Chapter 3
ERIK
My back stung with every movement. It was incredible, the annoyance almost unbearable. I twitched the big toe on my left foot and my back burned from the effort. Gingerly, I lay down on my stomach, not wanting to infect the open wounds with the wet dungeon stone.
I thoroughly completed my part of the plan.
The treaty offered protection to those who stepped over the border due to invitation or due to a message being sent from the leader of that race.
It also offered protection to the leaders themselves and their immediate family if they were to cross a border with a message.
I carried no physical letter because my voice should have been more than enough.
The fools did not even ask who I was, just as I knew their kind wouldn’t.
Spineless leaders often could not imagine others in power having a backbone enough to risk themselves as I had.
The Bavadrins raised a hand against someone who intended no harm.
A royal with a message, seeking help. The treaty protected me, and they broke it.
All that was left to do was to wait. With the ancient pact violated, I had the freedom to take any Bavadrin life I pleased, without fear of the Spirit’s wrath.
Destroying them from within was simple, but that was not my goal.
I wanted to use them, and for that, most needed to survive.
Taking control would be easier with the Lysian army at my side.
A single Lysian conjuror against the Bavadrins would be formidable, but an army?
That would force them to acknowledge their defeat and bend to my will much easier.
I closed my eyes, searching for relief from the pain, but the sound of footsteps kept me from drifting into sleep.
“You have got to be kidding me, Ariana,” a guard growled, revealing a lack of formality that hinted at their closeness. I wondered if it was friendship or something more.
“Open it,” she instructed, and I turned from the wall to see her standing at the door of my cell, a large bowl in her arms. The scent of herbs wafted from the bowl, reminiscent of the healing mixtures used by the Lysians. Had she come to tend to my wounds?
“Ariana,” the guard barked, his tanned arms folded across his chest, a hard look on his face.
She turned to him. “Landin.”
“He’s an animal,” Landin said quietly, as if to warn her without my hearing. Senseless guard. I could hear things they could not even conceive. Lowering his voice was useless.
“Would you ever treat Willis’s wolves like this?” she countered, comparing me to domesticated wolves. That was cute.
“That’s not the same.”
“Open the door,” she demanded. “I will be fine.”
I couldn’t believe it when the man walked to the cell and unlocked it—a foolish move. It was even more surprising when she entered without hesitation, devoid of fear. The cell door closed gently behind her, leaving Landin standing on the other side, his heart racing.
I sat at once, my movement fluid despite the burning at my back. The change in position caused her to pause. She froze when our eyes locked.
“Ariana,” I said her name softly, finding it lovely on my tongue.
She frowned briefly before gesturing to the bowl in her hands. “If you let me, I will put this on your wounds. It will help with healing and protect the cuts from infection.”
“My kind heals quicker than yours,” I said to her, wondering if she would push the subject.
It did not take a Lysian to notice her discomfort when I was made an example of for a meaningless crime such as stepping across an imaginary line.
She hated every moment of the punishment.
By the time it was over, she had grown pale and looked as if she were going to lose consciousness.
I had not expected to see her again, and I certainly had not expected her boldness to increase so much that she was willing to be in the same room as me, with nothing between us.
“Suit yourself.” She moved to leave, foolishly turning her back to me. Despite the lashings I received, it did very little to slow me. It would have been nothing for me to close the distance between us and take her life in an instant.
Relief softened the worry edging the guard’s eyes as he reached to open the cell and let her out.
“Wait,” I said.
Ariana looked over her shoulder in my direction while the guard gritted his teeth.
“Thank you,” I murmured, for once trying not to sound threatening.
The words were an allowance for her to come close, to place the salve on the wounds, to touch me.
My back would heal on its own, but I was not that much of a glutton for unnecessary punishment.
If the girl offered comfort from the constant stinging, then I would take it.
“Sit on the edge,” she instructed, and I obeyed, shifting to the corner of the stone slab that served as a bed. She stepped closer and inspected my wounds. Anger rolled off her in hot waves, sharpening her green eyes, tightening the delicate muscle in her jaw.
I almost laughed, for the princess felt something other than hatred for a Lysian, surely a rare occurrence. The Bavadrins were told to fear and hate us, but she did not seem to fit that mold. Her actions were unusual, and I found myself intrigued by her.
I wondered whether her dreadful father had hit her on the head when she was a child one too many times because she was missing necessary life-preserving senses.
The comfort of being in a room with me, the false sense of security, and the misplaced protectiveness for an intruder of her lands were concerning for her sanity.
A girl such as herself should have trembled at the sight of a Lysian.
She should have wanted to run away, not come close enough for me to twist around and grab her by the throat.
Ariana reached into the bowl, picking up a strip of fabric that was thoroughly soaked with creamy herbs. Her fingers moved quickly, placing the strips on my back. A welcome cooling sensation accompanied each one, taking with it the stinging. It was a sweet relief.
“Why are you doing this?” I asked her when she secured the last of the strips in place. Her fingers gently pressed the fabric onto my back before she finally withdrew her hands.
I turned to find her observing me. Green eyes flitted to my teeth before meeting my gaze.
She was swathed in a certain fearlessness despite likely making a mental note to keep away from my mouth.
I was close enough to touch her if I wanted to.
She had nothing to hide behind, yet she showed no sign of distress.
None. Where a healthy sense of terror should have been instead was an almost childlike curiosity.
She truly lacked fundamental survival instincts.
“You’re not an animal,” she simply said. “It’s the least I could do.”
I lowered my voice. “I’m more of an animal than you are.” My response could have been perceived as a threat. Still, the princess was stoic and calm.
