Destiny of the Heart (Viking Destiny)

by K. Young

  Tristan dragged Derrick out of the burning room. The whole house was going up in flames and they needed to get out of there.

  "Everyone out!" Tristan bellowed as he came down the stairs.

  He had managed to hoist Derrick over his shoulder and was taking care not to fall through the burning steps. Chelsea, Jack, and Tristan's staff were waiting for him and Derrick, but with the order to evacuate at hand, they did so quickly. Everyone was out and accounted for before the house exploded. Jack helped Tristan carry Derrick's weight out of the house. Once outside, he left Derrick to Tristan and went to the tavern to get the rest of the men.

  "Kristen!" Derrick screamed miserably.

  He hadn't found her and now he was outside while she was inside the house. He tried to run back to the burning building, but Tristan held him firmly.

  "Derrick, stop!" Tristan barked.

  "Let me go." Derrick swung a punch at Tristan, which Tristan easily deflected.

  "She's not there. You need to calm down and think rationally."

  Derrick collapsed at Tristan's feet, breathing heavy, face streaked with soot. He watched in sadness as the house burned.

  "Derrick, look at me." Tristan knelt down next to Derrick, trying to get his attention off the house.

  Derrick faced his brother, anger and grief warring for dominance on his features.

  "There wasn't a body. That means she wasn't in the house. Whoever did this, took her." Tristan said calmly.

  "What?" Derrick asked.

  "Look." Tristan pointed out to sea.

  A ship was fast making its way around the island's port. Derrick growled as he jumped to his feet. Tristan grabbed him, but Derrick shoved him off, his anger taking over where fear had been before.

  "Back off." Derrick said quietly, his eyes glowing so bright that his skin seemed to glow with it. Tristan thought the devil had surely come to his small island.

  Tristan raised his hands in surrender and stepped back, knowing that Derrick would tear down the Earth to find her now. Derrick spun around and raced across the lawn and down toward the docks. Tristan looked at Chelsea. She crossed herself and whispered feverishly in her language. He walked over to her, wrapping his arms around her, and she cried out as she buried her head in his chest. He stroked her hair until she stopped shaking.

  "Tristan, he is not safe just now." She said.

  "I know. God help whoever gets in his way." Tristan hugged her close and stared after his brother.

  Derrick was a great many things, but Tristan had never seen such rage. He prayed that Kristen was still alive, because if she wasn't, Derrick would kill everyone responsible and not think twice about it. Tristan feared Derrick wouldn't come back from that. As Tristan contemplated his brother's well-being, an explosion at the docks sent Tristan and Derrick's ships flying into splintering pieces.

  "Jesus. Derrick!" Tristan whispered in fear.

  Chelsea screamed. He kissed her forehead.

  "Stay here. D'you understand?"

  She nodded rapidly as Tristan ran down the path that lead to the docks, hoping his brother wasn't too close when the explosion went off.

  Chapter 34

  Kristen woke up and felt pain race through every inch of her body. She desperately tried to remember what happened, but her brain was foggy. And, she was certain she wasn't where she was supposed to be, though she couldn't quite put her scattered thoughts in a coherent order. It was as if an invisible barrier was preventing her from picking herself up, or from moving at all. She discovered she couldn't even move her hands or her feet, a fact that concerned her gravely.

  "You will not be able to move for quite awhile, I'm afraid." A woman said, her voice coming from the shadows.

  Kristen knew that voice, but she couldn't process it. Oh, why couldn't she remember anything? The woman seemed to understand Kristen's confusion because she stepped into the light with a cold sneer on her face. Kristen would have furrowed her brow if she could move, but she could only look at the woman before her. Kristen was certain they had met before, but she just couldn't place it.

  "Remember me?" The woman asked coldly as she knelt down beside Kristen. "You ruined my life, your highness, so now I'm going to ruin yours."

