Silken Rapture (Princes of the Underground 2)

Isabel made a little sound of distress to the right of him. Blaise glanced at her sideways, keeping Aubrey in his sight.

“Where is Morshiel? Where did he go?” Isabel asked shakily. She sounded disoriented.

“You don’t know?” Aubrey mocked.

“He is within me, Isabel,” Blaise replied. “I told you. I will control him now from within.” He heard her gasp and felt regret. He’d thought she’d understood the magical ceremony they’d just enacted. Apparently, the truth was a little more than she’d bargained for.

Aubrey laughed softly at her discomposure. “Shocked, are you? You were the medium…the chalice for an alchemical miracle, Isabel. Blaise has vanquished Morshiel, with your help.” He shifted the knife in his grip. “Now, thanks to you again, Isabel, the mighty Lord Delraven is mortal. It is over. All those centuries of being your second-in-command are behind me now. I have loved you like a brother, but you always were the stronger one. In the end, my brains have triumphed over your power, Blaise.” He stepped closer, the knife poised to plunge downward. “I can kill you now.”

“No,” Isabel called sharply, darting forward.

“Stay back,” Aubrey shouted, slashing the knife in her direction threateningly. Blaise took advantage of Aubrey’s distraction to act. He lunged upward, striking Aubrey’s knife hand. Aubrey snarled and slashed. Pain shot through Blaise, icy and precise. He stared down incredulously at his ripped shirt and saw the bloody arc of the wound on his pectoral. It felt like an icy burn.

“Oh my God, Blaise!” Isabel screamed in horror. Blood—shockingly scarlet in color—began to flood the wound. Aubrey laughed when he saw Blaise’s amazement. He had been wounded often, but never had he bled this much, nor was his blood ever so blazingly red.

“I told you, fool. You are mortal now. You can die. You will die,” Aubrey added as he stepped forward. “For I am the stronger of the two of us now.”

Blaise wanted to reach for his heartluster, but it was as if his body moved through viscous liquid. His limbs seemed heavy and slow. Instead of going on the offensive, which was his customary habit, he barely had time to block Aubrey’s attack with his right arm. He sunk a punch to Aubrey’s liver region. Aubrey grunted and served a vicious blow to his head, knocking Blaise backward. For a second, pain became his whole world. Was this how mortals suffered? He tried to focus as the room spun around him.

“Blaise,” Isabel’s sharp voice pierced his vertigo.

“Touch the crystal, Isabel. Do as I say,” he yelled as Aubrey rushed him again, his fangs bared. Blaise faded back and Aubrey’s knife skimmed his belly. He utilized the gravity and force inherent to Aubrey’s blow and pushed on the upper portion of the slashing arm, shoving him off balance. He punched the side of his head and Aubrey staggered backward, hissing in fury. Blaise knew he’d only bought some time. What Aubrey had said appeared to be true. He was no longer the stronger of the two. His battle instincts remained intact, but either the wound or his new mortality had weakened him.

Aubrey leapt, teeth bared, bloody knife plunging. Blaise knew he could not withstand his furious, immortal strength.

“Blaise!” Isabel screamed.

He reached for her outstretched hand. Energy poured into his body—earth, to the crystal vein, to Isabel and straight into him. White light filled his consciousness. He saw Aubrey flying toward him, but as if in slow motion. He glanced back. Isabel was there with him, her life force radiating even in the midst of the powerful energy surrounding them, her dark eyes speaking volumes.

He turned back. Aubrey still was suspended in midattack. He was moving, but slowly…so slowly. Inside the bubble of energy and light, Blaise seemed to move in normal time. When Aubrey neared him, he squeezed Isabel’s hand and reached, closing his other hand around the handle of the silver knife.

It all happened in one crashing, abrupt moment. He yanked the knife from Aubrey’s hand and slashed upward, planting the knife high up in Aubrey’s ribcage. The white light blinked out. Aubrey crashed to the floor.

He glanced back at Isabel, anxious to see she was safe. She’d broken contact with the crystal.

Aubrey wheezed for air. Blaise knelt next to the man who had betrayed him. Dread mixed with his determination. Aubrey had been weakened by the knife embedded in his ribs, but Blaise would have to behead him.

It was the equivalent of being told he must be his dearest friend’s executioner.

He unsheathed his heartluster. Dark red blood spilled onto Aubrey’s lips as he met Blaise’s stare.

“So…you will undo what you did so many years ago when you first made me immortal?” Aubrey asked in a choked voice.

“You have given me no choice by betraying me,” Blaise replied. “How did you find out what would happen here in the crystal room tonight? How would you know what it would take to vanquish Morshiel?”

“I was the one who planned Isi’s abduction. I conspired with Morshiel. I have been waiting for a means to undermine your strength for a century or more,” Aubrey muttered. He coughed and more dark blood spilled around his lips. “Finally, the means came to me. Morshiel took me as his lover, even if you would not. I promised him your death. I used drugs and my ascendancy to gain Saint’s secrets from Isi. I used my magic to lower Usan’s protective wards so that the demon—Shirian—could enter. She assisted me, with her demon-magic. She’s an impulsive bitch, and she attacked Isabel without my permission. Still, she didn’t ruin all. It might have worked. It might have,” he gasped.

Aubrey must have noticed Isabel stir behind him. He smiled at her. “Yes, I planned it all,” Aubrey said, his gray eyes flashing in a mixture of defiance and pride.

Blaise shook his head slowly.

“What? Are you disappointed in me, Blaise?” Aubrey asked in a taunting tone. “Do you think I care?”

“I think you care,” Blaise said quietly.

Tears filled Aubrey’s light eyes. His jaw trembled. “Did you really believe I would be satisfied with second best? You would not take me as a lover. I wanted to be the one you cherished most, not some ridiculous sidekick. I am too great to share the stage.”

“I was not shaking my head because of that. I was doing so because you are wrong to think you engineered everything tonight. I planned tonight’s events. I orchestrated my destiny, Aubrey, not you. I understood that Morshiel’s greed to touch Isabel would be his downfall, because it is my strength, and we are opposites. I think Morshiel understood that magic on some level. Even Morshiel comprehended more than you by coming here tonight. You never would believe me when I told you that Morshiel and I were one. He is my dark self, but thanks to the Magian’s magic, I had the chance to gain ascendance over him. I may be mortal now, but I have gained a soul by fusing my dark and light selves.