by L B Keen
It was the smell that hit her first: dead flesh and irony blood.
The room was dark. All she could see clearly were the bottom of his feet; they were dirty and there were shackles.
Jorin stepped forward with his torch and lifting it high, it gave view to the room.
Bird didn’t scream, as Essa did.
Staggering back, Essa covered her mouth in shock at the sight of Talon. His beautiful face, his hair, everything that had made him the golden prince of Britain was gone. Jorin released a curse. The man shifted nervously behind her. As she stared at his scarred body, they’d stripped him and now he wore more knife marks than skin. Where he’d bled, the wounds were shriveled and cracking.
He appeared a leper.
Yes, Talon… He’d truly been brought low.
Bird, eyes dry, turned around and reaching out, she shakenly pulled the sword from his scabbard. Taken aback by her movement, Dua watched her with wide eyes. It was not his place to dissuade her from ending the man’s misery. If it had been him, he would wish for a swift death.
“Awaken.”
Boeca’s eyes fluttered and widened in shock when he saw where he stood, and who stood before him. Frantically, he retreated, only for the wall to stop him. Glancing over his shoulder, his eyes widened further when he realized his crime had been discovered.
Turning, he prepared himself to explain, his lips parting and sweat pooling at his lips.
“You are a monster.” The woman before him caught his attention, but not because of her words. It was the curved sword she held with the palm of her hand. She approached him slowly. “I’ve never desired blood on my hands, and truthfully, I once would have thought myself one who abstained from cruelty.”
“P-please, d-don’t!” Boeca begged as he backed away from her. He glanced at the soldiers behind her. “Ple-please, save me!”
“Save?” Bird scoffed. “You wish to be saved?”
Laughing, she rushed forward, slamming the sword into his torso where it ripped through muscle and sinew. She’d thrust forward so hard, the edge of the knife slammed into the wall. Boeca gasped allowed, his hand still up, beseeching for a savior.
Panting, Bird released the sword, jerking away from him. Her eyes rapidly filled with tears as she watched his life’s blood spill from him, coating the floor in a blackish tar. She spoke then to those behind her. “I, Princess Kahlia, command that no men be allowed to leave here alive.” Her voice was soft as she slowly turned, her eyes bright with rage, and her hands shaking at her side. “Kill them all.”
Each man fell to his knee and slammed their hands to their chest before they turned, making their way back to those who were still under the effects of her spell.
“It will be slaughter…” Essa’s voice of reason spoke out. She came to the side of the shaking Bird. “Your father will hear of this.”
Bird lifted her chin, her expression defiant. “I’ve released them from the spell.” She turned and glanced at Jorin, who’d remained silent. “Could I request of you to release the prisoners as well?”
“The prisoners?” Jorin said, confused. “Would they not harm us as well?”
Bird shook her head, her eyes glowing once more. “I’ve made it so they will only focus on those they’ve desired to kill long before our arrival.”
With that, she turned around sharply and entered the room where Talon laid.
Chapter Nine
The moment she entered the dark room, with Essa close behind, Bird clenched her hand against her stomach. She held her tongue; she couldn’t break here. As she came to his side, she unhooked her cloak and let it fall at her feet as she knelt.
Her hand shook as she reached out towards his neck and pressed her fingers against the thrum of life there. She nearly lost herself then. He was still alive. Knowing this, she knew what she must do.
She faced Essa. “Do you still have your blade?”
Blinking at her sudden question, Essa nodded, her gaze turning worried. “Surely you do not intend to feed him.” Horrified as she realized that that was exactly what Bird intended to do, she shook her head. “You cannot! You are too weak, your child is too weak… it could kill you both. I won’t, I can’t—”
“Essa!” Bird shouted her name. Reaching out, she grabbed Essa’s shoulders. “I must.” Her mouth set, and her eyes hard, she repeated herself, softer this time, “I must. There is nothing else I have that would save him, and I must save him.”
