Soul Relenter (Soul Saga #3) (36 page)

Accacia felt her hands shake. He couldn’t be serious. This was her fight—she was meant to be there. She had to go. “
You aren’t leaving me here.”

Aleco stared at her. “Yes, I am. You will not leave this room until we return. I am sorry to have to do this but I knew you wouldn’t remain behind if I asked you to. Your people will return you to your lands in the event that we fail.”

Accacia had never been so angry. She felt her body swell in rage, crashing on the brink of ferocity. She wasn’t going to stay behind. The whole reason why she came here was to fight in the battle herself. “ZYLE!” Accacia screamed over Aleco’s shoulder, begging him to come back for her. She continued to yell but he never returned. She finally understood his previous words. He wanted this as much as Aleco did. The betrayal stabbed her like a thrust of cold steel. Accacia pushed Aleco as hard as she could but he didn’t move, taking the hit but not reacting. She tried to run past him but he held her back, inhibiting any escape she made. She reached for her sword but Aleco knocked it away, kicking the weapon under the bed. “LET ME GO! I WILL NEVER FORGIVE YOU FOR THIS!”

Aleco stared at her and his gaze remained fixed. The Nature Priest showed no emotion at her words. He had anticipated everything she
would do in retaliation. “That’s up to you. I don’t care either way.” Accacia knew he meant it. She had never seen him speak so calmly. He had no emotion within him. He looked dead. She saw the despair floating in the blue irises of his eyes like driftwood floating out to sea from a nearby shipwreck, alone and destitute. Aleco was an empty vessel, harboring nothing but pain and depression. She hadn’t realized how much pain he was in until this moment. Aleco turned away. “Goodbye, Accacia.”

“Please don’t do this to me,” she begged. She grabbed his hand but he pulled it away. “Please don’t.” She reached for him but he moved away. He opened the door and closed it behind him, locking it from the outside. Accacia pounded
on the door with her fists and screamed in anguish, pleading for someone to unbolt the lock. “OPEN THIS DOOR!” She threw her body against the wooden doorway but it was reinforced with something on the other side. She couldn’t break through the barrier no matter what she tried. “NOW!” She kicked the door with her thick boot but it barely trembled under her movement. Accacia began to cry as reality set into her bones; she was never going to get out of here. She was imprisoned all over again. She would never be free of the men in her life. Her decisions and choices would never be respected or accepted. Accacia understood why Zyle had been so frightened. He didn’t think she would ever forgive him for this. And he was right for feeling that way. Accacia had already said she would, but she may have to take back those words. She expected this from Aleco but not from her life partner, the person she trusted above everyone else. Aleco had been honest about his intents since the day she met him, and she could anticipate his moves, but Zyle had completely caught her off guard. She knew Aleco would try to leave her behind but she expected Zyle to protect her and honor her choice, supporting her every decision as his fellow sovereign and life partner. He had used his trust against her to trap her within the walls of their quarters, forcing her to remain behind. Accacia could forgive him for anything, but this was the one exception. Nothing in her life was more important than what was about to happen, and that had been stripped away from her. She had the right to fight for the lives of her parents and her kin. She deserved the opportunity to stab Drake through the heart; it had to be her. The betrayal was too much to bear.

Accacia continued to throw herself against the door, determined to break free of her confinement. Her body gave out an
d exhaustion crept into her limbs. She fell to the floor and gave into the soul-heaving sobs of the loss of her freedom.

Zyle leaned against the door and listened to the anguish of his life partner, horrified by what he had done to her. The sound of her tears brought him into a depression. He was the one responsible for her pain. Zyle knew she would forgive him and that was the only thing keeping him on the outside of the door. Aleco looked at him. “It’s time,” he said. Zyle nodded. He placed his palm against the door and closed his eyes, feeling her emotions through the doorway. She had never been so angry. “Goodbye,” he whispered.

Aleco walked in front of him down the hallway. He turned over his shoulder and looked at Zyle. “You’re doing the right thing.”

Zyle said nothing; h
e didn’t feel like he was.

