Last Stand (The Black Mage Book 4)

by Rachel E. Carter

  I was tired of fighting myself.

  I pulled Darren to me and pressed my lips to his, giving him the answer he needed.

  And then Darren’s hands were making quick work of my bodice, orange beads splaying across the forest, while I clawed at his shirt.

  Darren kissed me so deeply I forgot my own name. The last of my bodice slipped away and his fingers rode up my ribs to the swell of my breasts. My sharp intake of breath caught me by surprise.

  For a moment that was enough. Then he dipped his head, his lips leaving a trail of liquid fire against my skin. I couldn’t breathe. I was quite sure I was rasping his name like a prayer, again and again.

  I felt Darren’s smile through the indentation of his lips.

  Then he dropped one hand. Darren cupped my knee and raised my leg, bringing me closer than before. There was an ache in the pit of my stomach, and all I knew was I needed more.

  I was dying, and I didn’t know why.

  My fingers raked across his arms, shoulders, and chest following the dips and hollows of muscle and bone. I tried to hold back. I tried to memorize the planes of his body, but it was impossible not to move. Not when all of my senses were screaming; my world was wrapped in cinnamon and cloves. I needed to touch every inch of him, and it wasn’t enough.

  Darren’s mouth found the base of my throat, and I cried out as his hand slipped down, and then up.

  Time stopped. The pit in my stomach was no longer a lonely ember, it was an inferno and Darren’s eyes were heavily lidded flames.

  He slowly slid me down the base of the tree, going down to his knees. And then all I saw were stars.

  I was dining with the gods, gasping on air.

  After, Darren rose up, cupping my face in his hands and kissing me hard. A long, desperate kiss that promised me everything and the world.

  And then he drew me to the ground.

  I tugged his body over mine, fumbling with the drawstrings at his waist, desperation and need taking ahold of my limbs.

  His eyes met mine, and it was just the two of us.

  “I love you, Ryiah.” He whispered the words only once and I was lost.

  Lost and in love. In lust. Over my head. Over my mind, body, and soul.

  For hours the two of us ceased to be Ryiah and Darren. The Black Mage and the traitor who would cause so much grief to come.

  We were the boy and the girl.

  We were a fairy tale. We were dancing in the forest.

  We were everything and nothing, and it was the one thing we both needed to be.

  10

  We didn’t return until the sun rose the next morning. I watched it with his arms around me, the two of us standing at the base of the rushing falls, and that moment was perfect. Perfect like all the ones that came before.

  A pale light settled over the stream like a slow drawn breath, turning the dark river into a rippling tide of crystalline white. I could have stood on the bank forever. The set in Darren’s shoulders spoke the same.

  We spent an hour hiking through the forest. Not once did he release my hand. I held my breath, refusing to let anything spoil this day for as long as I could.

  We rode back to the palace in silence. Our guards waited with heavy scowls, but the reprimands never came. No one said a word. Blayne smirked, and Cassius raised a brow, but the rest of the court was blissfully silent.

  No one remarked on our state of undress. I could not have looked worse if I tried.

  Even the prince, he was sporting bruises and patches of dirt along his arms and legs, his shirt missing buttons and stained brown from the mud.

  Darren dismounted, swinging me from the saddle, only to walk me right back into our chamber without another word.

  He grabbed my waist with a grin and slammed the door shut behind us.

  And then it began again.

  When the prince finally left, I was breathless and sore. Dirt and bits of grass smeared the sheets. I felt my cheeks heating as I recalled the way my name had tasted in his mouth.

  The way he had shouted it the night before.

  The way I had cried out his.

  I couldn’t wait for it to happen again.

  I washed up and spent several hours combing the knots out of my hair, preferring to bathe without my ladies-in-waiting. I wasn’t ready for their questions to follow. When I finally left the chamber, I was floating, for once my mind blissfully silent.

  “Well, someone sure is glowing.” Paige lounged outside the chamber with a cheeky smile.

