Chapter 55
Belle
I glared at the king. Once, I’d thought I’d seen something in him—compassion for his people, a sense of duty, even a little kindness when it came to me. Hells, he even liked to read.
It was all a farce.
He was a practiced liar with no sense of mercy, a beast who thought nothing of killing his own brother or taking my power from me.
My magic felt a thousand miles away—still there, but far beyond my grasp, like the memory of spring during winter. An aching hollow where joy had once been. He did this to me.
Maybe I could yank him off his horse and trample him beneath Briar’s hooves as I rode past.
“Why are you looking at me like that?” Valen ground out.
I grasped the smooth metal binding my throat. The enchantment buzzed against my fingers, bringing an empty nausea to my stomach. “Where did you get this abomination?”
“Locke fashioned it to block your magic after your little incident in the kitchens.” His eyes tracked to the collar around my neck. “I’d offer to remove it if you behave, but I suspect we’re past that.”
My fingers moved across the cold metal, searching for a clasp or keyhole or some mechanism to unlatch it. “Don’t worry. The first person I’m going to kill is Locke, then you.”
His expression was grim, as if seeing me like this pained him, and he frowned. “I know you won’t believe me, but I swear, I don’t relish doing this. Unfortunately, you’re too strong to be trusted, and I’m rather attached to my life, misery that it is.”
I lifted my eyebrows. “I thought you said I had no chance of killing you.”
“I didn’t realize how powerful you’d grown, or how deep that hate ran.” He stepped close to me, his hand gently cupping my cheek. “You got very close today, Belle, closer than anyone ever has. I’m impressed.”
Warmth spread through my belly at his praise, and I loathed myself for it. I shouldn’t care, shouldn’t delight in his judgment, but I did. Even more, I hated how my body still responded to his closeness, the eternal warmth and strength that always seemed to draw me in.
It took all my will to shove him away. “I have no desire to be close to you.” A truth, but also a miserable lie.
A wry smile twisted at his lips. “Then you’re not going to like this next part. You’ll be riding next to me in the saddle all the way back to the castle.”
“Hell no.” I backed away, glancing at my horse. “I’ll take Briar.”
“Not a chance. She’ll follow behind. She knows how to behave.” He tucked away her reins and slapped her lightly on the rump, sending the horse trotting toward the road.
If I ran—
He swept me off my feet without warning, pressing me flush against his chest. The heat and scent of his body—spice and smoke laced with sweat—shocked me more than the indignity of it all, and I struggled in his arms. “What are you doing?”
“Expediting the process,” he said in a dark and smokey voice, and then he hoisted me up and over his good shoulder.
My hair clouded my vision as the world tilted. “Put me down!” I kicked and thrashed, but he simply tightened his arm around the backs of my thighs, unbothered by my feeble attempts to dislodge myself.
Ignoring me, he strode through the trees toward the road, his hand splayed across my upper thigh, warm and strong and completely inappropriate. My face blazed, and I wasn’t sure if it was the blood pooling in my head or the pleasure coursing through me. Gods, why did he have this effect on me?
“As soon as you remove this collar, I’m going to kill you!” I said, pounding futilely at his powerful back.
“I have no doubt—which is why it stays on.” His gravelly voice was laced with dry amusement, and it only fanned the flames of my anger.
Valen whistled sharply as he trudged out of the trees. Storm came clopping over, meeting us at the side of the road.
He slowly slid me down his body, his hands brushing over the backs of my thighs and bottom before my feet hit the ground.
My lips parted, and I pulled my hands off the hard planes of his stomach.
His shirt was damp with sweat, despite the bitter cold, and for some twisted reason it made heat sink low in my belly.
He arched one brow. “Are you going to behave?”
I pushed back and gestured between us. “This—whatever this is—I don’t want it.”
“Then we’re in agreement for once.” He made some adjustments to the way the saddle lay on Storm’s back. He really was going to force me to ride with him.
“Please,” I begged. “Let me ride Briar. I swear I won’t try to escape.”
He glanced over, amber flecks in his hazel eyes. I stilled. They’d been golden when he’d scratched me.
“You might not try to run,” he said, “but you’ll find ways to slow me down to give your little paramour time to escape.”
Paramour? The edge of jealousy in his words caught me off guard.
He smirked, and I bristled. He’d read my intentions far too easily, and it made me hate him all the more.
“You can either come willingly…” He inclined his head toward Storm. “Or I’ll take you by force and sling you over the back of my horse. It’s your choice, but I recommend the first option for both our sakes.”
“I hate you.”
A flicker of a smile pulled at his mouth. “I know.”
