Gideon's Promise (Sons of Judgment Book 2)

by Morgana Phoenix

  Gideon raised his blood shot eyes and Valkyrie found herself caught in the anger, frustration, and self-loathing burning bright in their silvery surface. The misery and sorrow cut at her, making her ache with the need to go to him, push him back in his chair, and climb into his lap. The urge terrified and fascinated her in ways that made her all the more anxious to run.

  He broke the connection first by speaking. “I raped her.”

  There was quite possibly nothing worse he could have said. The room simultaneously exploded in a series of shouts and exclamations that were muffled horribly under the loud buzz that had settled between Valkyrie’s ears. Coils of hot and cold gripped her with a ferocity that left her numb in the fingers and toes. The brutal and violent pain of his confession churned her stomach. Only Gideon never seemed to notice any of it. He had torn his gaze away and was studiously staring at the bottle in his hands.

  Look at me! She wanted to scream at him, but the words were lost in the sea of bile climbing up her throat. Disbelief and horror crippled her and she was only vaguely aware of Magnus grabbing her, lowering her down on the steps leading to the doors.

  Having woken up that morning knowing that something was wrong was one thing, but to think someone she had always trusted, someone she had once loved would do something so vile made her vision blur and her stomach retch.

  “Enough!” Magnus’ voice broke through the calamity. Valkyrie thought he was shouting at her, until she realized the rest of the room had also gone quiet. “That is not what happened!”

  “That is exactly what happened!” Gideon’s words were louder now and followed by the crack of the bottle striking the table with violent force. “I should have stopped her. I should have pushed her away. I didn’t. Instead, I took away the only thing keeping her alive, because I am a monster.”

  “You’re an idiot!” Magnus shot back.

  Gideon jerked to his feet with such ferocity, his chair skid out from under him. Riley jerked back, but remained seated.

  “I violated her,” he spat out. “What does that make me?”

  “Still an idiot,” Magnus retorted. “But you’re not a fucking rapist.”

  “Boys, enough!”

  Liam strode across the room. He stopped when he got closer to Valkyrie and offered her his hand. Still in a daze, it didn’t process until her cold fingers were enveloped in his warm ones that she had accepted. He eased her to her feet and moved her carefully to a chair, all the while watching his sons.

  “Start from the beginning. I want to know everything this minute!”

  Neither Gideon nor Magnus were willing to budge further than that. Their gazes clashed, a silent battle of wills that seemed to sing throughout the room.

  “Gideon!” His mother’s voice held no room for argument. “You will answer your father.”

  Summoned directly, the stare off broke and he dropped his gaze to the table. “We visited the south yesterday. It was my idea. I thought since Tiana kept spies in all manners of the underworld, she would have heard something about the people responsible for the attacks. She promised us information in exchange for us staying the night and enjoying the festivities.”

  “The awakening,” Magnus mumbled.

  Something in Kyaerin’s features shifted, like someone had just discussed the slaughter of babies. Her chin went up and there was a fine crinkle over her slender nose, but she didn’t speak.

  “We stayed,” Gideon went on, continuing to speak to the table. “While we were there, I noticed that it was taking a very long time for Valkyrie to join the celebration. I had a feeling something wasn’t right.” He spared a fleeting glance towards his father. “There were some altercations between her and Tiana. I was concerned that something might have happened.”

  His father nodded like that made sense and motioned for his son to continue.

  Gideon lowered his head once more. “I was intercepted by three youths, who I lost my temper with...”

  “Gideon.” His father’s tone was filled with reproach.

  “They started it,” he mumbled. “I told them to walk away, they didn’t.”

  His father sighed. “Continue.”

  He seemed to hesitate now. He pulled his chair over to him and dropped into it. His elbows went to his knees and he leaned over his clasped hands.

  “I was thrown into the dungeon.”

  His mother snarled between her teeth. Her small hands balled into angry white fists.

  “What?”

  “Darling.” Liam set his hands lightly on her tense shoulders.

