Page 29 of The Uncrowned King (The Bastard Duology #2)

CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE

Miena surveyed the room that had once been her prison. Returning had been tougher than she’d anticipated. Even without a door, the chamber sent shivers down her spine. She rubbed her wrists as if the heavy manacles still restrained her hands. Standing in one place century after century, unable to move. To sit. To lay.

Or turn.

Her gaze had burned a hole in the wall across from her—at least, she had pretended it had. But her magic had been taken from her. A single mistake had stripped away all her triumphs and victories.

Nay. A betrayal .

It would haunt her for eternity. No matter how many times she hurt Villette, it would never make up for what her little sister had done. Villette had stripped away Miena’s defenses and erased everything she had worked so hard to attain.

Miena stopped and faced the new occupant. Kora stood upon the knoll in the middle of the room. Her arms were spread out at her sides, the manacles and chains locked around her wrists stretched across to the wall at either end. Her ankles were also bound, but that was only to prove a point. There would be no movement for Kora.

Blood continued to drip from the slice across her abdomen. A cut Miena knew Villette would feel deeply. Too bad Kora didn’t. Yet. She was still unconscious. She would wake soon, though, and Miena would delight in hurting not just Kora and Villette but also Derek. Because each time Villette cried out, he would imagine it was Kora. Miena smiled just thinking about the anguish she would cause all three.

She had made a mistake in sending him after Kora. Miena had believed her magic stronger than the link between a dragon and its mate. It had amused her to convince Derek to hunt her, but it had come back to bite her. The moment Miena knew he loved her, she should’ve kept him far away from Kora.

Those kinds of blunders couldn’t happen again. The misstep had nearly cost her everything. If she hadn’t anticipated a ruse, she might have been fooled. She still wasn’t happy about three of her sisters opposing her. None of them were in good standing with their other siblings. Thankfully, that meant the rest of their large family wouldn’t intervene.

A soft groan drew her attention. Miena waited for the hellhound to open her eyes. Kora blinked, trying to focus. Comprehension soon dawned, however. Miena didn’t move as she watched Kora’s gaze scan the chamber and land on her.

“It’s an uncomfortable spot, I know. I made a few changes just for you,” she said.

Horror skidded across Kora’s face when she found herself standing in frozen water. Kora tried to move her legs, but they wouldn’t budge. Miena had made sure they wouldn’t. Kora began to tremble.

“Hellhounds despise the cold,” Miena continued. “Personally, I love it. Since I know the torment of being surrounded by something I hate firsthand, I thought it fitting that you should experience it, as well. You’re probably wondering how you can possibly survive.”

“This won’t kill me for long,” Kora said through chattering teeth.

Miena smiled. “It made sense for Villette to want to work with your group. She’s not strong enough to take me on her own. She got lucky the first time. What I couldn’t wrap my head around was why you agreed to it. Villette is responsible for the deaths of not just your family but also all the hellhounds on Zora, after all. There is only one way the two of you would work together. A binding vow. It isn’t something known to many. We began it. Trust isn’t something that comes easily to my kind.”

“Imagine that.”

“I tested my theory when we were in battle. It took me a while to locate you, but once I did, every time Villette was injured, so were you. It confirmed everything. You might have guaranteed that Villette wouldn’t betray you by committing to that vow, but you also put yourself in an untenable spot. Sure, you feel her injuries, and she feels yours, but your life forces are linked. Hers will help keep you alive and force you to feel every unbearable second while you’re here. Not forever, but long enough.”

“For what?” Kora asked.

Miena pursed her lips and tapped her finger against them as she looked Kora over. Then she held out her hand and flicked a finger downward. Kora’s sleeves vanished, leaving her arms bare to the frigid air. “You really don’t want to know. Besides, it’ll give you something to mull over instead of the cold.”

“You won’t win.”

“I already have.”

Kora barked a laugh. “Sure.”

It was a brave show, setting Miena’s teeth on edge. “I always get what I want.”

“Maybe. But at what cost? Your sisters have turned against you.”

“I don’t need them.”

Kora tried to shrug, only to wince when her arms held firm. “Keep telling yourself that.”

“You would’ve made a good Star Person with that kind of fortitude.”

“I would never want to be one of you.”

Miena bent and smoothed her hand over the thick ice. “You have no idea what you’re missing. The power is inconceivable.”

“I freed you, and this is what I get in return? It’s no wonder no one trusts you. You never keep your word.”

Miena’s gaze cut to Kora as she slowly straightened. “I did what I had to do to get free. It’s the same thing you’ll try to do. The same as you’re attempting now.” She blew out a breath. “Yet, you’re right. I do owe you. Tell you what, ask me anything.”

Kora’s lips were tinged blue now. “As if I can believe anything you say.”

“Do you want to ask something or not? And don’t be so incredibly asinine as to ask me to release you.”

