by Rye Brewer
I found it distasteful rather than welcoming.
Garan held up a crystal decanter of dark-red wine from across the room, near the fireplace. “Would either of you care to join me? It could very well be your last opportunity to enjoy a glass of fine wine.”
“Why would it be the last opportunity?” Allonic asked after shaking his head in refusal.
“Because you’re going to die, naturally.” Garan watched the two of us from over the rim of his goblet. When neither of us made a move, he shook his head. “I must admit, you seem less surprised than I would expect. Or did you come here knowing I would have you killed?”
“I knew you would have ideas along those lines,” Allonic murmured. “This does not mean those ideas will come to fruition.”
“If you say so.” Garan lowered the goblet, leaving it on a marble topped table. “Well, then? What brings you here if you knew I would wish to see you dead?”
“I’ve come to challenge you for the throne.”
Silence rang through the room as loudly as a gong. Garan glared at Allonic. “Yes. I thought you might.” Gone was the teasing, playful quality in his voice.
“We both know it ought to be mine, by rights,” Allonic reminded him.
“We both know your hybrid status renders you ineligible to rule,” Garan fired back.
“And why is that? Who set this law in place?”
“Does there have to be a specific date and time? Would you like to see signatures on a document?” Garan exploded, sweeping his arm across the table, sending the crystal and wine flying in all directions. The red soaked into the silk cushions, the carpeting, reminding me of nothing so much of blood.
He stormed across the room, bellowing in rage. “So be it, then!” he roared, clapping his hands to signal the entrance of a half-dozen guards. “My plan was to take you to the ring for public execution, but the shades might find this more entertaining. I know I will.”
“What do you plan to do?” I asked, watching the guards with a wary eye.
“We’ll have it out in the ring together—a duel,” he spat before turning his gaze in my direction. “And you’ll watch as I kill him… before I kill you.”
“You will not touch her,” Allonic warned, placing himself between his cousin and me.
Garan favored him with a nasty smile. “You’ll never know, will you? As you will already be dead. Perhaps I’ll give her time to weep over your body before I slice her throat. Perhaps I won’t. Or perhaps…” He leaned in, a conspiratorial glint in his eye. “Perhaps I’ll keep her for myself.”
He was baiting Allonic, and we both knew it.
To his credit, Allonic didn’t react. Garan’s eyes lost their gleam.
When the guards advanced on us, Allonic threw a protective arm around me. “I know where the ring is located,” he muttered. “I will show her the way. You need not lay hands upon her.”
My knees threatened to give way as we left Garan’s chambers and continued down the tunnel, finally coming to a dead end in front of a pair of tall, carved wooden doors.
What a fitting image. A dead end. What if Allonic wasn’t successful? What if Garan kept me for himself, as he had threatened? I would have killed myself rather than allow such a thing to come to pass.
His arm held me fast as two of the guards opened the doors, revealing something which reminded me of a sporting ring surrounded by tiers of seats carved from the stone of the cave. Massive torches along the walls and blazing braziers lit the space, casting light and shadow on the dozens upon dozens of shades assembled there. So this was where they’d gone.
They’d been waiting for us.
If it hadn’t been for Allonic moving me along, I would have frozen in abject terror. Those glowing eyes, all of them casting curious and accusatory looks on us as we walked to the center of the oblong ring. The uneasy energy moving through the crowd was oppressive, crushing me.
“There has been a change of plans,” Garan called out with a bemused chuckle. His voice carried up to the last row, which was five or six tiers up from where we stood. “It seems my cousin has returned to ShadesRealm in order to challenge me. He believes he has a right to sit on the throne.”
A chorus of whispers and snorts and chuckles rose up at his announcement.
Allonic’s head remained high, only his eyes moving as they slowly swept over the crowd. It was a terrible strain, struggling against my fear while fighting the urge to scream at all of them, to beg them to end this insanity. They wanted to see our blood shed on the dirt floor before them. They’d assembled with this in mind.
Unless Garan had forced them into it, which would not have surprised me one bit. With that in mind, I noticed more than a few uncomfortable expressions in the crowd.
“I have agreed to settle the matter by way of a duel,” Garan declared, waving away his guards. They seemed wary as they moved to opposite ends of the ring.
Allonic turned to me, hands on my shoulders. “Do you trust me?” he whispered.
“I do.” My eyes filled with tears as I remembered whispering those very words to him only hours earlier, when we were getting married.
“All is well. Everything will be well.” He pressed his lips to my forehead before ushering me off to the side of the ring, away from the center—where Garan waited.
I felt terribly small and helpless as I stood with my hands clasped, sweat beading at my forehead and the back of my neck in the heat from the braziers and the pure strain of waiting.
“Are you ready, cousin?” Garan moved his outer robe to the side, revealing a long, thin sword hanging from a leather belt at his waist. He brandished it with quick grace, the polished metal glinting in the light from so many fires.
He took a fighting stance, the point of the sword aimed at Allonic. My husband.
I could hardly breathe.
“I’m ready for you.” Allonic reached into his robes and withdrew the blade he’d hidden there.
