Heir To The Second Line, Part Two

Chapter 1

One

Avalon

“Ihope the Goddess knows what she’s doing, because I’ll never give you up, Avalon Halhed.” Vox’s lips were so close to mine that I got lost in the declaration.

Something niggled in the back of my brain, an anxiety beating in my chest. Something was wrong, but it wasn’t Vox. I wholeheartedly agreed with his statement. He was mine, and I’d fight fate itself to keep him.

I looked over at Lierick, who was frowning. “Do you feel it too?” he asked, and I nodded. Braxus whined loudly, which was all I needed to know.

We’d been here before.

“Get the book!” I told Lierick, and he sprinted out of the room.

“What’s happening?” Vox demanded, and Hayle sat up on the bed, frowning at Braxus and Alucius as they said… something to him.

“We’ve been here before. I’ve reset time. I don’t know why.”

Hayle shook his head. “The hounds don’t know either, but it was bad. That’s all they can tell me. Whatever happened was catastrophic, but they don’t know the details.”

Braxus whined again, so I squatted down in front of him. He licked at my face, and I scratched his ears. As Alucius paced, I reached out to stroke a reassuring hand down her coat. “It’ll be okay. We’ll fix it.”

Lierick reappeared in the room, holding A Future History of Ebrus. I felt Vox’s power settle over my skin, silencing this conversation from prying ears. Grabbing the book, I skimmed the pages as I read about my future. A future that would never come to pass now.

In its wake, there was only rage. “Fucking Eugene. He is a dead man.”

I passed the book to Hayle, and Vox read over his shoulder. By the end, his body was vibrating with anger.

“I should have gone further back,” I said to Lierick. “We could have stopped him from hearing the conversation at all. Maybe asked Hayle’s dad to take off the tal that prevented Vox’s soundproofing. So many better options.”

Hayle shook his head. “My father would never take his tals off in front of a Vylan. No offense.”

Vox raised an eyebrow. “Your father is a smart man. No offense taken.” He looked at me. “This was your anchor point. We’ll work with it.” He leaned forward and kissed me softly. “I don’t regret not losing this moment.”

I flushed pink. “Me either.”

Hayle cracked his knuckles. “Now that’s settled, I vote we find that slimy little fucker and make him talk. And then silence him forever.” Gone was my affable Soul Tie, and in his place was the Heir to the Third Line—the fierce warrior, bred for battle. Protective to an almost rabid level.

May the Goddess have mercy on Eugene’s soul, because Hayle Taeme certainly wouldn’t.

And neither would I.

Despite the fact that Eugene was slated for death, I still felt a guilt deep in my soul about what had happened in a past that no longer existed.

My cockiness had gotten a lot of people killed, friends and enemies alike.

People I respected and loathed. The worry that we would be too late again—that this was a history destined to repeat over and over again, like my mother’s death—was a constant shadow dogging my steps.

It didn’t help that Eugene was nearly impossible to find. If it had just been me, I wouldn’t have stood a chance. However, no one hid from the Third Line; the Baron had proved that. Even when you thought you’d been hidden for several generations, the Third Line always knew.

It would’ve been terrifying, if I wasn’t in love with their favorite son.

The fact that every creature with a heartbeat was a potential spy meant we were able to find Eugene quickly, despite the fact he was holed up down by the cove, probably waiting for the small boat that was currently speeding across the horizon.

He was dressed in traditional Eighth Line garb, and if I hadn’t known it was him, I wouldn’t have looked twice.

He was wedged in a crevice between the large stones bordering the rocky inlet, and I realized this was the very hidden cove we’d arranged with Zier Tarrin to anchor in when needed to funnel aid to the west. The irony.

But there was no outcropping that could hide Eugene Rovan. There was no shadow he could slip into, no barren hellscape that he could wander where we wouldn’t find him. I stayed a little back, watching as Hayle, Vox, and Lierick circled their prey.

Too late, Eugene realized he was surrounded, and he shot to his feet. Vox gave him a cold smile. “I wouldn’t bother, Eugene.”

Eugene was already summoning the storm, but it would be too slow.

The Fourth Line didn’t really have great offensive magic.

Not like Vox, who could steal the air from your lungs and suffocate you in an instant.

Or boil the water in your blood. Or freeze it to ice. Honestly, his power was terrifying.

Luckily—or perhaps unluckily, if you were Eugene—we needed to know what he’d said, and to whom.

Lierick grinned and slapped his hands over Eugene’s ears. I winced. That would’ve hurt like a bitch. But just as suddenly, the Fourth Line magic that had been brewing in the clouds dispersed, and Eugene’s face went lax.

