Chapter 9
Chapter
Nine
EVIE
M y eyes darted around the stage and the crowd. My instincts told me he wouldn’t be there.
He wouldn’t make such a pedestrian entrance.
But he was close, every fiber of my body told me so.
My gaze went higher. Way too high to make any lick of logic, eyes spidering over the arches lining the arena and the statues staring down at us sternly.
There.
My stomach tightened as I finally saw him , perched up high, halfway above the Arena. He stood as still as the statues, his long dark hair and luxurious crimson robe billowing behind him in the breeze. He held his sword tightly, face implacable.
He looked like a god, gazing down at the rest of us mortals.
A gong resounded, vibrating through the entire Arena.
The crowd went eerily silent as we all watched him in all his glory, the bastard.
“Brothers and sisters! Warriors of the Blood Brotherhood Clan!” His voice boomed, shaking the ground. Magic . The same one his father must have used before the wedding.
The whispers from the crowd gathered outside stilled. All I could hear were the wind, his voice, and my erratic heart. I hadn’t seen this side of him since the massacre at my first wedding. Strong, unflinching, captivating.
Totally in control.
I should have run from him then.
“The Serpents have dared to breach our border. They will suffer the same fate as anyone else who dared attack us,” he went on. “Death.”
The stage trembled with the warriors’ roars. Their voices sent terror skittering through my veins; a deep, primeval urge screamed at me to run. I couldn’t even imagine what it would have been like facing this formidable army as their enemy.
But his words affected me the most, slithering straight into my chest and beating against me.
“We will triumph once more.” His face turned sharper with that damn smirk of his. “This is a battle the entire continent will remember.”
The next roar from the warriors turned into a collective shout of surprise as he leapt from the arch ledge.
Zavoya clutched Eldryan’s shoulder.
Despite everything that happened, despite the fury still poisoning me, despite my mind completely disgusted with what had happened at the wedding, my heart still leaped with fear.
Only Adara hummed in satisfaction as the feared Dragon flew through the godsdamned air.
His body rotated in a somersault that didn’t seem remotely human. His robe whipped the air as he defied gravity. The muscles on his exposed chest and abdomen glistened in the sun as his equally shirtless and muscled warriors scurried out of the way.
He landed in a perfect crouch, sword at the ready, sending strands of sand and dirt flecked with blood through the air. They cascaded to the ground, catching the light and creating a grim crimson halo around him.
I shuddered a breath as that damn connection between us burned back to life as if it hadn’t wavered for a second.
As if my heart hadn’t been fractured beyond mending.
As if he hadn’t betrayed me.
There he was, the pinnacle of what a Clan leader should be. Strong, sharp, stoic–and ruthless.
I cursed myself and schooled my face into nothing but repulsed indifference.
I shouldn’t bother with his well-being. It wasn’t like he’d truly bothered with mine.
Worrying was useless anyway.
The feared prince of the Blood Brotherhood Clan knew how to make a fucking entrance.
“Our son.” Eldryan took Zavoya’s hand in his and shared a look of devoted love that only made me feel even more miserable–because I would never experience that.
“ I taught him that,” Adara muttered with pride, for my ears only. “If you know how to fall, you can get up.”
He rose and prowled forward as his warriors retreated out of his way, eager gazes trained on him.
The more I watched, the louder the rage drummed in my veins. He’d obviously lost weight, and if I wasn’t mistaken, the same dark circles Leesa had tried to hide on my face clung underneath his eyes. Through our muffled bond, I knew he was affected, too.
Yet, here he was, impressing everyone with his prowess while I shattered inside over and over again. I had trouble getting out of bed and drinking water. He was soaring through the air.
I wasn’t happy for him.
Of course I wasn’t, fuck him.
I was suffering because of him .
I had to survive a pain he had put on my shoulders, completely against promises and expectations.
He ’d plied me with beautiful lies, heated kisses, and stunning visions of the future.
He ’d made me soar only to yank me back to the ground and crack me open.
He had mangled my heart, and I had to pick myself off the floor, lick my wounds and hope they’d at least scar over, and he’d just gone on with his life.
He had done this to me .
The unfairness of it all was soul-shattering.
Nothing but stubbornness was keeping me upright now; all the blood had seeped from my limbs straight into my brain, making me light-headed and furious.
Just as the emotions threatened to spill over–in a roar, in a pulse of blue power, in a bellowing cry, I didn’t know–his voice boomed once more.
