House of Mages and Raven (Shades of Ruin and Magic #4)

Chapter 35

I dug my nose into the pillow and swatted at a cold hand that yanked my curls. I hadn’t slept much, so I wasn’t going to give up this nap. It still pissed me off that I’d had to resurface because Killian was leading the entire school to look for me. Why did that asshole even bother if I was truly gone?

“Wake up, Barbie! Wake the fuck up!” my familiar bellowed in my ear. With unbelievable strength, he hauled the pillow from underneath my face.

I rolled to sit up and glared at him. Over my hostility, he turned to his phantom form. Was his face paler than usual? Maybe I should be less unfriendly, but who liked to be woken up?

“It’s an emergency,” he exclaimed.

“It’s always an emergency, and the world hasn’t ended,” I said, throwing myself back on bed, ready to continue my nap.

“This is a life-and-death emergency, Barbie!” Pucker shouted at me. “Have a heart. Prince Killian and Prince Rowan entered a death duel.”

“What?” I sat up again, squinting at the ghost guardian while running a hand over my messy curls that felt like a vermin’s nest. “Run by me again?”

“Prince Killian and Prince Rowan are in the middle of a blood duel as we speak.” Pucker tried to pronounce every word clearly. “Only one will survive, or probably both will die.”

It was like icy water poured on my head, expelling the sleepiness and fog in my brain. Sy woke up too and shot to her feet.

“Why?” I stared hard at my familiar, my heart pounding. “Why would they do something so foolish?”

“You know why.” Pucker sighed in exasperation. “They’re fighting over you and Sy. They don’t know about you two sharing the same goddess body, so they both believed that the other man slept with their woman.”

Shit! A flashback of my encounter with Killian in the woods swirled back to me. He must’ve smelled Rowan on me.

Rowan and Sy had fucked like wild animals before they headed to the party. Sy had had the nerve to call it a quickie, since the fae prince had licked her greedy cunt for a long time, and I’d had to roll my eyes so hard that my muscles still hurt at their dirty talk.

She’d moaned, “The biggest cock ever…”

And he’d groaned, “I want to see my cum stream down your thighs…”

Who would say stupid shit like that? I’d almost shouted at them through Sy’s mouth, “You’re testing my patience. Just get it done already.”

It was worse than watching the vampire prince fuck two dumb blondes. The only perk of their couplings was that I’d taken eighty-nine percent of the energy generated by this shameless pair’s dirty fucking. I hadn’t left much for Sy out of spite and bitterness. Every day, I had to deal with endless anguish, looking over my shoulder to see which foes were coming and checking every corner for an ambush, but Sy had all the mindless fun—drinking, fucking, partying, and doing drugs.

Even for a “quickie,” the fae prince had rage-fucked her, and that big idiot had loved every second of it, moaning even louder than me when I was in heat.

Anyway, after they fucked, Rowan and Sy had headed straight to the party, his scent all over her. After I’d taken over and shifted, I hadn’t bothered to go to Underhill to wash off the fae prince’s scent. Not that I’d become sloppy. I wasn’t in the House of Chaos anymore. At my low moments, I didn’t even care if Killian could smell Rowan’s scent on me. Or maybe I’d wanted him to, just to make him feel as bad as he’d made me feel.

But I hadn’t expected him to go berserk. Had I thrown a jealous fit when he got cozy with his betrothed and her ward?

You went into heat instead, Sy said. Stop rolling your eyes. Let’s do something. We know about a death duel—only one will come out alive.

Sy was right. Despite being bitter and cynical, I was worried sick for both Rowan and Killian.

“Where are they?” I asked, my heart in my throat, my blood cold.

“Prince Rowan returned to X Palace for Sy as soon as you were found. Then Prince Killian tracked him down there. They used their blood to seal the path to the rooftop of X Palace, so no one could get to them. No one can stop the duel except you, Barbie.”

I sucked in an icy breath. For everyone’s sake, I hoped that I wasn’t already too late.

The leyline spat me out, and I wheeled blindly to grab something to cushion my fall, only to find my arm wrapped around a cool neck. My eyes jerked up and stared into the vampire prince’s gorgeous face.

“Shit!” I called in alarm, especially when I spotted his hungry gaze immediately dipping to my neck, where my veins beat wildly.

“Barbie!” Louis said in delight and surprise. “Do you know that you had us worried?”

