Ascension (Unbound Prophecy Book 1)

by J. L. Jackola

  “Will you contact her Council and find out for me?”

  Keary looked back at the man pinned to the wall behind him. “I’m a little busy right now. Would you mind if I check in a few hours? I think that’s about all he’ll last. I’m sure she can wait.”

  Sinow looked at him, then at the servant. “Put the man out of his misery, Keary. Go when you’re ready and let me know what you find.”

  “In due time, Sinow. And yes, I will report in as soon as I hear something.”

  He turned back to the servant as Sinow shifted. Sinow didn’t have the stomach for it today; he’d been fighting with his regular demons since the meeting with his Council, and they had not fully emerged since. He could feel the Darkness deep within him stirring, searching for release, but he still had control of it for now. He shifted to his study. He had paperwork to do and figured it would help take his mind off Violissa. He hated the administrative pieces of his role but knew they had to be done. He preferred to dole most of them out to the Council, but today it would be a welcomed distraction. He worked and read for several hours until there was a rap at the door.

  “Enter,” he said, rubbing his eyes. The sun had fallen, and both moons had risen in their fullness. Under normal circumstances, by this time, he would have been relaxing and reliving the events of his earlier meeting with Violissa. How he had missed his time with her. He looked up, realizing he’d lost track of the time. Keary entered the room, and Sinow knew just by looking at him that something was seriously wrong.

  “What is it? What’s wrong?” he asked, rising from his chair.

  “You were right, Sinow. Something did keep her away today. She chose not to come.”

  “What? But why would she do that? Did I do something to offend her?” As the words fell from his mouth, he cringed at how weak they sounded. Then he remembered the last time they’d spoken. They had both said so much, but he had hoped she’d overlooked it just as he had. He ran his hand through his hair as doubt crept up within him. If Keary noticed he didn’t let on, so Sinow continued, not able to stand the suspense. “Just tell me what it is, Keary.”

  “I’m not sure how to tell you this, Sinow, so I’ll give it to you straight. Violissa is taking vows with another.”

  The sudden rush of heat within him gave Sinow no warning. The rage overwhelmed his control, throwing Keary through the wall of the study and across through the outer edge of the castle wall. Keary shifted back to Sinow in moments, dusting himself off and stretching his neck.

  “By the Fates, Sinow, warn me next time! I hate bringing you bad news.”

  “Who is she taking vows with and why?” He growled.

  “I wasn’t able to get all the details as she’s apparently forbidden her Council from communicating with us. Luckily, Brom agreed to meet me. From what I could find out, she’s seriously pissed at something you’ve done. Brom kept saying I should know and seemed slightly confused when I stated I didn’t know why she’d be upset with you. What have you done, Sinow?”

  “Upset? I haven’t done anything to cross her. The last time we met there were words exchanged, but nothing that should have caused this to happen. If she was that concerned about what I said that day, she should have said something about it. Why wouldn’t she have called for me or one of you if that was the case?” He was still feeling the rumble of ire within his blood but had contained it, instead focusing on the mystery of the situation.

  “I asked that same question and was told that she did. You weren’t reachable, and she spoke with representation.”

  “I don’t remember anyone meeting her, do you?”

  “No, I’m just as puzzled as you are, Sinow.”

  “What else did he tell you?”

  “Only that the union will be to one of their own.”

  “A Council? That can’t be possible.” His eyes darkened. “Who?”

  “The Keeper, Daneele.”

  Sinow’s rage won over again, but this time he directed it to the wall behind him, blowing the entire wall from its foundation, sending the bricks flying out into the night.

  “I’ll get to the bottom of this,” he said.

  “Sinow, don’t do anything stupid,” he heard Keary say as he shifted. He focused all his power on finding her presence, and when he did, he set his path to her. She’d made a mistake crossing him like this, and now she would truly see the power she’d quelled in him all this time.

  Sinow landed with a resounding thunder into what he felt had to be Violissa’s bedroom. The room was dark, but he could make out shapes of the furniture throughout the room. He homed in on the bed where he could sense her presence. The magical alarms had been triggered by his entrance and were pulsing through the castle. Any other Darkbearer would have been disarmed by the force of their magic, but for Sinow, it was merely an annoyance. A bolt of blue light flared at him; he caught it and sent it back out to light the room. Violissa was sitting up in her bed, an alarmed look on her face. The thin strap of her nightgown had slipped, revealing the soft crest of her breast. Her eyes, the green of a cat’s, glared at him. Sinow was almost tempted to put it all aside and rush into her bed, but then the thought of her sharing that bed with another flashed in his mind.

  “Sinow?” she said, half-questioning, half-demanding. She pulled the strap back up her shoulder, never taking her eyes off him. He felt her heartbeat stop briefly as it did each time their eyes met.

  “Violissa,” he replied angrily. He knew he’d lost control, but this time, he didn’t bother trying to fight to contain his Darkness. She waved her hand through the air above her and the alarms stopped. Someone slammed on the door, shouting her name.

  “I’m fine, it’s all right. Go, everything’s under control.” Her voice was strong and powerful, the voice of a queen and not that of the girl he’d talked with so often in the glade.

