Soul Relenter (Soul Saga #3) (43 page)

Drake stepped away from Zyle, no longer interested in the man lying at his feet. “Your
husband
?” he asked in astonishment. “This man is your husband? Then I will have to kill him. You obviously can’t have two.” Drake withdrew his blade.

“Don’
t touch him,” she commanded him.

Zyle tried to move out of the way but Drake pressed his boot against his chest. “LEAVE! HE CAN’T BE KILLED
, ACCACIA.”

Drake laughed.
“Accacia has nothing to fear. She knows I would never kill her.” He pressed his heel into Zyle’s chest. “I was told that you were dead—I am happy to see that I was wrong. Now we can pick up where we left off.”

Accacia didn’t react to the meaning of his words. “Then release him. He has nothing to do with this.”

“I think he does.” He pressed his boot into him harder. “I will kill him, Accacia. Any man that has had you will die—except me, of course.”

“Then start with me.” Aleco rose to his feet, overcoming the pain of h
is injuries and approached the king. Drake looked at him, and Zyle took the opportunity to slip away and run to the other side of the room, grabbing his red blade from the floor. When Zyle was out of the way, Aleco let himself fall to the floor, feeling his body fail him.

“It’s over, Drake,” Accacia
said. “This ends today. As a merciful queen, I will generously offer to let you surrender and no harm will befall you. I will not offer this again. Lay down your weapon and surrender.”

Drake stared at her with a hungry look. “I will surrender to you any
day, Your Highness. And whose queen would you be? Mine?” He stepped toward her and stared at the beautiful face he had missed for so long. “I’ve been meaning to fill the vacancy for a while.” Drake came up to her and his face changed, contorted in a look of pain. “I’ve missed you, Accacia. You have no idea how hard this has been for me. I’ve thought about you every day.” Accacia stared at him and said nothing. There was no emotion on her face. “Did you miss me?”

Accacia shook her head. “Not once.” She
watched the anger return to his face. He reached out to grab her throat but she caught his fist and shoved it back. He stumbled with the force of her push, surprised at her unsuspecting strength. “Will you surrender, Drake? This is my final offer.”

Drake smiled at her. “This is what’s going to happen. If you fight me
, I will defeat you, and when I do, I will take you right here on this floor.” He tapped the floor underneath his boot. “Your husband and former lover can watch. And then I’ll kill them in front you, forcing you to witness their deaths. Surrender to me and you can avoid this.”

“I don’t accept those terms.”

Drake spun his blade in his hand and it whirled in a flash. “I was hoping you would say that.”

Zyle tightened his sword as he listened to them. “Don’t do this, Accacia. Turn around and run. I’ll hold him back.” Aleco felt his mind sink
ing further into death. He was happy to be spared of the sight of Accacia’s death. He hoped Zyle could give her enough time to flee.

Accacia
ignored Zyle and stepped toward Drake. The king stepped back, smiling at her as she approached him. Seeing her clad in the armor of a warrior, with her flaming green eyes, elicited an erotic excitement deep within him. He couldn’t wait to have her again. His queen had finally returned to him. Zyle approached the king from the side with his sword raised, but Accacia held her hand out to him without looking at him. The fire dancing in the hearth suddenly roared to life and reached out of the fireplace, crackling in an angry inferno. The Asquithian Queen flicked her wrist and the flames reached across the room, forming a barrier around her and the king. Zyle was excluded to the outside of the flames along with Aleco, but Zyle could still see them through the flames. The King of the Asquithians stared at Accacia with a look of anger, furious with her for risking her safety like this, keeping him out of the way. Accacia read his mind and turned to him. “It’s annoying, isn’t it?” Zyle ignored her words and ran to the other side, reaching Aleco, who was barely clinging onto life. Zyle ripped his cloak off and tightened it around Aleco’s bleeding cuts. Zyle would give him blood but he knew their blood types weren’t compatible.

Aleco opened his eyes and looked up at Zyle. He could
see the flames over his head. “What the hell is happening? Where’s Accacia?”

