Adelia read over her letters to Katrina and Izabel one more time before she folded and sealed them with wax, placing them within the magical boxes. She would meet with her friends in person soon, but until then she would reassure them that all was well and going well, too.
She had also received a letter from Queen Nina, requesting that they further detail their alliance and she would discuss that with Rowan once he was awake.
The repairs in the entrance hall were coming along nicely and they were currently putting the crystals into the dungeon for safekeeping, carefully contained in boxes so no one risked touching them even while transporting them somewhere.
Alexzander's mage stone had been put into the treasury, kept safe there until it was needed and its fate decided. Both Miriam and Ivan had left yesterday, since they wished to recover at home, and they would return tomorrow to head into Alexzander's lands together.
Adelia's new lands. It was still a strange thought, she had to admit, that she was going to be a warlord – that she was currently already considered to be one by those around her. It was still a downright wondrous thing, she had to admit, to be considered so capable so openly by those around her that they entrusted her with that much power. Their faith in her made her feel as tall as a mountain.
She kept working, going over a rough draft of a written alliance with Queen Nina, which would be signed by her thralled husband, naturally, once they all agreed on the terms. Towards the end of the draft, she had to light candles as it grew late.
She had just finished the draft when there was a brush of an almost-breeze, the candles flickering faintly, before clawed, cool hands gently settled onto her shoulders. Rowan leaned down to kiss the top of her head.
"Good morning," Adelia greeted him as she leaned back into his touch with a small, warm smile. "Did you rest well?"
"As deep and dreamless as ever," Rowan murmured. "How was your day?"
"Calm," Adelia answered and gestured to the letter from Queen Nina she had set aside. "Nina wants to meet with us soon, she would like to hammer out a propper, written alliance."
Rowan hummed and leaned past her to take the letter, his other hand still resting on her shoulder. As he read, his fingers started to massage at a tense spot by her neck that had her sighing softly and tipping her head to the side to give him more room to work with.
When the tension released, her shoulders lowering faintly, his thumb began to slowly traced up and down the line of her throat. His touch was gentle and cool and Adelia felt a pleasant shiver run down her spine, warmth spreading beneath her skin.
"I was thinking about meeting with her once we've been to Alexzander's lands," Adelia said when Rowan handed the letter back to her. "When I am to be named Warlord, I would like to ensure I come with a treaty that benefits us both."
"A splendid idea," he said and leaned down to press a gentle kiss to the top of her head anew. "Do you think she'll treat fairly with us?"
Adelia tipped her head to the side slightly as she thought and Rowan's thumb lingered over her pulse point, claw-tip ever so faintly pressing into her skin. It thoroughly distracted her for a moment as she bit down on her lower lip, enjoying how his touch felt. She still wanted him to bite her and they were both here now...
"She will deal with us fairly," she decided. "She knows she will not benefit from shortchanging or slighting us, not after everything." Not with the secrets they shared and not when they all knew that they could still make use of each other in the future.
She then tipped her head back to look up at her beloved. "I'm currently done with work," she murmured. "And if you have some free time to spare, I would not mind if we took a moment to ourselves." Her voice lowered slightly as she added, "Would you still like to bite me?"
"Always," Rowan answered without missing a beat and leaned forward so she didn't have to crane her head quite as much. "But only if you are certain."
She reached up to take his hand, rising to her feet and he smoothly stepped aside, pulling the chair back for her. "I am," she reassured him. "I would not offer if I were not certain."
Not anymore, at least. Months ago, when everything had been new and she had still lived with the fright of her childhood home in her bones, she would not have known how to say no. But there was nothing to worry about with Rowan, his hands were among the safest she knew.
He gave her hand a gentle squeeze and asked, "Your rooms or mine?"
She made a soft, thoughtful hum and then smiled. "Yours." And hen her smile shifted to something more mischievous. "Might I rely on my darling to get us there in a swift manner?"
Rowan laughed and released her hand to sweep her off her feet, making her smile wider. "I adore you," he said, pressing a quick kiss to her temple as he cradled her against his chest. "Close your eyes."
She did and for a moment everything around her turned into a blur of too-fast sensations, Rowan turned around, the door getting opened between one moment and the next, and him moving too fast for her mind to keep up with.
It was breath-taking and with anyone else it would have been terrifying, but with him it was nothing short of exhilarating. It was over before she knew it, Rowan coming to a stop and he gently set her back down on her feet. His hands remained at her sides, supporting her as she sorted her senses back into order, blinking her eyes open.
They stood in his rooms, the heavy curtains pulled open and thick snow fell outside, the lit fireplace spreading a warm glow. The carpet was soft and thick beneath her slippers and Rowan a solid presence to lean against as the fast beat of her heart slowed a little.
"Shall we sit?" Rowan asked and she nodded, his cool hand taking hers as he guided her to the sofas by the fireplace. It was nicely warm here, the chill of winter remaining outside, more snow piling up on the windowsills and balcony.
Adelia sat down first, arranging her skirts and she looked up at him in quiet expectation, excitement and curiosity singing in her veins. Rowan's expression was soft, though there was also that ominous, red gleam in his dark eyes. A hint of the creature that he was shining through.
