Cage of Destiny

by Jennifer Anne Davis

  “Why is he still here?” His eyes narrowed as he came into the room, closing the door behind him.

  “I am here to discuss my marriage proposal,” Kerdan answered.

  “In her bedchamber?” Darmik clarified.

  Kerdan shrugged. “Yes.”

  Sensing the rising tension, Allyssa moved away from the window, positioning herself between the two men.

  “You’re in your robe and your hair is wet,” Darmik stated.

  Oh, he was furious. She chuckled.

  “What’s so funny?” he demanded.

  “I tried explaining to Kerdan the inappropriateness of having a conversation in my room. He didn’t understand. Perhaps you should enlighten him.”

  Darmik took a menacing step toward Kerdan. “What makes you think it’s okay to come into my daughter’s bedchamber late at night to talk to her? She isn’t even dressed.”

  Kerdan blinked. “You are aware she stayed in my private room, alone with me, during her time in Clovek?”

  Darmik glanced at Kerdan’s weapons laying on the floor. “You did not mention that yesterday when we spoke on the matter.”

  “Nothing happened,” Allyssa insisted. “It was the only safe place for me to be.”

  He turned the full force of his glare on her. “And now that you are no longer being held captive, you think that because you’ve been informal around the prince before, it’s okay to behave in such a way now? Inviting him into your private bedchamber?” She was about to answer when he continued, “And you,” he looked at Kerdan, “think that because there aren’t any servants here, that you don’t have to follow proper decorum?”

  “We do not have the same formalities in Russek. I’m sorry if you feel offended in any way.” An apology that wasn’t actually an apology.

  The door swung open, and Neco stepped inside, Nathenek right behind him. “What’s going on?” Neco demanded, a dagger in hand.

  Bloody hell. How many people were going to see her in her robe? “We’re discussing the marriage proposal,” Allyssa answered quickly. “That is all.”

  “In your bedchamber?” Neco asked.

  “Blimey,” Kerdan cursed. “Are all Emperions so ridiculously uptight?”

  The room went deathly quiet. Darmik’s eyes narrowed and Neco took a step toward him, ready to restrain him if need be. Nathenek, on the other hand, stifled a smile.

  “I accept!” Allyssa blurted out.

  “What?” everyone said in unison.

  “I’ll marry Prince Kerdan.” Although, she really wasn’t sure about it. She’d just said the first thing that came to mind to diffuse the mounting tension in the room.

  “I want to talk to my daughter. Alone.”

  Kerdan grabbed his weapons and followed Nathenek to the door. He glanced back at Allyssa, his eyes wide with shock. Neco wrapped an arm around Kerdan’s shoulders, firmly shoving him out of the room and closing the door behind them.

  “Are you sure?” Darmik asked.

  “You told me you wanted an answer, and I’ve given you one.” She sat on the bed, curling her legs under her.

  Folding his arms, he paced before the fire. His silence made her nervous. He stopped and faced her. “Why did you agree? I want to know your reasoning.”

  “It’s what’s best for Emperion.”

  “How do you know?” he asked.

  She played with the edge of her robe. “Odar is going to be here.” How would she face him?

  “We have a plan in place. While you must spend some time with him, it will be very little.”

  Tears filled her eyes. “I loved him.” Even though she had always been close with her father, she wished she could have this conversation with her mother.

  “I know.” He came over and sat next to her. “I honestly thought he would have been an excellent husband.”

  She wiped the tears from her cheeks, hating herself for crying over a man.

  “Did I ever tell you about the first woman I loved?”

  “No.” She thought the only person her father ever loved was her mother.

  “When I was your age, I fell in love with a woman and asked her to marry me. She agreed. Then my brother, Lennek, found out. He hated me, so he and my father, Barjon, blocked the marriage. They couldn’t stand the idea of me being happy. Then Lennek demanded she marry him instead of me. She refused, so he married her off to an older man. Barjon had her father executed for not forcing his daughter to marry Lennek. Jarcy, that was the woman’s name, ended up killing herself.” He rubbed his face.