  Not even Liam’s calm reassurance seemed to smother the flames.

  “They threw my son into the dungeons? Like some criminal?” Her nostrils flared. Her eyes were violent shades of electric blue and her soft features were set in an expression of someone ready to commit murder. “I will not stand for it!”

  Liam brushed a kiss to the side of her head and guided her over to a chair next to Valkyrie.

  “One matter at a time, love.”

  Kyaerin didn’t argue with him, but the bloodlust in her eyes didn’t fade either.

  “What happened next, Gideon?” his father prompted.

  Gideon’s shoulders lifted and then dropped in a shrug. “Nothing. They shackled me to the wall—” He ignored his mother’s low growl. “—and just left me there. I figured they’d come get me in the morning. I mean, that’s what Tiana said so I just sat there.”

  “Tiana?” His mother was almost to her feet again, but Liam’s hands were there, gently nudging her back down. “She allowed for you to be imprisoned?”

  Gideon snorted. “It was kind of her idea. The kid I punched was her nephew.”

  “That vile woman!”

  Liam bent his head and murmured something into Kyaerin’s ear. Whatever it was, it had the woman’s mouth clamping shut.

  “Before I was taken, I asked Magnus to find Valkyrie and make sure she was okay.” Gideon continued with his story. “When I heard someone come down, I thought it was him, coming to tell me she was fine. But it was Valkyrie. She had the keys. I thought Tiana had changed her mind and was letting me out.” He abruptly broke off.

  Even from nearly ten feet away, Valkyrie could hear the faint pop of bones as his knuckles cracked. The ridges were void of color. His hair fell in pale strands over his brow, making his bent features impossible to read.

  “She was given drosen,” Magnus piped in. “From the smell of her when I got there, it was a lot. Probably triple the normal dosage.”

  “What’s drosen?” Riley asked, speaking for the first time.

  “It’s a relaxant,” Magnus explained carefully. “During the awakening, it’s given to girls who...”

  “Girls who have never been touched,” Kyaerin snarled out. “Young, scared girls.”

  Magnus lowered his gaze. “It helps them become more susceptible to the approach of men to breed.”

  Riley’s jaw dropped. Her face blanched of color and she looked on the verge of either breaking something, or vomiting.

  “It’s a date rape drug?”

  Magnus made a face between a grimace and deliberation. “Not necessarily. The girls are fully aware of everything they’re doing. It actually boosts their ... sex drive. Makes them want it.”

  “That is disgusting!”

  “That’s how the draconian have children,” Magnus said. “The drink increases the girl’s chances of getting pregnant by more than eighty percent. It’s very affective.”

  “That is still disgusting.”

  Kyaerin turned to Valkyrie. “What happened?”

  Swallowing audibly, Valkyrie shook her head. “I don’t remember anything, only being led to my room and then awakening this morning.”

  Magnus drew himself up with a single sharp inhale. “In small doses, she would have been lucid, but in larger quantities, she would have undoubtedly been completely under the drug’s influences. She would have been unable to control anything she did.”

  “Why would they
give her such a large dose?” Liam wondered.

  “Because she’s strong. They knew she would have fought the urges otherwise.”

  “Why would they do that?” Kyaerin asked. “Valkyrie is a member of a fellow house. Surely they knew such an act would cause war or, worse, the dissolve of the treaty.”

  “She insulted them.” Gideon spoke to the patch of wood between his feet. “When I confronted Tiana, that’s what she said. She was teaching Valkyrie a lesson in humility.”

  “So you didn’t rape her,” Riley jumped in. “This wasn’t your fault. You were chained up and she was drugged. If anything, this is that bitch’s fault!”

  Gideon shook his head. “I could have stopped her. I didn’t.”

  “You were chained!” Riley stressed.

  He raised his head and met her gaze with eyes too bright in the dimness. “Doesn’t matter. I wasn’t the one who was inebriated. I should have tried harder to stop her.”

