Chapter 35
The Apple and the Tree
ALASTAIR
Cutting across the courtyard, the sudden, sharp ring drew everyone’s attention. Conversations stilled, as if the steady tune carried an unspoken command, or perhaps a warning.
Every market goer shifted. Moving as a conglomeration driven by secrets woven into the island’s existence, the townsfolk abandoned everything.
Even those who worked to gather coin for their families turned their backs on their stalls, following the wave without so much as gathering the items they’d taken the time to craft.
A woman brushed past me, a young boy clutching the fabric of her dress. I reached out, grabbing her arm with a gentleness I hoped wouldn’t startle her. Her chin snapped toward me as her brows narrowed with defensiveness.
“Get your filth-laden hands off—”
“I apologize,” I started, lifting both arms in surrender. “I didn’t mean to offend you. I was just hoping you could enlighten me on what is happening. I’m not from here.”
Sapphire eyes glinting with a fire that hinted at a prior life in Darswyth, she clenched her jaw. “It is an order from our leaders, a shelter in place.”
“For what?”
“The presence of the crown,” she brushed her fingers through the little boy’s hair as if working to coax his unease, “King Marellan is approaching. Or rather, his fleet.”
Fuck.
Reaching into my pocket, I tossed her a bag of coins. “For your troubles.”
Eyes widening, she shook her head. “I can’t possibly—”
Not listening to her refusal, I snaked my way through the onslaught of bodies hurrying to tuck themselves into the houses and structures lining their once vivacious streets.
Battling against mass numbers, I kept my hand on the hilt of my sword as I pushed forward, determined to reach the building Leilani had slipped into.
Finally forcing my way through the gathering crowd, my palm greeted the handle of the shop door. Twisting once, its turn halted halfway, a dull snap confirmed it’d already been locked. With a sharp exhale, my jaw feathered as an overwhelming sense of dread swept over me.
Anxiety cinching down on my chest, I lifted my arm, knuckles rapping against the thick oak. “Leilani!”
I understood the reactivity of the people of Veilmar, people who had escaped the clutches of the corruption that continued to pollute Serevalen and its surrounding towns.
They did not bow to the crown, and their leaders had drawn a clear line of opposition to the king’s methods.
Even so, staying out of the way of royalty was imperative.
With massive amounts of trade coming from the island, specifically in relation to herbs and the ever-famous Dream Root, they had an upper hand in negotiation.
The king agreed to leave the island and its inhabitants alone for the sake of keeping his pompous court fat and happy, and ever since the day that treaty had been instilled, there hadn’t been a moment of hardship in Veilmar.
But my crew and I were not from Veilmar; we were tourists, outsiders to the protections that lingered.
While they claimed those exploring their lands were safe, I knew better.
If you belonged to Serevalen, there was nothing the king wouldn’t do to gather what he sought, even if it meant going against an agreed alliance.
“Fuck, Leilani!” I shouted, driving my boot against the door in hopes that the shop owner would open their establishment just long enough for me to grab her.
I can’t be without her.
Panic building, the sudden harmonic pitch of her timbre caught me off guard, nearly forcing me to my knees. “Ace!”
“Gods, are you okay?”
“Yes. I’m okay,” she replied through the dense wood. “They won’t let me leave, though. Say it goes against—”
“Fuck whatever it goes against, Lei, open the godsdamned door.”
“Alastair, I don’t—”
“Open the fucking door!” My yell billowed over the chaos ensuing around me. “Marellan’s fleet is approaching, and you are well acquainted with what that means for us. We need to leave. Now.”
Mumbled conversation followed, not another retort tossed back at me.
My patience slipped at the lack of response, but right as I went to lift my leg to kick the godsdamned door from its hinges, the lock snapped out of place.
Oak slab swinging open, an elderly woman shoved Leilani toward me without a word, slamming the door shut immediately after.
“Well, she was rather pleasant,” I grumbled as I traced my fingers along the sharp line of Leilani’s jaw. “Are you okay?”
“First, she was extremely kind; you were the one being an asshole.” Flattening her palm against my chest, she shoved me back a step. “And yes, I’m fine, but if we are leaving, you are coming with. Don’t try and pull some bullshit—”
“Captain!”
The shout tore through the crowd, carrying with it an immediate sense of familiarity. I could see him now, the man responsible for our paths through the sea. The one who had guided us away from far too many close calls, too many near-deaths, too many storms.
Callahan.
Which meant that Rigel had sent…
“What the fuck are you doing?!” I screamed, stepping away from Leilani.
Brown eyes wide, he ran a finger through his auburn locks. “Rigel ordered Otis and me to come for you. Ships bearing the royal crest are approaching, and we need to get the hell out of here before this escalates.”
Panting beside him, Otis placed his hands on his knees, blonde hair slipping from the braid he’d tied it back in. “We… There’s also another ship… docked, Captain… The—”
“Don’t fucking tell me,” Leilani snarled through clenched teeth, her shoulders raising with building ire. “If that piece of shit is here, that means—”
With the dip of my chin, I held Callahan’s stare. “Get Leilani back on the ship.”
Head snapping toward me, her honey skin ignited with fury. “You are not shoving me back on the fucking ship without you, Alastair Seridean. Not when I am perfectly capable of standing by your side!”
“Cap, we can’t possibly—”
“That’s a fucking order. As your captain, I am commanding you to get her on that godsdamned ship. If you wish to challenge my position, I am more than happy to gut you and string you up on the lines as an offering to Elaros. Do not test my good graces.”
