Chapter 24

Kaelan

It enraged me that I had lost all this time to searching for Seraphine while Hanna needed me.

Ice faded to brutal outcroppings of rock that jutted out into the sky and the cold desert.

As I soared above the jagged terrain, the old Gully castle came into view. Once filled with life, it now stood stark and desolate against the twilight sky.

The monsters writhing across the border had breached the walls, and everyone in the castle, lord to servant, had died the same way. Miserably.

Now the castle seemed a grotesque skeleton, its spires like the ribs of some great beast that had rotted away.

I circled, noting the absence of guards. It was surely a trick. Seraphine wouldn”t be alone.

I folded my wings close and descended, landing in the once-grand courtyard. I”d come out here once with my father, and Lord Gully and his wife had bowed to my father while their two little girls peeked out from behind their mother”s skirts.

The heavy doors screamed open when I pushed them.

I stepped into the grand hall, where the torches flickered and shadows danced across the walls, painting sinister shapes.

And there she was.

Seraphine reclined languidly upon a throne that had once belonged to Lord Gully. She seemed to be alone, but I kept my hand on the hilt of my sword as I entered the room.

Raven hair cascaded down her shoulders like midnight-colored silk, contrasting sharply with her pale skin. Her dark eyes locked onto mine, and she offered me a slow, predatory smile.

”Kaelan,” she purred. ”I didn”t expect you so soon. But I should have known you would impress me.”

”I don”t care to impress you. You”ve wasted my time.”

”Ah yes, I”ve taken you away from your bride. That”s what bothers you, isn”t it?” Her lips curved in a sardonic smile, and she rose, moving toward me with grace. ”Hanna is a distant star, Kaelan. And you could have the sun.”

”No, thank you.” Also, the sun is a star, you idiot. “Your mother is looking for you.”

”Is that so?” Seraphine”s fingers grazed my arm, leaving a trail of unwelcome heat, as she moved behind me. She must be using an enchantment, because I felt a sudden rise of desire. ”But you”re the one who”s found me. Lucky you.”

But her little spell didn”t work as she expected.

It was Hanna”s mischievous smile that rose in my mind, along with the surge of lust.

”I don”t feel particularly lucky.” My hand moved instinctively to the hilt of my blade. I was eager to cut through both enchantments and Seraphines.

The shadows in the corners of the room stirred, revealing her nightmarish guardians.

I had met all these monsters before on the border, and slain them before. Though they were in a number now to raise misgivings, when I had no one to watch my back.

First to emerge was a horror of a spider-monster, its eyes reflecting the dim light. The Skitterling, they were called, for their speed and agility and a venomous bite that could paralyze a grown man within heartbeats. Its many-eyed gaze fixed upon me, legs clicking in anticipation.

”You brought your pets from home,” I said. ”We do have spiders here too, Seraphine. We don”t need to import them.”

I might be a big dragon knight, but truthfully, I hated spiders. Even ones that weren’t the size of a dog.

Beside it, a lumbering brute heaved itself along, its fists brushing the ground. Each step seemed like it would crack the marble floor beneath it. It moved slowly, but those fists could break bones with one strike.

A Wraithwing hovered against the ceiling, its wings ethereal wisps.

”Such lovely pets.” As the three of them stalked toward me, I considered my options. The Skitterling would be quick, but the stone monster posed the larger threat with its raw power, while the Wraithwing would take advantage of my distraction.

”Fight wisely, Kaelan,” Seraphine taunted from her throne, her eyes alight with cruel mirth. ”I would hate to lose my groom this close to our wedding.”

I leaped forward, meeting the Skitterling”s charge. The monster fell apart under my attack, but a dozen spiders now---each the size of an unusually murderous potato---raced at me.

One by one, the skittering fiends fell, their bodies severed or pierced through. I stepped on one, blood and venom oozing out under my foot.

”Is this entertaining you, Seraphine?” I called out, deflecting a blow from the stone monster as I raised a shield with my magic.

The force of its blow knocked me back a step, but I kept my footing.

Seraphine”s bubbly laughter was discordant with the violence before her. ”You do put on a splendid show, dear Kaelan.”

The last of the Skitterlings collapsed, its form still twitching as dark ichor pooled beneath it.

I turned to face the remaining monsters and the wicked queen who reveled in their savagery.

A searing pain lanced through my side as the stone monster”s jagged horn pierced my skin. I stumbled but kept to my feet as the Wraithwing dove toward me.

