From The Shadows : Book 2 in the Mortisalian Saga

by L. J. Stock

  “Prepare for receiving,” Damon shouted as he pulled me toward a set of double doors. “Be prepared for leeching. They knew we were waiting.”

  The soldiers removed their swords from their scabbards in a regimented union. All of them seemed prepared for the worst. I didn't have much time to dwell on it or follow the soldiers as they fell into protocol. Damon was already pulling me through the huge double doors and a large receiving room that was prepared for the water and fire nymphs. Damon barked the same orders to the guards there and was given the same response.

  “What the hell is going on?” I asked, pulling my hand from his as we reached a back stairwell that twisted up at a steep angle. “What the hell aren't you telling me now, Damon?”

  “We had a contingency plan. I have to get you to your family and await orders.”

  “Where's the king? Shannon? Rasmus? Grigori? They were all supposed to follow.”

  “Cass...”

  I took a step back, not liking the way he said my name. There was, yet again, something they'd failed to disclose to me. They hadn't told me this contingency plan. I knew nothing about what was happening and I didn't like it one bit. The only reason they wouldn't tell me something was if they knew I wouldn't agree with it.

  Damon took a step down from where he'd already mounted the stairs, and I retreated another step. I felt betrayed.

  “Cass, you have to—”

  “I have to what? Trust you?” I snapped, keeping my eyes on his. “After all of you purposefully lied to me? Again! Everyone else is still there, Damon. Alexa, Zander, my father, Shannon, Grigori, Rasmus... Do you want me to go on? How could you let them do this behind my back?”

  “Because you are the princess,” he shouted, taking two steps toward me and closing the distance between our bodies. His hands closed around the tops of my arms as he leaned in closer.

  “And my father is the king,” I bellowed back, shrugging his hands from my arms. “You think I couldn't have handled the truth? That I’m too stupid or ignorant to follow orders? I am so sick and tired of being sheltered, Damon. I'm old enough to make my own decisions. All of you are in so much damn trouble if they survive this. I will not be treated like an imbecile, especially not by you.”

  I pushed past him and stormed up the stairs. The lack of footsteps behind me alerted me to the fact that he wasn't following. I stopped just short of the first curve and turned to glare at him.

  “Why?” I asked, my tone a little less hostile. “After everything we've been through together, you know I hate lies and betrayal, yet you were so quick to cut me out of this yet again.”

  “It wasn't my decision to make,” he replied, guilt lacing his tone.

  I shook my head sadly and turned on the stairs, pushing my way up them without another word. I followed the spiral around and up until I landed in a long corridor with light barely filtering in from the other end. I marched toward it, curious as to whether it was hidden behind a tapestry, as it would have been in the previous palace. Before I reached it, arms circled my waist and spun me toward one of the walls. My breath whooshed from me as an imposing body leaned over mine.

  “Why must you endanger your life every chance you get?” He dropped his forehead to my shoulder and huffed out a long breath.

  “What the hell are you talking about, Damon?” I asked, defeated.

  “When you find out, you're going to make me take you back.”

  I cupped his cheeks awkwardly between my hands and angled his face so I could see his eyes. He knew me so well. He knew that I would never let harm befall anyone I loved, and that the guilt would be too much if I was here and they died protecting me. The fact that they seemed to be risking their lives all for me to begin with was enough to piss me off all over again. We'd had a chance to escape with no casualties and they'd stayed to fight and execute the plan. Maybe Damon was right about me returning, and maybe he was wrong. Either way, I should have had the right to make my own decision. There were too many people I cared about stuck back in that palace, all of them still in danger.

  “Tell me.”

  “If they moved in prior to the ball, the king insisted he distract them enough to get everyone out.”

  “What? Is he out of his fucking mind?” I shouted, dropping my hands. “He's the king, Damon. Do you think for a second they would hesitate in killing him? Do you know what you've done? The only reason they kept me alive was to kill me in front of them and then kill him. Grigori knew this. Why... Oh shit!”

  There was no reason for Grigori to stay there and fight, and he’d known that my father was just as much of a target as I was. I had no doubt in my mind that he’d told them that, too, and they’d made their own contingency plan. Grigori’s information had been invaluable during the planning of the attack. He was the only reason we’d known what was coming with any kind of certainty. If he could glean more information from them, we’d have a chance at winning the whole thing.

  “What?” Damon asked me, his eyes wide as he tried to read my expression as I put the pieces together.

  “You mean it wasn’t part of the plan you knew? You didn't figure it out?” I asked, struggling to get past him and head back down the stairs. Damon wasn’t ready to relinquish control, though, and pushed me against the wall with his hands on my hips, and locked me there, confusion behind his eyes. Maybe he hadn't put the pieces together. Maybe he hadn't figured it out. He was little more than a diversion himself, it seemed. Need to know basis, just like me.

  “Damon, they're going to use Grigori as leverage. They're going to put him behind enemy lines again.”

  “What are you talking about, Cass?”

  I struggled harder against him, but his hands moved to my wrists and gripped me like manacles, his body pressing against mine so I was trapped between him and the wall. At any other time, my blood would have been heating for a whole different reason.

