Chapter 14
Fourteen
Personal vendettas should be set aside for the good of the kingdom.
Not this one.
- King Richard
Jace is asleep on the sofa when I exit the bedroom, but he’s up and on his feet by the time I cross to the door. He opens it for me. As we step into the hall, I find Marrabel standing there with the other three guards. Glancing at her, I ask, “How is Saragese?”
“Alive, Your Majesty, but they do not know if she’ll make it through the night.”
“Then you are dismissed until tomorrow.”
“My duty –”
“Go be with her, Marrabel. That’s an order.”
Her throat works hard. Irin, Raychel, and Megan don’t say anything, but I can feel their shared pain. Saragese is a sister to them in all but blood.
Nodding sharply, Marrabel walks towards the balcony. I look at Raychel. “Get another squadron to stand in the hall. The three of you will wait inside until we return.”
I look at Megan. “If anyone gets in, change places with me immediately.” That spell is supposed to be used to take me away from danger, not pull me into it. In a split second, she’ll be where I was with Jace while I’ll be transported to my queen.
Still, she doesn’t hesitate. “Yes, Your Majesty.” Unlike my head of security, she knows how to follow a fucking order.
Turning, I head down the hall. Once on the balcony, Jace and I spread our wings and fly over to the barracks housing the Royal Guard.
It sits not far from the castle. A dozen long houses border two training areas.
Swords clash. Bolts of magic fly. Kids are getting their asses kicked by adults.
There is no humanity in war; there is only us vs them, and these kids need to learn that there is no such thing as dirty fighting before we send them off to die on the front lines.
As I land, the younger ones stop in their training to stand at attention. They immediately get knocked to the ground by their opponents. Getting distracted in a fight will get you killed. All you should be thinking about is survival.
A moment later, Echo is in front of us. Her uniform is immaculate, wrinkle free with not a speck of dirt on it.
The dark purple and black colours of our kingdom cut across her form, and our symbol of the raven and snake is tattooed on the side of her neck.
It covers a large scar from when her head was nearly blown off, but it is her eyes that demand attention.
Her golden irises are speckled with the moving black shadows of the Underworld – old and eerie.
She salutes me with a fist over her chest. “Your Majesty.”
I nod. “At ease, Echo.”
“Shall we head to my office?” she asks as she lowers her arm.
“Yes, and have someone wake Fabia.”
A wry smile curls her lips. “Dish.”
“Yes, Captain?” a man asks, snapping to attention behind her.
“Go wake Fabia.”
His face pales. “Now?” The soldier, who’s a head taller than her and heavyset with muscles chiseled from stone, shrinks in on himself. Echo does not like being questioned. Working his lips, he swallows hard, then squeaks, “Yes, Captain.”
“And Dish?”
“Yes, Captain?”
“Do it without ending up on your ass, and I’ll reduce your latrine duty by two days.”
He sags. “Yes, Captain.”
His lack of enthusiasm makes the hairs on the back of my neck rise. When Jace and I were under Echo’s tutelage, we would have done anything to get out of latrine duty. Her recruits barely have the energy to make it to the loo. Shit and piss is always everywhere, including on the fucking ceiling.
Jace snickers. “Is she really that awful to wake?”
Holding her right arm out, Echo rolls up her sleeve. An ugly bruise discolours her skin. “I got this blocking a rock she threw at my head.” She rolls up the other one. “Right hook when I dragged her out of bed.”
“Damn, I feel sorry for Nicholas.” Jace laughs, shaking his head.
Forgetting all about whether Fabia sleeps with rocks or if she just happened to find one, I glance at him. “Are they together?”
He snorts. “He wishes.” His eyes drop to Echo’s arms as she rolls her sleeves back down. “Or maybe not.”
Turning on her heels, Echo heads for her office.
“Nicholas said that to you?” I ask as we follow her.
“Not in words, but watch them together, and you’ll see.” Jace snickers, shaking his head once more.
Approving of Fabia as my sister, I smile.
Nicholas could use a little fire to show him a way out of the darkness he’s been clinging to these last few years.
Although it hasn’t been long since his divorce with Stephanie went through – the fucking Court having dragged it out, she disfigured him two years ago.
I was busy fighting the Okahi, and we did not see each other for a long time.
But once word reached me through one of Evangeline’s ants, I came back to Kholar to find Stephanie still living in the fucking castle.
I would have killed her if Nicholas hadn’t intervened.
But for some fucking reason, he made me promise not to hurt her.
