Chapter 44 - Unbroken
I never thought saving someone would make them hate me.
Annalisa and I rode on the back of her horse all night, but she refused to speak to me. Even though her chest was against my spine and I could feel her breath on the back of my head, I was not too keen to speak to her either. If I did, I just knew she would start with excuses for what Grigory had done.
No sweet little talks or shining gifts could make up for the bruises he left on her neck and the deeper wounds he placed in her soul.
I was glad I had burned him and cursed her to keep him from touching her, but arguing with her would accomplish nothing. I just had to get her safely past the Bloodstone Fortress gates and then get her to see sense.
The sun greeted us as the sky turned pink and we stopped to rest beneath the Bloodstone apple trees.
Brietta and I sat together in the shade of a large tree, catching the falling apples that Erik clipped from the branches with his beak.
I caught an apple in my lap and looked up at my brother. “Maybe you should stay a bird—you are just too useful.”
Erik looked down with an expression that I could only read as annoyance before flying away.
My eyes followed Erik as he flew to a tree deeper into the grove, right above where Annalisa was feeding Diana apples. She had her eyes downcast and her thumb was tracing the bottom of her golden Thornebow pendant.
I was going to throw that damn pendant in a river the instant I got the chance.
Brietta’s apple crunched as she took a bite. “Should I ask why you lit Grigory on fire?”
I fought back a scowl as I carved a piece of apple with the Hyton dagger. Annalisa was too far away to hear us, but I kept my voice low anyway. “He hurt Anna.”
Cold rain ran down my shoulders as I remembered the terror in Annalisa’s memories. How could I have been so foolish? Riyan had told me Grigory had hurt women, but I was so eager to believe he had changed just because he had made my friend smile.
Riyan had been too merciful. He should have broken both of Grigory’s legs and forced him to crawl like a slug the rest of his life.
Brietta let out a pensive breath as she held her half-eaten apple. “Do you think the blood bond is making her…act that way?”
Annalisa turned from her horse and walked deeper into the grove, screaming at Erik to fuck off when he tried to follow her.
“Maybe.” I cut off another piece of my apple and slipped it past my lips. The blood bond interfering with her mind was the only logical explanation. “The bonding enchantment was designed to push you toward your husband…whether he was a good man or not.”
The golden bonds flowing through the veins of every Lycaster noble had Alastar’s essence corrupting them—conquest regardless of cost. I scowled and cut off another piece of the apple.
Brietta eyed my dagger as I ate. “Could you take it out?”
I stopped chewing and looked at her.
“Your blood bond was removed, why not mine?” Her fingernails pierced the skin of her apple. “Even though I know Derrick will have to yield to my demands eventually…what if something happens where he…?”
I swallowed my apple and my stomach twisted into a knot. Derrick had already sent the cavalry after us and the rest of the army was sure to follow. I could not imagine a situation where the inevitable confrontation was bloodless. Still, just picturing a battle with Derrick dead…
A sudden pang speared my chest. No, he would not die. I would make sure of it.
“Could you try?” Brietta asked with big eyes.
She was so desperate, I had to help her. I bit my tongue and rose to my feet. Brietta stayed kneeling in the grass, her heart and mind open as I splayed my fingers toward her.
The golden blood bond from Fraleigh’s magic twisted around Brietta’s heart like a halo, its light shining in every one of her veins.
Brietta closed her eyes and the bond loosened, like she had let go of her end of a rope. I closed my fist, feeling the tautness of that golden rope of light instead of air against my skin.
Even though her blood bond was sealed, I could pull it out of her throat just like Daigen had done with me. In theory, anyway.
If my magic let me do it, the bond would shred out of her body with the intensity of the sun. It would hurt her…and it would hurt Derrick too.
Before I could even tug on that bond, anguish radiated into my hand and up my arm. Everything I had done to Derrick blared back at me like a trumpet, announcing my guilt loud and clear.
I released my fist as my eyes stung with tears. Brietta opened her eyes.
The little red ember beneath the diamond in my heart glowed red. As much as I wanted to protect Brietta, my magic could not remove her blood bond.
My heart might have been bathed in flames, but it would never desire to hurt Derrick again.
The afternoon sunlight lit up the battlements of the towers of Bloodstone Fortress as we finished our ascent of the mountainside.
Daigen stood with his arms folded at the open gate, his cloak fluttering around him in the soft breeze as he waited for us.
Annalisa stopped her horse at the gate and I dismounted. My legs ached from the long ride, but I wanted to get to Daigen before Annalisa or Brietta could ask any questions.
