Chapter 34
Betrothed?
The word shattered through me, slicing up my insides. My vision wavered; all sounds warped. The garden blurred as nausea clawed up from my gut, sharp and sour.
Vaeron stepped forward, and Dasha claimed his neck, rising to her tiptoes to steal his mouth like she’d done it a hundred times before.
Our bond thrashed like a snared beast, roaring with ruin. And yet he didn’t flinch. Instead, he kept kissing her.
Like I didn’t even exist.
Maelsar placed a steadying hand on my arm.
I couldn’t breathe.
Had he played me this whole time? Shown me just enough affection to keep me compliant instead of defiant? To keep me from running before he could deliver me to this silver cage, like a prize for his sister?
Every word he’d ever spoken turned to knives, and I let them cut me open. Let myself drown in the agony, a harsh punishment for trusting what I should have known wasn’t true.
What had been real, and what had been rot wrapped in velvet?
They broke apart, Vaeron still stiff with formality, while Dasha looked up at him with unabashed eagerness.
Is this why he hadn’t tried to have sex with me? Because he would have been cheating on his betrothed?
“I look forward to our vows in a few weeks,” Dasha purred, batting her long, white lashes.
A few weeks?
I swayed, my good knee threatening to give out. Maelsar gripped me tighter.
But he had to have known too. Was that why he had come to my side?
I’d thought I was a horrible person for sleeping beside the male who had tormented my people. I’d thought I was betraying everyone I loved by doing it.
For wanting it.
But it was nothing compared to what the Issaraeth had done to me.
The male shackled to me by the Goddess turned to his sister, ignoring his betrothed. “We’ve had a long journey and I’d like to rest.”
The Korona’s eyes tightened at the corners. “Of course. I’ll have one of the Sightkeepers fetch the Seer.”
“That won’t be necessary,” he said smoothly. “I can escort her to her new accommodation.”
The fuck he would.
“Actually,” the word burst out of me before I could stop it, my voice fracturing when I wanted it strong, “I’d prefer he didn’t.”
Finally—fucking finally—the Issaraeth looked at me. The block on his side of the bond lifted, and his anguish bled through like ink spilled into water.
I slammed my side shut so violently it should have crushed his skull. I wanted the sound to echo there long after this moment ended. His feelings meant nothing, and I couldn’t bring myself to care about him when pain plundered my veins.
The Korona snapped her fingers again, and two royal sentinels appeared from the rear of the nobles. “Escort our newest guest to the Seer’s hall.”
“As you command, Your Radiance,” the male replied, the plume on his helm swaying as he dipped his head. “If you’ll follow me.”
I didn’t look back as I swung myself forward.
Each strike of wood against the ground only served to heighten my fury.
And when we reached a set of marble stairs, slick with moisture, I called on my wings and flapped them until I’d ascended.
I couldn’t think straight enough to make an escape. I’d only end up in a worse position.
After all, I was nothing more than a prisoner. I’d been a fool—an Elessarum fool—for letting myself believe otherwise.
Familiar footsteps pounded the stone behind me, and the chain binding me to him snapped taut.
“Leave us,” the Issaraeth barked, his tone leaving no opening for argument.
The guards halted, but I kept barrelling forward on my crutches. I didn’t know where I was going, but it didn’t matter so long as it was away from my mate.
“But the Korona said—” the male tried anyway. Even I knew it was useless when faced with someone so powerful.
“I don’t give a fuck what she said. If she has a problem she can take it up with me,” he snapped back. “Now go.”
At least he didn’t Command them. It was more than I ever got.
They scampered away, and still I didn’t stop.
“Sylaira,” the Issaraeth called, increasing his pace to catch up with me.
I didn’t look back. The tapestries hanging on the walls smeared in my periphery as my vision tunneled on the endless hall.
“Just stop for a moment and talk to me,” he rasped, parallel with me now.
I turned my head away and continued on. If I opened my mouth, if I sucked in air, I would sob. And I would not allow him to see how he’d hurt me.
Anger was a much better emotion to wield.
“You said you would trust me,” he snapped, rounding in front of me and forcing me to halt.
“That was before you fucking lied to me. For weeks!” My scream died halfway through, too full of anguish to survive.
I need to fucking breathe. I need to get away from him.
My shoulder slammed into his as I passed, continuing forward, away from him, toward anything but this.
He stalked me again, like the fucking hunter he was. “Sylaira, please,” he said, voice taking on a hard edge. “Just listen for a moment.”
My lips curled back from my teeth as I spit my next words. “If you want it, Command it.”
