Chapter 42 #2
“Most call you that because of the Wards,” she cut in. “It makes sense, but the Wards were in place long before you were called king. Even still, I think it’s fitting all things considered.”
“Because I am the king now?” he asked, wondering where she was going with this.
“One would certainly think you cursed with the way the phantoms come for you,” she mused, toying with his crown. “I guess there are multiple reasons to call you the cursed king.”
“Something to be discussed later,” he said tightly, the sound of the battle waning. They must be close to having things under control. “Let’s take her out of here and come back.”
He’d taken a whole two steps when she said, “I think the biggest reason I’d call you the cursed king though is because you haven’t figured out that you are the reason for all the Fae deaths.”
For a moment, all thoughts of the battle and the creatures of old and their safety were gone, completely eclipsed by her words. He stilled, slowly turning to face her once more. “What are you talking about?”
She was staring back at him, features hard and cold. Something dark and wicked that he’d seen from her but a handful of times.
Moving with the grace of the predator she was, she brushed past him, ashy footprints left behind. Approaching the slumbering stryx, she paused beside it, taking the creature in.
“They truly are majestic creatures,” she said thoughtfully. “And yet they are kept slumbering and caged, used for their abilities.”
She lifted a hand as if to touch it, and that was what had him lurching forward and breaking him free of all the thoughts swirling as he tried to figure out what was happening here.
“Don’t, Kailia,” he warned, knowing if he had to struggle with the creature again, he’d have nothing left for the other two.
He knew more than he let on. He’d observed her in her dreams for months.
Seen things she hadn’t realized he knew yet.
Or rather, she was likely questioning what all he knew, but didn’t want to bring it up because she didn’t know.
Their battle for dominance hung in the balance, waiting for one of them to tip it.
Despite the things he’d gleaned from her dreams, there were still details that evaded him.
Things he couldn’t figure out no matter how many times he slipped into her dreams or danced around topics in conversation.
She paused, her fingers inches from the creature’s feathers. His crown was looped around her arm, her bow still in her other hand.
“We don’t cage them,” he continued, the words causing her gaze to slide back to him.
“They are not domesticated creatures. They guard sacred sites. According to the Elder Clans, that’s what they’ve always done.
Long before my family assumed the throne, that was their purpose.
According to history texts and knowledge from the Elder Clan, they came with those who created this world for that purpose.
We don’t know what disturbs them enough to wake them, but they are not the threat.
We recognize that. It’s why we do not kill them.
We return them to their purpose. Let me show you. ”
Moving forward, he took her hand, then rested his other gently on the stryx’s beak once more.
Traveling them deep into the Olwen Mountains, they appeared inside a nest tucked into an overhang.
It was bigger than the stryx was, and the creature immediately settled in, tucking her face beneath a wing.
Guiding Kailia out of the nest, they made their way down the steep embankment until they came to a relatively flat area.
Keeping his voice low, he gently turned her to face another direction, pointing off into the distance.
“See there?” he asked. “Another slumbers. There are several nests in the area, and they all guard this.”
He guided her to face yet another direction, where two giant onyx doors were built into the mountainside. They were tucked so far into the shadows, they were nearly impossible to spot unless you knew they were there.
“What’s behind them?” Kailia asked, stepping closer.
“Another time,” he answered tightly. “But I wanted you to see that they are not caged or harmed. They are not forced into their positions. They guard these sites because they choose to, but they also do not differentiate between friend and foe.”
“What would happen if they were simply given freedom?” she asked.
“While I’m glad you are once again speaking with me, tiny fiend, this is truly a conversation to be continued at home,” he said, taking her hand once more. “We need to get back and get the other two creatures returned to their nests.”
Before she could reply, he Traveled them to the same clearing, planning to meet up with Draven and Ariadne. He could get a report, then they could hopefully track down Tybalt and the others.
But the moment they appeared, Draven was rushing forward, stumbling over the terrain.
