Everwinter (Chronicles of Naelyra Book 1)

by R. J. Lloyd

  Kane went to touch my cheek, but I flinched, causing pain to swell up in his expression. "So, am I wrong for feeling this protective over you?"

  My shoulders sagged. "You are wrong for yelling at me. You are wrong for scolding me in front of people like a child. And you are wrong for reacting so immaturely as to undress in front of Sarah AND Indrell to get back at me!" Tears trailed down my cheeks. “I thought that you would playfully scold me and tell me that I'm yours and not for others to be seen. I did not think you would scare me and then humiliate me." I slammed the door again.

  I heard a thump. And by the weight of it, I could only assess that it was him, dropping his head to the door. I imagined him standing there, forehead touching the wood, hands on either side of him doing the same, a look of anger and frustration with me pulling his lips thin.

  But instead, I was surprised by his tone. “And for that, I cannot express to you how deeply I regret my reaction. Please, Auri. Open the door.”

  I wrapped my arms around myself, feeling exposed and frail. "You scared me."

  "Did you really think I was going to physically harm you? I was not the one throwing objects," he retorted.

  "I'm sorry about that." I curled into myself.

  "I am sorry for scaring you," he said softly.

  Cautiously, I opened the door. At first, I didn’t look up at him. A small, thin thread of stubborn fury clung in my consciousness. It pulled my nerves taut and refused to allow my need for his comfort to pass and take hold. I stood, holding the towel to me, looking down. It wasn’t until I felt his touch, as his fingers running down my arms, did I feel it snap.

  His arms wound around me as he curled me into him, kissing my hair. "I am so sorry, Auri," he whispered in my ear. "I was once called the Prince of Rage. I am reminded now just how bad I can be." He rubbed my back.

  I stood and sobbed against him until I started to hiccup. And the whole time, he just held me, stroking my hair and letting me get it all out. But I wasn’t just crying over our fight. I was crying over everything. The loss of my life on my home planet. The fear of being in a strange world. The anger of being practically hunted. And the uncertainty of the safety of our future family. I sobbed for it all, and I think he knew that.

  Finally, he pulled me back slightly. "You need some water."

  I nodded and looked around. "Yes."

  He went to the table where Sarah had placed the food and water pitcher. Pouring a glass full and grabbing a few small bites of food, he brought them over to me. "Here you go."

  “Thank you.”

  I took the glass and climbed into my chair by the fireplace. After taking a drink, I swallowed hard. I went to stand, realizing I was still only covered by the towel, but he put a hand on my shoulder. “What do you need?”

  “Clothes. Please,” I reply.

  Without saying anything, Kane went to the wardrobe, returning with a soft, full length nightgown and matching robe. Helping me into it, he took the towel to the bathroom, returning once again. This time, he knelt down and placed a pair of extremely soft socks on my feet.

  Rubbing my calves, he looked up at me. “I need to be more understanding of how difficult this all is for you. You are always so brave… so strong. Not unlike my warriors. Not at all like a typical woman. I find that I forget that this is not a normal life for you. I will endeavor not to forget in the future.”

  I wrapped the robe around me tighter, eating one of the crackers he had brought me. "I am sorry."

  "Me too." He sat back and let out a breath. "All I wanted to do was kiss you awake this morning."

  "You were angry because people came?" I sipped the water, looking at him curiously.

  "I was not angry. But I was not pleased either. Our alone time is often short or cut off. And I wanted our first morning back home to be a lot less filled with aggression and worry,” he admitted.

  I started to giggle and clasped my hand over my mouth. Slowly lowering it, I batted my eyes. “You get very jealous over me.” I straightened up, gathering myself and appearing serious again. “But you can’t take that out on me!”

  He nodded. "Yes. I understand that now." He stood and held a hand out to me. "Forgive me."

  Taking his hand, I let him pull me up into an embrace. "Probably always." I smiled sweetly up at him. "What is going on with this body that was found? Did you go see?”

  He shook his head, kissing my hand near the ring. “No. I came back for you. I am not sure who it is. But I should go meet Dorian. He is no doubt restless that I have not come yet.”

