28. Chapter Twenty-Eight
Chapter Twenty-Eight
Zalen
F or the next day, Maera kept to herself. She was angry yet relieved at the same time. I gave her time, leaving her with her thoughts but staying nearby. She spent quite a bit of time on the balcony, gazing over the orchard until the sun rose the next morning, challenging the glow of the sky-spanning moon.
I was just about to go out there when she stormed in through the double glass-paned doors.
“You said you took each of our father’s powers.”
I nodded from my seat in the room. “I did.”
“How? Their power returns to the land when they die, and only the Drehiri ritual can pass the King’s magic to the heir.” She crossed her arms.
“That’s not entirely true.” I rose, walking across the room to meet her. “Yes, the magic of Kings returns to the land when they die. But the Drehiri doesn’t give you their power. It enhances what you already possess with the magic of the Kingdom itself. What I did was different.”
“But how did you do it?” she demanded.
I took a breath before responding. I wasn’t sure she actually wanted to know it all. She needed to though.
“Many years ago, when I was young and foolish, I went exploring in the lower levels of the castle. One of the rooms I stumbled upon was filled with books—forbidden texts that had been locked away for their contents and rightfully so.” Maera tilted her head in curiosity as I continued. “The books were magically bound to that room, and couldn’t be removed no matter how hard I tried. Instead, I went down there occasionally to read them. I wasn’t particularly interested in reading, but I knew my father wouldn’t have allowed it—I mainly did it out of spite. I hated the bastard enough that defying him, even in that small way, was satisfying. Little did I know what I had actually discovered.”
She leaned back apprehensively.
“One of those books was about a type of magic that had been lost to our kind.”
Her breath caught. “Dark magic…”
My brows raised. “You’ve heard of it?”
“Yes. I’ve heard about how the Elders of every Kingdom came together and forbid its use thousands of years ago, even destroying all written evidence. It twisted and corrupted the souls of those who used it.”
“I didn’t know that part. Well, too late now.” I shrugged.
“So you did use it?” Her eyes widened.
“It’s how I was able to siphon the magic from the Kings once they died. The Kingdom’s powers now rest within me. And until I have an heir, it will die with me.”
“Unless someone else does the same thing to you ,” she said pointedly, but her eyes reflected the fear behind her words.
“That won’t be happening. Once my father found out about the book, it disappeared with the rest. I don’t know if he had them destroyed or hidden. If he hid them, he’s done a damn good job because I can’t find it. So now I’m the only one who knows about that spell, otherwise the other Kings would have done that a long time ago.”
She looked at me as if she was truly seeing me for the first time. “You used dark magic. Twice . Is this why you’re so fucked up?”
I threw my head back and laughed.
“No. It’s probably not helping, but this is just who I am, minn astir. Who I’ve always been.” I reached up and brushed her hair behind her ear. “And you still love me, so a little more corruption won’t do any harm.”
She leaned into my touch as I grazed my finger down her jaw, closing her eyes. She accepted me long before all of this. And she still accepted me now. It made my heart open for her even more.
She squealed when I lifted her from the chair, and I couldn’t help my devilish grin. She instinctively wrapped her legs around my waist, her nightgown riding up to her hips.
“What are you doing?” she asked breathlessly.
I leaned in and licked the column of her throat. “I’m about to watch as you stuff that pretty little mouth of yours.”
The flat, unamused look on Maera’s face when I had food brought in was priceless. I had to bite my cheek to keep from laughing. And she made me pay for it by making little moaning sounds with every bite. But I leaned back in my chair and made sure she got plenty to eat, keeping my hands to myself.
Not that I didn’t want to crawl over the table and ravage her. I was hard the entire time, desiring to worship at the altar of the woman who held my heart.
I took my time eating, observing her expressions with each bite to learn what she preferred and what she didn’t. How she savored the juicy pieces of fruit and pushed away the greasy meats.
From the dark circles under her eyes and the sluggishness of her movements, I knew she was exhausted. She needed sleep more than anything.
While she insisted she wasn’t tired, I was able to convince her to lay down with me. She could argue with me all she wanted, but I knew she needed it. It was more than just being deprived of sleep, her spiraling mind keeping her awake on the balcony. Her entire life had just been uprooted, and I understood the toll it must have taken on her.
Not that I regretted it.
It took less than a few minutes for her to fall asleep on my chest. Of all the time we had spent together over the years, never once was I able to see her sleep—both of us were too concerned with spending every precious moment with each other and making the most of it.
Her long hair ran down the length of her back. Unbraided, it reached to her hips. She snored ever so softly with each deep breath. I wanted to keep watching her, learning all of the little things I still didn’t know.
The quiet knock at the door, interrupting my peaceful admiration, nearly made me snarl.
Easing my way out from underneath her. I pulled the blankets over her before going to the door.
I yanked it open and stepped outside, closing the door behind me.
“What?” I snapped at Thane. “I explicitly told you not to disturb me.”
“You’re going to want me to for this,” he said in a low, grim tone.
“Did you find the captain?”
Somehow Lyron Vika, captain of the Aedum royal guard, had eluded us. He couldn’t have known we were coming, so his absence was intriguing if not suspicious. As captain, he should have been in his quarters in the castle.
“No. We never found him. And he’s the only one. The rest of the guard are dead.”
“Did you assess their power?”
While the main purpose of the invasion was to secure Maera, we were also trying to find Makkor’s murderer. It had to be someone extremely powerful and capable. We could measure the potential with just one drop of their blood in a simple potion.
“We did, and no one met that level of magic. But then again, Lyron is the only one missing,” Thane said. “And his absence is particularly interesting given recent events.”
“Which are?” I asked impatiently.
“King Belan Olad of Innon was found dead in his throne room. Torn to shreds…”
I froze.
“…as was Queen Delima.”
Someone was hunting Kings and Queens.