The Heir of Death - The Final Formula 3.5 by Becca Andre Page A

leather cord round Doug’s waist.
    “Why?”
    James shrugged. “I was going to bind your hands—in case he returns.”
    “What if he takes me?” Elysia asked.
    “I don’t think you can beat the shit out of me. Unless you have some training I’m unaware of.”
    “Um, no.”
    “Watch her knees,” Doug warned James. “If my ability to reproduce wasn’t already suspect, she may have made it so.”
    Elysia grimaced. “Sorry about that.”
    “Your ability to reproduce?” James lifted a brow.
    “He doesn’t have any kids,” Elysia clarified. “You know how much emphasis Alexander puts on that.” She glanced at Doug. “Is that why it’s taken Xander so long to make the heir selection official? Because you don’t have any kids?”
    “Yes.” Doug turned to James. “Alexander won’t use me to physically control you; he’ll use my magic. Binding me won’t help you.”
    “But I would enjoy it.” James smiled.
    “Your dead man is a funny guy,” Doug said to her.
    “Yes, he is.” Elysia met James’s eyes, and he grinned in response. She turned to Doug. “At some point, you need to show me how you sheathed the bond between James and me. I couldn’t get around that.”
    “You’ll have all my secrets.”
    She gave him a half-hearted chuckle, not sure what he meant by that.
    “Shall we?” Doug nodded toward the wall.
    “Ironically, Ian’s lessons are going to serve a purpose. Who knew I’d actually have to wrangle a horde of zombies?”
    It was Doug’s turn to chuckle, then she felt him reach out. She closed her eyes and released her magic, seeking the dead beyond the walls. She exhaled as the pressure on her confined soul relaxed, to be replaced by the pleasure that only freeing her soul could bring.
    Doug chuckled again, the sound soft and filled with understanding. When they had been dating, they had frequently snuck into the local cemetery to make out among the graves. He had picked up on how much she physically enjoyed using her magic, and though he enjoyed himself, he never seemed to get as lost in it as she did. She had always assumed it was just their difference in strength. Now she wondered.
    She reached out for the next body and found it occupied.
    “That one’s mine,” Doug said, a smile in his voice.
    “Shall I take it from you?”
    “You could try, but you would fail.” He was right. She could never take what he had claimed. Just as he could hide the bond from her. Magically, he might be weaker, but he was the most skilled necromancer she had ever met. Well, living necromancer. Ian and his brother were off the charts—in every way.
    She moved on and found an unoccupied body, but Doug followed and an instant later, took it from her.
    “Hey,” she complained.
    Doug laughed.
    “Are you two going to use those corpses to dig us out?” James asked. “Or are you just going to play with them?”
    “We’re gathering them up,” Elysia explained, realizing how her and Doug’s conversation must sound to someone who couldn’t see what they were doing. “And Doug keeps taking mine.”
    “Are you tattling on me?” Doug asked. He still sounded highly amused.
    She wanted to roll her eyes, but settled for ignoring the question. Comfortable with the dozen she now controlled, she reached out to them.
    “Come,” she whispered.
    “I’ll need to animate a few more to get to that point,” Doug said.
    She bit back a laugh. “Doug!”
    “Unlike some people,” he added in an undertone.
    “I heard that.”
    “You do realize that was the purpose for Ian’s training session in that graveyard today. He wasn’t trying to teach you how to control a herd of zombies. He was trying to get you to stop letting them control you.”
    She struggled to keep her focus on what they were doing. “What are you saying?”
    “He said it perfectly. You let the dead seduce you.”
    “Please.”
    “What? It’s true. I’ve been around a lot of necromancers, and you’re the only one I’ve ever met