Sold to Serve by Kyra Alessy
Chapter 15
As soon as she was decent, Kora jumped from the bed, trying to understand what was happening, why Kade and Mace were so angry with Lucian. Kade hadn’t been this way with Mace she didn’t think, but then she’d been unconscious for days just afterwards … so perhaps they had had a reckoning for … what – sharing her?
Mace hit Lucian again and she grimaced. ‘What is happening?’ she asked Kade. ‘Why?’
Kade looked so angry that she took two steps back, wrapping her arms around herself as she stared into his eyes that no longer looked human. He was Dark Realm. She had to remember that. When he saw her reaction, he blanched, his eyes turning back to normal immediately. He put his hand out to her. ‘I’ll never hurt you, Kora. We’re angry with Lucian because he’s done something he wasn’t meant to.’
‘Is it because we…’ She looked over at the bed.
Kade grimaced. ‘No, it’s not that. We’ll have to explain. He will have to explain.’ He looked in Lucian’s direction again and his body went rigid as if he were trying to force something back. He swore loudly. ‘You had no right,’ he snarled.
‘I don’t understand,’ she said.
‘He’s bound you to him.’ Mace suddenly said, his eyes not leaving his Brother who was still sprawled on the floor. ‘With blood.’
‘Lucian?’ she questioned him.
Lucian sat up and coughed. When he looked at her she thanked the Gods she didn’t see that awful glint in his eye that appeared when he was going to do something cruel. But when she saw the pure satisfaction he exuded she almost yearned for it. Whatever he’d done, whatever they were talking about, Lucian was proud of himself.
She shook herself from Kade’s grasp and stepped back as Lucian got to his feet, none the worse for wear despite the blows he’d received.
Kade frowned and began to say something, but it was drowned out by the sound of the alarm bell. The village was being attacked again.
‘Fuck! This isn’t done, Lucian,’ Mace promised. Then, without a backwards glance, he was gone. ‘Come,’ he called to his Brothers from the corridor. ‘Lets finish these marauders once and for all.’
Kade started towards her, but she backed away from him. He sighed heavily. ‘I’m sorry.’
Lucian gave her an indiscernible look. ‘I will speak to you about this when we return.’
Moments later, Kora watched from the casement as the Brothers left the keep on their great, black steeds, the dust carrying on the breeze behind them. She tried to guess what they’d all been talking about. Blood binding? She’d never heard of it. Lucian had bitten her lip and drawn blood. Perhaps it was something to do with that.
When he’d appeared in her room, she’d known he wasn’t there because he liked her, but, in her moment of weakness, she had wanted the comfort he promised. He’d counted on that, she supposed. Perhaps they’d used each other. She sighed heavily, unable to shake the feeling that something life-changing had just happened without her knowing.
She left her room, making her way down to the kitchens as she usually did, only Davas wasn’t there. She turned to go in search of him when she noticed a slip of thick paper by the hearth where she’d slept her first nights at the keep. Her brow furrowed. Who’d leave her a note?
She picked it up and put a hand over her mouth as she read the scrawled writing.
‘Be at the stables by sunset if you want to save the keep – and your beloved Brothers.’
At the endwas that fucking sigil she couldn’t believe she hadn’t recognised before. Blackhale. She crumpled the note into a tight ball and threw it at the hearth, her heart pounding. Blackhale would do as he threatened. He would raze the keep to the ground and he’d torture the Brothers until there was nothing left of them but bones. He had the men to do it. She’d heard enough stories about him to have an inkling of what he was capable of. No one fought him and survived.
She walked from the keep and saw that sunset was almost upon her. There was no time to consider her actions nor wait for the Brothers’ return. She had no choice. Feeling a numbness settle over her, she made her way slowly down the steps and across the yard to the stable on leaden legs.
The door was ajar and she entered slowly. She couldn’t see anyone there. She heard a noise behind her and turned. Something thudded painfully into her cheek and she went sprawling, hitting her head on one of the stall doors. Dimly, she wondered if the amount of times she’d been hit in the head today was going to cause permanent damage. She was aware of a pair of boots coming to rest in front of her and then of being hefted up and thrown over a shoulder like a sack of flour.
* * *
Mace jumped off his horse in the dark with a curse and practically threw the reins at one of the men. Again they had lost the trail. Where were they hiding and how were they obscuring their tracks?
