Chapter 60 The Silver Barracks
His body stirs beneath mine as if he can feel my weight as I straddle his waist.
With a dagger in my right hand, I slam my left hand into the pillow at the same time as I drop my wind power and my entire weight settles on his chest.
Grinning, I watch his eyes flash open in terror. I watch his skin try to shift, try to camouflage to protect himself, but it’s no use. I’ve got him pinned. I dig the hilt of my dagger into the skin beneath his jaw and push until he’s looking me straight in the eyes.
“I am Anara, Daughter of Hellbane. Chosen of all dragons,” I tell him as I lean over Steel, letting him look straight into my eyes as my long black braid falls over my shoulder and brushes his face.
“Anara, you will die for this! You—” he stammers, eyes looking all around as my veins begin to glow with my Soulfire. “What are you?”
I lift my hand off his pillow, stroking his forehead almost lovingly. As if by magic, the moment my hand grazes his terrified face, I suddenly know how to camouflage myself. I show him I’ve stolen the knowledge he refused to teach me by making everything but my vicious smile disappear into nothingness.
“I am the end of you, Steel,” I whisper venomously. “If you ever come for me again, I will be ready. I will use your power and every power I have learned and will learn to banish you from existence.”
“C-chosen daughter of Hellbane,” he murmurs in awe, his eyes wide with fear and shame.
“For your sake, we can keep this between us, but if you cross me again…” I let my voice trail off, leaving the threat open.
“I understand,” he agrees, clearing his throat.
I nod, dropping my camouflage and lifting my dagger away from his throat.
“I’m glad we can agree. I have other things to do tonight, so, if you’ll excuse me?” I lift my right leg off of him and hop off his bed, turning my back on him as if he’s no threat at all.
I know better, and I know what’s coming, so when I hear Steel get off the bed and snicker darkly, I’m ready.
“Stupid bitch!” he snarls.
I hear the swing of a heavy blade as it slashes through the air. I drop to my knees and slide away from him on the hardwood floor just in time to watch his claymore gouge a hole in the fine wood.
“Big mistake!” I say, smiling from ear to ear.
I lunge from the ground, striking him in the ribs with the ruby hilt of one dagger. His jaw drops while he screams in surprise and pain. Then, before he can react, I stab my other dagger into his open mouth and through his tongue.
“You’re like a snake, Steel.”
He gurgles and screams, blood pouring out of his mouth as he falls to his knees.
“Consider this my last warning, shall we? Let me give you the gift of looking as snake-like on the outside as you are on the inside.”
I flick my wrist, splitting Steel’s tongue and bottom lip right down the middle.
“I am the Daughter of Hellbane, and you are just a captain elected to train other slayers. Remember your place, Steel, so I do not have to remove you from it.”
I leave him then, choking on his own blood, and walk toward the door. I stop at his claymore though, and turn, grinning wildly. “This is mine now, isn’t it? Fantastic.”
I slip my daggers into their sheathes and pull the massive sword from the ground with a strength I never realized I had. I flip the blade over and settle it on my shoulder as I walk out of the room without another word.
Now, to find Zaries.
The Steel Barracks are colder than the darkest night and more frigid than a harsh storm. No decorations are adorning the walls, no thick carpets cushioning the floors, only wicked-looking metal benches here and there along the hallways. Stark blue fire illuminates my path from the sconces on the wall, making the whole place seem more foreboding.
Finally, I feel him. His power and aura reaching through the thick stone walls and embracing me like an old friend. I walk to his door and step inside without knocking.
I set the point of the giant claymore gently onto the floor in front of me and lean against his door, listening to the sound of Zaries’ even, unbothered breathing. There's a letter in his hand, one he must have taken from my room. It’s clutched tightly, but I can still see the badly drawn golden roses on the envelope. A direct response to my letter before, a test of his love.
