Chapter Fifteen #2
Kage shot Arden a sharp, warning glance, but the Fae paid it no heed.
‘Defying an order is treason, Arden. You know the penalty.’
‘I didn’t defy it,’ Arden replied with a shrug. ‘I simply failed to execute it. A subtle but crucial distinction.’
‘It’s the same thing, and you bloody well know it.’
Arden rolled his green eyes, the picture of exasperated charm.
‘Well, perhaps it’s time someone rewrote the rule book.
As it stands, it’s rather unfriendly.’ His gaze slid towards the woman now standing silently at Elric’s side.
‘Nymeria, you’re as ravishing as ever. Are those new blades?
They suit you.’ His voice wavered slightly as she unsheathed twin knives that shimmered ominously beneath the light.
‘Perhaps now’s not the time to play, darling. Wouldn’t want any accidents, would we?’
She stepped towards him, the tip of one blade grazing the fabric of his trousers with the whisper of a threat.
‘The king wants your balls, Arden,’ Elric said, his voice cold. ‘For cowardice.’
Arden sighed dramatically. ‘I’ve never quite grasped the logic of linking bravery to testicles.
I mean, yes, they have a tendency to shrivel in fear, but that hardly seems enough to condemn a man.
’ He wriggled in his seat as Nymeria’s blades drifted closer.
‘Really, love, be a darling and put those away, won’t you? ’
Elric’s attention shifted suddenly, leaving Arden to puff dramatically at the blade trailing his chest as though it were a flame he could extinguish with breath alone.
‘Why are you travelling with a wyverian?’ Elric asked, his tone shaded with genuine curiosity.
‘I’ve always fancied myself a personal guard,’ Arden replied lightly. ‘Boost my ego.’
Elric’s expression soured. ‘You know, Arden, you’re really not as amusing as you imagine yourself to be.’
‘Nymeria finds me hilarious,’ Arden quipped.
The three men turned to look at the woman. Nymeria responded only with a raised brow and then, without any emotion, drove one of her blades into Arden’s thigh. His mouth snapped shut, and his eyes flew open, gleaming with pain he did not dare voice.
‘Did you know,’ Elric said, voice almost wistful as he turned his focus back to Kage, ‘that we are taught to endure pain but never express it? They torture us, and the more we scream, the more inventive the torment becomes until eventually, silence becomes our shield.’ He lifted his hand, revealing the stumps where three fingers once were. ‘Guess who cut these off?’
Arden gave a long-suffering sigh. ‘Are you honestly still bringing that up? That was part of your sentence. I was merely following instructions.’
Elric ignored him. ‘Nymeria, show our guest what the king did to you.’
At his command, she wrenched the blade from Arden’s leg and wiped the blood along the edge of her skirt with chilling indifference.
Then she strode to Kage’s side, her movements as fluid as smoke, and leaned in, resting her hands on his knees.
Her face hovered inches from his, her expression unreadable.
Without ceremony, she opened her mouth.
Where once a tongue might have been, there was only a scarred void.
Kage’s face betrayed nothing. He didn’t flinch, didn’t blink.
His eyes held hers with the cool detachment of someone who had witnessed worse.
Yet within, behind the mask of composure, his mind was already mapping every exit, calculating the distance, the timing.
Somewhere in the shadows, the wolf and Spirox waited and with any luck, they had yet to be noticed.
Elric’s hand shimmered with golden light, and in a breath, another chair took shape from nothing.
He lowered himself into it, elbows on knees, his sharp gaze studying the two bound figures before him with the idle interest of a cat eyeing its prey.
Kage watched him closely, noting the elegance in the conjuring.
Fae magic, unlike the raw force of witches, was woven with subtlety and illusion, designed to trick the senses and shape perception itself.
‘Look, you know I can’t lie,’ Arden began, casting a glance at the blood seeping through his trousers. ‘I’ll tell you everything. You owe me that much, Elric.’
The Fae’s face tightened in distaste, clearly unenthusiastic about hearing whatever Arden intended to spill. Yet something in the bond between them must have softened him, for after a moment’s silence, Elric gave a reluctant nod.
‘Very well,’ he said, ‘speak your truth, Arden Briar.’
Kage listened in stillness, alert as Arden wove his tale.
He spoke of a mission, a journey towards the land of fire and dragons, vengeance burning in his chest for the witches who had taken the king’s daughters.
He had not been alone, he explained. Along the way, he’d met Wren Wynter.
They had travelled together, and during that time, he had uncovered a truth far more unsettling: the witches posed a greater threat than any of them had realised.
