Savagery & Skills: Books 1-4

by Ciara Graves

  “I can handle it.”

  “Yeah well, maybe I can’t.” Seeing him die was hard. Hearing myself say the words out loud was too much. “You really don’t want to know. Let it go.”

  His frown informed me he was going to keep arguing, but then Marlie was hurrying back toward us.

  “We’ve been requested to join our parents and Mina in the palace to meet with King Briar and Queen Willow. They want to hear from the vampire’s own mouth what Rudarius’s plans are.”

  “Do they know about the mages?” Draven asked as we followed my brother.

  “I would assume so, considering they have refugees here already from previous houses and fae from the Middle Kingdom. They fled the outer villages when Rudarius’s main forces attacked.”

  “Do you think Macron is here?” My heart lifted with hope but was quickly shot down when Marlie shook his head.

  “If he’s being held at Rudarius’s stronghold, Shane will find him.” Draven kissed the top of my head, the small act giving me strength.

  It was funny, our being together. From enemies to… shit, I wasn’t sure what we were. Destined? That sounded ungodly cheesy, but I had no other way to explain how natural it was to be by his side. Talking to him. Laughing with him.

  Kissing him and falling asleep beside him.

  Being with Draven was nothing like how it had been between Owen and me. So many times I had to walk on eggshells. Watch what came out of my mouth. Not show my darker side. With Draven, there was full acceptance for who and what I was. Even now, when we learned Rudarius was, in fact, my master, he stayed by my side, ready to fight to the death to help me end the monster’s reign of terror.

  I squeezed his hand as we neared the front of the column where my parents and Mina stood, talking heatedly.

  The palace gates were just beyond. On the other side, the High Kingdom’s army was already called and armed. The walls coming into the city had been guarded, but here, full units were stationed and at the ready.

  “At least someone’s actually prepared for a war,” Draven murmured, though he made it loud enough for the others to hear.

  Mina glared at him openly, as did Raine. Karina, however, kept her gaze straight ahead, most likely to avoid accidentally locking gazes with me.

  “We assembled our troops the moment we heard the Burning Thorns had fallen,” a soldier to our right said, dropping his head in respect when I turned to face him. “Princess.”

  The act startled me, but I didn’t show it. “And you didn’t send aid to assist the Middle Kingdom before it fell because…?”

  The soldier sighed, gripping his spear tighter. “We were ordered not to. Don’t misunderstand, King Briar and Queen Willow are good and just rulers, but the other two kingdoms have given us nothing, but strife. Politics and all. The three fae kingdoms have not been close allies in decades, I’m afraid. It wasn’t until we received word those who survived had retreated, that I managed to convince our King to let us come and escort you to safety.”

  “And who are you?”

  The soldier straightened as he declared, “General Avo, Princess.”

  “Nice to meet you, General Avo,” I said, holding out my hand. He seemed confused by the gesture, so I leaned in and whispered, “No one sees me as a princess. You can shake my hand.”

  “But you are Seneca of the Burning Thorns.”

  “True, but I didn’t know that until recently. Don’t let my parents fool you,” I added quietly, glaring at their backs. “They disowned me and want nothing to do with me.”

  Avo hesitantly took my hand. “I am sorry to hear that, but surely it’s not so bad.”

  “Oh, it’s bad. No matter what they say in front of your King and Queen, don’t buy it. Not a single word. You listen to what Draven and I have to say about Rudarius, and that’s it. They know nothing about what’s going on.”

  “I will do so… Seneca.” He released my hand, licking his lips nervously as he escorted us inside the palace, through a long stretch of open corridor, then into a lavishly decorated throne room.

  Karina, Raine, and Mina all bowed and curtsied politely this King Briar and Queen Willow. Marlie did the same.

  Draven and I merely stood and waited to see who would start yelling first.

  I locked eyes with Queen Willow, her violet gaze curious, her fingers tapping continuously on the arm of her chair.

  “Majesties, Draven and Seneca have word on Rudarius’s plans,” Avo announced then stepped to the side.

