Heartless Villains (Ruthless Villains Book 3)

Narrowing my eyes, I studied the forger riding next to Henry and Lance in front of us. All I knew about her was what Audrey had told me. Which wasn’t much at all. At first, she had only told me that Paige was good at forging documents. Eventually, I had gotten her to also admit that they had been friends. But that was about it. I knew nothing else about this strangely casual woman. Well, other than the fact that Audrey acted weird around her.

I glanced over at the poison mage riding next to me.

Her usual air of smug arrogance seemed to evaporate every time she interacted with Paige. And instead, uncertainty took its place. When she talked to Paige, I could almost see the young girl she had been before she became a dark mage. It made me unreasonably angry. I hated it when something made me feel like the desperate kid I had been, and I couldn’t stand the thought that Audrey might be experiencing the same thing right now.

“We could just leave her in Castlebourne,” I said.

Audrey turned to scowl at me. “What?”

“Paige. When we get to Castlebourne, we could set her up with a safe house and continue on our own.”

“And why would we do that?”

Since I couldn’t very well tell her the real reason why I had suggested it, I said, “How do you know that you can trust her? What if she actually led those guys back there to you on purpose?”

Cold rage crackled across her face like ice. “Are you suggesting that Paige is a traitor?”

“I’m saying that I don’t know her. And this is a really important, and secret, mission. It might be better to leave her in Castlebourne.”

“So that she can get captured and sent back to Eldar? I don’t think so,” she scoffed. “And as for your other concerns, I know her.”

“You haven’t seen her for six years. People change.”

“Let me say this slowly so that you will understand. I know her. I know exactly what kind of person she is. And I trust her. I trust her just as much as you trust Henry. Which is a hell of a lot more than I trust you.”

“Yeah, but that particular bar is already on the floor so it’s not much of a competition.”

A laugh spilled from her lips. Or half of one. She stifled it part way through and cleared her throat instead. But it was enough to lighten the tense mood that had settled, and it chipped away at some of her armor, because emotions swirled in her eyes again as she glanced towards Paige.

“I don’t want to leave her in Castlebourne,” she said simply.

“But…” I trailed off as understanding clicked in place.

Audrey had just been betrayed by practically everyone in her household. They had sold her out to me when they realized that she didn’t have her magic, which had left her more or less completely alone. On top of that, when she helped me rescue Henry from Malcolm, she had told me that our friendship reminded her of what she’d had with Paige.

An unexpected jab of pain hit me in the heart.

She wasn’t uncomfortable because Paige reminded her of the teenager she used to be. She acted strange and uncertain because she wanted to reconnect with the one person who had always been by her side, except it had been so many years that she didn’t know if Paige wanted her friendship anymore. It was so clear now when I looked into her eyes. But I hadn’t even thought that Audrey Sable, of all people, was actually capable of those kinds of emotions.

Hope sprouted in my chest.

Maybe I wasn’t the only dark mage who had ended up developing feelings that people like us shouldn’t have.

It was such a pathetic and embarrassing thought that I immediately stamped it out. But now I at least knew that Audrey wanted Paige here. And why.

“Fine,” I said, and clicked my tongue. Since I knew that Audrey would have hated the pity, I also added, “But if she betrays us, it’s on you.”

“Watch your mouth,” she ground out, but I could tell that she was relieved.

Before I could respond, we crested the hill and were greeted by an imposing view.

Golden light from the afternoon sun shone down on the sprawling city below, making the white marble buildings gleam like pearls in the grasslands. At the center of it, tall stone walls rose up to encircle the soaring castle as well as the other houses and structures around it. But as opposed to Eldar, about half of the city was actually located outside the defensive walls.

I swept my gaze over the areas that had sprung up all around the walls in a haphazard manner. They almost looked like small towns in their own right since they weren’t necessarily connected to one another. Each appeared to have its own town square, and then the other houses fanned out from there.

“This is Castlebourne,” Lance said while Audrey and I pulled our horses to a halt next to the three of them.

“Yeah,” I answered even though it hadn’t technically been a question.

“We’re going to Castlebourne?”

“No. We’re going to stop there tonight, but then we’re leaving again.”

“So where are we going then?”

“I’ve already told you—”

Lance bolted.

Kicking his horse’s flanks, he shot down the hill and towards the edge of the city while screaming at the top of his lungs, “Help! I’ve been kidnapped by dark mages! Help me!”

“Fuck,” I swore as I took off after him. “Henry—”

“I’ll cut him off,” Henry filled in before I could finish, and then raced his horse in a slight arc so that he would end up in front of the fleeing Binder.

“Audrey—”

“I know,” she snapped as she galloped after him while circling in the other direction.