A gasp went up over the room.
Garan blinked, the sword lowering inch by inch as he realized what his cousin had revealed. “Where did you get that?” he breathed, eyes never leaving the weapon.
“It was given to me after having been used to kill another. I am certain there is enough magic in it to extinguish your life,” Allonic promised, holding it high.
Garan swallowed but signaled for his guards to stay where they were. “So be it, then,” he called out, raising the sword again until it was aimed straight at Allonic’s heart. “So be it.”
Garan lunged forward, striking out, but Allonic easily sidestepped him. I realized Garan felt threatened, really threatened, perhaps for the first time in his life. He’d never been knocked off his axis so easily.
He had underestimated his cousin.
The shades watched, crying out and gasping each time one of the two in the ring struck out with their weapon of choice. I gasped with them. I groaned, I grimaced, I did all but cover my eyes and wait for it to be over. Allonic was graceful, lightning quick, and I knew why.
The vampire blood which had always been a curse to him, at least as far as the shades were concerned, was making it impossible for Garan to keep up with his rapid movements.
Finally, Garan released an ear-splitting cry of frustration, making a sloppy move as he tried to slash at Allonic. He was successful in tearing Allonic’s robe, but the sword went no farther than that. The shades leapt to their feet, crying out, a few of them shouting.
I breathed a shaky sigh of relief but knew that was far too close.
Allonic thought so, too, judging by what he did next. He took advantage of Garan’s lack of balance after missing his mark by taking hold of his arm and pulling him close.
Where in one sharp, deft move, he slammed the bone dagger into Garan’s chest.
There was no reaction from Garan when he died, for he turned to dust the instant the dagger’s blade slid home. The sword clattered to the floor, his robes falling into a pile at Allonic’s feet.
Just
like that, it was over.
Screams and shouts of surprise filled the air as reality sank in.
Garan was dead.
Allonic was the victor.
He turned in a slow circle, staring at each and every one of the shades in turn. As if he dared them to challenge his ascension to the throne.
None of them did. Most of them seemed too shocked to muster much more than an expression of shock.
“Let this be the beginning of a new age for us, one in which we return to the old ways,” he said, his voice ringing out loud and clear. “Let us return to a time of peace, as we’ve lived in for the duration of our existence.”
I glanced around, afraid to move much more than my eyes, judging the reaction of the shades. They didn’t seem to be against him.
He turned to me, holding out his free hand. “As your new leader, my first public declaration is to name this woman as my queen.” He looked around, as if daring any of them to argue the point. I heard more than a few grumbles, but there was no overt challenge.
I wondered if he would make another speech or declare something else. He did neither of those things—instead, he led me from the ring and out into the tunnel. I almost had to run to keep up with him.
“Where are we going? To our new chambers?” I asked.
He answered by leading me right past Garan’s old living quarters and further into the tunnel.
“No. Remember, I will not be the sort of ruler he was. I want nothing to do with that lifestyle. It is time we returned to who the shades were always meant to be.”
I decided it was best to keep my mouth shut and allow him to do things as he wanted to do them. He obviously had a plan I was unaware of. It was so good just to know he was safe, that he had won. And he finally had everything he’d ever wanted.
We stopped in a narrow passage lined on both sides by doors. “This is where I made my home,” Allonic explained, showing me his sparse room. A bed, hooks along the wall for his robes, a basin for washing. Nothing could have been further from Garan’s lavish quarters.
“Allonic.” A voice even deeper and more rumbling than Allonic’s caught my ear.
I turned in time to see my husband greeting another shade who must have followed us all the way from the ring.
He nodded to me, smiling slightly. “My queen,” he murmured.
This made Allonic glow with pride. “Felicity, this is Steward. An old friend, one I trust above others.”
“How are Jonah and Anissa?” Steward asked.
I wondered how he knew them.
“They are well, and they send their regards,” Allonic assured him, drawing his friend into the room. They looked alike, as all shades did at first glance—it had never occurred to me until then how far hair went in establishing an individual’s identity, and how the lack of it could make people look so similar—but it took no time for me to note the difference in their eyes, in the shapes of their faces. I saw a lot of Tabitha in Allonic when I compared him to other shades. She helped him stand out.
“Steward, because I trust you so implicitly, I would like to name you as my advisor,” Allonic offered.
“I am honored,” Steward smiled, speaking slowly as was clearly his nature. “And my first act as your advisor would be to warn you that Garan had allies in our number. You would do well to be wary of them.”
And I had been so relieved, too. Just like that, with one short statement, my heart clenched as it had when I watched Allonic fight. Would there ever be a time when we could just be together, with no danger in our lives?
No, there wouldn’t be, because Allonic was now a ruler. I knew enough from having assisted Gregor that the times in which everything ran smoothly were few and quite far between. This was our life now.
“I appreciate your candor,” Allonic assured him with a pat on his shoulder. “And now, if you would allow me to take a little time to rest…”
“Of course. I will see to it that you are undisturbed.” Steward nodded to me before leaving, closing the door when he did.
