The Shadow and The Draw, page 13
“The Queen’s actions mean a war is imminent,” Lordain says.
Cora scoffs. “My actions?” She asks. “I didn’t act. I reacted. I was being assaulted.”
“You killed the son of an alpha.” Lordain replies, his hands clasped over his chest. “That’s a serious offence.”
“He kidnapped Cora and tried to rape her.” I interject. I can’t take this shit anymore. “I think that’s a pretty serious fucking offence, don’t you?”
“No one asked you.” Lordain hisses at me.
“Am I the fucking Draw or am I just a lapdog?” I ask. “Because you told me over and over how important this role is. I’ve never seen you talk to Roche like this.”
“You don’t speak over the Alpha.” Lordain says.
“I’m not, I’m speaking over you.” I glare at him.
Finn clears his throat. “OK, that’s enough.” He looks at Cora. “Babe, why don’t you tell us what happened? What did they say to you while you were there?”
Cora shifts in her seat. “They barely said anything to me. They left me alone in a room for two days, and then Heath came along.”
“And what did he say?” Roche asks.
Cora shakes her head. “He said they were preparing for war, building tech, and that they’d made alliances that were useful since you cast them out of the mountains.” She looks at Lordain. “He seemed real cut up about it, bitter. And he commented on my flames.”
“What about them?” Finn asks.
“Their colour.”
I watch Roche and Lordain exchange a brief side glance. “What about their colour?” Roche asks, leaning on his elbows on the table.
Cora holds up her arm, and the veins are glowing, irridescent white. “They’re white. No one else has white flames. Just me.” She flexes her fingers, and small white flames erupt from her fingertips. “He also seemed to be very eager to remind me I’m the daughter of an Alpha. He said this made me powerful, and he wanted more power.”
Lordain scoffs. “Being the daughter of an alpha makes you no more powerful than any other woman.”
“The angel called her the Shadow Queen.” I interrupt.
Roche laughs. “The angel is a fool. We haven’t had a Shadow Queen in centuries.”
Lordain shakes his head, and gestures to Cora to continue speaking. “Go on.”
Cora sighs, and balls her hand into a first, extinguishing the flames. “Who was the Shadow Queen?” She asks.
“I’m not conducting a history lesson here, I want to know what happened while you were kidnapped.” Lordain says, and his jaw flexes menacingly.
“I told you last night,” Cora says, leaning back in her chair, eyeing him with something akin to boredom. “I should ask the right people what happened to my father.”
“You killed Ragnar’s son,” Lordain says, “you practically tore him open, how did you do that?”
Cora’s hand shoots up and it’s flaming. “I don’t know, should I try and show you?” She points the flames in his direction. “What happened to my father?”
Lordain throws his hands up. “He died, he was killed because his Draw and his Striker failed in their duties.” His eyes move to me. “Unfortunately rotten fruit begets more rotten fruit.”
Sparks shower across the Table, and Lordain is thrown backwards in his chair as Cora’s flames hit him. Finn jumps up, and grabs Cora, crying out as her flames touch his skin. “Fuck!” He holds his burned hand, his eyes wild as he looks around at us all.
Cora turns to Lordain, who is struggling to his feet, peering over the table, and she points at him again. “Do you want me to show you, Lordain?” She asks again. “Do you want me to try and do to you what I did to Heath?” Her face is almost vacant, and Roche is starting to move towards her.
I can see this is going to get bad real fast. She may be the Queen, but Roche is still bound by blood to protect Lordain. I spring out of my chair and rush at her.
“Amryn, stop!” Vale says behind me.
I grab Cora’s arms, spinning her away from Lordain, clutching her hands against my chest. She gasps as I touch her, startled, her eyes full of pain as she seems to come out of some sort of trance.
“It’s OK,” I murmur, holding her gaze. “You just look at me, OK? You’re OK. Just look at me now.”
“How - how is he not burning?” I hear Vale ask.
Cora’s eyes fill with tears, and her flames die down, just a little. “You’re alive.” She whispers. Her fingers wrap around mine.