Orgoom Forest

32

Lau
ra saw Zyle and Aleco approach the border of the forest where the rest of them waited. She looked for Accacia but didn’t see her alongside the two men. She knew Accacia would keep her word to stay away from Aleco, but she didn’t know how seriously she took her words. Accacia wasn’t even with Zyle. Aleco’s face was set in a permanent frown and his blue eyes had faded to a permanent gray. Laura hadn’t seen them turn back since the day she found him with a dagger to his heart. Zyle looked just as forlorn, like a man full of regret. Laura approached them and looked at Zyle. “Where’s Accacia?”

Zyle kept walking. “She isn’t coming.”

Laura grabbed Zyle by the arm. “
What
did you just say? The Queen of the Asquithians has decided to remain behind?” Laura pulled Zyle to a halt and stared at him with her fierce gaze. “Where is she?”

Zyle shook his head. “She didn’t choose to remain behind. I—I asked her to.” Zyle knew h
e couldn’t tell Laura the truth. She would beat him with a stick if he did. “She still hasn’t healed properly and I don’t think she is fit for this fight. I made the decision as her husband—not her king.”

“Isn’t
fit
for this fight?” she asked incredulously. “Accacia is one of our strongest warriors—if not the strongest. She defeated the Commander of Paso Robles on her own—and at one-fourth his size. You can’t be serious, Zyle.”

Zyle bore his blue eyes on her and tried to make her understand with his gaze alone. “The decision has been made, Laura. This is between me and Accacia. Nothing you say will change my mind—I suggest you drop it.”

Laura shook her head. A look of disgust was plastered on her face. “I can’t believe how selfish you are, Zyle. A worse king we have never had.” Zyle flinched at her harsh words. “She trained harder than any apprentice I ever had for this day alone. I can’t believe you are the one to take it away from her. She deserves to be here just like any one of us. And I am sorry that you deem the love of your wife over everyone else’s love of their spouses. Everyone has someone they love risking their lives—what makes you special?”

Zyle walked away, understanding h
is anger was going to spill forth like a disturbed volcano. He didn’t want his last words to Laura to be so cruel, especially if one of them didn’t survive. Laura grabbed him and pulled him back. “Do not walk away from me. I don’t care if you are my king. That is irrelevant.”

Zyle ground his teeth together. It was all he could do to control himself. “Then yes, I am a se
lfish man and an asshole for a king—so be it. As long as Accacia lives, then I don’t care. I put my wife before everyone else—I won’t deny it.”

“No,” she said as she shook her head. “You put her
behind
everyone else—including yourself. You had no right to take this away from her, but you are too selfish to understand that.”

Aleco
listened to their argument and he sympathized with the man he hated. Laura wasn’t going to stop until Zyle changed his mind. He walked over and immersed himself between them. “I would have done the same thing if I were Zyle. The duty of any husband is to care for his family first—he made the right choice.”

Laura turned her gaze toward
Aleco. He didn’t flinch under her hateful stare. “And
that
is the reason why she picked Zyle.” Aleco felt his body explode at her words but he didn’t react on the surface. Laura turned back to the King of the Asquithians. “You better hope her decision doesn’t change when you return.” Laura walked away and mounted her horse, ready to ride to Letumian.

Zyle advanced to her and met her gaze. “She won’t—
and she never will.” Zyle turned away and walked toward his horse. The Asquithians didn’t approve of riding steeds, expecting them carry their weight across the plains, but they made an exception for the battle. Roxian walked from the trees and approached him. Anger flooded his body when he looked at her, remembering everything she had done to Accacia, but it suddenly vanished when he recalled the battle of Paso Robles. She saved Accacia’s life.

“So it’s true,” she said. “Her Highness is really staying behind?”

Zyle looked at her. “Why did you do it?” Zyle acted like he hadn’t heard a word she said. He was stunned when Roxian threw her blade across the clearing and impaled the man about to strike Accacia. He hadn’t had the opportunity to reflect on the event since it happened. He was too concerned about Accacia to think about anything else. “You could have let her die and no one would have held you accountable.”