“I wouldn’t be so sure about that,” she replied smoothly.
My lips curved up in amusement. There was nothing more animal or dangerous in their Bavadrin lands than me. “You are telling me you have claws hidden in those delicate fingers of yours?”
That was impossible. Her hands were too gentle.
There were certainly no claws there. However, the Bavadrin race had a different form of claws, that of a mental kind.
They were known to be masters at deception and their conjuring gifts tended to be of the shadow flavor, able to alter emotions, dreams, visions.
Yet she had not shown any of these traits, or she hid them well.
Why was she helping a prisoner heal and feel better without asking anything in return?
Ariana raised a single brown eyebrow. “Perhaps I do.” Her lip quirked at the thought. She glanced at her hands as if imagining what it may have been like. “Does having claws hurt?”
I held an open hand between us and when her attention focused on it, claws slid out, between the nails and fingertips of my hand. Her eyes widened and I pulled them back sheathing them once more underneath the nail bed.
A breath passed between her lips, and she met my stare. “Impressive.” Still, not a scent of fear.
I snorted at what sounded like a complement.
The moment between us was light for only an instant before it flickered out of existence. Her gaze dropped to the stone ground in thought.
“Who are you?” she finally asked.
I peered at the guard behind her, watching like a hawk. Though his eyes were trained on us, it was unlikely that he heard a word we said with our voices so low.
“My name is Erik.” I told her the truth.
Everything was already set in motion. There was no way she could change the course now.
“I am one of the four sons of King Sten.” That was also true, though slightly misleading.
I wanted to give her only enough to know of the dire situation they were now in, to know there was no going back for her and the Bavadrins.
The ancient treaty had been created by the Spirit and the leaders of the three races centuries ago. Sealed with blood, ash, and the single tear of the Spirit. The ones to break the sacred promise were to be cursed, shunned by the Spirit.
The Bavadrin Leader Superior never even asked who I was, only why I had come. My answer was the truth, and he raised a hand against me. His act broke the treaty, freeing my Lysians to attack without prejudice, for the Spirit would smile upon us and curse them.
Ariana remained quiet for a long moment. She must have realized the gravity of the situation. That which had protected her people was now shattered, and her father’s actions had set events into motion that could not be undone.
“Why did you do this?” The calm she arrived with remained, though there was the slightest quiver in her voice. Good, perhaps she was understanding the dangers surrounding her.
“What I said was true. There are enslaved Lysians in the Sidhe lands,” I told her.
“How is that even possible?” Anger cracked through her calm exterior. “How can you even know something like that?”
“Perhaps the Sidhe have a way to get around your lands, though the most probable theory is that they go through them,” I told her, answering the first question.
As for how we knew, other than their disappearance from our lands, everything was confirmed by an Oracle. But I was not going to tell her that.
Her brows drew together. Goosebumps covered her flesh.
Capturing her along with her father in the days to come was ideal; however, it placed her life at risk to remain in the city set to burn. There was a likelihood that she would be killed, especially if she tried to fight a Lysian.
“You should run. Get away from this place before it burns,” I said quietly, urging her to flee. Before I burn it from within. This would be the only kindness I return for hers today.
The warning served two purposes: it was true advice, and secondly, it was something that would help me if she were to stay.
The burden of blame for what was to come would become partially hers.
The responsibility for the destruction of her home would be shared, for she would shoulder that reality with me whether she wished to or not.
And she would not see the warning as what it was: a tactic to gain her trust and share the blame.
No, she would see it as a mercy, for I gave her a chance out of the goodness of my heart.
It would push her a step closer to trusting me.
Ariana stood but did not leave. Instead, her mind must have been racing, for her vision clouded over with thought.
Again, her senses dampened and she left herself incredibly vulnerable standing in my cell in such a manner.
I did not know how the girl had survived for so long with no awareness of the danger she put herself in.
Her response was unexpected. “They are my people. I won’t leave them.”
“Bavadrin rulers are chosen by some form of ritual, correct?” I prodded gently, trying to give her a reason to reconsider. “If your father, the Leader Superior, dies, the responsibility of your people may not fall to you.” Their rule was not passed down through bloodlines like ours.
“I already am responsible.” She looked at me coolly. “If you get Fraser, what happens to the others here?”
“If they stand down, they will not be harmed,” I assured her.
“The Lysians seek access to your lands, but we also plan to bolster our forces with those able to fight alongside us.” I would not sugarcoat the truth of her reality, for she appeared to need a good shaking to clear her head enough to lucidly see the danger surrounding her.
Ariana accepted my words, her pulse quickening with resolve. “If you succeed, I beg you not to kill those here. Spare them. It is not their fault they follow a monster. Don’t condemn them for something they have no choice over.”
For centuries, we had been told of the heartless and deceiving Bavadrin ways. Yet she didn’t appear to fit that mold. She did not ask for her safety but that of her people. I seriously doubted that her father would ever be so noble as to make such a request as his daughter did now.
Without fully meaning to, I offered a single nod.
Apparently, it was enough of an answer, for she quickly retreated after that.
The sound of her steps rushed away until they disappeared altogether.
Landin, the guard, closed and locked the gate to my cell immediately upon her exit before taking to staring at me with his arms folded across his chest. It appeared as though his allegiances rested more with their leader’s daughter than with Fraser.
Interesting. If they were a people divided, then they would be that much easier to gain control over.
As I lay back down on the stone slab, the cool sensation of the healing salve on my wounds, I couldn’t help my thoughts drifting to Ariana and wondering what she would do with the information I gave her.