Anna lives in house number five; a few humans glare at me when I cross the road, they notice the scar. Lenin’s already threatening to go after them, but I manage to calm him down. The house is made of grey brick and it seems like it hasn’t been renovated for a while, and a bunch of letters are filling up the post box.
“Just let me talk guys. The maid is human, so try to behave,” I remind the Pixies, then knock a few times. A moment later, I hear footsteps in the background. The door opens up a little bit and a pair of wide, green eyes peer back at me.
“Oh hi, my name is Astri and I was just wondering if I could speak to Anna. Susan gave me your address, and told me your mum had gone missing,” I explain, trying to act as friendly as I can. The girl opens the door wider and I step inside. She spots the Pixies but doesn’t say anything.
She’s half human and half shifter. The entire time when I lived with my aunt and uncle I never met one before. Half breeds are rare, and they normally stay away from shifters.
“Yes, she was gone in the morning when I woke up. The police have already been here asking questions,” she says, sounding annoyed. I have no idea what kind of relationship she has with her mother.
“I work closely with the Duke of Rivenna, and I was wondering if you remember your mother acting strangely before she went to work that evening?” I ask, trying not to snoop around too much. The house is cluttered with cheap furniture and it stinks of mould. Catherine’s daughter looks like a typical human, but she has unusual red hair and intense green yes. I don’t sense any magic and suspect her father was a shifter, not a mage.
She asks me to sit down on the leather sofa, ignoring my Pixies who are flying around. There are several empty cups of tea scattered around the table. She must have had more than a dozen visitors here today.
“No, she was a little on edge before she went out, but that’s just mum. I’m really worried about her you see,” she tells me, moving her finger around a lock of her hair. “Would you like something to drink? I have herbal tea. I heard Pixies like biscuits.”
I’m shocked she doesn’t find Lenin and Jetli annoying.
“Err … sure, thank you” I say, and the Pixies are already excited they’re going to get food again. Once Camila vanishes into the kitchen I get up and look around, not even knowing what the hell I’m looking for. The maid vanished for a reason, and there’s no magic in her house. It’s like someone has already been here and wiped the whole space.
There’s an old fireplace in the middle of the room and framed photographs. Lenin and Jetli are already snooping around.
“No magic, nothing. She’s a half breed, but the traces of her mother’s scent should still be here, right,” Lenin points out while Jetli sprinkles her pixie dust around.
I want to agree, but then I lean over and see pictures of who must be Catherine with some other man. It takes me more than a moment to figure out I know the shifter standing next to her. It’s the guard from the castle, the same guard I saw with the wild shifters in the Decaying Mountains during the final task.
No, I tell myself, this is impossible. I can’t be wrong, because I stood very close to that guard and I remember him from the mountains, right after I disabled Sebastian. Is he related to Catherine in some way?
“What are you doing?” the voice of Camila startles me and I jump, the Pixies hide behind me and I turn around smiling.
“Nothing, just looking at your mother’s photographs. There’s a man in the picture, do you mind me asking? Is he related to you in any way?” I ask, sensing tension in the room. My pulse starts speeding away and my blood pressure rises for some reason.
“Yes, he’s my uncle, he worked in the castle, but then hung himself in the basement two weeks ago,” she explains and then bursts into tears. I take a deep breath, thinking there’s definitely something off about this whole family.
Chapter 6
Heat waves
“That guard didn’t hang himself, he was with the wild shifters in the mountains during the final task. I saw him with my own eyes,” I say to Lenin and Jetli when we’re walking away from Anna’s house. I have a theory about the night when Rosanna died, but I have no idea how to connect the dead guard to me. We’ve never met, otherwise I would’ve remembered him.
Anna’s daughter helped me more than she realised. The maid and her brother must have worked together. That night when Jorgen was captured, the leader of the wild shifters had a lot of information that could’ve only come from someone within the castle.
