Savage Reign

by Melody Locklear

  That’s when I feel it. Like a snake in my veins. This is death magic, the magic of nightmares. It slithers through me, pushing its way into me. It’s an awful feeling and instinct tells me to fight against it. Instead I surrender to it. I want to scream. I try, but nothing comes out. The magic is so overwhelming that suddenly I’m in Amara’s head. I don’t know if she can see what I see still, but I see her, sitting on a couch with Bastian, gripping his hands, sweating as my heat moves through her.

  The magic lands for the both of us and I lose the connections almost instantly, but not before I catch the sight of someone in the mirror across the room from where Amara and Bastian are sitting.

  “Kara,” I tremble under Theon’s intense gaze. He flinches when he touches me. My skin burns through him, but he doesn’t release me. Not until he knows I’m okay. “Are you okay?”

  I manage a nod and he sits back on the couch, giving me my space. “I’m okay.”

  “Did it work?”

  “I think so.” I pant. I slam a hand on the arm of the couch, trying to catch my breath. “Keenan, Keenan was there.”

  “What?” Theon hisses.

  “I got pulled into Amara’s head when our magic was merging and I—I saw him, Theon. I saw his reflection in a mirror across the room. He was staying out of sight, like he was afraid I’d see him. Why is my brother in Vakrov, Theon? Why is he there and why didn’t Amara tell me?”

  “Is she still there?”

  “No. She’s gone.”

  “Did merging help? Did it cure her?”

  “I—I don’t know. She’s gone now. All we can do is wait and see.”

  Theon shakes his head. “I’m done waiting. It’s time to get Amara out of there.” With that Theon marches out of the room with deadly determination.

  “What did you do to Theon?”

  I look up at Clea from where I’d been picking at a plate of food in the dining hall, trying not to throw up. This baby is making eating very difficult for me. He won’t let me eat anything that he doesn’t approve. Not without losing it only minutes later.

  “Excuse me?”

  “What did you do to him? He’s been held up in the throne room for days.”

  “I told you, after what happened with Amara he’s sick of waiting around while Bastian Beaugrand abuses her. He’s probably working on a plan to get her out.”

  “Maybe it’s time.” Clea admits.

  “Maybe it is.”

  “Has your magic done anything weird since the power swap?”

  The question brings me back to the moment I felt Amara’s magic deep in my veins. It makes me flinch. I haven’t felt it since then and I’m glad for it. I hope that it doesn’t do what Theon said and morph into one. The thought terrifies me.

  “Nothing strange yet.” I tell her, but say no more on the subject. I don’t want to talk about it. I don’t want to think about it. I wince when I feel the baby kick. I always know his kicks from hers. His are hard and determined. Hers are gentle, like she’s just reminding me that she’s in here too. “This thing has been kicking nonstop for days, like it knows I’ve got Amara’s magic now.”

  “This thing, huh?” Clea asks, sounding judgmental. “You really hate that baby, don’t you?”

  “I’m sorry, Clea.” Clea isn’t on board with doing away with this thing once it’s born like Kol is. She was at first, but a little time spent thinking about it, about killing a little baby has changed her mind. She doesn’t see the danger it will be. She only sees that it’s her nephew, a cute, adorable new member of her family. She can’t see what I see or feel what I feel.

  “I know you, Kara, and while you were never the girl who gushed about having kids one day, you love babies and babies love you. And trust me, Kar, I get why you don’t want it. But this isn’t you. It’s just a baby.”

  “But it’s not, babe.” I shake my head. “It’s not. I can feel its darkness, it’s arcane magic. It’s dark, and it’s dangerous and it’s not right. And the girl you knew, she didn’t watch the boy she thought was the father of her babies die in front of her, twice. That girl, she hasn’t lost both of her best friends. That girl didn’t know what the world really looked like and what this child is destined to do. It’s not worth it. He won’t just lay waste to the world. He’s going to wipe it out and remake it, in his own image. People will die, Clea. Thousands, maybe even millions of innocent people. One baby is not worth that, Cle. You gotta understand that.”

