Sewn & Scarred (The Fated Creations Trilogy #3)

Chapter Thirty-ThreeEvaline

Chapter Thirty-Three

Evaline

V asier hadn’t spoken to me in the last few days, ever since we fought on his tour of the castle. He didn’t make me go down to dinner with them, and for that I was thankful.

I’d just finished braiding the barbed wire into my hair when there was a knock at the door.

I cocked my head, ears straining to try to deduce who was at the door.

My heart leaped, I hoped it was Maeve. She’d come sporadically throughout the last few days but never stayed long, and I craved her visits.

Though, ever since Vasier had taken me on the tour and told me what he did to Sage, and what he did to her mother, my hatred for the Sorceress had begun to dilute. Seeing a glimpse into who he was—the venom he’d allowed himself to soak in these last several centuries—caused my blood to cool at the thought of having that man as a father.

I opened my mouth, to ask who it was, but must’ve taken too long because I heard an annoyed voice on the other side.

“If you want your magic back I suggest you open the door.”

I jumped up to open the door for Lauden but cocked my brow at him in skepticism.

“You’re going to give me my magic back?” I asked, as the door hit the wall.

He gave me a tight smile. “Don’t get too excited, it’s only temporary. Vasier wants to see what you can do,” he said, giving my outfit an appraising look. “That’ll do,” he said to my pants, linen shirt, and boots. “Let’s go.”

My mind turned with strategy as I followed Lauden and my guard through the winding hallways.

I tried to plan what I could do to kill Vasier as we walked. How I could use my magic to kill him the moment they gave it back to me. But those thoughts were dashed as soon as the doors of the throne room swung open. The room was filled with a hoard of Vasi standing at attention.

Any hope I had for killing Vasier, or even escaping, evaporated.

I clenched my fists as Lauden and the guard guided me to the center of the crowd, a few steps down from the throne. The Vasi parted a path for us, and I felt every pair of eyes slide over me.

Vasier waited with Sage at his side, the crimson throne looming over his shoulder.

Instead of stopping, Lauden led us closer to the busted open window. It was one I’d shattered, the one I’d tried to leap through before slamming into the invisible ward that ran just barely outside of the window. It wasn’t fixed yet, Vasier had mocked that he wanted to put stained glass there when I’d first shattered it, but I could see some of the framework for a new window already in place. The bones of the structure were pillared, like prison bars keeping me in.

Lauden stopped at the base of the window and nodded to the Vasi.

The guard reached down and wrenched my hand up, despite my protest. He opened his mouth and I saw his fangs slide out as he began to pull my hand closer to them.

Terror wracked my frame and I started to fight against him before Vasier spoke.

“The fuck do you think you’re doing?” My guard froze, his mouth still hanging open, as he moved his eyes widened.

He straightened and as he did his fangs tucked away.

“You told me to—” he began but Vasier cut him off, taking an angry step toward us.

“I told you to get her blood for Lauden, not to bite her.” Vasier shook his head, dumbfounded. “If you drink her blood, and then accidentally give her yours to drink to heal, you’ll turn her.” The guard beside me straightened and I saw a blush creep up his neck. “I’ve not waited nearly a millennia for this for you to fuck it up with your own stupidity,” Vasier snarled and threw a hand to my guard’s hips. “Use a fucking blade.”

A small breath escaped me as I thought of what it would be like to accidentally turn into a Kova here, even though I knew I’d only be a Kova for mere minutes before I was forced to become a Vasi.

The guard nodded frantically and flicked a dagger from his waistband and sliced it over my palm. I tried to fight him off, but his grip was too strong, and I gasped against the pain.

I remembered the way that same cut had felt when my mother did it to herself, when she showed me that memory of the night she created the Kova and Vasi.

I hissed and tried to fight him, but he didn’t speak. Only passed my now blood-filled palm to Lauden, who grasped my wrist and shoved my hand against the invisible barrier of the ward. I winced at the pain that reverberated up my arm and tried to listen for whatever words Lauden muttered low under his breath, but I couldn’t make anything out over the chatter of the Vasi behind me, the water lapping just below the window, and the gulls outside.

The moment the valve holding my magic back was opened, it hit me like a stampede of horses. I gasped at the way my power flooded through me, swarmed to the surface as if it was glad to be free of its shackles.

But my heart fell as I still felt the press of that ward against my hand. Even this, to get my magic back, did nothing to stop the ward from caging me in.

Please , I prayed. Please let my mother find a spell to help me.

The guard beside me shoved me until I tripped a few steps closer to Vasier.

My face twisted into hate as I looked up at Vasier, and noticed the way Sage stood rail straight beside him.

