Chapter 26 #2
Darcke’s eyes went between my own, and a current of understanding passed between us. When my lips lifted into a smile, his twitched, and a yelp broke from me as he scooped me up and lifted me over the rope, handing me to Torden as if I was a package he was sent to deliver.
“Set me down,” I ordered.
The warrior let out a rumbling laugh and carried me to the middle of the ring. “No can do,” Torden replied. “Darcke pulled rank.”
“Why?” I snarled as people’s whispers reached my ears. “Everyone is staring.”
“Who does she think she is? Carried like a fucking princess.”
“Do you think she’s fucking both of them?”
“I will say, watching her rip into A’lian will be fun. She’s supposed to be able to take five men like him with that rune of hers.”
“Exactly for that reason.” Torden grinned down at me. “So that you’d be pissed off enough not to try to run out on him again.”
He’d succeeded. Already before Torden set me down, my lip had curled back, and as Darcke came strolling after us, whispering something in Borje’s ear without as much as a glance my way, a low growl built in my chest.
Only then did his gaze lift to mine, and my rage wavered for a second when a flame of excitement licked the bond. As fiercely as it had raced between us, it disappeared, his fury and cool amusement returning.
Rolling my shoulders, I glared at him. “Angry enough for you?”
Darcke licked his lips. “For now.” He patted Borje’s shoulder before making his way over to me. “My heir calls. I must respond before she starts crying again.”
He was taunting me so that I wouldn’t hold back.
Darcke sought a vent for the pressure building in his chest, and he’d decided I was his best bet.
A trickle of sweat made its way down my back, sneaking inside my leather vest, and whatever flicker of furious mirth found its way into my heart faded as swiftly as the sun on the horizon at dusk.
“Come on,” Darcke said. “Show me your worst.”
He didn’t know how right he was.
Viljan and Ivren moved to the rope, neither daring to meet my eyes, while Rakkel and Stefen took the spots beside them. Ottoh and Vero also stayed to watch, and I showed my teeth once more when Geord smirked my way.
The air thickened with malice as the other initiates pressed in. My neck ached to bend under it, to give in to the sharp comments flung my way.
“Don’t let them get to you,” Darcke said as he crouched into a fighting stance. “That rage you keep swallowing is mine, not theirs.”
“And here I thought it belonged to me,” I said as I mimicked him, keeping my center low.
“No.” It was the only word he said before he rushed me.
I ducked, anticipating his fist half a second before it struck me square in the nose.
Darcke’s laugh crawled up my back. “Almost too slow.”
“Focus on the bond,” Guner called. “You shouldn’t even need to really look at each other to know what the other person is planning.”
I dipped, trying to hook a leg behind Darcke’s, but he danced away.
“Too slow again, heir.” He wiggled his brows. “Too bad your people don’t have a rune for speed. Your father would have been better off with it.”
All fury drained into the ground beneath me, and my chest cracked with the next beat of my heart, the image of my father’s disappointed face nearly making me spew the food Darcke had given me.
Darcke’s face fell. “What was that?”
I spun in the air, kicking out my foot instead of responding. There was no more smile on his face as he caught me by the ankle, and as he pulled, sending me sprawling onto my back with the air beaten out of me, his face came to mine.
“What was that?” he echoed as he reached out a hand to get me to my feet.
“Nothing,” I snarled, wedging my foot between his legs as he stared at my hand, getting him onto the ground as well.
He was on me before I could even taunt him, his knees digging into my arms.
“Tell me what just happened,” he demanded.
I tried slamming my head into his, but he turned, making my forehead connect with his shoulder instead.
“That’s just sloppy,” Darcke barked. “Fight back.”
I twisted beneath him, but Lika’s face joined my father’s.
What would Lika and your father say if he gets to rule your people?
My eyes sought Viljan’s, but as usual, his were averted, his pride and honor unable to stomach the disgrace of my facade. I knew Darcke was going to strike, but I did nothing as he landed a jab to my chest.
“Come on.” Darcke’s frustration was bleeding into the bond as he got to his feet, pulling me with him. “Don’t pull this shit again.”
