4. Tempest
4
TEMPEST
I landed hard on the stone bridge spanning the gap between the aerie and the castle, toppling against the railing when my leg nearly gave way.
Only flit to a location you have solid in your mind.
A lesson learned from the betrayer, Vexxion. Heir to the Weldsbane Court and eldest son of the man I still intended to kill.
Should I murder his eldest son before or after I’d eliminated Ivenrail Levestan from this world forever?
Vexxion had blinked .
This was the only reason I wasn’t screaming and ripping out my hair.
I slumped against the railing. Clung to it, actually. I wasn’t tired from the flit but my heart . . .
It’d be best not to examine my emotions too much at this moment .
Whenever Vexxion had flitted in the past, he’d appeared weak for a time afterward. But not when he flitted from the front door after we arrived here or when he took us to the throne room after that. What was different about those times? For all I knew, he’d found a way to tap Nullen power like his father, and that had restored his strength once more.
Or he’d taken it from me.
Had I misread everything? It couldn’t be true.
I hated myself for questioning whether he was deeply involved or not. He’d just proven he was a manipulative bastard. That he’d lied.
That he’d used me.
I shored up the stone wall around my heart, added more thorns—an idea I got from the vines embedded in my neck—and added thick clouds.
No one would ever use me again.
A fae man started up the bridge from the castle, his lips slithering into a gruesome smile.
“Lost, little controlled Nullen?” he asked in a sultry voice as he came closer.
His eyes locked on mine, and I felt the tug of his will trying to exert control on my own.
Rage poured through me. How dare he try to lull me?
I snapped out with my power, lifting him off his feet and flinging him backward. He landed on his ass on the stone platform spanning the front of the castle and scrambled to his feet, gaping at me.
“You’re collared,” he snarled. “How could a Nullen—?” Whirling around, he raced toward the castle entrance, wrenching open the door and scurrying inside.
Vexxion had been right about one thing. I needed to learn how to control my power, not give it free rein. Although using it against a slimy fae lord had been fun.
Would the lord tell everyone what I’d done? If so, they might storm out here and grab me. Lock me in the dungeon, assuming there was one in the bowels of the castle. The king was too vile not to have a place to torture people somewhere. I would not wait here for them to find me and lock me up.
Gathering power again, I flitted, landing hard in the suite Vexxion and I were supposed to share. I hobbled to the closet and yanked out my bag still holding the few measly belongings Reyla and I had packed what felt like ages ago at the fortress.
Pawing through it, I tossed aside Ember’s Shadow , the romance book she was reading, and pulled out the blade that had belonged to Vexxion’s grandfather, hoping it came from his mother’s side, not his father’s.
Pain rocked through me once more, driving me to my knees. Dropping the bag, I cupped my face while shudders tore my heart to shreds. I was a fool for not seeing it. Vexxion had essentially told me. There was no denying he had a tortured soul; his scars gouged all the way through him. Vexxion told me numerous times that the king’s eldest son had been molded in Ivenrail’s image, that he was the king’s most devoted servant.
The king had taken that broken boy and turned him into a weapon that would now be used on me.
Brodine had tried to warn me, but I was a silly girl falling in love with a true master, unwilling to listen to those who actually loved me. Vexxion’s obsession with me had concerned Brodine with good reason.
Putting the fragments of myself back together, I wrenched myself to my feet and strapped a sheath around my waist. I stared at the family dagger, watching the stone wink scarlet in the late-day sunlight filtering in from the bank of windows behind me.
Fuck this. Fuck Vexxion. Fuck the king too. I jabbed the blade into the sheath.
A search of the room didn’t reveal any other weapons I could add to my arsenal.
When footsteps echoed in the hall, I flitted again, almost inserting myself into the stone wall spanning the front of the aerie. As it was, I scraped my cheek hard enough it stung and would probably bleed. I swiped the pain away as I hurried through the entrance.
