Death shall bow, p.17
Death Shall Bow, page 17
Hybrid. As in, the passage I’d opened to in The Book of Shade.
Head spinning, I closed the journal. How would something like that even be possible? The royal bloodline had been the work of the old gods. No earthly being would have the ability to change that.
A footfall on loose stone caught my attention. Lifting my sights, I watched as Nasheesh came into view. The advisor ambled onto the path before me and stole a glance over his shoulder. It was two o’clock in the morning; what was he up to? After a final scope of the garden, Nasheesh hurried off down the path. Hunched down low, I slowly followed his wide footprints and found myself before the training grounds’ ancient oaks.
At first, everything appeared normal. Weapons sat neatly in their racks, lion statues still guarded the field’s four corners. Then all at once, my shadows knotted in my stomach. They ushered me forward, heightening my senses. “Look closer,” they seemed to murmur inside me. My heart fell into my toes.
There, hidden in the dark gazebo, someone lurked.
“Hey, you!” I yelled, feet slushing through the wet grass. From such distance, I couldn’t make out the stranger’s identity aside from illuminated, feline eyes. A demon. The nearer I drew, however, the more scarlet the eyes grew, taking on the appearance of both demon and vampire at once. But beneath it, hellhound. What the actual fuck? My pace slowed. I studied the figure, its shoulders hunched in an animalistic way, and again the magic in my blood eased me forward. I stole a step, and the silhouette mimed along. I stepped, it stepped. I stopped, it stopped.
And so it went: move for move until a memory so foul and repressed cemented me in place. Of that bloody, fateful night when I’d let harm come to my best friend. The hound: how he’d circled me, planned his attack. Odin.
With my full chest, I screamed out, “Guards! Intruder in the training grounds!”
He lingered there for some time, allowing the silence to tangle around us. But at the sound of approaching footsteps, he took off. In a flash quicker than anything I had ever seen, he tore off towards the trees. I bolted after him, weaving and ducking between branches. His thrashing footsteps grew faint the farther into the woods I got, until finally, they disappeared altogether. My body stilled and twisted in every direction in hopes I’d pick up the trail, but like a mist, he’d evaporated. Gone.
“Coward!” I yelled, nails cutting into my palms. “Come out and face me!”
When my breath had finally settled, I trudged back towards the castle. Not two steps forward, my foot snagged on the forest floor, and I crumbled to the ground like a sack of potatoes.
“Damn it.” I cocked my head back, expecting a rock or a stick or really anything other than what I got. But no. My heartbeat quickened as I shuffled backwards through the pine needles. Face down in his own blood—eyes still wide with terror—lay a castle guard, his throat flayed wide open. I sucked in a tight breath, pushed a shaky foot out before me, and tapped the guard once. Nothing. Dead. Then the rest came into focus. Another guard’s lifeless body, five feet ahead. Then another. And another. Lined up in the exact path I’d taken to pursue the trespasser.
He’d killed them all. Displayed them behind me without me noticing.
Oh, shit. I hopped to my feet. The sharp scent of iron carried on the breeze. Of all the deaths I’d predicted in my life, I’d never been witness to a scene so gruesome. I fought the urge to vomit, turned to leave, and found one last horrific sight for me alone, scribbled across a boulder ahead in fresh blood.
See you again soon, dearest.
My mouth turned to sandpaper.
Chapter 13
Stay
Isought out the only person I could think of in that moment. The sole person who was even remotely trustworthy all thanks to a blood pact. Finding Lyvias in his room, I shook him awake. He hopped to his feet, eyes scanning the room in panic.
“Kim?” He rubbed his eyes. “What’s going on? Are you okay?”
My lip quivered, no matter how hard I fought it. “No…I don’t think I am.”
Without hesitation, he snatched a thick wool blanket from his reading chair and draped it around my shaking frame. Settling me at his side on the bed, he pulled me to his chest, wrapping his strong arms around me. At first I resisted, but the comfort felt so, well, comforting. His thigh pressed against mine, and I shuddered. Hot to the touch as if a fire raged within him, his body called to me like a moth to a flame. I hadn’t realized until that moment how much I’d missed physical touch. To be held. Protected. The kind of closeness Coop and I’d had—that constant need to be near one another—it’d died along with my sacrifice to Fate, and I’d unknowingly craved it.
