45. Chapter Forty-Four
Chapter Forty-Four
Archer
I wasn’t entirely sure why I didn’t tell Isoria the full truth of how she’d died and I’d stabbed myself in the heart. That we’d both been burned and remade in her flames.
I’d woken disoriented, thirsty, and exhausted, only to find that Isoria was still burning beside me.
That had been terrifying, though the flames had snuffed out not long afterward, leaving her unconscious.
Orchid had hurried to clean her up, and I’d had enough time to worry that maybe she’d been too hurt to recover, that her magic had only had the strength to save me and not her, that something had gone terribly wrong… when the guards had stormed in.
Poor Orchid was backhanded and left unconscious. I’d fought as long as I could, injuring one and knocking another out, but I was too weak to wield my magic. They’d overwhelmed me in mere minutes, taking me in chains to the dungeons.
Now, I recalled the words Scarlet had spoken when I’d hunted her down for help. You’re in love with a phoenix shifter.
It felt too new, too vulnerable, to try to open myself up to sharing these tangled emotions with her.
Seeing her bleeding out, looking frail as I’d held her in my arms—even the memory gripped me with terror.
I wasn’t delusional enough to imagine that she felt anything similar toward me.
I was the prince who hunted her kind, the one prophesied to destroy all phoenix shifters or be destroyed by them.
I smiled wryly to myself in the darkness of my cell.
It seemed the latter might come to pass after all.
Isoria was indeed my ruin. The trouble was, with her resurrection complete, Isoria was out of second chances, and I couldn’t risk her final life.
I’d do whatever it took, even if it risked my own life, to get us out of here and try to rewrite our fate.
It could have been hours or days later. The guards had come and gone, bringing the occasional barely-palatable meal and cups of water. I’d had time after waking to drink, but Isoria had not. I’d begged the guards to give my portions to her, but only some listened.
The ones who would stand with you to oppose your father, I thought, once again recalling Grey’s words to me what now, after dying alongside Isoria, felt like a lifetime ago.
Did he still feel the same way, now that he knew I sympathized with the very phoenixes we’d spent years hunting together? That I was engaged to one?
I sat slumped against the wall, pretending to sleep, when I spotted Grey through the bars of my door, as if summoned by my own thoughts. He hesitated outside my cell, the orange torchlight reflecting in the dark pools of his eyes. His expression was impossible to read.
“Your Highness?” he murmured in a voice meant for only me to hear.
I straightened, trying to act dignified when I was sitting on a filthy floor, staring down whatever fate my father chose for me.
“I’m here,” I muttered.
He stepped up to the bars, peering into the shadows consuming my cell.
“Is it true? Is your betrothed truly…” He swallowed, his throat working.
He hates me. They all hate me. What were Owen and Lily thinking now that they knew the truth?
Were they eagerly awaiting my sentencing so they could cheer on my execution?
What about Cliff and General Starblood or any of the other guards and soldiers I’d served alongside? The hollowness in my chest worsened.
“A phoenix,” I replied. “If you can say the word without shuddering.” I squeezed my eyes shut, not wanting to see the terror or disgust dance across his face.
There was a long pause. “Did you know? Or did she trick you?”
My smile was pained as I forced my eyes back open, staring at the puzzled guard. Faithful Grey, wrestling with what he thought he knew about me and what he’d just learned. “I knew.”
For a long time, he was quiet. He shoved my tray of food through the slot in my door and stepped back.
And then I found the note peeking out from beneath the bowl of slop on my tray. We’re with you.
My heart slammed against my rib cage, full of wild hope. We. Did he mean himself and more of the guards? Owen and Lily? And he’d delivered this before he’d had his answer from me.
Tears stung my eyes, but I wouldn’t let them fall.
He’d believed in me—they all had—even when I’d given them every reason to doubt my dedication to them.
I glanced up, but Grey was already gone, likely not wanting to linger and risk being overheard or caught.
Maybe the other posted guards weren’t ones he trusted.
