I watched as pure shock pulsed in Audrey’s eyes. With her mouth slightly open, she stared from me to the black circles around her arm and then finally to the golden-haired Binder standing behind her shoulder.
Lance Carmichael, who was still shackled by the neck to the metal rod inside the baggage room, looked back at her with blue eyes that were filled with both anger and hope. Her gaze dropped to his wrists. No handcuffs encircled them. While Audrey was still trying to process what had just happened, Lance flicked his eyes to me.
“And now you’ll let my friends live?” he asked, though it sounded more like a plea. “You’ll tell your men to let them go?”
Audrey snapped her gaze back to me.
I flashed her a wicked grin.
She thought that she had been able to outsmart me. But unfortunately for her, I had already come to realize just how clever she really was. I knew that she wasn’t stupid enough to fall for that stunt. Of course she would recognize the people from The Black Emerald. Because, just like she said, there was no way that she would have survived this long as a dark mage if she couldn’t remember the faces of the people she threatened. So they hadn’t been the key to my main plan. They had been the diversion to set this up.
While Audrey had gone in to get us this room, I had told Lance that I also had his friends. Since I had seen them at the ball, I could describe them in great detail. And since Lance had been knocked out before he was thrown out the window of the parliament building, he had no way of knowing what had happened at the ball after he was rendered unconscious.
When Audrey went out to tell the now dead men to come storming in here, I took the opportunity to unlock Lance’s handcuffs. Since he was still shackled to the metal rod in the baggage room, he would only be able to reach Audrey with his magic. And just as she had placed my pack by the door so that the men from The Black Emerald could grab me from behind, I had made sure that hers was right next to the baggage room, within easy reach of Lance.
Me banging my knee into the floor had been the signal since I knew that Audrey would use her poison magic against me. Hiding it behind her hand was a clever trick. I hadn’t known exactly how she would do it, but I knew that she had set up her own ambush so that she would somehow manage to get her magic into my lungs. Once Lance had heard the signal, he had snuck out of the baggage room and bound Audrey’s magic, just like I had told him to.
“You promised,” Lance pushed. “You promised you would spare my friends if I did this.”
“I—”
Audrey bolted.
Leaping across the bed, she threw herself out the open window. I slammed my palms together but she was already gone.
While spitting out a vicious curse, I whirled around and sprinted out into the hallway and towards the front door. Another group of people from The Black Emerald leaped aside as I hurtled past them.
“The blond guy still in the room,” I barked at them. “Handcuff him and then bring him outside.”
“Yes, boss!” they answered.
Boss. They had barely even started working for me properly. We’d see how well they performed their duties now, and then I would decide whether I would kill them or let them serve me.
The door banged against the wall as I shoved it open and raced outside.
Audrey was sprinting for the horses in the stable, because out in these grasslands, there was no way for her to escape from me on foot. Especially not without her magic.
While darting after her, I slammed my palms together and threw a thin blast of force at the back of her knees.
She crashed down into the grass as my attack hit its target. First, her knees slammed down, and then the momentum of her previous sprint sent her whole upper body smacking into the ground. A grunt ripped from her chest.
I closed the final distance between us right as she rolled over on her back.
Steel glinted in the afternoon light as she slashed a knife at my legs. It whooshed through the air right under my feet as I jumped to evade it. Since the strike missed, her arm ended up far to the side. As I landed on the grass again, I kicked the knife out of her hand before she could bring it around for another slash.
It sailed through the air and landed on the ground a short distance away while Audrey hissed in pain. I tried to move back into position, but she kicked her foot upwards between my legs, aiming for my crotch.
The move forced me to leap backwards to avoid a direct hit. Pain shot through me as her toes still made partial contact with my cock.
Using that second of grace, she pushed herself up to her knees and whirled around while trying to get to her feet. Touching my palms together, I sent another force wall straight at her back. She slammed chest first into the grass again.
Before she could recover, I rolled her over on her back and planted my whole weight on her hips as I straddled her. She yanked up her arm and rammed her elbow towards the side of my ribs. Letting the strike go through, I grabbed her other wrist while she was distracted. Another bout of pain pulsed through me as her elbow hit, but I kept my grip on her other hand and forced it down to the ground next to her head.
Panic rippled in her eyes and she bucked her hips to get me off, but it didn’t even lift me. She tried to slam the side of her hand into my throat instead. I knocked her arm aside and used the second that bought me to yank out the knife I kept strapped to the small of my back.
Before she could bring her one free hand back for another strike, I pressed the cold edge of the blade against her throat. She stilled.
Her chest heaved, and fury flashed in her eyes as she stared up at me. “You made Lance bind my magic!”
“Yes.” I grinned down at her. “And I have no plans on getting him to undo it.”
“I should have poisoned you last night!”
“Yes, you should.” Cocking my head, I looked down at her curiously. “When were you going to do it?”