  “I’m trying to. It’s just…hard. He’s my blood too.”

  “I know, love. But it’s okay. I’ll have more kids, one day, and so will you. And we’ll still have one. His sister isn’t bad. I feel her goodness.”

  “Lady Kara,” One of Theon’s guards is standing over me, waiting patiently for me to look up at him. “The king would like to see you in the throne room.”

  “Three days of silence.” Clea reminds me. “What could he want?”

  “We haven’t had that conversation yet.” I say, remembering that he’s still not confronted me on why I want his baby dead. “It’s either that or to see if I’ve almost killed anyone with Amara’s nifty death magic. I’ll see you later.”

  The throne room is empty when I arrive. He hasn’t been in here alone for three days. He was in here strategizing with his men. I know that so if we’re alone now there can’t be a good reason for it.

  “Evening, love.” His tone is chipper enough. His strategizing must be paying off. “How are you feeling?”

  I can’t help, but search for the alternate meaning behind his words, but for the life of me I can’t think of what it might be. “I’m okay.”

  “No issues with your magic?”

  “None so far.” I approach him cautiously, glancing around to see what I can see. There’s a table full of maps and terrain. They’re trying or they’ve already gotten the lay of the land around Vakrov, to rescue Amara. “I was worried. You’ve been held up in here for days.”

  “It’s time we bring Amara home, but before I do I think you and I need to have a conversation.”

  “About what?” I ask, pretending to be oblivious. But his meaning is clear. He wants to talk about why I tried to kill our baby.

  “Do you know why we’re going to win this war, Kara?” He crosses the large room, beckoning me to follow him.

  I fall in step with him, one hand clutching my small baby bump. “Why?”

  “Because of Amara. Because she is the epitome of this revolution. People are going to flock to her because she’s smart and she’s beautiful and she’s kind. Best of all, she’s not a royal, at heart. A politician. She will not lie and she will not use her power for evil. So believe me when I say, I want Amara to survive this as badly as you do.”

  “So you’re saying you’re going to make sure her rescue is safe for her?” I’m not sure I see his point, but I wait patiently. His subtle way of saying things always becomes clear in the end.

  “I’m saying I won’t let Reverie’s vision of our world’s future come true.”

  I blink up at him. “You know?”

  “Kara, when are you going to learn that nothing goes on in this palace that I don’t know about? I know about the prophecy, about the Mage blood running through my veins. I know everything. And I know you thought you were doing the right thing, what you did.”

  “I couldn’t let anything happen to her.” I whisper. “She’s my best friend.”

  “I’ll never be the true king of House Serpentarius. That responsibility falls to Amara, but I do now have this.” he says, eying my stomach. I clutch it in, surprise? Protectiveness? I don’t know. “Don’t bother trying to hide your detachment with this baby, Kara. I know you don’t plan on letting him see the light of day.”

  “Not if it’ll cost me Amara.”

  “What if I were to guarantee you never had to lose her? That she would be safe, even if you let our son live?”

  “How are you going to do that? Reverie said that prophecies are absolute.”


  “Prophecies are, but visions, they can go one way or the other.”

  With a deep breath, I shake my head. I can’t let his fantasies of a perfect world where Amara and my boy both live tempt me into changing my mind. “Even if you could protect Amara from him, what of the thousands of people he’ll lay waste to?”

  “We have, at the very least, eighteen years to make sure that doesn’t happen.”

  “Why do you want him to live so bad? It’s just one child. You can make a thousand more if you wanted. We’re practically immortal.”

  Theon looks pensive, and a sadness breaks over his face. “I don’t think you know what it’ll mean if you take this baby’s life, Kara. What it will do to you.”

  “And you do?” It sounds like a challenge, but I’m merely curious.

  “Has Kol told you very much about my life, after my father discovered what I could do?”

  “No. He’s never spoken of it. All I know is he used you as a weapon, which resulted in all the other Houses fearing your kind.”

  “Well, we weren’t the only twins my parents gave birth to, not even the only Serpentarians.”

