Chapter 10 Erik
ERIK
Ariana entered the room with her head held high.
Kole stayed beside her, looking particularly agitated.
I wondered what the two said to one another.
Her pace slowed ever so slightly, allowing Kole to walk a step ahead, bringing her closer.
She followed him to the dais and silently took a seat to my right.
Her green gaze drifted all over the room, taking it in, without meeting mine once.
A sliver of guilt settled within for what she was about to endure.
Iver, unfortunately, sat directly to my left. He leaned back enough so that the front two chair legs hovered above the ground as he balanced on only the back two.
“Hey, princess. This may seem a little savage, but I promise, we are gentle beasts.” He flashed his teeth at her tauntingly, and I barely refrained from wiping the floor with him.
A low growl moved through me, hoping it was enough to silence him.
Ariana seemed like she was going to ignore Iver completely, but then she turned, focusing on him. “I am not a princess, prince.”
She then held his gaze for far longer than most would have thought wise.
Ariana was never told that Iver was my brother, but she guessed correctly.
Of my brothers, he looked most similar to me.
We both had brown hair and were on the taller side, but where my eyes were dark blue, his were a light gray.
Edmond and Jorn, on the other hand, had golden hair with gray eyes, our father’s eyes.
Iver laughed and allowed his chair to fall back onto all four legs with a loud slam.
To her credit, Ariana did not jump at the sound, and I realized Iver was probably trying to startle her. The scent of fear was a pungent one; at times it was nearly sweet. He wanted to smell her fear. He was playing games.
“Behave yourself,” I warned my little aggravatingly uncontrollable brother.
“Oh c’mon, when did you become such a drag? You used to be more fun.” Iver huffed like a child. His fingers began drumming rhythmically on the table before him as his patience began waning. Iver couldn’t sit still without constant entertainment for even several heartbeats.
“I became a drag when I became King,” I stated flatly before turning to one of my guards. “Bring in the leader of the Bavadrins.”
Lysians moved at my instruction. A door opened, and Ariana’s father was escorted in, his hands and feet in chains. His clothing was filthy, for he had been wearing them for days, his hair a tangled mess of black and gray. The scowl on his face was unchanged since he was taken from his home.
Ariana’s heartbeat picked up its pace while she sat incredibly still next to me. Her gaze flickered to her father.
The Bavadrin Leader Superior huffed as he made his way across the room, till he was positioned before us. His lips pressed in a hard line, eyes outraged. He glanced around, noting all of us.
“We gave you a chance to work with us, but you—” I began speaking to the prisoner, stopping when he colorfully spit onto the floor.
“You are the scum of the planet.” He seethed, before turning his harsh brown gaze to Ariana. “Help me,” he commanded, and Ariana shifted uncomfortably beside me. What exactly did he think his daughter could have done for him? She was not in any position to help.
I visibly frowned.
The Bavadrin Superior was not willing to listen, and his position was one for life.
Not that someone like him ever would give up any scrap of power.
For such profound greediness, he was going to pay for his attempts at holding on to that power with his life.
The only way for someone more reasonable to take command was with his death.
That was the only option he left us with.
I knew it. He knew it. And his daughter knew it.
“Are you in some sort of alliance with the Sidhe? Do you help them take Lysians against their will?” Edmond asked.
Fraser ignored him completely, as if he had not said a single thing. Instead, his attention remained on his daughter.
“Don’t just sit there looking dumb!” he yelled angrily at Ariana. “Help me!” Again, he spoke in commands, not requests.
I didn’t think that he had ever requested anything in his entire miserable life.
Everything was a mandate. What he wanted, he took.
Now that he found himself in such a precarious position, he didn’t know how to behave otherwise.
Had he expected the clouds to open and for the mystic Spirit to come and save his worthless soul?
I could have laughed. The Bavadrin leader was a delusional idiot.
Next to me, Ariana closed her eyes, and she began to tremble. Her reaction only further added fuel to her father’s misplaced anger.
“I should have killed you alongside your mother! You no-good wretch. You don’t deserve . . .” he began, spewing such vicious words that I was stunned. My surprise quickly melted into simmering anger.
Fraser killed the mother of his offspring. What a twisted and cruel man. What’s more, he desired to take the life of his one and only daughter because she did not sacrifice herself for him.
As a father, he was expected to protect his young.
Discipline, sure, but the overarching theme should have been to protect and guide.
The Bavadrin before me who spewed such filth at his child was none of the things a father should have been.
He never protected her. I understood then that he was only ever a threat to her.
Somehow, despite his irrational cruelty, Ariana managed to not follow in those same footsteps.
As soon as the shock of his behavior receded, I waved my hand in the air, signaling the execution to proceed.