Roxian pulled the blonde locks from eyes and tucked the strands behind her ear. Zyle wasn’t immune to her marvelous beauty but he wasn’t interested by it either. “Why do you assume that I want her dead?”

“Don’t play games with me.”

She stared at him for a moment. “I’m not playing games
, Zyle,” she said seriously. “I have no intention of hurting her.”

“Then why are you sleeping with Aleco?”

“I was,” she answered. “But I am no longer. No, I didn’t approach Aleco to hurt Accacia. My feelings for him are genuine.”

“He doesn’t seem to care for you.”

“Nor do I care for him.” Zyle stared at her in confusion, not understanding her meaning. Everything she was saying was contradicting. She caught his look of bewilderment. “I guess I have to explain it to you. Aleco is a very attractive man and is very experienced—even for a human. I enjoy being with him. There is nothing else to the story.”

“But you can have anyone you wish. Why did you choose him?”

Roxian stared at him for a moment, gazing into his beautiful blue eyes that she adored. “Not anyone.”

Zyle looked away from her gaze, uncomfortable by her underlying meaning. “There is nothing between us, Roxian. And there never will be.”

“As long as Accacia exists,” she said

Understanding dawned on Zyle. He knew exactly what Roxian was doing and he felt idiotic that he had
n’t figured it out sooner. “That was why you picked Aleco. You hoped Accacia would become so jealous she would leave me for him—unable to stand him being with someone else—particularly you.”

Roxian smiled and shrugged her shoulders.
“That’s quite a theory,” she said. “Or perhaps I am just lonely and want the comfort of a man. Maybe I wanted someone that hasn’t been alive for several hundred years.”

Zyle shook his head. “I doubt it.”

Roxian placed her hands on her hips. Her trousers were tight fitting and her armor fit the curves of her body perfectly, ensuring her fluid motion in battle. “What does it matter, Zyle? Both theories could be wrong.”

“I suppose so but I have a feeling I’m right. You’re a backstabbing bitch, after all.
” he said. Zyle couldn’t hide the anger in his body. He wasn’t upset that Roxian had intentionally tried to hurt Accacia. Zyle was furious that Roxian had tried to lure Accacia away, choosing Aleco over him so she could try to win Zyle over. Zyle was relieved that Accacia was committed to him. “Your plan failed miserably. Obviously, Accacia was very upset by your relationship with Aleco, but not enough that she would ever leave me. There’s nothing you could do to change it. She is devoted to me forever.”

Roxian didn’t respond to his harsh comment. It was as if she
hadn’t heard it or didn’t care. “We still have time. I see the way she looks at him, Zyle. She doesn’t look at you like that. And I see the way she runs from you. She doesn’t run from Aleco.”

He knew he should walk away but he couldn’t force himself to move. Ag
ainst his judgment he looked at her. “You’re wrong.”

“I guess we’ll find out
.”

“Unlikely.”

“You know her better than I do,” she said. “I just know her through Aleco—who seems to know her better than you do.”

“And what has he said to you?”

Roxian shook her head. “A lover’s secrets are always confidential.”

Zyle shook the concern from his body, forcing himself to return to a state of calm. He didn’t understand what he was worried about. Aleco could want Accacia all he wanted but it wouldn’t change anything. His recent distance from her made Zyle question his affection for her altogether. But Zyle felt the fear return to his body. Accacia said she would always forgive
him and he forced himself to believe it. She would; he knew he would. “We need to get moving,” he said as he mounted his horse. “We have a long day of riding ahead of us.”

Roxian curtsied to him. “Yes, Your Majesty.”
She walked over to her own steed and mounted the black charger and pulled on the reigns, leading him away from the trees and into the plains outside the forest.

Zyle clicked to his stee
d and approached the border of the realm but he stopped before he crossed the threshold. He knew Accacia deserved to be here but he couldn’t bring himself to release her. Zyle couldn’t handle any further injuries compromising her. He failed to protect her once and he wouldn’t do it again. He forced his horse through the line of trees and left the shadows of the woodlands.