A War of Three Kings (Dying Lands #2)

39. Aldrin

Chapter 39

Aldrin

I stalk around the priestesses’ sanctuary like a pent-up beast, fury rolling through me in sickening waves. Or perhaps it is fear, like I have never known it before. My limbs are jittery, my thoughts race in circles, and I can’t stand still.

This is where the mad king took her.

The signs of slaughter are all around. Scorch marks on the buildings. The grass churned and kicked up where Mothers of Magic were dragged. Large footprints of armored boots embedded in clay, where the dirt turned to mud with all the blood spilled, then hardened again.

I can’t get the ambush scenes Keira shared with me out of my head. The fear thudding in her heart. The horror that froze her limbs.And the pain rolling through her head where that bastard struck her multiple times.

Finan is a dead man walking.

My fingers twitch with the need to crush his skull in my bare hands.

I should have been here the night his forces attacked. Objected more strongly to this place being left unguarded, sacrilege or not. Self-loathing burns through me. I was supposed to protect her. To make sure no man ever laid an unwanted finger on her again.

I run a hand through my hair, and it snags on all the tangles. I rub my tired, dry eyes and scratch the multiple-day growth across my cheeks.

Deep fatigue hangs over me like a heavy blanket. Sleep has eluded me of late. I spend every moment I can planning and preparing to get her back, and when I finally fall onto my bedroll, I toss and turn for hours. In the darkness, every possible way Keira could be abused flashes through my mind in graphic detail.

I kick a broken bucket discarded by the stream and it clatters as it flies across the ground in a caved-in mess. A deep need to unleash my fury until I have shattered everything that stands in this settlement fills me. I want to roar my rage as I rip houses apart with my hands. But that won’t help anyone. Keira least of all.

This place is packed full of soldiers moving with purpose, when all I want is the peace and privacy to lose my mind. I sit down on a log and bury my head in my hands for a long moment, struggling to breathe. It is like an unseen enemy has their fingers wrapped around my throat so tight I can hardly drag in air.

A few times in the last fewdays, I have felt Keira in my head. The sensations have been weak with her magic mostly suppressed. A vague caress of emotion rubbing up against my soul, but always in panic or anger.

I can feel that something horrible is happening, but I never know what.

Is she being tormented with words or physical abuse? Would I know if the mad king attempts to assault her body, or would she block me out with shame? The unknown is eating me alive, even though we get daily updates on how she is faring in the palace.

My hands shake in my lap, and I ball them into fists to hide the fact. I told her to hold on for me. To eat the poisoned food that is stealing her magic to keep up her strength, but I completely fell apart when her presence winked out in my head.

It felt like a part of me died.

Like the Soul Ripper itself devoured my spirit, breaking me down to parts for the Life Creator to make something new from all the broken pieces.

A desperate, maddening need constantly curls within me to open the portal into the heart of the palace and march our army straight through, but it would be a bloodbath. They would swarm us as we traveled through that bottleneck.

My subconscious screams at me that I am not doing enough. That I should penetrate the palace with a task force and steal her away like we did with the books hidden there—but they are expecting that, and her enemies would keep coming for her even if we succeeded.

In this, King Finan has handed us a perfect opportunity to destroy him.

A reassuring hand falls on my shoulder, and I jolt back to reality under its heavy weight, looking up at Edmund. His eyes are feral, glowing with a literal emerald fire that started burning the day his children were taken.

“Get up, Aldrin. The time for action has arrived.” He holds out a hand and I take it. “Save your murderous rage for the enemy.”

“You are sure about these Southern lords?” I bite out. “That most of them have now declared their allegiance to King Niall?”

Edmund flicks his head toward the portal that leads to one of our so-called allies. King Niall and his delegation party step out of it with mists billowing around them.Countess Lynna and Lord Bradford race over to greet them.

“Lord Tiernay is here himself to oversee our army’s travel through the portal to his estates,” Edmund says. “I inspected his forces yesterday. They will join us, and we will march on the capital. It will take an entire day to transport half our army to the sanctuary in his lands, and the other half to Countess Endeara’s estates. We will march a two-pronged attack on the city and lay siege by the end of the third day. You need to do your job quickly and have the mob in a full riot against King Finan by that time.”