  The banging stopped. “What are you doing here, Sinow?” She rose from the bed as she questioned him, anger flickering in her eyes. His chest tightened as he watched the way her gown clung to her body, creating a breathtaking silhouette from which he had trouble averting his eyes. Even with all this madness, he still wanted her badly. He shook the thoughts out of his head and focused on why he was here.

  “Tell me that you’re not taking vows with Daneele,” he demanded through gritted teeth.

  Her eyes dropped momentarily, revealing the truth. When she looked back up, they were the darkest green he’d ever seen them. She looked angry, dangerous, and even slightly Dark. “I can’t.”

  “Why, Violissa? Why would you…with someone else?”

  “How dare you ask me that?” she spat back at him, startling him with the sheer ire in her voice. “You couldn’t be bothered to give me answers when I asked the same of you.” She moved toward him and hit him with a blast of her magic, nearly knocking him off his feet. He didn’t know what to make of her reaction or her anger, so he simply stood there, wondering how he was suddenly on the defensive as she continued. “I don’t owe you answers, you bastard. You had your chance and gave me up. You made it perfectly clear that you were moving on that day in the glade. I didn’t believe you’d really do it, but you did. You’re the reason I’m taking those vows, Sinow. You drove me to this.”

  She had stopped in front of him and was pounding on his chest in her rage as she spoke. Too stunned to move, he took it for a moment until he came to his senses. He grabbed her hands and held them still. He was too worried about her reaction to realize he had control of his powers again or to even notice how close they were standing.

  “What are you talking about, Vi?”

  She looked up at him with those large, tear-filled eyes, and he had to catch his breath. He watched as she took a deep breath and blinked back the tears.

  “I’m talking about your own impending union.”

  “Union? What union, Vi? There is no union for me, you kept turning m
e down, remember?” He relaxed and even laughed as he brushed a wayward curl from her face. “Why would you even think I was taking vows with anyone but you?”

  She slowly backed away from him, a confused look crossing her face. “You told me last time we talked that you were ready to move on, that it would be better that way.”

  He shook his head, not wanting to believe that she’d thought he would go through with what he’d threatened. “They were just words spoken in anger, Vi. It wasn’t really me speaking those words. I thought you knew that.”

  “You of all people should know the power of words Sinow,” she replied harshly. She was right, but he didn’t have time to dwell on it. He needed to find out what was going on.

  “You’re right, but you must have known that it was just the power talking, that I didn’t truly mean what I said.”

  “At first, I did but…but then the wind, the wind told me there was talk and your people…they were discussing it.” She scratched at her arm as a guilty child might when nervous they’d been caught.

  He laughed again. “That was a rumor started by one of the servants, but that’s all it was, only a rumor.” His rage had dissipated, and he realized he had his powers under control, not knowing he’d soon be wrestling with them again. He walked back toward her, but she put her hand out against his chest and backed away from him more. He was puzzled by her reaction, so he continued to explain. “The servant has been punished, and the lies corrected. Why didn’t you just ask me, Vi?”

  She sat down on the end of her bed, holding tight to the tall bedpost as if to steady herself. “I did, I tried every day, but you blocked me. We tried to reach Council, but no one would come.” A shadow crossed her eyes. “Your brother. Your brother came, he confirmed it, said there’d been discussion, that preparations were being made.”

  The fire within him kicked up at the mere mention of his brother, and he balled his hands into tight fists to keep it at bay. “Tynan? When did you speak to him?”

  “Cyric met with him when he tried to call your Council. He said he was your ambassador now. Then, when I had the Council send word that I needed to meet with you or any of your Council, he was the one who came, saying everyone was busy with preparations. Why? Why would he lead me to believe…why would he want to hurt me?” She looked up at him, her eyes large with hurt, and his heart ripped in two.

  “I don’t know, but I’ll find out, and then I’ll kill him myself.” He ran a hand through his hair, not believing what he’d heard. How could Tynan neglect to tell him that she had requested a meeting and why would he have lied to her? There was no answer he could come up with that made any sense. He wanted to leave and torture his brother as he’d mentally tortured Violissa, but he couldn’t leave her yet. He walked over to where she sat and knelt before her, emotions overriding the powers that had so often kept them apart.

  He took her hand. “I’ll deal with him when I return. Now, tell me you didn’t set up a union to get even with me?” He smiled at her, hoping she’d relax and smile back, but she didn’t. Something was still wrong.

  “I did. I wanted you to feel the way I felt, feel the pain. I’m such a fool, I’m so sorry, Sinow.”

  “No harm done. Now call it off, and we’ll start plans to take our own vows. I think it’s about time we finally take the step toward fulfilling that prophecy they keep forcing at us. We’ll figure out how to get past the problems with our powers.”

  She looked at him for a long time, the tears coming back. Definitely not the reaction he was expecting. She looked away as one slid down her cheek. “I cannot, Sinow.”

  His grip tightened on her hand. “What do you mean you cannot? Just call your Council and tell them the game is over.”

