The venom in his words made me wonder what he would do to the king if he tried to hurt me. “What happens after we leave the castle?” I asked even softer.
He smiled broadly and moved Clara closer to me and Bruto and picked up my hand which was resting on my leg. He raised it and kissed my knuckles tenderly. “Then you decide what happens. I only hope that you will decide to stay with me.”
“Stay with you?”
He nodded his head and then set my hand back down on my leg. “It is your decision.”
“You would let me walk away?” I asked him in shock. He seemed rather set on us being together earlier.
His jaw clenched and he looked ahead. “I would not want you to, but I’m not going to force you to be with me. If you decide that you want to go your own way, then I will not stop you.”
“So, if I decide to leave, you’re not going to follow me secretly and scare away any men who approach me?” I asked him with a smirk.
His jaw relaxed and he smiled and then laughed. “How do you know me so well already?”
I put my palm against my chest and whispered, “As odd as it is to admit, I feel like I’ve known you my entire life.” Did it have something to do with our magic? Or was this what Ma and Pa felt?
“Tanya, in seriousness, if you don’t want to stay with me…”
I glanced at him and asked, “Are you trying to get rid of me? Do you want me to leave?”
His mouth gaped open. “No! Of course not!”
“Then we have no need to continue this conversation.”
He snapped his mouth closed and stared at me. “You are remarkable.”
“You are…on fire.”
He glanced down and smacked the fire off his shirt. I giggled and he shook his head. “We should start your training right away.”
I held my hand out in front of me, palm up and in an instant, a ball of fire appeared in it. “It’s not so hard,” I murmured.
“Amazing,” he whispered as he moved closer to me again and examined the fire. “Extinguish it.” I clenched my hand into a fist and the fire disappeared. “Oh, you’re going to make a wonderful partner,” he said happily.
“Partner?”
He nodded his head. “I’m still High Mage which means I will have to go on missions across the kingdoms. And you, my dear, will come with me.”
I had been worried about that. I really didn’t want to sit at home while he was away. “You mean it?”
“I swear to never lie to you, Tanya. Now that you’ve agreed to be mine, that’s the least I can do.”
We made it to Clinba just as darkness blanketed the world. I was exhausted and as soon as I entered his home, I fell onto the bed and fell asleep. Luke came in sometime later that night and slipped into the bed behind me. That night was the best sleep I had had in a very long time. It had been so long since I felt safe.
CHAPTER SEVEN
“We’ll have to stay the night in that inn that we met in,” he told me. “Keep alert though. I sense a disturbance in the woods.”
We rode out of Clinba side by side in silence. Soon I would be back at the castle. Soon, I would know if my sister was dead or if I had saved her.
Despite Luke’s worry, we didn’t have any issues getting to the inn. We checked in and took turns freshening up before heading downstairs to eat.
Sitting across the table from him once again, I couldn’t help but smile.
“What?” he asked.
“I suppose you were right, we didn’t only share dinner together that night.”
He smirked. “Well, I don’t believe in coincidence, after all. It would be a cruel, cruel, trick to bring you into my life only for such a brief encounter.”
My sleep was fitful even with Luke beside me. Had they tortured Eli? Was there something else going on behind all of this?
We left early the next morning and no matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t relax. My entire body was taut, like a wire wrapped around a fence post.
“I swear that I won’t let the king harm you,” Luke whispered to me.
“I’m not worried about me,” I reminded him.
He didn’t respond. I knew he suspected Eli was dead.
I suspected it too.
Everyone stared as I made my way up the streets towards the castle. Some stared at me, but most stared at Luke who looked every bit the Chief Warlock that he was.
“Let me go in first, alone,” I requested.
“Tanya…”
I squeezed his hand. “Please.”
He nodded and let me walk inside the main entrance.
The king sat in his throne and looked at me smugly. “You’re alive, which means you must have returned unsuccessful.”
