He ground his molars, put a hand on his chest, and bowed his head. “I failed you when you were my knight, but I’ll protect Kaela with my own life.”
Aleximanus touched his fingertips to his forehead. “You didn’t fail me, Captain. I’ll bring Hazel safe to you.”
Chapter 25
HAZEL GASPED WHEN Aleximanus’s control on the bond snapped back into place as if he’d locked a door. Her lust was summoned back, bottled into a tight space inside her chest. She placed trembling hands on the wall and slowed her pace while heading for the front door.
Behind her, Leon’s and that other sin-breather’s—greed-breather?—moans of pleasure filled the silence. She gulped sweet air, hating the phantom feeling of still having Leon’s hands on her body. If the woman hadn’t walked into the hall, now it’d be Hazel underneath him. Instead, it’d been easy to infuse enough lust into the woman to attract her to Leon before he could do more than kiss her and fondle her breasts.
Walking away from the hall hadn’t been so easy. Her lust had kept dragging her towards the fornicating couple like a child towards a banquet of sweets and chocolates. The mating was a feast her lust didn’t want to miss. It wanted a slice of the cake. But the phoenix in her palm, the Monk’s mark, had infused her with courage and given her strength. It was a shimmering beacon when around her there was only darkness, just like he’d told her.
Her chest hurt for opposing the lust’s order. She’d been cut open or, so it’d seemed. Sweat trickled down her naked back, and her muscles contracted after the effort of leaving the hall. Each step had been like a ten-mile run with her lust pushing her back and her will pushing her forwards.
Moonlight limned the front door, beckoning at her. A few yards and she’d be free at least for tonight.
“Hazel.” Aleximanus came out from a corner and grasped her shoulders, his gaze roaming her face. “What happened?”
She licked dry lips. “F-fought the lust.”
He glanced at the main hall. “Who’s with Leon then?”
She opened her mouth, but a shiver rippled through her so hard her lips shut.
“Never mind. Let’s go.” He slipped an arm around her waist, supporting her. “Tyon is outside with Kaela.”
“You f-found her.”
Pure joy radiated from his sapphire eyes. His chest swelled. “We did.”
She staggered forwards, leaning against him. Her back burned, and her butt was sore after Leon grabbed it hard enough to bruise the skin. “We don’t have m-much time.” Leon will come to his senses soon without her presence fuelling his desire.
“I know.” Aleximanus flung the door open and stepped outside.
The gravel path stretched in front of them like a silver ribbon in the moonlight.
Heavy footsteps thudded behind them, and Hazel turned to the noise, her heart jumping to her throat.
A six-foot tall man marched towards them, the black in his eyes swallowing the white. “You traitor,” he hissed. His leather boots reinforced with metal bolts could crush a skull, and each of his fist was the size of a sledgehammer.
“Who’s this?” she asked.
“Pride-breather.” Aleximanus shoved her forwards. “Go to Tyon.”
And leaving him alone to face this giant clad in leather and metal? “I can help.”
“You’re too weak now. Go.” He gave her a shove that almost caused her to sprawl on the gravel.
The man rushed forwards, an obsidian blade wielded in his thick hand. His neck muscles stood out against his reddened skin.
Aleximanus dropped into a fighting stance and raised his own dagger. “Go, dammit.”
Hazel turned and half walked, half ran towards the carriage. Fatigue rode her hard, and her power hummed low as if mortally offended because she’d walked away from Leon. Aleximanus was right. She wouldn’t be of much use in this state, but if she warned Tyon, he’d help Aleximanus.
~ * ~
ALEXIMANUS CLENCHED HIS hand around the hilt of the obsidian blade. Hazel’s slow footsteps faded behind him. He hoped Tyon would have the good sense of leaving and taking Kaela and Hazel with him instead of playing the hero and backing him up. Soon Leon would be here, and Aleximanus would be outnumbered and outpowered, but it was worth it if Kaela could live. He’d be happy to die for her.
Samuel, the pride-breather Aleximanus had created two years ago, lunged, his mouth opened into a war cry. Every sin and evil Samuel had spread since his creation was Aleximanus’s fault.
