ICLAS
26
- MALAKAI -
E ach second passes by too fast. How long has she been gone? Where is she? Is she all right?
The moment I could no longer feel her presence, a fear like never before flooded my body. It felt as if a piece of me disappeared—a piece I had just found. We haven’t had enough time.
I follow Kailu in a haze, leading my horse with no clue of where we’re even going.
Kailu stops at the base of the last hill to the Vale, dirt from the road swirling around his boot. “Malakai?”
I look at him without really seeing him.
“ Malakai .” He says my name with more bite behind it.
I blink.
He reaches across the gap between our horses to clasp one of my shoulders, giving me a gentle shake. “Snap the fuck out of it, Mal. We will get her back. You are her mate. You would know if she was dead. She is fine and we are going to help her. We need to both be strong for her—we can’t fall apart.”
“You’re right.” I clear my throat. “She’s smarter than anyone I’ve ever met and stubborn as hell. Let’s bring her home.”
We slowly make our way into the Golden Vale. I always loved coming here as a boy. My sister and I loved picking flowers and playing in the stream. I liked to hang from the branches of the trees and scare her. She liked to shove me into the stream in retaliation.
A pang resonates in my chest. I miss Ayda. I want her to meet Alanis. She would love her.
Shaking the thoughts from my head, I dismount and walk to the edge of the waterfall and peer over. Mist shrouds the area, but I can clearly see what waits below.
“Aeros.”
We quickly make it down to where Aeros is tied to a tree, pacing at the end of his lead with worry and agitation. When he sees us, he throws his head up, prancing, and only calms when I’m close enough that he can shove his nose into my chest. I smooth my hand over his neck as I look around for any sign of where Alanis went.
“I’ll run a perimeter around the lake,” says Kailu. “The portals have been in bodies of water, so she might have gone through here.”
I nod and scan the trees, then walk to the edge where the second waterfall drops into the ravine below, but I see nothing. No sign of anything but a lone deer drinking from the water.
The rickety bridge catches my eye as the mist rising off the waterfall parts, as if brushed aside by a gentle hand. The vines growing over from the weeds on the other side give it an enchanting appearance.
“No sign of her in the lake,” Kailu says as he joins me. “I even took a quick dive to look around.”
I laugh at his wet, shaggy hair. “I don’t think I’ve seen your hair this long in a while. Are you in a midlife crisis?”
He gives me a look that screams “Fuck you.”
“Well, when you find out the girl you’re falling in love with is mates with your best friend and you may or may not lose her, it tends to take it out of a male.” He gives me a sharp smile.
I squeeze his shoulders in a reassuring grip. “We’ll get the answers to all these questions.”
His worried gaze flicks away and then back. “What if we get the answers and she still isn’t my mate?”
Breathing deeply, I try to calm him even though that is an unspoken fear of my own. “I’m glad to have you call me a friend again, and that will not change. No matter what happens.”
Kailu gives me a sad smile. “You were always my friend. I was just a shitty one.”
I laugh. “You always were a pain in the ass.”
As we make our way to the bridge, my eyes immediately fall on the wishing well and its wilted flowers. My mother and father never let Ayda and I cross the bridge, always claiming it was too unstable as it hadn’t been used since Paliri’s father ruled, the Fae we call the Lost King since no one ever discovered what happened to him or where he disappeared to. Even with the area being abandoned for so long, flowers should not look like that. They’re crispy to the touch, like the sun fried them to death. Frowning, I peer into the well and stumble backward, unsheathing my sword.
Kailu immediately appears at my side, sword in hand. “What is it?”
“I have no idea.”
The smell that greets me as the first figure appears over the edge is enough to cause my breakfast to rise up my throat. Shit. That’s all I smell, piss and shit.
The figure heaves themself over the well’s wall and another follows behind. They tense when they see us waiting with swords out. Humans. Even through the muck, I can see their uniforms well enough to recognize they’re soldiers.
“Who are you?” I ask.
“My name is Jensen,” says one of them. “And this is Gracin. We were two of the six soldiers taken by ghouls from the junction.”
“That doesn’t explain why you’re crawling out of a well, covered in shit,” Kailu states calmly.
He laughs. “I suppose you’re right.”
“How did you get here?” I grit my teeth, losing patience.
The man lets out a breath. “Alanis.”
I take a step forward and grab him by the collar, ignoring the fact that he is covered in excrement. “What the fuck did you just say?” I growl.
The human stares at me with wide eyes, but not with fear. “Alanis found us and told us where to go. She wasn’t completely sure, but she was right. She told us to take the hallway that led downward. She guessed it went to the sewers.”
“Obviously it did,” Kailu says, voice funny with his nose pinched between two fingers.
“Obviously. Anyway, when we got down there, we noticed an opening. Jensen looked out and we saw the sea, but we knew we didn’t have the strength to swim. The sewer opened up to a pit where all the sewage from the building dropped. The only way to get across was to swim through the pit and crawl up the other side. So we did. Except we never resurfaced, we ended up in the bottom of this well with that damn dead body.”