His hands reached out, cupping her cheeks and she leaned into the touch as he murmured, "There will likely be a sharp, brief sting, but it will be fleeting. Do you still wish to do this?"
"Absolutely," she said and tipped her head to the side to expose her neck. His hand slid from her cheek down the side of her throat, causing a pleasant shiver to travel down her spine again, warm and yearning for more.
His gaze was heavy and wanting, a heady thing as it rested on her pulse point, his thumb slowly tracing along her skin, light and lingering. Adelia reached out after a moment, giving his sleeves a tug and he shifted to kneel on the sofa before her.
Like this he loomed over her, his eyes gleaming a bleeding red and his mouth hung slightly open, fangs partly on display, a hunger there that was beyond human and a softness along the corners of his eyes that promised safety even in his want for her blood. All the same her heart beat a little faster, that animal part of her brain whispering that a monster was leaning over her, caging her against the end of the sofa, that he was going to devour her.
Good, she thought and she leaned into the excitement of it, the spark of something that seemed to light her senses up as she felt so thoroughly and delightfully captured by the vampire before her.
His hand on her cheek slid up to cradle her head better, clawed fingertips sinking into her hair, making it easier for her to lean into him.
His hand at her neck brushed a little lower, fingers curling around her dress's neckline to give it a gentle tug. Rowan gave her one more glance and she nodded, holding her breath a little in anticipation as he leaned in.
His lips brushed her neck, a cool, light touch that lingered sweetly and made that excited spark in her veins fan brighter.
He gave her neck a firmer kiss then, before his tongue snaked out to lick at her skin, languid and wet, causing her to inhale slightly deeper and she tightened her hold on his sleeves.
The next moment his hold on her shifted slightly, still gentle but firm enough now to better hold her, to hold her in place, that animal alarm sparking anew as it warned her that a dangerous predator had her and she smiled as his fangs sank into her neck.
There was indeed something that flared briefly, something sharp that entirely skittered past painful with how liquid warmth seemed to spread from her neck almost immediately. She relaxed into his hold more with each swallow he took, until she was loose and limp in a way she had never experienced she could be as the most pleasant haze filled her mind.
It was such a beautiful feeling, warm and honey sweet, and it brought a most wonderful tingling with it that seemed to wash through her limbs until a soft noise escaped her.
The world around her fell away entirely, leaving only Rowan and the way she felt so sensitive to his touch, the yearning of more that flowed through her as her veins seemed to fill with stardust and honey warmth.
She sank so deeply into his hold, into him, full of trust and wanting while it felt as though she drifted through a river of delight, that it took her a long moment to realize when it was over.
It was a soft realization, lapping against her senses like ripples in the current, drawing her attention slowly and gently. Still, she drifted a moment longer until she grew aware of her body bit by bit. Her fingertips and toes, her knees and arms, the weight of flesh and life that had gotten entirely overshadowed by a feeling of sweet delight.
A soft hum escaped her, allowing her to grow aware of the fact that she had a voice, a throat, a head that felt heavy and was resting on something.
She was cradled against a body, solid and safe, arms wound around her and a gentle hand carding through your hair, a chest rumbling as someone spoke. Her eyes were closed and there was still stardust in her veins, but she managed to open them slowly.
It took her a moment to understand that she and Rowan were on the sofa still, with her sitting on his lap in a most intimate manner, her skirts pooled around them with the way her knees framed his hips, her chest pressed to his and her head resting on his shoulder. She closed her eyes again, safe and happy as she could possibly be and she just allowed herself to enjoy and bask in this feeling.
The stardust slowly glimmered out after long minutes and it left behind that warm, honeyed sweetness and so Adelia opened her eyes again. "That was amazing," she murmured and Rowan laughed softly, a glad and warm tone to his voice and he leaned down to kiss the top of her head.
"Good," he said quietly, the hand carding through her hair falling down to her shoulders. He rubbed along them with just the right kind of firmness to make her sigh softly and lean even more against him.
"How are you?" she asked after another long moment of just resting and basking a bit more and now that she felt a little clearer she could truly take in and appreciate how he felt against her.
His body pressed to hers, the shape of his hips between her thighs, his chest that she could lean against so nicely and that only rose and fell when he inhaled so he could speak, the arms securely wrapped around her. She found she quite enjoyed the way he fit against her and the way she fit against him.
"Oh, I am perfect," Rowan answered, a smile in his voice. "Better than perfect."
She shifted her head enough to look up at him and there was something about him now, perhaps it was the ruby glow of his eyes that did not vanish, perhaps it was the way he seemed to be brimming with renewed strength, a vitality to him that was different to when he drank the bottled blood.
In all his un-death, in all the stillness of his body, there was a deep and heavy power to him in this moment that made him look so far beyond mortal it tickled at the part of her brain again, the one that had been warning her of the predator that had caught her, but it faded quickly, for she felt far too warm and safe. Besides, either way, there was nothing to worry about.
If being bit always felt this wondrous, she would offer him her blood more often from now on.
