by LJ Swallow
“No. No. I don't know anything.”
“Then what is it about you interests Ty?” he whispers.
Alaric slides a hand behind me and cups my ass, yanking me towards his hips. I steady myself with a hand on his chest. “Scion,” he sneers. “A gift to witches and nothing more.”
I hold his gaze and lift my chin. “Don't call me that.”
I tense as he slides another hand under my top and touches my belly. “If you belong to the Othala, your life belongs to me.” Alaric's long fingers invade, not the gentle touch of a potential lover but a possessive grasp of my skin. “This whole sector belongs to me. Everybody's lives.”
If this felt sexual, I'd be scared what he'd do next, but the physical threat terrifies me more. In a few hours I've seen exactly why this man shouldn't be the new Regent and my suspicions join his. Is Mattias involved in a movement to oust him before he damages our fragile world?
“Don't touch me,” I say.
In a swift move, Alaric seizes my neck and pushes my head against the wood panelled wall. I meet his eyes, and the noble pretence that surrounds Alaric is ripped away, my aristocratic position as a Karran pointless. I'm facing off in a battle I never wanted, with a man who holds the ultimate power over me in this moment.
I choke as his grip on my neck tightens. “If you and my brother are involved in anything against me, I will end you both.”
Alaric doesn't move his hands and perspiration slicks my palms in anticipation of his next move. He won't do anything. Can't. But this demonstration holds a promise beneath, one whispering next time things won't stop here. What does he want? Expect? I squeeze my eyes together, summoning the tears I held back.
Show him weakness.
Alaric releases my neck as the first tear drips and strokes my wet cheek instead, pulling his features into mock concern. “I apologise. I didn't mean to scare you. We should get to know each other better, don't you think? You could show me that you know a Scion's place.”
Blood thumps in my ears as the moments tick by. Stepping back, Alaric straightens his sleeves and continues to look at me. “Sit down, Cora.”
I slide from between Alaric and the wall and return to my seat as there's a knock at the door.
“Yes?” shouts Alaric.
“Sorry, sir.” The doors creak open. “Dinner is almost ready.” A guy, younger than me, stands in the open doorway, a false smile etched across his pale features.
Please let this stop Alaric's behaviour. The tension in the room thickens. “Fine.” Alaric yanks his chair out and sits too, regarding me with dark eyes.
“What the fuck are you doing?” Alaric shouts and I jump, unsure whether he's speaking to me or the unfortunate in the doorway. “Pour her some more wine. The girl's glass is half empty.”
The guy approaches, every movement tracked by Alaric. Perspiration beads on the guy's forehead and his eyes focus on anything but his master. Does he have bruises too? The guy reaches over Alaric. As he does, his shaking arm hits the bottle and the contents spill across the table, a pool of wine pouring straight into Alaric's lap.
“You fucking moron!” snaps Alaric and jumps to his feet. The wine isn't visible on his suit but the white napkin he grabs and wipes against his trousers stains red. Alaric holds up the napkin in one hand and grabs the guy's arm with the other. “Look!”
The guy's repeated apology is rewarded by a reeling punch to the side of his head. I push back my chair and stand in horror as the guy staggers back and steadies himself on the table.
“Look at my clothes!” he yells.
“Alaric!” I shout as he grabs the mute guy by the shoulders and throws him across the table.
The wine glasses fall, cutlery and plates flying from the table, spilling more wine and staining the cloth the colour of blood.
Alaric tears open the guy's shirt and I'm staggered. What the hell am I watching? A rune similar to those I've seen around the house is inked in black in the centre of the man's chest and Alaric wipes blood from the man's nose onto his hand, then places his palm on the black circle. The semi-conscious guy gasps for breath and claws at his face as if Alaric has his hand across his nose.
“What are you doing?” I ask, stepping closer. “Let him go.” Blood seeps from the desperate man's eyes and his face reddens. “Stop, Alaric!”