His violet eyes glanced past my shoulder. “Do they know?”
“No.” I held my arms. “They would try to stop me if they did.”
He looked up at the bright blue sky, where the waxing moon hid behind the treeline. “You have until tomorrow night. I suggest you rest now.”
I avoided the eyes of the soldiers as I escorted Annalisa and Brietta through the courtyard. A couple of maids came to our aid as soon as we entered the fortress keep, helping Annalisa and Brietta find refreshment and accommodations.
For once, I did not bother with food. I silently dragged up the set of spiral stairs in the corner of the dining room until my feet found the hall with the crimson carpet runners. I could have turned left in the hallway to where my bedroom door had been, but instead I turned right.
The oak door creaked as I pushed it open. A shiver skittered across my shoulders as the mountain air crept in through the cracks of the broken window. Someone had boarded up the window and removed the fragments of glass from the floor, but Riyan’s huge mattress still sat atop of a shattered bedframe.
Despite the chill in the room, I peeled off my singed clothes. I crawled into Riyan’s broken bed and pulled his heavy blankets over my shoulders. His scent of nectar and wheat filled my nose as I hugged his pillow.
Only one more night until he was back in our world again.
The Nordingaard crystal pulsed heat against my throat as I finally let myself rest.
I slept for sixteen hours.
My last meal as a mortal was a crust of bread that I nibbled in the corner of the kitchen. Every bite of the bread turned to ash in my mouth, but I needed energy for the journey up the mountain.
I had dressed myself comfortably from my old wardrobe and pinned the crimson cape that was once Riyan’s around my shoulders.
I had successfully avoided everyone else in the fortress, including nosy Erik, but I still allowed myself one goodbye.
The sunset cast an orange glow on all of Astrid’s paintings in her bedroom as I knelt before her wheeled chair.
Her hands were delicate as parchment as they rested in mine. Her grey eyes stared at the wall, but I knew whatever shards of her mind floated around in her head could still understand me.
I smiled at her. “I am bringing him back, just like I said.”
Astrid’s eyes slid to the wall above her bed. “Ragnar.”
I turned, following her gaze to the portraits of Ragnar she had painted. She still held out hope for him, but he had used her and abandoned her.
It was so unjust.
The flutter of butterfly wings caressed the back of my mind. Astrid’s door was open.
I had tried not to hurt her in the past…but she deserved the truth.
As gently as I could, I sent an image of the Ragnar I knew into Astrid’s mind. Astrid blinked only once.
Her face was still.
“I thought lionesses did not keep secrets?”
I looked over my shoulder. Annalisa leaned on the doorframe with her arms crossed.
Her deadly eyes flicked down to my cape. “After the hell you put us through, you are just leaving?”
I rose to my feet. “I told you I was going to bring Riyan back.”
“And what happens then?” Annalisa lifted off the doorframe and stalked forward. “Brietta has been talking with the soldiers all night about the defenses for when Derrick comes. Do we revolutionize the Dukedom while you come back to your happily ever after?”
“I might not come back at all.” My throat tightened, but my Nordingaard crystal kept me calm.
Her brow hardened. “Why?”
Damn it, a direct question. I could not bite it down, so I let it out. “I am taking Riyan’s place, giving the Queen of the Giants my eternal servitude.”
Annalisa’s chest deflated, but I had to take care of my obligations before she could try to talk me out of my plan.
“No matter what happens after midnight,” I said, “someone has to look after Astrid.”
Her eyes softened as they moved from Astrid to her paintings on the wall. Her face tensed as soon as she recognized her uncle. “I could never do much to right my family’s wrongs…but I can start here.”
I let out a relieved breath. “Thank you, Anna.”
She pursed her lips and kept her arms folded. She was too angry with me to beg me to stay, or to even tell me goodbye, but it was better for the both of us that she stayed silent.
She could hate me all she wanted as long as she was safe.
Annalisa stared at the portrait a moment longer before turning back to me, keeping her eyes down. “My cycle came. I was never with child, I was just…I think I was just distressed…”
Before I could stop myself, I wrapped my arms around her. Her scent of rose petals and paint filled my nose. She circled her arms around me and rested her cheek on top of my head.
Even though I listened closely, no rain fell in Annalisa’s mind.
I held my breath and forced myself to pull out of her embrace. I looked from Annalisa to Astrid as the three of us stood in the dying sunlight from the window.
I had no idea what Ganora would do with me at midnight, or the next day, or until I met the edge of oblivion, but I held one certainty in my heart.
The ones I loved were still unbroken.