He felt her concentration shift and even though he didn’t hear her call, he wasn’t surprised when Alex appeared, striding into the room, the veil dropping away from him. Kyle heard their conversation but could not bring himself to speak, just closed his eyes as shudders continued to shake his body.
“He’s in shock, Alex, and someone has got into his head somehow—it’s driving him mad. He was trying to block them but it’s like the connection is drilled right into him through his shields. I’ve imposed a shield around him. Whoever it is isn’t happy, I can feel them raging, beating away at my barrier and trying to call to him.” Jess continued to hold Kyle, trying to soothe the shuddering body of a man who was closer to her than members of her own family.
Kyle felt Alex settle next to them and felt his friends’ hands on his temples, his head turned to look into Alex’s eyes and he heard the voice in his mind. It’s all right, my brother, we’re here. Let me see.
A part of Kyle’s mind tried to fight, yet he replayed everything that had happened to him. Now he was reliving all of his interactions with Alyssa, he could feel the hooks she’d placed in his own mind.
He could feel his friends’ building anger.
“Hold the barrier, Jess, I’ll try to break her hold on him.”
Alex’s eyes drilled into his own and Kyle couldn’t draw his own eyes away.
“Hold him. I’m sorry, Kyle, this will hurt.”
As Kyle stared into his brother’s eyes, he felt as if a knife was slicing into his brain. He screamed in agony, his body bucking. Again and again, he felt that knife entering his head and sawing at those bonds that bound him to Alyssa.
Even in his agony, he knew while Jess held and restrained him, she turned most of her attention and effort into blocking Alyssa from contacting him.
Kyle screamed again and then felt his mind shutting down.
Kyle woke once more, although this time he was comfortable so guessed he was in a bed rather than on the floor in front of the fire. His mind was still in an oasis of imposed calm. Unable to help himself, he groaned. Opening his eyes, he found Alex lounging in a large chair next to the bed.
“Shh, Jess is still sleep. We didn’t want to leave you unguarded so we’ve been taking it in shifts.” Alex hauled himself up and reached for a small bottle on the dresser near the bed. Kyle then felt himself propped up into a half sitting position with the bottle held to his lips. “Drink, Kyle, it’s just a painkiller with a sedative that will help you relax. Sorry, but with what I did to release you from her hold I can feel your pain. Drink, my brother.” Kyle complied as Alex tipped the bottle and he swallowed as the liquid slid down his throat. Looking to the other side of the bed, he saw Jess curled up, sound asleep, although she had her weapons close at hand.
Kyle relaxed back into the pillows that Alex had piled up to support him and he felt the pain subside. Despite himself, he relaxed. “Thank you. Alex, what happened?”
“We felt your pain, you called to us then disappeared. Jess tracked you down. You were at your father’s country estate. As soon as we’d broken her bonds to you, we moved back to your suite in the Fourth’s Compound.” Alex reached up and pulled the bell cord near the bed after the door opened and a servant stepped in, bowing.
“Yes, Your Highness?” His voice was hushed, and he was dressed in the livery of the Fourth; he cast a concerned glance at Kyle before looking back at Alex.
“Shane, could you bring me a pot of coffee and a breakfast platter? Also, send an update to William that Kyle is awake but still not ready for visitors.” Alex’s voice was hushed yet held a note of command he’d never heard in his friend’s tone before.
Kyle closed his eyes and contemplated the last few months, what had happened and what he had done. “Powers, Alex, what am I becoming? You saw what I did.”
The last was more a statement than a question since he knew Alex had seen the details of the slaughter he’d committed in the small house when he’d searched his memory to find out what was wrong.
Alex looked at him and nodded. “Yes, I saw. That woman, the Skulls Assassin, was driving you to madness. I could see from your own memories you weren’t in control.”
“I was stupid. You tried to warn me and I didn’t listen.” Kyle shook his head, wishing he could wipe the memory, what he had of it, of what he’d done out of his mind.
