Chapter 46 - Luka
LUKA
“You’re fucking kidding me,” Luce swore.
“What do you mean?” Kara stood from her chair in the corner and made her way to us.
“Keziq was the witch Scribe I met at the Stygin market last fall. I made a deal with her to get answers about where to get the journal. Her price was I tie my life to hers.”
“For fucks sake, Luka.” Declan’s wings ruffled behind him. “You didn’t think to mention this before?”
“I told Lennox.” And honestly, I never thought anything would come of it. I never expected the witch Scribe to be the witch working at Adreona’s side.
“But if you hadn’t been attacked by a Dhampir on your way home, would you have told me?
If you didn’t show up at my door injured and needing help?
Or would you have waited until now? I warned you.
I fucking warned you not to go back. I had a terrible feeling about her, and guess what, I was fucking right! ”
“But if I hadn’t gone back there, we never would have found the journal!” I refused to go back on the decision I made. I needed to find the journal, I needed to earn back Lennox’s trust so I did what I had to do.
“So? It didn’t matter when it came down to it, did it? The journal has caused us nothing but fucking trouble. I told you not to go back!”
“Lennox, calm down it’s fine.” I reached for her, but she jerked out of my grasp, her emerald eyes blazing.
“It’s not fucking fine, Luka! Your life is tied to hers.
We can’t kill her because we don’t know if that will kill you too.
And besides that, even if we can kill her, who knows how many more lives she’s got stocked up?
She can get into our heads.” She threw her arms out, her eyes wild.
“She can pry anything she wants from them. She’ll be back, Luka.
How am I supposed to defend myself against her now without knowing how it might impact you? ”
“Lennox.” I reached for her again, but she turned away.
“No, don’t Lennox me now. I—I need a fucking minute.” She headed for the door, then looked over her shoulder, meeting my gaze. “Alone.” That one word—it felt like a stab to the chest.
“I fucked up, didn’t I.” I collapsed into a chair, bracing my elbows on my knees and scrubbing my hands over my face. “I fucked up big.”
“There was no way you ever could have known the Scribe would be working with Adreona. You never could have predicted this,” Kara countered.
“But I could have listened to Lennox, she warned me against her. Made me leave the market, but I returned without her. If I only had listened…”
“There is no use dwelling on the past and what ifs, it is what it is. What we need to do is focus on the future. I’m going to transport myself back to Arcadia and see if I can find anything about witches using Ichor magic to tie their lives to others.
The more we know about it, the better we can assess the situation. ”
“And I’m going to go check on Lennox.” Kara stopped when she got to me, placing a hand on my shoulder. “No use in moping, Luka, keep your head up.” I met her gaze. “Give her some time, and then go and work this out.”
“Thank you.”
She patted my shoulder. “She’s acting this way because she loves you, remember that.”
I nodded. “She fears losing the people she loves, you just magnified that fear tenfold.”
“You think I don’t know that?”
“I never said you didn’t, I just wanted to remind you before you walk into the lion’s den.”
Luciana and Kara left, leaving Declan, Nico, and Nol remaining in the tent with me.
“Luka.”
“Don’t Nico, I don’t want to hear it, not from you. I know I fucked up. You don’t need to make me feel worse than I already do. I’m well aware I might have altered this entire war for us.”
“Don’t be so hard on yourself, you didn’t know.” Nol’s voice was quiet.
“What do you know?” I met Nol’s gaze. “What do you know about Keziq?”
“Nothing really, I never saw her until those last couple weeks when she tried to force me to use my witch magic. I have no idea how long they’ve been working together.”
“Do you think she was working with Adreona when she tied your life to hers?” Declan asked.
“It wouldn’t make sense if she was. She knew I was a vampire. Why would she tie her life to mine if she was helping Adreona eliminate vampires?”
“Them working together must have happened after you met her.”
“Your Majesties!” One of the commanders Declan had appointed burst into the tent, panting as he spoke, his eyes wide.
“Your Majesties, Captain Hale, the Twilight Courts forces are here.”
“It’s about time, we’ve been expecting them.” I had forgotten about their scheduled arrival this morning with the events of the day. Lennox would give them a good scolding for being so late.
“No, you don’t understand.” His chest continued to heave. “They’re not here to join us, they’ve come to fight against us.”
The four of us flew from the tent, the sound of battle filtering into my ears.
I still couldn’t comprehend what the commander meant by fighting against us, how had they changed sides so quickly? Why?
I made it to the top of the hill, stopping to assess the landscape below.
Hundreds of Twilight Court soldiers marched into our camp, their golden uniforms sticking out against the winter landscape.
The clang of metal and the sounds of screams filtered up the hill.
I didn’t waste another moment before taking off down the hill into the fray.
I tore my sword from my back as I barreled down the hill, I ran past our soldiers as they came head-to-head with the troops from the Twilight Court. I could hear Declan barking orders from behind me as I continued my pursuit, cutting down any Twilight Court men who tried to stop me.
“We need to work our way onto the city; we need to force them to concede!”
