Chapter 23 The Challenge
The Challenge
The Serpent King’s portal spat Landon and I out fast, giving me barely enough time to bend my knees as I hit familiar stone floors.
We landed in my personal chambers in the Queendom of Phantamos, with not a minute to spare. After a frosty goodbye to the king, I gave them one day’s time to meet me in my palace.
“Reena!” I shouted for my lady-in-waiting, already striding for the door.
“Where in the gods—” Reena started, but she quickly bit her tongue upon realizing her mistake. “Where did you two come from?”
I turned, catching her head peeking out of my bathing chambers with one of my plush black robes already between her hands.
I ignored her question, moving quickly to remove my earrings. “Send orders to the servants to clean the entire castle. I want everything sparkling to perfection.”
“Everything? Shined in one day—” She paused when my eyes cut to hers through the vanity mirror.
“And do pass along the message to Gustavo and his side of the staff,” I said as I sat and kicked off my heels.
Reena grumbled something under her breath in a tone even too low for me to hear. Yet, I caught hints of my butler’s name rolling off her tongue, along with what sounded like a slew of curses. A ghost of a smile tugged on my lips as I rose and strolled toward the bathing chambers.
I desperately needed to scrub every bit of Morotis off my skin, along with every unsolicited touch from him.
“This all seems a bit extreme.” Landon’s words made me pause at the threshold.
I nearly forgot he was in the room with us.
Planting one of my hands on the stone doorframe, I glanced over my shoulder.
“I’ve been away for multiple days, between Ashivire and Morotis. Knowing my servants, they’ve been slacking off while I was gone. Is it so extreme for a queen to not live in filth?” I arched a dark brow at him.
My bodyguard opened his mouth, but snapped it closed just as quickly.
“Why did you agree to go on a journey with that horrid man in the first place?”
Reena let out a startled noise, but she quickly covered it with a cough.
“I’ll run you a bath, so you two can speak in private.” She whisked past me, ignoring my displeased glare the entire way to the bathing room.
Damn you, Reena.
I groaned, turning back to re-enter the sitting room.
I knew Landon, so I knew there was no chance I’d get to bathe in peace without first providing him a few answers.
“Have you forgotten my emotions are coming back to me?” I asked, striding to my vanity and taking a seat upon the ebony bench to face the mirror.
I was just beginning to tie back my hair when Landon came into the reflection, standing close enough that the smell of rain filled my lungs. His icy blue eyes speared into mine through the golden framed mirror.
“No, I didn’t forget, but if I were in your shoes, I’d rather have my emotions back than travel anywhere with that snake.” His lip curled back in disgust. “And who cares if he loses his powers anyway?”
“I care.”
My two words split through the air like a bolt of lightning, and I watched as Landon’s brows shot as high as the vaulted ceilings.
I never divulged these specific bits of my bargain to my bodyguard, but, if it got him off my back, then so be it.
“The Serpent King and I are—our magic is linked. If he loses his magic, I lose mine. We are, for a lack of a better word, bonded.”
“You are what?” he seethed.
The clasp of my necklace coming undone was the only sound filling the tense air brewing in my chambers. I dropped the blood-red rubies into the velvet tray atop my vanity before spinning toward my bodyguard. As I stood, my breasts grazed against his chest as I lowered my voice to a lethal whisper.
“He owns my soul, Landon. Don’t you understand that by now? Of course, we are bonded.”
“Well, just another grand reason not to go on this journey. Let the bargain break, so you no longer are bonded to that monster!” The roaring fire nearby brightened his blue eyes, illuminating the fury blazing within them.
“You expect me to sacrifice my powers just to rid myself of the Serpent King?” I scoffed, the words sounding absolutely ridiculous rolling off my tongue.
“It’s not only to rid yourself of him,” he said while his hands softly grabbed mine and brought them to rest against his chest. “Do you ever wonder what life would be like if you still had a soul?”