They both fell into silence again as Shane entered with a tray and, at a sign from Alex, set up the coffee table near the blazing fire. He unloaded the contents of his tray before leaving at a wave of dismissal from Alex.
Kyle climbed out of the bed, grabbing Alex’s arm to steady himself as he became lightheaded. When his vision cleared, he took a steadying breath and moved over to the table, not shaking off Alex’s help. Sitting in one of the large chairs near the coffee table, Kyle accepted the mug of coffee that Alex gave him, taking a sip.
“How long have I been out?” Kyle found Alex had been regarding him, trying to assess his current condition, he guessed.
“It’s been two days since we found you at your father’s country estate. You had us a little worried.” Alex slumped back and drank his own coffee, his concern clear.
Kyle looked at him, shocked. “Two days?”
Alex nodded. “You were in shock when Jess located you and called me. You were battling to block out the rage and anger that the Skulls Assassin was sending to you through those bonds. Kyle, you were close to breaking.”
Kyle closed his eyes and tried to assess how he was feeling. “She was trying to call me to her. I–I don’t think I’d go to her now.” Kyle hated that he heard a trace of uncertainty in his voice.
“Give yourself some time to heal, Kyle. In the meantime, one of us will be with you.” Alex raised his hand, cutting off Kyle’s objection. “I don’t know if she can reconnect those bonds she made in your mind and you are in no state right now to defend yourself if she shows up here.” Alex shook his head and smiled. “If it makes you feel better, all three of us are staying put for now.”
Kyle opened his mouth to object then closed it again. He took another sip of his coffee and considered. “You’re right. I want to track her down and kill her but I can’t say right now how I’d react if I saw her again. I didn’t even realise the control she had over me.”
“I think it might have been her general idea, Kyle. She wouldn’t have wanted you to know she was burning bonds into you so she could control you and send you mad.”
Alex looked up and smiled as Jess walked over. Climbing over the back of Kyle’s chair, she slid in behind him and wrapped her arms around him.
“That bitch is never getting near you again, Kyle. To kill is one thing. To torture another, to turn them to madness, is unforgivable.” Jess kissed his temple and pulled his head back to rest on her shoulder.
Kyle sighed, closed his eyes and relaxed back into Jess’s embrace, surprising himself with how safe and secure he felt in that moment. He realised that while he’d lusted after Alyssa, he’d never felt safe and after that initial encounter with her when she’d forged that first bond between them, nothing he’d felt or experienced had been his own.
“When did you learn to recognise her bonds, Alex? How did you know how to sever them?” Kyle opened his eyes to see his friend frown.
“I don’t know, Kyle. I saw through your own memories what she’d done, although I think I understood it better than you did. I saw how she did it. I could see the bonds she’d burned into you, they were like trails of fire all over your body—thick ropes of power into your brain. I reacted on instinct, I guess.” Alex smiled at his friend. “You’re clear of her bonds right now, I promise you. Although I think you are still vulnerable to her. At least until you heal.”
Kyle closed his eyes again and took a deep, steadying breath. “Thank you. Thank you, both. I’ve always been the strong one, the dangerous one. I’m not sure how to cope with being the victim.” Kyle laughed with an edge of bitterness and shame. “I don’t know I’d trust myself i
f I was face-to-face with her again right now.”
Jess hugged him tighter, her lips brushing his temple again. “She got into your head, Kyle. Rest easy, we have your back.” Jess looked over Kyle’s head to Alex before continuing. “Besides, there was something strange about the traces of her I saw in your memories. I don’t know who she is, but she is not a simple thief assassin.”
“She spoke in a language I don’t understand, but it reeked with power. Whatever she was doing was assisting her in binding you to her will. I agree with Jess. Alyssa is not a simple Skull Assassin.” Alex shook his head, considering what he’d learned from Kyle’s mind. “She is more powerful than you thought, Kyle. Too much longer and you would have been hers. Heart and soul, you would have belonged to her.”
