6. Vexxion
6
VEXXION
I was talking with Tempest. She was listening. Yes, she still had her guards in place, and her walls were so high, I’d never be able to scale them. But I wouldn’t stop trying to reach the top. I’d never give up on her, on us.
No matter what, I would shield and cherish this woman until I took my final breath. Love swelled like a tide in my veins so raw and pure that it devoured all else. She was a profound melody resonating through my very core. Her presence alone shaped my dreams for something better.
She didn’t know the turmoil stabbing through my chest, the fear that she might slip through my desperate grasp like shadows at dusk. My love for her blazed with such intensity that the mere thought of her rejection left me a cold, trembling wreck.
“I can’t work with someone who’s lying to me,” she said. So much pain in her voice. That told me I hadn’t killed her love—not yet.
“I’ll share all I can with you,” I said.
“All you can.”
“Yes.” I splayed my arms wide. “I ask you again to trust me.”
“Fuck trust.” Her head tilted, and she watched my face. “Why does everyone fear you?”
I hated admitting this. “I told you I’m his controller.”
“Yes, you control things. What things are we talking about?”
Everything he didn’t handle himself, and so much of it had left a stain on my soul I’d never wash away. “I’ve awakened almost every collared Nullen to their magic.”
She pinched her eyes shut, and her voice came out deadened. “To make it easier for him to gain access to the power they never knew they had.” Her eyes flashed open, pinning me in place and reminding me of how strong she was, how determined. “How many of us are there in faerie?”
“Too many to count.”
“How many of those collared and awakened has the king drained?”
“I’ve intervened whenever I could.”
“How did you do that?” she barked. “Did you tell the king he couldn’t touch them? I saw how that worked in the throne room when he said he’d take me. I see how that worked with Reyla and Brodine.” Her voice broke. “My friends. He’s hurt so many Nullens who could’ve lived full lives. Who could’ve been happy and aware of the world around them.”
“I’m sorry.”
“I have a hard time believing that. I suspected something like this in the throne room. He’s not only draining Brodine and any Nullen collared by those of his blood but he’s stealing energy from whatever Nullen the Lieges bring him.”
“He is.”
“How? Treaty rules forbid this.”
“No one enforces the rules.”
She sighed. “My king doesn’t care.”
“Not as long as he benefits by allowing Ivenrail to do whatever he pleases.”
“Fuck them both.”
How could I do anything but agree? “The Awakening can be painful. Since I’m the controller awakening them, I can make it better.”
“How generous of you.”
Her sarcasm bit deep. I had a steep cliff yet to climb before I reached the top and could breach her inner walls. But as long as she was here with me, talking with me, there was hope I could reach the woman I loved.
“I told you he took my parents,” she said with such a sad croak it gutted me. “Now he’s hurt Brodine. Reyla.”
“I’ve warded them.” The damage had been done before I could get here, but at least I wasn’t too late to extend this protection. “I cast the spell three days after the Claiming.”
“Will your spell bring them back from the ether?” she barked.
“No.”
“Then what good is a ward?”
“It’ll stop everyone else from hurting them.”
“Ah.” Her eyes shimmered with tears. “I . . . Alright. ”
I hated seeing her cry, seeing how close I’d come to breaking her. I’d done this on purpose to her, to us. I’d do all I could to fix it, but the worst was still coming. If only I could share everything, but we still walked on that fictitious wire stretched across a vast cavern. One misstep, and we’d both plunge to our death.
Until the final moment, I would do all I could to protect her. But only Tempest could save me from what was coming.
“I won’t allow the king to touch Brodine or Reyla again. I promise,” I said.
“Your promises don’t mean much when they’re already gone.”
“They mean everything .”
She sucked in a breath and forced it out. “Then thank you for doing what you can for them.”
My warding was just the start.
“The king has been decimating the villages,” she said. “He intends to take everyone, doesn’t he?”
“He needs their energy to fulfill his plan for complete domination of our world.”
“I’m not there to protect the villagers. To free those taken.” A shudder tore through her. “He’s not satisfied with what he steals from those collared.”
“It hasn’t been enough to overcome Riftflame Court’s hold on their core of power. It’s not enough to overrun what’s left of Lydel Court.”
“Core?”
“Each Court has a core of power they can use in a time of great need. Without it, he can’t dominate the world, though he’ll try with whatever he can take from Nullens.”
