55. Kyros
Chapter fifty-five
Kyros
I shouldn't be able to do this. I look down as the moonlight filters through the dirty window panes from above.
The silver glow is absorbed by the glittering black sand as it flows along my arms and my new claw-like, darkened fingertips.
Drabek didn't even blink twice about my new form. He came the moment I called for him, dipping through the open slat at the top of one of the high windows and diving right for me. He landed briskly on my outstretched arm just as he’s always done.
“Shhhh, I know.” I hush the bird, and he lets out a rattling croak in response.
Trying to keep my anxiety over this message from bleeding into the bird, I ruffle the feathers under his beak.
Even as I weave the message though, I know they likely won't listen. My brother is stubborn, and coupled with Astraea… I shake my head at the thought and sigh. I have a feeling this is futile. I shouldn't have been able to even leave the confines of the room that Phaedra had me locked in, much less call Drabek to me, but I’m glad I tried. I don’t know why, but the bangles that hold the other Umbra Vitae hostage stopped working on me.
If anything, after just a short time with them on my wrists, my magick felt even more charged.
Oddly, oath or not, I feel no other reason keeping me here other than my need to end Phaedra’s hold on this kingdom—our kingdom.
“We need to warn them. Go. Find Mavros.” I urge, pushing my arm up to release him.
What the fuck? A portal rips open in the middle of the conservatory the moment I brush the message along Drabek’s feathers and send him on his way.
But it’s not just any portal, though. I know it's hers just by the way the magick feels pressing against my skin.
The glow and the warmth of fire that is uniquely hers.
Drabek lets out a cry before launching from my arm and diving into the swirl of darkness.
It takes everything in me to not just follow after him.
Seeing his urgency about going through that portal, though, means she’s still with Mavros.
That he was on the other side of it. Good.
Drabek will get the message to them even quicker, having gone through the portal.
I hold my breath as I wait on the other side of the magickal gateway.
My heart dances with the heat that lives in my chest, threatening to catch the muscle aflame at just the thought of seeing her.
It's been hardly any time since we were separated, but already my entire body aches in a way only she can soothe.
Even though every part of me wants to step through the portal, I can’t do it.
But I can't be sitting here waiting to see if anyone steps through to this side of it either.
I can't risk being caught out of my room if I want to get close to Phaedra.
She can't figure out that I’m not under her control, not yet anyway.
I just have to hope that the message I sent with Drabek is received quickly and they heed my warning.
That they close this portal and find somewhere else to go.
They can't come back here until I have Phaedra and this other Umbra Vitae dealt with.
Grinding my teeth, my breath comes out of my nose with a frustrated huff as I step into one of the shadowy alcoves.
It's the only passageway that leads to the servants run below the bailey and one of the only solid walls in the conservatory that is mostly made of glass.
The opening is tight, but I squeeze into the space, only chancing one last look at the portal before I slip away in the dark.
Phaedra should have left me in the dungeon if she knew what was smart, but she relied on this magick to hold me.
Judging by the way the other Umbra Vitae follows her commands, she must have assumed it would work on me as well.
I wonder if it has to do with whatever the reason is that the oath failed to bond us?
My fist tightens instinctively with the thought of the oath, and I look down at the still healing skin along my palm. Why didn't the bond work? It should have worked. Mavros wouldn't have been able to walk away if she hadn't released him from his oath…
This has been the first opportunity I’ve had to get away from prying eyes since the moment I stepped back into Eathian.
Call it luck, but Phaedra didn't see to bathing me herself. I’m not sure I would be able to keep up with this farce had she touched me again.
I wouldn't have put it past her to try, though.
Instead, she sent in two handmaids. They were trembling even just looking at me, and I was able to scare them off before either tried to lay a hand on me.
Once they were satisfied that I was going to clean myself, they left me alone.
The clothes laid out for me are fit for Eathian and whatever celebration that Phaedra has planned.
A dark linen tunic and loose-fitting pants to match and a deep blue kamarband to secure at my waist and boots.
Though, after checking the wardrobe, I found the dark maroon that represents my family and the Ruvaen rule.
It gives me at least a small amount of pleasure to spite her in this way, although the whole ensemble feels too light without the weight of my sword at my hip and the knives I usually have secured at various parts of my body.
Without the weight of leathers that I’ve been so accustomed to over the last fifteen years.
But as I return to the room I was locked in, the only thing I feel missing is Astraea.
It's dark now. The candle I had left burning on the bedside table has already burned down far enough from the short journey I took to the conservatory that the wick is now burned out, plunging the room into darkness. I’m no foe of darkness, though.
It has been a constant in my life over the years.
Instead of wanting to escape it, I sit on the edge of the bed, and I revel in the power it holds.
My eyes fall closed, and I allow my spine to sink into the mattress behind me; for a moment, I am at peace.
Weightless. Only the shadows are my company.
I never thought that when the moment came for me to take my kingdom back, it would be from the same woman who gave me purpose the last fifteen years.
The purpose was never mine, though. I see that now.
