Chapter 70 Xander
Chapter Seventy: Xander
“Get the fucking healers here now!” I shout at the men who stumble into the room after the king. All but two go right back out, running to collect the women from the infirmary.
“Use your magic and heal yourself,” King Dolian commands, leaning close enough that his lips brush Rhea’s cheek. I fight back the urge to push him away from her while applying pressure to the injury. “I command you to use your magic and heal yourself.”
Rhea lays lifeless, her lips beginning to pale.
“Move your hands,” King Dolian commands, his eyes feral as he stares at the arrow.
“Now!” I slowly lift them, blood staining my fingers as I brace for more of it to come spilling out.
The king tugs on the ripped fabric of her nightgown, exposing the wound at the bottom of her ribcage.
“Look. She’s starting to heal herself!” He points at her skin that is indeed knitting itself back together.
My relief is temporary as I feel the tip protruding from her back. “We need to get the arrow out before her body seals it in. Otherwise, it could still kill her.” I tell him, reaching for the dagger strapped to my belt.
When the king doesn’t protest, I begin sawing at the body of the arrow.
“You better hope this doesn’t kill her, or your life is forfeit as well.”
“Of course,” I murmur, working faster as I watch the skin around the arrow heal more quickly than before.
Shit. I manage to keep my hands steady as the blade finally saws through the wood, and I waste no time pushing it until I can fully grip the shaft at her back and pull it out.
White glows at the center at the puncture mark as the jagged skin closes, leaving no evidence behind.
My gaze flicks back up to Rhea’s face, and already, her lips and cheeks are regaining color.
“Do you know who did this?” King Dolian asks as he stands up, staring at his hands before pulling out a handkerchief from his pocket to wipe her blood off his hands.
“It was a guard, but one whose name I don’t know.
Our men were drawn to a commotion on the main floor, and it left Rhea’s room temporarily unguarded.
” Anger flushes the king’s cheeks red, but I don’t give him a moment to question who was supposed to be stationed here before I continue.
“I was coming up to secure her door when I saw it was open, and heard him speaking to her about his brothers. They were in the guard and died on the beach.” I don’t need to explain which day; it’s burned into the minds of everyone present. Including the asshole in front of me.
“And you didn’t kill him when you realized he was threatening her?” he asks, clenching his fists at his sides.
“I entered the room and stabbed him, but he had already fired. The choice was kill him or save her.” And I had been a step too late.
If the king hadn’t arrived when he did—if she hadn’t been conscious enough to hear his command—the outcome would have been cataclysmic.
Particularly when Nox found out. Though, I have no updates on the prince and the Mage Kingdom.
I push that problem away to deal with later and look back to King Dolian.
“We’ll find him, and I’ll ensure that his heart stops when it meets the tip of my blade. ”
“No,” he counters, staring down at Rhea. “Keep him alive. I want his death to be painful. I want it to be drawn out and merciless. I want her to enact her revenge.”
The healers finally arrive, the two best women we have gently pushing me out of the way so they can take a look. But other than the blood left drying on her skin and the floor in front of her, there’s no evidence of the arrow’s puncture.
Stepping back, I nod at the king before heading towards the exit, meeting my personally appointed second in command where he waits in the hall. “Brisk, please tell me you guys fucking caught him.”
“Not yet, Sir, but our men are scouring the castle and the grounds.” Brisk’s strides keep up with my own as we move, guards spilling into every open space as they search.
It takes a few minutes in the chaos to cross the castle and reach the King’s Guard’s wing, where we have a command center stationed.
Brisk keeps his voice low when he says, “I’m sorry, Xander.
I heard screaming and ran. Rhea never leaves her room, and I just—”
“She’s alive,” I interject, my jaw tight. “Let’s hope that means the king won’t request your head.”
He bristles but manages to nod. “I’ll get some towels for you to wash up with.”
“Thank you.” Brisk darts to the right as I continue forward.
Tall wooden double doors engraved with the Mortal Kingdom sigil loom in front of me, parting when I near.