  She turned back to him, lifting her hand from his, rubbing it along the side of his face. It was the first time she had truly touched him, and it sent shivers down his spine. This was taking all his force not to kiss her. Thankfully his powers were still under control, likely a result of his concern and confusion, but he knew if this conversation continued in the same direction that control would be lost.

  “You don’t understand. If I could, I would, but the laws of our land forbid the renouncement. Your brother would have known this as your advisor. Once a union is officially announced, it cannot be taken back even though the vows have not been spoken. No exceptions can be made, especially not for the queen.”

  He rose quickly, confused by what she was telling him. “What? That’s absurd.” He paced the room as his temper flared. “So that’s it then. You’ll take vows with someone else even though you don’t want to?” he said angrily and then he paused. “You don’t want to, do you? You don’t love him, right?”

  She put her hand to her mouth as if appalled that he would even think such a thing. “Of course I don’t love him, not like that. I didn’t even want to take vows with anyone, I just shamefully got caught up in my emotions and whatever game your brother is playing. That last conversation we had was so fresh I really believed you’d given up on all of it.” She saw now that she had been so taken over by the anger that she had reacted too swiftly, too foolishly. It had hurt so bad; she’d wanted anything for the pain to go away. She buried her face in her hands. “Oh, what have I done?”

  Her despair calmed him, giving him the chance to move closer to her again. He took her hands and brought them down into his. Although he felt devastated and angered by this turn of events, it gave him some solace to know that she did indeed have feelings for him. “There’s no way to get out of it? You’re the queen, can’t you change the law?” He heard weakness in his voice and hating it, felt that Dark part of him try to react against it.

  “It’s not my law to change. It’s one created by our people back long before even the last king. Our people take the sanctity of a union commitment very seriously. I cannot go against it without insulting them and turning them against me.”

  “You care too much for your people and what they think, Vi. You never put yourself before them, do you? You have to come first sometimes, and this would be one of those times.” He felt the harshness of his words as they left his mouth. His anger was returning but still he tried to keep it at bay.

  She shook her head. She could be so stubborn at times that it drove him crazy. He couldn’t understand why this was such a problem for her. It seemed so simple.

  “There’s got to be a way you can get around this, Vi,” he replied, hearing the desperation in his voice and not liking it. Sometimes he felt so weak in her presence. She pulled her hands free and biting on her lip, rose from the bed, walking away from him. She started pacing and mumbling, “Maybe there is, let me think about it.”

  He watched her pace, holding back his desire to grab her and steal her away. If he kidnapped her and forced her to take vows, then there could be no blame on her part by her people. He could handle being hated by them; he already was. He momentarily considered it, then pushed the thought aside knowing she was too strong for it to even be a feasible possibility.

  “If none of this had happened,” he began to ask, “and I’d have asked you to wed me today, would you have agreed?”

  She stopped pacing and turned to look at him. Her eyes paled to a shimmering emerald. She smiled, causing his heart to race, and walked back over to him. “Yes, I would have,” she said softly, her eyes sparkling at the thought. “Yes.”

  She was standing so close he could hear the beat of her heart. It all seemed surreal like a dream entangled in the web of some nightmare. He ran the outside of his finger along her cheek, aching to kiss her. All thoughts of their situation left his head; he was completely lost in her eyes. Those beautiful emerald eyes that seemed to dance in this one moment of peace.

  “Look how close we’re standing,” she said softly. “You’re still in control.”

  He smiled and ran his fingers through her golden hair. “I’ve been practicing for today.�
� He felt foolish as the words rolled off his tongue but he didn’t care. He couldn’t control his need for her any longer. He pulled her close, so close their lips were barely touching. “I need you, Vi,” he whispered softly. Her breath was warm and sweet against his lips. She entwined her hand in his and brought the other hand up to his cheek where she held it for what seemed an eternity, her eyes never leaving his. The intensity was beyond words as emotions poured through him. Then, she did something he felt take every ounce of her power. She broke their gaze and brought her head down so that her forehead leaned against his chin. He bowed his head in frustration.

  “I cannot, Sinow. If I give in now, I won’t be able to go through with this,” she said breathlessly.

  “Isn’t that a good thing?” he asked, moving his face so that his cheek rested on her hair. He breathed in her smell as if it were his last breath. She buried her face into his chest as he let go of her hand and pulled her in tighter, never wanting to let her go. She felt so good, so right against him even with the massive pressure he was feeling inside as his Dark powers tried to rise against it.

  “Vi, just leave with me. Things will go on without us. In time, they’ll even forget us.”

  “You know we can’t. But…I wonder….” She stopped and pulled back from him. He hated letting her go, likening it to a child being ripped from its mother’s womb.

  “But what?” he asked as his mind reeling from the loss he felt with her no longer touching him.

  “Well, the true law states simply that a bond must be made between the two people through the vows. It is always assumed to be one of love but it doesn’t specify.” She became more excited as she talked it through. “So, theoretically, the bond could be one of friendship. Daneele and I would still be tied to one another, but not as…well… as you and I would have been.” She paused, awaiting his reaction.