Twenty-Two
Kaius
I did not have the heart to tell Adelasia that I found Saddiq.
Or at least–what the wolves had left of him: a severed arm and far too much blood.
Still, I cannot in good conscience lie to her about looking for him, so after I saw her to bed myself, I gathered some of my servants and forced them to attend a rescue mission that would reveal nothing I don’t already know.
Humans and even younger vampires would find these woods unnavigable, but I have lived in the valley nearly my entire immortal life. Memorized every tree and every rock. Every long-forgotten trap laid by the demon hunters and every bone of a small rabbit caught by a wolf; supernatural or otherwise.
It’s a simple task to retrace my steps and find the river where I found Adelasia near death. At the time, I was so concerned with her injuries and getting her somewhere safe that I ignored the obvious signs that someone had gotten there before I did.
She had Witchfoil in her wound, but even more obvious–the feathers.
I have not seen those feathers in nearly six centuries, and I hoped to never see them again. The realization that he has been lingering near my home–enough to find helping Adelasia a worthwhile cause–makes my blood boil.
To know that he will use this as a debt I will need to repay makes me blind with rage. In that frenzied anger, I punch the oak to my left.
Combined with my strength and the power of my new Eternity-blessed Bloodstone, the oak is ripped from its roots, falling to the forest floor with a loud boom.
I feel a shock to my system. There is no such being on this earth that was meant to wield that kind of magic. It’s dark and twisted and dangerous.
I think it is warning me. I ought not to misuse the power I’ve now twice stolen from the keepers of magic. Doing so again may have deadly consequences.
One of my thralls approaches from a break in the trees, two other men following. They all meet my eyes and shake their heads.
As I suspected, there was nothing of Saddiq left to find.
As I return home, I close my eyes in relief. Her heartbeat is stronger than it was when I left. I can hear it through the walls. I listen for it, always, because I cannot bear to live in silence without it. Her life brings me peace and comfort where I have none.
I left her to rest in my bed and warded the door. As I enter, even through the darkness I can see that she looks less sickly than she did before. I carefully slide into the bed next to her with my back against the headboard.
Somehow, within her dream, she reaches for me, settling down again by resting her cheek on my thigh. I let my finger trace up and down the scar on her back that hasn’t been covered by her nightgown.
In all my years of immortality, it never once crossed my mind that there was a possibility that I could care for the person who would free me from this curse.
But my feelings have gone far beyond care. Far beyond fondness. Maybe even far beyond love. The bond we share is more than a millennium in the making, and I believe it was always meant to happen this way.
A love destined for the grave.
It’s a devastating realization that all paths of our love result in me losing her, and that is a reality I have yet to make peace with and refuse to accept.
Eternity already told me that there is no future where my mate does not die, but what if I made another bargain? Is there anything I could offer the Dark Goddess that would save Adelasia from a fate inked in blood? A fate she had no part in curating?
The sun crests and falls again before she stirs and wakes. Her dark lashes flutter open to reveal a confused and slightly concerned look. I use a hand to run my knuckle across her jaw.
“The color has returned to your cheeks,”
I whisper. “How do you feel?”
“Tired.”
She runs her hand over her stomach where her wound is and does not flinch or wince. At the same time, it grumbles. “I could use something to eat.”
I nod, and as quickly as she finishes her sentence, a tray of breakfast appears on my lap for her. She reaches for the fresh berries first, and then the hot tea, and manages to finish the entire plate except for the bread. I assume that’s what she survived on for most of her time in the Blackwood, so I don’t protest when she leaves it untouched.
Her eyes meet mine for a moment, and then she lowers her head. “You didn’t find him,”
she says quietly, more to herself than to me.
I shake my head. “I’m sorry,”
I offer, though my apology is no comfort to her. A lone tear falls down her cheek and I wipe it away with my thumb. “The Blackwood is a deadly place. Do not blame yourself for his death. I know he cared for you. I don’t think he’d want you to torture yourself with guilt.”
She wraps her delicate fingers around my wrist and leans into my hand that’s still pressed to her cheek. I run my thumb across her chapped bottom lip.
“He has a family,” she says.
I nod. “Perhaps once you’ve healed we can travel together to inform them.”
She looks at me, and I see a small sparkle of hope in her eyes. “You’d come with me to do that?”
“If it would comfort you even a bit, then yes. Maybe…maybe on the way back we could visit your mother.”
“Do you mean it?” she asks.
I nod, but I think she feels as though she won’t make it that long, and the thought brings her only more sorrow.
She sighs and lets go of my wrist. I let my hands rest in my lap. She lies back down on her side and furrows her brow.
“My head hurts,”
she breathes.
“It will take a while for you to fully recover. You are…very lucky, Adelasia. More than you realize.”
“Would I truly have died if you didn’t bargain with Eternity?” she asks.
The thought alone fills me with dread, but I answer truthfully. “Yes. And before you ask, I would not hesitate to make the same bargain again. Nothing she could take from me would ruin me more than losing you.”
“Because we’re mates?”
“Because…”
I trail off and bite my cheek. She closes her eyes and the corner of her mouth tilts up in a smirk. “Something amusing?”
I ask, somewhat irritated by her reaction.
“Is it really so hard to simply say that you care about me?”