Kyle wanted to object to his friend’s assessment but found he could not. Even now when he thought of Alyssa he felt a longing, almost a compulsion to go to her. He shuddered and squeezed his eyes shut, hiding his face against Jess’ neck. “If she was in front of me now, I’d go to her. I’m stopping myself from calling out to her. I know she’s dangerous, I know I shouldn’t, but still there is part of me that wants her. What the hell did she do?”
Alex glanced at Jess, concerned, then rose, moving over and perching himself on the arm of the chair they were sitting on. “Give yourself time, Kyle. The Tainted bonds she bound you with ran deep. It will take time to clear the impulses she set in you, or at least that is what Aaron told me.”
30
Assassins Play
Jess did her part, dressed to the hilt as the Lady Jessalan, Companion of the Fourth. She mingled, chatted, and was polite to everyone. Now that the full Royal Court was at the Summer Palace, the first of the Summer Balls had been thrown on the arrival of the King and as a celebration of Alex taking a Consort Elect. Well, not quite on his arrival, but a few days after they had arrived and settled in. Still, as pleasant as the ball was and more relaxed than the balls held in the capital, Jess kept her eyes on Kyle. She laughed at Lord Matterling’s embellished description of the annual migration of the court and the terrible hardships they’d faced ‘on the road’, but her eyes tracked across to Kyle.
Jess spotted him over to one side with a veritable gaggle of the court’s ladies surrounding him, battling for his attentions. To all outward appearances he seemed calm and in control, back to his old self. He was back to thrashing all of them in the training grounds with his blades. He’d been taking to physical exertion and training with a passion. Nonetheless, there was one area he hadn’t bounced back in and that was around women—well, other than her and Elizabeth. Kyle didn’t trust his own judgement around women anymore and even though the ladies fighting for his attention did not understand his stress and tension was building, Jess could tell he was almost at breaking point. Jess excused herself from the erstwhile lords who surrounded her and shoved her irritation to one side as most of them trailed after her like a bunch of lost puppies.
Jess saw Kyle turn, his face frozen in shock. She saw the figure approaching behind him and her own eyes widened, her hand reaching for her weapons. She drew in the Taint, yet feared she would be too late with the number of courtiers packed between her and Kyle.
Kyle smiled, relaxing, glad that at least this ball wasn’t as formal as those that were held in the Winter Court. Still, Kyle wished they’d skipped the night’s activities and hit the local pub. Despite that desire, here he was, dressed up; the immaculate picture of ‘Lord Kyle Strafford’ and, for one of the few occasions in his adult life, so far behaving to the point even his Lady Mother couldn’t have been disappointed.
He was getting even better at deflecting the ladies and the constant enquiries as to what had happened. They all knew something had, just not what. Everyone in court was gossiping, although none had guessed what had really happened. That they had all known about the attempted abduction, due to the Kings announcement afterwards, only fuelled the speculation.
Kyle paused as he walked through the garden; suddenly uneasy, he glanced around. Yet nothing he could see seemed out of order. Lamps placed at regular intervals along the length of the garden wall threw out pools of light with a few select trysting spots left for meetings––either business or lovers taking time out. The guards were as always present, both on the walls and standing at regular posts around the well-kept immaculate garden.
Shaking off his uneasiness as a product of his recent run-ins, he continued on his original path winding his way through the garden back toward the ball room. The large floor-to-ceiling doors had been unbarred and pushed back on their rails to the far walls, stacking neatly against each other, opening up the ballroom to the garden. The light spilling from the well-lit ballroom drew him inside.
Glancing around, he spotted Alex, looking relaxed and talking with his brothers. While it wasn’t unusual in William’s company, it certainly was in Daniel’s. Alex and Daniel definitely did not get along; they hadn’t as far back as Kyle remembered.
He spied Jess over to one side of the room with her own gaggle of admirers; she looked up as she noted his entrance, a smile on her lips. He had no doubt that was due to the flock of ladies that trailed into the ballroom with him.
