“You need me. Let me help you,” she pleaded with Kai.

“Knock her out, Sera.”

Fear shone in Lara’s eyes—fear with a healthy dose of defiance. She clenched her fists and glared at Kai. Sera broke her magic. The defiance in Lara’s eyes glazed over, and she fell unconscious to the floor.

Kai watched Sera closely. She could feel him sensing her magic.

“Your power is growing,” he said proudly. Her heart soared a bit at seeing that look in his eyes.

Sera looked at Ares and Lara. “What do we do about them?”

“Tie them up.” He pulled out some bindings, giving one set to Sera. They hummed with magic.

She looked at him curiously.

“New restraints from our research department,” he said. “They will hold our guests, especially now that their magic has been drained.”

Sera nodded, binding Lara as he bound Ares.

“We’ll deal with them later.” Kai pulled out his phone. “Tony, come here. Bring Dal and Callum.”

A few moments later, the commandos filed into the tiny office, which seemed to shrink by the second. Their eyes panned across the scene, assessing the situation, including the pair of handcuffed sleeping beauties on the floor.

“These two are going to be our guests for a while. Show them to their rooms in the dungeon,” Kai told them.

As the commandos carried Ares and Lara off over their shoulders, Sera asked him, “You have a dungeon? Like a real dungeon? In this building?”

“Of course. Any self-respecting member of an old magic dynasty has a dungeon. I reject many of the old ways, Sera, but this is one tradition I’m glad I’ve kept. It’s come in useful on more than one occasion.”

“You’re sometimes very dark, you know.”

He sighed. “I know.”

She took his hand. “We all are. There is a dark side to magic. The side that desires power. The side that hurts people.”

“The Grim Reaper is that side,” he said.

“He really is. And that is how he’s able to seduce so many to his side. He feeds that dark side of magic until there is nothing else left.”

“We will fight it,” he told her. “Together.”

“You bet we will. Alden will soon realize his mistake in challenging dragons.”

He brushed his hand across her cheek. “Your magic is the opposite from Alden’s, you know.”

“Oh?”

“He is darkness. You are light.”

“Why, Kai Drachenburg, I do believe you’re hitting on me.”

“Maybe just a little,” he admitted. “But what I said is true nonetheless.”

She smiled. “The best pickup lines always are.”

She linked her arm with his, and they walked back to the ballroom.

“Where are Ares and that woman?” someone asked.

A few others looked to Kai for answers. No one seemed to know who Lara was. Sera had a feeling Kai was going to keep it that way—and keep her safe. Even if she was on Alden’s side, she was still his little sister. He probably thought he could fix her. Sera hoped he could. Kai put on a strong face, but beneath that facade, Lara’s defection was clearly eating away at him.

“They will be staying in my dungeon until we can figure out if they have betrayed us,” he told his allies.

No one looked shocked by his statement, a testament to the old-fashioned ways of the magical elite. A few people even nodded in approval. Margery Kensington looked mildly curious.

“We will attack Alden,” Kai declared.

“Now?” someone asked.

“Now,” Kai confirmed. “Alden thinks he has time, that our disadvantage is we are always too caught up in discussions to act. Well, tonight we won’t wait for bureaucracy to take its excruciatingly slow course. Tonight we act. And tonight we win.”

CHAPTER TWENTY

Witching Point

WITCHING POINT, BUILT by the Magic Council in the late twentieth century, was a beautiful building set atop Mount Davidson, the tallest point in the city. Every wall was constructed from special enchanted glass that resonated and amplified spells inside the building into a sensory symphony of magic, allowing even those who could not sniff out magic to experience that wondrous beauty. Supernaturals came here to feel magic, to bathe in that living song of spells.

Sera stood outside the building, the wind sliding across her face as she looked down, the silk ribbons of magic kissing her skin. Below, the city sparkled with a million lights. The view here at night was simply stunning.

The members of Kai’s attack force were making their final preparations before they infiltrated Alden’s base. The commandos were there and Riley too, ready to deal damage with his magic bombs. He had outfitted Kai, Sera, himself, and the commandos with his special magic-resilient armor.

“What do I have to do to get some of that fancy armor?” Cutler asked.

“Stop hitting on my sister,” Riley said.

Sera snorted. Kai glanced over at them, his face appropriately menacing. Cutler just shrugged and gave them a casual smile, the kind he probably used to pick up dates at tropical resorts.

“The base is protected by a magic barrier,” Sera told Kai.

“I sense it. Can you break it?”

“I’m not sure. It’s very strong.”

“We could weaken it first,” Riley suggested. He held up two of his bombs.

“That’s not a good idea. The barrier bounces magic,” Sera told him. “It’s up to me.”