‘We can’t trust them,’ Arden concluded, voice clipped.
‘It hardly matters what we think,’ Elric replied. ‘This is about what the king wants. And what he wants at present is your head.’
Arden’s lips curled into a grin far too casual for someone facing execution. ‘Didn’t want to play this card, Elric, but… you both owe me.’
Elric arched a brow. ‘Come again?’
‘When your leg was shattered and the king sent you to dispatch those rogue Fae in the village? I went instead. Let you rest those broken bones.’ Arden glanced at Nymeria. ‘And who found salves for your wounds when they took your tongue?’
‘That was years ago,’ Elric muttered. ‘We were only children.’
‘And when I was ordered to sever your fingers?’ Arden pressed, voice low. ‘I offered my own instead.’
Elric’s stern expression faltered, the edge in his hazel eyes softening to something older, something burdened.
‘And when Nymeria killed for the first time, only to be sick all over the floor? Who took the lashings? Who claimed it was he who’d lost control?’ Arden’s voice dipped to a whisper, filled with something that almost sounded like sorrow. ‘I did.’
Elric’s jaw clenched. ‘Get to the point.’
‘My point is,’ Arden sighed theatrically, ‘I don’t really have a point, to be fair.
I just want you to let us go.’ He flashed another one of his crooked, irreverent grins.
‘If it’s my balls the king wants, send whichever you find first. Oh, wait.
Wouldn’t be believable, would it?’ He turned to Kage, noting the wyverian’s stone-faced silence. ‘They’re far too large, you see.’
The silence that followed was heavy with disapproval. Arden cleared his throat. ‘Fine. I’ll strike you a deal.’
‘You’re in no position to bargain,’ Elric said flatly.
‘True. But hear me out. Let me go north, check on my friend, and then by all means hunt me down, chop off my head and shove my manhood in my mouth. Just like the old days, eh?’ Arden glanced at Kage again, as if for nostalgic support. ‘Unpleasant business.’
‘And why,’ Elric asked, folding his arms across his massive chest, ‘would we humour you? Why not just do it now?’
Arden’s smile softened. ‘Because we’re friends?’
Elric grunted.
‘No, alright. Because,’ Arden said, voice dropping into something more serious, more persuasive, ‘deep down, you both want out.’
Kage noted the way Elric’s frame stiffened, the ripple of truth in the silence that followed.
‘We all want out of the Black Lotus,’ Arden went on. ‘But none of us believe there’s a way. I’ve found it.’
Elric’s eyes narrowed. ‘How?’
Arden tsked. ‘Ah, ah. Not how the game is played, my friend. Let me go north. After that, we talk.’
Elric muttered a curse beneath his breath and sliced cleanly through the ropes.
Kage knew enough of Fae bindings to recognise their magic.
There would have been no escaping them by force.
The moment his own were severed, he flexed his hands and rubbed at his wrists, the skin beneath bearing the faint burn of enchantment.
‘Fine,’ Elric grumbled. ‘We’ll let you go, just this once. For old time’s sake, Arden.’
Arden dipped his head, the gesture subtle but sincere.
‘If we’re heading north, we avoid the eastern roads,’ Elric added. ‘Word will spread. They’ll come hunting for you.’
‘Splendid,’ Arden drawled, then tossed a glance over his shoulder at Kage, gesturing for him to follow.
The door opened into a narrow passageway that led them into a tavern, dimly lit and crowded with murmuring Fae.
The moment Kage stepped into view, the room fell to a hush, all eyes drawn to the wyverian among them like wolves scenting a storm.
‘You weren’t particularly helpful back there, you know,’ Arden said breezily.
Kage grunted in reply, moving towards the tavern’s entrance. A quiet exhale escaped him at the sight beyond: the wolf and the crow waited patiently, seated like carved statues in the dust. Someone, perhaps on Elric’s orders, had left an entire sheep for the great wolf. Kage arched a brow.
‘Your pets,’ Arden remarked, ‘are no more useful than you.’
‘Come back in,’ Elric called from behind. ‘We’ll buy you both a drink.’
Kage hesitated. ‘No.’
‘It’s a free drink,’ Arden coaxed.
‘They tried to kill us.’
Arden laughed, that familiar irreverent glint in his eye as he clapped a hand on Kage’s arm.
‘Oh, Kage Blackburn, you’re going to have to learn something rather quickly if you intend to keep my company.
’ He flashed that mischievous, smug and infuriatingly boyish grin. ‘Absolutely everyone wants to kill me.’