A deadly vow, p.11
A Deadly Vow, page 11
I was thankful for the pounding sensation expanding inside my head because it distracted me as his magic singed my lungs. It took away anything that I had left as I went into a coughing fit, trying to breathe through the shadowfire. Tears streamed out of the corner of my eyes at the potency.
I didn’t know where we were now, but I knew just by the way Keahi’s entire body jolted still that it was not good. I opened my eyes to see where we had materialized and quickly closed them. The room spun in vicious circles.
“Brother, I’ve been telling you to bring a girl home, but I didn’t think you were that desperate.”
“Drakkon!” Keahi snapped, the rumble deep within his chest pressed against me.
“Is—is she drugged?? If I knew my teasing would lead to this, I would have said nothing. Keahi, this is not the way to go, I promise you; I could have an escort here in minutes—hopefully. . . she isn’t one?”
“Drakkon!” The temperature of the room threatened to scorch me from the inside out. There was not a rebuttal this time. “I don’t know why you are in my room when I gave you your own, but if you don’t shut the fuck up and make yourself useful right now, I will very well remember this.”
A tired chuckle escaped me as I dangled over his shoulder, the blood rushing to my face. “You’re reallllyyy kind of an ass, aren’t you?” My throat was sore, but I fought to finish my sentence. “I married a sorcerer with a very large torch up his ass—at least I won’t be alive to see it.”
Keahi took a steaming, exasperated breath underneath me.
“Your what. . .” Drakkon forced out.
Keahi was moving now, pushing through a set of doors. “I don’t have time for this! Elias won’t be here till tomorrow evening. If you will not help me—Get. Out.”
Drakkon halted his questions. His footsteps followed closely behind Keahi’s. I was flung out onto an enormous bed. Keahi averted from looking at me directly. His hands removed my coat furiously. I felt paralyzed watching him.
My pride rivaled with the thought of two men I did not know undressing me. They stripped me down to the thinnest layer possible without my skin showing underneath. Keahi grabbed a water pitcher within reach, sniffing it before he flung it over me. I shot up, shrieking from the cold water he doused me in. That woke me up—briefly.
He pushed me back. “Help me flip her over.”
Someone tossed me sideways until I laid flat on my stomach. A cool metal tip struck the back of my neck, the sound of fabric sheared all the way down the back of my shirt. Drakkon let out a rigid breath, and with it I lost any fight I had left.
“It’s not her—It’s not her mark. . . I thought it might be infected, because of her fever. . . It’s not.” Keahi was in a full-blooded panic.
“What is that?” Drakkon’s voice mirrored Keahi’s.
“She still has a piece in her neck,” he whispered to himself. “We have to get it out.”
No, no, no. It can’t be.
There can’t be.
A small whimper escaped me. I didn’t want to see the looks they were exchanging behind my back as they communicated in complete silence.
“Sabine.”
I was shaking, trembling as the memories flooded. They flashed intrusively in broken pieces, over and over. His hand went to my sweat slicked hair. Steady as he brushed it behind my ear. My mind rushed back through the mere contact, in memory, like he had already done so to ease me once before.
“I’m sorry.”
I felt Drakkon’s hands firmly press my limbs deep into the mattress. The weight he was exuding told me more than enough about the act about to unfold. I braced myself for what I knew came next. A tear silently made a path down the side of my face.
“I never wanted this,” I rasped. A sharp sensation tapped against the base of my neck, preparing me for the inevitable. The blade sang with heat against my skin. “I never wanted this!”
“I’m so sorry,” Keahi whispered again. A blood-curdling scream thrashed its way through me as scorching metal sank into my flesh. “I can’t get it out!” I heard in the distance as a string of curses erupted in the background. The edges of my vision swooped in. “I can’t get it out!”