Another tap to my gut, and while the force of it made me bend over, I didn’t defend myself.
“No,” Darcke snarled. “You don’t get to do this. You might be stronger than all of us, but I can fucking take it.”
“No, you can’t,” I replied in a monotone.
He frowned as the truth vibrated between us.
“Get it together!” Guner bellowed. “You’re supposed to fight, not use each other as punching bags.”
Laughter started around us, but I didn’t care anymore.
“Do you think her father never trained her?”
“Why would she need it? She can just use her magic and take him down.”
“I’m so glad I wasn’t chosen as her second. Can you imagine trying to survive having to deal with her?”
Kilia and Ilse stood by the rope, and while I was counting on the triumphant look on Kilia’s face, Ilse’s soft shake of the head before she turned and left cut into me worse than Darcke’s next strike.
I should have been happy. I’d succeeded in convincing the Hird that I was too entitled to fight anyone—that I couldn’t be bothered.
Even Viljan had given up on me. Asking if I had anything to do with my brother’s death?
A strangled chuckle escaped me.
Darcke shoved me backward. “Snap out of it.” His jaw slid against my temple as he reached an arm around me. “Whatever it is, snap out of it and fight back.”
I let him slam me into the ground again. I fell forward this time, and one of my hands involuntarily flew to my nose when it took the brunt of the force, causing blood to pool in the dirt. Darcke’s knee cut into my back, his hands wrapping around my arm, pulling on it until the bones screamed.
“I will break this arm,” he warned. “I will.”
“I know,” I said. “Go ahead.”
He let out an exasperated breath. “Why? I can feel your anger. I can feel your pain. Why not let it out? I can take it.”
I only laughed louder.
Darcke’s mouth landed by my ear. “What is it you think that I can’t take?”
“Break it,” I said.
“Tell me,” Darcke ordered.
“Break it.”
“Tell me!” he whispered furiously.
I didn’t bother responding.
I could feel how he debated breaking my arm, twisting to see if that would loosen my tongue, but at the last second, the pressure on my back disappeared. Darcke spun me in the dirt, and whatever he felt through the bond or saw in my face made him shake his.
“Disappointing.” He clicked his tongue. “So fucking disappointing.”
Darcke whirled as if he was leaving, and I closed my eyes to listen to the echoing thrum of mockery rising from the crowd, waiting for his footsteps to disappear.
“She’s an embarrassment to Vikings.”
“Can you believe her father made her his heir?”
“The gods are going to judge her, and then A’lian will take her stuck-up place.”
“There is no honor in holding back. If she won’t even teach her second, what will she do for her people?”
Each word struck my chest like a sword, digging further and further in until the edge of the phantom blade pierced my heart, making me draw a shaky breath to quell the sound of pain that wanted to fly past my lips.
“That was the worst thing I’ve ever seen. What are you doing, A’lian? Make her fight you,” Guner barked somewhere ahead. “Or are you frightened of her? Has the mighty Darcke A’lian met his match in a spoiled little girl?”
Bone crunched, but before I could open my eyes, I was in the air. My chest thudded against Darcke’s back as he carried me past a bleeding Guner. Despite my vow not to risk anyone understanding that my strength was gone, I struck a fist against Darcke’s back.
“Set me down,” I demanded.
“That would be a no,” Darcke growled back.
“I said. Set me down.”
Darcke only shifted me, cradling me so that I could meet his eyes. “Fight me.”
I crossed my arms.
His laughter was a lethal promise. “I thought as much.”
I remained quiet as he stalked through the woods, trying to read whether he was planning on killing me. But it wasn’t anger that drove his long strides. It was determination. And an insane dose of stubbornness—one I shared.
Darcke set me down only as we returned to the small glen we’d woken in after the bonding, where the waterfall rushed beside us and a thick tree line kept us out of sight.
Placing a hand on my hip, I waved my other hand at him. “Now what?”
He smirked. “Now we stay here until you fight me. I don’t care if I must live here until the next trial.”