Alaric's dark eyes look to mine, his hand remaining on the bleeding man's chest. “He's useless.”
“You're going to kill him for spilling wine?”
“And? He knew what he signed up for. Remember what I said?” he growls. “I own him and he's dispensable.”
The guy continues to gasp, immobile. Alaric's ability to use runes with no incantation and in the blink of an eye is beyond anything I've seen performed before.
“Let him go.”
“Don't tell me what to do in my house,” snaps Alaric.
“Please!” I shout as the man's eyes fill with blood, relaxing in his struggle against the invisible force from Alaric.
I step forward, ready to intervene and Alaric looks back to me. “Bad idea, Cora. I might've promised not to hurt you, but I can still do what the fuck I like with you if you piss me off.”
Instead, I step back. Alaric closes his eyes. The malevolent cloud, which hovered around him all day, the one freaking out my sixth sense, is masked by something else. A surge of energy enters the room, wrapping around Alaric.
This is old style. He's using a human to directly power his magic. How many others who cross Alaric suffered a similar fate for one transgression?
“What the fuck are you doing?” The door slams behind us, and Mattias strides across the room to his brother. “Let him go.”
When Alaric ignores him, Mattias drags his hand from the man's chest and pushes Alaric to one side.
“In front of her? Really?” Mattias jabs a finger at me. “He'll be the third this week. How exactly are you explaining this to people?”
“I don't need to. They’re not stupid enough to ask.” He pauses. “Don't play your innocent card again. You might fool the Senate, but nobody knows you like I do. I might not know everything, but you're no better than me.”
Mattias has his back to me, face hidden, but the death stare his brother is giving him is no doubt reflected because neither speaks. “What the hell is she doing here anyway?”
“You know I like to meet the Scions on an individual basis.”
“Even this one?”
“Especially this one. She's special, don't you think?”
“She's just another human.”
“Is that so, Ty? She seems very special to me.” Alaric steps back from his brother and heads back to the table.
“What the fuck does that mean?” snaps Mattias.
“Don't fucking mess with me, I know about you two. She knows something you're not telling me. I'm not stupid. Either that or you have some kind of weird “thing” for her.” He sneers the word thing. “Sit.” He pours another glass of wine and a second for his brother. “Talk.”
A man’s half dead on the floor, and they're having a chat? Would they notice if I ran out of the room? My feet stick to the floor, but this time it isn't magic. The horror of watching Alaric killing a man, the fear from his threats, hold me in place. And now this.
“I asked Cora about the pair of you, and I'm a little confused. Now you're here too, you can explain exactly what's happening.”
Mattias shakes his head. “Nothing. How many times do I need this fucking conversation with you? Go play with your Senate. I'm not interested in your games. I agreed to step back and not challenge your Regency, and you agreed to leave me alone. Who I spend my spare time with has nothing to do with you. Back off.”
“I think I should leave,” I mumble. “This... I need to go home.”
Mattias breaks his focus on Alaric and takes a closer look at me. “What's wrong, Cora?”
“She's fine,” puts in Alaric before I can reply. “We had a great day together. Such a lovely girl.”
/> Fingers against his lips, Mattias continues to watch me. “Cora?”
“Yes. I'm fine.” I tuck my hands beneath my arms. “Just tired. Long day.”
Alaric places his feet on the chair opposite him and sips his wine. “Take your special friend home. You heard she's tired after her time with me.”
“What did he do?”
I force a smile. “Nothing.”
As Mattias walks over to Alaric, he raises his glass in a toast. “You're an asshole,” says Mattias in a low voice. “Don't hurt her because you can't touch me.”
The brothers regard each other, neither moving nor speaking until Alaric sets down his wine glass. “I'm Regent now. I do what the fuck I want.”
“Not with me. I have as much power as you.” Mattias places his hands on the table and leans across until he's face to face with his brother. “And I won't hesitate to use the full force against you if you need reminding.”
