the floor.
Mehnit moved closer to him, teeth bared.
Asmo spoke. "Alteaza, please ask Mehnit to stand down. I would hate for her to destroy your present before he speaks."
"No," I turned to Asmo. "If Mehnit feels the need to do this, I will not stop her."
He sighed in frustration. "If she rips him apart before he gets to speak, all my hard work will be for nothing. "
"Then I suggest he speaks quickly."
Asmo looked to the Magister. "You heard your queen. Speak."
Mehnit moved her large exposed canines dangerously close to the Magister's ear as she sniffed his hair.
His eyes didn't meet mine. "My queen, I want to offer my deepest apologies for my role in The Usurper's coup."
"Apology not accepted," I snapped.
I watched him swallow. "I know how to save your guard Azazeal."
My features hardened. I didn't show my relief. "How can I trust your word?"
He briefly glanced at Asmo then down to the floor but didn't say anything.
Asmo crossed his arms. "If he lies, I kill him. If he harms you, I kill him. If he looks at you in a way I don't like, I kill him." He looked at me. "If he says something you don't like, tell me and I will kill him."
My heart hammered in my chest but I tried not to show it.
I've wanted to help Azazeal ever since he helped me the night we defeated Robyn but found no answers. If what Robyn said was true, the Magister had experimented on Azazeal when he was a child. He turned him from human to something Fae but not quite.
He still unnerved the Guard though he had been accepted as Damien's protector while his magic recuperated.
Not that I gave them a choice.
"Well, then," I said loud enough for the Magister to hear. "Speak."
He nodded. "The answer lies in Elysium, Alteaza."
Elysium, the home of the Light Fae. At least when they were still alive.
"His soul is hidden not gone- it can't be gone otherwise the body will die. But the spring, if you were to revive his soul, that will be the only way to do it."
"He has to drink from it?"
He nodded. "Yes, Your Majesty. But it has to be infused with herbs and spells that I can concoct in order for it to work."
I raised an eyebrow. "If you can do it why don't you go to the spring yourself?"
He shook his head. "Only a Light Fae can take from the spring."
I looked at Asmo. I couldn't deny the pleasant smile on his lips.
I shook my head. "He will betray me."
The Magister shook in his shackles in front of me. "No. No, never again. Never again. I will prove myself worthy."
A smooth voice spoke behind me. "I wouldn't give him the chance."
I turned to the owner of the voice and smiled. "Damien."
His arms were crossed in front of him as he leaned on one of the tall chairs he'd sit in during our meetings with Azazeal standing behind him. Damien's striking violet eyes watched me as I drifted next to him.
A handsome smile touched his lips. "You didn't wait for me."
I only smiled. "I get impatient."
Asmo scoffed from somewhere behind me. "Get a room."
Damien looked towards the floor, hiding his laugh.
Asmo didn't know Damien and I weren't together anymore.
In fact, the only ones that knew were the two of us and Oren.
It didn't take long for either of us to notice in the days and weeks after that we were just not meant to be together. The brief time that we were involved romantically had been forced by the two of us. It never felt right.
But no one else needed to know that.
I stood next to Damien as he looked down at the Magister.
He cocked his handsome head making his long hair fall over his eyes. "I hope you're not entertaining anything he has to say."
Asmo looked at the Magister. "He knows the consequences if he falls out of line."
I watched the Magister fail to suppress a shiver.
Damien shook his head. "He was strictly forbidden from entering the Keep." He looked at Asmo. "You love to undermine me, don't you?"
Asmo shook his head. "He has information Emylin has been after. I worked with him and he is ready to tell her the information she needs."
Damien raised an eyebrow. "Which is?"
"How to save your dog, the fae hybrid."
Azazeal didn't move from his place though we were all talking about him. That was Azazeal. He never moved unless I asked him or unless he was following Damien.
Anger flared inside me and I snapped at Asmo. "Don't call him that."
Asmo didn't look ashamed and when he apologized, it didn't sound sincere. He bowed slightly towards me. "Apologies, Your Majesty." He looked at Damien. "Your Guard, Azazeal. Drewyn says he can save him."
Damien shook his head. "I don't believe him."
I gnawed on my bottom lip as I watched the Magister. Could what he was saying be true?
Asmo's tone was casual, almost taunting. "Well, it's not up to you, is it?"
I watched Damien's fist clench next to him and a muscle jump in his jaw. "Be very careful, Asmo. Remember who you're speaking to."
Asmo's eyes twinkled with mischief and he opened his mouth to speak.
I interrupted. "Damien is right, Asmo. As well-intentioned as your actions are, the man served me to Robyn on a silver platter." I shook my head. "I'm sorry but no."
Anger flashed in Asmo's eyes and for a moment I feared what he would do.
Quickly, I continued. "At least give me a couple of days to think about it. We'll talk about it then, agreed?"
As fast as his anger flared, it subsided. Instead, he smiled. "Of course, Alteaza. I await your command." He turned to the guard. "Time for Drewyn to go back to the dungeon with the others." He snapped his fingers.
The iron shackles immediately released making an awful sound as it clattered on the floor. The guard grabbed the Magister to his feet and the entire team disappeared from in front of us, including Asmo.
I let out a long sigh of relief when it was just Mehnit, Damien, Azazeal and I in the room.
I turned to Damien. "Is your cousin always such a dick?"
Damien laughed out loud and I watched him, smiling. His laughter even settled Mehnit, who transformed back into her small housecat form and began to circle Damien's ankles.
He'd gotten better since the last time I saw him at least. He raked a hand through his longer hair. His silky black hair almost brushed against his cheek now.
I stepped forward and reached up brushing it from his eyes. "You should get a haircut. When was the last time you did that?"
He shrugged. "A while. It's on my list." He gestured toward the book in my hands. "I see you got it."
I nodded enthusiastically. "This is really great. Thank you. I promise to give it back as soon as I'm done."
"Hopefully it doesn't interfere with schoolwork."
I groaned. "I actually have to pull an all-nighter tonight. The project is due tomorrow first thing. I might even have to skip the class tomorrow." I sighed longingly. "Can't we manipulate time? Pause it a bit?"
He shook his head. "Not that I know of. Speaking of which, when was the last time you practiced magic? Or learned something new?"
I shrugged. "I don't know. I can't practice too much at home. Last time I tried someone called the cops and said there was too much noise in the middle of the night." I sighed. "Small apartments in the human world are not ideal, apparently."
He smiled kindly. "You're not human, Em. I know you're trying but that small apartment will not hold your magic should something go wrong."
I sighed, frustrated. "I know. I just want to see this degree through, that's all."
"You should practice your magic."
I shook my head, heading back towards the door. "I have too much to do. I need to do schoolwork—"
Damien spectered in front of me, stopping me in my tracks. "Practice your magic, Em. You're powerful. If you don't practice or release it, you can lose control. Remember what the queens told you."
I sighed, defeated. "Fine. Do you want to meet tomorrow and practice it together?"
He paused for a moment but eventually, he looked away, sighing. "No. I wouldn't be the best person."
I watched something dark go over his eyes. Whatever the reason, he didn't want to talk about it. Slowly, I nodded. "I understand."
He looked at me again, giving a small smile. "Go somewhere peaceful. Somewhere where your magic speaks to you. It will help."
I swallowed. There was only one place remotely like that.
And I'd been avoiding it for weeks.
He shrugged. "If it's not in the Keep, take Mehnit. She's more than earned it. I've never seen her as intense as today with the Magister."
I nodded. "All right."
He frowned. "Do you know of a place?"
Slowly, I nodded. "Yes." I paused. "I know a place."