Page 54 of A Taste For Lies (The Apex Kingdom #1)

Chapter 54

TARAN

A s soon as the last word my lynx might ever hear me speak crosses my lips—an ugly, terrible truth—her eyes roll back in her head, and she collapses, unconscious, in my arms.

I rise, cradling Alora’s prone body against mine. My claws have receded along with my horns.

I leave Alora’s amber lynx resting on Lord Winters’ corpse, a final symbol of vengeance, where it belongs.

“I don’t believe this. You’re really leaving Mei?” Carter grabs my arm. “Hey!”

I wrench away, unable to stop the snarl that rips out of me at another Apex getting this close to my female in her vulnerable state.

He stands unmoving with crossed arms and narrowed eyes, waiting for an explanation.

“There’s no time,” I grit out. “Any minute now, Alora could go full feral, and it’s going to take everything I have to contain her. You’ll be our only defense against anyone we encounter. I’m not even sure we’re going to be able to get Alora out of here and onto that ship. We’d have to locate the key to Mei’s cell—or break it open—then deal with a second Apex lost to her creature. My father or Vorrick could be down here at any minute. There’s no time,” I repeat, frustrated.

Carter tosses an anguished look at Mei, chirping softly to herself in her cell, completely lost to this world. He nods once, then holds out his hand. I prick my finger and swipe it over his so he can use it to open the passageway door for us.

“She’ll never forgive you for this,” he informs me as the dungeon wall closes behind us, unsheathing his sword as he walks.

“I know,” I reply, walking as quickly as I can while keeping my hold on Alora. “I just have to believe she’ll fight her way back so she can hate me for it.”

As we walk, my gaze keeps darting down to the brand of the amulet that mars her chest, raw and red and standing out in stark relief against her bronzed skin. It’s a twin to the faded white one on my upper thigh, and at the memory of the pain that accompanied its marking, my rage springs anew, imagining it inflicted on her.

Lord Winters was her kill by all rights, but godsdamn, I wish I could have made that piece of shit suffer.

I’m lost in vivid fantasies of all the ways I could have made him pay—for the boar, for today, for my mother, for everything—when Alora stirs, making soft growling sounds. We’re less than halfway to the exit—farther than I thought we might get, though not as far as I’d hoped.

I stop, bracing myself, and open my mouth to warn Carter, but before I can get his name out, my lynx’s eyes fly open, and she lets out an echoing hiss. At least Carter’s aware now.

Her amber eyes are wild, rolling. They shine with the animal-like luminosity I’ve only glimpsed in them once before as she snaps at me. I snap right back, baring my sharp canines. She bucks against my hold, thrashing, trying to get away. I grapple but manage to keep a hold of her.

“Fuck,” Carter swears. “What can I do?”

“Just keep watch,” I tell him, capturing her gaze with a dominant glare.

She growls, low and angry, refusing to submit, refusing to back down .

“There’s my wild lynx.” I give her a little smirk and then, with no warning, lunge forward and bite down hard at the sensitive spot where her neck connects with her shoulder. She whines, a sound halfway between defiance and surrender. I let my canines press just deep enough to bruise, careful not to break her skin.

I hold her there, pinned by my teeth and arms, until finally, finally , her body relaxes. Slowly, I open my jaw and release her from my bite, leaning back to lock eyes with her again. Inch by infinitesimal inch, she lowers her gaze. I huff, my stoneclaw more than pleased by her creature’s submission.

It takes every single shred of whatever humanity I still have left to hold myself back from tasting her right then. Audience be damned. I thought marking her would be enough, but now that I have, I’m increasingly desperate for more.

But I meant what I said earlier. I want more than this animalistic claiming, her lynx’s surrender to my stoneclaw’s dominance. I want all of Alora— her consent, not her creature’s. I console my stoneclaw by admiring our mark on her neck, branding her as mine.

Carter stares at us, stunned, his sword slack in his hand.

“Thanks for keeping a lookout,” I manage to snark, rearranging Alora’s head to rest against my neck, tucking her limp body against my chest. She starts purring, actually fucking purring, and I wince as the vibrations go straight to my already painfully hard cock.

“Your relationship is deeply weird,” Carter announces.

“You better thank Faunera I could dominate her enough to calm her,” I retort. “It’s the only chance we have of making it out of here.”

“You’re telling me. Most of the time, she dominates you .” Carter seems to have gotten over his initial shock and has regained his usual careless humor. I glare at him over Alora’s head, but the truth is, he’s right.

