Savage Reign

by Melody Locklear

  Keenan’s eyes travel to my arms, bruised in several different places and I self-consciously tug the sleeve of my black long-sleeved shirt down over the bruises, avoiding his electric stare.

  Keenan sets his eyes ahead and the intensity of his baby blues focused on something other than me makes me relax a little. “I’ll talk to the king, have him cut down on the blood donations. At least for the rest of the week.”

  “Don’t bother.” I reply, linking my hands at the back of his neck, shifting upward, trying to gain some semblance of control. “Trust me, I can take whatever your king killer throws at me.”

  “Fine.” Keenan rolls his eyes. “Be stubborn. See if I care.” he adds dismissively, bitterly. He doesn’t like my refusing his one act of kindness.

  “Put me down.” I say, throwing as much attitude at him as he is throwing at me. Keenan actually looks surprised by my response. “I said put me down, Keenan, now.” Keenan doesn’t hesitate. Because the last time I’d yelled at him that way was that night on the beach. Or maybe it’s because there are guards posted around the hallway that take notice.

  “Amara, what’s wrong?” Keenan asks me once I am on my feet.

  “I’d rather run the risk of fainting in the middle of the hallway than be forced to endure that hurt look in your eyes like you even have the right to feel hurt by me after everything you’ve done.” I yank my top into place and shove my bottle of apple juice into the hands of the nearest guard before setting off down the hall of my own volition.

  By now I know where the throne room is. Keenan follows behind me, but is content to let me throw my temper tantrum and lead the way. It isn’t until we arrive that he steps in.

  “Wait here.” He enters the throne room, leaving me to wait in the hallway surrounded by no less than four guards. I stare at them, these statues who never waver from their posts to stare back.

  “Can’t imagine why you’d ever want to be a member of the King’s Guard.” I mutter when Keenan returns for me. He rolls his eyes and yanks me into the throne room, which seems to have been cleared for my meeting with the king.

  The throne room is bare of guards and that simply tells me one thing. Whatever is going to be discussed he does not want to be overheard and that worries me. It also tells me he does not fear being alone with the deadly nether user. He knows I will never try and escape without Haven at the very least.

  The doors slam shut behind us and I visibly flinch. Keenan tightens his grip on my arm, prompting me to speak. Respect your king, his expression reads.

  “Your Majesty,” I say softly, wincing at the pressure Keenan puts on my bruised arm. “You wanted to see me.”

  “I did.” He gets up from his throne and takes off his glistening crown, planting it on a nearby table. He takes it off because he does not have to pretend here. He knows I see him as no king of mine. There is no need for the charades. “I wanted to talk. You’ve been a great help these past few months, Amara. You’ve done everything I’ve asked and unfortunately I have to ask one more thing of you.”

  His words make me nervous. I clench my hand into a fist at my side so I won’t shake. “What do you need, Your Majesty?” I ask respectfully because I feel Keenan’s warning grip on my arm.

  Bastian smiles at my docile attitude. He likes his girls whipped. Haven is proof of that. “I know that you have figured out how to communicate with Kara through your Echo.” he says, beginning to pace the room.

  I instantly go into panic mode because I know he loves to use Haven as a bargaining tool. I behave and she doesn’t get hurt. “I—I haven’t told her anything, Your Majesty, I swear. I didn’t even tell her about Keenan.”

  “That’s good, Amara. That’s very good because if he knew we were trying to make a move on Llíria that would be bad.”

  “She doesn’t know. I haven’t told her any of that.”

  “Ah, but she’s told you things over the last few months, hasn’t she, Amara?”

  And suddenly his angle is clear. He wants to use me to get information on Theon’s plans. Unfortunately, Kara hasn’t told me anything about what Theon is doing other than his plan to force me to marry Kol. Although, now that I think about it, perhaps that is a good piece of information for Bastian to have. In fact, if he knew I have no doubt he’d finally pick a date for me and Keenan’s wedding, and it would be soon, therefore I can never tell Bastian what he wants to know.

