Chapter 30
Roksana
Ididn’t want to wake up. The crisp, clean linen slid against my skin each time I turned. Its soft rustling soothed my mind, which drifted away despite my worrying over the strenuous journey.
The steppes emerged from the mist, with the buzzing of insects and scents of flowers filling the air with sweetness.
Horses pranced in the distance, playfully evading my father’s men as they corralled them, herding a massive black stallion to the pen.
Well, this is new. I chuckled to myself; never before had a black stallion appeared in my dreams. Are you a big black horse now, Rey?
The symbolism was uncanny. I could feel the untamed wildness radiating from the horse’s muscular body. I chuckled, stretching my arms to touch him. I’d have preferred the man, but if my dreams made him into a horse, I would happily cuddle him.
‘Roksana, where the fuck are you? Answer me.’ The voice came from behind, commanding, searching, and unmistakably Rey’s.
I turned around, and there he was. A mirage dressed in the white shirt and silken brown trousers he loved to sleep in.
I stretched out my arms, savouring the sight.
The relief on his face was immense. Rey rushed towards me, his form sharpening with each step.
‘This is new as well,’ I muttered, tilting my head when a grimace replaced the relief on his features. ‘Wipe this frown off your face, or I’ll send you back to the fog and dream of a better version.’
He paused, confused, before taking one last step and engulfing me in his embrace. ‘I’m not a dream… Well, I am, partially. Riordan has been sending me into your dreams these past three nights, but I couldn’t reach you.’ He huffed in frustration, grasping my chin when I shook my head.
‘What? That’s dangerous. Why are you doing that?’ So many things could go wrong with a dreamwalking spell. ‘Riordan should never have let someone without training cross the bridge of dreams. What’s going on?’
Rey’s expression softened. His calloused thumb traced the contours of my lips before he leaned forward, touching his forehead to mine.
‘He didn’t have a choice. I threatened to abandon the throne if I couldn’t see you safe with my own eye.
’ He pressed a sweet, chaste kiss on my forehead.
‘You look beautiful, Viper. So beautiful I almost gave up telling you how angry and worried you made me.’
‘I sent you a letter…’
‘And thank fuck it burned in the mines. If I’d read it then…
’ A shiver ran through him when he inhaled sharply, pulling away.
‘Do you know the dread I felt when I returned, and you weren’t in Truso?
I asked everyone – Boyan, Lily, every single soul – but all they told me was that you were heading south with Irsha.
’ He was breathing hard now, and I struggled to understand how it had come to this.
‘You burned my letter?’ I asked.
‘No. It was destroyed while I was taming the volcano,’ Rey said, a muscle on his cheek twitching. ‘It’s over. M?ot is dead. Wiosna is rebuilding under Tova’s direction. The only thing I couldn’t foresee, or control, is you.’
His voice sounded hollow, and I reached for him, pressing my head against his chest. ‘I’m sorry,’ I whispered.
‘If you’re sorry, then come home. I need you, Viper.’ He looked around, his expression growing confused. ‘Is this where you are? Boyan told me you went south. I sent patrols along the road to Tivalaran, but if you’re on the steppe…’
‘I’m not.’ I sighed, biting my lip. ‘Call your men off. I am exactly where I need to be – on the way to Tivala’s castle.’
‘Why, Sana? I can deal with that bastard.’ His nostrils flared, and he stroked my braid a little too harshly. ‘What’s going on in the south that I don’t know?’
‘Your marriage contract, invasion through the Wey Gates, Jagon.’ The more I talked, the harder his expression became.
‘I don’t fucking care about the marriage contract. We can send the Observers to get it. I’ll meet whoever attacks our home on the field of battle. And Jagon… I’ll string that bastard up by the tendons myself.’ He stopped, his fingers tightening on my shoulder. ‘Don’t shake your head at me.’
‘Rey, the srebrec pillars almost killed me. They will stop our army by draining the mages dry.’ I didn’t want to tell him how weak I was, but he had to understand the risk.
‘We need every man and beast we can count on. With the Tangra army supporting Tivala, we can’t attack without destroying those pillars.
Tova will help, I’m sure, but first we need to know what they are and what happens with the aether they siphon. ’
Conflicting emotions flashed across Rey’s face, so I waited. He understood why I was here and what it meant for us, and then I saw it: resignation and pride. ‘Our army,’ he said, stroking my face.
