by Kyra Alessy
Kora didn’t say anything else about Lucian to them. There was clearly something about all of them that drew her in. They were strong and powerful and each was beautiful and intelligent in his own right. They had all struck her as cruel and callous when she’d first met them – and perhaps they still were. But things had begun to shift and she wasn’t sure if it was the men who had changed or if it was simply that she knew them better. Kade and Mace weren’t as cold and apathetic as she’d thought them to be at first.
But Lucian was different. His moods changed with the wind and he could seemingly whip between cruel and kind in a moment. His confusing nocturnal visits to her room to comfort her aside, she’d been on the receiving end of such malice that she wasn’t sure he could put it right even if he wanted to. Her sight had come back, but what if it hadn’t? Could she have ever forgiven such a thing, even if unintentionally done? She didn’t know. Could she ever trust a man like Lucian enough to do the things that she’d done with the others? She snorted. Like as not he’d stab her as he cuddled her to see how much she’d bleed.
The men left her in bed, saying they’d meet her in the library for a morning meal. She’d smiled at that, but once they’d gone, she wondered what would become of her now that she could see again. Would it be back to the kitchens for her? She frowned, her good spirits waning. Would they continue to expect the back-breaking labour that had been demanded since her escape during the day while seeking their pleasures with her at night? If anything, she wouldn’t have a moment’s rest. Perhaps, now that she was well, it was time to reconsider her escape though the thought of leaving them now left her feeling sick.
She dressed in the crimson silk dress, which looked as beautiful as it had felt next to her skin, and made her way from her room to the library without the use of the rope for the first time. Gods, it felt good to have some measure of independence back.
She opened the door to find Lucian sitting with his eyes closed by the cold hearth in one of the more comfortable chairs, goblet on the table next to him as usual. He looked awful! His face was a mass of yellowing bruises and one wrist was bandaged. He sat in an odd position, as if in pain. Kade must have beaten him very badly if he still looked like this days later.
She almost turned on her heel and walked straight out again as she remembered their last meeting. She swallowed hard as she thought about his kiss and then she forced herself to step into the room, pushing her feelings away and trying to appear indifferent to him. She would not flee like a frightened mouse.
There was a pile of sweet buns on a plate in the middle of the table. She took one, ripping it apart to eat the sugary middle first as she walked to the window to take in the sunny view of the vale that she’d sorely missed. When she glanced back at him, his eyes were following her.
‘They told me your sight has returned.’ He looked almost relieved.
‘Yesterday,’ she conceded.
He took a long drink. She’d heard the supply wagons finally delivering from the village early this morning and she wondered whether it was water or wine in his cup.
‘Tell me something about you that I don’t know,’ she said suddenly, finding she wanted to look at his face while he talked. All the other times he’d spoken to her at length, she’d been unable to look into his eyes.
He snorted. ‘There are many things about me that you don’t know.’
‘Then it should be an easy task.’
He eyed her and then gave a long-suffering sigh. ‘Very well.’ He was quiet for a moment. ‘Do you remember the sister I told you of?’
‘Yes. Your only family.’
‘In truth she was simply another gutter orphan, but I loved her like a sister.’
Kora stole another bun from the table and sat in the other chair beside him. ‘Loved?’
‘She’s dead. At least I think she is. There’s no way to know.’ He looked into the empty hearth, his mind suddenly far away. ‘Two years ago, before we left the Brothers, we were given a mission to enter the Dark Realm where Kade hails from.’ He shook his head slowly. ‘I don’t even remember the specifics it was such a trivial matter. We got there and found a group of humans ready to be sent over the bridge as slaves. My sister, Lori, was one of them. I couldn’t believe it, but it was her. I saw her just as she went through the portal. She’d been captured on one of the northern roads, I suppose. I hadn’t seen her since I’d joined the Army, but I thought of her often, sent her letters after I learned to write.’ He took a long breath. ‘We entered the passage, but it collapsed. When we woke, Mace had disappeared. Most of the captured free-folk were dead. The gate was … gone. There was just a chasm in the rock where it had been. That was the first portal collapse. Since that time there have been six more.’
