34. CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR
CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR
ALEC
S he leaves.
Despite hearing the lies in Ellya’s words, they do not hurt any less, stabbing in a way that far surpasses the pain of any blade. But I saw her fear and doubt. My instincts told me to reach out to her, to follow her wherever she goes, but I resisted. I resisted taking my words back and falling to my knees to beg her not to leave me.
Screaming, I punch the pillar again.
Rubbing my eyes, gritty stone digs into my skin before I grab a towel to dry off. When I pull it away, red stains the white fabric from where Ellya made me bleed. The argument was explosive. She may still be pushing me away, but her resolve is crumbling. Her glorious display of jealousy proves it.
Perhaps Cescily is right; she did me a favor.
Reaching out to Kraeston, I ask him to meet me in my study. I then go to my chambers to clean myself up and change into my typical black pants, black buttoned shirt, black leather boots.
Strapping my sheathed swords to my back, a hilt peeks out over both shoulders. I am sheathing multiple daggers to my thighs when Cescily knocks on my door and allows herself entry.
“Where is she? ”
“Gone.” Without glancing at Cescily, I continue arming myself.
“Gone?” she asks incredulously. “Gone where?”
“She is still close. I can feel her.” As the words leave me, I massage my hand over my heart, cradling the precious light within me. I light a cigarette and offer one to Cescily. She takes it and flicks at it nervously.
After I felt a sharp stab screaming at me through what is left of mine and Ellya’s bond, I jumped straight into her chambers and stormed into her washroom. I was horrified to learn what she was doing. The smell of blood was too stout for a small nosebleed and the pain still stung from where she harmed herself.
The anguish of her aura was choking the air out of the room.
Immediately after, I went to Cescily, completely desperate, asking her to intervene.
“She had agreed to talk to someone, admitted she’s drowning,” Cescily says softly.
I shoot her a glare. “I am guessing this was before you informed her of my previous betrothal?”
“I’m sorry, Alec. I didn’t mean to.” Cescily’s words are genuinely apologetic. “We went past the house, and I couldn’t get her to drop it. But Elly remembered. I saw it in her face. She had a similar reaction when I told her about her killing that woman in the square. I thought she might have remembered then. Now I know she did.” Cescily lights her cigarette.
Exhaling harshly, a great beast of guilt paws at me for how I reacted towards my sister. “I apologize for yelling at you. And calling you grimy. You were right, you did me a favor. You have done me many favors that I will never be able to repay. Thank you. ”
She is shocked at my admission and apology momentarily before waving me off. “Of course. It’s the least I could do for all you’ve done for me. And besides, I’m a natural leader.”
Cescily’s eyes begin to shine, and my shoulders droop further in my regret for yelling at her. “All of you had Father and a handful of close siblings growing up. All I had was you and Mother. And Elly. You were always there for me. You were like a father figure to me growing up, and I’ve never thanked you for that.”
“You do not have to thank me, Cessy. You are my baby sister, and I love you.” I give her a tight hug.
“I love you, too, Alec.” She pauses before adding, “You’re going to make a terrific father one day.”
I smile at her. “I hope so.”
“Should I go find Elly?”
“No need, Cessy. I will be going myself.”
Cescily smiles brightly, taking in all my weapons. “Going where? To battle?” She snorts with mirth.
“If I must.”
Twenty minutes later, I am sitting with Kraeston in my study, informing him of what has transpired this afternoon. I relay to him the vision Ellya had of Ceivise meeting with a disguised person about some open ended deal. My tone is boastful when I tell him how brilliantly Ellya pieced together that the person in question was Rahleigh based on vague comments about a royal errand and being disappointed in the ‘next best thing’ alone. She assumed that meant Locane.
And she was right .
I immediately recognized Rahleigh, even through the lengths she took to hide her identity.
“Ceivise? Really? I wouldn’t expect it from her. But Rahleigh was scary. How long has it been since you’ve seen Ceivise?”
Muttering the incantations required to open a hidden safe in a bookshelf, I spin the knob when the mechanism clicks. “I have not seen Ceivise since poker night in Bokhaii.”
Kraeston laughs. “Good times.”
A smile breaks across my face as I recall the memory myself. The Emperor of Bokhaii hosted a multi-day celebration honoring the birthday of a favored concubine. Prominent names from around the world were invited to the celebration. Even Mhaylene was able to pull herself away from Crane Hills to attend. It was there that she mentioned to me that her granddaughter had just turned five in the early hours of Samhain.
Rahleigh spent an evening of the celebrations draped over Ceivise while they gambled and drank the night away. She made no effort to hide her glances in my direction to see if I was watching.
“Anything from Rahleigh since she tried to win you back after that night?” Kraeston asks.
“No. I have heard nothing of her.”
Rahleigh returned to The Capital about a month after the party in Bokhaii, practically begging me to reconsider our relationship. It was as catastrophic as the night I ended our engagement.
