46. Kellan

Chapter forty-six

Kellan

My hesitance for the witch bitch and her crone had diminished, replaced by a newfound confidence of being able to ride and tame the conjured beast at my will. The wyvern was just as wary and erratic as the previous one we possessed, but under the mind link of the blood-bonded cuffs, it bent to my every demand and call.

And I felt fucking invincible.

Most of my days were now spent patrolling our side of the Sylis Forest, searching for Elianna’s potential army from the sky. However, I hadn’t seen a gods-damn thing and returned to check on the state of Isla as it was held in the death grip of the queen’s iron fist and the High Witch’s talons.

I mounted the beast bareback as it was perched atop one of the city’s watchtowers. A growl brewed in its chest as it looked out at the crowds passing by, who persistently worked to avoid its gaze. Females and younglings shook in fear whenever they beheld the sight of the crimson-eyed creature beneath me, bringing the sense of power I forever longed for to an entirely new height .

The queen was many things, and while I had deemed her foolish for striking a bargain with the witches, I couldn’t help but feel that I was, for once, very wrong. The queen sought power, just as I always had, and she knew that the simplest, and easiest, way to gain such influence derived from inciting fear among the masses.

People wanted to live, and what guaranteed such was abiding by the reigning queen’s law. With her constant foot patrol on the streets, and my own in the open air, she swiftly eradicated the possibility of another wave of rebellion forming.

“Captain Adler!” a voice called from the bottom of the watchtower.

I peered over the beast’s shoulder and found William on the street below, craning his neck up at me.

“Aye, William?” I grumbled.

“The queen requests your presence in the throne room,” he informed me. “The High Witch has presented an idea to her that she wishes for you to be present for.”

William had taken over my patrolling at the queen’s side while I was tasked with bonding with my mount, which I thought was pointless thanks to our cuffs. However, the witches insisted that forming such a bond would only serve us further in battles.

Elianna’s wyvern obeyed her commands without the use of magic, which aggravated me to no end, but false bond or not, my beast submitted to me as demanded.

“And do you have any knowledge of what this is about?” I asked him .

“No, Captain. I was given orders to collect you,” he answered as he shielded his eyes from the blinding sun.

I scoffed. Collect me.

“Very well, William,” I huffed.

Every day, I thought of the use of having William around. While he listened to orders and was a decent replacement for Vincent, I didn’t trust him entirely like I had with his predecessor. He was the only one who knew the truth of Callius’ fate and had kept it to himself so far. If he knew what was good for him, it would remain that way.

I took my fist and pounded the wyvern’s scales on its right side. “Fly, beast!” I ordered, and it let out an ear-shattering shriek into the sky as it beat its wings, sending us shooting upwards. The stones of the tower creaked as his weight shifted and left it.

He landed in one of the side courtyards of Castle Isla, and the staff that were spread out in the mix quivered with fear at our arrival, quickly pivoting in the opposite direction from where we stood.

I climbed down from his back and stalked toward the pillars that led to the side entrance of the castle.

“I would make yourselves busy elsewhere. He may decide he’s hungry,” I announced with a menacing laugh before waltzing through the doors.

Once I entered the throne room, the queen sat upon her royal seat with the High Witch lingering at her side—the place where Callius had once always been, and a place I intended to be. Both females stared me down, their gazes narrowing in on me with each step I took to approach them.

“You sent for me, Your Majesty?” I interrupted the silence.

“Yes, thank you for joining us, Captain,” she answered. “Azenna has informed me of magic that may come of much use to me.”

“And what might that entail, Queen Idina?”

A chilling smile leisurely spread across her ruby lips, and my eyes drifted to the witch at her side.

“Captain, you do recall what it felt like when I took control of your body, yes?” she taunted.

My jaw locked at the reminder. “Indeed,” I said through my teeth. “How could I forget?” I cocked my head to the side.

