Page 31 of Lies That Blemish (The Ember War #3)

Aisling

It felt like an out-of-body experience walking down the aisle with Maxim as the sun set on the horizon. I’d fought him again, and he’d taken full control of my body, even my tongue. I was gagged, cemented in whatever shape he wanted me. I walked with a military posture, jaw clenched shut as I screamed a guttural wail from my closed throat. The onlookers, about a hundred in all, watched in a mixture of mild fascination and horror as Maxim and I met the priest at the end of the aisle. I wore a stupid white Luskin dress, and I hated everything about this moment, but nothing as much as the stack of papers waiting for me at the end of the aisle.

As we reached the end, I peered down to see the words Surrender of Amersea to Luska , and I felt like I was going to throw up.

No, no, no . Not like this. This wasn’t even a peace treaty where we both agreed to stop fighting. This was me giving a madman ownership of my country.

I screamed louder, but because Maxim had frozen my tongue and jaw, it was just an animalistic, garbled wail. I wanted to trigger him. I wanted his people to see what a psycho he really was.

And it worked. Maxim’s hand snaked out and wrapped around my throat, pinching off all sounds along with airflow.

“Shut up . Let’s get this over with,” he growled.

The priest looked uncomfortable, but I peered around to see a few men in the front row wearing red Luskin soldier uniforms who were grinning. Everyone else appeared in shock at Maxim’s behavior. Good .

When he let go, I gasped for breath through my nostrils, my jaw still clamped shut.

Maxim looked at the priest. “I want this done in sixty seconds. Make it legal.”

The priest nodded fearfully. “We are gathered here to witness Aisling Everhart’s surrender of Amersea to Luska by her legal marriage to Maxim Vlek. Under Luskin law, when a woman marries a man, her possessions become his possessions.”

I snorted, and Maxim glared at me. Well, that was a convenient law. Everything made sense now! I knew now why Kohen had us marry first, other than being in love. It meant that this truly wasn’t a legal wedding. I felt a grin trying to tug at my lips.

“By signing this agreement, you enter into a lifelong marriage, and Aisling’s possessions, including her rulership, pass to Prime Leader Maxim.”

Everyone clapped loudly, but I could see their eyes bugging in shock; the clapping was too coordinated. He was forcing them.

“Sign here.” The priest handed Maxim a pen.

He grinned and leaned forward, signing the document. Then he handed me the pen. I tried with everything I had to fight him, but my stupid traitorous arm snaked out and grasped the pen. In that moment, a wild hope came over me and I scanned the crowd and the fields behind them, praying Kohen would jump out and save me from this fate. But as my hand came down on the paper and I signed my name, my fate was sealed. Though this wedding might not be legal, it was happening whether I wanted it to or not.

The crowd clapped again.

“By the power I carry as a priest of the high church of Luska, I grant this marriage,” the priest said quickly. Then I was walking again, following Maxim out of there. The crowd stood, seeing us off, as Maxim and I walked over to the two generals wearing Luskin uniforms. “I have what I need now. Take Amersea.”

Take Amersea . Those words were like an arrow to the heart.

“Lord, we’ve lost Sergeant Whitney. We have no activated bombs.”

Maxim shoved the papers into one of the men’s chests until they caught it. “You have this. Bring me my bounty by morning, or you’re fired.”

Maxim then walked angrily away, and I scurried after him against my will. Take Amersea by morning? Stars, had my people had enough time to flee?

‘Liana, they’re attacking tonight. Make sure Riverine is empty.’

‘We just blew up their western base,’ Liana said. ‘Hold on.’

Surprise rushed through me at her words. She blew up their western base?

‘It’s too late. We’re married. I married Maxim and signed away all my rights to Amersea.’ Whether it was truly legal or not, it was done. The papers were signed in front of a hundred people.

‘ Did Kohen have a new vision? Did he see us both making it out of this alive?’ I asked as hope began to beat in my heart.

‘Just hold on,’ Liana said again, and my hopes were dashed.

If Kohen died trying to rescue me, I’d never forgive myself.

‘Liana, tell him not to come unless he’s sure!’ I told her frantically as Maxim forced me back towards the house after him like the loyal little pet I was.

But Liana didn’t answer, and I knew then that my sweet, protective Kohen would risk his life for even a chance at saving me. If I had to mourn the love of my life and live as Maxim’s slave forever, then my heart would never recover.

Just as we were stepping up onto the back porch, a uniformed soldier came running toward us. “Prime Leader!” he called. There was a handheld radio in his palm, and he was wide-eyed. “Grigov Base has been hit, a direct hit by the Amerseans!”

Maxim froze, and my heart beat wildly.

“What?” he asked in a deadly calm, his gaze flicking to me.

“Sir, they had two dozen Talanagi. Dropped a large payload on the base. We’re still getting a body count. We think they are coming back with more. In retaliation for…” The soldier’s gaze fell to me.

Two dozen . Charlene and the new cadets pulled that off? Incredible .

Maxim released my facial muscles, and I grinned.

“Tell me what you know of this,” he commanded me.

For a wild second, I thought he actually had the power to force me to tell him the truth, but nothing came out of my mouth.

“Tell me!” he bellowed.

I stayed silent with a half-cocked smirk.

He turned back to the soldier. “Send all available troops west. Kill any Amerseans on sight.”

My gut clenched when he said that. Charlene and… Valor weren’t there, was she?

‘Liana, get everyone out of there. They are sending all troops your way,’ I told her as Maxim grasped me by the back of my hair and the sky filled with flying Talanagi heading west.

‘Don’t worry, we are.’

Maxim snapped his fingers and then his wolf was there. I’d forgotten about the creature since he rarely had them around, not like others who stuck close to their bonded. “Walk this perimeter all night long and warn me if you suspect anything,” he told the wolf, and it took off.

