“Kara is terrified of what this baby is going to do so when Grayson said there was a lead right in the capital here I had to try and see what we could find out. It wasn’t about you.”
“You could have asked me.”
“You would have sent someone to do it themselves and never would have passed the information along to me. When Keenan asked me to go with him into the city I saw it as an opportunity. That’s all. He didn’t know about any of it. You’re punishing him for something he didn’t do.”
Bastian advances toward me. I set my drink down and step back. I have to crane my neck up to see him. “And what if I told you my decision wasn’t simply to punish him?”
“I’d say I already knew that.” I breathe. His hand moves to the small of my back, gently nudging my body in toward his. My breath catches and I am uncomfortably made aware of how close his lips are to mine. He’s going to try and kiss me and I have to stop it. “Please let me marry Keenan.” It’s the only thing I can think of to say to make him stop.
Bastian withdraws, turning from me. He runs his hand over the back of his head the same way Aaric does when he’s frustrated or angry. Bastian is both. “I already made my decision, Amara.”
“You’ll destroy whatever standing you have with Limacore if you don’t hold up your end of the bargain and marry Haven.” I remind him.
“Oh I think they’ll understand.”
“How?”
“Well, if there’s one thing I know it’s that kings who marry princesses prefer that they retain their virtue before marrying them.”
“Oh stop it.” I hiss. “Haven is a virgin and you know it.”
“Do I?” he asks, coming to refill his glass by me. The note of challenge in his voice tells me something I don’t want to know.
“You didn’t.” I choke.
“Who’s to say it was me? It could have been anyone, a whole bunch of times. A kitchen boy. Ooh, Limacore likes their horses. Maybe it was a stable boy. Regardless, her father will probably understand that I hand her off to a prince who won’t be king, so that any heirs made won’t come out with the stable boy’s blond hair and green eyes.” He grins.
It takes me a moment to find my voice. “You’re a monster.” I sneer.
Bastian chuckles. “It’s the way of the world, sweetheart. It’s time to accept it.”
“You made her do it. She didn’t have a choice.”
“Perhaps next time Theron will be smart enough to have the wedding before he releases his daughter into the hands of…what do they like to call me? King killer? I didn’t by the way, kill him, in case you were wondering. But he did do me a favor, didn’t he?”
I step away from him, suddenly finding myself wanting to bolt from his presence so that I can vomit up anything I could have eaten in the last twenty four hours, but Bastian grabs onto my wrist, holding me in place. “And where do you think you’re going, fiancé?”
“I will never marry you.” I sneer. His revelation has sold my plan. I don’t even have to fake it now. He will do what I need him to do without any prompting from me.
“No? Oh I think you will. There’s no shortage of the people you care about, Amara. Missy, Finn, Grayson, Haven. Ooh, even Keenan. I can make his life a living hell too ya know.”
“He would never want me to marry you just to keep him safe. He isn’t your puppet, Bastian. You can’t make him dance for you anymore. And neither will I.”
Bastian inches closer to me so that we are eye level. I can smell the bourbon on his breath. “You will do well to obey me, child, or you will do so without the benefits of a warm bed.”
I say it again, prompting him into action. “I will never lay in your bed.”
“Alright then. Guards,” Two appear at his command. “I think Amara here needs a little reminder of where she came from.” His eyes fall back on me. “Perhaps a night or two in a cell will show you just how comfortable my bed can be.” Bastian winks at me before gesturing his guards to approach.
“I feel sorry for you.” I say as the guards cease me by the arms. “Haven was a happy, vibrant, kind-spirited girl before you got your hands on her. Now she can barely look anyone in the eye and I guess now know why. You destroyed her, just like you tried to destroy Keenan. You won’t win this, Bastian. This isn’t over. I am not an enemy you want to make.”
“Likewise, sweetheart.”
With that the guards drag me back down to where this all started. A cell full of cots and jaded teenagers like me, caged for being born with the wrong magic.
They are not gentle either. They toss me into the cell, making my bones ache when I hit the hard, dirty floor. “Amara,” Uri is the first person I see as he rushes to my side, helping me to my feet. “Amara, what happened?”
