Sparks invaded my vision as I flew to the ground. My breath whooshed from my lungs.
The assassin was suddenly there in front of me, crouching low to better see me. “Get up,” she said, as if I had forgotten what I needed to do.
I gave her a look. Pain racked my body, but I managed to twist away to avoid getting stomped by his massive boot. I shot up, dizzy and weak and empty-handed. I scanned the ground to find my weapon yards from me. When had I dropped it?
The giant charged.
“Excellent match.” Riaan appeared in front of me, a smile on his face.
A scuffle of dirt sounded beyond him as Mikael desperately shuffled to avoid plowing into the king. Siana stepped in front of him, glaring the captain down—and the giant visibly shrank.
The knives miraculously disappeared from the ground, and the crowd disappeared even faster. I looked to the king, but his expression betrayed nothing. How much had he witnessed?
I wiped blood that flowed from a split on the side of my cheek and nodded to Mikael. “A worthy opponent, for sure.” The words worked upon a tense jaw. I reached out a hand to him. He considered it a moment before he seized it, pulling a little harder than needed, then walked away with his comrades.
Riaan took me by the elbow to guide me away and into the castle. “Well done, Princess. A fantastic display of fierce technique.”
My answer was flat, emotionless. “It’s been an honor, Your Majesty. Now if you wouldn’t mind—”
“—you wish to rest before dinner. Of course. Come with me.” His steps were quick as we moved inside to the training room, then beyond. I blindly allowed him to lead, not caring that Siana probably followed behind as security. My mind was abuzz with thoughts too muddled to make sense of them. I barely registered the king’s next words. “I will not be able to join you this evening. I hope you don’t mind.”
“Oh.” I clasped my hands together. “Of course not. And in that case, I’ll eat in my room.”
He nodded. “Perfect. I’ll tell Mikael.”
My breath hitched, but not out of fear. “Your Majesty—”
“You may call me Riaan.”
My head jerked back. “Oh? Alright. Riaan, I don’t think Captain Mikael is quite with you and this plan of yours.”
His response was automatic. “Mikael is loyal to me. I’m sure he had his reasons for this display, and I’ll trust them.”
I nodded. So he did see the scuffle.
“You did very well, going along with his little scheme. If anything, he helped prove you are not our enemy.”
Anger caused the cut on my cheek to throb, but I clamped my mouth shut. I very much doubted that was Mikael’s reason for doing what he did, but the king wouldn’t believe me over his personal guard. I would need to steer clear of the captain as much as I could.
Riaan cleared his throat. “Tomorrow, I ride with my men to the eastern borders toward Varian. Will you join me?”
I answered automatically. “Is that an order?”
“Of course not, Ilianna. You’re welcome to stay here with Mikael as your—”
“I’ll join you,” I said, then seethed when Riaan smiled.
Only a single security guard stood outside my door. I could hear Sameen working inside, no doubt moving things around to better suit her duties.
The king stopped short. His mouth opened as if to say something. He reached his index finger to gently graze the skin beneath the cut on my cheek.
Reflexively, I brushed aside his touch.
He dropped his hand. “You should have Gedeon take care of that.” Before I could respond, he moved away. Siana watched me, a curious glint to her onyx eyes, but then she spun around to follow her king.
My breath left in a whoosh. A mixture of confusion and worry battled within.
He did not love me. He did not trust me. But Melora had found a way to coax him into pursuing me, that much was clear, and I needed to put a stop to it.
I nodded, agreeing to my own conclusion. On our ride the next morning, I would tell him.
My room now smelled of new perfumes overlaid upon the scents of soap and roses. Sameen peeked beyond the privacy screen, instantaneously eyeing my injury, but I put up my hand to stop the scold I knew was coming.
“You don’t need to call for Gedeon. Leave the poor man alone.”
She folded her arms. “And what would Castiel say?”
“Castiel’s not here.” As if she had to remind me. “But the king is, and when I go for a ride with him tomorrow, I want those that watch me to see it.”
