Chapter 18 The Bloodbound Court #2
Light rippled across its body and the limbs stretched with wet cracks that echoed.
Fur melted, revealing tanned skin. Joints popped and reformed.
The delicate legs thickened into fae limbs.
Those liquid dark eyes blinked, then bled to gold.
Feathery wings unfurled from his back as a fae collapsed onto his stomach where the fawn had been.
I stumbled back, my hand flying to my mouth.
His straw-like hair hung in bloody clumps. He slumped against the wall, his hands shackled. Runes flickered on his collarbone, but he seemed too weak to use magic. What bound him was probably leaching his strength.
Kairos kicked the bars. “That is a Caelir spy. A realm known for its shapeshifting runes.”
“They can turn into animals?”
He shrugged. “Into whatever you’ll pity the most.”
The male coughed, blood flecking his chin. “Please. Help me. My king—he can help you.”
White mist coiled around the fae’s throat, cutting off his words. He clawed at it, gasping. Kairos moved away from the cage, looking bored. Then his gaze settled on me and he sighed. He palmed my shoulder, making me hold in a tight breath.
“You need to be more careful. You can’t trust your senses here.”
My palm still tingled where I’d stroked the fawn’s fur.
“He was sent here to kill you. Tried to enter your room last night,” Kairos said, drawing a blade from his belt. “Had this on him.”
He held out an ornate dagger.
I took it, surprised by its weight. The beautiful, milky steel caught the light, purple gems studding the handle. “This is too fine for an assassin’s weapon.”
“Not if you’re sending a message.”
I turned the dagger over, studying the craftsmanship. “Why would some king want me dead?”
“Because he hates me.” His fingers brushed mine as he plucked the dagger from my hands. “He wants me to know that he can reach into my court, slit your throat, and vanish.”
I swallowed hard. “So he sent someone armed with a Caelir weapon, knowing you’d recognize it.”
Kairos nodded. “It’s a provocation.”
“How will you respond?”
“I’ll deliver him back in pieces.”
The air darkened like shadows bled from the room. The lanterns dimmed, their flames strangled. Mist crawled over the stones as Kairos stepped forward.
“Any last words?”
“N-no,” the fae rasped, scrambling upright. “Please. I didn’t—I wasn’t—”
Mist pooled into the cell. Slowly, it slithered up the walls.
“Wait!” I started.
The fae screamed.
Kairos lifted one fist, and the mist tightened. Blood seeped from the prisoner’s eyes, tracking down his face in dark rivulets. White tendrils coiled his torso, cinching tighter. The male thrashed against his chains, the metal rattling uselessly.
I faced Kairos. “Stop, you don’t have to do this!”
Kairos yanked the mist sideways with a sharp twist of his wrist.
The spy twisted. A deep gash opened across his waist, and his scream broke into wet sobbing. Crimson sprayed the floor, spattering my shoes.
Oh gods.
I whirled away, pressing my hands over my ears, but I couldn’t block out the sounds. The gurgling. The hitching attempts at breath. The heavy thud of a body hitting stone.
Then silence.
My lungs wouldn’t expand. I gripped the wall, forcing air in and out.
Kairos moved toward me, and I flinched.
“Don’t come near me.”
He frowned. “I’m not going to hurt you.”
“I said don’t!”
He sighed heavily. “You stuck your hand in a cage with an assassin. Your judgment is shit.”
I wanted to tell him to go to hell, but I didn’t trust that I wouldn’t vomit all over the floor.
He stepped closer, slower this time. His fingers wrapped my elbow, and I shivered. Numbly, I followed the pressure as he led me upstairs.
Kairos pushed open a door. Sunlight flooded in, blinding after the dungeon’s darkness.
I gasped as we strode into a courtyard.
High walls enclosed the space, covered in climbing ivy that cascaded down in sheets of green.
Tiered beds of dark cedar overflowed with moonwort and starlace, their silver-white blooms catching the light.
Roses—blood-red and cream-colored—wove through iron trellises.
There were no neat hedges, just carefully guided chaos. The perfume made my head swim.
Kairos nudged me to a bench beside a flowering tree and dropped my arm.
“Sit,” he barked.
I sank onto the bench.
He leaned down, his hands bracing on either side of me. “This realm doesn’t have harmless creatures waiting for some soft girl to rescue them.”