The command space is like a second home to me and where I spend most of my time when I’m not the king’s glorified errand boy.
Five guards are waiting within, two of whom are part of the king’s personal Trusted, still ranking below me.
The other three are men I’ve hand-picked as part of my resistance, who I trust implicitly. “Status report.”
“Our men have checkpoints at every castle exit and on the roads leading to Vitour. We’ve identified the guard as Sterling Brown, brother to Rainer Brown and Captain Oliver Brown.
All three men were set to leave at the end of their contracts later this year,” Grayson, a guard a decade older than me, explains.
White streaks through his beard and the mop of brown hair on his head, but his gaze is just as sharp as ever, and he’s shown his loyalty to me on more than one occasion.
“So I’ve heard,” I respond, leaning against the table that houses a map of Olymazi and wooden figurines representing the beings and different threats each kingdom possesses.
Dragons for the fae, random animals for the shifters, a carved sun for the mages to represent their magic, and a fin over the ocean for the sirens.
“Tell the men to keep their eyes sharp and their wits about them. Sterling is one of us. He’ll know the tactics we are using to hunt him, and he will try to evade us until he’s sure we’ve given up.
Force him out of hiding before that happens. ”
“Yes, Commander.” Grayson exits the room, another of my men in tow, and my mind jumps to possible locations Sterling could be hiding. It hasn’t been long enough for him to have exited the castle grounds yet.
“Did he kill her?” asks Jerrick, one of the king’s Trusted and a man I’ve hated since I first met him, crossing his arms over his broad chest. Dark brows draw low over his eyes, his sharp features conveying a permanently disgruntled look.
“Based on the blood that stains your hands, I’m betting he did. ”
I ignore the urge to look at the crimson staining my skin. “He hit her in the chest, but she was able to use her magic and heal herself before the arrow took her life.” Brisk returns with a pile of hand towels and a bucket of steaming water. “I suspect she’ll make a full recovery.”
There’s a significant weighted pause from Jerrick, a muscle ticking in his jaw before he glances at the map. “Thank the gods for that.”
I begin to clean off my hands. “Indeed.”
But Jerrick’s pseudo relief is easy to see through, as is the pitying look of the man standing next to him.
Silas is another Trusted who’s in his third decade and known for the brutal way he battles.
He has no problem slicing through another body, innocent or otherwise, civilian or not.
While our forces haven’t seen much action since the introduction of the Spell, it doesn’t mean that there haven’t been civil disturbances.
Occasionally, a small group of mortals upset with the king will rise up, unaware that a larger group is silently biding their time.
Sometimes, my men try to make them aware, only to be met with incredulous disbelief because of our proximity to the Crown.
Our movement is underground, secret to everyone who hasn’t gone through rigorous questioning to prove that they have the same goals.
It’s the only way we can protect ourselves.
It doesn’t mean we don’t try to recruit everyone that we can, but for the safety of the current members and the overall mission, we can’t beg people who aren’t willing to risk something to join.
“Do we have anyone guarding the lower levels that lead to the wine cellars?” I ask, reaching for another towel and tossing the stained one to the ground.
“No, but do we really think Sterling is suddenly fancying some wine for his adventures?” Jerrick asks.
“We check every avenue.” When neither moves, I toss the second towel to the ground and grab a third.
“We have a man who tried to murder our king’s fiancée, a woman who is now protected under the same vows that we gave King Dolian.
Should I relay to His Majesty that perhaps it is time to test his guards again and see which of you might break?
” Jerrick glares at me as fury radiates off of him, but the threat is enough.
He and Silas are silent as they stride out of the room.
I wait until the door shuts before I let my shoulders relax, Brisk and a guard named Anderson flanking me.
“Almost had me believing you truly care about the king,” Brisk says, running a hand through his short blond hair.
Anderson chuckles, both hands grasping the edge of the table. “So it’s true? Her magic saved her?”
