by K. Lyn Hill
Oh god. He had given them those blankets.
He had refused to tell his father what he had wanted to hear. He could have saved them but at what cost?
Aerity…
Either way, it was him that had put a target on their backs.
The king rose from his chair and kicked Damien in the stomach. “Useless, pathetic boy. What have I told you about showing your weaknesses? Get up and compose yourself.”
He began to turn but stopped himself. “Make no mistake, Damien, I will find her on my own. Now look at the decision you made. How it affected those around you. That is what it means to be king. Mark my words, when I find her, Aerity will die and their sacrifice would have been for nothing. Just more blood on your hands that could have been prevented. One girl for multiple women. When will you ever learn?” The king snarled.
Time seemed to blur and blend, everything around him went hazy. He could no longer focus on who was in the room with him, just the blood stain on the ground. The stain that he helped to put there. It was his fault. He had killed them. His mind shrunk deeper into his head, hiding out while he had his break down. Silence made his head pound as a ringing in his ear made him see stars. He couldn’t focus on all the pale faces every time the door opened, or the empty look in the corpse’s eyes as they were drug from the room.
No, all Damien could do was stare at the red stains, while trembling on the floor in the darkness.
∞∞∞
Siel
As he entered the hallway, he could tell from the deadly silence that something somber had occurred. Pale drawn faces stared at the throne room door like something was going to jump out and attack them. Servants scurried by on tip toes like they hoped that if they were silent enough, they could remain unseen and invisible.
“What happened?” He asked one of the nearest maids, who jumped at hearing his voice.
“He killed them.” She said shakily.
“Killed who?” He demanded but she shook her head like she couldn’t get any more out. An older man walked by slowly, wearily watching the door. Siel grabbed his arm and pressed for an answer. “What happened? Who died?” Just then the doors opened and everyone dispersed rapidly. A woman was then drug out of the room, in a daze. There was a urine stain on her skirt and tears streaking her face. Siel looked up and all he saw was blood and his brother’s shaking form on the ground.
Walking up to the nearest guard by the door he growled, “What happened here?!”
The guard raised a casual eyebrow as if there wasn’t blood smeared all over the room and waved towards the door. “The king is expecting you.”
As soon as he stepped foot inside, he gasped. Blood colored the floor in a crimson motif as if bodies had been drug purposefully across the floor.
“What’s going on?” He asked again. Damien didn’t even lift his head, his eyes lued to the stains on the floor.
“I killed them.” He whispered and Siel’s heart broke. No. People thought that Damien was a monster but he wasn’t. Siel knew he wasn’t.
“Stop speaking nonsense, Damien. What happened?”
“Just what he said. He killed them.” The king’s booming voice shook the room, dragging Siel’s attention off his brother’s sunken form on the ground.
“Why?” Siel asked, looking back at his brother but he wasn’t the one to answer.
“They were thieves and needed their punishment. Damien acted as a king should.”
“You slaughtered them for stealing?!” Siel demanded, begging Damien to tell him the truth. This didn’t sound like him at all. He refused to believe it.
“I killed them.” Was all Damien could say over and over again. Siel’s body shook with rage and bile rose in his throat. There had to be more to this story. There just had to be.
“Your brother knows where Aerity is, Siel and he refuses to say where.” The king said and Siel’s head jerked. “What do you mean? I told you she is back in her world.”
Damien groaned and finally looked up to meet his eyes. Pain radiated from the depth of his gaze. “It was you? You’re the one who told him?” He wheezed and something inside of Siel cracked. Had he made the wrong decision?
“I just killed them because of you!” Damien snapped, his fingers digging into the ground, beginning to turn bloody from the pressure. Damien didn’t appear to be feeling it though. What was Damien talking about?
“I don’t understand.”
“She never made it back to her world Siel. She is still here.” The king stated. “And your brother refuses to say where she is.” Aerity never made it to her world? The princess lied? Was she safe wherever she was? If Damien had known, why hadn’t he said anything?
“You’ll kill her! Just like you killed them!” Damien screamed at their father. The king only smirked as Siel stared at the two of them with his mouth dropped. Had he really done this?
“According to all the witnesses and your own confession it would appear as though you’re the one who murdered them.”
Siel still didn’t realize what was even happening or who died. His head spun. “What’s going on?”
Damien’s jaw clenched as he picked himself up off the ground. He looked up and pierced Siel with a vicious glare before snarling in the king’s direction. “Just one more person I will be taking the blame for.” Without another word, Damien stormed out of the room, bumping him in the shoulder on the way out. The king smirked victoriously before following him out at a much slower pace.
Siel just stood there staring at the door, then at the blood on the floor with his mouth dropped open. What the hell just happened?
Chapter Fifty-Two
Aerity
Aerity pushed through her workout, punching, kicking, diving the air. She thought of the time she fought Damien right after he ripped his shirt over his head. Her face flushed at the memory with another tuck and spin. Breathing in through her nose, out through her mouth, she switched to jumping jacks and jumped down into a push-up. Her limbs had begun to lock up from lack of use. Being used as a doll to dress up and play whore took a toll on more than just her mental disposition. Instead she distracted herself with other things.