I sat there for a long time, letting myself process this information, this shred of hope. I forced myself to eat the note with the rest of the barely-edible food I’d been given, knowing I needed to keep up my strength.
Isa?
No answer. All I could hope was that she was still resting. I could only imagine the amount of strength and energy that had been sapped from her body in resurrecting us both.
A short while and many more frenzied thoughts later, I heard new footsteps approaching my cell.
I leaned back against the wall, staring at the sliver of the outside world the barred window in my door afforded me.
The pair of guards who paused outside were not males I was familiar with, and my stomach sank.
“Father rethink his plans?” I asked cheekily as one unlocked the cell door, cringing as he stepped into the space infused with so many forget-me-nots they made the very atmosphere oppressive and painful. “Realize he can’t manage without my charming presence?”
“Up, Your Highness,” the first male said gruffly. The other lifted a pair of shackles, making me bite my own tongue with dread.
But I didn’t try to resist as they settled them around my wrists and led me into the dungeon passageway.
I caught a glimpse of Isoria through her window.
Curled up on her side on her cot, her chest rose and fell peacefully.
It was my only comfort as the guards shoved me along, leading me out into the castle halls and past servants who studied me with lowered gazes, pity marring their expressions.
The guards took me to a private study, not in Father’s quarters but one reserved for clandestine meetings that perhaps he didn’t want his advisors or staff privy to.
When the door opened soundlessly, they released me, letting me walk in of my own accord before shutting the door again behind me.
Candles burned low and Father reclined in a chair alone, staring out the high window at the sliver of starlight it highlighted outside.
Palm fronds waved in a gentle night breeze.
How many days had passed since Isoria and I had been imprisoned?
Was this our second night? Third? The dungeons, with their perpetual dark and the pain of the forget-me-nots, felt timeless, leaving us suspended in endless misery.
“Tell me she seduced you,” Father said without looking at me, without moving. His hands rested on his chin, his gaze stony. “Tell me she deceived you and I’ll understand the sudden engagement announcement, your shifty ways of late, the disappearing death-lovers.”
My throat clogged with sudden emotion. There was an air of desperation about him, as if, maybe, Father wanted an excuse to spare me.
But there was no use in lying. “We’re blood-bonded.
When I encountered her, I tried to capture her, and that’s when we discovered the tether linking us, one forged by the gods themselves.
If she dies, I die. If we do not stay in close proximity to one another, we die.
So I came up with the idea of her being my betrothed, because it was the only way to keep us both alive.
But along the way, I’ve realized they aren’t the monsters we think they are.
She’s kind and brave and loyal. I’ve watched her toil over our people.
She’s sweat and bled to try to heal and save them, not destroy them. ”
“Have you considered that she is the answer to Maris’ prophecy? The one to ruin us?”
My smile was mirthless. “She already has.”
The king turned toward me finally, his gaze dark. “No, son. Have you ever stopped to consider she was manipulating you, using you until you trusted her, cared for her, and would risk anything for her? All so she could fulfill her end of the prophecy and murder you?”
“If she kills me, she kills herself because of the bond.” An outright lie, but if I hadn’t realized that in my studies, then I had to hope Father hadn’t in whatever research he’d conducted while I’d been holed up in the dungeons.
If he had any suspicion that Isoria’s death wouldn’t kill me too, then her life was forfeit.
Although if I was completely honest with myself, I knew that Father might sacrifice me anyway to be rid of her.
“They manipulate life and death, Archer,” he snapped. “She can afford to die to kill you. She can come back, but you cannot.”
I shook my head. “I’ve studied phoenixes. They can only resurrect once, and at the sacrifice of another. She already died at Dell’s hand, and she brought us both back to life. She’s out of second chances. If she dies, she’ll…” My voice cracked. “She’ll be gone forever. And I’ll die with her.”
“No.” Father shook his head, tone full of conviction.
That’s when the shadows at the corner of the room shifted.
