Marko took the item and winked, “Maybe so, but I have never been accused of being the sanest of people.” Then with a calming breath he stepped from the safety of the hallway into the room before he could change his mind.
Once inside, he hesitated for a moment, waiting to see if she would acknowledge his presence in any way. When she didn’t, he moved forward cautiously, leaving a wide girth between them. Carefully he circled the room until he could see her face, then clearing his throat he attempted to speak. “Your majesty…”
“Don’t.” Keeping her gaze trained on the garden, her voice resonated with a warning.
Assuming she was warning him not to come any closer, Marko immediately halted and tried again. “My name is Marko. I am the captain of Lanoria’s army and the castle guard. I was sent to escort you to the throne room, your majesty.”
In a movement too quick for his eyes to register, the queen stood before him. Caught off guard, Marko flinched and stumbled back a few steps. “I have warned you once already, I will not do it again.”
“I-I’m s-sorry your…” Marko began, but was cut off by her hand encircling his throat.
“I am not, nor have I ever been a queen here. So I will not tolerate being addressed as such, especially under these circumstances… do you understand?”
Her reddened gaze narrowed as her grip on his throat tightened, cutting off his air supply. Suddenly a loud crash followed by the sounds of electricity popping and crackling, captured the queen’s attention as the guards outside repeatedly banged their swords against the barrier in a desperate attempt to rescue him. Marko signaled them to stand down with a small wave as the queen’s gaze fell back onto him.
“Either you are a very brave man, or very foolish.” She commented, easing her grip on his neck. Leaning in unnervingly close, she inhaled deeply. “I haven’t fed in a long time and am very hungry. It seems careless of Mallok to send someone so valuable in here alone. Does he not like you?”
Swallowing hard, Marko rubbed his neck and resisted the urge to step away. “Well, he says he does. However, there are days, like the present, when I find myself wondering if being in his favor might actually be more dangerous than being out of it.”
Luckily his attempt to fracture the overwhelming tension worked and Marko watched as K took a small step back, as a faint smile ghosted her lips. “Is that so? And how is it you came to be so favorable in your king’s eyes?”
Relaxing slightly with the increased space, Marko allowed a breath to escape he hadn’t realized he had been holding. “Your maj…” he began, stopping himself just as her frown reappeared, “I’m sorry, how may I address you my lady?”
“As I have said, I am not your queen. And here I am not in any position of respect.” She paused, holding out her arms to display the bands encircling them. “Last I checked I was a prisoner and you were a guard. So how do address your other prisoners?”
“Oh no, my lady. I wouldn’t call you a prisoner… exactly.” Marko objected. “More like a guest.”
“A guest?” The sharp edge in her tone and her reddening gaze let him know she wasn’t pleased by his assessment of the situation. “Is that what you call someone kidnapped from their land and being held against their will?”
Marko swallowed hard, knowing he didn’t stand a chance of winning this argument. “No I suppose not, my lady. All I do know is that if I don’t treat you with the respect you deserve my king and my father will have my head.”
“Your father? What does he have to do with this?” K asked, bemused by the young man’s determination to defend his manners.
“Well, my lady, my father told me that the only way a man can earn the respect of others is by giving it. It doesn’t benefit either of us if I come in here and treat you with less respect just because you are here as a um… prisoner.” He paused, disliking the taste of the word as it left his lips. “Prisoner, guard, servant, or king, we are all still people beneath the stars. Besides, who knows, the day may come when our roles are reversed and I am the one in need of your compassion. And when that time comes I hope the worst you can recall me doing during your stay here is me calling you your majesty.”
K studied the young man standing with a nervous confidence before her. Much like Citera, he displayed a level of wisdom beyond his years. Even with her powers blocked, the purity of his soul called to her darkness like a beacon in the night. “Mallok has done well by you Marko. I can only imagine the pride your father must have for raising a son who managed to achieve such an honorable position so early in life.”
