Possession

by Samantha Britt

  My escort with the scarred lip retreated to heed his captain’s orders. I held my breath as I waited for the male to return. I stared at the bottom of the captain’s desk, ignoring his continued stare.

  “You are Amelissa Allaway?”

  How did the captain know my name?

  I debated lying, but then I realized there was no point. If the pirates purposely targeted our ship, they likely knew who was on board.

  “Yes.” I continued to avoid his gaze.

  “And you work for His Highness?”

  I was surprised to hear the captain use the respectful address. My eyes lifted on their own accord, hoping I might have actually stumbled onto an ally ship. “I am Prince Brion’s secretary.”

  A gleam shined in the captain’s eyes. “Is that all you are?”

  I made sure my face showed confusion while, while concealing the apprehension his leading question caused.

  I furrowed my brow. “Yes. What else would I be?” My heart pounded against my sternum, and I prayed none of the elves could pick up the organ’s noise.

  The doors behind me opened, and I couldn’t resist spinning around to look at Brion. His hair and clothes were disheveled. Other than a trail of blood trickling out of the corner of his mouth, I saw no evidence he was injured.

  Seeing me his nostrils flared, and his eyes hardened to match the onyx stone they resembled. Then, almost dismissively, he looked away. His gaze landed on the male behind the desk. I rotated back to face the captain, as well.

  I heard Brion’s heavy steps as he walked forward. He passed me and positioned himself two feet in front of me, nearly blocking me from the captain’s view.

  “You wanted to see me?” Brion sounded calm, but thinly veiled rage flowed just beneath his surface.

  “Yes.” The captain was either unaware or unaffected by the threatening timbre of the prince’s voice. “I’d like to discuss a deal.”

  “A deal? After you attacked my ship and captured my men?”

  Peeking around Brion’s torso, I saw the captain lean back and lace his fingers over his abdomen. “We attacked no one. My crew infiltrated your ship and subdued anyone who might want to resist us. No one was killed.”

  My shoulders sagged with relief. I was glad to know Jasper, Min, and the others were unharmed.

  “You did all that in order to make a deal with me.” Brion crossed his arms and widened his stance. “Why?”

  “This was the only manner in which we could arrange for you to speak with us.”

  Brion’s body seemed to swell, creating quite an imposing figure. “Who is ‘we’?”

  “The rebellion.”

  I inhaled sharply. Neither Brion nor the captain paid me any attention. The two males stared at each other, assessing one another.

  “You and your crew work for the rebellion,” Brion stated, “and you seek an alliance with me?”

  “Yes.”

  “What makes you think I would ever ally myself with the rebellion?” Brion’s voice lost its subtle edge. Now, it was easy to hear the violence thrumming through each word. “What makes you think I would ever betray my father?”

  I stiffened and backed up an inch. My kinder captor, Wynn, I believed, reached out and grabbed onto my wrist. He shook his head at me, silently warning me to not try and escape. I didn’t bother to tell him that wasn’t what I was trying to do. I’d heard the anger in Brion’s voice, and my natural reaction was to distance myself from his impending wrath.

  I froze and returned my attention to the imminent fight in front of me. I eyed the captain’s men at his side. They looked strong, but I doubted they’d be any trouble for the muscular, volatile, prince of draekon.

  The captain rose from his leather chair. The chair’s legs screeched against the wood floor as it moved back. He leaned forward and rested his palms flat on the desk. He said evenly, “Because we know about your father’s hatred. We know about your prophecy. It is your destiny to defeat King Roderick, and we are offering you the opportunity to complete your destiny with us.”

  My throat dried. I knew how much Brion’s prophecy troubled him. He didn’t want to be his father’s downfall. He wanted to escape that fate. I feared his reaction to the captain’s ill-advised offer. I expected him to lash out with all of his fury.

  So I was nothing short of stunned when I heard Brion calmly state, “No.”

  “No?” The captain couldn’t believe it, either. “Prince Brion, I am not simply offering you the chance to join the rebellion. I am offering you the opportunity to become the draekon leader once King Roderick is defeated.”