In the dark of the night, he’s only illuminated by a sliver of moonlight, and for a moment, I let myself get lost in how utterly beautiful he is. His chiseled jaw, quickly becoming covered in a thick black beard, works as he dreams. His brows twitch from anger to concern, his lips murmuring something unsaid.
“Zaries,” I breathe, his name but a whisper on my lips.
His eyes fly open and in an instant, he’s sitting up in bed with his dual blades in both hands.
Warmth infuses me as his sheets drop and reveal his bare, muscled chest. I track a trail of dark hair down his center, past his belly button, lower…
“What the hell are you doing here, Anara?” he snaps, breaking me from my momentary distraction. “Is that Steel’s sword?”
“Not anymore,” I say with a shrug, “I’m here to set the record straight.”
“I don’t want to hear any more of your lies!” he growls, slowly getting out of his bed and taking a battle stance in his loose pants. “If you’ve killed my captain—”
“He was alive when I left him.” I roll my eyes, ignoring his obvious threat toward me. “He tried to kill me, he lost, and he won't ever forget it. But that’s not why I’m here.”
“I don’t care why you’re here! I let you live tonight, I showed you mercy in the face of another deep betrayal, I—”
“Late in autumn, before the snows fall on Obsidian Reach, the rarest flower in all of Amaranthine blooms but for a short time.”
“What are you—” Zaries asks, but his face turns white when he looks over to the crumpled letter on the bed.
“If you love me, my prince, come to my kingdom and scale the treacherous cliffs and pick one for me. If you want to have my hand in marriage, prove you’re willing to risk your life for me. Prove you're willing to die for me. Otherwise, why would I ever entrust my life to you?”
“No one was to read Elysandra’s words but me!” Zaries barks, shock turning to anger.
“What love is this, so worth the risk, that a man will risk his life for me? A love so true could come only from you, and what a love it will be.” I choke on the words as I say them, my poem to him after receiving the letter that he’d done it, receiving the same crumpled letter now in his bed. “You had your court mage bless the flower with everlasting life and send it to Elysandra as proof, and in return, Elysandra sent you a lock of her golden hair.”
“How could you possibly know…” he stammers, his arms lowering and swords drooping in his shaking hands.
“When you woke the morning after she died, that same rose was on your nightstand. That same rose adorned every single one of your jackets on every formal occasion. The rose she asked you for and you risked your life to get. A rose that sealed your marriage in both of your hearts.”
“No…it can’t be…”
“I was the one who wrote you those letters, Zaries. She tested you with that rose, to see if you were worthy of her love. But over all the years, through all the letters, I realized she was the one who didn’t deserve you.”
“I was writing to you?” he whispers, his voice thick with pain.
“And I was falling in love with you while you fell in love with her. That’s why I made the choice that I did, Zaries. I loved you, heart and soul. She didn’t even know you. She wouldn’t let me read her the letters you sent her. She didn’t care, she—”
“Why are you telling me all this now?” he asks, defeated.
“Because I can’t let myself love you anymore. You threaten to kill me, you tell me you hate me, all because I saved your life instead of hers.”
“Anara, wait a second!” He drops his swords and steps toward me.
But I raise the claymore and point it directly in the center of his chest. “No. Not anymore,” I snarl. “I will kill the silver dragon with or without your help, Zaries Carpathian. And if you still want me dead then, then I welcome you to give it your best fucking shot. But just like I told Steel tonight, if you ever threaten me again, I will not show mercy.”
“Anara, let me process this,” Zaries begs, grabbing the blade of my new sword and slicing his hands on the metal.
“Goodbye, Zaries,” I whisper, trying to let my anger overpower the sinking depression in my soul.
“Yes, goodbye,” a woman says with a stark laugh behind me.
I only have a millisecond to feel the flames of burning lava before the whole room goes bright red and I sink through the floor as if melted.
Captain Cinder.
Cinder has just taken me from the Steel Barracks without permission, without cause, without warning.
I don’t even have time to scream before something solid hits the back of my head and everything goes dark.