“They need your help. Go now,” I ordered. When they didn’t move, I raised my voice louder, commanding. “That’s a direct order coming from the future queen of this court.”
My final words put a jolt in their stride. Together they raced toward the action. I let out a sigh of relief. I scanned the massive room, trying to locate Sebastian. He was nowhere in sight. If I were lucky, Marcus would find him and kill him. That was one way to get out of this mess. I wasn’t sure how long this distraction would last, so I slowly stepped backward. I had to keep my eyes on the crowd to make sure no one followed me. When my back hit the wall, I curled around the corner and ran for it. I was slowed down by my horrible shoes. I stopped for a minute, threw off my heels, and bolted toward the pathway at the far end of the courtyard.
I took one last glance behind me before I ran into the portal.
The salty beach air filled my nostrils. I inhaled deeply as my bare feet sank into the cold sand. Only a mile or so of walking and I would find Rowan waiting for me. Being this close to him pieced together my fractured heart. I pulled up my dress, preventing the hem from touching the ground as I trudged forward. I had to laugh a little when I realized what I would look like when Rowan saw me. Minus my wedding shoes, I was in my full wedding attire, complete with veil. The only thing I was missing was—
A sharp pain erupted from my spine, arching my back.
Sebastian appeared from behind me. “I gave you simple instructions, yet here you are about to betray me.”
He must have watched me enter the portal and followed me. Had I been stabbed? I reached behind me, searching for the source of the pain. I glanced down. Blood covered my hand. I tried to speak, but no words came out. My breaths were short, panicked. When I tried to move, the pain in my side stopped me. Sebastian kicked out my legs, and I fell to my knees. I tried to force out the words in a whisper. “Wh—?”
“Did you know that if you stab the knife in just the right spot, it will enter in between your enemy's rib bones and cut off their air supply? A pretty nifty piece of information. I learned that move as a child from one of my sword-fighting trainers.” Sebastian circled me while playing with the bloody dagger in his hand. “I would guess by your startled look that you assumed I had no skills with a blade. You can add that to the list of things you didn’t know about me.”
“Why are you doing this?” I managed to get out.
“Because you presented me with a fantastic opportunity,” he smiled. “If I kill you now, that only leaves your father in my way. In his weakened state, I suspect he’ll be no match for me. And who will our court lean on when House Paralda falls?” He put his finger on his temple as if contemplating the answer. “Me,” he shouted. “The elemental who was chosen to wed the dirty half-blood princess.”
I lunged for him, but he moved away. I landed on the ground with half of my face covered in sand. Searing pain came over my body in waves, and I realized what he had done. He stabbed me with an iron blade. I was losing blood fast, my body deteriorating by the second. Still, I searched the ground for a weapon of any kind. There had to be something I could use to injure him before he went after my father. If I had even a sliver of strength left, I would try to stop him.
“Don’t bother fighting back,” he chuckled. “You’ll be dead soon enough.”
“Don’t be so sure,” I replied, words barely audible.
“Normally, an untreated knife wound would take hours or even days to kill you, but I’ve been poisoning you for weeks.” He patted the leather satchel attached to his belt. “Care to have another sip of wine, princess?”
Had this been his plan all along? Had I married him, he would have still killed me to claim the throne for himself. That bastard. “I’m going to—”
“You’ll do nothing,” Sebastian argued. “Poor Princess Kalin. Where did your powers go? I thought you were the next akasha. The savior of our kind. Well, if you had all that power, why would you need to be betrothed to anyone?”
I let out a muffled growl.
“I know it’s very creative. I’d love to take credit for it, but the wine was my mother’s idea.” He waved his hands in front of him. “She didn’t want you to die. The wine was only meant to weaken your power so you would agree to the marriage. After our vows, she made me promise to stop giving you the enchanted wine.” He let out a long sigh. “Killing you was my idea.”
I couldn’t believe how proud he was of his decision to kill me. It was as if he had no morals of any kind. He was the elemental who would sit on our throne if he managed to succeed in his plans. No, I could not allow this to happen. Who knew what harm he would cause?