15
SABINE
There was no hesitation, no spark of fear when I sensed my power unfurl awake inside of me. At first it had been a gentle warmth, blooming in my core with its own hint of disbelief, tentatively exploring the boundaries of its broken cage, drawn out of exile. It reached for the base of its home it had been trapped within, but it was not enough.
It had starved.
It probed deeper with an insatiable need, ripping through the integral home my magic had been abandoned in, melting away the layers of my soul I had deemed forever out of reach.
My sorcery tunneled with a vengeance as the crystallized edges of the siphoning crystal lost its sting. It pushed beyond the threshold of its existence and transformed into a chasm of power which was all mine.
Not my father’s magic to wield through the siphoning crystal, not the Gods’ who gave it to me—mine. I wanted to bottle it up, savor it for an eternity, but it begged me to take what it had created out of banishment from its beholder.
‘Take it,’ it whispered sinisterly as I approached the magic within me. ‘Take what is yours.’
The light inside me cleaved into a frenzied rage, and then I set it free without a second thought, immobilizing myself as the light barreled toward me with crackling energy.
“I will,” I promised. “Only death will stop us.”
16
SABINE
Iwoke to an iron barred skylight angled above; the sun warming the side of my face as it cascaded through filtered pieces of glass. It touched every surface with an amber glow only the first of dawn could produce, drifting across large oaken beams which arched into a rocky ceiling. Each beam boasted a set of burgundy tapestries that flowed from floor to ceiling, hovering above the marbled floor that glittered under streams of light.
A roasted, nutty aroma flavored the air, coaxing me from a warmth the bed cradled me in. I cautiously turned myself into the mattress, prepared to feel the residual ache, but it felt as gentle as the turn of a page. That weighted sensation, the one which had buried its way into my bones, was gone.
He was gone—my father’s control over me from the siphoning crystal vanished. This power answered to me, and I would not let it falter. Freedom was a force to those who had not been gifted it. Inherently, what my father had done would always remain. I knew I could not change that. The thrill down my spine from my power insisted otherwise as I pushed the soft fur cover over my shoulder.
“I wouldn’t do that if I were you,” a deep voice behind me insisted. I snatched the blanket straight up to my chin, reaching out to the nightstand where a glass pitcher had been sitting. I shattered it. Broken pieces skated across the marble floor as I jumped on top of the bed with broken glass in my hand.
The intruder stared back. His composure leaked a sense of calm that made me more uncomfortable than I wanted to admit. He sifted through a stack of yellowed papers in one hand, and slowly used the other to stir the rim of his mug with a simple wave of his fingers. His boots crunched on the shards of glass as he let them drop from the desk with a sigh. The desk was angled precisely towards my bed.
Gold-rimmed eyes flicked up at me before his face did. “I’m not cleaning that up.”
“You will be cleaning your blood off the floor if you do not start telling me who you are and why I am naked underneath.” My fist tightened around the glass handle as I shifted the furred blanket up higher.
“Of course, you would not have any recollections of the event,” he mumbled under his breath. He tore off a piece of his toast and threw it at my head. “Here, eat something, you need to—”
Glass shattered against the stone fire pit behind him, inches away from where his head had been. I jumped off the bed and scrambled for a new weapon.
“I’m not a dog, answer me.”
His stare never wavered from me, sizing me up for the first time as his head tipped to the side. A grin formed only in the lower half of his face. “No, but you are a bitch, apparently.” He popped the last piece of his breakfast in his mouth, ending his meal with a sweep of his tongue across his bottom lip. “The Novear traitor who ensnared my brute of a brother. I never realized his tastes were so. . .” He looked around at the scene behind me. “. . . Untamed.”
Mischief lit in the golden tones of his mahogany eyes as the events came back to me. “Where is he?” I snapped.
“Away,” he responded leisurely. “Can you put that down? I’m not really into the whole knife to the throat thing.” I jolted forward, and he placed both his hands up in surrender as I prepared to jump over the desk. “He is currently in a meeting, and could not watch you sleep your way into the third day of being comatose—so do excuse him, will you? I’ve heard forgiveness is an important part of marriage, including not killing the brother-in-law.”
