Seeing he needed a moment, Marko picked up where he left off. “First of all, the Wanderers that brought her in for us were unable to secure the Link, so a decision will need to be made hastily, otherwise the effects of the distance and time between them will begin to take hold.”
“Amateurs,” Brink hmphed. “Should have sent my people to handle it, we could have got in and out without even being detected. Still could if you want.”
“Absolutely not.” Elymas growled, slamming a meaty hand down on the table, “No one is crossing the borders illegally. And since I am sure Kahjoul, or K or whatever she wants to be called, isn’t going to give us permission to enter Vanteria, then we will just have to make do with the time we have.”
“I agree with Elymas,” Serefina seconded, “Anyway it shouldn’t make a big difference. In the past she has always lasted about a month before the effects of her withdraw began to take hold, I should hope we would be well and done by then.”
“True,” Mallok agreed, setting his empty glass back down on the table. “Unfortunately, that isn’t the worst of it. According to the Wanderers, K has fed on the blood of her Link.”
“She what!” Cato leapt to his feet as his features contorted through a wide range of emotions. Taking a moment to pull himself back together, and with his normal smug look safely back in place, he eased back into his chair, rested his elbows on the table, and steepled his twisted fingers in front of him. “What would be her reasoning behind doing such a thing?”
“We are not sure.” Mallok paused. Taking note of the concerned looks on the faces of the others, he realized he had gauged the danger of this matter correctly. “Do we have any idea how this will affect either of them?”
All eyes fell questioningly on Elymas. As an immortal Caster, his mind was a quintessential library of knowledge with thousands of years’ worth of ancient magic and spells locked inside that thick bearded head. He was also the one who had cast the actual linking spell on K to begin with. All the rest of them had done was supply the energy needed to do so. Running his hand through his beard, Elymas shook his head in apparent disbelief. “There is no way to know for sure,” he began. “That spell was originally designed as a tracking spell. The old ones used it to bind themselves to those who came to them and asked for favors so that they could track them down later if they failed to repay their dept. It was never intended to bind two souls throughout their lifetime, and it sure wasn’t designed for immortals, especially not one who feeds on blood. My suspicion, however, is that it will strengthen the link and its effects on the both of them.”
“So it means our time before she feels the effects will be shorter?” Serefina asked.
“Most likely.” Elymas sighed, leaning back into his chair. “But that isn’t my concern, K is very skilled at blocking when she needs to, she should still be able to hold out for quite a while.”
“Then what is your concern?” Mallok asked, already dreading the answer.
“That the two of them could potentially manipulate the link to their advantage.”
“Meaning?” Brink snapped, growing impatient with Elymas slow banter.
“Meaning… theoretically either of them could pull energy from the other through the link.” Sighing he took a long drink of his beer, before continuing to explain. “Think of the link as a continuous stream of energy flowing between them. While most of the time the flow is even and steady, if for whatever reason K, or even the Link, experiences any extremes changes in their energy, the overflow floods into the other. Then, depending on whether the energy was positive or negative, they will either feel the other’s pleasure or pain. But now, if what you say is true, then it is highly possible that K, or even the girl, will be able to manipulate the energy flow.”
“So you’re saying she will be able to access the Link’s light if she chooses to take advantage of it, that she will able to draw from her power?”
“I’m saying, theoretically of course, that they could now have more control over the energy they exchange between each other. Of course, K can’t just take the Link’s power forcefully without causing them both to experience excruciating pain, but if the Link chooses to let her draw from her light willingly, then yes, she can draw more power.” Taking a giant swig of his mug, Elymas continued. “Honestly, the potential for this happening has always been there, but the spell made sure the bond wasn’t strong enough for them to manipulate the pull. But with a blood link added in…”
Cato stood slamming a fist onto the table, “She knew damn well what she was doing when she fed. This is just more proof that she needs to be put down permanently.”
“Now hold up.” Mallok growled, narrowing his gaze on Cato. “This is a meeting, not a trial and I will not have you passing judgement until we hear her side of the story. We don’t know her reasoning behind why she fed, she may not have any idea what she has done.”
“Perhaps you should ask her why she did it.” Serefina teased, waggling her brows at him, “Surely with the history the two of you share… there is something you can do to convince her to talk.”
“I think the whole knife to the chest might have been her subtle way of letting him know she was done with him.” Brink cackled while pretending to stab himself in the chest with a butter knife. “Honestly Mallok, that must have been one disappointing night for you… I mean I have had my fair share of bad romps, but I don’t recall any of them being bad enough that the girl stabbed me afterwards.” Turning his attention from Mallok to Cato, Brink continued his prodding, “I know, maybe we should send Cato for a turn. One night with him and she would be begging to have Mallok back!”
“How dare you…” Marko growled as he stood to defend his king’s honor. Mallok however caught his arm and held him in place, saving him from being impaled by a knife that suddenly flew across the table. Mouth agape from the reality of his close call, Marko shifted his gaze from the serpentine handle of the blade lodged in the headrest of Brink’s chair, back to the angry scowl of Cato.