His eyes no longer burned with fury, instead they took on an entirely different emotion, one I had to steal a small sniff of air to detect.
My nose crinkled when I was greeted with a rosy bouquet of flowers.
Hope.
Landon looked down at me with wide eyes, the words he left unspoken hanging in the sliver of space between us.
Do you ever wonder what we could be if you had a soul?
I knew it was a mistake being vulnerable with him that night under the stars, exactly because of the way he was looking at me right now.
It was unacceptable.
He stared at me like I deserved to be saved, but he was sorely mistaken.
“You confuse me with someone you wish I was, Landon.” I yanked my hands free from his, watching those beautiful eyes flood with devastation. “I am happy remaining as I am, with no soul. This is the life I want.”
More like, this is the life I deserved.
There was no salvation for the wicked.
There was no redemption for a monster like me.
“As my bodyguard, I expect you to accompany me on this quest. Are you up for the challenge, or do I need to find someone else to fill your role?”
Landon stumbled backward, as if my words were a sharp dagger plunging deep into his heart. But I held my ground, not daring to show an ounce of weakness.
My bodyguard needed to remember his place within my service, and how I could easily replace him.
There were plenty of mortal men who would trip over themselves to create a mutual agreement with the Serpent Queen, and, based on the way Landon’s mouth gaped as he shook his head, I think he, too, realized my hidden implications.
After another moment, his gaze found mine, revealing a coldness I’ve never seen from my bodyguard before. “That won’t be necessary, my Queen. I am up for the challenge.”
“Then go make preparations to leave tomorrow.” I pointed a blood-red nail toward the door.
Landon’s jaw worked, clearly not happy with either my tone or the clear dismissal, for he stormed off, loudly slamming the door closed.
The moment I was alone, I hissed out a long breath, my knees failing to hold me a second longer. Collapsing onto the vanity bench, I slowly dragged a thumb over the ache spreading within the void in my chest.
How could I be so daft to allow Landon to think we were ever going to be more than what we currently were? He was my bodyguard and secret spymaster, who I occasionally fucked.
We were nothing more.
I should’ve never cried that night underneath the stars, nor offered any sort of comfort to him. I cursed the Ice Goddess for making my soul slowly return, simultaneously causing everything to fall to ruin.
“Your bath is ready, Seera.” Reena’s voice was barely above a whisper as she hesitantly popped her head from the bathing chambers.
She most definitely heard our entire argument.
“I’ll be right there,” I called out.
My lady-in-waiting disappeared back into the bathing room, giving me one final moment to sit with my thoughts. I turned on the bench to face my vanity mirror, despising the sight I was met with. Tears pooled in my eyes, making the gold in them blaze to life.
This was exactly why I didn’t want my soul back.
I refused to be plagued with emotions that would only weigh me down, that would try to consume me. When I was mortal, I felt too much, too often, making it unbearable. Many times, I thought I’d drown in a river of my own tears as I cried myself to sleep every night trapped in the tower.
As I watched the tears streak down my face, smudging the kohl lining my eyes, I made a vow to myself.
Never again.
Never again would I allow my emotions to make me fragile, to drag me into the depths of despair.
That was not the life I wanted for the Serpent Queen.
Those emotions would only make me weak, which was the last thing a queen could afford to become. On the contrary, I needed to be stronger than ever to cut down the rebels who dared to rival me.
Resolve shuddered through me as I swiped away my tears like the annoying pests they were.
My bodyguard would never understand what it was like to live with the decisions I made while having no soul. He was too good, too pure, and I never believed in that ridiculous mortal saying that opposites attract.
No, Landon and I were not right for one another, and he was an utter fool if he ever thought I’d allow my soul to come back to me.
The weight of my actions as the Serpent Queen would crush me—I wouldn’t survive if I reclaimed my soul.
My back stiffened, cold determination settling deep in my bones.
If the price to never feel again was in the currency of killing a god, then I’d happily pay it.
In fact, what was one more life in comparison to the thousands I’d already stolen?