Chapter 30
Chapter Thirty
NEVE
Neve’s mouth literally watered at the sight and scent of Dahlia.
The base part of himself wanted to strip the robe right off her body so he could taste all the little delectable hollows and shadows of her shimmering skin.
The logical part of him knew her to be a traitorous valles who would be the end of him.
Which meant that instead of gorging himself on her silky skin and finding delightful ways to make her sigh for him, he had to put distance between them until the bond calmed down.
He had been starved for her for the last several months, and now his body was rebelling against his mind at the mere glimpse of her in his own clothing.
His heart clenched at the soft rosy waves that hung around her freckled face. Flyka had managed to remove most of the blue dye, only hints of it shimmering like silver diamond dust along her skin. She looked like something ethereal, too beautiful to be real.
Leave before it grows too strong.
Woodenly, he moved deeper into his tent. His jaw clenched at the need to move to her side and hold her. Instead, he rolled up the map that he had tossed onto the floor that morning while wrapped around his reilleve.
Don’t think about it.
His hands crushed the leather map, and it took all his strength to walk away from her instead of consuming the pretty valles.
She’s not pretty. She’s devious.
A lie and a truth.
“Flyka.” His Haunt followed him from the tent, swiping her armor from the table and strapping it on as they walked.
Some of the tension in his body melted away when the traitor’s scent was not surrounding him. Choking every logical thought from his mind.
Neve took deep breaths, campfire smoke sweetening the crisp clean air. His Haunt shadowed him as he strode through the camp until they reached the northern edge. His eyes adjusted to the near darkness, spotting Olwen pacing in the snow.
His friend paused at the sight of them and then flopped into the snow.
Neve halted and crossed his arms, staring down at Olwen.
Each day, the berserker was losing more of himself.
Over the years, he’d mastered keeping it at bay and only letting it out on occasion, but the longer the berserker was in control, the harder it was to put the violent part of himself away.
“Are you alright?” Neve asked softly.
Olwen swished his bare arms and legs in the snow. “Yes. The cold is helping.” He sat up, snow stuck in his braids. He glanced between Flyka and Neve. “So, what did you learn, oh shadow mistress? Just what dark secrets is Dahlia hiding?”
Flyka crossed her arms, looking out into the distance. “Not many.”
Neve’s brows raised. “That is not like you.”
She huffed. “We can truly rule out her having any involvement with the Northerners.”
Olwen arched a brow, the scar along his cheek smoothing out. “I thought we established that when she arrived in our camp half frozen to death and bleeding.”
“Don’t be so na?ve. Faking injuries to gain the confidence of your target is simple manipulation.
I got her to speak a little about the person who hurt her.
” He growled, and Flyka peeked at Neve. “Calm down. He’s dead just like Olwen said last night.
” She scratched her forehead, lips turning downward.
“I was scenting her emotions the entire time. The attack truly terrified her, and when she spoke about his death, it was with contempt that could not be faked. Neither could her wounds.”
“How bad are they?” he forced himself to ask.
“She has defensive wounds on her hands and arms. One of the beasts sliced her across the midriff. It’s a miracle he didn’t disembowel her.
” Neve swallowed as Flyka continued. “Her back, chest, and legs are covered in bruises.” She paused and exhaled heavily.
“Including a hand-shaped bruise high on her thigh.”
Her terrified face flashed through his mind. It was only when he’d inched his seeking fingers up her thigh did she freeze on him.
Neve cursed and spun around, spearing his hair through his fingers. He pulled, leaning into the pain to control his temper. “Was she . . . was she . . .” He could not even get the words out.
“No.”
“And you believe her?” he panted, wiping a hand down his face.
“Yes.”
A knot loosened in his chest. That was something, at least. He would not wish that sort of violence against his worst enemy. He hated what Dahlia—the traitor—had done, but she didn’t deserve what that bastard clearly had in mind.
Neve turned back around, reining himself in. “Anything else?”
“Burns along her shins, new scars on her palms, arms, and temple. The cut underneath her jaw and the bite.” Flyka said bite almost as if it were a curse. “All are in different states of healing. She’s experienced several assaults in the last few months.”
Olwen swore, lacing his fingers on top of his head. “Qov.”
What the devil had the valles been involved in?
Neve emptied his lungs, shoving down the sorrow that tried to crop up for her. She’d made decisions that had almost led to his death. She didn’t deserve his pity. “Did she say why she showed up here?”
Olwen groaned and rose to his feet. “I can answer that.” He shook his arms out and settled into a loose fighting stance.
Flyka’s eyes narrowed. “I knew it!”
“Knew what?” Neve asked.
“Lia mentioned discovery,” Flyka groaned. “Tell me you didn’t.”
Olwen sighed. “I discovered Dahlia over five days ago.”
Neve did not react, even as his body flashed hot and then cold. “Five days?” he rasped, the hair along his arms rising. “Was that why she was in the mountains? Was she running away?” He growled. “With another male?”
His friend held up his hands. “I don’t believe so.
If she had been running, she would have had things, a pack, something.
I had my men scour that mountainside, and there was nothing but a basket with crushed herbs.
” He puffed out his cheeks. “But we did find two giants with their pants unlaced. It was clear that one of them took something that did not belong to them.”
Neve moved, his fingers tightening around Olwen’s neck before he consciously realized what he had done. “My niliave was assaulted because of you? Because you did not bring her home?”
A warm hand settled on his left forearm. He glared at Flyka. “I’ve already told you that your mate was not assaulted in that way. You would have known. Think, Neve, did you smell another vallos on her when you slept with her last night?”
