“I’ll protect her.”
“Haven’t we been through this already? You. Cannot. Protect. The. Most. Powerful. Wytch. In. Existence.”
“I can try.” He replied. “And you have, so teach me.”
“Lesson number one.” She began, “never give your enemy the chance to get at a weapon.” She pulled the dagger she’d stolen out from its hiding place and yanked him towards her, placing the finely weighted blade at his jugular. “Now, Endis darling, I know you’re out there, so if you want him back in one piece, not patterned like last time, let me go.”
A hiss sounded from close-by. Bingo, she thought.
“Let him go.” Endis growled from what she guessed must be an observation room of some sort. Probably a two way mirror, her mind supplied, maybe magically enhanced now that he seemed to have the elven magicians at his beck-and-call.
“I want out.” She told him simply. “We all know how good I am at decorating skin so maybe you should consider letting me go with my vow that I wouldn’t harm him on my escape.”
“Not a chance.” Marten said as he struggled against her. “We finally had a talk on my terms.”
“You mean you drugged me and locked me up in order to attempt to interrogate me, which, by the way, you’re doing a rubbish job of doing.”
He struggled more and she felt the blade begin to inch into his skin. Endis hissed, someone cursed.
“Marten,” Endis began.
“Cousin, if you let her out of here I will kill you myself.” Marten shot back.
“Let her go.” Endis said to someone.
The door opened and she dragged the struggling Marten outside before she let him go, there was no use in getting locked back into the magical prison before she’d even escaped.
Silver dropped the prince, knocking him out with a blow to the base of his skull even as she sprinted towards the only door she could see in the hallway she’d emerged into. It was locked.
She kicked it open easily disarming the human guard on the other side and gaining herself some swords. She ran down the corridor without any real idea of where the hell she was going.
She kicked down doors when she came to them but she estimated she’d covered over a league at elvenspeed by the time she found some stairs.
She charged up them, bursting through the trapdoor at the top to find herself in the palace grounds.
“Stop!” The elf on duty outside yelled. Seriously, hadn’t she already disabled over twenty of those in the damn tunnels?
“I would honey, but I’ve got places to go.” She replied as he came charging at her.
She teleported away using fire, knowing that the burst of flames would pillar high into the sky, giving her a showy send-off and proving the six princes’ inability to capture her to the city.
She reappeared in Romana’s reception area to find a very angry Kate directly in front of her.
“You were supposed to be keeping her identity a secret!” The Ancient bellowed. “Secret as in unknown as in she couldn’t be found out and KILLED!”
“Jeesh, over reacting in old age are we?” Silver mumbled.
“Why did you do it?” Kate demanded. “Why did you throw away the traditions of the Isle?”
“Because whether she admits it or not, the girl needs him and my brothers.” Silver replied. “She misses the damn halfling more than humans would miss air if they were deprived of it.”
“Then it was up to her to deal with it.”
“Not really. I had another premonition Kate; she’s going to die if Marten doesn’t do something soon.”
“So, unsurprisingly you did what you did to save your own skin. You didn’t even think that maybe she didn’t want to be thrust back into the position where she’s expected to marry Marten and become a queen of not just this Isle but of humans as well! Did you even pause to consider anyone other than yourself?”
Silver didn’t see the point in protesting, it had always been about her. Survival was her key. So what if some people called that selfish, she called it self-preservation.
“I can’t re-wipe their memories now either, or at least, not without permanently messing up their psyches.” Kate moaned. “She could have lived a perfectly happy life here without all of this mess. No-one would have gotten through the shielding; she’d have been completely safe. Why would you compromise that?”
“Because I don’t like safe.” Silver replied. “Neither does Romana, not really anyway. She thinks that safe could be better for Katelyn and Averna but she herself doesn’t want a boring life.”
“Surely she’d be happier safe and surrounded by others like her.”
“Without Marten?”
“She doesn’t really like Marten; if she did she’d have given up and gone to him already.” Kate explained
“Are you kidding me?” Silver asked, amazed that the girl was this good at lying to have fooled an ancient. “She may act like he’s just a friend but she does feel a bit more than that for him.”
At that moment one of the wytches ran through the doors.
“Where’s Romana?” She asked. “Marten is here!”
“Hell.” Kate said. “Are you happy now? Change back already.”
“I’ll change back as and when I’m ready thanks.” Silver dismissed the wytch with a wave of her hand.
“Change back now!” Kate yelled, lacing her voice with compulsion. “Or I will shove you into the back of her mind again and this time I will make sure that the shields are strong enough to keep you back no matter how many years you work at them!”
Silver growled low in impatience as she was forced back into the blackness by the compulsion magic. She gave one meagre attempt at resisting but like every other piece of the Ancients magic, it wasn’t possible for her to undo. The last thing she felt were the clothes shifting to become Romana’s clothes.
Chapter Twenty-Seven
NEVER LETTING GO
Romana came round to find a worried looking Kate standing next to her.
“Romana!” She said even as Romana gave a groggy sigh. “There isn’t time for morning yawns! Marten is here, for goodness sake!”
