The Redwood Rebel (The Redwood War Book 1) (5 page)

She hadn’t expected the directness of that, and for a moment she toyed with the idea of simply leaving without offering any answer. That thought was quickly tossed aside in disgust. She had no idea how to respond, it was true, but they deserved better. They deserved hope.

‘For now I’m nobody. Just a ghost that’s about to disappear.’ She looked back at the guard and saw him reach the gates, pounding hard to be allowed entry. ‘But one day I’ll come back to life. I’ll return here to be the vengeance for all you have suffered. I swear it.’

The heavy gate began to creak open, and raising the crossbow, she took aim carefully, and fired. Her shot didn’t miss its target, and with the arrow protruding out the back of his neck, the guardsman fell, probably lifeless, to the ground. Naomi felt nothing but a faint satisfaction that her aim was still good, and dropped the crossbow carelessly. There was a longbow and arrows slung across the waiting horse’s saddle, which she much preferred.

As she climbed up onto the horse, listening to the sounds of the shouting guards at the castle gate in the distance, she looked down at the shocked people. She could understand the fear in their eyes at her ruthless actions, but she had meant it when she called herself their vengeance. Those who had turned would learn soon that excuses and apologies weren’t ever going to absolve them. They were as much to blame for the suffering and decline of Ffion as Adrienne and Cygnus were. She had no mercy for them.

‘Go back to your homes,’ she repeated again, pulling the reins of her horse to begin her flight into the forest and out of Ffion. ‘And know that the one who calls herself Queen is on borrowed time.’

Not waiting for a response, she nudged the horse forwards and into a gallop. She was light and the horse was fast, leaving her confident that she could outstrip any pursuers to the city gates and lose them in the woods. Right now, all she could do for anyone, including herself, was get to Tsumetai and find refuge to recover and make plans.

Chapter Five

Something was wrong. Something aside from the raging hangover that was tearing his brain to pieces.

Arun tried to open his heavy, sleep-crusted eyes, but quickly shut them again as the blinding sunshine poured in, causing his head to pound painfully. After a moment of rubbing his face and attempting to sightlessly work out where he was, he tried again.  Blinking and ignoring the throbbing of his head and his aching muscles, he pushed himself up into a sitting position. His mouth tasted like something had died in there and his stomach churned precariously as he tried to take stock of where he was.

He looked down at the woman sleeping next to him with a small frown. It was Adrienne, but somehow it felt wrong. Looking at her buxom form with confused eyes, he felt almost certain she had seemed a lot smaller in his arms the night before. She had been light and fragile, offering no difficulties whenever he had lifted her or supported her weight during their joining, but looking at her now, he was surprised. He didn't think her breasts had felt that large under his hands, her hips that wide....

'You like what you see?' She asked him, interrupting his thoughts.

His frown deepened at this; his mind still disjointed, befuddled by her voice. It was almost right, he was sure. It was so very close, but for some reason it sounded different than she had throughout the night before. She had spoken softly, but with a directness he’d silently approved of, and this new, false turn to her tone grated on his nerves.

His eyes once more ran the length of her body, even as she rolled onto her back to give him a better view. That movement on its own was enough make him seriously rethink his view of her last night. She had flinched when he touched her, as though nervous that he might inflict pain. This sudden confidence in her wasn’t unattractive, but it was unexpected. It was definitely uncharacteristic of her behaviour the night before.

Her white skin was flawless and smooth, which gave him more pause for thought. She had been scarred, he was sure of it. Nothing horrific, but enough for him to wonder how on Ilios she had managed such a scattering of them. He was also sure that she would be marked, even lightly, from his unexpected passion for her. She had responded to his touch as though it surprised her to find she liked it, and her soft whimpers and gasps had touched something in his soul. The way she had clung almost desperately to him, had breathed his name, the silent tears she had shed when he had taken her the first time. The way her own soul rushed up to greet his when he cast the Bond spell, firm and unafraid, had caused the link between them to be stronger than he had anticipated. They had wrapped around each other, tangled and fused, in such an intimate, beautiful way, it had given him true hope for their future together. It had made him
want
her, in every sense.

He reached out to their Bond now, seeking reassurance from the nagging doubt that seemed to be eating away at him, and while he found it still intact, it felt... wrong. The Bond was old magic, dragon magic, and it tied two spouses together with the joining of their bodies on their wedding night. It only worked if both participants had never lain with another before, hence the importance of a virgin bride, and only if both parties reached completion with the other.