  Suddenly, I was embarrassed for the whole ordeal. “Sorry. Yes. Please. Go tend to your duties. I’ll stay in here. I do need to eat, and I think I need Indrell’s help.”

  He gripped my shoulders and looked me over. “Are you alright? Did this argument cause you harm?”

  I shifted so my hands rest on his biceps as I leaned in and kissed his cheek. “It has just been several hours, and I am feeling that I am due. That’s all. Go. I’ll be fine.”

  “As you wish. I’ll let your ladies know they are welcome to come in.” He returned the kiss.

  Before he had time to turn and leave, Indrell and Sarah were already in the room, trailed by Oberlea. All three women were chattering away as Wulfgar muttered to Kane, who exited, “Women and their gossip. You’d think they would respect your privacy. Is she in line now?”

  “She is always in line. It was me who stepped out of line. She will make a better ruler than I have been I suspect.” I saw Kane when he looked back at us, a smile gracing his handsome features. “They care for her and are protective. I cannot fault them for that.” He closed the door behind him.

  Chapter

  Sixteen

  The Escapee

  I picked up the water and a handful of the nuts from the tray and went to the window seat. Giving only complaisant responses to the others when they addressed me, I went and looked out, pushing open the stained-glass panes so I could look out over the courtyard.

  After a moment, Kane emerged out onto the cobblestone walkway trailed by several men in armor. The small battalion included Saarzlairn, Alret and Dorian. The others I did not recognize.

  Dorian fell in step with Kane. “One of my men pulled her down from where she was found.”

  “Pulled her down? Where was she found?” Kane stopped walking and looked around at the men around him.

  “She was hanging from my shop, my liege,” Alret replied.

  “The body was hanging from or in your shop?” Kane inquired.

  Even from the distance I was at, I could see and just make out their words. The bookshop keeper looked unwell at what he had found. With his hand over his mouth as if holding back nausea, Dorian answered for him. “She was hanging off the metal rod that holds the shop’s sign on the front of the building, impaled by it. She had been drained.”

  “Has anyone been able to identify her?” Kane, again, searched the men for answers.

  “No,” Dorian answered. “We only know that she was human, brunette, petite and not from Everwinter that we know of.”

  “There have been men assigned to look into the matter,” Saarzlairn added.

  Lochlin came across the cobblestones, walking as if on a mission. Stopping in front of Kane, he bowed. “My liege.”

  “Lochlin. Is there news on the woman’s death?” As the men came in closer, Kane held his hand out.

  “No. Unless the two are connected,” Lochlin scanned the soldiers around them. “Mika is gone.”

  “What?” Kane stiffened.

  “Mika was being held in the cells when we left. Hearing about this woman’s death, I went to check, having a feeling something was off. And she is gone,” Lochlin explained. “No struggle. No reports of her manipulating her way out. None of the guards know anything. I could only ascertain that she was lost two days ago.”

  Kane spun around to face Dorian. “Why did you not tell me of this?”

  “My liege.” Dorian took a step back. “I was not awar
e that…”

  Lochlin interrupted him, “Dorian was there this morning. He knows. As did Saarzlairn.” The soldier’s eyes narrowed on the pair of men next to Alret and Kane.

  In one swift motion, Kane reached around and grabbed Dorian by the throat, lifting him off the ground. Lochlin, following suit, blurred over, catching Saarzlairn and pinning his arms behind his back. Both captives struggled until Kane spoke.

  Staring at Dorian, he asked Saarzlairn, “Why did you meet my carriage to check on the condition of my bride?”

  Saarzlairn stuttered, causing Lochlin to shake him hard. “Answer him!”

  Stammering again before finding his words, Saarzlairn replied, “Mika wants her dead. Not because of the prophecy. She could care less. But she’s jealous.”

  Kane turned to Dorian, whose feet were dangling and his hands were trying to pry Kane’s locked fingers off. “Dorian… Your love for my protégé has not gone unnoticed. Nor has your dislike for the woman that I love. Don’t tell me that you’re jealous as well.”

