“Ah, my fate is already sealed, gorgeous. Best to let the chips fall where they may. Follow me. I’ll show you around.”
“We’re coming.” Felix says irritably and he and Bay both follow the girls and Darian Aguillon out the door.
“Aaric,” Amara prompts, eying me as she follows Lord Aguillon into the study. She means for me to stay with her. I glance over at the girls who both give me a subtle look over their shoulders to behave. Then they’re gone and I’m forced to play prince at Amara and Roman’s sides.
Inside the study, Aguillon makes us a couple of drinks. When I enter Roman walks over to stand beside me. “You need to go with them.” he hisses at me under his breath.
“I know.” I hiss back. “But I don’t know how I’m gonna get out of here without raising suspicion.”
“I do.” Roman takes hold of my wrist and I instantly feel my magic start to drain. At first I don’t understand why he’s doing it, until I step back, shaking blearily from his magic bleeding.
“You look a little pale, son.” Aguillon says to me. “Are you alright?”
“I actually think I might need some air.”
“Of course. Lexa will walk you out.” He gestures to a small servant girl standing near the door. She waves for me to follow and she brings me to a side door that leads out into the back of the estate. Across the way I see the others following Darian down into what appears to be some sort of stone wellhouse.
“Your place is really beautiful, Darian.” I hear Niykee saying as I approach, fighting the urge to pass out from Roman’s bleeding.
“Even the old wellhouse?”
“Even the old wellhouse.” she laughs. I sneak up behind Darian and inject him with another one of Haydan Kasanoff’s nifty little Nightshade syringes. Darian’s eyes flutter open and then closed as I slowly lower him down to the ground. “Aaric, what are you doing?” Niykee shouts at me.
“Don’t worry. He’ll wake with a headache and a memory of almost getting to first base with the princess’ step-sister before he passed out from too much wine.” I say. When she continues to look at me pointedly I say, “What?”
She pouts, looking down at Darian. “I liked him.”
“Well I guess it’s a good thing we’re here for a fake alliance with his family then, isn’t it?” I snap, my voice dripping in sarcasm. “I’m assuming we think it’s down there.” I glance over the edge of the well. It’s deep and dark, but I can make out dirty water at the bottom. “Who’s going in?”
“I’ll do it.” Bay starts to push his sleeves up. “Ready the rope.”
Malia grabs hold of the crank and pulls the rope off of it so that we can pull him up ourselves when it’s time.
We all get in position as Bay leaps down into the well. Zodiac reflexes allow him to land on his feet. Bay’s a Capricorn, sign of the goat. It offers them resilience, which is something Bay has always had. He’s tempered and patient, unlike me.
But he’s not invincible and the minute he touches down he starts to scream. The girls launch themselves over the well’s edge, screaming after him.
Felix grabs Niykee’s arm. “Are you trying to get us all killed?”
“He’s hurt, Fee.” Niykee cries.
“Alright.” I toss my shirt off, kicking off my boots in turn. “I’m going in.”
“His skin is burning.” Niykee shouts.
“It’s Nightshade.” Malia ceases my wrist. “If you go in there you’ll burn too.”
“I don’t care. He’s my little brother.” Before anyone can stop me, and at the risk of their protests, I jump. Malia is not wrong. My skin starts to burn the moment my body plunges down into the water.
“Nightshade.” Bay chokes out, slumping against the wall of the well.
“Ugh,” I growl, pushing through my own pain so that I can help my brother. I grab the rope, hands shaking as the Nightshade eats away at my skin. I wrap the rope around Bay’s waist, tying it tight as I can. “Bring him up, bring him up!” I cry out.
Once they start to drag Bay’s unconscious body up out of the well I know I have to go under if I’m going to get my hands on that Nexus.
“Shit.” I curse. I shove my way down into the liquid Nightshade. Once I’m under I scream. The pain is numbing. The only thing that helps me through this is knowing my sister is up there waiting for me to do what we came here to do.
I suck in a mouthful of water when my hand curls around a metal piece of something. I scream out when I feel the Nightshade burn through my lungs. I grip tight to the metal piece and kick down hard until I resurface again.