Freaky.

“Get him up into the woods, Lierick. We’re too exposed here,” Hayle murmured, and Eugene walked docilely into the treeline. The Second Line’s magic was also terrifying.

As we made it into the dense canopy of the forest that surrounded Eaglehoth, Lierick waved a hand. Eugene immediately sat, like a toddler listening to their teacher. There was some semblance of the man still in there; it was evident in the way his lip curled in disgust when I appeared.

“Whore,” he spat.

I waved a hand. “Good to see you too, Eugene. Hopefully for the last time, because you’re about to be food for the predators in these woods, and I don’t mean these three.” I gestured toward the guys.

Lierick squatted down in front of him, his voice soft, almost cajoling. “Eugene Rovan, what did you hear last night? You can tell me. It’ll be okay now.”

That was a fucking big fat lie, but I kept my mouth shut.

“I heard that the Second Line still lives, and the Baron of the Third Line has always known. I know you’re going to attack Ebrus.”

“Did you see the Second Line Heir?” Lierick asked softly, like he wasn’t the one using Second Line magic on him right now.

“No.”

“That’s good, Eugene. Very good.” He patted him on the head. “Did you tell anyone what you suspected?”

He was nodding eagerly. “I sent a missive to my Father, and to the Baron of the First Line. I am going to be rewarded handsomely for my loyalty. I know it. They’re coming to get me right now, so I can tell them what I heard personally.”

Fuck. This was bad.

Lierick looked at Hayle. “Go to your father. Tell him what’s happened. See if he can get word to both Master Proxius and my ships. We’re going to have to clear out Boellium.”

I blinked. “Clear it out? Can’t we just… convince Eugene he imagined it or something?”

Vox shook his head. “No, it won’t matter if Eugene pretends like he made it up for attention. My father will find a reason to make a point at Boellium, just to ensure we are all properly under his thumb. He’s suspected dissension at the war college for a lot longer than Lierick has been attending.”

Hayle kissed me roughly, then took off through the trees, with Alucius following but Braxus staying by my side.

Vox sighed as he stared down at the man before us.

“You are the worst kind of person that our society produces: entitled, self-centered, and without empathy. I should do Ebrus a favor and put you down, but you’re also like a cockroach.

” He stroked a hand down his face. “Unfortunately, I’m going to have to give you a reprieve again, even though I desperately want to boil you inside that insipid skin, until your muscles cook and you’re screaming in pain.

Because, for reasons I don’t understand, your father would miss you, and I’m not sure we could take the scrutiny just yet.

” He looked at Lierick. “Could you alter his memories?”

“And maybe give him a personality adjustment while you’re in there,” I added, feeling a little lighter that Eugene wasn’t going to be murdered. He wouldn’t have felt the same relief if our roles were reversed, but that was why I was the person I was, and Eugene was a cunt.

Lierick shrugged. “I’m not sure he deserves your leniency, but I’ll do what I can.” He leaned closer. “And maybe I’ll make it hurt.”

Then he gripped Eugene’s face in his hands, and I watched Eugene’s expression go slack. No, not slack. It was like he’d gone blank. There was no Eugene at home behind the hazel eyes that had looked at me with such hatred since I’d arrived at Boellium.

I turned away, and Vox pulled me into his arms, burying his face in my hair and squeezing me tightly.

“Such a soft heart, Ninth. Even though he was cruel, even though in multiple lives he’s tormented you and straight-up murdered Hayle, you still can’t watch him being hurt.

” He kissed my lips. “You’re the humanity we all lack. ”

I wanted to argue with his poor opinion of himself, but this wasn’t the right moment.

“What do we do now?” I asked, and I felt Vox’s chest expand beneath my cheek as he sighed heavily.

“What do you do now? Even if Eugene backtracks on what was written in his letter, there’ll be suspicion.

What if he calls you home?” I gripped his shirt. “You can’t go home.”

He tilted my head back. “No, I can’t. Will you still love me if I’m an exile?”

My lips curled up. “I’ll love Vox, Heir in Exile, even more than Vox, Heir to the First Line.”

“What about Vox, lover of the Ninth Daughter of the Ninth Line?” he whispered. “The only title I want from now on.”

My mind went back to our conversation with Baron Zier yesterday, how Vox was the only good Vylan produced by that rotten family tree, the only person who could stand up and lead a Line that had been beaten into submission for far too long.

I didn’t think being my lover would be his last role in life, but that was a problem for another day, a long time from now.