The Wish Granter (Ravenspire #2)(55)

The beast collided with her, sending them both tumbling to the floor. It was like being hit with a boulder. Her chest ached in sharp bursts. She couldn’t breathe. And terror was a fire blazing through her, obliterating everything in its path.

The beast’s talons sank into her arms as it peeled back its lips in a vicious snarl.

Sebastian struck the beast with a cudgel, and its thick fur rippled as it shuddered, but it didn’t take its eyes off Ari. Saliva dripped onto her face, and she struggled for the air to speak.

“Nach!” Sebastian yelled, and the creature shook its head and whined, though it kept Ari pinned.

Sebastian grabbed the beast around its neck. “I said nach.”

The creature shivered and sank onto its haunches, and Sebastian tore it off Ari and sent it scuttling into the buffet table. The other beast was cowering beneath Sebastian’s command in the center of the room.

Teague walked into the ballroom, clapping his hands slowly as he carefully stepped over bodies and puddles of blood. “Bas,” he said, and the two monsters shuddered, their eyes rolling back in their heads and their mouths foaming as they fell to the ground, twitching until they lay still.

“I find it best to destroy a weapon that proves itself unpredictable,” he said in his cold, elegant voice.

Teague was here. He’d come for Thad’s soul, and Ari had to stop him. The alternative was unthinkable.

She gulped for air, reached for Sebastian, and forced a single word past her lips. “Help.”

He crouched beside her, his cudgel raised as he kept his eyes on the closest beast, and took her hand. He remained steady as a rock while she slowly pulled herself to a sitting position.

“Hmm,” Teague said as he studied Sebastian. “There’s something familiar about you.” He tapped his ivory pipe against his lips. “Not nobility. Not carrying a weapon like that. You remind me of an employee of mine—Jacob Vaughn.”

“He’s my father.” Sebastian’s voice reminded Ari of the bleakness of a frozen, snow-covered lake. Any emotion was buried so deep, it was impossible to find.

“Then you must be Sebastian, as I remember ordering the death of Jacob’s other son for failing to follow orders. Interesting to find you rubbing shoulders with royalty at a ball.”

Sebastian gave a one-shouldered shrug and let go of Ari. “I do what I’m paid to do.”

He was lying. He’d done so much more than what he’d been paid to do, but if he needed Teague to believe he was simply her employee, Ari wasn’t going to argue.

Teague smiled. “Like father, like son.”

Sebastian’s body tensed, but he remained silent.

Movement caught Ari’s eye, and she turned to see her brother slowly climbing out from behind a table that had flipped to its side during the struggle. There was blood pouring from a wound in his head, and he could barely keep his balance, but he was still alive, and Ari’s throat thickened with tears as she looked at him.

Teague turned to face Thad and pocketed his pipe. Withdrawing two arrows from an inner coat pocket, he held them up. Candlelight reflected dully against the arrows’ metal surface.

Iron.

“Tsk, tsk, it seems our dear king has been injured.” He glanced at Ari, who was still trying to breathe past the pain. “As has our resourceful princess. Such a shame, though I did warn you to leave me alone. Imagine my surprise when a pair of creatures much like the two I just destroyed were sent to attack me as I traveled to one of my warehouses this afternoon.” He looked back at Thad, his eyes glowing with malice. “When they failed to kill me, a man sent two arrows into my back. Obviously, he also failed to kill me. It didn’t take much of an interrogation to learn he was working for you. You really should hire people with higher pain tolerance.”

Ari’s heart sank. Ajax had failed, and Ari still didn’t have a viable backup plan.

She had no way to save Thad.

Teague tossed the arrows to the floor and stepped over them. His tone was cut glass. “A lesser fae would’ve died, but you aren’t dealing with a lesser fae. You’re dealing with Alistair Teague.”

The walls shook, candlelight flickering as his voice rose. “I am ancient. I have survived battles in wars long lost to history. I have survived assassination attempts from those much more learned in fae lore than you.” He closed in on Thad. “I have survived betrayal, exile, and the miserable pretense of obeying human law, and you can be sure I will survive you.”

He reached into another pocket and withdrew a scroll of parchment and a vial that glittered as if it were made from diamonds. “Do you know what this is?”

He held up the parchment, and Thad nodded miserably.

The contract. Ari lurched to her feet. Sebastian stood as well, though he didn’t touch her. Maybe she could grab it. Burn it. Chew it up and swallow it if she had to.

Teague unrolled it with a flick of his wrist. “It’s the contract you signed. The one where you gave me your soul and the right to run my business in your kingdom without your interference.”

Ari took a step forward, wincing in pain.

Teague’s voice became a whiplash of cold fury. “I warned you not to try to break the terms of our bargain.” He raised the parchment and read from the bottom of the page. “It says here that if the undersigned, which is you, attempts to harm me, renegotiate terms, or break your vow in any way, the debt you owe comes due.” He looked up and met Thad’s desperate gaze. “Immediately.”