‘Six? Why?’
‘No one knows, but there are seven realms closed to ours now.’
Kora tilted her head. ‘And your sister?’
‘I never found her. My hope is that she died in the tunnel before she reached the other side.’
Her eyes widened at his admission. ‘You’d rather she was dead?’
‘Better that than a slave in a dark realm.’
‘I’m sorry,’ she said. All of them had been through such torment. She couldn’t fathom it.
He gave her a quizzical smile. ‘You are, aren’t you? Even after everything.’
She shrugged and changed the subject. ‘Mace told me about the dungeon.’
‘Did he?’ Lucian looked surprised.
‘He didn’t talk about anything specific, only that there were horrors that I could never grasp. Do you know more?’
‘No. He’s never spoken to me, but,’ Lucian paused before continuing, ‘judging from his nightmares and the state of him when he came back, I’d guess rape and torture.’
‘Gods,’ Kora breathed. ‘In one moment, all three of your lives were forever changed.’
‘Indeed,’ Lucian replied, taking another gulp.
She couldn’t help but ask. ‘Are you drinking water or wine today? I know the supplies are here.’
‘Ah, ah, ah, Kora,’ he tutted. ‘You’ve had your question. Now it’s my turn.’
She gave him an unsurprised glare. ‘So this is your game. You mean to get the truth out of me with trickery.’
He grinned roguishly. ‘It’s your game, my dear, not mine.’
She ignored the endearment, though it made her heart beat a little faster, as she thought of what she could tell him that wouldn’t give her away. Her gaze fell on the beloved harp, now lying on the table. ‘Playing the harp brings me a joy unlike any other. But until yesterday, I hadn’t picked one up nor even seen one for nigh on twelve winters.’
‘Why not?’ asked Lucian, visibly intrigued.
‘Because one night my father decided I was being difficult and stubborn and he threw it in the fire.’ She smiled faintly. ‘I burnt my hand trying to get it out before they pulled me away. Then he forbade me from ever playing again.’
Lucian looked thoughtful. ‘Not very close to your father, then?’
She smiled in spite of herself. ‘No.’
The door opened and Davas entered. He strode forward and enveloped her in a great hug. ‘Mace told me! I’m so glad your sight’s come back, child,’ he said warmly, ‘but I’m afraid that Kade and Mace won’t be able to join you this morning now.’ He looked at Lucian. ‘The thieves’ trail has been found. They want you with them today.’
‘Of course,’ Lucian drawled with his token arrogance. ‘I am the better tracker. If I’d been with them yesterday, they’d never have lost the trail in the first place.’ He stood slowly, stiffly, and Kora didn’t miss the pain that flitted over his features.
‘Surely you aren’t well enough to go,’ she blurted out before she could think better of it.
Something hard flitted across his face but it was gone before she could understand what it was. ‘You sound concerned.’
‘I am. If you hurt yourself further, I’ll never have the library t
o myself,’ she said dryly.
He laughed. ‘Say what you will, Kora,’ he said and winked at her, ‘you’d be bereft without my company.’ He gave a courtly bow and, with a very Lucianesque flourish, he was gone.
She found herself left alone, mulling over all that Lucian had divulged to her. She grabbed his goblet off the table and took a sip. Water. Curious.
For the rest of the morning, Kora waited for the Brothers to return. She read and played the harp. She even came across the estate’s account books and, finding them in utter disarray, spent some time sorting out the figures for them as the Brothers clearly needed help in this area. But, when that was done as well, she still couldn’t seem to relax. She couldn’t understand it. Perhaps it was some pent-up energy from being confined and inactive for so many days. She went to the kitchens to see if Davas needed help.
As soon as she entered, she could see something wasn’t right. The cook was pale and his gaze unfocused as he hunched over the table, a large ball of dough in front of him. He was kneading a small piece, making the many fresh boules for the dinner tonight. He worked the dough slowly, weakly, and stopping frequently to wipe his brow.
