Chapter 34
Rylee
Tears stream down my cheeks, pride overtaking every other emotion at Jax’s words. My words. Our words. Together. We’re all together on this.
Baydel didn’t break us.
Jullian, Lucas, and Brooks rise, clapping intensely.
One releases me, and I immediately race to the Legends, falling into their embraces.
“You are quite extraordinary,” Lucas calls from where he stands.
Wait, what?
“Marvelous,” Brooks says. “I daresay if Eirdis were here, she’d be overjoyed at our son’s choice.”
“I find their lack of action not only a disappointment but a direct threat to our realm,” Baydel says. “They couldn’t do what it takes to protect the best interest of Lumathyst.”
“I agree,” Margreet chimes in.
“Come now, Baydel,” Jullian says. “Her loyalty to both the princes and Lumathyst’s people are uncontested queen behavior. And the princes’ response in return. They’re a unit. A formidable one that opposing realms will surely note and avoid crossing.”
Jullian’s words are enough to warm some of the icy confusion freezing my soul. That, and the fact that the Legends are by my side, safe, despite the angry red marks blossoming on their necks.
“There’s no question they passed this test,” Brooks agrees. “But let’s make it official. A show of hands of those who think they’ve failed?” He eyes the members of the RAC, and my nerves twist. They’re voting on our success or failure right in front of us.
Margreet raises her hand. “They failed. They didn’t do anything they were told.”
Shocker there.
Lucas shakes his head. “And those in favor of a success?”
I hold my breath.
Everyone, except Margreet, raises their hand. Ivy, Layce, and Mirren show their support, too, despite their votes not counting. I nod up to them, silently assuring them I’m okay and I’m grateful for them.
Even Baydel raises his hand, probably not wanting to be seen disagreeing with the masses.
“Fine,” Baydel says. “As much as you refused to choose one prince in the experiment, you must choose now. You may only accompany one of them to secure allies.” He nods, and the elite enforcers hand each of the Legends a roll of parchment.
I snap my gaze to Kal, then Axl, then Pierce, and finally Jax, silently pleading.
“Don’t worry.” Axl is the first to speak.
“We’d never make you choose.” He winks at me.
“We Legends have a way of deciding such things,” he says to the crowd.
“A tradition we’ve had since we were adolescents.
” He lowers his voice so only I can hear.
“We usually only ever use it when a tiebreaker is needed, but today it will work just as well.”
“And what is that?” Baydel sounds more irritated than intrigued.
“What’s the date, again?” Axl asks.
“The eighteenth,” Lucas answers.
“Mine,” Pierce declares. “I’m the winner on any date containing a one in an even-numbered month.”
My heart swells at the way they’ve taken the burden from my shoulders. The impossible weight lifts, but just behind it is the anxiety of being separated at all.
Baydel waves us off. “You have your assignments. The royal ships are being prepared.”
We take that as our dismissal and hurry out of the arena before the kings can change their mind.
Kal takes the lead, guiding us through the palace until we reach the safety of his rooms. He shuts and bolts the door behind us, and I feel like I can truly breathe for the first time in hours.
“I can’t feel any of you. I thought I lost you.” The words tear from my mouth.
“Baydel forced us to drink one of his concoctions,” Lucas grumbles. “Almost as bad as that nullifier the Faders use.”
“It bound our powers entirely,” Pierce adds. “But it should wear off by tomorrow.”
“Knocked us out long enough for the elite enforcers to put ropes around our necks, too.”
“I couldn’t access them, either.” Anger bubbles, hot and erratic.
“This needs to end.” I rub my palms over my face.
I’ve always suspected, but now I know for sure, that our mating bonds and powers are linked.
That’s why I find focusing on our connection an easier way to access their power. “Where are they sending us?” I ask.
They each unroll their parchment at my question.
“Silvac.” Pierce tilts his head. “We’re to negotiate terms with Silvac.” He poses it like a question.
“Is that bad?” I ask.
“Not necessarily,” he answers. “But the last time we attempted to renegotiate terms, we lost half a battalion.”
“Vleyica,” Kal answers.
“Cardrayton,” Axl says.
“Keleshore.” Jax.
“They’re really separating us,” I say, sinking down onto one of the ruby sofas in Kal’s lounge area.
“Yeah, kitten, they are.”
“And we’re just going to go along with it?”
“It’s complicated,” Pierce offers, coming to sit next to me. “These sorts of trips wouldn’t be uncommon were we to take the thrones. There will be times we must separate to carry out one royal need or another.”
