Deadliest of Bonds: (The Blight 2), page 17
“Not sure?” He arched a brow, straightening as if he wanted to come and help her up.
She halted him with a hand. “Rumor has it you attempted a coup and ran away with the Princess.”
Rogan blinked and frowned. “I know,” he said. “Where did you hear that?”
Thea sighed and kicked the air with her legs to get feeling into them again. “The castle.” She wasn’t sure why she was telling him this. But she was.
“What the fuck were you doing there?” he asked. His voice had gone from calm to angry in a heartbeat, and Thea scoffed.
“That’s none of your business,” she snapped. “You’re not the boss of me, I do whatever I want.”
Rogan ran a hand through his hair and sighed, taking a step closer. “The Queen wants you dead,” he reminded her.
“I know that, I saw the posters. And she did try to kill me herself. But failed. Again.” The smug smirk that twisted her lips was delightful, but Rogan didn’t seem to agree.
“Will you ever stop being so reckless? I can’t protect you all the time. Especially when I don’t know where you are.”
Thea chuckled and looked at him, dumbfounded. “I never asked for your protection,” she retorted, pointing a finger at his chest. “It’s not your job to protect me. I’m a big girl.”
“I know, I just—”
“And I certainly don’t need protection from the man who would have killed me and my mother fifty years ago if the Celestling hadn’t prevented it.”
Rogan swallowed, his throat bobbing, and his eyes bored into hers, intense and serious. She almost flinched when he spoke next. “I didn’t kill anyone,” he said.
Thea rolled her eyes. “I know, it was the Queen’s order, whatever, you—your power—killed them.”
“I didn’t kill them,” he repeated. Thea opened her mouth to snap at him, but his next words halted her. “The Queen only said she wanted them dead so I…” He took a deep breath and Thea waited, her heart starting to race. “I turned them into credens.”
Thea had to blink once, twice, a third time, before she could function. Her heart froze as the words hit her, and she slid to the ground once again, her legs trembling.
Rogan had found a way around the order. Since credens weren’t technically alive, the magic bearers were dead. But not entirely.
“That’s why they’re back,” she breathed.
That made sense. And she knew Rogan enough to know that he wouldn’t be lying about this. But why tell her now? Why tell her at all?
She lifted her eyes to this. “Why?” she croaked, her throat suddenly tight.
“I’m not a murderer,” he replied.
Thea’s hands started to shake. Credens. She had only seen some once. On her first journey to the capital. They hadn’t been creatures, but people. People Rogan had changed thinking it was mercy.
People she had killed.
Her eyes burned. “But I am.” It was so much different from fighting the Queen’s soldiers and Charo. She had killed someone innocent. Someone who was already a victim. Because she had thought it was a creature of darkness.
Rogan crouched before her and reached for her hand, but she scrambled away. “What are you talking about?” he asked, lips tight.
“I killed a creden that day,” she whispered, her voice breaking. “You were there, you… I killed someone.” They could have been anyone, maybe even someone she knew.
Her throat constricted and hot tears burned her eyes.
“I’m sorry, I didn’t tell you to make—”
“Why did you tell me then?” she snapped, lifting her teary eyes to him again.
Rogan shook his head. “I’m trying to show you that I’m on your side. That what bad things I did were not my own choices.”
“Why?” Thea pressed. She didn’t understand this need he had that she saw the good in him. Didn’t understand why he opened up to her now that she knew the truth, why he told her his weaknesses.
“Because I want you to trust me. Because I want to help you.”
“Then why won’t you tell me where the Cup is?”
Rogan shook his head and swallowed. “I can’t tell you that. It’s too dangerous.”
“Then how do I know I can trust you? What proof do I have of your loyalty to us instead of the Queen?”
He blinked and took a step back, as if offended. Thea fought the tears in her eyes and kept her teeth clenched.
“Didn’t the fact that she put a price on my head convince you of that?”
