I square my shoulders and raise my chin. “Your definition of home is different than mine. While the Pine Kingdom is yours, my home is with the Azures.”
His lips thin and he speaks with serious tone. “Your home is with me and your brother. Your home is with your destined husband, Oliver.”
“No,” I say, shaking my head. “I have a choice, and I choose to stay with the Azures. I choose to be with Luke. I will not be forced into a marriage with a man I don’t know nor love.”
“You’re foolish. You don’t know what you’re giving up.”
“I’m giving nothing up, only gaining everything I’ve always wanted.”
Reid takes a hesitant step forward while still rubbing his neck. “Alison, I didn’t mean to startle you before. I’m sorry. I was surprised by how alike we look and was going to embrace you. I’ve wanted to meet you for so long. I can’t believe you’re finally standing in front of me. Please, come with us. I’d love to get to know you.”
“I can get to know you without living within your walls. We can meet and talk, but on neutral ground.”
“Whatever you’d like.”
I give him a small smile, but bring my eyes back to my father. “I want you to turn over the men of the Azure Army in exchange for Oliver.”
“Fair enough, daughter. I’m a man of my word.” He waves his hand and two men come forward with guards on either side of them. Oliver, however, doesn’t look like he knows where to go. He stands in the middle of the lines.
He turns to me with pleading eyes. “Please, Princess. Come home with me. I will care for you and make you happy. Anything your heart desires, I will provide. Please.”
My heart breaks a little for him. He was nice to me down in the dungeon on my first day here, and from what Stephanie said, he only has the best intentions where I’m concerned. However, I’m not his and will never be. My heart belongs to another.
“Oliver,” I say, stepping closer to him and placing my hand on his arm. I notice Luke and Elliott move with me. “I can’t. I’m sorry. My place is beside Luke. I know my father promised my hand to you, but he never should have. I’m a woman who has her own mind. I don’t do as I’m told. I was raised by a mother,” I look to Reid briefly, “who taught me to be an individual, to never let someone dictate my life. She made me strong and gave me confidence to believe in myself. Things that Luke and the rest of the Azures embrace about me. They don’t try to mold me into something I’m not. I can’t be who you want me to. You wouldn’t be happy with the woman I am.”
“I would,” Oliver quickly states. “I’ll love you the rest of our lives for who you are. I don’t want to change you, only to have you in my life.”
Shaking my head, I say, “I can’t go with you. I’m sorry.” His eyes close and my heart hurts a little more.
“Move aside, Sage,” my father demands. He pushes Oliver and stands directly in front of me. Oliver falters for a second, but then places himself between my father and me. Luke and Elliott have stepped forward, blocking me as well. A wall of strength.
Luke growls, “Take one more step, Pine, and I will slit your throat just like I did to your second in command. You remember him, don’t you? The one you sent to fight me, since you were too cowardly. Yet, you cut down Leo with no problem. I don’t know whether you’re stupid or have a death wish. Either way, I’m happy to grant the wish.”
“Afraid? Of you?” My father starts laughing a big, hearty laugh. “That’s rich.”
Luke moves until he’s nose-to-nose with my father. Oliver doesn’t stray from his position in front of me. He appears to be protecting me, but I’m not completely sure. I know he wants me as his, and my father wants me to come with him. Maybe they are doing this to take me. At this point I only can trust Luke and the Azures. The Pine Army moves to stand beside their leader. Reid is swallowed up by them, pushed to the back and out of my sight.
“Enough of the games. Sage, get over here and bring my daughter with you,” my father commands.
Oliver doesn’t move. I look around and everyone appears to be ready to jump into battle. Then a loud roar punctures the sky and everyone, including me, turns toward the sound. Oliver now stands next to me to see where it came from. Tali has her head pointed high and is roaring almost piercingly. Her front legs lift from the ground. She must have sensed the tension in the air.
I look to Oliver, but before I get a word out, I’m jolted back against a hard chest of armor. The metal chills my skin through my shirt. A cold blade bites into the skin of my neck. I freeze on the spot. I can already feel something warm run down my neck, and know if I move further, the wound will be much worse.