  “You’re not a monster.” Riley took his hand and pulled it into her lap. “None of this was your fault.” She looked over her shoulder to Valkyrie. “Neither of you.”

  Valkyrie hadn’t been blaming herself. Since Gideon had painted in the spots in her memory, she only blamed Tiana. The queen was the one who had sent her men to drug Valkyrie. She had sentenced Valkyrie to death because of pride.

  “Where are you going?”

  Valkyrie hadn’t realized she’d gotten to her feet until Magnus’s question brought her back to the present.

  “I must speak to Serinda.”

  “Your sister?” Kyaerin glanced at her husband quickly before looking to Valkyrie. “Do you think that is wise right now?”

  “No,” she answered truthfully. “Serinda is honor bound to report me to our father the moment I tell her, but she is also the only one who can talk to my father and hopefully change his mind.”

  She didn’t include that she was also hoping her sisters would help her take Tiana down once and for all.

  Chapter Twenty-Five

  Valkyrie had always been taught to never love her sisters, to never love anyone. But she respected them. She trusted them in a fight. But unlike Gideon and his brothers, love was never part of their lives. They were not raised to stand by the other’s side, not when that meant going against their father. So when she requested Serinda’s presence on the hill beyond their fortress, Valkyrie was under no illusion she would come alone, or that she would keep their meeting a secret.

  Clad in battle armor, long, dark hair twisted in a thick plait down her back, Serinda stood alone with one hand loosely rested around the hilt of her sword. Her blue eyes narrowed when she spotted Valkyrie approaching from the north.

  “Sister.”

  Valkyrie inclined her head. “Thank you for meeting me.”

  “You said it was urgent.” Her gaze flicked over Valkyrie’s shoulder to where Magnus, Gideon and Reggie stood just inside the wall of trees surrounding the base of the rise. “You bring outsiders.”

  The brothers had refused to take no for an answer.

  “They will not interfere.”

  At least that was what she had told them not to do. The Maxwell brothers had a tendency to do as they wished.

  Serinda looked away from the trio and fixed her gaze on Valkyrie. “I know why you are here. Tiana is not the only one with spies,” she added when Valkyrie blinked in surprise. “The news of your fall reached our doors at dawn.”

  “I was coerced,” Valkyrie said. “Surely Father can see—”

  “Father will not be interfering in this matter.”

  Valkyrie’s stomach dropped. “Serinda...”

  “Your weakness has cost him the faith of our people. You have shamed him.”

  “Serinda, please, you have to believe—”

  Rustling and the sound of hurried footsteps had her turning her chin over her shoulder. Gideon, Magnus and Reggie were jogging up the hill towards her, their expressions set.

  “There are troops moving in from the west,” Magnus informed her. “They look like Harvesters.”

  Valkyrie had known Serinda would tell their father of their meeting, yet somehow the betrayal hurt worse than a knife wound.

  “Serinda?”

  There was nothing in her sister’s face, not mercy, not pity, not regret. Only a cool, hard mask of two strangers talking on a hill top.

  “Father is expecting you to surrender peacefully,” she said evenly. “Resisting will only make matters worse for you.”

  A hand closed around Valkyrie’s arm. In her stunned daze, she wasn’t quick enough to react when she was yanked behind Gideon.

  “She will not be going anywhere with you, Harvester.”

  Serinda never so much as batted an eyelash. She regarded him with the same indifference.

  “You have no say in this matter, Caster,” she informed him coolly. “My father’s troops will be upon us in precisely ten minutes. They will take her to the fortress where she will be tried and punished according to our laws. She and the child she carries will be executed by nightfall.”

  Not a single one of them could think of a thing to say when she finished speaking. Her final sentence echoed through the clearing as though she had screamed them and each one slingshot back and punched Valkyrie in the gut.

  “What?”

  Blue eyes looked past Gideon and pinned her to the dirt. “Nine minutes.”

  Gideon seemed to come to his senses before anyone else. He whirled around and grabbed Valkyrie’s wrist.

