Chapter 23 Poisoned Words
The dining hall looked like a trap.
Too many candles. Too much wine. Too intimate for a diplomatic dinner. Aldric had requested this setup specifically. Small table. Three seats.
I hated it already.
Aldric stood when we entered. Perfect manners. Perfect smile. "Your Majesties. Thank you for accepting my invitation."
"Let us dispense with pleasantries," Kael said. His voice could freeze blood. "What do you want, Aldric?"
"So direct. I always admired that about you, Kael." Aldric gestured to the seats. "Please. Sit. Let us eat before we discuss business."
We sat. Kael on one side of me. Aldric across from us. Close enough that I felt his gaze like fingers on my skin.
Servants brought food. Wine. Delicacies from Valcrest. Everything looked and smelled perfect.
Which meant poison was likely.
"Do not eat anything," Kael said quietly through the bond. I felt his words in my mind.
"I know," I sent back.
Aldric noticed we were not touching the food. Smiled. "You insult my hospitality, Kael. I come in peace."
"You come with an agenda. State it or leave."
"Very well." Aldric leaned forward. His ice-blue eyes fixed on me. "I want to discuss your queen. Her remarkable transformation. Her power."
"My queen is none of your concern."
"But she is. You see, I knew her mother." Aldric's smile widened at my sharp intake of breath. "Aria Shadowborn. Beautiful. Powerful. Tragic. We were lovers once. Before she met your father, of course."
Lies. Had to be lies. But something in his voice made me doubt.
"You are lying," I said.
"Am I? Ask yourself this. How did your mother escape the Shadowborn purge when every other member of her house died? Who helped her reach the human territories?" He sipped his wine. "It was me. I smuggled her out. Hid her. Loved her."
"Why?" The word came out sharp.
"Because I saw what Kael's father was planning. The purge. The genocide. I tried to convince Aria to come to Valcrest. To rule beside me." His expression went sad. "But she refused. Said she loved a human. A rebel. Chose him over immortality. Over power. Over me."
Kael's hand found mine under the table. Squeezed. Warning.
"If this is true, why tell us now?" I asked.
"Because you are making the same mistake she did. Choosing love over power. Binding yourself to a cursed king when you could have so much more." Aldric stood. Walked around the table. Stopped behind my chair. "Come with me to Valcrest. Rule a kingdom that will worship you. Not fear you. Not resent you."
Kael was on his feet instantly. Blade out. "Step away from her. Now."
"Or what? You will start a war over a suggestion?" Aldric's hand touched my shoulder. Light. Possessive. "She has a choice, Kael. Let her make it."
I stood. Moved away from both of them. "I already made my choice. I am bonded to Kael. That is not negotiable."
"Bonds can be broken. With the right magic. The right sacrifice." Aldric's eyes gleamed. "I have spent fifty years researching how to break a fated bond. I can free you. Give you back your choices."
"I do not want to be freed."
"Do you not? Or has the bond simply convinced you that you do not?" He stepped closer. "How much of what you feel is real, Sera? How much is just magic forcing you to love a man who destroyed your family?"
The question hit like a blade. Because I had wondered. In dark moments. If the bond manufactured feelings or amplified real ones.
"Enough." Kael's voice was deadly quiet. "You have stated your offer. She declined. This dinner is over."
"Not quite. We have not discussed terms." Aldric returned to his seat. Calm. Unbothered. "I did not come just for her. I came to offer an alliance. A real one. Valcrest and Nocterra united against the eastern kingdoms who see your reforms as weakness."
"What do you want in return?" I asked.
"Access to your Shadowborn magic. Your blood. Your knowledge." His smile turned sharp. "And if the bond should happen to break naturally, the option to court you properly."
Kael's eyes went pure black. "Get out. Now. Before I kill you where you stand."
"You cannot. Killing a foreign ruler during diplomatic talks is an act of war. Even you are not that foolish." Aldric stood. "I will give you time to consider. Three days. Then I expect an answer."
He walked to the door. Stopped. Looked back at me.
"Your mother made me promise something before she died. She made me swear that if her daughter ever needed help, I would provide it." His voice went soft. "I am keeping that promise now. Whether you accept it or not is your choice."
He left.
Silence filled the dining hall. Thick. Suffocating.
Then Kael threw the table. It crashed against the wall. Shattered.
"That arrogant piece of—" He stopped. Breathed. Fists clenched. "He touched you. Put his hands on you. Offered to break our bond."
"Kael—"
"Do you want that? Do you want the bond broken?" He turned to me. Pain in his eyes. "Because if you do. If any part of you doubts this. Doubts us. Tell me now."
"No. I do not want it broken."
"But you thought about it. Just now. I felt it through the bond." His voice cracked. "You wondered if what you feel is real or manufactured."
I had. For three seconds. But that was three seconds too many for him.
"I wondered. Yes. But the answer is that I do not care." I walked to him. "Real or manufactured, I feel it. I chose you. I gave up my humanity for you. That is not nothing."
"But you still doubted."
"Everyone doubts sometimes. That does not mean I love you less."
"It means you are not sure. And if you are not sure, then—"
"Then what? You throw me away? Decide I am not worth the trouble?" Anger flared. "I gave up everything for you. My humanity. My future. My chance at a normal life. And you question my commitment because I had one moment of doubt?"
"That is not what I—"
"That is exactly what you are doing. You want absolute certainty. Blind devotion. Well, I am not capable of that. I think. I question. I doubt." I stepped closer. "But I still choose you. Every single day. Is that not enough?"
He was quiet. Just staring at me with those red eyes full of pain.
"It should be," he said finally. "But I am selfish. Possessive. And the thought of losing you to him—to anyone—makes me want to burn the world."
"Then burn it. But not us. Not what we have." I grabbed his face. "You are mine. I am yours. That is the only truth that matters."
He kissed me. Hard. Desperate. Like he was trying to prove something to both of us.
"I am sorry," he breathed against my lips. "I just—I cannot lose you. Not to him. Not to doubt. Not to anything."
"You will not. I promise."
A scream interrupted us.
Then another. Coming from the guest wing where Aldric's delegation was staying.
We ran. Swords drawn. Toward the screaming.
Guards were already there. Blocking a doorway. Inside, blood. Everywhere.
Two of Aldric's vampires lay dead. Drained. Grey. Like The First had gotten to them.
But The First was sealed. Contained.