The Scythian Trials

by Elizabeth Isaacs

  “Ana, why did you run?”

  She broke out in a cold sweat. “Sergei. He said some things that scared me.”

  Penn’s voice grew gentle. “Yes. Well. I’ll have to speak with him and make sure it doesn’t happen again.”

  Nya’s skin crawled as he sidled closer. She pressed her back against the cold wall.

  “We need to discuss these Scythians storming the manse. Our sources have no indication the Chancellor has gone back on her word, and yet a battle rages outside our front door. Did you find a way to reach out to them?”

  Nya blankly stared ahead. “Who?”

  Penn’s expression turned ruthless. “Your Chosen.” His fingertip softly ran down her cheek. “They want what’s mine.”

  “I don’t know anything about an attack.”

  Penn watched her eyes as his thumb grazed her cheek. He leaned in, his lips touching hers in a chaste kiss. “You are wise to tell the truth.”

  Nya turned away.

  He held his hands out, gesturing toward the room. “Do you like it?”

  “I’m stunned you could do this so quickly.”

  He smiled as he crossed to the small cot. “It’s amazing how far a little incentive can go when dealing with contract workers.”

  She stayed silent and looked at her wrists.

  He kept his eyes on the makeshift bed. “Do you remember that night? I dream of it all the time. We laid right there, your soft voice panting in my ear.”

  She shuddered with revulsion as she wiggled her hands back and forth, loosening the ropes around her wrist. “I remember.”

  Penn glanced back, and she froze. He turned to the cot again, seemingly lost in thought.

  “Why are you running from our destiny.” Sadness and confusion seeped into his tone. “I don’t understand.”

  The rope gave way, and she wriggled one wrist free.

  Penn started pacing. “I’ve spent an exorbitant amount of money and time creating a future for us. I wanted our son to be here when you finally came to your senses. We lost ten fetuses within weeks of inception. But the researchers assure me they have fixed the problem, and we have at least a dozen hosts lined up for the spring.”

  Horrified, she froze, both hands still in the air.

  He stopped just feet from her, his eyes imploring. “Don’t you see? I did this all for us. We have a lifetime of love and laughter ahead. Full of children and more money and power than we could ever need. And yet, after all I’ve done, you still defy me.” He stepped toward her and cupped her face with his hand. “Why? Is it because of these Chosen?”

  She didn’t move.

  His expression turned dark. He leaned in and kissed her forehead. “Tell me, my sweet Ana. Have you betrayed me?”

  She whimpered as her veins painfully throbbed. “In what way?”

  Penn’s temper flared. “Don’t be dense. Did you betray me by falling in love with one of those things?”

  Her temper flared. “I’m one of those things. And I’m not in love with anyone.”

  As soon as the words crossed her lips, she knew she’d made a mistake. Her blood turned to liquid fire as a red haze coated her vision.

  She whimpered, and Penn fisted her hair at the scalp, pulling her head back. “Did you allow him to enter your body and take what is mine?” Rage flashed in his eyes.

  “No.” Flames erupted within her, and Nya gripped the back of her bound hand, desperately trying to free it. Warmth trickled from her ear down her jaw, and she watched crimson droplets fall to the floor. Panic threaded through her.

  “You lie.” Penn muttered something in her ear, and fresh agony blazed.

  Oh, God. She was going to die, right here. Bound like some helpless woman. She’d never know what happened to her eggs, and she’d never see Jax again.

  The thought of Jax had memories whispering through the haze fogging her mind. His quiet reasoning as she struggled with something in a session. The way he challenged her to climb a peak, or goaded her into attacking him on the field.

  We got this ...

  The pain eased enough for her to think. It was impossible to reason with Penn, but his stupid Allos obsession with her virginity might be his undoing. And once she had the upper hand, she’d find out where he had taken her eggs.

  She squinted, trying to focus on his face. “You’re right. I do love someone, and he’s taken a part of me you’ll never have.”

  Pain flashed in Penn’s eyes. “No, it’s not possible.”