Thoughts of Siel made it hurt to breathe and so her mind oddly enough usually drifted back to Damien. As crude as he always was to her, his presence was an undeniable earthquake that always seemed to shake her. It was unnerving how much she thought of his arrogant smile, the attractive curve of his lips when he was saying something cruel. Or the way his jaw clenched, and veins bulged in his neck when she was hurling the same treatment back in his direction.
She couldn’t help but wonder what he would think of her now. Being eye candy for a roomful of rich hoodlums.
It couldn’t be any worse than his opinion of her already, but it made her lunges swifter and her thrusts more aggressive.
He knew nothing about her and yet it mattered to her what he thought. The caress of his lips on her forehead when she was lying in bed wounded, created a hum in her chest. He had softened towards the end. Ready and willing to begin to truly see her.
Then she was whisked away here, to merely prove his first impression of her correct.
As much as she wanted to protest every time she felt lingering eyes on her breasts or the uneasy way men’s eyes followed her across the room during their little play sessions, she knew there wasn’t much of a choice for her.
When since she got here had there ever been?
She was simply tossed back and forth like a rising tide or a tsunami coming to pass. Sucked into the depth and then pitched right back out into the desolation remaining in its wake. Was that all she would ever be here? A used old napkin to be picked up and thrown away when things got too messy? That wasn’t the life she wanted but what were her options? She would do what she had to do for her sake and for Eli. His situation was just as desperate as hers and she had to avoid inviting anyone to her pity party.
Things could always get worse. At least the show of Kayden owning her body was simpl
y that, a show. He didn’t push for anything beyond that. In fact, Kayden had been surprisingly helpful, which only increased her suspicions of him. If only she could tell what his end game was. What did he want from her?
Her hits slowed as she dropped her hands to her side. Sweat dripped down her face. Tilting it towards the sun, she reveled in the feel of it on her skin. It didn’t rain nearly as much here, which was a blessing and a curse. There was a constant sheen of moisture on her skin and it was a permanent fixture in places she did not want to admit to, but it felt good to feel the sunshine often. It improved her mood drastically in comparison to the never ending dreary, rainy days in Ceranthium, although her memories there landed in a varied spectrum.
Some were good while others tore at the parts of her that were still functioning. Her mind, soul, spirit. They hadn’t broken her yet and she refused to acknowledge their ability to do so. She hadn’t mentioned her heart because it was so weighed down that some days it felt too heavy to pick up.
Fear was all she knew. Fear to let anyone in. Fear that if she lost much more it would finally break her.
She missed her father, his stern countenance was familiar, comforting. And then there was her mother. She choked as she threw her body into her movements, pretending to block and duck. She knew exactly what her mother would say if she had been inside her head right now.
Her mother’s voice gently hummed through her mind. “Don’t worry about the fear of failure. Worry about the chances you miss when you don’t even try.”
They had a calendar of inspirational quotes her mother was addicted to. Every morning she would memorize it and use it as the quote of the day. Even through her chemo, there wasn’t one day she missed her quote. What hurt the most was that if Aerity hadn’t gotten the chance to see her face in this world, the image of her mother would have blurred even further than it already had, just like her eyes at the moment.
Holding back a sob, she dropped back down into squat and hopped up, turning into a side kick. She fought back angry tears with one final punch and then dropped her hands to her knees to suck in a gasp of air. It was then that she felt the wind rustle her hair, pining a strand to her wet face, a scent of something on the breeze.
She turned her head to see Kayden casually leaning against a tree watching her. “Don’t stop on my account. I was enjoying watching you get all sweaty.”
She stood up, planting her hands on her hips with no other place to put them. “How long were you standing there?”
He shrugged. “Long enough to know never to piss you off.”
A lazy smile surfaced as she grabbed a towel to wipe off the excess sweat, at least in the visible places. “You don’t fight?”
Kayden stretched his arms above his head, revealing a sliver of his ab muscles. He had to at least work out, just not with a weapon. If that was his natural body without any exercise, then that would be true proof that the world wasn’t fair.
It reminded her of Damien, and she had to shake her head to clear the devious thought.
“I’m a lover not a fighter.” He raised his fingers and wiggled them. “I prefer not to get my hands dirty. That’s why I have people in my employ.”
She absently nodded but her focus wasn’t totally on what he was saying. Now all she could think about was Damien’s shirtless body as he straddled her in the fighting yard. She wondered what he was up to now.
She wanted to kick herself for her traitorous thoughts but just the thought of him made her sweat a little harder. She convinced herself it was just the sun getting hotter.
Kayden squinted as he tilted his head up towards the tree he was standing under. “The weather is different here, huh?” He said, oblivious to the fact she was stepping closer to him to share in the shade of the tree.
“Yeah I didn’t think I would ever see the sun again.” She joked.
Kayden smiled and looked back at her, swatting a fly out of his face. “I never asked. What was it like playing the princess?”