  “Why didn’t you tell me any of this before?”

  “It’s painful to remember.”

  It was as if she didn’t know this man beside her. Her father—who had a past she never heard about. Did all grown-ups keep secrets? Have things happen that were so traumatizing they locked the memories away? Would she be sitting with her children years from now telling them about Russek and Odar? Or would she seal those memories away forever? “I’m sorry. I had no idea.”

  “I told you this so you can understand that just because you loved Odar, it doesn’t mean you can’t love another man. You have no idea what the future holds for you.”

  “I know,” she said, her voice soft and barely audible. “Do you think I should give Kerdan a chance?” Open her heart to the possibility?

  Darmik stood and went to the fire. “I don’t know. He’s a hard one to read. A bit rough around the edges. I’m not sure what Emperion will think of him.” He turned around to face her. “For his age, he has accomplished a lot. He’s an effective captain in the army. It’s his reputation that gives me pause.”

  Thunder boomed in the distance, and rain started to pound against the window. Allyssa shivered. “Kerdan has many sides to him. He is not solely good or bad. Like most of us, he falls somewhere in the middle.”

  “I need you to answer me honestly. Have you… were you…”

  “I was not raped.” She wanted to be clear so her virtue could not be questioned.

  He turned back toward the fire, his shoulders rising and falling. “But you were tortured.”

  “Yes.” A heavy moment of silence fell between them. “Kerdan saved me from certain death.” He’d held her life in his hands, about to kill her, when he changed his mind and refused to carry out his father’s order.

  Finally, Darmik faced her again, his eyes red. “You don’t feel obligated to him, do you?”

  “No. I respect Kerdan and consider him a friend.”

  “Why have you agreed to marry him?”

  “It is strategically a good move.” The one kingdom that threatened Emperion would be united with them.

  “What about you?” Darmik asked. “Is it a good move for you?”

  How was she supposed to know? “He won’t change his mind like Odar did.” Kerdan thought she would strengthen him, not weaken him as Odar believed.

  “Are you agreeing to this to hurt Odar?”

  Maybe. “I don’t know.” Her father was no dummy.

  “Do you want to marry Kerdan?”

  “I don’t know.”

  He sighed and came before her. “The negotiations will move forward after Jana is assassinated. That way, you can have some time to become better acquainted with Kerdan. Then, if you decide to back out, you can since nothing will have been signed. Also, your mother has to meet and approve of him.”

  That sounded reasonable. It gave Allyssa an opportunity to think on the matter some more, and she wouldn’t want to marry a man her mother didn’t like.

  “And your brother.”

  “What?”

  “Savenek must approve as well.” Darmik chuckled. “That should be an interesting meeting.”

  “Why?” Her brother didn’t know her or Kerdan. How could his opinion be of value?

  “You’ll see when you meet Savenek. Now get some sleep. I want to speak with Kerdan. We need to have some things squared away before tomorrow.” He went to the door. “And honey, if I ever find another man in your bedchambe
r before you’re married, I’ll kill him. I don’t care who he is.”

  “Even if it’s my guard Marek?”

  “Even Marek.”

  ***

  Allyssa woke up in a cold sweat, a hand on her shoulder.

  “It’s me,” Nathenek said.

  “What’s going on?” she asked, sitting up in bed. The fire had burned out, and the room was dark. It had to be the middle of the night.

  “I told the guard outside your door to wake me if he heard any noise coming from your room. He said you were crying out. I came to check on you.”

  She laid back down, wiping the sweat off her face. “I had another dream about Soma.” This time, he had her tied down while he loomed over her with a knife in hand.

  “I’ll sleep on the ground beside your bed. That way, if you have another bad dream, I can wake you before anyone hears your screams.”

  “Are you sure?” She didn’t want to keep him from sleeping; it wasn’t fair to him.

  “I’ve learned to survive on very little sleep,” he admitted. “I do better when I have an assignment to focus on. So you’ll be helping me just as much as I’ll be helping you.”