‘What?’ I said, confused.
‘You said our army.’ He forced a smile. ‘I could stop my lover, but how can I stop my queen?’
‘What? Rey, I…’
‘Shh… Just promise you’ll return. Listen to your Blade like he’s your father.
’ Rey looked me in the eye. ‘I mean it, Viper. He knows what he’s doing.
We might argue, but I trust him with your life.
’ When I rolled my eyes, chuckling slightly, he insisted.
‘Your word, Roksana, or I swear I’ll jump on my dragon and fly to get you home.
’ He said it so seriously that I couldn’t help but tease.
‘Vahin wouldn’t carry you into danger, but I promise. Besides, I couldn’t miss dancing with my king at Gromnitca’s Festival.’
Rey froze, his hand trembling, before his head dipped.
‘I forgot about the ball,’ he said, and to my amusement, a hint of embarrassment entered his gaze.
For a moment, my man, who’d just proved why he was called the god of war, looked so unbearably sheepish.
My heart melted a little, and I gave him a concession, something we could both look forward to.
‘If I return, I want to move into the palace. Can I have my old room?’
He growled. My eyes opened wide. That wasn’t the reaction I’d expected, nor was the golden light burning in his pupil.
‘Not if, when. When you return! And no, you can’t.’
I pulled away. His denial took me aback, and a small part of my heart grew colder, ready to shield me from being hurt.
‘No?’ I couldn’t ask why. I should accept his decision, but I hoped it was all a mistake.
After all, Reynard had wanted me to move in with him after my Geas Ceremony. Had he changed his mind?
‘My bedroom. When you return, the entire bloody palace is yours, but you’ll be sleeping with me.’ The coldness melted in the fire of his gaze.
I chuckled, resting my head on his chest. ‘You scared me,’ I whispered, pressing my lips where his strong heart hammered under my hand.
‘Unfeeling brute. For a moment, I thought you’d changed your mind.
You’ll pay for that.’ I snapped my fingers, and the shirt disappeared, replaced by an embroidered leather harness I’d often admired on the orc chieftains. His trousers soon followed suit.
Reynard looked at me with unbridled amusement. ‘You have strange fantasies, Viper. Fine, I’ll be the orcish warrior who captures his woman from the wild steppe. Come here, woman.’ He tilted my chin up, and I happily followed his command.
‘Less talking, more kissing. And they’re not bad… You should see how they treat their women.’ I stood on my tiptoes, whispering just as I pressed my lips to his. ‘Like goddesses.’ He tasted so good, and it felt so real that I wanted to cry. ‘I’ve missed you so much, Rey,’ I muttered between kisses.
His hands slid down, capturing my rear and lifting me. My legs wrapped around him, his hardness pressing against me while his tongue entered my mouth. I sucked it with sweet abandon.
‘Fuck Tivala with a rusty sword. Come home, Viper. I want to lose myself between your thighs,’ he murmured hungrily, lowering us onto the fresh, succulent grass. Rey’s dark hair fell across his face, covering the scars, and I grasped his shaft, pulling him closer, preparing to take him in–
‘Wake up!’ A sharp yank on my shoulder pulled me out of the dream. For a moment, I didn’t know where, or even who I was. I fought to reconnect with reality as the broken dreamwalking spell threatened to scramble my mind.
‘Hurry! We need to go!’ The urgency in Irsha’s voice was the only thing that grounded me, stopping me from casting the hex on the tip of my tongue.
I could still taste Reynard’s lips when a second yank threw me onto the floor.
I glanced out the window. The sun was already up, but judging from its position on the horizon, it was an ungodly hour.
‘What’s going on? You’d better have a good reason for this,’ I said, pulling on my boots while Irsha gathered the rest of our belongings.
‘Tivala’s guards are in the tavern. They’re looking for a lone traveller… a lady,’ he said, rushing to the door. He cracked it open. The corridor was swarming with men wearing Tivala’s crest, who were knocking on doors and pulling out the guests for inspection.
‘Window,’ Irsha said shortly, closing the door and barricading it.
We weren’t up high, but it was still a sizable jump.