She knew who I was, what I was, and the possibility of how my power may have manifested, and when she couldn't gain that power through Astraea, she pivoted. Just like she always taught me to do.
The din of drums rolls through the halls from somewhere in the palace.
The sound of them wars with the beat of my heart.
It’s nearly time. Sitting up, I stare at the wood that separates me from what I know is on the other side.
The other Umbra Vitae is always nearby. I narrow my eyes at it, as though the wood itself has offended me, only one word repeating through my head. Verum—Verum?
I rack my mind thinking of that singular word.
The door opens, but I don't so much as flinch. I stare deadpan as Nolan slinks in.
“Oh, good. You can take orders after all.” He sneers, looking me up and down.
It is a divine miracle that I can keep my control and continue to stare blankly in his direction.
He is not the target, Kyros. Not yet, at least. “The Queen is having me escort you to the throne room.” He continues, striding into the room and holding the door open for me.
I stare at him longer until I see the unease enter his gaze.
Slowly, I stand and walk toward the door.
Only stopping before I exit, I notice that no one stands in the hall like I had thought.
Unlucky for Nolan, we are alone. I stand right in front of him, leaning in until I am eye-to-eye with the bastard.
He doesn't move, doesn't breathe, swallow, or blink as I lock my gaze to his.
My lip twitches, curling in disgust before the threat tumbles from my mouth.
“I hope you enjoy your brief moment of feigned power, Nolan. I’ll have you remember just how little you have very soon.
” He swallows then, his eyes widening in fear just before his brows twitch with a realization of what just happened.
I notice the subtle movement as he reaches for the blade holstered at his chest. He’s quick; I’ll give him that, but I'm quicker.
My shadows are quick to wrap around his wrist, rendering him immobile.
I use my hold on him to push him further into the room and slam the door shut behind me.
“How—” He doesn't get to ask the question before I direct more tendrils of my dark ropes to slam him against the wall.
The reverberating crack as his skull hits the sandstone makes his eyes roll into the back of his head, but I keep him standing.
The tendons in his neck strain with his fight to get out of my hold, but it's no use.
He won't be able to. Spit flies out of his mouth with every ragged breath I barely allow to slip through.
Baring my teeth, I lean in a little closer, my voice taking on that dark animalist growl that comes from the monster side of me.
“You don't get to ask the questions. I warned you. The time you got to pretend that you had power over me would be short; now, your time is up, Nolan. Tell me what Phaedra plans to do.” Tilting my head, I let the shadows recede just enough to give him the ability to speak again.
He coughs, sucking air greedily in through his mouth.
“Fuck you!” He spits the words out roughly.
Saliva spraying out onto his chin. I stand up straight, letting my silence collect more of his fear.
Menacingly slow, I let my shadows tighten.
This sort of magick use is like child's play.
I'm not worried about depleting my magick while toying with him.
The mage magick he has is nothing compared to mine.
I was always curious as to why Phaedra would employ a man like Nolan into her guard, but I never cared enough to ask.
“One more chance, Nolan. Tell me what Phaedra is planning, or I will bring you a death so slow that you will be begging for the end.” Using one finger, I dig the darkened claw into the skin above his eyebrow.
He tries to scream in pain, but before the sound can escape, my glittering onyx magick acts as a gag between his teeth.
“Ah-ah,” I scold him with a hint of a smile curving my lips.
I let the claw dig further into his forehead.
Blood seeps out of the wound, slowly tracking down into the hair at his brow.
His face twists in pain, his eyes closing as I drag my finger down, cutting through the brow and stopping just as my finger dips, following the curve of his eye socket.
“RRAA–RRR” Nolan tries to scream around the tendril of shadow. I roll my eyes as I let it ease a miniscule amount.
“Do you want to keep the eye?” I taunt.
“The whole thing—” He sucks in breath after ragged breath, blood soaking into the white of his eye and down the side of his face.
Still, my finger presses firmly there; one swift scoop would pop it right out.
“—it’s to lure the princess back. Phaedra.
She figured out the prophecy.” He sucks in a sharp breath when my finger digs further into the orbital cavity, the threat of extracting the eyeball prominent.
“She is the key! Astraea’s sacrifice is the key!
” I’ve heard enough. My finger digs in through his eye, the ball bulging with the invasion.
His screams become sobs as the sharp point of my nail reaches the connective tissues holding it in place.
I curl my finger just enough to sever the ties.
His eyeball jumps from the socket with a sick squelch.
It only takes seconds longer before my elongated finger digs further into the hole now left.
I push, baring my teeth and gripping the other side of his head with my other hand.
“It wasn't Astraea’s heart you got to watch me pluck; I hope you aren't too disappointed.” I lean back, forcing him to look at me with his one remaining eye.
“I know I'm not.” I growl, slamming the digit in through the cavity, cracking through bone, and stabbing as deep into his brain as I can. Nolan’s eye rounds, his gaze goes distant, and his body sags limply before I finally let him go. He falls to the ground in a heap.
Wiping my hand across his chest to rid it best I can of his blood, I wrench open the door and make my way down the corridor to the closest pathway in the walls. I need to get to the library. I have to find out what verum means.