“They will come with their monsters, to feast on our flesh.” He looked each warrior in the eyes as he passed them. “Our steel will drain their blood.”
The roars morphed into full-blown howls, as if all the warriors’ spirits were blending together into a massive, forceful beast.
The Dragon who walked among them did that–made the warriors even more terrifying.
“The Serpents come to destroy us. We will burn their Clan,” he said. “They fight for revenge. We fight to protect. Our Clan, our traditions, our families, our home.”
The shouts from the crowd gathered outside the Arena grew. All of Phoenix Peak was alive with a brutal fervor.
He reached the edge of the basin and turned, facing his army with an inscrutable gaze. “Will you join me to defend our Clan?”
The warriors raised their swords and spears, rattling them together, the sound melding with their screams.
“Then let us join blood. In victory or defeat, we are one.” He raised his own mighty sword and sliced his palm. Trickles of blood gathered and dripped into the basin. “For glory on the battlefield, we will fight. My blood to yours, our fates intertwined.”
My heart began to gallop as all the warriors followed suit, slicing their palms and letting their own blood drip into the small metal grooves spidering across the entire Arena.
Zavoya and Eldryan raised their palms, fingers twisting. I frowned. Leesa and Adara hadn’t explained this–
The warriors’ blood. The king and queen were guiding it through the channels with their Blood Brotherhood magic, until it turned into rivulets.
It’s always blood , that damn voice of his slithered into my mind–even as the man himself hadn’t once locked eyes with me today.
I swallowed thickly as the crimson stream disappeared into the vents at the base of the stage. A moment later, a great big stream of blood erupted from the dragon statue’s mouth, pouring into the basin.
The metallic scent in the air turned almost unbearable.
Eldryan took out his own sword, a thick band of steel straight as an arrow, and sliced his palm, letting his own blood join the crimson gush. “For the sacrifices of our ancestors, we will fight. My blood to yours, our fates intertwined.”
Zavoya followed, pricking her own skin with a massive dagger, which had two blades twisted together in a deadly point. My own palms turned clammy; all I had on me was my switchblade.
The same switchblade which had saved lives.
“For defending our ways, we will fight. My blood to yours, our fates intertwined,” Zavoya recited.
A lump settled in my throat and only grew with each step I took toward the edge of the stage. So many eyes on me, and neither pair his . He was too busy watching the basin fill up.
I flicked my switchblade open, the blade hissing under my silks.
I drew the blade against my skin, barely feeling the sting through the adrenaline rush. The drops cascaded into that same stream, as my gaze swept over the warriors staring up at me. Some of them even nodded as my blood joined theirs. No recoil, no disgust.
So many lives ready to march into battle.
“For the protection of our home and families, we will fight,” I said, the words hollow in so many ways. This was a farce. I was a farce. “My blood to yours, our fates intertwined.”
I felt the momentousness of my declaration, among these strangers who were ready to die in a war started at my wedding.
No matter how much the Blood Brotherhood prince and the advisors had hurt me, these warriors were blameless.
But they didn’t look up at me with spite. Only astonishment that I was even here.
How could I not be when they were leaving their families and homes behind for the battlefield?
He turned to his awaiting crowd once more and dipped the blade of his sword in the basin. The blood in the hilt swirled hungrily.
“Our blood and fates are now one, brothers and sisters.” He raised the sword, flecks of crimson raining down. “Let them hear you and let them fear you! We fight to win. For the good of the Blood Brotherhood!”
This time, the shouts actually shook the stage so hard, I lost my footing. In the distance, drums thundered in a maddening rhythm. A sudden hot breeze flowed through the Arena, heating my face.
The warriors swooped toward the basin, each dipping their weapons in the blood.
The ritual was complete.
I placed my bloody hand on my chest, right above my heart.
Protect them.
Whether I liked it or not, if the Blood Brotherhood fell, the Protectorate would follow. My cousins would be the first targets. Whether the Council believed it or not, the war would spread, infecting all of Malhaven.
The future of every Clan hung on this battle.
The Blood Brotherhood needed to win.
As if sensing my turmoil, he took a deep, steadying breath before he actually looked my way.
The second our eyes met, a blaze burned straight through my veins.
My rage roared for revenge.
He looked relieved to see me.
Happy.
The absolute gall of him.
My insides quivered under the absolute weight of his stare. Then he rushed up the stage steps.
The rest of the world faded away with each step he took toward me .
I barely had a chance to blink up at him before he grabbed my hand and whisked me away from prying eyes.
Where to, I had no idea.