by Ana Calin
“Yes, but good warriors need to recognize when it’s time to rest, otherwise the battle is lost.”
My body loses tension with every word that he speaks, and I end up falling against his chest, my armor clanging against his. I realize just how heavy it is, and it becomes heavier with every second that passes. The adrenaline racing through my veins hasn’t allowed me to relax at all ever since we emerged from the arctic portal into this realm, but now, at his first sign of kindness, it leaves my body in freaking waves.
Xerxes helps me to an alcove by the hall’s far wall, and sits down with me on a bench carved into it. The nook is covered in ice, glittering like a Christmas tree full of blue and silver gems, and our breath turns to mist in the air. The silver suit I’m wearing underneath the armor like a second skin protects me from the cold, but I wonder what’s going to protect us from the eyes we’ve struggled so hard to elude. It seems there can be no place to hide in this glimmering castle, and two guards sitting in a nook will all but keep attention at bay.
To my jaw-dropping surprise, Xerxes winds his arm around my shoulders. I rest against his chest, armor to armor, as shadow begins curling up from him, forming a cloud of darkness around us. I remember it well—it’s the same blanket of shadow he used back at the Grand Mage’s mansion when he wanted to shield us from his eyes, only that this time I doubt it’s going to be very effective. This hall is like a ginormous cave with gem-studded walls and alcoves, the archways on one side overlooking the icy ocean that we emerged from.
“This hall connects the main gathering reception hall to the Throne Hall and the Dining Area,” Xerxes whispers in my ear, taking off his helmet. His thick black hair falls to his armored shoulders, and a claw squeezes my heart. His features, though ruthless, are incredibly beautiful.
“Incredible, how you could make out the entire structure of this place from the sewers underneath,” I breathe, struggling with my own helmet. I doubt I look as dashing as Xerxes when I finally manage to get it off my head, and tuck it under my arm. Nazarean slips inside it for extra safety. “It’s so good to breathe freely again.” I look up at Xerxes. “And to feel so safe, even though it’s under your shadow.”
“One of the skills of a trained killer,” he grunts, staring straight ahead at the colossal statue of a primordial High Fae holding a circle of nine worlds above his head.
We sit here in silence for a few moments for me to catch my breath, though I’m barely able to. We have to leave soon, before patrols walk in here, and the pressure won’t let me be. I’m not sure they would overlook a cluster of shimmering darkness on the backdrop of a glittery hall, but Xerxes refuses to put pressure on me to move on. I can see the tips of his ears moving finely to pick up distant sounds, making sure we’re not in danger.
“So what’s the plan?” I break the silence. “How do we get to Lysander, given the circumstances?”
“We’ll have to wait until after the feast. It might be a while.”
“But if they found the tracks, they won’t stop looking for us.”
“Yes, and my cloak of shadow won’t protect us for long in an open space like this one. If you’ve managed to catch your breath, let’s go to the servants’ chambers at the back of the ground floor, behind the Dining Hall and the kitchens. The servants will be busy attending the guests, it shouldn’t be hard to find an empty room.”
“Then let us go, before Sandros finishes his speech and the crowd floods through here into the Dining Hall.”
He looks down at me, assessing my strength. “All right. But I’ll carry you.”
He scoops me up as if I were as light as a feather. It happens fast, I don’t even get the chance to react. The coat of shadow around us thins as he hurries with me past the great statue of the High Fae with the nine worlds to the Dining Hall.
A long table presides on a high royal dais by a pair of pillars so high they seem to support the very skies, overlooking a landscape of ocean and mountains. If it weren’t for the protection of Xerxes’ shadow and the silver suit under the armor, I would surely feel the icy breeze of the Winter Realm. Dozens of other tables, round ones, with silver cutlery and impeccably white tablecloths fill the rest of the hall, with a round luscious empty space right in the middle—the dance floor, I suspect.
Xerxes slips into the corridor that connects the Dining Hall to the kitchens, which we go around in order to avoid being seen.