He glanced up at the keep, dreading facing Kora a thousand times more than Blackhale. He was the leader. He should have recognised what Lucian was going to do before Lucian had even known himself, but he had let himself be distracted by her past, her story, by Blackhale. In truth none of that was important. What mattered was that she was going to hate them when they explained what Lucian had actually done and what it meant for her. A binding was nigh unbreakable.
He looked over at Lucian, who seemed infuriatingly unperturbed as usual and then at Kade who was still atop his mount staring straight ahead, his entire body clenched. His control was waning and Mace didn’t know what he was going to do when it came loose. At least if Kora was with him, he wouldn’t let his inner beast take over. He would want to spare her that.
‘Your woman is gone.’
Mace turned to find one of their men looking nervous. He held a charred, rumpled slip of paper in one hand. Mace’s stomach turned to stone. ‘What?’
‘This was found by the hearth in the kitchen. It must have fallen from the fire before it could burn. We searched the keep, but she’s not here.’
The note was plucked from his grasp by Lucian. ‘Perhaps she’s simply run off again.’ He drawled. ‘While you were all looking for her the yard would have been empty. She could easily have slipped out unnoticed while a lone guard’s back was turned. She could have written this to throw us off the scent.’
Kade snatched the note from Lucian with a low growl. ‘And the sigil here? Did she fucking conjure it from nowhere?’
‘Control your emotions.’ Mace snapped at Kade. ‘Losing yourself to the beast helps no one.’ He looked to Lucian. ‘Do you truly believe what you’re saying?’
Lucian stared at the paper in Kade’s hand. ‘No,’ he conceded, ‘but if Blackhale has her then we need to find them quickly. She may be ours by law, but Blackhale holds much influence.’ He frowned as he surveyed the men going about their work in the yard.
Mace saw where his mind was going easily enough. ‘The spy is one of the men.’
Lucian nodded. ‘But which one?’
Kade dismounted. ‘I’ll check the stable’, he said, already walking stiffly through the doors. He reappeared almost immediately. ‘She was there, all right. I can smell her faintly over the horses. There was another there,’ Kade said grimly.
‘Who?’ Though Mace feared he already knew the answer for the man was suspiciously absent.
‘Davas.’
* * *
Kora’s eyesopened suddenly and she lurched up. She’d been taken from the keep, she thought, looking around wildly. Her wrists were bound in front of her. It was dark, but a torch flickered not too far from her, casting long shadows through a small cavern. It smelled wet and she could hear the echo of water dripping. There was rough stone at her back. She felt it. Damp. She shivered, wishing for one of the hated homespun wool dresses instead of the unsuitable silk she was wearing. A figure stepped out of the shadows.
‘I’m sorry, lass.’
‘Davas?’ Not Davas. Her hand came up to her mouth in shock. ‘I don’t understand. You do Blackhale’s bidding?’
He heaved a sigh, not looking her in the eye. ‘I must. I have a daughter. She’s in Blackhale’s power. If I do what he commands of me, she is safe.’ He looked up for a moment. ‘I wish things were different, girl. I couldn’t believe it when he told me you were the girl he’d been searching for. Right under my nose.’
The older man knelt before her and tried to take her hand, but she ripped it out of his grasp. ‘Don’t touch me! I thought you were my friend, Davas. How could you betray the Brothers like this?’
‘Betray them?’ he scoffed. ‘I’ve saved them and the keep. Because of me, Blackhale will leave the keep and the Brothers alone.’
‘And what about me? Do you think they won’t notice I’m gone?’
‘They’ll notice and mourn in their own ways, but they’ll eventually realise that a slave is replaceable. I like you, Kora, I do. I consider you a friend and, in fact, you remind me a bit of my girl, but you aren’t Tilly and blood is blood. I do what I must.’
Kora tried to push the sting of his treachery away. She had to get out of this place. Perhaps she could change his mind if she could convince him she was worth more to the Brothers; if losing her would cause them distress. Blood was blood.
‘Lucian bound me to him!’ she burst out, hoping that that would mean something to him.
Apparently it did because Davas gaped at her. ‘He what?’ he asked faintly.
‘He bound me to him with blood,’ she said again, reciting Mace’s words.
She watched Davas’ reaction and was reassured when he looked shocked. ‘But-but,’ he stammered. ‘You’re just …’ He swore and got to his feet just as she heard heavy footsteps resonating through the cave. Blackhale loomed at the entrance to the small cavity they’d dumped her in.