It was as natural to him as breathing, and provided great insight between couples to their emotional state and well-being, among other benefits. Of course it was expected of him as King because it was traditional, but more than that, it would offer him a greater magical power than he had previously been able to summon.

He was well aware that while it was unheard of for any Korenian to be without magic, other countries were far less gifted. Only members of the royal house of Ffion were able to use magic, and in Tsumetai it was even rarer than that. Adrienne had no magic of her own; he had been informed of that in the early stages of their betrothal arrangements, but that hadn’t mattered. Even now he could feel the shifting heat of magic inside himself just from initiating the spell. What surprised him was that Adrienne, who he now shared the deep well of power with, seemed to have a gap. Searching their Bond, he found a large, hollow part inside her, as though magic had resided there at some time in the past. Now his own magic was pooling there, filling the space back up again, and she was drawing on it, using it for energy as though her own was so depleted she might have exhausted all her strength without it.

He watched the woman lying beside him. She looked well-rested and calm, nothing like the determined but damaged soul he could feel resting against his own. Her green eyes were satisfied, as opposed to the tangible nervous energy he could feel through their Bond, the ground-shaking determination. Surely no one could hide their emotions that well? And yet, she had been nothing but changeable since they had met. He had no idea what to make of it, yet somehow he felt disgusted by her very presence and the idea of touching her. The Bond spell was new to him, too, but this couldn’t be right.

Adrienne didn’t seem concerned by his silence, and suddenly her slender fingers were on his skin. He felt immediate revulsion, the Bond surging up sickly and causing him to instinctively reach out and snatch her wrist up, away from him. That was definitely not right. He glared down at her and a snarl tore from his mouth as he noticed the ring he had given her was on the wrong finger. He had not put it there, and looking at the way it sat snugly on her smallest digit, he knew it would not fit over the finger it should be placed upon. The enchantment on it caused it to change to the correct size of his Bond mate's finger as he cast the spell on them both. That it did not fit could mean only one thing.

She looked almost fearfully up at him, and they both knew her dishonesty had been discovered.

'How dare you?' Arun breathed, fury gripping him as he realized the implications. 'Do you have any idea what you have done? What you have cost me?'

'W-what do you mean?'

'Where is she?!' he bellowed, impatience boiling over at his unspeakable anger, throwing the deceitful woman away from himself and standing from the bed. As he reached into his magic to dress himself, ignoring the screech from Adrienne, the door to the wedding chamber flew open to reveal a distraught Lord Cygnus, Rayan close on his heels.

'They used a decoy,' Arun spat, throwing a contemptuous glare at Cygnus and Adrienne as he assisted her wrap a silk robe about her naked body. 'I cast the Bonding Spell on another woman.'

Without a word, Rayan turned to the door, closing and locking it to keep everyone else out. 'What are your orders?'

'Send a message to Esta to make sure we are packed up to as soon as possible.' Pulling on his boots while his cousin reached out through his own Bond to relay the message, Arun did the same in an attempt to locate the woman he had passed the night with. 'We need to find her. She's not far, but she’s moving. Getting further away.’

Adrienne snorted at this, silenced only by Lord Cygnus' hand quickly slapping across her mouth. She squealed her outrage, but the man made no move to let go. Arun regarded Lord Cygnus for a moment before making a decision and clicking his fingers, calling on his magic. His sword appeared in his hand, power rolling off of him.

Both the Princess and her Councillor looked terrified as he took the blade and walked towards them purposefully. 'Where is she, Adrienne?'

Lord Cygnus made as if to speak, but Arun’s hand shot out, savagely grasping a handful of his hair and throwing him to the floor. 'Don't you dare speak to me! Your Princess is clearly not the brains behind this little charade, and I won't hesitate to drive my blade through your black heart if you utter a single word in my presence!'

The older man looked fit to soil himself as he cowered on the floor at Arun’s feet. Hearing Rayan draw his sword, Arun was finally able to turn his full attention back to the woman that should, by now, have been his wife. He grabbed her by the front of her robe, resting the blade firmly against her jugular, shoving her back against the stone wall.

'Where. Is. She?' His voice was low and dangerous, and she stood stock-still as he pushed the blade further against her skin. 'If you do not tell me I will level this city, this whole country, until it is nothing but a crater in the face of the world. I will make you rue the day you were born, and I will find her anyway.'

