He nodded and bit his lip, thinking of their terrifying adventure together. “Stay safe,” he managed to whisper.
“Of course.” A gloved hand reached out and tilted his head up to look into her eyes. “And we will be back. We can’t leave our young rescuer behind for too long, you know.”
He grinned at her soft-spoken praise and allowed his attention to shift to the almost-toddler in Garnet’s arms.
This isn’t the end. Zak reached out to brush Jade’s hand with his own. I’ll see you again. Soon.
Epilogue
The subject was coming to, his wavy brown-almost-blond hair flopping as his head twitched back and forth, forehead scrunched in apparent pain. His immediate wounds had been taken care of, scratches dressed and broken collarbone set—but no painkillers. The pain seemed to be stirring him back to consciousness, just as planned.
He leaned forward, watching the twinges on the subject’s face, noting how he reflexively strained against the restraints of the bed. Ice-blue eyes snapped open with a gasp.
The subject stared at the low ceiling for a long moment, eyebrows drawn together in confusion. His gaze started to wander around the room, taking in the simplicity, the vials of potions, the instruments hanging on the walls, the sword nearby. He finally noticed he wasn’t alone in the room, eyes curious with hazy recognition.
“Where am I?” His voice was raspy from his unconscious screaming earlier. “Did you save me?”
How much did he remember? Humor him first.
“Yes. I found you in the snow, outside the citadel. Do you remember what happened?”
The subject leaned his head back on the thin pillow, thinking. His eyes unfocused with the effort, fingers on his right hand nervously tapping against the bed.
Note the hand and rhythm. He wrote it down on his paper, watching the subject.
“A mob … Fighting … Sapphire warned us—the keystone was in danger!” His eyes widened and he thrashed in the bed, fighting the leather straps holding him down. “Zane!” he hissed in pain, looking at the restraints and then looking up, a curious mix of confusion and concern in his eyes. “Why am I strapped down? What happened? Where is everyone?”
He answered curtly. “So you don’t further injure yourself.” He set his notepad down and picked up a thin crystal, grinning sadistically, eager to see and record the upcoming reaction. “As for your wife …” He turned the image crystal and angled it so the subject could see it.
Tears rose in the subject’s eyes, spilling over and down his cheeks as he stared in horror.
A lovely redhead in an emerald green outfit lay on a floor, limbs straightened and eyes closed, a large bloodstain on her chest. Her skin was pale with blood loss, still in the autolysis stage of death, not yet bloating with decomposition. It was a fine image of early death, really.
He watched the subject as his chest heaved with heavy breaths, tears flowing as he shook his head in denial. He tossed a ribbon onto Brandon’s chest. It had once been blue, but now it was a muddy brownish red, stiff with dried blood. “You should recognize this. I found it when I found her.” He shrugged. “A memento of her death.” He wrote down a few thoughts he observed before he turned the crystal back and swiped it to bring up the next image. “I found this by her body. Do you recognize it?”
He turned the crystal back, eager to see the emotions that the subject—Prince Brandon—would show next.
Watching the man’s eyes widen at the sight of Lieutenant Slate’s sword was entertaining. His mouth fell open in shock and his eyebrows furrowed in confusion. His eye twitched.
He decided it was time to twist the proverbial dagger a bit.
“He tried to hide it,” he added conversationally. “But it was pretty clear. He murdered your wife. So sorry. I hope you enjoyed being married while you were, because that time is over.” He suppressed his grin and tapped his chin, relishing the pain his subject was showing. “According to the investigation, he even had a hand in letting the rioters in.”
“What? No! He would never do that! Slate loves her!” The subject’s voice broke and fell to a quieter volume. “He loved her. He would never betray us like that!”
Loyal. That would be easily broken soon enough.
He shrugged and carefully slipped the crystal into his leather bag. He dug around and pulled out a silver circlet—the silver circlet. Fortune was with him in that it hadn’t broken after going out the window. He held it up for his subject to see it. “This should help with some of your pain.”
Prince Brandon had wilted into the bed, staring at the ceiling in shocked sorrow. He looked over, tears silently running. “Adeline?” he whispered.
“Dead.”
“No! Doctor Taylor! Please! Is anyone still alive? What about—”
Before he could ask anything more, Jaxton slipped the circlet over Brandon’s head, watching as he immediately slowed his frantic motions and blinked slowly. Jaxton grinned over him. “I need to make some adjustments on this, and you are in the perfect position to help me with that. My previous experiment went and got himself killed, so hopefully you’ll do a better job of staying alive.” He chuckled to himself. “You have me, a much more competent controller. So of course you’ll do well.”
Brandon blinked at him, complacent.
“It really is a shame about your wife, you know.” Jaxton continued. He tapped on Brandon’s arm, directly on a barely healed scratch, noting the lack of pained reaction. “Had she died when I poisoned her, it would have been much less messy. Well. Less bloody.” He leaned down to whisper to the prone man. “Do you know how difficult it was to poison her with both regular poison and Void magic? Poisoning Princess Rose had been easy—her pregnancy finished her off without my needing to harness the Void. And I was promoted to Head Physician—put in the perfect place to do all I wanted. But for your wife I made a beautiful blend of Void magic, and she survived it. Shame. But it lead us to the man who had barrier information that we needed.” Jaxton straightened and shrugged. “Too bad he escaped us. My master was very upset by that, but we’ll find him soon enough. I look forward to … learning … from him for how to create more bloodstones.” He grinned. “And she’s still dead.”
