Chapter 19
Elira
I beat that damn bag like my life depended on it. I could sense Slade’s gaze on me from the back of the arena as he ran the other recruits through their practise. He had healed quickly, as most magicborn did, but even he wouldn’t have sparred with me today.
I was falling apart.
Dinner with the king was tonight, and neither Thorne nor Phoenix had returned.
Three days.
Three long, gnawing days without them, and I felt their absence like a raw wound I couldn't bandage, no matter how hard I tried.
Everly — an elderly woman with kind eyes and a no-nonsense manner — had appeared in my room not long after I discovered the dress. She informed me, without ceremony, that she was to be my new maid assistant.
As if that wasn't enough, the king had also decided I was to be moved — relocated, he said — to more fitting accommodations for someone of my “station.”
I hated how the word tasted in my mouth.
The new room was a wing inside Blackspire Keep itself.
It was too much — far too much — for someone like me. The sheer size of it pressed down on me like a weight. The ruins I’d lived in, barely more than a roof and crumbling walls, could have fit inside this one chamber three times over.
The bed alone was obscene — the size of a tennis court, if not bigger — draped in rich, heavy linens, the sheets as soft as a sigh, the feather pillows stacked high like a fortress.
The walls gleamed with pale stone, veined with silver. A chandelier hung overhead, delicate and cruelly beautiful.
I had a window, too — a wide arched thing that overlooked the city’s heart, where spired peaks and marble buildings crowded the skyline like teeth.
The view should have been breathtaking.
Instead, it felt like standing at the edge of a cliff, waiting for the earth to give out beneath me.
The wardrobe was full of gowns and dresses, ridiculous in their opulence. None of it practical.
I felt like a whore, just waiting to pay my dues.
The bathroom was its own monster — larger than my entire old cell.
The tub was sunken into the floor, big enough to swim in, surrounded by shelves stocked with every luxury a girl could imagine — and a hundred things I never would have thought to want.
Moisturizers, powders, oils that smelled of crushed flowers and sunlight. Lip stains. Perfumes. Serums for skin, for hair, for nails. All of it waiting there, gleaming in soft candlelight, as if the king thought he could drown me in comfort and make me forget who I was.
I wrapped my arms around myself, shivering despite the warm air.
All he had done with this grandiose gesture had made me a target to the other trainees. If they didn’t hate me before, they did now.
This wasn’t a room. It was a cage gilded in gold and silk — and somewhere, deep down, I knew it was just the beginning.
Leo had stood with me that first night, his eyes scanning the opulence with a dark, unreadable expression.
“Well, when the King makes a move, he makes a move,” he said dryly, as if trying to make light of the situation.
“This isn’t funny,” I snapped, the edge of panic creeping into my voice. “What the hell am I supposed to do here? What does this mean?” The words came out in a rush, almost frantic. I felt the edges of hysteria closing in, my breath coming too fast.
“Calm down, Elle.”
“Calm down? Have you seen this place?” I gestured violently around the room.
“He’s going to make me pay for this, isn’t he?
” I wrapped my arms around myself, the air feeling colder with each passing second, and my skin crawling with the memory of his touch — even though he hadn’t laid a finger on me yet.
Leo moved toward me, kneeling beside me, his hands gently resting on my thighs.
His touch was grounding, but it didn’t erase the unease gnawing at me from the inside.
“Look,” he said, his voice low and reassuring.
“We’ve got a deal with the King—for now,” he said, jaw tight.
“While you’re under our protection, he’s not supposed to touch you. ”
He didn’t sound convinced. Not entirely.
I couldn’t meet his eyes. I was too busy trying to steady my breathing, but his words didn’t do much to ease the knot of dread in my chest.
“He’s the goddamn king, Leo,” I muttered, my voice tight. “I’m pretty sure he can do whatever the hell he wants.”
“Elle…” he started, voice low.
“What if he demands I have … sex with him?” The words caught in my throat. “I’ve never... I don’t want to…”
Leo’s jaw tensed. The warmth in his eyes flickered into something darker — something protective.
“I won’t let him touch you,” he said, a low growl in his throat. “Not ever.”
I gave a hollow laugh. “Even you can’t watch me all the time.”
“I can try.” His voice was solid, fierce with conviction.
“Leo…”
“We’ll figure this out,” he said, softer now. “In the meantime, Slade or I can stay here. One of us will be with you. You won’t be alone.”
“Why would you ever do that?” I whispered.