He peered up into the sky at his firebird and obviously gave her some instructions because she flew off as well.

“They think they are going to take you from me?” he asked me. “Your people are my people now. You are mine now,” he growled.

I thought he might call a strategy meeting with all of his leaders. That’s what I would do, but no, he rushed us inside the house while the guests left the “wedding” and then he locked all the doors and told the staff to not allow anyone in. He wasn’t a leader. His generals were leading without his direct command. He was a coward. A boy playing at being a leader.

We ate dinner together in absolute silence as I watched his nervous tics play out. Eyes darting from the window to the door. Pursing lips. Picking nails.

When someone finally knocked, he actually jumped up, and I laughed. Suddenly, my hand grasped the steak knife beside me unbidden, and I held it to my own throat. Maxim held my gaze.

Go ahead and kill me, bastard . I’ll come back in three days and make you wish you were never born , I wanted to say. But thought better of it. The truth was Maxim was unhinged, and that scared me.

At the door, the soldier whispered something in his ear. The entire time, the knife was pressed to my throat. When the soldier left, he shut the door and walked over to me. I finally released the knife, dropping it to the floor. He had me stand, knocking the chair over with how fast I’d moved, and then I was pressing my body up against his, leaning into his mouth.

“Don’t,” I growled, and then his lips were on mine.

Bile rose in my throat as I fought the kiss, fought the control. I hated myself for not being able to move, hated myself for kissing him back with my body but not with my heart.

After a moment, he pulled back, grinning.

“I am ready to consummate our marriage now. In the morning, we will go stay in my country house while all of this blows over.”

I opened my mouth to speak, to tell him to eat razor blades and die, but he clamped my jaw shut.

He walked from the room, and I followed him, one leg in front of the other while I was screaming inside.

‘Liana! I—’ I didn’t know what to say. ‘I’m losing hope,’ I told her honestly. ‘I need good news.’

Liana’s energy washed over me, strong and motherly then. ‘We just got back. Victory is here with the defectors. She made it. Victory is safe!’

Tears built in my eyes, and joy flooded my heart. She was safe. It was all worth it because Victory got out and was safe.

Okay. I could endure anything if it meant my sisters were safe. Even the unthinkable.

‘I love you,’ I told her. ‘I’m going to close the bond now.’

‘Aisling, wait. Kohen is ? —’

I shut the bond, not wanting her to witness what I was about to go through, and then Maxim opened his bedroom door. He walked inside, and I followed, shutting the door behind me as he commanded. I walked past him and over to the bed as he forced my limbs to move. His back was still to the door as he watched me take off my clothes.

“Get on your knees,” he commanded, and I fell to my knees before him, tears streaming down my face. I looked up. And when I did, I nearly screamed. Above his head, hiding in the rafters, were a pair of striking blue eyes.

Kohen.

I saw Kohen at the same time Maxim must have sensed him because he craned his neck to look up just as the ear-splitting bang of the gun went off.

One second, Maxim was standing before me, looming over me, and the next, he was tipping over like a falling tree, his head blown open. For the first time in days, my body was my own. My hands shook as adrenaline rushed through me, and the door flew open.

Another shot. And another. Kohen killed two guards in rapid succession and then leaped from the ceiling and landed before me, placing his body in front of mine like a shield. Three more people came to the doorway and one to the window. Kohen shot them all with deadly precision. They blinked out like lights, going from standing to completely without life within a second.

I was in shock. Everything happened very fast then. Kohen had to help me dress. I knew we didn’t have much time before more people came, and I couldn’t speak. I couldn’t believe he was here. We crawled out the window together, and Maxim’s wolf was dead outside the window. More soldiers approached us, and then two more shots went off.

Kohen was killing people from fifty feet away. It was incredible. We ran on foot to the thick woods by Maxim’s house, and Onyx was there. I nearly wept with relief when I saw him. Kohen got me onto his back first, and then crawled on in front of me so that we were facing each other.

Kohen peered over at me. “Do you think you could use your power right now if we meet sky resistance?”

I wanted to say yes. I wanted to be a badass who wasn’t affected by what I had just gone through, but instead of answering, I just burst into sobs.

Kohen crushed me to his chest, fully engulfing me in his strong arms.

“Onyx, avoid the sky. We’re going on foot through the Wilds,” he told her.

I broke down in the safety of the arms of the man I loved. Being controlled by a madman for two days, being forced against my will to marry him, kiss him, and almost…

“It’s okay,” Kohen whispered in my ear as Onyx walked through the forest as fast as he could. “Whatever happened with him is over now, and it doesn’t change how I feel about you. Aisling, I love you, and I’m only sorry I didn’t get there sooner.”

His words were like a balm to my wounds, and I realized at that moment that no man had ever really loved me until now. Not my father, not Jace, not even Alek. Kohen was showing me what true love was, and instead of pushing it away or thinking I didn’t deserve it, I was going to lean into it. I was going to hold tightly to it and cherish it forever.

“I married him. I signed over Amersea,” I told him shakily.

Kohen smiled then. “I had a vision not five minutes before I reached you. Luksa signs a peace treaty now that Maxim is dead and your marriage wasn’t valid.”

Hope burst to life in my chest. “They do?”

He nodded. “No one wants war anymore, my love. We all want to raise our children in peace.”

I let him hold me as Onyx walked us all the way to the area where the Wall had been torn down to let Talanagi in. The place where it all began with Kohen and me.

As we crossed into Amersea, I looked into his eyes.

“Did you ever once just think, ‘Wow, that girl is not worth what I’m going to have to go through to get her?’” I joked.

He stroked his finger over my bottom lip, sending shivers down my spine. “Not even once, my love.”

I prayed then that every woman had a love like Kohen Badshah.