Magic Kingdom (Dragon Born Alexandria Book 3) (2 page)

“So you’re suggesting that you beat me until I’m nearly dead in the hopes that it lets me access this magic?”

“No.” His voice dropped to a chilled whisper. “I hurt you too many times before, back when I didn’t have control over my body, when the Convictionites were controlling me. Never again.”

“That time is over,” she reminded him.

The Convictionites had infused Logan with magic as a baby, turning him into their soldier against the supernaturals. Unfortunately for them, he’d turned out to have a mind of his own and left them to lead his own life, but since they had engineered him, they knew all the right buttons to push. A few months ago, they’d tapped into his ‘magic frequency’, as Alex’s pixie friend Daisy had called it, and they had used that to drive him like a remote-controlled car. Alex and Logan had shifted his magic frequency by bonding in an old Blood Magic ritual. That meant Logan was now her mate, bonded in blood and magic, and the Convictionites could no longer control him.

Alex leaned over and kissed him softly. “I’m glad we bonded,” she whispered against his lips.

He arched a wicked eyebrow at her.

“I’m serious, Logan.”

“So am I,” he said, sitting up. “We’re in this together, Alex. We’ll figure out your magic. But right now, you need to eat.” He pulled her up to face him. “Magic requires energy. Setting a barn on fire twenty times requires
a lot
of energy.”

“So does fighting a shady assassin.”

“I’m fully prepared to take responsibility for that. And for what happened afterward,” he added with a smirk.

She snorted. “How magnanimous of you.”

Logan dipped his head, his smirk never fading. “Of course.”

He flipped open the top of the wicker picnic basket. Beneath the lid, a neat arrangement of plates, silverware, and two thermos bottles were buckled over a black cloth backdrop. Inside the basket lay an assortment of breads, fruits, and cheeses. Alex tore the end off a baguette and spread a generous helping of garlic butter over it. The only thing that would make this day better was chocolate.

As though he’d read her thoughts, Logan pulled a small box of chocolate out of the basket. “Here. I know how you like to eat your dessert before your dinner.”

“Or instead of my dinner,” she replied, abandoning the bread to pick up the box of chocolate balls. They were nearly as dark as Logan’s clothing. Perfect.

She’d managed to eat only two of them before her phone rang. Nowadays, it rarely rang with good news.

“Hello, Gaelyn,” she answered after glancing at the screen.

Gaelyn, the world’s oldest immortal and the supernatural community’s biggest philanthropist, was still back in Zurich, hiding behind his high walls and massive security force. Though he was millennia old, his magic had diminished over the years. He had a lot of money and almost no power to protect himself, so it was good that he hadn’t come to the Magic Council summit in Munich. He was safer where he was.

“Alexandria,” he said, his voice as calm as a sleeping lake. “How have you been? Are you enjoying the sights of Munich?”

Truth be told, she’d been too busy hunting monsters and cleaning up supernatural messes to do much sightseeing around the city. This was the first day she’d taken a trip that wasn’t initiated by an emergency call.

“We’re enjoying today,” Alex told Gaelyn. “For the first time in a long while, it’s been quiet.”

“The calm before the storm.”

“No doubt,” Alex said. She didn’t think he meant to be all doom-and-gloom, but he certainly wasn’t in the habit of dressing things up to make them pretty.

“How is your new partnership with the Magic Council coming along?”

“So far, it’s been no different than when I was working for you. I’ve killed a lot of monsters and slapped some misbehaving supernaturals on the wrist.”

“The Convictionites will strike.”

That’s why the Magic Council had hired her and Logan and sent them to Munich. Starting tomorrow, all of the Council members—the dozens of mages, fairies, vampires, and otherworldly that ruled the four pillars of supernatural society—were meeting in the city to discuss their common problems. One of the Council’s spies had learned the Convictionites would be making a move during this time. That vague warning was all the spy had managed to get out before he died.

“Yes, the Convictionites will strike,” she agreed. “They never disappoint.”

“Alexandria, I have complete confidence in your abilities,” said Gaelyn. “I did not call, however, to discuss the Convictionites. I called because I am concerned for your wellbeing. Tell me about your nightmares.”