We find the area with the servants’ bedchambers, where Xerxes discovers a perfect place to hide. It’s a small room at the very back, at some distance from the other bedchambers, and the energetic signature reveals that it hasn’t been used in a while.
Xerxes slips inside with me in his arms.
It turns out the space is barely more than a lumber-room, with stacks of cloth and barrels of magic nectar. My throat goes dry as soon as Xerxes sucks the cloud of shadow back into himself, and I catch the first whiff of the magic liquid. It would work wonders for my depleted stores of energy.
“Please, I need—” Is all I manage in a weak voice as he sets me down on a cot behind the barrels. It’s so cold in here that there is no dust, and the blanket covering the cot has a thin, cracked layer of ice over it. Our breath turns into white clouds of steam as it leaves our mouths, and the tip of my nose is so cold I can barely feel it, in stark contrast with the rest of my body that feels cozily warm.
Xerxes grabs a silver goblet from a shelf, and turns the tap of one of the barrels, letting the golden liquid fill it to the brim. The better I can see and smell it, the more I want it. I yank the goblet from his hand, and the moment the icy silver touches my numb lips I can feel again. The life-giving nectar travels straight to my limbs, infusing them with energy and life. I can barely rip the goblet away from my lips, but I have to leave some for Nazarean, too.
I put the vessel down on the floor, and he leaps down from my shoulder, lapping with his little tongue at the life-giving liquid. Slowly, my arms stop trembling from all the effort I did.
Xerxes regards Nazarean and me for a while, but just as I get ready to rise from the cot and get back to work, Xerxes drops his shield, and starts undoing his gauntlets.
“What are you doing?”
“The nectar gave you a shot of strength, but you still need rest in order for it to take full effect. If your adrenaline levels shoot high immediately, your strength will be gone just as fast if you use it immediately.”
“But Xerxes, the more time we take with this, more people will die. Your people, in the Fire Realm.”
He throws his breastplate on the cot. I flinch and lean back as he stares at me with fire in his eyes.
“Some nerve you have, speaking of it. Why do you provoke me? Things were going so well.”
“Were they?”
Xerxes balls his fist, large and deadly, a weapon in itself, hitting his chest with it.
“You betrayed me with Samael, and you didn’t give a damn about my realm when you did it. Why remind me of it now? I had kicked it out of my head, and managed to focus on the mission, now you ruined it again.”
I swallow hard, leaning back until my armored back hits the wall, but I don’t take my eyes off of his. I know I should lower my gaze, accept his anger, because I want him to believe that I’m guilty of all that and more—or I should want him to, in order to save him. But part of me grows angrier with every word, because it’s not true and, deep down, I’d expect him to know that. We’re fated mates. He should know I’m incapable of ever betraying him.
“You could have easily stopped the destruction of your realm,” I snap. He squares his shoulders, cocking an eyebrow at me like he can’t believe my nerve.
It might be the nectar, but I’m fueled. I step closer to him, jutting out my chin and staring him boldly in the face. Blood floods my cheeks, and Nazarean forgets all about the nectar, placing himself between Xerxes and me, desperate to keep us at least a few inches apart.
“You could have easily saved everyone,” I tell him through my teeth, my e
yes sharp. “You could have just let me go to Samael. All you had to do to save your realm was to let me go. But no, you had to keep me, and punish me as you see fit. And don’t tell me you didn’t enjoy listening to all those suggestions about how to make me suffer, because I know you did. If Draven is out on the ramparts of the Fire Realm, fighting back hordes of demons and hell creatures, it’s because of your choice, not mine.”
Saying all these things functions as an outlet and drains me of my anger. I realize that I’ve been poking his leather-clad chest with my finger as I marked my words. But judging by Xerxes’ face, my words have only fired him up. He grabs my elbow and walks with me backwards until I fall back down on the cot. He sweeps his shield, his breastplate and his gauntlets off the cot and onto the floor. They clang against the rest of his armor. He’s wearing only his leather fighting outfit again, being completely the impressive King of Flames with shadows curling off of him like smoke, which is a clear sign he’s losing his grip on his temper.
