Chapter 7
The besotted Goddess ignored the God’s demands to return.
How could she go back to the cosmos when life on Eusis enchanted her so?
Vyrus’s anger grew, until only one path made sense.
For six days and nights he toiled, drawing together every fibre of sin and depravity from the furthest reaches of his universe.
On the seventh night he rested, gazing upon the monstrosity he’d send to Eusis. The meteor to eviscerate Evella’s beloved planet, forcing her to return to his side once more.
— THE HISTORIES AND PROPHECIES OF THE STAR-CROSSED GODS: CHRONICLES OF VYRUS
A muscle ticked in Matthias’s chiselled jaw.
I grimaced, swatting away the hand he offered while we walked – limped – back.
Part of me longed to laugh with relief, the other wondered what sound his cheek would make after a collision with my fist. My heart had cleaved in two at the thought Matthias would never be mine.
Now, I regretted preventing Pablo from mauling him after he’d thwarted my escape.
I kept my stare firmly ahead, acutely aware of Matthias’s scrutiny.
I winced at the tautness in my belly each time his gaze burned into me, a raw heat spreading across my throat.
What did the king think of his former companion?
I prayed to Evella he didn’t pity me. The last time we’d been together, I’d been creased up with laughter as Matthias tipped slowly over his horse’s neck, after it refused a jump.
My mirth bruised his pride. Tears shone in his green eyes when he dared me to make the same jump.
I’d not shirked a challenge yet, and Matthias knew I craved his admiration like the fallen crave the poppy.
I’d been born desperate to prove myself.
At the last moment, I forced a rogue tether free.
I barely recognised the threads weaving beneath my already prickly skin, but I’d learned how to reach in and take.
Ignoring the agony, the ribbon split through me and led my horse away from the fence where Matthias fell, driving her towards the hedge towering over it.
The last time I’d heard his voice, he’d screamed my name as my heart hammered.
His realisation the horse could never make it had been swifter than my own.
And somehow, this boy who’d crept into my bed to hold my hand when the dark was too complete, who’d been closer than my own shadow, hadn’t bothered to check how I’d suffered.
He’d failed to say farewell before he left to become king.
And now he strode by my side. My betrothed.
I clung to the wolf, refusing to look his way.
A group of guards readied a pyre for the fallen diafol.
Its contaminated body needed to be destroyed before any animals discovered a horrendously deadly meal.
I glared at Pablo, sending him a silent message to ignore what he surely viewed as a waste of meat.
The wolf looked up. I swear a smile crossed his face.
‘Don’t you dare,’ I whispered to him.
‘Dare what?’
I bristled at his deep voice. The initial shock of Matthias had worn off. He may have been my childhood friend, but now I knew it was him who’d bartered for my hand. I wondered how much of his dwindling Vyrium stores he’d used to purchase me? The thought caused more pain than my throbbing ankle.
‘I wasn’t talking to you. Pablo keeps looking your way.’ I refused to meet his gaze. ‘I suspect he’s hungry.’
Matthias moved across me to look at the wolf, snorting as a low rumble ran through Pablo.
‘Trust you to have a wolf with an attitude problem. Are you sure he’s got to come with us?’
My gut twisted. Come with us. In his head this was a done decision. Had the concept of asking me what I wanted even crossed his mind?
‘We’re a deal. Can I at least have some say in keeping my only companion or do I need to ask permission from a husband I never chose?’
Matthias pinched the bridge of his nose. ‘Would you stop for a moment so I can explain?’ I tilted my chin, staring dead ahead. ‘You were his Tribute. What would you have me do, Sorrow?’
I closed my eyes, twisting my fingers into Pablo’s fur as the icy stab of realisation punctured my lungs. The ever-noble Matthias wanted to save the bastard princess. In doing so he’d imprisoned me in yet another cage. ‘Here’s a unique concept, Your Highness. Have you heard of proposing?’
He tried to entwine his fingers with mine as he used to. I grabbed my skirts, moving further away as I clenched my jaw.