Essa searched her cousin’s face, scared and unable to understand her cousin’s willingness to risk her life. She gave voice to her thought. “Why? Why must you do this?” She glanced at the vampire. “He is one of them, one of those who hurt you and took your innocence.” She brought her teary-eyed gaze up to meet Bird’s somber one. “I do not wish you to sacrifice yourself for he, who brought you so much pain.”
“I know!” she exclaimed, dropping her head. “I know,” she whispered once more. “I know that I shouldn’t wish to save him. I should truly rejoice that he lies here in this condition. My memories give me reason to do so, but…” She jerked her gaze up, pained and filled with tears that slowly tracked down her chin. “I can’t! I can’t let him die! I can’t lose him. What am I to do?! This fate the gods have cursed me with have only allowed one to capture this heart, and it is he!”
Her hold on Essa’s shoulders weakened as she leaned forward, her tone almost pleading. “I cannot let him die, Essa, no matter how I think, or try to reason. Talon must live. If he does not… I cannot.” Her shoulder shook as she closed her eyes against the onslaught of tears. “I… cannot,” she whispered once more.
Essa sat still, her tears silent while her cousin sobbed before her. She felt oddly detached from the scene as she reached into her sleeve and pulled the tiny knife from it, laying a hand gently on her cousin’s back. “This is all I will do for you, but,” she warned, eyes narrowed, “if it looks like you are approaching danger, I will pull you away.”
Jerking her head up, Bird nodded quickly. “As you see fit.”
Taking the knife from her cousin’s hand, Bird turned, not bothering to brush the tears away. She quickly jerked the sleeve high, and with no hesitation, she pressed the small knife against the inside of her forearm and jerked up.
With barely a wince, she quickly moved over to the still-chained Talon, and lifting his head, she brought her arm to his lips. The blood slowly dripped before it picked up speed, dribbling against his lips, some missing.
Bird could only slowly pray that he would drink, drink and live.
He’d been floating in a sea of pain for so long that Talon had grown closer and closer to fulfilling his desire in dying. For vampires, death was a choice. One could be cut, shot and torn apart, but if a part of them desired to live, they would.
Talon had been floating between his choices. His body was in so much pain he’d often escaped into his dreams, not that they were much better. He had spent his teen years barely sleeping because of them.
He often wished he could dream of that which he desired most in the world: Bird. He wished earnestly that he could gain one more chance to observe her smiling face and her joy. Maybe that was the truth of his choice. He would not allow himself to perish before he’d seen her once more.
No matter what they had done to him, his single desire and need for her wouldn’t diminish. Even if she never saw him again, and even if he never left this dark hell, he would live on for the possibility of seeing her once more.
With that in mind, he’d buried himself deep within, far away from the sick guards who seemed too eager to have a prisoner at their disposal. Luckily, they had simply enjoyed beating and cutting, unlike what a few of them did to other prisoners. They remained merely bullies… or was the title far closer to psychopath. Talon could spend the next torture round trying to answer that question.
“Talon?”
Something wet hit him in the face. “Talon, wake up!”
Someone was calling him, but he wasn’t sure wh
o it was. Their voice was muffled. “Talon, please!”
There was someone calling him with such desperation. Surely, it wasn’t Bird. He felt himself move, but the dark depths of his mind held him still.
“You must wake up. You cannot die. No, you must live!”
Die? He was dying? No, he couldn’t, not when she’d finally appeared. He felt his body shudder as wetness continued to fall on him. Curious as to what it was, he flicked his tongue out, only for an explosion of sound to hit him and the dark depths to shatter with color. Her heart pumping called to him and instinct took over.
Bird continued calling to Talon, urging him to open his eyes, to awaken. She was slowly growing anxious as he continued to remain still. She couldn’t let him die here, but she was slowly growing dizzy as the amount of bleeding was growing.
She could feel Essa behind her; her cousin seemed at the ready to rip her from him.
As time went on, she, too, was losing hope, when she felt a sudden choking sensation, one that brought with it an old memory.