He had a point. If she’d had any doubt before of Rogan’s allegiance to the Queen, speaking with her today had proved that they were no longer on the same side.
“The Queen has magic,” she said, remembering Charo’s hand and the balls of darkness. “Dark magic. She’s using spells, I…” She took a deep breath and lifted her eyes to Rogan again.
He took a careful step forward and reached out between them, his fingers brushing her arm in a gentle caress. Thea didn’t move as he spoke next. “What are you talking about?”
“She has magic. Of her own,” Thea explained.
Rogan blinked and narrowed his eyes. “How is that possible?” he mumbled to himself, eyes lost in the distance.
Thea looked at him expectantly. “Is it a remnant of your power?”
He shook his head. “No, I—” He sighed. “I don’t know how she’s doing this. She shouldn’t…” Running a hand over his face, Rogan looked back at her. “I don’t know how to stop her.”
“Then what can we do?” Thea shook her head. “If she has power even without you, what—”
“What were you doing at the castle?” Rogan interrupted.
Thea looked at him, at the frown between those familiar gray eyes, and decided to trust him with this. She was probably making a mistake, but she hoped this one wouldn’t cost someone’s life. “I was looking for my father,” she admitted.
Rogan frowned. “Egene,” he said. Thea didn’t pause to wonder how he knew him and only nodded. “Why?” he asked.
“He wants to kill me.”
Whatever Rogan truly felt for her—if anything—he seemed determined to protect her. And Thea knew that those words would sway him. If he didn’t see through her half-truths.
“I’ll find him,” Rogan only said.
“Why?”
“Like I said, I want to help. I want to prove to you I’m on your side, even if I won’t tell you where the Cup is.” He looked at her with so much intent and pleading and want that Thea shuddered. She wanted to yield again, to let herself melt into the familiarity of his presence. But things were different now. Their relationship couldn’t go back to the way it was. She couldn’t let it. It was too dangerous.
“It would make things much easier, though,” Thea countered, crossing her arms over her chest as if to convince herself that there was a barrier between them.
Rogan’s eyes bored into hers. “I disagree.”
She wanted to trust him but she couldn’t risk it. Not entirely. She couldn’t risk him knowing where she was because then he would know where Fyreen was. Where the vial was. And although Thea had no idea what it could do, she knew Rogan would want it. Just like she wanted the Cup.
They each had something the other wanted. The difference was that Thea had another way to get what she wanted. She had Ash.
Thinking of him suddenly brought her back to reality. To what the Queen had said. That soldiers would attack her mother’s camp. She wasn’t even sure Leethan had been able to warn the others, and if he had, what they could do about it. They were a few days’ ride from the camp, they would never get there in time.
She had to wake up, so she lifted her eyes to Rogan who was still looking at her, like he wanted to read her mind.
“I have to go,” she said, closing her eyes and forcing herself out of this place.
“I’ll find your father.” Rogan’s words echoed between them like a vow and then she was gone.
Chapter 24
Someone was shaking Fyreen awake.
“Fyreen,” she heard Sil call.
She blinked her eyes open and saw Sil leaning over her, urgency in her burgundy eyes. Fyreen sat up abruptly, suddenly remembering everything that had happened. The men attacking them, Ruelle falling, her dagger, the blood, the arrow, Ruelle—
Her eyes swept over the room and she saw Ruelle sitting in a corner, Ariella kneeled next to her to heal her. That explained why Fyreen felt absolutely no pain in her body even if she distinctly remembered her knees cracking and her ass smarting. Relief expanded her chest until she saw the two bodies on the floor and the blood staining the stone.
Fyreen gagged when the scent of death and blood hit her and she pressed her hand against her mouth as bile rose up her throat. A heartbeat later, Sil was extending a bucket before her and Fyreen vomited into it until her stomach stopped spasming.
“What happened?” she asked.
Sil opened her mouth to reply, but she didn’t get the time. Suddenly, the wall started to shift. Everyone tensed and Sil grabbed her bow, ready to fire at whoever was trying to come through.
