Enemy's Queen: The Aermian Feuds Book Three

by Frost Kay

  Sage slapped Nali on the rump, and the beast strode deeper into the water and began swimming. She cut through the water like she was a fish. “Be safe,” Sage whispered.

  She grabbed Jasmine’s hand and ran along the bank.

  “What are you doing? We need to cross!”

  “Do you see how wide that part was? We’d drown before we made it halfway. Plus, the water is too cold.”

  Sage sprinted harder and crashed through some trees near the river. Branches slapped at her face, but she didn’t register the sting. Panic and fear were ruling her now. Her breathing was rough and she ached to stop, but she tugged on her friend when she slowed. “We’re so close, Jas. Just a little bit further.”

  Jasmine clutched her side, sweat pouring off her forehead. “Sage, I won’t be able to swim across the river. I can’t do it. There’s something wrong with my other arm.”

  Tears of frustration filled Sage’s eyes. They were so close, they had to make it. She sucked in a deep breath and pulled harder. “We make it together or not at all. I will swim us both across.” She wouldn’t go back to that hell, but neither would she condemn Jasmine to it.

  They weren’t going back.

  With strength she didn’t know she still possessed, she propelled them forward. “Jas, just think, the twins are just across the river. Think how happy they’ll be to see you.”

  Jasmine sobbed and stumbled behind her. “I will hold them and never let go.”

  They crashed through the trees onto the Scythian side of the bank. Sage gasped for air, staring at the impossible challenge ahead of them. The water was so swift. How would they survive? She swallowed hard and glanced to Jasmine, who was simply staring at the river. It seemed like an ocean before them.

  Every hair on her body rose when the forest quieted behind them. Hell. He was near. She met Jasmine’s wide eyes. “We have to swim now.”

  Jasmine nodded, and they both scrambled to the water’s edge. “Have you ever swum someone across a distance like this?” she panted.

  Sage shook her head and kicked her boots off while wading into the cold water. Jas’ trembling arm seized her bicep. She met her friend’s eyes, trying to emulate a calm she didn’t feel.

  “You need to swim pulling me. I’ll use my legs as much as I can.”

  “Okay.” She wrapped an arm around Jasmine’s chest and pushed back into the current. Sage gasped as the cold water wrapped around her body painfully. The river pulled on her, trying to suck them down. Sage gritted her teeth and fought against the current and the cold, keeping her eyes on the Aermian bank. They were so close.

  “Sage!” Jasmine’s horror filled voice pulled her attention from her strokes.

  Sage glanced back to the Scythian bank, and fear clogged her throat, her strokes faltering. Scythian warriors lined the jungle’s edge, silent. Her heart stopped in her chest as she locked eyes with the most devastatingly handsome man she had ever laid eyes on. The warlord strolled to the water’s edge with his hand tucked into his trouser pockets, completely casual. Somehow, that frightened her even more.

  “Did you think you could escape me, wild one?” he asked, smiling softly.

  Her breath seized in her lungs. No, she didn’t.

  “Swim harder, Sage.” Jasmine whispered.

  Sage pulled her eyes from the master of her hell and pushed with everything she had. She couldn’t let him mess with her mind.

  Masculine laughter sounded behind them, deepening her anxiety. She knew that laugh. It was gloating, triumphant. She flicked her eyes back to the bank in time to catch him stepping out of his boots and pulling his sword free from its scabbard.

  “You know I love a good game of chase. Keep running. I love the hunt.”

  She battled the panic threatening to consume her. If she panicked, both she and Jasmine died. Sage cocked her head back and gauged the distance to the other side. They were almost halfway, but her energy was waning. She glanced back to the warlord, who was carefully rolling his pants up, as if that mattered when swimming. If he got into the water and they were still swimming, it would be over for them. She knew how fast he moved. They wouldn’t have a chance.

  Sage kicked harder and stared at Jasmine’s honey brown head. Perhaps one of them did. Jas had children waiting for her to return. What did Sage have? Her family was well looked-after, the treaty was in effect, and the crown didn’t need her. She breathed out and made one of the easiest decisions of her life. “Can you swim if I get you to the slow part of the river?”

