The Stolen Princess

by Kristen Gupton

  Royal Blood Book IV

  The Stolen Princess

  Kristen Gupton

  This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are products of the author’s imagination. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, or persons living or dead, is coincidental.

  Copyright © 2016 Kristen Gupton

  All rights reserved.

  John W. Larson

  1976-2010

  A true friend when they were hard to come by.

  Prologue

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Prologue

  Ten years earlier…

  Kayla had finally escaped. It had taken nearly fifteen years, but Kayla found herself looking up at a clear, starlit sky for the first time since being taken from Tordania.

  A guard lay beside her, one of Athan’s human sentries. He was as loathsome as the rest of those who worked within the vampire’s fortress. Selfish and lustful, the man had been easy to manipulate into helping her. Though she’d endured indignities in gaining his favor to the point he’d helped her escape, it had served its purpose.

  They’d waited for Athan to make a trip to Tordania, and then they’d left the fortress. The guard was ignorant to Athan’s use of his harpy seer and how she’d be able to tell the vampire where they’d gone. Kayla knew better, however, and intended to make a drastic change in course. If they’d continued southward toward civilization as the guard intended, Sabetha would surely find them.

  That was not in Kayla’s plans.

  Kayla felt beneath the pelt covering them, finding what she needed. Her fingers tightened around the handle of the dagger attached to the guard’s belt. A snort caused her to halt, but once he settled back down, she drew the weapon cautiously from the sheath.

  He moved again, rolling onto his back.

  She sat up carefully, letting the fur covering them slip away, exposing her to the frigid night air. The guard had demanded she sleep naked, while he’d remained completely dressed.

  It would be the last indignity she ever let befall her.

  Kayla watched as the shadow of the dagger, cast by the light of the campfire behind her, rose over his chest. Her hand trembled, but only from the cold, not remorse over what she was about to do. She waited for him to let out his last breath before using both hands to plunge the knife downward. She’d aimed to the side of his sternum, the blade glancing off of one of his ribs before sinking between them.

  His eyes flew open, seeing her sitting beside him, her hands still wrapped around the handle of the dagger. The pain was incredible, and he reached for her hands to try and pry them away. Kayla held fast, though. Wanting to ensure as much damage as possible, she twisted the blade within him, feeling it grate against his ribs as it turned.

  He managed to sit up and swung a heavy fist, striking her in the temple. Her world swam and she fell backwards next to the fire. Kayla tried to move, but her body wouldn’t cooperate. She could hear the guard moving and making agonized grunts. She closed her eyes, waiting for the inevitable pain of the dagger being turned against her, but it never happened.

  The light of the fire was blotted out, and a cloud of embers and sparks whirled around her. As her eyes focused, she saw the guard, lying across the remains of the fire. His shirt ignited and the flames licked up around him.

  Kayla scrambled away, turning to find her clothes. She dressed without looking back at the burning corpse behind her, an acrid stink filling the air. She grabbed what supplies she could before taking the horse they’d been traveling upon and fleeing.

  On the third day after her escape, the weather worsened. Without any real outdoor survival training, it was only a matter of time before she froze to death. With all the water around her turned to ice, she couldn’t find anything to drink. Even if the canteen she’d taken from the guard hadn’t been emptied by then, it would have been nothing more than a block of ice, too. A fire would have made a difference, but that was a skill she simply didn’t possess—princesses are not taught such things.

  She pushed the horse to its limit. They’d traveled ever northward, the terrain growing more desolate. It was a death sentence for both of them, but Kayla would embrace it over ever being touched against her will again.

  After days without food or water, their constant movement through the growing snow was taking its toll. She stopped to take a break, and the horse laid down the moment she slipped from the saddle. She spent hours trying to get the animal back up, but he simply wasn’t capable. Terrified to stay in one place for too long, she’d finally given up and started to walk.

  She’d felt horrific guilt in doing so, as abandoning the horse to its demise was far more meaningful to her than the guard’s death. Though she’d mustered up a few tears, there was nothing she could do about it. Kayla had to press on.

  While she did her best to keep her hands pressed against her body beneath her cloak, the pain of her cold fingers had started to give way to a buzzing numbness. It wouldn’t be long before they were irreparably damaged, even if she were to survive. She’d not dared to take off her boots to see the condition of her feet, fearing what she would have found.

  Like the horse the day before, Kayla eventually surrendered to her fate. She’d tumbled down a small embankment, coming to rest on the surface of a frozen river. The relentless wind had swept the ice clean of snow, offering her no cushion from the stone-like surface.

  She stared up at the unobstructed winter sky above. Everything to lay her eyes on was white. The sky, the ground, even the prematurely graying strands of her hair that blew into her field of view.

  Kayla had passed the last tree earlier in the day, leaving her in a sea of unbroken, blinding snow. Her eyes ached, every blink agonizing. It felt as though sawdust had been rubbed into them, leaving her unable to keep them open for more than a few seconds at a time. Her glimpses of the sky above did nothing but sear more pain into her eyes, and worsened the unbearable, splitting ache in her head.