  My fingers flew to my face, and I knew I was blushing. I gave the knight an embarrassed grin, choosing silence instead of words.

  “No chatter either. That prince must be good with his hands, or is it his—”

  “Paige!” I cut my guard off with a squeal.

  She was doubling over in laughter.

  “That is not a nice joke.”

  “I bet he was good.”

  “Say another word…” I warned.

  “Just tell me…” She held up her hands, proclaiming innocence. “Tell me you are happier than the day you left.”

  She knew me too well. Then again, she was the one to help Darren find me a healer after that terrible night in the indoor training courts.

  I bit down on my cheek, hard.

  I wasn’t going to think about that. If I thought about past events, my happy bubble would break, and I’d be back to avoiding the prince. I wasn’t ready to give up Darren just yet. I had one month. Nyx would send another letter; this time she would give us the solution we needed, and then Duke Cassius would take up the rebels’ side.

  Then, and only then, would I give up the prince.

  I just needed to stop worrying about things I couldn’t control. If I didn’t find the answer in a pile of scrolls—and I hardly believed I would—there was nothing else I could do. It was time to rely on others, and Nyx was a strategist. She would be the hero to our tale; I had already performed my role.

  Now it was time to bask in a world of sunshine and give up the shadows that followed me around.

  “You know,” Paige snickered, “Mira is convinced you have it in for her role.”

  The two of us turned the corridor, continuing our route to the kitchens. My stomach was a ravaging beast, and I knew Benny would have the answer I needed. “Why does she think that?” Not that I didn’t love the head mage fretting over me. She made my life a misery; I enjoyed reciprocating the same.

  “She told everyone all you ever do is camp out in the library to study. She thinks you are looking for a way to impress the king.” The knight snorted loudly. “She tried complaining to Blayne, and he told her off, saying you were looking for a way to win over Cassius. That you are one of his best assets, and if she continues to vex him, he may promote you instead.”

  One of his best assets? A way to win over Cassius? The irony was so thick I could cut it with a knife. I gave Paige a broad smile. “If I get a promotion, that’s just a bonus. I will settle for demoting her just to watch the fall.”

  “You do seem to be in a much better state of mind.” My knight gripped my shoulder in a rare show of feeling. “I am glad you were able to get away.”

  A flicker of guilt flared deep in my gut, but I ignored it. I was not going back to that place. “The Pythians will fight for Jerar.” Just not the Jerar you think. “I’m going to make sure of it.”

  “If anyone can find a way to convince the duke, it’s you.” A bit of gum flashed with her teeth. “I only hope I’m there to see the look on Mira’s face when you do.”

  “Here, here.” I almost laughed just thinking of the moment the Pythians turned on the villainous king and the mage responsible for Derrick’s death. It would be a day unlike any other.

  Another week passed, and the Crown was falling apart. Citizens had gathered outside the palace gate, demanding their king. They wanted to know why the alliance had fallen through, why we weren’t marching on Caltoth right away.

  Darren was forced to summon Audric and s
ome of his men from the Crown’s Army camp to keep the crowds from getting worse; Mira had doubled the number of mages inside the gates.

  The people of Devon were growing restless. Cassius, as promised, had continued to stall negotiations with ridiculous demands. Whenever Blayne seemed ready to commit, the Pythian upped his request. The advisors had begun to catch on and warned their king to refuse, and things had become tense. The duke still had three weeks in our term; he delighted in the stakes. Either way, his brother would have better terms than before.

  I continued to prowl the library while the others watched. Thanks to the king’s prediction, half the palace was hanging their hopes on me. I wasn’t even expected to take part in guard duty. I found a new mound of books waiting each time I arrived in the study; Paige had even begun to read the texts aloud to me in the training courts.

  The glass barrier had yet to be replaced; my guard’s voice carried easily across the platform as I drilled.