Aleximanus parried a blow to his chest, leapt back, and thrust his dagger towards Samuel’s throat. Bullets were a waste of time. Only a stab in the heart from an obsidian or white blade would do the job.
The sharp edge of the blade slashed across Samuel’s side, claiming a gush of blood and a slice of his corrupt flesh. Ruby drops fell on the grass and onto Aleximanus’s hand. He’d cut deep, but pride, when unleashed, enveloped its bearer into a thick cocoon, dimming the senses. Samuel wouldn’t feel anything aside from a tinge, and his skin was already healing.
Another thrust of Samuel’s blade almost stabbed Aleximanus’s thigh, and he jumped to the side. It was ironic that he’d taught Samuel every dirty trick to win a fight. Gravel scattered in every direction under Aleximanus’s quick footwork. He paused a moment, hoping to hear the sound of the carriage leaving, but couldn’t catch anything.
Please, Tyon, leave.
He lowered his head and ducked a punch aimed at his temple. The fist hissed in the air and swished above his hair. While crouched, he lashed out a thump on Samuel’s knee. The satisfying noise of broken bones proved the kneecap was dislodged. Not even a pride-breather in a frenzy could ignore this.
Samuel dropped to his knees in a supplicant’s posture, screaming his lungs out. Aleximanus didn’t hesitate. He clasped the blade in a reverse grip, sank it into Samuel’s neck, and twitched it. A new scream from the pride-breather ripped the air as his hand released the obsidian blade. Blood oozed when Aleximanus withdrew his dagger and buried it again into Samuel’s chest. A stab to the heart to kill him. No sin-breather could survive this.
Samuel opened his mouth, but no sound came out.
Aleximanus leaned closer to his ear. “Bring your rotten soul to your maker.”
Ex luce, ad tenebras. Ex sole, ad umbram.
A final twitch, and Samuel plummeted on the grass and turned into a pile of ash. Aleximanus let out a gruff laugh. The obsidian blade absorbed the blood staining it, always thirsty, until no trace remained on its glossy surface. He spun to run towards Tyon when a blow hit his head, pain exploded in his skull, and he fell face-first.
~ * ~
TYON HELPED KAELA into the carriage, shrugged off his coat, and draped it on her trembling shoulders. “You’re safe,” he repeated for the third time.
The horses gave a soft neigh, stomping their hooves on the ground as if sensing the evil charging the air.
She gave him the vacant gaze the street urchins flashed when too scared or too hungry. When he tucked the coat tighter around her, she scooted away to a corner of the seat, turning her head away.
He held up his palms. “You’re safe,” he said again, not sure it was the right thing to say, but he’d never been good at comforting people.
“Tyon.” Hazel’s breathless word cut through him.
He spun around. She was staggering towards him, her dress ripped in places. He ran to her and wrapped his arms around her shivering, cold body. Leon’s smell lingered on her skin, and he tried to not wince. “Are you hurt? Did he hurt you?” Just the thought of Hazel wounded sent fury spearing through him. He’d kill Leon with his bare hands and teeth if he’d hurt Hazel.
She shook her head. “Aleximanus is alone. A pride-breather attacked him. He needs help.”
He searched the dark road behind her. If there were sin-breathers lurking around, he’d sense them when they were close. He couldn’t leave Kaela and Hazel alone.
“Please.” Hazel closed her fists on his jacket, but the hold lack
ed strength. Whatever happened with Leon had drained her. “Leon will kill him.”
“I can’t leave you and Kaela alone.”
“Save him. He doesn’t deserve to die. If anything happens, if anyone approaches us, I’ll leave with the carriage. I know how to drive it.” Tears welled in her eyes, and his heart broke, a flood of emotions washing over him.
“Promise me you’ll leave at the first hint that something isn’t right.”
She nodded eagerly, bottom lip quivering.
“Don’t trust anyone. Leave me behind if you suspect Leon is coming after you, understood?”
She nodded again, less enthusiastically.
“Take care of Kaela.” He kissed her forehead. “Go inside and lock the doors.”