“You’re gonna have to be quicker than that ‘old man.’ ” Brink teased, reappearing in a seat on the other side of Elymas. Frowning, Elymas rolled his eyes and smacked him across the back of the head like one would an insolent child.
“Oww.” Brink whined, rubbing the offended area.
“Be careful who you make enemies of ‘boy.’ ” Cato hissed, slowly easing back into his chair.
“As I was about to say,” Mallok continued. Unscathed by the antics, he motioned for everyone to resume their seats. “We have a couple of days until Lady Kirsten arrives and we can begin the trial. In the meantime, I will try speaking with K again and see if I can convince her to cooperate. However, should she continue to refuse, we may have no choice but to read her.” With a wave of his hand the room filled with servants carrying covered dishes for each of them along with more drinks and appetizers. “But for now, consider my home yours and please enjoy the bounties Lanoria has to offer.”
***
After finishing the dinner with the others and finalizing the details for the trial, Mallok bid good night to Marko and wandered the halls of his castle. Walking slowly down one long hall after another, he pondered all that he had learned. Chuckling under his breath he shook his head. Leave it to Kahjoul.
Granted, like the others, he was concerned about K possibly having increased her powers by adding a blood link to her fated link with the mortal, but he just couldn’t help but laugh at the irony. The Council had cast that spell to better control and weaken her, but true to form, K had managed to figure out a way to use it to her advantage.
And he wasn’t completely shocked by it either. Centuries of watching her overcome travesties and abuse that would have broken men double her size, had left him with an underlying admiration that even her betrayal hadn’t faltered. Exhaling a heavy sigh, Mallok turned down a mostly abandoned hallway and headed toward the guarded door at the end.
“Good evening your majesty.” The pair of guards said in unison as h
e approached.
“Good evening gentleman,” he answered. Stepping between the two men, Mallok peered into the room at the raven haired beauty on the other side of the barrier.
K stood silently in the shadowy darkness of her room, basking in the pale light of the full-moon as it shone down upon her. At some point since Mallok had last seen her, she had changed out of the filthy white tank and black sparring pants she had been wearing when she arrived, and replaced it with a breathtaking silk gown that hugged her thin body tightly, before billowing out in layers of flowing fabric around her feet. The thin crimson material, which rippled ever so slightly in the light breeze blowing in through the open doors, provided the perfect backdrop to accentuate the iridescent shine of her black, waist-length hair that flowed freely over her shoulders and down her back.
Mesmerized by her beauty, Mallok stood and stared longingly at the woman, who had for centuries been both his friend and lover. But when the gleam of metal captured his attention and drew it to the six blocking bands decorating K’s wrists, upper arms, and ankles, Mallok was suddenly reminded of why he was here. Needing to focus on the task at hand, he quickly cleared his throat and turned to the guard standing to his right.
“I am going inside and I want you to close the doors behind me. Under no circumstances are either of you to open these doors or follow me in, do you understand?”
“Sir, surely you jest?” one of the guards responded, moving to block his path, “What kind of guards would we be if we allowed you to walk in there alone and unprotected?”
Silently proud of the man’s dedication and loyalty, Mallok straightened and narrowed his gaze on the protesting guard. “I am your king and you will do as I say. Now I am telling you not to come in no matter what. I am Immortal and so is she, you however are not, and given the opportunity she will not hesitate to use a mortal’s life to try and negotiate her freedom… which, of course I will have to refuse.” Seeing his words sinking in and the guard’s confidence wavering, Mallok decided to help clench his decision for him. “And when I refuse, she will not hesitate to kill you out of spite.”
Paling slightly, the guard stepped out of his way without another word. With nothing else to obstruct his path, Mallok carefully stepped forward through the boundary, shivering slightly as the electrical currents used to create the barrier crackled and popped around him. For any other man, one touch of these powerful currents and they would have been rendered unconscious for hours, however for Mallok, they felt no more uncomfortable than a mild static shock, which was exactly why he had chosen to create this particular type of boundary. Other than himself, Marko was the only person in Lanoria with the capability of passing through the electrical barrier without the use of a very specific blocking band. And the only such band in the entire castle that would allow entry, was in the possession of the two highly trained guards standing outside this door. Meaning, if by some miracle, somebody did manage to actually defeat both guards and get their hands on that band with the intention of helping the queen escape, they would do so, but only by trapping themselves inside her prison. Only one could go in, only one could come out.
Stepping into the darkness of the room, Mallok paused and snapped his fingers, igniting the multitude of candles spaced around the room and filling it with light. Like the rest of Lanoria, the castle was equipped with solar panels for the electrical lights, but there was just something about the soft glow of a burning flame that he had always found comforting. Waiting until the guards closed the doors behind him, Mallok proceeded forward into the encompassing silence of the room, watching as eerie shadows danced their ghostly dance across the floor, creating a somewhat ominous feel.
“And you wonder why your people feared and hated me.”
Coming to a stop beside her, Mallok followed her gaze into the darkness beyond. Those were the first words she had said in days, and though her voice was void of any emotion, he knew her well enough to know she was displeased.
