I breathed out a power-filled breath and whispered, “Isabella Towers, please come forth. Your nephew, Caspian Towers, has questions he would like to ask you. I would greatly appreciate it as well. It is of great import, soothsayer. It is a matter of life and death and the heart.”
Caspian’s elven eyes flicked around the room, as if expecting to see his departed grandmother in the flesh once more; that was not how this worked.
Though, a soft feminine chuckle suddenly racked the air, an overconfident, condescending voice I remembered well when it was once alive. “Bishop Marzel, what you cannot seem to grasp every time you try to contact me, is that you cannot speak to the dead if they are not truly dead. It is rather like a foul stench that comes and goes…a sure sign that you’re afoot.”
My soul mate’s eyes flew wide open in shock, even as I stiffened at her rude backward words—which I should have expected from this soothsayer. I couldn’t have spoken any more dryly if I wanted to, “Isabella, you’re just as charming as always.”
Her voice snorted quietly from above us now. “How about we get to the point of this? To the person I will speak with.” A cold breeze brushed over the top of my head, making my eyebrows slam together. Iinstantlystepped closer to my soul mate, protectively keeping an eye on him. “Caspian, my dear, what do you wish to know?”
The deadly assassin blinked slowly. Then he whispered a bare breath, “I miss you.”
Isabella sighed heavily, her voice now directly behind my soul mate. “And I miss you as well.” She was quiet for a long moment before she whispered, “All will be right soon enough, nephew.You will see. I am never far away. I promise you that.”
Caspian swallowed heavily, exhaling hard out of his nose, before his eyes focused, and he asked, “Is Bishop—my Fae damned enemy for the last five hundred years—truly meant to be my soul mate? Is this…real?”
“Yes, this is very real, nephew. He is your true soul mate,” Isabella stated blunted, her tone coated with hard finality and empathy. “He always has been.”
“How is that even possible,” Caspian instantly boomed. The elf started pacing back and forth in front of me. “The Fae do not allow this! We are elf and shifter! Wekillone another.”
“Mayhap the originals did—and they were truly a fucked up bunch—but that does not mean you two do. It only means…the Fae got bored with the realm and stopped paying attention.” She snorted softly, her voice now directly to my right. “Until one of them didn’t.”
“Meaning?” I asked immediately.
“Meaning, an old witch is tinkering. You would do well to stay out of her way.” The soothsayer’s voice slowly moved closer to my soul mate. “And Caspian? You can stop staring at that statue. The only way that becomes a reality for you is if you let it.”
“We are not doomed?” Caspian cocked his head, eyeing the lovers’ weeping faces. “Are you positive?”
“That isn’t what I said at all,” Isabella reprimanded soundly. “Get your Fae damned head out of your ass, and let the savage stick his shifter cock in it instead. You might find you’re more relaxed and clearheaded after he fucks you well and good.”
I choked on a cough, brutally gurgling deeply inside my chest and pounding on my breastbone to breathe easier.
Caspian blinked slowly. “Gauche as always, Grandmother. It’s good to know death has not changed that.”
She snickered softly. “If you actually listened to me, as I can see you have not done today—yet again—I would not need to be.” The soothsayer cleared her throat pointedly. “Now, do duck before you’re beheaded, and I’ll see you soon.”
My black eyebrows slammed together, feeling a rough breeze slamming into my back and pushing me toward my soul mate. I had a mere moment of worry she was trying an underhanded action that spirits seemed to favor—and a window suddenly shattered behind me.
Swiftly and brutally, I dropped my power and wrapped my arms around the elf, bashing into his side and taking us down to the floor.
And the Fae fucking punisher flew over our heads inside the gallery, his claws extended and fangs bared, swiping violently where we had been standing.
“Shit!” I shouted, tightening my arms around my soul mate and rolling us away as quickly as possible. I bellowed at the top of my lungs, “Guards!”
Caspian and I jumped to our feet, ready to Fae fucking run, as the punisher landed from his pounce, skidding on the tiling.
Except two casters tore through the window out of nowhere, swords raised and murmuring spells under their breath. Their eyes were focused and their words were viciously thrown at the punisher, lunging at the Fae, slicing through his fur and painting the walls red.
My soul mate and I stilled at this wild occurrence, holding and hesitating, unsure what in the realm we should do. It wasn’t every day random casters stormed into another kingdom’s castle to aid in a fight not of their own.
This was all verybizarre.
Rightly so.
“What is this?” Caspian whispered in bewilderment as the casters continued fighting the Fae. He took two steps back and grabbed my hand, yanking me with him. “Who are they?”
“I have no clue,” I mumbled. Then I began pulling him back when he paused to study them, stealing us closer to the doorway. “I’ve never seen them before.”
The royal guards I’d called for raced into the room, shoving us behind them. And the fucking punisher snarled and leapt back out the window, with the two casters taking chase, following him out and racing after him.
