Saven Defiance (The Saven Series Book 4)

by Siobhan Davis

  “Dante—” King Coryn is silenced by a firm fist in the face. Blood shoots out of his mouth, flying through the air before landing in tiny splatters on the floor.

  “I’ve heard everything I need to hear from you. Shut up. Or you’ll become even more acquainted with my fists,” Dante threatens.

  “You’re making a mistake.” Logan attempts to reason with him as Officer Vero harshly binds his wrists behind his back. “Please reconsider.”

  “Fuck you.” Dante smashes his fist into Logan’s face, and I scream as his head jerks back painfully. He turns his fury on me. “Unless you want to be next, I suggest you shut the hell up.”

  Logan’s pleas skim through our connection, and I quell my murderous thoughts.

  Only because he’s asked.

  And only for now.

  My initial observations about the old tunnel network were pretty much spot on. It’s creepy as all hell down here. Visibility is poor which I consider an advantage. I know how horrific this place would look showcased in radiant light. Droplets of water drip from the ceiling, creating a steady rhythm of splashes and splotches, as they join the small stream flowing underneath our feet while we walk. Rust-colored walls have a decorative mold overlay that seems to reach out and infect every part of me as we pass. I shiver profusely.

  Officer Vero takes turns prodding us forward. Logan shoots concerned sideways glances at me every so often. Ax flanks me on the other side. His gaze is firmly focused ahead, and I can’t read his emotions. Dante walks up ahead with Advisor Mellor, heads pressed close together, plotting and planning, no doubt.

  Guards affixed blocking bands to Rylan, Logan, Haydn, Neve, and me, but Dante doesn’t know that Logan and I have Eterno bonded and can still silently communicate. We pass ideas back and forth, but there is no clear-cut escape from this latest dilemma. We can only hope that the loyalty Logan has garnered in the last few days will withstand Dante’s imminent attack. But we don’t know exactly what he has planned, and that’s the troublesome part.

  Sensing a slight distortion of the frigid air behind me, I freeze. Clicking sounds echo in the vacuous space, and every hair on my body stands to attention. A low masculine chuckle rings out as Dante’s guards whip around, splashing noisily in the water as they reach for their weapons.

  But they’re too late.

  A line of soldiers, dressed in the Tor national colors, aim guns at us, spearing everyone’s forehead with a small, blue, digital dot. A man and woman step to the front and Ax curses.

  Rhys chuckles again as he fiddles with the comport on his wrist. Lifting his chin, he scans the crew in front of him with an amused grin. He’s every bit as stunning as the first time I met him, when Griselda hauled me before the High Council and allowed her much younger lover to tag along.

  Pity he’s so ugly on the inside.

  Ax had previously explained how his mother bedded his school pal when he was fifteen and he’s been a constant at Griselda’s side since. According to Ax, Rhys has Griselda’s confidence, so it’s not surprising that she’d send him to capture us.

  The woman beside him looks vaguely familiar. She glares at me, invisible daggers gouging me on all sides. Apprehension trickles down my spine.

  “What a mess you’ve gotten yourself into, Axton.” Rhys shakes his head and tut-tuts.

  “Doing my mother’s dirty work now?” Ax challenges.

  “I’m sure I don’t know what you mean.” He feigns a puzzled expression. “I’ve always been doing the dirty with your mother.” What a juvenile idiot. His simpering smile is purposefully suggestive, and Ax growls.

  “What do you want?” Dante asks, prowling toward Rhys. He’s either very brave or incredibly stupid. Or perhaps, just stubbornly arrogant. The thin blue dot follows his every step.

  “Give me these three, and no one else will get hurt.” Rhys jerks his head at Ax, me, and Logan.

  “I’m afraid I can’t do that.” Dante stands toe to toe in front of him.

  “I’m afraid you don’t have much choice.” Rhys winks smugly.

  “You might want to reconsider,” Dante gloats, prodding a handheld gun into Rhys’s stomach. “Unless you don’t value your life.”

  Rhys smirks, seemingly unalarmed. “Oh, I value it highly. Why else do you think I’ve been whoring with that slut Griselda all these years? Not out of pleasure, I can assure you.”

  I look sideways at Ax. His nostrils flare and his fists are clenched within his restraints, but he doesn’t vocalize a response.