  “Jax is a fantastic lover, and I might be carrying his young right now.” Agony ripped through her, but she locked her muscles in place refusing to show any sign of weakness. “I’ve been with him for four years, sleeping in his bed, spreading my legs for him, willingly submitting to his every whim.”

  “You whore!”

  “Better a Scythian whore than a Drahzdan Tsaritsa.”

  Penn backhanded her, and Nya’s face jerked to the side.

  The physical pain allowed her some semblance of control, and her free hand whipped behind her, grabbing the box cutter.

  Her right shoulder screamed in pain as it carried the brunt of her weight. Rearing back, she head-butted Penn and then swung the knife in a lethal arc. He ducked, but the tip of the blade caught the flesh below his eye, slicing down his cheek and along the side of his neck. His shriek echoed as he stumbled back, finding a button on the wall. Male voices blared through the room, their Russian song sending fresh fire through her body.

  Nya desperately swung the box cutter toward her other wrist, trying to free it from the rope, but Penn grabbed her arm, twisting it back. The sharp blade clanged to the floor.

  Blood streamed down his neck, saturating his shirt. “It didn’t have to be this way. I would have protected you, cherished you. Loved you.”

  Nya’s heart stuttered as her body fought the rage within. She grabbed his shirt, hatred marring her face. “Yeah? Well for the last time, I don’t need your fucking protection, Penn.”

  She shoved him as hard as she could, sending him flying, his back crashing into the wall before he crumpled to the floor.

  He scrambled to his feet. “You’ll wish you had never defied me before this night is through.”

  She wildly swung her legs and arm, trying to reach him while swaying back and forth like some sick pendulum.

  Penn skirted around her and headed toward the table. “I will have my future, with or without you.”

  Her gaze flew to Penn as a match strike rasped in the silence. A small flame burst to life, its warm glow reflecting in his eyes.

  “Amazing, isn’t it? How one little spark can set the whole world on fire?”

  Penn grabbed her notebook he’d taken from their fort and angled the bottom corner above the small flame. The book’s edge blackened, the pages curling as smoke circled toward the ceiling. Flames rippled up the cover, marring the leather with every stroke. He dropped the book onto the old farm table. Orange and yellow ran along the warped wood, licking the side of the wall.

  Hazy smoke thickened the air, and she coughed as Penn crossed the room, standing just outside of her reach.

  “Goodbye, my sweet Ana. Die knowing we could have been happy. But if it will ease your passing, I promise our children will never know of your betrayal. I’ll tell them stories of Ana Sarkov, the sweet soul I fell in love with that eventually became my wife and their mother. They’ll never know of Anya Thalestris, the Scythian whore I so easily disposed of.”

  Nya swung again, but the momentum sent her legs from under her, and Penn lunged, grabbing her free arm and pulling it behind her.

  “My father demanded only one thing when he gave you to me—a trigger that would kill. I fought him over it, knowing you would never betray me.” His voice became nothing but an angry growl. “But father was right after all. You’ve turned into something I never dreamed you’d be. And for that, you must die.”

  He fisted her hair and jerked her head to the side, whispering the words that unlocked the very he
ll that lived within.

  Every nerve ending exploded in agony as she dangled from one arm, the tops of her feet dragging the old plank floor. Warmth seeped out of her ears, nose, and eyes, blinding her vision with red.

  “Goodbye, my love.” Penn disappeared in a shroud of dense, black smoke.

  Chapter Forty-One

  Jax finished closing his fourth door when a wisp of smoke filtered through the air. He turned, his eyes searching. The corridor’s end had turned hazy and white.

  “Vtachi,” he muttered, bolting past Ike and the discarded furniture.

  He tore the broken panel from his hinges, and a black smoke rolled out. Heat billowed as orange flames sped along the ceiling, curling around the corner, growing bigger as they raced toward the floor.

  “Nya!” Jax coughed, bringing his shirt up over his nose. “Where are you!”

  Heat washed over him in waves. Something shifted ahead, and Jax ran toward a limp body strewn up from one arm, a curtain of raven hair shrouding her face.