I tossed the bag with the dragon’s head towards him, it thudded and rolled the last few feet to rest at his feet. “One dragon’s head as you requested. Now, where is my sister?”
One of the guards opened the bag and coughed to keep from throwing up. “It’s a dragon’s head.”
“How did you get this?” the king asked.
“I finished my mission and met my end of the deal. Now, give me my sister,” I ordered him.
“I could kill you for your impudence,” he threatened.
Luke walked in and said, “Is that why your kingdom is doing so poorly? Does the king have so little to do that he stoops to threatening girls?”
“Chief Warlock,” the king replied and shifted in his seat. “What are you doing here?”
“Where is the girl’s sister?” Luke asked him.
“Her sister tried to kill the prince,” the king explained. “That’s not something that can go unpunished.”
“Where is she?” I asked angrily and felt fire flickering along my hands.
The king picked up a wooden box from beside his throne and tossed it towards me. “There.”
My heart sank as I stooped to pick it up. I knew it. I had known all along. He had killed her.
“What’s in the box?” Luke asked him.
“The ashes of her sister,” the king replied smugly.
The doors opened and another of the king’s wardens walked in, this one was twice as big as the last. “It’s a shame that you came with her,” the king told Luke. “I hadn’t planned on killing you, but now, I think I must.”
“You had killed her before you even sent me on the mission, hadn’t you?” I asked softly. The fire in my veins turned to ice. My sister, the last of my family, was dead. I would never see her again. I would never see any of my family again.
“Tanya,” Luke whispered. “Calm down.”
“Your family has been nothing, but trouble since day one. Your father was a hell of a fighter, which is why I kept him around, but you girls and your mother were trouble.”
“You had my parents killed,” I realized. “You were going to kill us too.”
“You are smarter than you look,” the king praised and then laughed.
“Why?”
“Your mother saw something she wasn’t supposed to.”
“Then why leave us alive after all these years?” I questioned and moved closer to this throne. Ice crackled along my skin and beneath my boots.
“Amusement. Can you recount how many times I punished you? I bet you blocked most of them out.”
“By my authority as Chief Warlock, I remove you from power!” Luke bellowed, fire swirling around him in his anger.
He wouldn’t get the chance. The King’s life was mine.
“You were threatened by two girls. You’re pathetic!” I snapped at him.
“And you’re all alone,” the king replied smugly with a satisfied smirk on his cruel face.
I screamed at him, unleashing all of my pain and sorrow. Everything in the room became coated in ice, including Luke. The warden tried to charge me, but the magic poured from me in waves. Guards yelled from outside, unable to open the doors to come to the king’s aid. It took all of my willpower, but I stopped the ice and surveyed my damage. Everyone was froz
en in place.
Luke!
I gasped and rushed towards Luke, reaching out towards him, but then stopping. “Luke? No, please. Luke!”
The ice melted and then Luke shivered. “Well, now we know that you can also use ice.”
I threw my arms around him and kissed him fiercely. “I’m sorry.”
He hugged me back and whispered, “The king is dead. Our duties are fulfilled. Let’s go home.”
I nodded and leaned my head against his shoulder. “Take me home.”
Luke had to melt the doors to open them and Marcov met us outside. “What happened?” he asked.
“The king has been punished for evil deeds,” Luke told him.
“Evil…no?” he gasped and looked at me.
I handed him the box of ashes and asked, “Will you bury her with Da and Ma?”
Tears sprang to his eyes and he nodded. “I promise.”
Luke mounted his horse and then pulled me up behind him.
“Where are you going?” Marcov asked.
“I’m going home,” I whispered and wrapped my arms around Luke. “To my new home. Thank you, for everything that you’ve ever done for me.”
He smiled and said, “I hope you have a happy life, Tanya.”
“She will,” Luke promised.
We rode away from the town I was raised in and I cried against Luke’s back. “They’re all gone.”
“Yes, but you’re not alone,” he reminded me.
He was right. I had him and I had a new chance at life. I would take this chance and live my life to the fullest.
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