“I will be fine,” Xavier assured him. He glanced toward the large glass wall. “There’s Alaric now. We can begin.”
Xavier finished picking up the amethyst and began to speak in a language Everett didn’t recognize. His voice was low, deep, and melodic—almost hypnotizing. He walked to Everett and raised the amethyst to his forehead. The stone felt warm against his skin.
Eyes closed, Xavier kept speaking that hushed tone as the fine hairs on Everett’s body stood at attention. The magic fillingthe room was palpable. He felt it on his skin and breathed its thick essence in from the air.
Then he gasped as pain shot into his forehead. It swelled until his entire head felt heavy. He squeezed his eyes shut, unable to stop a small whimper from escaping his mouth. Even his teeth hurt, but most of the pain seemed to be gathering behind his eyes.
Xavier’s voice picked up in intensity and speed, but Everett’s head ached too much to open his eyes. He cried out, sweat starting to drip down his temples.
Fingers threaded with his. The rush of comfort calmed him. The pain began to recede, and he cautiously opened his eyes to see Xavier staring at him intently. He looked the same, so for a moment, Everett was scared it hadn’t worked. But then he turned toward Dax and his eyes flared wide.
Two dark green horns rose from his head. They curved outward in opposite directions, the surface shiny and the color rather beautiful. Like marble, as Trilla had described them. Small, gray tusks jutted from his lower lip.
Everett found those ridiculously sexy.
Dax stared anxiously at him.
Everett slowly shook his head, though it still felt heavy, still ached. “It worked. You really should have let me see you before. You’re gorgeous in your true form.”
Red crept over Dax’s cheeks, and Everett started to smile, but that smile quickly dropped when the most horrendous odor suddenly filled the room. It was the rancid smell of dead things and decay. His eyes watered, then blurred. He was blinking away the tears when something solid hit his throat and sent him back into the wall. His body slammed hard. He was so disoriented, all he could focus on was the loud yell that came from Dax.
Everett managed to get control of his eyesight and wished he hadn’t. The creature that held his neck was something out ofhis worst nightmares. Broken and corpse-like with parts of its skin missing and showing bone. Ragged clothes barely covered its form, and where there should have been eyes, there were only empty sockets.
Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Dax leap forward to grab it, but Xavier grabbed his arm to stop him.
“No, it’ll rip out his throat. Let me.”
Utterly frozen in terror, he could only stare into those empty sockets as the surface of his skin began to tingle. The thing holding him snarled with broken lips and turned its head toward Xavier. It let Everett go, and he slid down the wall, watching as the creature began to move toward Xavier.
The whites in Xavier’s eyes bled to black as he pointed his finger at the creature and spoke in that foreign language again.
It screamed, and Everett covered his ears, still unable to look away from the creature. It turned and smashed through the glass wall. Chaos erupted in the outer room as it dashed through the bodyguards. Several tried to catch it, but it turned into a kind of vapor right in front of Everett’s eyes. Then it was just…gone.
“Well, shit,” he croaked out, wincing at the pain in his throat.
Dax knelt in front of him and placed a gentle finger on his neck. “Are you okay?”
He nodded. “What the fuck happened? Where did it come from?”
Dax helped him to his feet, and they both looked to Xavier for answers.
“Our spell must have released it from the nephrite.”
“You mean my inability to see you all was still keeping it there after my blood triggered it?” Everett asked.
“I can only surmise that is the case.” Xavier frowned. “I should have realized that could happen, so I apologize.”
“You couldn’t have known.” Everett looked at all the broken glass on the floor. “I’m sorry about your wall, but I’m really sorry it got away. Where do you think it went?”
Dax answered him. “The draugr is a protector of treasure, so it will be going to whatever that is.”
Truly alarmed, Everett hugged his arms to his chest. “What do we do? We can’t just let it go after someone else. I feel responsible for this since it was my blood that triggered the spell to begin with.”
“There’s nothing you can do, Everett, and it’s definitely not your fault. I transcribed enough of the journal to know what family is holding the treasure. I’ll send Ivor and Emory to protect them. I broke your tie to the draugr, so it has no interest in you now.”
“Why did it attack me like that?”
“Because you were tied to the spell holding it prisoner. It saw you as a threat to its true purpose. But you’re safe now.”
