Chapter 31
KAELERON
The night closed in around me as I paced the garden, following the path beneath the pergola where I had hemmed Saphira in that day, pressing her back against one of the carved white wooden posts and telling her that when I finally surrendered to my need to take her, that I would leave her changed. Forever mine.
I edged my hand out at my side, my fingers brushing the flowers on the bushes that spilled from between the posts, releasing their scent into the heavy damp air.
A storm was brewing.
I was not sure if it was my doing or just nature taking its course, the goddess doing as she pleased to bring life to her realm.
Each night since I had dispatched Malachi to wait at that tower, I had found myself here, wandering the garden, unable to sleep as I waited for him to return with the breaking of dawn with empty hands.
Or before then, with my love.
Each night, Jenavyr insisted on keeping me company, sitting on the low wall that edged the garden, forming a barrier between it and the lake and the waterfall, and that steep drop to the bay below.
She smiled tightly as I passed her, her silver gaze tracking me. I could not stop. Not until Malachi returned.
My sister was not the only one keeping me company tonight.
The wolves had yet to retire, several of them gathered around a fire, Chase and Morden among them, together with a face I had not seen in some time.
Everlee sat on a section of log that had been moved near the flames, her knees drawn up to her chest as she stared at the flickering fire, lost in its mesmerising dance.
Chase kept a close eye on her as he talked to two males, and even Morden’s focus kept slipping to her as he leaned against one of the trees, watching the stars and the aurora.
I pivoted on my heel and strode back the way I had come, gazing up at that aurora too, seeking comfort and calm in it as I twisted the ring on my finger, spinning it with my thumb. She would be back with me soon, but I still had so much to do. The court was not ready for her.
Not yet.
“Riordan has taken on the training of the new recruits that arrived today from the villages near Wraith Wood,” Jenavyr remarked as I passed her again.
“The males were younger than I had expected.” I slowed and looked out to sea as I halted near her and leaned forwards to rest my elbows on the wall, appreciating her attempt to distract me from my heavy thoughts. “Wraith Wood sends us children.”
“They were all grown.” She planted her hands beside her hips and looked at me. “We have been sent younger in the past.”
That we had, and I had sent them right back.
“In the past we were not facing war on two fronts.” I tracked a wave as it rolled towards the distant shore, breaking on the rocks near the necromancers’ tower.
Perhaps I would pay Lucas a visit tomorrow if Malachi returned empty-handed.
By now, the prick’s soul would have recovered enough for me to play with it again.
“The legions posted to the southern fringes of Wraith Wood sent word that they have made camp and begun their training,” she said.
“The spies despatched there have embedded themselves within those legions and the surrounding villages, and are now carrying out my orders to keep an eye on both the people and the border as word spreads that my little wolf is part seelie and a member of the Summer Court.” I picked at a lichen and cast it into the bay below as clouds gathered on the horizon beyond the mountains that swept down towards that bay, partially blocking my view of the dark ocean that glittered beneath the full moon.
“Something I would have preferred you cleared with me, but I will allow it,” she just smiled when I frowned at her, “since you are king.”
I was glad she was still with me. I needed her on my side, now more than ever.
The whole world seemed to shift on its axis.
I pushed away from the wall and spun towards the castle at the same time, my heart rising as I sensed him.
Malachi.
I stormed towards him, strides devouring the distance between me and where he had appeared close to the forest and the wolves.
That same heart dropped and grew cold when I saw his cargo.
Only one female.
A petite brunette with jaw length hair and wary grey eyes.
The dark-haired demon released her and pushed her away just as I teleported to him, seizing his torc in my fist and twisting it as I pulled him towards me.
“Where is she?” I barked and thunder rumbled around the mountains, echoing back on itself as the sky darkened. I flashed my emerging fangs in his face, the fragile tethers on my emotions in danger of snapping as I scented my little wolf on him. “You saw her. She was there. So why is she not here?”
I turned my snarl on the petite wolf.
“Where is she?”
She shrank away from me, her hands coming up to knot in front of her chest, and backed into a wall of dark, seething male.
Morden set his hands on her shoulders, gripping them firmly. “You even think about hurting her, and I’ll fucking put you on the ground.”
