by Kyra Gregory
Thane shook his head, “The same could’ve been said about you,” he retorted. “You’re as loyal as they come and, yet, here you are—pushed to the brink of betrayal out of sheer desperation!” he said. His words only worsened matters, her features contorting into absolute misery as her hands strengthened around the knife, knuckles white with the strain. “I am too—desperate to see you back alive! And I will do whatever I must. If that means angering the King by poisoning his sister’s husband—so be it!”
The trembling of Neyva’s fingers only worsened, her hand falling by her side and the hilt of the blade slipping from between her fingers.
Thane breathed a short sigh of relief, though he wasn’t fool enough to think the window behind her became any less of a threat. He took a short step closer, hands up and extended to her, showing himself to be harmless. “Just trust me,” he said. “Trust that I can see you through this.”
Shoulders dropping, a sob racking her entire body, she stumbled down from the window’s ledge. As he got closer, kicking the blade away from her feet, she raked her fingers through her hair and wiped at the tears on her cheeks. He closed the distance between them and grasped her arms securely in his hands. Her breaths became increasingly laboured, her knees hit the floor and she fell as though she’d been wounded even though she’d been caught in his embrace. The tears threatened to fall again but wouldn’t, unable to. She couldn’t cry any longer There were no more stray tears, no more loud screams or arguments, no words that she could shout, and no accusations that she could make.
No longer shrouded in darkness, her features came into the light. Her cheek was bruised, a plum and burgundy colour marring her left cheekbone. The same colours could be found, riddling her throat in an almost haphazard fashion—fingertips.
Swallowing the lump in his throat, burying his anger, he shrugged out of his coat. As he moved to place it over her shoulders, she leapt away, a gasp escaping her. It was only when she made out the object in his hands that she eased again, busying herself with scrubbing the tear-stained paths from her cheeks. With his coat draped over her shoulders, he drew her ever so slowly into his side. “Let’s go,” he whispered. As they came to the staircase, the bodies marring their path, he breathed out a heavy sigh. He went on ahead of her, taking her by the hand to help her over all the obstacles he could make out in the dark. “Watch your step,” he said.
“They’re all dead because of me,” Neyva whispered forlornly.
Yes, they were, Thane thought. They were needless deaths. “They died doing what they were paid to do,” he replied instead.
“They died trying to protect me,” she whispered. Before they could step outside, returning to the company of the rest of his men, Neyva stalled again. Her breathing remained uneven, each breath interrupted by a sob that threatened to leave her. “If I’d not been such a coward—“
“Enough,” Thane hissed. He’d had enough. The treachery had been enough. The scheming, the deaths… It was all more than enough. “This is what it means to be at war,” he said. “I lost one man this night. You lost upwards of ten. Now is not the time to dwell on the casualties of our actions—we do what needs to be done.”
“If I’d done what needed to be done, I wouldn’t have been here,” she whispered. “If I’d done what needed to be done, you need never have come out here, you’d never have lost any men and—“
Thane shook his head, sighing heavily. “Sometimes circumstances cause us to deviate from the plan,” he said. “You’re not to blame for this—circumstance has done this to you!”
Wide-eyed, confused, Neyva did nothing but stare at him for a moment longer. The silence fell between them and Thane leaned into the wall, allowing himself to come down from his momentary burst of anger and hurt. With his hands falling to his sides, the wound in his palm stinging, he found himself absent a familiar weight and forced himself to pull away from the wall again.
“Where are you going?” she asked, watching as he ascended the staircase once more.
“I’ve forgotten my sword,” he said. It was a testament to his own distraction—to how far he’d let himself be dragged from duty. “I’ll be outside soon.”
Stepping through the darkness, breathing in the damp and the dirt, his eyes adjusted in his search for his sword. Catching a glimmer of it, the faint sliver of steel in the moonlight, he snatched it back up. Much like duty, it carried a weight to it, one he’d never been without, and one he’d always needed to navigate. Most importantly, duty could never be forgotten.