  “Really?” This is news to me. Clea never told me they had other siblings. In fact, she’s as much of a mystery to me as he is.

  “Yes. The fear of nether users was very real during that time and my mother, terrified of my father using more of his children to do his bidding, did the same thing you did.”

  The temperature of the room drops a good ten degrees and I try my best not to focus on the pain in Theon’s eyes. Though it does explain why he was so angry with me for doing what I did.

  “She thought she was showing them mercy. Unlike you, she was successful and she was never the same. It wasn’t long after that Clea found our mother hanging from a rope in her bedchambers.”

  I damn near choke on my own breath, shutting my eyes tight to will away the image of a sad and broken girl with blond hair, Theon’s blue eyes, hanging from a noose, somewhere in this very palace. “Theon, I—I didn’t know.”

  “I understand you’re scared, for Amara, for our daughter, for our world as we know it, but I am fighting every day to make a better world for people like me and Amara. I wouldn’t sacrifice all that on a whim. If something happens we will deal with it, Kara, but I am begging you to let him live. Give him the chance to prove the world wrong. Because it’s a chance my baby sisters never got. It’s a chance I never got.”

  I’ve been so determined to end this baby’s life the moment it’s born that I didn’t think about what it might make me feel afterward. All that mattered was Amara, but Theon’s mother had the strength to do what I did and then she regretted it so badly she took her own life, just to stop her pain, her guilt. Clea is heartbroken over the decision and now I understand why. Theon has been fighting for his children from day one and now I understand why. And looking into his eyes now, I know it isn’t power he’s after, except for the chance to try to prove to the world that his people can be good. Like Amara is good. I’ve gotten so caught up in these silly prophecies and visions of the future that I didn’t stop to think that maybe with the guidance of me and Amara and Aaric and the people who will love him, that maybe he could turn out different. And if he doesn’t, we’ll deal with it, just like Theon said. Together.

  “I only have one question.” I say finally. He merely looks down at me, waiting patiently. “If I decided to let Kol slit this baby’s throat the moment its born, if that was the decision I made, would you try and stop me?”

  Theon’s eyes moisten with tears and, against every fiber of his being, he shakes his head. “No, it’s your choice to make. Not mine.”

  “Okay.” I mutter. “For the time being, I will give this baby the benefit of the doubt. But Haydan is searching for more answers on this prophecy and if what he comes up with is worse than what we already know then we have to do what needs to be done to protect ourselves. Even if it’s from our own son.”

  Theon nods weakly, like all the fight has left him. “We have a deal then.”

  —CHAPTER TWENTY EIGHT—

  AMARA

  TALVINDER

  “Ahhh!”

  I kick another chair across my bedroom with fiery force. There are scorch marks on the arms of it where I touched it. In fact, there are scorch marks everywhere. On the bed, the dresser, the walls, all over the bathroom. I cannot contain this fire magic Kara has given me and it’s making me so angry.

  Daxon must hear the commotion because he swings my door open, stepping in. For show he asks politely, “Everything alright in here, Your Highness?”

  “No, everything is not alright.” I hiss. He sees the desperation in my eyes and steps closer to speak to me without the other guards in the hallway hearing us.

  “What is your problem?” he fires back. “You’re acting crazy.”

  “I feel crazy. I don’t understand how fire users do it. Deal with this burning anger inside of them every time they get mad. It’s like my emotions are in high alert. When I’m irritated I’m annoyed. When I’m angry I’m…murderous. I can’t contain it. How are we supposed to go find Talvinder today when I can’t even touch anything without setting it on fire?”

  “Amara, shh.” Daxon hisses. “Are you intentionally trying to get us all killed?”

  “What’s going on in here?” Haven asks, rushing in behind Daxon.

  “She can’t control the fire magic Kara gave her.” Daxon explains to her.

  Haven is about to say something when Keenan walks in. His eyes take one look around the room and he sees all the many scorch marks everywhere. “Amara,” Keenan says softly.

  “I can’t make it stop, Keenan. Make it stop. Please make it stop!”

