Of Blood and Deceit

by Rachel A. Collett

“What happened?” I asked, but he did not answer.

  He whirled on Melia, his voice a forced calm. It sent a tremor down my spine. “Explain yourself, Captain.”

  “I thought she’d enjoy some time outside of her room,” was her simple rejoinder.

  “Very refreshing,” I agreed, wiping blood from my nose.

  His face turned an even brighter shade of red when his eyes focused in on the movement. Castiel produced a handkerchief from his pocket and went to dab the blood. I pulled away. He hesitated, then held out the material to me. Slowly, I took it from his fingers.

  Melia watched me, a smirk tilting her lips, but I didn’t know why.

  “Did you know about this?” Castiel said to Reese.

  Reese lifted his head high. “I did, Your Highness.”

  “This is treason. What would the king say to hear you doing this?”

  Melia straightened her clothes, unconcerned by Castiel’s temperament. “I think the king would like his orders followed.”

  “Excuse me?” I said at the same time Castiel asked, “What orders?”

  She shrugged. “I was ordered to keep a close eye on Ilianna, but I also have to train. How can I be in two places at the same time?”

  His eyes narrowed. “But if he knew you were—”

  “He knows,” she said, placing her hands behind her back.

  Castiel growled. “Of course he does.”

  “Really, Brother. Calm down.” The king’s voice trailed to us from behind, and we whirled. Riaan sat calmly in a nearby chair as if he had been there enjoying the spectacle the entire time. The woman I had seen with him upon our first meeting was with him. This time she wore a seductive deep blue gown, her black locks weaved a breathtaking braid. Upon closer inspection I guessed her to be a few years older than the king, which I found strange, but her beauty would make up for any discrepancies in age. Her fingers slid possessively over Riaan’s shoulder.

  Next to me, Melia stiffened. Her eyes narrowed at the mistress, her jaw muscles clenched.

  The mistress winked at her, and Melia looked away in disgust.

  Mikael stood directly behind them. Black combat gear befitted him, a magnificent sword strapped to his side. He tipped his head to me in acknowledgment, and I gave him a bloody grin.

  Castiel turned to the king. “Explain yourself.”

  Calmly, the king gazed at Melia, signaling for her to leave. Her gaze flickered to the mistress, and Riaan, remembering her presence, waved her away as well. Mikael and Reese trailed them both from the room.

  “You knew of this?” Castiel asked when the door thumped closed.

  “Who do you think ordered Melia to watch over her?”

  “You call this watching over her?” he asked, pointing to my face. “You were supposed to keep her safe.”

  Heat enflamed my cheeks, but I refrained from commenting.

  The king lifted his arms towards me with a proud smile. “And here she is. Safe and sound.”

  And I suddenly understood. He had sent Melia to watch over me—and to assess my abilities. He didn’t have to say it, but I knew. It was what I would have done.

  Castiel smiled, but there was nothing friendly in the act. His voice was an even, controlled pace. And it frightened me. “Remind me to pay back the favor.”

  Riaan tsked. “This is so unlike you, Brother. I wonder what spurred such a nurturing side of you.” Confusion tinted my understanding, but my heart rate spiked at the hidden meaning. He stood and closed the distance. “But we don’t have time for this. The spy is resisting our interrogations.”

  My heart leapt. “Lucan? You found him?”

  “Indeed, Princess. He’s secure within our dungeons along with two other men. It seems as if the information you provided was helpful after all.”

  My chin lifted. Hope sprang within my chest. “Then fulfill your end of the bargain.”

  The king’s blue eyes darkened as he considered me. “Not just yet. It wasn’t actually at one of your locations that we found him and his comrades.”

  “I don’t understand.”

  “Our intel indicates that he had indeed been there, but he evaded our capture. There is only one reason why we were able to apprehend him.”

  “And how was that?”

  “He was betrayed.” He removed a knife to scrape beneath his nail. “No one seems loyal to the kingdom of Eira.”

  “Unfortunately, there are plenty loyal to Johan,” I said, spite tinting my words.