“That family is filled with secrets; the girl knew nothing about magic. She was telling the truth, Jetli could sense it,” Lenin says and I bite my lip, wondering if I’ll be able to figure out exactly what happened anytime soon. The bottom line is, I’m believing more and more I made a huge mistake not rescuing Jorgen, because now all the small details point to someone else. I don’t know how this can even be possible, because my visions have never mislead me before. Until now…
For eleven years, I’ve been isolating myself from the magical community. I just didn’t have a reason to shift, even in front of Jared. The mage who targeted my family vanished, convinced I was dead, and I don’t have any other enemies. I attracted too much attention during the contest and let a lot of skeletons fall out of the closet. Many mages believed Wyverns were gone forever.
I pick up the pace, walking through the human neighbourhood, trying to remain positive, focusing on the case. If it wasn’t for Jorgen, I’d still be stuck with my aunt and uncle, almost certainly working for Emilia for the rest of my life. It’s not like I didn’t enjoy it, but Richard and Beatrice never treated me well. Lenin thinks the maid was used by her brother and she ran away from him, because she was too afraid someone would figure out what she was doing. There’s several possibilities and some of it might be true, but I need to speak to Jorgen first and let him know what I found out.
“We have to get back to Emilia. We haven’t had a chance to talk and I need to discreetly ask her about the potion someone left in my room the other day. She might remember who bought it,” I say, determined to solve Rosanna’s murder myself.
The Pixies agree and half an hour later we swing by the shop that’s now completely packed. I feel bad, because I should be helping her, but Jorgen’s probably expecting me in the castle. I can’t miss a meeting with him, especially now when Cassandra’s hanging over his shoulder–breathing his air. Customers are forced to queue outside and Marianna looks stressed. Emilia’s talking to bunch of middle-aged shifters by her collection of magical soaps. She waves to me when she sees me. I sign that I have to go back to the castle, and she whispers that she’s sorry.
“Haven’t you heard? There’s a warlock in town? Apparently, he was seen in the old mill,” I overhear one of the female shifters speaking to the other, waiting behind the older mage couple. A cold shiver moves down my spine. I’ve never met a warlock. They’re extremely powerful beings who enjoy tricking humans and shifters, but if there’s one in town then that’s definitely a bad sign. There are other witches in the city apart from Emilia, but she’s by far the most skilled one out here. A few of them don’t practise magic at all, and the others use their abilities just to convince humans they can read their future.
There have been stories about warlocks in the past–they used to steal dragon venom from dead shifters, and practised black magic spells. Most of them live in solitude, away from mages or shifters. Apparently, they hate Wyvern shifters too.
I stop and join someone else in the queue, wanting to find out a bit more about the warlock in Rivenna.
“A warlock? A real warlock? This can’t be right,” replies the other female. I recognise them both. One is a personal assistant to general Pollock and the other works in the printing company in town.
“Carol from the other department swore she saw an old guy entering the mill. And Johnny in the old Tavern overheard him talking about stopping there for several weeks. Apparently, he’s traveling north towards the mountains,” adds Je
nny.
I nudge my Pixies to start moving, knowing most of what they say is gossip, and I can’t verify this information at all. Jenny likes spreading unbelievable stories and I don’t want to waste any more time hanging around in the city.
At this point, I’m not entirely shocked to hear there might be a warlock in the city. Some of them used to hunt Wyverns for our magic–I need to be extra cautious and stay away from the old mill. Jared told me he was nearly killed by a warlock once.
“Astri, maybe it’s that warlock who sent the potion to you. They hate Wyverns, I overheard the guards talking about it yesterday,” Lenin says, and I’m surprised he didn’t say anything about this earlier. Normally, my Pixies like bragging about everything that’s happening within the castle. Jetli purses her lips and she certainly doesn’t look happy her brother hid that kind of important detail from her either.
“I highly doubt some random Warlock would’ve just showed up in Rivenna to kill me. They stay away from magical communities,” I say, rubbing my hand across my face. The visit to the maid’s house took longer than I suspected.
Now it’s late afternoon and I still have to train this evening.