Marko chuckled, “Well, seeing as he was Lord Mallok’s commander before me, I suspect he would have been disappointed should I have failed to do anything otherwise.”
Images from her past brought with it a wave of guilt and regret that clutched K’s chest causing her to break her stoic mask, “You are Aidan’s son?”
Marko straightened proudly, “Yes, ma’am.”
Saddness washed out K’s features as a sharp pain gripped tighter to her chest. “Damn it,” she groaned between gritted teeth, “I should have suspected Mallok would do something like this.” Bracing herself against a nearby table, she did her best to breathe through the pain. Marko, fearing he had somehow said something wrong, instinctively moved in to help her.
“No don’t touch me,” she warned, grimacing under the backlash of emotions returning to her from Citera. Realizing her blocks were weakening just as her own were, K struggled to get back some semblance of control. Meanwhile Marko backed off as she had requested.
By the time she had managed to build a weak block, K had completely exhausted herself. Marko, noting her pallor and the sweat beading on her brow, made his way into the bathroom and moistened a cloth. Returning into the room, he was pleased to find her expression and body in a much more relaxed state. “Here,” he said, offering her the wet face towel, “I’m sorry if something I said bothered you.”
Without looking in his direction, K took the moistened cloth and wiped down her face. “It is not your fault, you are but a pawn in a game that began a long time ago.” Marko frowned, watching as she placed the cloth on the table next to a vase full of long stemmed red roses.
Straightening up, she raked her fingers through her hair and brushed the wrinkles from her dress. “So, you and your companions are here to haul me to this ruse of a trial?”
“We were asked to escort you to the throne room, yes,” Marko paused, looking down at the band still gripped in his hand.
K followed his gaze. “And to do so you need to put that thing on me?”
Though she spoke without any indication of judgement or resentment in her tone, Marko suddenly felt very ashamed of what he was about to do. “Yes, my lady.” Marko admitted, lifting his gaze to meet hers, “It’s the only way to get you through the boundary.”
“I see.” Tilting her head to the side, K held her arms out, once again displaying the glimmering metal bands already decorating them. “And where do you propose to put it? I seem to be running out of room.”
Marko swallowed hard, “It is designed to be worn around your neck, my lady.”
A deafening silence filled the space between them as K took a moment to consider his words. “It is a collar?”
“No! Of course not.” Marko countered, visibly jolted by her appraisal of the situation. “It’s a necklace.”
“A necklace?”
K furrowed her brow, once again displeased by his attempt to pacify her. Turning to the table, she retrieved one of the roses from the vase and closed the distance between them. When she stopped, she was standing so close to him that he was forced to lean back just to get a clear view of her from his six foot vantage. Her body, though small, radiated with so much immense power that Marko became lost and consumed by the feel of it, allowing everything else around him to fade into the background as he basked in her presence.
“My dear sweet Marko, son of Aidan.” Her voice soothed, luring him deeper into the haze that had invaded his
mind. “Simply calling a rose a daisy, does not stop it from having thorns.”
The moment the words cleared her lips, Marko felt something sharp prick his finger hard enough to draw blood. Pulled slightly from his stupor, he glanced down to the source of his pain to find that she had taken his free hand and closed it tightly around the long, thorny stem of the scarlet rose. Confused, he glanced back up into K’s serene features.
“Nor does denying the thorns presence, dull their pain.”
Lifting his bleeding hand to her mouth, K licked away a crimson drop from the tip of his finger, allowing a small moan to escape. With her eyes closed, K savored the untainted purity of Marko’s blood as if it were the last drop of water on a desert island. Marko, both fascinated and disturbed by what was happening, stared on dumbfounded and unable to move. Behind him in the distance, he could once again hear the muffled sounds of the guards shouting and banging on the barrier, desperate to capture his attention. But even as K leaned in closer, lingering over the pulse in his wrist, Marko could do nothing to fight back. It was almost as if his mind had betrayed him, detached itself from his body and left him behind as a puppet in her grasp.