“Aaric, grab the rope!” Malia cries out.
I grab the rope with my free hand and clutch what I hope is the Nexus under my arm. My vision slowly starts to go first. Then any sensation of touch. My hand starts to slip from the rope, but Felix catches my hand just in time, pulling me out of the well and down into the dirt floor of the wellhouse.
“Heal him!” Niykee calls.
I hear Malia at my side. Her shaking hands touch my cheeks. “It’s okay, Aaric. It’s okay. I’ve got you.”
Her heeling hurts almost as much as the initial plunge into Nightshade. I cry out as my skin morphs back into place and the burns dissipate. I choke, trying to tell her something, but my words come out muffled. Her magic heals my wounds, but not the deep-rooted aches of my body.
“What?” Malia asks gently.
“I got it.” My fingers run over the metal device in my hand.
The others crowd around the metal chunk in the dirt. I gather the strength to turn and pull it into my hands.
It’s an odd contraption. A circular device with six razor thin spikes coming out of the sides. Under the spikes is a symbol indicating which element each spike is for. Water, fire, air, earth, ether, and finally, nether. Each Zodiac sign is engraved around the edge. It has all kinds of gears underneath. I suspect one must know how to use it in order for it to be used properly.
“Ah,” Niykee sucks in a breath when she pricks her finger on the nether spike. She gasps as if someone has just sucked the life out of her. It’s the face I make when Roman bleeds me. “What the hell? I think it just drained my magic.”
“That’s what this thing does, Niyk. Be careful.” I say, tugging the thing from her. “Give me something to wrap it in so it doesn’t get anyone else. If this thing drains enough magic it could kill you.”
Felix shrugs out of his jacket and wraps it around the Nexus, but I hold it in my arms possessively. I’m not letting this thing out of my sight.
“Distrusting little thing, that Dariella.” Bay says, eying the well. He’s all healed too, though his wet clothes, still drenched in Nightshade, chafe his arms and legs.
“Yeah, she’s gonna pay for that.” I say, shrugging back into my shirt and boots. “Now let’s get the hell out of here.”
Thankfully we leave the Aguillon residence without incident. We move Darian’s body near a tree and an empty wine bottle he’d smuggled out of the house while showing the others the grounds. Then we all make our way to the front where Amara and Roman are saying their goodbyes to Aguillon at the door.
Amara is as fascinated with the Nexus as the rest of us. She’s enraged that Dariella didn’t warn us of the Nightshade at the bottom of the well. But Bay and I change into new clothes once we’re back on the transit and all is forgotten.
I sleep most of the ride home, exhausted from tonight’s events. When we get back to the palace though there are at least three transits we don’t recognize, transits bearing Vakrov colors.
—CHAPTER FORTY TWO—
AMARA
ALLIANCES
I know exactly where this is going as soon as I see the Vakrov transits.
Normally I’m faster than Aaric, but he has adrenaline on his side and he dives for the palace doors before I can stop him.
The one and only time I want those damn guards to stop us before we enter a palace and he breezes in right past them. I race inside, but Aaric is already miss
ing from the foyer. Unsure of where he might go I take my chances with the stairs.
Niykee and I freeze outside one of the large sitting rooms when we hear commotion inside. We burst through the doors to find Theon and Kara standing off to the side while Aaric tackles Keenan to the floor. He is blind with rage. He punches Keenan anywhere he can get his fists and Keenan is loath to fight back given my brother’s anger is quite warranted. Still, it is not the way to handle this.
Keenan’s guards’ are on Aaric before I have the chance to rip him off of Keenan. Keenan is quick to wave the guards off though, moving up on his elbows to catch his breath.
“Aaric,” I cry out, shoving him back in the shoulder as he swipes blood from his nose where Keenan had gotten him once or twice in an attempt to subdue him. “Who are you?” I shout at him. “He’s a king now, Aaric. This isn’t the playground anymore. You can’t do this. I won’t allow it.”
“You won’t allow it?” Aaric sneers. “I won’t allow this monster anywhere near you ever again. I warned you.” He points an accusatory finger at me. He’s being cocky and he knows it. “I warned you he was as good as dead when I got my hands on him.”