We weren’t alone after all. A figure stepped forward, the female almost too unnaturally beautiful to look at.
When the light hit her face, it shone as if a fire burned within her, and her eyes were full of infinite wisdom, like she’d seen ages upon ages of lifetimes.
Immediately, my skin prickled in her presence, sensing her power.
A deity.
“The guards told me about the blood bond you claimed to have with Isoria, so I did some research of my own,” Father went on. “Vithenna, Goddess of Life, has answered our pleas and is here to free you of that death whore at last.”
My stomach plummeted. Surely Vithenna would expose my lie about the bond to Father and Isoria would be doomed.
“Prince Archer. I’ve been wanting to speak to you.”
Hope, fragile as it was, bloomed in my chest. Was she going to ignore the lies I’d given Father? Was she really not going to reveal that the bond didn’t have to be broken for him to accomplish what he wanted?
But then, her words registered, and that hope was replaced with anger.
“What?” I lifted my gaze toward Vithenna, the bitterness of betrayal coating my tongue.
“Why answer our prayers now? I’ve asked many times for answers about the revenants, for a way to save Emberglade.
” As soon as the words left my mouth, I realized how bold they were, how Vithenna, mercurial as the gods were known to be, might simply strike me down then and there.
That she would say she didn’t and never had owed me anything.
That she hadn’t needed to respond to Mortius when I’d bargained with him for information, and had stood by to watch what I’d do instead.
We were all playthings to the gods, after all, subject to their whims and ever-changing emotions.
When and if they bothered paying us any heed at all.
Maybe that’s why she hadn’t outed me to my Father. Maybe she wanted to see this drama play out, see the bond broken and what moves I’d make next on the gameboard of life.
“The time was not right,” Vithenna said with a self-satisfied smile, reminding me of Onyx lounging in the sun.
It was a fancy way of telling me exactly what I’d been thinking.
She hadn’t wanted to answer me then. “But I’m not here to break your bond now, either.
My presence is not strong here in your mortal lands, not anymore.
We gods have ascended to make our lives on the Immortal Heights.
However, my faithful worshippers at my temple can assist you.
If you visit and make an offering to me there, I will be strong enough to linger and to help. ”
Her smile was sharp. “We have much to speak of, young prince.”
As swiftly as she’d stepped forward, she was gone, like she’d never been there at all.
Exhaling softly, I let my worries deflate. At least Isoria would remain safe for now. Whatever her motives, Vithenna had chosen to let me keep my secret about the bond.
I blinked at Father, reeling. “You called on Vithenna to break the blood bond?”
“It seems she thought your and Isoria’s plight had finally gotten interesting enough to use what power she had to descend here and share that message.
Which means this is our chance. You will travel to Vithenna's temple and have the goddess break your bond. Then you’ll see how this death-lover has manipulated you and you’ll finally be free.
We’ll execute her without repercussions for you and before she can find a way to break the bond herself and murder you. ”
“She would never—”
“Don’t make me question my decision. Don’t tell me you’re too far gone to be saved, that I’ll have to keep you locked in the dungeons for your own safety and the safety of our family.” His voice was clipped.
“If I travel that far without her before the bond is severed,” I said, voice monotone, “we both will die. She has to go with me.”
Father dipped his head in acknowledgement. “She will travel in shackles.”
“The bond means that her shackles will also stop my magic—”
“Exactly the point,” Father cut in. “Both of you must be neutralized, because she would manipulate you to use your magic for ill the same way she would. You can take your friends with you if you wish, but I will be sending trusted guards to keep watch over all of you. If you, Isoria, or your friends make a move to avoid breaking the bond or to harm my guards, they are under orders to kill.” He hesitated.
“Even you, if necessary. I will not risk your sister or this kingdom.”
Or your power, I thought darkly.
Internally, I cringed. Being watched by Father’s lackeys—forcing Isoria to travel in those forget-me-not chains—that sounded like torture. “Very well. Unchain me and I will go.”
Father rang a bell and the guards returned with the key.