Leo stepped closer. His hand lifted, hesitating in the air for just a breath before tucking a strand of hair behind my ear. His fingers brushed my cheek, gentle — reverent, almost.
“Because you matter,” he said. “To more people than you think.”
A knock sounded at the door then and I looked up to see Vasquez enter my room, holding a bottle of wine with two glasses. His eyes narrowed as soon as he saw Leo.
“Hello there, Elira. I didn’t know you liked animals enough to welcome them into your room. I hear he sheds, so maybe keep him off the furniture.”
Leo didn’t flinch either. He stood, his posture rigid, though there was a coldness in his eyes that I hadn’t seen before, a layer of ice just beneath the surface. His lips parted slightly, but before he could speak, I found my voice first, sharper than I intended.
“What do you want?”
Vasquez’s smile never faltered, though his eyes flicked between us, weighing the tension in the room with an almost predatory curiosity.
“Ah, a bit testy today, aren’t we?” He clicked his tongue and took a step closer, his boots making the wooden floor creak under his weight.
“I came to check on you, Elira. Make sure you’re settling in nicely.
” He placed the wine bottle down with a deliberate slowness, then poured the liquid into one of the glasses, his eyes never leaving mine.
“I thought you might need a ... friend.”
His voice was thick with insinuation, and I could feel my stomach churn.
“No thanks, I’m good.” I said bluntly. “As you can see, I have all the friends I need, so you can show yourself out.”
He didn’t like that. I watched as his eyes narrowed with rage. He covered it in a millisecond, but I knew this man was dangerous.
“Indeed.” He sneered at Leo as he took a sip of his wine.
“We have a few more months, Vasquez.” Leo said firmly. “That was the deal.”
“True, but I’m not here to take her. This was purely a … social call. I’m just so anxious to get to know our newest addition, that’s all.”
I couldn’t suppress the shiver that crawled up my spine. Leo reached out and put his hand on my back, possessive in his touch.
“As you can clearly see, she’s a little busy,” he smirked, pulling me close. The warning was unmistakable. I sensed the thrumming energy coming from Leo’s chest. His lion was close to the surface. A sound behind Vasquez drew my gaze.
Slade stepped into the doorway, standing at attention. He spotted Leo and I and his gaze focussed.
“You called?”
Vasquez looked up at the metal slinger. I saw the calculation in his face as he took in his surroundings. He clearly realised he was outnumbered.
“Yes, I heard the keep needed some much better security upgrades. This room in particular needs some new locks. Thought you could help?” Leo said quietly.
Slade smirked and nodded at Leo. “Seems reasonable.”
Vasquez’s expression slipped, revealing the festering hatred underneath.
“Locks can be broken.”
Slade just stepped forward into the general’s face. “Not mine.”
The two exchanged glares for what felt like eternity, before Vasquez took a step back.
“You are all on thin ice, Shades.” He spat.
Leo’s grin was manic, almost feral, and he stepped forward, just enough to close the gap between us. “You’d be wise to remember your place, Vasquez,” he said, his voice low but dripping with dangerous amusement. “We’re not afraid of you.”
Vasquez, clearly seething, clenched his jaw and turned on his heel, striding toward the door with one last glance over his shoulder. The door slammed behind him with an echoing finality, leaving the room suddenly too quiet.
I exhaled a shaky breath, my heart still pounding in my chest. Leo’s hand, still on my back, was a solid, grounding presence.
“That was... intense,” I said quietly, the words barely escaping my lips.
Leo’s smirk softened slightly as he looked down at me, his touch gentle but steady. “He’s all talk,” he said, voice calm now, though a hard edge still simmered beneath the surface. “You don’t have to worry about him. We’ll keep you safe.”
And so far, that was true. Vasquez hadn’t returned. But I knew better than to think he’d forgotten. Every night, I lay awake in that stupid bed, watching the door, my heart thudding at every creak of the old stone keep.
The locks Slade had created and installed were supposed to answer only to me and those I trusted — coded with warded steel and reinforced by magic. Or so they said.
But trust didn’t come easy anymore. And the loneliness was worse.
So instead of sleeping, I trained.
Hours on the track, pounding my frustration into the floorboards. Hours in the training hall, driving dagger after dagger into the battered dummies while the others slept behind heavy iron doors.
Slade followed me sometimes, silent as a shadow, leaning against the wall, arms folded as he watched. When I called him out, he only shrugged.
“Don’t need much sleep anyway.”
Today, though, even I could feel the wear. The exhaustion pulling at my limbs, the ache deep in my bones.