Zyle looked into th
e flames. “She’s fighting the king. She conjured the fire around her so we couldn’t intervene—to protect us.”

“She conjured
fire
?”

“Yes.”

“Are you certain?”

“Yes,” Zyle said with annoyance. He d
idn’t care about that right now. He only cared about his wife.

“She has the stones,” Aleco whispered.

“What are you talking about?”

“Accacia has the elemental stones—it’s the only explanation. She has the means—she can defeat him.”
Aleco felt his mind flicker. He wanted to stay alive to see her kill him but he was losing his focus.

Zyle nodded. “
I’ll kill myself if she doesn’t.”

Accacia stared at Drake
across from her. The dancing flames licked her skin with heat and she began to sweat from the rising temperature. Drake was perspiring from the scalp as well, and his smile vanished as he watched the flames encircle them, cutting them off from any outside help or aid. The signature arrogant attitude disappeared and was replaced by fear. For the first time, Drake felt truly afraid. “That was a nice trick,” he said.

“I
have plenty more.” Accacia thrust her sword into him and Drake parried the blow, but his sword almost flew from his hand, slipping from his fingertips. The strength of her arm caught him off balance and he was stunned at the revelation. She was far stronger than she had ever been. He didn’t know what changed.

Drake stepped back from her and changed the grip on his blade.
“You’re angry.”

“You ju
st figured that out?” She whirled her sword at Drake and pushed him back. She noticed the gems in his armor gleam like the stars in the night sky. Accacia realized the purpose of his protection. It was embedded with Soul Binders. The thought fueled her anger to a new level. “What you did to me was unforgivable—you will pay, Drake.”

Drake lunged forward and parried her sword with ease. He pushed her back and unleashed his strength against her, realizing he was going to have to commit himself
completely if he wanted to defeat her. She was stronger than any other opponent he had faced. Her blows couldn’t be predicted, and when he tried to use his strength against her, she danced out of the way before he could reach her. She didn’t tire as she engaged him. If anything, she was becoming stronger by the second. “I’m sorry for what I did to you, Accacia—I mean it.” Accacia aimed for his neck but Drake ducked out of the way. He knew his words meant nothing to her. “I’m not just saying that. I really love you—I always have.”

“Even when you beat
me until I was on the verge of death? Or what about when you killed my child even when I begged you to spare him? Did you love me then, Drake?” Accacia whirled her blade around in a flash and cut him along the arm, slicing his skin. Accacia couldn’t control the hate coursing through her body.

“No, but I love you now,” he said.  “I knew I love
d you after you left—truly. I’ve been miserable without you.” Drake meant what he said. He admitted he had been cruel to her but he had fallen in love with her over time and he couldn’t recall when the emotions began. When she left, he thought he would die without her, unable to move forward. A part of him knew he had always loved her even though he hadn’t shown it in the best way.

Accacia kicked him in the knee and he cringed in pain.
“You are full of lies, Drake. You’re just trying to save your ass.”

Drake tried to parry her sword fro
m her grasp, wanting to relieve her of the sword so he could grab her, but he didn’t want to hurt her. “I speak the truth, Accacia—give me another chance. I promise I won’t hurt you.”

“You just threatened to kill my husband.”

“I don’t care about him.”

“Then you don’t care about me.”

Drake felt disgusted at the idea of her being married to another. She belonged to him and no one else. He wanted to punish her for betraying him, teaching her a lesson in disobedience. He had deflowered her so she was rightfully his. He had claimed her as his own. Drake faked his next blow and aimed his sword into her side. Drake smiled at her, and Accacia’s concentration shattered when she saw his grin of victory. It was the same look he gave her when he wanted her—when he was going to take her in a violent way. He tripped her feet from under her and Accacia fell to the floor. Drake pinned her arms to her side, holding her down on the floor, and Accacia felt the fear course through her body at her compromised position. She couldn’t reach the stones in her armor because her hands were held to the floor. She could hear Zyle yell on the outside of the tornado of controlled fire, screaming for her to get up and evade him. Accacia knew he would die if he had to witness his wife be violated against her will, unable to stop it. She knew how horrible he felt when she was injured in Paso Robles and she couldn’t let him feel that way again. Accacia tried to lift her body but Drake’s size was too strong for her. She squirmed under his grasp but she couldn’t free herself. He smiled at her as she tried to move away.

