Breathless Magic (4 page)

When the foundation settled, Kiran pulled me to my feet and
shared a meaningful look with Talbott- the head of the Titan Guard. Talbott’s
first responsibility, by blood oath, was to the Crown and the Monarchy.
However, never in a hundred million years would I ask him to leave his
just-returned fiancée. And I knew my husband well enough to discern he felt the
same way.

“Stay here, Talbott,” Kiran told him. “We’ll check it out
and come back for you.”

“You’ll come back,” Talbott confirmed.

“We’re not going to engage.” Kiran looked down at me with a
steely, determined expression hardening his beautiful features. “If this is an
attack, we won’t engage. We’ll go take a looksee and come right back.”

Talbott nodded once and sat up, pulling Lilly onto his lap
again. He unsheathed his battle sword from where he’d left it on the nightstand
and laid it across his lap as well. He wouldn’t let Lilly be taken from him
again. I could see that as plain as day on his face.

And I trusted him to do whatever it took to keep her safe.
Nothing would be strong enough to come between them again. Nothing except death
and that was an infinitely more acceptable solution to either of them than
being separated from each other.

I would have felt the exact same way if it were Kiran and
me.

“A looksee?” I nudged Kiran with my elbow when we were out
in the hallway.

He grinned down at me. “Well, I don’t know how to speak all
that military talk. Talbott’s the head of the Guard. I’m just a lowly, King, in
eternal service to his Kingdom.”

“Alright, your royal, Humbleness,” I told him. “Let’s go
find out who’s trying to blow up our home.”

All seriousness now, he said, “Stay close, Love. I have a
very bad feeling about this.”

“Me, too,” I whispered. Because I did. I had a horrible
feeling about why the Citadel felt like it had exploded and why there were now
gun shots heard around every corner.

The war had followed us home.

No matter how purposefully we tried to stay off the
battlefield, we wouldn’t be able to. We were being forced to enter the gauntlet.

Forced to defend our Kingdom with our own hands and
strength.

I tried to be disappointed about this.

I really tried.

For like a second.

But really, I had been born for this one particular task.
This Kingdom was mine and I would not give it up easily. If they wanted a
fight…

I would give them a fight.

Chapter Four

Where are you?
I
demanded of my brother through our telepathic connection. It was dangerous
these days to open up the field of unified telepathy we could share so easily.

We were both married now.

There were parts of our individual lives that we wanted to
stay miles and miles away from. I loved my brother dearly, and I loved his wife
even more. But I didn’t want to see them loving each other.

Not ever.

And they felt the same way about Kiran and me.

So we kept to ourselves these days.

However, this was an extenuating circumstance and I needed
to know that he was safe.

I’m on my way to
Amelia
. He told me.
She’s back in our
room. Have you seen anything?

I pressed myself against the cold, stone wall and looked
down at the battle being waged on my front steps. Terletov’s men attacked in
hand-to-hand combat with the Titan Guard tasked with protecting the Citadel.

With the element of surprise, Terletov had a severe
advantage and seemed to be easily subduing my trained-from-birth Guard.
Although, Terletov’s men had some kind of gas they were spraying in the face of
my men. My men fought valiantly, but our weapons could not compete with the
advanced warfare Terletov seemed to have developed.

It’s Terletov and his
men. They’re taking the Castle.

Avalon sighed outwardly, but I felt it in the echoes of our
mind
. I can see that. They’re everywhere.
How come we didn’t know he had this kind of army?

Avalon, what do we
really know about him? Hardly anything.
I felt irritable and I was taking
it out on my brother. Even though this wasn’t his fault, I couldn’t help
myself. I needed to snap at someone. And at least he could feel just how
misdirected my anger was.

Kiran could sense my internal conversation with Avalon, even
though our connection through marriage didn’t give him direct access to our
mental connection. This annoyed Kiran to no end. As much influence as Amelia
and I had in our Kingdom, we left the military stuff up to the guys. And with Terletov’s
constant pressure lately, Kiran wanted to be able to talk to Avalon the way he
and I could. Instead, Kiran was forced to use me as an intermediary- which is
where the irritation came in.

“Tell him that we’ll have to abandon the Citadel. We’ll regroup
and come back.”

No.
Avalon replied
adamantly, already hearing Kiran’s words through my consciousness.
I won’t do that. If we let him have the
Castle, we might as well leave our crowns behind. If he has this stronghold,
the Kingdom’s his. The people will not follow exiled Kings and Queens.

When I told Kiran that, he cursed and looked back down at
our losing battle. “They will,” he insisted. “And what choice do we have? The
human is just awake. Lilly and Talbott? I won’t risk Eden and the babies. You
have Amelia to think about.”

