Loving Madness

32. Battle Prep

Living In A Haze- Milky Chance

I was the first to break the silence, seeing that he was so close.

"Can we do the same thing with the blueprints of the castle?" I ask, feeling breathless, my blood boiling. Siobhan nods and suddenly, the map is no longer there. In its place are four more maps. One for each level of the castle. I notice that the fourth map, the one for the below-ground level is a lot larger than the others. My beast growls to me that he is not above ground. I quickly shove the first three level maps off of the table and place my hand back in Siobhan's. "He is underground."

Siobhan once again nods at me and repeats the process. The blood lifts and suddenly there is a head-splitting pain in my ribs. I double over, breaking the connection. I feel metal poking in between my ribs and know that it is not my own pain. I had let my shield down without thinking and got the full extent of the next bit of torture. I fall back onto the floor and reach out through the mind link.

There is nothing but pain coming through. No part of Kurt's body is absent of blood. None of these injuries would kill him, but they would leave nasty scars and even nastier memories. My heart broke as I realized that Kurt would probably see these images as he slept and have panic attacks when things reminded him of them. Serena's sick smile put me into a frenzy and I quickly shut off the link.

"Start again," I order. The time for games was over. I had a bloodlust running through me that I never would have thought possible. Siobhan nods at my determined glare and begins to chant again. I focus on Kurt and my eyes become misty. There is nothing that could ever make up for losing him. I wouldn't go on living. My mind could not handle that type of loss. Not after everything we shared.

"Got him." I look down at the map, wiping my eyes. He is in a cavern that was used for supplies a very long time ago. No one has even been down there in centuries. Scratch that, Serena had probably been using them the entire time.

"There are four ways to access the cavern. It wouldn't make sense to send an entire army down there, they would only get in each other's way. I think the best way to go about it would be a team of eight. Two for each way. I will go as well." The room is shocked. They stare at me with wide eyes and jaws on the floor.

"Your Majesty, if I may, I don't think it's a good idea for you to go." A woman, her name Raina, speaks up. She looks me in the eye for a long moment, pleading silently for me not to do this. I understand the concerns she has, but I don't think they understand the impossible position I'm currently in.

"How many of you have mates?" Hands in the room raise and I pause for a moment, carefully considering my next words. "If someone had your mate and was torturing them, would you sit here and let someone else go get them? Would you stay safely behind and let others take risks for your mates?" All eyes dropped to the floor and no one said a word. "I would like the seven best warriors, who are willing to help, brought to me immediately. I don't care what faction, what they are, all that matters is their skills." I order, my voice booming across the room. The group around me bow their heads and quickly leave the room. I notice Siobhan lingering at the door.

"Mayslee," She says after everyone is well out of earshot, "I would like to fight by your side. I have some unfinished business to attend to with Serena." She opens her mind to me and I find myself immersed in a very strong memory.

Siobhan cowers in the corner, a strange contrast to see. There is an older man being held to the wall by what seems to be great and terrifying magic. It's dark and twisted, I had never seen anything like it, but I knew it was forbidden magic. The older man looks defiantly at Serena and shoots one last weak ball of power in her direction. She easily deflected the blast and moved closer to the older man. She almost looked as if she was kissing him, but I realize with a start that she is literally sucking the power from his body. She is killing him, mercilessly and even seems to be enjoying it. Warriors burst through the door and she turns her attention away from the old man, glowing with the stolen power. I hear Siobhan sob and cry for her father. Serena killed her father. I would not deny her revenge.

"Siobhan, I would be honored to have you by my side, going into battle." I try to give her a reassuring smile but failed miserably. In fact, I failed so horribly that she burst out laughing. Under all of the stress of the last couple of hours, I finally cracked a bit and a giggle burst through my lips. Soon, we were holding our sides with tears streaming down our faces. I hadn't laughed like that in a very long time. It was a welcome change.

Arnold burst through the door, panting as if they had taken my request very literally, and ran everywhere.

"Your Majesty, the seven are here. There are two Witches, two Vampires, two Werewolves, and the single best warrior of the Others." He lets me know this with a slight bow and disappears again. He was in a panic and I didn't have time to coddle him. I merely shot a look at Siobhan and we made our way to the throne room.

"I don't think we should cut anyone. I think one of the Witches could stay at the entrance of the underground. Do you think they could shield everyone, just for extra protection?" She looked at me as if to say 'are you serious?" and let out a small chuckle.

"Your Majesty, the first thing any witch learns, from two and up is to shield themselves and anyone else who needs it. Knowing who they are sending, it will be a piece of cake for them to shield Eight people." I see images flow into her mind of two men. The first was tall and wiry but with enough menace in his face to know not to mess with him, the second, was one of the most beautifully rough human beings I had ever seen.

His hair was so dark brown it was almost black, it fell in trusses almost to his waist. His eyes were icy blue and striking. He had a long scar down the left side of his face, running from his temple down his neck. He was built like a house. Nearly seven feet and all of it solid muscle. He was the most menacing of the two, but I could see a softness inside his eyes that was very well hidden. I caught that their names were Jaime and Mason.

"I can already tell you that Mason is going to be mad as hell," I whisper to Siobhan. She looks confused and begins to ask me what I mean. "He is my mate, and there is no way in hell, he is going into battle with me."