A stable hand with pale hair and wearing a light blue tunic and black leather pants and boots sat on a bench at the end of the hall. Sensing me, he looked up before returning to where he was polishing a leather saddle lying across his lap. I tentatively limped toward him, and when I got closer, I noted the red mark around his neck marking him as a claimed Nullen like me.
His head lifted again, his sharp gaze meeting mine clearly.
“Your eyes . . .” I shook my head and reminded myself I had to be careful about what I discussed with anyone here.
“I assume you mean that I still have my wits about me,” he said with a twist of his lips .
“Yes.” I stopped a short distance away from him. “Some of those claimed—”
“Are not as lucky as us.” He shrugged, his gaze falling to my neck.
My vines coiled and snapped, and it was all I could do not to claw my skin. “Lucky? This is a curse.”
“It beats letting your soul wander around the ether like the others.”
A snarl ripped up my throat. “Is that what happens to those who are drained?” Brodine’s and Reyla’s souls were trapped in the ether? I had to find a way to bring them back.
“Yeah.” His hand came to rest on the saddle. “I’m Will, by the way.”
“Tempest.”
“Nice to meet you. Too bad it’s here and not in Nullen territory. But we’re still alive. We can work. Have fun every now and then when they let us.”
“How can you accept this?”
“It’s a job, and I like to eat. I also like having a place to sleep at night.”
“They’re hurting us.”
“Not me.” A frown filled his face. “You must be a Nullen without enough power to tap. Since I didn’t reveal much after my Awakening, the fae who claimed me dumped me here in the stable.”
“At least he didn’t kill you.”
“Not so far, though in that, I was lucky once more.” He flashed me a brief smile. “ She’s decent enough. A taste of my power was enough for her. She doesn’t hit me, and she even tosses me a coin every now and then.”
“Decency doesn’t exist among the fae.”
“That’s not true. There are a few. You’ll figure out who they are quickly if you want to survive.”
“Can it be reversed?”
“You speak of the draining?”
My eyes stinging with tears, I jerked out a nod.
“I haven’t seen it happen yet.”
“Is it possible?” I growled.
“How would I know?” His lips scrunched up. “They’re drained. We’re not. Move on.”
Never. Did it hurt when it happened? The thought of Brodine and Reyla writhing in pain like they had at the Claiming made me want to curl into a ball and cry. Vexxion knew this. He let his father do it. “Whoever claims them takes everything they’ve got?”
“I don’t know much about it, actually. What I do know is that they get turned into real Nullens. Funny, huh? Nullens. All this time, we thought we had nothing when we had some unknown power the fae are eager to steal.”
Vexxion hadn’t drained me—not yet. A hysterical laugh gurgled up my throat, but I forced it back down. My draining would come soon since I was a gift for his father.
But that blink.
I couldn’t quite reconcile what he’d done in the throne room with that tell, assuming it wasn’t more manipulation on his part. He was clever, too smart when compared to a lowly orphan rider raised in a remote border fortress like me .
He’d played me, and I went along willingly.
Two other collared Nullens left the stalls on the right and strode past us, sending curious glances my way. More Nullens without enough power to make it worth the effort of draining? Maybe this was more common than I’d thought. Even the women who’d come to the suite with Reyla to unpack had chatted together. Their power hadn’t been fully sucked away either.
The king and Vexxion knew I had more to give than others long before I was claimed. Why bother to collar someone without much to drain? Too many questions without answers.
“We could run,” I said softly, after the other two Nullens had left the aerie. “Leave the castle and flee.”
“Not while we’re collared,” Will said. “Even if we could survive its removal, they’d hunt us. Track us down with dregs and kill us outright. Or bring us back to—”
“Back to what?” My brain flailed, trying to absorb everything he’d just said. Dregs were used to hunt us here as well?
He leaned close. “You’ve seen the creatures in the paintings. The ones forced into the front doors and everywhere else.”
“They’re real,” I breathed.
“Exactly. If you think being collared and working here is bad, try fleeing the castle, and you’ll find out what it’s like to be pinned and tortured forever. That’s what happens to those who misbehave.”
A shudder ripped through me. “Can they be freed?”
“You want to die fast, don’t you?”
