To Kill a King (Hollowcliff Detectives Book 2)

by C. S. Wilde

  “Ben is dead because he betrayed me!” Leon spat. “I raised you all, and you keep betraying me!”

  Bast’s jaw set, a bitter taste going up his mouth. Big Brother had given so much, so freely. He didn't deserve what his own body did to him.

  “You’re not used to the wilderness of nightblood,” Bast stated carefully, stepping forward while ignoring the crowd of guards facing them from the porch. “It has always been stronger with Corvus, Ben, and I, but you can control it. Let us help, brother.”

  Leon chortled, as if he had just told him a funny joke.

  Yeah, Bast wouldn’t say they excelled at controlling their wicked instincts either, but at least they hadn’t murdered their own kin.

  “The nightblood took you by surprise,” Corvus added, “We can fix this.”

  “Fix this?” His beady eyes widened. “I killed Theo and Ben! How do you suggest we fix that?”

  He had a point.

  Leon’s attention suddenly drifted to Mera, his eyes narrowing. “How did you tell my little brother we were here?”

  Bast stepped to the left, shielding his kitten once again from Leon’s line of sight. “I made a mind link with her without her consent.”

  “You set a link with the detective against her will?” An amused smirk cut across Leon’s lips. “A one-sided link can only happen if there’s love on both sides.” He turned to Corvus. “Don’t you find it interesting, brother?”

  Bast frowned at the shig next to him. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

  Corvus didn’t answer. He simply stared at Bast and Leon with utter horror.

  “When you left for the continent, Corvus fixed a link with your mind,” Leon explained.

  Bast’s throat might’ve morphed into sandpaper. Scowling at Corvus, he raised one finger. “You fucking⸺”

  “I undid it once Father stopped sending assassins after you.” He scratched the back of his neck. “It was a safety measure. Don’t make a big deal out of it, baku.”

  “It is a big deal!”

  Corvus had violated his trust, which didn’t surprise Bast. What horrified him was that he’d succeeded in creating the link. Which meant that deep down, after all the bad blood between them—literally and figuratively—they still cared for each other.

  It made no sense.

  Kitten might’ve been right. Maybe he and Corvus were incredibly similar.

  Maybe they both had a weird way to love.

  Bast still pointed at Corvus, a strange mix of rage and shock thumping in his chest. There was so much he wanted to tell that malachai, but all he did was stand there with his mouth half-open, the words stuck in his throat.

  “Gentlemen,” Master Raes snapped, his attention fixed on Leon and the guards surrounding them. “Will you pay attention to the matter at hand?”

  Even in his madness, Big Brother was smart. He’d been trying to distract them.

  Maybe he’d been doing that since they were kids.

  Was that the reason Bast never had a proper relationship with Corvus? Because Leon had always been the knight in shining armor; the great good that made all other goods pass by unnoticed?

  Bast’s entire past slipped between his fingers, crumbling to dust. Turning to Corvus, he found the same doubt in his canary eyes; eyes that hid a world of things underneath. In them, Bast also found an apology, the same two words that rung repeatedly in his head.

  Felenue, broer. I’m sorry, brother…

  Leon nodded to the guards, and they slowly began stepping down the porch, which meant a head-on fight.

  He, Master Raes, and Corvus could jump off the cliff to take the battle to the sky, but that would leave Mera unguarded.

  Not an option.

  Pushing his link with her, Bast connected their thoughts. “You good with a sword?”

  “Top of my class.”

  He handed her his blade, his focus fixed on the approaching guards, who had stopped in a half-circle around them.

  Bast’s night and stars should be enough to handle their opponents. Besides, he couldn’t bring himself to use a sword against Leon, even though he should.

  “Avoid using your akritana’s powers,” he added. “We can’t risk Corvus and my master finding out.”

  “Will do.” Fear thrashed behind her clear green eyes. “Bast, you must defend yourself, and if that means hurting these guards, so be it. I just want to avoid a⸺”

  “⸺massacre, I know.” He winked at her. “I’ll keep Yattusei in check.”