Tears welled against my will. June and I were stolen moments. Ones I felt didn’t truly belong to me somehow. Altogether different from the consistent love I’d felt from my best friend. And Lyvias, as much as I didn’t want to admit it, reminded me of the lost friendship I still mourned. So I relaxed into his embrace and soaked it in a moment longer as the night’s memories thrashed through my head. Blood. Death. A promise most foul.
Lyvias remained patient. Didn’t ask questions or press for answers. When the tears finally stopped, adrenaline rush leaving my bloodstream, I glanced up at him. “Thank you,” I whispered, slipping from his hold.
“Anytime,” he said with a gentle smile. “Even Lady Death needs comfort now and again.”
His words rang true. Maybe I’d been going about this all wrong. Trying to keep things in, handle it all myself. Just maybe. “Yeah.”
Clearing his throat, he faced me. “Now care to tell me what has you so frightened, Princess? I can’t kill what I don’t know about.”
“You’re ruthless.” A shallow laugh slipped past my lips.
I filled him in on my discoveries in the journal. How it was becoming more and more clear that the sins of Anathema’s past traitors had returned to haunt Lyvias’s and my rule. Our future on the throne. I didn’t know if it was our mutual desire for revenge or the compassion he’d shown me, but I held nothing back. The Talonborns. The Bloodbanes. The disappearances in the Evermoor Woods and how Barges believed it to be an attempt at creating a hybrid.
“You’ve got to be fucking kidding me,” he said under his breath, pacing about. “But what would be the point? No one aside from Fate can challenge Death. It’s impossible.”
“That’s what I thought too. There has to be something we’re not seeing. Something we’re missing.”
We sat silent for some time until Lyvias’s brow pinched. “This is all quite serious, but it doesn’t explain the fear in your eyes. What aren’t you telling me, Kim?”
I bit my cheek, iron spilling over my tongue.
“Nasheesh,” I started, hands shaking. “I saw him, slinking about like he does. So I followed his path to the training grounds and found somebody hiding. I assume they were waiting for him.”
“Go on.” He crossed his arms.
“Somebody with red, feline eyes.”
“Wait…as in, demon and vampire?”
Taking a deep breath, my sights fell into his. “And somehow more? Different? I don’t know, but something tells me it was Odin.”
He squinted. “But Odin’s a hellhound.”
“I know it sounds crazy, but I feel it in my bones.” The vision of tattered flesh overcame me. “He killed the guards who came to my aid, used their blood to leave a message.”
Lyvias stiffened, his hands balled into fists. Thick veins bulged up his forearms, and I had to keep myself from imagining what a pretty necklace they’d make.
“What kind of message?” he growled, jaw flexing.
“See you again soon…” I left out the “dearest” part, but more for myself than him. It was sick. Mocking. I was nobody’s dear. Not anymore.
Lyvias took to his feet once again in the fraction of a second and spanned the room in wide, heavy strides. “‘See you again soon’? Like hell he will. I swear if that monster comes within a foot of you, I’ll—fuck! I should have killed Odin when I had the chance.”
“Lyvias,” I snatched his pant leg and tugged him to my side, “it was just a scare tactic, I’m sure.”
“But if you’re—”
“I’m fine,” I assured him, though my skin crawled. “I just need answers. Some insight. That’s all.”
“With all due respect, you don’t look fine.” He rested a hand on my trembling shoulder.
What was this? This thing blooming between us? My hatred for him melted away by the second, and it made the air feel thin, walls tightening around me. I’d allowed him to see me break. Shared my weakness. What was wrong with me? With a new kind of fear racing through my veins, I shot to my feet and headed for the door.
He caught my wrist, spinning me back towards him. “Stay with me.”
His words hit hard in my center. “What?”
“You heard me.” His eyes burned. “Let me watch over you tonight. Keep you safe.”
I considered his offer. While the thought of my empty room scared me shitless, this proved far more terrifying. Staying with him, allowing him to be closer than the night had already brought us… “I don’t think that’s a good idea, Lyvias.”
