by Bailey Dark
“She’s a woman,” Navi says. “Show her your affection isn’t completely due to the curse.”
I shove away from the table, frustration sweeping through me. “Haven’t I done that already?”
Navi rolls her eyes. “I wouldn’t know, I’m not watching your relationship with her that closely.”
The frustration falls away almost instantly as I watch Navi’s eyes drop to her sword. “I’m sorry,” I say softly. “I shouldn’t burden you with this.”
“No.” She looks up. “This concerns us all.”
I sigh, the burden of my duties settling like a heavyweight on my shoulders. “I know.”
Navi moves beside me. She smiles, the same smile she gave me before Verity arrived. “Go to her, let the councilors take over for a few days. It will be worth it.”
“Thank you, Navi,” I whisper.
She puts a hand on my shoulder and squeezes. Navi drops my gaze as she releases me. With a short bow, she sweeps out of the room. I bite my lip, considering her last advice, and move to the window.
A war is coming. I won’t relish the bloodshed we will face, but if we can finish the Bloodbane, Alnembra won’t be disturbed for thousands of years to come. We will have peace. I grit my teeth as I picture Maaz in her stone keep, plotting against me. On the battlefield, I will find her and kill her myself. I will kill her for what she did to me, for what she has done to my people, and for what she did to Verity.
The wound on Verity’s stomach is nothing but a thin scar now. I wonder absentmindedly if it bothers her. Navi is right, I haven’t given Verity much of my time lately. I haven’t even bothered to ask her how her recovery is going, I realize with a pang of guilt. I’ve hardly wondered how she spends her days, or if she’s lonely. I slam my fist against the stone wall, cursing myself. I brought this on myself. I drove her away first and then expected her to wait for me.
It’s late, but I doubt she’ll be sleeping. I’ll go to her now. I take one last long look out the window when movement in the darkness below catches my eyes. I lean against the window pane, peering into the shadow. It’s Verity, picking her way through the gardens towards a secluded copse of trees in the back. I narrow my eyes, curiosity lancing through me. She disappears into the thickly wooded area. A second later, I see the faint glow of candlelight behind the foliage.
What is she doing? I frown thoughtfully, staring at the light penetrating the darkness. Suspicion pricks at me, sending a tingling sensation down my back. I wonder if this has anything to do with her interest in the Bloodbane, her incessant questions. There’s movement against the trees and I see a Fae man slip into the shadows. I press myself against the glass, fingers digging into the cold surface as I stare. I recognized him; I’ve seen those narrow shoulders before. The gardener.
My heart is pounding, fury and suspicion flooding through me as I sprint out of the room. I rush down the stairs, ignoring the soldiers that start after me curiously. I wave them away as I take the grand staircase to the main floor. My footsteps echo back at me from all sides, a staccato beat as I run. All I can think of is Verity in the garden alone with a stranger. He could hurt her. He could woo her.
I leap from the stairs onto the gravel path leading to the back gardens. The gravel crunches beneath my hurried footsteps. The air is chilly outside despite the summer night. The copse of trees comes into view and I slow in case Verity is calling for help. But the night is silent; no night birds sing, no insects chirp. I move into the trees quietly, careful to step only on clear ground.
Verity comes into view and I duck behind a tree trunk. I study her from my hiding place. She’s illuminated by the candlelight, sitting on an old, rusted bench. There’s a book open in her lap. And beside her, is the man I saw. His arm is draped around her, his eyes locked on her as she reads from the book. At times, his fingers stroke along her back and she shudders to awareness; as if she was lost and he drew her back again.
I clench my hands into fists at my side, unable to turn away. She stares at the same page for hours before finally moving on. Her eyes are hazy, a ghost of a smile on her lips as she reads. He must have done something to her, I realize, anger coiling around my heart. Verity left me to meet in secret with this man. They share something between them, something that has pulled Verity away from me.
I close my eyes, resisting the urge to burst into the clearing and tear apart the strange man. That would only push Verity away even more. But, oh, it would certainly satisfy me to have his blood coating my hands. Blood is roaring in my ears as I open my eyes again. The book falls to the wayside as Verity climbs smoothly into his lap. A small cry escapes my lips as they kiss. He’s rough with her, cruel even. He pinches and bites, but she revels in it. Her soft moans reach my ears as she arches into him. Verity moves against him, writhing like she’s possessed.
