Chapter 37
ACKER
I sense Messer’s arrival back at the tavern long before he appears, the blood in his veins is heavy with iron.
He came in through the window Jovie left cracked open for him in the spare bedroom, and he must have seen the clothes I left out for him.
As he’s coming down to the main room, he’s still shoving an arm through the sleeve of his shirt when he reaches the bottom of the stairs.
He looks exhausted, with dark circles under his eyes, after flying across the territory to speak to Kai and back again in just three days. Faster than any bird on record.
Fredrich kicks out a chair for him, which he graciously accepts, falling into it with a heavy sigh.
“B’s sleeping,” he says.
I already knew that, but it’s more difficult to explain sensing her through the Bond than it is to just nod my acceptance.
He holds my stare. “Kai wants to meet in person to discuss the possibility of an alliance before he’ll agree to anything.”
Figures. “I don’t think that’s a good idea.”
Messer nods as if he, too, suspected that would be my answer, but it’s Fredrich who speaks up. “Wait. Let’s think this through before we write it off.”
“There’s something I need to explain to you before you decide,” Messer adds.
I can feel Fredrich’s stare slide to me, but I don’t take my eyes off Messer. Stuffing my hands in my pockets, I place my back to the bar and lean backward, tilting my head toward him in acquiescence.
“You have the floor.”
He smirks, sharply. “I may like you, Acker, but that doesn’t mean a lot because I tend to like everyone.”
“It’s true,” Fredrich remarks.
“But I do have my limits, and, let’s face it, you’ve pushed them about as far as they can go.”
For a moment, a part of me believes he’s angry about what happened between me and Jovie in the dovecote before I’m able to rationalize he’d likely have already bitten my head off if that were the case. “By stealing your queen,” I infer.
His smile turns bitter. “By stealing my best friend.”
Anything I have to say wouldn’t be productive or nice, so I bite my tongue instead.
“I understand that she’s your Match—”
“I don’t think you do.”
He sucks his teeth in annoyance. “Were you born this arrogant or is it just a side effect of being a spoiled prince?”
Fredrich answers for me. “It’s kind of a requirement for the position.”
The bastard only shrugs when I look at him.
Messer sighs. “B—Jovie—is important to me. Probably the most important. If I had to create a list, her name would be at the very top.” He stops to clear his throat before continuing. “She’s my family, but, even so, I am careful about how I speak of her when talking to Kai.”
I dislike where this is going already. “In what regard?”
“Kai has always held this belief that Jovie belongs to him.”
Heat immediately scorches through my blood.
I have to remind myself that Kai is a long way from here and there’s not any way for me to correct the very misguided beliefs of Jovie’s childhood friend—the man to whom she was formerly betrothed—right now.
The tether begins to stir and the sensation of iron moving more swiftly overhead letting me know that Jovie is waking up.
“When we were growing up, he would get territorial if he felt like she and I were getting too close.” He rocks back lightly in the chair, his expression blank as he recalls the past. “He monopolized her.”
I remember the hovel she lived in out over the sea. Alone, high above and far from the busiest parts of the grove in Alaha. I knew then that it was intentional, her isolation, but couldn’t figure out why Wren would have taken the Princess of Maile only to treat her like an inconvenience.
There’s a hesitant look in Messer’s gaze when he meets my stare. “He eventually told me his father gifted Jovie to him.”
And now my veins are ice-cold. “Under what fucking authority?”
He doesn’t react to my anger as he continues.
“You see, Kai hates his father. His mother, Faline, spoiled him and he became rebellious as he got older. Any time the captain would try to discipline Kai, try to keep him in line, Kai would only retaliate harder. When Wren asked Kai what it would take for him to obey, Kai asked for Jovie’s hand in marriage. ”
Fury has me reaching for the blade I left on the bar, spinning it in my hands, needing something to do with the energy buzzing through my veins.
“But then Wren began … training … Kai in the ways of the land. At first, we believed it was just an old wives’ tale, Jovie and me.
We thought Kai was making it up. Magical gifts imparted onto humans from Mother Nature.
We wanted him to prove it by influencing one of us to hop on one foot, but his father made him perform a blood oath, to swear not to use it on anyone without his permission. ”
“The soil he used was old,” I say, having experienced its lack of potency myself.