  He grabbed his knife from his boot and cut her down.

  “Is she in there?” Ike’s voice barely made it over the blaze’s roar.

  “Yeah. I’m coming out!” Jax cradled Nya to his chest as he crouched low, running through the growing blaze.

  They hurried past the doors and back into the nursery.

  Ike slammed the panel closed and reached for his phone.

  Jax eased the bloody hair from Nya’s face. Slick crimson covered her swollen features, making her indistinguishable.

  “Oh, God, Vtachi, what have you been through?” Jax’s voice broke as he held her close, muttering the Dacian words he’d used the past four years, hoping like hell they would help ease her pain.

  “How bad is she?”

  “It’s not great, but she’s still breathing.”

  A thunderous crash shook the castle, as smoke wisped from under the paneling.

  Ike looked at his phone. “I texted Zander and told him we have Nya, but we can’t fight our way out. The Tovaris are on their way.”

  Jax grabbed Nya’s dress from the floor and ripped a strip off of it, wiping the blood from her face.

  She stirred. “Jax ... you’re here.”

  “I told you. I’d follow you to the ends of the earth.”

  She sobbed as her stuttered breath grew shallow. “Promise me something.”

  “Don’t talk.” Jax swallowed as blood leaked from her nose.

  “Promise me.” She struggled to keep his gaze. The whites of her eyes had become bright red, making her blue irises seem surreal.

  Jax nodded. “Anything, Vtachi. Whatever you need.”

  She brought her hand up to his face. “Swear on the life of your Tova that you’ll get them back. All of them.”

  Jax’s voice grew husky as he placed his forehead against hers. “I swear.”

  Relieved, she dropped her hand. “I love you, Ajax Nickius. Never forget. I’ll always ... love ... you ...” Her voice trailed away as her eyes rolled back in her head, and she lost consciousness.

  Flames jutted through the crevice at the top of the panel, growing stronger until it rushed over the ceiling in a burst of light.

  Panic threaded through him as smoke rolled in. He tore a swatch of her dress and loosely wrapped the cloth around Nya’s head. “Damn it, Ike, we can’t wait any longer. We have to go.”

  Wood groaned as the fire intensified. Ike kicked the chair from the knob and flung open the door.

  They rushed into the hall, and all hell broke loose.

  Bodies lay at odd angles, strewn down the third-floor hallway and into the stairwell. Gia and Killian had left a stream of dead Drahzda in their wake, and Gia had taken a bullet in her thigh. With Penn in her sights, she’d be damned if they abandoned the mission now.

  The servant’s stairs were located in the back section of the castle, which meant they had to cross several hallways.

  They doggedly continued down empty corridors. Muffled gunfire sounded from outside, but the castle had become silent as a tomb.

  “Sarkov must have ordered the rest of his men to the front.” Killian wiped the blood from a wound over his brow.

  Light streamed ahead as they reached a landing that led to the grand staircase.

  A smoky haze filtered from the left, bringing with it the acrid scent of burning plastic and wood. The shelves at the end of the corridor shifted, rolling to the side, and Killian pulled Gia into the shadows.

  “Stephan!” Penn shrieked as he stumbled into the hall, his palm trying to stem the blood gushing from his face. “Where the hell are you? I need my pills!”

  Gray smoke trailed behind him, curling over his head as if following him out of the bowels of hell.

  “Stephan!” He leaned against the wall as a door to the right burst open.

  Ike and Jax stumbled out.

  Penn’s eyes locked onto Nya’s lifeless body draped over Jax’s arms, and Gia bolted between them, her uneven gate doing little to slow her down.

  Ike called her name, but she didn’t stop. Raw hatred pummeled through her, and her vision narrowed to the man who had caused so much suffering and pain. She wrapped her hand around Penn’s throat, ramming him against the wall, but his gaze never left Jax.

  “Is that the bastard that took her from me?” Penn shrieked, his eyes livid and wild as he tried to break free.