Chapter 23
WITH HIS GUARDS UNABLE to keep up with him, Riffin threw open the doors to the throne room himself. Off to the side of the room, Neyva leapt out of her seat at the sight of him, their eyes meeting.
Thane intervened almost immediately, making his way towards her and coercing her back into her seat with a gentle voice.
Breathing a short sigh of relief, Riffin’s shoulders dropped at the sight of her. She was alive. Wounded as she might’ve been, frightened as her eyes conveyed, she was alive and in one piece. He approached and looked her over immediately. Though it had been days, the dark purple mark in her cheek had consumed most of her features, swelling around her eye, reddening her jaw. There was little that had gone unmarked, with her bottom lip swollen, split and crusted with a scab of dried blood. “That animal,” he hissed, his blood boiling in his veins.
Neyva shook her head, tear-filled eyes pouring with emotion, “I’m so sorry,” she said.
Having been about to turn his attention to Thane, he turned back at her, “What do you have to be sorry for?” he asked.
Neyva sighed, slumping, “I ran,” she said. “I ran away when—“
Cutting her off, Riffin rolled his eyes, turning his back on her as he waved his hand dismissively, “I’d have been livid if you didn’t,” he said. “I should never have left you in that man’s company.”
“You had no choice,” she said. “You did what you had to do and I failed you—I failed our alliance.”
Again, he waved her off, “Summon Manus,” he ordered Thane, glancing in his direction. “See to it that he’s here within the next few hours.”
Thane appeared enraged, the blaze in his eyes incapable of being extinguished. “Already done, your Majesty,” he replied, speaking through gritted teeth.
Riffin crouched in front of his sister and tucked his fingers beneath her chin, only for her to grimace and turn away. Light as his touch had been against the scab beneath her chin, the rough, swollen area remained sensitive to touch. Faced with his concern, she laughed softly beneath her pain, “I’m so unused to running, I fell,” she said.
His lips tugged into a gentle smile, though none of this warranted it in the slightest. “See the physician,” he said, speaking in a whisper, “and return when he’s finished with you.”
“I’m fine,” she insisted quickly. “I was tended to upon my arrival.”
Reluctantly, Riffin pulled himself away. Catching sight of Thane’s bandaged hand, he took it in his own, holding it up as he ran his thumb over the white cotton, “What happened here?” he asked.
Thane withdrew his hand, shaking his head and rolling his eyes, “It’s nothing,” he said. “Just a scratch.”
With one too many matters to worry about as it was, he beckoned his friend to follow, and made his way to the opposite end of the room, out of earshot. “She cannot go back to him,” Thane said, before Riffin had a chance to say another word.
“I agree.”
“What can we do?” he asked, alarmed now. “Manus will be here soon and he will demand that she’s returned to her husband.”
Clicking his tongue against the roof of his mouth, Riffin cocked his head to one side, “Not if Lord Girgani was no longer her husband,” he said, eyeing Thane from beneath his lashes.
Thane’s brows twitched together but, interrupting them, the doors opened.
Rushing when he found himself pressed for time, Riffin licked his lips and started to pull hi
mself away from his friend, “I will need your help,” he said, quietly, “and, I beg of you, follow along.”
Uncertain, Thane’s mouth fell open, undeniable curiosity in his eyes, and words to voice his confusion on his tongue.
Manus’s arrival was timely, making his way into the throne room with his usual confident stride.“I see you’ve found her,” he said.
Neyva seemed to go pale at the sight of him, her body rigid as she made herself appear small, wishing she couldn’t be seen by him. “No thanks to you,” Thane murmured. Knowing he might just lose his temper again, to Manus’s detriment, he put distance between them, choosing to stand at Neyva’s side instead.
“I’m sure Lord Girgani will be pleased to see her return,” he said. Casting his gaze in Neyva’s direction, causing her to recoil, he continued, “He’s written of his eagerness to see you again.”
“He will not be seeing her again,” Riffin said, chuckling.
Manus smiled, “She’s his wife,” he said, matter-of-factly.
Riffin shook his head, “No longer,” he said as he struggled to contain his smile. “I am annulling this marriage.”