  Dante cocks his head to the side. “Do enlighten me.”

  “You know, Dante, it’s only occurred to me how much we have in common.” Dante arches a brow. “Everything I’ve done is to assure my family line ascends the Supreme Chancellorship position on Torc. It’s time for a change, and our people know it. That idiot will never be our leader.” He shoots a derisory look at Ax. “Griselda is a fool. She has totally fallen under my spell and lowered her defenses. I’ve especially enjoyed hearing all the secrets I’m now privy to.” His superior smile flips my stomach into knots. “You want to take out your competition too, don’t you? I applaud that, genuinely, I do, but I can’t let you have them. Either of them. I need to keep Griselda on side until my father and I have everything ready to usurp her rule.”

  “What are you talking about?” Logan interjects. I peek at him, noting the perplexed look on his face.

  “Ah. You didn’t tell them.” Rhys still looks remarkably relaxed for a man that has a weapon jabbed into his stomach. The Tor soldiers maintain razor-sharp focus as they keep their weapons trained on us. Fire starts building momentum inside me, my hands flexing as latent power simmers in my veins. “Isn’t this fun?” Rhys deadpans, and I wish I could knock him into next week. He’s really getting on my nerves.

  “Will you do the honors or shall I?” he asks Dante, tapping a finger off his chin. Dante snarls and presses the weapon tighter into Rhys’s abdomen. The guard aiming at him moves closer. “Play smart now, Dante, or we’ll all end up dead.” Rhys whips his gaze to Ax. “You never knew your father, right?”

  Ax stiffens. Tiny goose bumps lift on my arms. Why do I have the feeling we’re about to be sidetracked with another bombshell?

  “It’s true what they say about a woman scorned, and I’ve got to hand it to your mother, she doesn’t do things by half. I’m sure she’s fed you that old chestnut about wanting revenge on the Saven for what their ancestors did to our people?” He doesn’t wait for any acknowledgment before continuing. “But she couldn’t give a damn about that. It’s totally personal to her. Actually”—he pouts as he considers something—“this is probably more your fault.” He stares pointedly at King Coryn. “You jilted her and she’s never forgiven you, or Queen Tayla. Did you know Griselda orchestrated her death?”

  The king sags, and his sad eyes roam to Logan’s.

  Rhys continues with his sorry tale. “When you revoked the marriage contract, she plotted her revenge and immediately went about setting it in motion. She wanted to make sure you both paid. According to her, it didn’t take much to entice King Adjani into her bed.” Rhys takes great glee eyeing Logan as he admits this.

  “Griselda was the one who told him about the affair. Laid doubts over the parentage of Dante. He refused to believe her at first, but she chipped away at him for years while they conducted their own sordid affair. Eventually, he had the tests done which confirmed Dante wasn’t his. From then on, it didn’t take much encouragement from Griselda for Adjani to decide to end Tayla’s life.”

  Jeez. Griselda effectively sealed Logan’s mom’s fate. As if Logan and Ax need any other reason to hate one another.

  “Once Tayla was dead, Griselda assumed Adjani would marry her and she would become Saven queen, a position she coveted more than the Torc Supreme Chancellorship. But Adjani was grieving for the only woman he’d ever loved, and he quickly cut Griselda loose. I think it almost destroyed her, you know.”

  His gaze flicks to Ax. “She loved Adjan
i, but he let her down in the worst possible way.” He rubs his hands as a small smile curves his lips. “She was confident he wouldn’t abandon his son, but he wanted nothing to do with you, Axton, insisting that Logan was his only rightful heir.”

  “Oh my God.” The words escape my mouth without warning.

  “You’re lying,” Logan gasps, shooting an astounded look at me.

  “If I’m lying, why does Dante want to kill Axton so badly?”

  Dante doesn’t answer, flexing his head from side to side instead. He looks about ready to rip Rhys’s head off his shoulders. Now his actions make sense. Dante used me to try to lure Ax. It was never about killing me. He knew if he took me that Ax would pursue me. That’s why the guards wanted to take Ax and Logan as we were escaping Saven. Dante was trying to ensure there was no one to usurp his claim to the throne.

  Ax is remarkably quiet. Logan and I turn to look at him as one. Shock and horror is splayed across his face, along with some other unnamed emotion. I’m quietly relieved. His genuine reaction tells me he didn’t know this.

