set it into the next empty bowl. When he looked up toward the king and Rage, his expression smoothed, and he smiled vapidly. “Give me your hand next, Alpha Heir.” He looked to Rage.
‘Is it okay?’ Rage asked.
‘I don’t know.’ I swallowed hard. ‘I’ll make sure he doesn’t take very much blood, but I couldn’t get a good read on him.’
I didn’t know crap about magic, but why was Jakko using his blood in the spell when it was only between Rage and the king? I guess I didn’t do a very good job of scoping this dude out. But we’d have to roll with it if we wanted out of here.
Three drops of Rage’s blood later, and the mage grabbed a clean piece of the cloth and wrapped it around Rage’s finger. “That’s all I need from you.”
Rage nodded and stepped back. ‘That was easy.’
‘Too easy. He didn’t even ask you to swear an oath or make a promise.’
‘Maybe that’s next?’ Rage said, but he side-eyed the stoner mage with suspicion.
Maybe I should have asked the dude how much weed he smoked today. That might’ve been better than grilling him on magic I knew nothing about.
“All right, King Ozark,” the young man said, waving for the selkie king to come closer. “It’s your turn.”
Ozark descended the dais and towered over the mage kid, but I only saw that out of the corner of my eye because my attention was riveted on the wooden bowls. Jakko hadn’t poured Rage’s blood into the main bowl that he’d put his own blood and mage wine into. Not that I knew if he was supposed to or not, but … it didn’t feel right.
In fact, the little stoner had taken the cloth from out of the bowl where he’d collected Rage’s blood and then wiped the entire dagger’s blade with it. He switched his grip on the hilt, and my alarm bells started ringing. Instead of angling the blade to the side, to prick the king’s finger … he held it tight in his fist like he was going to stab someone.
‘Hey, does your blood do anything if someone is cut with it?’ I asked Rage as panic crawled through me.
‘What?’
Time seemed to slow as Jakko shifted his stance toward the king.
Holy. Freakin’. Mage.
I knew that stance.
Jakko grabbed the selkie king’s wrist and then raised the blade.
No, no, no…
I lurched forward, crashing into Jakko just as he brought the knife down. The deadly arc’s trajectory changed, and the blade grazed the outside of the king’s leg instead of being buried deep within the femoral artery where he’d been aiming.
The young mage ripped the knife up and whirled on me in anger.
King Ozark’s bellow barely registered as my attention tunneled onto the threat in front of me.
Jakko’s look was feral, his upper lip curled as he snarled at me.
“You never could do the binding spell, could you?” The king’s voice was so sharp it could cut glass.
“No. But I finally had an opportunity to kill you.” He lunged, coming at me since I stood between him and the king.
Without my magic, I was left with only my hand to hand combat skills. I swung my arm up and over my chest, rotating my forearm to add power to the block. My arm hit his as Rage leapt in front of me in a blur and tackled the mage to the ground. My mate slammed his knee into the slender mage and then wrested the knife from the young man’s grip. His face was smooshed into the ground with Rage on his back, and within seconds, Rage had both of the mage’s hands restrained behind him. King Ozark dashed forward and knelt on the ground, but if he meant to help Rage, the selkie king was a fraction too slow. He took the young man’s wrists and called for his guards even though the teenage mage’s body was slack and completely submissive.
The king’s guards were so slow that they only arrived in time to zip-tie the mage’s hands behind his back while another guard tossed some of the magic-dispelling powder in his face to nullify his powers. Jakko coughed and then went into a full-on fit, screaming and bucking against Rage and Ozark until four more guards hauled him up into a standing position.
Ozark smoothed his hair, the veins in his neck bulging.
I’d seen what happened to Chinook for disobeying orders. I didn’t want to consider what was about to happen to this young boy.