by Ella Fields
“What does he want with her?” I asked through gritted teeth, alarm snaking through every nerve ending. My hand clenched around the hilt so hard, it would bruise.
“He wants a trade,” the male said, rubbing the back of his neck. “You for her.”
I wanted to scream. To bellow to the useless, nonexistent goddesses above.
I wanted to run from this stupid continent and never look back.
But I couldn’t.
The male watched me lift my dress and return my dagger to its home, his cheeks coloring when I raised my brows at him. “Send word that I’ll be there by sundown tomorrow.”
They all blinked, and I knew they were about to ask how. They’d soon find out.
“Run,” I said to Wen, flicking grass and dirt in our wake, galloping to the castle.
We reached it within the hour, and I left him at the stables with Olin, the young stable hand blinking profusely as I ran off through the gardens and scaled the steps to the mountain paths.
Breathing hard, I soon walked inside the caves and smiled when Vanamar grumbled at me.
“I know.” I shooed the handler who approached and opened his stall door. “I never bloody learn.”
Van huffed in response.
“Enough of that now. I’ve a mission for you.”
His tail wagged, and I felt the sad, dark corners of my heart pinch when his eyes shut at the touch of my hand upon his cheek.
Zadicus
Entering the drawing room where my useless friends were sipping tea while listening to Nova regale them with tales from her time in The Edges, I snarled, “Where is she?”
I’d looked everywhere, had combed every corner of the estate and edge of the forest beyond.
She had to have left, but on her own? She wasn’t that stupid.
But remembering the blank look upon her beautiful face the night before, I sighed.
Not stupid. Upset.
There was a time I’d thought myself incapable of ever meaning anything to her, let alone meaning enough for her to break down a door and all but throw an innocent woman out of my room.
For years, I’d been there. I’d watched, and I’d waited because darkness, she was young.
She was so incredibly young, and I struggled with that. Not with guilt since our kind did not harbor any such notions toward sex. If they’d bled and matured, and it was consensual, we did it, and we did it without a second’s thought.
It wasn’t that, but rather all she’d endured—all she’d been confined to and forced into being.
She needed room to breathe, to learn, and time to flourish into who she really was before she could look at me the way I’d looked at her. Before she was shackled to another commitment she might not want or be ready for.
But things had changed. Not only did she look at me, she wanted me, and such was my addiction to her, that full-bodied pull whenever she was near, that I’d hardly even hesitated. I’d selfishly thought that perhaps she could still grow, evolve, live, and I would help her.
I’d finally gotten all that my heart desired, but I couldn’t figure out a way to keep it.
“Who cares?” Nova said.
None of the males in the room laughed. A wise move.
Nova stood, traipsing across the room to me. “She’s a queen, Zad, and a mean one at that.” Circling me, she said more delicately, “Let her return home to her dark castle. It’s where she belongs.” Her laughter, laughter that once lit up every face in this room, especially mine, grated. “A queen doesn’t gallivant about the continent like some infatuated puppy.” Her arm grasped mine as she stopped, her skirts swishing around her ankles. “You are mine, and she is Raiden’s.”
The mere idea of her and Raiden iced all the blood inside me.
Withholding a barrage of disgusting words, I shrugged her off. She gasped, and I left the room. I felt wretched, knowing how hard Nova had worked and all she’d been through to return home.
To return to me.
But I couldn’t control how I felt to save my own life. I needed to hit something, drink something, or smoke something.
I cursed, backtracking to my study to light the pipe I kept in there, and closed the door.
Laughter broke outside the room, Nova no doubt telling another story from a time when she’d chosen to leave me.
I couldn’t believe it. I didn’t know what to believe.
All I knew was what I wanted, but what I wanted was gone.
She didn’t know; the queen wasn’t even aware just how much she’d been played.
I had to tell her… but my wife.
She was back. I’d thought her dead for years. I’d known her since she was only seventeen summers old, and we’d vowed five years later. She was back, and I had no idea what to do with that. With her. With any of it.
