Chapter 14
Elysia stood in front of a mirror, strapping blades to her body.
Her usual dagger just wasn’t going to be enough if she had to see Topp Blatz’s stupid face.
No, she was going to need more than that.
Tossing a small throwing blade into the air, she caught it easily, feeling the weight before sliding it into the chest harness she'd found in her closet. Blade after blade slid into tiny slots until the raw emptiness she’d woken with quieted, and the hardened shell of Elysia Parker, daughter of the Crown, reemerged.
She had no practice with breakups. Topp Blatz had been her first everything. Crush, kiss, almost demise. The usual events in every young woman’s life.
The closest thing she had to a relational example was her sister, and Beatriz had either slept with or swindled half the city.
Rolling out of beds without so much as a thanks for the orgasms, her sister used to leave people behind as if they could have been anyone or no one.
Elysia wasn’t sure this was the best model to work from, but it was all she had, and treating Blatz like he was no one was better than letting him see her break.
If he could leave her to die, then she could steal back the heart that he’d never deserved in the first place and be on her way.
Easy, she told herself. It was a lie she desperately needed or else her feet weren’t going to move.
Elysia glanced at the weaponry room door, knowing Aidan was waiting for her to emerge and go over the plan before she catapulted herself to wherever Topp resided.
She grimaced. She’d rather get her teeth pulled out than have to discuss the patheticness of her heartbreak with Aidan.
Almost crying in front of him had been a failure of her fortitude that wouldn’t happen again.
No, like most things in life, she was better off doing this alone.
Scrawling out a short note, she slapped it on the knives table and traveled to see the one man she had hoped never to lay eyes on again.
“Oof.” All the air in her body expelled itself in a forceful whoosh. The familiar scent of a woodland storm and ozone cloyed her senses, while the deep voice only inches from her ear sent wary prickles up her spine.
“The dagger on your hip is about one inch from guaranteeing Kava has no heirs, so if you don’t mind…” Broad hands took hold of her waist, lifting and adjusting her slightly.
Elysia scowled, digging her elbows into his lower ribs as she attempted to lift her head only to smack it on wooden boards. Dust showered down on them both, damn near sending her into a coughing fit.
Great. She’d found him, alright. And was immediately on top of him. This was going swell.
Heartbeat a heavy thud against her ribs, its rhythm was as uneven as the rickety motion beneath them as she grasped for something, anything to say to hide how unsteady she was.
She’d strapped on blades and set her court mask firmly in place, but nothing ever prepares anyone for coming face to face with the person they once loved who had broken their heart.
She hadn’t seen Topp Blatz since they’d glided past their intended engagement and straight to treason on the Raven Ball dance floor.
She’d then disappeared to the death realm with blood dripping down her neck.
Elysia gritted against the twinge of hurt still lingering inside her.
Betrayal was as familiar to her as breathing, and yet, she feared the prince’s may have broken the last piece of her that secretly wanted to believe in even the possibility of goodness in another human.
Brown hair askew and mirthful green eyes locked on her, the prince wasn’t bothered in the slightest by their compromised position. His lightly freckled face stared up at her, his initial surprise at her unexpected entrance fading as he waited for her to respond.
“Are we beneath a carriage right now?” As soon as she said it, all the sounds around her clicked into place. The wheels cracking against the road. Hooves clopping smoothly.
“Better question. How in the many realms did you get here? And keep your fucking voice down.” Ear to his chest, the rumble of Topp’s voice vibrated through her.
“That’s none of your business.” She dug her knee into his groin as she squirmed, grinning when he grunted. “Now where are you going?”
“I’m getting out of Kava for a while.”
Elysia paused. The Crown Prince of Kava was leaving his own kingdom beneath the floorboards of an old carriage. Well-founded trepidation had her whispering. “Is he after you?”
Topp’s fingers dug into her waist reflexively. “I’ve never seen him like this before. It’s bad, Lys, really bad.”
She nodded, chin against his chest, his coat rubbing against her skin while his masculine scent tried to confuse her senses.
For the first time though, it wasn’t sweeping through her like a relaxing or enticing drug.
Instead, a quiet hesitation labored over her internal brakes.
Maybe her body had finally come to the realization that Topp Blatz wasn’t a poison to the masses, but he was hers, and she didn’t have time to play in toxic waters.
“Where exactly are you wanting to go?” she asked as if this was a perfectly normal position to be having a conversation.
“Bellia, to start.”
Another bump in the road had her cursing as her skull cracked against the floorboards above. Still wincing, she made a fast decision. “Tell me exactly where you want to go.”
“Saarspur.”
He didn’t deserve her helping him. She would be well within her rights to leave him beneath the floorboards of the carriage, escaping his own kingdom, and the pettiest part of her soul wanted to do exactly that.
But the newly emerging, awkward part of her that was trying to be a better person who cared about what happened to her kingdom knew that Topp’s chances of getting out of Kava were slim to none.
He didn’t deserve her help, but Kava deserved a chance at a different future, and for better or for worse, Topp Blatz was going to play a role in that.