My vision blurred from the blood loss. Dizzy, I tried to concentrate. I had to come up with a plan. Rowan was too far away. I would never make it to him, which meant my only option was to crawl toward the portal. I could make a run for it. If I found my way back to the castle, someone might see me. Just as I rolled onto my stomach, Sebastian plunged the dagger into my back three more times. Each time he sliced through my skin, the area around the incision throbbed. The smell of burnt flesh permeated the air.
“Oh, no. You’re not going anywhere.” He kicked my side, turning me over until I was on my back.
I stopped fighting. My tired limbs were too weak to move. The iron coursed through my bloodstream, burning my veins as it traveled through my body. And thanks to the poisoned wine, I wasn’t healing as I normally would. I glanced down. Bloody sand covered the white dress. After everything I had been through, was this how it would end?
Sebastian nudged my side with the tip of his shoe. “Well, I’d better get back to the castle before someone realizes I’m gone.” He knelt, kissing me on the forehead. “We could’ve had so much fun together. Oh well,” he shrugged. “Better luck next time.”
After he cleaned the knife thoroughly, he dropped the weapon in the sand.
I was able to turn my head far enough to the side to watch him enter the portal. Soon he would alert everyone of my absence. My father would likely send out all of his knights to look for me, making Sebastian’s plan to kill him that much easier. And all the while, I couldn’t do anything to help him. All I could do was wait here to die. With all the poison in my system, I doubted the process would take long.
But what if I removed the poison?
Sebastian said the tainted wine blocked my power. If I drained out most of the blood, would my akasha power save my life? If I slit my wrists, I would hit a major artery. The blood would empty quickly and maybe regenerate me in the process. What did I have to lose? At this point, I was already going to die. I reached out, straining to reach the dagger Sebastian left in the sand. My fingers were almost numb. It took every bit of energy I had left to grip the handle and then pull my arm back toward my torso.
My hand shook as I slid the sharp blade over my left wrist. The pain was less than I thought it would be. I tried to do the same to the right one, but my strength was gone. Everything around me moved, shifting in and out of place. The lines around my vision blackened until there was nothing.
Only complete darkness.
Chapter Twenty-Three
Rowan
Where was Kalin?
Marcus said she got the message. She was coming at sundown. I glanced up at the amber skies. We were only moments away. If all went as planned, she should have already been here. Something was wrong. I felt it in my bones. Fire pulsated at the tips of my fingers. Marcus left over an hour ago to help Ariel with a distraction. He made it seem as if his plan was foolproof. If he was right, then had something happened to her on the way here?
Had she been caught?
Kalin met me here so many times, managing to sneak away from her guard so we could have some privacy. Unless something drastically changed, she shouldn’t have had any problems getting away. But something was different. Marcus said the wedding was today. If I were Sebastian, I would have her heavily guarded. That meant she might be stuck there. Or maybe Ariel and Marcus got captured. Tens
ion built in my shoulders. Too many lingering questions.
I couldn’t continue to stand here without doing something.
Slipping my sheath and sword over my shoulder, I headed toward the portal opening she always used. It was less than a mile from here. If I couldn’t find her, I had to take the chance and go to the air castle. They might need my help. Being part of the fire court meant there would be no one holding out a welcome banner, but regardless of the current tension between our courts, Taron knew me as a friend. Each time I thought of him, I wondered why he had agreed to this wedding. Kalin made it clear from the beginning that the engagement wasn’t real. I shook my head.
None of this made any sense.
One way or another, I was going to get to the bottom of this mess. Finding out what had happened to Kalin was the first step. I trudged through the sand, regretting that I hadn’t taken off my boots. I could feel the grains of sand scraping against my socks. Flying would’ve been easier, but much more noticeable. I needed to go stealth in case something had gone wrong. The air had gotten much colder. I wasn’t affected by the chilled wind, but I could sense the temperature change when I breathed in the night air. The skies had grown darker as the moon slowly rose. I sped up, getting an overriding feeling that I needed to hurry.