  Gia’s expression turned bitter. “He took nothing from you because she was never yours.”

  Dark smoke rolled from the nursery’s threshold as flames came from the other direction, blazing over Gia and Penn’s head.

  “Ike, get her out of here!” Gia shouted.

  Penn wheezed as Gia’s grip tightened. “It won’t make a difference. By morning she’ll be dead.”

  “So will you.” She cocked her fist back and shattered the side of Penn’s bloody face.

  His shrill scream echoed as the bone under his eye protruded through torn flesh.

  “Gia, kill him and let’s go!” Ike bellowed over the roar of the flames.

  Penn’s lips snarled in a wicked smile. “You’re too late. Penn and Ana Sarkov will live on in their offspring for generations to come.”

  Her hand tightened, and he gasped for air.

  The thunderous crash of falling beams shook the hall. A rush of embers sparked and flickered as the ceiling between Ike and Gia collapsed, the flames rushing between them in a wall of unholy heat and light.

  Penn’s blood ran down Gia’s arm as he grew weaker.

  “Nya’s eggs. Where are they?” she shouted.

  Penn stopped struggling as his hazel eyes became oddly peaceful. “Someplace you’ll never find them.”

  Gia screeched as she placed her thumb over his windpipe and pushed, shattering his airway. Penn’s breath gurgled to a stop before his body slumped forward.

  The blaze around them became a deafening roar as orange and red licked the walls. Sweat dripped from her face, and she dropped Penn’s lifeless body, watching it crumple to the floor.

  Ike took his coat off, desperately trying to beat the flames. “Jump, it’s your only chance!”

  Gia looked at the surrounding inferno. The fire whipped and eddied, growing stronger like an ancient angry beast hellbent on consuming them both.

  Her eyes, so poignant and knowing, kept Ike’s as she placed her hand over her heart.

  “I love you,” she whispered. “I always have.”

  “Gia, no!” Ike’s voice broke as she was engulfed in flames.

  Jax crossed the foyer as crimson dripped off the silk swathing Nya’s face. Killian ran ahead, taking point, and he opened the door, his eyes sweeping the horizon for signs of the enemy.

  Movement along the tree line had both warriors scrambling, but it was Zander and several Tovas making their way from the forest.

  “I need a medic.” Jax’s voice broke as he ran down the steps.

  “Doc’s with them over that hill. You,” Zander pointed to a warrior. “Make sure they get th
ere in one piece. Killian, you’re with me.”

  Jax shifted Nya in his arms and followed the female Tova down the broken road and into the woods. His heart hammered, fear tightening like a band around his chest.

  The trees thinned, revealing several military trucks under camouflage netting. Warriors lay on the ground in a makeshift triage center.

  “Sir, are you hurt?” A medic ran toward them.

  “It’s Nya ...” Jax mumbled, cold. “She needs help.”

  The medic shouted, and two Tova rolling a gurney came from the transport and headed their way. Victor jumped out of the vehicle and ran alongside.

  They stopped in front of Jax, and he lay Nya down on the stark white sheet. His fingers trembled as he peeled back the blood-soaked cloth shrouding her face.

  “Nick, let me do that.” Victor reached for her, but Jax shook his head.

  “No. She’s my responsibility. I need some gauze ... something ... I have to clean her up.”

  “There’s some in the truck.”

  The gurney rolled forward, and Jax kept hold of her hand as Victor stayed by his side.

  “Do you know what happened to her?”

  “That bastard unleashed her Phoenix.” Jax’s voice broke.

  Victor swallowed a few times before he spoke. “She’s strong. She’ll pull through.”

  They stopped by the medic transport, and Nya’s chest weakly rose as if it were an effort to breathe.

  “I know you’ll want to stay by her side, but we need room to work.”

  The doctor in Jax knew Victor was right, but the Tova in him hated it. He brought Nya’s hand to his lips. “I’ll be right here, Vtachi. I’m not leaving. I promise.”

  Victor nodded at the medics, and they lifted the gurney and rolled it into the portable trauma center.