  “Some.” I say because it is not a lie. “About her babies and—and that my brother got Clea’s soul back. But she hasn’t told me anything about what Theon has been doing the last three months.” It’s still true. This plan with Kol was something she found out months ago.

  “She had to have told you something, Amara. You are not a stupid girl. In fact, you’re a very curious one so forgive me if I don’t believe you when you say that that’s all you know.”

  “It is, Your Majesty, I swear.” I do not need to fake my innocence. It comes naturally and it is the truth. I don’t want to know any more about the man who killed Tristan any more than the man who got Keenan Volterra to betray me.

  Bastian’s blue eyes turn to Keenan who is standing a few yards behind me. “Is she lying?”

  Keenan’s eyes fall on me and I see the regret in them before he speaks. I look back at him pleadingly, but it is futile. Keenan has already betrayed me. Anything more is just par for the course. “She knows something.” His electric blue eyes look everywhere, but at me.

  “Amara, sweetheart, you’re going to want to tell me what you know, otherwise things are going to get very ugly very fast.”

  “Your Majesty, please.” I beg him. “I don’t know anything, I swear.”

  “You’re lying to me, Amara and normally that is an offense punishable by death, but I need you. However I do promise that by the time I’m through with you you’re going to wish you were dead. Guard!” Bastian calls to the guard waiting outside. “Bring me Missy Fitzpatrick.”

  “No, Bastian, please.” I plead with him, for the moment forgetting titles in my drowning fear. “Please don’t hurt her. I really don’t know anything that will help you.”

  “We’ll see about that, won’t we?” Bastian heads to the door to get the guards to do as he’s asked, leaving me alone with Keenan.

  I train my eyes on Keenan and this time I have lost all the dignity I have left. I beg. “Keenan, please. If you ever loved me at all you won’t let him do this.”

  Keenan has the good sense to look remorseful. In fact, I see that same sadness I saw in his eyes the day I watched him walk out of my life, to come here, to serve a man he considers his king more than Theron Novak. The man he loves more than me. He must otherwise he would stop this.

  “Just tell him what he wants to know, Mara. Stop this before it starts.”

  “But Keenan, I don’t know anything.” I press on, trying desperately to get him to understand that.

  Keenan tilts his head to the side, approaching me slowly. He cups my cheek in his hand, his fingers digging into my bronze locks and for a second I see a flash of my Keenan, the boy who’d loved me, the boy who’d broken out of a malicious drug-induced state of anger just so he wouldn’t hurt me. But he’s gone just as quickly as he’d come when he speaks.

  “Mara,” His thumb brushes over my skin softly. The soothing gesture almost makes his words sting less. “I always know when you’re lying.”

  “Keenan,” I whisper to him, the boy I’d gotten a glimpse of just a minute ago, but he’s gone, leaving behind nothing more than an ice heart in its wake.

  “You don’t need me to stop this. You can do it yourself. Just tell him what he wants to know. Who are you trying to protect?”

  It’s a good question. What do I gain from keeping this all a secret? But I know the answer. Me. For once I am trying to protect myself. We had a plan, Haven, Daxon, and I. We were going to get us out of here before either one of our weddings could take place. That won’t happen if Bastian finds out Theon intends for me to marry Kol, so that he ca
n still control the Serpentarian kingdom without actually being king. He’ll move our wedding up and it’ll be too late.

  “He kidnapped Kara, Mar.”

  He may be a monster with Keenan’s face, but he’s got all the same thoughts and memories of the boy I’d loved. He knows how to hurt me. He knows there are only two people in this world apart from him that would give me pause. Kara and Aaric, my Achilles heel, the both of them.

  “He kidnapped her, forcing her to contend with this pregnancy alone, without any of her friends to get her through it. He sent Kol after you, seduced you, and then abandoned you. He killed Tristan.”

  And that’s my breaking point. “Stop.” I stammer out. “Don’t you dare say his name.” My voice quivers with fury. “You keep his name out of your fucking mouth.”

  Keenan smirks, throwing his hands up in mock surrender, stepping back from me. “Not a problem. I don’t even think about him. He was nothing to me.”