  “They're going to send Grigori in with the enemy as a spy, but they don't realize they're going to get him killed. They know he helped us. They know he defected. How else would he have survived and escaped so easily?”

  “What?” he asked again, dropping his hands from my wrists as the color drained from his face. I could see the confusion in his eyes, even in the dim light of the corridor we were inhabiting. “They wouldn't.”

  The world seemed to spin around me as my thoughts smashed against the edges of my brain. Shannon surely knew how little the enemy trusted Grigori. I had to be wrong about this; she would never endanger his life. Grigori would never agree to this, unless... Unless they'd used me and my life to convince him.

  “We have to go back.” I could hear the panic in my voice as I attempted to climb over Damon and rush back to the stairs. His eyes narrowed slightly and he shook his head. I could see the resolve building behind the hazel. Whether or not he agreed with me was irrelevant now. I was his first priority and my father knew it. It was for that reason Damon was asked to do this, to hold me back in the safety of the new palace. The king knew Damon wouldn't allow me to return.

  “No. I promised the king.”

  “Fuck the king, Damon. All of their lives are at stake. Not just Grigori's. They'll know it's all a plot. They won't hesitate to kill them the moment they have them cornered. If you won't take me, I'll go by myself. I swear I will.”

  “I will not risk your life, Cass.”

  I pushed against his chest violently, startling him enough that he stumbled, giving me the opportunity to take off running back the way I'd come. Damon's voice echoed behind me as I found the stairs and started my descent. My feet moved quickly against the steps, my hands trailing along the cool stone of the wall as I moved so quickly I felt weightless. I hoped they weren't that stupid. I hoped Shannon and Grigori were not sacrificing themselves because they'd been told it was for my life or the damned prophecy.

  If I was right, this plan would mean the execution of every one of them. The king couldn't be naïve enough to believe that they would accept Grigori back i
nto their folds without consequences. He'd lost their greatest prize and become captured in the process. It would make him look weak in their eyes. He would be murdered before he reached their side.

  I couldn't let them do this and I couldn't let anyone else die in my place. If I had to go back there and kill every last one of the latros and veneficus, I would do it. The betrayal of being kept out of this stung and I was certain my dad realized that. He'd taken a risk of his own and I'd be damned if it paid off.

  I was barely two feet onto the flat stone floor when arms encircled me and hoisted me into the air. My legs kicked wildly as I used my weight to my advantage. Both Damon and I went down hard, my knees sending blinding pain up through my back until I yelled out in pain.

  “I will not let you put yourself in danger,” he growled into my ear, unapologetically. I could feel his anger embrace me like a second set of arms, but I couldn’t let them do this. “I love you, Cass. I love you and I will not allow you to get yourself killed.”

  “Let go of me, Damon.”

  “No.”

  I rolled to the side to fight the binding of his arms, and he rolled with me, his knees on the stone on either side of my hips as he locked me in place. His hands locked both of mine above my head, but he'd taught me too well to let him get away with that. With a twist of my body and a thrust of my hips, I was able to wiggle free while he was off balance. I crawled away from him on hands and knees, panting for breath, only to have his weight land on my back as his body pushed me to the ground.

  “Stop. Fighting. Me.”

  “Then let me go.”

  “So you can get yourself killed? Never.”

  I found my feet and dug them into the stone, grunting at the effort it took to shift his weight from mine. We struggled some more, rolling across the ground as we pushed and pulled in the fight. He was so much stronger than I was, and he'd taught me everything I knew so he anticipated every move I made.

  “Please. Stop fighting me. I'm doing this because I love you. You think this is easy for me?”

  “Then stop fighting me and help me.”

  “If you go back there, you will die. You're the target. You're what they want. If you believe they want your father, you're a fool. He’s no longer a risk to them. You may not like this decision, but if something does happen to him for some reason, you're all that's left. Can't you see that?”

  “I can't let them die.”

  “They won't die,” he promised breathlessly.

  “Damon, please.”

  “I can't,” he whispered, sounding broken.

  I felt the first tear roll down my cheek. I was so torn between getting to my family and giving Damon what he wanted. He'd never asked me for anything. He'd never once held back. All he wanted was my safety and I was compromising it by fighting him to go back. The only problem was, giving him what he wanted meant compromising my beliefs.

  All I had was my will to fight and to keep the people I loved safe.

  We struggled for a while longer, both of us exerting energy as we fought with passion. He was fighting for my life, and I was fighting for the people I cared about. Little did I know that all of it was about to become irrelevant.

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  The blood-curdling scream filled the huge stone foyer and reverberated from the walls. It settled in the small alcove around us, shrouding us in its intensity. Damon and I were still tangled together, fighting for domination, but the sound separated us. With our fight forgotten, he jumped to his feet before pulling me to mine and stepping in front of me, all while unsheathing his sword in one easy movement. My hand reached for his other sword automatically.

