Jessabelle's Beast (Shadows in Sanctuary Book 3)

by Susan Trombley

  The axe made a slight whistling sound as it fell. Then it clanged against the stone.

  Chapter 28

  Stacia had been too preoccupied with Gorzo going berserk to pay much attention to the executioner, an umbrose she avoided just like every other umbrose did. The mask did nothing to conceal his identity, since he was so much larger than the others. If she hadn’t looked into the emptiness of his eyes and seen no sign of emotion there, she would almost feel sorry for him that he was essentially an outcast from their society.

  The sound of the axe striking stone, and the gasping from the onlookers, was her only clue that he had gone ahead and done his job without waiting for Balfor’s signal. Given that the prince was having a difficult time restraining Gorzo without killing him, he hadn’t been paying much attention to Jessa and the executioner either.

  Stacia dared to take her eyes off Gorzo to glance at Lilith, who’d forced herself to watch the proceedings as a sign of solidarity towards her fellow human. After all, Jessa represented Lilith’s efforts to bring more humans into Sanctuary. Thus far, it hadn’t gone too well.

  Lilith’s eyes were wide and fixed on the chopping block. Stacia didn’t want to look. She’d seen more than one execution since becoming the princess. Apparently, there were more traitors among the umbrose than Yuki, and they’d been revealed as the adurians were defeated. Still, even watching the heads of umbrose traitors roll had been gruesome and distressing. She couldn’t bear to see Jessa’s head lying on the sand, staring up at the hole in the ceiling with glassy emptiness in her eyes.

  Yet, she was the princess. She had a duty to pronounce Jessa dead, since everyone else seemed to be frozen in some kind of macabre tableau except for Balfor and the five guards who were fighting Gorzo.

  She managed a few steps towards the block before she realized that the axe was buried in the stone just a hairsbreadth from Jessa’s neck. In fact, it had swung so close that a small line of blood showed on the exposed pale skin. Other than that, the skin was unbroken.

  Jessa was still, but her back moved up and down with slow steady breaths.

  Lilith knelt down by the block and laid a hand on Jessa’s back. “I think she passed out.”

  The executioner stood with his arms crossed over his chest, staring down at them. Given how bulging all his muscles were, Stacia had no idea how he managed it. He didn’t look at her when she faced him.

  “I missed.” His voice was like the echo from a tomb, hollow, deep, and downright terrifying.

  Stacia swallowed, wishing she wasn’t the one who had to deal with him, but Gorzo hadn’t yet realized that Jessa still lived. He was still fighting Balfor, and it was starting to get ugly. Whatever had happened here needed to be sorted out before someone else died today. “You never miss.”

  He shrugged, his wings half spreading behind him before he tucked them against his back again. “My aim is off. No one dies by my hand today.” With that pronouncement, he spread his wings to their full span and then leapt into the air, winging towards the opening in the ceiling as the sound of the audience’s shock grew deafening.

  No longer were they watching Balfor and Gorzo’s fight in stunned silence. Now all the umbrose were watching her as if she’d been the one to dismiss the executioner.

  Lilith was trying to sit Jessa up. The woman’s head lolled to one side. “What in the nine hells just happened?”

  Stacia knelt beside the stone to help Lilith, lightly slapping Jessa’s cheeks to wake her. “I have no idea.” She glanced over her shoulder at the bloody fight devolving into chaos behind them. “But we need her to calm Gorzo down before Balfor has no choice but to kill him.”

  *****

  The afterlife wasn’t very pleasant, but then, Jessa shouldn’t have expected it to be, given her crimes in her life. Being slapped wasn’t the worst of it. It was the sounds that made her certain she was in one of the nine hells. Horrible sounds of shouting and rage and battle assaulted her ears even as a hard hand assaulted her cheeks.

  “Wake up, Jessa! This is no time for a beauty nap!”

  Suddenly, she was gripped by both biceps and shaken so hard that her head whipped back and forth and she bit the edge of her tongue. That was enough to snap her out of her stupor. Her eyes opened to a strange tableau.