“What if I were to tell you that there is a way to take over what the eyes beheld? To transport someone's consciousness to be across the realm in a non-tangible form. Presented to someone as if they were immediately before them.” Her face remained unreadable as she stared down at me from the top of the dais.

My mind wandered for a moment, unsure of where exactly she was leading with this. “Forgive me for asking, but how does projecting one’s consciousness elsewhere assist us in a war we are already bound to win?”

“It ensures an early victory,” Idina answered. “We shall corner her where she hides and cut off her sense of self. Forever making her wonder if we can see her every move, or when I will appear before her again. She is impulsive and childish. It will force her out of hiding to rush back into our war—where we will be ready. If she were prepared, she would’ve made it known by now, and you would’ve spotted her from the skies. ”

“ You will be the one to appear before her, Your Majesty?” I asked, raising a brow.

“Indeed,” she snarled. “Did you assume that it would be you?”

I couldn’t admit to the bitch that I was indeed hoping for such power.

“It was just a question, my queen. I wasn’t sure if it would be you or the High Witch,” I lied.

“Well, what say you then, Adler? Do you have any thoughts regarding such an action?” Azenna demanded of me, trying to ensnare me in a trap of disagreement.

“I would say that…something of such power may come in great use to us,” I answered, taming the growl that was working its way up my throat.

“Excellent,” she snickered.

“Just to be sure that I have all knowledge of what this beholds…you indeed cannot sense where she is with the spell?” I wondered.

Azenna’s eyes narrowed in on me, their crimson rings swirling. “Correct, but that is none of your concern.”

“Well, I would argue that anything to do with what this war brings upon us is my concern. I will be leading our army to our victory, will I not?” I challenged.

One of her eyes twitched at my words, and a pulse of satisfaction rolled through me.

“Very well,” she hissed. “To answer your otherwise invasive question, Captain, no. We would not be able to locate her exact whereabouts with the spell. It would simply transport your queen’s consciousness to whoever she demands it land before. All that is necessary for the workings of this magic is that the two of them have once met.”

“She is also your queen, though, no?” I tacked on with a smirk, and the queen’s eyes flared at the small tidbit she didn’t catch in the witch’s explanation.

“Yes, of course,” Azenna mustered through a fake smile that didn’t meet her eyes. She turned to Idina. “Apologies, my queen.”

Her eyes then flashed down to me, boring through me as if I were lower than the dirt that coated the dungeon’s floor, but my stance remained confident.

“There is one more item we are to go over, Captain,” the queen stated.

“Aye?”

“We are to send your wyvern beyond the Sylis Forest, for Sylvae will be able to lurk through its eyes. You have searched our side far and wide, and you are now needed here for the final touches of preparing our army. We want to fully understand what we are up against, and any settlement found in its pursuit will succumb to its flame, further weakening any chance Elianna has to build her own armies.”

My eyes flared, and I bit my tongue as the mention of Silcrowe being rebuilt almost slipped through my teeth. The queen was still unaware of the entire first battle that occurred as we tried to draw Elianna out from the confines of the city.

“Do you have anything to add regarding this, Captain?” Azenna asked, knowing I had no room for argument .

“Let me accompany the beast.” My voice was more demanding than I intended.

“Are you deaf? I stated what you’re needed for currently, and you shall remain here in Isla,” the queen interjected.

My stare darted between the two cunts before me. I blinked as I contemplated how to word what I needed to say without further exposing the knowledge I held.

“If you are to send my wyvern away without me, wasting time that you stated I needed to bond with the beast, then I want to be sure he does a full sweep of what lies on the other side of the wood. Be sure he covers the entire side of the Ezranian Mountains until they meet the sea.”

“As you command, Captain,” Azenna answered.

An odd feeling mimicking panic clogged my throat the moment the words left my mouth, but I was too deep beneath the witch’s claws now to reevaluate the circumstances the queen’s decisions had led us to.

The queen was coming for Elianna’s blood, and she would make sure every last bit of it was spilled upon the realm’s soil if it was the last thing she ever did.