The Destroyer Book 2 (40 page)

"You are horrible, Isslata." Vernine laughed.

"You enjoy me. Admit it." The gold woman returned the laugh. There were a few minutes of silence as Vernine considered the terms.

"Alright. This is an interesting bet; I am disgusted and intrigued at the same time. What do I get if you fail?"

"Hummm . . ." Isslata began before Vernine interrupted.

"I want your sword," the pewter-haired woman said. She must have already been planning to ask for it.

"It has been in my family for five generations. It was forged during the period of the Treaty." Isslata's voice was disappointed.

"And you're asking me to fuck a human."

"But it will be enjoyable for both of us!" Isslata snarled.

"Then you better win. Don't worry. I'll trade you mine so you won't be weaponless." Vernine laughed but it was an emotionless exhale.

"I'm not willing to bet my sword," Isslata said flatly.

"A moment ago you were quite positive that I would be licking you while the human fucked me senseless. Now you've lost all your bravado. What happened to Isslata the undefeated weapon master of the Alatorict Legion? I'm extremely confident that you'll still be the best warrior in this army, even without your family's sword. Besides, I might give you the opportunity to win it back." The woman with ruby eyes laughed again.

"Have you forgotten that this was your wager? I thought that Single--"

"Fine! Agreed," Isslata spit out, interrupting her companion. Vernine gave a small clap and mock cheer. They were silent for a few moments as they continued to eat their food.

"What is his name anyway?" Vernine asked.

"Ahh. You would like to know the name of the man who will saddle you?" Isslata said with venom.

"Don't be mad, lover. This was your idea after all. You always let your ego disrupt your greatness. That is why you aren't closer to the empress."

"What do you know of it?" Isslata asked sadly.

"I know many things. But I serve the empress directly, not Alatorict. It would be unwise for me to give you advice. Besides, you understand what you should do; you just fight against the yoke of command."

"This is why you are my favorite. You don't treat me like the others. They all fall over themselves to make me happy." Isslata sighed the words, but her friend only grunted in reply and took another bite out of her dinner.

There was silence for a few more minutes as the women finished their meal.

"He went to bed early. Normally he eats much more," Isslata observed.

"Already you are losing time on our friendly wager. I'll help you out though. Just to show you that I am a good sport." Vernine laughed again.

"O'Baarni," she called softly. Then she continued in the language Paug taught me. "There is more food. Are you awake?"

I didn't move, thinking that they would decide that I was asleep and leave me alone.

"You couldn't be sleeping during our chatter human. Besides, you look too thin. There is unfinished meat here." She raised her voice loud enough to wake up Greykin during one of his drunken slumbers. I rolled over and glared at her.

"Eat more food. Isslata and I were just speaking of how starved you look. The venison will go bad if you don't finish it."

“Fine.” I got up and realized the nausea had passed. I sat down and looked at the two Elvens. Objectively, I could see that they were beautiful and alluring, but a faint tinge of nausea still remained when I thought of touching them with anything other than a sword. Why had their words disgusted me? Iolarathe had murdered my family in front of me, and yet my memories of making love to her did not fill me with the same revulsion as merely hearing Isslata and Vernine speak of doing the same thing. These women had done nothing to hurt me. The deep-seated hatred I had for their entire race still fueled me.

"Try not to thank me for cooking it. It wasn't difficult at all and I don't enjoy praise." Vernine grabbed my plate and filled it.

They watched me eat for a few seconds. I guessed what they were imagining, but I remembered that I was supposed to be clueless and tried to keep my face neutral.

"Do you get off watching me eat?" I asked them.

"I definitely don't," Vernine replied. Her words were emotionless. "But I have an imagination."

"What the hell does that mean?" I said to keep up appearances. The pewter-haired woman shrugged and cleaned her knife.

"What is your name, O'Baarni?" Isslata asked. Her head was half-tilted and her eyes glowed from the fire.

"You know my name." I took another bite of the food.

"No. I know what you call yourself. That isn't your name though." Isslata pursed her full lips.

"It is the only name I know." They both frowned and I realized that I might have made a mistake.

