Bittersweet (36 page)

 

 

“Everyone, calm down. This is supposed to be a party.” Julien cut in and pushed Adrius back from the line of fire. Venus smirked and followed. She loved creating waves of chaos.

I put my hand on Zanthiel's arm. “He's not in his right mind. You can't take anything he says seriously.”

“If he is threatening your life, I take that very seriously,” he said.

I glanced over at them. “I know. But he's still in there, somewhere.” My eyes shifted back to Zanthiel. “Promise me you won't kill him. Hawthrin should be here soon and we're going to figure out a way to break the binding curse.” Zanthiel's jaw worked back and forth as he glared at Adrius. I reached up and turned his face back to mine. “Don't kill him.”

Taryn handed me a note. “It's from Hawthrin. He wanted you to meet with him in the west gardens, by the crystal falls.”

Relief flooded me. Finally. Hopefully, it meant he'd found some answers to at least one of our problems. “Zanthiel, you should stay here. I'll be back as soon as we're done.” I could see in his eyes he didn't like my suggestion, but he also knew from the look in mine that it wasn't open for discussion. He nodded once. I threaded my way through the crowds, out into the night air. Mythlandria at night was as magical as the Summer Court but in an entirely different way. Cool moonlight bathed over me as I walked the groomed paths leading to the west garden pool. Water shimmered and splashed over rocks, the sound blending into a melody. Hawthrin hadn't arrived yet, so I tilted my head to the sky and pulled in a deep breath of air.

The warm night air rushed into my lungs, jasmine, mint, lavender… my head snapped back. And thyme.

Slowly, I turned and faced Adrius.

He stood motionless by the water's edge. There was something eerie about the way he was looking at me. Silent and calculating. A predator assessing his prey.

I took a defensive step back. Warning bells sounded in my head. This wasn't Adrius anymore. He'd become someone… some
thing
else. And whatever it was, he had no intention of playing nice.

“You can't possibly think I'd just let you come here and destroy everything again,” he said, still smiling that same plastic smile that didn't touch his eyes.

After being hunted by redcaps, scorched by a dragon and nearly executed by the Faery Queen, this—his silent hunter stare—terrified me more than anything else.

His gaze never left my face as he stepped closer to me.

My first impulse was to run, but something stopped me.
He
stopped me. I didn't want to leave and let this become his life. But he clearly had no concern over what I wanted in this moment. It was clear by the malice of his stance that what he wanted was me… dead.

I stepped to the side and he stepped in front of me blocking my path.

His body straightened, every muscle coiled and locked violently in place. I inhaled, watching his eyes change. The deep golden green faded to a dull gray. Tinted by her magic.

He's still in there. If I can just reach him…
“Adrius? What's happening to you?” I took a hesitant step toward him and reached out to touch his face, then stopped. The feral look on his face halted me in place.

He grabbed my wrist and shoved me back against the tree. My head slammed into the trunk, and his knee pressed against my leg to hold me in place. I gave a grunt of pain as my vision blurred for a moment.

“Move and you die,” he whispered.

I didn't move. Not only because I couldn't, but because I had no idea what was going to happen or what to do about it. I closed my eyes, desperate to come up with a plan. The intensity of his glare was making me uncomfortable. Then I felt it; he was using her magic to pry into my mind. She wanted an inside view of my next move so she could counter it. I shut my eyes to keep him from seeing through my wall. My magic was powerful, but so was Venus'. She was the daughter of the most powerful dark witch of their time.

“Open your eyes,” he barked. There was nothing but cold hard anger in his tone. Nothing of the emotion it used to have. It was empty and hollow like his eyes, and it was like staring into the face of a stranger.

“Don't tell me what to do,” I answered. Defiance might not have been the best move, but he wasn't going to control me.

Something in his voice changed. “Look at me, Lorelei. Please.”

It was a trick, I was certain, but I wanted to see for myself.

I opened my eyes slowly and glared at him head on while forming a mental steel wall around my thoughts.

He backed away, putting distance between us. His eyes squinted closed and then opened again. When he did they'd returned to their normal color.