There was also a pulsing hum of want in her body that swelled to the forefront now that the hazy stardust was gone and she found herself pressing up against him a little more, his hold around her tightening in the most pleasing manner.
"Kiss me, please," she murmured and he was only too happy to oblige.
She sank into the kisses, into his touches as his hands traced along her back and still he wasn't close enough. She wanted more. She wanted him, all of him.
"Take me to bed?" she asked when she pulled back, want sitting hot and heavy in her gut like glimmering embers waiting to burn bright. The blood-red shimmer in Rowan's eyes seemed to deepen, his hold on her growing a bit firmer.
"Are you certain?" he asked, his voice a little lower and deeper as want sparked in him anew. Still, his voice remained free of judgement and it held a quiet softness at the edges. "I would be happy to keep holding you like this if you wish."
While that sounded nice, she was ready.
"I am certain," Adelia answered and she pushed up into him for one more quick kiss. "So very much."
He kissed her back, passion and love and yearning intertwined in a heady mixture.
"How much vampire do you want?" Rowan asked, pressing a kiss to her jaw as though unable to help himself.
She happily tipped her head to the side, letting him press an open-mouthed kiss to the side of her neck he hadn't bitten, his fangs making her shiver with a soft noise as he teased her with the shape of them without sinking them into her.
She found herself smiling as she said, "I want you as you are, my dearest vampire." She sank her fingers into his hair. "Give it all to me."
He got up with a low rumble vibrating in his chest, moving as though she weighed nothing while holding her cradled close, her skirts hiked up far beyond decency, her body pressed flush to his in a way that made the hungry yearning in her grow.
She laughed, warm and eager, as he carried her off, happy and wanting and safe beyond measure.
And Rowan showed her, in all his monstrous glory, that all the stories she had been told about bedding someone were as false as they could be. There was no pain and no enduring, no waiting until the rutting was over while thinking of heirs. No duty of any kind.
There was love and devotion, pleasure and passion, and no blood spilled, not even when she asked him to bite her again.
They didn't leave his bed for a good long while.
..*
"A problem occurred to me," Adelia said as soon as she had greeted her friends, Ivan and Miriam looking as well and strong as ever and they had brought Iris with them. "Isn't it law that a warlord may only be challenged in their own home?"
That little rule had slipped her mind until she had read up on the customs of warlords in preparation of laying claim to Alexzander's lands.
"Ordinarily, yes," Miriam agreed with a shrug. "But no one could actually enter Alexzander's home before so the rest of us agreed a while ago that whoever manages to kill him gets his lands, doesn't matter where or how they do it. Unless, of course, they are a fellow warlord. We are pretty rigid about not changing territories without very good reason."
"We best prepare for traps when we get there, since our spies never come back, either," Ivan added and Iris nodded grimly. "And Alexzander never invited us into his home. He didn't hold any gatherings in his home, either, not even somewhere else on his lands. We won't know what we have to expect."
"We can enter his lands, but not his home, that is warded," Iris said and at Miriam's curious look she gave a small shrug. "You weren't the only one that wanted to kill him. His home reeked of magic, though, so I left again."
"Then we best prepare for the worst, unless his wards and protections collapsed upon his death," Ivan mused.
"Perhaps we should take Alexzander's remains with us," Adelia suggested. "If the wards are still part of him, perhaps we can undo them with his mage stone." And if not, they could use the power of the stone itself to shatter any barriers and to shield them from harm.
"Clever idea," Miriam said approvingly and Adelia inclined her head with a small smile.
"I tend to have those," she answered primly and her friends laughed, the slight tension that had built evaporating.
"I'll go get the mage stone," Rowan offered and the next moment he was gone, Adelia's hair swishing back, her skirts shifting against her legs with how fast he moved.
"Show-off," Miriam said with an eye-roll that honestly looked more exasperatedly fond than anything else. "Do we need anything else before we leave?"
"I'm good," Ivan said, gesturing at the amulet around his neck and Adelia and Iris nodded. "Oh man, I'm honestly excited. What do you think we'll find in Alexzander's home? Skeletons? His heart in a jar?"
"Crystals, for sure," Iris mused.
"And I bet there is at least one secret lab or room holding his darkest secrets," Adelia added, which made them snort.
"Oh, absolutely," Miriam agreed, just as Rowan returned, a gust of air brushing past Adelia again as he came to stand beside her, offering her the mage stone in the small box they kept it in so no one had to touch it directly.
"Shall we?" Adelia asked as she accepted the box. At her question everyone stepped outside the entrance hall and beyond Sorceress Iva's wards to where others could open portals.
There Miriam threw stones that gleamed like the manifested sea into the air and they turned to dust that swirled, spreading and growing until a pale, green-blue portal ringed in a wash of waves split the air apart.
Miriam gestured for them to step through and Adelia did so first. It was disorienting to walk through a portal, her body briefly uncertain if it was going to survive being in two so very distant places at once.
But the magic of the portal hummed, a deep wash of water, as though the ocean was telling her to simply walk across its ever moving surface without thinking about the impossibility of it. The sea felt like the lungs of the world in that moment, breathing beneath her and pushing her forward, and then she was safely on the other side.