  “Just not his niece or the men closest to him?” He sheathed his knife.

  “His men? Just who betrayed him?”

  “You’ll learn that for yourself. He’s resting now but has asked to speak to his princess. After you see Lucan and the others, and after you are healed, of course. We can’t have anyone that knows you think we would hurt their princess.”

  When Castiel opened his mouth to protest, the king interjected. “They were just sparring, Brother. I would think it helped passed the tedium of waiting.”

  And it was true.

  The king’s lips twisted into a grin. “My healer awaits you, Princess Ilianna.”

  Castiel spun. “Come,” he said, possessing my hand. He pulled me toward the exist, his grasp tight.

  I tried to pry my hand from his, but he held even tighter. My heartbeat increased in speed. His breath huffed. “I was gone for one week—”

  “Two.”

  “What—?”

  Frustration nearly closed my airway, but I waited until we cleared the room, waited until we were out of sight from Riaan’s all-seeing gaze, before ripping away.

  “Stop touching me!” I said, nearly tumbling to the ground from such a violent escape.

  He spun. His hands shot out to assist but dropped to his side at my rebuke.

  My breath heaved and my heart thundered. “Why does everyone keep touching me? And you were gone for nearly two weeks, not one.” Not that I should care.

  “I didn’t mean…” His lips parted. Confusion and shock warred in his expression. “My delayed return couldn’t be helped, my lady.”

  “I—” My mouth clamped closed, not knowing how to respond. I was upset, but I didn’t know why. I wheeled around. “I can see myself back to my room, thank you.”

  But still Castiel followed.

  I closed my eyes, humiliated by my childish outburst. Castiel had captured Lucan and two others. What was more, there was another traitor in Meyrion to interrogate. None of this would have been possible if it weren’t for the prince. I should have felt relieved, but I was far from it.

  Castiel was there before me to open my door. He ushered me inside with an outstretched hand, careful not to touch me. He paused beyond the threshold but kept his back to me.

  “You should have been better treated during my absence,” he said. His low, rich voice trod upon my already fluttered nerves. “For that, I am sorry.”

  Then he was gone.

  I stood there with my jumbled thoughts. Why did he care so much? Wasn’t I his enemy? A traitor and a nuisance?

  “Just in time.” Sameen’s voice drifted from behind my privacy screen. The smell of her bath salts floated upon the air, soothing me almost instantly. “The king has asked…” Her words trailed when she took in the sight of me. She stamped her foot. “Not again. I told her to go easier on you.”

  I almost laughed. Instead I sat on the bed to remove my boots. “I don’t need her to go easier on me, and I know what the king wants.”

  She inhaled a sharp breath. “You are filthy.” She yanked me from the bed and proceeded to help me off with my sparring gear, her movements brusque yet soft, as I assumed a mother’s rebuke would be.

  A knock sounded, and the doctor entered, his reaction nearly the same as my maid’s. “It seems I have my work cut out for me again.”

  “Face only,” I said. I didn’t have time for anything else. I needed to see Lucan—to see him behind bars which he couldn’t escape.

  When I finally made my way through
to the dungeons of Anolyn, my nerves dangled from a very thin line.

  The dungeons were vastly different from its prison. A dank spiral staircase plunged downward, lit by a single torch held by the first man in line. With every cascaded step my throat squeezed harder, constricting airflow. I wanted to scream, claw my way out, but now was not the time for hysterics. Lucan was waiting below, alive and warm and still very much a threat.

  The situation should have given me peace. He was captured. But the knowledge did little to soothe. What about the other two captives? And there was another Eirian traitor who waited to speak to me. Who were they? More importantly, were they worse than Lucan?

  My heart rate spiked. The prince peered over his shoulder to search my face, but in such dim light I didn’t know what he could see. I forced my legs to keep moving and breathed a sigh of relief when the stairwell opened into a cavernous room.

  Another torch was lit by the first. Our procession of interrogators spread out, awaiting instruction. Castiel and Reese kept close to me while Riaan and Mikael moved ahead through a tunnelway of cement cells and iron bars. The smell of sewage and mold assaulted me. I covered my nose with a long sleeve to breathe through the fabric.