“Lydel’s covered in thorns. He placed them there.”
“Just the offshore island. He’s annexed the rest of Lydel already. I believe the high lady cast the spell to protect those beneath and to protect the core.”
She sucked in a breath. “She cursed her own people?”
“She was a determined woman, the kind who willingly sacrificed herself to protect those she loved.”
“Why sacrifice herself to protect people turned to stone?”
“It’s not over for Lydel yet.” That was all I could say.
“Who else did you kill other than Farnoll and Selitta?”
“The person who shot you and Seevar on our way here.”
She rubbed her arm where the bolt had sunk all the way through, but it must be nearly healed by now. “Who else?”
“One of your fellow riders back at the fortress.”
“What?” she barked.
“He was standing outside the training area while you worked with Seevar. He sent bands of power to poke the dragon while you were flying near the top of the netting, no doubt hoping a fall would cause you considerable pain—”
“Or kill me.”
I dipped my head forward in acknowledgment. “Or that.” My chin lifted, and I held her gaze. “I eliminated the problem.”
“What was his name?”
“I didn’t think to ask,” I rasped.
“I’m sure you didn’t. When did this happen?”
“Not long after I arrived. It’s a wonder you survived until then. ”
“I’m not completely defenseless,” she snarled.
“I agreed.”
Her resigned sigh puffed out. “Anyone else?”
“Your commander.”
Her eyes widened. “Because he was stealing power from captured Nullens?”
“That, and for telling others to kill you.”
She sucked in a breath. “Why did he want to kill me?”
“When Farnoll realized what you were coming to mean to me, he knew I would collar you. He knew the king would fear us.”
Shaking her head, she snorted. “Why fear us?”
“Because he would see your potential. Even more, what the two of us together might be able to do.”
“You didn’t kill Reyla when she tried to stab me.” Her brow knit with thought. “Why not?”
“Farnoll lulled her and turned her into a weapon. Once I eliminated him, his lull disappeared. She did not want to kill you.”
I could see the knowledge solidifying in her mind. “Who else have you killed?”
“For you?” It was wise to clarify this. “The two women working in the fortress kitchen who were poisoning your food under the commander’s direction. Farnoll told him to eliminate you.”
An alternate plan if the first didn’t work. “How far do the king’s wretched fingers reach?”
“Almost everywhere. There are so few holdouts left.”
“Have you killed anyone else for me? ”
I lifted my chin, meeting her gaze. “Not yet, but I will if they cause you pain.”
“Yet here you stand before me, the perpetrator of almost all my pain.”
“I’ll do all I can to show you that you can still trust me.”
“What did you do to Drask?”
“Used him when I had need. He was once mine.”
“What does that mean?” she snarled.
“I raised him. I sent him away before Ivenrail could kill him. He found you all on his own, however, and he will always be yours. Never fear that.”
“You used him to spy on me.”
I grunted. “You’d do the same.”
“No, I wouldn’t.”
She would if seeing meant everything.
Sighing again, she paced back and forth. Was she finished asking questions?
I stiffened my spine. “Go ahead. Judge me.”
“We share a common cause, but that’s it.”
I jerked out a nod, watching her face, her eyes. Not intruding into her mind. The time for spying on her thoughts was over. She was right that I’d hurt her—too many times. I would do all I could not to do so again, though I feared I wouldn’t be able to keep that vow even with myself.
“What else are you keeping from me?” she asked.
As I’d seen immediately, this woman was not only powerful, but she was also clever.
I said nothing .
“Come on,” she said with a wry twist of her lips. “I know you’re still holding things back.”
“I’ll share everything when I have to.”
“You expect me to trust you after a statement like that?” she growled, her hands forming fists at her sides. “You want me to agree to a deal with someone who’ll lie even if it results in my death?”
“I will not allow you to die.”
“And what will you do if your father figures out I’m trying to kill him and quirks his finger toward his dragon? Stand there while that beast turns me into a pile of ashes?”
“His dragon, Madrood, will not hurt you.”
“He’s an unpredictable dragon. You can’t control everything.”
“I do my best. We’re going to kill the king after he claims Brenna.”
“What?”
“It’s the only time he’ll be distracted. Claiming is one of the few true drains on a fae lord or lady’s power.”
“Won’t he have his dragon with him as protection?”
He traced his fingertips across the back of his neck. “If Madrood is with him, I’ll stand between you and the beast’s wrath.”