“But why?”
I needed Mikael and anyone else that shared his same feelings to know I could stand up to a bully. But I didn’t answer her.
Sameen sighed and opened the armoire. She drew out a deep burgundy riding dress.
“No,” I said. “I’ll need something more suitable for riding. I’ll wear this again.” I sat down on my cream bed. The mattress sunk low and inviting.
“But the king—”
“The king will be traveling near the forest. If it’s as haunted as rumors speculate, I doubt he would want me defenseless. I am the Princess of Eira, an enemy to many of your countrymen until now. I would be foolish to go unprotected.” I crossed my leg over my knee and tried to untie my boots, but my fingers shook, my body still coming down from the high of battle. I clenched my hand.
My lady’s maid gathered a brush from the new vanity table. Next to the mirror sat the vial of Melora’s potion the guard had retrieved for me. I eyed it warily, but Sameen didn’t seem to notice.
“They won’t always see you as such, Ilianna. It only took me a moment to realize you were not who the stories claimed.”
“I was, though.” Giving up on the strings, I grunted as I endeavored to pull them off using sheer force. “Maybe I’ve changed, but we can’t expect everyone to be as clear-minded—or insane—as you.” Still the shoes wouldn’t budge.
She laughed, then knocked my hands away. “Who took care of you before I came along? You act as if you’ve never had a lady’s maid.”
I leaned back as she made quick work of the laces. “I did. Sort of. Her name was Pala.”
Sameen glanced up. “Did she not take care of you?”
I shrugged. “My uncle never allowed me to believe I was anything but a bastard.”
“But you are a prince’s daughter. You are royalty.”
I fingered the burn at my neck. Only the memory stung now. “Barely.”
Her eyes flashed to mine. “You are royalty, and to treat—”
“It is what it is,” I interrupted. “I cannot begin to understand the things that flow through my uncle’s brain. If I tried to wade through that abyss, I would never resurface.”
She nodded solemnly, as if she understood my convoluted statement. “Then, what was Pala like?”
“Scheming.”
“What?” Disbelief crossed over her features before she schooled the emotion.
“She didn’t so much take care of me; rather, she reported on me.”
Sameen stood to help me remove my jerkin. “Reported what?”
I stretched my sore feet. “Who I spoke to. Who spoke to me. What I studied. What I read. What I did that day. Who I trained with. What I ate. When I bled.”
“Excuse me?”
I nodded. “Everything.”
She visibly trembled. “What on earth would your uncle want with all of that?”
“Information is control. The more you know, the more power you have over them, or so he says.”
Sameen watched me as she processed my statement. “I guess he isn’t wrong, but—”
“I know.” I closed my eyes, letting my worries melt from me like snow on a hot summer’s day. I was no longer under his so-called protection. No longer a slave to his whims. I was safe for the time being.
After my bath, Sameen kept me company for the remainder of the day. She grimaced when I took Melora’s potion. I needed enough to last the rest of the day, but it wasn�
��t as if there were instructions on the bottle. After two small swallows, I sat on the floor and waited.
The reaction didn’t take long.
Sameen’s aura was a shimmery lilac. She watched me work my magic—or lack thereof—and cheered my pathetic progress. In truth, I didn’t feel much like training, but I had told Castiel I would. At first it was slow going, but then I was a child learning to play with a new toy. It was fun in its own way. I practiced picking up small things about the room and sending them cascading to the opposite wall. Sameen would gather them and bring them back for me to do it again.
I should have tried to do more but going out to the forest with my lady’s maid to strip trees bare of leaves was probably not an option right now, and without further guidance, I really couldn’t do much.
After several hours, the sun was behind the horizon. Dinner had come and gone. Sameen dressed me in my nightgown, almost as exhausted as I was. She wilted in the chair before the fire, her eyes scarcely open. Mine blurred to the dim light of the room. The flames in the hearth were nearly out. Not wanting to disturb her, I crawled on hands and knees to retrieve a thrown brush, but as I did, my slippery awareness connected to its energy and pulled it toward me. It slid across the floor, scraping over the stone.