When I was held prisoner in Alaha, Wren had made me swear a blood oath not to reveal Jovie’s true identity to her when I requested to speak with her, but I was able to overcome its bonds within a week’s time.
He shrugs. “Days later, Kai snuck through my window with some soil he had stolen from his father and gave me instructions to handle it in my bare hands every day, but to hide it well. That after some time my gift would make itself known.”
Fredrich seems particularly invested in Messer’s spiel, eyes steady on the shifter. “How long did it take?” Fredrich asks.
“Nearly a year. I turned into a cuttlefish on the floor of my bedroom. Thought I was going to die without oxygen before I could switch back.” He smiles to himself at the memory. “I pissed all over my floor.”
We all chuckle.
“The first thing I did was look for the image of a bird I’d seen in a book from my father’s study. It had always been my favorite, for as long as I can remember, and I flew straight to Jovie’s room as soon as I shifted.”
Impressed, I ask, “You flew on the first try?”
“First try,” he confirms, grinning. “But I was terrible and hit just about every branch in the grove along the way, injuring my wing.”
His story triggers the memory of Jovie explaining how she had garnered a bird as a pet.
“I was too weak to shift back when Jovie found me in her shiel. She didn’t know it was me, obviously, but she kept me in her sink and fed me sardines as she tried to nurse me back to health. Even though it was against the law to keep pets.”
Soft footsteps sound on the stairs, and we all pause, waiting for Jovie’s arrival.
Hair escapes her unkempt braid, still mussed from sleep, her freckles are on full display in the last golden rays of daylight.
She’s been fighting her nightmares at night, choosing to pace her bedroom floor instead of sleeping, and it finally caught up to her today.
I found her crashed out right after around noon, but it seems our voices may have woken her from her slumber.
She’s radiant, as if she’s made from the sun itself, and I may blind myself if I stare too long.
She sits in a chair at the same table as Messer, but she doesn’t look at me.
Hasn’t in three days since we went to the dovecote.
I pushed her too far. My own desires became blurred.
I wanted to touch her, but I needed her to admit that she wanted it just as badly as I did.
Telling her to lie to me was just to lure her into admitting the truth, that my hunger for her isn’t one-sided.
And if there’s anything I know about Jovie, it’s that her stubbornness will win every time.
Then once she gave it to me, the words spilling from her beautiful mouth with resolve in her gaze, it only made me want more.
Fueled by the lust funneling through the tether, I wanted those three little words to come next.
Most importantly, I wanted them to be true.
But maybe she was a little bit right. I did want to punish her, just not for the reasons she thinks.
As much as her betrayal hurt, I now understand why she did it even if it’s not what I would have done if our places were switched.
And as much as I loathe the fact my friend knows what she tastes like, I don’t blame her for doing the very same thing I attempted to do with Irina on my wedding night.
No, my frustration stems from something else entirely.
Like right now, as she offers Messer a smile when she refuses to look at me. “I returned home after training one day and you were gone,” she says.
He nods. “Apparently the entire grove had been looking for me,” he continues.
“And Jovie had told Kai about the bird she was harboring. He was able to put the pieces together and he warned me against revealing my true self to her. It wasn’t long after that when I sensed a change in their friendship. ”
My heart stops altogether before picking up pace.
Fredrich looks at Jovie, surprised. “Kai influenced you?”
“I don’t know,” she says, expression shuttered. “I want to think he wouldn’t do that to me, but…” She trails off as she contemplates the likelihood that her childhood friend could have done that to her.
“And you…?” I ask Messer. “What do you think?”
His expression is equally torn. “If he did, I’d like to believe it would have been by Wren’s command.”
“Kai had a way of making it seem like he was letting us in on all the secrets,” she says, biting her cheek before releasing it. “I barely believed anything about magic was true, let alone that it could be used on me.”
“Either way,” Messer says, shrugging. “She seemed happier. And after being miserable for so long, how could I deny her that? So, I kept a close eye out just to make sure that if he was influencing her emotions in his favor, that he wasn’t taking it too far.”
Jovie offers Messer a pitying smile and it says everything without the need for words. She clearly forgave him a long time ago for never revealing what Kai was possibly doing to her. If she even considers it something in need of absolution.