This was odd for Kayden. Their relationship was purely professional. He didn’t try to ask personal questions and she learned early on that he wouldn’t answer any of hers. He left them alone during the day and then returned at night for the grand performance. Not that it mattered if he knew, she was just curious at the sudden change in behavior.
“Oh ya know. The usual. I got stuffed like a bird in smothering dresses and smiled with a princess wave to all the people beneath me. Isn’t that the only thing a princess is good for anyway?” She tried to sound light, but bitterness choked her. Kayden ignored it, which she was thankful for. Her parents taught her better than that. She wasn’t a complainer and she wasn’t about to start now. Answering honestly, she told him what she had done at the castle. “It wasn’t so bad. I don’t think I acted with proper princess decorum, but I got to ride horses, walked around the village, and attend extravagant dinners.”
He eyed her. “Sounds very uneventful.” His tone suggested that he knew how much she was leaving out but rehashing her past did nothing but beat down on her. He had his spies in the kingdom. They could tell him all he wanted to know and more, he didn’t need to hear it from her.
“Yeah but then there were the good moments too. I learned how to shoot a bow and arrow and sword fight.” Funny how all her happy moments had been with the same person. Thinking about the castle made her think about other things she wished to avoid but some things just kept resurfacing even when they stung like a 1000 bee stings.
Since being put on that boat with a bleeding wound to come here, she had tried to push Siel out of her mind and it just made her chest burn. No amount of struggling and denying could make what he did make sense.
Kayden spoke more somber as he asked, “You liked shooting a bow?” Not as much as a she liked spending time with Siel as he taught her. She kept that thought to herself. Her and Siel had something good, yet he acted as if it was nothing. She could never understand that, nor did she think if reconvened they could ever be the same way they were again.
Realizing she never responded to Kayden, she threw on a smirk that was only surface deep. Inside it felt like she was dying. “Yeah it was fun.” Trying to change the subject she added, “Your home early today. No feathers to ruffle?”
He smirked, letting her blatant avoidance slide. “Ah, there are always feathers to ruffle with me.”
She waited for him to say more but they fell into a silence. There was still no reason why he would have come out to talk to her but she wasn’t about to push it. Kayden would only talk when he had something important to say or if he trusted her enough to say more and neither of those options were the case.
They continued to stand in the shade, enjoying the peace and quiet surrounding them. Something about Kayden put her at ease. It wasn’t a feeling of lust or even friendship, just something familiar. A blanket on a snowy day and she had no idea why she felt that way. It wasn’t as if he gave her any notion of wanting friendship but the fact that he was here spoke volumes. There was much more on his mind then he made known and his secrets were innumerable, but it was something in his guarded expression that she related to. Recognized. She just couldn’t pinpoint why it seemed so natural.
He noticed her mind turning and chuckled. “Don’t think too hard sweetheart. You might hurt yourself.” She should be mad at the comment but she wasn’t. Everyone wore masks. His was just more evolved, most likely with years of practice. She related well to people who covered over emotion and right now he was simply doing that. Covering over an emotion. Which one, she had no idea. Just that he was showing her he was human. Just a glimpse. But it was something.
Hardened Kayden appeared moments later, his words sharp and aimed, personality completely flipped. “Make sure you’re ready for our next game, doll face. Can’t have you looking like you got run over by a carriage when you’re dangling on my arm.”
And with that he left. She wondered what secrets he harbored and how badly it was pulling him apart where no one could see
. She glanced back up at the sun disappearing behind a line of trees and sighed. Time for another night of lighting a match to her dignity.
That was, if she had any remaining at all.
∞∞∞
“Kayden, why was this on my bed?” She had come out of the bath chamber to be greeted by a bow and arrow sitting on her bed, on top of another slinky dress for the evening, of course. Somehow the weapon made up for the fact that she would be wearing next to nothing at their nightly game. She practically jogged downstairs immediately after, hair drenched and towel wrapped around her body. Yeah, she didn’t really care. She had worn less with the clothing he had given her.
As she bounded into the room, she wasn’t surprised to find him in his usual spot, drinking whiskey on the couch.
She wiggled the bow and arrows between her fingers and Kayden blinked. Slowly. “One of my men was getting rid of it. I thought it could help tone your flabby arms.”
She was seconds away from punching him in the face but then she saw the tilt to his lips behind his glass as he took a sip. He was joking.
“Not to mention give you something to do during the day so you’re not creating a hole in my couch.”
Lifting one eyebrow she looked skeptically to the bow and back at him. He tried to act all big and tough, but he was a giant softy. There wasn’t a scratch on it so as much as he played it off, she knew the truth. He had gotten it for her.
“This bow is brand new. Your man must be extra careful with his stuff. It’s also really well made. Kind of silly for him to just give it away like this.” She wasn’t letting him get away that easily. The first thing she had taken notice of was that it was made of a similar material as the ones in the castle that she learned on. Kayden had money but now she wondered just how much. Was it all from the poker games? The money stakes didn’t seem all that high when they played but maybe she wasn’t understanding their money system.
Kayden gave her a knowing look and shrugged. “Not my concern. You can use it, can you not?” He asked as he leaned his head against the back of his couch.