“Just look at me.” I say again. “I’m here.”
“Amryn,” she whispers. “I felt you die.”
“I know,” I say, quickly swallowing the words I really want to say, “but I’m here now. Just keep your eyes on me.” Her flames extinguish under my hands. “Just look at me. I’m here.”
The room around us has fallen into silence, and I can just feel Lordain’s eyes boring into me. Cora’s head drops against my chest, and sweetness and bitterness tear through me, the urge to take her into my arms overwhelming.
“Ok that’s enough.” Finn moves between us, pulling Cora away from me. He puts his arms around her and eyes me suspiciously. “I don’t know what you two have going on, but -“
“What happened to my Father?” Cora asks again, turning back to Lordain.
“Go fuck yourself,” he mutters, slumping back down into his chair.
“I’m your Queen, and you’ll answer the fucking question.” Cora says.
“Your father was weak!” Lordain spits across the table. “Weak, and stupid. He was reckless. He didn’t think about the welfare of his clan, just the glory of the Old Ways. He put himself and his council and his clan in danger, and he paid the price.”
Cora shakes her head. “I don’t believe you. Tell me who killed him.”
“I don’t have time for this.” Lordain rises from his chair, darting his finger in Finn’s direction. “Get your Queen in order or we’ll have bigger problems.” He gestures to Cora’s face. “A few more of those probably wouldn’t hurt.” He turns on his heel and stalks out of the room.
Finn’s eyes move to me. “I’m going to take her home,” he says. “She’s had a tough day.”
“And night.” I want him to know I know.
Cora puts her hand in her pocket and pulls out a tissue, wiping the tears from her eyes. She looks up at me, and smiles. “Thank you for standing up for me.” She extends her hand to me, and I take it.
Something presses into my palm.
I close my hand, carefully, put it in my pocket, and give her a nod. “Anytime.” I straighten up and look at Finn, nodding. “You two go rest, it’s been a lot.”
Finn ushers her out of the building without a backward glance, and I let out a heavy breath, trying to release the tension in my shoulders.
Roche approaches me slowly, his hands behind his back. “Amryn, can we walk for a while?” He asks me.
There’s no point in saying no. I nod, and follow him out of the building. Roche turns left at the bottom of the porch steps, and we’re heading towards the lake. The morning sky is pale blue, and a breeze has sprung up, moving the trees gently overhead.
Roche exhales heavily as the lake comes into view. “Now, son -“
“I’m not your son.” I say quickly.
Roche sighs, exasperated. “Fine. I apologise.” He stops walking and turns to look at me. “Now, Amryn, I can see there’s something - untoward going on here.”
“I don’t know what you mean.”
“Don’t act stupid, it doesn’t suit you.” He says, raising his eyebrows. “I know you two grew up together, you were always close. You trust each other, and you’ve trained together. And she’s very beautiful, of course."
“You wanted to talk to me about Cora being beautiful?”
Roche sucks on his teeth. “Believe me, young man, I know what it means, loving someone you can’t have. I understand that better than anyone else in this compound.”
I cross my arms over my chest. “Do you have a point?”
“I’m trying to help you.”
I laugh bitterly. “Yes, you’re all eager to help me around here, aren’t you?” I narrow my eyes at him. “You ever get called runt, Roche?”
“No.” He replies.
“You ever get beaten up for touching a girl?”
“No.”
I take a step closer to him. “You ever get accused of having a thing for Morgan when you were just doing your duty and protecting her and Lordain?”
Roche sighs. “No.”
“So I don’t really see just how you’ve done anything to help me. In fact, it seems to me that you’ve all made my life as hard as you possibly fucking can since the Fates decided I was the Draw.”
“To be the Draw you have to be tough.” Roche points out.
“Yeah, tough. Not fucking beaten down and degraded and made to feel like you’re worthless.” I glare at him. “I haven’t forgotten what you did.”
“What did I do?”
I lean a little closer, and grit my teeth. “I still remember you dragging me away from my mother’s body. I was a little boy, and I was crying for her, and do you remember what you said to me?”