  His words hurt and it’s what he means to do. To pretend he and Tristan were nothing, but it is another lie. Before Tristan showed interest in me when we were fifteen him and Keenan had been friends too. Tristan never even knew about Keenan’s interest in me. Mostly because Keenan never said anything. Neither one of us did. Perhaps that was my mistake. If I had, maybe we wouldn’t be here right now. Maybe Keenan is nothing more than a brokenhearted boy throwing a temper tantrum, trying to get my attention. Maybe this marriage was his idea.

  Smugly, I say, “I always know when you’re lying, Keenan. You should know better than to try to lie to me. I know you better than you know yourself.” Keenan steps back from me looking, for the first time, terrified, of all I know about him, all I know to dig up the dead boy he’s buried alive.

  That’s when Bastian returns with Missy and a couple of guards, perhaps executioners to threaten Missy’s life while Bastian interrogates me. One of the guards is carrying a chair and rope. The question is, for Missy or for me?

  “Would you like to revise your answer before we begin?” Bastian asks me.

  My eyes fall on Missy’s. She doesn’t know what this is about, but her blue eyes warn me to keep my mouth shut. She knows whatever I am hiding it must be for a reason and she trusts me. “I already told you I don’t know anything.” I whisper.

  “Alright then.” Bastian nods toward the guard holding the chair and rope. He moves forward while the other one grabs me from behind, yanking me down into the chair. He ceases my wrists and the other guard with the rope ties them to the arms of the chair.

  “What are you doing?” I ask, unable to keep the panic out of my voice.

  “Do you really think I am so cruel that I would harm Miss Fitzpatrick for your insolence? I am not Theon, Amara. I wish you could understand that. You could have a happy life here if you would only allow yourself that happiness. You’ll marry your childhood best friend, have children with him, and one day rule your very own kingdom once Theon is pushed out of Llíria for good. I do not wish to harm you, Amara, a princess, but Theon has been searching for the last nether user for nearly two decades. He will not stop until he gets his hands on you and so I need to know how to protect us, protect you, from him.”

  I am silent for a time, giving Bastian the impression that I am considering everything he has just said. Then, finally, I say what I know will get me tortured for sure. “You took the boy that I loved and twisted him into something unrecognizable. I would rather face the man who murdered my first love everyday than spend one night in the arms of your perfectly crafted puppet.”

  “Very well then. Missy, it’s time you earned your keep, huh?” Bastian says to my friend.

  “I’m not going to hurt her.” Missy damn near scoffs. “She’s my friend.”

  “Do as you’re told, freak.” Says one of the guards.

  “Oh, that’s very original.” Missy says sarcastically. “Do you think I haven’t heard that every day from the day I was born? Put me back in a cell if you want. I’m not going to torture my friend.”

  “Do we need to torture you to torture her?” The guard threatens her. Missy gives the guard a challenging look and he moves for her, but stops when I call out.

  “Stop! Enough. Missy, do it.”

  “What?” Missy gasps.

  “Come on. Just do it.” I shift in my chair against my restraints, stretching my knuckles, preparing myself for whatever she’s got. “I’m not gonna let them hurt you just because you don’t want to hurt me.”

  “Amara, please, I—”

  “Just do it!” Anger bleeds through every inch of me and I realize after a moment that it’s not anger, but fear. Fear that I am about to be on the receiving end of someone’s element, the same way Clea had been when I’d tortured her in the dungeon at Limacore.

  Missy steps toward me and her cool hands curl around my wrists. I breathe her in, taking in her usual scent of lavender and paint, because she loves to paint. It calms me. Her hands shake and so I turn my own, palms up so that she can slip hers into mine.

  “Missy,” I demand, curling my fingers around hers. Her blue eyes snap to me. “You are not a freak.” I say, not caring about these hating guards watching us. “You’re my friend and you still will be when this is over.”

  A tear escapes her pretty blue eye and she nods. “Thank you, Amara. I’m so sorry.”

  “And Miss?”

  “Yes?”

  “Do not stop, no matter how hard I beg.” I warn her. Do not let me spill the secret that will force me to marry Keenan even sooner.