Porcelain skin paling, Callahan nodded. “Yes, Captain.”
“Yes, nothing!” Leilani screamed, her knuckles driving into the center of my sternum with enough force to bruise.
“You will not sit here and dehumanize me! You will not treat me like those men on those ships when I was a slave! You will not doubt my strengths! I am your fucking second, Alastair, and it’s about—”
Wrapping my fingers around her throat, I ripped her toward me.
“You are my heart before you are my second. If you stay with me, there is the risk of distraction, the risk of you getting harmed, and I cannot, I will not allow that to happen when I have the ability to prevent it.” My forehead met hers, and I held those breathtakingly captivating mocha irises.
“So, what you are going to do is go back to that ship and take on my role until I come back. As my second, that is your responsibility, and as your captain, it is mine to not only keep you safe, but to find Rohen.”
Her nostrils flared, chest rising and falling with erratic breaths, but then that anger transformed into her truth—fear. “He almost… He almost killed you once already, Ace, and I can’t… I fucking can’t—”
Before she could finish, my lips found hers.
Snaking my fingers through her hair, I pressed her into me with every ounce of love I harbored for her.
Each kiss was an extended promise, a vow that I would return to her, that nothing and no one would rob us of each other.
It symbolized not only my passion for loving her, but my unrelenting determination to stay beside her—to not allow Elaros to steal me, for she was the utter definition of life.
With one lingering kiss, I slowly pulled away. “Go.”
A watery sheen glossed over her stare, but she dipped her chin once, though that hesitation didn’t fade. “You have an hour, Alastair Seridean. That is when we will depart, and if you are not back by then, I will leave and not look back.”
Scouring the near apocalyptic city streets, I scanned every alleyway I passed for that vibrant red hair. While we’d gone our separate ways to cover as much ground as possible, it became clear that decision was a mistake.
With the approach of the Royal Guard, I knew there would be trouble, especially considering the conversation I’d had with the king and Sorva—the Other who still plagued my mind even after I’d slipped from her probing judgment.
She’d chilled me to the very bone in a way I couldn’t comprehend, a way that only ignited my certainty that the gods those in power demanded us to worship were just as corrupt as those seated on the throne.
The aura she carried emanated destruction, and while I wanted nothing more than to butcher my ex-best friend for what he’d done to me, the searing rage that her utterances ignited within me only pushed forward a front of concern.
If she was that influential, there was no telling—
A hissed curse split through the air, carrying with it an inflection that belonged to the woman I’d been scouring the streets for. As if on cue, she stumbled into the mouth of the narrow passageway I’d been traversing.
Crimson stained her azure blouse, its vibrant hue undoubtedly hers, because the essence of the man pursuing her was a dull scarlet, so dull it mirrored polluted ink. Hair disheveled, she swung her sword, barely catching the one Caspian wielded.
It was an unfair fight. Even though she was one of Malrik’s esteemed assassins, Caspian fucking Vayne was King Marellan’s perfected mercenary.
He was a man more than capable of slaying Malrik with his eyes closed, and he’d been trained that way for a purpose—to protect the crown from the potential double-crossing corruption Malrik acted with.
Fingers coiling around the hilt of my cutlass, I freed it from its home. Footsteps increasing, each movement Rohen made seemed to slow as the gap between us vanished. Foot sliding behind her, she tensed to brace for another attack, but I was there before she could take the brunt of it.
The force behind the blow rattled my bones, coiling up my arms in the way it always had.
Caspian had been the one to teach me how to fight, the one who taught me how to leverage the weaknesses of an enemy to an advantageous point, but opposing him had never been easy.
His attack was brutal, swift, and efficient, just like the type of man he was.
The corner of his mouth curled upward as our gazes locked, those smile lines burrowing into his cheeks with the confidence he always carried. Chest raising, it wasn’t a steadying breath that followed, but a mocking laugh as he shucked his blade against mine, forcing me back a step.
Clad in a white linen shirt, its neckline cut to settle in the center of his chest. The edges of his brand fell into my line of sight.
Leather harness cinched to his frame, the natural flow of the fabric conformed to him like a second skin, highlighting the assets I already knew he carried.
With the familiar crimson bandana tied around his head, his curled raven locks had been combed back with an intention, not a single one out of place even though he’d been battling a woman as deadly both in physicality and tongue as Rohen.
Crimson eyes shifting between us, he lifted a brow. “I suppose the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree now, does it?”
“Ironic coming from you, considering the obsession that pulses through your veins for this woman. Tell me, Caspian, has your bed gotten cold? Saph no longer warming your cock well enough?” I snarled, spinning my sword between my fingers.
“That’s rather desperate for someone as grand as you claim yourself to be. ”
“Claim?” Chuckling, he flicked his tongue against his canine, focusing his attention on Rohen. “Is that what you’ve told him?”
“You’re pathetic,” Rohen spat, running the back of her hand along the cut in her lip. “He seemed rather familiar with your nuances himself, Captain.”
Unbothered, he returned his sword to its position on his hip. Craning his head to the side, his hands made quick work of rolling his sleeves up, the trail of dark lightning slipping into view. His expression seemed to bloom with amusement as we watched his movements with attentive analysis.
“Should’ve taken your chance,” he hummed, reaching behind him to grab his infamous curved sabers. Gliding his thumbs along both of the serpent-shaped pommels, he lifted his chin to settle on me. “Because by the time I’m done with both of you, there will be nothing left to salvage.”