I couldn’t shake the feeling that something, somehow, had gone drastically wrong.
When I had less than a quarter-mile to go, I saw something crumpled over in the distance. I wasn’t sure what I was seeing, so I ran the rest of the way there. As I got closer, an overwhelming fear shot through me. A motionless body lay in a pool of blood. “Please don’t be her,” I kept repeating, begging. The body was lifeless, tied up in a massive amount of fabric. Oh God, was she wearing a wedding dress?
“Kalin,” I screamed.
I called out her name several more times as I rushed toward the bloodied body. My legs burned as I fought my way through the sand. Rolling her over, I saw what I had feared most. It was her. No! No! No! My chest ached like someone had punched a hole right through it. I knelt in front of her, checking for signs of life. I put my ear to her nose, praying I’d hear something. Relief flooded through me when I heard a tiny breath. Although she had multiple stab wounds, she was still alive. The burns around the wounds suggested her assailant had used an iron weapon. She needed something to cleanse her blood.
Orion.
Kalin was too far gone. Only he could save her now. I scooped her limp body into my arms. Looking down at her, I could see how pale she was from the loss of blood. Her lips had turned purple. She was running out of time. I stretched my wings to full capacity and took off into the skies. I was flying faster than I had ever flown in my life. The muscles in my back ached from the additional weight, but I refused to slow my pace. When I found the portal, I swooped down. I landed a few feet away and then raced into the pathway. I reached the other side, finding myself inside the woodland forest. Twigs snapped under my boots as I headed full-speed toward Orion’s caves. I prayed he was inside and that I wasn’t too late. “I’m here, Jelly Bean. Don’t you dare die on me.”
There were two guards in front of the gates. Both took one glance at Kalin’s bloody body and promptly moved out of my way. I headed to their medical area. I remembered its location. Days ago, I had brought my best friend here when he was close to death. Now, I was carrying the girl I loved. I would give my life for hers without hesitation. These injuries couldn’t be the end of her. Not after everything we had survived.
“Please, Kalin, wake up.” I pleaded.
There was still no response. My heart was pumping so hard I could feel the pounding in my ears. Woodland faeries gasped in horror when I entered their infirmary. “Don’t just stand there. Go get your king,” I urged. When they didn’t move fast enough, I shouted, “Go!”
That got their attention. In unison, they all ran out of the room. I delicately placed Kalin onto a gurney, laying her flat on her stomach since the stab wounds were on her back. As she lay there, I saw the blood running down her hand. There was another wound on her left wrist. I ripped off a piece of my t-shirt, tying it around her incision to cut off the flow of blood. I wished I had noticed it before. Although the trip here had been short, I could have saved her from so much blood loss by looking her over before we came.
I heard multiple voices coming from the hallway. A second later, Orion entered the infirmary. “No, what happened here?” he asked, his eyes widened with alarm.
“Please help her. Someone stabbed her, and it looks like she’s lost a lot of blood.”
Orion came to stand next to me. When he saw Kalin’s face, he gasped. “Is that—?”
“Yes,” I said, nervously running my fingers through my hair.
“How did this happen?” he asked, his voice panicked. “Does Taron know?”
Kalin didn’t have enough time for me to explain this to him. I grabbed his arm. “I don’t know anything. I found her like this. Please, help her. Whatever you can do.”
He nodded. “Cut the princess out of the dress. I need to see her wounds.”
I released the dagger I kept on my belt, cutting through the clips that held her dress together. The blade screeched across the fabric. The garment split, falling at her sides. Some of the stab wounds went through her corset. The corset had to come off too. I hated doing it, but I had no choice. Next, I reached under her. I managed to pull the rest of the torn garments off. The cut pieces collected into a bloody pile next to her bed. When I finished, she had nothing but her panties on. Searching the room, I found a white blanket in a large drawer. I flung it over her waist, covering her legs.