“And sleeping alone after such a brutal experience is?” He tugged at my hand with a sigh. “Come on, it’s not what you’re thinking. I’m not asking you to lay with me like that. Stay, please?”
Heartbeat in my ears, I weighed his words. The guards had done nothing to protect me. Death couldn’t be trusted. And now we knew Nasheesh had something to do with it all. Who knew what connections he might have hidden amongst the castle? I pursed my lips. For my safety, that’s all it was. “Alright. But you sleep on the floor.”
With a crooked grin, he nodded. “Whatever you wish.”
Climbing into his still warm sheets, guilt tangled in my center. How could I boot him from his own bed, especially after all his comfort and concern? Damn stubborn bloodsucker. I reached down through the darkness and grabbed his hand.
I groaned. “Fine, come up here. Just keep your hands to yourself.”
“Of course,” he said, voice gravelly as he weighted down the mattress with his tall frame, leaving a foot between us. His breath grew heavy with sleep. “We’ll figure this out, Kim. I promise.”
And for the first time, I believed him without a single doubt.
Weeks passed. I searched the studies high and low for anything relating to hybrids and how one might create one. What purpose they served. But nothing. Lyvias sought out answers in the vampire realm, hunting through old tomes in the town library. But he too came out empty-handed. It was as if somebody had scrubbed all record of the word from history. Hidden it away.
For all we knew, they might have. My enemies—our enemies—were many. And whatever they were planning, it hinged on me being left in the dark. Unknowing.
Come nightfall a week before coronation, I could evade Death no longer. I waltzed through the halls, the hem of my charcoal gown sweeping behind me as I headed straight towards what was sure to be the most awkward dinner that’d ever been. Who did Cadagon think he was anyway, demanding I join him for dinner? By now, he knew I loathed him and his company. Cadagon knew my hatred, and therefore, wanted me to suffer in his presence. Yeah, sounded like the kind of dick move he’d pull.
When the doors to the ballroom came into view, I paused and heaved a deep breath.
“Just keep him fooled,” I whispered to myself. The less he knew, the better our chances at taking him out. Simple enough, you know, aside from the deduction skills Death had acquired throughout his time on the throne, skills which had snagged liars far more talented than me in the past. Nevertheless, I had to try. One exhale, and I entered the ballroom.
To my surprise, the room boasted neither eccentric decorations nor riled castle staff. Instead, the scene proved rather humble, informal, and inherently unsettling as all hell. In the room’s center, a single table boasted two chairs, its cozy surface lit by wax-covered candelabras. The rest of the room was dusted in shadow. Amongst the shallow candlelight, Death waited.
“You came,” he greeted, an ill-fitted smile at his cheeks.
“Like I had a choice?” I sat in the leather chair at his left, seat squeaking against my gown.
“True, but still. I’m glad you did.”
I scoffed. “You? Glad?”
“Believe it or not,” he shifted in his seat, “I do possess the ability to feel an array of emotions, Princess. The same as you.”
“Mm, right.”
I studied him as he rushed to fill my glass with wine. His unsure movements jutted up red flags, disturbing me to the core. He looked so…nervous. What was he hiding? I snatched the wine glass and considered the fact that it could very well be laced with poison, given his urgency to pour it.
“So you’ve had a good day, I take it?” He placed the half empty wine bottle at the table’s edge.
“Now you’re asking me about my day? Okay, what the hell’s going on?”
“I simply thought, given our busy schedules, you and I haven’t had an appropriate amount of time to…” Again, his face seized in an odd grin. “...chat. Get to know one another.”
“I don’t think that’s necessary.”
“Princess, you wound me. I give you all this,” he motioned about the castle, “and you can’t be bothered to spare some time on me?”
“It’s nothing personal. I just try to keep my time spent with murderers to a minimum. You know, no similar interests and all.” I flashed a condescending smirk and set my wine glass back on the table.
“Smart,” he said, snapping for a member of the waitstaff for a taste test. “But if I wanted to poison you, Kimberly, I would never waste such a fine wine in the process.”