  Kayla rolled onto her side, curling her arms over her face to block out the blowing ice and to close out as much light as possible. She didn’t have the strength to get up and move otherwise, her body already pushed beyond her limit.

  Her mind sank into a merciless parade of disjointed memories. She thought about her homeland of Tordania. Though she’d never had a destination in mind after escaping, going back there would never have been on a list of possibilities. It was across the Northern Sea and unreachable to her. Besides, other than a few bright memories of her mother, Risa Veller, Corina, and later, Ilana, there was nothing worth returning for. Certainly, falling back into Turis Lee’s hands was little better than being in Athan’s.

  If her eyes hadn’t felt so impossibly dry after her earlier mourning for the horse, she would have cried. Had her throat not been worn raw by the bitter winter air, she would have screamed. All her body could manage, however, was to draw breath. Even her shivering had finally abated, her body no longer registering the painful cold.

  Still, for all the horror and misery of her present situation, there was a defiant sense of victory. In the end, she’d escaped Athan’s hold after the old bastard had fallen in love with her. To see his reaction upon learning she was gone forever would have been glorious. Whether she could witness it or not, Kayla knew her escape would hurt him like nothing else ever could.

  Despite his attempted manipulation over the years she’d been kept, she’d defeated him at his own game. All of it made possible by the ability she’s learned from Ilana long ago to armor her thoughts again
st Athan’s prying ability.

  She’d won, and that was the only thought she had to console herself with, but it was enough. Kayla allowed a smile to cross her cracked lips, ready to accept her fate.

  Between gusts of wind, she heard steps in the snow and a low grunting. Kayla tried to swallow hard, but her throat simply stuck together, almost triggering a round of dry heaves.

  Though she couldn’t move to see what it was, it sounded large. If it was out in this sort of weather, it was certainly only doing so because it was hungry. She tightened her body up into a ball, praying whatever it was, it would simply move along.

  There was a brief silence, only broken by the faint sound of icy snowflakes being blown across the ice around her.

  Kayla began to think the creature had moved on to allow her to die on her own. She dared to open her eyes, a blast of hot, moist air hitting her in the face when she did so.

  She gave out a piteous, hoarse cry, doing her best to turn away. Her vision was blurred and haloed, but she was certain she’d been looking into the face of a massive white bear. While she’d resigned to her death, suffering the agony of being eaten alive still horrified her enough to spark one last-ditch effort at escape.

  “Fear not.”

  Kayla locked up and even held her breath. While the voice was heavily accented, the words were spoken in Talausian. Either the bear was capable of speech, or she was so far gone she’d sunk into hallucinations. A tearless sob escaped her, her thin hands balling into fists.

  Before she had the chance to turn over and attempt to fight, something heavy came down upon her, knocking her flat against the ground. It even cut out the light, giving a merciful reprieve to her eyes. However, being enshrouded by the bear was nothing more than a prelude to it tearing her apart.

  Kayla rolled onto her back, her hands pushing at the dense fur. While she expected it to be immovable given the weight of the bear, she found the hide was easily shoved up. She managed to wrangle it away enough to uncover her head, breaking back into the unwelcomed glare of daylight.

  It wasn’t the bear on her at all, merely a cloak made from the skin of such an animal. She lifted her head, trying to pull the warm garment closer to her chest, though her fingers didn’t cooperate.

  Kayla squinted, another wave of fear hitting her as she saw the bear still lingering nearby. Confusion set in as she realized the beast was bridled and saddled like a horse. She gave thought again to it being a hallucination, but the fur robe covering her was solid and real.

  A tall figure bent down into her field of view, looming over her.

  With her eyes struggling to focus, she began to wonder if she’d already died, this being an angel come to collect her soul. He wasn’t human, at least, not like one she’d ever seen.

  His complexion was oddly grey, his hair as white as the snow around them, arranged in long, thin braids. They hung low enough to nearly brush over her as they continued to look at one another.

  Kayla tried to force out words, wanting to communicate, but her throat simply couldn’t form them.

  The man sighed heavily, kneeling down beside her. He motioned for the bear to come closer, causing her to tense in fear again. The animal neared and carefully moved to lay beside her, blocking out the wind. Her eyes fluttered shut, the stress of the situation threatening to sap the last threads of strength she possessed.

  Though she dreaded being touched by anyone, much less this stranger, there was nothing she could do to stop him. There was a sudden calm that overcame her. Whether it was her body resigning to death, or a byproduct of this unusual man’s presence, she couldn’t tell.

  She tried to hold on and remain conscious, feeling her body gently lifted up from the ice. Kayla knew passing out in the cold was almost certainly a death sentence, but she was simply too exhausted. Although she fought to open her eyes once more, a ringing set in her ears and the last remains of her awareness faded out.