The chair scrapes, slamming backwards into the floor as Alaric stands. He snatches Mattias's full glass of wine and hurls it across the room. The glass splinters against the wall, wine spattering across and dripping to the floor.
I touch my face where a shard hit my cheek and stiffen as Alaric strides towards me. He stops short, close enough to raise the hairs on the back of my neck but far enough away to keep Mattias from reacting.
“Take this as a warning, Ty. Don't fuck with me or I'll break your toys,” Alaric growls. He crouches down, picks up the broken stem of the glass, and turns it around in his hands. He stands again and his darkened eyes meet mine. “Slowly and painfully.”
Alaric staggers as Mattias grabs him by the shirt and slams him against the table. “Who the fuck do you think you are?”
“Regent, you asshole.” Taking his jacket in both hands, Mattias holds his brother forward. Alaric's mouth twists into a smile. “I'm right, aren't I? Mattias Hyland found a girl he wants. How cute.”
“Fuck you.” His grip tightens and Alaric pushes his hands away.
“You are aware you'll kill Cora if you marry her and have beautiful babies together?”
“Shut the fuck up. I'm not marrying her, but I'm warning you if you do anything to Cora, I swear I'll hurt you.”
“And how would you do that? Commit treason against the Regent by attacking me?”
Mattias rakes both hands through his hair and stares at his brother. “I have ways.”
“So, do I, Ty,” sneers Alaric. He shoves his brother in the chest, but Mattias doesn't move. “Get out of my way.”
“I meant what I said.”
“So did I.”
Through the whole exchange, I battle with my side desperate to collapse on the floor in tears, and the other side who refuses to be treated like this by either brother. As Alaric storms from the room and Mattias approaches me, I cross my arms tightly across my chest.
“Take me home,” I blurt the words before he can say anything. “I don't want anything more to do with you. You were right last night. This is dangerous and nothing can ever happen between us.”
“I agree and I’m glad you understand now.”
We're lying. Something already has. Like a game of chess, the brothers line up to play, and Alaric has already made moves, knocking pawns to one side. One by one the pieces will fall. I don't know what happens when the last is taken, or who that will be, but I’m trapped in a game I want no part in.
“Promise me one thing, Cora,” he says in a low voice.
“I don't have to promise you anything!” I tighten my arms harder.
Mattias's face remains red for his argument with Alaric, anger overtaking the attempt at calming me. “You are an extremely frustrating girl. Promise me something.”
“What?”
“That you won't leave the Enclave yet.”
He knows. I've slipped up in telling Mattias my plans, the ones obvious from the night we first met. “I'm not leaving yet.”
“Yet?” His mouth tips into a smile. “But one day you will, right?”
I shuffle from foot to foot, head aching from the amount of crap that's followed me today. “Yes. Going to arrest me for that?”
“No, because I don't think there would be any point. What does it matter if another girl leaves? Because she's a Scion?”
“Please don't use that word around me.”
Mattias sits and rubs his hands down his face. “I never thought I'd come across somebody like you.” He looks up. “Most girls would be a shaking, hysterical mess after what Alaric did and said.”
“Maybe I am on the inside.”
“Are you?” he looks up.
I wrap my arms around myself, his soft words pushing through the barrier erected around myself today. The fear for my life, of Alaric, at what I'm dragged into spills out, and I take a shuddering breath as a sob catches in my throat.
Seconds later, Mattias's arms are around me, head held against his chest, heart thumping against my cheek. “He's clever. Really fucking devious,” mutters Mattias.
I fold, giving into the tears I never wanted to shed around either brother. As my tears soak into his shirt, Mattias's grip tightens. “He knows me and how I'll react if anything I care about is threatened. That's why I backed away. He wants me dead, Cora, and you're his way to trip me up.”
His words are muffled by his broad palm half covering my ears, but his tone isn't fear. He's pissed off. Mattias takes me by the shoulders and looks me in the face. “I'm taking you home, and tomorrow I need to talk to you about this properly.”
