Page 97 of Taken By the Lord of the Nocturne Court
Such cheap moves would have worked against my brother, but am I notthe other twin? The Sunspawn? The abomination who should have never been born? A beast should never be hunted when its mate is around.
As I dart from between the trees and into a moonlit grassland, fatigue dulls my focus and turns my limbs heavy. I’ve almost burned through the eel, but it doesn’t matter. The assassin is ahead, speeding for a stone shelter among stormy hills. It might be where he and his associates were to regroup, but the mistake of failing to kill me at the first try was one that will cost him his life.
I’m no longer able to travel within the shadows like before, too exhausted to maneuver between realms at such high speed. Despite the ache in my legs, I am hungry for my target’s blood and focus on his back and the pale braid swinging left and right like a convulsingsnake.
Even the shadows enveloping me are thinning now, but it’s like a word on the tip of your tongue. Almost there. I pour my energy into the claws of one hand, grow them, ready to pin him to the ground.
Ifeelthe arrow coming this time, but as it speeds past me, I realize it was not meant for me.
Instead, it pierces the assassin’s neck, swiftly followed by another. The second arrow gets him in the head, killing any hope I might have to learn the name of his employer.
I cry in protest and catch up to the poisoner, who’s collapsed into the grass, but when I roll him over in hope that maybe he could still survive this, he looks back at me with empty eyes.
I roar in helpless anger, and the shadows clinging to me pulse on my skin when I recognize the stomping of hooves.
“Are you alright, cousin?” shouts a smooth voice I want to choke out of the bastard forever.
My fingers twitch with the need to curl around a graceful neck, because I had the chance to keep this witness alive, and only someone who needed to keep them quiet would have shot those two arrows.
“I heard what happened from my father,” Anatole says. “Do you recognize him?” he asks and dismounts as if he hasn’t just taken this kill from me to cover his pale ass!
I rush to my feet and shove him back so hard he bumps into his horse. “I had him! Stop sticking your fingers where they don’t belong,” I roar, and his eyes widen when he takes me in. A shiver trails down my back when I see my face reflected in his eyes. I don’t look quite like myself, and my gaze is black as if I’ve covered my eyes with coal.
“Wha—” Anatole frowns, and despite my rage, I realize the golden sun tattoo cannot be covered by shadows. When they become a part of me, it becomes visible too. I force them all to the ground with a push so quick, it leaves me exhausted, but I can only hope he didn’t realize what he was seeing.
“I came to help,” he says through gritted teeth, but he’s alert, his eyes searching mine for fuck knows what.
A raspy growl escapes my throat, and I shake my head. “You only helped yourself by getting him out of the way, didn’t you?” I ask, taking a step toward him. “My promised told me to kill the traitors for him, but I doubt they’re all dead.”
“I don’t know what’s gotten into you, Kyranis. It’s like he bewitched you. You waited seven years to go get him despite my prodding, and now you treat him like a flower in a secret orangery and attackme? Why would I be after you?”
Fury boils over, and I grab the collar of his shirt where it sticks out above the breastplate and tug him closer. I want to bite off his nose and spit it back in his face. “Both your sisters plotted to murder him. And now I’ve been attacked right before you arrived. To take Luke?” I growl, out of my mind with rage at the very idea of this bastard hurting my promised in any way.
The sick imagery of Anatole forcing Luke into his bed erupts in my mind against my will and it makes me want to let shadows engulf me again and rip him apart.
“Elodie had no idea what Vinia was planning,” he says, because of course he’ll be sticking to that story.
“Nobody believes that,” I roar, shoving him away, because his sheer presence is agitating. I wish I could banish him forever. “And I don’t want you creeping around him! He’smine!”
Anatole scoffs but doesn’t even try to fight me, stepping away instead. “He was the one to join our hunting party! Are you blaming me for trying to get to know my future Lord’s promised? Don’t keep him on a leash. It’s unsightly.”
“It’s none of your business what I do with him! If you’re so desperate to know him, you’ll get to do that once he and I are married. If I see you hovering around him one. More. Time. I will forget we’re related!”
“This is not behavior I would expect from someone of your station,” he says with a sneer. I bet he could have put ointment on his bruised face but has refrained from it just to show everyone what I did. And I’m not sorry in the slightest.
“Go on, tell others what a rude fuck I am. You think they’ll strip me of my title? Doubt my claim to it? What they want is safety, not my vibrant personality,” I say sharply and poke at his chest. He doesn’t back away, but sweat shines on his temples and above his lip. He is nervous.
Well, of course he is. I’m near certain he was the one to order the hit, because who else could have done it? I cannot be sure, though, not with all three of the assassins dead, so I push down my anger and sigh. “Look, I almost died, Tristan is gravely injured, and if that bolt hit me, not him, our land would have no protection from Heartbreak, soexcuse mefor losing my patience,cousin!”
Anatole is losing his composure too, because he actually pokes me back, like an angry child. He’s nowhere near as small as his brother, but unlike me, he’s on the slender side. I could crush him if I wanted to, and he knows it.
“If you cared so much about the Realm, you would have let us find Dark Companions instead of forcing us to wait around for years. Instead, you’re making us stick to old rules made centuries ago!”
I ball my hands into fists and step so close our foreheads almost touch. “The rules are there for a reason. Or do you want another Night of the Bloodknife,cousin?”
His defiance falters, and he looks away, as if bringing up the coup against the first Lord Nightweed makes him uncomfortable.
Anatole takes a deep breath and pulls away with his arms crossed. “I await your marriage with bated breath. I am certain it will be a charming affair, and your wedding night, the first time you ever lay your hands on yourbeloved. I’m sure you cannot wait.” Bastard has the audacity to roll his eyes.