  Princess Stacia and Lady Lilith knelt beside her with wide eyes. Stacia’s sapphire blue eyes kept flicking from her to something behind her. It took a moment for Jessa’s brain to catch up to what was happening.

  “I’m not dead.”

  Stacia shook her head. “Brilliant observation. If you don’t want Gorzo to be either, you need to summon him. Now!”

  “Summon him?”

  Lady Lilith leaned forward, bracing one hand on the chopping block. “Say his name. Call him to your side. No matter where he is in his mind—how lost he is to his primal—he will come back to you. I know it!”

  Jessa was afraid to turn around. The battle going on behind her sounded horrific. She had to take Lilith and Stacia’s words for it. Gorzo was one with his primal, so when she summoned him, he wouldn’t be deaf to her cries even though his primal had apparently taken over. “Gorzo, please return to me! I’ll never leave you again!”

  Her words were greeted immediately by a roar from behind her. The sounds of a fight didn’t end right away, so she turned—grinding her knees in the dirt—in time to see Balfor knock Gorzo down with a hard punch to his face, but Gorzo had already gone limp before Balfor’s fist connected. He was done fighting. The guards lying wounded on the ground around him lent proof that he hadn’t made it easy for Balfor.

  Jessa tried to get to her feet to go to him, but Stacia grabbed her arm. “Let’s just… get out of here for now. We can sort things out later.”

  The princess glanced over her shoulder at the crowd watching everything unfold with avid interest evident in the way they all leaned forward, so as not to miss the slightest detail.

  Jessa regarded the umbrose audience for a moment, then looked back at Gorzo.

  Stacia hauled her up by her bicep. “He’ll be fine. I swear it!” She turned Jessa so that she could look her in the eye. “You, on the other hand, might still need a miracle. I’ll see what I can do.”

  Chapter 29

  Ranove studied the maps laid out on Balfor’s desk rather than watch the prince pacing the room. “I hear that Carnifex refused to kill her.”

  Balfor paused in mid-step, clenching his fist in front of him. “I have no idea what’s gotten into him. He’s never faltered in performing his duty before.”

  “I’m sorry I missed the fight between you and Gorzo.” He’d collected a great deal of the equipment from the Diakonos facility. He would have stayed to watch the execution for Lilith’s sake, but she’d asked him to go, swearing that she would be fine. Her concern for the equipment was even greater than her need to have him at her side at this trying time. It turned out that he missed a lot that was far more interesting than what he’d been doing. The Diakonos had rigged the laboratory to explode, but he’d already forced Dr. Chrysander to disarm all the explosives before they’d even left on the first visit. The remainder of his squad, both of them wounded but still alive, had stayed behind to guard it from returning Diakonos, so when he’d returned to inventory and collect the gear, there’d been nothing exciting for him to do.

  Balfor shook his head. “I’ve never fought a tougher battle. He took down all of the guards.”

  “No one else jumped in?”

  “They knew I didn’t want him dead. Otherwise, I would have called on the Mother’s power to kill him immediately, rather than allowing him to wound the guards.”

  “I’m surprised he didn’t kill any of them.”

  Balfor shrugged and resumed his pacing. “I’m not. Even in the grip of his primal, he was careful. He wanted me dead, but he didn’t want to kill his men.”

  Ranove had a difficult time understanding how Gorzo managed to control his primal even when he was lost to it. Ranove had been su
ndered from his own for so long that it was a crazed monster whenever it broke free. It took a while for him to rein it in, and during that time, he had no control over it at all. It killed everything in its path. Useful when he was up against all enemies. Not so good when there were allies in his path. “What do you plan to do about this?” That was the tricky part, and made Ranove grateful he was no longer ruling the umbrose. Gorzo had broken many laws in his attack on Balfor, but the circumstances had also been unusual, given that Balfor had broken his own law in denying Gorzo the right to protect his concubine. Then there was still the matter of the concubine. Jessabelle Ellis was a former Diakonos and had betrayed the umbrose and entered Sanctuary under false pretenses, bringing an infiltrator in with her.