I open my mouth to tell her just that, but I find the words getting caught in my throat. I come to the realization that I’ve always spoken in circles, or hidden my real meaning, because denial is easier that way. “There is nothing simple about the way I feel about you.”
“It’s okay,”
she sleepily whispers. “You’ll stop being such a grumpy tyrant and admit it eventually.”
“Grumpy tyrant, hm?”
I playfully growl as I settle on my side so I can fully face her. We’re nose to nose when she opens her eyes. They’re distant. She needs to rest now.
I gently brush a strand of hair from her face and then use my thumb to trace soft circles on her temple. “I think you’re right,”
I whisper to her sleeping form. “But maybe I don’t want to be a tyrant anymore. Maybe I will take you across the Endless Sea to the land of mortal kings, where there is no magic, no Priestesses, no demons. Somewhere no one will ever find us…and then maybe I’ll finally have the courage to love you simply. Perhaps I’ll even have the courage to whisper it to you, too.”
She sighs in her heavy sleep. I kiss her hairline and stroke her cheek, carefully watching her breathe.
I suddenly sense an unwelcome presence in the palace. Chills climb up my spine and my body tenses over her protectively. The palace remains silent, but I know better than to ignore my intuition. Someone is here.
Carefully, so I don’t wake Adelasia, I slip out of the bed and seal her door with a ward before walking through the halls. Though the unwelcome presence lingers, I don’t equate it to a threat. Regardless, red magic wraps around my wrists as I prepare for a fight. I am on edge all the time now, worried that Amatisi has come for Adelasia in her weak state.
“Show yourself!”
I hiss into the shadows. My voice echoes through the halls.
The only presence that makes itself known is Cassius. He slithers towards me, slowly, and I notice that some of his scales are missing. I kneel down to take a closer look. He has a gash across his body, black and festering like the one Adelasia had.
I run my hands gently over his scales and the magic of the bloodstone heals the wound. “Did you try to fight off those wolves for our precious Adelasia?”
He weakly raises his head as he wraps himself around my arm. “Brave little fool,”
I murmur. “You seem to always come to her aid before I do. Maybe you’d serve better as her guardian than my companion.”
At that, Cassius raises his head again with a new energy.
“Oh? You would like that I see.”
He nudges against my chin. I lean in closer to whisper. “I think she would like that too. Four hundred years with you at my side, and it seems we’ve both been bewitched by her.”
Cassius’ forked tongue pokes out. I sigh and give him a small upturn in the corner of my mouth. “We’re in agreement then, to do whatever it takes to protect her life with our own?”
Cassius tightens his coil around my arm, and another golden line appears down his back, intertwining with Adelasia’s vow.
My own forearm now has an intricate pattern of red, black, and golden vows.
A promise of blood, a broken fate, and an oath of protection.
How many more can I make before one vow breaks another?
After the glimmering of the line dissipates and the golden threads settle into my skin, Cassius lets out a long hiss that sounds suspiciously like a laugh, and then he fades into dust.
What’s left in my palm is a single white feather.
My hand trembles as anger surges through my veins like molten-hot liquid. I clutch my fingers around the feather, and when I reopen my palm, it's been reduced to dust by the strength of my grip. The ashes flutter away with an eerie breeze filtering through the hall.
From the open balcony behind me, I hear a pair of boots land on the stone railing, and then a soft thump as they land on the floor of the terrace and enter the marble halls.
“Leave,”
I warn without turning around. “Whatever you’ve heard or seen through Cassius, forget it all and I’ll let you leave with your life. Otherwise, there will be no feathers left on your wings for you to taunt me with.”
He tsks behind me, and his smooth voice fills my ears for the first time in centuries. “This is the warm welcome I get for saving your pet?”
“I cannot offer warmth when you are not welcome to begin with.”
“She would have died long before you got there if it weren’t for me.”
“Your actions lack a distinct taste of altruism,”
I snap back. I then turn to face him, and my eyes land on a figure I recognize all too well, despite my best efforts to forget. “I do not have the patience right now for your games. This is about her life.”
“Ah, which you’ve so graciously given me the humble task of protecting,”
he pinches my cheek as a brother would do to a sibling. I jerk away from his touch. “I intend to perform my duty to the letter.”
He pauses, looks at the mix of desperation and anger on my face, and then begins to laugh. “What’s the matter, Kaius? Afraid I can do it better than you? I can promise I’ll certainly be on top of things.”
His innuendo is not lost on me, and I roughly grab his arm. “Break this vow. Now,”
I demand. “Now, Rowan.”
His expression glosses over with something solemn. “We both know you’re the only one here with a history of breaking vows when it’s convenient for you.”
He raises the side of his mouth in a sneer that shows his teeth, before coyly transforming it into a smile and removing himself from my grip. “I’d hate to take that talent from you.”
I use the power of the enhanced Bloodstone around my neck to shove him backward, leaving him on his back in the doorway of the balcony. Then, as he tries to bring himself to his feet, I use the dark magic to hold him on his knees.
He gives me a sultry smirk. “Usually you’re the one on your knees in front of me. How does that power feel?”
“Sublime,”
I tell him with a tilt of my head and a wicked smile, before using my magic to force his wings closed, and toss him over the balcony.