He seized me like a sack of oats and heaved me unceremoniously into the saddle, then untied Storm’s reins and handed them to me with a look that said, Try it, princess.
I was tempted to spur the horse forward for the hell of it, but considering Storm had come when Valen whistled, the attempt would only get me lashed to the horse’s rump. Besides, it was better for Gregoire if I kept the king distracted.
I glanced toward the east and the breaking dawn. Hopefully, my gambit had bought the huntsman enough time.
Valen climbed into the saddle behind me and took the reins with one hand, while the other slipped around my waist, pinning me in place. His strong thighs cradled mine, and my fingers tightened on the pommel.
His breath kissed the shell of my ear, sending a wave of shivers down my spine. “Isn’t this more comfortable than the alternative, princess?”
When I didn’t grace him with a response, the king spurred Storm forward, Briar following, and I lurched against him as he set a steady pace.
The ancient road was uneven and overgrown, but Storm navigated the brush and fallen limbs with skill and surprising speed, closer to the grace of an immortal than a stallion.
The king’s grip around my waist should’ve felt confining, but instead it was safe and reassuring. I ground my teeth together. I had to get control of my thoughts. Valen was anything but safe or reassuring. He was a treacherous prick and probably planning to sell me out the moment we got back.
“What are you going to do with me now?” I muttered. “Hand me over to the general?”
“Now why would I do that?”
“As payment.”
He chuffed. “Do you really think so low of me?”
“I couldn’t think more lowly of you, Your Highness.”
The beast of a man shifted behind me, his touch unbearable for all the wrong reasons. “Don’t get me wrong, princess. You’re a beautiful woman, but I doubt the general and his host would invade the Bloodvale for you.”
Apparently, I could think lower of him.
I bit my lip. “I guess I know my worth then.”
The king’s arm tightened possessively, and he leaned forward close to my ear. “You have no idea of your worth, and neither does Sarkis.”
A shiver skated over my spine. What did he mean by that?
Valen said no more, and we rode in silence as the dawn crested above the trees. The sky grew brighter, but the shadows remained deep. I glanced toward the passing trees, dark and ragged, shamefully grateful he’d caught me.
At least I was safe now.
But my sister wasn’t, and neither was the Bloodvale—because of him and his beasts.
“How could you plot against your own brother?” I asked with unrestrained venom.
“Plot against Cassius?” He released a bitter laugh. “Who do you think helped depose me? That traitor sold me out to the mages and stole my throne.”
“Cassius would never—”
“You know nothing of him.” The heat of his body rose suddenly, as if there was a fire burning inside him. “The mages told me everything the day they cast me down—he betrayed my plans in exchange for my crown.”
“And you believed them? They betrayed the human revolution and deceived the entire kingdom! They lied to you.”
“Of course, I didn’t believe them,” he muttered, maneuvering Storm around a fallen trunk. “But when Cassius sent assassins to kill me, the truth became inescapable.”
“You’re certain it wasn’t the mages cleaning up loose ends?”
“Locke tortured every one of them to the edge of madness. In the end, they all confessed the truth: my brother had given them their orders.”
“The mages could alter memories,” I said. It was how they’d ruled in secret for so many years.
“Locke would have known,” Valen growled.
“Cassius is cold, but he’s noble to a fault. He would never stoop to assassination. You have to know that.”
“Again, princess, you know nothing of my brother,” Valen grunted.
“Maybe you don’t,” I said softly.
He scoffed.
I shook my head. “When Cassius met my sister, he was out in the woods hunting for you. He never stopped searching, even when everyone told him you were dead.”
“If he was looking, then it was only to make sure I was dead, to secure his throne.” There was something almost feral in his denials, like a snarling wolf cornered against the face of a cliff.
The trauma had twisted his heart and beliefs until only one answer remained—that his brother had betrayed him.
For a moment, I almost pitied the king.
“If Cassius had really wanted your throne, he wouldn’t have waited fifty years to claim it.
He wouldn’t have kept insisting that you were still alive.
He would’ve claimed the crown, taken a powerful bride, and made as many alliances as he could to prepare for your eventual return. Instead, he did the opposite.”
Valen sat silently in the saddle, as tall and as strong as the walls of his castle. Yet I sensed the imperceptible crack, a flicker of doubt beginning to take hold. The truth behind the mask sank in: he was a man desperately looking for a reason to be wrong.
I twisted in the saddle so that I could see his face. “You don’t want your brother dead, any more than he wants to kill you. If you had, you would’ve already found a way.”
Pain twisted his features. “You act like everything is so simple—”
“It is,” I said, placing my hand on his arm. “Your brother didn’t betray you. I know it in my heart, and I think you do too.”