Chapter 25
Bastian is there to pull me up from the rapids before I get swept away. Clumps of hair stick to my face. Exhausted, I wipe them away to get a closer look at the enemy.
“What do you think they want?” I clutch my arms as a horde of Miscretes approach the bank, one dipping its toe into the water.
Bastian trudges through the water to assist a woman to the opposite shore from the creatures. “At first I thought the aim was more recruits, but based on their actions, it appears they have orders to find a specific person.”
Two dozen eyes watch us from the edge of the river, seemingly waiting for us to exit. They growl and bark commands at each other as if hoping for the most daring to take the lead.
“What does Arazian want with us?” My legs grow numb in the cold water, and I long for nothing more than to get back to the inn and sleep.
He catches a rope from someone on the shore and hands it to an older-looking man. He lays a hand on the man’s back. “Don’t worry. It’s only about five steps to the shore. They will pull you out when you get there.” Turning to me, he wraps an arm around my waist to pull me close to his side. “Probably the same thing the fae king wants with you. To use you as a weapon against everyone else. We need a plan for when we exit the water. It won’t take them long to find the bridge. The armory is along the riverbank. If I can get a sword, I can make quick work of them.”
“Like you did when you went to rescue Lyden?” I regret the words as they leave my mouth, but the scar on Bastian’s face serves as a living testament to the viciousness of the beasts.
He shifts so we’re face-to-face as his hand cups my cheek. “I won’t let them take you.”
My dress is soaking wet from falling into the river, the bandage and salve long washed away from my tattoo. It burns like hell, and a band of mutant creatures want to kidnap me. But standing this close to Bastian, I feel emboldened, like I can take on the world. Power emanates from his every pore.
“I’m ready.” I wrap my arms around his neck and kiss him like we’ll never see each other again. “Let’s kick some Miscrete butt.”
His lips pull back into a smile of approval. “Join the group of women helping each other out over there, then follow me. The second you exit the water, they’ll catch your scent.”
“But how…?”
“Arazian is crafty. He was a member of the Council of Avren for a reason. Don’t underestimate what he will do if he wants something.” Bastian kisses my forehead. “I’ll see you on the other side.”
I mingle among a group of women using a thick vine to climb out of the river. It’s funny to watch them try to climb up the slick bank in long dresses. Most have ditched their heels, using their bare feet to climb. I wade through the water to the woman who seems to be overseeing the operation.
“Where are your dates?” I can’t imagine them taking off and leaving the women behind to fend for themselves.
She rakes her eyes over my dress now that the water is only thigh high. It is almost completely see-through.
Heat rises to my cheeks, but I don’t have time to discuss the ethics of my attire.
“Swept away, dragged out by the Miscretes, or ran away like babies.” She sneers at me as if I’m one of them. “And where’s yours?”
“He’s going to meet me on the bank.” I count the women left. Five.
Rather than continue my riveting discourse, I crouch below the current lady trying to climb the vine and use my shoulder to push her ass up the slope. This proves difficult, not only because she’s sobbing but because she weighs a ton.
“Help me!” I growl at the other women, losing patience with waiting my turn to climb out.
Two other women join me, and we get the first woman out and safely on the shore. She wrings the folds of her dress, tears still streaming down her face.
“It’s going to be alright,” I say. Hysterics will get us nowhere. “What’s your name?”
“Megan,” she sobs.
“Ok, Megan. You’re going to stay there and help from above by gripping hands and helping pull.” I point to another woman. “You’ll go next. The rest of us will push from below.”
Using this method, we get all the women to the bank safely, leaving me alone in the river. I dig my fingernails into the vine and climb, making it to the top without help. My training with Bastian and the shorter dress have served me well.
A deafening howl resounds from the other bank, and all Miscrete eyes fix on me. In a massive swarm of hunched bodies, they move as one toward the bridge, seeming determined to overtake me.
Bastian holds a torch, motioning for me to hurry to him. In my boots, I race over the cobblestones with surprising ease. Evie knew the footwear was versatile. We run along the river away from the bridge. I ignore my lungs desperately trying to catch their next breath as we round the corner of a darkened building.
He tries the door, but it’s locked. “Hold this,” he demands, shoving the torch into my hands. Without hesitation, he punches his fist through the glass on the door and reaches through to unlock it. Blood smears his hand. I swallow back bile.
