Chapter 45 Kaden
Kaden
Iroar.
Max falls to my side and my instinct is to grab her, shield her from the raiders that would kill us and decimate everyone in my way.
Her head falls back, locks dragging into the blood-soaked mud, her body going still like a corpse.
My beast wails a pitiful noise inside my skull, one of revenge and sorrow and it takes me a minute to realize that noise is coming out of my mouth. I sound like that.
Griffin killed her. He killed the woman I claimed as my mate.
I didn’t even get a chance to explain.
“Kaden.” Fee crouches beside me, voice wary. She tries to touch Max, and I pull her closer, snarling at my sister.
“Don’t touch her,” I threaten, and she backs off. When I look into her eyes, I don’t see the fire of her irritation, but sadness.
It feels like Sose all over again. Except so much worse. So much more pain, my heart feels like it’ll explode.
I can’t lose Max. I can’t.
“She’s not dead,” she whispers, holding my shoulder. “If she was, you’d be dead too.”
“She’s only sleeping, heir,” Griffin mocks from his horse.
Everything in me says to fly across the common area and rip his head clean from his shoulders.
My beast rumbles in my chest with agreement. It’s the first time we’ve ever agreed on anything.
Glancing down at her prone body, guilt and grief assault my chest. What did he do to my mate?
“Explain yourself, King.” I seethe, fury overpowering my conflicting emotions. Anger is good. I can use it to fuel me, like I instructed Max.
Only when the raiders are destroyed, and Griffin is dead, will I give into the pain caving in my chest.
“She’s not dead.” He sighs. “It’s merely a paralyzing poison. As long as the arrow stays in, she’ll be unconscious.”
I grab the shaft, intent on ripping it clear out. I want to see those eyes look at me even if they’re masked in hurt.
“I wouldn’t do that if I were you,” he says dramatically. “If you remove it without the antidote, she’ll only expire.”
Standing, I cradle Max in my arms, her petite body practically weightless. I don’t hide the beast surging within me as my fangs lower over my face and my hands turn into claws.
Let them see the monster that I truly am. Let them fear me.
“You’ve attacked a member of the royal family.” I hear the sharp intake of my guards, none of which knew I had claimed Max.
Fee shifts beside me and Reid looks grim.
“To do so is an act of war. War, that not even with your pathetic Crimson soldiers, can you hope to win.” I narrow my eyes on him, words nothing but a rumble. “Give me one reason I shouldn’t cut out your heart and crush it as you die at my feet.”
Although Griffin smiles back at me, I see the wince on his face. Terror etches along the wrinkles in his forehead and cheeks.
He may have the army, but he doesn’t have my wrath. He’s frightened.
“I have the antidote,” Griffin explains. “It was merely a way to keep her from using her gift.”
I don’t like that Griffin knows about her. I watched her at the White Palace, she never once told anyone what she was.
That means Griffin knew who she was before she got there. He had been tracking her.
“You’ve known what she was for some time,” I accuse, ignoring the urge to throttle him. “Were you the one to burn her village?”
Griffin has the nerve to roll his eyes. “I spent years using my Crimson Army to amass my wealth. Imagine my surprise when I found a Coven of Witches in the north, right outside the cursed forest, with blood magic.” He shook his head.
“It was only a simple mission,” he grumbles, eyes turning to the sky as if he is talking to someone else.
“Though I shouldn’t say everyone. Only the women possessed the gift.”
Growling, I hold Max closer. I scan her body, feeling her chest fall and rise with each breath.
“You tried to take the women.”
Of course he did. Griffin’s court doesn’t care about women—taking them and using them would only make sense.
The smile he gives me is disgusting.
“That was part of the plan. But the leader, the High Priestess,” he sneers, gesturing to Max, “her mother, saw us coming. She set fire to the village so everyone would escape. It’s taken years just to track this one down.”
He peers at her face, thoughtfully. I move her to shield her away.
“She had magic young. I almost died at her hands.” He taps his throat. “And she almost at mine.”
“You recognized her at the palace.”
“You don’t forget the woman who almost ended your life, heir.
Not with those eyes. Now,” he stops, adjusting in his saddle, “if you give me the woman, I’ll recall the troops.
I’ll even end the raids into the Shadowlands.
Think about it. Your lands will be safe in exchange for one little woman. A bargain, really.”
The audacity of this king almost brings a smile to my lips.
He thinks I’ll trade my lands, my people, for one small woman.
A good man might.
Yet, I’m not a good man.
The clopping of horses in the distance causes my guards to tense and I smile. The Humans, blessed inferior beings, can’t hear it, but we can.
My reinforcements are here.
Gently, I brush the hair off my future queen’s face and smile at Griffin.
“You do not endanger my mate, then offer a bargain for her person and think consequences do not apply to you. I will take your head, King. But then, I will take your kingdom. Your lands. Your wealth. Until no one will remember your name. Until you are forgotten to history, a speck of dust in an old book. And I will burn everything you have ever loved dear for even thinking you could hurt what is mine.”
A black arrow slams into his wrist and then his forearm. More Dark Fae guards charge into the fray, erupting the space into a gruesome battle once more.
In the struggle, I let Griffin escape, covering Max’s body with my own as my men’s arrows rained down on us. I’m too weak to call my shadows, but my siblings hunker over us, protecting us both with their swords.
Once the arrows stop, I stand, clutching Max to my body. The raiders are dead, and the ones not, my guards are slicing their necks. Shifters groan and wheeze, some changing back while others crawl away to safety.
I glance to the lone cabin in the corner, where the children were kept, and see it still stands, untouched by the bloodshed.
Boots crunch in front of me and my siblings and I tense.
There’s only one person who can make all three of us freeze in our spots. Only one person who would walk into the middle of the battle with the confidence of not expecting an attack.
My father.
“So. This is the blood summoner.”
“She’s my mate,” I snap, earning a reproachful look from my sister. It’s a warning to behave, to settle before speaking to Zelos.
Otherwise, I could find myself back in dungeons.
Soon, I won’t have to worry about that. Patience.
My father’s dark delicate eyebrow raises. There’s a flicker of disappointment before his mouth crashes into a nasty grin. “Oh, my heir. You didn’t.”
Steeling my back, I hold Max into the crook of my arm, keeping her face away from my father’s gaze. I don’t want anyone to see her—except for me.
“I did. Meet my future queen.”