Clenching her jaw, she just stared up at me in rage-filled silence.
I pushed the knife harder against her throat. “Answer.”
“When we were halfway to Essington’s house,” she snapped. “So that I wouldn’t have to travel with both your and Lance’s unconscious bodies that far.”
“You really should have done it last night. Because now, you can’t poison anyone.”
Her gaze slid from my face and towards the black rings around her right forearm. Then to the knife at her throat. Then to my body pinning her to the ground. And then finally back to the tattoo-like circles.
I could see, second by second, as the reality of her situation became crystal clear. The realization that she had lost, truly and irrevocably lost, to me dawned in her eyes like the hopeless gray sky before a heavy storm.
Throwing her head back, she slammed her fist into the ground beside her. “Fuck!”
The word tore from her throat with pure desperation.
People appeared around us. I jerked my chin at one of the men from The Black Emerald. He approached. While I rolled Audrey over on her stomach, he locked her wrists in the stiff handcuffs he had been perceptive enough to bring.
Audrey just lay there, her cheek resting against the thick grass. Her long black hair fell down to conceal the other side of her face as well. I pushed to my feet.
“You will let my friends go, right?” Lance repeated from somewhere behind me.
I glanced over at him. He was handcuffed again, and another of my newly recruited men was holding him by the chain that was still attached to his neck. I didn’t know how the guy had gotten the chain off the metal rod, but perhaps these people would be useful after all.
“That depends on your behavior,” I answered before flicking my wrist at the man holding him. “Get him on a horse.”
Crouching down, I hauled Audrey to her feet. Since her hands were shackled behind her back, she had to jerk her head to get her hair out of her face. Then she turned to glare at me. I just stared her down until some other guys brought my horse forward.
After lifting her up into the saddle, I swung myself up behind her.
“This isn’t over,” she announced as I reached around her to grab the reins.
A huff of laughter escaped my chest. Pushing my heels into the horse’s flanks, I urged it forward. “Yes, it is.”
We rode the whole way to my mansion in silence after that. My new recruits spread out around me as if to keep watch, while a few of them kept Lance under control.
When we finally reached my mansion, darkness blanketed the world. Halfway to my front door, I was met by Henry and a few of my other guards. The new recruits handed over Lance’s chain to Henry while I led Audrey forward. She kept her mouth shut but her chin raised as I marched her down to the dungeon I kept in my basement. Henry followed closely behind with Lance.
“Lock him in there,” I told Henry, breaking the long silence, and jerked my chin towards one of the cells while I came to a halt with Audrey in the middle of the torchlit space.
“Yes, boss,” Henry replied.
“But my friends,” Lance repeated for what had to be the hundredth time. “You promised!”
“We’ll see about your friends,” I answered.
Metallic clanking filled the basement as Henry shoved Lance into the cell at the far end and began locking the chain around his neck into one of the metal hoops that were set into the stone. I turned to Audrey.
She was standing in front of me with her chin raised defiantly. “So… You’re going to take my lands now? My mansion?”
“Yes.” A smirk tugged at my lips. “Though, technically, they’ve always been my lands.”
After letting out a huff, she stared up at me in silence for a while. Metallic rattling came from Lance’s cell as Henry continued to secure the Binder in it. I only looked down at Audrey, staying silent as well.
“And now you’re going to use Lance as a weapon against both the other dark mages and the heroes,” she said at last.
It was more of a statement than a question, but I answered anyway. “Yes.”
“Clever. That was what I was planning to do too.”
“I assumed as much.”
Another short silence filled the air between us.
“So…” Audrey began. “What happens to me?”
For a while, I didn’t reply. I only continued looking down at her. Her eyes never left mine, but she didn’t push for an answer. And I was incredibly impressed by the fact that no matter how long I let the silence stretch, there was still no fear in her eyes.
“I haven’t decided yet,” I replied at last. “But for now, I’ll let you live.”
The cell door banged shut. Henry locked it before starting towards me. I kept my eyes on Audrey.
Our job was finished. The mission was complete. We had managed to abduct Lance Carmichael and get him out of Eldar before he could launch his campaign to wipe us all out. The threat against all of us dark mages had been neutralized.
What’s more, I had what I wanted. A weapon that would keep both the other dark mages and the heroes in check.
And I finally had Audrey Sable right where I wanted her. Handcuffed and powerless in my dungeon. Entirely at my mercy.
So why didn’t I feel more victorious?
“Congrats, boss,” Henry said as he came to stand beside me. “This mission was a complete success.”
A success?
I looked down at Audrey where she was standing before me with that stubborn tilt to her chin and that fire in her eyes that told me that this wasn’t over. That she was going to try to kill me the first chance she got. It made those confusing feelings swirl inside me again.
And suddenly, a truly dreadful realization seared through my chest like a burning blade.
No, this mission with Audrey had not been a success.
It had turned into my worst failure ever.
Because I had fallen for her.