“It’s a risky plan, with a difficult retreat if this Lord Tiernay and Countess Endeara betray us.” My heart stutters at the very thought. “You’re certain about leaving our low fae forces in the North? Dragons and fire sprites would make a siege far easier.”

Edmund gives me a long, hard look. “Don’t think I’m not tempted to burn the place to the ground to get my children back. I might have, if we weren’t receiving Keira’s letters through Murdoc to confirm she and Diarmuid are under no immediate threat. I don’t plan to lay a proper siege. Do your job right, Aldrin, and the people of Sunbright City will open the gates for us when King Niall arrives as their savior, ready to take his throne. We are playing the part of rescuers and must avoid being seen as invading fae if we want to win the throne with minimum bloodshed. Do it right, and these forces won’t lift a sword. They’ll march straight in.”

I grind my teeth with impatience. It is the perfect plan, but it has taken too fucking long to get all the wheels in motion. “If your plan doesn’t work, I’m flying in there on the back of a dragon.”

“If it doesn’t work, I’ll be right at your side.” The tendons poke out in Edmund’s neck as tension rolls through him.

King Niall and Lord Tiernay approach us. “Your daughter is an impressive woman, Lord Appleshield,” the lord says. “She has been holding a secret court of her own, right under the king’s nose when he thinks she is imprisoned in her apartments. It is a clever trick, for her to change her appearance in such a way. Keira has garnered a lot of support for King Niall with her efforts. Especially after the truth of what happened to the priestesses’ sanctuaries became known.”

A complex mixture of pride and devastation collides within me. My heart soars at how brave and clever Keira is, and it twists with agony that she has had to do it all alone, in such a precarious position.

I leave the lords, countess and king to talk. I power up the portals they need to transport their forces, then find my people.

Drake and Klara sit on a log together, sharpening their blades and talking in low voices. Cyprien and Silvan are engaged in some sort of argument that cuts off as soon as I approach, and Hawthorne tries to offer me a mug of hot coffee poured from the pot simmering on the fire. I wave it away, my stomach rolling at the thought of putting something in it, and Zinnia takes the steaming mug instead.

They all stop what they are doing and stare at me with varying degrees of concern. They have been doing this a lot since Keira was taken, and by the darkest realm, I wish they would stop.

“We move out as soon as the priestesses are ready.” I fold my arms over my chest as the urge to break something or someone overwhelms me again. “This wait is killing me.”

“It is painful for all of us. We all care, Aldrin.” Cyprien takes a step toward me, a frown of concern pinching his features, as the others grunt in agreement.

I don’t know if he intends to hug me or pat my back, but I can’t handle softness right now. I think I would fold up and collapse in a heap of tears, and that man couldn’t save anyone. Turning on my heel, I move away from him and drop into a seat beside Drake at the fire.

“She’s going to be okay,” Drake murmurs to me, and I roll my eyes to him, fixing him with a dark look. “I know what it’s like to have someone precious to you in the enemy’s clutches, and to be forced to fully trust in their ability to take care of themselves. Keira is incredibly resourceful. She will be okay.”

I take in a deep, shuddering breath, not allowing the riptide of emotions that churns through me to show on my face. He is speaking of his son, Rainier, who is in the High Chancellor’s inner circle.

We sit there and idly watch as the long columns of Northern armies are slowly swallowed up by portals, their number snaking around the sanctuary and into the fields beyond. Every so often, a portal’s glow will fade and the vibration of the air around it lessens, and we fae pull ourselves away from the campfire to pour our magic into it.

This is no feat a human could achieve.

It is the single reason I am still in this miserable graveyard and not in Sunbright City, fighting for my woman already.

When the last of the armies has disappeared through the portals and the sun sits heavy on the horizon, I pace the sanctuary with agitation. The priestesses we will escort into Sunbright City to wreak havoc are ready. My people are ready. There are only two women holding the rest of us back.Every heartbeat I am forced to wait is agonizing.