The slim man took a sip, making sure to wipe the edge where his mouth touched before sliding the cup back to me. When I felt enough time had gone by without the poor man keeling over, I nodded to dismiss him and kicked back a heavy swig. The sharp tang stung my taste buds. Its warmth rushed down my chest, and I relaxed a twinge. I met Cadagon’s gaze, tapping the glass. “Again, nothing personal. Just wouldn’t put it past you to strike me down so you can hoard the throne for yourself.”
His eyes narrowed. “You say it with such conviction, so it must be so.”
A snarl rose in my throat. How many times had he brushed my accusations off in such a blasé fashion since I’d arrived? I swigged another mouthful of wine. “If you’re as innocent as you claim, then why don’t you defend yourself? You just let it happen.”
“A coping mechanism, I suppose. To ward off the hurtful things which seep so easily through your lips. Tonight of all nights, I—”
“What did you expect?” I burst. “I’d show up tonight, and we would share some grand father-daughter dinner together? Reminisce about my childhood maybe? That we’d have a heartfelt conversation and carry on about our day like a normal family?”
“And if I did?”
“Ha.” I chuckled, venom seeping into my words. “Then you’re an even bigger fool than I thought.”
Despite my expectations, he didn’t snap back, didn’t threaten me in an invisible choke hold or send my feet wandering down the halls. No. He simply sighed and waved over a member of the waitstaff who’d emerged from amongst the darkness.
“I believe the princess and I are ready for our meal now, if you’d be so kind.” With an “Aye, Highness,” the man bowed and disappeared into the shadows from which he’d come, Cadagon’s attention on me once again. “Let us discuss the details of your coronation while we wait, yes?”
“If we have to.”
“We do. Tell me, have you considered what you might want that day? Anything at all, and I will make it happen. Such is customary in the crowning of a new ruler.” He spun a silver dinner knife about the table, the embers in his irises stiller than I’d seen.
“Not really, no. I’m not exactly jazzed about the whole situation.”
“That makes me sad to hear. Your wedding day should be a joyous occasion.”
My lips tightened. “It would be if I had a choice in the matter.”
“You are not happy with your alliance to Lyvias?” he asked between modest sips from his ruby-encrusted goblet. “Here I thought you two were getting along quite swimmingly, moving about the castle together and what have you. You’ve moved into his quarters, have you not?”
Shit. I tensed but kept my composure. Had he overheard our discussions? Our plans? No. He was far too calm to know such things. This was another attempt at baiting me in hopes I’d offer information. I willed my face into an even expression. Controlled. He wouldn’t break me.
I shrugged and gulped the last of my wine. A buzz carried in my veins as the alcohol took hold. “He’s fine, I guess. It’s not like arranged marriages are about the people involved anyway. It’s just business.”
“You’ll grow to love him in time.”
I fought back a cynical laugh. Like he had any fucking idea what love was. Power and control and manipulation, sure. But his cold heart was incapable of love. He’d single-handedly destroyed every person who got close enough. His expectant stare on me, I heaved a relieved sigh when the waitstaff re-entered and interrupted us. They placed covered plates on the table, offered a quick bow, and darted from the room. Food. Distraction. Good.
“Ah, here we are.” The king rubbed his hands together with human-like anticipation and lifted the silver domes from atop both plates. A brilliant, intoxicating sweetness wafted about us. “I had this meal prepared special; it’s my absolute favorite.”
“What is it?” I poked the grayish-purple hunk on my plate.
“Candied revel. A rare, meaty flower I had sought from the shifter realm.”
My ears perked. “This is from the shifter realm?”
“It’s the only place you can find them. Even there, they thrive in only one location. Go on, take a bite. You’ll love it; I’m certain.”
Hesitant, I sliced a piece from the flower slab and placed it in my mouth. It was sweet and succulent as he’d said, and yet a bad taste lingered on my tongue. Though the food wasn’t to blame, but rather his frivolous explanation of where it’d hailed from. He’d banished people from the shifter realm, locked it away, and condemned anyone who went there against his will. Yet he’d allowed someone to harvest within it? And for a flower, no less. Of course he did, because it served his selfish desires. My wheels began to turn. This…I could use this to my advantage.
