“Sera, I must apologize for his behavior,” Alden said, primly sliding a handkerchief out of his cloak pocket. He dabbed it against the blood dripping from the corner of her mouth. “Young mages have so little control over their baser impulses.”

With Alden’s attention off of him, Finn decided it was safe to stand again. He hung back at a distance, his eyes darted nervously from the ancient mage to Sera.

“Welcome to my humble home,” Alden told her. “It’s not much. For now. This is what I’ve been reduced to, but it will change soon enough. Soon, I will reclaim my kingdom. Soon, I will rule over all. It will be a better world.”

He stretched out his hand toward the doorway. She followed him through, hoping for a bigger room with more room to maneuver. She got her wish.

Magic flames burst to life, revealing a huge chamber. Mages lined each rocky wall, their magic standing at attention. The iron didn’t seem to be bothering them any more than it had Finn or Alden. Besides the door she’d just stepped through, there were three other openings. Maybe they were exits, or maybe they were just passages into dead end rooms.

A centaur stood guard in front of every doorway, each one armed to the teeth and looking as mean as a harpy with PMS. One of them was Apollo, the centaur Sera had talked down from a fight in the Rich Witch section of Macy’s. He held a sword twice as long as the one he’d had last time. As he met her stare across the room, his hand twitched on his hilt. Hand cramp or secret symbol? Sera was hoping for the latter. Chances were—well not good, but at least not impossible—that if Kamikaze Mage had weaseled himself inside of this evil organization, then someone else could have done it too. Apollo seemed like an upstanding, honorable sort of fellow. A little bloodthirsty maybe but definitely not crazy. She couldn’t imagine that he would join a war campaign against the Magic Council.

“What do you think?” Alden asked, drawing her attention back to him.

Sera allowed her gaze to slide across the lines of magic-drunk mages, then turned to stare him down. “I am not your puppet.” She could feel his magic skirting the perimeter of her defenses, trying to find a way inside her mind. She pushed back, snapping his magic back to him.

“No, you’re not,” he laughed, brushing his hands across the front of his cloak. “Your will is strong, your mind formidable. I am not surprised that you bested that spineless sap Blackbrooke at his own game.”

“Did you have anything to do with the vampire attacks on the Magic Council?” she asked him.

“I?” Alden rested his hands before him, braiding his fingers together. “No.”

“So it is just a coincidence that you and a mad mage just happen to both be gunning for the Magic Council?”

“Well, there are no true coincidences in the world, dear girl. Everything happens for a reason,” he said, his magic ripe with amusement.

Whatever the joke that was tying his magic up into happy bows, she didn’t get it—or want to.

“But, no, I didn’t have anything to do with that,” he told her. “Those Convictionites are truly vile creatures. They were around even back in my time, and I was dismayed to learn that they hadn’t died out in the centuries since. Especially given their utter lack of competence. Had they succeeded in their ploy against the Magic Council…well no matter.” He clapped his hands together. “Let’s not get caught up in pointless details. We will deal with those magic haters soon enough.”

She arched a single eyebrow upward at him. “And everyone else who stands in your way?”

“There’s no need to be melodramatic. I am not a psychopath.”

Could have fooled me.

His eyes snapped at her, as though he’d heard the thought. “Let’s speak not of the horrid necessities, but of more pleasant things.” His smile returned with a vengeance. “You will have a place in my new world, Sera. A place by my side. You will be my sentinel, the white knight, the champion of might and righteousness. You will protect this new and better world. A world where you will be the hunter, not the hunted. But we will speak of that soon. First, tell me about this traitor in my midst.”

Sera balked at the command in his voice, but she decided to tell him anyway. She needed to keep him talking. She had a feeling that as soon as he realized she wasn’t going to join his creepy cult, he wouldn’t waste time in disposing of her. Even if he’d been alone, she wouldn’t have had a snowball’s chance in hell of surviving a duel with him, let alone winning one. His magic was for the moment calm, but she could feel the power throbbing behind that cool facade. Bone-splintering, magic-shattering power. The man was a beast hidden inside of a teenage boy’s body.

“Your traitor was the mage controlling the vampires. He was a Convictionite,” she told Alden.

“How illogical,” was Alden’s cool response.

“I’ll kill that traitor,” Finn spat.

“No,” Alden said. “That’s a job for my new sentinel.”

Sera laughed. “It’s too late for that. Your traitor poisoned his own blood with magic. He’s dead.”

Alden folded his hands together calmly. “There will be others for you, my sentinel. You will uproot all those who threaten our noble cause.”

Sera nibbled on her lower lip, pretending to consider his words. Any idea how we’re going to get out of here? she asked her dragon.

Your centaur friend. Goldilocks.