Page 157 of Fate and Flame
“This is probably the worst greeting I’ve ever had. Your king called for me, and here I am, yet his lackeys don’t even speak. Are we sharing brain cells today, fellas?”
“In there,” one of them whispered and pointed to the tent the one gurgling on the ground had come from.
I took a step forward and two of the guards inched closer together, blocking the door. “Seriously?”I rolled my eyes.
One of them put a hand on his sword and I could feel the tendrils of rage from Fenlas as they both fell to the ground, though I hadn’t moved.
“Anyone else?”
The rest moved back. Even the ones behind me.
I pushed open the doors to the tent and stepped inside, shutting away the plethora of emotions coming from Fenlas. The interior of the tent was almost entirely dark apart from a few candles scattered along the empty floor. It smelled of melted iron and rotted flowers. The king kept his back to me, adjusting the items carefully laid out on the table on the opposite side: the sword that looked identical to my father’s, the ashes scattered along the hilt, a piece of fabric cresting the top of a rubied chalice, and a flattened scroll. With Nadra and I both here . . .
Nadra’s eyes bulged, and she shook her head wildly. Fabric had been tied around her mouth and her hands were bound with rope.
My stomach lurched as Autus turned toward me, his face wild. Possessed.
“I knew you would come. You feel the pull to me even without our bond, do you not?”
“By pull, do you mean that burning vomit feeling in the back of my throat, because I feel that for sure.”
Red melted down his face and he opened his mouth to chastise me, but I stopped him.
“Let’s not do that thing where we banter back and forth. You’re a sick fucker, I’m just a poor innocent female destined to be by your side while we rule the world together etcetera . . . etcetera,” I said, flourishing my hand.
“Great.” He strode forward. “To the point, then.”
I hoped Gaea was in the tent and ready. I couldn’t see her at all, but I could feel the magic within me stirring to life.
“Let Nadra go first or no deal.”
“Ah yes. A fool’s bargain.” He snatched Nadra. She tried to pull away from him, pushing against him as she shook her head, trying to tell me something. But I couldn’t make it out with her mouth covered. Then she was screaming. I promised I wouldn’t step in. I promised to stay by the door, but he was hurting her and she was frantic, and without realizing it, I stumbled forward. I felt the gush of the door opening and turned to see Fen and Greeve behind me.
The king didn’t miss a beat. He grabbed the golden knife from his belt and threw it at Fenlas. It landed square in his chest.
His pain was my pain as I screamed. I moved the wall holding my magic back just as Autus looked at me and his melodic voice told me to stop, ordered the room to stop. I froze in place, unable to fight him.
His hand wrapped around Nadra made his magic so strong, I was no longer immune. I couldn’t fight him as he stepped toward me. Fen vanished, and I knew Gaea had kept her end of the promise. Oravan’s trinket had kept her protected against the king’s magic, though my power hadn’t given me the same luxury.
Greeve was also frozen in place. He grunted behind me but couldn’t move.
The northern king pulled the sword from his table, stepped forward, grabbed my wrist and sliced, gathering my blood into the chalice, mixing it with another’s. Nadra’s. The room was deadly still. A bated breath the only accompaniment to his psychotic nature. He looked at her but spoke to me.“As I’d hoped, I don’t need to sever the bond you have with your mate. He will die anyway. A deal’s a deal though. I will miss you, my sweet.” He shoved Nadra toward the door.
Bound and crying, she moved to stand behind Greeve as Autus grabbed me, poured his blood into the cup, and my whole fucking world shattered as the awareness of Fenlas left me. As the bond to him vanished, save that one lone flame.
Autus drank deeply from the chalice of the three mixed bloods. It poured down his face, down his robes, and onto the floor as he swallowed. He turned to bring his sword down on Greeve, but he was already gone. Already saved by Gaea. Thank the gods.
“Sit,” he commanded. My legs became so weak I sat readily on the floor. “Stand.” I was back on my feet before I could register the movement. This wasn’t supposed to happen. Enchantment didn’t work on me. But then that was the point of the blood oath he’d made. My world came crashing down. “Good. Now forget them all. Forget everything but that you are simply mine.”
And like an ax to a limb, my entire life was severed from me.
Chapter Thirty-Eight
Temir
“Temir!” Gaea screamed across the chasm of my mind. “Come quickly.”
I pulled my thoughts from the clouded sorrow of losing my mate long enough to register she needed something. I turned my head toward the door. I needed something too, and they had locked me into my tent, our tent, like a child, with a sentry posted outside.