Alex didn’t respond. What could she respond to that? How did he even know about her nightmares?

“Have the nightmares gotten any better since you bonded with Logan?”

“How do you know about that?” she asked.

“I was the one who gave Daisy the idea.”

Wow. It appeared his mind wasn’t nearly as far gone as she’d thought.

“I sensed you were hesitant to talk about the changes in your mind and magic with me,” he continued. “So I talked to your friend Daisy. I figured you would be more willing to talk to her than to me about it. I hope the bonding helped to calm your mind.”

“Well…”

“You don’t need to be afraid to talk to me, Alexandria. I am just looking out for you. I want to make sure you are all right.”

“Ok.”

“So have the nightmares gone away?”

“I’m fine,” she lied.

Gaelyn sighed. “Logan, your mate does not appear to be in a sharing mood. Please make sure she is all right.”

Logan leaned in to speak into her phone. “Sure thing.”

“Thank you,” replied Gaelyn. “Now I must go. I have an important meeting in a few minutes. Alexandria, take care of yourself.”

Logan watched her closely as she tucked her phone into her jacket. “The nightmares haven’t gone away, have they?”

“No.”

“You are turning and talking in your sleep.”

“What do I say?” she asked.

“You don’t sound like yourself. You’re threatening cruel and horrible deaths while laughing maniacally.”

An icy shiver cut down her neck. “The nightmares went away for a while. And then they came back. They are different now. More horrible. Before our bonding, I had dreams of drinking blood and killing vampires in a fit of violence. Now, I dream of burning people to ashes, of killing them with powerful magic.” She looked down at her hands. “People say the Dragon Born are monsters. What if they’re right? What if I am a monster?”

“They are just dreams, Alex. It’s your mind torturing you again. You used powerful magic to kill dangerous people, and now you’re afraid you are a monster.” He took her hands. “But you’re not a monster. Not at all.”

“What if I am? I’ve been ignoring my nightmares, stubbornly pushing myself to regain my dragon fire magic so that we can defeat the Convictionites. But what if I shouldn’t even be trying to access that magic again? Maybe no one should have that kind of power.”

“Alex, listen to me.” He set his hands on her cheeks, staring into her eyes. “That magic is a part of you. Pretending that it’s not, not doing everything you can to master your magic, only makes it more likely that you will lose control and turn into the person of your nightmares. You can do this.” He kissed her forehead. “And you don’t have to do it alone.”

She returned his kiss, her lips melting against his. “Thank you,” she said as she drew back. “Thank you for sticking by me, even though I’m completely screwed up.”

“I was infused with magic by a magic-hating organization so they could wield me like a weapon against supernaturals,” he replied. “I’m pretty screwed up myself.”

“At least you don’t hear voices in your head.”

I was being quiet to give you two a few hours alone,
her dragon said into her mind.
But if you’d rather I make your honey bunny hear voices in his head too, then I’d be happy to oblige.

You’ve spoken to Logan?

Yes, after you suggested it might work now that you two are bonded, I’ve honored his mind with the spectacular gift of my presence.

Alex laughed.

“What is it?” Logan asked.

“My dragon says she’s talked to you.”

His face grew carefully neutral. “Yes.”

“Was she too over-the-top?”

“No, she was lovely.”

Alex’s dragon grinned inside her mind.

“What did you talk about?” Alex asked Logan.

“You, of course. And names for her.”

“You named her?”

I named myself, thank you,
her dragon said stiffly.
Your assassin did have a few good suggestions, though. I settled on Nova.

I like it.

Of course you share my impeccable taste.
Nova smirked.
We’re two sides of the same coin, you and I, Alex.

Yes we are.

“Nova cheers you up,” Logan commented.

“Yes,” Alex said, her smile spreading wider. “She makes me forget about all my problems. Well, at least for a time.”

“You’re worried about Gaelyn.”

“You know me as well as she does,” she said. “What am I supposed to tell Gaelyn?”

“Are you considering telling him you’re Dragon Born?”

“No,” she said. “Gaelyn is a nice old man, but I don’t know anything about him or his past. Maybe he’s the reason the Dragon Born were hunted. He has sway over the Magic Council’s biggest decisions. For all I know, he might have been the one to declare the Dragon Born abominations. They did have powerful magic. Maybe even more powerful than Gaelyn’s was.”