“Take me to him.”
“Like that?” His eyes flicked down. “Where others could see you? Never, if I want to live.”
“Then get me some clothes,” I snarled. “I need to see him.”
His growing smirk tested my patience. “That I cannot do. A traitor to one kingdom is a traitor to another. You will not be allowed anywhere near our tactical meetings if I have anything to do with it.”
He leveled with me, making his stance known as the space between us grew heavy. I did not fear him. I had grown accustomed to his type of interrogation. This kind in particular was met between words, which would later be used as weapons. So, I became the lie I needed to tell, and my power eagerly flared inside me.
I had not realized how far gone I felt with the remnants of my father’s crystal embedded within me. ‘No one can know the truth,’ Keahi had said. That truth was to be easily spilled if I did not find an outlet—soon.
“Traitor?” I said, rolling it over my tongue. I smiled, slowly and deliberately, drunk on my newfound freedom I possessed. As I rolled my shoulders back, I ended my brewing pause. “I like the sound of that, actually. Do tell me what you have heard so that I can live up to it.”
So that I knew exactly how much to say.
This man had no shortage of prowess as he leaned closer. Strands of his dark hair fell against his chin. “Sabine Azterrin, the last Princess of the Novear Kingdom.” My name rolled off like an unpleasant taste in his mouth. “It was rumored that you were dead, and now we find that not only are you alive, but. . .” His grin widened, reaching the corner of his mouth as he said, “If I’m not mistaken, it is Sabine Aldeer now? If that is even your real name.”
I looked down at him. “It is my name, and I hope you like getting used to it.”
“Is that so?” He leaned forward, putting both elbows on the table, resting his chin on clasped hands. “And what would my brother say? Because I find it odd—he has done nothing but avoid my questions about you.”
“Then you should simply figure out why you are not asking the right questions.”
He chuckled darkly. “I am asking the right questions, and you are giving me quite a few answers right now. Please, tell me more.” If I had not heeded his threat before, it was going to be this one that I paid attention to.
“And what exactly might I be telling you?”
He leaned back, calculating a response in the deep furrow of his brow. “That you have just as much to hide.”
“I do not hide, nor do I cower to any form of man. I do not give information to those who could easily obtain it themselves. Do not misplace your anger upon me, when you could very well have found out by asking your brother yourself.”
Dark laughter left his lips. “You are good, but I would do no such thing. For I already know my brother too well. He’s as good with women as he is with words, and that is not very well as you’ll come to find. . . or maybe you already have?” He shrugged. “But my question is to you alone—why would the Princess of the Novear Kingdom turn against her own?”
Keahi was going to pay for this interaction.
I snatched his mug across the table. He let out a small puff of annoyance as he tried to retrieve it. I took a step back, raising my eyebrow at him over the dark liquid. “It seems you do not know your brother at all, then. A man who has little to say generally knows what to do with his hands the most.” I lit a fire within the mischief his eyes carried. “If you are looking for the traitor, find out what he has done before you seek them from me.”
I took a sip, relishing the warmth as I watched the moment his pupils widened, just before he burst out into a fit of laughter. My face flushed in an instant, but I held the steam to my face in hopes of a natural cover up. I knew that I had chosen well, at the way he slid his hand down his face.
He shook his head, something playful taking over within him. “You are not the first woman to tell me I need to keep my mouth shut, and hopefully you won’t be the last.” He flattened the papers he had been holding on the table and reached out his hand. “Pleasure to meet you, Princess. My name is Drakkon Aldeer, the bastard of the kingdom and brother to yours truly.”
I did not reach out to take his hand, knowing that it was in no way a peace offering. “Anything else?”