“My lady, please.” He managed to whisper, his words so quiet he could barely hear them over the sound of his pulse pounding in his ears. “Don’t do this. Don’t make it easier for them to portray you as the monster.”
“Oh dear sweet boy.” Red glowing eyes glared up at him as K tilted her head to the side, studying him closely. “And what if everything they have said about me is true? Have you considered that?”
“No, my lady.”
“Then you are a fool.” Bearing an impressive set of fangs, K pulled his arm closer to her mouth, preparing to sink her teeth deep into his wrist.
Marko, realizing he was only seconds away from feeling her teeth pierce his skin resorted to shouting the only thing he could think of that might be enough of a shock to pull from her blood lust. “I know the truth about what happened that night!”
K instantly froze. Narrowing her gaze she twisted his arm up and backwards at an awkward angle bringing him down to her level. “You’re lying.” she whispered into his ear.
Grimacing as an intense pain shot up his arm and into his shoulder, Marko dropped the blocking band he was still clutching in the other hand to brace his throbbing shoulder. “I’m not. I swear.”
Her fury building, K applied more pressure to his arm. Marko, feeling his bones were on the verge of snapping, hurriedly explained. “I know you stabbed Mallok with the Hypnos blade not to kill him, but to make him sleep.”
K’s reddened gaze turned a startling shade of blue as he continued to spurt out the decades old secrets he was not supposed to know anything about. “My father told me everything. He told me how he found you doubled over Mallok’s body crying and that he was so enraged he tried to down you. He said you didn’t even fight him as he pressed the sword to your heart threatening to entomb you forever, but instead you told him about your vision. He said at first he didn’t believe you, but then you showed him and that the things he saw in that vision were so horrifyingly real he had no choice but to believe. It was then you told him he was the only one who would be able to prevent the vision from coming true and that it was he who would need to step up and protect his king’s body and Lanoria until the day came when he reawakened.”
Trembling, K released her grip on his arm and moved away. “Aidan swore he would never tell.”
Bracing his throbbing arm against his chest, Marko now very much clear of the haze from before, took a few moments to gather his wits before speaking again. “I know, he told me that too.” Shaking his arm in an attempt to reestablish blood flow, Marko sighed. “He’s dying my lady.”
Pain marring her features, K turned to face him as he continued. “He feared the truth dying with him. That one day Mallok and the Council would seek revenge for what you had done, and that if he didn’t share what he knew about that night then there wouldn’t be anyone around to stand by your side.”
“That was not his decision to make.” K snapped, causing Marko to flinch. Narrowing her gaze, she rapidly traversed the distance between them. “And now he has forced me into the unpleasant position of having to fix his mistake.”
Holding his hands out in front of him, Marko retreated. “W-w-wait, l-let me explain.”
Continuing to move back just as quickly as she approached, he stumbled when the back of his legs hit something and sent him toppling backwards. Luckily the soft cushions of the coach he had bumped into broke his fall. Within seconds K was on top of him, straddling his legs, she gripped the back of the couch with one hand and the arm rest with the other, successfully pinning him in place. Leaning as far back as he could into the cushions behind him, Marko locked his golden gaze onto her reddened irises as a shiver swept over his body. So much for not showing fear, his inner voice chastised.
“You may explain all you like, but facts are facts. You know something you shouldn’t know,” Bending over him until their faces nearly touched, K slowly licked her lips. “and that my boy, makes you a threat.”
Eyes glued on the pink full lips looming dangerously close to his carotid, Marko swallowed nervously. “D-dad said you would be pissed about me knowing.” Furrowing her brow, K backed up slightly allowing his breathing to even out, “H-he told me to deliver a message to you should this… uh … situation arise.”
“Oh, and what was Aidan’s grand message?” Crossing her arms over her chest, K stood and glared down at him, her legs still straddling his.