  I close my eyes as I begin to feel her magic work its way through me. It’s a pain that is difficult to describe. My blood is her target, not my skin. Her power is most certainly capable of freezing the skin, but she’s been trained over the last few months how to wield her magic for the purposes of torture. It is the only reason Bastian has liberated her and Finn to begin with. To see what their unique powers are capable of.

  Missy’s element is a fusion of air and water together to make ice, a brand new element form. The particular technique Missy is using is a subtle one. I don’t feel the pain at first. It’s like a slow scorching sensation under my skin that gradually turns to an icy burn. Fire and ice. I can take it for a while, but as I said it’s a subtle pain that builds and builds until tears spring to my eyes. Missy is crying too. She cries as she does as I’ve asked and despite my own pain, my heart breaks for her. She will not forgive herself of this so easily, even if she has no choice in the matter.

  I scream out as the odd pain overwhelms me. I disentangle my hands from Missy’s in order to grab onto the arms of the chair and Missy slips her icy hands to my wrists to continue her torment. Her hands shake as she does it.

  As I continue to scream and cry Keenan turns away. My eyes shoot up to the back of his head. “Turn around, you piece of shit.” I sneer at him and those blue eyes whirl back around to me, looking alarmed. “Don’t you dare turn your back on me. You did this.”

  “Just tell me what I want to know, Amara and all of this can end.” Bastian reminds me. “You’re not only hurting yourself. You’re hurting your friend too. Look at her, as she cries while torturing her own friend. Just talk.”

  I ignore him though. It takes a while for me to get to the begging. Begging for her to stop, pleading with Bastian that I know nothing. “I don’t know anything, I swear. Kara told me that he tried to use our Echo to find me, but she’s been faking a loss of her magic so she wouldn’t have to. That’s all I know.”

  “That’s not all you know.” Bastian hisses, slamming a hand down on the back of the chair and getting in my face. “You know more than you’re telling me, sweetheart and Missy is not going to stop until you tell me what that is.”

  “I don’t know anything else, I swear.” I cry, shaking from the icy pain bleeding through me.

  “Bastian, that may be enough.” Keenan says cautiously. Bastian’s eyes flash to Keenan in surprise. “She’s told us something. Theon is trying to locate Amara, through Kara. That’s someth
ing.”

  Bastian’s eyes fall back on me and then he communicates something to the guards. One pulls Missy back and the other begins to release me from the restraints.

  Keenan approaches me, to help me to my feet, but the very thought of him touching me after that torture makes my skin crawl. “Don’t touch me.” I snap frantically.

  “Your Majesty,” Daxon is suddenly there, prompting the king to give him permission to take care of me himself.

  “Go on.” Bastian sighs. “Let the girl rest. We’ll start fresh tomorrow.” I am so weak I cannot even muster a whimper of fear for tomorrow’s fresh hell.

  Once Daxon lifts me up out of the chair, scooping me into his arms I begin to cry into his chest, not caring who hears, but secretly hoping Keenan does. He may have saved me from any further torture today, but he is still the monster who brought me here.

  Missy’s power makes her unique, a girl made of living ice, but I will take that living ice over Keenan’s suffocating air any day. He does not need power or element to hurt me. He does that every time he walks into the room. I will take this secret to the grave if I must because if I am dead no one will be able to wed me. Llíria will fall to my brothers and I will finally be free.

  I said once that death would be a blessing when Roman was carting me and my friends off to the throne room to meet Theron Novak for the first time. I didn’t really believe it then, but there’s a part of me that believes it now. None of this would even be happening if I hadn’t been born with taboo magic, if my parents hadn’t made it so easy for me to find it again.

  This world would be much better off without me and I cannot even leave it because of two small things. My best friend’s unborn children, my future godchildren. They are what keep me going, keep me fighting, keep me raging against a world bent on tearing us apart. It may be too late for me to grow up in a place where our people are safe, but it is not too late for them. So I will go on, I will fight, and I will rage to fix a broken world and make it so little ones like my godchildren will never have to see this side of history. I will take back what’s ours, just as Bastian said in his speech. I will take Llíria back and that starts with Kara Volterra.