Page 6 of Secrets & Curses of Crimson (Secrets & Curses Trilogy #3)

Chapter 6

Cassius

F orty-nine. There were still only forty-nine participants standing there. My heart pounded violently as I glanced around at each one, hoping that I had missed her somehow. But as I stared into the group of men, I knew she hadn’t come. Her green eyes were not hidden behind her green cloak. I didn’t feel her close by.

She had missed the trials.

This was the first time she had never made it. Panic was taking over because I felt helpless. I didn’t know what to do. I didn’t know where Thea was. My father stood to my left and Haden to my right. But my eyes stared at the gate, waiting for her to walk through it. She still might show up.

“Cassius.” My father had turned to face me. “Maybe…”

“We can wait a little longer.” I cut him off. “Maybe she ran into some trouble. ”

I didn’t need to look at my father or Haden to know they were staring at me with pity. The trials were supposed to start yesterday, but I postponed it until today to give her more time. Haden’s hand gripped my shoulder.

“She isn’t coming.”

I broke my trance on the gate and looked at Haden. He frowned when he saw how distraught I was becoming. Thea was missing. She never broke out of Exile to steal from the villages. Not once in the past year had she left Exile. My chest squeezed tightly. I was losing it.

“The trials are canceled this year; we apologize for the inconvenience. If you need a place to stay and food, we will open the commons area in the castle for the night,” my father said.

It was like a knife in the heart.

No one complained too much as they shuffled past us and took advantage of the free meal and bed. Once they were gone, I finally looked at my father.

“Son.” He frowned.

“She’s never missed the trials.” I started pacing because I was losing my fucking mind. “What if Luren killed her before she ever left Exile?”

Flashes of watching Thea die hit me, each one making me feel sick. I couldn’t lose her again, but I especially couldn’t lose her before we had a chance to fight for our lives back.

"Cassius, let’s not think the worst,” Haden said. I turned my body toward him.

“Why not? It’s a very real possibility, Haden. Thea never came out of Exile this time. She never stole from the homes. She never killed any guards we had stationed in the Forbidden Woods. She never came out. Sybil would have talked her into leaving by now.” I froze. “Unless Luren has her.”

“Are those the only two options?” Haden sighed. “Maybe she is still sitting safely in Exile.”

“She hasn’t let me in her dreams for days. I don’t feel her through the bond. I’m losing my fucking mind here.” I ran my hands through my hair. “What if she didn’t even get a chance this year because those fucking witches that attacked Exile got her?”

They didn’t say anything because they knew too. They knew something was wrong. My chest was heavy with longing and desperation. I missed Thea, and it felt like it was going to kill me. Where the fuck was she?

I was suffocating. If I didn’t even get to see her this year, I was killing Luren. I didn’t give a shit about the fucking prophecy. I would cut his fucking head off and stake it up for everyone in the realm to see. Della told me that it was not in the cards for me to kill him, that it would be Thea, but I was hardly containing this rage inside of me.

My shadows seeped from me as I walked into the castle and straight to my father’s throne room. I gripped the wooden table as I glanced over the map of Elloryon. Where are you, my love? My eyes were pulsing black as I looked over the map, like it would mark her location magically. I paused on Cerithia before closing my eyes and trying to calm myself down. I was spiraling.

My father, Haden, Leer, and Zade shuffled in and shut the door.

“Maybe we should declare war so that you can see if Luren has her?” My father looked at me. “We can declare, and you can cross into Cerithia to search for her.”

I contemplated it for a moment but honestly didn’t give it much thought at all.

“Then let's declare.” I glanced up at them staring at me as I lost my fucking composure. I was hardly keeping it together before, but now I was feeling a sense of urgency.

“Is that crazy?” I sighed and pinched my nose, closing my eyes tightly to control myself. “Tell me if I’m being irrational.”

No one said anything, so I opened my eyes and glared. I knew I was being irrational. Haden stepped forward .

