Chapter 34
One of my soldiers—I thought his name was Drew or something, but I couldn’t care less—his gaze was directed at Gwendolyn, like she was his.
I wanted to say something about it, when Malakai suddenly hissed.
“Stop. Looking. At. Her.”
Gwendolyn hadn’t realized that this man had been staring at her nonstop, her thoughts way too occupied with worry to recognize anything else going on.
After Malakai’s little emotional overreaction, she started blushing in a color that solely belonged to me.
I gripped her thigh under the table to let her know I was still there.
I needed to make sure she was aware of her feelings.
“Well… Xavier, the situation looks very bad. Leanan must have found a way to circle her power through the Veil. Although our protection wall used to be strong enough, I don’t know how this could happen,” my commander Taine said.
“I guess love makes you weak,” he added, keeping his gaze low, but I knew who he intended the blame for.
“Sorry? What did you mean Taine?” I wanted to hear the words directly from his mouth so I could have a reason to kill him slowly.
“The relationship to Gwendolyn has weakened you…”
“Weakened me? You always have been a loyal friend and soldier, Taine. But if you ever talk negatively about the relationship to the one who’s bonded to me, you’ll be sent back to the kingdom of my father very quickly. I can’t guarantee to you that it will be whole.”
“Xavier,” Gwendolyn admonished me, she must have noticed that my eyes were already red, my vampire side was very dominant and by simply being near her, my body felt on the verge of madness.
Her fingers were gripping my hand, stroking my knuckles in soft movements.
This woman was my craving, my fascination, my passion, my obsession. All I needed was her.
He could be right, maybe you need to start focusing more on the safety of the Veil instead of my pleasure. Your people need you. I heard her little thoughts in my head.
My people are you. Without your love, do you really think I care about the safety of my land? Without you none of what we’re discussing now has any purpose.
“That’s what I meant, Xavier. It makes you weak, unable to rule your own country. When will you finally realize that your bond is the reason Leanan is attacking us?”
Instead of responding, I took Gwendolyn’s hand in mine and began stroking her fingers. I put on a smile, trying to reassure her that I was okay.
Then I turned my gaze to Damien.
We both wanted to kill him right now, but suddenly the door opened and my brother strolled in with Lydia’s mate. Seth.
“Oh, it looks like we stumbled into a private show I wasn’t invited to,” Sparrow said with a smirk. “And I almost missed it. Tsk.”
Beside him stood Seth, his amber eyes locked on me with the same unnerving intensity that had always quieted a room. One of the reasons my father had picked him as his commander. He knew of his intimidating presence.
However, it seemed like the Vampire Kingdom had made Seth pale, his usual golden-brown skin almost the same shade as mine.
His long sleek black hair was bound into a braid—it almost made me smile, knowing that Lydia loved braiding long hair.
It was her favorite thing to do when we were children.
Sometimes she even hunted me down to just test out the weirdest hairstyles with my hair.
And then when his eyes gazed at Gwendolyn, I growled. I stood up quickly, offering him my hand.
“Seth.”
He ignored my gesture.
“Xavier,” Seth said flatly, like the greeting was a formality he’d rather skip.
Meanwhile, my little brother went over to Drew, who was still lingering a little too close to my woman. Without wasting any time, Sparrow clapped a hand on Drew’s shoulder and leaned in with a mock-whisper every one of us could hear.
“Sweetheart, your eyes are giving hunger. Careful… someone might think you are planning to bite someone who doesn’t belong to you.”
Drew flushed with embarrassment. Gwendolyn blinked in surprise, clearly unsure whether to be amused or mildly mortified.
“Sparrow,” I snapped, not in the mood for his dramatic shows.
He just gave me an innocent grin. “What? I’m only speaking the truth. He looks like he plans to steal her from you.”
Typical Sparrow. Always embarrassing me everywhere.
Seth stepped closer, and I stiffened instinctively.
He and I were like brothers. He was a few years older than me, but we were both outcasts from our own people. But then he was called out to be the commander by my father, which meant he was ordered to tell him everything, including any secrets I might share.
So, I had distanced myself from Seth… it didn’t help when the bond started to show between him and my sister. I could never confide in him again. Especially not about Gwendolyn.
“What are you doing here, Seth?” I asked.
Seth’s amber eyes flicked toward Gwendolyn, then back to me. “Following orders and making sure you don’t get yourself killed chasing shadows.”
What was he even talking about?
“Let me guess,” Sparrow said, lazily stroking through the strands of his hair. He almost seemed bored, but I knew it was all part of his show. “Our father sent his golden hound to sniff out some information, hmmm? Cute.”
Sparrow’s flirting was all just a show, it wasn’t the real Sparrow. Because the real one would do anything for Nathaniel and never dare to flirt with anyone else. But this arrangement now… it was a political meeting.
“Someone had to,” Seth said, gaze unflinching.
“Damien opened up a portal, creating an open barrier between Aetrum and Marabour… something that didn’t exist for hundreds, if not thousands of years, for a good reason.
Then your little human seems to be the one causing it all, like she’s the reason all of your powers are acting up… ”
I stepped between him and Gwendolyn, my jaw tight. “She’s not your concern.”
“She is your weakness, Xavier,” Seth replied, too calm for his nature. “That makes her everyone’s concern now.” The silence that followed was almost electric.