I feel a sharp pain in my chest as they lose themselves in each other. I had fallen in love with Verity. I wanted her to love me back. And yet, here she is. With another man. Sorrow overtakes me. I wish I could look away, but I can’t. My gaze is locked on them, as if I’m punishing myself for having let her slip this far away.
Finally, the man pulls away. Verity’s brows crumple as he leaves her. But soon, her eyes are roving over the pages of her book again. I watch the man melt into the shadows. Fury overcomes the heartbreak I felt only seconds before. I follow him, my blood pounding in my ears. I grind my teeth, hands clenched into fists at my side. I’ll rip his limbs from his body first.
I find him on the garden path, meandering towards the walls. I fall into step behind him, waiting for him to notice me. He stops, his back towards me. His hands are stuffed into his pockets as if he doesn’t have a care in the world. Slowly, he turns to face me. My eyes narrow as I take in his wide grin and his black eyes.
“Altair,” he says jovially. “Verity isn’t here. I’m afraid she’s in the other direction.”
“I know,” I growl, hardly caring that he didn’t bother to use my title.
His grin broadens, stretching so far it sends a prick of fear through me. “Oh, you saw that, did you? How did you find it? A valuable lesson perhaps? Your Verity can be quite wicked when she wants to.”
I close the distance between us in a single lunge. I tackle him, driving him back against the wall. He chuckles as I thrust my forearm against his neck, crushing his windpipe. “How dare you?” I hiss.
“I didn’t do anything she didn’t want,” he says, his eyes lit with mirth.
“Like hell you didn’t.” I growl.
The gardener barks out a laugh. “You hardly know her, Altair. You know her less than she knows herself.”
“And you do?” I demand, thinking of all the ways I could kill him.
“Of course I do,” he snaps. He calms, closing his eyes for an instant. “I know her better than she knows herself. That’s why she seeks me out.”
My heart feels as if it’s been dowsed in icy water at his words. How many times have they met? I wonder, nausea welling through me. I want to believe that it has nothing to do with Verity, that it’s simply a mistake she made while trying to find answers. But I feel a prick of doubt in the back of my mind as I glower at the stranger. What if there truly is something between them?
“Who the fuck are you?” I demand, growling.
“I’m the gardener.” He grins. “I make things grow. Even poisonous things.”
My narrowed eyes relax for an instant as I study his black gaze. His smile is gone, and the black of his pupils extends over his irises and into the white of his eyes. I steel myself against the fear that coils in my gut.
I snarl and choke him. He coughs, blinking back tears. “I want you out of my sight,” I growl. “I want you out of the palace and to never return. Do you understand?”
“I understand,” he chokes out, the wicked grin returning. “But Verity will be sad to see me go.”
“She’ll never think of you again,” I say furiously.
He laughs, the sound powerful and chill
ing. “You may as well forget marrying her. She doesn’t love you, and you could never satisfy her.”
“And you think you could?” I ask, my voice harsh.
“She’ll have another groom soon, of that I’m certain,” he purrs.
A frozen wind blows against me as his eyes darken once more. I lurch away from him as fear clenches my heart. Something isn’t right about this man. He’s no gardener. He pushes away from the wall and straightens his tunic with a bright smile. He pushes past me, disappearing into the darkness and leaving me reeling. I don’t consider myself an easily intimidated person. But something about his eyes had my breath locked in my throat from fear.
I stare into the shadows he melted into for what feels like hours, waiting for him to return with the wings of a demon or some other monstrous creature. But he’s gone. I find my breath again and head back to the copse of trees. The candlelight is low, and somehow, dawn is on the horizon. I spent all night in the gardens, but it felt like mere hours.
Verity is draped on the mossy ground beside the bench, sleeping. Her cloak is tucked around her, her silk gown no doubt ruined from the dirt and damp of the ground. She sleeps soundly, her lips softly parted. She looks angelic almost. But I can’t forget the way she moved against the stranger. I can’t forget the way she responded to his body.