  The smile she gave him beamed with pride and joy. Bast wished he could spend the rest of his days making her smile like that.

  “You have the disadvantage.” The mad king who had taken over his big brother raised his hand, and the guards unsheathed their swords. “Surrender, and I might spare you.”

  Corvus chortled without any amusement. “Like you spared Ben and Theo?”

  “Have it your way, then.” Leon lowered his hand, his lips curling.

  The guards rushed forward, bellowing battle cries as the mad king charged from ahead, his furious glare locked on Bast. Pitch-black flames sprouted from the royal blade, and Bast froze, his heart ached. For the first time in his life, he didn’t know what to do in a battle.

  Well, he did, of course.

  Fight. But he didn’t want to fight against Leon.

  Please, not Leon.

  Master Raes rushed forward and met his brother’s blade before he got to Bast. A wall of guards soon blocked the space in between them, and Bast could barely see Leon and his master anymore.

  Something hit him from behind, and he realized Corvus and Mera had slammed their backs against his, forming a triangle. Corvus raised a shield around them, which slowed down the mass of fae lunging at them, but shields weren’t his specialty.

  Two guards suddenly slipped through the spot on Bast’s left, and his endless darkness swallowed him from inside, filling him up to his head. His fangs pricked his tongue as he willed his power onto the two faeries.

  Bast’s night consumed the guards’ feeble shields like fire burned through paper, and they howled in pain as their skins began blackening; horrid howls that clanged awfully like music to him.

  “Partner!” Mera shouted at the same time she plunged her blade into an incoming Sidhe’s foot, then punched her opponent senseless.

  Ah, yes…

  He regretted his promise to her, but he couldn’t take it back now.

  Once the pain rendered the guards unconscious, he let go. They fell, crumpled on the grass, frostbite blackening their skin, but it was nothing a good healer couldn’t fix if they got there in time.

  More soldiers pierced Corvus’ shield from the left. His brother’s night wrapped around their wrists and ankles, holding them in place before he slashed deep. Unlike Bast, he left no survivors.

  If an opponent goes down, make sure they don’t rise.

  Leaving the guards alive might bite him in the ass sooner rather than later, but Bast did it for himself, for the detective he wanted to become, and most of all, he did it for Mera.

  Soldiers rushed at them and soldiers fell. Kitten had already pierced two guards on their chest and stomach, all in non-vital spots that rendered them unconscious from blood loss.

  A slow death, but a death that bought them time.

  Mera used the macabre, too. Through their link, Bast felt its bloodthirsty magic thrumming in her core. Yet, she used only enough to slow down the guards, maybe make the weakest of them faint. Surprisingly, the fae themselves had no clue they were losing to an akritana.

  The things she could do under the radar…

  Where two guards fell, however, four replaced them. Also, Corvus’ shield had begun fading rapidly.

  From in between the battling faeries, Bast found Leon punching Master Raes unconscious, then flinging him away.

  The old fae’s body landed close to Ben’s.

  Leon grinned wickedly at Bast. He was coming for him, but halle if Bast would let him close to Corvus and
Mera.

  “Protect her!” he ordered Corvus before charging forward, pushing the guards away with two walls of darkness that burned them to the touch.

  “You asshole!” Mera yelled, but he’d already left them behind.

  Pulling the power from his core, Bast shot a raging storm of night toward Leon, but his brother raised a shield just in time.

  The courtyard shook as Bast’s darkness engulfed the mad king and a part of the castle behind him, a giant wave of magic that destroyed everything in its path.

  It came with a price, of course. Using this burst of power drained his energy, but Bast didn’t stop; didn’t waver. He couldn’t kill his big brother, but he sure could incapacitate him.

  He only hoped his night storm would do the trick.

  Stones rumbled inside his uproar of darkness and stars, the sound of things crumbling thundering around him. When his knees buckled and his mind felt awfully light, he had to pull back.

  It was either that or losing consciousness.

  Retreating to his core, Bast’s darkness revealed a path of singed grass and scorched trees that led to a giant hole searing the courtyard’s marbled façade, straight through half of the castle.