Romero and his remaining guards stood around the broken carriage. Tenner hung behind the others. The sleeve of his oversized uniform hung in tatters, but he lived. I searched the ground for any dead and blew out a long breath to discover only a few injured, whimpering guards.
‘We’ll talk. When we’re away from… him,’ Matthias whispered, glowering at the king of Drufaera.
The white glow of Enfys’s gift caught my attention as she crouched down to heal one of the guards.
For a moment, I gazed, awestruck at the beauty of her magic.
How easily she wielded her ability, as though it were an act as simple as breathing.
But then my half-sister had spent years training with the finest mentors in all Drufaera.
I limped forward, my breath held as her shining magic rippled across her fingers before floating towards the injured man.
It weaved over his torso, then blazed through his chest.
The sight blinded me, and as I blinked away the spots of both light and shade, Enfys stood, blowing a fallen curl from her face. I couldn’t make out her expression with the blotches across my sight, but I did hear her yelp of joy.
‘Matthias!’ Within a second, she’d covered the ground and the two wrapped their arms around each other. They fit perfectly, as though Evella had designed them to rule over Asmar together.
I turned away, my chest constricting as I recalled the last time I’d seen them together.
One of those long days convalescing with neither start nor end.
I’d convinced myself the room where my shattered body rested was too dark; that was the reason I couldn’t focus on the faces of the doctors and servants, their heads hung in my presence.
Romero had warned me to stay in bed, but the urge to go to the window, to look upon the grounds and prove I was fine, had overwhelmed his instruction to obey.
I’d slipped from the covers. Clutching the walls to steady my trembling legs, I staggered to the window, only to find the gardens I knew so well were hidden behind a veil. A veil stubbornly swirling with dizzying patches of shadow, then light.
I forget how long I stood there, tears streaming down my burning cheeks.
My vision had fluctuated between an almost clear image, flaring a hope I wasn’t losing my sight, and a blotched nightmare.
When two hazy figures moved under the shade of the conifers, my breath hitched.
Blinking, a wide smile lit up my face at the sight of Matthias and my spoilt little half-sister.
A part of my soul had lain hollow. Matthias’s absence cast a shadow across my heart.
I blamed the king. I knew Matthias would never willingly stay away.
I grabbed the handle of the window frame.
Shoved. Slamming my hands against the glass, the need to reach him overwhelmed any fear of shattering it.
I’d climbed onto the ledge, crashed against the rattling panes, when I froze.
Blinking, I’d tried to make sense of what the shadowy forms were doing.
Matthias, my Matthias, had embraced Enfys. He was only comforting her, I thought. He was always kind. Then, a tattered sob escaped me as he placed his hands on her face and laid a gentle kiss on the top of her gilded hair.
I have no recollection of how I returned to my bed.
Only snatches of falling onto the sheets, tearing at pillows sodden with my tears.
Matthias always despised the broken toys Romero had begrudgingly given him, tossing them aside as he sought a replacement.
If the prince had Enfys, why would he ever want me?
I’d spent the rest of the day rehearsing all the things I’d say to him. My mind buzzed and coursed with the questions and accusations I’d make when I finally saw him.
Only he hadn’t come that day.
Or the next.
Or ever.
My Matthias. My friend and soul had gone.
In his place was a king as cold and harsh as Romero.
He’d chosen the gilded path of duty, relegating our friendship, our adoration for each other to history.
Every bit of hurt, shame and ire coursing through me was shoved in a box I daren’t open.
I swore I’d shed my final tear over him.
Not long after, when my shattered body and soul were repaired, I’d told Romero all the signs that indicated I was emerging as an Anomaly were gone.
That my gifts were lost. Romero had sneered, convinced Evella deemed me unworthy of her blessing.
I’d cited the parable of the barren Anomaly, the cautionary tale of how Evella could still tear away her gifts if she saw fit, begging him to work in his library.
I’d find his Vyrium. I’d make him the most powerful king on all Eusis. But best of all, I’d never see Matthias or Enfys again.
And now here we all were.
And they were still embracing. Still clutching each other with an ease that gnawed away at the hollow in my ribcage. I bit the inside of my cheek. Romero coughed, and Enfys stepped back, still holding my former friend’s hands.
