38. Kellan

Chapter thirty-eight

Kellan

Braynon and two guards led the way through the courtyard and down to the dungeons, where the queen had offered the witches a place to put their magic on display. I walked alongside Idina, positioned behind the others, as we followed them.

My body couldn’t shake the feeling of being under the High Witch’s spell. She effortlessly commanded and steered my body any way she desired with just a movement of her wrist. I had never been a fear-driven male—in fact, I absolutely despised them. However, the suffocating darkness that crept beneath my skin as she took control of me sent an undeniable alarm through me.

This was no longer just a war of fae and mortals. An unknown power had entered unannounced, and it threatened us all. Not only that, but it threatened my fucking plans for it.

The queen was desperate to hold on to the power she obtained through cold-blooded murder. Desperation led to a lack of judgment, and if she believed the High Witch had unlimited power, that meant she could eliminate me from my position. I had no fucking time to be dealing with such nonsense.

“My queen, I feel as though…” I started in a hushed whisper.

“I do not pay you for your opinions, Captain,” she cut me off. “You are employed to lead our armada and guards in the direction I demand of you. Nothing more.”

“Is it wise to put such trusting fate in a pair of monsters that show up at your city’s door unannounced? After they had just been with Elianna? It could be a trap.”

Her eyes remained forward as our steps continued. “You truly believe that they would offer to aid our victory in the war if they were working for Elianna?”

No, I fucking didn’t. But that didn’t mean I wanted them around, either.

“You would barter away a piece of your realm at the first force of power that presented itself to you? My queen, I know I am not a King’s Lord, however—”

“Correct, you are not. And I am no king. I am the queen and have no need for an advisor, and if there were ever a time I did, it would never be you, Captain.”

My jaw locked as my hands balled into fists at my sides. Everything I worked for was gone in an instant and by fucking females . I refused to remain just the captain of the queen’s guard.

I bit my tongue with so much force that blood trickled to the back of my throat as I worked to choke down my retort.

Her steps slowed, and mine matched on instinct, pushing a farther gap between us and those who led the group to the dungeon’s cavern .

“I have been advised by males my entire life, Captain,” she admitted softly after a few moments of silence. “I will not be bartering away a single sliver of my land. When the time comes, we will be rid of them, even if I once again have to slit a throat myself.”

My steps faltered at what she declared, but hers remained marching forward, leaving me behind in the dark, twisting halls of her dungeons.

Once we arrived at the back of the cavern, my memory flashed back to when Elianna escaped. My eyes darted to the far corner of the space, where the crumbling rocks that fell from the tunneled ceiling remained.

Braynon moved to light the torches that were fastened along the walls, but with a wave of the High Witch’s hand, flames ignited at each pillar.

Her focus returned to the queen.

“Queen, is this the space you are able to provide for us?” Her gaze shifted to the chains on the floor. “Ah, this was once the beast’s home.”

“It was,” Idina answered as she took a few steps up to the witch. “Before Elianna stole it from us and rode it out of the city as if it were a warhorse. Now tell me, Azenna, what purpose does this cavern serve you?”

Azenna's gaze met the crone’s, who stood by her side, an eerie stillness surrounding her as she watched us all attentively. As she extended her hand, the decrepit woman placed the wyvern scale into her open palm.

The High Witch shot me a wicked grin right before she moved to the center of the open space and placed the scale on the ground before returning to our side .

“The queen asked you a question,” I growled. “It would be wise to answer before her patience is lost and your time has run out.”

Her eyes began to faintly glow as she turned her attention to where the queen stood. “You asked me what the space was needed for, and I am about to prove to you only a fraction of what our power can do.”

Before anyone could respond, the air crackled with a sinister energy, and storm-like winds brewed within the confines of the dungeon.

Azenna stepped forward, her silhouette draped in an elaborate cloak that seemed to absorb the dim torchlight, and raised her arms with deliberate grace. Her eyes, pools of red-rimmed darkness, gleamed with an otherworldly intensity.

As if in answer to her High Witch, a book materialized in the crone’s hands, and she then began chanting words I couldn’t understand as she read from its pages.

As her spell echoed through the stillness of the cavern, the wyvern scale on the ground began to quiver. Ethereal wisps of smoky essence curled and danced in the air as tiny cracks appeared on its surface.

With each word uttered by the crone, the fractures on the scale widened, revealing a ghostly light that gleamed like liquid moonlight.

“Holy fucking gods,” I breathed as my eyes were locked on the scene.

The ground beneath the scale trembled as violent shadows swirled and intertwined with the blazing embers that shot out from its cracks .

Flowing shadows took shape as tendrils of darkness emerged from the fractured scale, twisting and contorting within the confines of the dungeon. A deep, ferocious growl rumbled through the air, putting us all on edge as the tendrils solidified, taking the form of enormous, leather-like wings and a serpentine neck.

My heart raced as I tore my gaze from the madness that was unfolding before us all. My eyes found the queen as she watched—the female was unafraid and completely awe-struck by all that was occurring in front of us. It was in that moment that I knew everything regarding this century-old war was about to change.

A fully grown wyvern, conjured from dark magic and the sacrifice of a single scale, now stood before us as it unfurled its wings. Its scales were a shade of obsidian with an otherworldly, blood-red sheen. Eyes that glowed like burning embers replicating that of its maker were fixed upon the queen, radiating both intelligence and an ancient cruelness.

“Your Highness,” Azenna spoke once the wyvern’s echoing growl ceased. “I present to you my first gift for your war.”

The queen moved to take a step toward the wyvern, and I, on instinct, took a step in front of her. “You don’t know if that beast will harm you.”

