“Dom, calm yourself,” Rais barks. “He doesn’t know. Remember your studies. Your training! This moment is important. He is important to her.”
Closing my eyes, I take a deep breath, calming myself. “Yes, you’re right.” I place both hands over my chest, dipping my chin. “I am Domantas, guardian of the prophecy and the first mate of the missing Princess and Savior of Bergljot.”
Luca
Fucking figures the second Axel leaves, the crazies come out. I need to get her out of here, but first I have to diffuse this wacko.
“The missing Princess, huh? Okay.” I mimic his little hand dance… flouncy dude. Wonder if he can fight or if he just spends all of his time making up fancy stories. Bet he cooks their drugs. “I’m Luca, guardian and boyfriend of Ottilie, the only daughter of Axel and Liza. A dude you do not want to meet.” I smirk.
“Ottilie…” he whispers, looking over at her with stalker-ish hearts in his eyes, but we’re interrupted by a ringing in her pocket.
“Shit.” I reach in, pulling out the phone, and I feel the three men surrounding me tense. Accepting the call, I put the phone to my ear. “Axel?”
“Where the fuck is my daughter? If she’s hurt, I swear to-”
“You know I would be dead if that were true. Calm down, man.”
“What happened? Why did I hear voices?” he demands.
“We went for food, and on our way back, some guys jumped us. Oats is fine. She fainted, but-”
“Fainted?! She doesn’t faint!”
“She does now, evidently. But Axel, the guys who jumped us, they were different. Their weapons were next level. I need to know who we are up against, man. That wasn’t the feds. These guys wanted her.”
“Echoes,” one of them interrupts. “They are dream crawlers and shadow walkers. It’s why Berk wanted to get her inside. They can’t come in here with the lights.”
“Who is that?” Axel demands on the other end of the line as a notification comes across for video call access, and I accept, propping the phone up against the lamp on the small table in front of the window. “Who are you?”
“Axel?” Berk asks, leaning in as if we are old friends, nudging me with his elbow and grinning.
“Uh, yeah. I wouldn’t smile.” I shake my head and listen to Dom as he continues talking to Axel.
“As I told your friend- Luca?” he looks at me questioningly, and I nod. “They were Echoes, part of a group of highly trained rogue soldiers. Each one possesses his own specific set of powers originating from light but twisted into an unnatural dark magic. They work for whoever is paying the most and have no loyalties other than to themselves. Luckily, the ones who attacked Ottilie and Luca were newer to the fold.”
“Powers… dark magic?” Axel goes quiet, shaking his head. “I knew it. When I found you two, she told me. I saw it in her eye. She’s special. How- what do we do?”
“You have got to be kidding me, Axel! You believe this shit?” I throw both hands in the air.
“I do, and if you calm down and think about it, you do too. She told us. Her stories… her dreams. This is what we felt coming. A man even warned me.”
“What man?” Rais steps closer to the phone.
“Six months after I found her, and again on her sixteenth birthday, a man approached me and said she was special and there were wicked people after her. I laughed at him, hit him in the throat, and then his eyes started glowing… I hit him again. Twice.”
“I remember that. I thought he was threatening her. You told me you were the baddest man out there, so she would stay safe.” I sit roughly on the bed beside her and gently clean the scrape on her chin. “That’s when her nightmares started. She never slept a full night alone again.”
“I am the baddest man,” Axel barks. “Now, tell me more.”
“This is insane.” I brush her hair carefully from her face, placing a soft kiss on her cheek, and her eyes slowly open.
“Luca?” she quickly sits up, crawling onto my lap and looking around the room. “Who are they?”
Ottilie
I take comfort in Luca’s arms around me, quickly averting my gaze away from the men crowded into our compact room.
“Luca?” my face warms, feeling all eyes on me. “Did I hear Pops? Is he here? What happened?”
“Over here, Pickle.” I hear his voice and smile when I notice my parents’ faces smooshed together on the small screen.
“A video call? Really? Since when did you go techie?” I snort and whisper, “What the heck is happening, Lu? What did I miss?”
“Everyone around us lost their shit.”
“Watch your language around the Princess.” The dark-haired man huffs, kneeling in front of us. “How are you feeling, Love?”
“Wait- what?” I look side to side, behind me, at a wide-eyed Luca before turning back to the handsome man. Handsome men. Really handsome men. Oh my God, they are all smoking hot. I bet their abs are fantastic… I wonder if they have that neat V thing. The tall blonde in the corner laughs out, and I notice all of them are grinning. “Luca? My head. Did I hit my head?”
“Why, Oats? Does it hurt?” he lifts a hand to run it over my hair.
“Pickle?” Pops says from across the room, and I wish I was closer but don’t want to move yet.
“Here,” The one with a tattoo peeking from the top of his t-shirt says, handing me the phone. “Rais.”
“What?” I ask, meeting his knowing gaze.
“My name is Rais, Ottilie, and try not to inflate Berk’s ego anymore.” He chuckles, elbowing the tall man, and then nods to the guy kneeling in front of me. “Dom is already falling to his knees, so the compliments are just a bonus.”
My eyes go wide, and I look down at the phone. “Daddy? I don’t-”
“I need to be there, Liza.” He disappears from the screen, and mom smiles up at me, worry causing the lines around her eyes and mouth to deepen.
“Hi, baby. Heard you had a big night.” She smirks. “Stop manipulating poor Luca. You know he can’t say no to you.”
“Oh, yeah… about that…” Shit, hell. “Totally had that handled.”
“Totally handled,” Rais snorts, flipping my knife over in his hand.
“We did.” I reach for my blade, and Luca shakes his head. “What?”
“We didn’t, Oats.”
“No, you didn’t,” Pops scolds. “Luca, I need to talk to you. Alone.”
“Yep.” He takes the phone from my hand, and I scoot off his lap, sitting on the bed. “You okay, Oats?”
“You can’t go outside.” I grip his hand.
“I’m just going to step into the bathroom.” He kisses my hand before stepping back and addressing the guys, “I’m trusting you guys. I don’t want to, but I am. Don’t make me regret it.”
“What is the last thing you remember?” Rais asks as my eyes stay glued to Lu disappearing into the bathroom.
“I remember holding Lu’s hand.” I take a deep breath, slowly letting it out, and continue, “An explosion. It was bright, too bright. My ears were ringing, and there was a loud pop? I remember-” I gasp, leaning forward, and look into Domantas’ eyes. “You. I remember you picking me up.”