I flinched to the feel of the handle in my grasp, then stood to replace it on the vanity table.
The potion’s effects swept a sweet sense of delirium over me, lulling me to sleep. I creeped beneath my sheets to sprawl in the center of my bed.
An image of Castiel’s face met me in my instant dreams, and I smiled. I would have to show the prince my new parlor trick when he returned.
Taken
A sharp pain stabbed my neck. The jolt woke me from sleep, but blackness coated my vision. Alarm shot through me as I kicked and flailed against restraints I couldn’t identify. Something clamped down on my mouth, nearly suffocating me. An acrid scent invaded my nostrils. I shut down my breath and grabbed at my restraints—ice-cold and hard as steel, but nevertheless, a hand. I wrenched back on a thumb and my captor grunted.
My fingers pulled at the material covering my eyes, but it didn’t help. A shadowed figure stood above me, more wraith-like than flesh and blood. My head spun, reacting to the injection. I had seconds.
The thing shoved the pillow into my face again, but I grasped at their arms and clawed through their black shrouds until I found skin.
Not a wraith.
Nails dug into flesh. Power and fear infused me, and I sent the intruder flying back. He smacked into the wall with a thud then slid to the ground.
Not knowing what I was doing, I clapped my hand to my neck and willed my powers to pull the poison from my bloodstream. The skin beneath my touch grew hot and wet.
A muffled curse caught my attention, but before I could roll from my bed, a gloved hand seized me by the wrists. He slid a dagger to my neck and I froze. From beneath his black cloak, a tattoo peeked from the cuff of his sleeve. Feathers of a falcry.
In my fading lucidity, an idea formed. Before I slipped into oblivion, I grabbed the knife by the blade. It sliced into my skin. I smiled at the pain as the darkness overtook me.
This time it was different. Had my powers drawn the potion from my bloodstream, or was it just my anger that kept me from passing into pure oblivion? Either way, I was grateful. And annoyed. I passed in and out of consciousness for hours, days, weeks. I wasn’t sure. My body rattled along with my bones until I felt reduced to powder, before finally succumbing to the numbness.
A groan escaped my lips, unbidden. Then another prick in the neck…
My body crumpled, boneless, to the ground. The smell of earth and pine entered my lungs as dirt and brush scratched against my face. A cold breeze tickled the back of my exposed neck. I still wore a nightgown. In a deep fog, I waded with my thoughts, my mind working faster than my body. Voices whispered from all around. I searched for their source without success, but my eyes wouldn’t open.
I didn’t want to be here. I wasn’t supposed to be here. Someone had taken me from Meyrion, from the only place I’d ever felt at home. Moisture stung my eyes. I shoved my emotions back to the pit they came from and forced myself to remain calm.
I breathed through the frustration. I didn’t want to draw attention, and I most definitely didn’t want another dose of whatever medication they gave me. The drug had to be from the healer—a heavier concentration and longer lasting than before—but whether Gedeon was a willing participant in my capture I wasn’t sure. My soul rebelled against the idea. What reason could he have for wanting me gone?
But what reason did Mikael have for wanting me gone? His involvement was very easy to believe. He had never liked me. I was an enemy. But to go contrary to the orders of his king? That was tad too treasonous for the trustworthy captain. His motives had to be good enough for the guard to go against crown and country.
Or had Riaan lied?
The last time Castiel turned his back, his royal brother bound my wrists for an informal interrogation. Now he sent the prince away to search for a murderer killing in my name.
Could that be a coincidence?
A fly buzzed in my ear, and I barely managed to not flinch. I dared to crack my eyes, but my blurred vision stopped me from seeing where I was. The voices grew louder, then a nearby door squeaked. Footsteps crunched against a rock-strewn forest floor. Warm fingers probed the temperature of my forehead.