Usually my lynx fights me tooth and claw—and I love every second of it. The only time she ever seemed to let me take over was in the bedroom. It’s when her own natural instincts are more present, and she recognizes and even embraces the dominance of my stoneclaw. I had a hunch she might respond to it in this state, too. I’m just relieved it worked.

By silent agreement, we start moving down the passageway again, slower this time as I continue to balance Alora. She’s like carrying dead weight. I’m strong enough to do it, but it’s awkward. Plus, we’re heading downhill, about to enter the deeper underground tunnel that lets out near the docks.

The scent hits me first. Apex.

I come to an immediate stop, and Carter mimics me as only someone who’s followed my steps for a lifetime could do. We share a loaded look.

Guard? he mouths.

I shake my head, frowning. The scent isn’t familiar. It’s not a castle guard.

That can only mean one thing: These are Lord Winters’ males, brought here to assist in his coup. The hard set of Carter’s jaw and the way he renews his grip on his sword tells me he knows it, too.

Alora lets out an ear-splitting yowl. The element of surprise lost, Carter takes off for the enemy Apex, leaving me alone to contend with a vicious feral lynx in female form.

She arches her back wildly, and I finally lose my grip. She crashes to the ground hard, and her head strikes the rough stone floor.

“Alora!” I shout, diving for her. She’s blacked out. As I cradle the back of her head in my hands, it feels wet and sticky. I check my fingers. Stained with her blood.

The scent—strong and metallic—sharpens my anxiety to a knifepoint. For a moment, I forget to breathe. I’m about to go ballistic when I catch her pulse beating at her neck, strong and steady, and am able to wrest myself and my creature into some sort of—not calm, nowhere close to calm, but at least not full-out panic.

Not yet.

Carter’s already back, breathing hard, his blade in his hand. It looks hastily cleaned, as if on someone’s tunic. “We need to go.”

“I know,” I bite out .

“What happened?” Carter bends down and examines Alora’s head, grimacing when he sees the blood.

“I dropped her.” The words are soaked in self-loathing.

Carter snorts. “You mean she pushed out of your hold and fell.”

“Same result.” I gently lift my lynx into my arms again, taking care to rest her injured head against my chest. I am filled with disgust at myself for letting her come to harm while she’s unable to care for herself.

“There were only two.” Carter doesn’t sound happy about that—he sounds worried. Which worries me.

I push out a breath. “It doesn’t matter. We need to get Alora to that ship. Let’s go.”

He nods his assent, and we hurry through the tunnel.

I do my best to avoid looking at the bodies of the too-young Apex as we pass. Carter wears a mask of indifference, but I know he’s anything but. He’s the one who trains the young ones, mentors them, rekindles their hope when they’ve been yanked from everything and everyone they know and love. He’s the best of us in that way.

I hate that I’ve once again put him in a situation where he’s having to fight against his own kind. Alora gives a soft whimper, and I tighten my grip. It feels like I put everyone in this position.

We come across a couple of Apex guards lying in wait. I catch their scent and alert Carter, who dispatches them efficiently. I stay back, holding Alora close. Carter wipes his blade on the tunic of one—a female, barely older than Ethan. If only we could wipe our souls clean so easily.

The waning light of dusk softens the familiar view of the marina as we exit the tunnel. Relief surges through my veins when I spy The Sea Witch still docked at port. I don’t know what we would have done if Captain Ataxas had left without us, but I’m beyond thankful we don’t have to find out.

We approach the ship’s berth carefully, but it’s dark and quiet. Alora is still passed out against me, her blood invisible against my black cloak, but its scent is stuffed in my nostrils. I can hardly think around it .

The crew is running about, performing last-minute checks above The Sea Witch . The captain is nowhere in sight.

Carter motions for me to stay put while he heads up the gangplank. I lurk in the shadow of the ship, my lynx held tightly against me, one hand cradling her injured head.

“What are you doing here?” At the sound of an unknown male voice, I’m immediately on alert, my stoneclaw snarling inside me. What the fuck is going on?

“I could ask the same thing of you,” Carter retorts.

“Where’s the Lynx?” the man demands.

I weigh my options. I’m running out of time to get Alora on board that ship and secured before she wakes up brawling again. Her steady breath is reassuring, but I won’t be able to quell my unease until a healer looks her over—and if she wakes up too soon, that chance will be lost.

“Where’s the captain?” Carter counters.

“I’m here, I’m here.” The captain’s voice gives me the confidence to make my way up to the ship. I’m running out of time. She’s running out of time.

But when I come up the gangplank and see the scene on the deck, I immediately know I’ve made the wrong decision.