He waited for her to be seated in the carriage before darting along the path. The coppery scent of blood hit his nostrils, and he sped up, hands curled on the hilt of his dagger. Moonlight filtered through the canopy of the trees bordering the path, casting playing shadows on the dirt. He listened to any noise and unleashed his power to catch the enemy’s presence, but detected only rabbits and rats scurrying around.
A pile of ash was heaped on the side of the driveway, and he rushed to it. Different pairs of footprints marked the ground. The wide, deep ones didn’t belong to Aleximanus, but to someone taller and heavier than he. It had to be the dead sin-breather. Instead the slim and shallow footprints belonged to Aleximanus. So he had to be alive if he’d killed the sin-breather, but where was he?
Tyon skulked onwards. A third pair of prints, large and a couple of inches deep, led to Aleximanus’s, then long ruts scarred the ground as if a someone had dragged an unconscious person. A sliver of dread chilled him. Someone had taken Aleximanus.
He advanced in the direction of the silent house, balancing his weight on the balls of his feet. The door swung back and forth on its hinges, and he slid inside. No sound came from the hall. The crickets singing and the occasional owl’s cry were the only noises filling the night.
His boots slid on the smooth floor as he headed towards the main hall. Strips of Hazel’s dress were scattered on the steps of the sweeping stairs, her jasmine scent lingering in the air. Leon’s shirt rested crumpled in a corner, and Tyon couldn’t stop the boiling anger simmering in his veins.
Later.
Aside from discarded clothes and scents, he didn’t find anything. No blood. No ash. No trace of Aleximanus.
He clunked down the stairs to the dungeon. Empty cells glared back at him as if annoyed by the intrusion. Kaela’s cell stood open, and the single gas lamp was still lit.
He climbed back to the ground floor when the clattering noise of horses stomping their hooves on the cobbles came from the back of the house. He raced along the service corridor, hoping it wasn’t Hazel coming to help him.
The rear door was open, revealing a slice of untamed garden and bushes and a waiting black carriage. Relief was a sweet caress on his tense muscles. It wasn’t Hazel.
Voices drifted, and Tyon hid behind the wall from where he could keep an eye on the carriage. Sweat soaked his shirt, and his power drummed in his temple, half eager for a fight, half in fury.
Leon paced in front of the carriage with angry strides. The tendons in his naked torso stood out in relief and rippled at each step. A woman, the greed-breather Tyon had seen in Aleximanus’s house, cowered when he lashed at her and pressed her back against the carriage. A man stood next to the carriage, hidden by the shadows.
“You little whore!” Leon’s voice shook with wrath.
“I’m sorry,” she said in a high-pitched tone. “I couldn’t fight it.”
Leon yelled something about her being a waste of space then flung the carriage door open, and jumped inside. The greed-breather followed on shaking legs. The man stepped into the light. He was carrying a body on a shoulder.
Tyon leaned closer, bringing up the white blade. A beam of moonlight flashed on the motionless person, and gold gleamed from his head. Aleximanus.
The man slumped Aleximanus into the carriage before climbing on the driver’s box.
Hell. Tyon gripped his dagger harder and went to sprint forwards to jump over the coach. His only chance was to surprise Leon and stab him before he’d kill Aleximanus. He crossed the yard, the carriage picking up speed, when a man emerged from the wild brush and tackled him.
Tyon’s power surged and shoved the attacker away. The thug was flung backwards and smashed against a tree trunk. His head gave a sickening noise of broken bones. The carriage disappeared behind a turn. Only the noise of the wheels against the gravel echoed.
Brother. A sharp pang stabbed Tyon’s heart. He was losing Aleximanus again.
The man let out a roar and charged. Tyon shot his power forwards. A dark aura sparkled from the man’s head, barely visible against the blanket of the night. Judging by the tart quality of the aura, the man was a gluttony-breather.
Contrary to what people thought, gluttony wasn’t just about food. It was about damn everything. Greed-breathers wanted money, pride-breathers to be powerful. A gluttony-breather wanted the bloody lot. Including Tyon’s goodness and power.