  She stood up again and returned to the shadows. Kristen heard a groan and a shuffle, then the next thing she knew, someone kicked her in the stomach...hard. But, she couldn't move. She couldn't defend herself. The only good news in the situation was that the pain was making the fog in her head clear a little. She had married Derrick, but there had been an explosion and everything went black after that. Derrick! She had no idea if he was alright, or if anyone else had been injured.

  The next kick was more vicious than the first and Kristen's mind screamed with the pain that she couldn't express. She had no idea what the woman had given her, nor what she had done to invoke the woman's ire, but she knew she wouldn't last long if she couldn't even defend herself.

  A door opened and a man walked into the room. He looked at Kristen on the ground with a bored expression on his face, then walked to the woman in the shadows. He leaned down and kissed her on the cheek. Kristen saw the woman pull back in revulsion.

  "Now, now my pet. What did we talk about?" He asked her.

  The woman stepped into the light. "The princess has been drugged per your instructions."

  "I see you have taken a few extra liberties yourself." The man nodded his head at the one who had kicked Kristen and the brute shuffled out of the room.

  When the door shut, the man grabbed the woman and shook her roughly. His voice was low, but Kristen had impeccable hearing.

  "I told you not to touch her, Alice. The king has other plans for her, that is the only reason you are still alive. I'd be very careful if I were you. Once the king has no further use for you, he will have no reason to keep you around. I doubt very much he would think kindly of you if you ruin his plans for the girl."

  The man shoved the woman away and suddenly Kristen remembered where she had seen her. At Kristen's first ball, the one Derrick escorted her to. The woman had told her that Derrick promised to marry her and then cast her aside when he was bored. Kristen had been angry on the woman's behalf at the time, but after getting to know Derrick, Kristen dismissed her as one of the vicious gossipers merely telling tales about the Shane family.

  When the man left and it was just the two women, Alice turned her furious gaze on Kristen. What she wouldn't give to pull her blade and slice Kristen's throat. Any chance Alice had of escaping Adrian or the king was gone now that Kristen had married Derrick. Why couldn't they have been a few hours earlier? Not that it mattered now. Alice overheard the guards discussing the king's plan to marry Kristen off to his son, Nikolas. He hoped the people would accept his rule without question if one of the original royal family was tied to him by marriage. Alice could have snorted. Norway was home once, when Kristen's grandfather ruled. Now it was just a cold, bitter place full of unwanted memories. Alice had nowhere to turn and no one to depend on.

  Her head dropped and her shoulders sagged as she walked to the wall and slid down, pulling her knees into her chest and wrapping her arms around them tightly.

  "Do you know what it is like to see your freedom so close, your highness? So close that you actually think you have won, and then it is brutally snatched away from you?"

  Tears shone in Alice's large green eyes and Kristen's heart wrenched. Whatever this woman had done, she hadn't done it willingly. She may be responsible for the death of Kristen's entire family, but Kristen saw a glimpse of what this woman had been through. Never before had Kristen thought of the people of Norway and what they must be going through with a king who stole his power. He must be terribly cruel and hard.

  "Do you...suffer?" Kristen asked, struggling to get even that out.

  Alice looked at her in surprise. The drug should prevent her from moving or talking, so Alice could be forgiven for her astonished look.

  "You shouldn't be able to talk."


  "Very...hard." And painful, Kristen thought.

  It took a good deal of concentration to form words, and it felt like someone was searing her brain with a branding iron each time she spoke. But, Kristen wanted to know what was going on.

  Alice grimaced. "We all suffer, your highness." She said quietly. "Mine is not so great as others."

  The door slammed open and another man walked in, followed by the one Alice feared. She watched Alice shrink into the wall as the two men walked into the room, but they hardly noticed Alice as they stopped in front of Kristen.

  "There she is Virgil, as promised." The man Alice feared said.

  "Indeed."

  Virgil? Kristen knew that name. Her mother mentioned it to her once. That was the name of the man who had betrayed them. He allowed the traitors into the castle, and he was the reason Kristen's family had to flee their home. She bared her teeth at him. He stood up and looked at the other man.

  "You're sure you gave her the potion, Adrian?"

