Page 75 of Stroke of Shadows
“I’ll allow you to have two to test, but without the chalice, your army falls before they even begin.” Bishop cocked his head, studying the two men as if they were rats. “Once my king can bind their souls, they’ll make great Lessers. They’re already weak. Vulnerable. Easily manipulated.”
“Careful,” Wyatt warned, but Bishop only laughed.
“So sensitive.” Bishop scratched the hound’s head. “I was giving you a compliment. The men provided will follow your orders without question. Probably because I’ve cut out their tongues.”
Wyatt looked towards the two men, lip twisted in disgust. “I was promised an army, not fucking two.”
Bishop swept his arm out dramatically, and the men’s faces altered. Their skin paled, the shadows beneath their eyes darkening until they were a black so pitch they became a void. Their cheeks thinned, bones protruding through barely there flesh.
It was a glamour, one made them look like skulls, which was likely why Gideon called his people the Undead.
“Don’t worry, you’ll have an army. One that doesn’t corrupt your soul.” Bishop laughed. “Only the souls of your men, except without the chalice, these men will die within weeks.”
“I’ll get you your fucking chalice,” Wyatt growled. “I’ll have everything ready.”
“Good, then we’re on the same page. Do not call me again unless you have it.” With a final smirk, he and the hound disappeared in a cloud of smoke.
Sythe waited a beat, the two Skulls not moving an inch. “This is who you want to ally with?”
“Bishop and his partner approached me. They want money, and I want my family name to rule the Undercity. The fucking chalice is needed for that to happen, apparently.” Wyatt stoked along his jaw, glaring at the Skulls.
Sythe placed his pistol into the back of his jeans. “What makes you think Harper can find what they’re looking for?”
“Because she doesn’t want to disappoint me. She knows what’ll happen if she fails, and she’s learnt over the years to fear me even more so than my father. You see, he loves her in his twisted way. But he doesn’t see her as a person. No, she’s just part of his collection.”
“And what is she to you?”
“She’s an asset, one I share when needed.”
Cold settled in his gut as fire burned through his blood. “Share?”
He turned to Sythe with a smirk. “Don’t worry, I’m sure you’ll get a turn. If she survives that long.”
Chapter 26
Harper
Dread sat heavily on her shoulders, only worsening when Charles pulled up outside the restaurant.
‘Remember, you’re a Beauchamp. Behave. Don’t embarrass me.’
Her uncle’s words were no source of comfort as he’d escorted her to the car before being driven across the city to meet with the man who was to be her suitor. This was it. The final part of her being given away.
The car rumbled beneath her, and Harper gripped the leather seats until her knuckles turned white. She’d wanted to argue. To fight against the arranged marriage with all her strength. But she didn’t. Angel owned every other part of her, so the news shouldn’t have surprised her.
Her stomach cramped, nausea prickling the back of her throat.
She didn’t want this.
Yet she couldn’t stop it.
The door opened gently, Charles standing there with his hand held out. She took a second to compose herself, to put on her practised smile before slipping from the car. The nerves hadn’t eased as she stared up at the restaurant, the windows tinted black, showing only a hint of what was on the other side. She recognised the name, the place well known according to the gossip she’d heard at one of her uncle’s events.
The Glass Court, a notoriously difficult place to get a reservation.
A pressure on her back, urging her forward. “I’ll wait for you here,” Charles said, as if he sensed she was ready to bolt. “You have a few hours before you’re expected back home.”
It was the most words he’d ever said in a single sentence.