“Ouch… that’s bold, even for you, Seth. This is my brother’s land and his mate. Imagine if one of us talked like this about Lydia?”
“Don’t mention Lydia,” Seth hissed.
“So? I can mention her whenever I want. She was my sister first,” Sparrow replied. At what point did this discussion turn into a show?
I exhaled slowly, trying to remember the part of me that wasn’t ruled by instinct and threat. I felt Gwendolyn tugging at my arm, saying softly, “Not here.” Her touch always grounded me, even in the middle of this madness.
“Tell us why you are here, Seth, or leave…” I said again, refusing to look at him. My eyes solely belonged to her.
“Well,” Seth said, “Sparrow came to me, obviously unaware that I knew about the opening of the Veil through the portal…”
“How do you know about that?” And then realization hit me.
It was my sister who was able to sense energy shifting.
She must have sensed something happening to us and thought it could be a portal.
I knew Lydia aimed to save us, and she brought Seth, not because he was her mate, but because he was the best soldier in the Vampire Kingdom.
“What exactly happened, Xavier?” Sparrow asked.
Although we had been friends a long time ago, we never really had anything in common other than our love for Lydia. While he used his abilities for good, I used mine to kill and destroy.
“Your father knows she is also mated to Damien and Malakai now. Everyone does. But Lydia didn’t tell anyone but me.
It is your energy, the bond glimmering through.
It seems not only my wife but also the others in our land have begun to sense the energy shifting,” Seth explained as he took a seat at the table, not bothering a glance in the direction of Taine or Drew.
“What will you do now? Tell Vad the extent of it? Tell him that even my own people have lost trust in me?” My gaze drifted toward Taine.
“Lydia would never trust me again, if I did that.”
“But you know you have to listen to my father first, he’d kill you if he knew you would listen to my sister more,” Sparrow said.
Seth chuckled, amused. “Yes… however, her words have the highest weight for me. Nothing will ever change that. And when Sparrow came, I knew he was trying to get information about a land between Marabour and Aetrum, which your mother could have hidden somewhere…”
“And?” I asked.
“Well… there might be something… but to search for her there is useless.”
“Why?”
“Because she’ll find you anyway, Xavier. She will be smelling all your scents in the cave. And she knows where to find you.”
“Why are you here, then?” I asked, annoyed. “If you aren’t here to offer any useful information or help, then you should leave.”
“Well… I never said your father wouldn’t help.”
“What are you talking about?”
“If Leanan attacks Carnivalland, it would be better to have support from the Vampire Kingdom, don’t you think?
Your mother would be furious knowing you were accompanied by the greatest soldier in the kingdom,” Seth replied arrogantly.
Although, he was indeed the best soldier.
No one was ever able to beat him in a fight, not even my father was as strong as him.
“Why should I even believe you would help us?” I asked.
“Because I’m searching for something and you can get it for me,” he said, his tone amused. The grin he put on was so malicious. It didn’t surprise me that his offer carried a price tag.
“What are you asking for?”
“I need Faerie Water.”
Faerie Water… It was unusual to want something so rare, which could only be found in the realms of the faeries, so far away from the Vampire Kingdom. Its purpose was healing.
“Why do you need it?”
A pensive look crossed Seth’s face.
“It is for Lydia. She needs it… her powers are unpredictable right now, too difficult to control. She’s often tired from her constant restlessness.
And the Faerie Water can help to maintain her energy levels and soothe her untamed mind.
” The fact that Seth so openly admitted to truly needing something, because he didn’t profit from it, but he needed it for his mate.
For my sister, to help her contain her powers.
“Okay,” I said.
Seth’s eyes widened in surprise, as if he didn’t expect me to agree so rapidly.
But I was not only helping my sister in this, he’d also offered us protection against Leanan in the event she attacked.
And with everything that my mother had already done to us, I wanted all the help we could get.
I must never allow anything to happen to Gwendolyn.
“Where can I get it?” I asked. Seth’s gaze wandered toward my brother, who was now leaning against the door, a small smile playing at the corner of his mouth.
“The goblin market,” he stated, playing lazily with the strands of his hair.
A place filled with chaos, darkness and games.
Malevolent goblins in search of wicked favors, and twisted desires.
People described it as a realm drifting between light and shadows, where anyone could be themselves without the fear of being judged.
Everyone going to these types of markets was in search of something. No one there was better than another.
“Gwendolyn has to go there with you…” Seth’s voice was low.
“Why is that?” My gaze shot up.
“Because whatever is going on within your bond, she’s your strength,” he said, my eyes trailing down at her. She was still sitting beside Damien and Malakai, supportive and selfless. “And we know you wouldn’t leave her here, anyway.”
I chuckled at the truth of the statement. Because no matter how much I trusted my friend and his brother regarding her, I was too selfish to leave her here.
“But why are you not going to the goblin market?” Sparrow asked.
“You know in my position I can’t just leave… it’s the only place where magic traces can’t be followed. If I go there… your father… he…”
“He’d kill you,” I finished. Because as much as my father respected the bond Seth had with his daughter, he cared more for power. And if he lost trust in Seth, he’d lose it in everyone else.
“So, when I go there… and get this faerie water… I am guaranteed your support?”
He nodded.
“If something happens, you can count on me, including the kingdom of your father.”