  Silence descended on the room.

  I wasn’t sure I understood what the captain was saying. The rebellion would make Brion king once his father fell?

  Brion growled, “What in the gods are you talking about?”

  The captain pushed off the desk, but he stayed behind its sturdy wood. He wasn’t stupid enough to close the distance between him and the volatile draekon, unfortunately. “Once the king is defeated, the continent will be ruled by a council. There will be leaders from each race represented, and it will be a democracy. I am authorized to offer you, Prince Brion, the position as the draekon ruler. You will be able to protect and assist your people, but we must overthrow your father first.”

  My mind whirled with the information. The rebellion didn’t plan to cast draekon off of the continent?

  I bit my cheek to keep from blurting my thoughts out loud. Brion was smart. He’d have the same thought I did.

  “You make a compelling offer,” Brion said. “But I shall not contribute to the rebellion’s efforts to kill my father.”

  The captain’s face contorted with anger, finally losing the relaxed façade he’d maintained the entire discussion. “Then you are a fool.”

  I cringed, afraid of what the repercussion for his insult would be.

  Brion surprised me, again, by only saying, “Perhaps.”

  The captain’s men shifted beside him. They were ready to act the moment their leader gave the command. My muscles tensed, and I prepared for the looming storm of violence.

  The captain and Brion stared one another down. Neither spoke. The captain didn’t blink, and I doubted Brion did either. I swallowed the knot in my throat, feeling the tension notch up with every passing second.

  At last, the captain ended the standoff. “Very well. My superiors will be disappointed, Your Highness. Nevertheless, you are free to go.”

  I could hardly believe my ears.

  Brion shared my disbelief. “And my crew?”

  The captain waved a hand. “As I said, we only subdued them so they would not attack us. You shall all be released back to your ship.”

  Did I dare hope? I saw the muscles in Brion’s shoulder shift as some of the tension he’d been holding released. He believed the captain, and his belief allowed me to relax, too.

  Brion said, “My men and I are traveling to Mar. Once we land, it will be my duty to convey this encounter to the rest of my father’s army.”

  I wasn’t sure why Brion decided to tell the pirate that.

  I was even more confused when the captain saluted the prince and said, “Good luck to you, Your Highness. I pray to the Goddess Mother you and your siblings do not share in your father’s doomed fate.”

  Befuddlement consumed me. I didn’t understand. The rebel, pirate captain respected Brion, but he despised the king.

  He wanted Brion’s help, but when the prince refused, he was just going to let him go?

  None of it made sense.

  Brion turned around, distracting me when he drew near. His hard eyes landed on Wynn’s hand on my arm. Instead of letting go, Wynn tightened his hold.

  The prince saw and his jaw clenched. “If you would release my secretary, we will be on our way.”

  Wynn pinched his lips, but he didn’t release my arm.

  Behind Brion, I heard the captain say, “I’m afraid, Your Highness, that Amelissa is not going anywhere.”

>   My relief immediately vanished and my stomach rolled.

  Fresh fury flickered within Brion’s eyes. He whirled on the captain, his anger seeping into every corner of the room. “And why not?”

  The doors behind me swung open, and I heard a familiar voice say, “Because Amelissa is going with me.”

  35

  Not entirely believing my ears, I slowly turned until my eyes landed on the male in the doorway. Sure enough, Lord Erwin was there. His toned arms were crossed, and he looked serious. Though, he did spare me a brief, flirtatious wink. “Long time, no see, doll.”

  Relief and foreboding fought for dominance in my mind. I considered Lord Erwin a friend. He’d been kind to me at the castle, and he didn’t try to hide things from me when others did. But what was he doing on a pirate ship in the middle of the Western Sea? Wasn’t he supposed to be at Court facilitating negotiations with King Roderick and his council of draekon?

  “Erwin,” Brion growled. “What is the meaning of this?”

  “I am here to retrieve Amelissa. I’m taking her home.”

  Taking me home?

  I found my voice. “What’s going on?” I looked between Brion and the ambassador. “What’s happening? What do you mean, ‘home’?”