Panting, Fyreen watched as the hole formed and someone stepped through. “It’s me,” Ash said, his voice urgent.
Everyone relaxed only to tense again when Zéfan and Zéna suddenly appeared in the room.
Fyreen’s heart clenched when she saw that Zéfan was carrying Kirion against his chest. She froze at the sight of her brother. Something inside her broke and healed in the same breath as Zéfan walked toward her.
She heard people talk around her but didn’t listen. Fyreen’s eyes couldn’t look away from Kirion, as if she were scared that he wasn’t real, that he would disappear if she so much as blinked.
Her body moved before she did. She stumbled to Zéfan who gently leaned forward, lowering Kirion’s body to the mattress. Fyreen sank to her knees next to him.
Her brother was here again.
Fyreen swallowed hard and her eyes watered. She trailed her fingers gently over her brother’s face. His smooth, dark skin was still cold to the touch, but this time, she welcomed the bite because it proved he was really here.
“Thank you,” she breathed softly to Zéfan and everyone who had acted to bring him back to her, even if she wasn’t sure anyone could hear her.
Reality came crashing back when she turned around to thank them with a look. “Where are the others?” she asked. Thea and Leethan were not with them.
“Leethan contacted me when you were unconscious,” Ruelle replied. “They got caught in the dungeons.”
What? How long had Fyreen slept for?
She shot to her feet. “We need to help them get out, then.”
“We can’t,” Ash replied. “There’s no way we’re getting inside the palace without getting caught ourselves. And that would help no one.”
“We can’t just leave them there,” Fyreen countered. “They’re in danger.”
“They’ll be fine,” Ariella assured her. “Thea knows what she’s doing.”
Fyreen was not convinced. Did Ariella really know just how far Luhra was willing to go to make sure she stayed on the throne? “What about Egene?” she asked, turning to Zéna.
She shook her head while Zéfan said, “He’s not in the palace anymore.”
Then all this just to get her brother out. She wasn’t selfish enough to be happy about it, not when her friends were still in the Queen’s grasp. “What do we do then?” Fyreen insisted, her eyes finding Ruelle briefly.
“We do—”
Ash was interrupted by Ruelle’s gasp. Everyone turned to her at once, waiting, and Fyreen’s heart stopped in her chest, fearing the worst.
“The Queen sent soldiers to the camp. They’ll attack tomorrow night.”
The sentence rang in the room like a snap of thunder and Ariella was on her feet in a heartbeat. “What? Are you sure?”
Ruelle nodded slowly, her hands shaking. “The Queen told them herself. Leethan assured me she wasn’t lying.”
Ariella started pacing around the room. “It took us two days to get here. We can’t make it to camp by tomorrow,” she mumbled.
“We can if we don’t take any breaks and ride as fast as we can,” Fyreen countered, determined. She had almost died today, because of strangers that her mother had turned against her. She refused to let Brado and all of Ariella’s friends die too.
But at the same time, she didn’t want to leave the city while Leethan and Thea were still inside the castle, on their own.
Ariella was already moving, taking a blade and readying herself to leave. “We need to move fast.”
“Shouldn’t we think about this? Making rash decisions is not going to help anyone,” Ash intervened.
Fyreen exhaled slowly. “We can’t leave Thea and Leethan behind.”
“They’re out.”
Everything in Fyreen’s body loosened at Ruelle’s words. She turned to her friend who nodded, her shoulders slumping in relief. “They’re out,” she repeated, as if to convince herself.
“How?” she asked.
Ruelle pursed her lips and looked at her. “I think we’ll have to wait to see them so they can explain. Leethan told me that they’re not going to come to us in case they’re being trailed and they’ll let us know where to find them once they’re safe.”
“Thea still has my ring, I can feel them,” Ash added.
