Chapter 14 #2
The door creaked open without a knock, cutting into the silence and my thoughts.
I looked up to find Alaric crossing the threshold. He closed the door behind him and made his way over to me, looking around the room as if checking everything was still in order.
I gave him a thin stare. “What?”
“Just wanted to check on you. And the study. Last time you were alone for hours, you wrecked the place.”
I sighed and pushed the goblet aside. “What makes you think I would do that now?”
He didn’t answer immediately. He lowered into the seat before me then gave me a curious stare. “You've been testier of late. Since the little mage arrived.”
“I’m fine.”
He quirked a hard brow and smirked. “Drinking in the shadows is not a sign of being fine, brother.”
My shoulders slumped and I nodded with reluctance. “The pressure is on and time is against me. The little mage is the first and only lead we’ve had since Father’s death. I can’t fuck this up.”
“I understand.” He leaned forward and rested his hands on the table. “But you need to remember I’m here to help. And that I’m more than just your Bloodsworn. I’m your brother. You may be the eldest, and the one the curse struck, but you don’t have to take everything on by yourself.”
I regarded him. Regarded the concern etched into the hard planes of his face, the genuine need to support me vibrant in his eyes.
I obliged him with a rare smile. “I’ll try to remember that.”
“Good, you need to.” He poured himself some wine from the decanter, took a long swig, then gave me a hard stare. “You said we’d all meet tomorrow morning to discuss the next steps, but there are a couple of things on my mind.”
I expected this conversation, so it’s come as no surprise to me. “Speak, then, brother.”
“What are you going to do, Wolfe? The mage’s blood is the tracker, but how are we going to use it? She’s human.”
“Half.” But he was right, hence the reason I’d taken to the solitude of the study to think.
“I don’t think that matters. The blood spells are designed for full blood magical beings. We have no idea how she’ll react to it. Or even if it will work. It could kill her before we even get the information we need.”
My gut clenched at the thought of Elariya dying, her body lifeless and limp with that red hair like blood sprawling out around her. “I’m not going to kill her. That would be foolish.”
Alaric leaned back, but his expression remained troubled. “Indeed, but if the ring is on another plane of existence, we may need one hell of a blood tracking spell to locate it.”
“I know, Alaric. I know. And I’ve been thinking about all those things. I hope to have some kind of plan by tomorrow when we meet.”
He seemed more at ease on hearing that. “Okay. That sounds like a start. But what about her? We dock in two days. What are you going to do with her? Dreynthor will have his spies ready and waiting, then he’ll have questions.”
“She will stay with me. I’ll have Arielle around as much as possible. We’ll tell Dreynthor that Elariya will be training under Arielle’s care for duties in the royal court.”
“That sounds good, except we haven’t had a mage from the Ravenwood Realm serve our court for at least a hundred years.”
“I don’t believe our uncle will question me if he knows what’s good for him.” I cocked my head. “He wants me to get married to one of the princesses of Thalyrius. I haven’t agreed yet, so he’ll want to stay on my good side.”
Alaric bit the inside of his lip and studied me over the rim of his glass. “What if you have to go through with the marriage? Will you do it?”
“Let’s hope time will give us some grace. When we get back, we have to organize ourselves so that we get everything done without any disturbance from Dreynthor or anybody else.”
He nodded his agreement. “Especially the rebels. We’ll have to figure out a way to contain them.”
“I’ll call in all our reinforcements, so we’ll have more eyes on them.
” I thought of the murders and the rebel I'd killed in the dungeon on the night of the Phantom Moon. It was fool’s hope to believe things would settle down.
It never had. Nothing would settle down until I took back control of the kingdom.
“Have you thought more about Dreynthor’s involvement in Father’s murder?” He asked the question tentatively with narrowed eyes and a clenched jaw.
“There are still too many loose ends.”
“I agree, but we need to do something about him.” He balled his hand into a fist. “We all suspect him.”
“We do, but that’s not enough. For now the focus needs to be on getting the ring back. I’m hoping it may reveal everything to me once I have it. Seeing the past is one of its powers.”
“I hear you and I agree. I just hate watching him parade around the palace like he owns us.”
“Me too.”
My brother was disgruntled but I was certain no one hated watching our uncle act like he was a god more than me.
Alaric stared down at the table for a moment then lifted his gaze back to me. “What if it’s not him, Wolfe? What if our villain is someone else entirely.”
I’d considered that too. “We need to keep an open mind to every possibility.”
Alaric straightened, set his shoulders back, then nodded looking more hopeful. “I pray the Gods show favor on us and guide us to the ring as swiftly as a kraken’s tide.”
