Chapter 16
CHAPTER 16
I stumble away from Leon, and my confusion matches his.
He takes a step towards me, leaves crunching underneath his boots, arms outstretched to catch me if I fall.
“What’s wrong?” He looks around the clearing for an attack, but quickly returns to my gaze.
“Queen?” It is a broken sound, even to my ears.
His confusion grows at my shaking question. “Yes, queen.” What he offers as an explanation is of no help to me, and when my open-mouthed shock does not morph into understanding, he pulls an iron coin from his healer’s bag. Holding it up before me, he reads it aloud. “‘Loyal to whoever wears the crown.’” He turns the coin over to show the same sword and crown symbol. “It means whoever wears the crown is the ruler of Adreania. You are now the rightful que?—”
Lunging at him, I cut his deranged words short as I slap my hand over his mouth. “Leon, do not finish that sentence! Adreania may have a rightful ruler but it is not me! Do you understand me?”
My heart hitches at the whisper of pressure as his lips press into my palm, sending an electric current through me, before his hands rise up to cover mine, slowly removing it but not letting go.
“The truth may be unexpected, but that doesn’t make it false. However unintended this all was, the law is clear. You are the queen and my life is sworn to you.”
“No, Leon. Maybe that was true long ago, but it’s not now. No matter how awful Grayden is, with his father dead, that makes him king. That is how the line of succession works. Please, I’ve given you everything you need for your journey home to Versairen. Food and gems to trade, to buy the silence of everyone you meet. Please, you need to go.” He is making this so much harder than it needs to be.
“Never.” He takes the pack off and tosses it to the forest floor. “That crown makes you queen of Adreania. It may just be a historical object to you but it symbolizes something much greater: power. Kalvorn is about to go to war for the crown! You need to be somewhere safe. I can take you there.” Desperation bleeds into his voice.
“So I am your queen?” Frustration is building in me.
“Yes.”
“Truly, you will do whatever I say?” Air is suddenly harder to pull into my lungs.
“Truly,” he answers earnestly, gifting me with a small reassuring smile.
“Then I order you to leave! Any foolish oath you made to that poor excuse for a king is complete. Pick up that bag and go home, Leon.”
The aches in my body are nothing to the pain in my chest when I see his expression. When I can no longer stand to see the hurt I’ve caused, I pull my hand back, stepping out of his space.
Leon’s fists clench at his sides. “It’s been long enough, so surely the king’s absence has been noticed. Instead of his father, Grayden will find an empty bedchamber, his father gone, and a suspiciously missing healer. Once the guards have searched the castle only to return to him empty-handed, what do you think he will do?”
My voice is trapped within my chest.
He continues, bitterness blooming in his words. “Do you know what they will do to me when they find me? Kill me. Oathbreaker and defender of the king disgraced. Death will be the only justice in Grayden’s eyes. Once he is done raging, he will send forces out into the city, and when the crown is not found there, he will never stop looking for it. I have no doubt he will seek revenge on Kalvorn immediately, who already has an army waiting to attack, turning his sick and dying people into soldiers for a crown that is useless to him and revenge for a father he never cared about.”
“Leon, you tried to stop whoever took Jedrick. You went after him when they left you for dead.”
His face hardens but I do not feel his anger is directed at me, just the situation he now finds himself in. “You think the man who threatened you two nights ago would care that I tried ? He will only see failure, and the punishment for that is death. It is no longer safe for you or me! He will be sending out forces to comb this forest shortly, no matter the risks. They may already have sent guards to the port to stop all ships from leaving for Versairen. He could have spies anywhere. I’ve already failed one royal. I refuse to fail another one, especially one I actually care about.”
I want to scream that a fate worse than death awaits him if he follows me to the fae realm, that the magic will drive him to madness. “I’m sorry, but?—”
The rumbling of horse hooves slamming into the soil nearby grows louder, heading straight towards us.
Leon holds my father’s sword out at the same time I remove my dagger, hiding it from view in my back pocket. He moves to stand in front of me. “You need to run. I’ll find you again,” he demands, scanning the forest. “Go, now !” When I make no move to flee, he pleads, “Please! Please hide.”
I should run, leave him. It was my plan all along, wasn’t it? But as two riders race towards us, I do not have it in me to abandon him. That constant pull towards Leon tethers me to him, keeping me at his side. Above all, he is my friend and I will not sacrifice him to save myself, no matter how he begs me to. “I’m not leaving you here to fight them off yourself, Leon, so either you fight with me or you run.”
“Damn it, Izadella!” He says it through gritted teeth. “I’m trying to protect you. ”
“And I’ve told you I do not need protection,” I hiss back.
We glare at each other before turning back to our unwelcome guests, the riders racing towards us.
The horses come to a slamming halt before us, and the two men dismount, weapons out.
Grayden’s fucking guards, his initial carved deep into the black leather of their clothing. Violence seeps off them with their cruel laughter.
The taller of two speaks first. “Healer, I was wondering how long it was going to take to find you. King Grayden suspected it was you. How pleased he will be that he was right when we drag you before him for your betrayal.”
“The next time I see Grayden will be on his death day,” Leon spits.
