Page 58 of Tethered Fates

Then do it a second time.

Then a third time, for good measure.

When I pull back the mage’s face, blood leaks from his crushed nose and runs over his cut-up lips. His eyes are bright with pain, dazed with confusion.

“Mickey,” Lucero scoffs, moving around to stare down his nose at the man. “Long time no see.”

“You know this piece of filth?” I ask conversationally, squeezing Mickey’s neck when he begins to whimper.

“He once came after Golden. I should’ve killed him then.” Luc’s palm whips out to slap over Mickey’s mouth and nose to cut off his breathing.

Mickey struggles, weakly slapping out at us.

“Here’s the deal, Mickey,” I say with a smile, “you’re going to tell us where Emma and Summer are. Then, and only then, you get to have a breath. Got it?”

Mickey digs his short, dirty nails into Luc’s hand. Not that his scratching Luc causes any real damage. The thin cuts knit back together instantly.

“Nod your head, Mickey, c’mon now,” I say as if he’s a misbehaving child in need of reprimanding.

Mickey flops his head up and down, and after a beat, Luc pulls away. The mage sucks in sharp breaths.

“Up-upstairs!” Mickey wheezes, a mess of spit, snot and blood. “Emma is upstairs! I’m supposed to be looking after her.”

“Now that wasn’t so hard, was it?” I say, patting his wet cheek. “C’mon, then.”

I haul Mickey out of the kitchen by the back of his collar, with him shambling as we go. Luc takes up the rear.

“Emma is going to know we’re coming now,” Luc comments as we climb the wooden stairs.

“Good.”

We make our way across the landing, Mickey leading us to a white door. The stink of rot cloying. I’m impatient to get to Emma, but Luc forces us to check our surroundings. So as much as it makes my teeth grind when he grabs my shoulder to check the three other rooms, then presses his ear to the door we’re aiming for, I allow it.

“I should apologise for how often I laughed at you for being so pathetic about your soulmates,” I tell him, not even bothering to be quiet.

“So I’m no longer pathetic?”

“You are,” I reply with a smirk. “I’m just also pathetic.”

Luc snorts, then kicks the door down to find a woman sitting upright in bed. She’s rail thin, though far from the skeletal figure she was when we last met. Dark hair, with a shock of white, hangs limp from her pale skull. A tome opened in front of her, and her wrist cut, with a bleeding ball hovering above her open palm.

“Emma.” I shove a whimpering Mickey ahead. “You don’t look like the corpse we met only a week ago. I guess Summer really did get you healed up.”

Emma doesn’t flinch. Her eyes are sunken but hard, and her thin lips are pulled into a mocking parody of a grin. “So you’ve found the broken mage, well done.” She cocks her head, limp strands of hair falling into the loose white shirt she’s wearing. “What do you want?”

“I want you to die.”

The floating ball of blood in Emma’s hand wobbles. “You aren’t going to kill me.”

Mickey collapses to his knees, and Luc fists his hair to keep him in place.

“But killing you sounds so much fun,” I taunt, flashing my fangs. “Why would I spare you?”

Emma’s hand twitches, the only tell that she isn’t as confident as she appears. “Because not only do I know where Summer is. I know what she’s planning.”

“You’re giving up your partner easily.” My heart clenches that I’m one step closer to saving Teagan and claiming him, but I hide my savage need behind a smug laugh. “Are you serious?”

Luc snorts. “Tired of Summer holding your chain, Emma?”