Davas hardly spared him a glance. ‘She says they’ve started the binding ritual with her. She’s worth much more to them than we thought. I need to take her back!’
‘You aren’t taking her anywhere,’ Blackhale said smoothly, ‘Not when I’m so close. She’s likely lying to you anyway.’
Davas whirled around. ‘Don’t you understand? The binding ritual is blood magick, ancient and powerful as the Army itself. It’s not something to be taken lightly! They will come for her.’ He looked back at Kora with a mixture of horror and awe. ‘Gods,’ he breathed, ‘what if they can tell exactly where she is?’ He turned back to Blackhale, urgency making his tone louder. ‘I’m finished. I’m no more use to you now. Let my girl go and we’ll disa – ’
Davas suddenly let out a gurgling moan and fell to his knees. Kora craned her neck to see what was happening, but he was turned away from her and the light was too dim.
Blackhale stepped forward and tore a small throwing knife from Davas’ chest. He wiped the bloody blade on the dead man’s tunic. ‘Well, he was right. His usefulness was definitely at an end.’ He looked over at Kora. ‘You’d better hope you prove yourself to be more valuable to me.’
‘What about h-his daughter?’ Kora asked, bile rising in her stomach.
‘Who? Oh! Davas’ girl.’ Blackhale scratched his head as if he’d mislaid her. ‘I think she died in one of my brothels or something,’ he shrugged. ‘I don’t know. It was ages ago whatever it was that killed her.’
‘But Davas said – ’
Blackhale toed the corpse with a roll of his eyes. ‘Davas was a fool.’
Kora’s stomach revolted at that moment and she retched on the ground next to her. She wiped her mouth with the sleeve of her gown and looked back up at her captor who was staring at her in revulsion.
‘You disgust me,’ he snapped. ‘Thank the gods I don’t have to marry you to get what I need from you now.’
He wasn’t going to force her to marry him? Kora caught herself before she visibly sighed with relief. But why then was she here at all?
‘Have you dissolved the contract then?’ she prodded.
Blackhale seemed distracted. ‘The what?’ he said impatiently.
‘The marriage contract. Are we not to be married?’
He looked at her in confusion and then he began to laugh, ‘Oh, you stupid girl! All this time you really thought this was about a betrothal‽’ He guffawed loudly. ‘There are a hundred girls I could marry, thousands I could fuck. Why would I need you for that?’
Kora was taken aback. What was it about if not her sizeable dowry? She gawked at him, utterly perplexed. Why had she been running for so long? Why did he want her? It wasn’t for her body, it wasn’t for her hand …
‘I don’t understand,’ she murmured and he just laughed harder.
‘I can see you don’t,’ he chuckled. ‘I just – I really thought you knew. I thought someone would have told you despite your father’s orders or at least you would have noticed something amiss.’
At her blank expression he continued. ‘Your mother’s infidelity? The reason she was simple? Her magick? You really don’t know anything?’
Kora shook her head, unable to grasp what he was saying. What was he talking about? Her mother had simply fallen ill when she was with child, hadn’t she? And magick? Surely not. But a wisp of a memory came to the forefront of her mind. Her mother’s rooms. She’d been young, only a little girl playing. No one else was there, which was a rare occurrence indeed. She’d looked up at her mother, always sitting in that chair by the window. She was glowing, her skin shining ethereally. Then the door opened and Kora turned away. When she’d looked back, the light was gone. She’d never told anyone. She’d convinced herself she’d imagined it and then she’d forgotten. Could it be true? If it was, Kora certainly hadn’t inherited her power. ‘No one could have hidden such things,’ she muttered.
Blackhale ignored her. ‘Let me be the one to tell you the story then.’ He drew closer. ‘Your mother took another man to her bed after she married your father. She got with child and your cuckholded sire couldn’t prove the child wasn’t his so he kept it. But he couldn’t let her betrayal stand so, after she birthed you, he beat her. Badly. It was no illness that made her the way she was,’ he scoffed, ‘he just hit her too many times.’
Kora felt frozen in grief. ‘It can’t be true,’ she whispered.
‘There’s more,’ he promised. ‘Your dear mama was rumoured to have Dark Realm blood. Not powerful enough to save herself it seems, but there were whispers she could conjure, spell cast, even speak to beasts or some such.’