“Just like old times.” Drake held her hands down
with his knees and began to undue his trousers, preparing to take her against her will again. “No one is going to save you.” Accacia trembled at his words. He had said the same thing to her when raped her for the first time. The king began to unlace her trousers, and he slid his hand down her pants, forcing his fingers within her. She cried at the sensation. The tears came to her eyes as all the painful emotions of her past came back to her. She had felt so safe with both Zyle and Aleco that she forget how painful the experience was. Accacia tried to fight but she couldn’t move. She was pinned down. Accacia remembered the day Aleco forced her into the ground in this exact position. He didn’t move even when she screamed at him.
I’ve got all day.
Aleco didn’t stop until she figured out how to escape, believing she could flee if she tried hard enough. The experience had been painful and she was angry with Aleco at the time, but now the memory gave her courage and strength when she thought she had none
.
She would get through this—Aleco had given her the ability.

Accacia reached up with her leg and wrapped it around Drake’s neck, squeezing his thr
oat as she pulled him off. Drake’s fingers slid out of her, and she rolled on top of him and struck him in the nose with the heel of her hand, forcing his head back. She punched him again and his eyes closed as they became swollen. Accacia moved her hands to his armor and began to unbuckle the clasps, trying to remove his protection before he could resist her.

Drake realized what she was doing. He pushed
her off with a violent shove and she fell back. Her guild sword remained on the ground away from her, unreachable. She withdrew her warrior sword and engaged him. Accacia deflected his blows and returned with her own but she couldn’t gain any higher ground. Drake wouldn’t let her near his armor and she knew that was the source of his immortality. His eyes shone with fear every time she lunged for the metal protecting his chest. Accacia rolled out of the way of his oncoming sword and grabbed the guild blade from the ground, abandoning her warrior sword. She lashed directly at his armor, aiming for the Soul Binders directly embedded within the material. Accacia knew the blade was destroying the Soul Binders because wisps of smoke escaped the shattered capsules. Drake understood what was happening. Accacia knew he would try to kill her now that she had a Soul Relenter to destroy the Soul Binders.

Drake pursued her with all the strength he had
, but he was no match for Accacia. He couldn’t land a single blow on her body. Her skin was flawless. She didn’t even need the armor she wore. Drake became frustrated with his own inadequacy and lunged at her with blows to kill, but she parried the attack and took advantage of his compromised state to destroy a Soul Binder in his chest. She had destroyed almost all of them. Only one remained and it was directly over his heart. Accacia caught the fear in Drake’s eyes, but she didn’t pity him.

The king directed all of his attention in protecting the remaining Soul Binder, his mind blind to everything going on in the fight.
It was the first time she had seen Drake in a weakened state, one that left him frightened and fearful. She had only seen the look of joy on his face when she had been scared or hurt, and she gave him that same look of happiness. Accacia took advantage of his stupidity and sliced off his head, severing it from his body. Accacia relished the feeling of decapitating him. She was looking forward to doing it again.

Drake’s body regenerated and he stood before her with eyes widened in fright. Now he was fighting for his life. There were no more Soul Binders at his disposal. Accacia
could read the look on his face. He knew he was going to fail. Accacia engaged him with her sword and fought his attacks with ease. She was giving him a false sense of hope before she ended his life forever. Accacia recalled every evil thing he had done to her. He had stolen her virtue, imprisoned her for years, and killed her parents and Father Giloth. He had tormented Aleco for too long and it was time for it to end. She aimed her sword to decapitate him, thinking of Aleco as she let the blade slice through his neck.