Chapter 25
Chapter Twenty-Five
When I open my eyes again, I’m no longer with Orion and Elizabeth in the ballroom of Mother court.
Instead, I’m in a world of dark grey smoke, and the dark god is there, his face hidden, waiting in the darkness for me.
He was always going to take me when I found any of the keys, and I just didn’t know it.
Something about this place sends chills down my spine more than just the dark god, who stares at me patiently.
Orion just had me, just became alpha, and his scream for me is still in my ears. I need to go back to him; I want to.
“Good work, Meredith Duskmore.” His voice echoes around my ears, and I push down the fear in my chest. All the pain from my leg is gone, but as I look down, I can see it is still bent in a strange, wrong way. Somehow he is making me not feel the pain. “You did very well.”
The weapons fly out of my hands, and I reach forward to stop them, just for a second, and pain lances down my spine.
I drop my hands, waiting to see where the swords go, but they disappear into thin air.
The dark god laughs. “One down. Many keys to go.” He tilts his head.
“You didn’t even look for the crown of stars when you were in Void City.
Why? It will be an easy one for you to obtain. ”
“There were other things on my mind. Like the Wrath,” I answer. “And I don’t want to help you. You’ve given me no choice.”
“You cannot stop the Wrath. You and it are linked.” My stomach sinks.
What does he mean? “When great power is born into the world, there are greater consequences.” He steps slightly closer, still shrouded.
“I have watched over you since you were a child, yet you never knew it. I was not the only one who came from another world to watch you, Meredith. The other does not remember…yet.”
“Who are you?” I whisper. So many riddles, talks of other worlds. It’s all so strange.
“Someone close to you,” he whispers back, like it is a secret.
I step back, shaking my head. No one close to me could be this dark god and use me like this.
The only men I consider close to me are the heirs and Zyran, and I refuse to believe they are him.
The smoke brushes against my legs. “One day, I will tell you. Until then, you must gather every key for me. Only then will you be truly free.” A pause.
“Next, I’ll send you to the water court.
Find the key there and try not to destroy the court while you do.
The earth court is a mess, Your Royal Highness. ”
“Why do you want these keys?” I whisper.
“You’ve always been mine,” he replies, and sickness rises in my throat at the claim.
“Now, you have work to do.” I fall straight through what feels like an ocean, my head swimming, before I crash up onto sparkly blue floors.
I shiver, looking down at my reflection in the shiny blue tiles that glitter.
My hair sticks to my face, and my clothes cling to me too.
A hand on my shoulder rolls me back, with a cry of pain escaping my lips, and I look up with wide eyes at a familiar face.
In the haze, I almost think it’s Reed. His face slowly comes into focus.
The heir to the Maiden Pack. Caspian. Reed’s brother. If he is here, I must be in the Maiden Pack like the dark god said. I’m alone here and in danger.
“You’re the Champion, the princess, and I remember because you caused quite a scene.” He looks at me with something between amusement and curiosity.
“You’re Reed’s brother,” I mutter. I’m in too much pain to even ask for his help.
“One of them. One of five. The nice one.” I doubt it. He glances down at me and sighs. “Healing’s needed. Your leg’s broken and your ribs are too. Sorry about this.”
He grabs my face and pulls it to his, kissing me.
He feels wrong as his magic floods my body.
I try to push him off, but he holds me firm, pouring into me.
His magic flows through me just like Reed’s can.
I feel my leg snap back into place, almost painlessly.
My ribs too. Eventually he lets me go, and I crawl away from him.
“Don’t ever do that again,” I snap.
“But you like my brother’s kiss. How strange. I’ve been told I’m the best kisser.” He shrugs with a playful smile. “Reed is better with his cock, so I’ve heard. Is he? Aren’t you lovers?”
I rub at my lips like I can get the taste of him off me. “Is this how you receive an invited guest? It sucks and it’s fucking rude.”
He stares at me before bursting into laughter. “Why are you here?”
I clear my throat. I can hardly tell him the truth about the dark god wanting me to steal from his parents’ pack and throwing me here because I was done with the Mother Pack.
“In light of the alliance we’re trying to build, I was invited for three weeks.
Remember?” I make it up completely on the spot, not sure what else to do.
Orion will be going mad looking for me. Elizabeth will be worried.
Reed and Blackfire won’t even know. And Zyran—I don’t even know what Orion did with him.
He looks suspicious, but he doesn’t push it.
I know his parents are going to have questions, like how I just appeared in a random corridor of their glittery palace that smells like salt.
“Well, you’re just in time. Reed will be on his way back soon, I imagine.
He can’t spend too much time away from his fiancée, or he risks our mother’s wrath. ”
“His what?” I spit out, seeing red. Reed is mine. I blink, pushing down the fury that so quickly took over. What was that?
“He hasn’t told you.” He studies me. “I wasn’t sure if you two were a thing or if he was just infatuated with you.
” He walks across the corridor to a room, opens a chest and pulls out a thick blanket, bringing it over to me.
It’s warm and humid in the air, but I’m soaking wet from head to toe. I could definitely use it.
“Thank you.” I pull it around my shoulders. “Now go back to the fiancée thing.”
“Yes, well, Reed has had a fiancée since his conception. They were bound in front of the priests when they were only toddlers. But he’s never shown any interest in actually marrying her, despite how much our mother would like the ceremony to go ahead.
” He studies me again. “Until recently. Until we heard about the human district—when he came here, on his knees, asking for you to be spared any repercussions from us for taking the human lands. In return, he agreed to marry her.”
Reed traded his future for me and agreed to marry someone else. He never told me about this, and I thought he had been distant with me recently, but I never thought—
I can only nod as Caspian keeps speaking, and all I can hear is that Reed is going to marry somebody else when he is meant to be mine.