I hurried to extract myself from the vamp and stagger back to put distance between us.

Silas blinked at me, as if I were an unexpected gift falling from the sky. I surveyed my surroundings quickly. I’d landed in front of the glass elevator of X Palace.

“Where have you been, Barbie?” Cade demanded, his voice both tight and relieved. “From now on, you’ll check in with my house every five hours, so no one will report your missing again.”

“I was napping, Highness,” I said.

“Good to see you, Barbie.” Silas smiled, but he didn’t come to me. There was conflict in his amber eyes.

Silas and Louis were drawn to Sy now after meeting her in person. She’d led them astray.

Now they both sniffed. I’d learned my lesson. I hadn’t had a chance to wash off Rowan’s scent in Underhill, but I’d taken a quick shower in the House of Mages before I leapt into the leyline, taking great care to shield my scent, so now I barely smelled of anything, a new trick that I’d picked up in Shades Academy. The disguise wouldn’t last long, but I didn’t need long. I just needed to get to Rowan and Killian, stop their duel, and get out.

“How did you get here, Barbie?” Louis asked.

Only the royals and their entourages could travel through the leylines in the realm, but as usual, no rules applied to me.

“It doesn’t matter,” Cade cut in. “We have a bigger issue. The two assholes sealed the place, and we haven’t been able to break through their combined blood ward. No one can get into the elevator and go up.”

Pucker suddenly materialized, and everyone jumped, then cursed.

My ghost familiar grinned, loving the attention. “That’s why I brought Barbie.”

“Isn’t he the poltergeist?” Silas demanded. “I thought he was house bound.”

I didn’t have time to explain to everyone that my ghost familiar could go wherever he pleased now because he was bonded to me.

The entire building was rocking. Even though no one could hear or see what was up on the rooftop, since Killian and Rowan had glamoured X Palace, the battle between them was obviously in full swing.

The next tremor came. The heirs traded worried looks and cursed more.

“We must get to them before either of them—well, kicks the bucket,” Louis said urgently.

“One second, we were looking for Barbie all over, and Barbie was found. Then next, those two lost their shit.” Silas growled. “Is Sy still up there?” His eyes glowed in concern, his wolf peeking out. He was going to get aggressive and probably lose his shit too. “They drove everyone out of the building a while ago, but I didn’t see Sy among them.”

“I didn’t see her either. This is a major fuck-up!” Louis said, looking around as if hoping to spot Sy. “We gotta get up there and make sure that she won’t be caught in the crossfire if she’s still on the rooftop.”

“We need to take down their blood ward. Let’s try again, brothers,” Cade called. “Those two assholes will have a reckoning.”

The three heirs joined hands, power pouring out of them and colliding with the ward that surrounded the glass elevator. The glass rumbled and shook violently, but it didn’t give in to the heirs’ force. It’d need all five heirs to break the blood ward, but two of them were up on the rooftop.

Concrete, rocks, dirt, and shards of glass rained down from the top of the building. The heirs raised their shields over us just in time and cursed Killian profusely.

Pulling my lips back, I let my fangs appear and pierce the heel of my palm. My blood seeped out right away, and I slammed my bleeding palm into the blood ward erected by two most powerful alpha heirs. No magic, no spell, and no blood ward could deny my access when I offered my goddess blood.

I heard the heirs’ gasps as they felt my power crackling in the air.

The elevator slid open, and I dashed in. It sealed before the heirs could follow me in. The blood ward shifted back in place again, blocking them.

However, Pucker jumped in just in time, hitching a ride again. I heard the heirs’ shouts of protests and cusses as the elevator sped up. Their powers pounded the base of the glass elevator as I left them behind.

The elevator reached the top and dinged. Even before I stepped out, I could see the damage in front of me. The two bars had been reduced to rubble. Bottles and broken chairs littered the ground. The VIP section had been torn apart, and there was a big hole in the center of the dance floor. The vandalism was obscene and would cost over a million to repair.

Neither Killian nor Rowan seemed to care. Killian, in his ruined T-shirt and jeans, drove a fist toward Rowan, whose leather pants were burned in a couple of places. He took the punch while kicking Killian in the thigh. It seemed that they’d resorted to a brawl instead of a magical match, which had destroyed half of the rooftop anyway.