“Your Majesty,” he started, rolling his eyes, “bad marriages happen all the time. Just because—“
“Not to me!” Riffin declared, his voice booming around the entire throne room. His laughter and amusement abated, there was nothing left but a fire in his eyes. “Not to me! Not to my family! Not to my sister!”
Manus took a step forward and Riffin did the same, moving to meet him before he could take another step towards his family. Stood before the King, with Thane at his sister’s side, no more harm would come to her. “Your Majesty, you have no grounds—“
“I do,” Riffin retorted, cutting him off. “This marriage was not consummated, nor will it be.”
Manus snorted, looking him up and down, “And why not? It’s a suitable match!”
Riffin bit the inside of his cheek and, before he could talk himself out of it, he persisted with the plan. “This marriage should never have happened,” he said. “It could never have happened. My sister was sworn to another—there is an agreement, in my mother’s hand, guaranteeing it. I only discovered it some days ago.”
Nostrils flaring, thrown ever so slightly, Manus recoiled, “What?” he asked. Sensing his bluff, he lifted his head up high, staring down his nose at him, “To whom would she have been promised?”
Riffin took an imposing step forward, his eyes blazing with a desire for Manus to reconsider his tone of voice—to reconsider speaking of his sister as though she were somehow unworthy of respect.
“To me,” Thane said, cutting in.
Riffin stepped aside, allowing him to be seen. The shock on Neyva’s face was unmistakable, though her obvious lack of knowledge on the matter could be attributed to her being absent the last few days.
Breathing a silent sigh of relief, knowing Thane had understood, Riffin continued, “My mother swore her to Thane,” he said. “She feared what political gain one might achieve by marrying a girl with royal blood, even illegitimate, so she sought to have that dealt with by seeing to it that she married a man whose family’s loyalty was to her.”
Manus opened his mouth to speak, though Riffin took another step towards him. He’d closed the gap between them, to the point he could now feel Manus’s hot breath.
“Do not think to ask me to change what my mother has already agreed,” he warned. “I will not go back on my mother’s word to another—nor will Thane and his family relinquish what was rightfully offered to him.”
Uneasy, Manus shifted his weight from one foot to the other. “May I see this declaration?” he asked.
Riffin smirked and made his way towards the marble-topped table. Rifling through ledgers that once belonged to his mother, he unfolded the page and handed it to him. “That is merely a copy, of course,” he said. “Another was granted to Thane’s father upon their agreement.”
Manus licked his lips, his gaze scanning the letter with due diligence. “And you had no knowledge of this before?” he asked.
“This agreement was made without my knowledge,” he said, “and my father has yet to recover from his run in with Ludorum some weeks ago—he was unaware of Neyva’s betrothal to another.”
Instead of facing defeat as Riffin had hoped, Manus smiled, shaking him. “I suppose it’s agreed then,” he said. “Her marriage to Lord Girgani will be annulled on the grounds that she was betrothed to another.” He looked up, meeting Riffin’s gaze with an unsightly calm. “Then let it be done,” he said.
Riffin raised a brow at him. While he might’ve expected his plan to work, he’d expected a little bit more of a fight. “I beg your pardon?”
Manus approached the marble-topped table, placing the letter onto it with care. “Let it be done then,” he reiterated. His intense gaze fell on Thane and days worth of festering animosity seemed to pass between them, “You’re of age, are you not?” he asked. Thane shifted his weight, his mouth falling open in reply. “Let it be done,” Manus said. “Tonight.”
“Tonight?” Riffin asked, verging on chuckling. “That is—“
With a lifeless expression in his eyes, Manus shifted his attention from his King, to Thane and Neyva, “Your sister has already been granted a wedding befitting a woman of her station,” he said, cutting Riffin off. “She needn’t have the pomp and ceremony once more—just what is required.” Riffin shook his head, about to speak, only for Manus to cut him off once more, “Including the viewing of the consummation,” he added.
Riffin needn’t see the shock on his sister’s face, nor the anger in Thane’s eyes, to advance on Manus with a rage of his own. “Absolutely not,” he said.