Three nights ago, I chose to take control of my own future and turn my back on the birthright thrust onto me. Three nights ago, I placed myself in the hands of a man who changed that future beyond anything I imagined. Mattias denies he's working against his brother, but there's something brewing between them, and Alaric believes I'm involved.
I'm stuck, not only between the brothers but because I'm falling for Mattias, the man who's placed me in more danger than I ever was the night we met.
13
Following the exhaustion from the surreal events yesterday, Brandon's spider-like text on the pages blurs, and I fight against nodding off as I transcribe his letters. I'm determined to keep up with the amount he piles on me. He won't have the chance to pull me up on anything. He made a mistake taking on a smart girl but thinking she was dim because she's attractive.
Most of my current work has involved organising Brandon's disorganised files. The ones two men in suits collected from me an hour ago. The amount of new security around the place concerns me. The Senate has never needed this before and if this is a precursor to other changes... not good.
No visit or contact from Mattias. Was he trying to calm me down when he promised to speak to me today, or push me away again? I've blocked most of yesterday’s events from my mind, but not Mattias.
“You don't need to stay late tonight,” Brandon picks up my bag and hands it to me. “Finish up early, I wish I bloody was.”
Alaric arrived late this afternoon, which pissed Brandon off. He's oblivious to what Alaric told me about disbanding the Senate. Does anybody know yet? How will he do this? Not only does Alaric seem unhinged, but also his certainty Mattias is trying to undermine him worries me. Power and paranoia do not equal a good combination, and the rumblings amongst those identified as Mattias supporters grow. Surely they won't be stupid enough to challenge Alaric, because there's no possibility this man will let go of his Regency or plans for the Sector. This man would kill for his aims. I’ve seen that his respect for life ranks around zero.
“Are you sure?” I ask.
“Yeah. Another Alaric meeting about changes to the Senate, and he's in one hell of a mood today.”
Just for a change. “Okay.”
Footsteps and voices pass Brandon's office as people head to the meeting. I steel myself in case Alaric drops in to see me on the way past, but the hallway gradually quiets. Library. No studying books today—or filing them. Today I want to lose myself in fiction. I grab a
book about an ancient world, one long before the human world was decimated by ravagers, and settle down to read.
I leave the light switched off and read by the light from the window. The meeting runs late and night falls outside the windows, across the brightly lit Enclave. There's no danger in the dark usually, but my unease grows at what lies outside for others as the moon and stars struggle behind the thick clouds. This gives me little light so I shuffle into a corner where there's a desk with a reading light.
A loud bang echoes through the building, reverberating along the wall. I startle, body jumping to attention as the building shakes for a couple of seconds and the light flickers out. Instantaneously, loud voices, muffled by closed doors, shout. My stomach flips, and I climb to my feet, dropping the book on the floor. What happened? The yelling grows louder, doors slam and footsteps power past the closed library door. I take deep breaths, preparing to leave myself. When people are running from a shaking building, copying them is the wisest move.
Is the building damaged? On fire? I can't pick up any unusual or burning scent, but that doesn't mean I'm safe. I need to get the hell out.
I make my way along the darkened hallway, back to Brandon's office to grab my coat and bag. An arm seizes me as I step through the door and muffles my surprised scream with a hand over my mouth. He pushes me against the door. No way out. I strain my eyes in the shadows. Tall man. Dark hair and face vaguely recognisable. Senate? Yes. And human. His widened eyes match mine as he places a finger over his lips.
“You have to help me out.” I drag at his fingers but he doesn't let my mouth go. “Please. I did nothing.” I shake my head and he drops his hand from my mouth as I dig my nails into his fingers. “Scream then, bring them in here. Risk yourself too because you should've left.”
“What's happening?” I ask.
The man darts a look around and strides to the window. “Shit. Too far down.” He turns and rest against the frame. “Are you a witch?”
“No, but I can't... whatever this is, I can't be involved. Are you one of those against him?”