Orion came over to examine her injuries. A second later, he was searching through cabinets. He found a large ceramic bowl and set it on the counter. He continued whipping through the room, collecting ingredients while mumbling to himself. Then just as quickly, he ground the herbs down into a powder. I wasn’t surprised to see his urgency. Orion would do anything in his power to save Taron’s only child. After he blended two liquids, he inserted the mixture into a syringe. Taking her arm, Orion poked the needle into her vein and pushed the medicine into her bloodstream.
Wiping the back of his hand over his forehead, Orion said, “What I gave her will rid her blood of the poison. Her body should begin to heal on its own, but she’s lost a lot of blood. I don’t know how long it will be before she wakes up, assuming she does wake up.”
That wasn’t a good enough answer. “Is that the best you can do?”
Orion put his hand on my shoulder, staring at me with a comforting expression. “It’s up to her, Rowan. We’ve done all we can do. It’s her fight now.”
I sat in a metal chair next to her bed, my elbows perched on my knees. “It shouldn’t be her fight. Since she got here, she’s been fighting for herself and her court.”
Orion leaned against the closet wall, crossing his arms. “Fighting is all any of us can do. Surely you understand.”
I did understand. My entire life had been one battle after another. I didn’t wish my path on anyone, certainly not her. “I’d give anything to switch places with her right now.”
He chuckled.
I stood, fists clenched at my sides. “Are you laughing? There’s nothing funny about any of this.”
Shaking his head, he said, “Now I understand why you avoided her engagement party. You love her.”
Orion had always been kind to me. At times, he acted as a father figure. I had no desire to share my true feelings, but I couldn't lie to him. “It’s complicated.”
“So you admit it,” he nudged. “You’re in love.”
“I’m sticking with complicated.”
After a long silence, he said, “You missed an excellent party. One of the best I’ve ever thrown. Well, except for the ending.”
My eyebrow furrowed. “What do you mean?”
Orion started to clean up, putting the unused medicine back into the cabinets. “Britta rushed out, taking all of her elementals with her.” Movi
ng to the sink, he washed out the mixing bowl. “She said she had a vision, but wouldn’t say what she saw. I’ve been trying to reach her since, with no luck.”
Out of the corner of my eye, something shimmered. I glanced behind me, and my mouth fell open. Kalin was glowing. I rushed to her bedside, reaching her in a second. Luminous marks appeared all over her body. They were the symbols of each of the four courts. They moved slowly over her body. As they moved over her back, the blood and grime on her skin disappeared. Her normal olive coloring returned while her lips reddened. It was as if they were healing her from the inside out. I had never seen anything like it in my life, but I knew what it meant.
Orion appeared beside me, his hand over his mouth. He stared at her with total astonishment. “Taron was right. She is the akasha.”
Kalin’s eyes opened, and I let out a sigh of relief. Her eyes darted around the room. I could tell by her confused expression that she was trying to figure out where she was. As she began to turn over, I pulled the blanket higher, leaving her exposure to a minimum. “Where am I?” she croaked, her voice raw.
Orion called for someone to bring her something to drink.
I pulled her into my arms, holding her tighter than I probably should have. “You’re in Orion’s castle in the caves. You’re all right.”
Her voice stammered. “I thought I was dying.”
Clasping her cheeks in my hands, I softly pressed my lips against hers. “You were, but Orion healed you. Well, maybe healed you.”
Kalin raised an eyebrow. “What do you mean, maybe?”
I held her arm, running my hand over her soft skin. “Symbols appeared all over you. They healed you.”
Kalin sat there for a moment, not saying a word. I fully expected her to freak out. Instead, she relaxed as if she was relieved in some way. “The symbols? Were they of the four courts?”
Now I was the one confused. “Yes, how did you know that?”
“Mom told me about them. She said they were there when I was born.” Kalin opened her mouth to say something else, then froze. Her eyes widened as she put her hands over her mouth. “Dad,” she shouted. “We have to save him.”
Mortal Enchantment Complete Box Set Page 45