Aidan had never clarified if she could travel with more than one person, but she was about to find out. Elysia gripped Topp around the middle and whispered their destination, Saarspur, Bellia’s largest city, aloud three times for good measure.
Elysia landed in a crouch, snow crunching beneath her boots and skyward pines all around her.
The crisp forest air was a relief even as her ears burned from the cold.
Head snapping to the right, a loud thud reverberated into the woods.
Encased in snow, Topp let loose an impressive string of curses.
Stunned, he remained flat on his back, staring up at the trees until his broad face finally broke into a wide, genuine grin.
Elysia tilted her head back as well, taking it in.
The branches and needles of the trees above inhaled in unison, appearing to sway and pulse as if they were all one system instead of endless separate trees.
Still sprawled in the snow, Topp threw her a look. “So, that’s how you found me. You can travel now.”
She nodded, but he was distracted. He was still staring at the sky, grinning. “Gods, I love this forest.”
Brushing snow off herself, she stood. “Been here before?”
Topp pulled himself out of the snow and nodded. “Many times.”
He carefully examined their surroundings, likely trying to determine where in Saarspur they’d landed, and while he studied the land, she studied him.
Cool bright light bounced off his skin, highlighting tired smudges and green eyes that were not nearly as electric as she knew they could be.
Tension pulled at his shoulders, creeping up into his neck and thinning his lips.
Faint lines had started to settle into his skin, marking the price of these last few months and years.
Unaware of her observations, Topp lifted his broad chest, pulling in a giant lungful of forest air with a grin. “Forest smells proper here. Unlike Kava.”
Elysia shoved her cold fingers into her pockets, nodding in agreement. “Who knew a forest could smell like anything other than decay?”
Grabbing her hand, he locked his eyes on some distant edge of the forest she couldn’t see or sense. “Come on, civilization is that way.”
Elysia gently dislodged her hand, and Topp’s eyes flicked to the movement, his brow creasing before resignation came over his face.
His mouth tightened. “Right, habit.”
Habit. A single, loaded word that set off the loneliness she could never quite kill. It emanated from the cavity in which her heart was supposed to reside but, per the fates, was in the pocket of the man beside her.
Now that she was here, stomping through the snow with Topp Blatz only a hand’s reach away, she wondered how in the realms she could ever steal it back, when giving it had never been voluntary.
Snow swirled gently through the air. A single snowflake landed on Topp’s pink nose, chasing away her thoughts and bringing a smile to her lips.
Wiping it away, he opened the conversation with an air-stealing statement. “You stuck a dagger into my father’s guts and disappeared.”
She froze, her hand shooting out to grab the nearest tree. Fuck. She’d been so caught up in seeing Topp, she’d forgotten that she’d tried to murder his father the last time they’d seen each other.
He looked at her out of the corner of his eye, his breath huffing out in tiny white clouds. “You went to the death realm, I presume, and now you almost ruined my escape—which took a lot of work for me to organize, by the way.”
Elysia tugged the collar of her jacket up higher, ensuring the Reyez branding was hidden, and let her hair fall over her ear, feeling extremely conscious of all the new marks on her body. Feet moving again, she fixed her gaze ahead.
“That covers it.”
He grabbed her shoulder, bringing her to a jarring halt again. They were never going to get out of the forest at this rate.
“No, it doesn’t.”
Frustration crinkled the skin near his eyes, but Topp didn’t press, choosing to drop her shoulder and stalk away. She eyed him curiously now. Topp Blatz showing restraint? She didn’t trust it for a second.
As they trudged on, the wind began to whir.
It grew louder, an overwhelming static buzz filling the air as the wind frenzied.
But it wasn’t just the sound—the wind was picking up snow and ice, spiraling the frozen precipitation faster and faster in a moving cone-like spiral.
One arm thrown up against her face to protect her eyes, Elysia dropped to the ground in a panic as she tried to understand what was happening.
In the eye of the windstorm was the one and only Crown Prince. Lost to his own frustration, he appeared immune to the destruction he wrought. Ice and wind cut into Elysia’s skin. Screaming as loud as she could, she tried to get his attention. “Topp, you’re hurting me!”
She wasn’t sure how he even heard her considering how the wind was swallowing all other sounds, but his influence cut off abruptly. Elysia collapsed to the snow in relief, bringing her hands to her face. Her fingertips came away with tiny pinpricks of blood.
Looking both startled and guilty, Topp crouched beside her. “Shit, I—” He brushed a hand through his hair, completely befuddled. “I have no idea how I did that, Lys, I’m so sorry.” He frowned and wiped at the blood speckling her face with his sleeve.
She stared back at him equally perplexed. “I know we’re not in Kava, but your magic still shouldn’t work. Try it again,” she urged, no longer giving a shit that her face was a bloody mess.
The crown prince closed his eyes, faded freckles dusted with snow, and the air danced again, picking up in intensity as it went. He opened his eyes and it stopped, returning to its lazy stirring through the trees.
Her brown eyes met his green, both gaping.
Voice rough, Topp spoke. “Something is changing, Elysia.”
She swallowed. Everything was changing.