*Isla*Mystica’s eyes are hollow as she ties a ribbon around a bundle of herbs–rosemary, lavender, and sage. The whole room smells like spice, and when I look up at the ceiling I see nothing but bundles of drying greenery and flowers. This is Mystica’s haven, a small room near the back of the castle connected to the kitchen garden. Most of the maids use this space to hang herbs and store vegetables. I look at the rows and rows of built-in shelving, cans of last summer’s tomatoes, apples, and peaches perfectly organized and shimmering in hazy gray light filtering through the windows. I look down at the tea in front of me, which is supposed to be calming, but I can’t find the nerve to even lift it to my lips. Not after what happened last night, and not now that we're facing a threat from inside the castle walls. Two warriors stand near the door as I turn to look over my shoulder, their eyes focused on the windows behind where Mystica is sitting. “Has anyone said whether or not you’r
*Maddox*I lunge, colliding with Seth just as he swings the sword. The heavy metal slices through the air as I wrap my arms around his knees and send us both flying backward away from the blast of silver light now coming from the statue. I feel the sword graze my back, slicing through my shirt and scraping across my skin. It's enough to make me grit my teeth and growl as we roll and roll towards the far wall of the temple, the sword left in our wake. Seth’s fist smashes against the top of my head, and I momentarily see stars before I roll off of him and get onto my knees, panting. Only six feet separates us. “Don’t make me do this,” I say to him, my ears ringing sharply as I blink into the silver light now climbing in long ribbons up the walls. “Seth–”“I can’t let you leave this temple alive,” he says hoarsely, and I see blood trickling down his face from a wound he must have obtained when I slammed all of my weight into him and sent us to the ground. He takes an uneven step towa
Poppy groans as I help her sit up in bed, her face twisting with discomfort. While my magic was about to heal the stab wounds across her belly, she is still recovering from the black and blue bruises that cover her entire abdomen. She looks terrible, but I do my best not to make a face as I lift up her shirt to look at the… carnage. That’s the only way I can describe it. “I’ll live, Isla,” she rasps, rolling her eyes as she playfully swats my hand away. “Pardon me for being worried about you, Poppy,” I tease, sitting down on the edge of her bed with a sigh. I glance at the warrior sitting on a stool by the door, his legs crossed and his head hanging as he sleeps. We made it through the day. No one else had been attacked. But I can’t help but feel like this is far from over. “Did Isaac make it safely?” she asks in a whisper, her eyes drifting to the warrior by the door. “Yes,” I reply, the word sticking to my throat. I fight back the rush of grief welling in my chest as I run a co
*Isla*“Get–her–out–of–FUCK!” Antony takes the warrior by the shoulders, bending the man at the waist before driving his knee up into the man’s chin. “Get her out of here, Isla!”I’m scrambling to get Poppy off the bed. She’s hurt again, but actively fighting against me as I drag her by the waist across the room and away from where Antony is beating the warrior into a bloody pulp. “The knife is still in his chest!” Poppy howls, clawing my arms. “Stop fighting me!” I cry, but she kicks her legs, pressing all her weight into her heels to halt my progress. The warrior breaks free of Antony’s grasp and pushes him away at the same time he grabs the knife and twists. Antony shouts–and to my great surprise–slaps the warrior across the face. I freeze, obviously in shock, and fight the urge to laugh in disbelief as Antony shoves the warrior away and removes the knife from his chest himself, tossing it across the room. “Slap him again!” Poppy roars. I put my hand over her mouth and continu
*Isla*“He’s on his way back,” Ben says hoarsely, running his fingers through his hair as he takes a seat in the dining room. I hold Isaac against my chest, patting his back as I pace along the far wall where the sunset is beaming through the windows. “I talked to him a few hours ago. He said he’d be here by morning.”I nod, glancing out a window as I pass, as if I can make Maddox just materialize out of nowhere. “How is Antony?” Ben asks as he reaches for a bottle of wine. He motions with his hand to offer me a glass but I shake my head. “Fine. Angry, but fine,” I sigh. I look down at Isaac, who is asleep with his chubby, perfect cheek squished on my shoulder. “He’s been holed up in Poppy’s room all day. He wants to skin that man alive, Ben.”“I understand why,” Ben says through gritted teeth as he pours himself some wine. “Has the man said anything?”“He won’t even give us his name. I interviewed some of the other warriors, and no one recognizes him. No one knows who he is or wher
*Isla*“It’s not even in the way she talks or handles business between the servants,” Poppy says as she winds a lock of my hair around a curling iron. “There’s just something strange about her.”“And Trinity hired her,” I add, dusting my cheeks with blush. “Yes, and that,” Poppy grimaces, starting on a new curl. “She probably just looks forward to the day I leave, Isla. If I leave. I don’t fall into the ‘be sweet and silent’ type of maid that she prefers, you know? And based on what you just told me, she thinks Trinity is dumb–”“She didn’t say dumb,” I laugh, smiling at Poppy through the reflection in the mirror. “But she did allude to Trinity being inexperienced and… well, I don’t really know how else to describe it. I want to like her because she’s done a great job in the role so far, but if Trinity is up to something… how can I trust her, or anyone in this house, for that matter?”“Well, Maddox will be home any minute now, and you won’t have to do all of this on your own anymore,
*Isla*Maddox is ravenous, and every cell in my body responds to his touch as he lifts me up from the floor and sets me on the stone table at the center of the gazebo. I can still taste him on my tongue, but he kisses me anyway as he unbuttons his shirt. My hands press into his chest, feeling the hard, solid muscles there. “Wrap your legs around my waist,” he rasps, his breath heavy and wanting as he trails kisses over my neck. I do as I’m told, locking my ankles together over his lower back. He reaches between us and drags his fingers over my slit, growling with approval. I exhale, trembling beneath his touch as he teases me, his eyes locked on mine. “I missed you, little flower.”“Show me how much you missed me,” I choke out, a moan leaving my lips as he positions himself at my entrance. He plunges into me with one hard, near violet thrust that leaves me seeing stars. I clutch his shoulders, digging my nails into his skin as he slowly pulls out again, dragging himself down. “I m
*Maddox*The dungeon beneath the castle is cleaner and less… damp, than most since the clean up of staff after the debacle with Zabrina. I still don’t like spending time down here, but there’s no other place to keep my enemies. I pass the cell where the man who’d attacked Isla and Poppy is sitting, his back to me. He doesn’t look up as I walk by, but I notice several scuffs on the smooth stone outside of the cell, like someone has been pacing back and forth just outside the bars. There is no doubt in my mind that Antony has been coming down here just to taunt the man, to walk along the bars and sneer and spit at him, and the man likely knows full well that Antony will take him apart piece by piece, slow and methodical, to avenge his mate, when I gave him the green light to do so.What will need to happen to Seth seems like a mercy in comparison.I turn a corner and come to a stop in front of a heavy metal door, a light flickering overhead. Amber light spills over the floor as I curl