I open and shut my mouth a couple of times. “It feels calculated more than complicated. Especially after that experiment.” The image of them hanging, their lives slipping away from them, will not be one I soon forget.
“It does,” Pierce agrees. “But if the Royal Authority Council assigned it, then perhaps the intentions are wholly political.”
I huff, folding my arms over my chest. “I hate politics.”
Kal comes to sit on my other side, smoothing a hand over my back. “You can hate it, but we need to learn to use it to our advantage. So we can make a change for the better.”
I soften, just a little. “Okay, Dreamer. Tell me how to be okay with them sending us to different realms? Being separated by that much distance seems like a punishment right now, not to mention it’s the kings who are forcing it.”
I still can’t feel the bonds, but I know once the potion wears off, that connection and need will come back with full force. I’ll have one mate with me, but how am I to stand being without the others without any way to check on them?
“Any amount of time away from you is a form of torture,” Kal says. “But what kind of rulers will we be if we don’t endure that sacrifice for the greater good of our people? Or realm?”
My iciness all but melts. He’s right. My optimistic dreamer.
I glance to my Nightmare, who seems lost to his thoughts.
I can’t help but wonder if he’s replaying the way he snatched that Ashlander up by the throat.
Can’t help but wonder if for a second, he thought about killing him to save me.
Can’t help but know, deep down, that if it had been a true threat to my life, he would’ve. Just like I did to those Faders.
“Jax?” I pose his name like a question.
His gaze slowly meets mine, a silent response of I’m fine.
I don’t think any of us is fine, but I nod.
“What about your cities? Will your chancellors take over matters?”
“Yes,” Kal answers. “They’ll act in our stead.”
“And you trust them,” I say, not ask. I know they do, but still. “What if the Faders attack while we’re gone? What if . . .” What if there’s a battle and Erin is killed?
“I’ll give orders to capture, not kill,” Axl says.
“We all will,” Jax adds.
“And in the interim, we’ll have to hope they don’t attack. We’ll resume our efforts to make contact with them and handle the enhancement issue when we return,” Pierce says.
I rub at my temples. “Seems like the worst time to leave. So much is happening.”
“I wish there was another way,” Pierce says. “But if it gets us any sway with the RAC, we have to try.”
“How long does it take to get a diplomatic contract signed, anyway? It can’t take that much time.” I dare to hope, standing and crossing the room to where Jax is still brooding. I smooth my hand over his cheek, drawing his attention.
“My father was once in Keleshore for two months,” he answers. “They are a thoughtful people who take their time on major decisions.”
“Of course he assigned you to that realm.” I roll my eyes. “Should I just challenge them all?” I ask, not totally joking. “It may be easier at this point.”
Jax’s laugh is music to my ears as he hauls me closer. “That’s my murderous little butterfly,” he says. “If you want to kill them all, I’ll stand at your side and watch.”
Heat streaks through my body at the support.
“The kings have been alive longer than any of us can fathom,” Pierce interjects. “There are facets of them that even we don’t understand.”
“And beyond that,” Kal offers, “we don’t want that kind of blood on your hands.”
I sigh. I know.
“Would I love to watch you tear my father to pieces?” Jax asks. “Yes. Yes, I would. Would I risk your life at the chance of gaining the throne that way? No.”
“It’s my life to risk,” I challenge.
“It is,” he says. “But think of how cross I’d be with you if you died again.”
A laugh tears from me, free and raw and open. “Jax.” I draw closer to him. “I don’t want to be away from any of you.”
“I don’t want you to, either, butterfly.”
“None of us do,” Pierce agrees.
Axl crosses the room, gliding a finger down my back. The touch makes me arch into Jax, who is still holding me against him. “We should make the most of the time we have.”
Fire ignites in my core. He’s right. I don’t know how long we’ll be separated. I don’t want to waste the little time we do have whining about our situation.
We proved to the RAC, to the kings, that we’re an unbreakable unit. Separating us won’t change that, and now, I want to give into the need that always pulses beneath my skin, barely leashed.
Jax spins me so my back is to him. It’s almost like he’s presenting me as an offering to Axl, and it sends liquid heat through my veins. Axl’s lips shape into his effortless grin as he tips my chin up, dipping down to capture my mouth with his.
My eyes flutter closed, the heat from his kiss warming me from the inside out.
“As much as I love seeing the Legend crest on your back, it must go.” Jax slides my jacket off from behind, letting it fall to the floor. He draws closer, shifting my hair away from my neck and planting a kiss right where my cloud mark resides.