2. Tempest
2
TEMPEST
B rodine! I silently cried, my body swaying.
Do not move, Vexxion snarled in my mind.
I needed the stern warning. I was falling apart, and I couldn’t maintain control of anything. I snapped my spine into position and internally growled at myself. If I wasn’t careful, I’d ruin this.
“Please, Your Highness,” someone said from ahead of us. I’d missed the person kneeling in front of the king, his torso bowed to press his forehead against the floor. “I told them what you required but they begged for more time. I granted them a week, until after your upcoming wedding. Surely you won’t need to conclude this matter before then.”
“You’re one of the most powerful lords in my court,” the king growled. “Yet, here you are, a complete failure. You disgust me.” Out of the corner of my eye, I caught him lifting his index finger .
The dragon rumbled behind him, slowly slithering forward, a silver menace with rage boiling in his eyes. His scales shimmered like molten silver, each on a polished fragment of the moon. Untamed fury blazed in his red eyes, and his vast wings unfurled behind him, casting shadows that whispered horrifying secrets. His jagged rows of teeth glistened as he let out a low grow, resonating deep in my chest. Every movement was both fluid grace and terrifying power, and I sensed he’d strike without mercy or hesitation.
“No. No!” The man scrambled to his feet and raced toward a door on his right. Before he could reach it, the dragon blasted him with fire.
Like a candle wick snuffed out, the fire cut off. A pile of ashes smoldered on the floor as the dragon coiled backward, retaking his place behind the king. When a light breeze swept through the room, it caught the ashes and skipped them across the floor in a morbid dance.
I gaped, my breathing stuttering in my throat, unable to comprehend what had just happened. I’d seen dragons kill dregs. A few had scorched trainers.
But I’d never seen anything as vicious and torturous as this.
“Vexxion,” the king said with a heavy sigh, casually brushing bits of ash off his tunic. “You misbehaved. However, I’ve decided to overlook that shortcoming for now. Come forward. Bring your little Nullen along with you. She’s pretty, isn’t she, in a quaint kind of way. Send her up to me. I’d like to examine her.”
The Claiming was about more than bonding servants. More than about creating servants .
Access . . .
My collar tightened, and I’d swear to the very fates themselves that my neck blazed red on the surface. Magic churned up from my well in a rolling mass, but I found no comfort in its embrace.
My hands tightened against my sides. No, they’d been pinned to my sides. By whom? The king?
My legs were made to move forward. I was forced to walk past Vexxion, and I was not allowed to look his way no matter how hard I tried. My deadened feet took me over to the edge of the dais. They carried my limp body up the stairs and across the platform toward the king.
That’s when I realized who was controlling me. After all, control was the first step of a Claiming. It wasn’t the king.
Vexxion.
My heart shuddered. I tried to tell myself he was doing this to protect me, but doubts clanged against the side of my skull.
When he pushed, I refused to allow him to magically force me onto my knees in front of the king.
“Where’s your cousin?” Ivenrail asked Vexxion. “He flew with you to the fortress to complete an errand for me, but he hasn’t returned.”
“I’m afraid he won’t be able to make it to the castle for an indefinite length of time.”
The king snarled. “What did you do?”
“Me?” Vexxion’s lips twisted. “What makes you think I did anything?”
The king’s glare only deepened before he turned to where I stood a few feet away, his face coiling into another smirk .
“Interesting,” he drawled, his sharp gaze gouging into me. “She truly is pretty in a humble sort of way. You should dress her nicer. A lower bodice that hints at her rosy nipples. A slash up the side to reveal her legs. Tighter fabric to show off her delectable curves.” His eyes raked down my form.
My skin quivered deep below the surface, but I couldn’t move. Couldn’t speak. I could barely breathe.
The king dismissed everyone, leaving only me, Vexxion, and the silver dragon in the throne room.
“You should’ve left things alone, Vexxion,” Ivenrail said in a sultry voice. “You were only supposed to go to the fortress to handle the issue with the commander. As if I’d allow him to steal Nullen power. The fool.”
The commander was part of this diabolical plan? How could he take power from anyone? He wasn’t fae as far as I knew, so he couldn’t collar anyone. The Liege said only one person was draining energy from Nullens, the monster sitting on the faerie throne.
“I sent Farnoll to tell the commander to send this particular female to the Claiming,” Ivenrail said. “I wanted him to claim her.”
“Why me ?” I choked out.
“Some of you have more power than others,” he said. “I find pleasure in seeking you out.”
It all made sense now.
Farnoll would claim those with higher levels of power like me.
The treaty rules clearly stated a fae lord or lady could only take power from the Nullen they’d collared or one of their blood. What if the king had found a way to access everyone ? If the commander could drain random Nullens, then so could Ivenrail. He could steal power from whoever he pleased, building the energy he craved until he had enough to rule the entire fae realm. As for the Nullens, they’d be tossed aside, staring into nothing with milky eyes for the rest of their days.
Or killed so another could be collared. A vicious cycle.
And I was the prey.
I’d begged Vexxion to claim me. He hadn’t known a thing about my plan. That meant he wasn’t involved in whatever this was.
“I suppose it no longer matters,” the king said. “This will work as well.” He leaned sideways to look around me. “Why are you standing down there, Vexxion? Come up. Join me. She’s quite delightful, isn’t she? I might even allow you to keep her. When I’m through with her, of course.”