  "Yes, of course. Just as you instructed. Why?" "She's moving."

  Kristen braced her mind for the pain she knew would come, but she wouldn't lie before this man like a coward. The anger welling inside of her helped to clear the fog, and she felt bits of her strength returning to her.

  "That's not possible." Adrian said as he watched her pull herself up, slowly but steadily.

  As they stared at her in surprise, Kristen pulled herself to a sitting position. Sharp pains shot across her head and down her body like jagged knives being dug into an open wound, but she ignored them.

  "How is that possible, Virgil? You said the potion was enough to tranquilize an elephant."

  "It is. She shouldn't be able to move at all. It must be causing her extreme pain to do so. Then again, you did kill her husband, and I suspect she fancied herself in love with him. Her mother was very much the same in that regard. No matter that she was promised to another."

  Several emotions hit Kristen at once, and it was enough for her to almost lose what little ground she gained. The first was that they had killed Derrick. Anger, the likes of which she had never known, welled inside of her and she felt it swirling around, beating back the hazy fog that was constantly threatening to envelop her.

  "Ah, well we hadn't told her that part yet."

  Virgil looked at him with interest, before looking back to Kristen. "Well, seems I've put my foot in it, then." He grinned at Kristen with cold, calculating deliberation.

  The other emotion buzzing around Kristen's head was sadness for her mother. If she understood him properly, Kristen's mother had been promised to Virgil. But, Marie wouldn't have loved a man like Virgil. He was bulky and strong, which were qualities her mother loved, but he was cruel and weak of mind. Kristen could see why she would have fallen for another. Still, to betray Marie was unforgivable.

  The rage inside her grew stronger while the pain receded. She concentrated on getting to her feet. Beads of sweat trickled down the sides of her face, but she marshaled her attention back to her task. They killed Derrick and destroyed her mother. She would see them rot in hell. Kristen's eyes glittered with unchecked malice, promising retribution if Virgil came any closer.

  He laughed. "I'll give you points for style, your highness, but not for intelligence. What exactly do you think you will do in your weakened state?"

  "I would not underestimate her if I were you." Alice said from the shadows.

  "Who is she?" Virgil snapped.

  "No one, just ignore her." Adrian glared at her, silencing her with his gaze.

  Alice knew it was unwise to speak, and she was certain that she would pay for it later if Adrian's glare meant anything. But, she watched Kristen fight the drug that consumed her, watched her as she stood up, as impossible as that should have been, and she realized that her petty grievances against Kristen didn't matter. The only way Alice would ever be free was if Kristen resumed the throne. Rather than trying to kill her, Alice should have been looking for a way to help her.

  But, Virgil did not heed Alice's warning. He took several steps in Kristen's direction, fully intending to knock her down, but he was rather surprised when she was ready for that and launched herself at him instead.

  Kristen had been reserving her strength, waiting for him to get closer. She wasn't sure she would be able to do much damage, as big as he was, but she could at least let him know she wasn't an easy target. As he got closer and raised his fist, she lunged at him and grabbed him around the throat. She squeezed until his eyes bulged and held on for dear life. Adrian turned up behind her to pull her off, but Alice launched herself at him and the two toppled to the ground not far from Kristen and Virgil.

  Virgil raised his meaty fist and swung it at Kristen's head. The drug coursing through her system was taking its toll and she was too weak to move, having exerted the energy she did to attack him. His fist connected with her jaw and she went tumbling backwards. But, just before he hit her, Kristen dug her nails into his throat, and as the force of his punch hit her, she took bits of his throat with her as she tumbled backwards. His scream of pain came out as a gurgle as blood poured from the gaping wound.

  When Kristen's head hit the ground, she was stunned and losing consciousness, but she saw that Adrian had subdued Alice and was rushing to help Virgil before the room went black.