  Armed, we looked at one another and knew that this wasn't just a false alarm. Something big had happened in the foyer—something no one had counted on or made a contingency plan for. I could hear the pounding of feet heading toward us, and my heart leaped into my throat. Damon jumped into action the louder it became and made sure I was covered as he took a protective stance in front of me. I felt the power rolling off of him in waves as he shifted the sword for a better grip and set himself into a fight stance. The familiarity of it strengthened me.

  Thankfully, his preparation wasn't needed. One of the vis liberi came hurtling around the corner like hell was at her heels and stopped dead in front of us, her eyes wide with terror.

  “Get the Princess out of here. Now. Before it's too late,” she cried, her eyes wide with fear and limbs trembling as she looked back toward the large stone room she'd just run from.

  Before she could take another step, her eyes rolled and she fell to her knees with a weak cough. Red liquid pooled at the corners of her mouth. She sucked in a shocked breath and shuddered, the sudden movement making it drop slowly like a tear.

  I could see the apology in her eyes as she glanced at me. The regret. Whatever nightmare had come, it had caught a ride with her and she'd known it. She hadn't been trained enough to deal with a veneficus. The vis liberi were supposed to have been evacuated long before the magicians had arrived, which only told me something had gone drastically wrong. The girl slumped to the ground face first with the ruby hilt of a dagger protruding from deep within her spine.

  We didn’t have time to mourn her passing or react to the new information before the heavy tread of another set of feet came toward us quickly. Whoever had given the coup de grâce to this poor vis liberi was heading our way quickly. I knew we wouldn't be as lucky this time. I had no idea what had happened to the soldiers who had been surrounding the elemental landing pads, and I wasn't sure I wanted to know. They were the army of the realm, the king’s army, not the Regius Custos or vis liberi, just human Mortisalians, and I was sure they'd been even less prepared than the poor girl lying on the ground in a pool of her own blood.

  Regardless of how scared I was, I knew that Damon and I could work together to confront what was coming. We were well trained for battle. I felt terrible that I'd gotten us into this mess, but in a way I was also glad it had worked out the way it had. At least we wouldn’t be caught off guard, and the enemy wouldn't quietly infiltrate the palace where the people I loved were sat waiting for us, protected by a skeleton guard of Regius Custos and the army of humans. At least this way they wouldn't be caught up in all of this. All I could think about as the steps grew louder was my nephews, both so young and innocent. If it stayed within my power, I would never let this war touch them.

  “Cass,” Damon murmured in warning, but rather than answering him, I rested my hand on his back, letting him know I was right there with him. That I was by his side and willing to take on whatever came at us.

  I knew it was reckless to endanger my own life now, though I'd been told I had a propensity for it, but one of the very things worth living for was stood directly in front of me. I wasn't going to let him take this on alone. Not after what I’d just witnessed with the poor girl lying at our feet.

  The looming shadows from the torches on the wall made the oncoming attacker appear larger than life and the enclosed space of the anti-chamber we were in made his steps deafening. The darkness that preceded him was stretched out and wide, decidedly nefarious in its approach. Each movement was cautious now, like he wasn't sure what was waiting for him. He was wary about what lay ahead. I just wished I could have said we were being just as vigilant.

  As with any other battle, I dug deep and called for my training. I went over everything in my mind, stretching as far back as those first training sessions with Damon, all the way through to the magic I had been practicing since my capture, and subsequent release. There was so much packed in my head that I felt as though I could take on an army as my fingers flexed around the hilt of my sword and my legs shuffled apart. The adrenaline that was beginning to pique in my system was now being pumped through my veins with the mercurial beat of my heart against my ribs.

  Each breath I took seemed to bring our attacker closer. Both Damon and I were standing in the shadows of the small alcove that led to the spiral staircase,
leading to the main palace and my family. This moment would be the start of something we had no choice but to finish. As handy as it was, most of the things I'd learned from Gori were about escape, and though the thought of getting out of there was more tempting than I would ever admit out loud, fleeing would only leave the entrance to the palace unguarded and open for attack. I wouldn't put the people who worked for us, the people I loved, in danger. We were the only line of defense on this side, and I would stay here until every last one of the people who had stayed to defend us in the old palace were back home and safe. I was determined that nothing would get through the two of us. Together, we were a formidable force.

  The moment the figure breached the corner, I could feel the fear rise in my throat like a bubble. The veneficus was huge, and he towered over both Damon and I, thick shoulders held high with his pride and arrogance. The white mask he wore left him expressionless. All I could see was his assessment through his dead eyes as he sized the two of us up.

  I hadn't counted on the mass of him, but it didn't make me any less prepared for what was coming. He could be the first in a long line of attackers to come for all we knew. There were no guarantees that this hadn't been their strategy to begin with.

  “How fortuitous,” his deep, accented voice drawled, barely hindered by the inconvenience of his mask. “I was here looking for you, Princess Cassandra.” He twisted his sword in his grip and spread his arms in invitation. “I believe you and I have a score to settle.”

  My discountenance flared within me as his foot nudged the dead girl at his feet. It rode through my limbs like fire and consumed me. Every ounce of hatred I felt, every minute of being locked in that cell against my will manifested as boldness and came to the forefront. They were all bullies—powerful, but petty all the same.