Looking around, I see a look of pure shock on Oliver’s face. Elliott has his sword drawn along with everyone else in the Azure Army and the Elite. They must have been watching Tali along with me and my father stepped up behind me. I was vulnerable and he took advantage of it. I glance around wildly trying to locate Luke without moving my head. I don’t see him anywhere. How can he be gone when I need him most?
“Father, don’t do this,” Reid begs. He’s only a couple of feet away now. “You need to stop this. Let her go.” My father is the one who’s trying to harm me. The man who my mother told me to find and that I’d be safe with. He must have been a different man when she knew him. She never would have told me to find someone who would try to hurt me.
“Wouldn’t you love that, my son? You’re always trying to avoid conflict. You spend more time smoothing things over between people in our land than addressing the real problems.”
“To our people, their issues are real. To them they’re not insignificant like you think they are. They need my help and I’m happy to provide it. I don’t want this war. Alison said what she wanted. Let it be.”
“You’re weak. You always have been. Just like your mother. She couldn’t handle battle either and fled when it got bad.”
Reid’s face becomes as hard as the armor he wears. “Did you ever consider it wasn’t the war she was running from? Maybe it was you?”
My father’s grip on me tightens at Reid’s words. “How dare you speak to me that way!” he bellows.
“Let her go.” Oliver demands in a low and deadly voice. His sword is drawn, and he’s pointing it at us, or at my father to be more precise. The sword hovers higher than my shoulder toward my father’s head.
“You too, Sage? I should have known. Ever since you found out I had a daughter, you’ve become obsessed with finding her.”
A loud, deep voice yells, “Free her now or suffer the consequences, Pine!” Luke. He’s somewhere amidst the army, but I can’t find him.
The blade cuts deeper into my skin and I gasp in fear. A tear runs down my cheek. Elliott looks like he’s barely able to hold still, and Oliver flashes between fear and murderous rage.
“Show yourself, Azure. I know you’re out there. One slip of the wrist and she’s dead.”
“You’d kill your own blood?” Elliott asks in astonishment. I thought that was obvious, but maybe Elliott thought it was all a ruse.
“Of course. I don’t want her in the hands of my enemy to be used against me.” I’m nothing to him but a pawn in this messed up game he’s playing. A game of lives.
“You’re sick,” Elliott says.
“King Pine, it doesn’t have to be this way,” Oliver adds. “You can let her go and walk away.”
“Never,” my father hisses.
A whooshing sound reaches my ears seconds before there is a loud thump behind me. My father gasps in my ear, and I hear Luke speak low and cold, “Never try to take from me what’s mine.”
The blade at my neck slides and slices deeper. Elliott rushes forward and grasps my father’s arm to pull him away from me. The coldness at my back is gone. I fall into Elliott’s arms, blood trickling down my neck. I turn around to see Luke standing there with a bloody knife in his hand. My father is lying on his side, on the ground, with a growing pool of crimson beneath him. His chest rises once, twice, he coughs out
blood and grows still. No more breaths.
My hand flies to my mouth and I look at Luke. He lowers his head and turns away from me. My father is dead. All of my father’s men reach for Luke at the same time, but the Elite are there by his side in an instant. Blades start clashing all around me. The ting of each hit rings in my ears. The Azure Army is fighting Pine’s.
I start to grow dizzy when strong arms grab me from behind, and I’m lifted in the air. I kick and scream to be let go. I’m unsure who has me and don’t want to be held captive. Luke turns at my cries. In the second he meets my eyes, he’s left himself unguarded. A blade slashes deeply across his chest and blood starts to seep through his white shirt. He pitches forward, his hand on his chest, but he keeps fighting with his other arm. It’s with less force than before.
It’s then I realize his armor is gone. Why isn’t he wearing it? I’m screaming internally and then externally. “No! Luke! No!” Where’s Reid? Why isn’t he putting a stop to this? “Reid! You have to stop the fighting!” My eyes scan the area in front of me, and I see him staring down at our father dead on the ground. Reid is immobile. His face is blank. No sadness, no hurt, nothing.