  Dorian sputtered, “Don’t be ridiculous.” He gasped with each word. “I want Auriena alive.”

  “And why would you want that if the woman you love wants her dead? Would it not be in your best interest to make that happen?” Kane questioned him angrily.

  The officer chocked, struggling to get any more words out. “No.”

  “Why not?” Kane roared.

  “Because.” Dorian gasped for air. “If Auriena is dead, then Mika will think she can have you again. As long as Auriena is alive, you are not available for her.”

  Kane lowered him to the ground. Not letting go, he held him in place and looked around at those assembled. “Take these two to the cells. Place the guards there in cells as well. If anyone is not accounted for, I will drain each of you. If my orders are not obeyed, those who disobey will be laid out in the quarter and feasted upon. “

  Four men stepped forward by Lochlin’s commend. Taking Saarzlairn and Dorian in restraints, they led them toward the cells. The rest of the men waited for Kane’s next orders.

  I realized that I hadn’t heard anything from the women in the room with me. Figuring that they’d gotten lost in conversation, I went to pry myself away from the window. But as I went to back up, I ran into someone. And it dawned on me that I knew the energy radiating from the person behind me.

  “Isn’t he god-like when he’s like that? So powerful, commanding… gorgeous. Wouldn’t you say?” The female leaned into me.

  “Mika?” Her name came out in a whisper.

  Again, I went to turn, but she leaned into me, pinning me against the window seat. “I bet you are curious how you didn’t feel me coming, aren’t you? How you could sit here and be so completely distracted by the scene below that you didn’t feel me coming up right behind you, let alone the time it took me to deal with your little entourage.”

  No!” I tried to turn again, panicking that she’d killed them. “Mika! They didn’t do anything to you. Please tell me you didn’t…”

  She waved her hand dismissively. “Oh, come on. I am a savage in my own right. But I’m no monster. I didn’t kill them. Would you like me to lift the wall around you so you can hear?”

  I choked back my fear, nodding my head. “Please, Mika.”

  “Please, Mika, Please, Mika. You are pathetic!”

  She must have lifted whatever barrier she’d placed around me, because the sounds of all three women came crashing in around me as they struggled against what sounded like bindings. It was a mixed sense of relief that they weren’t dead but still causing my stomach to drop knowing they were not out of danger.

  “Now,” Mika twirled a lock of my hair around her finger. “Let us discuss your role in our beloved Kane’s life.”

  She backed up, allowing me to finally turn and look at her. To look around the room. Seeing my friends tied and gagged, all lying on the floor caused bile to rise up in the back of my throat. Two men in armor stood by the door. And Mika, posed, casually checking her fingernails, eyeing me.

  She didn’t let me speak. Instead, she paced before me with a smirk on her face. “He loves me. He’s just angry at me for taking on a lover, and you’re his revenge. You are nothing more than a distraction and a means to anger me into jealousy. A game of which I will admit he’s won. But now that I am ready to give him his way, I need you out of mine.”

  I tucked my hand behind me, hiding the ring Kane had given me when he proposed, not wanting to take the chance of her seeing it. “If he loves you, then would he not tell you? Would he not call this off before more people get hurt?”

  “No!” She yelled. Calming herself, her head twitched. Then, as if she hadn’t had an outburst, she continued, “He needs me to prove myself and my dedication to him. And getting rid of you will do just that.”

  My hand went to my stomach, realizing just how disposable she felt I was.

  Flicking her wrist, she pursed her lips. “Oh yeah. That.” She said the word as if completely disgusted. “Well, I have to decide on that, now don’t I? I mean, he might be attached to the idea of having a kid. So, I can either kill you now and rid you of our lives completely, which, if you ask me, is my preferred path. Or I can lock you away somewhere until the baby is born, take the little parasite or two… however many you’re growing in there… and gift them to him later, dispatching you then.” She tapped her chin with one long, pointed fingernail.

  “You’re deranged,” I breathed.

  “You…” She pointed the same nail at me. But instead of finishing her sentence, a wicked grin fell across her lips.