  Neither the Briar nor Willow said a word, and the silence in the hall stretched on until I was ready to tear my hair out.

  Finally, Willow cleared her throat and rose. “Welcome to the High Kingdom. I am glad to find our soldiers were able to bring you here safely.”

  “You have our gratitude,” Raine said, bowing low.

  Willow held up her hand to silence him.

  I relished his wide-eyed, confused gaze.

  “I was not speaking to you, King Raine, if you should even be called that.”

  His jaw dropped, and this time, I laughed out loud.

  “I am King of the Lower Kingdom.”

  “Are you? You do realize King Briar is one of vision, yes?” Willow stepped down from her throne, hands clasped behind her back.

  It was only then that I took in her appearance. She wore a black silk gown, but it wasn’t made of mere cloth. This queen was ready for war. On the front was an armor breastplate and chainmail that covered her shoulders and upper arms. She had gauntlets of pure silver and two silver daggers strapped at her lower back. Her long black hair was pulled back and decorated with feathers and silver leaves, all interwoven throughout. Why couldn’t she have been my mom? This was a queen I could respect.

  “Of course, I do,” Raine sputtered.

  “Truly it seems to have slipped your mind. Let me tell you then what my dear husband has informed me about certain events that have transpired recently.”

  “There is no need,” Karina assured her as she stepped forward.

  Willow’s violet eyes narrowed. “I believe there is. Such treachery that runs through your family, Karina. How do you live with yourself?” She clicked her tongue as she drew closer to my parents. “First, you give up your only daughter under the guise you fear your precious children will be attacked.”

  “They were attacked! Marlie was nearly killed,” Raine shouted, growing red in the face.

  “Lies,” King Briar spoke as he shifted on his throne.

  He did not stand with his queen, but the fierce anger in his dark grey eyes spoke volumes and made him more intimidating than if he were standing before Raine. “Ever since she has returned to Otherworld, the gods have granted me clarity as I have not had in decades, not since before the tyrant king stole away my throne.”

  “And? What do we care of your clarity? There is a war raging on outside your walls.”

  “A war,” Willow said as she stood within inches of my mother after her outburst, “which was caused because of you and your fear.”

  “That is a lie.”

  “Is it?” Willow shrugged. “Perhaps it is too much to lay all the blame at your feet. Some of the guilt rests in us, as well, but alas I would never have betrayed my children. If we were not preparing to face an army of vampires and from what I’ve been told, shifters now, as well, I would hold you accountable for your crimes. Both of you.”

  As their exchange continued, Draven took hold of my hand, squeezing it as if trying to ask me what was going on. His guess was as good as mine. I’d been shown the truth or most of it. What was Willow accusing them of?

  “Tell her,” Willow ordered my parents. “Tell her, or I will.”

  “There is nothing to tell,” Raine declared. “She knows the truth.”

  “Another lie.” Briar pushed himself up and grabbed a cane I hadn’t noticed earlier. He leaned on it heavily as he stepped to the edge of the dais. “Your daughter was born in the dark, and instead of nurturing her as your daughter, you gav
e her up out of fear. The fear she would corrupt you, your people, your son. The fear she would bring down your kingdom.”

  My heart plummeted.

  Draven’s grip on my hand tightened until it hurt. If he expected me to charge down my parents, again, he was right. I took half a step toward them then paused.

  “You… you said you gave me up to protect me,” I murmured. How could this get any worse? Maybe I should stop asking that question. “You knew my power would be different. You knew, and you threw me out. You forced me to the human world to be raised by strangers.” With every word, my blood boiled, and red clouded my vision.

  “Seneca, you must understand,” Raine started.

  I snarled like a wild beast was trying to claw its way out of my chest.

  “Understand what? How my own flesh and blood fears me?” I shouted, tugging against Draven’s hold. “Everything that happened to me, everything is your fault. What’s happening to me, that’s on you. Whatever happens next, whatever I do because of him—”

  “Seneca.” Draven cut me off, dragging me into his arms. “Enough. They’re not worth it.”