“Cethin! Thanks the Fates,” Draven called. “Ariadne is hurt, but you need to know that—”
The male’s eyes went wide as a swirl of smoke and ashes appeared in the air behind him. Cethin glanced to his side, where Kailia still stood, then back to the warrior.
“Draven?” he asked, taking a single step, but the male slumped to the ground in a heap.
Standing over him was a male with black hair and grey eyes. Eyes he’d never seen swirl with smoke until now. He was corporeal, but his hand was still ashes, and clutched between his fingers was…
A spinal cord.
As if he’d reached inside Draven’s body and pulled the entire thing out of him.
His mind raced as he frantically tried to sort through what he was seeing. Lord Corveth Astor wasn’t an Ash Rider, but the male standing before him fucking was and he looked exactly like the lord.
The male dropped the bones atop Draven’s body, discs and vertebrae scattering at the lack of care as his hand reformed into flesh and bone.
He wasn’t wearing the dirty boots and work clothes Cethin was used to seeing him in.
Instead, he straightened his sleeves and pulled at the lapels of his fine jacket.
His polished boots had a few scuffs, but nothing like they would be from working on sheep farms or in shops.
He stretched his neck from side to side before settling his gaze on them once more. His lips curled into a wicked smirk as he beheld them, and Cethin stepped in front of Kailia, blocking her from his view.
“Explain yourself,” Cethin demanded, rallying his power despite not having any to spare.
“I think my sister would explain things better than I ever could,” he answered simply.
Sister.
Do not fail us now, sister.
Ever since the dream where he’d been stabbed, he’d been trying to place that voice.
Kailia had been so distraught by that nightmare, the details had fallen by the wayside as he’d worked to soothe her.
He’d never seen the face of the male who’d shoved a sword through his back, so he’d never been able to discern if he’d seen him in her dreams before.
It had made it harder to place the voice, and now it was far too late.
Stepping to the side so he could keep both Kailia and Corveth in his line of vision, he slowly backed away.
“Now would be the time to explain yourself, wife,” he said sharply with all the authority of his title and the crown that had fallen to her feet.
Her smile was a mirror of Corveth’s as she watched him put distance between them. Her head canted to the side a little, long dark strands sliding over her shoulder. “A king has his secrets, and so does a queen,” she said simply.
“Kailia, I don’t know what’s going on here, but—”
“That’s the thing, husband,” she interjected, casually twirling one of her arrows between her fingers. “You should know. You should know so much after all those late nights in your study. I don’t need to know where it is to know what you do down there.”
“For someone who prefers direct and blunt communication, you’re certainly speaking in riddles right now, tiny fiend.”
Her eyes narrowed. “Then allow me to be blunt, king. You say you coerced me into this bargain because you needed my arrows to save your people, yet you could never make the connection the thing they needed saving from was you.”
“Don’t speak to me about what I’ve sacrificed for my people, Kailia,” he snarled. “You have no idea the things I’ve done to ensure they can live peaceful and comfortable lives.”
“But I do know,” she purred. “I know all the things you’ve done and the curses you’ve brought upon yourself, starting with the blood magic to bring ships across your Wards.”
Words escaped him. She couldn’t possibly— No one knew what he did in that study in the darkest hours of the night.
Corveth was still standing near Draven’s body, hands in his pockets. He rocked back on his heels as though watching a form of entertainment play out in front of him.
“You know there is a cost for magic, but blood magic?” Kailia asked, faux pity in her voice. “Princes should not play with things they do not understand.”
“I understand just fine the cost of power and blood magic,” he spat, taking a step toward her, but she raised her bow, that arrow back on the string. He sent her a derisive smirk. “We both know that arrow won’t do anything, wife. You’ve tried that weapon already.”
“Then I suppose I’ll have to try this one,” she answered.
Tossing her arrow aside, a swirl of ashes left another in her hand. It was nearly identical to hers save for the gold arrowhead.
Fuck.
He didn’t know if that arrow would affect him. He doubted it, but this wasn’t the ideal time to find out.