“Wouldn’t you have liked that, me giving you over to Samael, letting you go without incident? You treacherous witch, how could you believe that was even an option?”
The corner of his mouth curls up mockingly as my lips tremble. “You thought you could manipulate me through my feelings for you. To be honest, I thought you were smarter than that. But, on the other hand, I can see why you grew smug. You’d achieved the impossible. You’d made a lovesick boy of the great King of the Fire Realm, of the man before whom all realms used to tremble. So you thought you could play with my heart without consequences.”
The panic he drove into my flesh starts to transform into something else, something hypnotizing. It must be the beauty of his fierce eyes and of his brutal features that express passionate love as much as they do pain and frustration. I grow soft in his grip, and I don’t think I can hide it anymore. Hide how much I want him. I crave his love back, I yearn to heal the pain I’ve caused.
“Yes, letting him have you would have been the easiest way out of this shit, but I’ll be damned if I’ll let you two have your way.” His hot breath hits my face as he speaks. Fire is gathering in the back of his throat. He could spit like a dragon right now, I can tell by the way lava travels through his veins, snaking in rivulets under his skin. “You took my heart, Cerys. And when you had it in the palm of your hand, you sliced it all the way through. All those years before I met you, I stayed strong and in control because I didn’t have any feelings. My heart was a cold chunk of black rock. But then destiny forced our paths to cross because, guess what.” He laughs bitterly. “Not even the most powerful can thwart destiny. I tried to trick it, and I failed. But I swear to you by the cursed realms, you and that bastard Samael won’t outrun yours either.”
He goes on and on, and my need to spill out the whole truth grows stronger, overwhelming me. I can barely keep my mouth shut. I want to scream at him that it was Kareim who set us up, but if I give in and do it, Kareim will know, and he’ll make sure Xerxes and his world are crushed under the Council of the Arcane, and all the realms allying themselves against him.
I can’t say anything, but I desperately need an outlet for this tornado of emotions inside. I can see Xerxes’ lips move, but I no longer hear what he’s saying. My eyes travel all over his face, down his leather-clad frame, and my lower belly tightens with my need for him.
“So you see, freedom isn’t in the cards for you, Cerys Dark,” he concludes.
“Are you done?” I whisper. In response he stares at me, breathing hotly through his flared nostrils like a dragon, but I hold my ground.
“Good,” I say. “My turn. Let me remind you, Xerxes, that there was a time when you wanted me dead. The King of Frost, the Sea Queen and my brother Zillard worked hard to keep me safe in a hideout in Edinburgh because if you’d discovered where I was, they knew you would have had me killed. You’d already decided you’d send your best girl Marayke to slit my throat from behind, hood over her face. She would have just kept walking as people gathered around my twitching body on the street, and that would have been the end of it.”
His face changes. He can’t hide how much my words hurt him. He already beat himself up for that, and now I’m twisting the knife in a wound that never closed, but what choice do I have?
“So that’s what your betrayal was all about?” he rasps. “You wanted to punish me for the time when I intended to take your life?”
“I’m just saying you’re no better than me. And no, I actually wanted to get Samael off your back when I—” I avoid saying it. It would be like a red hot iron searing his heart, and it’s not even true. “When he and I reached our deal. I initially did it for you. I didn’t know he could turn my feelings in his favor.”
“So you’re in love with him.” A sort of madness shimmers in his irises.
I let silence be my answer, but that only sets him off. He yanks me close, my armor slamming into his chest. Even though I’m wearing magical Winter Realm metal and he’s in leather, my breastplate cracks against his muscles. When he’s angry, his body turns impossibly hard.
“You’re crazy if you think I’ll let you go to be with him.”
“It would be the solution to all your problems.”
“This right here is the solution to all my problems.” He raises his hand to cup my jaw, and by the intensity in his face I expect him to be harsh, but his touch is surprisingly gentle.
