Chapter Fifteen #2
“Correct,” Briar answered.
“So, let me get this straight,” Rowan interjected, propped against the wall in the corner. His safe place. “The king betrayed Evan’s father to save Sawyer… and Sawyer ended up being sick anyway all throughout his childhood? What was the point of the betrayal then?”
“You recall what Varys told us,” Lake said, his hand finding mine.
“He overheard King Eidolon speaking to a hooded man in his quarters late one night. The man mentioned that the treasure was lost. Perhaps Haran refused to fully uphold their end of the bargain, giving King Eidolon only a temporary cure for Sawyer’s ailment. ”
“There’s one other explanation as well.” Briar rubbed his lips together, mulling something over. “One far more sinister.”
Maddox frowned. “How so?”
“Prince Sawyer’s sickness baffled us all back then,” Briar explained.
“Physicians with far superior training and years of practice were at a loss. They crafted powerful healing elixirs, yet none of the remedies had any effect. In fact, the prince’s condition only worsened.
Many admitted defeat and left after a few days. ”
“But not you. Sawyer told me you didn’t eat or sleep until finding a cure.” I leaned against Lake, calmed by his peachy scent. He gave the best cuddles. “You even hunted down ancient texts, doing everything possible to find answers.”
An odd expression crossed the good doctor’s face. “Yes. And it was in one of those ancient texts that I stumbled across an interesting passage. One involving dark magic. Curses, to be specific.”
That caught Onyx’s interest. He’d been looking toward the set of windows and shifted his attention to Briar.
“Many texts on dark magic are forbidden in Bremloc,” Briar continued.
“But I scoured through every book I could find. Days blurred together. I then came across a section on blood curses. Truly wicked little buggers. They slowly siphon energy from the body. Drain a person’s life essence until nothing’s left. ”
Shock flared in my belly. “What did you do?”
“I presented my findings to King Eidolon, and he gave his approval for me to take any step necessary to save his son. He was desperate at this time.” Sadness laced Briar’s words.
“Prior to my meeting with him, I overheard his advisors speaking of burial arrangements. That’s how weak the prince had become. ”
I rubbed the center of my chest, trying to rid it of the sudden ache. “So, you broke the curse, and that’s what saved him.”
“Yes.” Briar released a shaky breath. “Only King Eidolon and I knew the truth. We never shared news of the curse with anyone.”
“This makes no sense,” I said. “Sawyer was only like seven at the time, right? What kind of evil jerk-face would curse a little kid?”
“King Eidolon and I suspected Haran’s involvement but never had proof,” Briar answered, his features marring with a deep frown.
“When we learned of your royal bloodline, I thought perhaps King Silas believed you and Prince Sawyer to be the same and had been targeting him since birth for that reason. But after what you shared from the vision, a different theory has taken root. What if Prince Sawyer was cursed before he was even born?”
My scalp tingled.
“Clever,” Onyx said, tapping a finger on his thigh.
Each of my men had a tell, and I’d started picking up on his: he tapped when deep in thought or upset.
“You’re suggesting that dark mages from Haran cursed the prince while he was still in the womb as a ploy to manipulate King Eidolon into agreeing to help them find Evan.
Then, they gave the king a partial cure once Evan escaped their grasp. ”
Briar nodded. “However, King Eidolon wasn’t aware of the curse before I brought it to his attention. They had deceived him from the very beginning.”
“So, it was my fault,” I whispered, vision blurring as tears surged forward. “All of it’s been my fault. My parents’ deaths. Sawyer suffering for all those years. When I was the target all along. If not for me—”
“Enough,” Maddox gently interjected. He moved closer, kneeling beside the bed and grabbing my hand.
He kissed my middle knuckle and regarded me through black lashes and eyes bluer than the sea.
“None of this is your fault, sweetheart. King Silas is to blame. His greed and pursuit of power caused all of this. Not you.”
“Listen to your captain,” Onyx said, gaze softening. “You cannot blame yourself for the vile actions of others.”
All of it was too much for my brain to process right then.
I closed my eyes and snuggled deeper into Lake. An ache pierced the center of my chest when remembering the sight of him on that bloodstained battlefield. His arms came around me, and he nuzzled my hair, no doubt sensing that ache.
“You should rest more, love.” Briar adjusted the blanket over my legs, then patted it once. “If you wish, I can brew you some tea to help you sleep.”
“I don’t need sleep,” I said, catching his hand before he withdrew it from my lap. “I need all of you to stay with me. So I can feel you and know you’re here beside me, safe and sound.” My gaze moved to Onyx. “That includes you too.”
