The Coveted, page 7
My heart swelled in my chest, tears springing to my eyes. Here I’d thought that I was the only one haunted by that memory. I’d never once thought to consider how Daelon felt. I couldn’t see past the front he had to bear for Lucius. But Daelon had always been so respectful and cautious with me. He’d fought our instant chemistry from day one, knowing all along it would only hurt me more when he had to turn me over to Lucius. But I pushed it because it was what I wanted and needed; it was an undeniable force just as strong as his call to protect me.
I swallowed, finally finding my will to speak. “It can’t haunt you for the rest of your life. I won’t let it. Because I—I forgive you,” I said quietly. The words slid off my tongue so slowly at first, and then all at once. “I believe you, Daelon. I was hurt, and the effects of that will linger, but I understand now. I just needed to step back and see the story from all angles. Thank you for showing me. I know it was painful for you.” And I love you too, I wanted to say, finally. But I didn’t. Not yet.
He let out a breath. “I would do anything for you. My own pain is of no consequence.” He smiled slightly.
My entire body had been tense since he’d first entered the space, and now I could finally relax and breathe. A huge weight lifted from both our shoulders that had been heavy and dense like a storm cloud. The air was much lighter now. A brief, unspoken moment passed between us as our eyes locked, and I knew we would have much more to say when we weren’t being watched rather awkwardly by a bearded mystic.
Amos didn’t seem to mind, though. “I told Daelon your connection would run much deeper than duty,” he said, shaking his finger at us. “He didn’t believe me! I’m not sure why, considering my prophecies have been accurate thus far.”
My gaze flitted back to Daelon’s, and I could’ve sworn he was blushing slightly as he rolled his eyes. I had to suppress a surprised laugh, realizing I hadn’t seen him do anything of the sort since the first moment I’d met him. He was quite good at keeping his expressions and emotions heavily guarded, and now I truly understood why. Everything that even remotely threatened Lucius had to be kept strictly under lock and key. Daelon had to conceal his true feelings and desires for almost his entire life.
No wonder he liked to be in complete control.
“What did Lucius see?” I asked, finally slipping my hands from his grasp. “When he said to his mother that he felt something, and asked to keep you?”
“He saw that I was a shield. He was… just coming into his power, his natural power. He had a knack for visions and sensing others’ power and gifts. He saw that I would protect him, because that’s what my mom and our people wanted him to see. To be honest, I think he was also a very lonely child, believe it or not.”
Lonely? I wouldn’t have thought that was included in Lucius’s emotional range. But if he hadn’t done whatever it was that made him so unnaturally powerful yet, maybe he also still had feelings like the rest of us.
“They didn’t usually take in children who were as old as I was. Memories of our previous lives would make us less likely to… acclimate. But I somehow convinced them I was of no threat. I led them to believe I was no more than a confused child who was grateful for a new life, just as my mother had willed. Lucius was also very convincing. His parents took me in and trained me to be his own personal bodyguard, and then when the regime change occurred and Lucius rose to power, I became a very young Commander of the Guard. As crazy as it sounds, Lucius is the reason I’m alive today.”
An anger rose within me, the harsh whispers of my—our—people ringing in my ear. They destroyed our home and killed almost every witch in their wake. But why?
I drew my brows together. “And… Taryn. Her parents adopted her when she was a baby. Was she an orphan like us, a refugee from some kind of war? Is she from our coven too?”
Daelon shook his head. “She’s from another coven, but I have a feeling she was taken from the same region. But no one really knows for sure because it’s not spoken of or acknowledged.” Anger flitted across his features. “They call it a war, but that isn’t really what it was. It’s not something that can be discussed, Áine. That and the unnaturalness of Lucius’s power. Not just because it’s unsafe or because we’re hiding things from you, but because there are literal magickal barriers at play. I don’t even fully understand how it happened or why, because Lucius doesn’t want anyone to understand completely. Even I only know bits and pieces, and I’m the one he trusts most. When I try to think about the parts I do know, my mind fights against me. It’s like I’d die if I managed to articulate it. Then my brain gets all fuzzy and my memories turn to static.”
