“You will not even know that I am gone,” he murmurs.
I watch as his hand falls and he turns around. The men are dressed in complete armor, looking just like the knights that I’ve seen in history books.
I have no idea how they wear the metal outfits from head to toe and I’ve never found them attractive before, not until I watch my husband don his own full-metal clothing.
My mouth waters at the sight of him, I wonder if I could get him to bed in just the chainmail shirt and skirt though, now that little fantasy is hot as shit.
I feel warm, my body heating with thoughts of taking Elias back to bed and keeping him there for as long as humanly possible, mainly so he’ll never fight another battle again.
“Let us go, let us succeed, let us come back to warm and willing women,” Elias growls.
The men in this tent roar before they leave us alone, well alone except for Rowan and Asher. I hear Ellyn moan and that breaks me from staring at the closed tent flaps. Turning to her, I hurry and sink down on the edge of her bed.
“Ellyn, are you awake?” I ask, taking her hand in mine.
Her eyelids slowly flutter open and she gives me a small smile. “You’re safe, Queen,” she whispers. “It is all I wanted,” she breathes. “The gods call to me now. I must go to them.”
“No,” I choke. “You will not.”
Lifting my head, I call out to Rowan. He takes the several strides to get to my side. He looks down at Ellyn and shakes his head softly, sadness clearly etched in his features.
“She is not well, Your Highness. The fever has set in, whatever they nicked with their blade, it hit something inside of her that will not self-repair.”
My bottom lip trembles and I grip her hand tightly as tears well in my eyes. “In my world, she could be fixed,” I whisper. “In my world, she would be saved.”
Thunder rolls through the sky above us, and I know that it is my tears that is causing this, but I can’t control myself. The rain begins to pound against the tent at the same time my shoulders start to shake.
“We are not of your world, Your Majesty. Here we can do naught but make her comfortable and give her our thanks for making this world a bit brighter with her easy and sweet demeanor.”
His words are beautiful, but it doesn’t make me hate them any less. I do hate them, despise them even. I stay at her bedside, the rest of the tent bathed in silence as I watch one of my only friends in this world pass on to her new world, heaven, or whatever they believe in here.
ELIAS
The sky is a soft gray, the sun beginning to set, and there is a cloak of sadness that fills all of us. I know it is my queen mourning her friend. She must be close or just passed. I did not know the woman well, but the love that Sybilla had for her, I know that she must be a good one.
“Your Queen mourns,” Henry murmurs as we continue forward.
“She does,” I agree.
He clears his throat. “It seems she has not witnessed much death, maybe people do not die oft in her world?” he asks.
Looking forward, my head consumed with dozens of different thoughts, I remember what she said. Shifting my gaze to Henry. “She said that Ellyn could have been saved in her world. Perhaps their medicine is farther advanced than here.”
“I think mayhap you could be correct,” he mutters.
I’m sure that Henry is thinking about his own dead wife, a woman that he lost while she battled for the life of their child. In the end, they both perished during childbirth and he became one of my men shortly after, ready to travel and put his past behind him.
Though, does one ever put the woman they loved, the future they lost behind them? I didn’t understand it before, I do now. If Sybilla and our unborn babe were to be taken from me, I would not survive the loss. I do not know how Henry continues to breathe.
“Are you ready, brother?” I ask him, trying to clear my mind of everything but war and victory.
He clears his throat, his chin lifting as he looks up toward the top of the castle. “I hear a witch resides here,” he whispers. “I am ready. If I meet the end, I know that my woman and babe wait for me, their arms open and ready to accept me once again.”
“They do, brother. But you will not perish this eve, I will not allow it. Plus, the witch, I hear is there under duress and against her will. Mayhap she will be a boon rather than an enemy?”
“Mayhap,” he whispers.
Lifting my arm, I give the signal to my nineteen men that it is indeed time to breach the castle.
GODIVA
“They battle,” Aleida whispers.
She has no need to whisper, yet she does. I smooth down my long hair and smile. “They do indeed.” I grin.
“Your sister is there, is she not?” Aleida asks.
My eyes flash with surprise that she knows this. “She is…”
“It is no wonder that the King just somehow felt the need to go to war with Llyne, immediately, rather than waiting for the prophecy to unfold,” she snorts.
“Are you implying that I used magic to free my sister?” I ask, feigning offense.
Aleida smirks, her lips turning up. She’s much more confident in her younger skin, gorgeous too. We do make a lovely pair and I have the yearning to feel some soldiers work their adrenaline-induced cocks between my legs.
“I am.”
I laugh. “My sister, unlike me, does not need magic to make herself young and beautiful. She was the youngest in my family, born of my father and a whore. She is only twenty years young. She is held in Llyne because of her beauty and power combined. She deserves to be free, does she not?”
“Why not set her free yourself?” she asks.
Lifting my hand, I murmur the words that conjure what I wish to see. It is a window into my sister’s life. I’ve watched her many times over the past few years, each time her body and mind deteriorate a bit farther. She still remains beautiful to the outside eye, but inside, she is breaking.
“He keeps her in chains, copper chains,” I explain simply.
Aleida gasps. “How did he know?” she demands.