It was dark, for night had fallen an hour ago and the winds here were just as bitterly icy as back home. She stood at a crossroads, the wooden sign so weathered nothing could be read upon it anymore. The snow was untouched, as well, showing that no one had traveled this way, at least not since the last snowfall.
Turning around, her skirts bunching a bit as they laid atop the snow, her steps crunching softly, she paused when she saw a castle rising, pale and ominous in a way that went beyond the visual.
On an instinctual level she knew that approaching this place meant inviting doom into her life. She could almost taste it on her tongue, like despair and death.
She clutched the box a little closer and straightened, firming her resolve. This was hers now and nothing of hers was going to threaten what she valued. And she was part of to the things she valued now.
The times of cowering, the times of being quiet and agreeable, of ghosting along the edges of life and obeying rules of others, never getting to speak herself, were over.
She was a warlord now and this castle was going to be her home whenever she was not with Rowan.
Rowan appeared beside her in a flash of ocean green and he, too, took a quick glance around, before he stared at the castle, as well.
"That no one went there recently tells me Alexzander was not in the habit of commanding living servants," Adelia mused and Rowan hummed a low noise in agreement.
One by one their friends arrived and turned towards the castle. "Shall we?" Adelia asked, noting that Ivan had a tiny shiver running down his spine, Iris was notably scenting the air and Miriam was staring at the castle, a hand on the hilt of her blade, as though she was ready to fight.
At her words they all paused and blinked, before their shoulders eased a little. It seemed she was not the only one who had felt the castle's effects. It must be powerful magic, too, if it could affect them even from afar.
Perhaps it was meant as a deterrent for spies and attackers. Or to distract them and weaken them so they were easier pickings.
They walked towards the imposing building, the road covered in a thick layer of snow and not even trails of animals could be found upon or near it. Not even the little marks left by birds. It was eerily silent, too, as though not even the wind dared to whisper here.
When they reached the high, thick walls surrounding the castle, a heavy iron portcullis protecting large wooden gates, Miriam and Ivan went to investigate, while Iris was squinting up at the crenelations.
"I can smell enchanted iron," she said. "I bet if we're not careful, we're going to trigger a bunch of enchanted crossbows or something like that."
"What a waste of magic," Ivan muttered. "Crossbows can't negotiate or send a message if someone shows up at your gate with important news. And what if an attacker gets past them? Or comes in from the air? Rowan here moves too fast for enchanted weaponry to get him."
"I think he would welcome burglars of any kind," Miriam mused grimly. "He probably has so many deadly traps laid throughout that only very few people would ever make it to him."
"Probably some sort of alarm glyph too, if his front door gets opened without his leave," Iris added.
"Still," Ivan sighed. "Moron doesn't know how to value proper guards, capable of thought and adjusting to situations. Fucking idiot."
That they all definitely agreed with.
After another moment of careful examination, Miriam found subtle enchantments at the inside of the portcullis, along with little stones filled with magic so the spells could be fueled.
"They will likely activate if someone either rattles this hard enough or breaks it," she said, then cracked her knuckles. "Adelia, Alexzander's heart, if you please. Let's see if his creations recognize his distilled essence."
Adelia opened the chest and removed the mage stone. It hummed in her hands, the possibility of magic, of the world, seemingly at her fingertips. She stepped forward while Miriam and Ivan readied protective shields, just in case this would trigger a defense mechanism.
Rowan stood close, ready to pull her to safety, with Iris braced to grab Ivan and Miriam and yank them away, too, if needed.
Adelia took a deep breath and touched the stone to the portcullis. There was a hum of magic in the air and the next moment it pulled up with the clinking of heavy, thick chains, revealing the heavy gate beyond. She heard everyone exhale in subtle relief.
"Alright, that will make it easier," Iris muttered and Adelia gently touched the stone to the gate next, which swung open with a low, creaking groan.
Beyond it laid a snow covered courtyard, not a single plant within sight. Just an empty space with equally empty stables and guard house to the side. There was a door subtly tucked away to the right, likely leading to the kitchens.
"I can't sense anything living anywhere," Rowan murmured in that moment and Adelia glanced at him. His eyes were glowing an ominous, bloody red, his gaze slightly distant. "Not even a rodent."
"This place reeks of death," Iris added. "Not, as in, there are bodies, but more that... you'll die, if you are here uninvited."
"I can feel it, too," Adelia admitted. "But Alexzander's ghost has no power over us."
They exchanged a quick smile before they crossed through the courtyard, snow crunching beneath their steps, the air eerily silent and still. The castle itself felt deadly and heavy, as though it would like to crush the air out of their lungs by its sheer presence alone. By making them feel each individual stone it had been built with.
The moment Adelia touched the mage stone to the large entrance door, the feeling vanished entirely and the door swung open quietly. All at once, lights flickered on inside, candles igniting themselves and casting a bright glow across a perfectly clean and rather luxurious entrance hall.
Large paintings hung on the pale, white-gray stone walls, depicting a myriad of scenes. Unicorns slaughtered, dragons broken on the ground, giants beheaded. All done in by mages.