  “I think so.”

  Sage swallowed and forced her numb legs to kick. “I am going to push you into it and then you have to swim.”

  “No,” Jasmine gasped, her cold breath clouding around them.

  “Yes,” Sage forced out. “Once he enters the water, we won’t make it.”

  “Then they’ll take both of us. I won’t leave you.”

  “You don’t have a choice. Think of the twins. They need you. You are their only family.”

  Jasmine’s face was grieved. “I don’t want to leave you.”

  “You must.” A calm settled over her. This was the right thing to do. She could repay Jasmine for all the pain she’d endured on her behalf. A splash sounded, pulling Sage’s eyes to the Scythian bank. The warlord waded into the water, his face a mask of concern.

  “This water is too cold, my love. You need to get out, or you’ll get sick. Come back to me, and all of this will be forgotten.”

  “No way in hell,” she hissed between clenched teeth.

  He tapped his ear. “I can still hear you.”

  “I know.”

  “So that’s how it is to be.” He shook his head, his dark hair waving in the breeze. He pushed forward and cut through the water like a leviathan.

  “It’s time, Jas.” Sage flipped them onto their stomachs still swimming with everything she had. “Tell my family I love them, that I forgive Rafe, and tell the princes that I’ll miss them.” Sage shoved Jas with all her might and never stopped swimming. Jasmine pushed toward the Aermian bank clumsily, but at least she wasn’t drowning.

  Terror strangled her when a hand wrapped around her ankle, jerking her backwards. She clamped her lips together holding in the scream in that would only serve to distract Jasmine. Large burnished arms wrapped around her, hauling her into a solid chest. She stared straight ahead, ignoring the giant body behind her as tears of relief pricked her eyes. Jas had made it to the bank.

  “You’ve led me on a merry hunt, Sage.”

  Her eyes slammed shut as the warlord’s voice curled around her. A nose ran along the column of her neck as they bobbed in the river.

  “Cinnamon,” he growled, “How is it you haven’t bathed in days and yet you still smell like cinnamon?”

  She remained silent, her body trembling against him as she ignored him. It was so cold. Everything was numb.

  His hand slipped up her chest and to her throat. He pulled her head back and tipped it to the side. “You know how I feel about being ignored. Look at me, Sage.”

  Part of her wanted to obey him. The thought caused bile to burn her throat.

  He spun her around and pulled her flush against his body as he treaded water in the river like it was nothing. The warlord scanned her face. “You’ve been hurt.” She hissed when he brushed a wound on her cheek. “If you hadn’t run from me, you wouldn’t have been hurt.” His hand dropped to her waist and kneaded the flesh. She cringed at his attentions.

  “Have you nothing to say?”

  “I would do it again.”

  His face transformed into a proud smile that made her stomach drop. “And that’s why I love you, despite the unfortunate line you were born from. You have a fire I want to claim.”

  “There shall be no claiming.”

  He brushed a wet strand of hair from her face, tenderly, like her father used to do. “You and I both know that’s not true.” He dropped his forehead to hers and stared into her eyes. “No matter where you go, I will be impri
nted on your soul, and in your dreams. We will always be part of each other.”

  The sick part was that his words were true. If she survived, he would haunt her nightmares for life. “You’re right,” Sage murmured. She lifted her exhausted arms and laid them around his dark olive shoulders. With careful movements, she spun the ring on her finger that Maeve had given her and flipped the lid. “But in death, you can’t haunt me.”

  “I’ll never let anything hurt you.”

  “You already have.” Sage slammed her hand around the back of his neck holding on tight as his eyes narrowed.

  “What have you done?” he growled as he ripped her arm from his neck. The warlord yanked her hand up and examined the ring, his grip going lax even as his eyes burned hotter with rage.

  “Nothing that will kill you.” She leaned closer and placed a kiss on his cheek. “I freed myself from you.”

  Sage shoved away from him with the last of her strength, managing to break his grasp because of the toxin. The water tore her from him, clawing at her legs and trying to pull her under. She fought it, knowing that drowning was not a peaceful way to go, but she wasn’t strong enough. The last thing she saw was the warlord’s panic-filled gaze before the river claimed her.

