Chapter 13 #4
Blood was still crusted on Valkar’s shirt and leather jacket.
Rin felt her own neck, the skin tender and bruised from his bite—where his jaw had hinged around her like she was a mere animal of prey and he the deadly predator.
But she felt no blood. Her grey shirt was coated with it from where she had stabbed him as he had lain over her, but her flesh was clean.
Rin curled closer to Cyrus, exhausted and weary. Valkar could do anything to her, and she couldn’t stop him. So why wasn’t he taking advantage?
"What happened?" she croaked, keeping wary eyes on Valkar.
Cyrus kept petting her, stroking anything he could touch—her hands, wrists, shoulders, the side of her neck, her cheek. It made her melt.
"You almost died." Valkar’s cold tone cut through the quiet of the room, infused with steel. "Do you remember anything before you passed out?" His voice spoke volumes, and her head pounded as she sifted through her sluggish, dazed memories, bits and pieces slowly coming to her.
A flash of red-hot fire. Fear. Interest and horror.
And her heart, beating too fast to be contained inside her body.
Rin struggled to sit up, Cyrus helping her with gentle hands on her shoulders while Valkar watched.
Somehow, all she could think to say was:
"You’re a Fireborn."
At her words, small flames crackled at the tips of Valkar’s fingers. A menacing threat—or not. Rin recalled how the flames hadn’t burned her, how they had seemed to dance happily under her touch.
"And you’re an Aetherborn," the vampire countered darkly.
Her thoughts tripped over each other in her haste to keep up. "H-how do you know that?" But then Rin remembered. "Oh."
"Yes, oh," Valkar echoed, watching as Cyrus held her. Unreadable emotions, dark and deadly and tinged in something she didn’t want to uncover, passed over his face.
His jaw was a severe line, his white hair rumpled, and scarlet eyes shining in the dim lamplight.
"It seems like I’m not your only Soulbond, wife. "
She met Cyrus’s eyes. The incubus smiled, but it was forced. "I told him, Ves."
Her hands shook as realization hit—this was not her first life. What else could she not remember?
And why was Rin cursed with two immortal Soulbonds—one a prince and one who wanted to enact revenge on her?
"Everything?" she questioned.
"Most things," Cyrus said softly, rubbing his wrists absently. The skin wasn’t red anymore—he healed fast, but she would never forget the consuming fear that had hit her when she had seen him chained like that, surrounded by fire.
Rin swallowed, staring at the sheets. "You don’t want to kill us?"
"No. I never wanted to kill you. Your little incubus pet, however…" Valkar trailed off. "Until he told me he was your Soulbond. And everything else. I guess you were telling the truth when you said you didn’t remember your past life."
"I didn’t lie," Rin asserted, "and I have no idea what happened in our past life or why you think you need to get revenge on me, but I would never hurt anyone for the sake of it."
Never. Life was painful enough. She wasn’t evil or sick. Not like this monster sitting beside her.
"I’m not lying, either, wife. You say you don’t remember, and I believe you only because I saw with my own eyes the effect of the Nova in your heart." His words slammed against her. "You look different, and not once have you used your Stella on me—even when you could’ve."
"I can’t. I’m a level one." Her brow furrowed. She wasn’t, though, was she?
"Level one?" Cyrus asked.
"Yeah, there’s testing when we reach a certain age.
To gauge Stella levels. Higher levels mean higher power.
" Rin exhaled. "My levels are abysmal. I’ve never been able to use my Stella. Everyone’s always told me I’m a level one.
I’ve always assumed this was my first life.
" Her chest was tight—not from her heart, but from the cold grip of anxiety. Like staring down a dark tunnel, with no way out. "But it’s… not. I’ve had more than this life, and you both know things about me that I never will.
" Her words were a vulnerable expulsion of fear.
Cyrus hushed her, but even he seemed at a loss for words.
She had experienced so much grief. Her every breath was a ticking clock, counting down until she succumbed to the Nova ravaging her body.
Rin didn’t want to spend it despondent in grief over what could’ve been. She could be strong, couldn’t she?
She swiped an angry hand under her eyes, finding crystalline tears on the tips of her fingers. Her neck tugged at the rough movement, and the bite of pain grounded her.
"You bit me," she said to Valkar.
"And you stabbed me. I think, in this, we’re even," the vampire replied.