  “Show them Axton,” Rhys demands. “I know you’ve always wondered about it. Now you know the truth.” He inches toward Ax, with Dante still prodding the weapon into his stomach.

  Ax looks at me with so much hurt and pain in his eyes. He glances over my head at Logan, and they stare at one another. Holy hell. If what Rhys is saying is actually true, they are half-brothers.

  And I’ve slept with both of them.

  I know, it’s the most ridiculous thought to enter my mind at this moment, but it’s what pops up. Now Dante’s earlier taunting makes sense.

  Slowly, Ax raises his hand to his face and removes the pink contacts covering his eyes. Stunning, ocean-blue eyes—eyes that are all too familiar—stare back at me, and I gasp. I’m such an idiot! I spotted the resemblance when Ax was in “disguise” the day of our rescue from Saven, but I never made the connection. Then again, who would? I thought he was wearing blue contacts when the whole time he was wearing pink ones.

  Logan doesn’t know where to look or what to say. His entire system is in turmoil. Channeling serenity, I send a flurry of emotions through our connecting line, trying to calm him down. While the fallout of this revelation is massive, it doesn’t detract from the fact that we’re now caught between two equally unappealing prospects. Both Dante and Rhys want us for their own agendas, and short of splitting us in half, I don’t see how this can end well.

  The odds are not in our favor.

  A flash movement out of the side of my eye catches my attention. The Tor girl has been slowly edging closer to Dante, and now she stands at his back with her weapon jammed in his spine. “Release Rhys or I’ll kill you.”

  “Do you think I’m stupid?” Dante snarls, prodding Rhys firmly in the gut with his weapon.

  Rhys oomphs. “How about this?” he suggests. “On the count of three, you back up to your side and I’ll back up to mine, and then we can discuss how best to resolve this situation. I’m sure we can come to some amicable arrangement.”

  “Tell your soldiers to lower their weapons and we have a deal.”

  Rhys nods at his soldiers and they lower their weapons. “One …” he begins counting, “two, three.”

  Both men jump back. The Tor girl sidles up to Rhys as the soldiers line up their weapons again. Behind us, Dante stands with Advisor Mellor surrounded by his guards, who now have their weapons pointed at the Tor soldiers. Unfortunately, for me and my friends, we are now firmly entrenched in no man’s land, surrounded by enemies on both sides. My heart beats erratically in my chest.

  “Here’s the way I see it,” Rhys begins. “Ultimately we both want them dead. So let’s shoot them now. Right here. You’re not that bothered about the girl, so give her to me. To appease Griselda.”

  “I want her dead.” The Tor girl lances me with her murderous gaze. “And I want to be the one to do it. For Alinka.”

  So, she’s Alinka’s sister. Go figure.

  “Terra,” Rhys says. “You know why we need her alive. I promise you that when she’s served her purpose, you can be the one to end her, but, for now, she needs to come with us.”

  “I have my own plans for them. All of them,” Dante replies coolly. “So no deal.”

  “I’m sorry you see it like that. I guess I’ll have to take matters into my own hands then.” Rhys narrows his eyes as he raises his hand in some unspoken instruction. “I wanted to bring them alive to Griselda, but you leave me no choice, Dante.”

  The blue dot widens on Logan’s forehead, and horror engulfs me. Without pausing for thought, I throw myself in front of him at the same time Haydn does. Ax roars.

  Haydn knocks us to the ground as the weapon deploys. His body is heavy on top of me as a crescendo of gunfire breaks out. The hiss of electric shots ping off the tunnel walls as the Tor soldiers trade gunfire with Dante’s guards. We lie huddled on the ground, trapped under a barrage of deadly artillery. Blue beams burn a hole in one side of the tunnel wall as complete chaos descends.

  Bits of debris shower us from above. More shots ring out, crisscrossing over our heads. Screams and shouts are bandied about. Fire whips through me, screaming for release. The bands tighten around my wrists as blood pounds through my body.

  “Crawl over to the side,” Logan silently instructs. “Keep your head low.” His body moves slightly underneath me.

  “I can’t move. Haydn has me pinned.” I’m plastered on top of Logan, and Haydn’s pinned to my back, his solid weight nearly crushing all the air in my lungs. I try to wiggle a little, but my efforts are restricted.