“Uhm,” Paige began somewhere behind me.

The wind rushing in my ears cut off the rest of her sentence.

Hooves thundered against the grass as we closed in on Lance. He cast a panicked look over his shoulder before screaming for help yet again.

My heart slammed in my chest. We had to get him before he was within earshot of the town below. Castlebourne had a very brutal way of dealing with dark mages, and I didn’t want to get caught up in a battle here if I could avoid it.

Steering my horse sideways, I positioned myself slightly to the left of Lance before yelling, “Now!”

Water whooshed through the air, forming a barrier right in front of Lance’s horse. It neighed and skidded to a halt to avoid crashing into it.

The abrupt stop almost sent Lance flying out of the saddle, but he managed to hold on while pulling the reins to make the horse go left instead.

Henry threw another blast of water. This time, it shot straight towards me. Slapping my hands together, I hurled a force wall at it.

Splashing noises echoed across the grass as the water smacked straight into my wall, forming another barrier right where Lance had planned on riding through. The horse snorted and backtracked again as the path suddenly became blocked. It stopped their movements enough for Audrey to hit Lance with a poison cloud from behind his back.

His eyes widened and he jerked back in the saddle as the green mist forced its way down his throat. A moment later, he tipped sideways and crashed down hard on the ground. The horse snorted again and paced nervously. While Henry rode up to it to grab the reins, Audrey and I moved over to the now unconscious Binder.

“Did he really think that would work?” Audrey said, and shook her head as she slid down from her saddle.

I dropped down from my horse as well. “The funny thing is that if he had just waited until we were inside the city, it probably would have.”

Another set of hooves sounded behind me. Glancing over my shoulder, I found Paige trotting up to us. She flicked her eyes between me and Audrey while opening her mouth, but then she just closed it again and hopped down from the saddle.

“I can hold your horses,” she said as she moved a little closer to us. “Sorry that I couldn’t really do anything to help back there when…” Trailing off, she squinted at the Binder on the ground. “Is he dead?”

“No,” Audrey answered while handing her the reins and then crouching down beside Lance. “But he’s about to wish he was.”

She touched her palms together and then withdrew the poison from Lance’s body. He jerked awake with a gasp. While blinking repeatedly, he whipped his gaze around the area. Dread surged up in his eyes when he realized the position he was in.

“I was under the impression that you knew exactly what would happen if you disobeyed me,” Audrey said, her voice smooth and cold. “Which is why we have allowed you to ride without wearing handcuffs. But it appears that I was mistaken.”

“N-no,” Lance began as he tried to sit up and scoot away from her. “No, I remember.”

Audrey’s eyes were hard as she touched her palms together again. “Apparently not well enough.”

Before Lance could get away, she placed her hand on his arm.

A scream ripped from his throat.

She immediately pressed her hands together again and then touched him on the shoulder. He flinched, but no cry of pain came from him that time. Narrowing my eyes, I studied Audrey intently. It looked as though she couldn’t actually make that move work every time. That was good for me, since I had no intention of ever being on the receiving end of whatever she did.

Transforming her movement, she used her hand to yank him closer again, as if that was what she had planned on doing from the beginning. Lance appeared to buy it, but I sure didn’t.

After touching her palms once more, she planted her hand straight against Lance’s chest.

An ear-splitting scream echoed through the air as Lance dropped back down and squirmed in pain on the grass.

Audrey repeated the process a few more times until the Binder was sobbing and begging her to stop.

“P-please,” he pressed out. “I’ll follow your orders. Please.”

Shooting him a disgusted look, Audrey pushed to her feet and dusted her hands off on her pants. “See to it that you do.”

“Shit, Audrey,” Paige said into the sudden silence.

I had almost forgotten that she was there, so I turned to look at her. As did Audrey and Henry.

Her mouth had dropped open slightly, and she was staring down at Lance before looking up and meeting Audrey’s gaze with wide eyes. A flash of hesitation shot across Audrey’s features.

“I didn’t know you could do that,” Paige finished.

Audrey cleared her throat and hooked a few strands of hair behind her ear. “Yeah, uhm, I’ve gotten a lot better with my magic since I left the academy.”

“Clearly. Makes me feel like I’ve been slacking off.”

“I, uhm…” Uncertainty blew across her face again. Then she cleared her throat once more and abruptly moved back over to her horse. “We should get going. We need to find a place to stay before nightfall.”

“Right. Yeah. Of course.”

Awkward silence fell as we all climbed back into the saddles and started towards Castlebourne again.

Seeing Audrey act uncertain like this should have made me feel happy, because it gave me more power. But it just made me feel as though someone was scraping a knife over my bones.

Hell, I really hoped those two figured their shit out soon.