A Crown of Cursed Hearts (Kingdom of Blighted Thorns #3)

17. Vexxion

17

VEXXION

W e flew all day, only stopping to stretch our legs, visit the woods, and eat and drink something. If anyone followed us, I didn’t see or feel them, and I regularly sent out my threads to trace through the air behind us.

Tempest barely spoke to me, and I tried to tell myself I was grateful. The more I knew about her and the more I interacted with her, the more I wanted her. And oh, how I wanted her already.

My brand blazed on the nape of her neck, telling me she was not only my fated mate but that I’d bonded myself to her with bites. That must be why I craved her, why my damn cock kept rising whenever she came near.

I was convinced I had loved her, though the feeling remained as elusive as it was the moment she placed the new collar around my neck.

I sensed her sadness, though she didn’t give way to sighs or tears like many women would. There was a core of strength within this woman that made me ache to hold her forever, to shelter in my arms and with my magic. To give up my very life if it would keep her happy and safe. How had I gone from loving her to staring at her with a bare, empty cavern stretching between us?

As the sun began to set, we reached the outskirts of the village. Fae looked up as we passed before going back to whatever they were doing. A few made a sign to protect themselves from evil fates.

“I don’t see any dragons,” Tempest said, finally, finally breaking the bitter silence that had been slowly erecting a wall between us. I should have let it remain, but I couldn’t stop myself from picking away at it, from trying to scale it.

“Dragons aren’t common in the countryside.” I tightened my arm around her. I didn’t need to support her at all. It was clear from her seat that this woman had been a rider from the time she could walk. “Why bother keeping dragons if you can get where you need to go by wagon and horse?”

“Dragons are expensive to take care of. And I suppose those in the village can flit if they need to travel very far.”

“Almost no one can flit. It’s a rare skill. One you can do, I’ll point out.”

“You taught me.” Her voice had hollowed out again, and the feeling echoed within me. All my emotions, other than an unexpected, bitter jealousy toward Brodine, felt trapped behind a mist in my mind, one stronger and taller than the wall Tempest had spent the day erecting. Should I be picking at the mist instead ?

“You said I collared you, that you believed you were Nullen,” I said.

“And you said you knew all along who I was, that I was fae.”

I held out my arm, displaying the mark I’d kept masked from the moment it appeared. For some reason, I’d allowed that magic to fail. “I must’ve felt you near.”

“You came over to where I was working with a dragon named Seevar. He . . .” Her long sigh deflated her thin frame. “Delaine killed him.”

“I’m sorry.”

“I killed Delaine.”

A nasty woman. I couldn’t mourn her loss.

“Then you truly are powerful,” I said. For some reason, I didn’t doubt Tempest could do it.

“That’s why you claimed me,” Tempest said. “It’s why you manipulated and, to some extent, used me. You planned all along for me to kill the king and, at the same time, murder you.”

“You should’ve done it.”

“I already told you I couldn’t.”

I grumbled.

“We need to land our dragons there.” I pointed to an open meadow on the opposite side of the village. “It’ll be dark soon. We should get to the inn.”

She gave Madrood the direction, and I marveled again that she’d bonded with—and stolen—Ivenrail’s dragon. I savored the fury that must be churning through him.

He’d be brutal in his rage and seek revenge for that alone.

Our dragons coasted lower, circling over the meadow to find the best spot to land. “There’s an aerie nearby, though it’s been a long time since it housed dragons.” I’d stopped here once and stabled Glim there. “There should still be feed and enough sand for the dragons to lay on inside the stalls.”

“I’ll tell Madrood.”

I paused before speaking again. “Why did I let myself love you?”

“You should ask yourself that. I fell hard and fast, though I’m sure that was part of your plan.” Scorn and pain dripped from her voice.

“And yet you didn’t follow through with that plan. The king still lives.”

“I wasn’t going to murder you, Vexxion,” she snarled. “Never.”

“Killing him—and me—would’ve ended this. You’d be on your way to claim your birthright without having to worry he’d swoop in from behind to steal it from you.” Like he had most of the magical core of my court.

“You didn’t tell me he’d collared you.”

“How did you learn that information? I told no one, not even Zayde.”

“He couldn’t see it?”

“The king took pleasure in masking it with magic, making everyone believe I freely did as he asked.”

As Madrood dove down toward the ground, I leaned against her back as if the movement was natural. In reality, I couldn’t stay away. I closed my eyes and sucked in her light, sweet scent and the heat of her body. When I was near her, I felt as if I could slice through the mist holding back my feelings .

“Don’t.” She scooted forward, leaving cold air between us. “You can’t shove me away and then cling like this.”

“I wasn’t clinging,” I said sharply.

Yet I was.

“Why can’t most fae flit?” she asked.

A glance at her face showed she’d compressed her lips, telling me the personal part of our conversation was over.

“The most powerful magic is concentrated in the high courts, with only a few of those outside the courts born with any more power than Nullens.”

“People you suppressed.”

I’d shared a lot with her, now hadn’t I? “They asked to be suppressed.”

Madrood drew up, his claws extending toward the ground. Around us, the others descended as well.

Tempest shot a look of surprise over her shoulder. “Why would we ask for anything like that?”

“ They , not you, are lesser fae.”

“I always assumed they were a completely different species, not fae.”

“Is that what you were told?”

“It’s all I’ve ever believed.”

“When those now called Nullens fled faerie, they didn’t want to bring magic with them. They despised it for good reason. They were like those living outside the courts, tasting a bit of power here and there but never able to grasp enough to control their own fate.”

“Why aren’t we told this?”

“Perhaps to keep you from asking questions. Part of the treaty required the king during that time to cast a spell to suppress their magic.”

“And that’s when the Claiming began.”

“The king refused to allow all his servants to leave. He insisted on this in exchange. Thus, Nullens came into existence, though they are not the true Nullens.”

“You refer to the powerless.”

“Now where did you hear about them?”

Madrood landed lightly on the ground, as did the other dragons.

Tempest flicked her fingers out. “I read about them somewhere.”

“Where?”

“In a book that disappeared.”

So many odd things had happened, as if the very fates themselves kept placing a finger on the scale to tip it in various directions.

“The new Nullen king at that time agreed to send a certain number of people to the Claiming each year,” I said.

“Why do the fae need to drain Nullens?”

“You don’t know?”

“I wouldn’t be asking if I did, now would I?” she grumbled.

“It’s the easiest way to add to their own power.”