"Yikes," Iris murmured and Adelia had to swallow a sudden, inappropriate little giggle at her friend's obvious, dry disgust.
"It is rather ghastly," she agreed and stepped forward. There were four pillars holding up the high ceiling, each one carved with magical creatures, though these at least were alive.
Across from the entrance door was a sprawling imperial staircase, leading to the next floor, the door awaiting there large and ornate and carved, the wood shimmering honey-golden in the light.
At the ground floor, between the imperial staircase, was another big door, just like there were big doors to the left and right of the entrance hall, each one honey-golden and decorated with carved wreathes of flowers blooming around rearing dragons.
"Splitting up is probably a bad idea, until we've found and disabled all the traps. So, where do we go first?"
"Left," Adelia decided. "We should check this floor entirely before heading to the next one."
Her friends and beloved easily followed her, the hallway beyond the door lined with large crystal-glass windows on one side and a sprawling carpet was rolled out across the stone. It was made of a darker blue-green, with golden symbols and sigils across, depicting the elements of magic in a beautifully woven display.
The first room revealed a storage chamber that was entirely empty of anything but solid wooden shelves and even those looked expensive with little carvings along the edges.
The room beyond that revealed an office that likely would have belonged to a steward, just as richly furnished, another blue carpet, this one with golden designs on the floor and a large painting with dead fairies, their wings ripped off and scattered besides their bodies on a wall.
After that came a suite that would have belonged to a steward, as well, a drawing room, a bedroom, bathroom and a little dressing room. Everything was, in all honesty, tastefully and expensively furnished and absolutely nothing looked used or dusty. There were also more paintings, this time of mages burning screaming, begging people alive.
"Where did he get all this money?" Miriam mused by the time they had circled back to the right side of the castle, having seen more artfully furnished rooms.
On the right side, they found a big kitchen and storage room leading to far more modest serving quarters, tucked away from the main bulk of the castle and those windows were made of simple glass.
They returned to the kitchen to step through a honey-golden door and they found themselves in a large, ostentatious dining room. There were crystal-glass windows on one wall, large and perfectly polished. Adelia didn't even wish to calculate the cost. Only King Harold's palace – or rather, Queen Nina's now – had that much crystal-glass.
Beyond the dining room was a large recreational room for when guests were over – Alexzander had probably never had anyone over, so the purpose for this room was likely just for aesthetic reasons.
Beyond that, through a door at the side, they entered a throne room, large and sprawling, the pillars decorated with more carvings, the windows made of stained crystal glass this time.
There were chandeliers with more crystal glass above, casting glimmering rainbow shimmers over everything and illuminating subtly inlaid metal within the stonework, so a magical shine seemed to dance all across the room, shifting as they walked. It was breathtaking and beautiful and something not even a king would waste money on unless they were particularly stupid.
Large double doors led from the throne room back to the entrance hall and they ended up right by the imperial staircase as they poked their heads out.
A third door in the throne room, tucked off to the side, led to a massive library filled to the brim with books that they all immediately agreed to catalogue as soon as it was safe. Large windows would illuminate everything during the day, framed by blue and gold curtains and even here were disturbing artworks on the walls.
Adelia already quietly planned to see them taken down and, over time, replaced. She would not look at all that death day in and day out. More than that, it wasn't just the depiction of death, it was the depiction of cruelty that made those paintings so vile.
They stood almost in contrast to the tastefully and artfully furnished rooms and maybe that was the point. Each painting drew the eye without fail, displaying the aftermath of violence and the triumphs of mages over other beings, because the rest of the room was so pleasant.
It was a very good reflection of Alexzander's mind. All that gleaming beauty that was only used to frame his hunger for dominance over all.
They found the armory next and it was only sparingly equipped with some enchanted crossbows and blades that, upon activation, would fling themselves at the nearest thing with a pulse. At the moment, however, they all laid dormant.
They hadn't found a single active trap either, so far. It seemed that opening the front door with Alexzander's remains had ensured safe passage through his halls.
"It's all so... empty," Iris sighed as they left the armory. "Alexzander's painting himself over each room and yet it feels devoid of him. He stretched himself too thin."
He had wanted too much. And this, too, was an accurate reflection of the fool who sought to subjugate, to kill, the very sun itself.
After checking the guard quarters, simple like the servant quarters, with a simple staircase leading down to empty, clean dungeons, they headed up to the next floor.
There they found guest quarters, expensively furnished and each one used to display more of Alexzander's preferred artworks. It was on that floor, however, that they found Alexzander's quarters and there, at last, was something other than carefully arranged perfection and displayed violence.
This space, for the first time, was actually used and lived in. There were robes thrown across a couch with carved wooden legs and a carved back and finely embroidered cushions. A half finished bottle of wine stood on a wooden table, this one inlaid with glass at the top, forming the fragmented, shimmering outline of a skull.
They searched through the room, but aside from some disturbing journals that they planned to read in more detail later and a handful of stones holding stored magical energy, they found no trace of Alexzander's work.
"There must be more to the dungeons, I'm guessing," Rowan said. "Unless either of you detects a hidden door anywhere around here?"