I truly didn’t give a damn if it did, but if Idina was eliminated, it would pave the way for Elianna to waltz in through the city gates and take the realm that was promised to her by blood. I still needed to climb my way to the top. The queen said I would never move up to be her advisor, but sooner or later, she would miss having a warm body in her bed—I wasn’t about to come this fucking far to give up now.

The queen craned her neck to look back at the High Witch. “Will it?” she asked. “Harm me.”

“It will not, Highness, for it is under mind control by my dearest Sylvae.” She gestured to the crone, who looked at us with glowing eyes.

“So you will control what the wyvern does?”

“Indeed, we can by tapping into the beast's mind. However, the magic he will be under when in use with his rider will link their minds together, giving the rider full control and steer the beast as he wishes.”

“Rider?” I barked.

“Do you not wish to ride the wyvern, Captain?” Azenna tilted her head to the side, but a knowing grin tilted her haunting face.

“You stated Elianna rode out of this very dungeon on the back of my lost beast,” the queen snapped at me. “You also declared that she rode the wyvern to battle when you were attacked at the foot of the Sylis Forest.”

“Aye, but I take to the seas, not the sky,” I huffed out.

She took a step toward me, and it took every effort in me to have my gaze not drift over her shoulder to where the eyes of the fire-breathing abomination stared me down.

She put her lips to the tip of my ear, stunning me in shock as she whispered, “Are you stating that your treasonous ex-love is braver than you, Captain?”

A low, wicked laugh left me. “Never. ”

The queen took a step back and looked into my eyes, but it was as if she saw directly through me—using me as a pawn in her game for the throne.

“Then prove it and consider the sky your new sea,” she demanded. “You will bond with this beast just as she has with the one she stole from me. And then you will ride it into battle, engulfing both her and her precious mortals in its flames. Have I made myself clear?”

My eyes gradually wandered away from hers and to the wyvern that stood at attention behind her while the witches stood off to the side, listening to the words spoken between us.

“Crystal,” I answered.

“Tell me, High Witch,” I started. “What does bonding with this beast entail? Elianna didn’t have magic to have hers listen to commands. It just did .”

She looked me up and down. “I can create a link between the two of you, connecting your minds and allowing you to will the wyvern as you see fit. It will bend at your beck and call if you are in near proximity.”

“Show me,” Idina demanded. “Show me this link you can create between them.”

My eyes flared as the queen offered me up to this stranger’s witch magic so freely.

The High Witch held her hand out to me. “Your wrist, Captain, if you wouldn’t mind.”

“And if I do?” My jaw ticked as my eyes narrowed in on her .

A soft smile graced her lips, but her eyes remained calculative. “I do not believe your queen is giving you a choice in the matter.”

“If he wishes to remain in his rank and eventually climb further, he will do this,” the queen’s voice echoed behind me.

Now the bitch was just playing mind games with me. Not even an hour ago, she stated that this is where I would remain under her reign.

I reluctantly strolled up to Azenna and offered her my hand. She took her taloned finger and swiped it across the top of it, and blood instantly pooled.

“What the fuck!” I barked, and as I was about to lash out at her, my blood started to float into the air, as if they were bubbles from a youngling’s bath.

My eyes drifted over to the crone, who held the wyvern in her mind control as she did the same thing to the underside of its stomach.

Azenna fused my blood with that of the wyvern and began mumbling more words in an ancient language, her eyes glowing once again. She held her hands out as our blood spun together at impossible speeds, and as she widened the stance of her arms, the spinning orb of mixing blood separated into two, parting at her will.

My gaze shot to the queen, who continued to watch in malicious awe.

Suddenly, Azenna’s arms shot out wide at her sides, and a gust of wind burst from the spinning orbs, making us all instinctively shield our faces .

I blinked through the dust and dirt that was kicked up from the force of the wind she created, and once my eyes were able to focus, they landed on twin cuffs levitating in the air, one significantly larger than the other.

“What are those?” I demanded.

“Your links,” she answered and then held her hand out to me once more. “It will also serve as a barrier for exterior magic cast by other creatures.”

My lip curled up, but I offered her my wrist. The smaller cuff shot out and clasped around it, locking itself onto me. An unbearable burning radiated from my wrist the moment it locked, and I hissed, vigorously shaking my hand from her grasp.

“What the fuck is this?!” My gaze snapped back to her just as she clasped the other around the beast's neck. The scales beneath its new collar glowed in flames for a moment before fading away.

I lifted my arm towards my face and observed what the witch had done, rotating it as my eyes glimpsed over every inch of my skin. The cuffs resembled metal but were the color of our blended blood. Where the cuff had clasped itself to my body, it left a burn mark on my skin, resembling licks of flames creeping up my forearm.

“Now that you bear its mark, you may test your newfound bond, Captain,” Azenna offered as she gestured to the wyvern and took a step to the side.

The crone followed her movements and dropped her control that she had on the beast. I took a step toward it, and it eyed me warily as he sized me up. He puffed his chest out at me, and his jaw cracked open as a growl rumbled through him.

“Command it, Adler,” the queen ordered.

“To do what?” I whispered to myself. I was a brave male and would die before I ever admitted otherwise, but what the fuck did they expect me to do with this ?

Several feet before the wyvern, my steps came to a halt, our eyes locked. I finally ordered it to do what I had always fantasized about commanding the realm itself to do.

“Bow,” I demanded, and as if placed into an immediate trance, the beast tucked in its wings and lowered its head to the ground at my feet.

My eyes flared as all sense of concern melted away, a grin now stretching ear-to-ear.

I turned on my heel to face the queen, and she gave me a nod of approval. She then pivoted to face the High Witch, her gown flowing around through the dirt at her feet. “You have yourself a bargain.”