  Water tugged her left and right, up and down. Darkness surrounded her as her lungs began to burn. Her body flailed as she clawed at the water, desperate for air. Her body slammed into something, forcing the rest of the air from her lungs. Her face broke the surface, sputtering and gasping for air. Sage blinked at the bank not ten feet from her. How? She heaved in painful breaths as the freezing water beat at her body. It would be so easy to close her eyes and sleep.

  She jerked, her eyes springing wide, when a growl roused her. A dark, furry head bobbed up next to her. Sage let out a sob and sunk her fingers into Nali’s wet coat. “Help me,” she whispered through numb lips.

  She was certain her nails were digging into the feline’s skin, but it didn’t stop Nali from propelling them toward the bank. Slick stones bumped against her knees and feet as they entered the shallows. Her hip dug into the sand, and she couldn’t hold on any longer. Sage collapsed into shallow water, her teeth chattering. Nali quickly moved to her side and bit into the back of her shirt, tugging her from the water. Stone scraped her palms as she did her best to aid Nali, clawing her way up the bank. When her hands sunk into sun-warmed sand, she collapsed with her cheek pressed to the earth, water dripping into her eyes.

  She didn’t drown. She didn’t die.

  Sage didn’t know how long she laid there, savoring the air filling her lungs, the sand and gravel beneath her hands. Only when her body began to tremble so hard her teeth clacked together, did she gain awareness. Painstakingly, she pushed to her hands and knees and took in the surrounding land.

  Forest.

  Aermian Forest.

  She sat on her calves as a sob tore from her. Tears blurred her eyes and dripped down her face. “I made it,” she whispered to herself, relieved beyond words.

  For a moment, she had thought the river spat her back upon Scythian land, but to be back again was overwhelming. She never thought she’d truly make it. Great, heaving cries broke free, wracking her body. She hunched forward and sunk her fingers into the sand.

  She’d made it home. She was home.

  Time blurred as bone-weary fatigue set in. Sage studied her bluish fingers, and something inside her head said she should be worried. But for the life of her, she didn’t remember why she should worry.

  Nali released a heart-stopping growl that finally pulled Sage from her muddled thoughts. The feline hunkered down in front of her, the feline’s jet-black fur puffing up menacingly. Fear penetrated the fog hovering over her mind. There was only one reason Nali would growl like that. He’d found her.

  Her heart galloped and her stomach rolled. She kept her blurry gaze on the sand beneath her scratched hands. Why was life so cruel? Hadn’t she suffered enough? What more could she give?

  “Sage.”

  Her eyes closed, more tears seeping out of the corners. “Tehl,” she whimpered. Even after she’d banished his presence from her mind, still he rescued her when she most needed him. He’d give her a reprieve from the awaiting horrors. “You didn’t leave me,” she choked out.

  “Love, I will never leave you.”

  Her fingers flexed in the gritty sand. “I can’t live this life.” She gasped for breaths which seemed unwilling to come. “I can’t go back to him. I’m not strong enough.”

  “You will never have to go back. He will never touch you again.”

  A sad smile tugged at her lips. If only that was the truth. Tehl knew what she had to do. He was part of her mind after all. She sucked in a shuddering breath. “Thank you for keeping me company. I’ll always love you for that.”

  Her shoulders tensed as Nali snarled louder, protecting her from her dark fate. It was only a matter of minutes before everything she loved would disappear forever.

  “Sage, you’re shivering. I need you to call off your beast, so I can get you warm.”

  She frowned at the ground. What was he talking about?

  “Call off your beast, please. There’s no time to waste.”

  Another snarl. “Look at me, Sage.”

  She raised her head at the command and every part of her stilled. Nali stood in front of her, snarling with her lips pulled back, exposing huge canines as she warned the enemy away, but it was not who she expected.

  A group of men surrounded her, but one stood apart, his hand held out to the man-eater. His tense form suggested fear, and yet he whispered soothing words. Sage attempted to decipher his words, but she couldn’t hear anything over the ringing in her ears. His blue-black hair waved in the breeze as he glanced in her direction and spoke a little louder.

