Page 96 of To Bleed A Kingdom

“I don't take orders from you.”

“No, you don't,” he replies. “But you must be reasonable.”

She whips her head towards him, and even though I can't see her face, I can feel the glare directed at him. “What should I do, then? Leave him here to die?” She redirects her attention back to me, prodding the wound on my thigh. “Why is his life less deserving than others?”

“One soul will never carry more weight than all the souls of the realm.”

Frowning at the strange conversation, I watch the female's fingers freeze, hovering above my wound. “Except for mine, of course,” she replies, her voice filled with contempt. “The realms could perish as long as I still breathe.”

“The Stars demand it.”

“Well,” she says, crawling up toward my head. “I've had enough of the Stars making demands of me.”Cupping my cheeks, she lifts my chin up and to the side, speaking as if her mouth has been filled with wool. “This might hurt,” she says before I see a flash of glowing eyes and fangs, and she strikes down on my throat with a hiss.

I sink into darkness.

Chapter 19

Darius

“What do you mean, she’s indisposed?” I ask, glaring at the Air immortal guarding the door.

“What I mean is,” Aerin drawls, “the Queen is not accepting visitors at this time.”

Upon hearing of the Soulless attack, I, along with my commanders rushed to the infirmary to speak to the survivors. I have to admit, I assumed the reporting guard had embellished events. It was more likely the guards were the victims of an animal mauling or something else more believable. Even when I saw Silas and Calder’s wounds, those now fully healed, seemingly years-old, pink scars shaped as a Soulless bite would be, I was still skeptical. But only until I saw for myself that massive ring of unanimated dead in the middle of The Cursed Woods. At that point, there was no denying the truth of the events.

Uriella’s Light!

We’ve known for years that there is no cure to be found for the Soulless. For they were reanimated by the power of the gods, and a gods’ power can only be defeated by another god’s. And although Silas and Calder themselves admit that their memory of events is hazy at times, there are two things on which they both agree. They were both healed by the bite of a mysterious cloaked female, and she was anything but a goddess. I’d have to agree with them on that fact. For I doubt any goddess would be hiding away in the middle of the forest, lying in wait to save distressed guards.

After leaving the woods, we went directly to the palace to report the attack to my mother. The Kings Council required more evidence before actively investigating the Breccans, and I was eager to present my findings. Even if they don’t believe Silas and Calder’s account that they were healed by the bite of an unknown female, the other rulers can no longer ignore the threat the Gods Cursed pose when their creatures are attacking us in droves.

But once we reached my mother’s private chamber and requested an audience, we were denied entrance by the son of a bitch currently blocking my path.

“It’s urgent,” I bite out.

“Unless there is an imminent threat to the Queen’s life, it will have to wait.”

Feeling my ire begin to rise, I suck on my teeth and fist my hands at my side. “Step aside, Aerin.”

“No.”

I walk towards Aerin with slow, calculated steps, my boots thunking against the wooden floors, the sound booming within the hallway and echoing off the crystal walls. “I outrank you and I'm ordering you to move.”

Lifting his chin, he meets my gaze with an almost bland expression. “No one outranks me when it comes to the Queen.”

Grinding my teeth so hard it feels as if the molars are beginning to crack, I eye the male who’s been my mother’s personal guard since before I was born.

Aerin and I have never been close. I'm not overly affectionate and neither is he, but since he's never far from my mother’s side, he’s been a constant presence throughout my life. That in itself forged a somewhat tenuous relationship. Not a perfect one, for we’ve had our fair share of rows. Mostly because he's an arrogant dick, and being the Queen's closest confidant, he rarely disagrees with her while I often do, but I've never once doubted his loyalty to the Queen, and by extension, her family. Including me, the unwanted bastard. Which is surprising to say the least, considering Aerin was the first person to find my mother after King Rainer’s assault.

I don't know the exact details of that day, but from what has been told, once Aerin found his beloved Queen broken in mind, body, and spirit, he lost all sense of self and fell into the throes of bloodlust. Consumed by a crazed, trancelike rage, Aerin killed King Rainier before carving his body into over a thousand pieces. They say that many tried and failed to pull him back from the brink of madness, but he was only able to regain his sanity once he realized how close to death my mother truly was.

It’s difficult for me to grasp that Aerin was capable of such violence when I've only ever known the Air immortal as a calm, apathetic individual. But in moments like this, when he’s determined to uphold my mother’s bidding and his eyes are hardened to steel slits, I can see the madness glinting beneath.

A growl rumbles within my chest as I press forward, forcing him to step back. “I could move you myself.”

“You could, but you’re on thin ice with the Queen as it is.” He glances at the three commanders standing at my back and lowers his voice to a whisper. “If you disobey her again, she'll not think twice to follow through on her threats. I don't want to see you on the streets, Darius.” With a sincere expression, he adds, “Neither would Theon or Aurora.”

At the mention of my siblings, I roll my neck, easing the tightened muscles as I attempt to calm myself. My mother’s threat to strip me of my rank and banish me from the palace may be a new one, but it isn't surprising. What is surprising is that she thinks I actually give a shit about my rank. I don't. I'm the most powerful and skilled warrior alive to date. Her stripping me of my command won't change that, and I couldn’t care less about gold or status. What I do care about is the Gods Cursed knocking on our door and the Kings Council refusing to acknowledge it.

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