Chapter 1
The soundof footsteps echoing down the stone castle corridor had me scrambling to my feet.Six hours.It had been six hours since Ardan had marooned me in some steel cell inside of a castle in Ireland. My thick steel cage was bare, except for a toilet and washbasin. No bedding, no books, nothing. It looked out onto a hallway and stone staircase. A large arched open window with no glass, just bars, overlooked a beautiful landscape. If I weren’t scared for my life I might actually enjoy the rolling green hills, forest, and rocky beach. Logan and the team were scrambling to find my location, but this place was a magical fortress and they couldn’t locate it remotely. Thank God my mind-speak, mate-bond thingy still worked, or I would have gone crazy bynow.
Lynn and the new baby were safe, Logan had informed me, but not for long because Eva’s spell could only hide the baby’s shifting for about twenty-four to forty eight hours, and the ingredients needed for it were precious and hard to comeby.
Probably elven ear wax or somethingnasty.
When I asked him about Ruben, he changed the subject. I didn’t press him; I was too emotionally fragile to hear the answer. Ruben and Steven had been in a faceoff right before Ardan took me. Could he have survived that? I thought of the little red beard tattoo on my ribcage, I prayed wouldn’t need to add a bear toit.
Logan had made me promise that I would mentally keep him informed of everything that happened, I struggled now with telling him someone was coming. What was the point of worryinghim?
A face emerged over the top of the steps, and then the largest man I’d ever seen came walking up the stone stairs—that was saying something after being surrounded by huge shifters. He had brown, graying hair slicked into a ponytail at the nape of his neck. His eyes were dark, almost black, and he radiated power that made my pulse quicken; sweat beaded mybrow.
Ardan.
Stepping up beside him was the king of douchebags, Steven, and someone I didn’t know, but his glowing yellow eyes made my stomach drop. He was a truth witch. The same eerie glow had been in the eyes of Eva’sbouncer.
I scrambled to connect with my mate.‘Logan, he’s back with a truth witch.’Eva had warned me of their kind, told me I had to reframe things in my mind when I answered them, to get away with a lie. But I’d never learned the art of what she calledtrickery.
My eyes fell to a large red glowing blade in the truth witch’s hand. I swallowed hard. I was too pretty and too sheltered for torture. I was gonna tell these assholes whatever they wanted to avoid getting slicedup.
‘We’re on a plane to Northern Ireland in the general area Eva thinks you might be.”Logan’s voice came through loud and clear.“Isaac has a friend there who might be able to help us find you. Just tell them whatever they want to know so you won’t behurt.’
That sounded like a decent plan until my mind flashed to the horrible things they could ask me:Where was Isaac’s land? How many more skyborn were alive, and where did they live? My mom’s addressbook…
I scrambled backward until I was nearly touching thewall.
‘No. Teach me how to lie,’I beggedhim.
Logan growled.‘It takes months to learn trickery! They’ll torture you! Just tellthem.’
‘What if they ask me about Casey? Lynn’s baby? No!’I shouted back through our bond. The men reached the bars and I clenched my hands into fists. Where was Sophie when I needed her? She would probably take a hundred cuts from that knife before ever uttering a singleword.
I pinned Ardan with my meanest glare. “You know, I hear steroids can cause some nasty side effects. You should really stop usingthem.”
His face was a mask of calm. He looked at Steven and nodded.Ohshit.
In a blink, Steven disappeared from outside the bars, reappearing inside my cell, right before me. I wanted to act cool and badass, but instead, I yelped and stumbled backward, cracking my head against the wall. Pain exploded in my skull, but I was able to shake it off and stay upright. Steven grinned, and I wanted to cut that smug look right off of his face. If I thought my dragon could break through steel bars, I would shift right now, but there was no point. I was a smallish dragon and steel was definitely strong enough to containme.
“I want her magic,” Ardan snapped. “Not just her dragon magic, all of it. I want the magic of a fire druid. Figure out how to get it for me.” He spun on his heel and left, heading down the same stairs hecame.
Oh shit of all shits, I was so screwed. There was no way this could end well. I had rogue power that was threatening to put me in a coma if I used it, and no staff to control it. I tried to control my breathing, but felt on the verge ofhyperventilating.
Steven grabbed hold of my forearm, yanking me closer to him. My heart jumped to my throat, I feared what he would do to me. There was an unlocking noise, metal against metal, and the cell door scraped open as the truth witch cameinside.
“We’re going to have a little chat,” the sorcerer toldme.
‘Logan, they’re going to interrogate me. You have to teach me something! ANYTHING!’I roared through our mate bond. Why did men have to be so difficult? Just do what I ask the first time and we wouldn’t haveproblems.
‘Eva has a plan. Use our mate bond, open it up wide so I can hear what he asks you, but don’t really focus on what he says. Just focus on what I ask you and answer outloud.’
What the hell? That was the most confusing thing I’d everheard.
I decided maybe I could talk my way out of this. “What do you want to know?” I asked them. “You already know I’m skyborn. You already know I’m halfdruid.”
The truth witch’s eyes flared to life then, my stomach tightened inknots.
“Are you mated?” he asked, his lips curling into an evil grin as if he already knew theanswer.