It is true, witches’ powers are unable to work if the witch is bound by copper. He has also infused copper lining in the walls of her rooms. It is not a well-known fact.
I have no idea how this pompous, overweight, disgusting, rapist of a king has discovered this, other than the goddesses having whispered it into his ear. He is simply not knowledgeable enough to know such things.
“I do not know, but without King Elias and his men, she will surely perish beneath this man’s torture. Shall we watch, help where we can?” I ask, shifting my gaze back to Aleida.
“Yes, I would enjoy that, immensely.”
“After, we’ll join in the victory of King Elias’ army, and enjoy the spoils of the men and their bodies,” I offer with a grin.
“What of your sister?” she asks, her brows furrowing.
Licking my lips, I turn to the images in front of me. “Soon enough I will help my sister. For now, she must allow herself to be rescued and her fate to come to fruition as we all must.”
Aleida nods and together we watch, and aide, King Elias and his men to victory. The fall of the evil King of Llyne is a beautiful disaster and I cannot look away as he takes his final breath.
My lips turning up into a victorious smile when his soul leaves his body and no doubt travels downward to find its final resting place with Hades.
Chapter Thirty-Three
SYBILLA
Ellyn is gone. Her beauty is only a shell and the vibrance of her light has completely faded. Pinching my eyes closed, I allow Rowan to wrap his hands around my shoulders and guide me away from her body.
The rain falls, yet again. I wonder if this place is this world’s Portland, it always seems to rain. Thunder rumbles all around us, but I ignore it all while I mourn my friend. My beautiful friend.
Two soldiers enter, walking over to her while my tears fall. Without a single word, her body is carried away. R
owan pulls me against his chest, he’s my main source of strength at this moment. I wish that Elias were here, he would hold me the same way, but it would be even more of a comfort.
I shake as I think about what is happening, wondering if Elias is safe. This is all too much. I shouldn’t be here. I should be at home safe in my apartment in Portland. I don’t know how I became some pawn to fulfill a prophecy, but I’m fucking done.
Pressing my lips together, I take a step back and turn away from Rowan. I hear him grunt behind me, probably sensing my mood shift immediately. I can’t take this though. I love Elias. I’ve fallen in love with him, but I can’t stay here.
I just watched my friend die and nobody was even really bothered by her passing. I am not from some ancient world, I’m from modern days with penicillin and surgeons. This isn’t right, this isn’t normal. I need to go.
“Queen Sybilla,” Rowan’s voice calls out, his tone sharp. My spine straightens and I turn around quickly to look at him. “You are panicking, Your Majesty.”
Rolling my lips, I try not to cry, to scream, or just plain run as far as I can from this place. “This isn’t right. I need to go home,” I snap.
He tilts his head to the side. “You’ll be returning to Aerilon shortly. The battle here is almost over, victory is but moments away.”
Shaking my head, I wrap my hand around the front of my throat. “No, I need to go back to my time. This is fucking crazy and the fact that I was about to just accept that this is my new life is even fucking crazier. I need to go, go, go,” I hiss as I ramble.
Rowan takes a step toward me, but it isn’t him who appears directly in front of me, it’s Katrina. I can feel Jasmine at my back and I know that if I were to spin around, she would be there.
Granted, it would be easy to get around her with her broken arm, but I don’t try, not with the serious look in Katrina’s eyes as she looks down on me.
“Gather yourself, Your Majesty,” she says calmly, evenly. Her eyes flash with something, but I can’t read what it is. “Ellyn would not want you to panic. She would not want you to run, not only from your destiny, but from your heart.”
“It’s too much,” I whisper as my heart begins to slam against my chest.
“Do you not think that the king is having the same thoughts? He has fallen in love with and married a woman from another world instead of marrying for alliance and politics as he had imagined, as he’d been prepared to do for his duty.”
Inhaling through my nose, I let the breath out in a long exhale past my lips. My gaze lifts and shifts to Rowan and Asher who are standing side by side, completely decked out in their battle uniforms, which really look like costumes.
“I miss my sisters. I miss my parents. I miss modern conveniences. I miss everything,” I whisper.
Katrina nods. “I am sure that you do miss all of those things, Your Highness. You are a queen now. A queen to many people. You may miss your old life, but it is the past. Through the prophecy’s fruition, you will see your sisters again and perhaps your parents as well, but with that babe in your belly, you have started your own family and that should be your focus, not the past.”
“Damn, you’re harsh,” I whisper.
Her gaze softens and she reaches for me, wrapping her hands around my own. “I do not mean to be harsh, Your Majesty, but you cannot dwell on things that you cannot change. If you think us coldhearted because of Ellyn’s passing, know that we have seen much death, but we also know that she is in a beautiful place now, a place that we all aspire to go.”
Nodding once, I hold her gaze with mine, just as Jasmine wraps her good arm around my chest from behind, her bad arm she wraps around my waist and holds me just as Katrina continues to hold my hands in hers.
“Ellyn is at peace, Sybilla. We will all meet again and that is why we do not cry at her passing. Crying for her body is pointless, not when her soul has found eternal light and happiness,” Jasmine whispers.