“Stars above help me,” Marko whispered under his breath as he took in the feminine curves of her body. His traitorous orbs halted their roaming once they reached the bare skin of her legs, now clearly on display thanks to their precarious position and her bunched up skirt.
“Funny, Aidan never struck me as the religious type?” K said, smirking down from her domineering position.
Marko’s brows knitted, “Sorry? Oh-oh no. That’s not what he said, Dad told me to tell you that you…” Marko stopped midsentence, suddenly realizing what he was about to say, might not help his situation any. Slamming his mouth shut he looked up into K’s now brown eyes.
“That I what? Don’t be afraid to finish what you start, spit it out. Tell me what words of wisdom your father had for me after telling my secrets to his son.”
Sitting pinned to the couch by her body and steely gaze, Marko knew he had no choice but to tell the truth. Even as a child he had been told stories of the White Queen, who could read people’s minds and know when they were lying. And though he had doubted the truth of these stories when he was younger, looking into her soul piercing eyes had completely annihilated any doubts his mind might have had.
Gulping, he continued. “He told me to tell you that you weren’t his queen, therefore he didn’t have to do a damn thing you said.” Bowing his head, Marko braced, knowing swift punishment was going to befall him for speaking so crassly to an Immortal.
When no punishment came, Marko lifted his head, watching as K ran her tongue along the front of her incisors. “Is that all he had to say?”
“No ma’am.”
“Well by all means please continue.”
Faint beads of sweat moistened his brow. “He also said to tell you that if you were pissed off about him telling me then you should come and find him and tell him yourself.”
A heavy silence filled the air between them. Shifting nervously under the intensity of K’s glare, Marko dropped his eyes back to the floor. “I always did like Aidan.” Shocked by her words, Marko looked up from his fixed spot on the floor and was surprised to see a smile pulling at the edges of K’s mouth. “Although he never really cared for me, he was the only one here I could ever count on to be completely honest with me… even if he knew I wasn’t going to like what he said.” Crossing her hands over her chest, her expression became much more serious “However there is still the matter of you knowing something you shouldn’t. How do I know
you can be trusted with such important information?”
“I won’t tell anyone, I swore to my father and I will swear to you. I won’t say anything unless it becomes necessary to protect you from whatever the Council has planned. That is after all the whole reason my father told me.”
“Absolutely not!” K snapped, pointing a finger at his face. “Listen to me carefully Marko, no matter what happens during this trial, you are not to breathe a single word of this to anyone.”
“But what if they try to entomb you?” Marko argued. “You can’t possibly expect me to stand by and allow…”
“That is exactly what I expect you to do.” Leaning forward, K grasped the front of his shirt firmly. “Listen to me carefully Marko. If Mallok ever finds out the truth about what I did, it will unravel the spell I cast to protect him and place his life and the lives of your people back in danger.” Marko frowned. “I know it sounds strange, but I need you to believe me. And I need you to swear to me right now that you will never tell him or anyone else what your father has told you.”
Marko hesitated, studying K carefully. Though he couldn’t grasp how telling Mallok the truth would endanger him, he could tell by the sincerity in K’s eyes that she believed what she was saying was true. “Then I swear. But K if they sentence you…”
“Then let them.” She said, cutting him off. “It is better to lose the life of one than to endanger the lives of thousands.”
A heavy sigh signaled Marko’s surrender, “I knew you couldn’t be as bad as the legends make you out to be.”
Smiling K released him and moved away. Making her way across the room, she bent down to pick up the blocking band from the floor, then snapped it in place around her neck. “Don’t let my need to protect Mallok fool you into thinking I am anything better than what I am. I owe him, and believe me when I say this is the least I can do in return for all the things he has done for me over the centuries.” Making her way across the room, she offered Marko a hand, which he gladly accepted. She then looped her arm with his and led him across the room toward the doors, where stunned guards watched with gaping mouths.
Forsaken (The Shadow Chronicles Book 3) Page 14
