the Pyr, but had tricked Hadrian to steal it back. Kade had then disappeared. Hadrian itched to teach the faithless dragon shifter a lesson, but he couldn’t even blink.
Kade stared at Maeve with adoration. She ran a hand across his cheek, as if he was a pet poodle, and Hadrian realized that Kade was completely in the Dark Queen’s thrall. Would that be enough to turn him against his fellow Pyr? Hadrian feared it might be, and once again hated that he was powerless.
Why hadn’t Alasdair heard the Fae arrive? Did it have something to do with the clock stopping?
Were they outside of time?
Maeve reached up and touched her lips to Kade’s mouth briefly, a move that made the dragon shifter tremble with desire. Hadrian saw the Fae warrior flinch, and wondered whether Maeve was aware of his jealousy.
“Destroy it all,” Maeve whispered to Kade. She laughed and made a gesture, summoning a red halo of light. “In silence!”
Kade moved immediately to stoke up the fire in the forge and Hadrian knew what he was going to do. He would have appealed to Kade in old-speak, but he couldn’t make a sound. He tried to call to Alasdair and Balthasar but he couldn’t utter a word, in old-speak or aloud. He screamed in outrage in his thoughts but no sound emerged.
And as he struggled against the prison his body had become, Kade threw the newly-made blades into the crucible. They landed soundlessly and the fire jumped hungrily. The flames should have been roaring, but there was no sound. Kade pushed the crucible into the forge and Hadrian watched helplessly as his work was destroyed and the blades melted.
Kade then shattered the template for the laser cutter, an act that should have made a lot of noise, but one that also happened in silence. If that wasn’t enough, Kade shifted shape, becoming a powerful dragon of amber and gold. Maeve’s red glow seemed to pulse with malice as Kade smashed the laser machine, too, ensuring that no one could produce blades easily in the studio again.
Kade then breathed dragonfire with gusto, setting the studio alight. His ability to breathe fire had always been impressive, and Hadrian couldn’t help wishing it had been a little less so. The tables and the walls began to burn, the bright light of the forge glowing in the middle of it all. There wasn’t a single sound as the sparks jumped and the fire spread. Hadrian could only watch as his studio was destroyed.
He noticed then that the Fae sword had completely melted away, the last drop of the water sizzling as it evaporated. There was no sign that it had ever existed, except a faint shimmer of silver that vanished almost as soon as Hadrian noticed it.
Maeve stood beside the Fae warrior, watching with satisfaction as Kade shifted to his human form again and returned to her side. She pointed down and he knelt to kiss her shoe. Her eyes shone with triumph as she met Hadrian’s gaze.
“No more,” she said with quiet conviction. Again, she turned her wrist, as if summoning something to her. The red glow spun around the studio, then gathered in the palm of her hand, like an orb of fire. “No more from you,” she said darkly. Her eyes lit as she cast the sphere of red light at Hadrian.
It struck him in the middle of the chest and flared to brilliance before it died away. Hadrian felt the cold in his fingertips and toes first, then watched as a layer of hoarfrost spread over his skin. His skin turned pale and white. He felt chilled first, then cold, then he couldn’t feel anything at all. It was horrifying to only be able to watch the progress of Maeve’s curse, to feel it traveling up his arms and legs, making steady progress from his extremities to his heart.
He panicked, knowing he was going to die, that his mate would never be able to fulfill her quest, that Maeve had tricked them both. He watched as the Dark Queen tucked one hand into Kade’s elbow and the other into the arm of the Fae warrior. She surveyed the studio, then looked between her minions with satisfaction. She nodded and the Fae warrior sliced open the air with his dagger, leading her through a portal to the shimmering silver light of Fae. Kade followed like a devoted puppy and Maeve never looked back. The Fae warrior smirked at Hadrian as he closed