  I studied the scrolls, doing my best to understand monotonous formations long into the night. I still had another two weeks before Nyx’s reply, three if it took her more than a day, or the envoy caught on a delay. Now that the commander knew what Cassius expected, she would craft a much better response.

  Two fingers drew the parchment from my hands as warm lips pressed against my neck. I didn’t bother to turn; his heat clung to me like a second skin, a warm envelope of cloves.

  “It’s time to come to bed.”

  I looked up from a stack of papers, wondering if the crown prince was right. The bell had long since tolled midnight; I suspected an hour or two ago.

  I wanted to join Darren, but with each day that passed, I grew a little less amorous with my plan and a little more worried Nyx would fail.

  “Or I can stay here.” The prince’s smirk grew devious. “If that’s what you prefer.”

  “Darren…” My protest was useless. The Black Mage was restless like me, trying to channel all his fear and doubt into something he could manage. He was turning to the one person he thought he could trust.

  “Tell me, Ryiah,” Darren said, “have you ever wondered what it would be like in the room that started it all?”

  A smile tugged at the corner of my mouth. “The palace library isn’t the Academy’s.”

  “Oh, but it’s better.” Heat flared in his eyes, twin coals against a sea of endless black. “We have more tables. And chairs.”

  Hours later the two of us fell into bed, breathless and flushed. It was only then I noticed the new charm hanging from his neck next to the hematite stone.

  “What is this?” My finger curled around the object, and I started. Brass and heavy, not a charm. Almost like a—

  “It’s a key.”

  I tried not to sound too curious. “You didn’t have this before.”

  “Blayne.” Darren shut his eyes with a groan. “He wants me to keep it on me at all times. Doesn’t trust… the ambassador… dragging out the negotiations.”

  “Why? What is it for?”

  The prince didn’t reply; he was already drifting off to sleep.

  “Darren?”

  For a second, I lay there weighing my odds. Then I shook the prince’s shoulders, unable to keep the question to myself, not when I was standing on the precipice of something new. Not when something told me this key was important. Not when Blayne had suddenly placed it in safekeeping. It could be the answer I needed.

  The prince blinked several times before registering my face. “Love?”

  “I was just thinking…” I bit down on my lip and then forced myself to finish. “This key, what does it do? Don’t you think I should know in case something happens?”

  Darren reached out to catch my tapping fingers with his own—I hadn’t even realized I was doing it.

  “It unlocks the Crown’s best kept secret.” His lips curved up as his eyelids fluttered shut.

  “Best kept secret?” Why was I just hearing of this now?

  “Perhaps you were too distracted.” He was smiling to himself. “You were always staring at me during Commander Ama’s lessons.”

  “Perhaps I was imagining the best way to rid myself of an arrogant prince.”

  “Well, I’m not going to tell you now—” Darren yawned, “—since you think I’m so arrogant.”

  And so he drifted to sleep as I tossed and turned. Commander Ama? The desert?

  What did she even talk about? Chariots and sickle swords and the best way to breach a defense. Hardly a secret to the thousands of regiment warriors.

  Think, Ryiah, think.

  I knew there was something important I was missing. Darren wouldn’t have made that comment unless he believed I already knew the answer.

  Crown’s best kept secret? So the commander of Ishir Outpost knew, and clearly the original members of the Crown: Lucius and Blayne and Darren.

  Maybe he doesn’t expect me to know the secret, maybe that’s what this is about.

  I ground my teeth. That didn’t make the puzzle any easier, and I was sick of puzzles. Cassius already had me wringing my own neck trying to find a solution for his.

  Would it be so terrible for the gods to give me an answer once in a while?

  I imagined them laughing down from above. Foolish mortal, they were probably saying, you saw the key. We’ve already given you more luck than you deserve. If you can’t pick up the pieces from here, well, then you’re undeserving of our help.

  Evil, omnipotent dictators with too much time on their hands.

  I told myself the answer would come in the morning.

  It didn’t.