“Why are we even discussing this?” she asks.
“Kai wants to meet,” Messer explains.
Judging by the expression on Jovie’s face when her gaze shoots in my direction, I’m going to go out on a limb and say she also doesn’t think it’s a good idea.
It’s the first time she’s looked at me since the day I basically professed my undying love for her, and I have some pride left in me to pretend as though I’m unaffected by the weight of her gaze despite the way my heart stutters in my chest.
I return my attention to Messer. “But you know what his main demand is,” I suggest.
“He wants an alliance,” Messer says, “But only under the condition that Acker doesn’t sit on a throne.”
I’m unable to restrain my sudden burst of laughter at the sheer hilarity of his demand. “I’m going to take that as confirmation he did send men to kill me,” I say between breaths.
Messer’s expression reveals as much. “He didn’t deny it.”
I slide a curious look in Jovie’s direction, eager to know what she thinks considering the alliance she holds with Chryse under the guise of sparing my life.
But her expression is carefully placid. Not a single blink despite the spike of anger I feel down the tether.
It’s astonishing, her ability to mask her emotions. Her composure should be studied.
Fredrich throws up his hands in exasperation. “Why were you even willing to work with Wren’s son if he’s, please forgive me, such a piece of shit?” he asks to the room.
Messer’s expression is contemplative as he considers. “He hates his father because it was his actions that led to Alaha’s exile and what they’ve been subjected to for all these years. Deep down, Kai only wants to do what’s right.”
“How likely is he to divulge our plans?” I ask.
“He wants Chryse’s land and his father dealt with,” Messer says. “He’s not going to risk either of them surviving this war. I think if we can eliminate Edmond as well as Wren, Kai will be much more trusting of a new alliance. Including one that involves you on the Kenta throne, Acker.”
Fredrich and I trade glances. “What are you thinking?” I ask him.
“There’re a lot of advantages to having him on our side. The men, the trolls, the inside knowledge of his father’s maneuverings. But to ask you to give up on the throne…” He lifts a shoulder, leaving the rest his thoughts unspoken.
“It’s not as if you have to follow through with the deal,” Jovie says as if bored by the conversation. “You can always agree for the time being, then reevaluate once the war is over and the bodies are cleared from the battlefields.”
“You’re already planning to backstab one of our allies before an accord is even established?” Fredrich asks, incredulous.
Jovie shrugs, noncommittal.
But it’s Messer who looks at Fredrich like he’s dumb. “It’s kind of her thing.”
Fredrich and I share a pointed look, assessing the other’s thoughts on the matter. Eventually, he offers a raised brow. “The least we can do is hear him out,” he says.
I once swore that I’d kill Kai if I ever laid eyes on him again and, unlike my Match, I intend to keep the promises I make.
Not that I need any more reasons to kill the fucker, considering everything Messer and Jovie just revealed.
But as I look at Jovie and note the calculating look in her eyes, I have to consider the possibility that she’s setting me up.
It’s the same easy stare she hid behind while making me fall in love with her.
If I’d thought taking her from Maile would knock her off-kilter and give me the upper hand, I’d be sorely mistaken.
She’s plenty smart enough to find new, inventive ways to stab me in the back again, all while looking me right in my eyes.
“Messer,” I say, swinging my gaze to the worn-out shifter. “Can you set up a meeting?”
And even though he’s exhausted, he doesn’t hesitate to nod. “Time and place?”
“A week from today, at the southern cottage. It’s nearly due south from here on the coast. I can draw you a map.”
Messer nods. “If I’m not too far behind, I should be able to find your trail, too.”
“Don’t you think that’s a tad risky?” Fredrich asks.
I shake my head. “My father isn’t going to leave the capital in my absence. It’s not all that far from here, and we need to leave as soon as possible anyway. It’s only a matter of time before someone puts together where the pigeons came from.”
“Pigeons?” Messer asks, perplexed. “What do those flighty bastards have to do with anything?”
I grin, and when my gaze swings to Jovie, I’m pleasantly surprised by the conspiratorial hint of a smile behind her eyes.
Fredrich mutters a curse under his breath, knowing me well enough to not ask for any further explanation, before he says, “I’ll go ready the horses.”