Free Magick Marked (The DarqRealm Series) by Chauntelle Baughman Page B

seriously.
    She lifted her head and gazed into his familiar gray eyes.
    He drew a deep breath and released it slowly. “You haven’t belonged to this world for long enough to just go around and ask for the answers you seek. Not alone. You’re going to need help.”
    That’s why the king had assigned her to that team. She was great with research and recon work, but these weren’t vampires. Belonging to a world didn’t equate to comprehending everything in it.
    “I understand,” Rho said.
    “Do you? Because the stunt you pulled here tonight could have cost you your life. Have you any idea how old those fae men were?”
    “A friend told me they were old.”
    “Yes, I know. A friend that saved your life.”
    She frowned. “Did John call you?”
    “That bartender told his boss, who happens to be a personal friend of mine. Once he knew what you were up against with those fae and that you had no backup, he thought he’d give me a call. This land is my jurisdiction and he wanted to ensure I knew what you were doing. As it turned out, I did not.”
    Rho blew out the breath she hadn’t realized she’d been holding. “I’m sorry.” She didn’t know what else to say.
    Frederick reached out and clamped his hands on her shoulders. “I know you like to work alone, but you can’t on this one. In your time as executioner, have I ever let you go into a situation without backup? Without at least telling one of the guard where you’d be and when?”
    “No.”
    “Then why did you think I’d be okay with it now?”
    “I—I don’t know. It was stupid.” That was the truth. She knew better, and yet she’d let years of training fly out the window for the chance to catch some intel and find the Kamens on her own.
    “Yes, it was stupid. Very stupid. Although I suspect you won’t be doing it again.” He shook his head and gave her a small smile before wrapping his arm around her shoulder and pulling her into a gentle hug. “Come on.” He nodded toward the door. “I’ll wait for you to grab something to eat and then take you home. You won’t believe the dress the queen has picked out for you.”
    Rho groaned.
    Frederick chuckled, the sound bringing a smile to her face as she followed him out the door. She could only imagine what the queen had in store for her now.

 
    Chapter Seven

    E ldon uncorked the bottle of vintage Macallan and filled the crystal glass to the brim. Whiskey always steadied his thoughts. Considering this was his fourth glass since that vampire had left, he’d hoped his mind would be clearer by now.
    The entire contents slid down his throat in one shot, burning its way into his stomach.
    What a waste. That vintage cost ten large a bottle. So he poured another glass and tried to be a gentleman about it.
    Sip. Problem number one, the little red rock had gone missing. And it wasn’t any little ordinary red rock. When she’d come to visit him the first time and placed that stone on his desk, he’d known exactly what it was.
    Generations before, his grandfather had been on the Council when they’d sealed away that magick mover the first time. The family records in the library accounted for the event in great detail, the contents of that room only for the eyes of the Tradare descendants.
    Vampires, on the other hand, didn’t have true families and rarely kept detailed records. They didn’t like their movements to be traceable. Rho Vasile hadn’t the faintest idea the level of power she’d held in that pocket of hers.
    He shook his head and swirled the brown liquid around in the glass. No, she wasn’t stupid. She was uneducated. The ward she’d tripped when she came onto the property told him her race and approximate age, only a couple of years old, tops. Much too young for that responsibility. What on earth was the Lamia King thinking?
    Yet her serious gray eyes had told him she’d seen much more than her young age accounted for. He blinked, trying to forget the emptiness in those eyes.
    He