She casually nocked the arrow while she continued speaking. “If you understood the cost of your magic, you’d realize that every time you successfully let something past the Wards, Fae are found dead the next morning.”
“No,” he said. “Only a handful of ships have made it past the Wards and only in the last year. None in recent months, and there have been dozens of Fae found dead.”
“I didn’t say it was always ships,” she replied calmly. “I said every time you successfully let something past the Wards. More than ships and those from across the sea answer your calls.”
No.
That couldn’t be true.
He shook his head, denial coursing through him. There had been a time, when he was young and his parents hadn’t realized what he could do, that he’d let unwanted beings into the kingdom, but not now. His mother had put a stop to that the moment she’d figured it out.
She had to be wrong. None of that could be true, because if it was—
“No,” he ground out, shaking his head as he desperately tried to explain any of this.
But Kailia’s smile was knowing, a sinister thing he hadn’t thought she was capable of. “Yes, Cethin. A cursed king who sacrifices his own people.”
“You’re wrong,” he growled, unwilling to believe a word of it.
“Denial doesn’t change the truth,” she replied. “Corveth has been here for decades. He didn’t arrive on a ship.”
Cethin glanced at the male, still silent with a faint smile on his lips as he watched this all play out.
“He came looking for sanctuary, and instead he found the prince and the kingdom responsible for so much death and misery,” Kailia snarled.
“How can you possibly believe that after these last months?” Cethin demanded, straining to keep his magic in check.
He needed to be strategic about all of this.
Two Ash Riders. Two creatures of old still out there.
The Elder Clan still hovering. They’d said the creatures awakening was an omen.
They hadn’t wanted Kailia on the throne.
Despite knowing so much of her plans, he’d thought he could sway her.
He could have never prepared for any of this though.
“I’ll admit these last few weeks, I second-guessed myself,” she confessed.
“Seeing the people. You including me on matters. How kind and gracious you are with those in your care. I thought maybe it wasn’t a mask.
Maybe everyone was wrong. Because how could you be the cruel and cursed prince?
The king everyone speaks of across the sea?
” Somehow her features darkened even more, twilight casting shadows across her face.
“Then you showed me exactly how you do it. How you use and betray without care of who pays the cost.”
Her last words were cold and filled with vitriol.
“Kailia, we can talk about all that. We can—”
But he was cut off by the roar of a dragon that had all three of them looking to the dark sky, the last rays of sunlight fading completely.
“You said you were handling the others,” Kailia said sharply, her gaze cutting to Corveth.
“I did,” Corveth answered, his words smooth and icy. “This shouldn’t be possible.”
But a black dragon was flying hard and fast for them, a dark spot against the stars.
He half expected Kailia to release her arrow, but she didn’t.
There wasn’t time to debate anything else as the dragon banked before landing behind Cethin.
The ground shook beneath them, everyone stumbling at the impact, but when Cethin looked up, it wasn’t glowing red eyes he found.
They were sapphire blue.
Razik.
He didn’t know how or why the male was here, but this was the first time he’d ever been happy to see him.
His scales were black as night, and they seemed to absorb the moonlight. Two horns protruded from his diamond-shaped head, and a spiked tail curled around Cethin as a growl rumbled from his chest. Those glowing eyes were fixed on Kailia with a resentment Cethin had only ever seen directed at him.
“You’re too late,” she said simply, lifting her bow and taking aim.
Too many things happened at once.
Razik loosed a roar just as a stryx came diving in, as hard and fast as Razik had been flying.
The creatures of old were impervious to dragon fire, and they were one of the few creatures that were a threat to the dragons.
Razik didn’t have a choice but to go airborne.
Not only to keep himself out of harm’s way, but it would also lead the thing away from Cethin and the others.
Cethin let his magic free, his darkness surrounding him in a vortex of protection.
The force of Razik’s wings flapping sent a gust of air swirling around them all.
A gust of wind that should have blown an arrow off course.
But not the one Kailia had released.
Not the one with a gold arrowhead that sank deep into Cethin’s chest.