“Such a needy little bird.” He leaned toward me and smoothed his thumb over my jaw. “But I, regretfully, have important matters to attend to. I’m confident your other mates can satiate your many needs in my absence.”
“There you go calling me a whore again.” I smiled at the memory of us in the cave. He mirrored my smile, as though his thoughts had taken him there too. “I better see you tomorrow at breakfast. No exceptions.”
“Ordering me around in my own home?” His smile slipped into something softer. “What will I do with you, little bird?”
I leaned forward and kissed him.
He froze against my lips before, slowly, sinking his fingers into the back of my hair and deepening the kiss.
Woodsmoke infiltrated my senses, causing spikes of heat in my blood.
But the kiss didn’t last long enough. He drew back and traced the line of my jaw, his gaze unreadable, before lowering his hand from my face and standing from the bed.
Without another word or glance back at me, he left the room and closed the door behind him.
“Rude,” I muttered under my breath. “He didn’t even say goodbye.”
Lake stared toward the closed door. “I sense a sadness in his heart. Anger exists within him as well.”
“Anger?” Maddox asked, taking Onyx’s former place on the bed.
“One that stirs deep in his core.” Lake’s brow pinched together. “He’s hiding something from us.”
Not too surprising. Onyx was three hundred years old. I was sure there was a lot he hadn’t shared with us yet. But I had hope he eventually would. Once he lowered his walls a bit more and realized that we… well, were his family.
Bonded by fate.
***
A loud clap of thunder woke me with a start.
“Take Evander and run!”
Ice seeped into my veins as my eyes flew open, seeing nothing but a dark room. It took my sleepy brain a moment to realize I wasn’t back in that cottage as my dad was killed.
I was in bed, with the men I loved, barricaded in the arms of a knight captain as he slept peacefully beside me in bed.
Lake lay in his favorite spot on my lap, while Callum snuggled in behind me, his warm breath feathering across my nape.
Briar was on the other side of Callum, and Rowan slept sprawled out on the window bench.
A ball of black fluff curled up beside him on the cushion.
Lightning lit up the room, the flickers quick and silent. A silence soon broken by another thunderous clap, the kind that sounded like the crack of a whip.
“I’ve got you, sweetheart,” a deep voice softly said.
Looks like my captain wasn’t peacefully sleeping like I’d thought. He’d probably woken when I had.
I burrowed closer to Maddox. “How is it already storming again? We just had rain like yesterday.”
“Spring is upon us,” he said, smoothing his calloused palm down my bicep. “Frequent storms are to be expected.”
“Well, it’s bull crap. Make it go away.”
A low chuckle rumbled in his chest before his soft lips glided over my earlobe. “An impossible request. I can, however, distract you until it passes.”
“What about me?” The warm body behind me shifted closer. “I can distract you as well.”
Smiling, I looked at Callum over my shoulder. “Well, I do love an ooey, gooey cinnamon roll to start my morning off right.”
Callum flashed his dimple. His sleep-heavy lids gave him an adorable boyishness that wrapped around my heart and squeezed. He slid his hand to my jaw and turned my face more toward him before kissing me. The sweet taste of him exploded on my tongue, and the heat in my blood turned electric.
“My lieutenant gets a kiss before I do?” Maddox grumbled, shifting to his back. The sheet gathered around his waist, exposing the bare skin of his muscled torso. Also exposing his scars. They marred his ribs and down his side—wounds that had nearly taken him from me once.
“I guess I can give you a kiss too,” I said, throat tight despite my playful tone.
“You guess?” Maddox tucked one arm behind his head and stared at me.
Jesus. The man was too fucking sexy.
I turned from Callum and kissed Maddox. Heat fanned over my skin as his deeply masculine scent wrapped around me, just like his arms as he pulled me onto his lap. Our lips melded together as I straddled him, groaning under my breath as I felt the swell of his cock through the material of his pants.
“No fair, Captain,” Callum said before sitting up and hooking an arm around my waist. He kissed the top of my shoulder blade before grazing his teeth along my skin, sending excited tingles all throughout my system. He took hold of my jaw and forced me from Maddox’s lips to kiss his instead.
“Have you forgotten your place, Lieutenant?” Maddox grumbled. “You’re rarely so bold.”
Callum smiled against my mouth before kissing me again, this one deeper. His tongue teased the edge of my lips before working its way inside and swirling with mine.