“Yes, I know, Lysander is your solution,” I manage, holding his intense gaze. “The King of Frost, your opponent of yore. I don’t know exactly what your plan is, but I know for sure it has infinitely fewer chances of working out than mine. It could be pure suicide.”
“But if it does work out,” he says, bending his head down to me, “then I get everything. I save the Fire Realm, I defeat Samael, I gain even more allies than before and, most of all, I get to keep you.”
What? Did he just say that? “You still want me?”
He grins. “You thought you could play me, daughter of Hades. But no one ever did me harm and got away unpunished. You’ll be no exception.”
“So that is what you want? To get back at me?” My heart beats like crazy, and desire ripples in my lower belly. How can those words, so threatening at their core, turn me on like this?
“I will remind you who you belong to, Cerys,” he slurs, passion and rage in his gaze, now so close that the sight of it blurs before my eyes. “You and I still share a mates’ bond, and until that bond is dissolved, you will comply with what you owe me.”
His fingers tighten on my jaw, keeping me in place as he crushes my mouth under his. Before I even realize what’s happening he opens my lips, his tongue flicking into my mouth.
He pushes me backwards until the backs of my knees knock against the cot. I fall down on it, my back pressed against the wall as Xerxes shoves his tongue more forcefully into my mouth, claiming me in a deep, angry kiss. I can feel the heat from the back of his throat as fire forms in it, dragon fire.
He and I have only been together once, the night when I lost my virginity to him at the foot of the Hill of Doom, and I’d been living and breathing for the moment when he’d take me again. But then disaster got in the way, and I’d lost hope he and I would ever be together again. Now, while aware I should be resisting him, my body turns soft, and my arms go around his neck. I splay my fingers through his hair, and he leans into me harder, his tongue deep in my mouth. But then he pulls away, taking his heat away with him.
He grins bitterly. “You wanton. You won’t even try to stop me?”
“Why are you doing this to me, Xerxes,” I breathe hard, barely able to cope with my desire.
“To get back at you,” he growls.
I glance down for Nazarean, hoping that he’ll save the day somehow and get me out of this situation, but I can’t see him anywhere. He must have hidden between the barrels, mattresses and stacks of tablecloths and feast props.
When I look back at Xerxes, I find him staring down at me with a smug grin
on his face. Of course, he’s in a position of power. He’s found my weakness—I still desire him, while he thinks the worst of me. After what happened, he’s surely started to lose his feelings for me, and now all I am to him is a slut who would open her legs to more than one powerful man.
He stands there as I sit on the cot, pressing my back against the wall and struggling to gather my wits and my strength of will. I want to resist him, so badly, but how can I when he reaches down and starts undoing my armor? In a few expert moves he’s got my breastplate and arm protections off of me, until I’m left only in the tight silver suit in front of him. The suit is like a second skin, which makes me feel naked, and vulnerable. If the armor wasn’t enough to keep him away, cracking against his body, then this is nothing but a leaf in his way.
He bends down to me, his fists sinking into the cot on either side of my thighs. His intense gaze pins me to the wall.
“Your familiar would never dare stand between two bonded mates, Cerys. He won’t even make it awkward on us with his presence. He will always give us the privacy so that I, as your fated mate, can take what I am entitled to.”
He touches my knee, more gently than I would expect from an angry, scorned man, his hand moving slowly and enticingly up my inner thigh. Current travels up my skin, into my muscles, filling me with sexual desire and compelling me to open my legs, my chest arching forward. My body is offering itself to him.
He leans in and kisses me, his tongue sliding deep into my mouth, but once he reaches up between my legs, his hand grips me more harshly. Like he can’t restrain himself anymore. I moan, leaning into his kiss, craving him to take me on this cot, my back pressed against this wall.
But then...
“Wait,” I manage, moving my face to the side, but Xerxes is too heated. He kisses my jaw and my neck, fisting my thick braided ponytail around his hand and tugging to force me to offer him my neck. “Let me take the suit off, Xerxes,” I manage among kisses. “We might still need it for our way back.”