  His brother stood proudly before the wreckage, not a scratch on him.

  Halle…

  “My turn, little brother,” Leon announced with a bloodthirsty grin.

  He shot a burst of night and stars toward Bast, who pulled another storm from his core, even if it pained him.

  Sweat beaded on his forehead as the raging forces clashed violently, booming into the sky. Clenching his teeth and ignoring the pain that pierced through his body, Bast knew he couldn’t hold on for long. His magic already quivered against Leon’s.

  Winnowing, plus his previous attack, had taken a giant toll on him. He had no choice. He had to find a weapon.

  Soon.

  As if on cue, his gaze caught a sword lying on the grass to the far left.

  The royal sword.

  Master Raes must have disarmed Leon during his earlier sparring, yet Bast couldn’t reach the weapon and keep defending himself. The mad king’s power was too fucking strong.

  In one strike, Leon’s darkness pierced through Bast’s, flinging him to the left, until his back slammed against one of the stone arches that faced the ocean. The sound of his skull cracking against the hard surface reverberated through his body.

  Bast fell on the grass, his mind spinning as the stone arch behind him gave in, and plummeted into the roaring waves below.

  Coughing, he saw stars from the corners of his eyes. He tried to focus his blurred vision, only to find Leon smirking at him. Instead of finishing him off, the mad king pivoted on his heels and charged at Corvus and Mera, who had their hands full with the remaining guards.

  No!

  A line of night burst out of Bast’s palm, zapping forward. It wrapped around Leon’s ankle, pulling him back, but the bastard was fast. Instead of tripping over, he spun midair, letting the whip’s pull take him to Bast.

  As the mad king smashed against him, his scaled beige wings flashed into existence. Leon punched Bast’s chin so hard, he sent him into the air. He didn’t stop hitting him, throwing Bast higher with each strike, until he grabbed him by his lapel and pulled him down in a loop.

  Bast crashed with his back on the grass, Leon’s heavy body immediately landing atop him.

  Everything went black for a moment, and when he came to, the mad king was sitting astride him, punching Bast relentlessly as battle sounds rang faintly from the distance. His wings had disappeared.

  “I told you to go!” Leon yelled, tears streaming down his cheeks as he struck him again and again.

  The strikes didn’t break Bast. He could barely feel them anymore. The fact that Leon drew them, on the other hand…

  “Bast!” Mera screamed from inside a crowd of guards.

  That snapped him out of it. His darkness burst from him in a pulse, flinging Leon away.

  Shakily forcing himself to his feet, Bast turned to Corvus. “Protect her!”

  “I’m trying, you baku!” his brother countered while he punched and slashed at incoming guards.

  “I’m fine!” Mera grumbled as she sent a guard to the ground. “Bast, watch out!”

  Too late. Leon kicked him in the back, sending him to the grass once more. Yet, Bast slid his feet underneath him, tripping Leon and bringing him down with a harsh thump.

  Throwing himself atop his brother, Bast punched his face. “Wake up!”

  His fist slammed into the mad king’s face nonstop, each blow cutting into Bast’s heart. “You have to be stronger than the nightblood!”

  Another set of punches followed. Maybe if he thwacked Leon hard enough, the mad king would turn back into his brother. Maybe it would exorcize his madness.

  In response, Leon’s magic burst from his core, pushing Bast away with a sharp impulse.

  Balancing himself over shaky legs, Bast watched him stand. A trickle of blackened blood streamed down the mad king’s nose, but Leon wiped it away, leaving a dark smudge on his upper lip.

  “You want to be king! After all I’ve done for you!” the mad king bellowed before propelling himself forward with his power. His foot harshly connected with Bast’s chest.

  As he stumbled backwards, Bast realized that if he hadn’t gone to the continent, Leon might not have gone mad. If he had been there, by his side, as Leon had always been by his… Guilt dragged him under, stealing his breath.

  Big Brother was too far gone, but Bast couldn’t kill him. Not when he was to blame, not when he could have avoided this if he’d stayed with Leon.

