Chapter 13
Chapter
Thirteen
K aden flew us to the border of Dorthus, where the endless rolling hills of cinders gave way to a rocky shoreline and the stormy black sea beyond.
A cold, salty mist speckled my face, and the only sound apart from the howl of the wind and the crash of waves was the steady beat of the prince’s wings.
Mostly, I tried to ignore my demon captor, even as my teeth began to chatter and his arms tightened around me. The warmth of his body seeped through our leathers, but it did little to thaw the ice that encased my heart at the thought of all those souls he’d offered up to his father.
Souls like my mother’s, who would never be free.
I had no idea how long we flew. After a while, I caught a whiff of decay, and the cold sea mist morphed into an icy drizzle.
Soon my leathers were completely soaked, and even my skin felt water-logged. My toes were frozen in my boots, and my teeth clacked together so violently that I was certain I’d chip a tooth .
Peering down through the steely clouds, I glimpsed a dark, wave-beaten rock and a fortress that looked as though it was about to be consumed by the sea.
“What is this place?” I asked, my voice hoarse from the cold.
“Cragsmuir.”
I racked my brain for any mention of such an island, but I couldn’t recall reading about it in any of the books I’d borrowed from the library in Adraeis.
“It’s an old Drathen outpost,” Kaden explained.
“It was abandoned after the unification and mostly forgotten. With the Euroshean and Drathen fae united under one ruler, there was no need for it. But since my uncle came into power, a small battalion of Drathen soldiers has been stationed here once again. Well, Drathen soldiers and Siran.”
“Who is Siran?” I asked, trying to understand why King Alfrigg would occupy the outpost with the very army he’d crushed.
“You’ll see soon enough.”
Before I could ask more, Kaden swooped down beneath the clouds, and I got my first real view of Cragsmuir.
The fort appeared to be built upon a pile of rocks, and the structure itself seemed in danger of crumbling.
Inhospitable waves beat relentlessly against the shore, which looked as lifeless as the Barrens of Dorthus.
The prince canted his wings, slowing our descent as he drifted down onto the battlements.
They were on us before his feet touched down — a legion of Drathen fae, clad in black fighting leathers similar to the ones Kaden and I wore.
The fae rushed toward us, weapons raised, but Kaden merely placed me on the weathered stone beside him and extended his wings in front of me like a shield.
In one sharp movement, I’d drawn my daggers, but Kaden’s wings obstructed my view. Craning my neck, I caught the flash of blades and glimpsed an angry-looking male who stood at the head of their ranks.
“What the fuck are you doing here, half-breed?” he snarled.
“ That is Siran,” Kaden told me over his shoulder, his voice infuriatingly calm despite the small army in front of us. “He is a creature unique to himself.”
“This is a military outpost under the command of King Alfrigg,” the male spat. “You cannot just drop out of the sky whenever you please.”
Kaden gave a half-hearted shrug. He hadn’t drawn a weapon. “It would seem that I can, Captain .”
In one powerful stride, Siran leapt onto the battlements, sword flashing and teeth bared.
The fae leader was tall and broad with wild blond hair that flowed past his shoulders.
The strands near his temples had been drawn back in small twists accented with beads that looked as though they’d been carved from bone, and his eyes were like two shards of sea glass.
Admittedly, I hadn’t spent much time around fae, but he didn’t look Drathen to me. All the faeries had their wings magicked away — probably to keep them from being injured during training.
The captain took another step toward us, and I adjusted my grip on my daggers. “Don’t think that just because you’re the bastard son of Elowynn that I won’t knock you off this tower,” he growled.
“You’re pricklier than the last time I visited,” Kaden observed, cocking his head to the side. “Did you run out of that Fanook-infused hair oil you love so well? The sea air must be murder on your ends. I can send for some, if that would improve your temperament.”
Angry red splotches rose in Siran’s fair cheeks, but before he could make good on his promise to toss Kaden onto the jagged rocks below, a bright feminine voice rang out.
“The last time you visited, you brought a hurricane and famine with you. You can hardly blame the captain for his lack of hospitality.”
At the sound of that voice, Kaden’s demeanor changed completely. His wings flared as if caught in a high wind, and he broke into a wide grin.
A lone female appeared in the sea of armed males, clad in the same style of leathers, which hugged her curves like a second skin. She wore two broadswords strapped to her back and had an enviable cache of daggers sheathed at her thighs.