She had Romana’s attention at once. Marten, who she’d missed for a year was back.
“He’s back and he knows who you are.” Kate told her, reading her thoughts from her suddenly happy face. “AKA we have a problem because now he is majorly ticked-off with you.”
The happiness drained from her face. “What do I do?” She asked, used to asking Kate for advice as she had for the last year.
“Let him make the first move, and if he tries to mark you, please don’t resist him or you’ll only make matters worse.”
Romana nodded and drew her hood up over her hair, which she’d cut back to its original blade style only days ago.
“He’s past the bridge.” Romana realised with calm certainty. “Where is he Kate?”
Kate was already gone.
But a rain-sodden Marten was in her doorway.
“You missed me I’m sure.” He told her, using elvenspeed and appearing behind her pressed against her back. His arms holding her immobile against his chest so she couldn’t move. “Did you have fun playing dead Romana?” There was an unmistakable growl in his voice.
“Marten—” She began, hoping to reason with him, even as fear raced along her bloodstream. She’d never seen him like this before.
“No more lies!” He growled. “You’re coming home.”
“Here is my home!” She replied. “I’m the queen of all wytchdom, I can’t just abandon that.”
“Are you really? Or was that just another convenient lie?” He accused. “Do you honestly think I can believe a word you say now?”
In answer she used air to shove him back from her, even as her clothes sensed the situation and changed into a short red tank top that bared her midriff and comfortable sparring trousers and boots, along with two arm sheaths, not that he would get that close if he wanted to hurt her.
“You see
these?” She asked, brandishing her tattooed left arm at him while gesturing to the swirling lines along her entire left side which was bared by the clothes she now wore. “These mark me as queen of the wytches. They’re mine until I die. And you know what, so is this.” She yanked down the neckline of her top, exposing the thirty gems that inhabited the spot above her heart.
Marten shrugged it off. “They don’t prove anything.”
“They prove everything.” She insisted. “Now go back. I left to stop you from being forced into a marriage you wouldn’t want.”
“You know how I feel about you.” He retorted, “Trust me, when you’re being civilised there’s no other woman in the world I’d want to marry more.”
“Well deal with it because; guess what, maybe I don’t want to marry you!” She shot back.
He stalked towards her, the animal covering those eyes she loved so much. She couldn’t read his intention as he approached her, but she got the sense that he didn’t want to hurt her.
“Marten, I’m not lying to you.” She told him, cupping his face when he got close enough. “I am the queen of these women. I can’t just walk out of that.”
“Why wouldn’t you marry me?” He asked, ignoring her.
“You want to talk about this now?” She asked, but the look in his eyes told her he wasn’t backing down.
“Because you, because you…” She trailed off, oh hell, what were her reasons for not marrying him again? “…you’re too snarly.” She finished lamely. It was a rubbish excuse, and from the look of satisfaction on his face, he knew it too. “Don’t give me that look!”
“What look?” He asked, baffled.
“Where you look at me as if I’m cornered prey. I am not cornered.”
“No, but you have lost all of your reasons why you won’t marry me.” He told her with a smile of pure male satisfaction.
“No I haven’t.” She snapped back. “Just give me a few minutes and they’ll all come back to me.”
Then he did something completely unexpected, he laughed and kissed her briefly on the cheek. Confusing man, she thought. Why was he laughing?
“Am I that bad to be around?” He asked.
“You know marriage is about a lot more than that.” She replied.
“Enlighten me.”
“Well, I’m pretty sure you are supposed to obey your husband if it’s a human wedding, and there is no way I would do that even if the alternative was being turned into a pig and spit roasted.” She insisted, even though in interspecies marriages were always individual to the pair. “And then there’s the fact that you are unashamedly annoying,” in an undeniably endearing way, “and you always get what you want,” which meant he’d probably win in this case as well, “and you haven’t even proposed!” But he probably would at some point if those were the best reasons she could come up with.
“You don’t really care about that stuff though.” He informed her. “I could see you finding the problems with each excuse you made the moment you said them. Although the last one we could remedy.”
“Marten I still don’t see how it could work out.”
“It will; you’re mine.” He told her, as if that solved everything.
“That does not automatically mean that we can get, get…” She didn’t even want to say the word.
“Married?” He suggested, and she just nodded. “You’re so stubborn,” he laughed, “You’re just arguing so you don’t have to admit that you want me too.”
She drew in a breath to argue, but he swooped in and claimed her mouth in a furious kiss before she could give him a tongue lashing that really would have stripped his hide. And as his tongue met her lips she gave a moan, aww hell, she thought, she really was arguing for no reason.
He pulled away from her, his eyes fully animal.
“Let me mark you.” He ordered.
In answer she pulled her hair aside and cocked her finger at him.
He was on her in an instant, his fangs puncturing her skin in a lethal move that gave no pain.
Her control of her muscles slipped instantly, and she flopped into his arms as he pumped his venom into her.
