Barrier

AURELIA

“I’m at peace. My kingdom is at peace. I don’t see any problems,” the king declared, his voice dripping with arrogance.

Sure, he was powerful and had a bunch of ruthless followers. But he was clueless about the queen, who was part fae and could control his men with just her mind.

She had the power to make every warrior turn against their king. The only hitch: immortality.

Just one little snag in the fae’s plan. But they weren’t about to let that stop them. Aurelia was the missing piece. She was the key to his downfall, no doubt about it.

It was unexpected that he’d bring his queen to the boundary, but it didn’t matter.

“Arrogant kings are blind ones. You think you see everything, but your kingdom isn’t perfect,” Cathan said, a sly smile playing on his lips as his gaze flicked to the queen.

“And your mate is quite a looker.” A protective growl rumbled from the Alpha King, a sound he couldn’t hold back. Cathan just scoffed and raised an eyebrow at their intertwined hands.

Aurelia knew what Cathan wanted. She always did. It was revenge. Pure and simple. Against one man.

His interest in her was only because she was the king’s mate. He wanted to strip his rival of everything, including her. She’d be a fool to think his advances were real.

She’d also be a fool to think the Alpha King would treat her with any respect. That’s why his recent behavior was making her suspicious.

She wasn’t sure what Ella’s next move would be, but she trusted her. And her father.

Her father hadn’t been around for most of her life, but in this chaotic time, no one else would help her.

~“We don’t get many visitors in the underworld, Cirillo,” Hades announced.~

~“I know. I’m here because of your other visitor. The deal you made with him. I want you to reverse it,” Cirillo said, his voice steady.~

~“Ah, the deal you helped him make. You see, I’m a man of my word. I don’t reverse deals. I make new ones.~

~“You can make one. If you have something valuable to trade,” he replied, a cunning smirk on his face.~

~“I could give you all the riches, gold and—”~

~“Gold?!” Hades burst out laughing, his laughter echoing through the abyss.~

~“No, no, no. Not gold, you fool. Gold means nothing to me. I don’t trade for materialistic things. The Alpha King traded me his soul, as you know. A king’s soul, now that’s valuable.”~

~“I can give you a queen’s soul,” Cirillo suggested, his mind drifting to his daughter.~

~A grin spread across Hades’ face. It was rare, but there was no denying he’d had his eye on the queen for a while.~

~After all, the plans for her were made by powers greater than all of them. Just like the plans for the Alpha King.~

~“How will you get such a thing to trade to me, hmm? The Alpha King agreed. He wanted power, and giving up his soul gave him that, even without immortality.~

~“The queen must give it herself. The king must give up his immortality. Only then can you have what you want. If it’s done, I’ll make the king mortal for the queen’s soul.”~

Cirillo wouldn’t protect a girl he didn’t know.

To him, she wasn’t his daughter. She was tainted with wolf blood. He hated that a wolf was mated to him. That was a rare occurrence among werewolves.

Actually, it never happened.

Only he would be unlucky enough to get a wolf mate, one he couldn’t resist sleeping with and having a child with.

He didn’t think much of that pup though, because everyone knew hybrids didn’t survive infancy.

News of Aurelia’s arrival in the fae kingdom reached him immediately. Ellathoria knew who her father was, and what she was. Cirillo was just a pawn in a much bigger plan, a plan for Aurelia and her future.

When he saw his daughter, he noticed the resemblance in their features, but she was a stranger. Half wolf. And mated to the enemy, the Alpha King.

He couldn’t ignore that she was a threat, but Ella had told him that she had allied with Cathan. That didn’t last, and then a new alliance was formed and he revealed himself.

As much as he saw her as the enemy, it was all part of Ellathoria’s plan. He had made the deal with Hades after his daughter’s first arrival in the kingdom, and Ella was determined to see it through.

She was the mastermind. And she was going to bring down the wolves once and for all, regardless of the hybrid’s safety.

“I wanted to talk about peace, not make you angry,” Ella said, shooting Cathan a glare. He was clearly messing up her plans.

Aurelia tried to calm the king as subtly as she could, to balance him out. Just the touch of her skin on his was enough to relax them both, even though he would kill her if he knew the truth.

