Page 27 of King Elijah (The Zemiran Chronicles 2)

Twelve

AIDEN LOOKED UPas Elijah came into the tavern.

What is he doing in here? he asked himself, looking to Valkanon. They quietly placed their mugs on the table and kept their heads down, their hoods covering their hair and ears.

“King Elijah in the city is never good,” Aiden said.

“We need to get out of here,” Valkanon said as they watched Annabelle flee to the door, Elijah shooting out his magic toward her. “Now!”

“No,” Aiden said. “I need to find out what’s going on. You can stay here. Make sure his man, Liam, doesn’t follow.”

Valkanon gave him a nod and slipped to the front of the tavern with the rest of the patrons who fled the establishment. At the same time, Aiden moved to the back door, watching Elijah drag Annabelle into the alley. It was hard to resist the urge to help her as Elijah assaulted and inflicted pain on the fairy woman, but if he were to get caught, Elijah would lock him away. Instead, he focused on trying to hear their conversation and figure out what Elijah wanted from her.

“Now, Annabelle,” he said. “Tell me what I need to know.”

Aiden’s elf senses honed in on their voices, and he could hear the fairy’s answer as clearly as if he were standing in that alley next to her.

“Fine,” she said. “I told her where the tunnel was, okay? She’s my friend, and she needed my help. I gave her a home for the last two weeks. I took care of her as she shared the horrors of her life in Myloria. So yes, I drew out the layout of your castle so she knew where to find you. But I only did it to save her life. If you only knew—”

“Knew. What?” Elijah hissed out through gritted teeth.

A loud sob ripped through the air in response. “What would happen if Janelle failed to kill you, Your Highness. Kieran controls her. She owes her existence to him. And he wouldn’t hesitate to give her a cruel, painful death if she failed him. You don’t understand how dangerous he is.”

“I think I fully understand the danger of the man who wants me dead.” Elijah leaned his weight into Annabelle. His voice was low and dangerous, and he wasn’t backing off. “You’re hiding something. You’re both hiding something, and I’m guessing it’s something that I need to protect my people from. Now tell. Me. The truth.”

A keening noise escaped Annabelle’s chest, and Aiden could almost see the twisted pain on her face. She was scared, petrified even, but Elijah wasn’t known to show empathy when getting answers by violent means.

“He’s making hybrids!” she shouted, finally revealing the secret.

Aiden and Elijah, a wall between them, both froze.

“Hybrids?” When Elijah spoke, he was breathless, like the word had punched him in the chest. Aiden felt much the same, a sense of horror flooding his body.

Hybrids were forbidden. They had been for as long as anyone could remember. Nola was one of the only hybrids that Aiden knew to exist, and they had been lucky that she turned out to be as uncomplicated as she was.

Mixed magic was unpredictable and incredibly dangerous. Anyone who thought they could play with the building blocks of existence for their own gain must be completely mad.

“He’s breeding elves and witches to create hybrid children. They’re strong, fast, vicious, and grow at incredible speed. Kieran’s uncle started breeding them twenty-two years ago when your father went to war with magic. They needed something stronger than a sorcerer’s power to protect them from the king’s threat. Kieran continued his uncle’s experiments after he died and hasn’t stopped. If someone were so inclined, those hybrids could make a very dangerous army.”

Elijah looked away in disgust.

“And what is Janelle’s role in all this? What does Kieran want from her?” he hissed.

Annabelle looked pained as she spoke. “Kieran is in love with her, or at least the idea of her and her magic. He plans to marry her, breed with her, and raise his own children to be more powerful than any of us could imagine. His own personal assassins to target your kingdom and anything else that gets in his way.” Annabelle licked her lips nervously, her voice dropping before she continued. “If Janelle doesn’t return with your head, that will be her fate. She’ll spend the rest of her life as a prisoner, forced to propagate his obscenities.”

She sagged forward when Elijah suddenly released her weight. He turned his back to her, shoulders hunched in anger, and Aiden could see the pain written all over his king’s face. Aiden was shocked by the expression. It was almost as if Elijah truly cared about what would happen to Janelle.

Slowly, Elijah turned around to face Annabelle again. “If that’s truly what Kieran wants from her, he’ll do it whether she kills me or not.”

Aiden felt fear and anger wrap around his heart like a clenched fist. His sister wasn’t safe in Zemira. He couldn’t protect her behind palace walls, and neither could Elijah. Something would have to be done.

His mind ran a mile a minute, and it was only in an instant that he was resolved to go to Myloria and kill Kieran himself. The Shadow Creature, too, if that was what needed to be done. Anything to protect Janelle.

Aiden knew he wasn’t thinking clearly, but he had no other choice.

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