His gaze darkened as he retracted his hand. “Yes, actually. Your husband was supposed to be here, hmm, several hours ago, and I am already late. . . but of course, he is nowhere to be found.” He stood up, making his way over to the door. “I do find it curious though, for someone so newlywed at least, he finds himself elsewhere when you were clearly injured upon arrival.”
Bastard, yes, the title fitted him well.
“He is to be crowned king? Is he not? I am not a woman easily hurt by frivolity.” Although something pricked at the back of my head, wondering why Keahi had revealed this truth to the others so easily. Drakkon irritatingly had a point. I could only deflect the truth as good as the lie it was hiding behind.
Drakkon let out a humph before I stopped him in his tracks.
“You cannot seriously believe Keahi would be okay with you leaving me here by myself after I was gravely injured, do you? Therefore, he left you here as a babysitter, I presume?”
“First name basis? Intriguing.” Drakkon padded his toes at the doorstep. “You seem to be feeling better. I am not too concerned,” he said. I prowled behind him, sweeping tiny shards of glass with the blanket I carried around me.
The time I had spent with Keahi had been minimal. Keahi had barely spoken to me outside of what needed to be said in our alliance, but when he did speak. . . he fought with his words. This man threatened to win. He needed me to do that now. At least we could share that.
I just hoped I knew this part of him enough to be right. “And what would he say if he found out I had been injured in your absence? All this broken glass. . . whoever had broken in and tried to attack me. . .”
Drakkon swung around. “You look perfectly healed, Princess, believe me. He made sure of that.”
I slipped the tiny broken piece of glass I had been saving underneath the fold of the blanket and held it up to my neck. Light reflected off the glass and glared onto Drakkon’s face, causing him to take a step back.
“Try me.”
He studied the glass at the soft part of my throat. “Where I am going might frighten a Novear woman such as yourself.”
I glossed over the insult, pushing the jagged edge further. “Do I look frightened?”
“You should be, Novear,” he shot back. “This castle is not the same one I’m sure your father locked you up in.” I almost wished he had, I wanted to say.
“Then let’s test that theory, shall we?” I glanced at the wardrobe and headed straight over to it, hoping I could find something to wear at least. As soon as I cracked open the hinges, a hand slammed the door shut.
“Did you not hear me the first time?”
My hands were unmoving against the iron rings. “I did. You said a woman such as myself would be frightened.” My knuckles turned white as a pulse beneath me flared. “I’m not.”
“Are those injuries getting to your head or are you threatening me?”
“If I was making a threat. . . you would know it.” I met the hatred in his stare halfway. “Besides, thank you for your subtle inquiry over my well-being, but I feel fine.” Better than I have for almost my entire life.
“Do not say that I did not warn you. Just be happy I enjoy pissing my brother off enough to let you try to work whatever little scheme you are planning in my favor. Don’t be stupid enough to think I won’t be able to see right through you, even if he does not.” His features hardened, easing his hand off the wardrobe.
I swung the door back open, hoping to knock him off balance this close. “And I will be waiting when you realize we are on the same side.”
17
SABINE
The clashing of metal echoed through the castle hallways so loud it threatened to numb my teeth. Keahi’s brother had impatiently waited for me to get dressed, shouting on the other side of the door about how he was already late for his daily trainings with my husband’s soldiers. At his ever so thoughtful manner, I went slower each time he opened his mouth and twice as slow when he pounded on the door.
“By the way you woke yourself from the dead, I know you can walk faster than that, darling,” Drakkon said as we headed toward massive, iron-plated doors.
“That’s the problem. Death’s embrace did not wake me. It was my husband’s. . .” I eyed him up and down and continued, “brother staring at me like I was some agile prisoner.”
“If I had it my way, Novear, you would be,” he said. “Whatever my brother excavated from your neck, which he refuses to discuss with me, clearly was not attached to your attitude. Or maybe it was caging what was underneath? What a nice little surprise he is in for.” Flames ricocheted like that of a wild brushfire trapped within, pulsing underneath the door in tidal waves of heat that could outmatch hell itself.