Of course, I was overjoyed, riddled with relief that she was here. Alive.
But I was also sick with guilt over the fact that some large part of me, the one who’d been locked away, waiting for someone I couldn’t have, hated that she was here.
Rubbing my eyes, I cursed, yanking the bottle of whiskey from the drawer and unscrewing the lid. I coughed, cursing again as I swallowed.
Inhaling deep from the pipe, I sat back in the chair, trying to relax as the scent of cloves filled the room. I needed to ease the tension long enough to fucking think.
Sleep had been a ghost until the early hours of the morning. Nova had knocked on the door of my rooms ceaselessly until I’d finally snapped at her to go away.
She wanted me to forgive her. To simply accept her return for what it was—a miracle—and be happy. She’d said she regretted her decision to leave from the moment she stepped foot in The Edges, but she couldn’t find a way back.
It had been too dangerous, especially under Tyrelle’s rule, and to mess around with the law during his reign was like dangling a sweet before a child.
I should know. I’d dodged his wrath for endless years, knowing that one day, if I wasn’t careful, he’d peg me for more than I was. For more than a lord looking to climb the ranks into his daughter’s bed.
Minutes crawled into hours, and still, she didn’t know. My queen had no idea of all the ways she’d been duped. It ran so much deeper than she or I could’ve ever foreseen.
I’d locked the door, but such things were no match for Kash, who only had to touch something for it to break, if he so chose it.
The sun had long since set, and I was halfway through the bottle of whiskey, cloves littering the desktop as he opened the door, looking far worse than I probably did. Which was alarming. Not much rattled the male these days. “I followed her.”
I straightened. My eyes narrowed, and my spine locked as I gritted, “Why?” I knew he wouldn’t hurt her. Not only because of what she meant to me, but because of what she meant to the female he loved and missed with every breath he drew.
That didn’t mean he would be a comforting presence to her. Far from it.
“If I could tell you, I would. It’s not as though I wanted to.”
I frowned. “Interesting.”
He kicked an ankle behind the other, leaning against the doorjamb. “No, what’s interesting is I saw her race up the far side of the city to the stables beyond the castle, then as I was riding back, I saw her again.” His brows rose. “Flying over top of me.”
I sat back, dread weighing every limb. “No.”
Kash nodded, his eyes hardening. “Headed south. One guess as to where.”
I was up and pacing the room in one fractured heartbeat, my hands scraping through my hair. A million reasons as to why she would do that filtered through my overwrought mind.
I tried and I tried, but I came up empty. Yes, she’d loved him, but that was before. “Was she with anyone?” Perhaps she’d been coerced. I wouldn’t put it past Raiden to trick her into playing his games.
“She flew alone on the back of her beast.”
With a growl, I stormed past Kash out into the hall, heading
to the front of the house to pace some more. Think, think.
But I was stuck. I couldn’t chase her, especially not now. She’d gone there of her own accord, so demanding for her return… I paused outside the sitting room, hearing that bird-song laugh.
“She cannot help herself, can she?” Nova kicked her feet up onto the table. “From one male to the next.”
My eyes slammed closed, and my fists balled, ready to barrel through the walls.
It felt as if my chest was being set on fire. Over and over again.
I walked out, I had to, and headed straight for the trees. I didn’t stop until I’d breached them. Until I was surrounded by nothing but shadows and alone with this never-ending ache that only seemed to grow.
Until I could howl and roar at the fucking moon.
Audra
An island paradise surrounded by sand-veiled horrors.
As though he didn’t want to land, Van circled above the clouds, giving me just tiny glimpses of the kingdom below. I let him for a time. Stepping foot in the Sun Kingdom was the last thing I wanted to do.
I wanted to go home, inhale a bottle or two of wine, and sleep.
Truin.
I sighed. “We must.”
