7. Dacre

CHAPTER 7

DACRE

" D on't touch me." She took a step back, and my fingers slipped away from her skin.

"Nyra."

"That's not my name." Another step back. Why was she running from me?

"That's the name you gave me, remember, little traitor?" I tilted my head and studied her, captivated by the brewing storm in her eyes. Shades of brown and blue swirled together within her irises. It was as if I was being pulled under by her, lost in the depths of her tempestuous beauty. In that moment, I had no desire to come up for air, content to drown in her.

But she refused.

"Did your father send you here?" She looked over her shoulder as if she expected him to appear out of thin air.

"No." I shook my head, trying to clear the fog that seemed to have settled in my mind.

"You're just like him." With each word, she took another step back, creating distance between us. It felt like an invisible barrier had been erected, preventing me from reaching her.

"I'm nothing like him."

She let out a hollow laugh, the sound filled with both sadness and bitterness.

"We are two threads torn from the same cloth." Turning to face me fully, she met my gaze, and I could see the reflection of my own sadness in her eyes.

"Our fathers were one and the same. Two monsters starving for power, and we were built by them to become a weapon. Me for the monarchy and you to take me down."

I shook my head even though she was right. It was exactly what we were raised to be.

Birthed to be enemies.

But in another world, another time, we could have been different.

We could have been more.

We could have been Dacre and Verena.

Instead of the rebel and the heir.

But as she took another step back, thick tendrils of black smoke coiled around her legs like a serpent, encompassing her in its embrace.

"Verena." I reached out for her, calling out her name in a desperate plea to pull her back to me.

But it was no use. The world seemed to be tearing us apart, shredding us at its very seams. No matter how hard I tried, I couldn't bridge the gap between us.

I could feel the grip of the smoke on my skin, threatening to drag me down with it.

"Verena, wait!" I cried out, clawing at the suffocating darkness that clung to me like a second skin.

But my efforts were futile. No amount of fighting could alter our fate.

"I'm sorry," she whispered, barely visible through the thick shroud of smoke that surrounded her and threatened to engulf us both.

But I heard her final plea before she vanished completely.

"Don't become him, Dacre."

I jolted upright, my heart pounding in my chest as I scanned the darkness around me. The sun had long since set, and a blanket of night had descended upon the land, enveloping us in its inky embrace. My eyes strained to pierce through the thick veil of darkness, searching for any glimmer of light.

I rubbed my hand over my face, willing sleep to stop clouding my mind, willing myself to stop thinking of her .

But no matter how hard I tried, she was there. Constantly, continually.

I rose from the hard ground, the remnants of the dream still clinging to my mind like cobwebs refusing to be brushed away.

I followed the faint scent of smoke that wafted through the trees. My father was keeping watch when I drifted off to sleep, and as I got closer, I could still see his silhouette outlined against the star-speckled sky as he sat by the small fire.

But he was no longer alone.

I took a deep breath, attempting to steady my nerves that felt frayed from the dream.

"We have to find her before the tithe or we'll be walking into a massacre." The urgency in my father's voice was palpable as he spoke, his words piercing through the quiet of the forest. As I cautiously moved closer, careful to avoid snapping any twigs under my feet, I saw Reed nod in agreement.

"What do you think he'd be willing to sacrifice to get her back?" Reed's voice was low, yet it held a sense of desperation. The crackling of the fire threatened to mask their conversation, but I strained to hear every word.

My father let out a heavy sigh, his weariness evident even from a distance. "If the rumors are true, if the Queen and her unborn child are dead, the princess is the only heir. He will do everything within his power to get her back. We must use that to our advantage once we find her."

My jaw clenched at the mere mention of the king, the man who had shaped both Verena and me into the pawns we had become. The very thought of him having her in his grasp sent a frigid shiver down my spine, igniting a fierce determination within me to find her before it was too late.

But I couldn't allow my father to get to her either.

They were two sides of a deadly blade, forged with the same metal and sharpened to perfection. Both were laced with lethal poison, eager to strike and inflict harm upon their enemies.

