Of Darkness and Crowns (2 page)

“Burrow, leach,” I command the driver. “We’re coming up on the battle. Go underground.”

“Yes, My Liege.”

Tonight, I invade. Find a way into the capital of Perinya and into my home. And then take back what’s mine. The goddess can have what she wants. I’m only interested in claiming my belongings.

No one will ever take anything away from me again.

Stay away, Kal
…

I shake my head harder, trying to quiet the pesky thoughts that always spring up when I think of her. Something left over from before—a residual feeling, an effect she has on me.

It won’t be there much longer. My downturned lips are forced into a smile as Bale laughs.

♦
2
♦

Kaliope

“K
AIDE! BEHIND YOU—”
I thrust my sword forward, and the blade is swallowed by the belly of the Otherworlder before me. He drops to his knees, his crooked sneer falling from his face. I plant one foot against his stomach and yank my sword free. Then I sprint to where Kaide is now facing off against two Otherworlders.

He shouts and slashes his sword, slicing the Otherworlder’s leather armor and cutting a thick gash into his shoulder. “Every one of you—” Kaide inhales deeply, his chest rises“—is for my brother.”

I launch myself in the air, bracing my palm against the pommel of my sword, and drive the tip of my blade into the back of the Otherworlder’s neck advancing on Kaide. It brings the giant Otherworlder to his knees as I land. Gaining my balance, I stand over him and push my blade through his neck. His gurgling cry is silenced by the blood filling his mouth.

Wiping the sweat from my brow, I turn and see Kaide just as his blade connects with his foe’s chest. He belts out another battle cry as he follows the Otherworlder to the ground, driving the sword deeper into his chest cavity.

Kaide wrenches his weapon free and then stabs his enemy’s chest again. And then again.

This angry display is shocking compared to the quiet and reserved Kaide I knew in the Otherworld. But after his twin brother, Orion, was taken from him in the Cage, and our fight began above ground, a violence has been unleashed within him.

Stepping beside him, I say, “Kaide, that’s enough.”

His gaze is lost and unseeing as he strikes his dead foe, his arms trembling with rage. When I touch his shoulder, Kaide takes in a deep breath and yanks his sword free a final time. Then he turns toward me.

“It’s all right,” I say, before he apologizes, as he’s done in every battle we’ve fought together. I understand the rage boiling inside him. I know. Because I fear the day I have to face the moon goddess—and how I might lose myself destroying her.

“Come on.” I cock my head toward the Cury-craft rumbling in the distance.

He nods once and pushes his dark bangs from his tan face, revealing the swirled feather tattoo below the corner of one eye.

When we reach the Cury, I sheath my sword and place my bloodstained palms against the hull’s open compartment and lean inside. “What are General Corvin’s orders?” I ask the protector with the live transmitter held up before him. It crackles, an electric blue-green light domed above, and a distorted robotic voice just cuts off.

The protector’s head snaps up. “We’ve been ordered to pursue the Otherworlders to the southern border.”

My brow furrows, and I glance at the near-black sky over the barren field. Groups of the Cavan Army move through the battlefield, checking for survivors and mending the injured, and throwing Otherworlder corpses onto crafts to be discarded.

Why have the Otherworlders suddenly veered south?
“Are they retreating?”

The Otherworlders don’t retreat for long. They always come back.

“Yes, ma’am,” he says. “Are you coming with us?”

“No.” I look at Kaide. “We’re going back to the palace.”

I bang the side of the Cury and step away as it hovers off. Then I take out my own transmitter. “Lilly.”

A dome springs above my silver device, and the hologram washes her face in a blue tint as it appears. “Already fought-out and missing us?”

For a moment, I’m just happy to see her smile. After she lost Willa in the Cage fights, she’s been battling her own demons of rage and guilt. But recently, she’s been nearly back to her old, carefree self, and I thank the…
whoever
…for whatever brought on this transformation.

Thanking the goddesses for anything these days isn’t happening. But old habits die hard.

A thundercloud overhead pulses with light as a strike crashes in the expanse, and I’m thrust back into the present. The Otherworlders’ uncharacteristic, quick retreat, and now the coming storm that will obscure our army’s vision, fills me with dread. “Where’s the empress?” I ask.

“She’s safe, Kal. With us, as always.”

I nod. She can’t reveal Empress Iana’s exact location over the transmission, but I trust her every word. “The Otherworlders are trying to pull some…tactic.” I glance around. “Keep her in sight at all times. We’re heading back now.”

“Yes, ma’am,” Lilly says. Then she closes the transmitted link between us.

After I pocket my device, I sweep my long hair into a bun and tuck the end under. The wind is picking up, sending loose strands whipping at my cheeks. The weather here is so strange compared to the constant humidity and stillness, the never-changing climate of Cavan. I still haven’t gotten used to the erratic shifts.

“Let’s go,” I tell Kaide.

Waving my hand in the air, I flag down another Cury-craft. One that’s heading back to Court to deliver the injured to the ward.

The Cury commander spots us and hovers the craft closer, then begins to lower it.

A blast sounds from behind us, and the ground shakes, sending me to my hands and knees. The Cury is tossed sideways and back.

I whip my head up as a mix of sulfurous air and a metallic scent hits my nose on the breeze.

“An explosion?” Kaide says, getting to his feet. He wipes the dirt from his Nactue uniform as he stares ahead. “The Otherworlders have detonated a…bomb? They’ve never used weapons of destruction before. I didn’t know they had any.”

