Chapter 9 #2
“ Don’t be so hard on yourself ,” my umbra spoke into my mind. “ You thought you were doing the right thing. Helping him. Helping all of them. ”
“That memory wasn’t meant for you.”
“Then control the volume of your thoughts. You’re sending them right to me.”
“I can’t answer that for you, but I’m sure your queen had her reasons,” I spoke aloud.
Beneath the glow of the torches, Elias’s mouth looked red and swollen.
His ocean-mist eyes were rimmed red and faintly bloodshot.
Mixed in with the aromas of juniper and mint I now recognized as Elias was something zesty and floral.
Peeking out above the collar of his white shirt were two dotted pink, nearly symmetrical half moons…
Were those bite marks ? And this was who Simeon had picked for me to marry? A ridiculously beautiful man, yes. But tormented by thoughts of his lost betrothed one moment and content to stick himself inside someone else the next.
It seemed Gemma hadn’t been exaggerating when she told me Elias Winterton enjoyed a nice, proper fuck. Disgust caused my nose to scrunch.
“Why are you here asking me instead of confiding in whoever put that on your neck?” I scowled, shoulders tightening. “Seems like they’re the one you should be sharing your frustrations with, not the pesky little snake you’re holding captive.”
He touched his fingers to the indent on his neck and rolled his eyes.
“Fuck.” He shrugged his shirt forward to cover it up.
The movement dropped his neckline and gave me unwanted visual access to a pair of flawlessly carved pectorals.
At my disgust, he did a double take. “Oh, please. Everyone knows what happens in Brinnea when the boats return to port after months at sea.” I waited for him to elaborate.
“What are you? Twenty-two? Twenty-three? Willing young women show up in droves to offer themselves up to ravenous seafarers in the hopes of securing a husband.”
I crossed my arms over my chest. “I’m twenty. And do I seem particularly willing to you?”
Shock lifted his eyebrows. “You’re only twenty?”
“Yes. Why is that such a surprise?”
He rested his forearm against the cell bars above his head and leaned in, studying me with curiosity. It would have been easy to shrink under the chill of his stare. I didn’t.
“Who taught you to fight?” His unnervingly calm voice raised my hackles.
“Why?” I asked warily.
“Because I might have to recruit them if they can help me get my soldiers to fight like you .”
It was an effort not to laugh. Recruiting the man that taught me to fight would not go the way he expected.
“Is that a compliment, Commander?” I smirked. “I was beginning to think you weren’t capable of niceties.”
“To whoever trained you, yes.” He took a step back from the bars and stood straight. Maybe he wasn’t quite as prideful as I thought if he was willing to give credit where it was due. “And despite that smart-ass mouth, I’ve decided to give you a chance.”
I hated that hope made my heart swell. His approval was what I needed to get out of this prison cell and into a Barracks bunk.
“You have?” I asked.
He folded his arms, his forearms straining the fabric of his shirt.
“I’ll be frank with you, Fera. My queen is gone, and things aren’t going so well for me at the moment.
I won’t turn down trained fighters, especially ones as determined as you.
” Hate darkened his features. “The Butcher handed my queen over to Molochai to be slaughtered, and I need them both fucking dead .”
Terror at the thought paralyzed me where I stood. My breath sunk low in my chest. And while my thoughts were my own, it was his voice I heard in my head again.
Steady.
He cannot shake you.
Do not show him your fear.
“And?” I croaked.
“And I’m willing to do whatever it takes to ensure that happens, including taking a chance on every eager fighter that knocks on my door.”
I lifted my chin in a show of confidence. “Are you saying you trust me?”
“No,” he chuckled. “But I’ve faced my share of Insidions, and my gut tells me you aren’t one of them.
The resistance against Molochai cannot be limited to the people within my grandfather’s caves.
We’re growing, but it’s not enough without the queen’s power.
” That same curiosity from earlier flitted across his face.
“And I’m well aware we aren’t the only ones who have suffered at the hands of Molochai and his Butcher. ”
I saw in him something I didn’t expect: compassion.