  Chapter 1

  Dassion Agrine's ship sat in the same dock it had arrived at two days before in Lodain. They’d made their final trip from Tordan Lea for the season, intending to spend the coming fall and winter running loads between the coal docks and Takrah.

  The new trade route with the Sador Empire would be a profitable means of getting through the winter as the northern portions of the river became impassable for the rest of the year. He’d been lucky enough to land a contract, cutting his summer runs further into Tordania short.

  That was just well and fine with Dassion. Traveling the northern portions of the river through the mountains made him claustrophobic. Besides, it was warmer in these regions during the winter. He’d cut his teeth sailing in his brother’s fleet on the Northern Sea, the harsh winters there tougher to cope with.

  There was more than the weather and mountains worth escaping, though. Over the previous months, there had been several violent deaths in the smaller towns lining the river further north. While Dassion and the others had initially not paid much attention to the stories, the sheer number of them became unnerving.

  Multiple victims had been attacked and killed near the water’s edge. They were generally alone when killed, later being discovered mutilated and very much dead.

  Naturally, there were wild speculations about what was happening to them. Some feared a monster had gotten into the river from the sea. While it was common for ocean faring sailors to come back with tales of deadly creatures, the Tordan River had never played host to such a thing. Others claimed it was a deranged murderer hiding in the wilderness.

  With the northern portions of the river off limits for a few months, Dassion and his crew could put all those rumors behind them. With the ship finally loaded, they would depart in the morning to begin their trip to Takrah. They left the ship for the evening to get some much-needed leisure time in before going back to work.

  Lodain had continued to rebuilt over the previous year. The town hadn’t merely survived, it was thriving. With the increased trade, the number of taverns and other options for recreation had improved dramatically.

  It wasn’t until midnight when the group of sailors stumbled toward their ship. They’d celebrated perhaps a little too much, Dassion singing and swaggering along, leading his men back. Given the hour, there were few others out, and he spotted a solitary figure on the dock near his ship.

  The woman smiled upon seeing the group of sailors. Alcohol generally made it easier for her to get money from her patrons, and their inebriation often made her job fast, if they could even perform at all. Since she collected her payment upfront, any following chemically induced impotence was welcomed on her part.

  “M’lady,” Dassion said, staggering to the side as he offered her an awkward bow. Though it was dark, he could appreciate the shapely figure revealed by her form-fitting dress.

  “Any of you sailors looking for a little more fun tonight?” She asked, going closer to Dassion and running her hand down his arm.

  His brows raised and he glanced back over his shoulder at his men. They’d carried on without him, too drunk to notice much going on around them.

  He considered her again, debating. “I don’t know. Getting late, isn’t it? If I don’t get to sleep, I won’t be worth much come the morning, will I?”

  She let her hand stop and grip his hip as she pressed closer. “It doesn’t have to take long.”

  “Eh…” While Dassion wasn’t above paying for his liaisons occasionally, it wasn’t something he took any pride in.

  The breeze picked up and blew her hair back, revealing the side of her face before her right ear. There was a large dark spot there, the center of it ruptured open and wet looking.

  Dassion immediately took a step back, knowing the signs of her disease well enough. “Uh, no thank you! Good night, m’lady. Sorry, can’t afford it for now. Maybe next time, then.”

  She frowned as he backed off and hurried to follow his shipmates. “Damn.”

  Alone, she scanned up and down the dock for any other potential cust
omers. The night’s selection had been slim, and she’d not earned a thing. It was getting late enough that there would likely be no other prospects.

  Disappointed, she walked along as she decided to call it a night, but she stopped as she passed a row of crates and heard someone move behind them. “Hello?”

  A man stepped out before her. He looked like an unkempt vagrant, his hair and clothing ratty messes.

  She sighed and rolled her eyes. If he couldn’t afford to keep himself at least somewhat groomed, he certainly couldn’t afford her. “Excuse me, I need to pass.”

  He didn’t move, remaining in place perfectly still.

  Frustrated, she continued forward and stepped around him, but his hand snapped out and grabbed her hair. She tried to scream, but his other hand clamped down over her mouth, muting her cries.

  She struggled against him as best she could, kicking back at his legs and tearing at his arms with her nails. He wouldn’t release her, however. Adrenaline coursed through her, making her fight against him more frantic.

  He pressed against her back, licking the side of her neck. The sensation of his wet tongue upon her made her skin crawl. He stopped for a moment, though she continued to struggle. A sudden piercing, crushing pain came to the side of her neck. She felt something hot run down the front of her body, her mind reeling from the pain.

  She struggled to maintain consciousness, though her attempts at escape became weaker. The pain lessened after several seconds, but then it came again, this time with a deeper, tearing burn. The sound of ripping flesh filled her ears, and she lurched forward as his hands released her.

  With her neck torn wide open, she only managed to flee back as far as Dassion’s ship. She collapsed to the dock with a thud, rolling onto her back. Her hands gripped her neck, trying in futility to quell the flow of blood. Piteous noises escaped her, none loud enough to catch the notice of Dassion’s inebriated crew.