“It doesn’t matter.” I say once the cell door shuts. “It doesn’t matter what happened. What matters is what’s going to happen.”
“What’s going to happen?”
“We’re gonna get the hell outta here. All of us.”
—CHAPTER THIRTY TWO—
AARIC
REUNION
“That thing has to be broken.”
Niykee tugs on the leash and Haydan goes flying forward, but he’s a Zodiac so he catches his balance before he topples over. “Shut up.” she hisses at him.
Niykee had stolen a leash from someone’s backyard and kindly put it on Haydan to keep him in line. She attached it to some iron handcuffs Malia found. Roman has been bleeding him every few hours so he can do little more than walk and, much to our dismay, talk.
“You’re sexy when you’re bossy.” Haydan flirts with Niykee and she tugs the leash harder this time, making him laugh through the pain. “Oh, yes, do it again.” Felix responds by elbowing him in the stomach.
“Thank you.” Bay says gratefully.
“It isn’t broken.” Malia says finally.
“How do you know, Malia?” I ask her, saying what we’re all already thinking. “We’ve been walking around this city for days and it hasn’t glowed any brighter than it did when we first got to this forsaken city. Maybe he was wrong. Maybe the Nexus isn’t in the capital after all.”
“My brother said it’s here so it’s here. Ravi is never wrong.”
“Well, there’s a first time for everything.” Niykee grumbles.
“This isn’t it.” Malia snaps.
“Hey,” I take her hand into mine, trying to soothe her somehow. “Okay. Then we’ll keep walking around until we find it.”
“We slept in the dirt last night, Aaric.” Niykee says. “The dirt! And while I can deal with a night in the woods, I need a bath, and perhaps a donut. So we need an actual plan here. We can’t keep wandering around hoping this thing is gonna glow for us.”
“Fine.” I grab Haydan and throw him down in front of a thick tree. “Plan B. Does the name Dariella Aguillon mean anything to you?” Haydan just smiles. “It does. Who is she?”
“Would you believe me if I told you I lost my virginity to her?” Niykee responds by slapping him over the head. “Owe,” Haydan growls. “I’m serious! I did. Why? Why do you want her?”
“She has something we need.” Felix says. “Where can we find this Daniella?”
“It’s Dariella.” Haydan corrects.
“Whatever.” Felix hisses.
“Well, the palace, of course.” Haydan grins.
“What?” Bay asks irritably. I can guess what he must be thinking. Not another palace.
“Oh you didn’t know? She almost married Theon Beleros. Ooh, but as soon as Theon learned about sweet, innocent Amara he was off her for good. She’s back though. Although no one seems to know why. Especially since no one actually likes her. I did, once upon a time though.” He chuckles and Niykee hits him again.
Malia turns toward me. “Dariella stole the Nexus. He said Theon discarded her for Amara, right? Well maybe she’s trying to exchange the Nexus for…something.”
“Question is would she be dumb enough to keep the Nexus in the p
alace so close to where Theon could simply take it from her or…”
“Is she keeping it at a secondary location?”
“So we can either keep walking around this city searching or…we can have Haydan get us into the Llìrian palace.”
I look down at Haydan. “Can you do that without getting us all killed?”
“Not in chains, my friend.” Niykee yanks on the leash out of spite. “Ah, okay, okay, okay. You’re uh, you’re not gonna tell Theon about my ties to the Hunters, are you?”
“We trust him even less than you, if you can imagine it.” I retort. “For now you’re our bargaining chip, not his.” I honestly don’t know how that would work, but finding Dariella Aguillon is the most important thing. Everything else can wait.
“And what happens when we walk into the palace, huh?” Felix asks. “Do you think that Theon’s just going to offer us a bed to sleep in, wine to warm our bellies? No. He’ll probably throw us all in a cell. We’d be trading one cage for another. Story of our lives, right?”
“Don’t you think we’re beyond that by now?” Bay interjects. “We aren’t those naïve kids who were brought into the Limacoran palace eight months ago, Fee. We know who we are, what we can do. No one is keeping us hostage anymore. We go in there, we find Kara, find Dariella, and grin and bear it until we find the Nexus and destroy whatever plans Theon Beleros has for our best friend, our sister.”
