Into the Fire (The Unseelie Court Book 4) by Gwen Rivers (free ebooks romance novels .TXT) 📗

at me, her expression sad. “You don’t need to leave.”

“I do.” I swallow past the lump in my throat. “You don’t know what it’s meant to me that you took us all in. I can never repay you.”

A clomping of boots on the stairs and Garret appears. His goatee is neatly trimmed and he is tucking his plaid shirt into well-worn jeans.

“Is that boy gone?”

I assume he means Aiden so I nod. “He is. Listen, there’s something I want to ask the two of you.”

Garret pours himself a mug of coffee and settles in across the table. “Go ahead.”

“Chloe has a way to erase your memories.”

“Like what the giant did with the FBI?” Sophie’s eyes are round.

“No, that’s a thrall. The person under it won’t remember what they’re doing after it ends. A mindwipe erases memories that have already formed,” I let out a sigh. “It might be safer for all of you if you don’t remember any of this happened.”

“No,” Sophie is already shaking her head. “Absolutely not. I want these memories.”

“Garret?” I turn and face my sire. “How about you?”

“I’d like to forget a lot of things,” he makes a face at the hole in his wall. “This entire living situation has been strange. But I don’t want to erase knowing you, Nic.” He pats my hand.

A lump forms in my throat and I remember the way Garret had decked Aiden, his misplaced gesture to protect my honor

“What about Tate?”

They share a look and I can see the worry for their youngest child in their eyes.

Garret appears uncomfortable. “It might make it easier for him.”

“Once the memories are gone, can they ever come back?” Sophie asks.

I shake my head. “I still remember nothing before my sixth birthday.”

She swallows. “No, then. He deserves to know. He can keep a secret. Besides, who is he going to tell here?”

“Okay.” With nothing else to do, I stand and pick up the paper sack containing our breakfast sandwiches. “Thank you for everything—”

The words are barely past my lips when both of them pull me into a tight embrace.

“You come back anytime,” Sophie whispers. “Whatever you are, whatever you are running from, know you will always have a place with us.”

Garret grunts in a way that I take as agreement.

Tears track down my face. Stupid hormones.

I sniffle and then pull away. “Take care of each other.”

“And I want pictures when that baby is born,” Sophie scolds.

I smile and nod. “Agreed.” I’m not sure how I’ll send pictures from across the Veil, but wouldn’t that be a nice problem to mull over?

Through the Man’s Eyes

They appear in the collapsing tunnel outside the kitchen of the Underground Palace. Aiden, Liam, Owen, Autumn and Gray. All but Aiden and Liam are in wolf form.

Liam’s multihued eyes dance with excitement in the dim light. Aiden doesn’t speak, just inhales and moves down the hallway to the servant’s stairs that lead to the bedchambers.

It is dark in the catacombs, but that isn’t saying much, since direct daylight never strikes the halls. Aiden moves closer to Liam so he can whisper low. “Royal bedchambers are on the top floor. We need to subdue him and get him back down to this location without alerting anyone else.”

Liam nods and gestures for Aiden to lead the way.

The air is thick as though being bogged down by fear and pain. They pass the empty throne room, and Aiden shivers as the Shadow Throne seems to reach out for him. Fickle damn magic in that chair. He never would have believed Fenrir could have taken it.

He pauses and draws to a halt.

“What is it?” Liam asks.

Aiden strides forward. The magic he’s feeling isn’t coming from the Shadow Throne but from the Fire Throne. He frowns. All the magic is coming from the one seat.

“Aiden,” Liam hisses.

Shaking his head, Aiden follows them through the room and to the secret spiral staircase that leads directly to the queen’s chambers.

There are several sentries on the landing, which the wolves dispatch with ease. He and Liam catch the armor-coated bodies before they can hit the ground.

He sucks in a breath as one helmet clatters down the stairs, raising enough of a racket to wake the entire castle. But after several breaths and no one comes to investigate, he knows Angrboda has done her job well.

Then he is at the door, the familiar chamber he’d shared with Nicneven for centuries. The door is solid oak with intricate patterns of air magicked into the wood. He tries the latch, isn’t surprised to find it locked.

He nods to the others and then shifts to sparks, squeezing his form a bit at a time through the keyhole.

Aiden takes stock of the space before reforming to unbolt the heavy door. The fire dances in the grate, the covers on the bed are piled high, and soft snores emanate from within the space.

He comes together and unbolts the door. It’s Liam who carries the potion Angrboda concocted to subdue Fenrir. Aiden gestures the wolf forward and takes the potion from him. Maybe this will go smoothly if they can just—

Fenrir’s eyes flash open.

They stare at each other for an endless moment before his half-brother leaps forward, crashing into him. The bottle goes rolling across the moonstone floor. Thankfully, it doesn’t shatter.

Snarls erupt from the human girl’s mouth as she bares her teeth at him. “I’ll rip your throat out.”

She’s strong, stronger than Aiden. But unlike him, Fenrir can’t transform.

Aiden dissolves into embers until Gretchen’s body is face down on the floor. The wolves charge and Liam vaults over them to pin her flat on the floor. She thrashes, swearing and feral.

Aiden recombines and picks up the bottle. “Flip her over. Hold her mouth open.”

Liam does as instructed and Aiden crouches low and tips the contents to Gretchen’s mouth.

She spits some of it out but he dumps the rest in as she sucks in a breath. Liam pinches her nose until she is forced to swallow the liquid.

“How long until it takes