Like Siran, she was fair-haired and fair-skinned with stunning turquoise eyes and pointed ears. Unlike the captain, however, her long locks were swept into a complicated-looking braid, which she tossed carelessly over one shoulder.
“Sorsha.” Kaden’s voice practically quivered with delight, and I felt an irrational pang of jealousy.
The female was stunning, curvy, and . . . fierce . The males all stepped aside to let her pass, lowering their heads in deference.
She moved with a steady confidence that had nothing to do with her looks, and when she leapt onto the battlements to stand beside Siran, she took a warrior’s stance.
Despite my years of training under Silas’s brutal thumb, I had the feeling I did not want to cross blades with the lone female stationed with the Drathen army .
“Good to see you, brother,” she quipped. “I was beginning to worry that your enormous ego had at last gotten you killed.”
“Not yet, I’m afraid,” Kaden replied. “Immortality does have its perks.”
Stunned, I edged around Kaden’s outstretched wing. “She’s your —”
“Please forgive my brother’s rudeness,” said the female, turning to me and flashing a dazzling smile. “I’m Sorsha.” She stuck out her hand. “The sibling with all the good sense and all the good looks.”
“Lyra,” I stammered, covertly re-sheathing one of my daggers and clasping Sorsha’s palm.
“My concubine,” Kaden added, tilting his head in my direction.
“I-I’m not his —”
“I’m sure you’re not,” said Sorsha with an eye roll. “If you were, I suspect you would have shoved him into the sea before Siran here got the chance. No female can stand my brother longer than it takes him to get his cock?—”
“We were in the middle of a training exercise,” barked the captain, reminding me that we had an audience. Not just Siran, but no fewer than three dozen Drathen soldiers were watching this little reunion with interest.
“Permission to fall out, captain,” Sorsha called, drawing her shoulders back like any good soldier but tossing me a wink.
“Granted. Anything to get this loathsome demon bastard out of my sight.”
Kaden narrowed his eyes at Siran, pulling a tight smile.
Sorsha gave a girlish squeal and grabbed my hand, looping it over her arm. “Come with me. It’s been ages since I had anyone to talk to.”
She leapt off the battlements, taking me with her, and it was all I could do to land on my feet.
“You’d think it’d be divine to be surrounded on all sides by strong, virile males, but after a while, they do start to smell.” She lowered her voice conspiratorially and tugged me closer to her. “Besides, I can’t fuck any of them. Siran would have their balls, and Kaden would have his.”
A strangled retching noise sounded behind me, but I didn’t have the chance to spare the demon prince a glance before Sorsha dragged me down into a narrow staircase.
The familiar prickle along the back of my neck told me Kaden had followed us, and soon I heard a rhythmic clash of steel from above as the soldiers resumed their training exercise.
“To what do I owe the pleasure, brother?” Sorsha called over her shoulder. Then, to me, “He hardly ever visits.”
“It’s not my fault you were exiled to this godsforsaken rock.”
“Exiled?” I asked.
Sorsha’s effervescent smile dimmed slightly. “When you’re the ousted queen’s heir, the king likes for you to keep your distance. If it weren’t for Mr. Untouchable here —” She gestured to Kaden. “I think he probably would have had me strung up at the castle gates just like our mother.”
Something about the casual way she said it made my insides clench.
“The spare, sister,” Kaden broke in. “You are the spare .”
“I am the more palatable heir.”
“It’s hardly worth arguing, since we’d both suffer a most gruesome death were we to make such a claim within earshot of one of Alfrigg’s dogs.”
“You only say that because you know I’m right,” said Sorsha cheerfully.
I looked to Sorsha, who bore almost no resemblance to the dark and dastardly demon prince. “But your father . . .”
“Sorsha is my half-sister, with a true claim to the throne of Anvalyn,” Kaden explained. “If those Euroshean pricks could ever accept a female ruler.”
“They would,” said Sorsha sweetly. “They’d have to, since my first act as queen would be to decapitate anyone who said a female was unfit to rule.”
Kaden made a choking sound, and I bit back a laugh.
“Perhaps it was a mistake to send Siran and the others here to train you,” he mused. “Being surrounded by a bunch of war-mongering Drathens has made you bloodthirsty, sister.”
Sorsha shrugged. “No more than before.”
Just then, I heard a commotion coming from the tower. There was a clash of steel, someone yelped, and the three of us turned in time to see Adriel emerge at the top of the stairwell, his sword slick with blood.