It almost seemed as if Brandon’s eyes had flashed at that. But when Jaxton looked closer, he could see that Brandon was lying as he should, completely devoid of any emotion or personality. The perfect puppet.
Jaxton stretched and winked at his new play toy. “But she’s of no importance now. Now we focus on business. Maybe you can even help me as I work through some notes about the barrier that I acquired a few months back.” He pursed his lips as he thought. “But we’ll see about that. I have a different use for you in mind first.”
Jaxton tapped a finger against the back of Brandon’s hand, relishing in the power over the bland prince. “Of course, we’ll need to change your name to something less telling later. Still distinctive, but not recognizable for your origins.” He rubbed his chin as he thought, eyeing the crimson sword on the wall. A slow smile grew, his eyes narrowing.
“Actually, I have an excellent name for you. You’ll just have to earn it.” He reached over and picked up the crimson sword, laying it down on the table with the ruby facing up, parallel to Brandon.
“Shall we begin the experiments?”
Map
Betrayal by Blood Register
Andre Catalina — Prince Brandon’s aide and bodyguard
Brandon Doldras — Second Prince of Doldra, husband to Sapphire
Clara Benning — Lady Sapphire’s handmaiden and bodyguard
Cole Harris — Lieutenant in Eastern Command
Corporal Matthias — Corporal in the Royal Guard, works closely with the Citadel Guard
Daniel Stevens — Captain of Eastern Command
Deisy — Violet’s handmaiden and best friend
Elinora Stohner — Owner of Stohner Shipping Yards, mother of Garnet, Slate, and Sapphire
Esther Monomi — Zebediah’s wife<
br />
Everett Windsor — Lord of Aerugo
Finn DoPonce — Family friend of the Stohners, herbalist, and sage
Garnet Stohner — Businesswoman, owner of the Crimson Hawk, works for Stohner Shipping, twin to Slate, elder sister to Sapphire
General Brigley — General of the Royal Guard
Jaxton Taylor — Doldran palace doctor
Rebecca Leigh — First mate on the Phoenix, Samantha’s younger sister
Richard Doldras — First Prince of Doldra
Roney Sperben — Sergeant in Eastern Command
Rose Doldras — Richard’s wife, first princess of Perennia, deceased
Rupert Doldras — King of Doldra
Samantha Leigh — Captain of the Phoenix, works with Elinora Stohner
Samuel Thistle — Violet’s uncle and Advisor for Perennia
Sapphire Doldras — Wife to Brandon, sister to Garnet and Slate
Slate Stohner — Royal guard, Garnet’s twin, and Sapphire’s older brother
Victoria Doldras — Queen of Doldra
Vincent Kalem — Purveyor of dragon parts
Violet Floret — Second princess of Perennia, Rose’s younger sister
Zaborah Monomi — Second youngest Monomi, in-training for Guardianship
Zak Monomi — Youngest Monomi
Zandra Monomi — Second eldest Monomi, full-fledged Guardian, works at the Crimson Hawk as an informant
Zane Monomi — Eldest Monomi, full-fledged Guardian of the Citadel
Zebediah Monomi — Head of the Monomi clan and Citadel Guard
About the Author
During the day, Becky is a stay at home mom of two active little boys. When she has ‘free time’, she enjoys reading, writing, baking and sewing.
After many years of creative writing classes, writing fanfiction drabbles and daydreaming, it was high time to start writing her husband Mike's story. She dove into the world of Terrene and hasn’t looked back—except for when she runs out of dark chocolate.
Any free time not spent in Terrene is typically expended on hosting dinner and game nights, running amok with the two little monkeys or watching nerdy movies with Mike.
For updates,
behind-the-scenes posts,
giveaways, and new releases,
visit RJMetcalf.com
Table of Contents
Acknowledgments
Prologue
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fifteen
Chapter Sixteen
Chapter Seventeen
Chapter Eighteen
Chapter Nineteen
Chapter Twenty
Chapter Twenty-One
Chapter Twenty-Two
Chapter Twenty-Three
Chapter Twenty-Four
Chapter Twenty-Five
Chapter Twenty-Six
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Chapter Twenty-Eight
Chapter Twenty-Nine
Chapter Thirty
Chapter Thirty-One
Chapter Thirty-Two
Chapter Thirty-Three
Chapter Thirty-Four
Chapter Thirty-Five
Chapter Thirty-Six
Chapter Thirty-Seven
Chapter Thirty-Eight
Chapter Thirty-Nine
Chapter Forty
Chapter Forty-One
Chapter Forty-Two
Chapter Forty-Three
Chapter Forty-Four
Chapter Forty-Five
Chapter Forty-Six
Chapter Forty-Seven
Chapter Forty-Eight
Chapter Forty-Nine
Chapter Fifty
Chapter Fifty-One
Chapter Fifty-Two
Chapter Fifty-Three
Chapter Fifty-Four
Chapter Fifty-Five
Chapter Fifty-Six
Chapter Fifty-Seven
Chapter Fifty-Eight
Chapter Fifty-Nine
Chapter Sixty
Chapter Sixty-One
Chapter Sixty-Two
Epilogue
Map
Betrayal by Blood Register
About the Author
Betrayal by Blood Page 43
