by Amy Miles
Unable to ignore the grumble in my belly, I made my way over to one of the tables. I grabbed a turkey leg and ripped off a chuck. All that work loading cargo had made me ravenous.
As I chewed, I scanned the room for any sign of Taryn in the sea of ball gowns. She was nowhere to be found.
Just then the sounds of horns blew, and all attention went to the rear of the hall. Two guards with massive swords on their shoulders opened a set of double doors. Out came a man and a woman, whom I could only assume were the king and queen. They walked into the room with no expression on their faces, but it was clear to see they disdained each other. This had to have been an arranged marriage. They couldn’t be more opposite if they tried. She was elegant with hair redder than my own, and skin so white it seemed impossible that she could have ever seen the sun. While her king was twice her age. He had a severe looking face that showed no sign of compassion. The fact the queen was a few inches taller than her king would have made the pairing even more comical if it hadn’t been for the blackness of his eyes. Though he might not tower above other men, it was easy to see why he ruled them. His very essence told me he was evil incarnate.
Two throne-like chairs sat on the raised platform. Once they were seated, the next couple emerged.
“Aed,” I hissed, tossing the turkey leg back on the table.
The prince entered, wearing a regal looking silver dress coat. A blue sash was lying across his chest and on his arm was the plainest woman I’d ever laid eyes on. She wasn’t ugly, per se, but she had no striking features at all. The sort of person who looked as though they had never laughed once in their lifetime.
Behind her, several people entered. They seemed to be Ms. Personality’s family. They all took their spots behind the king and queen.
A stream of other women and their families followed after, but instead of taking their spot behind the king, they hugged the side of the room. These must be the other girls the prince had to choose from. Looking at them all, I made a face. None of them stood a candle to Taryn.
Where is she? Shouldn’t she be among the other girls?
I scanned the crowd again, suddenly worried the reason she wasn’t there was because she had been killed.
No. I would have sensed that. We had a connection. I knew that if she had died, I would have felt it in my soul, just like I felt Alana’s passing. Knowing Taryn, she was probably trying to avoid the pomp and circumstance of the evening. This meant she was likely in another part of the manor.
This would be an opportune time to duck out and try to find her. All eyes were on the royal family. No one was going to pay a wandering reaper searching the halls any mind…or so I hoped.
I was just about to make my move when I saw Aed’s glance shift to his left. He smirked at whoever held his sight, so I followed to where he was looking out of curiosity and nearly fell over.
There, standing in a flowing ivory ball gown, was my dead sister, Alana.
Chapter 13
Aed
Unlike most of my evenings wasted on dancing and finery, this one did not pass with the slow ticking of a clock. Rather, it raced by with such cruel speed that I found myself saddened when my father announced the evening had come to end.
I wanted more time with Alana. One dance would never be enough. If I were honest with myself, I knew I was starting to need it and that was dangerous. She was a lovely girl, both of form and of personality. She made the whole night worth experiencing. Having her in my arms…it felt like a dream. One I was sad to wake from.
The music ceased and our guests slowly exited the ballroom. I did my duty and remained behind to shake hands with those who lingered to enjoy a few last drops of the king’s best wine. As the doors closed and I found myself alone, the room felt too vast and lonely for my liking. And yet I knew this night, this place, would forever be burned into my memory.
“Alana.” Her name came as a whisper across my lips. I closed my eyes and tried to feel her still in my arms. I remembered the soft pressure of her gloved hand in mine as I twirled her across the dance floor. Her natural grace had allowed her to adapt quite easily to my guidance on the steps. Never before had someone been so perfectly suited in my arms. Taryn was a close second, but still a second.
“Aed!”
I turned at the shout to see Taryn standing in the doorway. Her cloak was a mess of stiff wrinkles. It was as if the material had been crumpled, beaten into a ball, and allowed to dry that way. It was coated with a faint white residue that I couldn’t place as I looked her over. Her hair hung in unkempt clumps. Her face bore the signs of scratches.