He didn’t know my story, but I could tell he believed that I had lost. And in loss, we were similar.
His parents. His sister. Oliver. Phillip.
Lives stolen by the same blade. Whether it had been by his will or not, those deaths were the Butcher’s work.
“I do think you’re special, Fera.” He held up a finger and pointed at me, his short-lived compassion gone.
“An… exception. So I’m going to make an exception for you.
” The taunting foreboding in his tone didn’t make me feel special, only targeted.
“You can participate in Commencement. However, I don’t believe you when you say you weren’t trying to break in here?—”
“I wasn’t!” I snapped. “I just wanted to talk to you !”
“And I’m flattered, of course.” His flawless lips twisted into a smirk I couldn’t help but roll my eyes at. “Regardless, I’m going to make you work a little harder. While the other cadets will be assigned teams during a few different tests, you will be acting alone.”
Fear and excitement warred inside me. I was being singled out, but when I survived this, there would be no doubt that I could fight and lead.
“This year’s cadets arrive tomorrow morning,” Elias advised.
“They have been made aware of an outsider. Be compliant, adhere to the rules, don’t piss anyone off, and you might survive the next eight weeks.
You’ll have to prove yourself, and I will not make it easy for you.
If you succeed”—his obtrusive eyes made my palms sweat—“we’ll go from there. ”
I knew I would inevitably reveal myself, but I was now morbidly curious to know what plans Elias Winterton had for the girl I was pretending to be.
“Good luck, Fera.” Elias turned to go. “You’ll need it.”
“I won’t need your luck, nor do I want it,” I snapped as his broad shoulders tensed beneath yellow torchlight. “And Commander?”
He stopped in the doorway and turned back. The sight of his ocean-mist eyes—despite the distaste they held—stole my breath a bit.
“You’ll do well to remember that I do not comply .”
For a moment, he lingered. As he turned away, I thought I caught a hint of a grin.
Two new guards were posted outside my cell. The moment they sat, a gentle breeze brushed the back of my neck, followed by a low whoosh . Fists clenched, I turned and looked down at my bed to find a note in Simeon’s handwriting. Beside it sat a sleek black pen.
Stop this, Aryella, before you cause irreparable damage to your people, your betrothed, and your reputation.
I’d assumed from the first time he sent a note to the cabin in Varamuth that he must be using some sort of tracking spell. As for knowing what I was doing? I had no idea how his magic worked. When he erased who I was, he erased all my memories of him, too.
I scribbled back.
What’s wrong? Are you worried the prince you chose for me won’t sweep me off my feet? Or are you feeling a little guilty? Is that why you’ve been too much of a coward to show your face or come stop me yourself?
The paper disappeared the moment my pen lifted. I tapped my foot on the cell floor, occasionally glancing back at the guards. I snatched the note back up the moment it returned.
Elias is good and honorable. He has worked his entire life to become what you need.
It took everything not to snap the pen in half. I pressed it to the paper so hard that the tip bled through to the other side.
You don’t know what I need.
A minute later, the note rematerialized.
I know you better than you know yourself, Aryella Jay Whitlock.
The gods-damned audacity. I despised that Simeon knew everything about who I’d once been. My power. My mother and father. The life he took from me. All I had against him was will, resistance, and anger.
The girl you think you know is dead. Feel free to write back later. Or never. I’m a little busy at the moment.
The subtle wind that always accompanied his notes was charged with a bit of heat.
Do not play games. Countless lives are at stake.
I cursed at him under my breath, condemning his feigned altruism.
Were lives not at stake during the four hundred years you kept me trapped and asleep? Go ahead and tell Elias the truth. I’ll leave it to you to explain everything, back to the beginning.
His response surprised me.
I won’t stop you. Trying to stop either of you has only ever created more problems for me. But know that this is deceitful.
Fury boiled my blood. He couldn’t be serious. Reprimanding me for dishonesty?
If deceit is the game we’re playing, Uncle, it wasn’t me who made the first move.
This time, when my note disappeared into whatever realm or dimension he sent it from, it didn’t return.