A Betrayal #2
“I don’t have the right to feel. My life is dedicated to the King’s command. I lost my humanity long ago. You will not be missing out on anything.”
I scoff. “So then why try to justify it?” I ask, looking up at him.
He’s quiet. “Maybe because there’s something in this fractured heart of mine that can still feel.”
My heart thumps. Is he… is he confessing?
“I…”
“Maybe this is my fate for the crimes I have committed at Varkhazan’s command. Knowing my future is decided, maybe loving you is my punishment,” he says huskily.
Time seems to stand still as I stare up at him. ‘Loving you…’
Did he just say he…
“Knowing that this can never be,” he finishes, now looking away.
I relax in his hold, tugging my hand free from his grip, and he allows me. I reach up, cupping his face, his stubble prickling my hand, and this time I make him look at me.
“We decide our own future. You’re strong enough. Varkhazan sent you here alone to deal with Morcant. He isn’t here himself. End Morcant’s reign, step away from Varkhazan’s shadow. Win the people of Varindor over, and become the King in your own right. I will help you.”
He’s looking at me, and for the first time, he’s almost… vulnerable, but he’s considering it.
“Is Varkhazan really a good king? Does he deserve to call himself the King when he doesn’t even know these people? We need a good king,” I whisper. “And I know you can be that king.”
He cups my face, pressing his forehead to mine. “Maybe…” He closes his eyes, inhaling deeply.
I have to tell him.
“Kai… there’s something I have to tell you,” I whisper softly.
“That you have fallen for me?” he asks, a smirk on his gorgeous face.
I smile slightly and shake my head. “No. I want to tell you that Morcant is-”
The sound of something whistling through the air cuts me off, and I gasp, seeing the arrow miss Kai’s ear by centimetres as he jerks us to the side, and in an instant, his arm snakes around my waist, pulling me against him as he launches us into the air.
The wind roars as an arrow zooms past us, and then there’s a rain of them following.
A huge net is thrown over us, and Kai curses.
He dives to the right, but there are several men.
His sword is on the ground. He must have put it down when we began arguing. But still, he doesn’t admit defeat, using the sharp wind to try to cut the net, but it’s glimmering with magic. Wind screams past my ears as he flies upwards, with the net dragging down on us.
“We only want her. Stop fighting us, and you will live,” someone shouts.
Father sent them.
He spins as he tries to look for a way out, as the net is continuing to be dragged down over us. And then he’s hit with something in the back. He grunts in pain, and I wish I hadn’t argued with him. They managed to close in on us because we were distracted.
Suddenly, we’re falling, and his arms cradle me as his feet hit the ground, then his hold on me loosens, sending me tumbling to the ground.
We’re not going to be able to get out of here!
I have to do this. I look at Kai. I’m sorry…
I turn and take a deep breath, part my lips and begin to sing the haunting melody of a sea siren’s song.
A hand clamps over my mouth. They were ready for me — ears covered, movements practised — but I don’t care. My eyes find Kai’s, and what I see there breaks me. Betrayal. Shock. Recognition.
“You’re the Sea Siren Princess,” he breathes.
“Yes, she is! Bind them both!” the man restraining me shouts.
I don’t know if they’re fae, dryads, or sirens. All I can think of is Kai, staring at me as if seeing me for the first time.
“You didn’t know?” one of them taunts. “She has her mother’s cursed eyes.”
“Let her go!” Kai snarls, forcing himself to his feet, wings unfurling like storm clouds.
I’m yanked forward, dragged from beneath the net. Kai surges upward, ripping the net away and flinging it onto several of the men below. Arrows hiss through the air. One finds its mark, and he falters, tumbling.
“Kai! Go!” I shout. This is the end of the line for me.
“Not without you!” he growls, reaching toward me.
“You can do it from here,” I whisper, breaking free just long enough to rush toward him. I’ll give him the only gift I have left. When we’re just a few feet apart, I blow softly into his face. A sea siren’s breath… The gift of air.
“Sira…” He reaches for me, but a hand tangles in my hair, yanking my head back.
“You can breathe,” I whisper to Kai, praying he understands.
“Bitch!” my captor snarls.
“Go!” I scream.
He hesitates. “If we both die here, who will save Varindor?!” I shout. Pain sears my scalp. I lash out, scratching the man, but he backhands me, making my vision darken.
“Kill them! But the King wants her alive!”
They wrestle me to the ground. I thrash, clawing at them.
One of them drives his knee into my ribs, knocking the air from my lungs in a strangled cry.
Another strikes my jaw, the taste of blood filling my mouth.
I search for Kai. He’s fighting them off, but he won’t last long.
There are too many of them. I can smell the sea from behind me and turn to see a glowing portal.
Something is thrown at me, and I see myself beginning to shift.
“Sira!” Kai races toward me as a stream of arrows rains after him.
My skin returns to its blue-tinged hue, my hair long and wavy, my eyes a vibrant pink and a tail.
He hesitates, pausing as he stares at me, and then he pulls back. Seeing me in my true form has shaken him.
That hurts, even if I want him to leave me.
“Go!” I scream. And then I’m being pulled away, through the portal, into the crashing waves of the Elmerian Ocean.