“Are you going to tell me that what I told to them wasn’t the true?” he asked, only slightly surprised she had managed to hear his conversation with the guards through the supposedly soundproof barrier.
Glancing at him over her shoulder, K narrowed her eyes. “I may be guilty of using mortals when they serve my purpose, but I never kill needlessly. You know me better than that.” K turned to face the night’s sky once again. “And what good would it do me to kill a guard and try to escape while this cursed crystal still binds me to you?”
“It wouldn’t do you any good, but he doesn’t know that and I don’t need men taking unnecessary risks for foolish reasons.” Watching her as she continued to avoid his gaze, he continued. “As far as your other statement goes… I thought I knew you well enough… that is until I found a dagger sticking out of the center of my chest.”
Not even bothering to honor him with a response, K turned her back to him and walked away. Infuriated by her brush off, he grabbed her arm and spun her back to face him. But just like the other time he had tried to confront her about that night, K dropped her gaze to the floor, refusing to acknowledge him.
“You will give me the answers I want,” he demanded. More upset by the meek disposition and the avoiding behavior than her lack of response. Determined to push her limits until the woman he used to know resurfaced, Mallok continued to pressure her. “So I ask you again, why did you do it?”
But once again her silence was all the answer she offered.
Frustrated, he pushed her body against the wall and caged her with his arms.
“Why am I here Mallok?” Her quiet words caught him off guard, as she still hadn’t looked up from her fixed point on the floor.
Infuriated by the audacity of her to ask such a question, Mallok slammed his fist into the wall next to her head, creating a spider web of cracks in the granite. “You know damn well why you are here,” he snarled. “And I find it insulting that you would dare feign ignorance to the hell you have put me through.”
Bringing his hand to the front of his shirt, Mallok unbuttoned it halfway, then pulled it open and exposed the star shaped scar in the center of his chest. “But since you want to play it this way, how’s this for a reminder?’
When K’s gaze fell upon the scar, a flash of emotion disrupted her features for a fleeting moment before she dropped it once again back to the floor. “I know what I did, and I readily accept the consequences of that action.” She paused, “What I don’t understand is why we are bothering with this game? Why not lock me in the cells below or just put me down immediately?”
Pulling back from her, Mallok allowed a cocky grin to form as he spread his arms wide, “You don’t like my accommodations? I figured you would be more comfortable here. After all, we spent so many wonderful nights together in this room. Even our last night together was spent in that bed over there, tangled in each other’s arms making passionate love to one another. I couldn’t think of anywhere else more appropriate.”
In response to the harshness of his words, K’s eyes moistened. Mallok couldn’t deny that it pained him to treat her so cruelly, but at the moment his need for answers far outweighed his compassion.
“And how long do you plan to keep me here?”
“Until I get the answers I want.” He responded without hesitation.
Raising her head, K looked him square in the eyes, “Then you are wasting your time, because the answers you seek… I cannot give.”
Closing the gap between their bodies, Mallok leaned in speaking lowly into her ear. “If you will not give them freely, then I will take them forcefully.”
“You cannot read me,” she challenged, narrowing her gaze. Then as if suddenly realizing what he had said, Mallok watched as anger hardened her features. “You have brought the Council into this.”
“You left me no other choice.”
Placing both hands on his chest, K shoved him away from her and stormed across the room. “Of course you had a choice! How could you do this? You know what they wil
l do to me! This matter should have been between me and you, they have nothing to do with it.” Running her hands through her long black hair, Mallok watched as she paced back and forth across the length of the room, keeping her head low. Though she was obviously trying to suppress her anger, he managed to catch a flash of the black markings on her arms that signaled she was on the brink of losing her battle.
“No!” he snapped back, “That right was removed from my hands when you stabbed me in the chest! Did you honestly think they wouldn’t find out?” Approaching her, he paused a few feet away, “I nearly lost my kingdom because of what you did. If it hadn’t been for Aidan’s quick thinking and him uniting my people against them, Cato and the Council would have taken everything I worked so hard to build. Or maybe that was the plan all along.” Narrowing the gap between them, Mallok leaned in so close their noses nearly touched. “Tell me K, what did the Council offer you to get rid of me so that they could take my kingdom?”
It took every ounce of control she had left for K to conceal the pain that statement had inflicted. Instead she locked her expression back into her emotionless mask and faced him head on. “If that had been my plan, your kingdom would be mine.”
Before he could stop himself, Mallok clenched his fist, summoning his bond to the crystal inside her chest. Twisting angrily, he commanded it to wrench painfully within her. Instantly she doubled over, grimacing as she clutched the area tightly. “You dare test my patience?” he challenged, twisting harder and watching as K struggled not to cry out. “I have spent the last thirty years looking for you, my patience is running thin, to say the least.” Releasing his hold, K sucked in a deep breath. “Now do tell me, how is it you have managed to remain hidden for so long?”
Black hair hanging in her eyes, K looked up as she worked to slow her breathing, “Go screw yourself Mallok.”
Forsaken (The Shadow Chronicles Book 3) Page 6