Tyon sped up, contracted his muscles, and lunged, smashing his body against the sin-breather. They both fell on the ground with a thud. Tyon hit a shoulder hard against a jutting rock, but couldn’t assess the damage as Gluttony aimed a fist at his head. He rolled and shoved to his feet, blade pointed at his opponent.
Gluttony’s green eyes glinted. His nostrils flared, and he opened his mouth into a snarl. Energy flowed out of Tyon. He was on the brink of losing consciousness with his head spinning and the world fading to black.
The sin-breather was stealing his power. Tyon’s knees weakened, his fingers around the hilt slackened. It’d be easy to let go. Stop fighting, stop this damned war, not suffering again. If he let himself go now, he wouldn’t lose only Aleximanus, but Hazel too.
Hazel. She was his beacon, his light, his soul. He didn’t want to leave her, not now that he’d just found her. His love for her flowed, filling his limbs with lightning.
Gritting his teeth, he let out his power fully. Like a tidal wave, it crushed everything in its path. The earth quaked, the trees bordering the road splintered and fell, and the ground and rocks lifted. A distant rumble cut the night, and owls cried in the forest.
Gluttony was pushed backwards as if he had a rope tied around his waist and someone gave it a yank. He sprawled on the ground, the connection with Tyon severed.
Tyon pounced, his power still flowing in waves, and dug his dagger deep into the man’s chest. Once. Twice. Thrice. Until all Gluttony’s black ichor spilled from his pathetic body. A final thrust to the heart and Gluttony turned into a cloud of dust.
Panting, Tyon remained kneeling on the dirt road. Grey flakes from Gluttony snowed around him, but the usual burst of power and excitement after a killing didn’t come, his heart bleeding for Aleximanus.
Leon would feel one of his sin-breathers was dead. So he’d knew Tyon was ready to fight back. He wouldn’t leave Aleximanus to his fate.
The white knights never left anyone behind.
Chapter 26
WRAPPED IN A velvet dressing gown, Hazel stepped into Tyon’s sitting room. The letter from the Royal Archaeological Society begging her to come back to work still lay on the table where she’d left it. She grinned. She’d written a polite rejection that had filled her with guilty-pleasure satisfaction. Leon had disappeared, Sir Morris was at the centre of a scandal after having been questioned by the police, and the museum staff needed new recruits. Despite being tempted to work again, she had more important matters to take care of. And Tyon.
Kaela was sleeping in the guest room after having gulped a sleeping potion. The poor girl couldn’t stop crying and shivering and asking about her father. The sleeping potion would help her recover her strength. Her mind was another matter.
Tyon was sitting in the armchair in front of the fireplace, his hair still wet after the
bath. He glanced up from the flames when she neared him.
“How’s Kaela?” he asked, worry lacing his voice.
“The physician bandaged and cleaned her wounds and gave her something to sleep. She needs rest and food, and her father.” She perched on the armrest, a little frisson of hurt worming its way through her because Tyon didn’t pull her onto his lap. They’d tiptoed around each other after what had happened in the mansion and hadn’t talked about what she’d done with Leon. She opened her mouth to ask him if he were troubled about her and Leon, but said instead, “Where do you think they took Aleximanus?”
He slouched back. “I’m sure will find an answer once we dig deeper into Leon’s life.”
“Why did Leon take him?”
“Aleximanus is still the head of the sin-breathers. I’m not an expert in dark arts, but I suppose Leon needs him. Afterwards, he’ll kill him. Is the bond still there?”
“Yes.” She rubbed her chest.
“Then Aleximanus is alive.”
She stroked his hair. “You did everything you could to save him.”
“No, not yet.”
She wrapped her arms around him and cast a glance at the ceiling, towards Kaela’s room. “What are we going to do next?”
“We’re going to rescue Aleximanus.” He took her hand into his and set his solemn golden gaze on her. “Hazel—”
“You’re disgusted, aren’t you? By me. By what I did,” she blurted out in one go. The words tramped on each other, and she wasn’t sure he’d understood what she’d said.
“I could never be disgusted by you.” He yanked her onto his lap. “I won’t lie and say I’m all right, but you did what it had to be done. I hate that you had to let Leon have his way with you, but not that much to lose you.”
The Pact of the White Blade Knights Page 27