“Astri, there you are. I’ve been waiting for you,” Lucas says, abruptly appearing next to me as soon as I cross the gate leading to the castle.
Buzzing electricity reminds me about my gaff from earlier. I can’t believe Lucas was waiting for me. We have to discuss what I found out, but now I wish I had more time to prepare for this moment. Luckily for me, Lenin and Jetli disappeared somewhere.
“I was just heading over to my chamber,” I mumble, noticing a few females who work in the office with Thayer are staring at us, well not at me … they stare at Lucas. He smiles brightly and my stomach churns with desire.
“I was actually just heading upstairs, hoping to see him. My meeting with Governor Pollock went well,” he says. “We definitely should go out to dinner sometime. You know, just you and me?”
I nearly fall over, stumbling over my own two feet. Shock ripples through me, quickly following waves of heat and even more desire. Yep, this is happening, and it sounds like Lucas remembered what I said earlier, right outside Emilia’s shop. Holy shit!
“A dinner … hmm … yes, I mean I have to think about it,” I blurt out, sounding like an undecided fool. I mentally slap myself. What the hell’s wrong with me? What a moron. We head inside the castle and Lucas’ tantalising breath dances across my cheek. His cologne’s smooth and masculine, filling me with fiery lust down to my core. Any female who works in the castle’s staring at Lucas now, shooting me hard, jealousy vibes. Sorry ladies…
“So did you manage to find out anything from Pollock?” I ask, wanting to change the subject, maybe Lucas will forget I asked him out so bluntly earlier on. He’s been questioning people all day.
“The forensic mage mentioned Rosanna was stabbed with an iron knife. Someone left the other knife on her bed to mislead us. As far as I know, that kind of weapon’s rare and only produced in the Asian World,” he explains, once we head over to the dining room instead. My stomach’s churning this time around with hunger, and I need to start fueling my body with energy.
“Iron knife, are you sure?”
“Pretty much, the entry wound was unique and the mage had never seen anything like it. The killer’s most likely not from around here. I have a feeling that whoever it is might still be hanging around the city. Maybe Rosanna wasn’t meant to die that night, and the killer made a mistake,” he points outs, shoving a giant piece of steak into his mouth. The image of me kissing him flashes in front of my eyes, and I quickly try to compose myself. Lucas is way too good looking and I’m having trouble concentrating.
“You know earlier on I didn’t mean … you should know that I don’t normally–”
“It’s all right, Astri. I get it. To be honest, I’m one of your biggest fans and would love to take you out on a date,” he says, giving me another smile. He’s so relaxed about it, and he doesn’t make me feel like a complete fool.
Lucas keeps triggering all sorts of sensations inside my body. Lust leaps down into my bloodstream, showering me with hot flushes. Okay, so I never kissed a guy, but I can’t keep running away from it.
“I’m sorry to interrupt your plans for later guys, but I would like to borrow Astri if you don’t mind, Lucas?” the familiar voice startles me out of nowhere yet again. It’s Jorgen and I bet he heard what Lucas said. This can’t get any worse. I really need to start paying more attention to my surroundings. My hormones are messing around with my head. Dammit.
Lucas laughs and Jorgen looks irritated. Small tingles run down my back knowing there’s now two mages available standing next to me. Jorgen’s magic is absent and it starts to bother me. Jorgen should be taking care of Cassandra. I’m furious I had to wait two weeks for him to leave his chamber, and now that she’s here he seems to be everywhere.
“Of course, my lord, but don’t keep her too long, because I really want to take her out,” Lucas says and I think I’ll faint at any second. Jorgen tightens his jaw and glares at Lucas like he wants to squash him. I try to keep on breathing, telling myself this is completely normal.
Once everyone senses the fact I might be going through heat, things could get ugly.
“Let’s walk, Astri,” Jorgen says and I get up slowly and walk with the duke towards the courtyard. The same heat I felt earlier when I was with Lucas comes back, but tripling now and crawling around my body like an army of insects. Small drops of sweat appear on my brow. We walk in silence, because I’m too afraid to say anything. These wacky hormones are insane.