Amelia can fight for
herself
. Avalon shot back but he had softened.

Angelica.
I
whispered in to his mind.

With a string of curses that put Kiran’s mild swear word to
shame, Avalon finally relented.
Fine. But
we get the women and children to safety and then we get our asses back here. I
won’t let him have this place for long. I will not lose this Citadel. I worked
too goddamn hard to get her.

I agree.
And I did
agree. I relayed Avalon’s concession to Kiran who nodded grimly.

I’ll get Amelia, find
Angelica and we’ll meet at the tunnels.

Titus?
I asked
after a mental calculation of everyone still at the Castle that had to be
evacuated immediately. There were hundreds of Guard here, but they should know
how to fight for themselves. And we needed them inside anyway for the return
attack.

He went to secure
Alexi
. Avalon explained. Reading my next thought, he said,
He has a phone and we have worked out a
contingency plan. Don’t worry, E, he’s ready for this
.

Ok, we’ll see you in
the tunnels.
And then we separated mentally so we could go about our tasks
of getting there.

“He’s meeting us in the tunnels with Angelica and Amelia,” I
told Kiran.

“Good,” Kiran stared down at the still ensuing battle.
“We’ll get Lilly and Talbott, Sylvia and the humans. The Witch will be on his
own. And the Guard should be able to handle themselves.”

“It’s a good thing we sent so many with Jericho,” I dropped
my voice to a whisper when it sounded like Terletov’s men had made it inside
the castle.

Kiran pulled me into a darkened room and shut the door
behind us. Booted footsteps could be heard outside our door, running up and
down the hallway with purpose.

I stilled my breathing and felt the Magic that connected
Kiran to me hum to life in the most vibrant way.

When Kiran and I were younger, and still forbidden, many
people tried to persuade me that Kiran was only after our combined Magic.
Although our Magic began to unite during our… whatever that was… two years of
playing hard to get, it wasn’t fully combined until after we were married and
had consummated our love.

Talk about first-time fireworks- literally.

The colors, electricity and eternal force that bonded us
together exploded that night into an entity so strong and powerful it scared
both of us at first.

It took a while to get used to, to understand and control,
but the energy between us grew into potentially the most deadly weapon on
Earth.

This was a fact that was often speculated about, but we kept
the details of our shared electricity to ourselves. It was something we hoped
we would never have to use.

We had been wrong.

But now it was our greatest asset.

I could feel Kiran’s hesitation and reluctance to test our
strength with the babies so fragile and new inside my body. But what I was well
aware of- as their mother- was that they were already Immortal. They already
possessed the eternal life Kiran had to marry into. Instinctively, I knew that
Avalon and I had been the same way. They were resilient little creatures, both
of them.

They would be fine and well protected today.

But that didn’t mean I would make the man that caused all
this stress and turmoil pay any less for his crimes against humanity or my
Kingdom or my home.

Oh, no, Terletov would burn in hell for his sins against my
people and my family.

Even if today wasn’t the day, in the end he would be forced
to face the consequences of his horrific actions.

I would make sure of it.

We waited for the boots to quiet outside the door, and then
we slipped quietly back into the hallway. Everything was quiet until we rounded
a corner and came face to face with one of Terletov’s evil henchman.

The sickly looking man stopped midstride when we came into
view; a slow, malicious smile spread across his disgusting face and I could
almost feel his excitement at being the one to catch us as it bounced around in
his tainted energy. He raised both of his hands, one holding a gun that would
knock us unconscious if the bullet found our skin and the other hand holding a
small spray bottle that released the noxious gas that incapacitated our Guard.

Kiran didn’t even glance at me, he just pushed our Magic
forward and I followed his lead.

The poor bad guy didn’t even stand a chance.

I lashed out with my Magic like a whip, sending it
concentrated and focused on the man’s right hand. At the same time, Kiran went
after his left. He dropped both weapons at the first contact and screamed out
in pain.

In the next moment, we took a step forward and began to pull
at his weak energy. Terletov had altered his men in some way. While they were
stronger than any other Immortal should be, their Magic had a weak bond with
their body and the men could be easily killed if you knew how to strike them
down.

Which we did.

He put up a small fight as we brought him to his knees,
stealing his Magic the entire time. Within a minute, we possessed his life’s
blood and he lay in a crumpled, defeated heap in the middle of the darkened
corridor.

I expelled the blue smoke immediately to heal our bodies
from the sickening remains of that putrid Magic.

The blue smoke could heal almost anything that could ail an
Immortal. I had learned this time and time again over the years. It was most
effective on Magical-blade wounds and the King’s Curse- which was completely
eradicated after years of working to make that happen.

