Chapter 18 #3
But Adriel merely flipped the sword, catching it deftly by the blade. He jabbed the hilt of the weapon toward her, and the etching on the pommel caught my eye. It looked like some sort of insignia, though I was not familiar with the crest.
“This isn’t ordinary Drathen steel,” he spat. “These are military weapons issued by the king to his armies.”
Sorsha swallowed.
“I saw a dagger on one of the males at the brothel but didn’t think much of it.
Not until I saw this.” He jabbed the sword toward her again.
“None of these people were armed the last time we were here,” he continued, his voice shaking with the force of his rage.
“So tell me, princess, why are they armed now?”
Eye twitching with fury, Sorsha shoved to her feet and closed the distance between them. The top of her head barely reached Adriel’s collarbones, and yet when she jerked her chin up to glare at him, she did not look small.
“How can you ask me that?” she growled. “After what you saw tonight. Or would you have me leave them defenseless?”
“What — did you — do?”
Sorsha blinked, and I could see her resolve wavering under Adriel’s glare.
She drew in a breath, wiping her bloody hands on the front of her trousers in an effort to steady herself.
“There is no forge on the Isle of Cragsmuir,” she said, the words spilling out of her in a rush.
“Probably so the Drathen soldiers don’t get it in their heads to rebel against the crown.
Any weapons that are damaged or broken are shipped back to the continent to be repaired or replaced. ”
“And?” Adriel’s voice was barely a whisper, but Sorsha flinched as though he’d shouted.
“No one will notice if a few dozen blades disappear.”
The royal guard’s chest rose and fell as he stared down at the princess. “Are you telling me that you have been smuggling military weapons off the island to outlying Drathen villages?”
“I only just started.” Sorsha swallowed. “The last time we were here, Alfrigg’s troops were here on patrol.”
“I remember.”
“It . . . made me uneasy. The villagers were defenseless. Most of the able-bodied males have been conscripted to join Alfrigg’s armies, and they haven’t the coin or the skill to forge decent weapons.
” She drew in a deep breath. “All it took was a few bribes to load undamaged weapons onto the ship and ensure they never made it back to the capital’s forge.
These people should at least have a means to defend themselves! ”
“Are you insane?”
“No,” Sorsha shot back. “But, unlike some, I am not made of stone.”
Adriel stiffened. “It isn’t some act of kindness, princess.
You plotting against the crown jeopardizes everything we have worked for.
If Alfrigg finds out that you’ve been arming the Drathen people, then what we witnessed tonight will just be the beginning.
He could wipe the entire Drathen race off the continent before Kaden even has a chance to make his claim on the throne.
For all we know, word of your humanitarian efforts has already reached the king, and that’s why he sent those soldiers here. ”
Sorsha’s face paled.
My heart ached for the princess. Part of me yearned to jump to her defense, but with the tension crackling between her and the royal guard, I couldn’t bring myself to intervene.
Glancing over my shoulder, I expected to find Kaden watching as I was, but he’d disappeared.
My insides clenched, and I backed out of the alley onto the main road, where villagers were tending to the wounded or moving them indoors.
I skirted around an older female, who was wailing in despair over a dead body. A bearded male lay in the frozen muck, sobbing and shaking as he stared down at his leg, which had a broken post sticking out of it.
Devastation was everywhere I looked. Villagers were still running back and forth from the well, tossing water on blazing homes. Animals milled between the buildings, looking just as lost and confused as some of the young ones who wept in the shadows.
I scanned the faces of the injured and the dead, searching frantically for Kaden. Every charred building I passed without spotting him made the knot in my chest tighten more.
But then I rounded the corner to the alley that led around the back of the inn, and some of the tension inside me eased.
Kaden stood in front of the burning stable, his wings fanned out behind him. He moved one arm in a slow, hypnotic pattern, the flames ebbing toward a corner of the building before he snuffed them out completely.
Underneath the smoke was the stench of manure and the musk of animal fear. Two horses stood several feet away, pawing uneasily at the snow.
I didn’t bother to dampen my footsteps. Kaden’s shoulders twitched as I approached, and his wings sagging slightly as he caught my scent.
He didn’t turn to look at me. Though he’d already doused the flames, he kept his gaze fixed on the smoldering stable.
I drew closer, my hand coming to rest over the hilt of my witchwood blade as a tremor of anxiety went through me.
