11. Alira #2
I just want the truth before I see it from the laurel. If he loves me as he says…he will tell me, won’t he?
He looks at me for a few moments that feel stretched into many. Misery emanates from his soul as he wrestles with his decision. “I…can’t yet.” His frown is broken, eyes hopeless.
“Wow.” I breathe out the word with hurt stinging my throat. For someone who has lied for far longer than anyone should have to, living through time loop after time loop, I’m surprised to find how much his lie sinks into me.
Shouting erupts from the festival, drawing our attention.
Groups of knights are spilling between tents—flashes of beige armor and red cloaks moving like a river winding around rocks. They seize anyone in a pink dress, turn them around, and look them over before moving on.
My blood chills.
Are they searching for me?
Kalel’s head whirls to look back at me, and he hesitates, fear flashing across his face. “We need to go, right now.” He rises, pulling me up quickly beside him as we rush toward his palace.
“Kalel, what’s happening?” I whisper-shout, glancing back again and watching the knights destroy the beautiful festival setup. They push over tents and search any place a girl might be able to hide.
His grip on my hand is tight as we run through bushes lining the hill. Twigs catch on my dress and tear at the lace. A few stray branches cut my face and arms, but I barely feel it. The adrenaline is rushing through me, making my head spin.
“Kalel!” I shout as we break out of the underbrush and stand at the base of his palace gardens. The moonlight above is barely peeking through the clouds, but I see him perfectly. The sweat that beads down his forehead and the way his pupils are blown wide.
“Alira, we don’t have time for this.” He grabs my hand again and tries to pull me along. I tear my hand out of his hold and give him an agonized look.
“Why are they looking for me?” I whisper, shaking my head and pleading with my eyes for him to answer.
He grits his teeth and sharply looks away, searching for any knights who may already be here before he looks at me and swallows hard, dipping his head.
“I think King Achill is going to put you in his dungeon.” He doesn’t meet my eyes as he says it.
What?
“Why would he—” I stop myself, mind racing with thoughts. “Is this because I followed the wisp? Kalel, why would that bring about such a harsh punishment? I haven’t done anything to harm anyone!” I take a step away from him. Has he known the entire evening? Is that why he was acting so remiss?
He can see the doubt and sorrow in my eyes; it reflects as much in his own.
“You knew he was coming for me tonight…”
“I didn’t know he was coming. I thought we had a chance to leave after…
It’s…fuck. Please, Alira, we can’t stay here.
I’ll explain everything as soon as I can get you somewhere safe,” he pleads with me.
The desperation in his eyes seems real, but the evidence is right here in front of me.
I knew something awful was happening. Why else would the king be so untrusting and vicious toward me?
Tears trickle down my cheeks, and I slowly shake my head at him. “What aren’t you telling me?” I wipe my tears away with the back of my hand and glare at him.
Shouts pierce the night. The knights are getting closer, but I keep my feet firmly planted. I’m not going anywhere with him until I know his secret.
What were all his confessions about, then?
Why let me have a nice evening if he knew I was going to be taken to the king’s dungeon?
It dawns on me that perhaps that’s what he was arguing about last night with Tessa outside of the cave.
Did she leave early so that she could tell the king about how I disobeyed their orders?
My hand curls over my heart, covering the pain of betrayal that grows far beneath.
Kalel’s brows are pinched, and he frowns as if he’s fighting a war inside himself. “It’s…the demigods. They are outside the veil and waiting for their chance to take our kingdom.”
It feels like an arrow has just pierced my chest. I stare at him with disbelief burning into my soul. “Why would they be here…? No. I married you to end the war.” I bite through tears of rage.
Kalel’s frown grows. “That necklace you wore had a tracking spell on it. They only wanted to know where Devicit was located so that they could corner us the way we did them. King Achill isn’t innocent in this either, though.
He was expecting them to follow, given all their missing demigods; he didn’t expect them to just take the peace offering. Both kingdoms only want one thing.”
“Either Alzhor or Devicit. Both cannot stand while the other exists.” I barely get the words out. Kalel swallows and nods.
My throat dries as armor clamors closer to us by the second.
“And you thought what?” My rage fizzles out, and I’m left with only heartbreak. “That I would help them get past the veil and betray you?”