Scrambling for my transmitter, I bring it to my lips. “Lilly!” If the Otherworlders haven’t already taken out half the Cavan and Perinyian units, we might have time to regroup. I need the Nactue to secure the empress and the reserves to—

My brain quits its train of thought as a dark cloud plumes in the distance, smoke from the explosion wafting upward toward the sky. Why are they attacking when they were just retreating? The crackling of my transmitter draws my attention.

“Kal? Is everything all right? Kal?”

“Put Empress Iana in lockdown.
Now
.” I look up at Kaide. “They’re trying to call our reserves away from the capital.”

His dusky features pull into a serious expression, his lips pressed tightly together. “The prince?” His voice is soft, questioning, as if he’s unwilling to say Caben’s name.

I look toward the horizon and feel the pull in my soul that gives me my answer.

I nod. Maybe I’m unwilling to say his name aloud also.

“Bale wants us clear of the palace…I’m sure to make her move. She’s going for the shard tonight.” Eyeing Kaide, I make certain he’s following my logic as I jump to my feet. “They’re going to raid the palace. We need to get back.” Kaide gives me a questioning look, and I avert my gaze. “I said, let’s move.”

Climbing into the Cury behind me, Kaide settles on the seat next to mine and says low, “Are you ready to face him?”

It’s the first time he, or any of the Nactue, have asked me that question. And it’s the one I’ve been dreading. Maybe more so than actually seeing Caben for the first time since I left him in the Cage.

As the Cury lifts off, I grab the leather handle above my head and stare out the open door. The world swims past me in waves of green and brown, orange firelight and black sky.

“I’m ready,” I say.

But deep within my soul, a soft voice whispers,
I’m
not
ready, Caben. Not yet
.

Keep hiding.

♦
3
♦

Caben

N
EARLY FIFTY RESERVES OF
both Cavan’s protectors and my kingdom’s army are stationed outside the palace gatehouse, awaiting the order to be sent into battle. Perinya and Cavan, working together to take out Perinya’s
rightful
king.

How exciting.

I straighten my black fitted shirt and run a hand through my hair. It’s grown out some, longer than it’s ever been. But seeing that I no longer have a place in my own kingdom, there’s no reason to keep it trimmed. To keep up pretenses.

The towering white stone walls that I used to look upon nearly every day are a mere quarter of a mile from where we’re positioned. Wild grape vines grow along the stone, and black birch trees branch up and outward, their full green leaves just grazing the side of the wall.

Something inside my chest stirs as a memory surfaces of me climbing those dark wood trees, attempting to sneak out of Court. Then another of me stealing a kiss from Tabatha like the cocky boy I was, trying desperately to make her mine. I smile. Claiming her affections was a challenge.

Though, it was nothing compared to the challenge I battled for Kal’s affections. I’ve never pursued any woman the way Kal motivated me to pursue her—

My jaw clenches, and I shift forward to get a better view, driving thoughts of
her
from my mind as I stare through the tinted glass of the driver’s compartment. The clouds covering the moon blackens the sky, concealing us and further tucking us away in our burrowed hole. Like the void swallowing me if I don’t complete my mission.

I can feel its tentacles slithering up the side of my mind, obscuring my thoughts, and my hands slick with sweat. I have one chance once I’m on the other side of those walls, and I can’t fail. My stomach knots in anticipation. It’s the same feeling I used to get right before I grappled for sport when I was a child, and I love it.

But something else is clawing at the memories, demanding my attention. An itch I can’t reach, or rather, that I’ve forgotten about but still lingers.

A pain throbs behind my eyes, and I blink hard, clearing my vision.

I only wish Kal was in sight so I could see her expression when I breach the palace.

A protector moves to the front of the reserves and waves his hand forward. With a loud
boom
, the army stomps down and then marches toward the crafts.

Once they’re inside and begin to lift off, I look at Lake, my Otherworlder legion commander. “Ready them.”

Kal has done exactly what I thought and requested her general to call in the reserves. She may not be a general herself, but she’s the Nactue leader, the one they all look to—the one who can pull rank and make decisions. And she’s a natural leader. The reason why I chose her to look after my kingdom. Before the Reckoning, that is.

There was another reason
.

“Quiet,” I bite out.

“My Liege?” Lake says. “I didn’t—”

“Not you.” Pointing toward the wall, I say, “It’s time. Get them in place.”

He nods and his black dreads brush against his leather armor. “It’s done.” Then he pulls out his transmitter and gives the order. “Down and under!”

A low hum fills the air, and my chest tightens with eagerness. In a few moments, I’ll have both things I came here for.

Bale’s prize and mine.

That’s not the true prize, though… You want
her.

Gripping the hilt of my sword, I close my eyes and force the annoying voice away. When Bale is corporeal in all her rampant glory, I’ll make her repay my allegiance with a nice black hole in my memories. Kal weakens me. Distracts me. And I need that distraction removed.

Or you could own it, Prince.

I raise my eyebrows at Bale’s suggestion. An image appears in my mind of Kal seated below me on a dais, dressed in a sheer dress, her hair swept up, her cream shoulders teasingly bare…and a manacle around her neck. Not a crown. No, a collar for her to know her place.

A smile twitches at my lips. I can almost see her livid expression in such a position. Feel her anger as her deep jade eyes burn a hole through me.