  Her father had explicitly stated that not a single man was allowed in her bedchamber—no matter who that man was. Even if they were just friends and there was nothing going on between them. Nathenek was older than her father and he felt like an uncle to her, but still.

  “I’ll make sure no one sees me coming or going,” he added, stretching out on the hard floor, as if he’d read her mind.

  “We haven’t known one another very long,” she said.

  “And?”

  “How do you know what I’m thinking?” Grabbing one of her pillows, she handed it to him.

  He put it under his head. “I can read everyone that well, not just you.”

  A result of his trade? Or a skill learned over time? “What do you think of Kerdan?” she asked, eager to hear his opinion.

  “He is cunning and ruthless,” he said without hesitation.

  Nathenek’s words made her shudder. She’d thought the same thing the first time she met him. “You don’t like him?” Did he think Kerdan wasn’t being honest or forthright with her?

  “That’s not what I said.”

  “Then you do like him?”

  “I didn’t say that either.”

  She wanted to hit him with a pillow. “Then what are you saying?” she demanded, trying not to raise her voice above a whisper.

  “My read on him is this—he is a complicated man, a ruthless soldier. I believe he cares for you, and there is more to him than he lets anyone see.”

  Blimey. That was a lot to take in. “You got all that after spending a couple of hours with the man?”

  “I got all that within the first five minutes.”

  His assessment validated her own. “Do you think I should marry him?”

  “Why are you asking me?”

  She rolled onto her back, staring up at the ceiling. “To make sure I’m not missing something.” She didn’t want to make another mistake like she did with Odar.

  “I need to spend more time with him before I can give you my opinion. Now I have a question for you. Why did you agree to marry him?”

  “To protect myself from Odar.” Because if he apologized or asked for forgiveness, she would give it to him. Her heart would be in danger of being broken all over again. This way, there would be a wall around her. Odar couldn’t try to repair the rift between them, and she would never know if he wanted her back. Perhaps it was cowardly of her. But her heart was too fragile to face the man who had destroyed it not so very long ago. “Not the reason you suspected, is it?”

  “It is the reason I assumed.”

  “Really?” Damn, he was good. Too good.

  “Now go to sleep. You have a very busy day ahead of you tomorrow.”

  Chapter Ten

  Brookfel burst into the dining hall. “They’ve been spotted,” he announced.

  Kerdan jumped off his seat and rushed from the room, leaving his breakfast plate practically untouched.

  Allyssa focused on her food, trying to ignore the rising panic. Kerdan’s men were here with Odar.

  “Everything should be in place,” Neco said.

  Darmik nodded, and she wondered what they knew that she did not.

  “Where’s Nathenek?” she asked. She hadn’t seen him since she woke up this morning.

  “I sent him on an errand,” her father said. “Finish eating. You have about five minutes until we’re needed.”

  She knew better than to ask him what the plan was. If he wanted her to know, he would tell her. While she didn’t like being kept in the dark, it had to be for a good reason, and she trusted her father enough to go along with it without asking questions. For now.

  Having no appetite, she shoved away from the table and went over to the windows, gazing outside. The rain had stopped, but heavy clouds still hung in the sky, concealing the sun. Allyssa took a deep breath. She would remain calm, reasonable, and act like a princess. Under no circumstances would she cry or punch Odar.

  Banging and raised voices came from the adjacent room. They were here. Her stomach felt like it had a fish swimming around in it.

  “Let’s go to the sitting room,” Neco said, heading to the door.

  Darmik stood and waited for Allyssa to join him. When she did, he said, “Hold your head high. Remember, you are engaged to Prince Kerdan, you are valuable, and you are loved. And I swear on my life, if Odar hurts you again, I’ll kill him.”

  She couldn’t help but smile. “I love you too, Father.”

  They went to the main entryway of the house. A dozen Russek soldiers, shoes caked with mud, tunics soaking wet, and weapons strapped to their waists and backs, were speaking to Kerdan.