  I let him hold me, but my glare never left my parents.

  Raine’s eyes turned calculating, and I realized too late what I said.

  “Because of who?” Raine demanded.

  “Nothing.”

  “No. You said because of him. What him? Him who?”

  “Rudarius,” Briar responded.

  I slumped in Draven’s arms. Great. This was just great. Now they were going to want me dead.

  The crippled king took his time to reach me, his cane echoing loudly each time it hit the stones. “I have seen all you endured, my child.” His eyes, earlier filled with anger toward my parents, now held sympathy as he spoke to me. “But I fear your worst battle is yet to come.”

  “Against Rudarius?”

  “I’m afraid not, but there is much I have not seen yet. Alas, the gods only grant me visions of what they believe I need to see. They don’t answer my pleas to view anything beyond,” he replied quietly. “But it is time you declare yourself no longer a part of the Burning Thorn. Your destiny is not to be the Princess of the Lower Kingdom.”

  “No? Then what the hell is it?” I was beyond aggravated at all this destiny talk. Straight answers, that’s all I wanted.

  The single ring on his right hand, bearing a pearl, came to life with a pure white glow as he reached out. His fingertips brushed against my forehead as he said, “It is better if I show you.”

  My head flew back.

  I gasped as I was thrown from my body and the hall.

  The visions that assaulted me flew by too fast for me to focus on them.

  Then I slammed into the ground, grunting in pain. “Damn it. Thanks a lot, asshole,” I muttered, pushing to my knees.

  Smoke billowed around me, thick and black. The ground beneath me was charred, and when my hand brushed over something hard, I paused.

  “Shit.” I scrambled to get away from the rotten body with bones jutting out, as if something had started to gnaw on it, then left. “Where did you send me?” I shouted after I got to my feet. “What is this?”

  The smoke parted, as if in answer to my question, and I looked across a body-strewn battlefield. Beyond it were stone walls, mostly collapsed. The stronghold they were meant to protect was crumbled and on fire. The stronghold wasn’t of the fae, this I knew. Rudarius. This was his home. Two figures faced each other before me. I yelled, but neither acknowledged me.

  “They can’t see you.”

  I jumped with a curse, whipping around to discover King Briar had joined me. “What is this?”

  “Destiny.”

  “That’s not helpful.”

  “Watch. This is what I have seen for many nights since your return to our world. It is time for you to see it, too. And to know.”

  “Know what?”

  He whispered, “How it all ends.”

  “It’s over.”

  That voice, I knew that voice.

  Slowly, I faced the two figures again, my jaw dropping. Somehow, we’d gotten closer, and I was able to make out every detail.

  That was me. Or at least it looked like me. My red hair blew wildly around me, as if driven by some force of power. I was covered in blood, wearing armor and bearing a single onyx blade. On my left hand were rings, five in all, but they weren’t ones I recognized. The bands were dark and the stones black.

  The second figure was Rudarius, his blond hair stained from the recent battle. He had rings on both hands and a long sword. His lips pulled back to reveal his fangs, but the me in this vision was not afraid. Not anymore.

  “You are mine to control,” Rudarius bellowed. “You will always be mine. Look at all the destruction you caused in my name.”

  “I slaughtered them all,” I said, as if we weren’t talking about a bloody battle. “Fae, shifters, vampires. Race does not matter. Your coven is dead, Rudarius. Only you remain.”

  “You cannot kill me. I am your master.”

  “I have no master, except the darkness,” I replied with a voice that sent a chill down my spine.

  He hissed then attacked. The fight was a blur.

  Shadows filled with red lightning exploded from my rings, attacking his magic.

  The battle wore on and on, but then Briar snapped his fingers and time sped up.

  Suddenly, Rudarius was on the ground at my feet.

  A heart was in my left hand.

  He reached out for it, as if to shove it back into his chest.

  I brought the sword down on his neck. His arm fell to the ground.

  I crushed his heart to dust in my fist, letting it blow away on the breeze.