She had made her desire for me known from the time we met when we were young, first meeting when she accompanied her father to The Capital to secure trading deals. The same trip that her father bought the house Ellya just destroyed. Although beautiful and charming, I never developed the same deep affections she held for me throughout our time knowing each other .
After I became king, and duty required marriage and producing heirs, I succumbed and asked for her hand. Rahleigh had never inspired passion in me; but neither had anyone else.
I procrastinated committing to a wedding day for a year before I could no longer ignore it. The wedding was to finally take place in a few weeks time when Ellya was born. I was endlessly relieved that night. Not only because my heart found the vibrancy that life had been missing, but I had a legitimate reason to break off a wedding I did not want. Running through the streets of the Vahnsing District—barefoot and shirtless—in my excitement to set myself free from the chains of an undesirable future, I thought I would be setting Rahleigh free as well, free from a marriage I could never truly fulfill her in. She did not see it that way and I had to compel her to stop her screaming that would have bled the brains of everyone on the street.
A Syren’s Scream can be a catastrophic gift in a temperamental person, and that often proved to be true in the case of Rahleigh.
“I will have my way, Alec,” she told me with vehemence both that night and the last time I saw her.
“Speaking of poker,” Kraeston begins, breaking me from my memories. “Are you aware of where Elly is right now?”
My teeth grind as the possibilities race through my mind. “I would imagine it is nowhere good.” I place the two bags on the desk, leaning forward against it with both hands, staring down at a map unfurled on the surface.
Kraeston drums his fingers on the side of his chair, watching me curiously. “I was informed on my way in here that she was seen at a gambling house, drinking heavily and getting plenty friendly with several men. ”
Making a large circle on the map, I dig my pen in deeper than is necessary. My head lifts to find Kraeston watching me with amusement. “That sounds about right.”
His raised brows nearly touch his hairline. “And you’re just okay with that?”
I scowl at him. “Of course, I am not okay with it. My skin is on fucking fire wanting to go to her, to rectify whatever situation she has put herself in.” I clench my teeth again, my nerves becoming more stretched and tangled with each passing moment.
“I wish I had been there to see her throw a brick at you,” Kraeston laughs.
“If you see Cescily on the way out, ask her to show you. I am sure it is much more entertaining from her view.”
“Shall I go find Elly?” Kraeston asks.
“No. I will go retrieve her myself after I have given her the opportunity to taste her own lies.”
He takes stock of my weapons, eyes shining with glee. “I see that you’re prepared.” He chuckles at my overzealous arming of myself before his tone turns serious. “What do you need from me?”
“I need you to track down the Hannya .”
“Was there any indication when this meeting may have taken place? Do we know where Ceivise and the ship were last seen?” Kraeston asks, grabbing the two bags off my desk as he stands.
“No,” I answer, tracing a finger over a possible route from the point of Ceivise’s meeting with Rahleigh, a poor coastal town on the southeastern corner of the Langshore Territory.
Legal trading between the two continents only takes the route through the Great Trench, connecting the Bay of Quinndohs and the Ruby Shore peninsula. But illegal traders and pirates—such as Ceivise—brave the creatures and unpredictable weather patterns of the more treacherous open sea. I mark the map with a pen in several spots before rolling it up and handing it to Kraeston.
“Would you like me to see to this personally?”
“I would. You know her. And my trust in those around me is steadily waning.”
“It will be done, my king,” he says before bowing deeply.
“I hate it when you do that,” I admit, and Kraeston laughs. “Any word from the smith?”
“Aye, he said the alterations have been made and it will be delivered tonight.”
“Good,” I sigh as a mixture of excitement and uncertainty swirls within me.
“Are you ready?” Kraeston asks softly.
“Yes. But I am afraid I have one more thing to ask of you, old friend.”
“Say the word and it’s done.”
“I must ask you to expel a great deal of power before you take your leave.”
Kraeston smiles at me knowingly, drawing accurate conclusions as to what I need from him. I confirm verbally before we say our farewells, aware that it may be some time before we meet again.
Striding to the window, I peer down at the pool. My pulse races, and I smile at the memory of what happened there with Ellya only hours ago.
I adore her fierceness to claim what is hers.
The devastation Ellya wore at the realization that there have been many before her made guilt saw at my sternum. I always knew the day would come that my history with others would come into question. I was wholly unprepared for how it did .
But Ellya’s face when I told her that I pleasure myself to thoughts of her was everything my empty heart needed. She was shocked, but beneath her shock was the consuming heat that I feel every time she enters a room. She was clearly drunk, and that lowered her walls enough to lean into her jealousy and desire for me.
My control is breaking by the day having Ellya so close in her full maturity. Her continued rejection has been making the animal within me writhe and claw, wanting to fully commit to the challenge she has set before me. I will be rising to it now, after her attacking me in raging jealousy after all these weeks of pushing me away.
She does not get to have it both ways.
My patience with my gentle approach and giving Ellya space has come to an end, and with it, that loss of careful control. I am still a patient man and can wait for her to admit to what is right in front of her, but I will no longer hide my need.
I will have her.