“Grab what you need to defend yourself.” He fills his pockets with daggers before lifting a sword from the wall. “With your scent, they won’t stop until they have you.”
A bow rests against the wall with a quiver of arrows beside it. I rush over and lift the quiver to my back, crisscrossing the straps over the front of my dress. Now I look like a true elven princess, but will my aim be as true?
Growls and grunts come from outside the armory, so I snatch two daggers and stuff them into my boots.
Bastian holds the torch in front of him as we creep toward the open door. The light flickers on the silent threshold, playing tricks with shadows. I lick my lips, trying to visualize my first battle as my heart pounds against my chest.
A deafening screech fills the room, and the doorway is suddenly full of monsters—crooked arms, sharp claws, and rotting flesh. Bastian takes the torch in both hands and jabs it in their direction. Their scary human eyes grow wide. The beasts are clearly afraid of the flame.
Arazian plays mind games with his creations. The humans are no longer alive. These are unnatural beings fueled by magic. If I don’t do something, they’ll drag me away from my family.
I nock an arrow on my bow and draw back, taking aim. It whizzes through the small space and hits a creature in the head. It falls to the ground. I swallow back more bile. My second kill is just as difficult as my first one in the woods with the werewolf. But I don’t have time to think.
A daring Miscrete skirts along the wall, taking advantage of Bastian’s entanglement with the main swarm. I nock a second arrow and aim it at the monster.
“Arazian only wants to talk.” The voice comes from the Miscrete, but it sounds strangely like Levi’s.
I don’t drop my bow, but I hesitate.
There’s no way.
My upper body shakes as I keep my aim on the creature. “Well, I don’t want to talk to him.”
“Shoot it!” Bastian calls over his shoulder. He has the flat of his sword against the chest of a Miscrete. Using his shoulders, he barrels the creature over, knocking five others down with its body.
The Miscrete moves closer to me. “Come, come, Maribel. Imagine taking the throne as princess of the First City. We have a horse waiting for you outside to whisk you away from this place.”
Arazian doesn’t know me. Why would he want me to come to the First City other than to kill me because of the prophecy? I let my arrow fly straight into the lying bastard monster’s heart.
Levi never calls me Maribel.
I aim my arrow at the doorway, hitting monster after monster with my arrows as Bastian takes them on with his sword. His clean white shirt is now torn and covered in gashes where the Miscretes swiped at him. Beads of sweat line his forehead. He swings his sword, making a clean swipe to remove an arm.
Blood gushes from the creature’s wound, but it continues coming for me. I don’t have time to draw an arrow, so I snatch a dagger from my boot and hold it in front of me. “Stay where you are.”
“Maribel Nexus Winsong-Barellis,” the creature says, somehow still standing on two feet while losing a ton of blood.
What the hell?
This monster sounds like Flynn. Arazian must use magic to transform their voices, but it’s really creeping me out.
“Daughter of Daxon Barellis, the Northern Duke.” An evil grin crosses the Miscrete’s lips. “We know everything about you, princess.”
“If my dad’s a duke, I’m not a princess.” My body shakes so badly, I’m afraid I’ll drop the dagger. Hearing my friends’ voices affects me more than I thought. “You better study up on the whole lineage thing. I’m nothing more than the daughter of a Citizen of Avren.”
A hissing sound comes from the monster, which I assume is a laugh. “You don’t give yourself enough credit. Don’t tell me you haven’t heard the prophecy. You’re to tear down Avren, the dear city you love, brick by brick. Come with us, and you can live a peaceful life, devoid of such—” it looks down at the blood gushing from its socket— “such bloodshed.”
“You’re a liar.” I hold the tip of my dagger to its chest. “Arazian steals humans from the wilderness and turns them into disgusting creatures like you. What’s more pathetic? Violence to free a people or violence to obtain power? I choose to free my people.” And with that, I drive the dagger into its heart, finishing what Bastian started.
Blood stains my hands and cream-colored dress, but I don’t care. I’ve now fully earned the throbbing pain of the tattoo on my shoulder. Both cities need to fall—the First City, with its outright evil agenda, and Avren with its veneration of the perfect person, and its subjugation of all who fall short of perfection.
Exhausted, I turn to help Bastian just as he plunges his sword into the final Miscrete. From across the room, we stare at each other. He’s killed dozens, and I only a few, but I know my role was just as important in this room.