Okay, now I was back to feeling frustrated and confused. It reminded me of when I saw Daelon’s memory projected in the ocean, and the part that Lucius was in turned black and distorted before it shut me out entirely. “There were wars, and Lucius rose to power because of them, somehow. But he was only a child when they happened. That doesn’t even make sense.”
Amos cut in, scratching his beard. “This place is shrouded in darkness and lies.” His voice sounded far away, and his eyes were closed. “There is only one person who knows the full truth, and that is the King. This is by design. But there is another way. There is a place that cannot be easily traveled to, a place with records of everything that has ever happened. These are our only options.”
Daelon and I exchanged glances. “Oh yeah, he does this. I think he goes where you go, in your meditations.”
“Áine is the only one who can go; that’s what they tell me.”
Okay, creepy.
“Who?” I asked, but as soon as I did a wind whipped around me, even though the windows were closed. I felt the presence of my mothers. My people. Witches from all over the realm who were long passed. I knew they were helping us, somehow. They’d been doing it all along.
“What is this place? How do we get there?”
Amos went silent, and his eyes flew open. They were completely white, and his lips were parted slightly. My heart jumped, loud and thumping, against my ribcage.
“He does this too,” Daelon sighed, like it was just typical Tuesday afternoon shenanigans.
“Okay, sure, but uh, what the fuck?”
Chapter 6
I was about to ask more, because I had about a million unanswered questions, but Daelon spoke before I could.
“Lucius is looking for me. He has a hard time sensing anyone in this room, because Amos and I have it heavily shielded. I need to leave before he grows suspicious.” He stood up, and then paused. “Actually, you better come too. He wants to speak to you.”
My heart sunk. Being around Lucius’s revolting energy made me physically and psychically sick to my core. Whatever he wanted from me in exchange for keeping me alive couldn’t be good.
“Don’t worry, I’ll be close by,” Daelon murmured, studying my stressed expression. “And we can talk later when he is… distracted.”
By orgies? I wondered idly, thinking back to that poor girl he had hanging off of him in the throne room, as well as Nathaniel’s comments. Whatever sex Lucius had, I doubted it was pleasant for the other party. I shook my head slightly, weirded out that I’d even imagined any of that.
“Thank you,” I replied softly, and another unspoken moment passed between us. I felt nervous butterflies bloom in my stomach, and not from the thought of speaking to Lucius. Without all of my anger, I was feeling things for Daelon like it was the first time. I was unsure, excited, and curious. More than anything, I was glad I hadn’t closed the door.
We made our way down the broad corridor, the one with tall windows along the right wall and heavy double doors on the left that led to the dining and throne rooms. The vaulted ceiling was painted in a renaissance style, and I wondered if it shifted and changed like in the throne room. Today it had little cherubs and reminded me of cathedrals I’d seen in France. Not quite the same though. Everything that reminded me of Earth in this kingdom was always just slightly off. It was an entirely unknown culture in some ways, but in others it felt so familiar.
A loud clatter pulled me from my thoughts as we rounded a corner, just on the other side of the dining hall. It was a woman a couple inches shorter than me, so a good foot shorter than Daelon. She had curly black hair and gorgeous warm-toned, dark skin, like she was from somewhere tropical. She was dressed in a plain, unfitted black dress, and the tray she’d been carrying with dirty plates had clattered to the floor. Her eyes were locked on me, her mouth agape.
“It’s you,” she whispered, and Daelon’s hand brushed against mine as he moved closer. Her energy wasn’t threatening. It was warm and light, like a cool drink on a hot day, and for a brief second it did exactly what Taryn’s had this morning. It flashed a bright white around her form like what lay at the core of my own. There was an oppressive darkness there too, weighing her down. It felt like grief. Unfathomable, unrelenting, deep wells of sadness and loss.
Daelon tensed. “I think you’re confused.”