Closing my eyes, I let out a long sigh. The way they describe death, it is beautiful and damn if that doesn’t make my dramatics seem… well… dramatic.
When I open my eyes again, both Jasmine and Katrina are in front of me, Rowan and Asher are at their backs, but all of their eyes are focused directly on me. They all give me a sad smile, waiting for me to lose my shit, again.
“I just, this is all happening so fast,” I whisper.
Rowan’s lips twitch into a smirk. “Our King went from being a free warrior prince, to being shackled to a crown that he wasn’t sure he even wanted, to a wife that he had known only moments. It is safe to say, my queen, that everything has happened rapidly for the both of you.”
The way he explains it, I feel like a dick for being the only one freaking out, especially since Elias’ parents are both dead and as far as I know he has no other siblings. I’ll see my sisters again, assuredly.
Plus, maybe if I can find a witch that is powerful enough, she will be able to spirit my parents here, because selfishly, I want my whole family in this world if this is where I’m meant to be.
“Okay, no more freak-outs, at least not for today.” I grin.
The four people simultaneously frown at the words, freak out, but then they match my smile with ones of their own. We all nod, and then we return to waiting for some kind of sign that Elias has stormed the castle and has taken over Llyne.
As if my thoughts have willed the signal, we hear a bell ringing in the distance. Together, the four of us rush out of the tent and along with all the other people that did not join this fight, we listen to the sound of the bell on the hill.
“He has succeeded,” Rowan murmurs.
“King Elias now holds the original land his family has had for generations, land his father selfishly handed to others to keep his paramour’s legs spread,” Asher grinds out.
“All hail King Elias,” Rowan shouts, lifting his fist in the air.
Then one by one, man by man, they shout in unison. All hail King Elias. Pride bubbles inside of me as the sun rises behind the castle. A glow surrounds the building and that same warm glow fills me full, almost bursting inside of me.
Love.
Happiness.
Peace.
It fills me full, pushing the sadness and fear deep down in my belly. Though I’m sure those feelings will rise again, especially as my pregnancy progresses, but for now, I am at peace about staying here in Bunafi, with My King.
ELIAS
The woman locked in chains stares back at me. She’s beautiful in an ethereal way. She doesn’t seem real. Crouching down in front of her, I tilt my head to the side, my eyes raking over her pretty face.
“I am King Elias of Bunafi,” I say, introducing myself.
Her gaze lifts to mine, her eyes holding zero fear as she takes me in. Her lips curl up and she leans forward. “I am Ryia,” she sighs, her breath washing over my face. I feel my cock stir against my will in her presence. “Release me, Your Majesty, I am at your service.”
“Elias,” Merek grunts behind me as I lift my hands to release her from her copper bindings.
Looking over my shoulder, I arch a brow at my cousin. “She’s a witch,” he growls.
Turning back toward the woman, my eyes search her own as I try to find the evidence of Merek’s claim.
“Are you a witch?” I ask, my voice a mere whisper as my desire burns for this beauty.
My fingers continue to work her copper bindings as I wait for the answer, freeing her quickly.
She lifts her hand, her fingertips sliding through my short beard as her eyes connect with mine. “I am a witch, but bound in copper, I cannot practice magic in this room. What you feel for me, it is your desire to have me,” she breathes. “I was held by this awful man. You, I would go with freely.”
I should push her away, my bride waits for me at our camp, but I cannot leave this witch. I am bound to her, connected to her and I must have her. I have never felt like this before, as if my body is not my own. As though I am not under my
own control.
Leaning forward, I cup the back of her head before I feel my body being ripped away and dragged out of the room. The sweet voice of the witch rings out in laughter as Merek tosses me out of the room, my back slamming against the stone wall.
Lifting my gaze to meet his, I am not even angry at his actions. “What’s happened?” I breathe.
“That witch must be part siren. She will consume you, Elias. She wants you and I do not know why or what she will use you for, but I do not trust her.”
“She said that she could not practice magic in there, maybe I really do just desire her?”
Merek crouches down in front of me, his eyes finding mine. “When we take over, sometimes the men rape, especially the princesses and servants inside of the castle. You have never done such things. Your wife, the woman carrying your heir, waits for you.
“Some men partake in the pleasures of other women’s flesh when they are wed. Had you married anybody but her, I would possibly not question it. You are not your father and you love your wife, Elias.”
“I do,” I rasp. “But how?”
“The gods jest,” Merek hisses. “They will try everything in their power to make sure that this prophecy is not fulfilled. That is what it must be, as she is powerful when she should not be so. Do not give in to the desires, Elias. It is not worth the consequences, not for a moment of physical pleasure.”
“I’m not sure that it would be pleasurable,” I grunt.
Merek chuckles. “That queynte probably has teeth.”
Standing to my feet, I shake my head with a laugh. “I have no doubt that it does. Blindfold her, bind her arms. She will stay in this room until we leave here,” I order.
I should turn and walk away as soon as my orders are delivered, but I don’t. Instead, I wait until Merek has done what I’ve asked, ensuring that my cousin is safe from this siren witch and the overwhelming power that she possesses.
Bride of the Traitor: A Prophecy of Sisters Novel Page 26