Speak to beasts?Kora didn’t react to his words, but they rang true. Animals had always loved being near her mother and a crow used to sit on her chair. It would watch her, cocking its head to one side as if listening. No matter how many times the servants shooed it out, it had always returned to her until her father had had one of the men shoot an arrow through it.
But Kora shook her head at him. ‘Someone has tricked you. I’m her daughter and I have no magick to speak of.’
Blackhale turned away, dismissing her for the more pleasurable sound of his own voice. ‘Did you know that seven portals have failed within the past three winters?’
Lucian had told her about this, she recalled. ‘Yes,’ she said warily.
He continued on. ‘Did you know that there was one located outside this very cave? It was the third to collapse.’ He clenched his fists. ‘And when it did, I lost all trade to the realm beyond. Do you understand, girl? Prosperity that makes your dowry look like coppers in a beggar’s cup. All that wealth was cut away from me in an instant.’
‘What does that have to do with me?’ she asked.
He turned back to her and pulled her up roughly. ‘You’re going to mend my bridge.’
* * *
Kade itched. His skin felt like it didn’t fit him, like it was stretched unnaturally around him. He breathed deeply, willing the anger and the fear away. He’d not been so out of control since he was a young boy. Sitting atop his horse felt alien. He wanted to be running along beside it. He could go faster that way. He pushed the tempting thoughts away, willing the beast back.
‘We’ve been going around in fucking circles all night,’ he growled, his voice not sounding his own.
The other two glanced at each other and he gave a roar. ‘Gods, stop looking like that. I’m not going to change!’
‘You already are, Brother,’ Lucian drawled. He seemed unmoved, but Kade noticed his Brother’s knuckles were white as he gripped his reins. The conceited bastard wasn’t as relaxed as he appeared.
Then Kade looked down and his self-righteous opinions vanished. He muttered a swear in his own language as he saw that in place of his own hands were two black claws. The tiny scales glittered even in the dim light. He took what he hoped was a calming breath. He wasn’t in control of the beast at all, he thought, it just wasn’t pushing as hard as it could to get out.
‘We will find her, Brother.’ Mace said, trying to placate him.
‘We can’t even find Davas’ trail!’ snapped Lucian suddenly. ‘Stop whispering lover’s platitudes. We have nothing. The village is close. I say we go there and see what we can find.’
‘Fine,’ came Mace’s clipped response, ‘but keep those fucking claws out of sight and don’t fucking change!’ he hissed at Kade.
They never made it to the village. Out of the forest, a boy darted into the road. He skidded to a halt in front of them, fearful eyes darting around, searching for something in the undergrowth.
‘What’s chasing you, boy?’ Mace asked.
‘We don’t have time for this,’ muttered Lucian.
The boy finally looked at them as if only just noticing they were there. ‘I-I was foraging for mushrooms before sunrise. But the trees, they were ...’ He went silent, staring at the forest around him, panic evident on his face.
Lucian rolled his eyes. ‘We’re in a forest, boy. There are trees.’ His horse pawed at the dirt, sensing his master’s need for haste. ‘Let’s get to the village.’
Mace came forward. ‘We’re looking for a man. His name is Blackhale.’
The child seemed to shake himself out of his fear and really looked at them. ‘You’re the lords from the keep,’ he murmured in awe.
‘Aye.’
He stood up straighter, squaring his shoulders. ‘I know Blackhale’s face and some of his men’s as well,’ he said importantly. ‘They used to come to the village before his portal was lost. I seen them in the forest lots lately too, but they ain’t seen me.’
‘His portal?’
‘Aye, used to be down in the vale.’
Kade made an effort to sound human. ‘Why have we never heard of this portal?’
The boy shrugged. ‘It closed before you came here.’
The Brothers looked at each other, all thinking the same thing. Blackhale was connected to the raids somehow. It was too much of a coincidence. He and his men clearly knew the area well enough to hide their trails and conceal themselves easily.
Mace made a sound of frustration. ‘No one in the village would have told us of Blackhale so as not to incur his wrath. Were there caves near this portal, boy?’
‘Aye, one or two.’ He looked uncomfortable. ‘You aren’t gonna tell my da I said, are you?’
Kade didn’t stay to hear anymore. He turned his horse and began to ride. The vale was in the opposite direction, but if they hurried they could be there before midmorning.