  “Sage, love, please calm your beast,” he begged. “You need a healer.”

  She jolted and fell onto her bottom, desperately blinking the tears from her eyes. It couldn’t be Tehl. What trickery was this? Had she gone insane?

  “You’re not insane, but you are ill.”

  Her lips trembled as her gaze traced his beautiful face. He wasn’t real, he couldn’t be. Her mind must be broken. That was the only logical explanation that or… “I died.” No fear, just numbness. A sense of peace settled over her. She could handle death.

  Tehl stepped closer, earning another snarl from Nali. “You’re not dead. I need you to trust me and trust yourself. I’m real.”

  She swiped her arm across her face, her tears smearing across her cool skin. Sage focused on him. “Don’t placate me with lies, Tehl. I can’t stand any more lies. Just be honest with me.”

  “I am.” He shook his head, his face a mask of frustration.

  She smiled as he jerked his hands through his hair. The gesture was so familiar, so human.

  He eyed Nali and then Sage, his eyes narrowing. “You stubborn wench. It’s me.”

  “My lord, calm down,” a deep voice chastised.

  Sage blinked slowly. Her thoughts sluggish. Wench? When was the last time he snapped at her? She couldn’t remember. She rubbed her sandy hand across her forehead, the rough grit biting into her skin and grounding her. Could he be real?

  “Sage!”

  Her heart squeezed as she glanced in the direction of the voice. Jasmine stood bedraggled at the front of the group. She was bruised, dirty, and slightly blue, but there wasn’t anything more beautiful in that moment than her friend. “Jas?”

  “We made it. We’re home.”

  She pointed a trembling finger at Jasmine. “How do I know you’re real?”

  Jas rolled her stormy eyes. “Bloody hell. Trust us. Trust your husband.”

  Sage’s eyes slid to Tehl, standing patiently on the other side of Nali. Trust. She’d trusted him the entire time she was in Scythia. Why was she doubting him now when he might be real?

  “Fine,” she growled. Her friend would only badger her until she complied anyway. She tried to stand, only to have
her legs collapse underneath her.

  Nali’s growl grew louder.

  “No, Nali,” she whispered, and placed a soothing hand on the feline’s side. “It’s okay. These are friends.” Nail’s ears flattened, but she held still, her flesh quivering under Sage’s hand. “You’re going to have to help me stand, girl.”

  The beast chuffed and held still as Sage wrapped her arms along her neck and back. Painfully, she hauled herself to her feet with Nali’s aid, wavering slightly. Her fingers sunk into black fur as she studied the man standing fearlessly on the other side of her man-eater. He looked real, but could it be?

  He smiled at her and held a hand out. “Take my hand.”

  She stared at his outstretched hand. What if she was dreaming? Sage reached out and paused, her hand suspended in the air. Could she handle the disappointment?

  “Don’t be a coward, Sage,” Jasmine called.

  She clenched her jaw and eyed her trembling hand. When had she ever shied away from a challenge, or the truth? Never. And she wasn’t going to start now.

  Hesitantly, she slid her hand into his. Tehl’s callouses caught along her smooth skin and warmed her frozen hand. She gasped, her gaze darting to his.

  He shifted closer, brushing against Nali. He lifted their hands and placed hers against his cheek. Whiskers tickled her palm as he leaned into her touch. “Do I feel real to you?”

  Sage stared at her hand cradling his face, another sob escaping her. He felt real, but could she trust it? His blue eyes beseeched her, begged her to trust him. Tehl had always protected her and told her the truth, even when she didn’t wish to hear it. “Am I alive?

  “Yes. Scarred, but not broken.”

  That truth hurt and yet it soothed. Awe filled her. “You’re real.” She stumbled around Nali and fell into Tehl’s arms. Her nose stung as she pressed her face to his vest, but she didn’t care. She pulled in a deep breath, his familiar scent of leather and pine invading her senses. No trick of the mind could imitate his scent. “I made it,” she cried.

  Heat suffused her as he crushed her against his chest, one hand pressed against her wet head. “You did,” his voice rasped. “You made it.” His lips pressed to the top of her head over and over as she clung to him. Her eyelids drooped, and she smiled against his vest.