  The hope he meant Caldiri was dashed when he said, “I am returning you to Avelin, doll.”

  I stepped away from him, but Wynn still held my arm.

  “There is no need to fear me, Lissa.” Erwin’s eyes urged me to believe him. They were gentle and soothing. They were the eyes of a friend.

  I looked away and stared at Brion, trying to throw my thoughts at him. What do we do? How do we get out of here?

  If Brion heard my thoughts, he didn’t show it. The prince’s face was dangerously stoic. I didn’t know if he was shutting me out, or if he was trying to gather himself to face whatever was about to happen.

  Either way, his reaction heightened my growing fear.

  I turned back to Erwin. “What if I don’t want to go with you? What if I want to stay with Prince Brion?”

  Erwin had the decency to look sympathetic when he said, “I cannot allow that, my love.”

  My love?

  The flirtatious ambassador often used the term “doll” when he spoke to me, but he’d never called me love.

  My eyes narrowed. “What is going on, Erwin?” I didn’t hide my fearful frustration. “Tell me.”

  Lord Erwin sighed dramatically. “I was hoping to have this discussion in private.”

  I didn’t let him get away with that. “What are you talking about?”

  He sighed again. “We are bonded, my love.”

  My whole world sputtered to a stop. Roaring waves crashed against my eardrums. I stared at Lord Erwin, disbelief and horror covering my expression.

  The ambassador was undeterred. “Don’t tell me you haven’t felt our connection? I felt it from the first moment I opened my door and saw you standing there with a serving tray. You were quite the sight to behold.”

  My entire body began to shake. I shook my head, and my denial fell from my lips. “You’re wrong. I feel nothing for you. We are not bonded.”

  Behind me, I heard the captain chuckle. “Seems like you have yourself an unwilling bride, Lord Erwin.”

  Erwin’s lips curved into a smile, but the amusement didn’t reach his eyes. “Amelissa wasn’t raised in Avelin. She doesn’t know of our ways. Once she learns, all will be well.” A warning glint flashed in his eye. It wasn’t threatening, more like a cautionary plea.

  Tightness clenched my chest and stomach. Just the thought of considering I was connected to anyone but Brion was too agonizing to bear.

  “No. That’s not true.” I shook my head and stepped back, Wynn finally dropped my arm. I took two steps before realizing I had nowhere to go. I was surrounded, and unless Brion tried to fight to get us out, I was trapped.

  Realizing I hadn’t heard a peep from the prince since Lord Erwin entered the room, I turned to him and stared. Why wasn’t he objecting to the elf’s claims?

  As the panic subsided a little, I understood doing so would reveal my mixed heritage to the pirates and Lord Erwin. Brion was trying to keep my secret. But what good was keeping my secret if it meant I became Lord Erwin’s captive?

  Brion didn’t meet my gaze. He continued to stare at the ambassador as he said, “I trusted you.”

  Even I heard the resignation in the three words. Brion was giving up. He intended to let Lord Erwin take me away.

  My heart cracked right down the middle.

  “That was your mistake, Prince Brion.” Lord Erwin’s voice was cool and indifferent.

  I wanted to scream at Brion to do something. How could he just stand there and let Lord Erwin take me? Why wasn’t he fighting for me? Where was the male who said he’d do anything for me?

  “I believe it is time for you to go, Your Highness.” My eyes swung to the captain. He wore a smile, but tightness surrounded his eyes. He didn’t know if the confrontation would turn violent. “My crew and I will be needed to hoist the sails while the wind still blows.”

  I saw the prince incline his head, acknowledging the dismissal.

  “Brion,” I breathed, unable to stop myself from begging. “Please. Don’t leave me here.”

  Brion turned toward me. His face remained impassive, but I heard a small, masculine voice murmur in my mind, “This is the only way. Trust me.”

  Brion gazed at me for one moment longer before brushing past me to exit the room. I spun around and watched him shift into his draekon form and take flight into the cloudless blue sky.

  I blinked back tears, praying to the gods I hadn’t imagined the words, and I really could trust Prince Brion.