“No, but they—”
Something banged near the entrance to the aerie .
Will’s gaze shot around wildly. He curled his finger, urging me closer, and his voice dropped to a whisper. “I wish I could do something about the collars and those trapped in the doors and paintings, but that would take more magic than I’ll ever possess. I don’t want to draw attention. You understand.” Straightening, he grunted. “I need to work. Go away. Find someone else to bother.” He scooped up some more leather oil and dabbed it here and there along one side of the saddle before rubbing it in with the cloth.
He wasn’t going to tell me anything else.
I slipped past him, limping to the end of the hall where I opened the gate to Glim’s stall. Inside, I secured the latch and walked over to the dragon’s head, holding his cheeks gently.
He huffed, showering me with sparks I batted away.
The gesture reminded me of Seevar .
That was all it took to slice me wide open all over again. I dropped to my knees, my thigh protesting the movement, and sobbed into Glim’s snout.
When I tumbled back onto my ass, he lowered his head onto my lap and huffed, thankfully without sparks, though at this point, did I care if I burned?
Actually, I did. I’d honed myself into a weapon from the time I was dumped at the fortress, and I wasn’t going to allow my edge to become dull now. I’d have to adjust my plan, but it hadn’t changed.
I had even more reason to kill the king now.
Drask soared in through the cliffside opening covered with a band of mesh and landed on the floor beside me. His beady black eyes locked on me, and he tilted his head one way, then the other.
I knew who he was spying for.
“Leave me alone,” I snarled, flicking my hand out toward him.
He hopped backward but lifted off, shooting up to land on my shoulder.
I wanted to shove him away, but when he pecked my cheek with affection, all I could do was sob.
Drask was a bird. He might also be a spy, but his bird-ness remained. I’d rescued him, and I doubted anyone had made the effort to hurt him that badly solely because they thought I’d come across the poor creature and work hard to save his life, let alone befriend him.
Vexxion had manipulated Drask just like he had me.
That thought made it easier to stroke the crow’s back, to let him peck my face once more.
Tears continued to razor down my cheeks. The floodgates had burst wide open, and there was no stopping the rush now. Sometimes, it made more sense to let the water rip. It would churn across everything in its path, cleansing it, leaving a clean, wide-open space behind.
That could be me.
Like always, I felt Vexxion arrive behind me before I saw him. And when his hand landed on my hair, stroking, I wrenched away, crawling around Glim fast enough to make the beast jump and skitter sideways.
Drask weathered the storm by clinging to my shoulder .
Vexxion stalked me with a flit, landing in front of me and latching onto my upper arms before I could flit somewhere myself.
“Let me go.” I broke his hold and scrambled backward until I slammed into the stone wall. Only knowing that Will might overhear and investigate kept me from screeching.
“Never,” he vowed, the scars on his neck standing out vividly against his skin. His jaw tightened. “You. Are. Mine.”
“The person I gave myself to no longer exists.” If he hadn’t blinked, I’d flit so far from him, he’d never find me. The fact that I remained here, still talking to him, told me how well he’d worked his way into my heart. I hated it. Hated that my knees shook. It was all I could do to hold myself back from crawling to him. Begging him to love me. I ached to stroke away the pain etched into his face. “What the fuck do you want from me?”
“Everything, Fury. Everything.”
“You don’t have the right to call me that name any longer.”
He snapped forward in another flit, and before I could flee, he lifted me with his threads and trapped me against the wall. He caged me in place further with his palms on my shoulders and his body tight against mine.
Drask squawked and flew down to land on the sandy floor.
“You will always be mine.” Vexxion’s voice came out deadened for the first time, as if he spoke the words he truly believed, but he’d lost the ability to inject his usual snarl.
You have no right to hold me, I shrieked in his mind. You’ve forced everything. I hate you.
You don’t. You love me.
I hate you !
If you did . . . If you truly did, I’d let you go.
Then do it.
Not yet.
“You owe me a favor, tiny storm.” His sapphire gaze locked on mine. “I’m collecting it.”