Kiss of Vengeance (True Immortality 2)

18

The plan itself was simple.

What wasn’t so simple were the people waiting to kill them at Hotel Saber.

Well, not exactly at the hotel.

Schneider had banned any supernatural from entering the hotel until after eleven thirty that evening. As a powerful warlock, he’d spelled the entire perimeter of the building with an alarm like the one inside the vault.

This meant that neither the Blackwood Coven nor the Garm would be inside the hotel, waiting to kill Rose. According to Bran, her parents’ coven was unaware of the auction for the dagger and was still fumbling around in Europe trying to pick up her and Fionn’s trail.

So that was something at least.

However, the Blackwoods and the Garm would be in the vicinity. They would see Rose and Fionn coming if they approached the hotel by foot. That’s why they weren’t going to. Fionn would create a gap in the perimeter spell so that he and Rose could travel inside via the delivery entrance at the back.

Once inside, they’d pretend to be a couple staying at the hotel to avoid suspicion, until they could get to the restrooms. With the memory of the plans in mind, Rose would travel into the vault, while Fionn traveled outside of it. She would then poof out next to him so he could double-check she’d collected the correct dagger, they’d travel back to the restrooms, then back to the hotel, and then poof several blocks away to the outer grounds of Camp Nou.

If they could do that and avoid everyone who wanted to kill them, great.

Butterflies, different from the kind induced by Fionn, swarmed in Rose’s gut.

“You ready?” he asked.

They were outside Camp Nou, the soccer stadium, preparing to travel inside the delivery entrance at Hotel Saber. To be honest, Rose would have preferred if they could’ve departed somewhere a little closer to the hotel, but this was as close as Fionn was willing to get.

He insisted the Blackwoods and the Garm probably had the hotel surrounded for at least a block.

“I’m nervous,” she admitted.

Nerves had always plagued her in competition when she was an athlete, but she’d never admitted it out loud. In her mind, that was admitting weakness.

Fionn was the most complicated man she’d ever met. She felt conflicted about the choices he’d made in the past yet ultimately decided she couldn’t judge. Hadn’t she killed a warlock in self-defense? Rose felt she understood her companion, and more than that, despite his often-grumpy demeanor, she felt safe to be herself with him.

He gave her a clipped nod. “It would be foolish of you not to be nervous. But you can do this. I’m right here with you.”

“Okay.”

“Ready? Visualize where that delivery entrance is.”

Fionn had assured her that although she had no idea what the entrance looked like in real life, it was enough to know where it was situated in the building to travel to it.

“Ready.”

The world blurred for a mere few seconds, darkening, then lightening as the surrounding space settled into place.

She glanced up at Fionn who gave her an encouraging nod.

He’d cast an illusion spell on himself so he’d blend, nondescript, as they moved through the hotel. Rose stayed glued to his side as he walked with confidence down the delivery corridor and out through double doors that led into the public areas of the hotel. As he stepped out into a corridor, signs on the opposite wall directed guests right toward the main reception and left toward the ballroom. Rose reached for his hand.

Fionn jerked away from her and glared.

Ignoring the little pinch of hurt, she glowered back at him. “We’re supposed to be a couple. Couples hold hands.”

He grunted in obvious annoyance and held his hand out to her like it was the last thing he wanted to do.

“What are you? Five?” She slipped her hand into his and ignored the tingles that shot up her arm. He had calluses on his palms, just below his fingers. She briefly wondered what caused them before the feel of him overwhelmed all other thoughts.

His grip on her tightened. “Concentrate,” he reminded her under his breath.

Right.

Concentrate.

They stopped at the concierge and made a fake booking for tour tickets that included a guided tour of La Sagrada Familia—Rose had to stifle a snort. Then they casually walked, hand in hand, toward the signs for the restrooms. Milking the moment, she snuggled into Fionn, curling her free hand over the top of the hand that held hers.

He peered down at her, unamused.

Rose grinned.

His countenance hardened with more than just annoyance; she felt that look all over.

“Didn’t you say you need to use the restroom?” he bit out.

She knew she should act with more solemnity considering the danger they were in, but teasing Fionn distracted her, calmed her, even. Raising their clasped hands to her mouth, she pressed a soft kiss to the top of his hand and then released it. “I’ll be right back.”

With a little swing in her hips, she left Fionn fighting back a scowl of outrage.

Fuddy-duddy, she laughed to herself as she entered the restroom.

Even though she’d checked to make sure there was no one there to see her travel, Fionn had told her to do it from inside a stall. Apparently, Schneider might not be above breaking the law by sticking cameras in the ladies’ room.

Rose locked the stall and leaned her palms against the door, closing her eyes. Taking a deep breath, she visualized the plans for the vault. It wasn’t a huge room, an entirely steel cube with very thick walls. Fionn seemed to have this unshakable belief that she could travel into it.

Called her a natural.

Exhaling long and slow, she chanted inwardly, You can do this, you can do this.

The vault enveloped her entire mind.

Go there. Be there.

Although her eyes were closed and she didn’t move, she felt the door disappear beneath her palms and a chill blast across her skin.

Opening her eyes, Rose grinned.

She was inside the vault. There were four shelves that wrapped around the entire room except for the wall with the door. On the shelves were boxes and artifacts, some with gemstones that sparkled under the LED lights that she knew from the detailed plans didn’t emit heat or UV.

The vault was also kept at a chilly temperature.

She shivered in her T-shirt, glad for her jeans and sneakers at least. Scanning the shelves, she searched for the silver box Fionn had described but stopped when she felt a tingle on the back of her neck.

Slowly turning, she faced the opposite wall and her attention zeroed in on a silver box on the sec

ond shelf.

Rose knew it was the one.

The solid silver case had engravings along the bottom half that wrapped around the entire box, depicting Fionn’s story. Carefully taking it off the shelf, she ran her fingers over the etchings. A warrior on a rearing horse with a dagger in one hand, a sword in the other. The same warrior plunging the dagger into an elegant male. The warrior shackled before a beautiful woman. The warrior surrounded by cloaked figures. And finally, the warrior asleep in a tomb, his sword clasped between his hands.

Shivering for a different reason, Rose fought back overwhelming emotion. She felt Fionn’s betrayal like that dagger through her heart. Anger and hurt burned inside her for him.

It made no sense.

How deeply she felt his pain made no sense to her.

Blinking back tears, she reached for the clasp on the box.

Fionn had said not to open it but Rose needed to see. She needed to see what the weapon, destined to kill her, looked like.

As soon as she lifted the lid, tremors affected her nerves, weakening her. Her knees gave way as if a huge weight was crushing down on her.

Rose slammed the box shut, closing the clasp, her strength returning.

“Fuck,” she whispered, trembling.

She’d barely gotten a glimpse of the silvery-gray weapon.

When Fionn said pure iron hurt them, she assumed the metal would have to touch her skin to do it. Apparently not. Apparently, she just needed to be in its vicinity for it to affect her.

Then why hadn’t she felt it when Ethan threw that blade at her?

Rose held the box firmly in her hand and focused on traveling outside the vault door. She was immediately faced with an irate Fionn.

“What took so long?” He took hold of the box before she could answer and unsnapped the clasp to lift the lid. She felt the strange weakening occur again just as Fionn flinched and shut the box.

Rose frowned. “Why does it do that? The blade Ethan threw didn’t affect me, but this …” She gestured to the box.