Bloodguard

chapter 34

Maeve

We don’t move from the terrace railing until Vitor and his entourage disappear into the darkness.

“Odd for the generals to accompany Vitor when his own guards followed him here,” Leith says.

Father sniffs with disgust. “Keep your gators close and your vipers closer.”

Leith rocks back on his heels. “You think he doesn’t trust his own son.”

“Vitor has certainly embarrassed Soro enough for Soro to turn against him,” I offer.

Father nods. “Ugeen’s presence bothers me more.”

“Ugeen?” Leith asks. “He was here?”

I nod. “Soro laughed about it when you were in the parlor. He said something about him groveling to Vitor to be permitted to accompany him here. Vitor allowed it but then confined him to his carriage like a rotten child.”

Father nods carefully. “Why come just to be humiliated? Ugeen knows better than to think that I’d allow him in. If Vitor thinks Ugeen or maybe even Soro will turn on him, he’ll want Tut and Pua close by.”

Pua carries a bardiche, an axe as long as his body, with him at all times. The immense ogre likely sleeps with it. Tut keeps a double-headed war axe strapped to him always. Add in their strength and size, and the best way to survive a fight with them is to flee.

“Ugeen is too weak to lead nightcrawlers to a fish,” Leith says.

“Soro isn’t much better,” Father says. “He’s too reckless, and I believe he fears Vitor just as much as he may love him. For now, Vitor will remain the High Lord. And for now, we must take heed of the start of a potential war. As much as I don’t want to agree with Vitor, too many want the resources Arrow has.”

Misery and dread clamp my chest like a vise. War may be upon my country, and many of my people will die if it comes to pass. And on top of everything, I still have Soro to contend with.

Leith offers a short bow…and then offers us a moment alone.

Father gathers me to him again, and for a moment, I’m that little girl who always sought his kindness in times of distress. “War or not, Vitor will never grant me power, will he?” I ask.

Father kisses my head. “Not unless it directly benefits him.”

“I’m worried for Leith.”

“Stay by his side,” Father tells me quietly. “You’ll need his strength and his heart in the days ahead.”

He’s giving me his blessing. I only wish Papa could, too.

He chuckles as I squeeze him tighter. “I love you, Father.”

Sadness clouds his tired eyes, ringing the orbits with deep shadows. “And I will always love you, my dear, dear daughter.”

My smile arrives with unexpected tears.

“Now go,” he says. “Find your gladiator.”

I run, snagging my cloak as I practically leap through the terrace doors.

But Leith is gone.

Along the perimeter of the rear lawn, there’s only the chorus of twilight owls and moonlight doves who flap their wings to add to their song. I race through the dark, my heart aching when I catch sight of the bench where Papa, Father, Giselle, and I used to sit and watch the sunset, each of us taking turns telling a story. My throat pricks as I hope that one day we will all sit on that long wooden bench again so Papa and Father can share their stories with their grandbabies.

My hair flies behind me as I run faster, toward the cottage. When I catch up to him, Leith is already past the blood orange lilies, their petals squeezed tight as they sleep, awaiting dawn. I stumble to a stop, the chill of the night cooling my lungs as I take long, deep breaths.

Leith takes me in, his stance rod straight and his grip tight over the hilt of his sword.

The petals along the starfire wisteria draping the weeping willow to my right open and close beneath the stars, releasing their tangy perfume and sweet nectar in drips that splatter along the ferns.

“What’s wrong, Maeve?” he asks.

“They’re all lies,” I say.

He cocks his head. “What?”

It’s one thing to know it and quite another to speak it aloud, especially in front of someone who I’d like to see me as his equal. “The power and influence I supposedly have as the princess are lies,” I say.

He brushes my windblown hair behind my shoulders.

“I’m disturbed by Soro’s sudden need to have me as his queen,” I admit.

“I am, too,” Leith agrees. Ah, and there’s that rage again, simmering at the surface.

He watches me as I take his hands. “There’s more,” I say. “As much as I stubbornly believed that when I am queen, Vitor must heed me, he won’t. To him, I’ll always be a child.”

“He will heed you if he wants to keep his head firmly on his shoulders,” Leith says.

“I can’t kill him for the same reason I know he won’t kill me.” I stare at our clasped hands. “He loves me as I love him. He’s Uncle Vitor, the same man who used to carry and fret over me as his own.”

“Vitor would kill you, Maeve, even if he loved you, if he saw you as a threat to his station. You know that, don’t you?” Leith shakes his head. “He talked of my family, even as he spoke of threats at the borders…”

I frown.

“He knows, Maeve. The elf is not daft. He was…feeling me out. He sees me as the threat that I am, and he’ll either come after me in the arena or make sure that I never fight another match.”

He does know. I hadn’t fully thought about the dangers to Leith outside the arena, should Vitor realize my plan… How on Erth hadn’t I realized this sooner?

My whole plan centers on Leith surviving the arena and becoming a Bloodguard.

He rakes a hand through his hair, the strands falling back in place to frame his face. Stars, he’s beautiful. And strong. And good.

“We come back to the same two options,” he tells me.

“And they are?”

“I kill Vitor and Soro. Or you wind up marrying one of them.”

I swallow hard. “Or we free Papa. He’s innocent. If I can prove that, Vitor must relinquish the throne.”

“And do you think Arrow would actually embrace him?”

No. I’m not sure they would. Even exonerated…he’s not fit to lead.

“Probably not,” I acknowledge, wishing I didn’t have to. “But maybe it will buy us some time.”

I wonder what he’s thinking. What he’s feeling.

After a few long moments, he sighs.

His sea-glass eyes are tormented as he takes me in, like the thought of me coming to harm is more than he can bear. “I thought we’d have more time, Maeve.”

Vitor and Soro have seen that he’s well. That he can fight. And knowing that I don’t want to marry Soro… Yes. Vitor has no doubt figured out my plan.

Once Soro does, too, he’ll come for Leith. With everything he has.

Leith’s hands frame my face, and he tilts my chin up to his. My mouth parts, already anticipating the feel of his kiss. But he doesn’t kiss me. Not yet.

His thumb rubs across my bottom lip.

I shudder in his arms and say what’s in my heart. “I want all my tomorrows to be with you.”

His eyes flare, the pale green glittering in the moonlight. “Whatever time we have, I shall forever cherish.”

I go up on my toes and press my mouth to his before I take his hand and guide us toward my favorite place in the world. To our personal slice of paradise. “Then let’s not waste it…”