Next thing I know I’m being dragged backward, but not without a struggle. I want to get to Luke. I want to put pressure on his chest. I need him to be okay.
I ball my hands into fists and start punching the person holding me. Before I know it, I’m being held by two men and placed on a black dragon. We’re in the air in seconds. Each sweep of the wings furthers the distance I am from Luke.
“Let me go!” I yell. I don’t care who has me at this point. All that matters is returning to Luke.
“We will if you stop struggling,” Elliott says from behind me. I turn and give him a death glare. Then I look in front of me and see Oliver. It doesn’t even register to me that men of different sides have me.
“We have to go back!” I scream. “How can you leave him there? He’s hurt.” I turn to look at Elliott again. “He’s your brother and you left him! You left him and he needed you.”
“I know, Princess. Believe me, I know. But this was the plan. If he got hurt he wanted you taken away at all costs, and that’s what we’re doing. We have to ensure your safety, and right now you’re bleeding. You need to see the healer.”
“And what about his safety? Why wasn’t he wearing his armor?”
“He’s got the rest of the Elite and our army helping him. Also, Luke has a habit of shedding it during battle. He says he can’t move as well with it on.”
“Why would he do that?” Then I remember him saying how he’d rather not wear any at all. That he’s used to it, but still prefers to not have the restriction. “We have to go back!” I cry. Tears start pouring down my cheeks. I grip Oliver’s shirt in front of me and sob into him. I don’t care that I’m hurt. Luke is all that matters. “Please, we have to go back.”
His arms wrap around my back as he pulls me close, but they don’t provide the same warmth and comfort that Luke’s do. He holds me tightly as the dragon banks to the left, and we make our descent to the Azure Kingdom. Before closing my eyes, I see the field of blue flowers below where I first met my prince.
Aftermath
I don’t even know how I got from Elliott’s dragon to Luke’s bed. The healer came to the house to fix me up and left quickly after in anticipation of other casualties. Apparently my wound wasn’t as deep as I thought and only needed to be cleaned and bandaged.
I lay in Luke’s bed crying for what feels like hours. The last time I felt this helpless was when my mom was dying, and there was nothing I could do to help her. I’m not alone in the room. Oliver has been with me since we landed. Elliott was too for a while. I didn’t think he felt comfortable leaving me alone with Oliver, but after the day’s events and our location, if Oliver tried to take me he wouldn’t get far. Oliver has gotten the brunt of my anger a few times, but I’ve lost the fight in me. He held me for a while and let me cry on him. I let out all of my fear regarding Luke’s well-being. In such a short time, I’ve become so used to having him around and very attached to him; I don’t want to be without him. But it didn’t matter how much begging and pleading I did, neither Oliver nor Elliott would let me leave.
The room is dark when a loud disturbance wakes me. I must have dozed off without meaning to. I sit up and see the moon’s light shining in, casting a glow upon Oliver. He stiffens near the doorway.
Someone is thumping up the stairs. Wait, two people are. Their voices are a dull murmur and I can’t make out who it is. Oliver moves to block the door. Then I hear him. My Prince. He growls, “I may be injured, but I can still kick your ass, Sage. Now move.”
My heart is beating wildly. I jump from the bed and am about to shove Oliver out of the way, when he turns to me. The light from downstairs pours in, illuminating his face. Pain is evident in Oliver’s eyes, and I hate that I’m the reason it’s there. He hangs his head and moves aside.
Luke stumbles in and drops to his knees before me. He looks like hell. His hair is wild, sticking up at odd angles. He’s shirtless, only wearing a pair of thin pants. His face is caked with blood, as are his hands, chest, and stomach. I drop to the floor so I’m even with him, and place my hands on his shoulders to steady him as he lists to the side. There are stitches across his chest from the gash I saw earlier. The skin is red and angry.
Moving my hands, I cup his cheeks, bringing his eyes to mine. “Oh, Luke,” I whisper. I start to get choked up and try to keep my tears at bay, however it’s of no use. Seeing him alive makes me elated, but the blood covering him has me hating that he was hurt because of me.
