38. Vexxion
38
VEXXION
B y the time I could get away from the king, it was late. Very late.
I flitted to the stable and groomed Glim for a bit to throw off whoever might be following, though I doubted anyone dared. This was where my reputation paid off. Who’d challenge the king’s controller?
After giving Glim treats, I returned the brush to the basket in the tack room and casually strolled down the hall as if I intended to return to the castle. When I reached the shadows before the opening, I ducked into them and flitted to the top of the mountain peak above the aerie where I waited again, sitting on the loose shale as if I had come here merely to take in the view of the moon hovering over the broad valley. I sent out my threads to spy and waited.
I flitted to three more locations, each having little meaning to me, and when I was confident I hadn’t been followed, I flitted once more and strode to my final destination, arriving late but as quickly as I could.
Would he still be waiting?
I needed this bargain. Very much. But I couldn’t allow him to know how vital this deal was for me. He had to believe he was getting the better end, and perhaps he was.
I’d learned manipulation from a master, but I rarely used it to benefit myself. Only tonight would I do so.
Would the fates cooperate this one time?
He stood in the shadows among a thick grove of spindler trees, but I wasn’t surprised he didn’t join me in the open area beyond. First, he’d want me to go to him. A power move I well understood. And he had no interest in being seen with me, not if he hoped to live longer than this moment.
I strode over to him, letting the shadows consume me along with him.
“You’re late. I nearly left,” he hissed, his slithering words skittering across my skin like poisonous insects, each syllable a tainted bite.
“Yes,” I said softly. I hated using my voice where anyone could overhear, but my masking threads were not welcome with this interaction. “You didn’t leave.”
I’d convinced myself he needed me more than I did him, though that might not be true. Not when this came to its final conclusion.
I held out my hand. “The items.”
“I want a taste first.”
“That wasn’t part of the deal. You’ll get more than a taste in a few days.” Supposedly after the wedding, though I doubted he was on the guest list.
“Then you can have them in a few days.”
“We agreed you’d bring them tonight, and I’d give you what you seek later.” I pivoted sharply and strode away. Let him believe I was willing to walk, that he’d never see me again. Let him worry about who I might share this botched interaction with.
“Wait,” he barked, as I knew he’d do.
“For what? You wish to play games with me?” Turning, I snapped out my threads, seeking him lurking in the shadows. I lifted him, slamming him against the broad tree behind him.
His muffled woof rang out, cut off before the air pulsed with silence.
As I strode back toward him, I gave him a slice of a smile and released him, allowing him to fall to the ground once more. He landed squarely on his feet. I could feel the snarl hurtling up his throat, but he bit it back, muffling it with a gurgle.
“You expect me,” he wheezed, “to deliver now, yet I only have your word you’ll complete your end of the deal?”
“My word was good enough for you earlier.” My threads stroked up the back of his spine to the nape of his neck, tugging his hood back to reveal his skeletal face.
“Things have changed.”
“What things?”
He said nothing.
It never paid to trust a Liege, and I didn’t, but he was the only one who could deliver what I needed. With the time running short, I wasn’t above allowing him to believe he’d gotten the best of me. Oh, how he’d brag about doing such a thing if he could.
Oh, how wrong he’d be.
“One taste,” I finally said.
He chortled, the sound gasping up his bony throat.
I pulled a blade from the sheath on my right thigh. With a hiss, the Liege melted around the tree. As if that would protect him if I slashed out?
“Come now,” I sneered. “You said you wanted this and now you’re afraid?”
“I fear nothing.” He floated back to stand a short distance away from me.
He could flee if he wanted. My threads could grab him before he could get away. Lieges couldn’t flit. Whatever magic they controlled had been borrowed, though, like everyone else, they wanted more.
I lifted my hand and held up my fingers, picking the blunted tip of my pinky. Rather ironic to use that digit, though I was the only person who’d understand why it was so morbidly funny.
“This shows I will deliver,” I said softly, stretching my threads around him to hold him away. Hunger had a way of making a person go feral, assuming a Liege was what one might call a person.
The poke drew what he needed.
Using magic, I lifted the drop and gently ferried it over to his gaping maw. Like an infant bird of prey, he crouched with his head tipped back and his mouth wide open to feed. Unlike an infant bird, ecstasy consumed his face, and he hadn’t even tasted it yet.
Only as the drop drifted closer to his open mouth did I reconsider. Once I gave him even this tiny bit, he’d be able to track me no matter where I went.
But in a few days, it would no longer matter.
After all, I was the shield.
I released the drop and it plunged down, falling into the Liege’s mouth. His jaws snapped shut. He fell to his knees. He contorted, his limbs snapping out then back in again while he moaned.
Finally, he stilled and rose to his feet. “Your deal is worthy.”
Yes, I could do nothing less.
I held out my hand.
He reached within the folds of his soiled, tattered robe and drew out a rough brown sack, stretching it forward with his bony hand.
Taking it, I loosened the tie and peered inside. “There are only four.”
“I couldn’t get more than that.”
“I don’t believe you.”
“I don’t lie. I can’t lie.”
No, but he could be evasive. Same difference.
His voice lifted, stricken with fear. “Only four.”
I could press him, but I suspected this was how it was going to be. The fates had made their decision. “Alright.” With dread coiling tight inside me, I resecured the sack.
He melted into the shadows.
There was nothing I hated more than dealing with this loathsome serpent. Despite the recoil of my soul, need demanded it.
A battle was coming, and soon, those who’d remained neutral would have to choose a side. Lieges and dregs should’ve remained out of this, but like with anyone, there was always a price.