“I like Bay’s plan.” I say.
Malia smiles over at me. “Me too.”
“Alright. So how would this work?” Bay asks Haydan. “You show us the way to the palace. And then what?”
“You let me go inside and I convince Theon that you mean no harm. He either lets you in or sends his Serpents to kill you all.”
“I like our odds.” Bay replies. “He’s not going to kill any of Amara’s siblings otherwise he’ll never get her allegiance so at least half of us will survive it.”
“Thank you, Bay. You’re an inspiration to us all.” Malia says sarcastically.
“Let’s just do this.”
Niykee keeps Haydan in his chains as he begins to show us the way through the city to where the palace is located. Llìria is no less a country than Limacore or Vakrov or Zakaria. I’m slowly learning that. All around people move through their day to day lives. I don’t know if they’re all ether users like me or if Llìria is made up of all different types of Zodiacs like Limacore, but they seem as normal as every other city we’ve travelled through since leaving the Limacoran palace. Whether all of this is Theon Beleros’ doing or not, I don’t know.
It’s different walking through this city though. This is a city inside the country I am the prince of. A potential heir of. These are my people. As I walk by none of them know that I or Aaren or Amara could be leading them one day. None of them know that their true prince has returned. It brings a smile to my face and somewhat puts me at ease with the decision I made, to help Malia win our people back their freedom.
At my side Roman sweats, looking, dare I say, nervous. “You good, little prince?”
Roman flushes scarlet. “Am I good? No I am not good, Aaric. In case you’ve forgotten I am a prince of Limacore. Crowned prince, and I am about to walk into enemy territory. I’m about to walk into the house of the man responsible for the death of two of my Zodiac members, one of those members a boy Amara loved, need I remind you.”
“Shit.” I hiss. It had never even occurred to me that Roman coming with us to see Theon would be a bad idea. He’s a prince, of whom Theon attacked, just to retrieve Kara and Amara. He partially succeeded and I’m sure he’s got some master plan to finish the job. “I’m sorry, Roman. I wasn’t thinking.”
“I know what the mission is, Aaric. It doesn’t mean I have to like it. If my father could see me now.”
“If my father could see me now.” I mutter. “Rebel prince going after some silly enchanted object to try and stop a tyrant from abusing a pretty, blue-eyed girl. Ya can’t make this shit up.”
Roman laughs. “No, you can’t. Are you excited to see Kara again?”
“Are you excited to see your brother again?” I return.
“He uh, he betrayed us.”
“That he did. Remind me to kick his ass for that.”
“I’ll help.”
I chuckle.
“You two girls done back there or would you like to get the first glimpse of your true home?” Haydan asks me.
Roman and I both look up at the same time.
A castle on a hill. It’s a beautiful thing, made of fortified yellow stone. It sits atop a small hill with a small pond set off to the side. All around there are towered peaks, twelve in total I think, with ramparts connecting them. On the ramparts there are guards who have already zeroed in on our approach.
Straight ahead there’s a small stone tunnel leading up to the front of the palace where the grass bottoms out. We don’t get that far when the guards arming the palace wall approach us.
Niykee shoves Haydan behind me and Roman in order to release him from his chains. She grabs him by the throat and fixes him with a daggered glare. “You step one foot out of line and I’ll kill you. You have not seen what I can do yet.” She shoves him forward, toward the gate.
Haydan looks back at the rest of us and steps up to one of the guards. “Tell Theon that I’m back and…that I’ve brought friends.”
“Who are these friends?” the guard questions him.
“Just tell him Haydan is here, with Aaric Boudelaire. I think that’ll be enough.” The guards look beyond Haydan at me and then nod, passing the message along to another guard.
Time passes. I don’t know how much, but it’s enough for most of us to settle into the dirt road beneath us and wait impatiently. Roman is nervous. I can tell by the way he won’t stop fidgeting. I’m anxious, desperate to see Kara again. Hopeful, to see that Clea’s soul found its way back to her the way I intended. A little scared, because the last time Theon Beleros and I faced off he’d killed Braylie and I’m not sure what I might do to avenge her.
