Syrus walked slowly into Maxcarion’s home. He didn’t want to come off threatening, especially since he was unarmed. The wizard calmly allowed him to approach, pausing his Wii bowling. Maxcarion’s home overflowed with various kinds of magic and magical objects from many different worlds. If Syrus could have seen it, he would have found it beautiful, fascinating, terrifying and occasionally disgusting.
The wizard himself, ancient and wizened, had lost some of his edge over the last century, mostly out of boredom.
“Well, well, well.” Maxcarion’s voice was dusty from lack of use, and he had to cough and clear his throat before he could say more. “Prince Syrus. It’s about time you showed up.”
“You were expecting me?” Syrus asked.
“Oh yes. I have the power to see the future. I know all about you and Forest. A more bumbling pair of lovers I’ve never seen.” He chuckled.
“Forest and I are not lovers.”
“Ha! We’ll come back to that. You’ve changed so much since the last time I saw you, all of it for the better, I might add. Even your hairstyle is better. I don’t know why vampires insist on wearing their hair so long. But anyway, as you have guessed, I am the wizard who attacked you five years ago.”
The excitement of this confirmation bubbled up inside Syrus. “Then you can restore me! You know what it will take to fix my eyes!”
“Not so fast, my boy. I’m sorry to tell you this, but I cannot restore your sight.”
“But…but…you’re the one who did this to me. Surely you must know a way.”
“I’m sorry. The damage is permanent.”
All of Syrus’ hopes crashed like glass falling on marble.
Maxcarion sighed. “Look, I’m a mercenary through and through. I was hired to kill you. Something I could have done easily. I took the job and intended to see it through, but when I came in contact with you, mere seconds before I blinded you, I saw what great potential you had. So I spared you, and I did you and everyone else a huge favor. By taking your sight, I took from you that which truly blinded you: your arrogance. I gave you a chance to become who you were meant to be, and you have.”
Syrus was numb. “I came all this way for nothing.”
“Now, now. Don’t make me take that compliment back. What about Forest?”
“What about her?” Syrus spat angrily.
“She’s sitting in that graveyard crying tears for you as she prepares to die.”
“Die? Why would she die?”
“Philippe collared her before he let the two of you go. The collar will kill her unless you die tonight.”
“I don’t understand,” Syrus said.
“Your mate has traded her life for yours.”
“Mate?” the word fell stupidly off his tongue as if he did not understand it. “Forest is my mate? My destined life mate?”
Once he said it aloud, Syrus didn’t need confirmation. He knew it was true. Now it all made sense. The desire and the pain, the fiery lightning that snaked inside him, their first kiss. Syrus threw his head back and laughed before smacking his forehead.
“I’m so stupid! She knows, doesn’t she?”
“Yes.”
“How long has she known?”
“Since the time you first touched her face. She saw her true form reflected in your eyes.”
Syrus considered the amount of unfinished business between them, but that would have to come later. Her life hung in the balance.
“You can stop the collar can’t you?” Panic seized him at the thought of Forest dying.
“Certainly I can, but I told you, I’m a mercenary. What do you offer me as payment?”
Syrus swore angrily. “I’ve paid you already! You took my sight. You owe me!”
The wizard scratched his nose unconcernedly. “I suppose I could do you a favor. Or would letting her die be better? She’s not really suitable if you’re going to be king, you know. I mean that’s really why she’s hidden it from you all along.”
“You disgusting little…” Syrus proceeded to call Maxcarion names that even he had never heard before. The wizard listened amusedly to his rant, unaffected.
“All right, all right,” Maxcarion said in lazy retreat from Syrus’ anger. “Since you love her so much.”
“I do!” he said defiantly. The admission made in the midst of vehement anger gave it concrete validity. He did love her.
“The collar will be disabled by the time you go out to her, but I require that you give it to me once it is off.”
“Deal.”
The wizard smiled to himself, “Now go do what you’ve gotta do.”
Chapter Twenty