I keep throwing moody glances at the portal, but that moonstone ring remains dark. I want to light it up, stalk through and drag them out forcefully, but I have already been told that would be rude.

“Why are they not here yet?” I growl at Cyprien.

He gives me a stern look. “Give them time.”

“We are losing precious time! We must go now.” I can’t help the aggression in my voice or the way every muscle in my body is tight and ready for violence.

“ She needs this as much as you do.” Cyprien puts a hand on my shoulder, and I shrug it off. “Both need it, if we are being honest.”

He looks strange with glamour hiding his fae form. His long black braids with their many golden beads have been masked into straight, free-flowing hair. The shaved sides of his scalp, usually covered in black tattoos, are fully regrown in the human style. His ears are rounded and his sharp features dulled.

Any fae could see through the weaves to know Cyprien’s appearance has been changed, but humans don’t have enough magic to see it. Very few are masters at glamour deception in my realm, unlike the fae who have grown up in the human world and trained in the skill from infancy. Edmund, Keira and Caitlin are such natural experts at hiding their true fae forms with instinctual glamour that not even I saw it.

They would make excellent spies.

Klara is no longer recognizable, her purple hair and eyes now the most boring shade of brown. Drake’s tattoo is gone, along with the red tone of his skin. I touch one of my own rounded ears with discomfort. It feels too real.

That familiar hum fills my ears, vibrating air particles around me. I whirl around to the portal that leads to the Appleshield sanctuary right as Caitlin and Naomi step out of it. Relief punches into me, so strong that all the breath leaves my lungs.

There is a self-satisfied grin on Caitlin’s face as she walks to us. The loose white robes of a Mother of Magic flow around her body, the fabric clinging to the curve of her stomach where the baby was, still visible but much diminished.

The priestesses laugh and cheer and clap. A few race to Caitlin and embrace her in a tight huddle, despite how her body locks up and a scowl fills her face as she looks at them with confusion, then pats their backs.

She doesn’t know how she has become a symbol of feminine strength to these women, swollen with child and galloping into battle as she did.

Naomi’s eyes narrow as she takes everyone in, then claps her hands loudly until all eyes are on her. “Okay, okay, let’s get a move on!” she roars. “Are we all here? Why are there people still sitting around? Let’s go!” She motions toward a few fae who gawked at her entry from their seats rather than standing immediately, like we haven’t been waiting for her for the last hour.

I grin at my people. “Zinnia. Hawthorne. You heard the old spider. Open the portal. We move out now.”

Naomi’s glare fixes on me—then the impossible happens. Instead of tearing my throat out with her teeth, she gives me a small nod of acknowledgment.

As the portal that leads to the ruined sanctuary in Sunbright City roars to life, kicking up Zinnia and Hawthorne’s loose hair, Caitlin strides to my side.

“It is nice to see you too, Aldrin.” She elbows me in the ribs lightly.

I raise a hand to my head as I glance sheepishly at her. Caitlin has been through her own ordeal, and I hardly acknowledged her. There are dark rings under her eyes, and I don’t know if it is the baby keeping her awake, or fear for her siblings. Probably both. Suddenly, I feel like a horrible person.

“My congratulations to you on the birth of your child.” I give her a sidelong glance. “Are you sure you are ready to go into another battle only weeks after the birth?”

Caitlin gives me a long, measuring look, as though she is working out if I will try to stop her. “Thanks to the fae healer, I am.”

“And who is the child with?” I ask softly.

“My mother and a wet nurse will care for Morgana while we make this last stand. It is not uncommon here for noble women to pay another to nurse their child. I cannot stay for long, and I might sacrifice the ability to nurse her myself to be here, but I will not sit by while my siblings’ fates hang in the balance. Especially when I know Morgana will be in good hands.” Raw emotion weighs her shoulders down.

The gods know we need Caitlin. The old spider too, despite how I don’t want to admit the fact. I might despise the High Priestess, but it is a comfort to have someone so powerful and vicious fighting for Keira.

With hardly a thought, I step through the portal with my most loyal supporters at my side, allowing the mists and white nothingness to devour me whole.