I was no gift for this heinous monster.
I expected Vexxion’s threads of lightning to snap across the open space. Now, he would act. I’d scream with joy when they coiled around this brutal fae king’s neck. I’d grin while Vexxion strangled the life from him before tossing him against the farthest wall. He’d shove aside his fear of the king and act.
Instead, he walked up the stairs sedately and stopped beside me.
What’s going on? I couldn’t hold back the words.
He didn’t answer, and for some reason, I sensed he hadn’t heard me. Why would he construct a wall to keep me out?
Ivenrail flicked his finger at me. “Come closer, rider. ”
“Her name’s Tempest,” Vexxion growled.
Yes! Now he’d tell the king I was his fury, that I meant everything to him.
That he loved me.
Although, he hadn’t yet told me that himself.
I was compelled to walk closer to the king and stand beside the arm of his throne.
“Tonight,” the king said jovially, “I’ll take a little sip of her power. Not too much. Nullens like this one are delicacies that need to be savored. I believe even a touch will go right to my head.”
Vexxion’s hands twitched at his sides.
I stared at him, pleading with him in my mind. I tried to pull on my power to flit—and it refused my command. It boiled within the well, but each time I slipped my hand into the froth to scoop some up, it coursed off my fingers.
“I sense reluctance on your part. You’re not willing to share?” The king’s hands smacked onto his throne, tightening to the point the metal bowed. Madrood oozed forward and sucked in a deep breath.
No . . .! Vexxion. Get back. Run!
I met the dragon’s gaze, and his bored into mine, sinking deeply . . .
For a moment, I saw a vast stone city made up of buildings that gleamed like silver in the sunlight. People moving about with joy in their hearts and on their faces. A sea glistened beyond and—
“Zayde was quite generous,” the king said, slicing through the image. It slid away, leaving nothing but this wretched place behind.
Madrood eased back behind the throne.
“Zayde loves you,” Vexxion told the king.
Ivenrail snorted. “Yes, yes, he does. I was disappointed that I had to persuade him to share as well. Surely you won’t deny me this tasty morsel.” The steel in his voice told me this man would not allow anyone to refuse him. The mockery there told me he knew no one dared.
Wait.
My breath caught.
Younger brother.
Zayde.
The king had two sons. A younger one who adored his father and an older son he’d molded in his own image.
Access was the last stage of the Claiming. Per the rules, it could only be shared with someone of the same blood—Vexxion had clearly told me that.
Vexxion shared blood with the brute I’d come here to kill.
At the realization of what he’d done to me, agony rocked through me, a storm blasting onto the shore. I’d . . .
I couldn’t do anything.
My storm had been suppressed.
Collared and controlled.
How could you? I shrieked into Vexxion’s mind.
I gaped at the king, taking in his piercing sapphire eyes so like Vexxion’s before I wrenched my gaze away.
You fucking bastard, I hurtled at Vexxion.
I am aptly named .
It was too late . . . for everything .
Vexxion’s cousin, Farnoll, was supposed to claim me. Instead, I’d begged Vexxion to do it, only to have him bring me to the king as an offering just like Farnoll would’ve. At the Claiming, Vexxion had wrapped those wretched vines around my neck that now gave him and the king complete control over me. He’d awakened my magic for them to access whenever they pleased.
He’d “trained me,” but that was just to give him a chance to seduce me before he brought me here as a gift for his father.
I gave that man my body. My heart. My soul. While he . . .
He never intended to help me. He and the king probably laughed about my foolish plan to kill him.
Control. Awakening.
Access.
The king wasn’t just draining residual Nullen energy. He was having Nullens collared and brought here to be awakened to their trapped power and then drained before they could realize it existed.
“I thought I was in love with you,” I blubbered, feeling unbelievably na?ve. Tears slicked down my face. I smacked at them, hating that I showed Vexxion even this tiny bit of emotion. “All this time . . . You. Were. Toying with me.”
“I was, Tempest. You’re just a game piece on the board,” he said in that deadly, sly voice that used to make my heart trip over itself to reach him.
The voice that would make me beg him for whatever he’d deign to give me.
The voice that made me love him .
“From the moment we met, I knew the role you’d play.” He said it so blandly. So . . . sneeringly.
I was trapped.
Drask flew into the room, cawing, but instead of coming to me, he landed on Vexxion’s shoulder. He flapped his wings and leaned into Vexxion’s neck. Pecked him playfully on the cheek like he’d only ever done with me.
He . . . I’d found my pet mortally wounded, healed him. He was my friend.
Vexxion cleared his throat. “Tempest is quite sweet. I’m sure you’ll enjoy her as much as I have.”
I’d slash his throat. I’d kill him. Then I’d do the same with the king.
But . . . I was completely locked down by this collar.
I could do nothing .
“Allow me to ready her, Father,” Vexxion said blandly. “Then I’ll gladly let you have a taste of all she has to offer.”
If I wasn’t glaring at him with the pure, unadulterated hatred blazing across my soul . . .
. . . I would’ve missed it.
He blinked.
My mind roared and something inside me snapped. While the world slowed around me, my power boiled up from the well. It overflowed, blasting out to engulf everything in its path—to engulf me .
It gushed across me, coating me, bathing me in its turbulent beauty.
I guzzled down as much of it as I could.
Then I used it to flit from the throne room.