I don’t even realise when we enter the back entrance to the castle and head upstairs. Jorgen shouldn’t have any problem with me wanting to have a life outside my duties.
Soon we’re are on the floor where Thayer moved me to my new chamber, and Jorgen opens the door to his own quarters, nudging me to get inside.
“My lor … I mean Jorgen, what are we doing in here?” I ask, wondering why he’s leading me to his chamber.
I’m a little apprehensive being seen alone with him, but I guess he wants to discuss something important. Jorgen’s room is at least three times bigger than mine. There’s a large, open plan living area with cozy sofas and behind the wall, must be where his bedroom is.
Jetli and Lenin would’ve appreciated the space. There are colourful rugs spread on the floor.
“Please, have a seat. Would you like a drink, Astri?” he asks, and I nod, smoothing my damp palms over my trousers. I try to ease off the tension in my thighs and shoulders. Right now, I wish Lenin and Jetli hadn’t vanished.
Jorgen heads over to a glass table filled with all sorts of colourful drinks and pours himself something looking like whiskey. Then he situates himself on the sofa next to me. Heat travels down my neck, causing my heart to vibrate. “There’s something I need to talk to you about. After what happened in the mountains with the wild shifters there isn’t anyone else who I fully trust.”
Burning guilt clogs my throat, replacing my feelings of desire. I rapidly remember the conversation between the guards after my return from the celebration. It’s my fault Jorgen’s being haunted by his lost beast. It’s a secret he can’t share with anyone but me. I should’ve stopped the ritual and rescued him and none of this would be happening right now.
“I’m listening, I was actually going to talk to you too. It’s about the recent murder,” I tell him, still thinking about the guard from the forest and the maid who disappeared straight after Rosanna was found murdered in her chamber.
“There’s been a rumour that a Warlock arrived in Rivenna a few days ago,” he says and takes a sip of his drink. I widen my eyes slightly, shocked he knows about it already.
“Yes, I heard it earlier, two women were talking about it in Emilia’s shop,” I say.
Jorgen takes another generous gulp of his drink and I watch as he swallows it. My stomach contracts and I cross my legs, somehow trying to
deal with the steady contractions between my legs. Wow, this is new, and I’m so embarrassed my instincts are slowly turning me into a female shifter in heat. Jorgen’s destined to be with Cassandra. His people would never accept me as his mate or a partner. Get it together, Astri.
“I want you to go with me and pay a visit to that Warlock. I’ve read their magic is extraordinary and it’s possible he’ll know of a way to get my dragon back. The “cutting of the mage” must be reversible, but no one knows how. I’m only telling you about this because you’re the only one who knows of my secret,” he explains, taking my hand and I want to pull it away. I hate myself for being so weak around him. Lucas is single, and the only one worth my attention.
His eyes are filled with hope and I can’t refuse to help him. I’m the reason he’s only a shadow of himself–that he’s vulnerable now more than he’s ever been.
“I’m bound with the duty as your assistant,” I mutter and he smiles. There’s something in his eyes triggering more emotions inside me, spreading smouldering heat into my blood cells.
“No, this isn’t your duty. You saved me and you earned the right to be my assistant. No one can recognise me, and we need to do something about my appearance. We need a perfect plan,” he says and I automatically think about Jetli and her Pixie dust.
Chapter 7
Hearts and flowers.
“You don’t have to worry about your appearance. Jetli’s magic is limited, but she’s extremely skilled. She changed me into someone else when I participated in the entry task, remember?” I ask, and Jorgen nods smiling, secretly remembering how everyone thought I was a male shifter.
“Yes, you were very convincing as a man,” he admits. “And I really need to thank you. I appreciate everything you’ve done for me. The leader of the wild shifter’s broke me and for days I thought my life was over. The pain was unbearable and I was embarrassed, hiding away from everyone who cared about me. There must be a way to reverse that terrible spell.”