"Who gave it to you?" Vernine said with a laugh.

"My father did." I did not know why, but I sensed they were growing uneasy.

"Your father must have hated you then," she snorted.

A few minutes passed and they both stared into the fire, with occasional glances out of the corner of their eyes. I felt the tension building. Were they waiting for me to explain my name to them?

"I won't say that name." Isslata crossed her arms and sat back on the log, finally breaking the silence.

"Why?" I asked, regretting the word as soon as it left my mouth. The Elvens exchanged puzzled looks.

"You are asking why a sword is sharp, why horses have four legs, why we drink clean water. We don't speak the name of the Destroyer for the same reasons that you don't say his name."

"The Destroyer?" I asked. The edges of my vision clouded and darkened. I suddenly felt my body fall down through the earth, then slow down like I was submerged in thick, warm mud. It was hard to move. So hard to move and to think.

You destroyed everything I ever loved!

Malek's voice bounced through my head and his words repeated their echo. It screamed louder until I covered my ears, trying to escape the sound of his rage.

We trusted you. We followed you. We believed in you.

The words slammed into my brain and my stomach twisted into knots of pain.

As suddenly as it began, the voices stopped. My body ached tremendously, like when the Elven man had harnessed Fire and sent me hurling into the pillar in the Great Hall. I felt like a giant broken bone. My vision still had not cleared but the taste of blood in my mouth and softness against my back grounded me for a moment.

My black vision turned into perfect gray squares that swirled and dissolved into my room at Castle Nia. I sat up slowly, it seemed as if gravity was trying to force my brain out of the bottom of my skull. The last time I remembered feeling this hungover was when my brother sneaked two bottles of Elven wine out of one of their parties and we drank all of it in the loft of the stable.

The balcony door was open, spilling the early dawn light into my room. Maybe I had been up late drinking with Iarin and Paug? Fuck, if I was hurting this badly, they probably felt much worse. I shook my head to clear it and the pain faded like the recollection of my brother.

What did I have to do today? My brain churned through my muddy memories. I would exercise before breakfast. Paug and Iarin would be sleeping off the wine until after lunch. I'd get them after I finished my routine and had a bath. Was I meeting with Nadea today? Something in my memory was telling me I needed to find her.

My head pounded again, so hard this time that I didn't even have the strength to moan. I will never drink again. Especially not that distilled wine and potato mixture that Iarin got from a guy he met in a bar at the harbor who had promised him it was dragon's blood.

I shifted my body to my side and began to roll out of my massive bed to the left when I stopped cold.

There was a nude Elven woman lying flat on her back next to me.

Her hair was a golden color. More yellow than Iolarathe's red-tinged mane, but more metallic than Jessmei's. It spread out like dead summer grass across the hill of pillows where we rested our heads. Her skin was a light peach and stretched tautly over small, perfect breasts and long, athletic muscles. Her body was cross-cut with faded scars, bruises, scabbed over bite marks, and deep nail scratches that looked as if they were recently made by an animal. The Elven's legs lay open and through the golden curls of her pubic hair I could see the swollen pink lips to her entrance.

Isslata.

The memory of her conversation with Vernine a few minutes ago slid in to my brain like a hot dagger.

As I expected, I turned over to my right and saw the naked form of the pewter-haired Elven woman. She was lying on her side and had twice the bite marks and scratches that Isslata had on her body. Perhaps it just looked worse because her skin was paler than her partner's. Dried blood left a caked trail from her nostrils and over her red lips. Her mouth was upturned into a dreamy smile.

The room reeked of sex. Even with the window open there was no mistaking the smell of sweat, vaginal mucus, and my seed. My sensitive nose picked up their scent, it was all over me. I felt nausea grab a hold of my stomach and chest.

I crawled down the foot of my bed and stumbled on all fours as quietly as I could across the bare stone tile toward the bathroom. What was I doing back in the castle already? We had at least a full day and a half of riding ahead of us. How did I fuck Isslata and Vernine? I closed the door to my bathroom and looked in the mirror with trepidation.