  “This is good though, right?” I asked Briar, watching the other me stand over a dead Rudarius.

  “It’s not over yet.”

  Another person emerged from the smoke.

  Draven. His clothes were torn and dirtied. Blood covered him, dried and fresh. He moved behind me. I held my breath, waiting for him to take me in his arms and tell me it was over.

  Except the look in his eyes stabbed me through the heart.

  Guilt, sorrow, a never-ending well of pain. Worst was the heartbreak.

  A glint of silver caught my eye.

  A stake.

  He held a stake in his gloved right hand. He stood behind me, hanging his head, even as he lifted his right arm.

  “Do it,” I ordered, words strained. “End this.”

  “I can’t,” he whispered.

  I clapped a hand to my mouth as I watched the scene unfold. “No, this… this isn’t right.”

  “Do it,” the other me shouted.

  “Seneca, please. He’s dead, it’s over. Come back to me,” Draven begged.

  I nodded, willing myself to do as he said.

  When my own green gaze suddenly looked right at me, it stole the breath from my lungs. What had I done to have such a cold, heartless look? To have no emotion except a hunger for more blood?

  Shadows slipped from my eyes as I turned around to face Draven.

  When he made no move to attack, I yelled and charged him, blade raised to kill him.

  I shouted, ready to throw myself between the other me and Draven, but then it was too late. He plunged that stake into my heart and then I was there, in her place.

  The pain was excruciating.

  I gasped for air as Draven lowered me to the ground, holding me in his arms.

  “I’m sorry,” he whispered as tears streamed down his cheeks. “I’m so sorry.”

  “Draven,” I breathed, reaching up to hold his cheek.

  As harshly as I was dumped into this scene, I was yanked away and thrown back in my present-day body and mind.

  “Seneca?”

  Draven was there, not the battle worn one, but my Draven. He searched my face then glared beyond me.

  “What did you do to her?”

  “I showed her what she needed to see to understand,” Briar re
plied. “This war is only getting started.”

  Words stuck in my throat. What I saw, it couldn’t be the only path, could it? How did I get to that point? I’d murdered those on both sides of the war. Why would I do that? Unless I was right all along. I was not strong enough to stand against Rudarius. No, not simply Rudarius. The evil he uncovered within my soul. There was no stopping it.

  “What did you see?” Draven held my face gently in his hands. “Seneca, tell me.”

  “I can’t.” I swallowed hard, stomach twisting in painful knots.

  “Yes, you can. Don’t push me away, not now.”

  How could I tell him what I witnessed? The death of Rudarius was one thing, but the monster I turned into? And he had to kill me in the end. It destroyed him then. If he knew now… Gods, why was this happening? What had I done to piss off the universe?

  “Seneca—” he started to say.

  The doors to the hall burst open.

  “Majesties! We found them outside the gates! We need a healer!” a fae guard shouted.

  I frowned, unsure of who was with him until he stepped aside.

  Shane appeared. He wasn’t alone. There was a woman at his side, fae, older, and very weak. She leaned heavily on him until her legs gave out and they fell to the floor.

  Draven and I sprinted to his side to help.

  The woman reached for my hand. “Seneca, thank the gods you’ve come home,” she declared, lifting her head.

  “You, I know you.”

  Her white hair was dirty and matted, but I would never forget that face. She was the old woman from my memories, the one who came to check on me. Before I could bombard her with questions, or Shane about what the hell happened, Lark stumbled into the hall, also supporting someone.

  The man grunted in pain and then his eyes locked onto mine.

  “Macron.”

  “Seneca.”

  I blurred to his side. He hugged me close as if he was my father and I had finally come home. I held him just as tightly, my anger at his leaving me disappearing after all the shit I’d gone through recently. He had come to save me from Rudarius. He risked his life to get me out of there when my own family abandoned me. There was no more time to be angry with him.

  “I thought you wouldn’t make it,” I murmured, leaning back from him as he held my shoulders firmly in his grasp.