“People fear what they can’t control or understand.”

“Yes,” she agreed.

“But Gaelyn is…weird,” Logan settled on. “He doesn’t seem to be the sort to let emotions cloud his decisions. Not even fear. He is friendly, but every decision he makes is calculated. I can see it in his eyes, that cool calculation that so few people possess.”

“I can’t tell him about me.”

“No,” he agreed. “Just because he isn’t emotional, that doesn’t mean he wouldn’t conclude that the Dragon Born have to be killed. We don’t know what led up to the Dragon Born being hunted. We only know Gaelyn the philanthropist as he is today. We don’t know enough about his personal views to be sure his philanthropy extends to Dragon Born. The Magic Council has no love for them.”

And yet she and Logan had allied with them—with the very people who had sentenced her kind to death. They didn’t know she was Dragon Born. Yet. And right now, they all had bigger problems. The Convictionites would exterminate every supernatural in the world if they got the chance. Alex and Logan couldn’t defeat them without the resources of the Magic Council, and the Council was too weighed down in bureaucracy to act. They needed a big battering ram to throw at the Convictionite problem, someone outside of their organization. The dubious honor of ‘battering ram’ belonged to Alex and Logan.

Alex’s jacket buzzed. “Speak of the devil,” she said as she read the message.

“Our new friends?”

“We’re being sent to deal with some magic flying insects. Giant bees with potent poison in their stingers.”

“They sound like lovely creatures,” commented Logan.

Alex gave the picnic basket a wistful look before closing the lid on dinner. She stared up at the darkening sky. “It looks like our nice day is over.”

CHAPTER TWO

Night of the Beasts

A WEREWOLF SHOT across the highway in two gravity-defying leaps, then disappeared into the forest on the other side. Not two seconds later, the rest of the pack—five wolves by Alex’s count—cut across the lanes in a stampede that brought the cars to a screeching halt. Logan swerved around the tail end of the pack and sped off before the traffic could swallow his Maserati whole.

“Thank goodness for your super speed,” she said, glancing back at the stopped cars they’d left behind. Miraculously, none of them had collided, probably because the traffic had only been moving at a snail’s pace. “What is going on tonight?”

First, they’d had to take a detour to avoid a battle between two centaur clans. After that, it had been the flock of crimson-beaked ravens attacking a small town outside the city. The Magic Council’s agents were already there, dealing with the beasts. At least she hoped they were now regrouping and coming up with a plan to counter the birds that had chased them into an old barn.

Then, when Alex and Logan had finally made it to the highway, they’d found the entire entrance ramp covered in a sticky green goo that had caught on fire the moment Alex tried to dissolve it. She’d managed to put out the fire and freeze off the goo, but the mysterious substance had already eaten through all of the asphalt and most of the road beneath it. Logan had driven over it anyway.

“Magic has gone wild tonight,” he said. “Did you see the saliva dangling from the werewolves’ mouths?”

She nodded. “It was tinted with blood.”

“The blood was werewolf blood. I could smell it.”

“You could smell it? From inside the car?”

“Yes.”

Wow.

“The werewolves were fighting one another tonight,” he said. “The question is why.”

Werewolves, like other animal shifters, were a type of mage. And despite what the movies said, their shift was not a curse; it was a spell. Most mage shifters preferred a particular animal form, usually the most complex one they could manage. Werewolves were pretty high on the beast difficulty scale, and mages who could manage the shift tended to gather in ‘packs’, which were nothing more than exclusive mage cliques. Being overprivileged first tier mages, naturally these mages spent their time together drinking booze and getting high on magic drugs.

“Did you smell drugs on them?” Alex asked Logan.

“No. Did you sense drugs?”

“No,” she said. “Well, not exactly. There was a strange magic clinging to them, but it wasn’t any drug I recognized. Maybe it was a spell.”

“You think they were bewitched to go wild?”

“Yes. And they aren’t the only ones.” She pointed up at the storm of bats flying over the highway like a bomber squad. God, she hoped they didn’t have anything to drop onto the cars. “Half the monsters and tons of supernaturals in the city have gone mad. All at once.”