"I've been looking," Miriam answered. "So far, the only things he cloaked in illusions were the various traps, but they're currently all disabled. Bringing Alexzander's remains along was a really good idea."
Adelia gave her a quick smile, the stone currently in her pocket, the chest left beside the entrance door so she had her hands free.
"Then back down with us," Ivan said after he finished rooting through Alexzander's closet, revealing a number of robes, each one expensively and finely embroidered than the other. "If we can't find anything ourselves, we should head to the library to see if he still has a layout of this castle anywhere."
Adelia's mind fell to the dungeons, of possible hidden doors there, until she remembered something they hadn't seen so far.
"Maybe we should try the kitchen first," she suggested. "They should have a root cellar and I haven't seen one yet."
"Huh, you're right. It's definitely worth a try," Iris agreed and they headed back out to return to the entrance hall to head into the kitchen.
They stepped into the large storage room, though the space was filled with empty shelves. So far, Alexzander hadn't stored anything anywhere.
"What did this guy eat?" Miriam muttered. "I bet he liked dropping by his towns and villages to give everyone a fright and be cooked a feast, no matter if his people could afford to or not."
It wouldn't surprise Adelia if that had been the case. Ivan and Miriam turned to carefully feeling along the walls, while Iris scented the air.
"I can smell something here, I think," she said with a small frown a moment later. "It's very faint and very odd." She wandered to the distant left corner. "Around here."
Adelia joined her and pulled Alexzander's mage stone out of her pocket. When she touched it against the wall, it shimmered before dissolving into mist, revealing a proper doorway leading down into the dark.
A moment later lights flickered on and she leaned forward to peer into the revealed space and Iris beside her inhaled a little more sharply. This was definitely the way to Alexzander's workspace.
The root cellar was stacked with crates, some open and revealing that they were full of the sickly crystals.
She didn't even wish to know how many people he had sacrificed not only to gain sunstones, but also during the experimentation phase that helped him develop the crystallization spell in the first place. She leaned forward a bit, until she could spot the edge of a doorway on the opposite wall.
"Found it," Iris called over her shoulder. "And unless anyone senses anyone alive down here, I might know where our spies ended up."
Adelia stepped forward to descend the stairs, mage stone clutched close. This was only a storage room, cool and dry, and she glanced over the crates, counting around twenty on a brief sweep, as she headed for the door across from her. It was made of black wood this time and carved with poisonous flowers.
She heard her friends follow them down the stairs and with a quiet breath, she braced herself for a perhaps gruesome sight, as she reached for the door.
Opening it, she was briefly surprised to see no carnage, no death, no person frozen in agony as they had been turned into crystal. Instead she saw a workroom not unlike her own, desks spread along the walls, covered in various instruments and writing, similar to what she had seen in Sorceress Iva's tower. There was yet another door across from her.
There were also enchanting tables and shelves on the walls, filled with books without titles. Those must be where he had written down his research.
"I believe we might need Iva for this," Rowan murmured softly, suddenly from behind her and she jumped in surprise. Her heart must have given her away, for he stepped forward, giving her a soft look and she reached out. He met her halfway, their hands clasping.
"Please ask her for me," Adelia answered just as quietly, and when Rowan nodded, she gave his hand a squeeze, drawing strength from his reassuring, loving touch, before she let go and stepped forward.
They did a rough check of things for now, sorting loose documents and books into piles so they had somewhere to start with. They were going to do a full sweep of this place first, before they would sit down and get into the details.
Opening the door off to the side, they entered what must have been Alexzander's main space for experimenting. Here, all the careful perfection was gone. Various rune circles covered the floor, deliberate distance between each so they were separate things.
The walls were cracked in places, the floor was slightly rough in a way that spoke of magical backlash and in here were no candles, only mage lanterns illuminating everything.
One wall was covered in shelves filled with all sorts of supplies and instruments and to the right were six cells, each one empty. There was yet one more door, though this one was huge and made of heavy metal. It looked like it belonged to a vault.
While Ivan and Miriam went to examine the first circle, Adelia stepped towards the large metal door with Iris and Rowan. When she touched the stone to it, the door made a grinding sound like layers were peeling away beyond it, before it swung outward, causing them to quickly side-step it.
Beyond it laid truly ludicrous piles of gold and jewels and beyond that were all sorts of macabre things. Jars full of fairy wings, braided hairs hanging from walls, bones in crates, all neatly labeled. A dragon's skull hung from the ceiling, the eyes and maw used to hold mage lights so the space was illuminated.
There were jars with fluids off to the side, blood and strange things Adelia didn't even know how to identify.
As she stepped forward, carefully maneuvering past two dozen shelves almost groaning beneath the weight of wealth and dead things, she saw a black marble display stand at the very back, holding a singular book that had a looping gold script upon the cover
It read, "Alexzander's Might".
"Corny," Iris whispered, but her voice was toneless. "Be careful, I'm willing to be this is still trapped."
"I'll go get Miriam," Rowan said, gently touching Adelia's elbow and she stopped in her tracks, waiting for him to return. Miriam and Ivan both joined them in no time and their faces were grim upon seeing what Alexzander had filled his vault with.