“No one here is stupid enough to tell you that you’re being irrational when it comes to Thea.” He gave me a small smile. “We will do whatever it takes to find her. If war is what needs to happen to find her, then let's do that.”

“We are going to assume that Luren has kidnapped her at this point.” I nodded and took a calming breath. Suddenly, Wisp, as I had taken to calling her, appeared in front of me. She had been gone for days, and that also worried me. She was twirling around, her color purple. I wasn’t sure I had ever seen her this color before. But as soon as she made herself known, she disappeared again.

Damn it.

“What happens if we find her? Since the trials are canceled, how do we convince her to get the bloodstone?” Leer asked.

I had no fucking idea.

“Let’s worry about finding her first,” my father sighed. “If Luren has her, then we don’t know in what capacity. Maybe she escaped and went to Cerithia on her own.”

I froze and narrowed my eyes on my father. He gave me a look that let me know he was ready to fight if I really wanted to. “Don’t look at me like that, Cassius. She doesn’t know any better. If she went willingly, that would be the best-case scenario. Luren would think he could use her, so she’d be safe.”

He had a point, but I still didn’t like it.

“We will take a few days to train and get ready, then head out.” I nodded, feeling good about the plan.

This year would be different. Mikel was no longer interfering with us, thanks to Della. I would not let this happen another year. Thea was mine, and I wasn’t letting anyone keep her from me. Not the stars, not the gods, not her father.

A strong sense of hatred filled my blood bond, making my thoughts scatter.

“Fuck,” I breathed.

“What’s wrong?” Zade asked.

“I just felt Thea through the bond, and she really fucking hates something.”

Haden let out a sigh of relief.

“So, she’s alive somewhere. That’s a step in the right direction. Are you sure it was hatred you felt?” Haden asked.

“Yes. She is really fucking angry too.” The feelings were overwhelming to the point I had to grip the table and bow my head at the onslaught of rage she was pumping down the bond. “Fuck, what would make her feel like this?”

Flashes of what Jesper did to her last time plagued me. No. She would feel scared or anxious if that were happening. This was white-hot rage and hatred .

“Probably not something in Exile, so she’s probably out,” Leer said, hopeful. I agree with that. My first thought was Jesper or a member of her family.

The emotions down the bond cut off abruptly. I would rather feel her rage than nothing. I glanced up at all of them staring at me.

“Let’s get ready to find my wife.”

★★?★★

We thought we had been sneaky for the past few weeks. We destroyed an enemy scouting camp, but we had managed to stay out of sight of the Cerithian army. Palo, their new captain since Thea killed Jeb, was not known for being strategic. It was odd for him to play this game of cat and mouse. But when I found my empty scouting camp burned to the ground, I realized that Palo was on to us.

Then I found another one burned down a few days later. Palo had grown a pair recently because he usually wasn’t so aggressive with his tactics. I had gone to the Cerithian castle last night to try and find Thea, but I couldn’t. Her room hadn’t been slept in; dust coated the bedding, so I didn’t think she was there. My mind had been distracted since I didn’t find her. Maybe she was in Exile.

But now I had declared war, so I had to fight until I pushed Cerithia back to their lands. This should be easy because Palo was a spineless captain, but for some reason, he decided to be a pain in my ass these past two weeks.

I glanced around the burned scout camp we came upon. This was the third one he destroyed, and it just irritated the fuck out of me. How did he know where our camps were, and how did he do it without being caught?

“What do you want to do?” Haden glanced at me.

“We need to make this a face-to-face battle. Let’s find the Cerithian bastards and end them. I will handle their coward of a captain, Palo, by myself.”

We headed back toward the base camp we had set up. The temperature was dropping with the setting sun. All I could think of was going back to Cerithia tonight to spy on Luren and figure out where Thea was. Suddenly, something in the air shifted, making me glance around us. But I heard them before I ever saw them. I stopped and held up my hand so that all the men halted too. We were on the edge of a large clearing, and across it I saw Cerithian guards on horseback.