I looked up, finding Declan above me, the sound of his wings flapping cutting through the sounds of fighting.
“There’s too many of them and we’re not highly trained enough.”
I cut down another soldier who came toward me, their blood splattering across my face as my sword hit its mark.
“Nico, I need you to cover me so I can get to a horse!”
“I’ll do you one better.” In a flash of magic, Nico shifted into his silver wolf form. I took down another soldier before leaping onto his back. I fisted my hands into his fur and he took off.
The soldiers continued to come at us. I swung at them with my blade from Nico’s back as he cut into them with his teeth and paws.
His coat was stained red by the time we made it to the horses. I leapt off his back and onto my horse, Zola, before taking off, Nico following behind.
I stayed on the outer perimeter of the battlefield. No one paid me any attention as Zola and I ran along the trees, too consumed by the battle before them.
As we made our exit, I continued to scan the battlefield. I had no doubt Lennox was in there somewhere. I knew she could hold her own, but if I could find her and take her with me—we’d be unstoppable at the palace gates. And I knew she’d want to have words with Bergan and Leone.
A burst of magic emulated from the battlefield. I could feel it snake along my bones.
Lennox, it was Lennox. I could sense her magic anywhere.
I steered Zola into the fray, she leapt over bodies, wasting no time making it to the center of the battlefield where we found Lennox and Kara fighting back-to-back, bodies littered on the ground at their feet.
Lennox held her sword in her hand, the metal dripping with blood. Her hair whipped around her, the honey locks speckled with blood as was her face and leathers. Goddess, she was beautiful.
“Lennox! Kara!”
The sister’s attention whipped toward me. “Get on! We’re going to the palace.”
I didn’t slow Zola as we continued toward Lennox, I reached down an arm. Lennox grasped my forearm and leapt, swinging her body up onto the horse in one fluid motion.
“We’re going to go force them to concede. I thought you might like to join.”
“It would be my pleasure.” Her arms wrapped around my waist, holding tight as we continued through the battlefield and into Verbial.
The wind whipped past us as we rode through the woods into the city. The cold stung my cheeks, but Zola didn’t let up.
From the looks of it, Bergan had only sent roughly half of his legion, if my estimation was correct.
Which left the other half guarding the city.
“Stop the horse!” Lennox called from behind me.
I pulled on the reins, bringing Zola to an abrupt halt, Nico and Kara stopped beside us.
“I have a plan.” Lennox slid from the back of the horse.
“I want to catch Bergan and Leone in a lie. The troops were supposed to arrive this morning; odds are, they know nothing of what transpired at our camp this morning with Adreona and the Dhampirs. I think we should use that to our advantage. We arrive and tell them we’re here to discuss why they didn’t show.
I want to see what they have to say for themselves. ”
“Okay.” I dismounted Zola. “But we’re all covered in blood, how are we going to explain that?”
“That’s why I had us stop. We can wash in the river here.” She gestured to the creek to our left. “I’ll use my magic to dry our clothes and then we can be back on our way.”
“What if they come out and say the truth right away?” Kara slid from Nico’s back.
“I know Bergen, there’s little possibility of that happening.” I knew he’d be a liability from the moment we stepped into the room.
“We’ll assess the situation once we’re in it.”
“Then let’s get washed up quickly. We don’t have time to waste.” Nico pulled his shirt over his head and headed to the river.
Lennox waded into the water farther down the river, away from Kara and Nico, I followed her. We still needed to talk.
She was crouched on a rock in nothing but her undergarments, dipping her leathers into the frigid water.
“I’m sorry,” I kneeled beside her, submerging my own clothes into the stream.
“I know.” She tilted her head toward me. “I’m sorry too.” She pulled the dripping garments from the stream. “I overreacted.”
“I don’t think you did. You’re entitled to your feelings.”
She summoned her magic, drying her clothes in an instant before pulling them back on, I followed suit.
“I know, but still—” She braced her hands on her hips and pulled her bottom lip between her teeth. “You got my wrath when you came back from the Scribe—from Keziq the first time. You didn’t deserve it again now. I just—” She met my gaze, her eyes glistening. “I’m terrified of what this might mean.”
I closed the space between us in two steps, pulling her against my chest and wrapping my arms around her.
“Me too. When I first made the deal—all I was thinking about was getting you out of our arranged marriage. That was my only goal. I would have gone to whatever means necessary to get you out of it, even if it meant sacrificing myself. I never considered the impact my actions might have on you down the line. I never thought you’d pick me. That we’d end up here, together.”
“I know,” she said softly. “And I can’t blame you for the past, we have to figure out how we move forward from here.” I took her hands in mine and traced my fingers over the markings on her palm. Connected, we would always be connected to each other.
“Luce said she was going to look into the spell and see if she could find any more information.”
Lennox nodded. “So we don’t worry about it, not now. Not when we don’t know what will come of it.”
“Okay.” I placed a kiss on the center of her forehead.
“We’re in this together, now. Don’t forget that.” Lennox reached up on her toes to brush her lips against mine. “Don’t you ever forget that, Luka Rossi.”