Her nose twitched in indignation, and his eyes dipped to it, then lower, as if he were staring at her lips. But that couldn’t be right. He hated her.
Valkar crossed his arms and sat back in his chair. "Why are you here, Vesperin Vox?" He said her name like a curse.
"Cyrus didn’t tell you?" Rin’s head swiveled to the incubus.
"He told me a lot—about your heart, your past together. But not why you decided to come to Lunar City. Just the two of you. You both might as well have been asking to be taken and sold in the flesh markets."
"I told her it was a bad idea, but I wasn’t going to let her come alone," Cyrus interjected, taking her hand and running his fingers over her outstretched palm absently, like he couldn’t stand not touching her for more than a few seconds at a time.
Rin shivered from Cyrus’s touch. "I got a lead. A tip. From a… source." She winced when Valkar’s brows drew low over his red eyes.
"I’ll need a lot fucking more than that. A tip from a source," he mocked, "isn’t grounds to risk being chopped up and sold to the highest bidder."
"Told you we’d fetch more in pieces," Cyrus mumbled.
Rin untangled her hand from Cyrus’s, pinching the back of his hand.
Valkar watched them together without faltering, growing more and more perplexed every time Rin met his eyes.
Her lip curled. How much could she tell him? Their start had been rocky. He had drugged her, kidnapped her, and tied her to his bed.
Rin was out of options. Valkar had the upper hand, and the smug fucker knew it, too.
Her wandering eyes found a table tucked in the corner, filled with a glass of water and a familiar white bottle—her pills.
Rin gasped, eyes widening as she shot forward. "My phone! Do you have it?" Her fingers curled in the blankets near Valkar’s knees, which pressed against the side of the bed. He jerked away from her like he had been burned.
"Maybe." His eyes narrowed. "Why?"
"I need it. I have to contact someone." It was a fool’s wish to think that the leader of Noctis, who held her in this strange limbo of not-captivity, would let her have her phone.
But he poked his tongue in his cheek, the action drawing her attention to his lips, surprisingly full compared to his severe, masculine features. "I’ll let you have it—monitored—if you tell me why you’re here."
More than she’d hoped for. "Fine. Let me see that you have it first."
Valkar laughed, and the sound skittered over her flesh.
"Smart, little wife," he said, shifting to reach for his back pocket of his blood-stained jeans.
The silver rings on his fingers glinted as he tugged her phone free, the sparkly case flecked with blood.
He dangled it before him. "Your passcode was easy to crack. 0513. What’s that? The date of your first kiss?"
The blood drained from her face at the four numbers, seemingly insignificant. She swallowed. "No."
May thirteenth. Kit’s birthday.
Valkar arched a brow. "So?"
"That wasn’t a part of our bargain."
He hummed, tucking the phone in his front pocket as he settled back against the chair. "Why are you in my city?"
"I received a tip from a Soul Searcher about a trafficking ring in Lunar City. LunCo. Someone very important to me"—Rin’s throat tightened, hoping Lucien wasn’t worrying over her, or worse—"is being used. Blackmailed. I hope. I found papers with the logo for LunCo and cross-checked it, discovering that it’s fronting as a medical supplier. Which led me here."
"So, you just decided to waltz into Lunar City with a few knives and an Echogun?" Valkar drawled.
"I have training," Rin retorted, bristling.
Cyrus leaned forward until he sat beside her on the bed, hooking his chin over the top of her head. "And an incubus." He raised a hand, and water droplets peppered her cheeks.
His Stella was the least he could do. Which made Rin wonder, why didn’t Cyrus wither Valkar?
Rin’s voice faltered as she said, "LunCo is supplying Aetherborns to be experimented on illegally."
A muscle in Valkar’s jaw ticked. "I know."
Rin paused. "You… know?"
"LunCo’s been a goddamned thorn in my side for years. Stealing Aetherborns right from under me and trafficking them. I thought as sex slaves or weapons, but I never knew it was for wide-scale experiments. You’re sure?" The vampire spoke so plainly, like this was nothing.
"I’m sure," said Rin. "I have proof."
Valkar leaned forward, bracing his elbows on the bed. His eyes pierced right through her. "What are you going to do, exactly? Break into LunCo? Try to kill a bunch of people? I bet you’ve never even shot a person before."
"Leave her alone," Cyrus asserted lowly. "She’s had enough from you."
Valkar didn’t relent. "And what about you, Prince Cyrus Soltren? Were you really going to let her walk into LunCo and get herself killed on a tip?"
