Chapter 34
CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR
I’m coming for you.
His words hit me, and I suck in a breath at the emotions contained within them: protective anger, guilt, and anxiety.
Tears well at how strongly his emotions come through, breaking through the walls I tried to put back up. The bond—mostly repaired—refuses to let me shut him out.
It’s been so long since I’ve heard his thoughts. Now they’re as clear as if he was standing in front of me speaking. They soothe my mind and heart.
Our bond is strong enough for me to feel his emotions when he’s close.
Hear the strongest thoughts he’s intentional about sending now that we’re apart.
I close my eyes and take a deep breath, focusing on all the ways he makes me feel because I want him to know that I heard and trust him. I send a thought back to him.
I know.
Two words, a simple statement, that hold so much meaning. They’re the first words I’ve spoken, even internally, since we left Varithen.
There was no point in fighting my father. I was outnumbered and bound. So here I am, riding a horse to a place I’ve been avoiding at all costs. There’s too much pain, too many memories of the fae I feel responsible for.
“We’re halfway there!” my father calls out to the group.
We’ve been riding hard for hours, taking the main road so the ride is easier on the horses.
The pink and orange hues of dawn spread across the sky.
My father trusted me enough to tie my hands in front so I could hold the reins, but really, it’s so we didn’t have to sacrifice speed.
Four guards still ride in formation around me.
Mikael can’t be far behind us.
In the distance, to the west, white gleaming marble shines in the sunlight. The temple.
I chide myself for fighting against our bond, and love, for so long after the second trial. It took the last one to force me to confront what I had been still struggling to accept. It didn’t matter what had happened in the past. The deep love I have for Mikael is stronger.
I have a devious thought. I relive the night after the trial and the immense amount of pleasure we had. Focusing on the way my body buzzed that night and recalling in vivid detail the orgasms, I send the sensations through the bond.
A few moments later, I’m met with a rumbling growl in reply. I laugh, and the guards look at me oddly.
I just smile and pull my lips inward, then smile big. They look at each other, and I laugh again. “Just remembering something.”
“You think of something funny while you’re being escorted to appear before the king?” one of them asks.
He looks younger than me, by a hundred years or so. There are two older guards, and one that looks to be my age. There are certain markers in the way our faces change over time that show our age. So I decide to have a little fun.
“I was sending my mate a reminder of the way he made me orgasm a few nights ago.” I bat my eyelashes and give a sly smile. Maybe I shouldn’t have mentioned my bond, but I’m already headed to my damnation, so I no longer care to keep the bond a secret.
One of the older guards coughs to disguise his laugh. The one that asked me the question pales, even though his cheeks turn pink at my indiscretion. The other two guards nod their heads in appreciation.
“If you have a mate, you know what I mean. Do you?” I ask the younger one.
“Uh—no.”
“Ah well, there—” I start, but pain suddenly blossoms across my cheek as an arrow whizzes by.
Another arrow lodges in the guard’s throat next to me.
Blood splatters across my face.
I duck as another arrow flies toward us, but the guard on my other side isn’t as fast, and it hits her in the chest. The impact propels her off her horse and onto the ground.
I swivel around, trying to find the source of the attack, but a guard grasps at me. His eyes are wide in panic as blood gurgles in his throat before he jerks sideways, falling off his mount. His horse, spooked by the commotion, careens into mine.
It all happens so fast.
I’m thrown from my horse when it bucks. There’s no controlling the way I fall to the ground since my hands are still tied. The air is yet again yanked from my lungs in a searing flash as my back slams into the ground.
Diaphragm spasming, I can’t pull in the air I need to breathe. Fear overtakes me as I gasp frantically to no avail.
Then—finally—air rushes back in a harsh, burning inhale. I wheeze through the shallow, rapid breaths, vision swimming.
Chaos has erupted around me.
My father’s deep, booming voice cuts through the cacophony, shouting orders at his guards. The clash of steel against steel accompanies grunts of effort and cries of pain. Horses whinny and scatter, their hooves pounding into the ground.