There was a shriek from the doorway, and Marten turned with her still in his arms so that she could see the angry figure of Cass stalking towards him, fangs fully elongated.
“What did you do to her?” Cass asked past elongated fangs.
Marten pulled his own from Romana and bared them at the vampire. This was not happening, she mentally groaned.
Cass stop it, he didn’t mean to hurt me, he just wanted to mark me.
He wants to take you to his city now that you’re immobilised. Cass replied, gathering her magic, the magic of the moon into her hands. It was a full moon, and that meant Cass’ power was at its peak, if she hit Marten with the beam gathering in her palms it could be weeks before he recovered. I read his mind, sister. You can't be taken from the isle, it’s what I came to tell you, if you leave here you die, Kobos left another threat in a letter addressed to the Coven.
Marten don’t fight her, and don’t take me away from here. She tried to reason. Please, there’s been another threat; if I leave this sanctuary then I’ll die.
“She needs the protection of the Isle,” Cass hissed at Marten. “You take her out there to be guarded by mere mortals then she’ll die.”
“No, she won’t. In this last year we’ve allied with more than just the elves.” He informed Cass. “We have all of the dwarves on our side, a few of the centaur herds, some of the giants, all the elves and most of the gnomes. She’ll be protected.”
“If you really believe that, you’re insane.” Cass replied, and Romana sensed a mental call being sent out to the rest of the Coven. They were all there in minutes. All twenty-eight others, all of them wielding deadly magic.
“You shall not take our queen from her isle.” Joanna hissed. “We will not lose her because of your selfishness.”
“She’s mine.” Marten growled, obviously not caring that he was surrounded by the most deadly women in the world. “I take her where I want.”
Didn’t I tell you to stop the possessiveness thing? She asked him mentally. Marten these women are far too dangerous, just let me be, okay? I’m no longer playing dead; I’ll let you come see me.
“It’s too late for that.” He growled at her. “Maybe I would have agreed to that after two months, maybe I may have considered it at six months. But you left me for a year. You’re coming with me, and I’m never letting you go.”
“Then I’m sorry,” Joanna replied, “but the only place you’re going is the afterlife.”
They threw the magic. But Marten and she were already gone; a teleport spell with the magical feel of the elven mages whisked them to the courtyard in Morendor before she could even blink.
Marten carefully pulled her paralysed eyelids down before turning to round on someone. “Cutting it mighty fine aren’t we? I almost got my ass toasted by magic.”
“We knew exactly when you’d need to be removed from the situation.” One of the elven magicians replied, even as she felt Marten pass her to someone else and then the steady beat of footsteps began.
“To the magic proof rooms we had made up for her.” Marten instructed, even as the person holding her gave a small bow.
“Of course, your highness.” He replied in a voice that was off in some way. The way he said his ‘s’ sounds, like a hissing snake. The footsteps ceased, the suffocating scent of his magic surrounded them, and the smells of the city were suddenly replaced with the acrid scent of fear.
Kobos had come. And he had taken her. She’d led the wytches for barely a year and now she was going to lose everything, including her life.
Why would I do that? A voice hissed inside her mind, when I can persuade you so much more sweetly.
In that moment she was sure that death would have been the better option.
Chapter Twenty-Eight
BEG
She’d been paralysed for hours, Marten was
so going to die for this, she thought as she finally summoned the energy to open her eyes.
“I’m glad we’re thinking on the same page.” Kobos’ voice hissed from somewhere close by. “You do realise that will be your job soon. To kill your would be lover. And by the time we’ve finished talking you’ll want to do it. You’ll plead for the job.”
She looked around the room. Her hands were shackled, behind her, and she could feel the way they drained her magic. They were obviously meant to contain her magic, she tried to send a mental distress call, and she couldn’t.
Anti-magic chains, they were supposed to be illegal.
The room she was in was sickeningly civilised. An antique desk was to her side, Kobos seated at it with quills, papers and ink pots littering it in an organised array. She was chained to the wall, she guessed, chancing a look up to see that the chains could be used to hoist her up to the ceiling.
The ceiling was most certainly not civilised, she decided, looking at the number of cages and mangled bodies arranged up there, a force-field preventing the blood from ever reaching the office below. The paintings were priceless classics, the furniture was elegance itself, but the ceiling was pure sadistic torture chamber.
“I’m glad you like it.” Kobos told her, and she realised that he’d broken into the first layer of her mind, and was now skimming her surface thoughts. “But you’re much too important to go up there.”
“No, you just want to drain me of my magic like you were going to do to those little girls.”
“Hilarious.” Kobos replied, his tone anything but laughing. “You really have no idea do you? Kate’s done a wonderful job at keeping you ignorant hasn’t she?”
“She’s done nothing but tell me the truth.” Romana retorted.
“Has she told you who your parents are?” Kobos asked. “Has she informed you what race you belong to? Has she told you why you’re so powerful? Has she told you anything that you really need to know? No, she’s barely trained you and then she didn’t even give you any defence from me. It’s cruel really.”
Kate's Legacy (Soul Merge Saga Book 2) Page 19