  Yes, Bast had failed his brother, but he wouldn’t fail him again, even if it meant losing his own life.

  The fight in him faded while Leon went on, punching, kicking, and yelling. His knuckles smashed into Bast’s face, chest, and stomach nonstop.

  At some point, Bast tasted his own blood. It trickled down the edge of his mouth, joining a stream that flowed from his brow thanks to a wound on his forehead. But he didn’t react.

  “Fight!” Leon gnarled as he attacked Bast. “Fight, Sebastian, or so help me Danu!”

  He didn’t.

  Leon kicked his upper arm with the strength of a wrecking ball crashing through a wall, snapping the bone in a loud crack. Molten pain pierced through Bast’s body and he held back a howl so mighty, his throat might’ve turned into raw flesh.

  The pain waned quickly, though.

  Too quickly.

  A continuous ringing took over Bast’s ears, his mind feeling remarkably light. His consciousness might fly away at any moment.

  He fell with his knees on the grass, and a sting swam up his thighs, yet it faded as fast as it came. Breathing got harder with each passing second.

  Perhaps, that was the only way to save his big brother. Maybe Leon would realize how mad he had become if he finished Bast.

  Maybe his life was the price for his brother’s sanity.

  Did Theo think the same before Leon slashed his throat?

  “Fight, Bast!” Mera’s voice rang in his head.

  “I’m sorry, kitten.”

  This was Leon, the fae who protected him from the bullying of Corvus and Benedict. Leon, who’d been proud of Bast his whole life, when there wasn’t much to be proud of. Leon, who’d been more of a father to Bast than the Night King himself.

  His brother’s fist pounded against his face, and Bast’s mind spun, his ears zinging.

  It was the oddest thing; through his link with Mera, he could feel her unleashing something inside her.

  Her akritana.

  “Don’t,” he ordered, and surprisingly, she listened. “Don’t doom yourself over this. He will come back, kitten, you’ll see.”

  “No, Bast! You have to fight him!” she begged, a cry in her tone.

  Yet, he couldn’t.

  He wouldn’t.

  The next second, Leon found a night dagger on the ground next to them. Grippi
ng it fiercely, he raised it.

  “I will do it, Bast!” His hands shook, his beady eyes pleading and in pain. “Fight me, little brother!”

  Coughing blood, Bast tried to lift his shoulders in a shrug, but they were as heavy as led. Taking a deep breath, perhaps his last, he stared at Leon.

  Come back…

  The mad king yelled as the dagger went down, but before he finished the killing blow, a blade burst through his chest from behind.

  Glaring at the sword sticking out of him, Leon dropped the dagger. “I-ironic.” He smiled to himself.

  His nightblood drenched the blade, tainting his white clothes with a deep, blackened red. It slipped from the corners of his mouth, too.

  Leon fell to his knees, revealing Corvus behind him.

  “I’m sorry,” Corvus mumbled, “but you were going to kill our little brother.” He yanked the royal sword from Leon’s chest, throwing it away as if it burned his hands.

  Instantly, the battle around them stopped.

  “You’re all under arrest!” Mera yelled to the few guards still standing, though her voice rang faintly in Bast’s ears.

  “He’s alive!” Master Raes shouted.

  Ben!

  Relief spread through Bast’s chest, but it only lasted a moment. Leon collapsed with his back on the grass and stared at the moon, his mouth opening and closing like a fish out of water.

  Bast wasn’t ready. Danu in the fucking prairies, he couldn’t lose Leon.

  Dropping to his knees, Corvus hid his face behind his palms, his body shaking with restrained sobs.

  At the sight, Bast awkwardly crawled toward him. Breathing was futile, moving was impossible, and still, an arm wrapped around his brother as he hugged Corvus for the first time since they’d been born.

  “Brothers…” Leon stretched his blood-soaked hand to them, and they placed themselves on both sides of his body.

  With whatever strength he had left, Bast brushed a bloodied lock of hair away from his big brother’s face. The gentle pink of his eyes, eyes Leon had inherited from their mom, returned.