I thrust my blade into the gaping maw of the Wraithwing, noting with horror there was a second close behind it hidden in its shadows. Its ethereal form shuddered, then unraveled into nothing but threads of darkness that fluttered to the ground.

The stone monster charged again, its bulk a moving wall of malice. I sidestepped, barely escaping the force of impact that shattered stone where I had stood moments before.

There was blood splattered on the floor. Mine, I knew, catching a glimpse of my blood-soaked shirt, but I didn”t feel the pain now, not with the adrenaline flooding my body.

”Is this all you have, Seraphine?” I taunted.

Her smile didn”t waver, darkly amused as if we were bantering at a court dance. Her eyes held a glint I couldn”t read. Admiration . . . or anticipation?

One monster remained, the last Wraithwing, its wings tattered and its form flickering like a dying candle. I glanced at it, my vision blurred by sweat and blood, my hand was steady as I raised my blade once more.

”End it, Kaelan,” Seraphine”s voice cut through the stillness, velvet over steel. Her tone took on a mocking note. ”Impress me even more.”

Never. Everything I did was for Hanna. No matter what Seraphine said.

The Wraithwing lunged. With a deft motion, I severed its head from its shadowy body, watching it fall away into nothing.

I turned to face the would-be queen. My steps were heavy.

As I approached, her expression shifted. But she still didn”t seem to wear the fear that I wanted to see reflected in her eyes.

She didn”t think she had lost, and fear prickled along the back of my neck, wondering what else she had planned.

”Bravo,” she murmured, rising with the grace of a night-blooming flower.

I lunged forward, pressing the cold steel of my blade against the warmth of her throat. ”This ends now, Seraphine.”

Her breath was a ghost across my cheek, and her eyes, dark mirrors, reflected a storm of emotions.

”Kaelan,” Seraphine cooed, her voice delighted even with my blade pressing a thin red line against her pale skin. Droplets of blood slid down into her décolletage. ”You blaze with so much passion. I”ve never had anyone love me like you love Hanna . . . and I will relish taking that love and make it my own.”

My grip on the hilt tightened, blood slick between my fingers.

”You could never come between me and my bride,” I growled. “You’re nothing to me.”

I remembered when she had been a girl, one of the Snake Queen’s many possible heirs, desperate to prove her value. She’d been so sweet and innocent then, smiling up at me as if I were her hero.

We’d met again when she was all grown, undeniably beautiful, after I broke my engagement with Hanna. She’d tried to seduce me, but I couldn’t make myself want any other woman but Hanna. I couldn’t stand to let her run her hands over my body when all I longed for was the one princess I should never want.

”Ah, but Kaelan, dear heart, you”re the one coming between you and your bride. You came here, didn”t you?”

”What tricks are you playing now, Seraphine?” The steel of my blade dug into her skin, deeper, and a wider trickle of blood ran down her heaving breasts.

”I haven”t managed to kill your false bride,” she admitted, a strand of her midnight hair falling across her face. ”It seemed as if you were barely impacted by the potion you drank on your wedding night. But now, you’ve had so much more: all the potion you drank down while you were vulnerable in your father”s medical tents, gulping down whatever medicine you were offered, eager to get back to your search for your bride . . .”

Panic clawed up my spine. That was the enchantment? My mind raced back to that fevered night, the ministrations of healers, the bitter droughts that passed my lips.

”Your will is iron, but even iron bends beneath the forge”s flame.” Her gaze held mine, an abyss beckoning me to fall. She sounded triumphant as she promised, ”You”ll love me.”

Fire raced through my blood. I moved to slit her throat, but she murmured the word of a spell, touched my cheek with her clammy hand so gently.

My knees buckled; the castle”s cold stone floor rushed up to meet me. As the room spun, so did the visage of my captor. Seraphine”s features blurred---a painter”s brush swept across a once-clear canvas---reshaping the picture.

And there, through the haze of magic and pain, stood Hanna. Hanna, with blood at her throat I had put there, with a patient smile.

”Hanna,” I choked out.

”Shh,” my bride soothed, her voice twining with Seraphine”s in a perverse harmony. ”Let go. Just love me.”

She reached out her hand, bending in front of me, her long, shimmering blond hair falling around her face.

As my mind blurred, far worse than any drunken haze, I looked up into the face of the woman I loved.