Jessamine
Groaning, I turn, clutching my aching head. Something moves under me and my cheek smacks into something equally hard. My eyes drift open and sunlight streams in through the open window of the…carriage??
I sit up abruptly, confused, and the movement only causes my head to implode with a worse ache. The last thing I remember was swinging my sword and having something heavy ram into the back of my head. We were winning. There weren’t many of Atticus’s men left. Maybe I got knocked out and we’re headed home?
My vision clears briefly and Darrock’s peering at me intensely. “I was afraid you had a concussion.”
Blinking slowly, I force my gaze to focus on him. “I’ll live. Where’s Kier? I got hit by one of them, I take? Hurts like hell, though.” I touch the back of my head and it’s wet and sticky with blood.
The corner of his mouth tightens and the carriage bumps into something rough. “I hit you.”
It takes several seconds for his words to sink in and I’m suddenly wondering in what universe I’d get injured and Kier would let Darrock watch over me in a carriage. None. My stomach plummets when I reach into me for Nyx and I feel absolutely nothing. I don’t feel Kier. It’s like feeling him nearly die all over again. “Where’s Kier?” I ask, my panic evident in my voice. “Where are we?”
Darrock peers outside the window. “The borders, a few hours away from Ashbourne.”
Ashbourne? The mortal Kingdom? My head spins, and hits the carriage’s chair when it lurches again.
“You should rest. The bane’s effect will kick in any second now.”
The world beneath me seems to be collapsing, and there’s not a tether enough to anchor me as I struggle to comprehend what he just said to me. A sudden emptiness washes over me, draining all of my warmth and strength and I fall back against the unforgiving floor of the carriage, my toes and fingers twitching uncontrollably. My back arches, and my insides curdle, trying to get something out of it. Something froths in my mouth and my vision darkens momentarily, a brutal pain dividing me in half.
Warm hands grip my head, lifting it up and I hear Darrock whisper, “I am so sorry, Violet.”
My body arches again, violent tremors wracking it, and my intended snarl is unleashed as a desperate cry for help. “What…did…you…give me?” I cry, squinting through the tears streaming down my cheeks.
Darrock winces, his eyes conveying hurt, pain, regret, hate and love. He shakes his head, his disheveled locks tumbling here and there. “A different type of bane. He said it would subdue your wolf to keep you from communicating with Kier or shifting. It was a precaution and I never would have administered it if—”
“When…” More froth feels my mouth and everything goes black for the briefest of seconds, before refocusing on him. “…I…Get…Up…I…Will…Kill…You.”
He’s betrayed me. Why? Because I chose Kier? How could he do this to me? To my father who trusted him with my life? How could he do this, knowing how hard it’d been to open up and trust him?
Darrock pulls me up to his thigh, rocking me against him. “He took Raya, weeks before I arrived at Neradia. I have no fucking idea how he breached pack security and took her, but he did it somehow. The only condition for her release was that I bring you. I convinced your father to let me come ensure you were safe instead in Neredia. I thought if I mentioned it to you, you would help me. Somehow. But Kier wouldn’t let me speak to or see you. He wouldn’t let you out of his sight—”
“And…that…that night…on the—” He could have told me! That night, before he kissed me!
He closes his eyes and breathes in sharply. “I received a message from him that night. A reminder that I had until the war was over. You found me when I was trying to decide what to do. I told you to stay with Kier because I didn’t want to have to make that decision.”
I have so many things to say. I want to cuss at him and call him a fool. But whatever he gave me is digging too deep and I’m going under faster than I thought possible. With the last shred of strength I have left, I whisper, “You...are…a dead man.”
**************
When I awake again, the incessant thumping of the carriage is gone and under me is a mattress. The back of my head throbs as I turn my head left, taking in my surroundings slowly. The room is unusual, colors too bright for my keen sight. A human woman would find it pretty, but it is jarring. I turn my gaze from the sickening pink curtains hiding the sun and my heart leaps when my gaze meets stunning blue.
“You’re awake, dove. How delightful.” Atticus claps, his lips stretching into a grin too beautiful for someone with a soul as ugly as his. The Goddess must have taken a pleasant nap when she carved the bastard. He strolls over, hands folded behind his back and he stares at me deeply, like one would when he wishes to tear something in half to see what is inside. “How was your trip? Did you have fun cutting my men down?”
I sit up immediately, and stifle a groan as the world around me tilts. Atticus steps back, halting in his preening of me, and for the first time, I notice an elderly woman standing at the edge with him. Her gaze is glued to the floor and a wicked black eye adorns the left side of her face. By the smell clinging on to her, something frail and insubstantial, I can immediately tell that she is human.
“Why have you brought me here?” I ask, my fists clenching on the sheets. I’m still in my fighting leathers and my boots are somewhere on the floor beside me. I’m going to kill Darrock, and I will drink his blood. Alright. I won’t, but I’m vexed enough to crave it.
He cocks his beautiful head and frowns as he retrieves something from his pocket and sniffs in deeply before extending it to me. I recognize it the moment I see it. It’s the letter I wrote to him. “I accepted your terms, and now, you must fulfil your end of the bargain.” I start to speak, but he waves me off. “Yes, yes. I heard all about your ploy to stab me in the back, and I understand that you must have admitted to that to preserve your life.”
I get out of bed, my feet shaky as I advance in his direction. Gritting my teeth, I hurl the paper at him. “No. I would have stabbed your cold heart the moment you set foot in my home! You’re delusional if you think I want to have anything to do with you! You will let me go this second!”
Atticus chuckles excitedly. “I knew having you around would be fun. I’ve awaited your arrival with baited breath and I do not regret it.” He nods toward the woman. “Have her scrubbed until all of that gore is washed off her and bring her down for dinner once you are finished.”
The woman’s head dips in a bow, but it is clear as day, the hate in every moment. “Yes, sire.”
When he leaves, I hop forward. “Help me. I need to return home.”
Her pale brown eyes are blank as she grabs my arm and shoves me in the direction of the bathroom. “Should you somehow manage to flee from here—impossible as it is—my life will be forfeit, and while that may mean nothing to you, it does to me. And my children.” Something flickers in her gaze. Anger. But it is gone the next second. “I must plead with you. Have your bath, my lady, and continue whatever plans of escape that you might have only when I am gone.”
I follow her into the bathroom and let her strip me out of my clothes. “We are in Ashbourne, yes?”
She merely nods without looking at me. Her movements are somewhat mechanical, and while she seems to be present, it doesn’t quite seem like she’s with me.
“Where exactly?” I ask, not that I have an idea of what the mortal lands even look like.
She gives me a look that says I should know before she responds tightly, “The castle.”
I start at that. “Atticus lives here? I’d thought the reports stated that he’d built a stronghold by the borders. Is this a recent development? Has King Hamon--?”
The woman pushes me into the tub and set the water running, and for the rest of my bath, she doesn’t respond to any of my questions, though, I feel her patience waning. She washes my hair thoroughly and scrubs my skin like she hates me. She probably does, but I don’t know why. Once we are back in my room, a new set of maids join us and I refrain from lashing out, because I know it won’t help me. Or them. After what he’s done to Lloyd, I don’t doubt that none of their lives matter to him.