  “Haydn,” Logan hisses. “Move!”

  Something wet and warm slicks over my temple, trickling down my face. Logan’s wide eyes and ashen pallor sends shockwaves through me. “Axton!” Logan calls out, twisting his head to the side. “We need your help!” His tone is panicked, and I’m terrified I know why.

  All of a sudden, the pressure is gone, and I suck in greedy lungsful of air. Logan rears up on his knees, taking me with him. He shelters me with his body as he lets out an anguished cry. With huge trepidation, I turn around.

  Ax is crouched over an unconscious Haydn. Haydn is lying flat on his back, and a sheen of sweat slicks over his forehead as a darkening spread of blood seeps out from underneath him. “No!” I cry, crawling over beside him. My body trembles with barely restrained power. Heat pools in my wrists, straining against the deflective bands.

  Creaking, screeching sounds shatter my eardrums as the shaft of the tunnel starts to buckle on one side. There is a momentary ceasefire as everyone looks up.

  Bricks pop out of the wall like shrapnel flying out of a cannon. Dust clouds puff a barrage of dense, thick vapor into the air. Debris scatters everywhere, coating us all in a layer of filthy grime. Coughing, everyone runs for cover.

  Bending down, Logan carefully lifts Haydn up and over his shoulders. Blood pumps onto his shirt. “We need to get out of here while they’re distracted and before the whole place collapses.” He looks around for the others.

  “No, Neve!” Rylan screams, waving his hands about. Dante is fleeing out a side tunnel along with Advisor Mellor and what’s left of his guard.

  And Neve is giving chase.

  King Coryn is leaning against the side of the crumbling tunnel, supporting his injured shoulder. Blood oozes between his fingers. He looks at his retreating son, utterly dejected.

  Neve is shouting insults as she races after Dante. Dread rises in the pit of my stomach. Dante stops abruptly, spinning around to face her, an obnoxious snarl plastered across his mouth. Without hesitation, he raises his weapon and fires off a few rounds. I scream.

  Neve pitches forward, dropping down on her knees. Gradually, she falls forward, smashing face-first into the ground.

  She doesn’t get up.

  Doesn’t move an inch.

  Her body is devoid of any life.

  “Noooooooooooooo!” I scream inconsolably as something inherent breaks ap
art inside me. Approaching footsteps advance on us from the other side, but I barely hear them above the blood rushing to my head and a persistent pounding in my ears. Heat licks my inner recesses with ferocious power. My limbs quiver and shake as the beast finally wakes up. Throwing back my head, I let out an almighty roar. Rage and grief battle it out.

  Rage wins.

  The deflective bands snap, ripping apart in shreds and slivers that free my wrists, releasing uncontrollable power. I wonder if this is what High Elder Jaxa meant when he said to fully trust my instincts and emotions—that it was the key to unlocking the power residing within me. Has it all been building to this point? Whatever the explanation, I’m glad to be free of my restraints.

  Rhys emits an expletive as I spin around. He makes a run for it with Terra yapping at his heels. Tor soldiers bolt for their lives, stumbling and falling as they race back up the tunnel.

  I don’t vacillate.

  Flipping my wrists up, I discharge a bright stream of orangey-red fire and aim it at the fleeing Tor. A flaming spurt blasts into Rhys, spreading over his body quickly until there’s nothing left but a charred, smoldering pile of ashes. Extending my arm, I aim my next assault at Terra, incinerating her in mere seconds. Next, I pick off the soldiers one by one until there is nothing left of them.

  Silence submerges me. Slowly, I turn around and face my friends. Surging power writhes in my cells. Ignoring Logan and Ax, and Dali and Win, I dash toward Neve. Rylan is bent over her, his body racked with sobs. Huge tears pour down Fern’s face.

  As I approach, Neve’s clearly lifeless form reignites the rage inside me. Not stopping, I sprint down the tunnel Dante took, pushing my limbs farther and harder. Logan reaches out to me through our connection. “Please stop. You can’t take him on single-handed. Come back.”

  “He’s dead. I’m going to burn him a little at a time so that he feels every bit of pain. When I’m done with him, he’ll beg me for death.”

  “Sadie. Please. That isn’t who you are.”

  “He killed Alex and Neve and their unborn child! And Haydn—”