“What the bloody hell happened to you?” I hurried towards her, motioning for her to enter so she wouldn’t be spotted by a passing guard. “You missed the ball. I had Cashel searching all over for you.”
“Cashel?” She stopped walking. “He returned? I thought ya said he was delayed.”
“Aye. There was trouble on the road as predicted.” I frowned at what that trouble meant but said nothing. “And don’t change the subject. You gave me your word that you’d back in time. Do you have any idea how enraged my mother was about you standing me up? For the second time no less. Or how worried I’ve been?”
Taryn sniffed. “She should’ve been pleased to not have the commoner around.”
“Taryn,” I started, but she held up a hand to stop me.
“I dunna care about your ma right now. There’s something ya need to know.”
She jumped into a retelling of the events since I last spoke to her. Many of which made my skin crawl. I didn’t want to believe her tale. It was outrageous, impossible even, but I knew Taryn. She wasn’t one to sacrifice logic for madness.
“So you say this lorcan leader saw you?” I paced in front of her, needing the movement to keep my fear in check.
“Aye. He gave me quite a looking over, that’s for sure.”
I paused. “Then what did he do?”
Her face was pale when she met my gaze. “The bloody wanker smiled at me.”
My hands fell to my sides. “Excuse me?”
“Ack. I know how it sounds, but I swear it’s the gods’ honest truth. Eivin saw the whole thing. Made my blood run cold. Since when do they express human emotion like that? All I’ve ever felt before was anger. But this…Aed, this is the change I’ve been feelin’. He’s different. I could feel him tryin’ to pry his way into my head. It took everthin’ I had to keep him out.”
“Did the others try to harm you during that time?”
“No.” She shook her head. Bits of dried sea salt fell away to the floor. Now I understood where the white film was from. “They turned and took the newly formed lorcan with them. The leader lingered, watchin’ me until Eivin dragged me away. If he hadn’t been there…” She blew out a heavy sigh. “I couldn’t move, Aed. It was like he was somehow drawin’ me to him. I canna explain it.”
I pinched the bridge of my nose. “This is bad.”
“Aye. Ya think so, do ya?” She plopped down onto a chair and tugged at the neckline of her cloak. I was surprised to see she still wore her dress beneath. It was tattered and torn, the hem damaged beyond repair. I doubted it would ever look as pink as it did before, but that would only make her happy once she returned to her senses. “I canna breathe is this thing.”
Before I could stop her, she pulled the damp cloak over her head and tossed it to the floor. Then, with a move of her dagger, she tore through the ties of her corset and shed her dress too. I’d forgotten how good she looked in her leathers. She was fierce and possessed the appealing figure of a warrior. My gaze fell to the swell of her breast before it lowered to the dagger she placed into the sheath at her hip.
“I know what you’re thinking, Taryn, and the answer is no.”
“No?” Her head whipped up. “You canna tell me not to follow them. I only came back to get you to fight alongside me.”
My eyes widened. “Me?”
“Of course, ya daft fool. You’re the best fighter we�
�ve got, considerin’ our forces are so few.” She added that small dig with a smile. “We ’ave to go after ’em. Find out where they are camped. See if we can learn their plan of attack so we can stop them.”
“No.” I shook my head. “Out of the question. We have duties here.”
“Blast your duties, Aed. Did ya not hear what I’ve been sayin’? These lorcan are somethin’ more. These new hybrids are large enough to take down four men with a single swing. If we dunna stop them now, we may never get the same chance.”
I clasped my hands in front of me. “And what if there are more of them? What if it is a trap and that thick head of yours leads us right into it? The two of us won’t stand a chance against that kind of force.”
Her eyes narrowed with a burning anger I knew all too well. “At least I’d be doin’ somethin’ instead of standin’ around here lookin’ like a right arse.” When she snapped, she looked exactly like the girl from the docks I’d first met. The one who had shocked me so thoroughly I couldn’t get her off my mind in the days that followed. The one I’d risked everything to save.
