Chapter 43 Bound Blood
Bound Blood
CASPIAN
Traveling was something I typically relished: exploring the nuances of the world beyond, by land or sea, and breathing in the freshness of life without the constraints of capture. But when it involved being paraded around by a bitch and her worthless entourage? I fucking loathed it.
It’d been nine days since Sapphira’s betrayal and Syoran’s death, nine days since I’d opened my mouth to utter a single word.
Not because Sorva had silenced me by demand, but because not a single ounce of desire to engage with her flowed through my veins.
She’d attempted to bait me with manipulation tactics I was far too acquainted with, and the only response I offered was a shrug or the raise of a brow before brushing her off as if she were nothing more than a mere mortal.
She claimed the king and the Others wanted to form some sort of truce with me. What it entailed and why? I didn’t have a fucking clue.
What had caught my attention, though, was when the Prince of Serevalen was shoved off the second boat that docked in Ellira’s cove. It was a woman who guided him, walking with powerful prowess as her dark cloak dragged across the earth—one far too similar to Sorva’s to be coincidental.
She steered Kaelivan, whose blonde locks were tousled with the same resistance he displayed and whose hands had been chained behind his back.
Not a single relic marred her flawless porcelain skin.
Her dark hair sat in a bun, not a single strand out of place.
As soon as she met Sorva’s gaze, she dipped her chin, a sinister grin blooming on her lips.
I caught the vibrant yellow hue of her irises, a color so unnatural, so otherworldly.
She is one of them.
The prince didn’t bat an eye in my direction as Sorva ordered us onto our respective horses.
Her men worked to carry a still sleeping man off the ship and strap him onto the back of the dark goddess's horse.
With his head slumped against her back and his dark curls matted by his own blood, we progressed as soon as she flashed an amused smile in our direction.
With her mischievous grin burned into my mind, alongside Sapphira’s appearance as she followed the rest of the men off the ship, I focused my attention elsewhere as we trudged deeper into Serevalen.
I shot a few glances toward the prince, whose eyes remained locked on Sorva’s unconscious travel companion. There was concern there, weakness, and it was then that I realized why the king had demanded his son’s return.
Punishment.
We’d completed the rest of the journey to the palace in silence, neither of us interested in entertaining either woman or those who surrounded them. Each clop of hooves ticked away at our arrival time, a metronome of the impending doom I knew awaited both of us.
The sound was rhythmic in a way that was just as haunting as the now consistent clack of the king’s ring against the crystal glass in his hand as he peered down at me from his dais.
The doors slammed shut as Sorva shoved me forward into the space. A low snarl rolled from my chest in response to her unwanted and unwelcome touch, but the king’s utterance swallowed it whole. “It’s been a while, Vayne. I’m happy to see that travel didn’t prove to… dampen your fire.”
“I would offer similar respects, but it seems that your… lack of travel has aided in quite the weight—”
A booted foot slammed into the back of my leg, forcing me to my knees. Colliding with dark stone, a spike of anguish tore through my body. It burned my thighs before lacing up my hips in response to the stationary position I’d locked myself into during our travels.
“I believe what he meant to say,” Sorva snarled, stepping around me, her robe no longer adorning her frame, “is that he’s honored to be back.”
Form-fitting battle leathers clung to her like a second skin, displaying her minimal curves—her size and shape far too similar to Rohen.
Where she once had no hair, a near-white bob had grown, light curls clinging to the strands.
With the ancient markings absent, her pallid complexion hinted at humanity, a glamouring tool to conceal the evil lurking beneath.
And if I hadn’t known any better, the sight may have been believable: her lack of curled horns and talons making her appear… mortal.
Jaw feathering, I craned my chin toward her. “No. That is the furthest thing from what I intended to say.”
A sharp crack reverberated through the throne room, the connection of the slap registering after her palm had already collided with my cheek.
Ears ringing, the sudden warmth aided in resurfacing the agony pulsing from my broken nose.
Fingers digging into my jaw, she forced my attention toward her once more, her burning ember eyes igniting with ire-fueled fire.
“I would suggest you be mindful of how you speak to me if you wish for this to work, Caspian Vayne.” Forked tongue darting between her teeth, one attribute of her truth that hadn’t vanished, her glare deepened.
“Though, if you desire to remain obedient and suffocated by the crown, then continue running your mouth. You should be ecstatic to be here, considering the opportunity we are willing to present.”
Lips curling into a sneer, I spat out a mouthful of blood, crimson speckles sprinkling over her cheeks. “If you wish to command me, then I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but I would rather be executed than submit—”
Two fingers met my chest, settling against the brand of the royal crest. An affliction unlike anything I’d experienced before, even when the marking had prevented me from speaking, scorched my veins.
My lungs seized. Dark spots grew in my line of sight, and the throne room shifted and molded into a landscape of gray stone and flowing lava.
Blinking once, the imagery shifted again, and instead of a view of something entirely unknown, I was nose-to-nose with Rohen.
Mouth open, her brows furrowed with pleasure, her bare skin brushing against mine as I thrust into her.
I could feel her pebbled nipples against me. I could feel… could feel…
Glancing down between us, a white linen shirt adorned her frame, and a macabre flower of crimson grew outward from her stomach.
She swayed slightly before I lunged for her, catching her before she could collide with what appeared to be mountainous terrain.
Through a gasped breath, she reached up to touch my cheek, uttering words I couldn’t understand.
But when her gaze trailed down, a glossy sheen filming her otherwise vibrant emerald stare, I followed.
In the same spot, my own lineage bloomed, quickly seeping through the fabric of my own shirt.
It grew at the same pace, as if we had been carved into simultaneously, our injuries mirrors of each other’s.
