Pain pulsed through my shoulder and spiked down my arm. I felt lightheaded, but I kept pressing the now blood-soaked cloth against my wound while bracing my useless arm against the dining room table. Yuito and Paul hovered nervously nearby, as if that would make things better. I resisted the urge to snap at them. They were only doing their job and they weren’t the ones I was really angry at. After all, the real source of my fury was now locked in my dungeon again.
Hell fucking damn Audrey Sable. I was sure that I had locked the manacle around her ankle when I brought her back to her room after that dinner. How had she gotten out of it? And when did she have time to steal a knife? She must have done it during our dinner, but the one on her plate was still there when my people cleared the table. I had checked to make sure.
I blew out a long breath as another flare of pain shot through me.
Henry had tried to warn me that even without her magic, Audrey was too dangerous to keep around. But I hadn’t listened. Instead, I had used every excuse to spend even more time with her. And now I was sitting in my dining room, slowly bleeding to death because of it.
Hurried footsteps echoed from the corridor.
Relief washed over me as Sam Foster’s blond head appeared in the open doorway. Removing the cloth from my wound, I placed it on the table. Since my fingers were red with blood, I used the back of my hand to push the massive stack of cash towards Sam as he approached.
His gray eyes flicked up and down my body as he dropped down into the chair that Paul had already placed in front of me. There was something… off about Sam. Something reserved. But before I could ask, he flashed me a mischievous smile.
“I see you had another disagreement with some cutlery,” he said in a light voice. “And that the cutlery won this time too.”
I let out a huff of amusement that turned into a grunt when pain crackled through my shoulder again. “Yeah.”
Sam kept his eyes on my wound while he touched his palms together. When he drew them apart again, shimmering turquoise blue magic swirled between his hands. He brought them up to my chest.
Something was nagging at me, but I couldn’t quite figure out what.
“You’re lucky that she aimed too high,” Sam said while his healing magic seeped into my body, repairing severed muscles and knitting flesh back together.
I raised my eyebrows at him. “She?”
“Well…” He gave me a small knowing smile. “Cutlery’s gotta have pronouns too, right?”
“Uh-huh.” I huffed out another short laugh, which made me wince in pain again.
So, Sam knew exactly who had stabbed me. Again. But fortunately for me, Sam at least didn’t pick sides in these kinds of power struggles. So there was no risk of that information making it back to anyone else. I would need—
The thing that had been bothering me snapped into place.
Tilting my head to the side, I looked past Sam and towards the empty doorway behind him.
“Where’s Henry?” I asked, flicking my gaze between the door and the healer before me.
Sam grimaced. “We should probably save that for after I’ve healed you.”
“Sam.” A flash of panic pulsed through me, making the word come out more forcefully than I had intended. Clearing my throat, I tried to compose myself again as I locked eyes with the blond dark mage. “Where is Henry?”
For a while, he just shifted his gaze back to the wound. Shimmering blue magic continued pouring into my skin. I resisted the urge to grab him by the shoulders and shake him.
When almost all of the pain was gone, Sam at last dragged his gaze back to my face while he finished up his work. “Malcolm took him.”
Dread curled around my spine like a cold snake as I stared back at him in utter disbelief. “Malcolm took out Henry?”
“No. He took him.”
“What does that mean?”
“While we were on the way back here, Malcolm showed up with a bunch of his people and captured Henry.”
“Malcolm doesn’t take prisoners.”
“Not usually, no.” Uncertainty crept into Sam’s eyes. They looked almost blue in the light from his magic. “I’m not sure what he’s planning on doing with him, but he told me to relay a message.”
“What kind of message?”
“He requested a meeting.”
“Where?”
“In his mansion. At sunrise.” Sam held my gaze. “He told me to guarantee your safety. That he wouldn’t attack you during the meeting and that you’d be able to leave his mansion completely unharmed.”
“I see.”
The skin around the wound at last knit itself together, leaving only a ragged scar. Yet another one, courtesy of Audrey Sable.
Sam lowered his hands again as the turquoise light of his magic faded out. For a moment, he just searched my face.
“I don’t take sides,” he said. “Which is why I did nothing to help your man. And nothing to help Malcolm take him either.”
Exhaustion rolled over me and I gave the dark mage healer a tired smile. “I know, Sam.”
He nodded in acknowledgement. Then he stood up and grabbed the stack of cash from the wooden tabletop. After sweeping his gaze over my body, as if checking for injury one last time, he turned around and disappeared back towards the front door.
I watched the doorway until his footsteps had faded completely. Once they had, I heaved a deep breath.
“Leave,” I said without turning around.
“But—” Paul began from the wall behind me.
“I said, leave.”
“Yes, boss,” he and Yuito said in unison.
Their footsteps also echoed through the room before disappearing down another hallway.
Raising my left arm, I swung it up and to the side to test the range of movement. Everything was back to normal.
A pang of worry hit my chest.
Well, not everything was back to normal. Malcolm Griffith had taken Henry captive.
Wood scraped against wood as I shoved my chair back and shot to my feet.
So what? Henry wasn’t my friend.
I stalked over to the cabinet by the back wall, threw it open, and yanked out a bottle of whiskey. Glass clinked in alarm as I slammed the bottle and a whiskey tumbler down on the table.
Why should I care if Malcolm had Henry? He was just a guy who worked for me. Just like Jesper, whose corpse had already been hauled out of my home. My guards died all the time. Why would Henry be any different?
Amber liquid splashed into the glass as I poured a large serving of whiskey. Lifting it to my mouth, I downed half of it in one go. It left a burning feeling in my throat. I slammed the glass back on the table and raked my hands through my hair while pacing across the floor.
Henry was no one to me. Just a guy who had worked for me for over ten years. Not a friend. Dark mages didn’t have friends. So why should I even bother going to that meeting Malcolm had requested? It would only make me look weak.
Memories flooded my brain unbidden. Of all the insane shit Henry and I had survived in Malgrave. Of him helping me kill the previous owner of this mansion and claim it as my own. Of us sparring in the training room and drinking whiskey together right here in this dining room. Of him telling me why he had left Eldar and sought out dark mages instead. Of him having my back for over a fucking decade.
Snatching up the glass, I hurled it at the wall next to me.
It shattered with a satisfying noise. Glass shards rained down on the floor, clinking against the wood, while whiskey ran down the white marble.
Raking my fingers through my hair again, I tipped my head back and forced out a long breath.
Dark mages didn’t have friends. They didn’t feel anything towards anyone.
But apparently, I did.
First, I had fallen for Audrey Sable. And now I was panicking because Malcolm had taken Henry. Was I even still a dark mage at this point?
I should just leave Henry to his fate and then go and kill Audrey instead.
Pain that had nothing to do with any physical wound pulsed through me. It felt as though I had been punched in the chest.
This was ridiculous. When I had left Eldar after I had turned fourteen, I had sworn that I was done making friends. Never again would I let others drag me down in any way. I had sworn that I would forge my own way through this world alone, gathering more power and control, and then watch as people begged for a single night in my company. No friends. No partners. No one who would ever consider themselves my equal.
And I had kept that promise.
Hadn’t I?
Henry was not my friend.
I glanced out at the night outside the window as if I could see all the way to Malcolm’s mansion. There was no reason for me to go to that meeting.
Pain stabbed into my heart again.
No reason at all.
