Page 3 of Maleen

A sob pierces my chest as my mate’s shadows wrap around us all like a cool hug, plunging us into darkness.

CHAPTER TWO

TALYN

AEMONS'S SHADOWS DROP US BACK at the field outside of the denser part of the forest in the Gratandi Mountains we were at this morning. The encampment looks the same as when we left it, tents set up, extra supplies lie neatly near the camp fire in case we needed it. Everything is the same, except two of ours are dead. I clutch Millie’s vine-wrapped body closer. It’s already cool to the touch. Why was she there? This is all my fault. She warned me, but I’ve had this pull. At first I thought I just wanted to escape but what if it was more? What if my father did something to me? It wouldn’t put it past him. He is sneaky and conniving and clearly knows a lot more than he’s let us believe, the other Lords too, because he knew where Ravina grew up the entire time, yet still pretended to look as shocked during the choosing at Phixmery. But I refuse to unwillingly be a part of any more of his schemes.

A red stone flashes in my mind and I squeeze my eyes shut. No. Something is definitely wrong.

Zaddro moves towards me. “Rider… something troubles you.”

There’s a warring in my chest. It is worse now. Before it was like a beacon in the distance, but now it’s like a dragon’s roar in my ear. “Zaddro. I need you to let them lock me up. Something is wrong. Don’t fight them if I fight back. Please,” I beg him as I place Millie on the ground. “Aemon! Take me back to Vathia. Put me in iron.” Aemon takes a step closer, glancing at our mate who’s still huddled with her friends, grieving because of something I did. “NOW!”

His eyes widen with knowing fear, and before I know it I’m wrapped in shadows again and dropped on the cold, rocky floor of a dim prison cell. The churning sea is an underground river outside my bars, telling me I am now trapped in the underbelly of Aemon’s castle—no more than I deserve. Separation from my mate roars louder than the sea in the mouth of the cave. I barely give myself a moment to breathe before I give into the overwhelming urges clawing at my mind and launch myself at my oldest friend with a curl of my lip. “Take me back there now!”

His shadows move whip-fast and sizzle against the iron of the chains before they attach them to me, and I end up only a foot away from my best friend’s face.

His expression is calculating, but his lavender eyes give away the shock he’s trying to so carefully mask. “You asked for this ,Tal. What the fucking Fates is happening? Did you betray us? Melissandre is dead because we went there! Our mate is grieving! I don’t want to believe your father, but this behavior is irrational!”

I collapse onto the damp ground, the burn of the iron somehow centering me. “No. I would never intentionally betray you, but back there… something happened. I think…” I gulp as a red stone flashes in my mind’s eye again, iron around my wrists and tied to the bed where… I shake off those memories as dread begins to sink in my gut. “Everything was normal before The Choosing. We were focused on our role within the rebels. After I was taken by my father, my mind gets a little blurry. I thought it was the sleeping drought he gave me and that the images were just wild dreams. I woke up fine. Some part of me wanted to stay away, needed to, yet once I was back I wanted nothing more than to take Rav and hide in the mountains... Like something was pulling me there.” Aemon is quiet as my words sink in, yet I can’t help but whisper. “I think he did something to my mind.”

Angry waves crash against the rockface below us and ocean spray splatters the floor. The once comforting scent of the sea is now tainted with this memory of iron chains and betraying the ones closest to me.

“We will figure this out.” Aemon eyes the dark water, following my gaze. “This chamber won’t be flooded, but it may get cold. I’ll have some staff bring you some food and blankets until the group gets back, and I’ll check on you once I can, but I need to leave now to update the others and make sure they and our dragons get home safe.”

Zaddro’s presence has been heavy in my mind since I demanded they take me. “I’m already on my way. Your mate is furious; I sense you’ll have some making up to do when she returns.”

“Go, take care of her and tell her…” A self-deprecating chuckle leaves me. “She wouldn’t believe me if I apologized anyway. Tell her we will work it out when it’s safe to be around me. Oh, and Aemon? Give Millie a proper send-off, not like they give to servants.” I blink away the tears and let the guilt consume me as I see her face with the light leaving her eyes.

“I will. She will have a warrior’s rite. I swear it.” A look of sympathy crosses his face before the shadows of the cave stretch towards him and he vanishes into them, leaving me with only my thoughts and the roaring of the ocean to keep me company.

TIME PASSES SLOWLY. The days and nights would blend together if it wasn’t for the gaping mouth of the cave entrance leading out to the ocean letting me know whether it was night or day. Staff bring me food and fresh blankets once a day but it doesn’t ease the disturbed presence pushing at my mind.

My father doing this to me is the only explanation. Even with all the time in the world, down here alone in the dark, I can’t understand what made him like this. What made him so evil and cruel? Life has always been fair to him; he holds a position of power, never went hungry, and yet he craves more. Even as his son, I can’t fathom his reasoning.

Aemon has blinked in twice in the week I’ve had down here. Checking on me, making sure this is what I want. Ravina is in an uproar, angry at the Fates for everything that has happened. I can just picture the jut of her chin as she lashes out. She is magnificent even in her anger, but she doesn’t deserve what has happened, and I’m positive I somehow had a part in it. Her mates are meant to protect their centers, and this is the best I can do to make sure I can’t harm her—even emotionally—any longer.

Not that she needs protection, I think bitterly as my mind wanders back to the training yards at Phixmery. I felt a pull to her and took it out on her in training—and yet, she always got back up and faced me head on. I hated myself for it, but a part of me loved it.

Finding out she was the young fledgling female my brothers and I adored, the one we’d thought was lost? It scared me, but I haven’t let myself remember that until now. Some part of me knew that because of my father she would be a danger to me. And worse—that I would be a danger to her.

The red flashes again in my mind. I circle like a raven around my thoughts, trying to figure out what my father has done to me, but as far as I know there’s nothing that can manipulate the mind other than Szellemi fae. Even then, they would need to be in constant contact with me for it to work; otherwise the magick would fade. My only other idea is the necklace Ravina wore that blocked her memories, but my skin is bare—I don’t wear jewelry often, and any I do decide to wear comes off easily. Why can’t I figure this out?

My head slams back against the jagged rock of the cave and the biting pain helps keep me centered.

Mumbled shouting coming from outside the room has me tilting my head to the side towards the door leading upstairs. Once the voices get clearer, my heart clenches with frigid fear.

“You will not stop me from seeing one of my mates Killian, so help me you mountain of a male I will blink your ass back upstairs and barr you from the room!” Ravina yells.

Killian growls. “Fine, but you will stay where he cannot touch you. You heard what Aemon said. He doesn’t trust himself; who knows what Craven might have done to him. He may not even want to see you.”

Oh but I do, I just can’t.

“Well then he can tell me that himself,” she states with the authority of a queen in the making.

The door slams open and the flicking light of flame illuminates her regal features, but the first thing I notice is her red-rimmed and puffy sapphire eyes. Her pouty lips are flattened into a straight line and her hair is wind-torn. They must have just gotten back…and she came straight to me.

My heart clenches. I don’t deserve her attention. Not right now, and maybe not ever. Yes we made progress, but I’m sure that all went up in shadowflame the moment we entered that Fates-forsaken cabin.