The moment we were alone, Allonic swept me up into his arms. I allowed him to hold me without speaking for a long time, if only for the sheer joy of being in his arms. We were married, really and truly, and finally together.
And alone.
“Thank you for doing this with me,” he murmured, his lips close to my ear.
I kissed his cheek. “I wouldn’t be anywhere else in the world, my love. I’m so glad you’re all right. I was terrified back there.”
“I told you—” he straightened, smiling down at me, “—all would be well. And it is.”
“It is.” I couldn’t help but worry in my heart about the truth of that statement. Was everything truly well? With Garan’s allies lurking around? I was in no mood to become a widow, not then or ever. Not when I loved Allonic more with each passing day.
“Just kiss me, please,” I whispered over the lump in my throat, tears filling my eyes.
“Kiss you?” His arms tightened, drawing me closer. “My pleasure, my queen.”
26
Branwen
“Are you ready?” Sirene asked, waiting in the doorway of my room with the baby in her arms.
“Almost. I was a bit involved with ensuring the baby’s things were packed,” I reminded her as I packed my own small bag.
She rewarded me with a sheepish smile before turning away. “Of course. I don’t mean to rush you.”
But she did, and we both knew it. She was in a terrible rush to get away from the high-rise, and I couldn’t blame her. Not only because I wasn’t particularly fond of being there.
Certainly, it was comfortable. I had everything I could ever want. Except the freedom to come and go as I pleased, which was something I missed terribly. I folded my robes more swiftly with that in mind.
It was a stroke of luck on both my part and Fane’s that he’d found me while I was already traveling, at an inn in which I was staying to avoid other witches. It was in my best interest to keep a low profile. Sirene had known I would be there—it was the only way he could’ve found me so quickly, with so little effort.
I was relieved he had, of course, as I’d been able to assist my old friend in her time of desperate need. But that had also been nothing but a mere stroke of luck, as he’d secured my help for the purpose of pulling the Ancient One, Valerius, out of another bloodsucker’s body.
I’d just happened to be around when Sirene had needed me most.
I wrinkled my nose. Bloodsuckers. What was she thinking, getting herself involved with them? I had no time for them, myself, no desire to know any of them. Who would want to? I sometimes wondered what went through Sirene’s head, I truly did.
But I had no choice, I reminded myself with a sigh as I cinched my bag closed. I’d been pulled into Sirene’s life, which meant spending time with bloodsuckers. She’d even given birth to one. It hardly seemed possible.
Though at least Fane was no longer a bloodsucker. He hadn’t told me why, referencing a long story and nothing else when he’d first found me. I’d noticed the difference in him right off. But he’d been a bloodsucker when the baby was conceived, which was what mattered.
How unfortunate. For all of them.
We’d been in a hurry then, and we were in a hurry once again. This time, it was Hallowthorn Landing we were headed to.
And Stark. If he was still there.
Sirene waited for me in the living room, looking nervous and happy and cautious and worried. Elena slept in her arms—a good thing, since I was not particularly in the mood to watch her break more lighting fixtures.
Sirene didn’t know about my history with her half-brother. I’d never seen the point in telling her before, unwilling to bring her into the painful past I shared with Stark. Now that we were traveling together, it felt unjust to keep the truth from her.
I wouldn’t know where to begin. Perhaps it would be for the best if he was no longer living there. I could avoid opening old wounds which had long since heal
ed—or, at least, had stopped bleeding. I didn’t know if I would ever fully heal from the heartbreak he’d delivered me.
Anissa was there, too, speaking with Sirene in a whisper so as to avoid waking the child. I wasn’t certain what to make of her. Another bloodsucker, though this one was at least a hybrid. Not entirely low. She seemed helpful, genuinely concerned for both Sirene and Elena, though there was something about her I couldn’t quite reconcile. A tension, as though she was always coiled and ready to spring.
Sirene was admiring Anissa’s hand, on which there was a new ring to go with the engagement ring I’d noticed before. The hybrid caught sight of me watching them and blushed.
“Jonah and I just made it official. We wanted to do it before I left with you.”
“Oh. I see.” A bloodsucker wedding. How nice. All it did was make me think of Stark again, which brought back so much of the old pain.
I bit my tongue against the impulse to ask Sirene if he was there. She wouldn’t know, most likely, and the question would seem out-of-place. I didn’t wish to give her any ideas—correct though they might be.
It would be so much easier to forego this entirely and avoid the chance of seeing Stark again, but that would mean deserting Sirene. She was not in top health after delivering her baby, no matter what she might believe. There was still a chance of her developing complications. I couldn’t take that risk and live with myself if things went wrong.
Just like I couldn’t desert her when she had an elemental infant on her hands.
“Are we ready?” Sirene asked.
Anissa motioned to a pack she’d slung over her back, and I nodded. Sirene took this as permission to create the portal which the three of us stepped through, leaving the suite and everything in it behind.
We stepped into Hallowthorn Landing, arriving in the courtyard at the edge of the fortress which bordered the sea. Behind us was the impossibly tall rock wall, before us was the sparkling water. It was quiet just then, gently rolling, waves lapping at the rocks below us and the docks in the distance.