However, my blue smoke could not heal the after-effects of
Terletov’s experiments. I suspected this was because Terletov didn’t use Magic
to change people or Immortals. Or he didn’t only use Magic. He used a deadly
combination of science and technology to alter their molecular structure. The
blue smoke seemed impervious to this technique and I had lost many people as I
stood helplessly next to them, watching them die.

The one thing the blue smoke could combat however, was the
effect stolen Magic could have on Kiran and me. We had to take their Magic in
order to incapacitate them, but the energy was so sick and repulsive that we
were the only people, besides Amelia and Avalon, that could absorb what
Terletov created and survive.

The blue smoke kept us alive and healthy, so we used it
liberally.

I believed that was its mystical intention.

We met a few more henchmen on our way back to Talbott, but
we disarmed them easily.

Terletov had no idea what he was up against. Kiran and I
were unstoppable and Amelia and Avalon were just as lethal.

The stretch and exercise of a well-fought-battle felt incredible
in my atrophied muscles and my body felt alive and energized in a way I hadn’t
experienced in years. I didn’t want to admit to being addicted to the thrill of
the fight, or an adrenaline junkie or anything like that… but this felt
freaking amazing.

And Kiran wasn’t even trying to lock me away in our room, or
convince me to stay utterly frozen, so I wouldn’t hurt the babies.

They were fine.

I laid a protective hand on my belly and let their little
baby Magics hum and vibrate beneath my fingertips. The flipped and fluttered
underneath my touch, but their electrical currents were strong enough that I
knew they were okay.

They were safe.

We stepped into the hallway were Lilly’s room was located
and almost ran into Syl and the two humans. I grinned when I saw them, happy my
aunt had followed protocol- which was to find me wherever I was.

Although, in this particular case, I had to believe I was
lucky I had been with Lilly. Knowing Syl, she would have tracked down her
patient first no matter what the rules required of her.

Overcome by how dangerous this day had turned out to be, I
hugged my aunt tightly. “Thank God, Syl!” I exclaimed into her hair. “Have you
checked on Lilly?” I glanced at the two humans just to make sure they weren’t
on the verge of hysteria. I trusted Olivia to be fine. She was such a strong
little thing, with her cute blonde bob and curvy figure. She’d been with
Jericho on several missions already and I knew from the debriefs that had come
in, she was almost born to live this wild, aggressive lifestyle.

Her sister was a different story though. And although she
was just as petite as Liv, she seemed infinitely more fragile. Her wavy blonde
hair was longer, just past her shoulders and her wide blue eyes were glossy
with fear, unlike Liv’s that were sharp with focused intent.

I gave Ophelia- or as her family called her O- a break
though. She’d been awake for all of twelve hours and we were throwing her
straight into the heart of the conflict. Her last memories had no doubt been of
being tortured and experimented on at Terletov’s hands, and she had awakened
just in time to watch Terletov invade her refuge and threaten her safety yet
again.

Poor thing.

I had to get her to safety.

Sylvia answered my question, saying, “We were just about to.”

Not waiting a second longer, Kiran shouldered open the door
and we all burst in.

Talbott was exactly as we had left him, with Lilly’s head
resting on one leg and his sword on the other.

We didn’t have to say a word of explanation before Talbott
bit out with absolute conviction, “I will not let him take her again.”

I agreed with him.

And so did my husband.

“We’re not going to let him take anyone, Mate,” Kiran vowed.

“We’re leaving,” I explained. “Now. We need to get to the
tunnel. It’s still dry, isn’t it?”

Kiran grinned at me, barely containing his out-of-place
laughter. “Do you honestly think I would let them fill it in after all your
hard work?”

“Shut up,” I growled at him.

The secret entrance to the Citadel- or exit, depending on
our particular need- had been destroyed in my attempt to save my brother years
ago. I had drained a riverbed dry and crumbled a huge stone tunnel.

It had seemed necessary at the time.

But now I never heard the end of the jokes that surrounded
my “theatrics,” as Kiran called them.

“Avalon and Mimi?” Syl asked while she collected the few
things she’d left with Lilly before.

I paused, trying to get an update on Avalon and where they
were on their progress, but I met only silence. I swore… if they were using
this time to try to give my children cousins, I would purposefully leave them
behind.

I tried again, but still nothing.

That was strange.

I can’t get him through our connection.” I was frustrated
with this. He shouldn’t be blocking me. This was not the time to be obnoxious.
“Radio silence or something. They were on their way to find Angelica when we
parted ways.” And by that, I meant mentally.