Once on the ground, I feared he wouldn’t leave me, but he’d been trained, brutally, to follow every command no matter what. “Home,” I said, shielding my eyes as his wings continued to stir sand into the air. “Vanamar, go home.”
With a growl that shook the sand, he rose, flapping his ginormous wings high into the sky.
He was nothing but a speck in the clouds by the time the kings sentinels crossed the sand, bows drawn, arrows nocked, and threatening to soar.
“Shoot him, I dare you.”
One archer lowered his bow, his eyebrows furrowed.
My hand rose, a strong wind lifting the sand right over our heads, and the rest followed suit. Slack-jawed or scowling, they kept their weapons aimed at the ground until Van was out of sight. “Apparently, the king requests my company.”
Wordlessly, we crossed the sand, the sun a ball of bright torture, causing sweat to break out over every inch of my skin.
My escorts seemed unfazed, acclimatized to the brutality.
My boots were filled with sand, its rough grains wedging between my toes. I gritted my teeth against the urge to pluck them off, knowing beneath the sand lived things that would enjoy nothing more than a fleshy snack. Even if it were a sweaty foot.
Moving swiftly, I shielded my eyes, feeling the gazes of two soldiers at my back.
The female was in front, throwing glances at me over her shoulder every few minutes.
I didn’t bother telling her to quit, but I made a face next time she did, and that did the trick.
Sweeping blotches of cacti stood before the road that was covered in a thin layer of sand, aiding in marking its presence. My ankles almost sighed in relief at the feeling of flat ground beneath the soles of my feet.
We walked between bamboo huts on towering steel stands that served as lookout towers. Six of them circled the sprawling desert oasis, and at least three sentinels occupied each one, watching our every move.
Soft music and the sound of traders offering their wares soon reached my ears as the road wound into the outskirts of the rock lined city.
Lime green trees, foreign but beautiful, dotted the sandstone and brick-filled quarter, providing much-needed shade and a slight breeze.
It took longer than I’d have thought, but when people eventually realized who was within their walls, some bowed. Others sneered, and one woman even spat a wad of phlegm at me.
It landed on my boot, and I halted, my breath freezing as I stared down at it, then glared at her.
Unperturbed, she stood there with beautiful gray eyes and a hard jaw, her freckled arms crossed over her ample chest.
Before I could mutter a word, the female escorting me backtracked and whispered harshly, “Leave her. It would not behoove you to attempt to make an example of someone in a city filled with resistance.”
“Attempt?” I questioned, blinking at the female with eyes so dark they were almost black. They matched her hair, which curtained her shoulders like a gleaming layer of silk. Her pink lips parted as her face paled, and I smiled. “Have no fear. I’ll just be a moment.”
I marched over to the woman’s stall, snatched the pail of water from beside it, and washed the muck from my hands and face.
The number of eyes watching began to multiply, and I rose, perusing her cart. Selecting a stunning woven purple scarf, I dipped it in the pail, then used it to clean the filth she’d lobbed onto the toe of my boot.
Staring down at it, I nodded. “That’ll do.” I then tossed her soiled scarf back onto the cart, and grinned. “Good day.”
Gaping, she glared as my escorts and I moved on. Dipping through the bystanders in front of me, I could’ve sworn the black-eyed beauty’s shoulders shook with laughter.
The crowds grew thicker the closer we drew to the looming sandstone castle. Circular globs perched atop each squat but thick turret. Large rooms, I guessed, eyeing the swishing white material fluttering over the circular windows. There was no glass, no doors, I discovered, as the hill grew steeper and the courtyard, a flat expanse of rock with few gurgling fountains, came into view.
At least he didn’t keep me waiting.
Within moments, he arrived, strolling out of the shadows to the top of the circular stairs of his home in nothing but a pair of linen pants and a crown.
I withheld a laugh. I couldn’t remember the last time I’d donned my own crown.
A crown was typically worn at formal festivities and select life-changing events. How precious of Raiden to skip half-naked around his castle wearing the heavy metal as he saw fit.