  “Okay, okay.” he coaxes me, wrapping his arms around me. “Hey, look at me. What do you say we get out of here for the day, huh?”

  This seems to level me and I peek up at him. “You mean actually get out of the palace?” I ask hopefully. This could be perfect. It would be a lot easier for us to find Talvinder if we didn’t have to sneak out. If Keenan takes me out willingly I can just sneak away from him when his back is turned. I hate to do that to him, especially when we’re getting along so well, but this isn’t a game anymore. I’ve made a commitment with the Zakarian queen. I cannot fail her.

  “Yeah, I actually wanted to take you somewhere. I’ve already cleared it with Bastian.”

  “Can Haven come?” I do intend on coming back because this is where Kat’s men are going to look for us, but I’d feel better if I had Haven with me just in case something goes wrong.

  “Honestly, Amara, I had hoped it would just be the two of us.” Keenan protests.

  “Please? You won’t even know she’s there, I swear. But she hasn’t left this place since she got here. She could use a change of scenery.” I don’t actually believe my argument is going to work so I’m surprised when Keenan concedes.

  “I suppose it couldn’t hurt.”

  I smile happily and for the first time in days I don’t feel the threat of Kara’s fire under my skin. “Thank you, Keenan.”

  “Now get ready. We leave within the hour.” He winks a big blue eye at me and slowly pulls from my grasp, leaving me to it.

  Haven moves in toward me. “Are we doing this?”

  “We’re doing this, but we need to try and do this subtly, okay? We need to be able to come back here. Kat needs to know where to find us when she sends her people to retrieve us.”

  “How are we going to sneak away from Keenan without him knowing we’re missing?” Haven asks in disbelief.

  “That’s easy. I’m not going with you.”

  “What?” Haven gasps. “Katania sent you back here to do exactly this. And you’re not going?”

  “She sent me back to get the information we need. It doesn’t matter how. Look, I think I have a plan that will work. Keenan says he has something to show me, right? So whatever that is, that’s when you, Daxon, and Grayson will sneak off. Daxon will go tell Grayson to con
vince Keenan to let him come with us. You all go find Talvinder while I keep Keenan occupied.”

  “And all the guards?” Haven asks. “What of them? They’ll know I’m missing within seconds.”

  “That’s why Daxon is going to compel them to forget you ever came with us until they see your face. Once you and the boys are back they’ll forget that they were compelled to forget and we can head back to the palace. No harm, no foul.”

  “That is a dangerous plan, Amara.” Daxon tells me.

  “Maybe. But it’s all we’ve got and besides, even if we get caught Bastian isn’t going to kill either of us. He needs us. Even if we spend the rest of our time in Vakrov in cells, Kat promised to come for us as soon as she got word that we met with Talvinder.”

  “What if she doesn’t come through, Amara?” Haven says doubtfully.

  “She will. If you can’t trust her, trust me.”

  Haven sighs. “Fine. Daxon, go find Grayson and make sure he makes a good argument on why he should join us.”

  Daxon shakes his head at me. “Yes ma’am.” He leaves with a doubtful look on his face. I can’t ease their minds. I can only do my part to make sure this plan goes off without a hitch.

  I manage to change without any more forest fires erupting inside my bedroom. I choose a simple burgundy dress made for walking. I’m not sure where Keenan is taking me, but if anything goes wrong and we have to make a break for it I need to be able to run in whatever I’m wearing.

  When I make my way down to the foyer of the palace Keenan waits for me with Haven and Grayson. Beyond them there are at least eight guards, including Daxon. Keenan isn’t taking any chances. He still doesn’t trust me. Wise boy. I still don’t trust him either. Much as I want to.

  “Hey, beautiful.” Keenan smiles as I approach. He reaches for me and presses a kiss to my cheek. We have yet to talk about the kisses we’d shared in the throes of my illness, but I have a feeling it’ll come up today.

  “So are you going to tell me where we’re going?”

  “Not yet.” he teases, taking my jacket from Daxon and draping it around my shoulders. He tugs it around me in the front. “Ready?”