“Are you sure that stuff will wear off soon?” Lucan’s voice, deep and harsh, came from a distance. Despite my pretending, my body stiffened.
Boots ground against the dirt. “The guard said no more than a day.”
If my body was able, I would have rolled from Weylan’s touch. Two of the three men I most hated stood over my should-be-unconscious form. Blood pounded in my veins fiery hot, burning the residual side effects of the healer’s potion.
“We’re running out of time,” Lucan said, “and this place gives me the creeps. We need to leave, soon.”
“It’s getting late. We shouldn’t be traveling in the forest at night.”
A scoff cut through the air. “Don’t tell me you’re scared, Weylan. You know those tales are meant to frighten little children, don’t you?”
Weylan’s response was clipped. “I’m not afraid, but I’m also not a fool. And what about the farmer? Oscove helped us get her here. Without him—”
“Well, the freakshow’s disappeared, hasn’t he?”
“Well, she’ll be easier to transport if she can ride. You can’t just keep drugging her.”
My uncle’s spy laughed. “You expect her to come willingly?”
“Once she hears the alternative, she won’t fight. It won’t be long before she’s awake. I’ll get her some water.”
Lucan was the one that grunted now. “Fine. I’ll go look for the lunatic. But with or without him, we leave in one hour. They’ll be coming for her.”
His footsteps trailed away, leaving me alone with Weylan. I listened to his movements, trying to formulate some kind of plan. The further away I got from Anolyn, the harder it would be to get back. But is that what I really wanted? I had no idea how far we’d come and how deep we were into the forest.
“You can stop pretending you sleep, Ilianna,” Weylan said, his voice close to my ears. “And don’t worry. Lucan’s gone.”
My eyes cracked open. They burned from dryness, but they cleared quickly as I blinked away the haze.
“Though I can understand why you’d pretend to be dead in front of that maniac.” Weylan grabbed me by the shoulders and lifted me to lean me against a tree. At his touch, anxiety hit with alarming force. He squatted in front of me, jaw clenched as he peered through familiar green eyes.
He lifted his hand to brush aside a rogue strand of hair, but I jerked away from his touch.
“I don’t fear Lucan as much as I fear you.” The words barely sounded human, but they were true nonetheless. I coughed against the dryness of my throat.
“H
ow can you say that?” Hurt infused his voice, but it did nothing to affect me.
“Easily. His motives are open for me to see and know. You lie. You deceive, and you’re very good at it.” How had I ever found him attractive?
“You don’t understand.” He closed his eyes and took a deep breath.
But I didn’t care to understand. “Sameen?”
His eyes flashed open, confused by my sudden change of topic. “Who?”
“My lady’s maid. She was in the room with me. Did you hurt her?”
He made a face. “Of course not. She was tranquilized as well. She won’t remember a thing.”
“And are you going to hurt me again?” I asked.
“Are you going to come with me willingly?”
“Go to hell.” I tried to spit, but I had no saliva.
He lifted a brow but worry wore in his expression. “I’d go there and back again if it meant you’d hear me out.”
I scanned my surroundings. A few yards away there was a dilapidated shack. I nodded to it. “Oscove’s?”
He only hummed in the affirmative.
My gaze narrowed, and I tried to roll my neck to the side. The memory blurred in my mind. “That was the man who brought his dead brother to the castle, wasn’t it?”
“The very one.”
The farmer’s home was small with stone and mud walls and a thatched roof in need of repair. The fences that separated field from farm tipped haphazardly to one side or the other. There were no animals in the stalls, and whatever crops were long since dead.
I lifted my hands to find them tied together with a crude rope, one palm wrapped with gauze. Exposing my binds, I glared at him. “What do you want, Weylan?”
It could have been a trick of the healer’s concoction, but concern brimmed in the surface of his eyes. “I’ve made a bargain with Lucan to help get you out of Anolyn.”
“And what makes you think I wanted to leave? I’ve made bargains too, you know.”
Of Blood and Deceit Page 21