  “No, wait—”

  “We don’t have time to wait!” he growled at her through clenched teeth.

  Never taking her eyes off her sister, Valkyrie shook her head. “But I—”

  Without waiting, Gideon bent at the knees and threw Valkyrie over his shoulder despite her struggling and tore down the incline with his brothers hot on his heels.

  Serinda gave no chase. She stood as she had when Valkyrie had first arrived, watching as they disappeared through the trees, dark tendrils fanning across her face.

  At the outskirts near the road, Gideon finally put her down. Valkyrie struck out, catching him in the shoulder with a bunched fist.

  “You had no right, Maxwell!” she snarled at him.

  Gideon seemed unfazed by her swirling fury. “Did you not hear her? They were going to kill you—”

  “I was prepared—”

  “And our child.”

  That stopped her. Her hands flew to her abdomen even before her mind could form proper speech. Her mind reeled with the numbing possibility.

  “There’s no possible way she could know,” she said a bit hoarsely. “It only happened last night. There is...”

  Gideon yanked open the passenger side door of his car. “Until we know for certain, I’m going to pretend like you are. Now get in.”

  Any other time, she would have fought him tooth and nail for trying to command her, but it was that small chance that she could be that had her climbing into the soft leather without a word. Reggie and Magnus slid into the back and Gideon claimed the driver’s seat.

  “So what are the chances she’s right?” Reggie broke the silence. “I mean, could you be pregnant?”

  Valkyrie turned her head over her shoulder and peered back at the youngest Maxwell with exasperation. “It is highly unlikely.”

  “Not necessarily,” Magnus remarked. “Your sister would know the true purpose of the drosan is to conceive. As I said, it rarely fails.”

  “I’m not a draconian woman,” Valkyrie stated sharply. “Perhaps the drug will not work on me.”

  “Either way, we need to find out,” Gideon said.

  That much they agreed one. Valkyrie hated not knowing, not being able to take action. Pregnancy was the end of the line for a Harvester. It was why they waited so long before getting matched. The king only matched those who were no longer able to fight. It was a demotion. Parenthood was made to sound like an honor, but everyone knew what it really meant. Valkyrie had never wanted tha
t unique brand of shame.

  Harvester women who had children didn’t even raise them, unless they were a boy. The girls were taken to the nursery where they were cared for by women too weak to fight and raised to be warriors. They wouldn’t be seen until their sixteenth birthday where they would be presented to the king for final determination. Those who were approved were sent on to continue their training. Those denied were sent to help care for the children. But mother and child would never see each other unless it was in passing.

  Valkyrie and her sisters were kept at the castle, but raised by nurse maids. They only ever saw their parents during festivities, until they came of age to fight. She honestly couldn’t recall ever sharing two words with her mother in her entire life. But it was for that reason, she had never wanted children. She would walk by the infirmary while one of the women was giving birth and listening as the mother wailed for them to let her hold her baby just once. The sound had haunted her for days. The idea that someone would take her child had been enough of a scare to do her best so she never got punished by getting matched.

  Yet the thought of having Gideon’s baby didn’t bother her as much as it should have. Maybe it was because she was already an outcast, already banished and cast aside, but bringing Gideon’s child into the world didn’t fill her with anger and dread. It did however scare her; she didn’t know how to be a parent and babies were so small.

  At the front doors of Final Judgment, Gideon cut the engine and grabbed her arm when Valkyrie tried to open the door. He peered into the backseat at his brothers.

  “We’ll be right in.”

  Neither Magnus nor Reggie said anything as they climbed out and disappeared inside.

  Gideon released her and shifted back in his seat. Late evening light poured through the windshield, tainting his golden hair and pooling in the paleness of his eyes so they appeared luminous. They were watching her, searching her face and she wondered what he was looking for.

  “I know there is nothing I can say that will change what I did, but you are my mate and, whether you are with child or not, that will never change. I will protect you. I will fight for you. I will even die for you. All I ask in return is that one day, you will consider forgiving me.”