  ***

  When Tristan reached the docks, it was a mess. He shoved bits of wood and other debris out of his way and continued to the spot he had last seen Derrick heading. But, when he got to the beach, what he saw stopped him cold. When Jack left the house, he must have intended to follow whoever had set off the explosion. But, they had all been too close to the ships when they exploded. From the looks of it, Derrick's entire crew had been on the ship or near it, and they were all dead. But, there was no sign of Derrick. Fearing the worse, Tristan climbed over a mast that had fallen against the dock.

  "Derrick?!" Tristan called out. But, there was no answer. "Derrick! Answer me, damn you!"

  A splash from the water caught Tristan's attention and he ran down the dock. When he reached the end, he looked over, and a man's body was floating face down. The splashing noise had been the small wave his body created by running into one of the pillars holding the dock up.

  "Jesus!" Tristan cursed.

  He jumped in and flipped the body over. Derrick's eyes were closed and he didn't look like he was breathing. Tristan put his ear to Derrick's mouth, but there was nothing. He felt for a pulse at Derrick's neck and sighed heavily as he felt the faint beat of Derrick's heart. Tristan wasted no further time. He grabbed Derrick by his shirt and dragged him through the water and off to the side of the dock where he could get him up on the platform. Tristan climbed the short distance from the water to the lower end of the dock and then reached down to haul Derrick out after him.

  He laid him down and frantically searched for a barrel that hadn't exploded with everything else. After a few moments, he spotted a fishing barrel on its side in the sand. He raced down the steps and hit the sand at a wobbly run, almost tripping on his own two feet. When he reached the barrel, he picked up and inspected it for any protruding nails, then took it back to Derrick.

  Heaving Derrick's weight onto the empty barrel without anyone to hold it proved to be more challenging than Tristan had imagined it would be. Precious seconds were wasted as Tristan tried to get Derrick face down on the barrel. Finally, he abandoned the barrel and lay Derrick down on his back, then slammed his fists on Derrick's chest.

  "Come on! Don't you die on me!" Tristan slammed his fists down again.

  Tristan heard the crack of Derrick's rib and winced, but kept pounding on Derrick's chest. Just when Tristan was about to give up, Derrick coughed and sputtered water. He rolled to his side as water poured from his nose and mouth. Derrick inhaled sharply, trying to suck in as much air as possible. Tristan sagged against one of the beams, relief washing through him.

  "I think you broke my rib." Derrick grouched, coddling his side.

>   "You're welcome." Came Tristan's surly reply.

  "What happened?"

  "The ships exploded."

  "Besides that."

  Tristan shrugged. "I don't know, but we need to get moving. Kristen won't have much time."

  Derrick nodded. His whole body ached, and thanks to Tristan, he had at least one broken rib, so it was beyond painful getting up. But, he gritted his teeth and got up anyway. He had to find Kristen and in a hurry. Derrick was pretty sure it was the same person who had kidnapped her before, and if Kristen's theory was correct, it was the person responsible for the deaths of Kristen's entire family. That meant she didn't have much time. But, how the hell had they found her?

  "Let's go." He said quietly.

  Tristan nodded and got to his feet, knowing they needed to move quickly, or it was likely they would never find Kristen. Fortunately, he kept a second ship hidden in a cave for just such an occasion.

  "I've got another ship. Follow me."

  Tristan lead Derrick down the stairs, but came up short as there were two pistols trained on them.

  "What the hell are you doing, Ben?" Tristan asked sharply.

  Derrick stopped, but he was none too pleased about it. They were delaying him and he needed to find Kristen. If they stood in his way much longer, he was likely to kill them.

  "What does it look like I'm doing?" Ben laughed. "I'm staging a coup. Now, this island and all the people on it are mine."

  Tristan flicked a glance at Derrick. "Listen, Ben. Much as I'd like to kill you right now, there are bigger things going on. Step aside."

  "I'm well aware of the bigger things. I helped with the bombs, you know. The Viking's are brutes, but they're not really bright, know what I mean?" He sneered.

  Derrick was livid. He felt the angry heat rise from his feet to the top of his head and he was certain his eyes were blazing by now. He would rip them limb from limb and dance on their graves.