Finally the guard returns, granting us passage. We’re slowly ushered into the grand foyer. It’s nothing we haven’t seen before. A room no one spends more than five minutes in with gold crowning and a large winding staircase leading into two different directions at the top. We’re only in the room for about thirty seconds before we’re ushered into a large, open room with seating along the far walls. On one side there’s a fireplace and on the other there’s a long floor to ceiling window overlooking a small courtyard in the center of the castle. Amara would love this room, I muse. With the white and turquoise color theme. Turquoise is her favorite color.
“What are we doing in here?” Malia mutters to Felix.
“Waiting to be executed I suspect.” he replies.
“Nothing so dramatic, Felix, I assure you.”
I spin at the sound of Theon Beleros’ voice. At this time yesterday I never would have guessed I’d be willingly stepping foot into the same room he was in. He looks the same as I remember him. Tall, slim, short ash blond hair and annoying smirk. His blue eyes fall on me and I know he’s remembering who I am. Our fight, what Niykee did to him, what he did to Braylie. He grins when our eyes meet.
“Aaric Boudelaire. Not quite the Boudelaire I wanted to see, but a pleasure as always.”
“Not.” I say coldly. “Where is Kara? I want to see her, now.”
“Relax, mate. You can see her. But you did walk into my house unannounced so maybe you might show a little respect.”
“Is it though? Because from what I’m told, by your sister I might add, it’s mine.”
“Well, if you want to play that game it was mine first.” Theon’s grin doesn’t fade and I want to rip it right off of him. “You’re here to see me, Aaric. Not the other way around.”
“Actually, I’m here to see Kara, not you. Now where is she?”
“Aaric, sweetheart,” Malia says gently, wrapping her arm around my neck. “Silly men. Why don’t
we grab a ruler and get on with it, huh?” Malia runs her hand over the top of my head, giggling, turning on her charm.
“And who might you be?” Theon asks her.
Malia holds her hand out for Theon to take. “Malia Ashden.”
“Malia Ashden.” Theon recognizes her name right away. “The little Serpentarian rebel who’s been going around rounding up other Serpentarians. You created the camps, protecting them from Hunters.”
“That’s me.” Malia says proudly.
“So, you and him?” Theon points between the two of us. “Oh, won’t the little princess be crushed.” he teases.
“Look, we’re all on the same side, aren’t we?” Malia gestures to the room and back toward Theon. “We all want to get poor Amara away from that tyrant king killer. We’re here because Aaric is smart enough to recognize that you are his best chance of getting his sister back.”
“Is that right?” Theon asks me.
I see what Malia is doing. She’s trying to insinuate us into Theon’s false court so that we can gather the information we need to get our hands on the Nexus before Theon does. I just wish doing so didn’t require me to play nice with the man who killed my sister’s first love and my first…well, even now I’m not sure Braylie and I were ever anything more than welcome distractions from our lives.
“Yes, that’s right. This has gone on long enough. I want my sister back. If you can help me get her back I…I’m willing to temporarily overlook what a monumental dick you are.”
To my surprise Theon laughs outright. Then he claps two hands down on my shoulders. “Well why didn’t you say so? Meg, Ari,” he calls to the two female guards standing near one of the exits to the sitting room. “Why don’t you tell Kara to meet us down in the dining hall, huh? I have a surprise for her.” Theon looks back at us. “Come. You all must be starving. It’s a long journey from Limacore. I know. I’ve done it.”
Our group exchanges wary looks, but we follow Theon anyway. It’s a private dining room we’re led into. There’s a long oak table stretching out in front of a lit fireplace. The table is long enough to seat eight on each side. Covering the floor beneath is a beautifully crafted Zakarian rug. On the walls around us there are framed paintings of what appears to be old, dead kings. I walk over to one in particular. It depicts a rough-looking man. He looks nothing like Theon. Dark hair, dark eyes, stern, angry. But I know it’s his father. I recognize the name. Thaddeus Beleros. Just looking at him I can tell he wasn’t an easy man to grow up with.
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