One that could easily break my ankles. As I was throwing my leg over the sill, ready to test my theory, a rope extended from the window above.
A woman slid down, hissing and cursing as the hemp chafed her hands.
‘Thank you, Morana, for small blessings,’ I whispered, letting her pass before grabbing the rope. Maybe I shouldn’t have used the name of the goddess of winter, but finding out who the guards were looking for and getting an unexpected means of escape felt like divine intervention.
‘Irsha, grab her,’ I said as the woman bolted towards the stables while we still swung on the rope.
We caught her desperately trying to saddle a stallion that was too big for her.
She shrieked when Irsha slipped in and covered her mouth with his large hand.
I quickly closed and barred the doors to conceal us, then approached the woman.
She was tiny, with mousy brown hair neatly tucked into a bun on her neck and an unassuming figure, but her eyes shone with indignation and intelligence behind a contraption I’d only seen the richest scholars wear.
‘Who are you and why are Tivala’s men looking for you?’ I asked, gesturing for Irsha to let her speak.
‘It’s none of your business, and if I don’t escape unseen, I’ll tell them you’re my accomplices.’ Her voice was seething when she uttered her threat, looking me straight in the eye.
‘That would be troublesome indeed, but first, they have to catch us.’ I smiled, pulling off her glasses, and the woman instantly squinted.
‘As I see it, you have a choice, my dear. Either you tell me your name and live to see another day, or my friend can turn you in and see if this buys us safe passage.’
She huffed, giving me an impressive eye-roll.
‘I’d like to see you try. You escaped through the window because you’re such good friends with Tivala’s guards that you wanted to save them the time to search your room?
’ Her chin lifted in challenge. ‘Go on. Tattle on me and let’s see what happens, but I can guarantee I’ll be the one who survives the encounter. ’
‘I like her,’ Irsha said while I strongly considered using my poisons on the obstinate creature.
‘That doesn’t help us, though,’ I said, taking a step forward. She jerked in Irsha’s grasp, and his grin twisted into a stifled groan when she elbowed him in the gut.
‘You little shit.’ He twisted her arm back.
The ripping of her cloak was loud in the quiet stable, and several documents fell to the dirty floor.
My breath caught at the sight. The longer I looked, the more anger built in my core.
Those schemata, the runes on them, were so similar to Tova’s research, to what was carved into the srebrec pillars.
This wasn’t some petty thief; this was someone who knew the secrets I was trying to uncover.
The world faded into silence as my power, subdued by the srebrec and the long journey, rose to the surface at the sight of a sketch before me.
I was confronted by a picture of the void cube, painstakingly drawn with an inscription I didn’t understand.
Next to it was a string of numbers, and next to that was a strange equation with the alchemy symbol of aether.
The woman’s pupils widened at whatever she saw in my face.
She backed into Irsha as if my assassin could protect her.
‘You’ve seen it before,’ she said while I calmly collected all the papers.
‘I’ve seen it, I fought its horrors, and saw the death it brings.
I’m the Deadly Nightshade, and you will tell me who you are and where you took this from.
I don’t give second chances, and I swear to the gods above and below, if you lie to me, I’ll make you suffer,’ I said with ice-cold certainty.
Too many people had died to let her escape without a full explanation, and many more would suffer if I didn’t get to the bottom of this.
Even if it meant me getting captured, I would accept the burden of dirtying my hands for the sake of this kingdom.
‘You can’t make me suffer any more than my father did.
I’m Inga Tivala, and I believe you’re the woman fucking my fiancé.
’ Her haughty tone, chin raised as if she were challenging me, only added to my bewilderment.
I huffed in humourless laughter. What are the chances…
What are the damned chances I would meet my rival in a dirty stable in a ghastly town?
‘Load her onto the horse, then we’ll find a place we can talk undisturbed.
Lady Tivala and I have a lot to discuss,’ I said through clenched teeth.
Inga didn’t protest when Irsha lifted her onto his horse.
She was calm, far too calm for the circumstances and for being captured by not only the woman who’d claimed her betrothed but also the person who could make her disappear in the blink of an eye.
I wonder what else is hidden under this thick, woollen coat of yours, and why the only living descendant of the Tivala bloodline is being chased by her own guards. One thing I knew for certain, though, is that I’d found my key into Tivala’s castle.