The Thalassarian captain looks frustrated but resigned, a curved, wicked-looking dagger held to his throat by a human male with russet-colored hair and piercing yellow-brown eyes. Carter has his back to me, both hands in the air. He glances over his shoulder, then groans when he sees me stupidly coming up the gangplank to join him in captivity.

A woman with silvery white hair and sea-deep blue eyes bursts onto the deck from below. “Harlan!” she admonishes. “What do you think you’re doing?”

The man’s mouth sets into a thin line, but he doesn’t remove his dagger from the captain’s throat.

I see the exact moment Eleni realizes who I hold unconscious in my arms. “What happened?” Her words are fast, panicked .

Alora suddenly shifts out of her stupor, moaning plaintively and turning her body, revealing the angry brand on her chest.

The man sucks in a sharp breath and he grabs Eleni by the shoulder with his free hand, halting her progress towards Alora. “They marked her with the amulet. She’s been turned feral.”

An involuntary snarl rips out of my throat. “She’s not feral. She’s battling with her creature. She’ll find her balance, and then she’ll come back to me.” She has to come back. If I have to sell my soul to Zathis to ensure it, I will.

The hand with the dagger sags away from the captain as its owner studies me with an excruciating blend of pity and disgust. As if I’ve finally lost it. Maybe I have.

“Taran?” Maeve hurries onto the deck, changed from her costume, but her face still painted with dark shadows. Astrid is at her side and my gut uncoils a fraction. They made it. “Where’s Mei?” she asks, her eyes widening at the sight of Alora.

Carter grimaces. “We had to leave her.”

Maeve’s hand flies to her throat. “No.”

The ringing of the city bells cuts through the night air.

“Shit. Time to go,” the captain announces. A crew member hurries behind me and draws up the gangplank. All across The Sea Witch , the sailors fly into action.

“She was lost to her creature,” Carter is telling Astrid, who’s examining a cut on his shoulder that’s bleeding sluggishly. I didn’t even realize he’d been hurt. “We had to flee. We couldn’t get both of them out.”

“So you left her behind.” The russet-haired man sneers. “Fucking typical.”

A rumble starts up in my chest. “Who the fuck are you?”

“Um, he’s with me,” Eleni pipes up, stepping around the man’s body. He growls. “This is Harlan, the, er, former key master of the Veridian Guild.”

“ You .” I seethe. At least one good thing has come from this night—now I’ll get to kill this bastard myself .

Eleni blocks the man— male —with her body, or at least she tries to, petite woman that she is. “He requested to join us.” She pulls in a deep breath. “He’s an Apex.”

“I know,” I reply, the words clipped, and Harlan jolts back a step.

“So you understand then? The king has been blackmailing him against his will, forcing him to do his bidding in exchange for letting him pass as human.”

Harlan raises his hands as if facing a rabid animal. “I couldn’t do it anymore. I couldn’t help him conceal the amulet when I knew what he was doing with it.”

“Well, we have the amulet, no thanks to you, and we’re taking it the hells out of this country and far away from my father,” I tell him. No bitter taste floods my mouth. It’s not a lie. “So you can fuck right off.”

But the ship is already leaving its berth, the crew urging The Sea Witch to top speed. The city I’ve lived in all my life disappearing into the night.

Maeve touches my arm. “Taran, surely you can understand wanting to escape the king’s manipulation.” Her emerald eyes catch on the blood matted in the Lynx’s chestnut locks. “She’s hurt.”

“We met with trouble in the tunnels.”

“I took the liberty of scuttling His Majesty’s fastest ships,” Captain Ataxas boasts. “There’s no chance of them catching us once we hit open water.” His face falls at the sight of Alora. “I’ll get the medic.”

Finally, I can focus on the female in my arms. I look down at Alora, and the wave of despair that washes over me is so powerful that I nearly fall to my knees.

A small hand on my arm has me staring despondently into steady, deep blue eyes. “Katerina says you need to get her down into the brig before she wakes up.” Eleni’s words are apologetic, sure I’m not going to like this.

But she doesn’t know I’ve also been lost to my creature before. I know full well Alora will need to be restrained, and quickly. The need for tangible action shakes me out of my hopeless fog, and I start towards the hold .

I pause after two steps, looking over my shoulder to Astrid. “Watch him.” She nods sharply, sliding over to stand beside the former key master, who passes her a dark look.

“I’ll be back up for you later,” the medic, Katerina, tries to tell Carter, but he immediately disobeys her and follows us.

“Not a chance, sweetheart.”

