He bit his lip like he hadn’t meant to allow himself to ask after his brothers, who were still kept in their dragon form back in the academy.
“They’re fine.” Bask’s expression gentled. “I look out for Rayn.”
“My thanks.” Marcus tapped his fingers on top of the collar. “Well, if your plan had worked, I assume that I would’ve been with them again right now in the stables or was my punishment already set up to take place first?”
Ouch…
Marcus gestured at the shimmering gold, which still pulsed pleasurable waves through me. “This is a trap, which my most talented sorcerers cast to keep me safe inside my Court. It can sense the Gateway and ensnare all users. Did you not imagine I knew that students would be sent after me? I was ridden to the ruins by Prince Lysander on many missions. Since he saw me as nothing but a beast, he didn’t guard his words in front of me.”
Okay, Lysander was one fae who deserved to have his wings pricked. I might kiss the feathers afterward but that was only because they’d taste of cherry blossoms.
“We can’t imagine ourselves back in the academy,” Magenta breathed. “We can’t escape.”
“Ensnared,” Marcus repeated.
On my prickles, us Immortals were trapped in the heart of the dragon court with the archduke who’d we’d been sent to kidnap. If we didn’t return within less than twenty-four hours, then it’d be judged an escape attempt, and I’d be executed, just like I’d die if we failed.
I was one dead mage.
Wait, I was leaving out the best bit: the enraged dragon who’d caught trained assassins attempting to drag him back to slavery. Perhaps, there was a torture and then death option.
You had to be optimistic.
Desperate times called for desperate measures.
I squealed.
Shocked, Marcus winced. Yeah, Mr. Fierce could still battle a dragon archduke with the power of his squeal.
Then Marcus snatched the paper off his desk and marched up to Sleipnir. His eyes blazed, and his magic whipped out from him like ethereal bat-wings.
Uh-oh…
“By my wings, you’ve already captured another shifter.” When Marcus yanked me out of his pocket, the air was pushed out of my lungs with a grunt. “You truly are dishonorable.”
Sleipnir’s eyes widened in alarm, but he still couldn’t move. “Hey, give him back, asshole.”
“I’m not the asshole who’s stolen a member of royalty from the Hedgehog Court,” Marcus roared. First, woah that was both hot and terrifying. Secondly, there was such a thing as the Hedgehog Court...? Brilliant. “How many others are on your hit list?”
Marcus cradled me to his warm chest. He smelled of aromatic Frankincense, which was smoky, but with a single piercing sweet note that made me snuggle closer. His magic stroked across my prickles, and I could move again. I pushed my nose against him, and slowly, his breathing calmed.
“Wise up! We’re not the mafia, although I’d look pettable in an Italian suit.” Bask rolled his eyes. “I know Lysander’s a prick, but if you eavesdropped on him, then you’d know that he also had no choice on going on the missions or being in the academy. We’re all prisoners, see?”
Marcus’ hand tightened around the paper at his side. “Yet are some not more prisoners than others?” When he lifted the paper, the letters gleamed in gold. It was mesmerizing. “This is Letter Magic. It’s powerful and contains your truth. It’s a type of prophecy and riddle. It’ll also bind you and your magic to the reader of the letter, until they grant it back.”
“In Hecate’s name, don’t do this,” Magenta warned.
Marcus gave a small smile. “But you see, I don’t answer to Hecate.”
“Three unwilling assassins…” Marcus started to read; his voice was like a lulling echo beneath the mountains, and I could’ve slept forever beneath its power.
The words coiled sinuously like tiny dragons out of the letter, before appearing in the air above each of my lovers’ heads and then winding around their bodies.
Four unwilling assassins: the monster, the wicked, the sinful, and the innocent. They invade with collars and curses, but their life is held in the wings of the one, whom they’d capture.
The last of the dragon words coiled around Magenta and then faded.
Why did I get to be the innocent? That was only one step up from being the idiot or worse, the virgin because they were sacrificed to the dragon.
The paralysis broke, and my lovers tumbled to their knees.
Marcus studied them. “Your magic is bound to mine, so I don’t need the trap. Letter Magic is an ancient method of…controlling…the more unruly amongst us.”
“What a coy way of saying enslaving,” Magenta hissed, as Bask and Sleipnir scrambled to stand beside her. “This is worse than the collar.”
Marcus blinked. “I have never…never…used such magic before. Yet you come into my kingdom, my inner Court, my own study and… I am defending myself.” His magic reached out like wings behind him. Wow, he was going full on archduke. “Would you have me meekly bow my neck for you? Kneel? Beg to be punished…?”
“Never.” Bask was ashen and horrified.
Marcus gave a sad smile. “Then do not ask why you have driven me to such methods.”
Then he clapped his hands and my lovers vanished in a spray of gold embers.
I squealed.
Marcus looked down at me, fondly, and not at all like he’d just incinerated my lovers. “Funny creature, you do make a lot of noise.”
My eyes burned, and my heart felt like it’d burst from my chest. Could hedgehogs have heart attacks?
Bring them back…back…back…
Red blinded my vision, until my lips curled back in fury.
When Marcus reached to pat me on the head, I sank my teeth into his finger.
He gasped. “Fierce little thing, aren’t you?” He had no idea. “If your soft heart is concerned, I merely sent them to the dungeons.”
Thank every star in the witching heavens… Except, dragon dungeons didn't sound that reassuring.
I chomped harder on Marcus’ finger in retaliation, and he winced. Then I let go because I wasn’t a vampire hedgehog and yuck, coppery blood was more of a feast to Midnight, the Prince’s vampire whipping boy, than me.
Marcus dropped me onto the desk next to the collar, and I fought the instinct to curl into a ball. "Hmm, if you're hungry, I can have more appetizing feasts sent for you than my finger. Relax, you have nothing to fear now that the cruel Rebels are safely behind bars." It'd be funny how much was ironic about that sentence if it wasn't funny at all. "How about you transform back, so that we can talk leader to leader?"
Ehm, how about we don't?
I took a final deep breath, before bidding goodbye to my own furry tail. In a pop of glitter, I transformed into my human form on the desk. At Marcus' shocked gasp, I attempted to nonchalantly sprawl back in a way that the Princes would've been able to pull off or Bask (only, he'd have looked sinfully sexy).
I imagined that I looked more like a mage who was sweating under two coats and trying not collapse on my shaky elbows.