"Oh, yeah," Miriam said the moment her eyes started to glow faintly with a green shimmer. "Whatever spell that is, it is one of the most lethal things I ever encountered. Be very careful."
Both Miriam and Ivan prepared shields again, with Iris and Rowan ready to help in what ways they could, while Adelia stepped forward, raising Alexzander's mage stone yet again.
She had to touch it to the stand in five different spots until Miriam gave her a quick nod. She still found herself holding her breath when she reached for the book, cautiously easing it away from its resting place, Rowan's fingertips at her back, ready to escape with her, hoping he'd move faster than whatever death Alexzander had bottled in stones along the back of the stand.
When nothing happened, they all exhaled heavily with relief. Taking a step away from the stand, Adelia turned to her friends. The book was a rather heavy, thick one, the leather soft and blue.
"Let's take a look at that," Miriam said and Adelia handed the book over readily enough. She did not understand enough about magic to be able to glean much from whatever Alexzander had written down without their aid.
As they all moved to leave the vault, she noticed a little wooden box tucked onto a shelf beside her. It looked a bit shoved in and half covered at the same time, some sort of silken fabric partially draped over it, as though Alexzander might have been in a hurry.
It was a gut feeling more than anything else that had her reaching for it, pressing the mage stone against it. She felt something unlock, magic coming undone from where it had waited to be triggered.
She pocketed the stone first before she reached for it, easing the box away from the shelf. It looked rather plain and when she opened it, a single folded page laid within. Taking it, she began to unfold it, when she sensed a pulling along her skin, a faint blurring starting at her fingers, seeking to undo her.
She had half a second to recognize this feeling as the same one she had sensed when Alexzander had been dragged into a trap of his own unmaking and she slammed the page closed again, heart in her throat.
Rowan appeared at her side, brows creased in concern and eyes glowing a faint, eerie red. "It's the crystalization spell," Adelia whispered before he could ask her what was wrong and he stilled, gaze darting to the page she was now creasing a little with how tightly she clutched it between her fingers.
After a beat she put it back into the box and hurriedly closed it. "Unfolding it triggers it," she murmured. "I believe we should not mess with this, until it is absolutely safe."
"Of course," Rowan murmured with an inclined head. "I believe it would be prudent to call upon Iva now."
Adelia nodded and followed him out of the vault. He and Iris left to call upon their respective mages, while Miriam and Ivan began to pour over the found contents of the book, the little box with the spell-page for now put safely off to the side.
Alexzander's book was filled with spells he had invented, as it turned out. "Most of these already exist in one manner or another," Miriam said with a snort. "But he seemed convinced that he had perfected those spells, made them better."
"Did he?" Adelia asked and she shrugged.
"I don't cast like a mage or sorcerer," Miriam answered. "So who knows. But look, here it starts to get interesting."
They leaned forward, Ivan peering over Adelia's shoulder as Miriam turned the page to reveal a spell Alexzander had called "Shadow Servant". Apparently he had figured out how to turn all sorts of shadows into beings that could follow simple tasks, if only for a short time. It certainly would explain how he had kept his castle so clean with no servants around.
And beyond that Alexzander had truly delved into the realms of transformation. And as Sorceress Iva arrived, they found the very spell that Alexzander had used to turn people into crystals.
Adelia left the book to Sorceress Iva, who started to study it with Alb, who arrived with Iris in that moment, and began to sort through Alexzander's notes and shelved books kept off to the side.
Here, she found out just how he had been able to afford everything. His shadow servants had been quite good at stealing wealth from people, bringing him gold and jewels without anyone being able to stop them, since they were incorporeal, only their hands solid enough to perform tasks.
He had visited all sorts merchants and nobles and even other kingdoms, robbing anyone he could. He hadn't bothered to write down any names, only bragged that he had even emptied a banker's vault with his shadows.
Only his fellow warlords had been hard to steal from, apparently. Rowan and his night guard sensed presences upon his grounds immediately, even magical ones, Miriam's ships were soaked in the power of the sea and Iris and her werewolves could smell his shadow servants, who reeked of magic, according to him.
Ivan's sun goddess made it hard for his shadows to cling to their shapes in his towns and villages and if they tried to enter his temple, they dissolved entirely. Cynar similarly was protected and had a keen sense for when his things were getting touched.
June knew when something not-living was around just as much as she sensed souls and Kazuki had a home even more trapped than Alexzander's, to the point where not even his shadows could slip through unnoticed.
It was all rather fascinating, Adelia had to admit. To her surprise she even found Alexzander mentioning her when she reached the end of the notebook she currently read. He had thought she might be someone he could use and that, while Adelia wasn't stupid, she was not cleverer than he, either.
That he would soon hold the sun in his palms and either swallow the goddess whole or command her. Knowing Alexzander, he would have enjoyed to turn a god into a slave before devouring her so he could at last be a god himself.