  “This way, Lady Anna.” Castiel had returned to using my pretended name in the presence of… what? Prisoners? Murderers? Traitors? Why even bother?

  A moment later, a responding terror answered my unspoken question. Something foreign, evil, held me in place.

  Cold. I was cold. And alone. And scared. The unseen force slid over my exposed skin and invaded like a disease.

  “Lady Anna?”

  “There’s something down here,” I said with a shaky voice I couldn’t control. My breath was white from fear. “We need to leave.”

  His hand was gentle yet firm upon my shoulder. Oddly, I didn’t pull away. His contact was so different from the darkness that threatened to undo me.

  “What is it?” He stepped forward to separate me from whatever that threatened. Confusion married his brows as he scanned the darkened cells. “Perhaps Reese should take you back to your room.”

  And then I realized he didn’t feel what I felt.

  The prince was a magician, but whatever this was, it was only perceptible to me… and he couldn’t know about it. None of them could.

  “No.” I shook my head; the movement made me dizzy. I shrugged his touch, shutting down the fear and the cursed sense. The cold infected the place where his hand had warmed, and I instantly regretted the decision. “I’ll be fine. It’s nothing,” I lied.

  His gaze narrowed.

  “It’s nothing,” I reiterated and pressed forward.

  A moment later, he was at my side again. “Keep away from the cells.”

  A sharp shriek filled the dank air, rattling me to the core. The leaders of the procession raced ahead, and I followed. Every step hurt the very bones in my body.

  The screams got louder the closer we drew. Finally, those that led us stopped. A torch lifted high.

  Riaan cursed.

  “What’s going on?” Castiel pushed forward only to stop dead in his tracks. I tripped upon his heel, but he didn’t seem to notice.

  “Save me!” Lucan lunged at us, panic in his dark eyes. His arm lashed out between the metal bars, and his head hit the steel hard, as if he had forgotten he was contained in a cell. The impact jarred him, and he dropped to the ground.

  Castile spun on the spot to steer me away, but I ducked beneath his arms.

  The erratic light from the torch dimmed the effect. It wasn’t enough to hide what lay mutilated on the ground. Two bodies oddly kinked, limbs broken at the joints. Scratches and lacerations gouged their exposed skin. Blood leaked from their mouths, noses, eyes, and ears. There was no way I could identify them, even if I tried.

  Next to me, Mikael heaved. The vile smell of vomit blended with the dungeon stench, and I gagged despite myself.

  “We need to leave,” Castiel said, low upon my ears. “Now.”

  And as much as I thought I wanted to see Lucan dead—as much as I needed to be safe from my uncle—this was so far from what I had desired, from what was right.

  I was a fool.

  Lucan still breathed, though it was shallow. “We can’t leave him here,” I said, gesturing to his unconscious body.

  A laugh reverberated within the cavernous space. Castiel pushed me behind him. He drew a knife from a sheath strapped to his side. Reese and Mikael did the same.

  The blood drained from my face as the dark energy from only minutes before assaulted once again. I searched, but nothing stirred in the abyss.

  A voice followed the laughter. “You don’t like it? Pity. I thought you’d enjoy my offering.”

  I pointed to the cell across from Lucan, to whatever hid in the shadows beyond. Additional weapons were drawn. The air felt like needles within my lungs.

  “That’s the cell of the blacksmith. He’s never spoken before,” Riaan said, his voice more unsure than I had ever heard.

  A soft tsk followed. “I’ve never had a reason to. Until now.”

  The king stepped forward, his gaze narrowed and almost curious.

  “Stop,” I said, pulling on his shirt. He gaped at me. “He’s not human.”

  The thing laughed. A single pale finger wrapped the bar of the cell, but still kept hidden. “You recognize me, don’t you, girl?”

  I swallowed, my voice hollow in my ears. “It’s a wraith.” Even though I had never seen one, never felt their presence, I knew he could be nothing else.

  “What we brought here was a man. Are you sure?” Castiel asked.