I exhaled slowly, warily, still not sure what was going on.

“Lorelei. It's me. I'm… I'm so sorry,” he said.

Even his voice sounded like it used to: warm, filled with remorse and sorrow.

“Please. You have to leave here. Go. Now. I can't be responsible for hurting you. You have to return to your world before it's too late,” he pleaded.

I could hear the struggle in his voice and it was working its way through my resistance. I blinked, still unsure even as he extended his arms to me.

“You have to understand, she's controlling me. I can't fight this forever, even though my feelings for you have never changed.” Then his voice lowered. “They will never change.”

My wall of resistance crumbled and I rushed into his arms. For a moment I couldn't think. Or breathe. I didn't want to. Adrius held me tightly and stroked my hair.

Then he chuckled.

Even while I was in his embrace a cold dread crept across my skin.

“Is that what you wanted to hear, Lorelei? That I love you? Can't live without you? Want to spend all of eternity with you?” He laughed again. “Humans. So easy to fool. So swayed by their emotions. By their hormones.”

My flicker of hope died. “I'm only half-human, remember?” I said, shoving him away. The sick feeling returned with the realization that he really might be gone.

His empty eyes gleamed with the same cold I'd been greeted with.

“Whatever you're planning, just stop. You have to fight her. You can't let her win.”

A low growl rumbled from his throat. “I will not let you hurt the girl I love,” he said, staring at me with his cold, dead eyes.

Shudders of fear rippled through me and I tugged to free my arm. With my free arm I made a fist and punched his side. He laughed and caught my other wrist in his hands. The last time he'd been able to fight this. He had to be in there somewhere. “Adrius. This isn't real. It's magic. You don't have to do what she says.”

“Oh, but I want to,” he said in a velvety voice. “I live to please her.”

I don't know which stung more, the burn of his hands cutting off the circulation in my wrists, or his words.

I summoned a force from deep within me and managed to wrench my arm free, using it to shove him with all my strength. He must not have been anticipating it because he flew backward, slamming into a boulder.

I raised my hands in front of me, palms aimed in his direction. “You do not want to do this, Adrius.”

He recovered quickly and came back at me. “I will end you if you hurt her,” he replied.

I nodded, swallowing the bile that had risen into my throat. More horrible than the fact that my life was on the line was the fact that he was doing all of this to protect her. It was more than I could take.

“You can't end me.” I narrowed my gaze, channeling all of my anger and hatred toward Venus in his direction. “I'm the one with the dark powers, remember?”

He laughed. It wasn't a nice sound. “I'm not afraid of you, Lorelei. That human part of you won't let you do anything to me. Your feelings for me are my assurance of that.”

“You sure about that?” I took a quick breath and send a blast of icy daggers in his direction.

He ducked quickly out of the way and deflected the last shard with his blade.

“Hmm. She wishes to do things the hard way. Typical.”

“I don't wish to do this at all, but you've left me no other choice. She doesn't get to win. Not this time.”

His eyes, unrecognizable to me, were still locked on mine. “And I won't let you destroy the one girl I've ever truly loved.”

I nearly doubled over from the strike of his words. The sword was overkill; he'd have me on my knees in no time with just the lashing from his words.

“Admit it, Lorelei. You're still in love with me, and that is the real reason for your hatred. You want the return of your high school crush. Someone to hold hands with in the halls and share ice cream with at your diner. If there still was a diner.”

I could almost hear Venus playing ventriloquist and using Adrius as her puppet. Even though I knew those were her words, not his, my chest twisted to hear him speak about our relationship that way. Part of me wanted to get as far away from him as possible, to run off, hands over my ears protecting me from anything else he had to say. But it wouldn't fix anything.
If you run, they chase.
He'd told me that once.

I didn't want to have to hurt him. I needed more time. If I stalled him long enough, maybe Hawthrin would actually turn up. I had to keep him talking even if being slashed by a flaming blade might hurt less.

“Venus has you whipped now. You're her errand boy. Not bad for the prince of an elven kingdom. Daddy would be proud.”