  Allyssa squeezed her father’s arm, searching the faces until she found the one she was looking for. He stood almost a head shorter than the Russek soldiers, but Odar’s piercing eyes were already focused on her.

  “Prince Odar,” Darmik said. “Welcome.”

  Kerdan slapped Odar on the back. “Come, we have a lot to discuss.” He entered the sitting room to the right.

  Neco led the soldiers to the dining hall where food was being brought for them. Darmik and Allyssa entered the sitting room. Dark wood paneling covered the ceiling, several paintings hung on the walls, and the fire had not been lit. Kerdan threw a few logs into the hearth. Once he got the fire to take, Allyssa grabbed a candle and lit it. She walked around the perimeter of the room, lighting the sconces on the walls to give the room some more light. She felt, rather than saw, Odar watching her.

  In the center of the room, two couches and two sets of chairs were situated around a low table. She headed toward the couch where her father sat when Neco joined them, taking the spot. Allyssa was about to sit on one of the chairs when Kerdan came to her, his hand on the small of her back, and led her to the other couch. They sat, leaving a fair amount of space between them.

  Still standing, Odar glared at the four of them. “I’ve had enough kidnapping from Russek brutes to last a lifetime. Tell me why I’m here.” He gave off the air of a haughty prince, yet he looked like an ordinary traveler. No hint of wealth or status to him.

  “I’m assuming you received the letter Jana sent,” Darmik stated. He leaned back on the couch and crossed his legs, looking calm and collected. Neco also appeared to be at ease. As if they were talking about going out for a leisurely stroll around the property and not the fate of kingdoms.

  “I did.” Odar stood with his feet shoulder-width apart, his hands clasped behind his back. Had he known Allyssa would be here today? Did her presence do anything to him? Jana had lured Allyssa here claiming Odar needed her. What had Jana said to get the prince here?

  “Who did your letter claim to be from?” Allyssa asked. She doubted it was signed with Kerdan’s name like hers was.

  “You.”

  Her breath caught with the intensity of h
is gaze. “Me?”

  “You said you were in trouble and needed my help.”

  And he’d left Fren, the comfort of his home, for her. “Did you know the letter was fake?”

  “Of course.”

  His words were like a knife stabbing her heart. “Then why did you come?”

  Kerdan stood and moved behind the couch. Whenever he had something to work out, he became restless. Allyssa twisted around to see him. “What are you thinking?” she asked. He shook his head. She turned back to Odar. “What exactly did your letter say?”

  “That you regretted your inappropriate relationship with Kerdan and wanted to apologize. You claimed you had to see me to discuss a matter of the utmost importance—something no one else could know about, or your reputation would be ruined.” His gaze traveled from her to Kerdan and back again.

  Allyssa curled her fingers, making two fists. Of all the nerve. She wanted to strangle Jana. “Obviously you knew the letter didn’t come from me since it was filled with lies.” Lies that implied she had slept with Kerdan and was possibly pregnant. Why did Jana think that would be enough to entice Odar to meet her?

  Odar took three gigantic steps and abruptly sat on one of the chairs.

  Kerdan started pacing about the room. “What is Jana trying to accomplish?” he mumbled. Allyssa was about to say that Jana obviously wanted them to meet in the town of Jontis, but Kerdan continued, “Interesting move to try to pit us against one another.”

  Darmik smiled. “Glad to see you working it out. What else can you conclude?”

  If her father had already solved the mystery, why hadn’t he said anything sooner? Not for the first time, she wondered where Nathenek was. Then it dawned on her. “You’re insane,” she said to Darmik.

  “It’s logical,” he replied.

  “What am I missing?” Odar asked.

  Kerdan snorted. “Emperor Darmik intends for us to walk into Jana’s trap. Don’t you?”

  “Yes, I do.”

  “Wait,” Odar said. “You intend to use Allyssa and me as bait?”

  “More or less.”

  They needed to get close to Jana to kill her. Allowing the queen to capture them was one way to do it. But what if something went wrong? Allyssa bent over, resting her elbows on her legs. She gripped her head with her hands, trying to work through this plan.