  “You can’t feel it?” I wrapped my hands around my arms, but it wasn’t Castiel that answered.

  No, they cannot feel me. Not like you can. The wraith’s voice was softer than I had ever heard, and it held a note of approval. Red eyes pinned mine, but the rest of him remained shadowed. Only a faint outline of a muscular face gleamed. “The princess has seen through my mask. I’ve grown careless in my probation.”

  I straightened, although I did not feel the forced courage. “How do you know who I am?”

  “I know because they knew.” A finger pointed to the cell beyond and the mangled bodies, but he kept his face hidden. “To enter one’s essence is to know them. I know every dark secret they’ve ever heard. Every sin they’ve committed.”

  “What’s your name?” The king tipped his head to the side. “And don’t lie. You’re not the blacksmith we brought here.”

  A chuckle cracked the wraith’s lips. “You can call me Cy.”

  Cyris

  “Cy?”

  “Cyris, actually, but Cy is just fine.”

  Castiel took a torch from Reese and stepped forward. “You killed those men?”

  Again, he laughed. “From the inside-out. They were hardly men, don’t you think? They’ve preformed evils I haven’t even dreamed of. They’re more a wraith by nature than I am.”

  “Why would you care?”

  “Can you blame me? The princess herself wanted to see that one dead. Lucan is it?”

  “Not like that,” I said, interjecting.

  “A noose would have been better?”

  Castiel hissed. “That coming from someone that mutilated his wife and unborn child? Not unlike what you did to these.”

  The king interjected, his voice deadly. “It was the blacksmith’s wife and unborn child the wraith murdered. It’s makes sense now. No mortal could have done such a thing.”

  “Lies.” The wraith’s hands gripped the bars and the iron groaned beneath his strength. He glared at the king. “There are plenty of mortals willing, for the right price. And I didn’t kill the woman and child. She did.”

  “She—who?” Castiel asked.

  The wraith unflexed his fingers. “Like the princess, I hide from an abusive power.”

  Silence, and then he asked, “Do you speak of the Wraith Queen?”

  I jerked. “The Wraith Queen is dead.”

  All e
yes shot to me, disbelief in their shocked faces.

  The wraith hummed. “You’ve been lied to, little one, and she has not forgotten this island or the people that fought against her.”

  I shook my head, vehemently. “No.”

  The shadowed profile stared at me. “Poor princess. He owns you, but already you know that, don’t you?”

  “What do you mean?” I asked, but my heart dropped into my stomach. Of course there was only one person he could refer to.

  “If Johan finds you, there’s more coming than the lashes on your back and the burn on your neck.”

  I covered the mark with my hand.

  “Still, it’s curious. You’ve been given every opportunity for influence, and yet… nothing. How many tests did he put you through? How many failed attempts to make you—?”

  “Shut up,” I hissed. I clenched my hands into fists. “Do all wraiths talk in riddles? What is it you’re saying, demon?”

  The wraith tsked but said nothing.

  Castiel’s hand took my elbow to guide me away. “Take Lucan to the prison. Double the guards there. Riaan, you can stay and interrogate this freak of nature, but the princess doesn’t have to be here for this.”

  “You should have let me finish him,” the wraith said.

  “We’re done here.” Anger colored Castiel’s voice.

  “Wait!” A long arm shot through the bars, mere inches from my face. I wrenched back with a shriek into Castiel. Lightning fast the prince slashed a warning blade across the wraith’s outstretched arm, holding me protected to him. Earlier, I had told him not to touch me, but now his strength was the only thing that prevented me from huddling into a cowardly ball on the ground.

  The wraith swore, yanking back inside the blackened protection of his shadowy cell. Mikael and Reese moved to guard their king and prince, but Castiel pointed the tip of the blade to the demon within. “Stay away.”

  A groan morphed into laughter, standing the hairs on the back of my neck. “Do not worry, Prince. Here I am, locked behind your dungeon doors. Besides, it’s not through touch alone that I can hurt her.” He rested his head against the bars, exposing his face, and I gasped at the beard and tanned skin, recognizing him instantly.