As I sat by the crackling fire, its flickering light casting dancing shadows across our faces, I watched my father lean in closer, his features etched with grave concern. "We cannot risk a direct confrontation with the king," he murmured, his words barely audible over the popping embers. "Our best chance is catching him off guard, exploiting his weaknesses for our own gain."

Reed's head bobbed with a slow, deliberate rhythm; his eyes locked onto the flickering flames. It was as if he were searching for answers within their fiery depths, seeking out hidden truths and revelations in the dance of light and shadow. "So we draw him out with the princess?"

"It's a gamble, but the king is always present at the tithe, even if he is heavily guarded. We'll offer him his heir in exchange for the reserves."

Reed's expression remained stoic, but I could see the wheels turning in his mind. "And the princess?"

"Dacre is our heir. There can't be two."

"If we do this. There's no going back," he warned, his voice filled with a sense of finality.

"Dacre will not be okay with our plan." Reed's question hung in the air, heavy with unspoken implications. I tensed, waiting for my father's response.

"He's too damn wrapped up in the girl, but he's our best chance at reaching her before it's too late," my father retorted. "I have seen their connection. He will be the reason she decides to come with us willingly."

My anger burned hot within me, fueling my determination to find Verena before anyone else did. He was my own father, my flesh and blood, and he wanted to use me just as he would anyone else.

I knew who he was, knew of his cruelty and ruthlessness, and yet somehow the thought of his betrayal made my stomach churn.

My mother would weep to know what we had become. My father so easily willing to use her son in the name ofpower, and me so willing to betray him for a girl I shouldn't have cared for.

"But the moment she is in our grasp, we can't trust him with her." My father leaned back, and my spine straightened, praying that he didn't see me.

Verena was out there, alone and vulnerable, all because of my foolishness. I had pushed her away, casting her into the clutches of cruel men who would drain her dry until she was nothing but a shell.

My heart raced with fear and guilt as I thought about what horrors she could be facing at this very moment. The memory of her being engulfed by the thick black smoke haunted me, driving me forward with the single-minded determination to find her before anyone else could.

I crept closer, avoiding any loose branches that could give away my position. The crackling fire masked my footsteps, but I knew my father's keen senses would pick up even the slightest sound.

As I inched closer, their voices became clearer, snippets of conversation drifting toward me like leaves caught in a breeze. I strained to hear every word, every plan they were making regarding Verena.

He no longer trusted me, and he was smart not to do so. Not when it came to her.

"We need to find the reserves." My father wrung his hands together in front of the flames. "I don't know where he's storing the power from the tithes, but it has to be in that damn palace."

"And if the king isn't willing to give up that power for his heir?" Reed turned his head and looked at my father.

"Then we'll take the princess back to the hidden city and make her talk. If she doesn't have the information we need, then we'll send a piece of his heir back to him until he sees reason."

My heart hammered relentlessly in my chest, threatening to burst through my rib cage as I clenched my fists at my sides.

"We'll meet Eiran at the Southern Sea. Once we have the heir, we'll lure him out."

Eiran.

That fucking liar. When I asked my father about Eiran's whereabouts, there was no hesitation in his lie that he had returned to the hidden city, but he had sent him after her.

He was keeping me with him because he no longer trusted me, yet he had sent him after her.

Anger and betrayal coursed through me like a raging wildfire, but underneath it all was a fierce protectiveness for her. The mere thought of Eiran hurting her ignited a primal instinct within me, like a rabid animal.

They may not have thought she was mine to protect anymore, but they were fucking wrong.

She was mine. Even if she was running, she was still mine.

I needed to find Verena, away from the clutches of both my father and Reed. She was out there, and I would be the one to find her.

And if Eiran already had, I didn't know what I would do.

As they callously debated their next move, I made a decision of my own. With a silent resolve, I turned my back to them both and disappeared into the darkness of the night before either of them could notice that I was gone.