‘Davas? What’s wrong?’ she asked in worry.
He blinked and gave a groan. ‘I get megrims sometimes.’
She tutted. ‘You need rest,’ she admonished, but he waved her away.
‘I can’t. There’s work to be done.’
She took his hand. ‘Please, Davas, you don’t look well at all. Tell me what must be done and I will do it.’
He swore under his breath as he typically did. ‘Ach! Very well, lass, but only because this truly is the worst one I’ve had in many a season.’
He gave her some brief directions before staggering from the kitchens, scoffing when she asked if he needed her help to get to his bed. ‘I’ve been in over twenty campaigns with the Brothers,’ he boasted, his speech slurred. ‘I can make it to my bed with a headache, girl.’
She smiled after him. He was a sweet man really. He was the sort of father she’d wished for when she was a child.
After he’d gone, Kora pottered about, finishing the bread and leaving the boules to rise under a cloth until it was time for them to be baked on the hot stones that lined the hearth. It was so odd to think that a few weeks ago she hadn’t known how to do any of these things. She tidied the kitchen and chopped the vegetables for the nightly stew, making sure all was ready so that there would be a meal even if Davas was still unwell later that day.
She was just finishing when she heard shouts from the yard that usually heralded the Brothers’ return to the keep, and her heart stuttered. She went out of the kitchen door and stood on the steps, watching the frenzy before her. She shivered. The weather had turned over the past couple of days. It had suddenly got colder, the winds bringing a northern bite that had her thinking she would need much warmer clothes soon.
At the prospect of the Brothers’ imminent arrival, she felt giddy. Happy. And yet there was an underlying terror that at any moment the bubble would burst and things would return to how they’d been before the flowers; that they would suddenly decide she was simply a house slave who warmed their beds.
She watched what was going on from her vantage point. The Brothers had only taken half the men, so there were about ten still going about their work as usual, fixing the keep, shoring up the stone battlements and such.
Her eyes narrowed as men on horseback began to enter the yard. They weren’t the Brothers and their men, but two-dozen or so soldiers that she didn’t recognise. She zeroed in on the one who was obviously the leader with his blossom-white horse, emblazoned riding cloak and regal bearing. Then he turned and she could see his face, and her blood ran cold.
‘Slave.’
She tore her eyes away and found – Yorn, was it? – in front of her at the bottom of the steps.
‘I have a name,’ she muttered, glancing back to the lord in the yard.
‘Kora, then,’ he said impatiently. ‘The noble there wants refreshment for himself and his men.’
‘But Davas is ill in bed.’
‘Well, then you’ll have to serve them, unless you’re too high and mighty now you’re fucking the lords of the keep,’ he sneered.
Only a few days ago she would have stepped back and allowed herself to be spoken to in such a way, but something had changed in her. She felt more like her old self, or maybe her patience had run dry. Perhaps it was because of the Brothers, perhaps not, but she found she didn’t much care as she descended the steps and faced him, though she was a head shorter.
Her lip curled as she stared into his face. ‘Who I’m fucking is no concern of yours unless I was fucking you, which I’m not and never will be.’
His hands came up in front of him in surrender. ‘Alright, alright. I know my place. No need for a kerfuffle, lass, but they won’t go until their lord has seen the Brothers.’
‘But the Brothers aren’t here,’ she hissed.
‘Aye, he knows. He wants to wait for ’em, he says.’
‘But – ’
‘They outnumber us,’ he interrupted, giving her a meaningful look. ‘I’ve heard enough of this one to know that he will not take kindly to being asked to delay his business.’
She turned back to look at this lord. Yes, it was definitely him – the man in the green tunic who’d touched her and wanted to buy her that day in Kingway. She gritted her teeth. ‘Take him to the hall, then. Only him. Have his men stay in the yard.’ She turned to go, then stopped as an idea came to her. ‘Is there ale or mead?’
‘Aye. Both now.’
‘Good. Ply them with it, especially the mead, but drink only water yourselves.’