“I know it’s hard, Taryn, but you have to see things my way. A prince can’t race off to a battlefield without a plan. It takes time and resources. Both of which are a high commodity at the moment.”
“Ya know, I vouched for ya last night with Eivin. Tried to explain to him why ya couldn’t act. But now I’m startin’ to think you’re hidin’ behind your duties.” She turned and spat on the floor. “Stuff your duties. You’re a soldier, Aed. Your people are dyin’. Stolen from their beds to feed those monsters. I saw one myself succumb to the lorcan’s death kiss. Sucked her soul right out and there wasn’t a damn thing I could do to stop it. Her soul is what created the hybrid in the first place. Don’t ya see? If we do nothin’, we are allowin’ that monster to perfect his schemes. To build his army from our own people. He’s one step ahead of us because you’re allowin’ it.”
I swallowed hard. Nothing pained me more than knowing my people were in danger. Or feeling like my hands were tied. But what else could I do? We did not have the men we needed. Not without my mother’s support, and right now she had no reason to give it.
“What happens when fifty of them crawl through that hole we found, Aed? That’s fifty deadly creatures that will soon be able to swim around our wall as if it were nothin’. If we delay, how many more people from Odran will be sacrificed before ya act?”
A low rumbling growl rose in my chest as I took hold of her arm and crushed her against me. “Need I remind you of who you are speaking to?”
“Aye. Ya do. Am I lookin’ at the future King of the Hallowed Realms or a coward who will sit on his throne and turn a blind eye to his people’s sufferin’?” She rose up on her toes to try to even out our heights. “I know ya want to go with me.”
“Of course I do.” I could smell the scent of the sea on her. My gaze lowered to her lips, and I found I couldn’t look away. Her passion roused in me urges I’d tried to keep at bay with her. Out of respect. But the fire in her was too strong to quench my desires this time. They were different than what I felt for Alana. I needed to know if any of what I felt was real.
Before reason struck me, I wrapped my arms around Taryn and crushed my lips to hers. She went rigid in my embrace, her lips firm and unyielding. My own lips sealed off her murmured curses. Knowing she would not give in to the moment, I released her and stepped back.
I should’ve expected the slap, but my mind was still in a fog until my right cheek exploded in stinging pain.
“What the bloody hell did ya do that for?” She wiped her lips as if she’d tasted something foul.
“I needed to see what it was like.”
“Now? In the middle of a fight?” Her ocean green eyes lit with the rebellion I loved and admired most about her. “That was terrible.”
“Aye. It wasn’t too good for me, either.” There hadn’t been any sparks or a single flare of emotion. It had been…nothing.
“Well,” she hesitated, appearing unsure of what to say next. “Good. I’m glad that’s settled. I guess we both needed to see if there was somethin’ more—”
“How dare you steal a kiss from my son?” an enraged voice yelled from behind us.
Together, Taryn and I whipped around. I suspected she was confused by the identity of the voice, but I was not.
“Mother,” I ground out. “How kind of you to spy on us.”
“And rightfully so.” Grasping her skirts, she stormed towards us with heels clacking out an angry staccato. Where I saw beauty in Taryn’s anger, there was none in my mother’s. “I have warned you. Future king or not, you are still my son and as such you will obey my orders. I will not have the heir to the throne snogging with a mere commoner in public.”
“Would you rather I take Taryn somewhere private, then?”
I saw Taryn’s eyebrow rise in response, but she said nothing.
“Do not take that tone with me.” Blotches of colour lit up her face. “I will not have you or this…this wretch make a fool of me.”
“Wretch, am I now?” Taryn couldn’t stay silent any longer.
“Taryn,” I said, but she stepped around my warning hand.
“I’ll have ya know that I wanted no part of this or anythin’ else to do with your family. I dunna want to marry your son. I never have. Nor do I want to be forced to live in your shadow or wear god-awful dresses and pretend to like it.”