“Aye, she looks familiar. Is she from court?” the shorter, blond one asks, eyeing me. “Don’t you make the jewelry for those pompous courtiers?”
The first one sneers at us. “The king is going to be delighted when we bring you both back to the castle. He has a particular plan in store for each of you.” His cruel smile towards me turns my chest to ice.
Leon moves again in front of me and snarls, “You will not touch her!”
The tall guard only laughs before he charges at Leon with his sword. Leon is faster and blocks the first attack. He slashes at the guard, causing a laceration on his shoulder, but with the next attack the guard’s sword slices through the flesh of Leon’s arm, a line of blood seeping into the cut fabric.
“We need them both alive!” the blond guard shouts. “The king will have our heads if we kill his playthings.”
Before I can scream, the guard launches himself at me, his hand stretched wide to grab my arm. I reach back for my dagger with speed only the fae possess. The dagger and his hand collide in the air, the onyx-eyed fox handle flush against his palm, the blade protruding through the other side. He shrieks as I yank the blade out, the blood spattering the forest floor .
He presses his pierced palm to his chest, drawing his sword as he charges at me. My fox dagger stands no chance against his broadsword, and he wears no metal. I call to my magic, desperate for the dagger to morph into a short spear, but nothing happens.
No, no, no!
The jewelsmith magic refuses my call, the crown’s magic pushing down on it, overwhelming it. I try to manipulate the foreign magic that pulses beneath my skin but I can’t. No call or demand for it produces anything. Desperation builds and builds. I can feel the magic wishes to be free, like a blocked river of power within me.
Farren appears with a flash of fury and black fur. With a fierce little growl, he bites the guard’s ankle. The man attempts to kick Farren away, who jumps back only to latch onto his flesh again. Fear and rage redden my vision, and I do not give him a chance to go after my fox again. I slice and stab at his chest over and over again, my golden dagger flashing like lightning. Every drop of blood is justice for his attempt to hurt Farren.
The guard wails, his good hand trying to press into the wounds. “Stupid bitch!” he screams, tears running down his bloody cheeks while he looks down at his brutalized body and collapses to his knees.
With Farren safe at my side, I take my attention off my attacker and run towards Leon. He still fights the other guard, my father’s sword dripping blood that runs down his elbow. His shoulders shake with exertion. Leon kicks the guard in the groin, momentarily halting his incoming attack. It is no time for amusement but I let out a laugh at the way the pathetic man’s eyes bulge from his skull when he is unable to block Leon’s heel.
“Where is the crown?” the tall guard yells at Leon. The sounds of clashing swords echo off the trees as they continue their fight.
A body from behind collides with mine. I feel the sharp pressure of the blade on my neck, the other guard’s bloodied hand clenched in a fist around my waist, my blouse soaking up the blood.
I meet Leon’s eyes that are wide with fear for me. The guard he was fighting seizes his opportunity to take a cheap shot, punching Leon in the jaw. He grunts in pain but swings his blade, catching the man in the chest, and crimson washes down the leather, causing it to shine. The guard keeps attacking, both of them leaking gore. Leon knocks him to the ground, raising the emerald sword for the final blow.
“Finish that strike and she’s dead!” The man holding me tightens the blade against my throat. “The king has plenty of other mistresses. We can tell him we only found you trying to escape.”
Leon halts, sword frozen midair.
“Drop the sword and get on your knees, healer.”
Leon does what he is told, his eyes never leaving mine. The panic is bright and overwhelming and I start to tremble. I scream when the guard’s fist slams into Leon’s perfect face. They are going to haul him back to Grayden bloody and bruised, tortured and imprisoned for someone else’s crimes. With Jedrick dead, no one will believe he tried to help the king. It will not take Grayden long to discover the crown is on my head. What will he do when he finds me to be fae?
“Tie him to the horses and have him drag behind us for a while to show him what awaits him when we arrive at Grayden’s castle.”
The other guard moves towards Leon and I scream.
My scream is filled with all the anger, fear, and frustration that has built over the past day, and the blistering rage overwhelms me. The rage that these poor excuses for men have come into my forest and threatened Farren’s life, Leon’s life, my life. Threatening us with the torture at Grayden’s vile hands.
I’ll never see Nueena again, not be there when she is crowned Realm Keeper. Every plan we made for our future will be ripped from us.
The magic within me breaks open. It’s unfamiliar, and wholly different from my own, a living thing shooting down my legs and into the soil beneath me. A rumbling begins under me, thick roots bursting out under the two guards. Green and purple vines with thick thorns wrap around the men. They try to escape, struggling with the stalks that surround them while they yell in pain at the sharp spikes from the plants digging into their skin. I can feel the vines like I can feel my own limbs as they twine around the men, raising them up off the ground. Painful blisters rise on their skin where the poisonous plant touches.
Now free from the guard’s clutches, I stumble, the world spinning around me. Leon races towards me, and his arms cradle me, holding tightly against him.
“Are you all right? Tell me you are all right!” he asks desperately, but when I open my mouth, nothing happens. I stare up at him, his beautiful face tainted with the assault from the guards. Blackness closes in on my vision. There are two loud thumps. The ground shakes for a moment before everything fades away.