“The Council granted leniency upon the first marriage,” he declared. “We trusted that our agreement would be sealed and it was not.” He squared up to him, unfazed and unhinged, “We will not have this fall apart a second time,” he said, his voice a dark and low whisper. Manus backed away, lips scrunched together with satisfaction as Thane and Riffin shared uneasy glances. “The Council will approve the annulment of Lady Darner and Lord Girgani’s marriage out of respect for our Late Queen—so long as the Late Queen’s agreement proceeds as she had planned. The two will be allowed to wed—tonight—and their fate sealed.”
Manus turned on his heel and began to walk away, only to stop. The silence was too much for him. It wasn’t enough for him to have insulted them this way, to have turned Riffin’s sole plan on its head and twisted it to his advantage. He turned around, the smirk on his lips lighting a fire in the pit of Riffin’s stomach. “I will be sure to have the news conveyed to those nobles who will make it in time to attend this evening’s ceremony—it’s only just that there’s an appropriate audience for such a special occasion.”
Riffin’s hands clenched into fists at his sides, a blood red mist descending before his eyes as the man left, the doors sealed behind him.
“This is why you saved me.”
Riffin turned around, finding Neyva’s rage-filled gaze cast towards the floor. Her eyes were brimming with tears, so much anger within them as she grabbed handfuls of her skirts within her white-knuckled fists.
She shot to her feet, advancing on Thane, “This is why you saved me,” she said again, louder this time, more accusatory. She shoved him in the chest, jolting him backwards at the unexpected assault, “This is why you saved me! So you can marry into position!”
“Absolutely not!” Thane retorted.
Shaking his head—the argument arbitrary compared to everything else they were dealing with—Riffin stepped in. “Thane knew none of this,” he said. “This was—“
Neyva turned her attentions towards him next, equally hurt and enraged, “And you!” she said. Her gaze saddened further, grappling with the question that quickest came to mind. “Did our mother really believe me to be a threat?” she asked, her voice cracking. “Did she really believe that...I would purposely allow myself to be used by others to ga
in an advantage over you?”
Riffin huffed, “Absolutely not,” he said. He advanced towards her, closing the gap between them, “My mother did none of this!” he said in a low voice.
She recoiled, the tears trickling down her cheeks as she blinked away her bewilderment. “What?”
Riffin grabbed the letter from the marble-topped table, handing it to her, “It’s a forgery,” he whispered. “Mother had no such fears, nor did she make any such agreement with Thane’s father.”
Neyva snatched the letter from his hands, brushing the tears from her cheeks, “If this is a forgery, it’s an excellent one,” she said.
Riffin breathed out a short sigh of relief, a feeble smile making it to his lips, “Kara’s father is good at what he does,” he whispered.
“But you agreed to this,” she said, swallowing the lump in her throat.
“Thane knew nothing of this,” Riffin reiterated. “I sought to go over it with him but Manus was here before I could.”
Neyva shook her head, scrubbing at the tears on her cheeks, all the while grimacing against the pain the bruising caused her. “I cannot believe this,” she croaked. She glanced over her shoulder as she started to walk away, ignoring Riffin altogether, looking straight passed him to Thane, “I cannot believe you brought me back for this,” she said.
Chapter 24
SUCKING IN A DEEP breath, Riffin knocked on the door and then let himself into Neyva’s chambers. She shot a glance in his direction almost immediately. With her arms crossed against her chest, she stood in a flimsy silk dressing gown, her feet bare on the cold stone-floor. Despite her state of undress, watching as the servants brought gowns out of the royal wardrobe, Riffin knew her lack of clothing wasn’t the reason for her shivers. “Please tell me you have some sort of plan,” she said with a hitch in her throat.
“This is the plan,” Riffin replied. Releasing a short gasp, her hand fell to her stomach as his words knocked the wind right out of her. “Should my power return to me, I will fix this in every way I know how,” he said, doing his utmost to put her mind at rest, “but, until then, this is what can be done.”