Kyle nearly groaned out loud as he felt a hand on his arm and turned, freezing as he stared into familiar brown eyes. His breath caught and part of his brain screamed in panic as he felt her battering, trying to get through his mental barriers. Kyle stumbled back and tripped, falling over as the lady drew her knife. Kyle heard the screaming of the courtiers, sensed that they drew away in panic, hindering the guard trying to press forward. He tried to move, tried to draw one of his own weapons to defend himself but he could just hear her voice in his head.
It’s all right, my love, it will be over soon; relax and accept your fate, come with me or die. Alyssa’s eyes bore into his own, compelling him to stay, even though part of his brain shrieked at him to move, draw a weapon and defend himself.
Kyle tried to close his eyes as the blade descended, but somehow he couldn’t do anything but stare at her. Then a blade intervened, and another mind placed itself between his own and Alyssa’s.
Alex laughed along with his brothers, surprising himself that he was even getting on with Daniel, which was a novelty. Generally, William and Elizabeth had spent a great deal of time deflecting some of Daniel’s more poisonous pranks and barbs, yet tonight he was like a different man. As the screams tore through the ballroom, the smile dropped from his lips and, without thinking, he drew his blade, spinning around to place himself between his father and brothers and whatever the threat was. Hearing Kyle’s mental scream for help, Alex’s eyes traced across the ballroom and he saw Kyle stumble back and fall to the ground, staring up at a woman with a blade.
Alex had a moment of instant recognition. The woman was the one from Kyle’s memories. The woman was the Skulls Assassin, Alyssa. Motioning to the King’s Elite, he barked quick orders.
“Get the King out of here. Now. That is the Skulls Assassin.” Alex didn’t wait to see if his orders were obeyed but ran forward, leaping over the line of Elite and plunging through the panicking, screaming courtiers, who seemed hell-bent on escaping the confines of the ballroom.
Alex had an agonising moment, wondering if he would make it in time, and heard her whisper to Kyle, It’s all right, my love, it will be over soon; relax and accept your fate, come with me or die. Seeing her blade plunge down, he put on a burst of speed and lunged, interposing his own blade between hers and Kyle’s throat.
As the clash of the blades rang through the ballroom, Alex felt as if the world around him slowed down. He recognised it from Kyle’s descriptions of what it was like for him when he fought, although this was the first time he knew of it himself. His eyes rose to those of the Skulls Assassin and he grinned.
“Let’s dance, assassin.”
With that, he shoved back, drawing his secondary, shorter blade and the dance of blades began. For the first time in his life, he understood Kyle’s p
assion for the blade and in that instant he felt in tune with the blade in his hand. All the moves he couldn’t master over the years seemed to make sense and something clicked in his brain. With everything slowed down around him he could see her telegraph her moves before she made them and was able to counter them.
While most of his brain was concentrating on the fight he was engaged in, he also knew that the ballroom was emptying, leaving himself, the Skulls Assassin, Kyle, Jess and a whole horde of the Elite, almost all with their blades drawn. Alex wasn’t aware of how much time had passed while he engaged in his dance with the assassin, although he was aware that Kyle and Jess had joined the fight. If he could have spared the attention, he would have cheered. He only became aware again when time seemed to speed up once more. The Skulls Assassin stumbled back with a blow from his blade, tripping over the corner of a rug and crashing to the ground; she was bleeding from multiple wounds. Before he could end her life, Kyle stepped forward and, with a blank expression, slashed her throat, the spurt of blood showing her artery had been severed. Her hand, which she had raised in a last futile effort to defend herself, fell back, lifeless, to the ground.
In those last moments as the life faded from her eyes, Alex heard and saw a burst of communication from her that caused his own mind to go into shock.
Thank you. You don’t understand. Beware the Order, things are not as they seem. Alyssa slumped to the ground, her secrets gone with her.
Alex was almost bewildered that in her last message he felt a burst of emotion—she truly was grateful that she had been released. Alex shook himself and decided he could try to sort out the confusing memories and images she’d sent to him later. With a quick strike, Alex plunged his blade into her heart and withdrew it in a smooth motion, wiping it on a corner of her cloak before he stood and turned, his eyes tracking to Kyle and Jess.
Shattering Dreams Page 28