CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
“WAKE UP, RIDER. Someone has attacked your mate,” Zaddro hisses, causing me to jerk awake.
I bolt up, wide awake. “What do you mean she’s been attacked?” Without realizing what I’m doing, I’m rushing to get dressed and leaving my room in search of the others.
His anger pulses through our bond as he informs me of what Evisdor and Tisur have passed along since Aemon and Jesper found the attacker in her room. How could they have left her unprotected?
“Like you’re much better?” he snaps. “Since we’ve arrived here you’ve treated your mate like gryphon shit wedged under your talon. You’re supposed to treasure her like a precious, shiny gemstone.”
My boots stomp on the carpeted hall as my strides quicken.
“You know why. She won’t want me after what happened.
I couldn’t protect myself. In what realm would I be able to protect her?
” I barge into her room and find it empty—the bed is in disarray with the window open, blowing the curtain ominously. “Where in the void is she?”
Zaddro is silent for a moment, probably communicating with his wing. “They’ve taken the little queen to Jesper’s room while the others are heading to the caves with the attacker.”
Ravina’s safe. Jesper wouldn’t have hidden himself away with her if she wasn’t.
A part of me wants to find her and take her away from here, into the Gratandi Mountains, but that thought makes me sick with unease.
So I exit the room and head down under the castle to where the Zorns keep their prisoners.
The caves below open up to the ocean. Deadly rocks sit below the hundred-foot drop, and during high tide, the caves flood.
Even if anyone could escape, they would have to make it through the treacherous ocean where creatures with a taste for blood will find them before they make it to shore.
As I enter into the fire-lit cavern tunnel, I hear the sound of fist meeting flesh and follow it.
“Who sent you?” I hear Killian grumble, his voice hard and devoid of every emotion but unrelenting anger.
The unfamiliar male laughs. “Like I’ll tell you.”
I halt at the cave entrance and see the male chained in the iron bands that are drilled deep into the cave wall. The wind blows and the salty air tickles my nose, but my eyes are glued to the iron that’s wrapped tightly around the male’s limbs and neck.
My body betrays me as my heart rate quickens, with flashes of my own wrists encased with iron. “Was no one going to wake me?” I growl.
Aemon turns towards me, his face devoid of any emotion. “I didn’t think you’d be interested.”
“She’s my mate too,” I snap.
“This isn’t the time for this conversation,” Killian grumbles as he throws a fist into the male’s gut, making him sputter as he tries to catch his breath.
The male chuckles darkly. “Trouble in paradise?”
Killian doesn’t answer verbally but throws a solid hit to his face, making his eyes roll back into his head.
I fold my arms across my chest, trying to keep my anger in check. “What happened? I thought you three were protecting her.”
Aemon scoffs. “He shouldn’t have been able to get in here. By the looks of his leathers he’s a part of the assassin’s guild. Someone sent him to kill her, and I wouldn’t be surprised if it was one of our fathers. Aren’t you going to ask how she is?”
“She’s fine, otherwise you’d have Jesper down here too.
” I take that minute to examine the male’s leathers.
His clothing is as black as you can get it, and covering every inch seems to be holsters and sheaths that are bare of weapons.
A quick gaze around the room shows me that these two must have disarmed him before he was brought down.
With a step closer, I notice a sigil embossed into the side of his neck, like it was burned onto him. Assassin indeed.
Zaddro growls as he reads into my thoughts about the description of the male. “I ate one of his kind during the first year’s first trial. He was also after the little Queen. I had you picking him out of my teeth for days,” he mutters angrily with disgust.
I blink in shock, cocking my head as he informs me of this. “She was attacked at Phixmery? Why didn’t you say something!”
He mentally shakes out his wings. “It was taken care of, there was no need to tell you. Beings die every day and your female was safe.”
“You should have told us,” I snap. “Zaddro says he isn’t the first to go after Ravina.” I relay what my traitorous dragon told me. “Who would send someone after her? Our fathers didn’t know she existed at that time.”
Aemon and Killian’s eyes darken with rage.
My fists tighten as I try to contain the rage I don’t deserve to have. “Killian, go watch Ravina and send Jesper down. He’ll be able to get into his head quicker. Once we have the information, kill him and toss him in the ocean for the fish to have.”
I spin out of the cave, rubbing my wrists where the iron scarring lies and try to control my breathing.
As mad as I am at Zaddro for keeping secrets, I need to fly, and there’s nothing better than getting some air and going to the local tavern after.
Maybe there’ll be some unlucky bastard to fight.
I’m not needed here, even now that we know she isn’t safe even within these walls.
I’m sure those three won’t let her out of their sight.
THE COOL NIGHT wind on my face helped to clear some of my thoughts.
Zaddro needed this flight just as badly as I did.
Fates, all the dragons were wound up after the attack tonight but the rest didn’t want to go far from their riders.
I know Zaddro feels remorse for keeping that information away from me, not thinking anything of it, but he also didn’t promise not to keep any more secrets.
These ferocious creatures are a mysterious bunch, and as much as we are bound together, they’re their own sentient beings with their own way of life.
They say the fates chose them to guard the secrets of the world, and maybe I’m a selfish bastard but they shouldn’t be able to keep things like this from their riders.