  36

  “Are you truly not going to eat anything?” Lord Erwin asked me from across the dinner table. His bright blue eyes flickered between me and my untouched plate. He took another bite of steak and waited for my response.

  He would be waiting all night.

  After Brion flew off the pirate ship, I had been escorted to a different vessel. I hadn’t understood Lord Erwin or the sailors as they spoke in their native tongue, but I deduced the ambassador was in charge of the three ships that had overtaken Brion’s vessel. If not from the proprietary way Erwin had strolled about the deck, then it had been the authoritative air he exhibited. Even the captain from the first pirate ship had treated Erwin with respect. Everything I’d believed about the elf was a lie. He wasn’t an honorable man. He was a pirate. Or at the very least, he funded pirates and their activities.

  Pirates, I reminded myself, who said they allied with the rebellion.

  I’d constructed an iron wall of defiance around me as I watched two pirate vessels sail off. I was on the third ship with Lord Erwin, and we’d set sail in the opposite direction. I hadn’t asked where we were going. I didn’t trust him to tell me the truth.

  I’d been ushered into a private cabin to freshen up, but I’d refused to do anything but sit and wallow in my anger and sense of betrayal. With every league of ocean I’d sailed away from Brion, a knot in my chest coiled and constricted. It hurt to remember his flat expression and quick submission to Erwin’s will. Brion had been angry, but he hadn’t really tried to stop the ambassador from taking me. I’d brushed away angry tears, refusing to show any weakness in my new situation. I needed to keep my mind clear and figure out a way to get out of this mess.

  Lord Erwin had returned within an hour and escorted me to his lodgings for dinner. Now, I sat at the table, but I refused to take a bite of the traitor’s food. It might seem silly for me to deny myself the fuel necessary to keep up my strength, but all I knew was I couldn’t let Lord Erwin win. I couldn’t let him think I’d ever forgive him for stealing me away on some half-cocked lie about us being bonded. If that meant starving myself for a day or two until I couldn’t take any more, that was what I planned to do.

  “Lissa? Did you hear me?”

  “Don’t call me that,” I hissed, un
able to stop myself from breaking my stubborn bout of silence.

  Erwin blinked. “Don’t call you what? Lissa? But that is your name.”

  “Not to you. Never again to you.” Only my friends and family called me by my nickname. He no longer had the right.

  Erwin lowered his fork and sipped his wine. Placing the goblet on the table, he said, “You think you hate me, but you do not know the whole story.”

  I narrowed my eyes, remaining quiet.

  “King Roderick has turned on Avelin. He broke our negotiations, and I barely escaped the capital with my life.”

  I looked for any sign of deception, and I noted his clenched fists. “What happened?” The more he talked, the better chance I had at picking up on lies.

  He released a humorless laugh. “What happened? Many things. One, I was forced to run from the castle like a beaten animal while two of my men lost their lives during our escape. Two, I wasted months by bending over backwards to appease that mental draekon king. And three, Brion has wrangled me into securing your safety from all of this. Though, he doesn’t completely understand what, exactly, he is asking of me.”

  My growing sympathy fell to the floor. “You took me. Brion didn’t ask you to do anything.”

  He glared at me. “You know nothing. Prince Brion and I are allies. The moment he saw the ships with my banner, he knew what was going to happen.”

  I scowled. “He tried to keep me from being captured. If he recognized your banner, he didn’t want you to find me.”

  “And yet, I understand you were retrieved rather easily. Isn’t that right?”

  The impending retort died on my lips. I replayed the moments after the crew spotted the ships. Brion identified them as elves, and he’d put me in the cell with only a lock to protect me from intruders. I’d questioned why he would do that. Now, hearing Erwin claim the prince knew, and even wanted, me to be abducted… the poor level of protection made sense. Brion had deceived me, and familiar anger gathered in my gut.

  “Why wouldn’t he just tell me the plan?” I refused to abandon my doubt. I couldn’t fathom why Brion would want me to leave his ship for the elf’s. “Why wouldn’t Brion say he wanted me to go with you?”