Guards moved behind him, forcing him onto his knees. The Leader Superior’s eyes widened, and he snarled, “Don’t ju—”
A blade found the soft flesh of Fraser’s neck, finally silencing his words.
There was a repulsive gurgling sound when he tried to continue speaking despite the slitting of his throat.
He reached for his neck, and his eyes widened further, as if he couldn’t believe this outcome.
Blood spilled, coating his fingers, dousing the floor, before his body finally fell into the warm red puddle.
Ariana kept her eyes pressed shut, her hands gripping the bottom of her shirt as if she were holding on to the fabric for dear life.
I smelled her blood before I saw it dribbling from her eye, as if it were a tear.
The Bavadrin leaders were told to always come and go with blood, and it appeared that Ariana had been chosen to lead them.
I couldn’t help but feel relief at that knowledge.
Pulling a napkin from my pocket, I held it out before her.
“Take it,” I said when her eyes remained shut, unaware of my offer.
Her eyes snapped open, focusing on the napkin I held, refusing to look anywhere else.
After a moment, she reached out for it, bringing it to her cheek.
A small gasp escaped from her when she pulled the crimson-stained napkin away.
I could nearly hear the blood rushing from her head.
She was going to pass out if she remained in the room.
“You may go if you wish.” I offered her an exit.
She stood in an instant, Kole appearing at her side, and then they left without a word. Though they walked from the room, it was as if she ran from it.
With her gone, my shoulders relaxed. I had not realized that I was wound up so tightly.
I surveyed the body on the floor with blood pooling beneath it.
Fraser looked so small. It was impressive that such an insignificant and ugly creature could have effectively ruled for such a long time.
That he produced an offspring who appeared to care for others over herself while he was the complete opposite.
“Well, that was fun!” Iver balanced on the back two legs of his chair again.
“She did not seem very happy. I’m not sure she will be willing to help us,” Jorn commented while staring at Fraser’s lifeless body.
“She’ll come around.” I sounded a great deal more certain than I felt.
“And how long do you propose we wait for her to do so?” Edmond asked, eager to act.
He longed for our attack on the Sidhe, to get our sister back.
Edmond and I were closest in age, and he was the closest in age to our sister.
Iona’s vanishing was difficult for us all, but Edmond took her disappearance the hardest. And outside of our immediate family, Kole had probably suffered the most.
“Our forces will be that much stronger if Ariana stands with us as opposed to us forcing her hand.” I believed she would want to help us.
Even though the Bavadrins were known for their cunning ways, I did not think she was trying to be anything other than herself.
Within that bravery and confidence of hers, there was a gentle kindness that I hoped was who she truly was at her core.
“I agree, but if she takes years to get to that point—”
“She won’t,” I cut him off. By the sound of my growing irritation, Edmond was wise to leave it at that.
I did not know what would need to be done if Ariana did not come to our side quickly.
The only saving grace was that our armies were largely not ready.
We had been prepared to take the Bavadrins but not prepared for an all-out war against the Sidhe.
And that was mostly because we were not ready to defend our home from a much closer threat.
“Clean this up,” I said to no one in particular when looking at the body on the floor. Lysian guards began moving at once.
I stood. Frustration fueled every cell and if I did not find an outlet for it soon, then I might incinerate everything.
“Where are you off to now?” Jorn asked.
“Hunting,” I replied before leaving my brothers.
There were still things that needed taking care of since my return; but they could wait till tomorrow. Recent events had worn down my patience, and I needed time to myself. I needed an escape.
My legs moved automatically, taking me further from the heavy weight of my responsibilities.
I questioned my decision to bring the Bavadrin girl to my home.
However, my suspicions were correct in assuming she may be the next chosen Leader Superior.
It was good that we had her under our control.
Still, a small part of me wished she had heeded my warnings and ran before we took her little capitol.
Now the blood of Ariana’s father stained my hands, and I feared she might meet a similar fate.
Whether she refuses to help us, and my brothers demand she pay with her life, or she agrees to stand with us, and that action thrusts in to the center of a deadly war, my mind kept arriving at the same conclusion.
Despite the two paths laid out for her, she was damned.
The curious woman who tended my wounds would not survive.
It should not have mattered. In the grand scheme, she was but one Bavadrin girl when many Lysian lives were on the line. Still, I could not shake the unexpected guilt. Like a sharp blade with a broken hilt, the guilt wedged itself between my ribs, and I could not pull it free.
Once outside, I began running till I hit the woods and finally felt a fraction of the freedom I once had.
It was a freedom I longed for, but one I would never truly taste again.
And with the actions of that night, Ariana too would never taste such freedom, for the lives of her people would forever rest on her shoulders.
Though I doubted that she experienced many liberties with a father like hers.
Perhaps that was for the best. She was less likely to miss a freedom she never had to begin with.