Cyrus curled around Rin tighter. "I go where she goes. I can protect her."
"You didn’t protect her from me," Valkar said—not a taunt, but a fact, and the pride in his tone made anger well up inside her.
"I would give my life for her. Don’t sit there and speak about things you have no idea of," Cyrus snapped, his words eloquent, speaking of his status.
"I don’t need protection from anyone. I’ve been handling myself for years," Rin said, realizing it was a lie.
Kit had always been right by her side. "The truth is, Rhyden Valkar," she spat his name with the same vitriol as he had said hers, "I didn’t have a plan. Just a purpose. I won’t rest until I prove Lucien’s innocence.
" She leaned forward, Cyrus going with her, until she was nearly nose to nose with the vampire, breathing in his peppermint scent.
Valkar leaned into her, the corner of his mouth curling into a deadly smirk. "What if I helped you, then, prove this Lucien’s innocence?"
She exhaled softly, feeling his own breath against her cheeks. "How?"
His red eyes dipped to her mouth, and this close, there was no mistaking it. "This city is mine. I can get someone into LunCo—get you your evidence. Papers, security footage. A hand or body. You name it."
Cyrus’s fingers curled around her shoulder, but he remained silent—supportive. All while she knew he would step in if she needed him to.
"Why would you help me?" Rin questioned warily.
His laugh curled between them like smoke. "My help’s not free."
There it was. Rin sat back; though, Valkar stayed leaning against the bed, elbows notched on the mattress by her hip.
The pull was too great for Rin to resist. "What could you possibly want from me?"
"Your Stella."
Suddenly, Rin was ripped back to another time, news reports that went in one ear and out the other. Lunar City business wasn’t important to her. Until now. "It’s true. You use Aetherborns for their Stella… for your arms trade. You’re just as bad as the traffickers."
Valkar was every bit the feared Noctis leader as he said, "I’m bargaining. It’s choice that separates me from them. They steal. I trade. Everyone walks away with what they need." He lowered his voice. "You of all people should know, nothing is free. Everything has a price, wife."
Rin narrowed her eyes, hands clenching. At her back, Cyrus tensed, poised to strike yet still, as if awaiting her command.
"You’re exploiting them," she spat. "What could you offer that’s worth your price?"
"Protection," Valkar said simply. "You should know the lengths someone would go to possess an Aetherborn. For prestige, for power. I offer what they need and take no more than what they’re willing to give."
"And what do you take, exactly?" Rin wanted—no, needed to know. Was it more than the weapons? Did he… use them?
"Their Stella. But not by force. I give Aetherborns safety and shelter, and in exchange, I siphon fragments of their Stella—enough to infuse into weapons. That’s how I keep Noctis armed.
That’s how we survive here, and I protect them.
I can’t protect them if they don’t help me. One can’t live without the other."
He painted a pretty picture. Autonomy and protection. She knew better.
"I’ll help you look into LunCo," he continued. "But I want you to let me study your Stella. That’s my price." Finally, he sat back against his chair, and she felt like she could breathe again.
She stayed rooted, Cyrus’s touch grounding her. His purple eyes were understanding—he was with her, either way.
"If I say no, what happens?" She doubted he’d let her go.
"Do you really want to find out?" Valkar’s smile turned razor-sharp. Fangs gleamed.
She hissed out a breath. Cornered. Trapped. An illusion of a choice dangled before her. But at least, this way, she’d get her answers. She’d know if Lucien was a villain.
"No, I don’t," she bit out.
"And here I thought you were stupid. That might be the smartest thing you’ve done. Do we have a deal?"
"Fine. But if you cross me—"
He cut her off. "You’ll what? You can’t do anything worse to me than you’ve already done. If anything, I should be the one scared you’ll cross me."
Whatever he believed she’d done in her past life, it clung to him like viscous tar, dripping from his lips.
"I won’t cross you." She met his eyes and imbued every bit of truth she felt. She wouldn’t—not if he kept his word.
The leader of Noctis held out a beringed hand.
Cyrus exhaled roughly against Rin’s nape as she reached for the vampire’s awaiting hand. The cool silver of his rings cut into her flesh as he gripped it tightly.
"We have an alliance, then."
Rin nodded. "An alliance," she echoed; though, it felt less like a pact and more like shackling herself to the devil who claimed to be her husband.