  “Paige…” I paused in my late afternoon drill, looking over at the knight on my right. She had the day off from her own duties, and she had still chosen to join me at the practice courts after my stint in the library. She should’ve been prowling the streets of Devon, bartering for that new chainmail she’d been eyeing for weeks, but she seemed to have given up for the moment.

  No one wanted to go into the city now.

  “Yes?”

  “When you were a squire, did you train with four regiments same as the apprentice mages?”

  “The best years of my life.” Her response wasn’t very enthusiastic; she was too busy concentrating on a lift.

  I watched her muscles expand and contract, more than a little envious at the definition in her arms. She could give most men a run for their gold.

  “Were one of those regiments a part of Ishir?”

  “They were.” The knight set down her weights and proceeded to stretch. “Why?”

  “Commander Ama spent a great deal of time going over strategy. I’m trying to remember if there was anything important I should remember from her talks?”

  The guard squinted at me as she switched arms. “This has to do with that duke, doesn’t it? You are going to think up some miraculous way to convince him to join our cause? Again.”

  There was no harm in letting her think I was worried about Cassius—even if it wasn’t for the same reason as everyone else. I nodded.

  “Well, to start, it was the desert.” She made a face. “I never got the appeal of miles and miles of sand.”

  “And that’s important because…?”

  “Whoever serves in that regiment is mad.”

  “Very helpful.”

  She grinned. “You are welcome.”

  “Anything else?”

  “That desert is the best defense Jerar has. It’s just a shame we don’t have the same in the north.”

  “How so?” My logic was failing me. “Ferren’s Keep is the largest city regiment we have.”

  “You are forgetting the Red Gate. If anyone tried to invade the capital from the south, they would be limited to the pass.” Paige knelt to the ground to begin her next exercise. “If we had the same wall in our north, we wouldn’t need the Pythians to win a war… We’d just line up our army at the gate, waiting for the enemy to enter, one by one.”

  The northern border was a forest, that strate
gy would never work… but the south was a desert bordered by red bluffs. The only way through was the Red Gate.

  And suddenly everything Paige was saying made sense.

  She hadn’t given me the answer I needed, but she’d given me something much better.

  Cassius had asked for a way to hold off the Crown’s Army.

  What if his ships staged an attack on one of the southern desert ports?

  What if Blayne sent half his army south to save Jerar’s most precious commodity? Salt was the main source of Jerar’s economy—hadn’t the rebels taught me that during that year of the apprenticeship?

  And then the rebels and Caltothian forces could storm the capital and send some of their men to barricade the Red Gate. The Crown’s Army might have more men, but by blocking the pass, we would have the upper hand.

  We’d have enough time to place a Pythian on the throne. I could find a way to distract Darren while the others imprisoned the king. The Black Mage would never see betrayal coming from his own wife. There would be minimal bloodshed, and we’d win a war that never had time to start.

  I had found the solution to Cassius’s riddle.

  “You are right, Paige.” I kept my face impassive, fighting hard to keep the elation from reaching my lips. “It’s a shame we don’t have the same in our north.” I started to gather my things.

  “You are leaving? Now?” Paige lifted a brow. “You usually train for three hours. It’s barely been one.”

  “I’m going to see if I can dig up any more information in the library.” I needed to get to Cassius. Now, while everyone else was occupied. It was almost time for dinner; the ambassador always insisted on taking a stroll around the gardens before. It was the best time to meet—there were too many eyes in the palace itself. If I timed it right, I could still reach him before he returned to his rooms.

  “We spend so much time trying to appease these Pythians.” She looked angry. “I don’t trust that duke at all. We should just go to war without them. For all we know, they’ll turn again and demand something else.”

  She wasn’t wrong.

  I found Duke Cassius just in time. We met behind the stables, and I tried not to think back to my last meeting here, when it had been Derrick instead. I wished my brother could see me now. I wished he could see I was a part of his cause.