On this vast terrain, countless variables shift like shadows—each piece’s choice rippling with possibility. As they move across the board, forecasting the outcome was like revealing an enigma covered by time’s veil.
Turning, I strode out of the shadows and into the weak moonlight.
“Vexxion,” someone chided from my right. “Blood breeds true.”
Fuck.
Uncle Camus strode into view, stopping a short distance away from me. After my mother was murdered and when I was still a child, he’d trained me, grinding my face into the ground when we battled with blades and scorching my flesh with magic when I couldn’t block everything he delivered. He took pleasure in dealing pain, but in that, he was like everyone else in Bledmire Court. He was the most vicious, second only to Ivenrail, his adored older brother.
He would assume he could still defeat me, that I was the broken child I’d pretended to be so long ago.
He was wrong.
Not giving him time to speak again—or flit to the king—I locked him in place with magic. At the same time, I whipped out my threads, wrapping them around him, choking off his strangled gargle and securing his mouth to keep him from speaking.
“Walk with me,” I said.
I took him into the woods where watchers would have to strain to make out further details.
Then I killed him.
It felt anticlimactic to burn his remains with white-hot fire, as if the defeat of one of my greatest enemies should come at a greater cost than a bit of spent energy. For many years, I’d feared this man. It was only recently that I’d realized I truly had strength, that I deserved better than the scorn of men such as this one.
Worth blooms under true love’s eyes. I wasn’t sure where I’d heard the phrase, but it hit me solidly in the chest.
Now that Fury believed in me, I could too.
My body shook, and I would almost swear I felt sickened by what I’d done, despite knowing I had to do it. I’d killed him not only to protect myself but also Tempest, and I’d do so a thousand times more to ensure she lived.
But I was tired. So incredibly tired.
I flitted to the river where I hid the sack with magic on the bank, then plunged into the water fully clothed.
Nothing would wash the taint of the deal I’d made from my skin, and no amount of remorse would hold back the regret gnawing on my conscience. There was no path other than the one I walked on. I’d know this from the moment I sensed her at the fortress.
I’d been forged for this moment and this time, and damn if I’d falter now .
I swam until my bones ached, my muscles spasmed, and I felt renewed. With the bag in hand I flitted to my room, where I magicked the bag into a secret location.
While I stood beside the bed dripping water onto the floor, moonlight fought its way around the curtains to find her, glowing on her face, though light such as this couldn’t rival the beauty that shone from within this precious person.
Within a matter of days, everything would be revealed.
The surge was imminent, ready to flood this world, and despite not knowing the outcome, I welcomed that moment. I’d stand on the shore as the enormous wave rushed toward me with my arms spread wide and a feral grin splitting my face.
Tempest knew I kept secrets, but once they were exposed, the last few would shock her to her core. I held them back for a good reason, just like I had the others.
She’d forgiven me once.
Would she do so again?
I removed my clothing and dried quickly before sliding beneath the covers, soaking in her warmth and the way her arms went around me even in sleep.
Her face was wet.
Why are you upset? I hissed in her mind. Who hurt you?
In the past, I would’ve probed, seeking an answer rather than asking, but I loved her. She was everything to me. I would never steal this from her. Her answers must be freely given.
She didn’t reply, though I hadn’t expected her to. There was no need to wake her for what I could hear in the morning.
I gently wiped her tears with my thumb and kissed her forehead. I wrapped my arms around her, hoping that even in her dreams that should be sweeter than what life offered at this wretched castle, she knew I was with her. That I’d give everything I had inside myself then draw out more solely to defend her. To be given this chance to love her.
Perhaps she cried for her friends. Or for Kinart, a poor lost soul who was stolen too young. For Seevar, the brave dragon who’d adored her almost as much as me.
Or for the life that had taken from her when she was too young to remember.
I woke when she did and stared into her eyes.
I missed you coming to bed last night, she said.
I didn’t want to wake you .
You should’ve. Her sweet smile rose. There was something so intimate—so precious—about lying here in our bed, just holding her.
Why were you crying last night?
Oh, it was nothing. Worry, which haunts me all the time right now. The wedding’s tomorrow. We’ll either succeed or . . .
Yeah. I sensed she was holding something back, but she’d been through a lot. Too much, actually.
I kissed her, and she clung to my shoulders with desperation. I was hers and she was mine, but there was a good chance we’d be torn apart soon.
She moaned into my mouth, and that was all it took for my body to respond. Her lingering worry fled, replaced with warmth and the growing heat we always generated between us .
I left her mouth, and while her fingers entwined in my hair, I kissed down her body, pausing at her breasts, making sure her nipples budded from my attention before moving on.
Each time we came together could be our last, and I couldn’t hold back the thread of desperation winding through me . We still walked on that wire stretched across an enormous cavern, and while my fury remained close behind me, she could easily fall. I wanted to shout to her to hold on tight, tell her that I’d guide her, but just as I had to make my way across on my own, so did she.
I’d give everything to have moments like this with her for a lifetime, but I’d also accept that this could be our last.
An unquenchable need grabbed onto me and shook me.
Her love was a subtle, constant force. It brought calm to the storm of my heart.
From the moment I’d felt her at the fortress, I’d set myself on this course. I’d never once swayed from my belief that my place was by this woman’s side. Denying my feelings for her would be impossible.
She gave me a smile of such joy that it pierced my heart. I couldn’t breathe. I could barely think.
But oh, how I could love her.
And in doing so, I could finally feel cleansed.