The shadows that had been poised to snare her stilled as he bared fangs at them, at me.
I laughed right in his face, in time with the lightning that shook the court. “Put me on the ground? Wolf, I would slaughter you before you could even touch me.”
“Brother!” Vyr grabbed the collar of my tunic jacket before I could lunge at the male, gripping it firmly to keep me in place as her shadows twined with mine, the feel of them doing so taking the edge off my mood. “I am sure Malachi has an explanation for why Saphira is not with him.”
I looked at the demon.
Expectant.
Demanding.
“She refused to come.” It was all the demon said.
Four words. Not an explanation at all.
“She refused to come?” I growled and tightened my grip on his torc, bringing my face close to his as the ground shook beneath us. “That is not an excuse for returning without her.”
“She means to continue her plans and see them to their conclusion.”
Goddess, that was worse than no explanation at all.
The clouds gathering above us blotted out the moon, plunging us into darkness laced with the amber glow of the fire. That fire began to hiss as the first drops of rain fell.
“Brother,” Vyr gently warned.
“I am trying,” I snapped at her, shadows lashing at the pale flagstones near her feet, and pulled down a harsh breath as I shoved Malachi away from me and twisted free of her hold, pacing away from all of them.
I shoved my fingers through my hair, clawing my head, and growled through my clenched teeth. “I am trying.”
It felt like an impossible task though. How could I control my emotions when Saphira was still in that court, had chosen to remain there?
“How did she seem?” I looked to Malachi for an answer to that question, silently willing him to tell me that she did not look so tired, or that she had been confident, smiling in that way she always did, even when I was snapping fangs in her face.
“She seemed nervous,” Malachi grumbled.
“That is not helping,” Vyr shot back at him and held her hand out to me. “Brother, I am sure she will be fine.”
I nodded, desperate to convince myself that she would be, and that I would not lose her, so I did not do something reckless that would endanger my entire court and everyone I loved.
Not yet. Neve had seen me in the Summer Court, but not yet.
I still had things to do. When my court was ready, when everything was in place, the pieces moved into position, then I would go to her.
The chestnut-haired female Malachi had brought back with him severed every tether on my temper with only a handful of shyly spoken words.
“She has competition. One of the heirs. He wanted… he wanted me, but she protected me from him. He’s already challenged her once, and after the fae removed that mark, he tried to—”
She cut herself off as she noticed the shadows snaking across the pale flagstones towards her, tendrils of them that grew sharp as she remained silent.
“He tried to what? What did this male try to do?” I stalked towards her. “I will not accept your silence. You will answer me and tell me what this male tried to do to Saphira.”
Everlee came out of nowhere, a flash of wild red hair and glowing green eyes that pulled Danica into her arms and twisted her away from me, shielding her with her body.
“Leave her alone,” she yelled, snapping fangs at me as russet fur swept over the hand she placed on Danica’s head to pin the female against her shoulder. “Leave her alone, you wretched monster. I won’t let you get your hands on her. I won’t let you hurt her. Get away from her!”
It took all of my considerable will not to put her in her place as everyone stared at us.
No one moved.
No one breathed.
Her gaze darted to my hands and away again, and she growled low, that seething, burning look in her eyes telling me exactly what she thought of me and what she thought I would do to the younger female she was protecting so fiercely.
I looked down at my hands.
At the black claws that tipped my fingers.
I knew I looked like a monster to her, the same as the male who had broken her, but the darkness within me purred to show her what a monster I truly was, to reveal that side of myself to her and make her truly tremble in fear.
My shadows grew violent despite my attempts to control them, snatching at the ground near her, making her tense and her eyes dart to track each one, as I said in a calm, cold voice, “This is my court. This is my little wolf she speaks of, and I will know what happened to her.”
I had thought perhaps the calmness of my tone would placate her.
It only seemed to make her tremble more fiercely.
It only made the tension that thickened the air grow heavier.
The ground quaked in response to the darkness that rolled through me, surging like a malevolent tide to sweep all that was good in me, all that was warm and kind, away, scouring it from me like a cleansing wave to leave only a dangerous hunger to sink into the abyss that beckoned me.