“And you lay one more finger on him and you’ll be as good as dead to me.” I threaten him with the only thing that I have right now.
“You and I, done.” Aaric sneers at Keenan. “Done, you spineless prick.” With that he storms from the room, leaving me breathless.
My eyes turn to Keenan who’s face had just barely healed from Bastian’s final beating and now he’s got a whole new set of battle wounds on his pretty face.
I reach for him slowly and his guards’ hands flinch over their weapons, but I merely pull him to his feet gently. “Are you okay?” I ask, touching his cheek tenderly.
“I’m okay.” he says softly.
“Malia, will you heal him, please?” When she doesn’t move I look over at her where she stands with her arms folded over her chest. “Are you kidding me?” I snap.
“Sorry, Amara. He doesn’t deserve it.” Her eyes slide to Kara before she walks out of the room. The others slowly follow.
“Come on. Come with me. I’ll take care of you.” I tell him.
“Amara!” Kara snaps. I meet her eyes and I know she knows, what he did to her.
“Kar, he’s hurt.”
“So am I.” She looks so innocent I want to respect her wishes for me to leave Keenan be, let him drown in his mistakes, but that’s not who I am and she knows that.
“Come on, Keenan.” I wrap an arm around him and lead him out of there to one of the public bathrooms, which I clear out so that we can have privacy. This is highly inappropriate. I’ll have to start behaving like an actual princess soon I suppose, but for right now I’m just happy to see him, to know he’s alive and protected.
“You don’t have to—” He bites down whatever else he was going to say when I shake my head at him in silent warning. “Okay.”
“Why are you here, Keenan?” My voice is soft, not accusing. I’m glad to see him, but his visit makes me nervous.
He answers as I start to wash away the blood from his cuts with a warm washcloth. “I could give you the answer I gave to everyone else. I want to formally apologize for Bastian Beaugrand’s behavior and promise my reign will be much smoother, with less ambiguity. Or I could tell you the real reason, that I had to know that you were safe.”
I brush the washcloth down the side of his face. “I’m safe.” I whisper to him. “But you’re not as long as you’re here. Bay told Aaric, what happened back in Baal. And he knows what you did to Kara.”
“So does she.” he says sadly.
“How?”
“I—I thought she knew, Amara. When I went to apologize…”
“You didn’t. You tattle-tailed on yourself?”
He cracks a smile at the juvenile word. “I did. And she cried.” His face darkens and I feel him seethe beneath my working hands. “Just when I didn’t think my heart could break anymore and then I saw her beg that pale-faced douche to send me away and it broke me in ways I didn’t think I could break.”
“You did terrible things, Keenan.” The memory of it all still makes me cringe. “She won’t forgive you overnight, but she will forgive you. You just have to be patient.” I should start charging money for these lectures.
“Will you?” It’s a challenge if there ever was one, one I know I will overcome.
“One day, Keenan, but you being here isn’t going to heal me, or Haven. You need to go back to Vakrov. You’re not just playing prince anymore. You’re a king. You’re responsible for a whole kingdom now, not just me. Do it right, Keenan. Make those people see that it can be done right.”
“I will, Amara. I promise.”
All I can do is smile for a minute. And then my lips quirk up into a smirk. “Aaric, on the other hand, he’s gonna take some coaxing. And bribing. Maybe even a little Haven magic to get him to forgive you.”
Keenan laughs to make me feel better, but it’s forced. “Aaric will never forgive me, Amara. I physically hurt two of the people he loves most in the world. There’s no forgiveness for me in Aaric Boudelaire’s world, but thank you, for lying to me.”
I nod. “So, Borderlines killed your king, huh?”
He looks back at me sheepishly. “Yes. I was not blaming you for something I did and I couldn’t exactly make my pregnant baby sister a queen by getting myself executed so I said what I had to say to keep the blame off us both.”
“Doesn’t exactly set a very good precedent for my revolution, which now includes the Borderlines. They’re as hated and mistreated as the Serpentarians.”