“You don’t need to fear me, little huntress,” he murmured. “At least not anymore.”
I opened my mouth, but no words came out. Cautiously, I edged around to stand before him, relieved to see that the black had retreated to his pupils. His eyes had returned to that silvery gray I loved, though an uncharacteristic darkness lingered in his gaze.
“What happened?” I asked, my voice cracking. My fingers itched to reach for him, but for some reason, I didn’t.
Kaden sighed. “Ever since Velisara opened the sire bond, my father feels . . . closer. I sense him sometimes,” Kaden said quietly. “Like I’m the only one standing in the street in the dead of night, but someone else is awake, watching.”
I fought back a shudder, disturbed by the notion that Semphrys was somehow still present in Kaden’s mind even when he wasn’t accessing the bond.
“I wasn’t fully myself back there,” Kaden admitted. “I . . . lost control. And when those soldiers came so close to hurting you . . .” He swallowed. “Something in here —” He tapped the center of his chest. “— something that makes me me . . . turned off.”
I bit down on the inside of my cheek, my heart breaking both for how he’d reacted to seeing me in danger and that I was the cause of his suffering.
“It’s not safe for you to be around me,” he murmured.
“Safety has never been a big priority for me,” I said in a clumsy attempt to lighten the mood.
The corner of Kaden’s mouth lifted, but the smile did not reach his eyes.
“Sorsha and Adriel,” he said suddenly, as though he’d just remembered that they had been fighting.
“They’re fine,” I said quickly. “Well . . .” I grimaced. “Adriel was laying into Sorsha. I guess she was responsible for a shipment of Drathen steel from Cragsmuir. She wanted to arm the villagers.”
“Sounds like my sister,” Kaden muttered, rubbing the back of his neck. “She may be the reason the fatalities weren’t worse.”
He didn’t sound angry. On the contrary, he sounded impressed.
“Adriel said it could jeopardize your bid for the crown.”
Kaden swallowed. “He isn’t wrong. Adriel is seldom wrong about these things. But at least she did something to protect my people. That makes her more deserving of the crown than me.”
“I see you fighting for them,” I said quietly. “Even if no one else does.”
“Fighting for them how?” He scoffed. “By biding my time as I plan to undermine my father and go to war with their king?” He shook his head, a look of disgust shadowing his face.
Snow was still falling, sticking to his lashes and clinging to his hair.
“I have not behaved as a king should,” he muttered. “I knew Alfrigg was persecuting my people, and I did nothing about it.”
I opened my mouth, then closed it again, smoke making my airways itch.
I knew there wasn’t anything I could say to reassure him.
To bolster his faith in himself or to make him feel worthy of the throne.
Perhaps Kaden hadn’t been acting in the best interest of his people.
Still, I couldn’t see how he could have overthrown Alfrigg without revealing his plan to his father, thereby forcing a war on two fronts.
While I admired Sorsha’s attempt to arm her people, I understood Adriel’s anger. Understood that the Drathen were vulnerable, living under a king who would see them exterminated.
Suddenly, the enormity of our task hit me full force, eclipsing my fear for Kaden. Killing Semphrys felt daunting enough. Overthrowing a tyrant king with an army of thousands and stealing the throne of Anvalyn felt enormously out of reach.
But I wasn’t going to say any of that. Kaden was already drowning in darkness. I would not be the one to pull him under.
For as long as I breathed, I would be his light, his blade — whatever he needed as he fought the shadows.
I was his mate, and he was mine to protect.
So, I sharpened my expression to one of steel as I looked up into his dejected face.
“Stop feeling sorry for yourself,” I snapped.
“You are the rightful heir to the throne of Anvalyn. You are the son of Elowynn, uniter of the faerie peoples, and the future king.” I jerked my head in the direction I’d come, toward the villagers mourning their dead family members.
“Your people are hurting. They need to see you as their leader — even if you don’t believe yourself worthy. ”
Kaden’s eyes widened as he stared at me, a strange mix of emotions swirling in their stormy depths. Shock and indignation. Gratitude. Strength. Everything that he was feeling seemed to shake the grief and self-loathing from his expression and replace it with determination.
Slowly, he reached for me, and I didn’t pull back as his rough, calloused hand came around to cup my neck. He bent his head, locks of dark hair falling into his eyes as he planted a gentle kiss on my forehead.
Then he released me and turned toward the street, tucking away his wings — banishing the demon prince and replacing him with the future king.