I could tell he wanted me to keep walking, to just ignore her. But I couldn’t look away.
“You’re so bright. There’s so much… it’s all so much. I see myself. I see everyone.” She looked at me with such scrutiny, and that’s when I felt it.
“You’re an energy reader, like me,” I whispered. She saw what I was.
“Áine, come on,” Daelon hissed.
“We don’t have much time,” she said, stepping toward me. “I’ve been waiting two decades to give you this message.” She reached for me, and I stepped forward out of Daelon’s grasp. She took my hand in hers, her skin warm but rough and calloused. “You will need this key, so you don’t get lost in the Akashic Records. So you can see exactly what you need to see.”
The sound of heavy doors slamming sounded from around the corner, where the dining hall was. The girl let out a breath and closed her eyes, and soon I felt something pass from her to me.
“It was the first snow of the season, and men sat around a long, rectangular table,” she said, her voice smooth and lyrical. As she spoke, I saw the imagery in my mind, as if I was experiencing it myself, but the faces were blurry, and the voices distorted. “A woman was there too, but she was away in her mind, seeing things that no witch should’ve been allowed to see. They were investigating an idea. A baby boy had just been born. They were jealous and hateful, consumed by thoughts of revenge. The room had two windows with a red tapestry between, and the fabric was stitched with the symbol of an anchor that cast a black shadow.”
Footsteps approached, and with them came a dark cloud that rolled toward us thick like blood and angry like a spitting snake.
I opened my eyes and watched the girl drop down to her knees. I sucked in a breath as she seemed to bow before me, still gripping my hand. She shouldn’t be doing this.
“Blessed be the Goddess for sending us hope,” she said.
Next, two things happened at once. Daelon snaked an arm around my waist and pulled me away, and the girl flew back against a wall. Lucius and a pair of guards had made it to us, and the look on his face sent a shiver to my core. His golden crown shone in what sunlight was coming through the grand windows behind us, and he wore intricate, black and gold dress clothes again. He snarled, pinning the woman to the wall with his hand outstretched in front of him. She gasped for air, but her eyes didn’t leave mine.
“Stop!” I shouted, and I realized some elite had also rounded the corner and stopped in their tracks, dressed again like they were walking a red carpet. I wasn’t sure how much they’d witnessed. I recognized Abraham and Sebastian as their eyes moved from me and Daelon to Lucius, barely even glancing at the girl suspended against the wall.
Lucius turned to me, letting the girl fall hard to the floor. “What did you just say to me?” he bellowed, and through his anger, I saw excitement—like he’d been waiting all along for me to take a step out of line.
Daelon had moved his arm from around my midsection to my arm, and I could feel him trying to speak to me telepathically. I let him in.
You’re going to need to do the exact opposite of what you want to do.
“Apologize,” Daelon commanded. “For questioning the King.” His voice was like a crack of a whip, reverberating through the space with authority.
Hot anger coursed through my veins, and it took everything I had inside me to remove my eyes from the motionless girl on the floor to Lucius. In this moment, I truly understood how Daelon must have felt all these years. I wanted to use my power to save this girl, to hurt Lucius, but I knew I couldn’t.
“I’m sorry,” I said quickly, and Daelon gripped my arm tighter. He wanted me to say more, especially with our audience. “For questioning you. It was an instinct from my time in the human realm. I’m not used to seeing violence.” I forced myself to bow my head and avert my gaze in submission to the evil man before me, and my fingers dug into my palms painfully as I did.
Lucius’s lip curled. “It’s not violence if someone is disrespecting me and my rule,” he spat. “Is it?” He turned to the nobles.
They shook their heads. “Of course not, my King,” Abraham said.
The girl raised her head. “It was all me. I grabbed her,” she said, coughing. “And you are no king. You’re a—”
Lucius shot a blast of magick at her, and soon she was writhing on the floor. I wanted to look away, but I didn’t, watching as her veins turned black, and she screamed and fought with a force I could not see.