The horse I’d been riding rears up, and I scramble away before it can crush my skull. Still gasping for breath and wrists bound, I roll over and rise onto my knees.
“There! Get her!” I snap my head in the voice’s direction and see an enormous man with fiery red hair charging toward me with his fangs bared. “Keep her alive.”
Fangs.
“Get up!” A guard pulls me to my feet, then rushes forward to meet the onslaught of vampires. She slides as she nears them, severing a female vampire’s leg at the knee before jumping back up. With a single swing of her blade, she beheads the woman.
Fucking Fates.
I bolt in the other direction, toward my father, who currently has his sword arching down onto a female clad in black leathers.
She jumps out of his reach and twists around him, but he’s too quick.
Anticipating her move, his blade slices her across the stomach.
Blood splatters and spurts as her insides gush out.
Her scream is a shrill cry as she collapses in a heap at his feet, but it’s cut off as her head rolls away from her body. Another vampire is on him, but they’re no match for his skill, even with their speed.
How did they find us? There’s more than a dozen of them. Did they gather more and come back, or were there multiple parties hunting Mikael this whole time? Were we moving around too often for them to track us, and instead they camped out around Varithen?
When I reach my father, I’ll demand to be untied so I don’t die before I might be sentenced to death for trying not to die.
I internally scream and grit my teeth at the ridiculousness my life has become. The magical ties are really inconvenient right now. I have no weapons and no magic. I’m defenseless, and the vampire chasing me is too close for comfort.
My gaze catches on the young fae guard that I was teasing. He’s out of his league with the vampire who has him pinned to the ground, its teeth sunk into the fae’s neck.
He’s struggling, legs kicking and arms pushing against the vampire, but I know he’s going to lose the fight.
The vampire’s venom is already coursing through his veins, slowly immobilizing him as he’s drained of blood.
The young fae’s time will be cut short—but not if I can do something about it.
His body goes slack, arms slowly falling limp.
Movement flashes in my periphery, a hand outstretched toward my shoulder. I change direction and risk a glance back. The vampire curses as he stumbles forward. The muscles in my thighs and calves burn as I push myself to the limit, racing against time to reach the guard.
When I get close enough, I barrel into the vampire atop him, knocking him off his meal. My body flies past them both, and I roll into a stand. My hands might be tied, but I’m still nimble.
“You bitch.” The vampire spits blood, wiping his mouth. He rises, fangs bared, and bolts forward.
I pivot, tearing up the grass in my haste, nearly slipping as I run toward my father again. My father has taken down three vampires, but he’s injured, a large gash bleeding along his chest.
Putting two fingers in my mouth, I release a piercing, shrill whistle my father and I used when I’d get separated from him in the woods as a child. A call of danger; or a way to find each other.
His gaze snaps to mine for a second, a flash of relief crossing his face before he reengages with another vampire. With a flick of his wrist, a gale-force wind rises up, sending the daggers the vampire throws wayward.
The ground is a bloodbath. The guard who helped me up lies unmoving on the ground, surrounded by fallen vampires. Still, more vampires remain than my father’s guards.
I’m almost to him, and then I’ll be freed and able to use a weapon and magic. My magic beats against my insides, pushing against the restraints that bind me.
A scream tears from my throat as white-hot agony pierces my left thigh. Searing pain spreads, so fierce and intense, that tears stream down my cheeks. My next step falters, and I pitch forward, elbows and knees taking the brunt of the fall.
I cry out and look down the length of my body, finding an iron arrow that’s now pressed further into my flesh. Blood coats my leg, running off the sides and onto the grass. Blackness crawls outward from the wound, overtaking my veins as my body reacts to the poisonous material.
My heartbeat spikes and my chest starts to constrict, threatening to steal my breath. I still don’t have anything to protect myself with. I won’t be able to heal with iron lodged through my body.
Keep moving.
Pushing up onto my right leg, I step forward even as my wound screams in protest. I suck in a breath and let it out through my teeth, fighting through it, and start dragging my injured leg. My movements are sluggish from the poison and the pain.
Kai! His name fills my mind; a prayer, a plea, as I realize I don’t want to face this alone. Not that I can’t.