His eyes flicker with pain. “It’s not that simple, Alira.”
“It is.” I stare at him with emptiness. “It truly is that simple.”
Did Nikolai know too? Everyone here… I thought they were friends. I thought I’d found a home. But they’ve all been pretending.
Kalel reaches for me once more, but I step back and lift my chin. He can’t bring himself to say anything as the knights surround us. We stare at each other, memorizing every feature of one another.
“I’m sorry,” Kalel says with a low breath, kneeling and lowering his head as King Achill himself enters the circle the knights have made around us.
It’s been months since I’ve seen the king.
His black crown is just as crooked atop his head as it was the night we met, and his hair is a warmer silver than mine.
He’s dressed in armor like his knights, but his is much more extravagant, the metal more polished, and a thick white fur cloak attaches to the clasps at his collar.
“She speaks with the dragons. She speaks with the gods,” King Achill says with a cruel tone as he circles me.
All the eyes of the knights follow him, hanging on his every word.
His eyes flick to Kalel briefly before returning to me.
“A girl like that needs to be tamed. I commend you, Lord Lornhelm; it’s not easy to hand over your wife in order to protect your kingdom.
I promise I will have a selection of new wives for you to choose from once we wipe the demigods from the map.
Granted, we’ll need to keep a few to serve as your blood bags. ”
That makes my blood boil.
“I cannot be tamed, and he didn’t hand me over,” I spit viciously at the king.
He flinches at the wrath he sees growing in my eyes.
“I will speak to the gods and the dragons. I will speak to the phantoms that linger around Mortem. I will make sure that if the demigods get eradicated that you will come with us!” I shout, gnashing my teeth as two knights rush forward and hold my arms behind my back, securing them with rope.
“See? A demigod may look meek, but they are disdainful creatures. She would see us all dead if she had it her way.” King Achill lifts his arms to his knights, and they all let out a roar of approval. Fear dances in their eyes and shouts.
All I’ve done is fan the fire in their hearts.
“Take her to the dungeon and never let her out!” one shouts.
“Lop off her head.”
“Hang her in the square for all to see.”
“Bury her bones in the gardens.” The last one makes me look up with horror written all over my face.
My bones? I’m too distracted to fight back when they gag me with a cloth and tie it around the back of my head so I can’t speak.
Why would they bury my…
A terrible thought grows in the darkest part of me. No. I try to focus on the king standing before me and not the unimaginable idea that comes to mind.
I feel utterly numb—my nervous system so overwhelmed with shock that I can’t even manage a glare as King Achill tilts my chin up so that I’m looking at him. His smile is twisted with cruelty.
“Take her to my dungeon and make sure she has a nice cell. Wouldn’t want our most precious flower to wither away down there,” the king says with a cheerful tone when his words are far from it.
The two knights already gripping me are the ones who lead me away. They are both wearing their helmets, so there’s no telling who they are.
I go willingly, too defeated to resist. My thoughts are entirely on the laurel in my pocket and the herbs to break the sacred oath in the other. I cast a wary look at Kalel, who watches with despair written over his expression as I walk toward the king’s palace.
“Round up the kingdom in my courtyard. I will brief them in the morning about the war at our veil.” The king’s voice carries through the gardens until we reach the edge and disappear behind the stone columns lining the road leading to Kalel’s palace.
The two guards walk me to the castle. We don’t pass many demons on our way there. The happiness and all the people from the festival have already gone home, leaving the streets vacant, and not so much as a whisper is muttered.
Once we reach the front of the castle, the guard on my right stops and says to the other, “I’ve got it from here.
Go ahead and head back to the king so you can help round up the citizens.
” The voice is familiar, but I don’t have the energy to try to figure out who it belongs to.
I only stare at the ground, my thoughts bound to the laurel in my pocket, determined to face the vision the moment I’m alone.
The knight nods and heads back the way we came.
My attention moves back to the castle, taking in its sheer size. The front doors alone are two stories tall and require two knights on either side to open them for guests. Every lancet window has ivy vining down, making the structure look like it belongs in a forest.
“This way,” the knight grunts, leading me to a side door that is used by the staff and knights. It’s made of wrought iron and is a more standard size than the front one.