Angel's Regret
Conrad's Pov
If I had known this is what would happen I would not have allowed Keira to be part of this fight. She almost lost her life and will probably take days if not weeks to recover from the injuries. Not even our mate bond is present to help her heal faster.
"Where is her father?" I ask my brothers. It's obvious they do not want to talk about that. A thing that worries me because they were under Shaman's spell.
"When that witch and her father arrived Keira's father and her friends tried attacking them. Of course we thought the woman was Keira so we defended her," Garren answers.
"You didn't kill them, did you?" I ask.
"No. The witch demanded that they be punished and locked up. We let the soldiers do the dirty work since we did not want to be directly involved. We thought that she would regret the decision later," Fenris answers.
I wonder how bad the punishment was because there is a chance that our mate's father will never forgive us. I understand that my brothers were under a spell and couldn't tell that the sorcerer's daughter wasn't Keira. But it still angers me to see our mate unconscious from pain that saving their bewitched minds.
"Where are they locked up?" I ask.
"Palace basement. I was going to head there after she wakes," Garren answers.
"It's better she finds out that they are okay when she wakes. But I cannot guarantee that they are fine since we never asked what the soldiers did to them," Fenris says. "We still have time to check on them and apologize before she wakes."
My heart pounds with anxiety as I lead the way to my our palace's most desolate spaces. Sometimes even soldiers forget to check on the prisoners. Hopefully they didn't forget this time.
"I am sorry for using my powers on you. You got every right to revenge if you want to," Garren says ruefully as we descend the endless stairs.
"I am fine," I say even though my chest still hurts from the wild beating of my heart when he cast that illusion of fear on my mind. I saw something strange whilst fighting the fear. Apparently his powers makes one's mind see things that terrify them to the core. "You thought you were protecting Keira, I do not blame you for doing it fiercely," I say.
Of course I am angry deep inside. I would have preferred that they did not fight us so hard.
"How come the spell only affected us and not you?" Fenris asks.
"We found your scarves inside that Shaman's house in Silverpaw. He used the to cast the spell," I inform.
"How can he have had our scarves when neither he or his daughter had ever entered this palace before?" Garren questions.
"The obvious answer is we are sheltering a traitor. Most likely a servant," Fenris says.
"We must find out who. They may know where that witch ran with the darkstone," Garren urges.
We have been over a hundred servants within the palace grounds. Any of them could have stolen the scarves. We cannot torture everyone except Keira's friends who cannot have done it.
"I say we take care of Keira first. Leave the task of finding our traitor to me. Whoever it is won't last until fightfall," Fenris is assures.
I wonder what he plans to do to identify the traitor. Fenris is not the kindest of people when seeking revenge.
He wrinkles his nose and slows the pace as we get closer to the bottom of the staircase inside the stinky basement.
"We spoke with a ghost of our mother at the fountain," I say and everyone halts.
"You what? What did she say?" Fenris demands in a curious tone.
"That she shouldn't have spoiled you," I say and he raises an eyebrow.
"That was a joke. She said she is proud of us. Of how powerful we have become and finding a mate of pure heart," I say and both of their faces lights up.
"She also said that a great tribulation lies ahead of us," I add and their smiles fade.
"Without her father that stupid witch is more likely to kill herself with the darkstone than she is likely to cause us more problems," Garren says dismissively.
"I do not think she was talking about Arina or her father," I answer, carrying on walking down the corridor that leads to the cells.
I really hope what I saw when Garren cast that illusion of fear on me isn't what our mother was warning us about. Because it made me shudder to the core.
Fenris walks even slower as we get closer to the cells.
"The jerks are here. The witch must have demanded for our execution," Michael, our librarian, says to his human mate and Keira's father and Ezra who are asleep on the dirty floor.
They all back up against the farthest wall as I pull the door and the silver chain holding it breaks.
"My brothers are no longer under the witches spell. There is no need to be afraid," I assure.
They relax but still look furious at our presence.
"Is she still alive?" Ezra asks.
"She escaped. Her father is dead," I answer.
He and Keira's father sigh inrelief. He must be disappointed in our ability to protect his beautiful daughter. He helped us regain her trust but we are still let them down again.
"Our deepest apologies for putting you through this," Garren says in an apologetic tone.
"Yes, we are sorry for all the pain we have caused you. You are free to bath in our chambers and ask for whatever food you would like to eat," Fenris adds.
Michael's mate steps forward, still not looking pleased. She surprisingly halts right in front of Fenris and punches him right in the face.
"Oh no!" Michael rushes forward and pulls her back. But the brave lady keeps glaring at my brother who appears quite surprised.
"That was for Keira, your majesty. I wish I had the strength to knock out a tooth, it's the least you deserve," she says.
"She does not mean that, sir. She is hungry and . . ., " Michael attempts apologizing for his mate who doesn't look rueful at all.
"She is impressively brave, the kind of friend that our queen deserves," Fenris surprisingly compliments. "But next time she punches me with a dirty hand I will have her hanged," he states in a more serious tone.
Michael nods in relief while hugging his mate more tightly as if afraid she might punch one of us again.
"Where is my daughter now that the witch is gone?" Keira's father demands.