How could she feel relaxed and... safe with a man who would want her dead if he knew she was fae? It was only a matter of time before he found out.

“I’m sorry, Ella, but that’s not my plan,” Cathan said, a sly smirk on his face before something happened.

Aurelia didn’t feel it, but they all did. The barrier was breached. The guard was down.

A hand gripped her wrist, suddenly and tightly. And then the barrier spell was back up. With Aurelia on the fae side. And Cathan with the king’s mate.

Aurelia tried to look back, but Cathan had teleported them into his sanctum. She backed away from him immediately, her eyes wide and her heart aching from being away from her mate.

She held her arms out in front of her defensively, watching the silver-haired fae warily.

“Aurelia—”

“What the hell did you just do?! Why would you do that?! You just restarted the war without a plan!” she yelled, her voice filled with anger.

“Aurelia—”

“Do you even know what kind of man the king is? He’ll rip your kingdom to shreds. Ellathoria had a strategy and you just blew it to pieces!”

“Aurelia!” he roared, one hand on her shoulder, the other cradling her cheek. “Take it easy. He won’t make a move while you’re here with me.”

“That’s your big plan?” she shot back, her voice dripping with disbelief. “You think he gives a damn about me? That he’d surrender for me? That’s your grand scheme?”

“You’re his mate, Aurelia, his queen. He can feel what you’re feeling.”

That got her attention. All of it. He could feel what she felt. And Cathan was hell-bent on revenge.

“Don’t look at me like that. We’re friends, remember? Our alliance might have been shaky, but I don’t want to hurt you. It’s just a simple spell.”

She narrowed her eyes and shrugged off his hand from her shoulder.

“A spell?”

“Aurelia, I care about you, more than Ella does, even though I know you two have formed a little alliance. Her peace plan isn’t right for our people, our kind. And she doesn’t care about you.”

“You don’t care about me.”

“You’re wrong. That’s why Alastair will come for you.” Alastair? She’d hardly ever heard the king’s first name. She’d heard it once and then promptly forgotten it.

The name Alastair almost made him sound like a regular guy, not the cold-hearted king she knew him to be.

“He saw the way I looked at you. He’s a possessive man. He sees you as his. You belong to him. And I took you from him.”

“So I’m just some object to be passed around,” she muttered bitterly.

“You’re more than an object,” he said, striding toward her and lifting her chin with his fingertips. “I know that. You know that. But he doesn’t. And that’s why I have the upper hand.”

“I think you’re overestimating how much he cares,” she murmured. “The king doesn’t give a damn about anything. ‘Queen’ means nothing; everyone in the kingdom knows that. He won’t risk his kingdom for me.”

“We’ll see,” Cathan replied, a sly smirk playing on his lips.

“The spell?”

“It makes you feel like you’re actually being tortured without causing any physical harm. We can’t fake the feeling of intense physical pain. You have to actually experience it.”

“That sounds delightful,” she retorted sarcastically, then sighed. They were once allies. Adalric had warned her about an ally, about Cathan. And now they were in this mess together.

No one could get into Cathan’s sanctum, where Ellathoria suspected her little ally was being held captive.

She didn’t know if he would actually harm the young fae wolf, but she wouldn’t put it past him if it meant getting his revenge.

The king and his army were trying to lay siege to the fae kingdom, but they couldn’t get past the barrier, luckily for Ellathoria.

She had a plan in motion that Cathan had disrupted. She had prepared to drop the barrier for just a second to carry out the next step, but Cathan had taken control.

“What do we do now? Is he going to keep the girl in there forever? Is he going to hurt her? We can’t afford to lose her alliance,” Cirillo said anxiously, pacing in the caves.

“He wouldn’t hurt Aurelia. He’s in love with her,” Ella replied.

Cirillo whipped his head toward her, his eyes wide with shock. His daughter was the object of affection for two of the most dangerous men alive.

“The way he looks at her... It started as revenge on the king, because she belongs to the king, but now... he loves her.

“Of course, that doesn’t help us at all, but whatever his plan is, he won’t succeed. We’ll just have to delay ours.”

“How can you be so calm?!” Cirillo exclaimed, flabbergasted.

“The war has officially started again and the king will be planning his next move. We’ll have to adapt, but we’ll come out on top. Trust me.”