'I am your wife!’ she gasped, eyes rolling back into her head in fear. ‘Your Queen! She is nothing! You wouldn't-'

'You are not my wife, you stupid, deceitful creature!' Arun bellowed, taking the sword from her throat and grabbing the ring from her finger. 'I am married, magically Bonded, to the woman I gave this ring to last night! The woman you put in here to take your place, and take your place she did!’

Ripping the ring away and throwing her to the floor, Arun spun away, finally giving up. It would be much faster to use his Bond magic with the woman to find her than to waste time here with these two. As he walked past Rayan and the still-prone form of Lord Cygnus, he heard Adrienne give a short, high pitched shout of laughter and paused in his steps.

'You will not find her!' she shrieked, madly. 'And you will have brought war between our nations for nothing!'

Turning to face her, his eyes cold, his voice hard, he told her the harsh truth of the matter. 'We are already at war.'

*

Watching the furious King storm out of the wedding chamber, Cygnus smiled humourlessly as heated magic spasmed through the door, around the walls and windows, keeping them in and everyone else out. King Arun’s magic was strong, stronger than his own, and he knew without trying that they would be stuck here until there was too great a distance between them or the other man’s magic was too taxed elsewhere to keep it up. He guessed it would be about twelve hours or so.

‘Well, that didn’t quite go to plan,’ he spoke more to himself. ‘I didn’t expect him to figure it out so quickly.’

‘You imbecile!’ Adrienne shrieked, and Cygnus looked up from his musings in surprise. ‘You said it would work! You swore!’

It was an effort to keep his expression placid, let alone apologetic. Still, he had plenty of experience in placating fools, and this one in particular.

‘Forgive me, my Queen.’ He bowed low. ‘I did think that we could keep up the charade at least until his entourage had seen him happily married to you. That cousin of his, Lord Rayan, needed to be convinced.’

The plan had always been to kill King Arun as soon as possible. Cygnus knew of the Korenian Bonding spell, and that all the drugs on Ilios couldn’t disguise the substitution for long, but once it was confirmed they were married the King would have outlived his usefulness. There would have been an accident, one Cygnus himself had prearranged, and Adrienne would have been a widow. A widow Queen of two countries. With the wealth and power of Koren behind them and no one to contest her leadership on either side, it wouldn’t have taken long for war against Tsumetai, and she would have ruled all of Ilios. With Cygnus at her side, of course.        

‘I don’t care about his stupid cousin!’ Adrienne howled, grabbing a beautifully painted pitcher from a table and hurling it across the room. It smashed violently, even as the magic surrounding the room pulsed. Cygnus knew well enough that as much as the spell was keeping them in, it was also masking all noise. No one would hear any of the commotion, and even when they were missed it would be impossible to communicate any kind of order to begin hunting down the Korenian King and his people. King Arun and all who travelled with him must die before they left Ffionite shores.

‘You have ruined me!’ she continued to scream, then launched across the room and grabbed the front of his robes desperately. ‘You have ruined everything! You said your plan would work! Why did you not attack them? Why did you simply allow them to leave? He threatened to kill me, and you just watched!’

Her fear was palpable as it overrode her anger. It had been his greatest ally in the years they had known one another, a chess piece he favoured in all his moves. He could manipulate her fear, and had done so many a time.

People underestimated him. They always had. His brother, Lord of Appleby by right of being first-born, had died underestimating him. People had begun to suspect Cygnus after that, but never enough to make an actual accusation. He was Lord of Appleby now, but it was a run-down fief in the North, the furthest away from the capital, and while it came with a few benefits, it wasn’t enough for him. With hard work, patience, and a great deal of watching from the shadows, he had managed to insinuate himself as Adrienne’s tutor.

A lonely, frightened girl who had no expectations but to make a political marriage and pump out a few brats. She had been raised to be an ornament, a jewel on her future husband’s arm, and she loathed it. Just like Cygnus himself, no one had paid her any mind. She wasn’t important enough. They underestimated her, and Cygnus had seen how afraid she was of life passing her by in such mediocrity. She had hidden it under a mask of grace and serenity, but he had seen it. He had used it.

Oh, how she had loved him! Someone who understood her, someone who listened. She confided every tiny detail of her life to him, and he had slowly fed her fear with hatred for those who stepped over her feelings. He spent years building her trust, listening to her mindless prattle. It had been painful and dull, but eventually they became lovers and began to plot. She was ignorant and alone, and her fear had been her downfall.