Roche shakes his head. “It was a long time ago.”
I’m right in his face now. “You told me she did it because of me.”
Roche swallows, his Adam’s apple racing up and down his throat. He shifts on his feet. “I don’t think I said that.”
“That’s exactly what you fucking said. And then you told me I’d be alone forever.”
Roche gives a short, nervous laugh, and takes a step back from me. “I’m certain I’d never say anything like that, you must be remembering it wrong.”
I grab his collar, and he looks up at me with frightened eyes. “I was 8 years old and I’d just found my mother dead in the bathtub and not one of you fuckers comforted me. The only person, the only one who looked at me, was Cora. She was the only friend I had. And you stand here and accuse me of, what, fucking her behind Finn’s back?”
Roche struggles in my grasp. “Amryn, I understand it was hard for you all when the clan in Ocario fell apart.”
“And you didn’t make it any fucking easier.” I let him go, pushing him away. “None of you.”
He straightens himself up. “We did everything we could to take you all on, and look after you as best we could.”
I scoff. “You keep telling yourself that.”
I stalk off towards the lake. I’m done talking. Tears prick at my eyes. I haven’t talked about this, ever, and the memories come flooding back. My Mother, floating in red water, that just kept dripping down the side of the bathtub. I’d touched her hand. It was cold. Her eyes, hazel like mine, just staring. Looking at me, but not seeing anymore. I clutch my hands to my face. I don’t want to think about this anymore.
I take a deep, shuddering breath, and remember what’s in my pocket. I pull out the piece of paper Cora slipped to me when she took my hand. It’s been torn from a book, inky fingerprints left behind from when she hurriedly scrawled the words, smudged with tears.
Finn’s not sleeping in the bedroom. I’ll leave the window open. Please come tonight. I love you.
The wind is howling through the trees. Clouds race across the sky, and I wonder if a storm is blowing in. The waning moon shines brightly overhead. I walk slowly away from my tent, trying to look nonchalant. It’s windy, it’s noisy. I simply can’t sleep. Just going for a walk. Nothing unusual.
I sidle along the lit walkway near Cora and Finn’s house, my hands in my pockets, and kick a stone along the path. There’s guards everywhere, armed to the teeth. Everyone is on high alert since the ambush. I wonder if I’m walking straight into a bad decision. But she needs me.
“Hey Amryn.” One of the guards spots me and walks over. “Everything OK?”
I nod. “Yeah, just can’t sleep real well these days.” I give him a small smile and shrug. “Since the ambush, you know.”
“Yeah, same here. I lost my brother.”
“Shit. Sorry, man.”
He sighs. “Yeah, it sucks.” He looks up at Cora’s house. “I heard the Queen killed one of them.”
“She did.”
“Good.” He spits. “They say it’ll start a war now, but I gotta tell you, I’d love me a fucking war right now, take out some of those fuckers myself.”
“Revenge sure can feel good.” I agree.
“Yeah.” The guard adjusts his grip on his weapon, and gives me a quick nod. “Anyhow, I gotta keep patrolling, you stay safe and, uh, I hope you can get some rest soon.” He looks up at the trees as they bend and sway in the wind. “This wind sure is crazy.”
“Yeah it is, must be a big storm blowing in.” I give him a wave as I walk away. “Take care.”
“You too.” He turns his back and heads back towards the training yard.
I walk along the side of Finn and Cora’s house, trying to keep my pace even. Don’t rush. Don’t draw attention. I turn around, as though to gaze up to check on the bending trees, and cast a glance around at the guards. No one is looking in this direction. I slip down the back of the house, and edge along in the darkness. Her window is the third one. I see it standing out from the walls, cracked open for me.
I stand underneath it and hesitate. What if Finn’s in there after all? What if he refused to leave, insisted on staying in there with her? I’m possibly about to make a huge mistake and get myself killed.