He frowned.
Good sign, I'm getting to him. I think.

“You know nothing about my father,” he said flatly.

“I know he thinks the world of you. And I know he'd be sick to hear you were siding with a witch.”

“Have you forgotten what you are?” He laughed.

Or maybe I wasn't getting to him.

“The king wasn't that fond of my alliance with you either.”

I shrugged. “No. But at least you still knew who you were when you were with me. I didn't suck all of the good out of you. Leaving you an empty mess, without even a single memory of what you did to your mother.” Oh man, dangerous ground, Lorelei. This wasn't supposed to be so hard, hurting him back. But it was necessary. I struggled for a breath as a flicker of pain darkened his face.

In the time it took me to blink he was there, right in front of me, my eyes dead square in his target. All there was left to do now was to fight my way out. What else could I do? I didn't want to hurt him, but I wasn't going to let him hurt me either. It was a kill or be killed situation. I closed my eyes for second and inhaled sharply. The gash on my side burned and sent a stab of pain through my torso. It still felt strange feeling pain for so long. I straightened and unsheathed my sword, the one he'd forged for me himself. His eyes took on a gleam of pleasure, like he was excited by the idea of a battle with me. I moved and then he moved. Neither one of us took our eyes from the other. I could no longer hear his thoughts. They were shielded and protected by her magic. But I took comfort in the fact that he had no access to mine either. If I could keep my face as emotionless as his, then he might believe I wasn't dying inside. My palms were sweaty as I gripped the sword. I could already feel the darkness swirling, building, gaining strength. Feeding like a living thing on my anger and pain.

His mouth curled into a vicious smile and he pointed his sword at me. I nearly froze, but forced myself to do the same, leveling my sword in his direction as we mirrored each other's movements.

“Zanthiel!” I cried out, hoping in vain he'd hear.

His hand clamped around my throat, fingers digging into my skin.

I struggled, kicking and clawing at his arms, but it was useless.

He laughed. The sound sickened me.

“Struggle all you want, but you will end your quest, or die trying.”

“Adrius, please. You have to fight this.” The words came out in a strangled whisper.

But he heard my plea. I could tell by the way his smirk broadened and spread across his face.

How had it come to this? Tears welled in the corners of my eyes as the magic welled in my veins. I prepared to fight back.

“Adrius.” A female voice bounced across the water. “Let her go.”

Immediately on command, Adrius released me.

I fell to the ground coughing and gasping for breath.

Footsteps drew closer to me. When I'd regained enough air to resume brain function, I looked up to see Venus towering over me. Her dark green velvet robes were hidden in the night, but her silver leaf corset shone in the moonlight.

Funny how a brush with death made every detail that much more noticeable. Like the way her red hair fanned out behind her, like flames leaping into the night. And the glint in her eye that said she was enjoying my suffering more than she let on. That she didn't want Adrius to kill me. She wanted to do it herself.

Venus held out her hand to me. I ignored her and pushed myself to my feet. Everything hurt, not least of all my pride. Adrius moved to position himself next to her, I assumed to protect her from me, the threat. Somehow in all of this I had become the villain in his eyes. Twisted.

She gave a sympathetic smile. “Where is your betrothed?” she finally asked, looking around. “Strange he should leave you alone at your engagement party.”

Zanthiel strode toward us. He took one look at me—my ripped water-soaked clothing, the blood on my hands, the marks on my neck—the entire scenario—and slammed his fist into Adrius.

Venus hollered at him, but in a flash they'd both disappeared into the forest.

Venus whirled around to face me. “You know Zanthiel will try to kill him. Only one of them will return, if either of them does.” She cursed beneath her breath, momentarily torn, before she bolted after them.

I couldn't speak. I was too busy fighting back the tears of anger singeing my eyes. I would not cry. I couldn't. Instead I shoved the pain inside, letting the darkness swell, knowing I'd need it later to fuel my magic. This was too much. She was not going to win. Not this time. Suddenly breaking the curse binding Adrius no longer seemed the most important task. There was something I had to do. Something to finish this once and for all.