My face was covered with thin scratches that had almost healed. My neck, shoulders, chest, abdomen, thighs, and legs were a disaster. There were probably hundreds of shallow cuts and over twenty deep bite marks. I spun the wheel next to the faucet and grabbed cold water as it poured into the sink. I threw some on my face and tried to drink every other handful. The nausea overcame me and I knelt down to the toilet and vomited. The bile smelled of bitter wine, bread, and boar meat. None of it tasted like venison. It took a few minutes after I finished vomiting for my stomach to realize it was empty, then I choked down as much water as I dared, washing out the sour residue in my mouth and rehydrating.

I looked back in the mirror and saw that my body had healed itself. My skin still stunk of sex and the thought of having the women’s scents on me almost made me want to vomit again. I turned the metal wheel that controlled the cold water of the bathtub and jumped in before I considered how chilly it would be. My muscles shivered uncontrollably for a few seconds before I got used to the temperature. There was a small wooden box filled with soap and I quickly built a thick lather across my chest.

The last time I had been in this bathtub, Nadea was with me. We had been close to making love, but then the alarm had rung and we became separated. Now I was here again, washing off the filth from two other women who would never compare to her. What the hell had happened?

I remembered them saying the Destroyer.

My stomach constricted when I recalled the name. A lump formed in my throat. I still didn't remember anything. Even the words that Malek said to me had seemed to fade away. Maybe I passed out or fainted. Then Isslata and Vernine carried me back to the castle.

The tub was three quarters full of icy water and I spun the flow lever closed. I sat for a few minutes and turned the situation over in my head, trying to make sense of it but only coming up with more questions. I would just have to ask them, once I had the courage to get out of the bathtub.

There was a loud knock on the door from the hallway outside the room. Isslata moaned from the bed and then the knock sounded even louder.

"Fuck it's early," she complained. I heard her feet quickly dance across the cold stone floor before the door creaked opened.

"Where is he?" Alatorict's voice demanded.

"Who?" Isslata said innocently.

"Don't be smug with me. You've been in here a week with him. My patience is at an end." He actually sounded angry.

I'd been in the castle for a week? How was that possible?

"I'm afraid you'll need to be a bit more specific. I can't really think straight because of how well fucked I am. Who are you looking for again?" Isslata's voice tilted and Vernine started laughing from the bed.

"The O'Baarni. Why are you being so difficult?" His voice hissed frustration.

"Oh, I couldn't imagine why I would be so difficult. Perhaps because we've been discussing your promotion and breeding strategies during the last two weeks of our travels?" Isslata's voice was filled with anger now.

"This isn't the time to discuss that. Let me enter."

"Of course, come in. This is, after all, your castle until the empress arrives. I'll just discuss your methods with her when she gets here.” I heard Alatorict's booted feet walk into my room.

"She understands why I have my methods." His steps paused for a second. "It reeks in here."

"We've had a busy week, Alatorict, no time for anything that isn't carnal," Vernine said with an exaggerated sigh.

"It smells like a good time. A very, very good time." Isslata's voice turned husky and syrupy.

"Where is he?"

"The bathroom. I heard the water running a few minutes ago. But he might be taking a shit so you should knock first," Vernine answered.

"Fine. You both are dismissed. I won't require your services guarding the O'Baarni anymore. Return to your original assignments."

"Good. I need a break from the man. I don't think I could have handled another day like yesterday." Vernine laughed.

"You said that every night this week," Isslata moaned suggestively.

"Get the fuck out!" Alatorict screamed like a wounded lion. There was silence from the women. I heard footsteps move around the room and then out the door. I should have been trying to piece together their relationship, but my brain was too muddled. It seemed that Isslata might report directly to Alatorict, but I didn't get the impression that Vernine did. At least they both feared his anger enough to leave.

Once the door to my suite closed Alatorict sighed and then knocked on the bathroom door.

"Enter." I put my hands on the edges of the metal tub and squeezed. He wore a dark blue robe with bright yellow stitching in the shapes of moons and stars. His long silver hair was pulled up into a top knot that had small sunflowers braided through it.