I give myself a shake, and hoist myself up the wall, gripping the window frame. I push the window open, the wood creaking softly as it gives way. I swing my legs into the room, and land on the floor. My eyes adjust slowly to the darkness, and I hear a soft whimper coming from the bed.
I take a step closer, and there’s movement. My chest is icy for a moment, and then I realise it’s Cora, rising to her knees.
“You came.” She whispers.
I move towards the bed, as quickly as I can without making too much noise. “Of course I did.” I reply. I reach the bed, and she leaps across it, throwing her arms around me, pulling me down onto the bed with her.
“You’re alive.” She sobs into my neck. “You’re here and you’re alive.”
I crush her against me, my hands in her hair, holding her close, my lips moving over her face, kissing every inch of it, drinking her in. “Oh my god,” I murmur, “I thought I’d never see you again.”
“You died in my arms.” She wraps her legs around my waist. “I felt you die and I wanted to die too.”
I look down at her in the dark, stroking her cheek, my eyes finally finding her features in the moonlight. “I’m here, and I’m not leaving you again.”
“I love you.” She whispers.
“I love you too.”
She gives a small, choked sob, and pulls me down to her, her lips opening under mine. Oh fuck she’s so sweet, and I can taste the salt of her tears and I feel like I’m about to split open.
“I love you.” I say it again. “I love you and I was so afraid I’d never be able to tell you, that you’d never know.”
“I’ve always known,” she murmurs, brushing her lips against my jaw, “I’ve always known it, I just wanted to you to say it. I just wanted to hear you say it.”
“I was a fucking fool.” My eyes close as her warm lips press into my neck, her fingers raking through my hair. “I should have told you every day, every chance I got. I’m so sorry.”
“Don’t be sorry.” She starts to paw at my clothes, trying to pull my shirt off. “Oh god, Amryn, I need to feel you. I need you, please.”
“Baby, we gotta be quiet.” I’m sure this is a very bad idea, but I can’t say no. I can never say no to her. Even when Finn is one wall and an unlocked door away.
“We always have to be quiet.” She starts to shuffle her shorts down, and then her hands move to the waistline of my pants. I reach down to undo them, and my need to feel her, to have her under me and around me makes my head spin.
She tears the shirt off over my head and I slip it down my arms. My hands going under her tank top, moving over her breasts, and she gasps. She shuffles it up over her head, and then we’re against each other, warmth and skin and hot breath mingling between us.
She opens her legs for me, and I push my mouth against her shoulder, suppressing my groan as I slide my cock inside her. She stretches for me, sweetly, perfectly, and her back arches underneath me.
Fuck, for the hundredth, the millionth time I thought I’d never be with her again, that I’d never feel her against me again, that the ache I feel for her would just go on forever. But I’m in her arms, I’m inside her, she’s mine, this is only for me.
“I can’t live without you.” She says with a sigh, holding my face in her hands, pressing her forehead to mine. “I wanted to die with you.”
“I never want to be away from you.” I move inside her gently, savouring every moment. “You’re everything.” Everything. She feels like heaven. She’s hot and searing around me. Her veins glow white in the darkness. I put my mouth to hers, just tasting her, lapping up her moans as they escape her throat.
The door flies open and the overhead lights snap on. “What the fuck is this?”
Cora’s eyes widen as she looks up at me. She shakes her head, her lips quivering. I rise off her and turn to the door, pushing her behind me to shield her with my body. She clings on to my shoulders, her hands shaking violently. “Oh god,” she murmurs.
Finn is in the doorway, two guards standing right behind him. One of them is the guard I spoke to outside.
“What the fuck is this?” Finn asks again, storming into the room. His eyes are wild as he looks at us in the bed. “You, and him?” He asks incredulously.
“I knew you were acting weird,” the guard says to me, shaking his head.
Finn stands at the foot of the bed, aghast. A disbelieving scoff drops from his mouth. “I can’t believe this.”
I hold up a hand. “Finn -“
“Don’t you fucking speak.” He hisses. “Don’t you dare say a fucking word.”
“Finn, please -“ Cora whimpers behind me. “You don’t understand.”
