Melody, aka Mariah II, returned with two additional women wheeling carts of materials. Of course, a nice long knife sat atop the folds of fabric, which could only mean…

Blood magic.

‘Time to use those diplomacy skills, Rage. Chat up King Ozzie, and I’ll see what I can find out from the mage dude. I don’t trust him.’

‘Got it.’

Rage turned his attention to the selkie king and asked, “How long have you ruled the selkies? The last record we have was when King Pike ruled.”

“That was back when your uncle banned us from Shifter Island,” Ozark replied, his tone heavily weighted with displeasure. “Nearly twenty years ago.”

Yikes! I hadn’t realized the timing was so close to when Crescent Clan got the boot.

I tuned out their conversation and approached the young mage. “How many bindings like this have you done before?”

“A couple dozen.” He shrugged and began to organize the items, setting the knife, three wooden bowls, and a bottle of mage wine on one cart and everything else on the other.

I sidled up closer and dropped my voice. “Sooo, you seem pretty powerful. Are you an adept? Or maybe even a master mage?”

I probed for how well this guy knew his magical crap since he was about to cut into my mate.

“No,” he muttered, shooting me a glare. “Only the rich mage kids get to attend the High Mage Academy and get a mage ranking.”

What? High Mage Academy sounded lame—or maybe that was all of mage society. “That’s stupid.”

He looked up from his sorting and just glared at me. “It is what it is.”

“What’s with all the ingredients?” I pointed to his bowls and other stuff he’d amassed. “You sure you can do this? I’m sort of fond of my mate and don’t want it backfiring.”

He glared at me and shook his head. “Of course I can. Why else would I be bound to the selkie king if I wasn’t the best in my village?”

Whoa. “Bound? Like an indentured servant?”

Was that even legal? I guess so since Surlama said her sister was in a similar situation with the alpha king.

He shook his head, and the tension coiling in my chest waned.

“My mother had eight kids. She couldn’t afford to feed all of us, so she sold me—” he leaned forward. “—like a slave. That’s what happens out here when you’re born into poverty, Alpha Heir.” He sliced the tip of a dagger through his hand, letting the blood from his wound drip into the wooden bowl.

Someone was grumpy, not that I could blame him.

He wound a piece of muslin around the cut and then faced me. “Or should I call you High Mage Heir?”

‘My cover’s been blown. Mayday! Mayday!’ I told Rage, but he just looked at me funny from across the room.

I straightened, my heart thundering in my chest. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.” I played coy but yanked my top up to cover my mark in case it was exposed again.

“Sure you don’t.” He shook his head. “There’s a different name for those like you…”

I stepped back, willing him to keep his mouth shut.

His expression tightened, and he hissed, “High crime.”

Frick.

“Are you ready, Jakko boy?” King Ozark asked from across the room. “Breakfast is done, and I’m famished. I’m sure our guests are hungry as well.”

The mage glared at the king and poured some mage wine into the bowl with his blood. Then, he dragged a strip of linen through the elixir and set it into the next empty bowl. When he looked up toward the king and Rage, his expression smoothed, and he smiled vapidly. “Give me your hand next, Alpha Heir.” He looked to Rage.

‘Is it okay?’ Rage asked.

‘I don’t know.’ I swallowed hard. ‘I’ll make sure he doesn’t take very much blood, but I couldn’t get a good read on him.’

I didn’t know crap about magic, but why was Jakko using his blood in the spell when it was only between Rage and the king? I guess I didn’t do a very good job of scoping this dude out. But we’d have to roll with it if we wanted out of here.

Three drops of Rage’s blood later, and the mage grabbed a clean piece of the cloth and wrapped it around Rage’s finger. “That’s all I need from you.”

Rage nodded and stepped back. ‘That was easy.’

‘Too easy. He didn’t even ask you to swear an oath or make a promise.’

‘Maybe that’s next?’ Rage said, but he side-eyed the stoner mage with suspicion.

Maybe I should have asked the dude how much weed he smoked today. That might’ve been better than grilling him on magic I knew nothing about.

“All right, King Ozark,” the young man said, waving for the selkie king to come closer. “It’s your turn.”

Ozark descended the dais and towered over the mage kid, but I only saw that out of the corner of my eye because my attention was riveted on the wooden bowls. Jakko hadn’t poured Rage’s blood into the main bowl that he’d put his own blood and mage wine into. Not that I knew if he was supposed to or not, but … it didn’t feel right.

In fact, the little stoner had taken the cloth from out of the bowl where he’d collected Rage’s blood and then wiped the entire dagger’s blade with it. He switched his grip on the hilt, and my alarm bells started ringing. Instead of angling the blade to the side, to prick the king’s finger … he held it tight in his fist like he was going to stab someone.

‘Hey, does your blood do anything if someone is cut with it?’ I asked Rage as panic crawled through me.

‘What?’

Time seemed to slow as Jakko shifted his stance toward the king.

Holy. Freakin’. Mage.

I knew that stance.

Jakko grabbed the selkie king’s wrist and then raised the blade.

No, no, no…

I lurched forward, crashing into Jakko just as he brought the knife down. The deadly arc’s trajectory changed, and the blade grazed the outside of the king’s leg instead of being buried deep within the femoral artery where he’d been aiming.

The young mage ripped the knife up and whirled on me in anger.

King Ozark’s bellow barely registered as my attention tunneled onto the threat in front of me.

Jakko’s look was feral, his upper lip curled as he snarled at me.

“You never could do the binding spell, could you?” The king’s voice was so sharp it could cut glass.

“No. But I finally had an opportunity to kill you.” He lunged, coming at me since I stood between him and the king.

Without my magic, I was left with only my hand to hand combat skills. I swung my arm up and over my chest, rotating my forearm to add power to the block. My arm hit his as Rage leapt in front of me in a blur and tackled the mage to the ground. My mate slammed his knee into the slender mage and then wrested the knife from the young man’s grip. His face was smooshed into the ground with Rage on his back, and within seconds, Rage had both of the mage’s hands restrained behind him. King Ozark dashed forward and knelt on the ground, but if he meant to help Rage, the selkie king was a fraction too slow. He took the young man’s wrists and called for his guards even though the teenage mage’s body was slack and completely submissive.