  Balfor contemplated the far wall for so long that Ranove wondered if he was going to answer at all. Finally, he spoke, and it wasn’t what Ranove expected him to say. “I think it’s time for some leniency.”

  *****

  They were locked in a dungeon. Jessa should be miserable, but she was too happy to worry at that moment. She was in Gorzo’s arms, and they were both alive. She kissed him as if it would be their last kiss, and it could very well be. She didn’t give a damn about the guards outside the cell watching them. She didn’t care about the fact that their sentences would eventually be pronounced and carried out. This time, she wasn’t going to waste any more time. If these were her last moments with Gorzo, they were going to be her best.

  He was the first one to pull away and break the kiss. She could barely see him in the meager bio-illumination that was given off by the fungus that veined the walls of the cell, but she didn’t need to see clearly to know the planes and valleys of his beloved face. She’d memorized every curve of every scar that had been carved into his skin. She knew every inch of ink that told his life story.

  He was more precious to her than her life. More precious than anything had ever been to her. He’d become her family and knowing him made all the suffering and loneliness that had come before worth it.

  He watched her, no doubt seeing her expression much clearer than she saw his. “I thought I’d lost you. Don’t ever do that to me again, Schodecora.”

  “How dare you think I could simply carry on living if you sacrificed your life for me? Do you really think I wanted that?”

  “I couldn’t bear to lose you.”

  She bit his thumb when he tried to brush away her tears. “And you think it would have been easier for me to lose you? That’s so selfish of you! You wanted to be the one who didn’t have to suffer that kind of grief.”

  He pulled his thumb back with a small laugh. “I never looked at it that way, but I guess you have a point. I only thought about how I would feel if I lost you. It never occurred to me to think of how you’d feel after my death.”

  Jessa rubbed her palms along his chest, careful to avoid the healing wounds left by his battle against his own prince. “Well, it’s nice to know that you aren’t always a martyr. I was starting to feel unworthy of you. A little selfishness is a flaw I can live with.”

  He chuckled and wrapped his arms around her waist, pulling her onto his lap. “You’ve never been unworthy of me.”

  “Hopefully, we live long enough to find out other flaws.” She winked at him.

  His expression sobered immediately. “Do not joke about such things. Our fate remains unresolved.”

  Jessa ran her fingers over the braids on top of his head. “I learned my lesson the hard way. I’m not worrying about tomorrow, or even the next moment. I only care about this one. And your lips are not doing their job.” She leaned forward and kissed him again.

  *****

  “Unh-hmm.” Lady Lilith waited a moment, averting her eyes from what was going on in the cell. “Um… ahem.” She cleared her throat louder this time to get their attention. Jessa broke away from kissing Gorzo, re-tying the straps of her dress to cover the pale breasts that had been exposed.

  Lilith sneaked a peak just as Jessa climbed off Gorzo’s lap, revealing far more of her friend than she’d ever wanted to see. She blushed and turned her back completely on the cell. “I came to escort you to Prince Balfor’s office.”

  Sari caught her eye and giggled from her position in the shadows. Unlike Lilith, she hadn’t turned away and had apparently caught an eyeful. Pondering the curiosity in Sari’s eyes, Lilith suspected she would have to start watching the girl a little closer in the future so she didn’t get into any trouble that would cause Ranove to lose his head. Unlike most umbrose males, he took a more active—and very protective—interest in his daughter’s life.

  “We’re not going to the throne room or the arena?” Gorzo’s voice startled her as it was right behind her at the cell door. Apparently, it hadn’t taken him long to readjust himself.

  Still blushing, she risked a glance over her shoulder where Jessa stood with her arm wrapped around Gorzo’s waist as they waited at the cell door. “The prince isn’t going to make this a public spectacle.”

  Gorzo’s lips tightened and his eyes narrowed, but he didn’t argue. For that, Lilith was grateful. There were a handful of guards waiting in the corridor, and if she cried out for aide, more would come. She’d specifically barred Ranove from accompanying her because she didn’t want this to be an adversarial meeting. She was there for support, mostly for Jessa who needed to see another human face, but also for Gorzo, who she considered a friend.