This affects our realm. If she was killed tonight…
My fingers tighten on the mug of ale I’m nursing.
“I thought I might find you here,” Killian mumbles as he slides his massive frame into the booth across from me.
I swig back a sip before slamming the mug on the table, the golden liquid sloshing up the edges. “What are you doing here, Kill?”
He leans back, assessing me with his blood-red eyes, his face stoic and covered in the scars of his past. We sit in silence staring at each other, and the way his gaze pierces mine makes me feel naked, exposed.
“Jesper got into the bastard’s mind,” he states casually, pausing.
My knuckles crack with my impatience. “And?”
“It was a dead end. The being was cloaked and he didn’t recognize the voice. All he could tell was that it was someone from Allonde.”
My eyes close as I try to keep my composure. “Fucking great,” I mumble under my breath.
Killian continues, “Aemon is upping the security around the castle and one of us will be watching her at all times. She won’t be going anywhere alone. She’s going to hate that.”
A dry, emotionless chuckle escapes me. “You know that won’t go down well.”
He grunts in agreement as a barmaid places an ale in front of him before scurrying off. We sit in silence, listening to the ruckus of the tavern. Laughter and horrid music rings out around us as the night goes on and the patrons get more intoxicated.
The comfortable silence between us breaks as he asks a question that I knew was eventually coming.
“Why are you being such an ass to Ravina? I thought you of all fae would be happy with this turn of events. She’s alive and we are her mates.
It’s like something out of a story,” he grumbles softly, like if he speaks too loudly I’ll leave.
My heart clenches and my teeth grind together painfully.
“She deserves someone better than me. I couldn’t protect her then, I couldn’t protect her now. Fucking fates, I can’t even protect my fucking self.”
His brow draws together. “You were a fledgling when all that happened. And if you’re talking about when your father took you a couple years ago—”
“I’m not talking about that,” I snap. Fates, I want to tell him what happened this past month. Out of everyone, he would be the one to understand, but my shame stops me. Disgusted with myself, I chug back my ale and toss a few coins on the table before storming from the establishment.
Killian curses and follows me out. “Talk to me Talyn,” he growls as we leave the small town’s boundary. It’s just some small village about an hour’s flight from Kraryn.
I spin on him. “What does it matter, Kill? She won’t want me—I’m fucking damaged after what happened,” I admit, the words slipping before I can stop them.
His eye twitches as he pieces something together. “Did something happen with your fucking father again? What in the void did he do to you?”
My lips seal together in a firm line, as I continue out of the village to where I left Zaddro when we arrived here.
Killian grabs my shoulder, giving me a firm shove. “You want to be angry? Be angry. But don’t take that shit back to Ravina. You need to fight it out of your system?” He spreads his arms, looking more serious than I’ve seen him in awhile. “Then let’s go right now.”
It’s all the invitation I need before I pull air to me, striking him hard enough to make him stumble back.
I keep going, throwing everything I’ve got at him.
With another burst of air, I lean down and summon earth, knocking him completely off his feet.
It doesn’t keep him down long. He jumps back up and charges at me.
He cocks his fist at my face and I narrowly dodge it as his knuckles graze my cheek; I know it’s going to leave a mark. We exchange blows, neither of us getting the upper hand as we use our magick and our fists.
Just as I start to tire, he gets me in a headlock, restraining my arms so I can’t use my magick. Panic overcomes me and I feel like I’m back there, tied to the bed with Evera poised over me with flames in her hands as she melts my mate mark from my body, leaving it mangled and grotesque.
In a sense of uncontrolled urgency, I slam my head back, cracking against his chin. “Let me fucking go,” I bellow.
His arms drop from around me and I feel like I can breathe again. Tears run silently down my face as I try to force myself out of my own mind.
Killian’s voice comes out more gentle than I could have expected. “What happened, Tal?”
I shake my head but the words spill out anyway. Broken bits of what happened after he left, told between gasping breaths and tears. He listens silently, but his gaze darkens with every word.
When I finish, I feel raw and exposed. “I’m disgusting, and she won’t want me after she finds out what happened. Pieces of my memory aren’t there. I’m weak. Who in the fucking fates wants a weak male?”
He doesn’t speak yet, causing my anxiety to ramp up. After a moment he takes a step towards me and very cautiously places a hand on my shoulder. It’s monumental—the shock of him willingly touching someone when not in a fight almost knocks me out of my stupor.
His gaze isn’t full of pity, but understanding, and somehow that helps settle something within me.
“You forget. Our female would never judge you for something like that. Remember her reactions when any of our fathers harmed us as fledglings?” I nod.
“She would burn the realm down for us. Just like we would for her. Being an asshole and pulling away will only drive a wedge between you. Talk to her. I’m sure she will surprise you. ”
I’m not sure what’s more shocking: the long-winded speech he just gave or him touching me.
But he’s right. Maybe there’s a small chance that she won’t cast me away in disgust, but I can’t trust that yet.
I will try to not push her away anymore though, and if she’s still the female I remember, then maybe I can try and let her in.
He squeezes my shoulder before dropping his arm. “We should get back, it’s late and morning comes early.”