“Thank you for joining us, Evaline,” Vasier spoke, finally acknowledging me, and stepped away from Sage. “I’ve heard quite a lot about you and your magic,” he said, tossing a look back at Sage in a half-turn, then he straightened. “I’ve heard of the way you’ve mastered all four elements, and that your magic only gets stronger with each use.” He shrugged. “I’ve gone through a lot of effort—sacrificed more than I expected—to get you. I know you’re strong, but I have to be sure that you’re strong enough.” He waved a hand around us. “So consider this your chance to stretch your muscles, if you will. Show us some of that one-of-a-kind magic.”

I narrowed my eyes at him. “What do you want to see?”

He shrugged. “Anything,” he said and leveled his gaze on mine, as if defying me to disobey. He stood a foot from me, but with hundreds of Vasi watching every move I made, I wasn’t sure if I’d get a blow at him in time, or if my attempt would be lethal. And if I died, there was no one left to kill him, to stop him from waging war on the Kova.

And I couldn’t escape, not with the Vasi caging me against the ward.

I was about to take a step when I decided against playing into his wishes. There was a reason he wanted to see my magic, and I wanted to keep it from him.

“No,” I said crossing my arms.

Vasier jutted his jaw forward. “I’m sorry, I must’ve misheard you.”

I tilted my head. “I’d bet not, with the sensitive hearing and all.”

A flurry of murmurs simmered through the crowd of Vasi, but their First cleared his throat and took a step toward me.

“There’s that fire I’ve heard so much about,” he said with a twisted smile.

“Yeah,” I said, lazily turning my head back to Vasier. “Well, you get what you pay for. You want a prisoner,” I said, tossing my arms out of their cross. “You’ve got a prisoner.” I took a step toward him, begging him to continue closer so I could get my chance at killing him. “And last I checked, prisoners don’t always listen,” I said, another step, and shrugged. “Part of the reason they end up as prisoners.”

I swallowed the shame that started to creep up my throat at that as the conversation with Kovarrin before I left Rominia played in my mind.

Vasier took another step toward me and smiled, clasping his hands behind his back.

“That’s fine, Evaline,” he said, nodding. “If you want to be a prisoner, I understand.” He gave me a long look. “But if you’re a prisoner, that makes me the monster who jailed you. And I don’t think you want to see that. Because I’ve been a monster longer than anyone you’ve ever known.” He tilted his head and bared his fangs as he grinned. “I’m quite good at it.”

I called for my magic but didn’t need to look far. It was all around me, within me, begging to be used, to be stretched.

My magic surged secretly through the air, searching for a weapon, anything that I could use to cleave off Vasier’s head or tear his heart from his chest.

All the Vasi around me had weapons, but they were all stowed away in their holsters. My Air couldn’t lift one out, and I didn’t know if I could produce a vine dexterous enough to grasp a blade from its sheath.

Vasi behind him came closer to stand at his back, his side, and I knew they sensed the tension between us, and it didn’t take much to guess that I wanted nothing more than for him to be dead.

I had to will myself to unclench my jaw so they couldn’t see how that infuriated me, but his eyes gleamed and I knew it was from satisfaction. He was winning, because he understood that I could make no move to kill him without being interrupted by a Vasi first.

“Fine,” I snapped. This wasn’t my moment, I had to wait for another. “I’ll show you my magic.”

Vasier took a step closer to me before his hand struck out to pick up the hand that the guard had cut open. He held it up as if to show me.

“But first, we’ll need to lose a lot more of this,” he said coolly before he turned to the crowd.

“What are you talking about?” I asked and hated the panic that had started to seep into my voice.

The burly man who’d interrupted Vasier’s tour—I think Vasier called him Broderick—stepped out from the crowd and came to stand by Vasier’s side, pulling a dagger from one of the many attached all over him.

Vasier grabbed the knife and nodded. “Thank you.” Then he turned to me and smiled. “A Sorcerer’s magic lives in their blood,” he said, bringing the knife, blade up, in between our faces as he flicked his eyes toward it as if to inspect it. My skin went cold, afraid of what he’d do next. “When they lose a lot of it, their magic weakens.” He shrugged. “And in battle, blood is often lost.” With the last word, his eyes met mine again. I opened my mouth to speak when he flicked the dagger in his hand and lowered it.

There was a moment of silence before I felt the pain of the blade driven into my gut.

But then it hit me. The pain soared to heights I’d never experienced. It was complete, it was absolute. And it knocked the breath from my chest.

Vasier moved again, and I heard the slide of metal on flesh as Vasier pulled it from my abdomen, and stepped away.

I doubled forward, my vision swimming in clouds of black and red.

I heard Sage scream.

“What are you doing?” she screeched.

My knees hit the ground but the pain that reverberated up them drowned in comparison.

