Midnight Truth (Shifter Island #4) - Leia Stone Page 0,21
go easy, lest it looked malicious.”
Stunned, I stood there, gaping while they discussed their failed assassination attempts. The sense of betrayal pressed against my soul, and I turned away from their discussion.
Note to self: these high mages were d-bags. Except for my grandfather—and maybe the high mage of earth, Heath.
Maybe that’s why Gramps sent me here. Lesson learned.
At this point, I’d fetch Grandpa’s book title and then get the heck out of here.
“It doesn’t matter,” Kian said, flatly.
I started to slink away—
“We’ll have time to deal with her later,” Kian said. “We need to discuss the new king of Shifter Island.”
—and then froze.
Shifter Island? They were talking about Rage.
Spinning back toward the evil asshats, I crept forward, dread sinking into my soul.
“He’s invited all of the other shifters back,” Snade said.
“He’s trying to unite them!” Orion growled.
Kian shook his head. “Worse, he’s training the lower mages to protect themselves!”
I had no idea what in the name of the Mother Mage they were talking about, but it seemed like my mate had been busy.
Silence fell, the air thick with tension.
“He can’t do that,” Snade growled, his eyes glowing with live flame.
“No, indeed he cannot. He’s rejected all of our traditions,” Kian stated. “I’m not sure if Declan failed to train the boy or if he’s truly just that ignorant, but we can’t have him ruin our society.”
“The half-breed is his mate,” Snade said. “And they share a shield bond.”
Kian nodded. “But my sources say they haven’t sealed their mate bond. We must make stopping their mate bond from sealing our top priority.”
“How can we do that? One of the blood mages maybe?” Orion asked.
Did he say blood mage? What the frick is that?
Fear coursed through me.
“If we fail…” Orion tapped the table.
“She could spy on us and use her bond to filter everything to him. Our entire way of life could fall,” Kian said, unknowingly filling in the risks for me.
Stunned by this revelation, my fear turned to anger. How dare they even try to stop Rage and me from sealing our bond? And for what? Power?
“He could encourage the lower mages to stage a rebellion or insist we take care of them,” Snade growled.
Orion swallowed hard. “Can you imagine the lower mages running around here?”
All three men grumbled or snarled.
“He could ruin everything,” Snade said. “We can’t allow it!”
“He must be stopped,” Kian stated, which was followed by murmured assent.
The three of them continued talking, but my mind spun, unable to process any more than fragments of their speech, and I rested my head against the shelf.
Blood mage? That sounded dark … and powerful.
But … surely they wouldn’t … they couldn’t…
I couldn’t even finish the thought. I knew there was no level of depravity these men wouldn’t stoop to in an effort to preserve their control. Hadn’t they just admitted to trying to kill me? And they’d interfered in Rage’s ascent to the throne by giving Mallory’s father that spelled necklace. Who knew what else they’d done—or how long they’d been pulling strings.
The sky deepened from cerulean to rich sapphire, and the lights in the library brightened. I raised my head and blinked, my gaze zeroing in on the gold plaque label of the shelf: 2B2.
This was the row Grandpa told me to find.
I forced a swallow and craned my neck up to the top shelf and let my gaze fall on the golden inscription of the tome’s title: Betrayal of an Empire.
Shock punched me, and I turned my gaze toward the deepening sky—and nearly screamed.
There I was—or rather there was my reflection in the window—just like a mirror.
Frick!
Could they see me?
Panic seized my lungs, and I scurried backward, bumping into the shelf—and somehow knocked a book down. Apparently, my ghostly soul could still move objects—good to know, and also freaky.
“What was that?” Snade asked, and someone’s chair scraped the floor.
I dropped to the ground and crawled away on my hands and knees.
“Orion, pull the air from the room,” Kian snapped. “Let’s find out who’s here.”
No. No. No.
Wait!
What was I doing? I just needed to get back to my body.
I sat up and leaned against the shelf, closing my eyes.
Please let this work!
I thought of Gramps sitting at the bistro table in his gardens … his castle in the background.
I felt a tug in my navel, and then the smell of roses perfumed the air. The kiss of a cool breeze tickled the hairs on the back of my neck—or was that someone breathing?