I slipped on my helmet to get ready for our attack. It was clear that Cerithia didn’t expect to see us either because they were loud as they talked and rode through the woods. A moment later their captain halted. Gods, Palo was much shorter for a male than I remembered from our one brief meeting. I was instantly pissed off that he was on Kaida. That was Thea’s horse, not his.

Onyx seemed to recognize Kaida as he became frantic to get over to her. He wouldn’t move, though, until my command. I decided I was stealing her fucking horse after I killed Palo.

Palo wore a helmet that covered his whole face, but I could feel his eyes on me. He was waiting to see what I would do.

“Their captain is mine,” I called out.

Palo’s horse took a step towards us, and I took that as my signal to meet him in the center of the field and end him so I could go find my wife. Palo hesitated for a moment before charging straight for me, his men following. Onyx was much faster than Kaida, so I met him a little past halfway through the field. I unsheathed my sword. Palo copied me, and we collided.

The force of our swords knocked us both from our horses and to the ground. I recovered quickly with my sword in my hand. I charged at him, not giving him one second to spare. He tripped over his feet but then regained his fighting stance as we swung at each other. Palo met me blow for blow, which surprised me because men didn’t last long in a sword fight with me. The clanking of swords around us let me know that our men had followed us and were now in full battle.

Palo ducked low and pulled a dagger out, almost spearing me in the stomach. For fuck’s sake, when did Palo become a worthy opponent? I barely dodged it, but I managed. Palo and I stared at one another for a long moment before we both charged again, but this time we did the same moves. I narrowed my eyes on him. Did he learn my technique to fuck with me? If I was being honest, it was working. Palo stumbled back, getting caught up in his own feet because his stance wasn’t wide enough.

We fought, just the two of us, amongst the chaos of all the soldiers. It was clear our men knew that we would fight each other, and no one bothered us.

I could hear the screams of dying men behind me. Magic blazed through the fields, but I could not tell who had the upper hand—us or Cerithia. A strong scent of burning overtook the space around us, and it was so foul that my eyes burned with disgust. Their captain stumbled backward as I swung my sword toward him.

He was getting sloppy and fell over the body of a dead fae. I smiled triumphantly as I sent my shadows for him. They wrapped him up, ready to crush his body into dust at my command. My eyes shifted to Wisp, who was suddenly in front of me. Her flames flashed from dark green to purple.

I don’t know what that means, little viper. I watched her for a moment before turning my attention back to Palo. I stepped forward and sneered at him. I raised my dagger toward him, but Wisp got in between us again, this time flashing red.

“Any last words, Captain?” I hissed.

Wisp expanded at my tone. What was she so damn worried about? I glanced around, hoping that Thea was here for some reason. Why else would she be freaking the fuck out? I didn’t see Thea. I took another step toward Palo, but Wisp refused to let me get close.

Then Wisp expanded and exploded between us, ripping my shadows from Palo and shooting me back. Fuck, I landed on my back and tried to catch my breath as I stared at the stars. The wind blew across my face, letting me know I lost my helmet. I stood, fucking furious that Wisp was being a psycho over Palo. Jealousy that Thea’s soul was protecting another man made me enraged.

I stood up, ready to go kill Palo solely on the fact that Wisp was attached. She was mine. I wasn’t sharing her affections with anyone. My eyes landed on Palo as he stood. He was fucking dead, and I would make it painful. He hadn’t lost his helmet in the explosion, but it was clear he was watching me. I took a step toward him, but I stopped when I felt a rush of lust and desire through the bond. Gods, it was crippling as I tried to walk to Palo. I physically couldn’t move because of Thea’s emotions; she pumped down the bond.

What the fuck was Thea doing that made her feel like this? A new layer of jealous rage coated me as I stood frozen on the battlefield, staring down Palo.