Chapter 38 #3
He swore viciously. “I told you his dark magic was a fraction of his power. I told you you’d do well to remember that.”
“I know that. I saw what he did to those members of the Elder Clan without touching them.”
He huffed a derisive sound. “Not touching them was a mercy. Do you understand that? And that’s still not even— Kailia, Cethin can dream-walk. He can do more than that. I thought he would have told you. I thought— Fuck!”
She was not the one who should be on the receiving end of his anger.
No, that was the arrogant king who was used to getting his way. Who’d manipulated her and coerced her into a marriage she didn’t fully understand.
And now she was looking at him, perplexed and uncertain, clearly trying to work things out. But she couldn’t. Because she was too literal and didn’t conform to normal social interactions, and Cethin had fully taken advantage of that.
“What is that? Dream-walking. What does that mean?” she asked.
Too calm.
Too still.
Too unpredictable.
He was torn. Stay here and explain everything, or track down Cethin and make him face what he’d done.
Make him answer all her godsdamn questions, but then be left wondering what he’d omitted.
All of this was Cethin’s fucking mess. It always was.
Everything always led back to him and his lineage.
Always the priority. Always the one everyone else was expected to sacrifice for.
Not this time.
“Stay here, Lia. All right? Stay here, and I’ll be back—”
She shook her head, ashes spilling off her. “I’m asking you to explain this to me, Raz.”
“I’m not the one who owes you an explanation,” he snarled.
“Razik—”
“Stay here,” he ordered again.
Then he was Traveling.
He went to Cethin’s study first. When he found it empty, he sent a message with his dragon fire before Traveling to the council room where he often met with Zayan. Receiving a message back from Cethin immediately, he Traveled to their rooms where the king was waiting for him.
“Where is she? What happened?” Cethin demanded.
It took everything Razik had not to drive his fist into the male’s face.
“You happened,” Razik snarled, keeping space between them so he didn’t follow through on that desire.
“What are you talking about? You said something happened with Kailia. Where is she, Greybane?” Cethin snapped, that inky darkness that matched the tendril in Kailia’s hair creeping along the floor.
That was all he needed to dream-walk. He needed a connection to the person. A physical connection was best, but at some point, he’d let a minute piece of his magic latch on to her.
“How long have you been lying to her?” Razik demanded.
Cethin blinked, a flicker of confusion cutting through the increasing concern. “What are you talking about?”
“I thought you would have at least told her what she was getting into with you,” Razik went on, each word a barbed sneer. “But as usual, you did whatever it took to get what you wanted, not caring about the cost or who suffered for it.”
He hadn’t been expecting it, but he should have been.
Cethin’s power was expansive. Razik knew he struggled daily to control it.
Knew his parents had made him work tirelessly to master it, and despite that, all these centuries later, the power was a second away from overtaking him.
He could be as unpredictable as Kailia, which is how he suddenly found himself flung into the wall.
Razik’s head snapped back against the stone, small spots appearing in his vision, and his wings ripped free at the assault.
“I will not ask you again,” Cethin said, his voice dark and deadly. “Where is my wife?”
It took another second for his vision to clear, but when it did, he found Cethin with his hand raised, death glinting in glowing silver eyes.
“Don’t you fucking dare,” Razik growled, pushing off the wall.
His wings flaring wide, dragon fire coiled up his legs and arms, but Cethin did it anyway.
He closed his fist, and as he did, Razik felt the agony in his chest. As if his heart was being squeezed by the male’s fingers.
He snarled a curse as he sank to his knees, seconds away from losing control and shifting fully when Cethin let up.
He glared up at the male, his words too raspy as he pushed back to his feet. “You did all of this. When were you going to tell your wife you can dream-walk?”
The male paused, every part of him going still. “She knows?”
“She does now,” Razik snapped, taking a step towards him. “Tell me why I was the one who had to tell her after I found your magic clinging to her? What else doesn’t she know? Does she even understand what a Lunar Marriage is? Fully? Or did you keep that from her too?”
“Where is she, Razik?” Cethin asked again, a barely restrained panic in his tone.
“You’re no better than your fucking mother,” Razik spat, shoving at the male’s chest. “In fact, I think you’re worse.
At least I knew what she was trying to force me into.
Who she was attempting to force me to tie my life to.
But Kailia has no idea. You forced her into so much that she doesn’t understand. ”
He was thrown back again, twisting in time to avoid his wings being crushed against the wall. Which meant his face met the stone. He felt his nose break, blood instantly cascading down his face.
And he laughed.
Turning to face Cethin, he wiped at the blood with his arm.
“She’s here for something. Tybalt knows it.
It’s why he assigned me as her guard. You’ve lied to her, but I pray to the Fates, she’s played you for the fool.
I hope she gets exactly what she wants, and you’re left in godsdamn ruin, Sutara.
” Cethin opened his mouth, but before he could ask the same godsdamn question yet again, he added, “She’s waiting in my rooms for you.
I hope she has a dagger ready to shove into your chest.”
The king didn’t wait, Traveling before Razik had even finished speaking. He followed, but his rooms were empty.
“You said she was here,” Cethin snarled, rounding on him. More and more of his darkness was appearing, the floor now an ankle-deep layer of dark fog.
“I told her to wait here,” Razik answered, tipping his head back while he went to grab something for his face.
The first thing he found was a tunic, and he pressed it to his nose.
It’d heal before tomorrow, but he’d probably go see Niara to have it healed even faster.
“Although I don’t blame her if she left.
Hopefully she finds her way back across the Edria before you track her down. ”
“She’ll come to me,” Cethin retorted, looking around the room as if he expected her to simply appear.
Razik snorted a derisive laugh, then cursed. That shit hurt with a broken nose. It took longer than it should have for Cethin’s words to register.
He lowered the tunic, staring at the king.
At the male he’d loathed for centuries.
The arrogant ass who was catered to and given everything he wanted.
The one everyone was expected to bow to, sacrifice for, and trust in.
“You’re the reason her power isn’t working,” Razik said, disbelief coursing through him. Cethin merely stared back at him, and it was all the answer he needed.
He should have seen it from the very beginning, but for a reason he’d never be able to explain, he’d thought even this male couldn’t be that cruel. Watching her slowly go mad day after day, trying to figure out why her magic wasn’t doing what it should. Leaving her on her own. Letting her struggle.
Razik’s bark of laughter was utter vitriol. “I hope she fucking destroys you for this.”