‘Sorrow. You found Pablo!’ Enfys let go of Matthias and hauled me into an embrace I found myself unable to return.
Matthias approached my stepfather, who kept his stare firmly on my face.
‘Do you need help, Romero?’
‘I wasn’t expecting to see you so soon, King Matthias. I told you, you’d have my Tribute, even if it’s taken you almost a decade to bother with her. One could almost suspect you questioned my word.’
Matthias and his captain exchanged a glance.
‘Of course not.’ Matthias plastered that damned smile on his face. I doubted it would have the desired effect on my stepfather. ‘We’re all under pressure with this situation the Empress of Carush has put us in. I simply wanted to save you precious time.’
I wasn’t sure if it was my shaky vision or if Romero’s lips curled in a sneer. ‘How very chivalrous of you, but if you wouldn’t mind, I’d like to spend more time with my stepdaughter. I’m certain you wouldn’t begrudge me a few more days?’
He regarded me with his icy gaze and I turned away.
He’d been suspicious since the horses bolted.
I often called the Drufaeran king rather rude names – fool was not one of them.
If I didn’t get away now, he’d have me questioned, thrown into his army and forced to serve.
Ribbons swarmed through my lungs as I stared at Enfys. I had to get away.
‘I’d prefer to go with Matthias,’ I said, battling to keep my breaths steady. ‘Now. This moment.’
‘You would?’ Matthias turned to me, brow furrowed, then shook his head.
‘My bride’s spoken, my liege.’ He cast another curious glance my way, as though he couldn’t believe I’d actually chosen him.
I bit back the urge to tell him it was a piss poor choice.
A volcano, a cruel stepfather or the boy who’d shattered my heart.
‘We’ll be on our way once we’ve helped fix your carriage. ’
Despite the fact Matthias had grown taller than the king who’d once been his warden, my stepfather still managed to look down his nose at him.
‘We don’t require assistance, Asmar. My guards are impeccably trained. This carriage will be fixed by morning, if not before. We’ll meet you at the rendezvous point as arranged. I don’t wish to separate my girls so soon after they’ve been reunited.’
Enfys’s brows knitted together as her eyes searched me, before kneeling to heal my ankle, her magic sweeping through my body.
I closed my eyes as the cool soothing waves carried away the pain.
She stood, a wide smile lighting up her pretty face.
There was a knowing glint in her eyes as she squeezed my fingers.
‘Surely you’ve covered the last eight years in the journey from the Tower?’ A hint of darkness entered Matthias’s tone. ‘The Tower where she was your sacrifice.’
‘I bestowed a great honour on her. At your behest, I’ve risked upsetting Vyrus. We’re already threatened by the empress and now I’ve risked the ire of a God. Perhaps I should—’
‘Sorrow is coming with me. Now.’
‘She doesn’t belong to you yet, Asmar.’
Asher stepped forward to stand by Matthias, his hand twitching by his sword.
Matthias widened his stance. ‘Sorrow doesn’t belong to anyone.’
The guards noted the charged air. Hands flew to hilts as they stood by their kings. If this escalated into a fight, I risked being dragged back with Romero. I knew I stood a better chance at escaping any scrutiny in Asmar.
‘My liege,’ I began, and Romero’s cheeks flushed with rage as he stared at me.
As much as I despised the move, I stepped towards Matthias.
‘I’m indebted to you and your… kindness,’ I carried on, ignoring Pablo’s snort.
‘But I’ve already taken up far too much of your time. I’ll depart with Asmar. Now.’
Romero sneered as Matthias placed his hand on the small of my back. I straightened, trying my hardest not to flinch as my skin sparked beneath his touch.
‘Fine,’ Romero spat as Enfys embraced me. ‘But don’t forget, my sweet Sorrow, if I get the faintest whiff of Asmar mistreating you, I’ll insist on your immediate return.’
I blew out a long breath as Matthias grinned. He opened his arms, and I raised a brow, sniffing and turning away. He may have forced me into a marriage, but I had no intention of falling into the damned man’s arms.
Ever.