My hands started shaking. I pressed them against my thighs, but the trembling spread up my arms. The panic drained out of me, leaving me hollow.
Kairos exhaled roughly, then sat down.
The wood creaked under his weight. He was massive this close, all broad shoulders and corded muscle, and my pulse skidded hard enough to make me dizzy. He stretched his arm, not quite touching me.
“I can’t believe,” he said slowly, “that you scaled a castle in a dress.”
“You didn’t leave me any trousers,” I shot back.
He turned, his brow raised. “I gave you an entire wardrobe.”
“Of gowns. Silks. Impractical things.”
“I thought you’d prefer dresses.” His gaze trailed over the green fabric pooled around my legs, and I fought the urge to cross them. “You don’t strike me as a woman who’d choose leather over silk.”
Heat crept up my neck.
“Was I wrong?” he prompted.
I opened my mouth. Closed it. “I—I guess not.”
His lips curved. “And the food?”
“What?”
“Breakfast. Did you like it?”
My mind reeled. “Are you—what’s happening right now?”
He tilted his head, studying me. “We’re talking.”
“You just killed someone.”
“Yes.”
“And you want to talk about food?”
“Why not?” He leaned back, his arm shifting behind me. “You know what counts as conversation in a Skalgard dungeon? Prisoners screaming, calling me bastard, monster, promising to kill me if they ever broke free. Guards wagering on which prisoner would break first.”
I stared at him.
“So yes,” he continued. “I’d rather talk about breakfast.”
The breeze shifted, carrying the sweetness of roses.
“The bacon,” I muttered. “It was excellent.”
A wistful smile spread across his face. “I missed that, too. Proper bacon.”
“The bread was warm, and it was soft inside—not like the bread they give out in the foundlings hall. Rheya and I used to soak ours in hot water to make it edible.”
“The pears?”
“Delicious. There was syrup on them, I think.”
“The tea?”
“It tasted like berries and there was real honey in it, not that watered-down—”
I stopped.
He nodded with an indulgent smile, like he was actually interested in my answer. Which was insane. He had a realm to run. Warriors to command. But he hadn’t asked because he cared about the answers. He was keeping me focused on mundane things.
The tightness in my throat had eased. This was kindness. Twisted and backwards, but kindness nonetheless. I sat there, trying not to notice how safe he made me feel.
“Better?” he asked.
“Yes.”
“Good.”
A shaft of sunlight broke from the clouds, bathing us in warmth. I breathed in deeply, my hand sliding from my lap to the bench.
A sting bit my fingers.
I gasped and jerked back, wringing my hand. A rune on the bench emitted a faint spark.
Kairos straightened.
“Accident,” I said through gritted teeth.
His brow furrowed as he palmed the rune, caressing the carved lines. He frowned, his gaze flicking to me. “Does that always happen?”
I kept my lips shut.
He shifted closer. “How did you do it?”
I rubbed my arm. “Do what?”
“You touched my rune, and it fell apart.” Kairos pushed the hair out of his face. “I’ve never seen anything like it.”
I flexed my fingers, remembering how it had torn me open. “The rune I broke on your gauntlet felt different, like it was hurting you.”
“Yes,” he said in a black voice. “Every day for a hundred years.”
For a moment, he stared at the garden with that terrible stillness. Then his shoulders dropped slightly.
“We were at war, and I wanted peace, but Skaldir had no interest in land. They wanted a symbol of their victory. So I let them take me.”
“You offered yourself for peace?”
He nodded.
“Why didn’t anyone free you?”
His jaw ticked. “Some tried. They died for it.”
“Was that rune part of the treaty?”
“It was a faerie deal. As long as I was chained, King Vaeron and his armies couldn’t set foot across our borders.”
I gawked at him, the pieces falling together. “So I shattered the peace between the realms.”
“Yes.”
I leaned forward. “If peace meant so much to you, why did you kill the entire court?”
Darkness flickered over his face. His eyes went cold and predatory. “Because one hundred years in chains doesn’t make you very rational.”
He got up, brushing petals from his tunic, then gave me his hand.
I hesitated, then took it.
His palm was warm. He pulled me to my feet, and I stumbled on the uneven stones. He caught my elbow, steadying me.
For a moment, we stood too close.
His gaze dropped to my mouth, and I felt a pull like a held breath. Then he released me and stepped back. “I’ll have Thessia bring you trousers before you kill yourself climbing something else.”