Domestic violence isn’t a crime in Raza.
Once married, a man becomes the property of his wife.
If he dies, it carries the same penalty as a robbery.
We need the soldiers, and we will not kill the women who can birth the next generation unless absolutely necessary.
Unfortunately, getting them to simply stop being violent is too damn hard; it’s almost as if sending children to war gives them lifelong trauma that they then take out on the weak.
But one of these days, my brother is going to learn what real love is and realise that whatever power Stephanie has over him, it is not love.
Love…
What do I know about love when I can’t even say it back to my queen?
Irritated, I look at Jace. “You know tonight was a one-off?”
“More like a two-off.”
I glare at him, but the bastard smiles. Laughing, he slaps me on the back, above my wings. “Yeah, I figured. She’s not really my type anyway.”
I slug him in the arm. “What the fuck does that mean? She’s perfect.”
He grins. “For you. Not for me.”
A teenage girl slams into the ground at the edge of the training area as we walk down the other side of it. She rolls back onto her feet, only to instantly get punched in the face.
“I like mine feistier, a bit scarier. Where I don’t quite know if they’re going to fuck me or try to kill me.”
Like Aurelia.
Flexing my left hand, I don’t say another word on the way to Echo’s office.
Neither does Jace.
The silence, uncomfortable and heavy, pierces me from all sides.
In twenty-eight days, it will be the anniversary of my sister’s death.
The scar Jace gave me will have faded until it’s nearly gone, trying to rob me of the last memento I have of her.
I’ll stop sleeping a few days before, and being near Jace will become unbearable – for the both of us, our guilt feeding on each other’s until it’s a festering pit of pain neither of us can ignore.
Twenty-eight days...
Reaching Echo’s office, I push those thoughts down. As Jace and I step inside, he closes the door behind us.
Echo takes the six steps needed to reach the other side of her desk.
There are quite a few closets bigger than this, but the captain of my Royal Guard doesn’t believe in any sort of excess.
The only things in here are that desk, a single chair on both sides, and a well stocked mini fridge.
Which is why my eyes snag on the back of a picture frame.
That wasn’t sitting on her desk when Jace and I trained under her.
Nor did I see it a couple months back, the last time I was here.
I glance at Jace to see if he knew about it, but his eyes are fastened on it with great interest. Knowing him, he’ll find a way to knock it over before the meeting is done.
Knowing Echo, she’ll cut out his eyes before he can look.
As Jace leans against the wall beside the door, I take a seat in the single chair across from Echo. My eyes drop to the picture frame. The urge to reach over and turn it around makes my fingers twitch.
But the memories of her punishments when I was under her tutelage keep my arms by my sides.
“What do you want to drink?” Echo asks.
“I’ll take a water,” I say, pulling my gaze away from the frame. “Is Fabia allowed a coffee?” She isn’t my biggest fan, and perhaps this will help sway her into not wanting to kill me again.
“No.”
I nod.
“I’m good,” Jace says.
Echo looks at him, a bottle of water in one hand, a sofila tea in the other. The fridge door stands open, the cold runes etched inside glowing a soft blue.
A moment of silence drags its nails into the floor, kicking and screaming. I shift awkwardly in my seat. The old fairy ways of hospitality are clear – visitors get something to drink; it doesn’t matter if they want it or not.
“Sorry, I’ll, uh…” Jace clears his throat. “I’ll take a water too. Do you want me to get it or –”
She tosses the bottle of water to him, then bends down to pick up another one. Straightening, she kicks the door shut. I hold out my hand a second before she reaches me (not too early to rush her, not too late to leave her waiting), and she places my drink in my hand.
“Thank you,” Jace and I both say. I pop off the cork, then bring the bottle to my lips. I’m not particularly thirsty, but I take a good chug under Echo’s eye. To waste anything is to suffer a beating.
Reminding myself I’m king now, I lower the bottle from my lips.
The door bursts open a second later. I turn to see Fabia marching in, mad as all hel. “What the fuck did you drag me out of fucking bed for?” she snaps at me.
Jace grabs her arm and pulls her back against him.
“Get the fuck off me, you fucking oaf. Do I look like I’m fucking stupid enough to fucking deck the fucker in front of Echo?”
I nod for him to release her, and he does so with a smile. She pulls away from him, her eyes still hard on mine.
“Sit,” I say.
“Where?”
Realising Echo has the only other chair, I stand.
Fabia’s eyes narrow. Then she snorts. “You had her too, huh?”
“Yes,” Jace answers.