Chapter Thirty-Four
T he fire in the infirmary blazes behind Callum and casts his face in shadow. He opens his mouth as if to speak. Blake stiffens behind me.
I’m attacked. Long dark hair distorts my vision as arms wrap around me and a chest bumps against my side. The scent of horses floods my lungs. I’m squeezed until I can’t breathe.
“You’re still shite at giving hugs.” Fiona pulls back and turns me to face her with a smile on her face. I’d expected her to appear drawn and tired. She looks surprisingly healthy. Her dark hair hangs loose and is a little wild, but her cheeks are rosy, and her brown eyes are bright.
A soft laugh escapes my lips. “Fiona! Are you alright?”
“I’m fine. No thanks to James. I’ve been cooped up in my chambers for weeks. He didn’t have the balls to lock me up in the dungeons, the bastard.” She assesses me, and her expression darkens. “I heard what he did to you.” She shakes her head, then frowns. “Why is it so tense in here?”
Callum blinks. Once. Twice. His expression softens and he clears his throat. “Rory. Are you okay?”
I release some of the emotion that bubbles inside me on a shaky breath. “I’m not hurt. Are you?”
He smiles, somewhat sadly. “No.”
Fiona’s forehead creases. She looks like she’s going to say something, but Blake walks past me and slaps Lochlan’s hand away from the man’s shoulder. He leans over the wounded wolf, and I follow him, Fiona close beside me.
“This is Kai?” I ask.
Lochlan nods. The man on the thin mattress is barely breathing. I can tell that, under different circumstances, he would be handsome. He has jet-black hair and high cheekbones. His breeches and shirt are torn and stained with blood.
I balk when I realize he’s missing a couple of fingers, and his ankle is twisted at an unnatural angle.
“Can you help him?” Lochlan is trying to appear composed, but his shoulders are stiff.
Blake pulls aside the collar of Kai’s bloody shirt. There’s a mark on his chest. I lean closer, and stiffen when I recognize it. Someone has branded him with Night’s mark. The skin around it is mottled and burned, as if it was done recently.
Blake turns his attention to Callum. “We encountered Alexander a couple of hours ago.”
Callum’s eyes widen, and I realize that with everything going on, he must not have realized the new Borderlands lord had arrived with his men at the manor. “What?”
“He told us he’d be sending someone to us. He also expressed how keen he was to get his hands on Aurora.” He walks to the workbench behind me, where knives and scalpels are lined up by vials of herbs and medicine.
“The ambush was a trap,” says Callum.
“I’d say so. If Alex has broken him, he cannot stay. Neither can the others.” He gestures at the men lying in the two other cots. “You know what needs to be done.”
Callum slams his fist down on the workbench by the fireplace. “Fuck!”
I flinch, and Fiona stiffens.
Lochlan moves his hand to his sword. “I won’t allow you to kill him. You need Glas-Cladach—”
The temperature in the infirmary drops, and the fire flickers out. Kai opens his eyes, and they are completely black. “ I know your scent. ” His voice is low and raspy, and the hairs on the back of my neck stand on end. “ The light and the dark. She always liked a good joke. ”
Blake darts forward, pushes me aside, and grabs Kai’s throat.
Kai laughs. “ He’s looking for you. ”
Blake squeezes. “Who?”
Kai frowns. The fire flickers back to life, and the black drains form his eyes to reveal honey-colored irises. Blake releases his hold and glances at Callum.
The man visibly trembles on the thin mattress. His breathing is ragged. He tosses his head from side to side, as if he can’t figure out where he is.
Fiona grasps my sleeve, and her eyes are wide. Callum is completely still, and his hand is on the hilt of his sword.
Lochlan crouches down beside the cot. His skin is pale. “What happened to him?”
Blake shakes his head. “I don’t—”
“It was bad enough when we were kept in those kennels— barely fed, beaten, broken.” Kai’s tone is monotonous. “Alexander arrived, and it got worse. He moved us to the Grey Keep. He tortured me. Made me betray my goddess.” His voice breaks as he touches the brand that marks his skin. “Then he gave me to it .”
“To what?” Blake grabs Kai’s shoulders.
A haunted look creeps across his face. “He kept... something... caged in the kennels with us. We heard it clanging its chains sometimes, dragging itself up and down its cell. Hissing. The nightmares came. We tried to stay awake at night, fearing what would come if we succumbed to sleep. John, one of the biggest bastards I ever knew, woke trembling with terror etched onto his face.” He shakes his head. “One night, Alexander told me it was my turn to meet it. He threw me to it.”
He shakes his head. “All I remember is darkness, so thick I lost all of my senses. I wondered if I was dead, if this was what the afterlife was for those who had turned away from the moonlight. There was movement above me, and I saw deep obsidian eyes coming toward me. Then nothing. It’s the last thing I remember.”
Blake leans closer. “Do you know what it was?”
“The other prisoners called it the Dark Beast. There were rumors it was one of Night’s prisoners, escaped from his prison. Alexander said he was breaking it in for when his special guest arrived.”
Callum’s brow creases. “His special guest?”
“He sent me here with a message. The Wolf King is to prepare for a battle, the likes of which the north has never seen.” Remorse flickers across his face. “Or he can send him a gift, and Alexander will call off the attack.”
Nausea rolls inside me, because I think I already know the answer to my question. “What gift?”
Kai’s honey-colored eyes meet mine. “You.”