A hand shot out, grabbing her wrist. She released a cry of surprise as she felt the grip jerk her closer. Bright red eyes had met hers before she felt sharp teeth pierce her flesh, causing her to cry out.
“Kahlia!”
“Stay back!”
Essa stopped short. Bird, gasping in pain, looked over her shoulder, shaking her head. “Don’t come close. He can’t… He won’t do anything but drink. If you take me, he’ll attack you.”
“But—”
Bird turned back to Talon, whose teeth hungrily gnawed at her flesh. She leaned into the pain, and making a shushing sound, she reached out with a trembling hand and rested against his cheek. “I-it’s okay. H-he will not hurt me, nor will he need to drink till my death. Do not worry.” Though she’d verbally assured her cousin, she wasn’t sure, but she didn’t care. She would give her life for his if that were her fate.
Slowly, her vision started to darken, but as it darkened, the wounds began to heal upon Talon’s face, and as she was slowly pulled further down, his eyes slowly lightened and his lashes fluttered. Before she fully passed out, she whispered, “Sire, you live…”
“Kahlia!”
When Talon fully came to, it was to find Bird in his lap, his hand holding her forearm with a bruising grip. Dropping it in shock, he immediately shook her shoulder. “Bird! Bird! What is—”
“She had to feed you so that you may heal. She is merely asleep.”
He jerked his head up when he saw movement in the corner of the cell. A dark-skinned woman stepped forward. He squinted, only for his gaze to go wide when he realized it was Lady Essa from the royal palace. Her cloak had hidden her easily. Now, as she lowered the hood, he met the glowing purple gaze and calm expression.
Glancing down at Bird, he jerked his angry gaze toward her. “I could have killed her! How could you allow her to do such a thing?!”
She glared at him. “I could not stop my cousin from saving you, as much as I couldn’t have stopped her from coming here.” Moving to her cousin’s side, kneeling, she pressed two fingers against Bird’s throat. Releasing a sigh, she drew back and lifted her cloak and ripped the edge. “Once she found out you’d been taken, there was no stopping her from attempting to rescue you.”
“Then you should have locked her up!” he shouted, his arms lifting Bird up so that Essa had better access to her wound. Talon knew he should be thanking the woman in front of him, but he couldn’t bring himself to do so, as the girl had allowed the woman he loved to walk into danger, and nearly kill herself by feeding him. “I would have rather died than have her sacrifice herself for me.”
“Then next time,” Essa said sharply as she wrapped Bird’s wound to staunch the bleeding and tied it. Pressing her palm against it, she muttered a quick spell. Finished, she gave a nod and met Talon’s incensed stare with a cold one of her own. “Die.”
With that, she stood, picking up Bird’s cloak. “Are you capable of standing?”
Giving a nod, Talon stood easily with Bird in his arms. He would need more blood to be at his best, but for now, he could function. Essa cleared her throat. Turning her gaze away from his nudity and walking over to him, she quickly tied a cloak around his lower half before she knelt. Tapping the shackles, she flicked her magic out, causing the shackles to crack in half. Standing, she frowned. “Let us leave. This place will give me nightmares far into the future.”
The three of them exited the jail cell and headed back towards the courtyard where Talon was met with the sight of his brother, Jorin, gleefully chopping a head from a soldier’s shoulders. His golden eyes sparkled in the night, as he jerked his blood-covered visage towards Talon. He smirked. Grabbing the body’s arm, he gave a swift chop and jerked the arm loose. Walking over towards Talon, he lifted the bloody nob.
“Want some?” He gave Talon a once over. “Damn, I was sorely hoping your good looks would remain missing.”
Talon scoffed as he lifted Bird higher. “Sadly, brother, I would have to be dead to be considered uglier than you.”
“Hmm, maybe next time then,” Jorin said cheerfully as he helped his brother by pushing the bloody nob towards his mouth. “Now, eat. We won’t be allowed to eat such fresh fare once we return to Britain.”
“This is true,” Talon muttered before exposing his fangs and latching onto the arm, taking a deep drink.