I nod, making sure my hands are as clean as they can be before looking over the map. “The king was able to reach her in time before she… succumbed to her injuries.”
“You sound relieved by that,” Anderson says from my left, drawing my gaze.
“Why wouldn’t I be?”
He sighs, the sound as exasperated as I feel. “She’s a threat.”
“Rhea— The princess isn’t a threat to anyone,” I counter, stumbling over my words like an idiot. It only causes Anderson to dig deeper into his stance.
“First name basis now?”
“For gods’ sakes.” I reach a hand for the siren figure, moving it from Lumen to our beaches.
“It’s my fault you’re weary of her because I planted that idea in your head.
Now I’m telling you I was wrong.” Rhea had been a threat, at least a perceived one, months ago.
But not now. Not after her interactions with Eve or how she carries her regret and guilt over the lives taken on the beach and those healed against her will.
Not when I’ve seen what forgiveness from her might look like, if she’s able to fully give it all.
I would understand if she couldn’t—just as I would have understood the same of Siyala.
My chest clenches at the thought of her, her golden eyes bright in my mind.
“She’s mage, and she has the only legitimate claim to this kingdom’s throne.”
“A throne that she has told me she does not want.”
Anderson releases a laugh, while Brisk shakes his head, giving our companion a warning look.
“And you believe her? Knowing what you saw, what the king has done to her, you believe that she wouldn’t take that throne at the first opportunity?
That she wouldn’t enact retribution the moment it becomes available?
” He leans across the table until I’m forced to give him my attention.
“We have worked too damn hard for too fucking long to have an outsider sit on that throne once King Dolian is removed.”
“Do not talk to me about the struggles we’ve faced as if I have not lived through them,” I snap, a fist forming on the table. “No one cares about what we are doing more than me. No one has as much invested in making sure that our plans do not stray more than me.”
Anderson’s chest heaves, and Brisk comes around to lay a hand on his shoulder, giving it a light squeeze. “Hey, man, he’s right. Xander has spent far too much time preparing to let it slip from his grasp. If he says the princess isn’t a threat, we have no reason not to believe him.”
Heated seconds pass, and for a moment, I think Anderson might continue to fight me on this. But with a sigh, he nods, his chin falling to his chest. “I’m sorry. It’s just that we are so close, and I didn’t think we would have a wrench thrown in our plans quite like this.”
“She’s no wrench, trust me.” I move the sun figurine closer to the border of the Mage Kingdom, right where it touches our own. “All she wants is to get home to her real fiancé.”
“If there is still a fiancé to return to,” Brisk mutters under his breath, drawing our gazes. “What? You read the latest missive from Stephan. Sounds like the council is one strike away from just imprisoning the guy.”
“Let’s hope, for everyone’s sake, that doesn’t happen.” I need to help Rhea get that fucking ring off so I can get her back home to Nox before whatever is going on in the Mage Kingdom becomes my problem too.
The doors open, a young guard popping his head inside. “Commander, we caught him.”
My spine straightens. “Where did you find him?”
“Hiding in the throne room.” My brows lift towards my hairline. I would have expected him to have been found in the gardens or on his way to Vitour. “He was waiting for the king.”
“Well, shit,” Brisk says, his mouth tipping down into a frown.
“Shall we get him ready for public execution?”
“No. The king wants to make a spectacle of his death. Tell the men to bring him to the dungeons. I’ll go down and interrogate him once he’s there.” The guard nods and slips back into the hall.
“Would have made our jobs easier if he had been successful in any of his attempts to take a life today,” Anderson says, and I bite back the urge to remind him to exclude Rhea from that statement. Of all the people I want to see rot in this castle, she is not one of them.
“The blood oath would have just killed him. It was a fool’s choice from the start.
” I run my thumb over my own crescent-shaped mark, tension gathering once more in my shoulders.
“We aren’t ready yet anyway,” I say, checking that all of my weapons are in place before heading to the doors.
“To move before we are would spell disaster. We wait until the right moment, and then we’ll take down the king and every one of those bastards like him. ”