At the mention of dresses, I winced. Within half a second, my mother’s gaze fell to Taryn’s leather attire. The blotches of colour dotting her face became a solid shade of red. I sighed when her steely gaze hit me.
“Why in the king’s name is she dressed like a bloody reaper? And carrying a dagger, no less.”
“She’s…” I trailed off, unsure of how to actually explain the complexities that surrounded Taryn. True to her nature, Taryn didn’t wait around for me to answer for her.
“Someone has to fight for my people.”
“Your people?” The queen sniffed with indignation. “You mean the commoners?”
“I mean all people of the Hallowed Realms.” Taryn’s face set with a determination that could land her in chains.
I placed a calming hand on her arm. “Careful, Taryn. Remember who it is you speak to.”
“Do I look like I care? What more could she possibly threaten me with?” She yanked her hand free from my grasp. “Ya may not be willin’ to speak the truth, but I bloody well will. I always have.”
“You are lucky to still have a tongue at all,” the queen snapped.
“Aye. I guess I should use it while I’ve still got it then.”
I stared between the two women with amazement. It was like fire and ice colliding. If only they knew how similar they were.
“Out with you,” the queen demanded, pointing to the door. “You’re dismissed.”
I sucked in a breath, waiting to see what retort Taryn would come up with. Instead of berating my mother further, she grabbed her cloak and dress and walked towards the door.
“I’ll have your things moved into the room beside mine,” my mother called before the door slammed behind Taryn.
“She won’t be there when you arrive,” I muttered.
“And you.” She rounded on me with a swift slap to my left cheek. “What were you thinking to kiss her like that? Anyone could have walked in on you.”
“I wasn’t.” It was the truth. I hadn’t been thinking at all beyond the moment, beyond the confusing emotions I kept trying to compartmentalize about Taryn and Alana. Maybe it was dancing with Alana in my arms that had messed with my head first. Or the fact I’d had my face slapped for the second bloody time that night.
“That much is obvious.” She crossed her arms over her chest, a move I rarely saw her use. With her hip jutted out, she looked more like a stern mother than a regal queen. “I don’t tell you these things because I’m trying to be mean, Aed. There is more at stake here than you know.”
; “Fine.” I moved away in case she decided another slap was in order. “Tell me, then.
She started to speak but shook her head. “Now is not the time or place. My desires on this matter have been made quite clear. Since you have proven incapable of obeying my wishes, I will see to it that you two are kept apart.”
“Mother—”
“No.” She raised a hand to silence me. “I will not have that girl ruin anything more. She does not belong to you yet. However noble your intentions may have been, I won’t see your good name smudged by her rash actions.”
“If you would only take the time to get to know her.”
“I do not need to know her, Aed. She is a threat. One that needs to go away.” She turned. “Someday my actions will become clear to you. Until then, you need to trust that everything I do is for your well-being.”
“And that’s why you and Father conspired with Hadley’s family all these years to arrange our marriage?”
Her stoic expression failed her when she spun back around. “How did you…” But she caught herself. With a visible shake, she pressed back her shoulders and raised her head high. “Hadley is an impeccable match for you, Aed. In time you will come to appreciate the efforts that have gone into acquiring her for you.”
“So, all this, the tour, the balls, the pretending Taryn was safe with me, was for what? A publicity stunt to distract the people from the real problems in the realm?”
Anger seethed through me at the widening of her gaze. Guilt-ridden eyes stared back at me. She may not have said a single word, but I knew the answer. Taryn’s hunch was right. I was a pawn in a much bigger game.
“How dare you use me, Mother? There is a war coming and thousands of our people will die because you put a bloodline before your people. Their blood will be on your hands. And mine, because you have kept them tied by deceiving me. At least Taryn is willing to fight, no matter the cost.”
My head rocked back when she slapped me. I caught her hand before she took another swing.