“Een heym sámai,” I replied in Old Galaythian, telling him I prayed so, too.
He drank the last of his wine and stood.
He looked around the room for a moment, his gaze touching each wall.
Then he faced me with sadness in his eyes.
“I miss the old days. When we were boys sailing the seas with Father. Life was simpler then. Life was good. But I never knew what I had until it was gone.”
“I know exactly what you mean.” I looked around, too.
Father left me this ship, but it would always be his to me. That was the reason why I didn’t change anything.
He’d lined these walls with books he loved and hung maps he followed again and again. There were pieces of him everywhere I never wanted to forget.
Alaric dipped his head. “Rest easy, my Lord.”
“And you.” I didn’t have the heart to tell him I’d never be able to rest until this was over.
If I wasn’t thinking about the situation, the curse was draining me and feeding off every emotion I felt, whether that be rage, vengeance, or desire. Some days, it felt like there was nothing left of me but darkness.
Alaric left and I stared at the wall for a few minutes before putting out the candles.
I should try to rest whether I could or not. Exhaustion was your worst enemy when you were trying to focus.
I left the room but as I walked down the corridor, my thoughts drifted to Elariya.
I told myself there was no need to see her. Seeing her wouldn’t do me any favors. Yet something—foolish or fated—compelled me to check on her.
I turned down the next corridor and made my way to her room.
The guardian wards outside the door shimmered open to let me through. At the moment, they were set to keep her locked in. Just in case she had any bright ideas.
The wards were just as good as having guards. They were also convenient since I left for this mission without a full crew.
The bedroom door was locked from the outside, too. With a wave of my hand, it clicked open, and I walked into the room, my steps muffled by the thick white carpet.
Instinctively, I looked at the bed. But she wasn’t there.
I found her slumped against the wall, hugging her knees to her chest and her head tilted at an angle that would leave her neck aching come morning. She was asleep.
In that almost fetal position, she looked smaller, fragile, helpless.
The chamber remained untouched, the food on the small table cold and forgotten, the clothes I'd sent still folded neatly on the bed. She hadn't even bothered to light more than a single candle, its flame now guttering low in a pool of wax.
Silently, I approached and took in the way her chest rose and fell in shallow, uneven breaths.
I stood there for a moment watching her, memorizing the constellations of light freckles across her nose and the fire of her hair against the stone wall.
What was I going to do with her?
It was a shame she was the daughter of my enemy. My father’s killer.
Her eyelids fluttered and her brow creased, as if in protest to the label I’d just given her father.
She shifted and her lips parted in an inaudible mumble. I realized she was having a nightmare, battling whatever haunted her in her sleep.
Maybe it was the memories the curse had kept from her. I couldn’t imagine what it must have been like to live with that burden for the last five years. Having one month of memories. All sorts of horrors could be haunting her. Including me.
I crouched before her, watching her closer. Too close. She shivered. Not from my stare but from the coldness of the room.
If she’d worn the clothes I left and slept in the damn bed, she wouldn’t be cold now. But I understood why she refused my hospitality.
She didn’t want anything from me.
A maddening smile floated across my lips.
Soon.
Soon, she would beg me. Whether for freedom or something else.
Earlier, when she pleaded for her father’s life, I half expected her to fall to her knees, but beings like her didn’t bend the knee that easily.
Tonight, I’d give her some grace. I wiggled my fingers, and one of the woolen blankets from the stack in the corner drifted over to me like a feather.
I took it and draped it around her shoulders with a gentleness I hadn't known I possessed. My knuckles brushed against her silky skin and I lingered. Lingered longer than I should.
It was time to leave. But I remained a fraction longer, as if tethered to the spot by invisible chains.
Her breathing changed and she snuggled into the blanket, looking more comfortable.
On seeing that I rose to my feet, my shadow falling across her face. “Sleep well, little mage. Who knows what fresh horrors this journey may bring for us both.”
A rough sigh escaped me and I retreated, not looking back before closing the door behind me.
The corridor stretched before me, echoing with a truth I didn’t want to name:
I was drawn to her. Not because she was useful. But because she fascinated me.
She fascinated me in a way that drove most males to madness and obsession when they met a female they wanted.
The kind of madness and obsession that could make you burn kingdoms to ash and tear stars from the sky.
Though the monster inside me purred in satisfaction at the thought of wreaking such havoc, I knew that was one line I must never cross. No matter how much she tempted me.
At least she was mine now. Not Thayden’s.
Mine.