There had to be a way. She turned the tiny bottle in her fingers. Always another answer. She’d spent her time in graduate school troubleshooting potentially hopeless problems. She just needed to step back and think about it logically and analytically: goal, obstacle, solution.
First, define the goal. Well, that was easy. Get Fydor to drink the replacement elixir, which meant getting it into his possession in such a way he would ingest it today.
Define biggest obstacle. Easy as well. Lack of proximity and access.
Discover solution. Not as simple. She had to get someone close enough to sub that vial into his supply, but he had closed himself away.
There’s always an answer. Always a way… She paced the room and stopped short dead center. Adrenaline surged through her in a prickly wave. The solution was obvious as well. Her stomach sank. Nik was not going to like this. Not at all. “What is the one thing your uncle wants to get his hands on more than anything else in the world right now?”
Aleksi raised her head from her hands. “You.”
Nikolai peeked around the corner to find only one bear shifter standing guard outside his mother’s apartment. Wrapping his hand around his father’s sword handle, he slid it from the sheath on his back and took a deep breath. The sword felt warm and alive in his hands, and for a moment, he could almost feel his father’s presence. For you, Dad. I’ll free her for you.
The guard’s head was separated from his body before the beast had even registered the danger. The door was locked, but it was easy enough to find the key on the guard’s ring. Careful not to track blood into his mother’s room, he paused inside the doorway. “Mother?”
No answer came in return. He shut the door behind him and crossed the room he had spent so many hours in as a child. Still decked in white and gold, the airy space reflected his mother perfectly: classic, elegant, understated—so unlike his uncle.
“Hello? Mother?”
Sharp, stinging pain erupted on the back of his neck, like the time he was stung on the ear by a wasp when he was seven. He slapped his hand over it, plucking the insect off.
His uncle’s voice sounded far away. “I knew you wouldn’t be able to resist coming here.”
He opened his palm to find a feathered dart. Fuck. He’d been poisoned or drugged. The edges of his vision blurred. “Human tricks.”
“Yes.” Fydor moved closer, but not close enough to grab. Nik tried to lunge, but ended up face down on the floor.
The image of his uncle waved like ripples on the surface of a pond as he leaned down and pulled his father’s sword from his hand. “And shortly, I’ll have all of the human tricks, just as soon as we lift the Veil.”
Nikolai had never experienced helplessness like this. Unable to move or even talk, he could only listen as his uncle spoke from far away. “I’m so glad you dropped in. Your mother will be delighted to see you.”
Fucking bastard. He tried to lift his head, but couldn’t even open his eyes.
“Uncle Fydor! I have something for you,” Aleksi said from behind him somewhere.
Surely she’d see and help him. Any second now, she’d liberate Fydor’s head from his body.
“Oh. I see you found Niki.”
No.
“What is your surprise?” his uncle asked.
“You are going to love it.”
She sounded so far away. Using all of his strength, he cracked his eyes open to see her rubbing against him. Hands all over his body. She slid her hands into his front pockets, and he groaned.
No, no, no, no, no, no.
“I brought you the Uniter. She came in through my window.”
“Where is she?”
“Mihai has taken her to the dungeon.”
“I want her in the rec room.”
No…
“She can teleport. The dungeon was the only place secure enough.”
“Call one of the witches. I’ll arrange to get rid of this.”
Nikolai heard the thud and knew it was his uncle’s foot connecting with his rib cage, but he felt nothing other than the ache in his heart knowing he had failed. All his training and power couldn’t help him now. And he’d never see Elena again. Never hold his child. Never…
Elena brushed the hair from Nik’s forehead. “I have no idea what they drugged him with, but he seems to be coming around.” He groaned, and she took his hand. “Nik, I’m here. So is your mother.”
The oppressive darkness of the dungeon made it almost impossible to see the woman sitting on the other side of the tiny space. Unlike the wood elf in the next cell, they weren’t chained.
“What goes around comes around. You should have let me go,” the elf taunted through the darkness. “Then you wouldn’t be here as a prisoner, too.”
Actually, being a prisoner beat the hell out of the other possible scenarios. “Shut up.”
Nik groaned again and covered his mouth and nose. “The smell.”
“You’re in the dungeon,” she explained. “It appears you were drugged.”