Lucius’s eyes widened with delight. “That’s enough of that. Filthy heretic. I think she’s gone mad.” He laughed, and it was a horrible, callous sound. “Rebecca, Simon—clean this up when it’s over.”
Two of the guards nodded and stepped forward, a muscular woman with a brunette bob and a lean black man with a clean-cut beard and short hair. I choked back the venom that yearned to spit from my tongue. My chest clenched, realizing it would be over when she died. It was a brutal, unforgiving death. All because she knelt before me. She even defended me with her last words…
It wasn’t your fault, Daelon said in my mind.
Wasn’t it?
No. It was Lucius’s fault and only his.
“You two,” Lucius said, gesturing in our direction. He smiled, but it was cold and calculated. “Come with me.”
The girl still squirmed on the floor like she was being consumed from the inside out, her once beautiful skin now covered in the snaking black veins of this hex. As Lucius stormed past us, anger rolling off him in waves, the elite dispersed. Sebastian cast a curious glance my way before turning on his heel. Just before I moved to follow Lucius, I whispered a spell to take away the girl’s pain. I felt it pass from my lips and out into my energy, snaking its way toward her shuddering body. Daelon tugged gently on my arm, and I watched as her body stilled in her final breaths.
I’m sorry. I had no idea if she heard me. Soon my thoughts transformed to anger as we followed Lucius in a new direction.
I hated him. I hated him with so much intensity I couldn’t breathe without feeling the heat of it burning my lungs.
Daelon’s thumb traced a circle on my wrist, and I knew it was the best he could do in this circumstance. Soon, we were inside lavish living quarters, with dark, sleek décor that was devoid of character. I assumed it was Lucius’s. The fact that we weren’t too far from my own was more than a little concerning. Daelon’s rooms were a bit farther away. My chamber was a hell of a lot smaller than either of theirs, which spoke to this space’s enormity.
There was a long dining table off past a kitchen before tall windows, and as I glanced around, I noticed there weren’t any plates or evidence that anyone used the amenities. Did Lucius even eat? I couldn’t imagine him having normal human—or witch—functions. Whatever he did, I’m sure it was catered to him on a golden platter, served by people like the woman he just killed. I didn’t even get a chance to dwell on whatever her strange message meant.
“Sit,” he commanded, gesturing to the comfortable-looking tall gray chairs around the dining table. He took a seat across from me, and Daelon sat next to him. Daelon clasped his hands under his chin, his fingers steepled at his lips. I could tell he was tense even as he fought hard to look comfortable. Lucius’s eyes burned into mine. “What the fuck was that?” He said it with a smile that was devoid of real humor.
When I didn’t answer immediately, I felt a pressure against my windpipe. I couldn’t block out his icy energy from my perception any longer. My body rejected it, waves of nausea moving through me as my breathing became shallow and labored. “I don’t know,” I gasped. “She just grabbed me and read my energy.”
“An energy reader?” Lucius shifted his gaze to Daelon, barely reacting to my air being cut off. “How did we not know about this?” He released the pressure on my throat finally with a lazy flick of his wrist.
“I’m not sure. She must’ve found a way to conceal it.”
I started to wonder why her gift was so important, but soon I realized the obviousness of it. Lucius didn’t want anyone seeing the true nature of his power. Yet another reason why I should probably be dead.
“Amos is wrong.” Lucius spoke to Daelon as if I wasn’t there. “She is not the Universe’s push for balance or whatever the fuck. She’s a weapon crafted by our enemies. I can feel it, and the heretics lurking in the shadows of this castle can feel it too.”
I could nearly see flames in his icy blue eyes.
“And do not tell me I am being paranoid, brother,” Lucius continued. “Did you not hear what the servant girl said? It wasn’t a nonexistent goddess who sent her here, and she sure as hell isn’t anyone’s hope.”
“I think she saw what she wanted to see in her,” Daelon said, his tone level. “It was just a reaction to her power, what little she has in comparison to your own, nothing more.”