Vasier stepped out from in front of me, and in my periphery, I could see him hand it back to Broderick, who grasped it with one hand and used the other arm to hold Sage back from coming to help me.

I looked down at the blood spilling from my midsection, and the spray of it that painted even more crimson onto the granite as I coughed up blood.

The world darkened and lit around me all at once. Some moments were black and others were light. There was movement all around me, but my eyes focused on my blood coating the ground.

Because it was moving.

My eyes followed the flow of it and watched as my blood swirled before disappearing into a drain.

I coughed again, felt the splatter spray out onto my lips, and felt a few drops on my nose and chin.

Vasier had drains in his throne room. They were discreet, but drains all the same.

I wondered how many people had bled here before me. Wondered if Maddox had.

“You said you wouldn’t kill her!” Sage screamed, and I realized I hadn’t ever heard her stop. She was yelling and crying every moment, and I wasn’t sure how fast or slow they had been, since Vasier plunged the dagger into me.

I heard a sigh, and then Vasier spoke.

“Sage, calm down before someone has to escort you out.” I heard the clack of his soles against the stone and then saw his shadow looming over me. “She’s not going to die. I just need her to bleed. A lot.’’

Sage’s grunts and the scuffling of her shoes sounded and I realized she was trying to push past the Vasi.

“Why?” she pleaded.

Vasier knelt down beside me and placed a finger below my chin before tilting it up to look at him.

“Magic is like a muscle. It gets stronger the more you use it,” he explained, looking into my eyes. “It works the same for using magic when you’ve lost blood. The more your magic is forced to be used when blood, and thus magic quantities are low, the stronger it’ll be the next time you’ve bled. You’re my weapon against the Kova and I’ll need you sharp. I need you strong for when you inevitably are wounded,” he said, pursing his lips. Before he could continue, there was a commotion.

Vasier turned toward the noise. The Vasi standing there moved aside and unveiled several Vasi lunging for me, their eyes narrowed and their fangs bared.

But each of them—a dozen or so—were held back by a Vasi behind them. I saw the blond Vasi, the one who’d been a human, and realized they were newly turned, and each of them had their arms forced up and out at their sides as the Vasi behind them wrapped their own arms up, and braced their hands on the back of each of their necks, immobilizing them.

“Control it!” he screamed at them. When they didn’t quiet, he took a step toward them. “In all my years, I’ve never seen a cohort of new Vasi so incapable of fighting the bloodlust as you.”

A shifting began in the crowd, and his eyes turned on all of them.

I wasn’t sure what he saw, I couldn’t hold my head up anymore, but I heard him call to Broderick, to tell him to get them all out.

He turned back to me and I threw my head back, let it flop since I couldn’t stabilize it, and looked up at him.

“I’m sorry about that,” he said, flattening his hand down his shirt. “I thought bringing them here today would be an exercise in control. Help them to prepare themselves when they knew they’d be exposed,” he shook his head. “But apparently even older Vasi couldn’t handle it.” His face twisted into a look of disgust. “Weak,” he snarled at the group that filed out. Vasier took a deep breath and stood. “Now, stand up and use your magic.”

A throat cleared behind me, and I turned to see Lauden and my guard still standing there. The one who’d tortured Maddox. They were both standing right where I’d left them, their backs to the large and looming open window behind them.

Fury twisted in my gut at his command, curling around the pain in my abdomen.

I tilted my head back to meet Vasier’s steady gaze, and wondered why he hadn’t made that Vasi leave considering he seemed just as uncomfortable as the others.

I didn’t make a move to stand, just kneeled on the stone in my own blood, as the water from the sea outside of the window erupted to life. I didn’t have to look to know what was happening, it was my magic, and I guided it.

I had already got all the view I’d need.

A tunnel of water about the width of my leg breached from the surface and shot up. Vasier’s eyes flicked up to watch as the stream leaped forward, struck through the window, into the back, and out the chest, of the Vasi who’d tortured Maddox.

The wave wasn’t as strong as I anticipated, so it took a second longer to plunge through his chest than I wanted, and I knew it was from the blood loss.

Even so, he didn’t have time to move, my magic was still fast enough to catch him by surprise, and I didn’t turn to watch. My gaze remained on Vasier as his own looked over my head, at his soldier.

The guard let out a surprised breath before I heard his heart hit the ground in a soft pat, then the clack of his knees against the granite, then the smack of his head.

I heard Lauden curse, heard Sage gasp. And both of them had reacted faster than Vasier.

His response was calculated, and he made sure to hide whatever he felt before he lowered his gaze to mine. His eyes were steady on mine as he tilted his head, but I finally saw it—a flash of surprise.

Vasier knew my magic was powerful. He’d gone through a lot of work to get it. But I don’t think he expected me to be able to kill a Vasi with it, not on my own.