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He smirked and his eyes glinted. “My mate always has been the self-righteous type. I assume she was training you to follow in her footsteps?”
I had no idea how to answer that.
He shook his head. “There is no reason to have royal guard here in this wasteland. She should never have fled here. And when I have that book, all of her sacrifices will be in vain.”
“I have no idea what you’re talking about,” I said. “She told me the book was evil. And that you were her mate.”
“Yes, I am,” he said. “Mating bonds can be cruel sometimes. But they did allow me to track her after she left me.”
“I get the feeling you deserved being left,” I said.
“You’ll learn soon enough, young fae,” he said. “The pull to faerie is strong. I knew she’d come back eventually. And unlike you, I could wait an eternity for her.”
“You won’t get the book.” I gripped my towel tighter, my hands in fists. If I attacked him first, would I stand a chance? Could I defeat him? Should I call to my mates and ask for help? A million thoughts were buzzing through my mind. The only thing I was certain of, was that I wasn’t going to give him the book. He was clearly unbalanced and I believed Professor Halifax’s warnings despite her attempts to kill me.
“Do you know the power you’d have if you went home?” He reached for me and brushed his fingers across my cheek.
I backed up until I hit the wall. I wanted to smack his hand away but I wanted to keep the towel over me more. “Don’t touch me.”
He lowered his hand. “Your powers will always be weak here. Bound by mortal rules and the physics of this world. You’ll grow old, and one day, you’ll die.
“But in Faerie, your magic would awaken. Fully unbound, limitless, and eternal. You’ll age so slowly that one day, you’ll wish for death to claim you. Give in. Hand me the book, and I’ll take you home.”
“It’s not my home,” I said.
He growled and moved so fast I screamed. His arms were on either side of my head, caging me in against the wall. His chest was pressed up against me and I could feel the heat of his skin on mine.
His eyes flashed with a terrifying sliver glint and he bared his sharp teeth. “I’m done with your games, little girl. I need that book.”
My lower lip trembled and I forced myself to glare at him. “Then you’ll have to kill me. I can’t get it for you. My mates locked it up, away from me, even. Go ahead. Kill me. See if they’ll be willing to help you once I’m dead.”
He groaned in frustration and then slapped me, sending a stinging pain across my cheek.
I couldn’t help but grin up at him. “Checkmate.”
“You think you won?” he asked.
“You can take your anger out on me or my mates, but you’ll never get the book,” I said.
“Then I’ll start picking off students one at a time until it’s just the five of you,” he said. “You have one week to give me the book.”
He lifted his hand and closed his fingers into a fist, then opened them. He was holding a small glass vial filled with something that was as black as night. “When you’re ready to give me the book, shatter the vial and I’ll come. Make sure you’re alone. And you know the rules. Tell anyone, and I’ll consider your time up. This time, I won’t leave any blood in your friends when I hurt them. They won’t be waking back up.”
He passed the vial into my hand and I closed my fingers around it.
Black smoke wrapped around him in tendrils until it completely encircled him and he vanished. I waited a few heartbeats, just to make sure he was gone, then I fell to my knees.
I had no doubt he’d make good on his threat, which meant, I was out of time. There had to be something I could do to catch him and to make sure he didn’t get the book. What could I do in the next week to make this stop?