My eyes drift over the book beside her, propped open. I crouch and pick it up. The leather binding is warm, as if it was just barely in Verity’s hands. I flip it open, eyes roving over the page. The writing is harsh and jagged, difficult to read. But the sketching in the margins are clear enough. It’s a book on Bloodbane rituals and magic. The text is filled with spells and cruel rituals they use to practice their magic.
My gut coils and I feel nauseous as I read about the rituals they perform in the ether. No Fae has ever found a portal into the ether, the realm of the old gods, and it’s strictly forbidden. But the Bloodbane draw most of their magic from the other realm. Sadal Melik waits for them in the ether. They give him blood and life force to sustain him through dark rituals. It’s sickening.
I swallow the bile rising in my throat as I study the pictures and text. I flip through more pages, panic rising in my chest. This is what Verity has been reading? This is why she’s so secretive? I bite the inside of my cheek. My father destroyed all the books in the kingdom about Bloodbane magic in an attempt to stop them from gaining anymore power. I don’t know how Verity got her hands on this book, but I have no doubt it’s related to the mysterious gardener.
Poisonous flowers indeed, I muse.
Chapter 14
Verity
The green glow of the sun through leaves teases me from my sleep. I take a long breath, sighing. I can feel dew on my skin and along my cloak; cold little buttons of water. I stretch, breathing in the earthy scent of soil and moss. Dain is long gone by now with the sun already rising. My stomach turns as I remember what happened the night before. I don’t know what came over me that I would let him handle me like that. I betrayed Altair.
Suddenly, as I roll over, I see glistening leather boots covered in dew. I gasp and lurch away, coiling into a crouch. It’s Altair. He stands stiffly, as if he’s been in the same place all night. His brows are pinched, his lips twisted into a deep frown. He doesn’t look at me, his eyes are locked onto the book in his hands. My book.
My voice hitches in my throat as I see him with my precious, dangerous secret. I release a strangled noise and lift a hand towards him. His eyes dart away from the text to meet mine and I’m struck by the intensity of his hazel gaze. He snaps the book shut with a thud and narrows his eyes at me.
“So, this is what you’ve been hiding,” he murmurs, turning it over in his hands. “This must be one of the last Bloodbane texts in existence. How did you get it?”
“I found it,” I stammer even though the lie sends bile rising in my throat.
“You found it,” he echoes, his voice soft. “Tell me, did the gardener have anything to do with it?”
My heart stops in my chest. “What gardener?”
Altair laughs mirthlessly, tossing his head back. “Verity, do you take me for a fool?” His laughter ends abruptly, and he glowers at me. “I saw you last night.”
This is my worst nightmare. I swallow the nausea threatening to overwhelm me and struggle to my feet. Altair is staring at me coldly, as if I’m an insect on the bottom of his shoe. I wrap my cloak tighter around myself defensively. “I don’t know what you’re talking about. I came here to read. I knew the book was forbidden so I brought it here to read in secret.”
“Little truths to cover a lie,” he murmurs. “But I know what I saw. I was right there.”
The blood in my veins runs cold as he points to a spot a yard away behind a thick trunk. He would have had a perfect view of my intimate act with Dain. I bite my lip. “I’m sorry,” I whisper.
“You’re sorry?” He hisses. “You are supposed to be my wife within the month. Yet you betrayed me.”
“It’s not as if either of us is in love with the other,” I say, desperately searching for an excuse. “Our relationship is a facade.”
“Our relationship,” he repeats, trailing off. I can see the muscle in his jaw twitching as he grinds his teeth. “You aren’t who I thought you were.”
I feel a flash of anger at his words. “You never knew me at all.” I narrow my eyes.
“I thought I did,” he says, his voice losing its furious edge. He sighs. “I thought you were kind, funny, and beautiful. But all I see is a twisted, unhappy, lost girl.”
Twisted? Lost? I bristle, straightening my shoulders. “You have no idea what it’s like,” I hiss. “No idea how it feels to suddenly discover you aren’t who you thought you were – that you have an evil inside of you. I just want to know who I am.”