He had even written down his clever ploy to see Rowan imprisoned, and that he looked forward to his death. That he had enjoyed seeing Adelia's expression of startled anger and wavering courage as she was confronted with what he had done to her. His inner thoughts were rather exhausting. He truly had thought the world of himself.
They remained in Alexzander's workshop dungeon until they got too tired to continue, though they sorted the found documents so any that didn't contain magical information could be taken up to Alexzander's largely unused office.
When they entered the large, expensively furnished office, Adelia took a look at his ledgers, only to balk. He hadn't cared to keep track of much in his lands, letters sent to him by his fiefs haphazardly shoved in between pages, most not even opened.
This man. Sorting through that was going to be as much of a headache as finding out how to deal with the sickly crystals.
They decided to head back to their respective homes for now, however, and after they said their goodbyes, they stepped through portals one by one, Ivan waiting until Rowan and Adelia was gone, so his sunshine teleportation caused no harm.
"At least I'll have plenty to do," Adelia sighed after they had returned to Rowan's home.
"Let me know if you want help," Rowan said. "I'm certain we can find you an assistant, as well."
That gave Adelia pause and her mind fell to Katrina. Her friend was just as well versed in running lands as she was, since wives were meant to be able to help their husbands in all regards. It did not matter if they ended up doing that in the end, the point was that their education had to be flawless. They had to be perfect, to be whatever was expected of them.
"I'll ask Katrina if she wants to join me," she said. "Perhaps she would like to be my steward, especially now that she has no intention of returning home anytime soon."
Izabel, too, might be willing to visit or lend a helping hand for a bit. She would send letters in the morning, she resolved. Rowan pressed a smiling kiss to her temple, his expression soft and warm.
"I'm glad," he murmured. "You have this spark in your eyes that tells me you are happy."
She was, she realized. Adelia felt... she felt free, even with all the work looming ahead. There was an excitement in her bones, an eagerness to step into the role of warlord and to govern well. To become the sort of person she had, at most, dreamed about in small increments.
Months ago, she had dreamed of little successes here and there, of a husband indulging his wife's requests. She had thought the world of those perceived kindnesses and allowances back then, things that she would have readily begged for if needed.
But now it was all her responsibility, her choice. Love, too, was something she had the freedom to choose now. And it felt all the more powerful for it. To know she wanted this, because she could stay or leave as she pleased.
She grasped Rowan's hands in hers, cool and clawed and she grinned up at him. "I am happy," she answered and pressed his hands to her heart. "And you are part of that happiness."
His answering grin was fanged and glad and loving and it held a spark of something sharp and vampire-bloody and she realized that Rowan, too, was free now. He, too, could choose her if he so desired. They were no longer bound by anything, not by duty or debts that had first seen them coming together.
It was a beautiful thing to know that Adelia herself was worth loving, without titles, without a debt to be repaid or without a dowry and the promise of alliances that her hand brought. Without the expectations of society weighing down on them.
"It has grown late," Rowan mused. "Where would you like to sleep tonight?"
"At your side," she answered. "That chaiselongue is quite comfortable."
And that was, indeed, where she curled up, safe and cozy, listening to the soft noises of Rowan as he got to work, the fire crackling as logs got consumed, keeping the room warm.
And it was that calm, tranquil peace that allowed her to think of her father, of his impotent rage once she announced herself as warlord. Of the way she had removed herself from his family and now dared to thrive because of it.
But it also reminded her that his shadow loomed large, still, in her old home. That Julie had sooner abandoned said home to come work for her than stay. She thought of Baron. Of her dear companion clawing his way out of his grave because his soul knew that she had suffered in that home and could not bear to abandon her to such pain.
Her mind bounced to the box in Alexzander's home, to the single page folded within, before recoiling. It made her grip on the blanket tighten and the steady scratch of Rowan's pen paused as her heart must have given her away.
It felt forbidden, wrong, to think of removing her father this way. Of rebelling like this. Of being cruel like him. She had never wanted to be like her father, in fact she had vowed that no matter what life threw at her, she'd retain her kindness. She'd try to do what good she could.
Then again, wasn't she sick of being passive? Of being powerless in the face of evil?
She took a deep breath and... allowed the idea in. The thought of being her father's end, not only as some form of revenge, but also because her mother would rule with a kinder and more fair heart in his stead. She could take in a young son from a relative to raise them as the next Lord Aria. There was always some descendent or other that could be dug up.
And if the Aria line ended with Adelia, it wasn't much of a shame, either.
"Is it cruel," she asked towards the ceiling. "That I wish to hand my father the spell-page in Alexzander's box?"
A beat of silence and then Rowan leaned over her, gaze serious. "No," he answered, simple and straightforward. He tipped his head slightly to the side, black, shiny hair falling over his shoulder. "Will you?"
There was no judgement in his voice and no eagerness, either. Just a quiet, calm sort of neutral curiosity. His face, similarly, gave nothing away.
This was her decision and hers alone.
She took a deep breath and reached up. He readily took her hand, lacing their fingers together. "Once the page is no longer needed for studying," she said, voice low but steady, even as her heart beat faster and stronger. "I will pay my father a visit, to give him my respects."
And he would get exactly what he deserved. What his actions had earned him.