  The look in her eyes caused me to back up, climbing up onto the window seat. One hand on the wall and one on the half of the window that was closed, I watched her, trying to get a gauge on her next move. But she was so unhinged, that made her frighteningly unpredictable.

  Trying to think of something, anything to get away from her and to Kane, I was at a loss. But as I shifted, I felt my foot against something hard on the windowsill. Recognition dawned on me that it must have been the water glass I’d been using.

  I started sobbing. Letting the tears slide down my face as my cries grew loud, trying as best I could to draw her in. “Please don’t do this, Mika!”

  “Oh, shut up!” She held her hands over her ears.

  I was just hoping to make enough noise to cover up what I wanted to do, but her reaction was perfect. I slid my foot back, pushing the glass out of the window. It plummeted down to the cobblestone below, shattering at the feet of one of the soldiers by my estimate of where they had been standing before.

  I wanted so badly to look down. To see that not only did Kane see where the glass came from but was on his way. But I didn’t want her to know what I’d done. I continued to sob, pretending as if I was getting a grip on myself.

  And as I did, she lowered her hands, her nose wrinkled. “Ugh! How does he stand you?”

  It took every bit of me not to snap back with a snide comment. “Please just don’t hurt my babies.”

  “So, there are two?” She grinned evilly and walked over to me, yanking me off the bench. Pressing her hand to my stomach, she waited. “How do you know?”

  “The prophecy,” I replied.

  “Bah!” She yanked back. “Kane does not believe in such things. And even if it is true, one less brat to deal with when the other takes them out, and I’ll side with the stringer, making me in their favor. I am not worried.”

  What little I ate rolled in my stomach. “How can you possibly think that he would love you when you’re like this? You’re cruel?”

  She grabbed my hair and yanked me to the side. “Kane can be cruel. It is why I love him! Do not be fooled to think that he is some good man. He is a monster. And that is why we belong together. That is why he made me. He knows my true nature and knows we belong together.”

  “Wrong.” Kane’s voice resonated from the doorway. “Let her go, Mika. Or so help me, I will end you in the worst way imaginable.”

>   “What do you mean, wrong?” She hissed, not letting me go, but, instead, tucked me behind her.

  Kane’s grip tightened on his sword. I watched as Lochlin and Wulfgar worked to untie the ropes binding the women. Sarah clung to Wulfgar as he pulled the rope free from her wrists, tears staining her cheeks as she signed to help me.

  The door banged off of the wall as Aeden ran. “Indrell!” he shouted.

  The sudden disruption made me jump. Obviously, it startled Mika as well. She moved fast, gripping me painfully by the arm and bringing me in front of her and pulling my wrist to her lips.

  Aeden’s eyes went wide as he took in the scene around him, but when he saw her on the floor, bound, fury ignited in his face. “What is going on, my liege?” He edged over to Indrell carefully.

  “Mika!” Kane growled. “Stop!”

  Mika’s lips curled into a smirk. “Welcome to the party, Emalne. I am just ridding myself of a hurdle. Right, Kane? Just a prop in our little game we’ve been playing.” Her teeth extended. “But I’m done playing. It’s time we end this.”

  She sank her fangs into the thin flesh that covered the veins in my wrist. The feel of her bite was nothing like Kane’s. It was excruciating, burning. I cried out in pain, my knees starting to buckle, but she held me up with her other arm.

  “I will end you,” Kane snarled.

  She bit harder. This time, my legs gave out, and I went slack. She dropped me, and I rested at her feet, crumpled over, trying desperately to edge away from the pain that radiated through me.

  Mika caught a droplet of my blood with her finger as it slid down her lip, pushing it into her mouth and moaning as if eating the best desert that she’d ever had. “Oh, Kanedraven. Now I see why you enjoy her so much. She’s sweet. I can taste the power in her blood. Maybe we should keep her just so we can feast on her on special occasions.”

  The distance between us and Kane seemed short, but knowing how fast they moved, I knew that the chances that Kane could get to me before Mika could end me were slim. And by the look on his face, he knew it, too.