“Where are the mounts?” Ariella asked, her voice harsher than Fyreen had ever heard it. But she understood. Her friends—her family—were in danger. She would do everything to save them.
Ash didn’t miss a beat. “Not far. Let’s go,” he said before ducking into the street.
Fyreen got to her feet and tried to breathe through the fast beating of her heart. They had people to save.
It took them less than an hour to get enough horses and gallop to the forest again. Although Fyreen was relieved to have Starspinner with her, she couldn’t focus on anything but saving Ariella’s friends from her mother. Brado’s face kept flashing in her mind and her heart squeezed with worry.
Now, they had reached the woods and luckily, no one was following them. They had somehow managed to get out before the Queen had a chance to dispatch too many soldiers looking for the people responsible for Kirion’s disappearance.
The streets had been a mess of crowds and screaming people. Guards had been sent through the city, probably to catch Leethan and Thea, and the chaos that it had entailed had allowed them to glide through the mess unnoticed.
They stopped once they were safe in the forest, just to decide precisely what to do.
“Ruelle, any news from Leethan and Thea?” Ariella asked, her cheeks red from the ride.
Ruelle closed her eyes for a moment while the rest of them dismounted. Fyreen held onto Starspinner as she tried to steady her heart. They were losing time they didn’t have. But they didn’t have a choice.
“They’re in the forest. Ash, can you locate them?” she added, turning to him.
Ash twisted his own ring and nodded. “Yes, they’re further east.”
“We can’t all go to the camp,” Ruelle intervened. “We can’t bring Kirion there, he will slow us down.”
She had a point, but Fyreen’s heart squeezed all the same.
“I’m going to join Thea and Leethan with Kirion,” Ash said suddenly.
“And I’ll be able to guide us back to you once we’ve made sure everyone was safe,” Ruelle continued.
Ash nodded in response. Zéfan carefully dismounted, holding Kirion against him, and lifted him onto Ash’s saddle. His arms on either side of Kirion to hold him steady, Ash said, “Good luck.”
And then, with one last glance toward Sil and Zéna, he galloped into the forest.
Fyreen tightened her grip on her reins, fighting hard against the new tearing in her heart that watching her brother go again created.
“We need to go now,” Ariella said, breaking the silence.
Fyreen took a deep breath, glancing at the people around her. She had no idea what sort of trap they were running into, but she wasn’t sure she wanted to know.
She had already killed a man today. But she had to help Brado and the others. She owed it to them after all they had done for her.
So, Fyreen spurred her mare forward and galloped into the forest after Ariella.
Fyreen had never had to ride so fast and hard for so long. But not once did Starspinner falter.
They only stopped twice, by the stream, to let the horses drink and eat something. They didn’t even sleep but rode the entire night. Ariella did her best to give the horses strength with her magic when they stopped and although their coats were dark with sweat and their nostrils flared too wide, the mounts didn’t slow the pace.
They all powered through, riding as fast as they could and praying to get there in time.
When the smell of smoke reached Fyreen’s nostrils, her heart squeezed painfully. She looked up ahead. It was still the afternoon, the sun high in the sky, and she had no trouble seeing the smoke that snaked between the trees, and the flames behind it. They were too late. The camp was already burning.
It doesn’t mean that they’re not still fighting. That they’re not still alive, she reminded herself to try and smother the bile rising up her throat again. She had nothing left in her stomach to vomit, and yet, she felt like if she so much as opened her mouth, all her organs would come out.
So she didn’t dare.
Instead, she forced Starspinner on, even when the smoke threatened to make tears roll down her cheeks again.
Fyreen started praying. Celestling, please protect them. Please let us not be too late. They had protected Ariella and Thea all those years. Maybe they were still listening. Maybe they could help them.
Ariella’s horse skidded to a stop so suddenly Fyreen almost didn’t have time to avoid them. That’s when she felt the heat of the fire. She choked on the thick smoke in the air. She heard the screams and the clash of swords. And she saw the chaos ruling the camp.