I know he and I are remembering the same thing. My torture, under my friend’s ice magic. The way Bastian used Uri to try and save me. Both used as weapons to be wielded. The thought of all those Borderlines rotting in cells, only taken out when the need to wield them arose, it makes me sick. They need saving as much as us. Niykee could have been them, or Kol, or any number of my friends if they’d been born on the right day.
“Well once they found out Bastian was holding them prisoner, against the law, I’m sure that’s all they heard. Borderlines were never officially banned in Vakrov. Bastian was working towards it, but hadn’t gotten there. What he was doing was illegal.”
I apply some ointment to his wounds so they won’t get infected. “I’m sorry Aaric did this to you.” I say by way of changing the subject. I don’t want to talk about Bastian, his insane agenda, or my time in that place.
“I deserved it.”
“Yes.” I say so he does not misunderstand. “But he still shouldn’t have done it.” I step back, throwing the remnants of my makeshift nursing skills to the trash. “As good as I can do. I figured you wouldn’t appreciate me asking Kol to heal you.”
“I would not. Thank you.” He rises, standing half a foot taller than me. He makes me feel small in the only way he knows how. “We do still need to talk politics before I leave, but you just got back from a long journey. Theon has me scheduled for this afternoon.”
“Okay. I’ll see you then. Steer clear of my brother if you know what’s good for you.”
“I will.” He bows playfully. “Your Highness.”
I bow back playfully. “Your Majesty.”
I decide that after I leave Keenan I need a bath. I need to wash away this trip and have a moment, just one moment, to myself before my three storms collide. Keenan, Roman, and Kol. Not necessarily in that order. Avoiding Kol has been easy enough, but I can’t ignore the prince or the new king of Vakrov. I find the only one I don’t want to avoid is Roman. Roman has always been so easy to love and on some level I believe that it should be easy.
After my bath I dress in something presentable enough to wear to whatever meeting Theon has scheduled with Keenan. A simple white lace dress. It’s not exactly queenly, but it’s also not training clothes like the things I wear to lessons with Roman.
The first thing I do is go in search of Aaric so that I
can reprimand him for his behavior earlier. It’s unacceptable and if we have any hope of helping our people we cannot act as children would act. Not anymore.
I finally find him having a drink in one of the many parlor rooms in the palace. Theon is there with Kara and a few of the others when I enter, including Roman and Kol. But they all know who I’m here for. They all watch as I march up to my brother where he sits leisurely on the couch with a drink in his hand. Gasps ring out all around when I slap him clean cross the face.
“Amara, what the hell?” Aaric sneers, but he forgets that I’m a nether user and my temper can easily eclipse his.
“You are a fucking prince now, Aaric Boudelaire. You are not a village rat anymore. Start acting like it!” I storm out of the room only to be chased down by one of the ones I’m trying to avoid.
“Whoa, Amara, wait.” Kol races around so that he’s in front of me when I don’t stop. “Amara, can we uh—can we talk, please?”
“Nope. Not happening. Move.” I try to go around him, but he moves back in front of me so that I can’t. “What are we? Five?”
“Amara, listen, I know that you’re mad and that you hate me, but if you can give Keenan a chance to tell his side of his story, can’t you just hear mine?”
Theon steps out into the hallway a few yards behind me, but he says nothing. He doesn’t stop us or try to interrupt. He simply waits and part of me wonders if it’s so that Kol won’t say anything to upset me.
“You and Keenan are not the same, Kol. I grew up with Keenan. Besides my parents he was the first one to hold me after I was born. He may have betrayed me in the same way that you did, but you’re not the same. Keenan was one of my best friends. You were nothing more than the first boy to break my best friend’s heart. Just another thing you suck at, Kol Kasanoff.”
But my words are thrown back in my face when I remember that he and Keenan really aren’t the same. Keenan would say something cruel and then storm off in a fit of rage. Not Kol. Kol is too patient for that.
Kol shifts his weight, uncomfortable by my words, but not enraged by them. In fact, he appears remorseful. When Keenan betrayed me he rubbed it in my face. Kol is wracked with guilt. “I shouldn’t have compared myself to Keenan. I know how he hurt you, Amara, but I would never do that.”
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