Yorn gave her a probing look and she thought she saw some respect for her that hadn’t been there before.
She shrugged. ‘It’s just in case,’ she said cryptically as she returned to the kitchen to cobble together some refreshments for a man who made her skin crawl. She hoped the Brothers would be back soon, because she had a very bad feeling.
KADE
A wild goose chase. That’s what this was, Kade thought as he watched Lucian limping around, looking at marks and tracks, broken sticks and a pile of horse shit on the sun-dappled track through the forest on the east road.
His Brother caught his eye and shook his head. ‘There’s too much here. This road is well-travelled. Anyone could have left these.’ He pulled himself back up onto his mount, the pain his bruised body was giving him visible in his strained features.
‘Then we go back to the keep and wait for them to resurface,’ Mace said.
Kade swore as he brought his skittish horse alongside the other two. ‘How can these … these fucking thieves hide from us so well? They must have a hiding place close by.’
Lucian nodded thoughtfully. ‘But to find it without help would take too long. Perhaps someone in the village will know of a cave or some such.’
‘The village,’ Kade spat, ‘is full of turncoats. They’ll tell us nothing.’ He shook his head. ‘In my realm no lowly villagers would dare go against their lords, because they’d find their children’s heads on spikes outside their door in the morning.’
Mace threw up his hands. ‘If you want to charge into their homes and behead their children, Brother, please do! But you may find them even less eager to help their “lords” who were part of the Dark Army not too long ago, I should think.’
Kade grunted, knowing Mace was right. They had little enough loyalty from the locals even after two summers here. Trying to build a life out of a practically derelict keep with lands that hadn’t known a strong lord in a very long time, let alone three, had been difficult to say the least. He’d thought the tide was turning in their favour, but now, with these raids … How long before the villages in the area began to heap the blame on their lords’ heads?
‘We should get back to the keep,’ Lucian advised.
Mace snorted. ‘Is that because your ribs ache or because your bollocks do,
Brother?’
Kade chuckled in spite of his low mood as Lucian scowled.
‘Has she even spoken to you willingly?’ Mace goaded.
‘She has. Once or twice,’ Lucian said with bravado.
Mace and their men rode on and Kade hung back for a moment. Lucian wasn’t himself. He was clearly torn and Lucian was never more dangerous than when he was in conflict with himself. In the wrong mood, he’d light the world on fire simply to watch it burn.
‘What are you plotting, Brother?’ he asked, taking Lucian’s reins to stop his horse from leaving.
‘Me?’ he asked innocently. ‘After your beating I’m still recovering from, why would you think I’m scheming? I barely have the strength to sit on my horse.’
Kade’s eyes narrowed. ‘I know you better than you know yourself, Lucian. You’ll not hurt her again.’
Lucian made a frustrated noise. ‘Why do you care what I do with her? She’s a devious, pretty little slavegirl. There are a thousand of her! She’s a passing fancy, that’s all.’
LUCIAN
Kade’s eyes transformed to solid black faster than Lucian had ever seen and he leant back in the saddle in case he attacked.
‘No, Brother, she is not,’ he ground out, his voice sounding inhuman. His eyes cleared just as quickly and he took a deep breath. ‘She is our Fourth.’
Lucian could do nothing but gape for a long moment. ‘Our Fourth‽’ he scoffed finally. ‘Do you fucking hear yourself? You’re Dark Realm, through and through. You used to be a warrior whose name was feared throughout this world and beyond. Now look at you; a tamed rabbit sitting on a girl’s knee pleading for whatever titbits of affection she’ll give you.’ He ran a hand through his long hair. ‘Gods, what has she done to you? To both of you?’ His mouth twisted into a sneer. ‘You’re pathetic, you and Mace both.’ He leant forward. ‘And I’ll remind you that a Fourth can only be taken if all of us accept her. I don’t!’
Kade let out a disappointed sigh, let go of Lucian’s horse and was gone, leaving a cloud of dust that had Lucian choking. He swore at his Brother’s back before urging his mount into a canter to catch up to his idiot Brothers.