Chapter 45 #3
Saphira’s heartbeat raced against my chest. I gently splayed my hand out on her chest over that thundering heart and breathed slowly, calmly, coaxing her into following my lead.
She kept her breaths subtle, as if the males would hear us through my shadows and her invisibility, but she gradually calmed, the tension in her body fading as she relaxed into me.
I glanced down at her hand as she shifted in my embrace, watching as she curled her fingers around the grip of her dagger.
She would fight if we were spotted, but the power I could sense in Sylvan warned it would be dangerous for her to do so.
We were both tired from teleporting, and our limited strength was slowly being drained by rendering ourselves invisible to our enemy.
There was a danger these males would easily best us.
I kept hold of her as I lifted my gaze to those males.
Lorien paced around the map like a rabid beast, snarling and muttering about something beneath his breath as he took restless, clipped strides that spoke of his anger as much as the clenching and unclenching of his fists.
He wanted a fight, and I was tempted to give him one, but I remained where I was, lurking in the shadows, studying my prey and putting everything about him to memory.
Sylvan watched him with the same predatory edge to his blue gaze.
Lorien rounded on him. “I should be leading that army.”
The army Saphira had said Sylvan was amassing at the castle? I listened more intently now, gaze flicking between the two males. What was Sylvan up to? The way he watched Lorien left me feeling he had plans for the lad.
“Saphira will lead it.” Sylvan casually nudged a few of the markers closer to the Black Pass and Saphira tensed in my arms, her pulse galloping beneath my palm again.
I gently stroked her skin with my thumb, hoping to soothe her as I watched Lorien.
As I expected, he growled and looked ready to sweep his hand across the map to hurl all the markers from it, but instead he gripped the edges of it near the Infernal Court, facing me. Firelight chased across one side of his face, gilding it with gold, and shadows devoured the other side.
“Why?” he snarled, the dark wrath that sharpened his tone and his eyes telling me all I had to know about him.
He despised being overlooked.
He despised being thought less-than compared to a female.
He craved power almost as much as Sylvan did.
And that made him easy to manipulate.
Sylvan did it with a skilled hand.
“Saphira has reason to enter the Shadow Court. She will lead the army there to avenge herself, under cover of retaliation for what the Wrathful King did by holding her captive there. She has every right to enter that court again.” Sylvan took one of the pieces, the one with the gold daubed on it, and thoughtfully looked at it.
“No doubt she will get herself killed and an obstacle will be removed from your path to ascension.”
My blood ran cold at the revelation, and Saphira had gone terribly still in my arms.
I had thought Lorien would be pleased by this, but instead he loosed a low growl as he snatched the piece from Sylvan and glared at it.
“I should lead the army. Any glory against the vile unseelie should be mine. I will deal with Saphira, as I dealt with the others. I will take my rightful place as king with my own hands rather than let some barbaric unseelie do it for me.” He slammed the piece down with the others, toppling them.
Sylvan did not look opposed to this.
I had the feeling the steward had been counting on this reaction from the young male. He was playing him so well, and Lorien was none the wiser about it.
“Of course,” he said with a gentle, almost tender, smile as he settled his hand on Lorien’s shoulder.
“If you wish to deal with Saphira yourself, and then lead the army into the Shadow Court, we shall take that into consideration. You have every right to remove Saphira from your path yourself, and you are more than able. You have proven that. Forgive me for wanting to do things this way. You are right, and you should be the one to lead them. You are strong enough. You will face the Wrathful King and bring a great victory to this court.”
I scoffed. Lorien would die in pieces, scattered across my court, and Sylvan knew it.
But he stroked the male’s ego anyway, speaking words the lad desperately devoured as he looked at Sylvan the way I had once looked at my father. So eager to please. So eager to be noticed.
A feeling settled inside me. One that felt like a warning. There could only be one reason Sylvan would openly pit Lorien against Saphira, and then propose to send him marching into my court.
He wanted them both out of the way.
I had heard enough.
I eased back, sinking through the shadows with Saphira, moving through the fabric of the building until we were outside it. I took hold of her hand and pulled her with me as my strength waned and my control over the shadows wavered.
I did not stop running with her until we were far from the Great Library.
“What the fuck was that?” Saphira bent forwards, bracing her hands against her thighs as she breathed hard. Her blue eyes found mine, shock brightening them. “What the fuck was that?”
“It would appear Sylvan wishes you both dead and plans to use Lorien to remove you, and myself to then remove Lorien. Which I am not opposed to.” I held my hand up when her eyes narrowed with her frown and quickly added, “Killing Lorien, not Lorien killing you.”
She blew out her breath and paced away from me, her hands coming to rest on her hips as she tipped her head back to gaze at the sky.
“This isn’t good. This isn’t good at all.
I figured Sylvan didn’t care about Lorien’s little killing sprees and that he didn’t care if we killed each other, but to openly pit him against me like that?
Lorien’s such a snivelling brat too. This is only going to make him worse.
Any praise from Sylvan and he becomes unbearable.
Oh gods, he’s probably going to kill me. ”
“Those are not words I want to hear, Saphi.” I prowled towards her and caught hold of her. “Lorien will not be able to kill you, because you will not be around for him to kill you.”
“What do you mean?” She frowned at me and then her face twisted and she pushed her hands against my chest, trying to break free of my hold. “No. I’m not going home yet.”
She grasped my wrists instead of trying to break free, and light blazed around us. When it receded, we were standing in the glade where I had trained her.
She tried to move away from me and I gripped her wrists, refusing to let her go.
“You cannot return there.” I glared at her and then in the direction of the castle, and then my gaze lowered back to her as the fear of losing her, the fear of her being killed by that little prick of a prince, roused my shadows and darkened my heart.
“I will not let you go back there, Saphira. It is too dangerous.”
“You need answers, Kael. I can do this. I’ll be swift. Just… one more shot. I know where I can find the information on your brother and the attack now. I’m sure of it.” Her brows furrowed as she looked up at me, that soft imploring look doing nothing to sway me.
“It is too dangerous,” I growled. “I will not risk you like this. It is not worth it. My brother lives. I could get answers from him.”
“What if he doesn’t have answers?” She tried to twist her wrists free of my hold. “What if this is your one chance to find out why the Summer Court attacked Belkarthen? What if this is your one chance to know why your parents were murdered?”
“Then I will live with that, because losing you is not an option!” The ground quaked beneath my boots as I barked those words at her, my heart twisting in my chest, feeling as if it might break or burst as I held on to her, willing her to listen to me, to not be so reckless.
Not for my sake.
“You won’t lose me. I know where I can find the missing journals.
Sylvan swore Sylas hadn’t written in that time period and that was the reason there were gaps, but what if he had taken them to hide them?
Better yet, what if he had written journals of his own?
” She pulled on her arms, harder and harder, trying to break free of my hold.
Trying to leave me.
I shook my head as I realised what she intended—where she believed she would find this evidence she so desperately wanted to find for me.
“No, Saphira,” I growled. “I will not let you go into his office or his quarters. Sylvan is too dangerous. He is too powerful. If you are caught—”
“I won’t be caught. He’s in the Great Library.” She gave up trying to tug herself free and attempted to prise my fingers open instead.
“You do not know that. He could have returned to the castle.” I refused to let her go, tightening my grip on her. “I do not need the answers. Let it go.”
“You do. You do or you would have let it go yourself centuries ago.” She bared her little fangs at me, her eyes flashing brilliant blue as her wolf side lunged to the fore.
“Do not,” I warned.
She shifted anyway, the action of her body transforming into a sleek white wolf making me lose my grip on her for a heartbeat.
Just long enough for her to teleport away from me.