He drops to his knees, weighed down by the toll. I kneel beside him, careful not to touch his wounds, and let him envelop me in his arms. This night, full of dancing and music, was supposed to draw me closer to him. But after fighting side by side, I can’t imagine anything else to better strengthen our bond. We fought together for a common purpose. In this battle, it was to protect the savior, but in the war, we will tear down the injustice surrounding us.
“Are you hurt?” His eyes hold concern as he touches the bloody material of my dress.
I shift to inspect the gashes in his tunic. Blood seeps through the thin material. “No, but you are. We need to get you back to the inn.”
“I’m not ready yet.” He sits crisscross and pulls me onto his lap. His fingers trail along my hairline, sending shivers through me. “You were amazing. I heard every word those creatures said to you, trying to deceive you, but you were having none of it.”
“It’s a little strange.” I glance at the dead bodies and stockpiles of armory around us.
“What’s strange?” His fingers trail to the sensitive spot behind my ear.
I wiggle in his lap, feeling him hard against my leg. As much as I want to puke after all I just went through, the experience has the opposite effect on him. “Having a romantic moment surrounded by all this… gore. Can we go somewhere else?”
He laughs, then bites down into his lip, his dark hair hanging like a curtain around his eyes. “I know just the place.”
We follow the riverbank, holding hands and getting strange looks from the few people out after the attack on the dance platform. We appear as if we’ve walked off a battlefield and lost. It doesn’t bother me. Let them stare.
At the end of town, the river veers to the left, and a vast field stands before us. Fireflies dance among the tall grasses, and the moon lights our way to an oak tree standing like a sentinel beside a small pond.
Bastian winces as he removes his shirt. In the shimmering glow of the sky above, I can see the true extent of his wounds.
“Do you think we should go back?” I touch his chest above a deeper gash.
“Shhh…” He holds a finger to my lips, tracing over them like a cool whisper. He reaches down and lifts my dress over my head. Other than my undergarments, I’m standing bare before him.
I clutch my arms beneath my chest, exposed to both the cold and embarrassment.
He holds my head in his hands, touching his forehead to mine. Heat radiates from his skin, warming me slightly. “Don’t hide yourself from me. You are the most gorgeous person I’ve ever laid eyes on.”
My heart beats wildly, unable to contain the conflicting emotions I have inside. “But you are not my husband. Only a spouse can see another undressed.”
“In Avren,” he says, running a hand down my arm and weaving his fingers through mine. “Do you think I don’t take this seriously? With you? My commitment to you is stronger than that of any man you might sign a piece of paper and have test tube babies with. Out here, we rely on each other. There’s no one I trust more.”
“After such a short time?” I understand where he’s coming from. After our battle in the armory, the feelings have been magnified tenfold. I can trust this man with my life. And from what he’s saying, he feels the same way about me.
He cups my cheek with his free hand, applying slow caresses over my skin with his thumb. “I’m fiercely protective of you. Even if it’s over my dead body, you will come out of this alive. You’ve given my life purpose, and I didn’t know a prophecy I’d heard on repeat throughout my life could do that.” Releasing my hand, he unbuckles his pants and lets them slide to the ground in a puddle.
I don’t look down out of fear he’s not wearing any undergarments.
“Are you afraid of me, Mari?”
No… yes… I’m not afraid of him, only of my inadequacies.
He picks up our clothes in one arm and takes my hand again, leading me to the pond. I glimpse his bare bottom as he walks in front of me, and I swallow back my fear. This man wants me, and there’s nothing Lady Raven can do about it out here in the wilderness.
Bastian lays our clothes on a rock and leads me until the water is up to my chest. The water is warmer than the air within the shallow pool. The moon and fireflies create a romantic ambience.
He lowers his head until his lips are even with the surface and blows a stream of tiny waves in my direction. Being here is so natural to him, like eating and breathing. “I’ll understand if you don’t want to.” He lifts a wet strand of hair away from my forehead. “You told me how you felt last time in the cabin.”
As an eighteen-year-old in Avren, this is about the time the Council would pick a partner for me. Until they deemed me an Undesirable, I had every hope it would be Flynn Baxter, the boy who made me feel things I’d never dreamt possible. That is until I met Bastian. With him standing before me in a pond in the middle of the wilderness, I know without a doubt there’s no one else for me.
“Please show me how to do this, Commander Hale.”