Upon closer inspection, I noticed the gold contained inset rubies connecting with branches and snakes. The sun caught the jewels, flashing, and then my eyes caught his smile.
I reached the bottom of the stairs, and his lips tilted higher as if he knew where my thoughts traveled.
“You rob me of breath,” he mouthed, then dipped and held out his hand. “My queen, welcome.”
“Save it,” I said and heard a few gasps from behind me.
The townsfolk weren’t permitted to follow into the royal courtyard unless by invitation, but enough guards and nobility were loitering about to catch our interaction.
Raiden cocked his head, withdrawing the offer of his hand. “Come inside then, freshen up and eat.”
“I’d rather not. Where’s Truin?”
He nodded at the sentinels beside me. “Thank you, Meeda, Alix, Serdin.”
With a low bow, they left.
“Your witch is fine.” Raiden gestured to the doorway behind him, then stepped to the side, waiting. “Come.”
It was on the tip of my tongue to tell him I was no pet.
Sucking in a breath, I inhaled the citrus and dirt and spiced scents surrounding me, then remembered why I was here. I’d need to keep my boiling emotions under lock and key if I wanted to leave with my witch and wits about me as soon as possible.
I climbed the steps, breezing by the smiling king, but paused inside the giant entryway.
Portraits of royals lined the walls, and baskets of fruit sat in almost every doorway where red and gold woven rugs lined the hard floor.
A man with silver hair and a flat smile bowed. “Your majesty. I am Patts, advisor to the king.”
“That’s nice.” I crossed to a basket to snatch a glowing red apple. I sniffed it, then bit a chunk, almost moaning when its juicy fluff melted inside my mouth.
Raiden’s hand fell upon my lower back, and I threw annoyed eyes at him before stepping away, farther into the enemy’s territory.
I followed the rugs to a giant throne room bedecked in more red and gold with hints of silver thrown about in the form of sconces and the braided upholstery of the red-padded thrones.
“We have much to talk about.”
“We re
ally don’t,” I said. “You rule this side of the continent, and I the other. We meet when we have to and not otherwise.”
His laughter was an insidious thing, scraping down my sweat-misted skin as he kicked his legs out before him and stepped closer. With his eyes roaming my body, he snatched the apple from me and took a bite.
It was kind of hard to avoid it. I’d done well, but eventually, my gaze lowered to the gloriousness that was his torso. Twitching muscle threatened to dry my mouth, his abs falling into a sculpted arch that gave way to the hardness tenting his pants.
Shaking my head, I lifted my eyes to his.
He tipped a shoulder, tossing the apple behind him. It splattered to the floor as he grinned. “Can’t help it. Happens whenever I see you.”
“Truin,” I said.
He nodded. “Not yet. Allow me to show you to your rooms.”
“Raiden, I mean it,” I said as he turned, his bronzed back drawing my eyes. “Give her back to me. This is not a game.”
With a lilt to his voice that raised the hair on my nape, he countered, “Oh, but it is, and I rather like winning.”
He left, and I gaped at the space he’d occupied, my hands balling.
With no other choices available, I reluctantly hurried after him out of the room and down maze-like hallways. Up a curling set of stairs that never seemed to end, we arrived at a large circular room. I’d guessed right in my assumption of the turrets.
Only, it was evidently his room and not my own. I backed up. “Not happening.”
“It is,” he said with a calm I wanted to punch in the face.
My head began to swim. I needed sleep. I needed a bath. I needed a proper meal. But I needed my friend first. “What do you want?”
Walking to one of the three windows, its white gauze fluttering into the room, he tucked his hands into the pockets of his pants, staring through it. “I thought that would be obvious.”
“Nothing is obvious with you.”
Turning to me, he smiled, but it dropped quickly. “I want your time. A chance to explain.” He leveled me with a blank expression and toneless words. “And being the beautiful, oh, so stubborn creature that you are, I knew you wouldn’t give me that unless I took matters into my own hands.”