Chapter 31 #2
I gritted my teeth, clamping them together so tightly that my head hurt, and braced against that violent tide, clinging to control. Refusing to surrender.
Doing my damnedest to control myself when all I wanted to do was tear Everlee away from Danica and force the younger female to speak.
Malachi stepped into the path of my gaze and I was not sure the demon was aware he had done it as he partially blocked my view of the two wolves.
I lifted my eyes to meet his, daring him to intervene, daring him to stand against me when Saphira was in danger.
He seemed to realise what he had done and moved aside, but remained close to Everlee, within reach of her.
I sensed Jenavyr moving towards me and held my left hand up, halting her. I knew what she wanted to say, but I would not back down. Not this time. Not yet. I could not.
I would not harm the females, but I needed to know what had happened to Saphira and how much danger she was in.
Danica was the one who broke the impasse. She bravely extricated herself from Everlee’s smothering and protective hold and pushed to her feet, stepping around the other wolf to face me. There was something familiar about her as she clenched her fists at her hips and tipped her chin up.
Goddess, I missed Saphira.
This young wolf had no doubt been schooled by her in the art of staring down a dangerous and unpredictable foe.
“That fae who runs the place, he removed that mark from Saphira, and she was weak afterwards. One of the other heirs… he came to our room in the night and he tried to… he tried to kill Saphi in her sleep.” Her voice wobbled and gained a frantic note as the ground beneath her shook and fractured.
“I tried to stop him but he has two friends and I couldn’t fight the one who held me.
Saphi woke up and… well, she was too quick for that utter dick.
She shifted and attacked, and she killed one of his friends.
That asshole heir has avoided her since then, so you see, she’s okay. She’s safe.”
“Safe?” I almost laughed that word. “Safe? Someone tried to kill her.”
The flagstones beneath my boots shattered, exploding into dust that clouded in the air as I growled through clenched fangs and lightning struck the mountains.
Everlee shrieked and Malachi was quick to close ranks with her.
Shadows poured from the cracks between the paving, streaming from my back like onyx wings that expanded to stretch from the castle to the forest as the tips of my fingers turned ashy black.
“Safe?” I barked and lightning whipped from the clouds, splintering into a hundred crimson forks that shook the court as they met the ground. “Someone tried to kill my little wolf, so someone needs to die.”
“Kael.” Jenavyr banded her arms around me from behind, caging me. “Saphira is safe. She survived. She will survive. Calm yourself.”
Two words that were the worst thing my sister could have chosen to say to me at that moment.
My shadow wings shoved her off me and I rounded on her, baring my jagged fangs as darkness branched from my eyes.
“Someone needs to die,” I growled at her. “Someone hurt her. They hurt her. I swore I would protect her, Vyr. I swore no one would harm her.”
“I know. I know.” She bravely framed my face with her hands, not flinching when my shadows tried to reach her to spear her flesh and spill blood.
Hers met them, draining all the malice from them against my will, softening them just as she softened me.
“They will pay. They will pay, brother. But so will the rest of this court if you do not control yourself. She would not want this.”
“She does not want it,” Malachi said, finally finding his voice again, and I scowled over my shoulder at him. “She gave me a message. That it was her decision to remain at the Summer Court, and if you want to be angry with anyone, you will be angry with her.”
That did not improve my mood in the slightest.
Chase sighed.
It seemed the alpha wolf and I were on the same page regarding Saphira’s stubbornness and how it was a danger to her.
“I need to go now.” I took hold of Vyr’s hands to remove her, and she twisted hers so she could grip my wrists, locking them so tightly around my arms that I had no hope of removing her.
“No. You want to go now, because you are not thinking clearly. You are letting your emotions get the better of you, as shown by this weather and the fact we will need to replace half the patio.” She cast a pointed look at the wasteland of rubble beneath us.
“You cannot be so reckless. You need to think about what will happen to this court and your people.”
“I am thinking of my people—I am thinking of Saphira!”
“I know. I know you are only following your heart. I know how important this is to you… I understand. But you must act rationally. You must be strategic. You must be the king that you are, brother.” Her fingers tightened against my wrists, clamping down on them.
“You cannot protect both right now. Saphira is strong. She is capable. Her position, while risky, is still safe. She has proven herself a powerful opponent and the male will not challenge her again, not unless he is a fool wishing to part with his life. To go to her now, as I know you desperately want to, brother, is to risk your court. You cannot break the accord. Ereborne will be at our door before you can draw another breath, and any hope you have of finding your way out of your agreement with Elduin will be dead. This court will come under attack, long before it is ready to face one, and your people will be killed. I know you do not want to choose between them and I know it is cruel to be forced to do this when you want to protect her, but you must choose—Saphira or your court.”
I wanted to shove her away from me, wanted to deny I had heard those words or seen reason in them. I needed Saphira. I needed her back in my arms. Safe. Truly safe.
But Jenavyr was right.
I could not risk the wrath of the high king or the seelie. Not yet. Not until my court was ready.
As much as it killed me, absolutely destroyed me, I had to place my court first.
Neve had seen us together, so I would see her again soon, and that knowledge gave me the strength I needed to pull myself back from the edge of the abyss and focus my mind again, shutting down the emotions I had allowed to run wild and consume me.
I breathed deep and slow, gradually leashing them again, the storm abating more and more as I found my balance again.
I would see her soon, but I had much to do before then.
Beginning with finding a way to enter a seelie court without breaking the accord.
I was not sure that was possible.
Neve had seen me there, but her vision was no guarantee that my court would not face the consequences of me being there. But if there was a way, I would find it. I would do all in my power to keep my court safe even as I reclaimed my beautiful little wolf.
“Saphira had another message for you.” Malachi finally stepped away from Everlee, showing me that my mood had improved sufficiently, enough that he no longer felt compelled to shield her.
“She wants you to give her seven days. Seven days until the flowers bloom. And she wanted me to tell you that her feelings for you have not changed either, and that neither has she. She is still just a wolf. Your little wolf.”
Great Mother, I had needed to hear that.
The shadows around me settled as those words reached my heart, as I found solace in them, a soothing sort of calm that bathed me in light to banish the darkness to the corners of my soul.
“You should have led with that,” Chase muttered.
Vyr snickered, very unladylike.
If I could not go to Saphira, then I would carry out the next step of my plan, one that might reveal a path to me that would keep both my court and my little wolf safe.
“Let Malachi continue to watch over her if you are worried about her,” my sister said.
“I will do that, my king.” Malachi pressed a hand to his leather-clad chest, his rumbling words filled with the honour he clearly felt about being given such an important task.
I shook my head. “You will go to High Vellswater again tomorrow night. Right now, I need you elsewhere, with me.”
The demon’s dark eyebrows lowered. “Where are we going?”
My tone was cold, filled with the delicious cunning I felt blooming inside me, as I grinned and uttered a single word.
“Ereborne.”