He sags into my touch. “My princess,” he murmurs. “I’m sorry for what I’ve done. I didn’t know what else to do. Please forgive me.”
“What are you apologizing for? You didn’t do anything wrong. You came back to me. That’s all that matters.”
His eyes meet mine and I can tell how sincere he is. It occurs to me why he wants forgiveness. He thinks I’m mad that he killed my father. In truth, I never knew the man, and the little bit I saw of him tonight, I’m glad I didn’t. How he could hold a sword to his own daughter’s neck? I’m not sorry Luke did what he had to so I could be saved. I’m only sorry for all that he endured on my behalf.
“Don’t,” I say. “You don’t have to apologize for that. If you didn’t take care of him, then I might not be here.”
“He was still your father.”
“No,” I shake my head. “While I might refer to him that way, he was never a father to me. I gave him the chance to talk to me and he threatened to kill me. A father doesn’t do that. A father loves and cherishes their child. He did neither.”
Looking up and to my right, I see Elliott and Oliver watching us. “Elliott, please help me get him to the tub. I want to get this blood off of him.” He nods and puts one of Luke’s arms over his shoulder to gently lift him. I start to follow when I feel a hand on my arm. Turning I see Oliver behind me.
“Princess Alison, I cannot stay here. My kingdom must be in turmoil over the loss of their king. I’d ask you to reconsider joining me, but after the night we’ve had I don’t think there is any way you will.” He steps closer, his thumb brushes over my bottom lip. It’s too intimate and causes me to lean away. He lets out a sigh. “I know where your heart lies, however should you ever change your mind, I’ll be waiting.” He leans forward, brushes his lips across my cheek and whispers, “Forever.”
“Oliver –”
He doesn’t let me finish. “Please, don’t say anymore. I want to remember you like this. Beautiful, your eyes only on mine. I don’t know when I’ll see you again, but should you ever need me, I’m only a short flight away by dragon. I will always come when you request me.”
Now there are tears welling in my eyes for a whole different reason. How can someone who doesn’t know me, care about me so deeply? I need to tell him that I want him to move on with his life and not wait for me. I’m not the woman for him.
A throat clears behind me, interrupting our conversation. I realize how close Oliver is still standing to me. I take a step back. Oliver’s eyes narrow over my shoulder.
“Azure, do you have a horse I can borrow to get back to my kingdom?”
Elliott steps up beside me. He places a protective hand at the small of my back. “I’ll do you one better, Sage. I’ll let you borrow my dragon. He knows his way back. Plus, if you don’t send him back within the hour, I’ll come for you,” he says with a malicious smile. Oliver nods having gotten the message.
Turning to me, Elliott motions with his head toward the bathroom. I start to walk away, but turn back and close the distance between Oliver and myself. I place a kiss on his cheek and hug him tightly. His arms pull me closer, his cheek resting against mine.
Whispering in his ear, I say, “Thank you for protecting me and ensuring my safety. I’ll never forget you, Oliver Sage.”
I don’t look back when I walk away this time. I can’t see the heartache on his face again. I’ll splinter open. It’s better this way. I don’t want to lead him on. The man who holds my heart needs me now.
I step into the bathroom and close the door behind me. Luke is climbing into a tub of water. I’ve never seen him completely naked before. Even bloody and battered, he’s gorgeous. I try the best I can not to focus on his firm ass, or between his legs, when he sinks into the water. I need to get my mind out of the gutter and focus on the task at hand. Not a certain other task I’d like to undertake, and not my hand or mouth performing said task.
I push everything aside in my mind and kneel next to the bathtub, facing him. I find a clean washcloth under the sink and lather it up with a bar of soap. His eyes are closed. His arms are lying on either side of the tub, and his head is resting against the back. I start to wash his neck when his head lifts to watch me. Slowly, I clean his face next, cupping water in my hands to rinse him off, being mindful of his stitches, trying not to get them wet which is proving difficult. I make my way over both arms before cleaning around his wound. Now it’s becoming impossible to clean him off and keep the wound dry.
The Azure Kingdom (Skeleton Key) Page 11