I raise my eyebrow and release him, peering over.
Kailu joins me and hisses, “Holy shit.”
“What?” I ask, wondering what the hell he saw.
“Malakai, that is the Lost King. Paliri’s father. Look at the ring. Everyone said he went missing during the war against Iclas; no one would have guessed that this is where he ended up.”
I look again at the skeleton. Why the hell is the Lost King in this well?
“There’s another thing,” says Jensen. “Alanis asked me to give you a message. She said she is going to get Elion and bring him back.”
My head drops back as I close my eyes, the tension that has been coursing through my body since I found her gone this morning finally dissipating.
“She also said she doesn’t need a male to save her.”
I snort. Of course she did. My little firecracker.
- ALANIS -
Peeling my eyes open is more effort than it’s worth thanks to the pain throbbing in my head. I can’t move my arms or legs, though it takes only a single twitch to realize I’m chained in place.
“Alanis.”
I whip my head up at the sound of my name. “Elion.” I take him in, realizing his hair is much longer than when I last saw him. It would probably pull back into a ponytail with ease.
He shifts in his chair. That’s when I notice him grimace. I blanch at the sight of the dried blood coating his trouser leg.
“Are you all right?”
He grunts in response and turns his deep brown eyes on me. Eyes that almost look angry.
“What?” I ask.
“What the hell do you mean, what ? Alanis, what the fuck are you doing here?”
I roll my eyes. “Uh, I’m saving you. Obviously. I wasn’t just leaving you for dead. A ‘thank you’ would be nice.”
He snorts, his attitude grating on my already frayed nerves. “Saving me?” he asks incredulously. “Looks to me like you just became a captive yourself.”
Before I can snap back at him, the iron door creaks open. A man in a long black cloak and hood enters. I try to peer at his face, but the darkness is too complete.
“I knew you would find your way to me,” the cloaked man says, emotionless and empty. My arms break out in goosebumps at the mere sound of it.
“Good for you. Do you want some kind of reward?” I can’t contain my sass, even as Elion curses under his breath. He always did say my smart mouth would get me into trouble.
The man chuckles, but it’s more of an annoyed fake laugh than anything real. He pulls his hands out of his cloak and slowly pushes the hood off. I hold my breath, already prepared for who is hidden beneath.
What I was not expecting was the man to be somewhat attractive. Don’t get me wrong, he is frightening as shit, and looks a little old for me, but he would be considered handsome in everyday society. Malakai is old but only looks to be about twenty-five in human years, tops. This man looks as if he is in his fifties.
His face is severe, with strong lines and a pointed chin, and his hair bright white. The scariest part is the fact a giant tattoo decorates his face and really emphasizes his white eyes. Not to mention the deadly sharp fangs protruding from his mouth. I’ve never seen a Fae with such long incisors.
“Iclas,” I state, determined not to show fear. I hold his gaze, keeping my chin high and trying to cover how shaky my hands are.
He gives me a smile that could make a person wet themselves. “Ah, you’ve done your research. I heard you were smart, and I’m pleased the whispers were not wrong.” He pulls a scroll from the pocket of his cape and I can see the blood drain from Elion’s face.
“I wonder if you knew of the research your brother was doing about you, though. He found such an interesting scroll, a Primal Scroll. You see, I have spent many decades growing in power, but never understood why I couldn’t reach my full potential. Damned to this cursed Isle, only able to leave for short periods through my portals. Imagine my surprise when my ghouls report that they found a scroll on one of the soldiers they took to help create my army. A scroll that, for all intents and purposes, gives me the answers I’ve been searching for day and night.”
He circles around my chair, running his finger through my hair as he goes. It wrings a shiver from my body, and not a good one.
He leans in and whispers in my ear. “Were you aware that there was an entire prophecy written about you?”
I clench my teeth and stare at Elion. His body stiffens as if he doesn’t want me to find out the truth. A little late for that. “Yes, actually, I am, so unless you’re going to enlighten me with new information, I’d really like it if you stopped wasting my time.”
Iclas straightens and yanks my hair back with such force that my neck protests in agony. I hiss in pain, unwilling to vocalize it further.
“You want new information?” he purrs, staring down at my face. “I’ll give it you. You are the key to breaking this curse that traps me here. The only thing keeping me from taking over the Primal Realm. So, I will make you a deal.”
I wince as he releases my hair.
“You help me break this curse and I will release your brother.”
“Don’t do it,” Elion blurts without missing a beat.
Iclas backhands him, and everything in my body struggles not to cleave this bastard’s hand from his body. If only I could get my damn hands free.
“How do I break the curse? What does that stupid scroll say?”
Iclas walks to me and opens the scroll to let me read what has been written by the Fates.
Through the veins magic runs, the holder is the key.
For under the crescent moon the powers will come alive.
The dragon must be set free.
To free the land, one must perish
A willing sacrifice of what they most cherish.
For if evil overcomes, darkness will fall
The cursed unleashed upon us all.
I look at Elion and his expression says it all. We are well and truly fucked.