I could see the appeal of a fistfight when your mighty knuckles hit your foe’s flesh and bones, and you heard their mewls of pain and shouts of anger. The satisfaction swelled in your chest as you pumped fear into their hearts.

Killian and Rowan punched each other, not even ducking. Their faces were swollen, bloody, and bruised, and their bodies bore cuts, blood flowing freely from their wounds. Sy and I sucked in a shaky breath at their pitiful appearance.

The two heirs lunged at each other again, their movements blurring. The sound of bones cracking echoed across the rooftop. When they broke apart, one had a swollen left eye and the other had a black right eye. They were trying to damage each other as visibly as possible.

“I’ve been trying to hunt down the other clients Barbie brought in,” Rowan seethed. “So glad you saved me time and delivered yourself to me. All this time, you’re the secret lover. You cheating piece of shit! You’re engaged to a powerful queen, yet it’s still not enough. Nothing and no one can ever be enough for you, and you have to take what’s mine. Asshole, I’m going to end you today once and for all.”

Rowan wheeled to deliver a roundhouse kick to Killian, so forceful it broke the chaos heir’s nose. The sound of his cartilage tearing made me wince. Killian hadn’t even ducked, as if he welcomed the pain while inflicting the same upon his friend.

“She’s mine, you fucker!” he raged, lurching at Rowan and sending a punch to the fae prince’s ear. “She’s never yours, but always mine! You took my mate, even paying her for sex. Now I know why that pink diamond has your fucking scent. You’re disgusting.”

I blinked. Had he just called me his mate?

“Fuck you!” Rowan snarled, and for a moment he appeared confused, but rage swept over him before he could think it through. He punched Killian in the jaw, and Killian returned the favor. “ Pay for sex? Did you even hear what the fuck came out of your fucking mouth? I paid the messenger for a few hookup messages. Never mind. I’m just going to finish you off, and the realm will fucking thank me.”

The war of the houses would break out, and the entire realm would become a warzone. When Ruin and his army came, there’d be no one to rally behind me to fight the ancient god, the eater of the worlds.

“I’ll end you slowly,” Killian promised. “I want you to feel the same agony I’ve been feeling before I tear your heart out. You’ll never, ever sleep with my woman again.”

“She’s not your woman, motherfucker!” Rowan bellowed louder. “She’s my woman, my true mate.”

Sy preened, joyful tears falling from her golden eyes.

The heirs clashed again.

I dashed to them, waving my hands like a frantic traffic cop before a crash.

“Stop!” I screamed.

My presence only fueled their rage and drove them to assert their primal male dominance. They struck each other brutally with death in their eyes.

Shit! How were we going to untangle this mess when they both believed that the other male had screwed their mate? There was no way to explain to them that Sy and I shared a body.

Madness had seized them. Blood rage possessed them. There’d be only one standing after the death duel. Or both heirs might perish. Sy and I would never recover from the loss should either of them die.

We’d started it. Only we could put a stop to it.

At a cost to us.

There was no other way. We had to show them.

Show them, Sy agreed.

Icy dread and searing anxiety collided in my hollow chest. Once we did this, there’d be no turning back. I bit my bottom lip and charged into the midst of the duel just as Killian and Rowan temporarily broke apart, blood flowing from them freely. Their agony, fury, and devastation, the feelings of betrayal and madness, were a live wire cutting into me, and I nearly doubled over.

“Stop, assholes!” I shouted. “Just fucking stop, please.”

A crimson sheen of blood rage rolled over their eyes, and they snarled like wild beasts. Neither would stop, not until their opponent was dead at their feet. Before they could push me aside and deliver a deathblow to each other, Sy surged up.

One moment, my golden curls bounced as the heirs’ powers slammed into me. The next, Sy stood where I’d been—all fangs, big boobs, long legs, and savage beauty.

She stumbled for three seconds—our most vulnerable seconds—before she gasped for breath and presented herself. Killian and Rowan jumped back in sync; utter, pure shock slammed into their faces.

The two powerful heirs stared at Sy, disbelief and denial in their burning eyes, as if they were watching a shitstorm blow up but were powerless to stop it.

A huge-ass grin lit up Sy’s face while I grimaced like my big ass hurt.

“Hello, hello!” she purred. “Lovers.”

Shades of Ruin and Magic 5: House of Demons and Bones

Releasing in March 2025