No. “But he said . . .” He squeezed his eyes shut, hating the wave of emotion surging inside of him. The valles made him so weak and violent.
“He said that someone had been hurt that way but not who,” Flyka stated. “You did not let him finish. Release Olwen.”
One finger at a time, he released his friend. Neve took several large steps away, his whole body shaking. “I am sorry.” The urge to tackle the berserker and beat him until he stopped moving was still strong and shocking.
Green-and-pink lights danced in the sky like a flag in the breeze. He focused on it while getting his irrational feelings under control.
“It’s fine.” Olwen sighed. “You know as well as I do that most bonded couples have to spend a few weeks—just the two of them—for the bond to calm down. You’ve been denied a proper bond and the company of your mate. It’s understandable.”
Neve glanced at his friend.
Olwen coughed, his eyes watering and edged with white. “There was no saloes blood on them, only Loriian, but I do have a confession.”
“Do you think that’s wise in his current state?” Flyka asked drolly, like Neve wasn’t even there.
“I won’t keep hiding it from him.” Olwen squared his shoulders.
“When I discovered her, I had intended to drag her to you by her hair if needs be. But when her emotions filtered through my senses . . .” He shook his head with true sorrow coloring his expression.
“She wanted death. She begged me to kill her quickly but far away from the people that she’d taken shelter with. ”
A dull roar echoed in his ears. Isn’t that what he’d accused her of this morning? “But you did not bring her to me. Why?”
“You weren’t in a good place. We’d lost many men that day, and I wasn’t sure how you’d react to Dahlia. You kept insisting that you weren’t bound, but I knew the signs. I protected you and the innocents involved.”
“They weren’t innocent if they were harboring a murderous queen,” Flyka snapped, her calm finally breaking.
Olwen’s eyes flared whiter, and he squared off with the Haunt.
“You didn’t even know she was here underneath your nose.
How many times have you crept through the village collecting secrets?
You never discovered her, and you knew what she looked like.
Why would the people of this rural town think she was anything but the halfling she pretended to be?
” His hands clenched at his sides. “If you want to punish children, then go on, but I will not do it. Ever.”
“Children?” Neve murmured woodenly. “She had a child? With her?” His mind clung to the thought. If Dahlia was in league with her parents, why had she been hiding in Loriia? Returning home after her betrayal made sense. This was the missing piece to the puzzle.
Nausea swirled in his stomach, but the more he thought about the possibility of a child, the more it made sense. Had the Asteran monarchy saddled him with an unwed mother? Was it a baby she was trying to protect?
“No, no, no,” Olwen said, eyes comically wide. “It was no babe, but a boy. He knew I meant to end her. He came out prepared to fight, but she managed to wrangle him back inside. That was when she begged me to make the death clean and out of view. It was to protect the boy.”
“And you’ve kept this to yourself this whole time?” Flyka demanded. “That is valuable information.”
“Yes. To protect our king. Just like you do every day.” Olwen tossed his hands into the air. “I gave her a timeline. She had a week to say goodbye in which I hoped that we would have captured the qovving Asteran king.”
“And I would have been in a better mindset to receive her,” Neve replied. “But she came early because of the attack.” And it set his instincts off one hundredfold.
“I assume so.”
Flyka sighed. “I wish you had told me, Olwen.”
He scoffed. “As if you would have been more reasonable than our king. Don’t think I’m not aware of you calling in every favor owed to you to find Lia in the last few months.
You’ve hunted her not just for Neve but because of your own hurt.
” He looked from Neve to Flyka. “We have always protected each other. My loyalty is to you both and Eyri and partially to Dahlia.”
Flyka hissed and Olwen scowled. “Get over it. He’s bound to her. You know if she dies, he’ll pine for her and waste away.”
“I was supposed to have a human queen to avoid this,” Neve cut in.
A sickly human queen had been the perfect solution for peace. The marriage should have been short-lived with perhaps an heir as an added bonus. She was not supposed to worm her way into his hearts so easily. This was his fault. He had let his guard down, and these were the consequences.
“I avoided a giantess bride because I thought I could not care for a human.” He swallowed hard, wanting to scream at the heavens at the injustice of it all. “Now I am bound to someone who hates me so much, she would rather kill me than let me touch her.”
It was his secret shame.
She had worn that poison ring since the beginning. Many times, he had let his guard down, and she could have struck. But it was only when he had let his hands wander and his lips indulge in her sweetness that she betrayed him.
It was not a mistake he would make twice.
Well . . . three times.
“We have to tell the others.” Neve looked at his two friends. “Rumors are already circulating amongst the men. We need to control what is said, and we need to use the traitor against her own father.”
“We need more information before we risk such a thing,” Flyka responded.
“We have no choice.”
Olwen cleared his throat and Flyka tossed her hands into the air.
“You better not have another secret,” she hissed.
“Nothing like that. I received a missive in the last hour from Eyri.” He huffed out a breath. “The Northerns tried to attack the city but Eyri had already fortified the gates and prepared for a siege. The cowards were driven back to their homes or captured. He doesn’t expect another attack.”
Neve felt sick. “How many dead?”
“I don’t know. Only that the city sustained minor damage, and that Beltisse sided with the crown. Everything seems to be under control.”
Olwen pulled the crumpled missive from his pocket and Neve took it, running a finger over his cousin’s perfect scrawl. At least, they wouldn’t be fighting his own flesh and blood.
“Send word to the eastern forces to bring the mountain down on the humans. We’ve allowed their games for long enough. We must end this sooner, rather than later. We cannot weather war on both sides.”
Come hell or high water, his little mate would bring an end to the war waged in her name.
And then he’d deal with the Northern traitors.