The last two hundred years have shown me how strong I am. How dependent on myself I can be. But that doesn’t mean I always have to be. Not when I have someone who is utterly devoted to keeping me safe.
A man’s voice taunts from too close behind me. “I can’t wait to make you bleed. What pretty hair you have. I think I’ll start there.”
A hand threads into my hair and pulls, setting my scalp on fire as every strand threatens to rip free from its roots.
I try to counter, setting weight into my good leg and grabbing his wrist, but he’s too strong and I’m too weak in my current state.
I’m slammed into the ground with a sharp snap of my head. My skull rebounds, hitting the ground a second time and making the world around me pulse in and out of focus.
At this point, I don’t even know if the arrow is still in my leg.
I can hardly move, every part of my body begging for mercy from the onslaught of injuries.
“We can’t kill her, but that doesn’t mean we can’t hurt her. What do you think we should do first?” the red-headed man asks the other vampire.
“I wonder what her blood tastes like, especially with her heart beating so rapidly. I can smell her fear,” the other vampire, the one I knocked to the ground, says as he licks his lips.
A chill sweeps over my body at the thought of them having unfettered access to me. I won’t go out without a fight. So, I use every ounce of energy I have to push myself up, stumbling as I try to rise, but fail.
I can barely see their faces as darkness pushes in from the corners of my vision. I have no idea where my father is or if any other guards are still alive. I certainly don’t know what I’ll be able to do before I pass out.
“Soon this arrow will kill me, then I’ll be of no use to you.” I try, because then at least the source of the poison would be removed, and just maybe I could heal.
“We’ll—”
Before the redhead gets any other words out, a two swords slide across his neck, severing it from his body. Blades swing, glinting in the morning light, slicing through the other vampire’s head, removing it from his shoulders before he has a chance to move.
A beautiful god of death and fury has arrived, blades bloodied, ready to cut down my foes and deliver me from demise.
Power and purpose emanate from Mikael, radiating like the blond of his hair in the sunlight. He’s even dressed for the occasion, clad in ornate leathers and equipped with his two favorite swords.
“You’re here,” I say as I sway and careen to the side.
Mikael catches me, easing me to the ground. “I wasn’t far behind. But then your wails of agony kept hitting me, and that panicked scream barreled through the bond. I abandoned my mount and moved faster than I ever have. You’re a bloody mess, my love.”
I try to shrug, but I can barely keep my eyes open. I try to point but my arm only flops unceremoniously back to my side. “My father. Help him.”
Mikael’s strong arms slide under my legs and back, hoisting me up with care to cradle me against his chest. I stare at him, at my mate, the man I loved, hated, then loved again.
He looks down at me, and those gray eyes are raging, a storm on the brink of destruction, ready to consume everything in its path.
An intoxicating surge of dark and cold power flows through the bond. A spark of some ancient and foreign magic swirls within me.
My body relaxes and the pain consuming me subsides a fraction. I want to ask what that was, but the sharp ring of steel colliding steals my attention.
Two guards, and my father, are still standing, facing off with six vampires. When they catch sight of us, the clashing of swords stops, and silence descends. The vampires falter and disengage, eyes wide with fear, but they don’t drop their weapons.
“Didn’t expect to find me so close?” Mikael snarls at the other vampires.
They look to each other, unsure of what to do.
Mikael gingerly puts me in the arms of my father and gives him a command. “Take her away. She needs a healer. Leave with your remaining guards. I’ll handle the rest.”
“You’re going to kill your own kin?” My father balks, surprise woven into the hard lines of his face.
“I don’t claim them.” Mikael moves as he speaks, swinging his swords with lethal grace. He blurs out of focus and is lost to me among the other hazy figures.
My father hoists me onto a horse, handing me the reins. “Hold on, Bryn.”
He grips the saddle and hauls himself up behind me, barely giving the horse time to adjust to the weight before spurring it into motion.
The world around me is blurry, colors and shapes colliding. Consciousness fades as the beat of hooves thunders beneath me.
“I need him.” The wind takes my whisper as we ride away.