Eleni peels away, murmuring something about getting fresh clothes and bedding for Alora. Gratitude rushes through me at her consideration. I should have thought of that.

There’s another gut-punch moment when I see the cell. It’s clean enough, but that’s about all you can say for it. There’s not even a bench for her to lie on. The manacles are heavy, iron. Sure to mar her beautiful skin.

“She’s strong.” Carter’s voice steadies me as always. “She’s just as strong as you.”

“Stronger,” I admit.

“Exactly. And you made it through, didn’t you? In worse conditions than these, might I add.”

I grimace at the memory. At least it serves the purpose of reminding me that conditions mattered not at all when I was lost to my creature. Just like Mei chirping to herself in the dungeon, I had no idea where my body was physically located while I was lost inside my mind.

“Why don’t you sit down inside the cell while I examine her,” Katerina suggests in a practical tone. “We’ll wait until we absolutely have to before we put the manacles on.”

I settle inside the cell, leaning against the wall. Alora is still cradled against me, muttering nonsense.

Eleni appears, along with Captain Ataxas, who assures us we’ve made it out of the marina and are heading for Thalassar. I lean my head back against the wall and shut my eyes, letting the adrenaline drain out of me.

I hear the quiet sounds of the others working—Katerina cleaning the blood from Alora’s hair and bandaging the brand on her chest. Eleni undoing the full skirt of her gown, removing it to reveal the tight leggings that stunned me stupid the first time we met. Taking off her boots, unlacing her blood-splattered top to replace it with—

“Whose fucking shirt is that?” My eyes fly open.

Eleni rears back, her hands trembling as she clutches the fabric. “H-Harlan’s, Your Highness,” she stutters. “Katerina instructed me the shirt needed to button up and—”

Carter comes to her rescue by reaching in with his good arm to silently pass Eleni my extra shirt from his pack. Bemused, she trades him the key master’s shirt and slides mine on Alora. As soon as she’s covered in my scent, my lynx starts to purr again.

Misery overwhelms me, and I fight the prick of tears.

“Your Highness.” Eleni addresses me in a gentle tone. It has a warmth that reminds me of my mother, which only makes the next words hit harder. “It’s time.”

I shudder, a full-body shake. The others have moved outside the cell, giving me some semblance of privacy. Gently, I shift Alora’s prone body to the pallet Eleni prepared and tenderly clip on the manacles.

Immediately, she starts to thrash.

Eleni firmly ushers me out of the cell, and the captain locks it behind us with a resounding clank. Inside, Alora tosses in a fitful sleep, the iron bands already rubbing her skin red. Her rich chestnut hair is plastered to her head with sweat and the remnants of caked blood. The pain of her panicked whimpers reverberates in my bones.

Too late, I was too late.

“Your Highness.” Eleni calls me over to where Katerina is cleaning Carter’s wound, exchanging words with Captain Ataxas and Maeve in quiet murmurs.

“Taran,” I croak.

The human looks alarmed but respects my wishes. “Taran,” she corrects herself awkwardly. “The captain said he has something to tell us.”

Captain Ataxas’ sun-weathered face is serious. “I was just telling Lady Ashbourne that the threat of Thalassarian pirates is unfortunately quite real. And I can’t be sure what kind of reception you can expect from the royal family.”

Eleni’s big blue eyes sparkle. “And I was just about to tell the captain that Alora was wearing the dress I designed for her tonight.”

We all stare at the tailor, uncomprehending. She lets out an impatient huff. “Which means I know where all the hidden pockets are.”

From the blood-stained bundle of silk in her hands, she pulls out a necklace. Shining with an otherworldly quality, the luminescent pearls seem to reflect off her sea-blue eyes.

I can’t help my hoarse laugh. The start of it all. The heist that brought her to me.

The captain’s eyes are wide. “That’s…that’s…”

“The Pearls of Azure,” I confirm. “I gave them to her last night.” Four sets of eyes widen. “I wanted her to have them to barter her way into Thalassar. They were her prize, after all.”

Carter shakes his head, a glimmer of admiration in his usually guarded eyes. But none of them know the full extent of the pearls’ value and I have no intention of explaining now.

As the others talk in excited whispers, I wander back to Alora’s cell, leaning my forehead against the bars. Her head tosses in panic, her eyes fluttering—she’s locked fast in a mental battle with her creature.

I close my eyes, emotionally drained to the point of near collapse. But I know this is just the beginning of my vigil. And her struggle.

“Come back to me, Lady Lynx.” My voice breaks, but I manage to choke out the rest. “I have one more truth to tell you.”