He froze, and I limped along, leaving him standing in the middle of grotesque marble. Let him choke on my loathing. Sit in the mess of his own making.
He didn’t get to have me and her.
A growl reverberated off the cool stone. Down our bond, pure agony assaulted me.
That only dug the knife in the wound of his betrayal deeper. I hated that I wanted him to chase me. Hated that I wanted him to explain himself. Hated him.
Hated myself more.
I let him touch me. Let him make me feel like I was safe.
I never was. I was so fucking naive.
Hot tears clawed down my cheeks. An alcove with a settee appeared ahead, and I let myself sink onto it, pressing the back of my hand to my mouth to smother a sob. My wings disappeared too, emotion overcoming the control of my magic.
The Issaraeth was dangerous. I had known it was wrong to allow him close. And yet I let him in anyway. All in some misguided attempt to manipulate him so I could gain power over him. And then, because I understood he wasn’t the monster I’d initially painted him to be.
Turns out I was right after all.
A warm, comforting hand on my shoulder made me flinch. I whipped my head up, expecting to find him towering over me. My heart skipped a beat when I noted a pearlescent halo. “Heraphia!”
In a blink, I’d launched myself at her, arms capturing her in a fierce hug. The moment she returned the embrace, grief wrapped like thorny vines around my heart.
“Shh, it’s okay,” my best friend soothed, wriggling a hand out to stroke my hair.
“Ho–how did you know I’d be here?” I sobbed, clutching her silky dress, soaking the fabric with hot salt. I didn’t care. The crown had enough coin to replace it.
“I had a vision about an hour ago,” she murmured softly, shifting again so she cradled me in her arms. With gentle ease, she sat us both on the settee. She gave berth to my bad knee too, which only made me cry harder.
“What did you See?” I pleaded, hoping I wouldn’t have to explain everything that had happened since we parted.
“Just that you’d be here, injured and upset,” she sighed, sweeping my locks over my shoulder.
I dried my tears on my sleeves, taking in the female who was more like a sister. Dark circles dotted her eyes, and new lines had appeared over her brows. In the span of a few weeks, she looked like she’d aged decades. Goddess, centuries even.
“And they just let you leave?” I whispered, suddenly very concerned that someone would walk up on us. Or that the Issaraeth was around. I dove into the well of magic in my chest and sought him out.
To my relief, he had gone somewhere else. Not that the bond was happy. At my perusal, it seared me like a hot fire poker. My hand flew to my ribs and rubbed like that could ease the ache.
A small smile tugged at the corner of Heraphia’s lips. “I also Saw that our posted guards would be called away shortly before this. I snuck out.”
A watery laugh burst out of me. I couldn’t have snuffed it if I tried. “Goddess, I missed you. I’m so sorry I left you behind, Heraphia, it was so selfish of me and I–”
She grabbed my hands and gave them a hard squeeze, cutting me off. “You did what you had to do to survive. I hold no ill wishes toward you.”
My shoulders slumped with relief. “Thank you, Heraphia. I’ve felt so guilty…”
She rose, checking either direction of the long hall. “We’ll have more time to speak later, but I’m afraid if we linger, I’ll be missed. And neither of us want that level of attention on us.”
“Definitely not,” I replied, suppressing a shudder at the memory of how, minutes before, the nobles had weighed my worth in that Goddess forsaken garden.
When I put weight on my bad leg, it didn’t nearly hurt as much as my heart did.
If violence was my value, I’d stab the Issaraeth in his sleep.
It wasn’t like I couldn’t find him if I wanted to.
No, our fucking bond would lead me straight there.
But I would not abandon my Elessarum principles for him.
Especially not now.
Heraphia remained at my side as we ducked down a side hall, delving deeper into the palace. In my devastation, I hadn’t taken a moment to glean anything about my surroundings.
Safety came with knowledge, and now that I was in the belly of my enemies, I needed all the information I could gather.
Yet as we walked, I had to force my jaw shut so I didn’t gape at the opulence.
Gilded vines, a mimicry to what waited outside these walls, climbed columns interspersed between hollows in the hall.
Fine furniture jutted out, offering places to sit while one studied the indoor water features, delicate paintings, and other artifacts I couldn’t begin to name.
“They just…leave all this sitting out?” I questioned, gesturing to a bust gleaming with diamonds.
Heraphia grimaced. “Some of the palace sentinels are attuned to all the pieces so they know if something has been touched or moved. They are…unpleasant if they catch you.”
Why was I not surprised?