They left soon after, calling to Dua and the royal guard that’d accompanied Princess Kahlia. They didn’t bother with capturing the prisoners who escaped. Talon would leave that to King Alma. It was his people, and his country; let him police it.
Talon, now clothed, thanks to a few of the soldiers who’d laid dying, shifted his furred cloak higher to cover Bird’s frame. He’d refused to allow anyone else to hold her. He wished to feel the thrum of her pulse against his skin and didn’t wish to lose her presence of life near him.
“Dubh awaits us at your lodgings,” his brother spoke, breaking the silence of the cavern they traversed. “You are lucky in your servants, brother. I would’ve believed he’d leave quickly after your disappearance.”
He chuckled. “Am I? Could it not be he was more worried of what Father would do to him once he arrived and announced my disappearance?”
Jorin scoffed and his horse lifted its head and snorted. Both men laughed at this before Jorin spoke again, this time, his eyes serious. “I was unable to locate the Spaniard. From what little I was able to learn the man had already left the country the night of your disappearance.”
Reaching back, he pulled a folded piece of parchment from his saddle bag and lifted it. “Before I decided to take part of the fresh bloodletting, I took a detour to the main guards’ room. It would appear that the request for you to be held came from someone within the Katari palace, but it was at the behest of a foreign sovereign.”
Talon’s eyes narrowed on the horizon ahead, his blonde hair moving in the wind, blocking the view of his face. He straightened, speaking aloud but not looking at Jorin. “If I were to return and take the throne… would you support me?” He glanced at his second brother, his gaze steady and piercing. “Or will you protect your mother and my father?”
“You still hold the intention of becoming king?”
Both men moved their gaze down and Bird’s eyes met theirs. She still appeared weak, but her question had come out strong.
Talon wordlessly nodded.
She sighed, her lashes fluttering before she boldly met his stare once more. Purple and red clashed, seeing more of each other than they had ever done so before. Hate, love, a bond… The two could not deny that they were connected, even if the word did not truly fit in their relationship.
Bird, herself, desired no other man and would not settle for any other man other than Talon and Talon felt the same of Bird. She and he would find no other to fulfill them as they did for one another.
Lifting a delicate hand, Bird rested it against his cheek, her eyes searching his scared face. “You are no long
er the golden prince…”
“No, I am not.”
He rested his larger and colder hand over hers, his eyes turning red from unshed tears. “I am no longer the man who ripped your gown from your body, but… I still desire my due, my throne and my revenge.”
She did not speak, and for a long moment, the two sat on the horse merely observing one another in silence before she finally inhaled deeply. “Then… my bride price would be a crown. Yes, your payment is a kingdom.” Bird dropped her hand and leaned into him, shifting higher as he brought his arms fully around her. “My heart for a crown… and no less.”
With a jerky nod, Talon tightened his hold on the reins, a smirk coming to his lips. “A price I am willing to pay.”
“My price, brother, are you also willing to pay it?” Jorin interjected as he drew closer on his mount.
“Not if your price is my head,” Talon quipped.
Jorin chuckled. “No, brother, my price is not your head, not as of yet. No! I want land, my title and ships. I wish to become a tradesman. I’ve grown weary of wars of state and royalty.”
“Weary? Are those not the things that run in our blood since the days of warring Saxons and Danes?”
Jorin stopped and glanced over his shoulder at Essa, who tensed at his sudden focus. “There’s something else that has caught my attention. Maybe… maybe, in that, I will require your help, brother.”
Essa dropped her gaze from his, her eyes troubled at his attention.
He had followed Jorin’s line of sight before he met his brother’s mock innocent gaze. With a shake of his head, he looked forward and merely smiled.
Chapter Ten
They arrived at the gates of the city of R’or midafternoon. While Dua advised for her to return to the palace, Bird opted instead to stay with Talon. She returned to his lodgings but was swiftly dumped into the bed by the man.
Scrambling, she attempted to rise, only for him to lay two flat hands upon her shoulders and force her to lie back down. Annoyed, she grumbled, “I am fine. I’ve no need for rest.”