I dragged my hand across the incomprehensible wound, raising it as a tremor rocked my frame.
Scarlet stained my fingers, and when I met Rohen’s gaze once more, her bottom lip quivered before three words left her.
“I’m so sorry.”
Through a heave, the dark marble returned, and my shoulders raised as I retched a mouthful of clotted blood onto the space between my hands. An inescapable chill rolled through me, my body shaking as I struggled to comprehend what the hell had happened.
“Is it starting to make sense now?” Fingers laced through my hair as Sorva ripped me upright.
“You are bound to silence by me, just like your pitiful father. Any truth linked to the prophecy will turn your innards to molten sludge, compress your lungs until nothing remains, and coil around your throat like a strand of barbed wire. You have no voice unless I grant it.”
I hissed between clenched teeth, struggling to swallow the groan of pain that warped my utterance. “What… the fuck do you… want from me?”
“Allegiance,” Sorva crooned, glancing at the king. “Right, our Majesty?
Marellan dipped his chin. “Beneath your brand remains a relic which is responsible for commanding your damnation, snuffing out your truth. Sorva carved it there before the hot iron greeted your flesh, and your mind was wiped of any recollection of her involvement. Where you believed you were a free man, a foolish pirate roaming the lands, you’ve always remained latched to me.
You are mine, Caspian. I fucking own you, and by default, so do the Others. ”
Bile rose, burning the back of my throat. It was a reality I thought I knew, one where I understood my leashed attachment to the crimson throne. But it had never occurred to me that it went this deep, this corrupted, this… vile.
“The day I tossed you off that ship was a test,” the king continued.
“And just as stupid as we believed her to be, the Goddess of the Sea revived you because of your attachment to her daughter. With her blessing, you harbor the Eye of Ellira, which I’m sure you know, considering your father’s involvement in this ongoing war. ”
Sorva slowly loosened her hold, brushing the back of her fingers along my bruise-covered cheekbone.
“Since you are now an Eye yourself, your blood is valuable.
When you were still a child and an early teen, King Marellan used it in ritual to strengthen our reign to the point that those walking alongside me were able to manifest. From there, we took to enchanting our markings even further, using washed-up shards of the Eye that rolled from the cove courtesy of your salvation.
“The spike in power not only yielded our esteemed devotees, but it also allowed us to split the true gods in half, veiling their counterparts in a mirrored realm. In controlling both sides of the Damned, we have been able to wreak havoc on your world and the one just beyond, infiltrating the minds of the senseless and continuing to spread our pollution.” She smiled, her canines glinting beneath the minimal light snaking through the stained glass windows.
“When all is said and done, every being littering the lands will obey our every beck and call. You will do as we wish, when we wish, and the reality as you see it now will cease to exist.”
Tearing away from her touch, my brows narrowed. “And what do you believe you will get out of me after your admission? Because it sure as fuck won’t be submission. If you believe I will bow to you solely based on the fact that I am bound by you, then you are sorely mistaken.”
“Oh, I wouldn’t expect such a thing,” she hummed, stepping away from me and toward the throne.
“Though I would be happy to grant you a life of freedom from the ancient language that taints your skin, as well as promise protection of those you love when we open the portals to our realm.
You could live alongside us, in power, command, and status, without being enslaved by our rule.
“And if you elect otherwise, then I will waste no time butchering those closest to you while forcing you to watch, and then puppeteering you with the bind after they're all dead at your feet.” Sinking down to sit on one of the dais steps, she grinned. “So what will it be, Caspian Vayne? A life devoted to standing alongside the Others with the freedoms you’ve been granted, or a life controlled by every word that leaves me?”
Fingers twitching at my sides, I struggled to draw enough air to breathe, to think.
I’d been trapped by the crown my entire life; the king’s boot settled on my neck throughout my childhood and early teen years.
Where I thought there was a light at the end of the tunnel, it’d been a mirage, and what I believed to be freedom was merely manufactured.
I am not a free man, and I never will be.
And Sorva knew where to strike.
“What does standing alongside you entail?” I questioned, every alarm in the back of my mind sounding as Elaros’s presence demanded my attention.
“Do not be foolish, Son.”
“What does it entail?” Sorva tapped her chin.
“Trading your life at sea for a life here and serving as the king’s right-hand just as you’d been purchased to do.
You remain faithful to the throne, and you can count on me sparing whoever you wish when the time comes.
Even that pitiful red-headed little bitch. ”
My throat bobbed, her ultimatum sinking its talons into my mind with no sense of escape. “That is all?”
“And your blood, of course,” she snickered, gaze flaring with hunger.
“Caspian,” Elaros commanded, my name uttered as a warning.
“You do not shake this woman’s hand in declaration of peace, for she is not honorable.
All she speaks is lies. She will spare no one, and you, granting her closeness, providing her access to your lineage, it’ll only speed up the decimation that is already rapidly approaching. ”
“Yeah?” I seethed back, pressing my palm against the marble. “And what are you going to do, Father? Save me? As far as I’m aware, you’re bound in chains far heavier than my own, so perhaps consider that before commanding what I do and don’t do with my life.”
Not granting him enough time to offer a rebuttal, I looked at Sorva. “Fine. You have a deal. I will give myself to the crown if you uphold your end of the bargain: the removal of the bind and the safety of those I love.”
She snickered, nodding with lustful sluggishness. “Absolutely.”
Holding her stare, I mirrored her offering and signed my life away. Though the intentions I spoke of remained only partially true, because without the bind, I could finally speak the truth.
I could warn others of the demise she planned, the war lingering on the horizon.
And if taking the Others down meant devoting myself to the crown, then I would happily sign that line of fate.