Chapter Five #2
Maldrak laughs again. A booming, genuine thing that unnerves me even more. “In another world, you really would be so perfect for Kael—beautiful, powerful, and possessing a sharp wit, and even sharper tongue. I can see why he liked you.”
“Kael saw only his agenda,” I snap, unable to think of anything else to say.
“Kael is loyal to the Crown, Elyssara. You can’t fault him for that. You were unfortunate collateral in the mission to free our people,” Maldrak replies dismissively.
Loyal to the Crown?
Free their people?
I can’t decipher lies from truth, mind game from reality.
“Of course, he had his own plans for you, and wasn’t ready to abandon those plans yet. But I need him in Thornewood to lead the army outside The Decay. War with Dravara and Caeloria is coming, and we need to be prepared,” he says smoothly.
“You’re lying,” I whisper. “You’re fucking lying!”
“Elyssara, darling. Who do you think sent Kael to search for you?”
“No! He did that for Nalya!” Tears track down my cheeks, and I wipe my tears away with the back of my hand. And I fucking hate that they fall—traitors to the mask I need to wear.
“Nalya was simply a carrot dangling at the end of a stick, sweetheart. Kael has always needed personal motivation to follow orders. Now he has her in exchange for you—mission complete.” Maldrak pours crimson liquid into the wine glasses on the table and pushes one towards me.
“He’ll come for me,” I breathe, but it lacks conviction. It sounds more like a hopeless plea to forgotten gods.
“He will not come, Elyssara. I know you think I took something from you. But I’ve only revealed the truth—you were always going to find out about Kael’s plan. I just sped up the timeline. Your future is here,” Maldrak taps the table as he says the final word.
No. He has to come. He loves me, despite everything. Doesn’t he?
Truth and lies fold in on each other, twisting and contorting until I don’t know what’s real and what’s a trick of the mind.
I grip the side of my chair, as if my hold can keep me from falling apart.
“I do not belong here!” I cry out, slapping my palm on the marble table.
“You’d rule by my side, Elyssara. You’d be free. You could live out your days in peace—no King would dare hunt you, use you, leverage you,” Maldrak purrs.
“Except you—who would use me every day for the rest of my existence,” I say through the tears in my eyes.
Maldrak leans in then, and for a moment, I think I can see his mask slipping—a hint of frustration creeping into his face. “I’d help you take Dravara back, Elyssara. You could be Queen of all of Aevryn.”
I know Dravara will be mine. I have felt it calling me, ever since I placed the Obsidian Crown atop my head in Starlit Grove. As if the crown itself awakened the royal blood coursing through my veins. I know it will be mine, but not like this. Not with him.
“Why not just kill me? Why go to all this trouble to use me when you could pursue your goals without me?” I snap, sounding as if I’m talking him into killing me.
Maldrak sighs, leaning further back in his chair, as if we’re talking about something as inconsequential as the weather, and not my life.
The realms. “That is an option, but it’s not my first. The prophecy indicates you can save Aevryn.
I’ve interpreted that to mean you are capable of bringing down The Decay, and removing this deathly curse from our once-prosperous lands.
” He swirls the crimson liquid in his glass, gulping down a long draw.
“You could’ve let your people access Zerynthia all these years! You’re starving your own people!” I grit out, leaning closer to him in fury.
Maldrak chuckles softly. “I see young Kael has filled your pretty little head with countless lies to win your trust and affections, successfully turning you against me. I’ll admit, he’s sold a wonderful lie,” he pushes the glass away, and his face transforms into something sinister.
His true nature finally appearing through the cracks in his mask.
“No, Elyssara. We could not have done that. The Decay distorts, disorients and boggles the minds of all that pass through, save for those of royal blood and service—a sick joke by Morrathys to not only starve our people, but to also make us lose our minds. Keeping our people within saves them from certain death, albeit a hellish existence.”
Lies. More lies. But who is lying? What is truth? Could Maldrak really have noble motives?
“Well, I can’t take down The Decay. I don’t have the fifth relic so my magic is still partially bound,” I say in a desperate attempt to delay… everything.
Maldrak waves a hand at me dismissively, “A simple problem, with a simple solution, no doubt. And where are the rest of the relics?”
With Kael in Thornewood.
“I don’t know,” I lie, and he knows it.
He huffs a laugh, “That’s a problem for another day.
Today, is about your choices. As I said, it’s not my preference to kill you, Elyssara.
I’d rather you choose all of this. By taking down The Decay, it would remove our reliance on Dravara for food and medicine.
We’d prosper again, I can stop sending them threvenar, and your people would remember your bloodline once more—your birthright.
” Maldrak stands, striding around the room in a grand fashion as if he’s speaking to a room of nobles.
“You’d rule over the Dravari people as you were always meant to—rule all of Aevryn with me.
I’d help you take your vengeance on Thalmyr for what he did to your parents and your people.
I’ll even help you exact vengeance upon Kael.
He’s replaceable now that he’s delivered you to me. ”
My stomach sours. Kael’s image races through my mind—a dream or a nightmare, I’m not sure. I need to get out of here. I need to get back to Ronyn and Seren. To escape Aevryn. Kael once mentioned other continents. Caeloria? Nymeris? I’ll go there, seek refuge, find a way to help Dravara.
“I’ll bring down The Decay for you… on one condition,” I declare instead, infusing my voice with a bravado I don’t feel.
“There’s the Queen of Dravara,” Maldrak croons, eyes lighting up. “Yes?”
“Grant me my freedom in exchange for The Decay,” I assert boldly.
Maldrak stares at me for a long time, my bare skin feeling more and more on display with every passing heartbeat. I’m rudely aware of the dress—the way the bodice cuts into my skin, the way my exposed thigh gleams in the flicker of candlelight.
Maldrak breaks his silence. “I would love to grant you this, Elyssara. Really. But you see, the Dravari people won’t accept me as ruler without you by my side.
I’d be nothing but a conqueror to them. You, however, would have their loyalty—especially their Starborn army.
I need you, so no. You won’t be leaving Kryntar until I get what I want. ”
“So if I don’t choose all of this?” I snarl, memory of Fern’s words returning to me. That is… not an option.
He huffs in annoyance. “Elyssara, if you prove incapable of taking down The Decay, well then, you’re useless to me other than the god’s magic in your veins.
I’ll keep you for breeding, and to sit forcibly on the throne by my side to appease the Dravari people.
But as I said, that’s not my preference. ”
The blood drains from my face. The thought of living out the rest of my days as a tool for conquering lands or a broodmare for a divine army turns my blood to ice.
“He’ll come for me,” I whisper again, almost inaudibly, a desperate clawing thing dragging out of my chest.
Maldrak lets out an exasperated sigh, “Elyssara, Kael is not coming. He is loyal to the crown, and will not go against his orders. I need you to be willing to work with me on this, so until then, I have to send you back to the dungeons. I can’t risk a magical outburst while you’re still so emotional.
Guard!” Maldrak calls to the oak doors, and they swing inward almost instantly.
“Take Elyssara back to the dungeons. Now!”
The guard drags me from my chair and snakes the lillath chains around my wrists again. I hiss in pain as the chains sear the skin around my wrists, but I know this is what I need to do.
Because if I know anything about Kael Thorne, it’s that following orders goes against his very nature. Kael’s not loyal to Maldrak.
He’s coming.
He has to.