Altair looks at me sadly. “I could have told you who you were a week ago.”
His words send a lance of pain through my heart. “Altair,” I whisper.
“I care about you, Verity,” he says, closing the distance between us. I try to pull away, but he snatches my wrist. “I want you to be happy. I want us to be happy. Stop keeping such secrets from me.”
My lips part in surprise at his confession. And then his mouth is on mine, kissing me desperately. I yelp in surprise, but the sound is muffled. I’m stiff in his arms as he holds me close to his chest. But I don’t pull away. He’s soft and gentle with me, the opposite of Dain’s embrace. Slowly, I ease into him, relaxing. His tongue eases my lips further apart and our tongues tangle together. I feel a surge of passion as he deepens the kiss, nipping softly at my bottom lip.
Heat swarms through me like a fire blazing through a dry meadow. My nails dig into his back, pushing our bodies closer together. My head grows clear as we kiss and something in my chest clenches tightly. This is how I used to feel around Altair all the time. Our kisses, the few we had, were headier than this – more passionate and freer. He’s careful with me now, as if I’m a fragile doll. His hands rove down my back to cup my ass, squeezing tightly. I gasp, arching into him.
Both hands. The book.
I wrench away from him, eyes wild. I stare at his empty hands as he looks at me with confusion. The book is gone. “The book,” I pant, searching. “What did you do with the book?”
Altair is silent as I drop to my hands and knees and peer under the bench. I see it then, tucked half way beneath the root of a tree behind the bench. I drop to my stomach and grunt, straining for it. When I feel the warm leather binding in my hands again, I sigh. The tight sensation in my gut eases as the book is safe in my hands.
I look up and see Altair studying me pityingly. Shame washes through me as he turns on his heel and disappears into the foliage. Sometimes, we don’t need words to hurt someone. I kneel on the wet moss, book in my lap, staring at the place he disappeared into. There’s no chance at healing the chasm between us. Altair will have given up on me now. This is likely the last betrayal he will tolerate.
I feel some
thing in my chest coil tightly, painfully. I shove the sensation aside and hold the book to my breast. All I want are answers. I want to know my history; why I have the Bloodbane oath running through my veins, waiting for Sadal to awaken it. Altair doesn’t want me to find those answers. He wants me to be content as the mortal, Verity. But I have too many questions for that. And although I don’t want to betray him, it seems more and more that I’m coming to cross-roads.
Altair, or myself?
I bite my lip, fighting the tears welling in my eyes. I used to think marrying Henry would be hard. Now I know that I’m beginning to learn the meaning of the word. My fingers tighten around the book until my knuckles are white.
Chapter 15
Cleo
I pace at the top of the keep, the howls of the demonic army echoing through the mountains. I hiss in response, trying to drown out the noise. For days now, the creatures from the ether have hunted in our mountains, waiting for the order to march on Alnembra. The few animals that roamed the mountains have scattered or been eaten. I’ve warned the covens to stay out of reach of the vile creatures. After what happened to our youngest coven, I can’t allow anymore of my sisters to fall prey to the demons, or to Sadal’s sick machinations.
The creatures’ roars grow louder as they chase one of their weaker members. I stare down at them, frozen in place. Black blood arcs through the air as the limbs are torn from the smaller demon. They fall upon the corpse, yellow teeth digging into its flesh. I watch, fascinated and disgusted at the same time as the corpse is devoured in seconds. The creatures disperse once the meat is gone. Soon, the howling resumes. I shudder back to my senses and feel a curl of anger as they sniff hungrily at the base of the keep.
Maaz has practically abandoned the Bloodbane to attend to Sadal. She spends much of her time with him or admiring the army he gave her. She has abandoned her duties to lead, which has forced me to take her place. Even now, she’s roaming the ranks of the horde. I grind my teeth as I think of the responsibilities she’s shirked. I rule in her stead, but not in name. No, Maaz would never deign to admit that she rules in name only now. The covens are ecstatic, eager to move on Alnembra. Little do they know once our armies are done with Alnembra, there will be nothing left for us. Our mountains are barren now, and soon Alnembra will follow.