  “Let’s get this over with,” Jessa said, surprising Lilith. It seemed the other woman had gained some confidence after this ordeal. Whatever would come for her future, she was apparently ready to face it.

  The dungeons were in the bowels of the Trilospires, so it didn’t take a long walk to reach Balfor’s office. Lilith paused outside the prince’s door. It swung open by itself. Balfor was inside with Stacia, waiting for them to enter.

  Gorzo wrapped one arm around Jessa, tucking her close to him and closing his wing around her as well. She looked up at him with an expression of love that was so obvious there was no way she could be faking it.

  They went in together, united in a way that Gorzo had not been with anyone since he’d arrived in Sanctuary.

  Lilith hoped that Stacia had been right when she’d spoken about their fate.

  Chapter 30

  “Exile?” Gorzo glanced down at Jessa with a worried frown, considering where they could go that she wouldn’t be endangered by the jungle’s pollen and deadly spores.

  Balfor tapped impatient fingers on the desktop. “Not permanently, but our people need to believe that some strong punishment has been meted out to both of you. For some reason, Carnifex refuses to do his duty where you’re concerned,” he glared at Jessa, “and I have no desire to kill my most skilled general. This temporary exile is the best deal you’re going to get. If the woman proves herself by remaining by your side in the wilds for a year, then I will accept you both back into Sanctuary.”

  A year was nothing to Gorzo. Merely an extended hunting trip. He worried about Jessa though. A breather mask like the humans wore would help protect her, but she couldn’t wear it all the time. She’d need to remove it to eat if nothing else, which would leave her vulnerable to spores anywhere in the jungle. They would have to leave this area entirely.

  He was already planning the flight they would take and what they’d need for their journey when princess Stacia spoke. “The Commemoro have made a generous offer to house and feed you in return for—”

  Balfor rose to his feet, glaring at Stacia. “I know what those liars want from my best general.” He bent his glare on Gorzo next. “Do you see the problems all this has caused me?”

  Gorzo sketched a mocking bow. “Forgive me for not giving a damn about your problems.”

  Balfor growled, gesturing to Gorzo as he turned to Stacia. “You see how far gone he is! No respect at all anymore!” He returned his attention to Gorzo. “I could have you whipped for your insubordination.”

  Jessa’s fingers gripped Gorzo’s hand tight as
she hissed, “Don’t antagonize him any further. I don’t want you to be hurt even more.”

  Gorzo returned her squeeze, shrugging for the benefit of Balfor and Stacia. “When are we to be on our way?”

  *****

  Balfor’s full lips were tight in a thin line that slashed across the lower half of his handsome face. Jessa no longer found him terrifying anymore. He was an arrogant and autocratic jerk, which made Gorzo—with his harsh features and all his scars and tattoos—a far more attractive umbrose to her. She wondered how Stacia managed to put up with him, but a side glance at the princess revealed that she was wearing a slight smile that suggested that much of Balfor’s bluster might be an act.

  The prince seemed to recognize that something about Jessa had changed. She was no longer intimidated by him. “The sooner you leave on this exile, the better. Your year won’t start until you’re beyond Sanctuary’s borders.”

  Jessa looked up at Gorzo. “Then let’s get this adventure started.” Ignoring the prince and princess watching them, she turned to face Gorzo. She took his hands in hers and held them up to her chest. “You once told me that home is where you make it. I’m telling you that home is where you find it. And I found you. You are my home, Gorzo. It doesn’t matter where we are. I will always be home with you by my side. I love you.”

  Gorzo’s broad smile might have been terrifying to anyone who didn’t know him, but to Jessa, it was the most beautiful smile she’d ever seen. “I love you, Schodecora, my true-mate.”

  *****

  Balfor collapsed in his chair, his impatience clear in the heavy breath he released and the glare he leveled on them. “When I said you could start your exile now, that was several minutes ago. You don’t seem to be moving.”