“Oh, I know better than that.” The teeth chattering grew louder. “Tell me why you have it out for the dragons? You can create your own, and the ones here aren’t the same as those that were freed—by your brother, I might add.”

Miena had to give it to the little hellhound. Of all the questions she could have asked, Kora had voiced the one she would answer truthfully. Miena shrugged a shoulder. “Because they’re happy. Because they don’t need us.”

“No one needs you. None of the other Star People seem to have a problem with the dragons being free, but you and Villette certainly do.”

“Ah,” Miena said with a wide smile. “Villette didn’t tell you, did she?”

“Tell me what?”

Miena held up a finger and tsked. “You asked your question. I won’t answer another.”

“Did you ever think there is something bigger out there than you? Something that ensures the dragons keep defeating you?”

“There is nothing else out there. Trust me. I’ve looked.”

Kora’s lips cracked when she smiled. “Maybe they didn’t want you to find them.”

“It was you, wasn’t it? Derek saw you and remembered who he was.”

“Not at first,” Kora admitted. “But eventually.”

Miena had never experienced that kind of sentiment with another. It was as foreign to her as death. “What does it feel like? Love.”

A dreamy look filled Kora’s eyes, and her lips curved softly. “Exhilarating. Like you can do anything. It’s a state of bliss I didn’t know existed. But there’s a sinking terror, too.”

“Why?” Miena asked, her curiosity deepening.

A look of sadness fell over the hellhound’s face. “Because once you love someone, and they love you in return, once you have that connection where words aren’t needed and can see and feel their emotions, you’ll never be the same without them. The thought of losing them, of never holding them again, is impossible to comprehend. The agony is unbearable. As if someone has reached into your chest and ripped out your heart.”

Kora painted a vivid picture. Miena tried to imagine feeling something like that with another, but she couldn’t. She would say Star People weren’t meant for trivial emotions such as love, but Lotti had proven differently. Except Lotti had been raised with humans. Perhaps that’s what made her different.

“Humans throw around the word love a lot,” Miena said. “It seems to rule lives as much as it ruins them.”

“Says someone who has never experienced it.”

Miena chuckled. “I’m not the one who bound myself to a dragon. You have no idea what you’ve done there.”

“I know what I feel.”

“In the heat of the moment. What about a year from now when there are no more battles to fight, and it’s just boring, day-to-day life? How much time have you actually spent with Derek?”

Blood seeped from Kora’s cracked lips when she grinned. “I’ll never spend enough time with him.”

“You’re pathetic.”

“You’re jealous.”

Miena was surprised to find that perhaps she was envious that Kora had found a way to return Derek’s memories and that he was, even now, plotting to get to her. Miena’s family hadn’t even come to free her from Villette.

“He’s suffered enough,” Kora said.

Miena quirked a brow. “Has he?”

“First you, then under Villette’s rule all those years. And then you again. Both of you messing with his mind as if he didn’t have a say in any of it.”

“He doesn’t. I made him. Therefore, he’s mine.”

Kora’s gaze filled with loathing. “He isn’t a thing. He’s a person. You don’t own him any more than you own the dragons. Derek has been enslaved, just as the dragons used to be. Imagine if he had remained because he wanted to instead of being manipulated and coerced. Imagine what it might be like to have that kind of ally. I hear Villette had that in Bryok.”

“Both of them were mine,” Miena snapped before she could stop herself. Kora had struck a nerve—and it hit deep.

Kora studied her. “If you’re going to kill Derek, do it quickly. He’s given enough.”

“That isn’t for you to decide.”

“You want revenge against Villette, then take it. I’m right here. Use me. But leave Derek out of it.”

Is that what love did? Did it make someone weak and reckless? Miena was glad she didn’t know what the emotion was.

Miena almost blurted out that she had tried to kill Derek during the battle. It hadn’t been Eurielle who stopped her. Something else had. Miena needed to figure out what it was before the next time.

“The more you ask me to spare him pain, the more I’m going to hurt him,” Miena said.

Kora’s entire body trembled. “Love always wins.”

“Excuse me?”

“It’s something my mum told me long ago. Love always wins.”

Miena walked to the door. She paused and said over her shoulder, “Not when I’m involved.”

She walked out and snapped her fingers, placing and securing a new door in the opening. Miena lifted the ends of her purple gown and stepped around the servants busily cleaning the room. Villette had kept her identity and power a secret, but Miena had shown everyone what she was the moment she arrived in the city.

Her next stop was the temple on Stonemore’s fourth level. She appeared in the nave of the building. The central part of the temple stretched from the entrance to the altar, the area free of chairs and benches to allow more standing space. Her arrival startled the red-robed priests, who quickly bowed at the waist.

“Have they been readied?” she asked.

Another priest walked into her line of vision. His dark hair was cropped short, and his pointed face reminded her of a bird. There was determination in his narrow-set, dark eyes. “I’m Aksel, my queen. I will take you to them.”

“I don’t need accompaniment.”

He bowed his head. “Of course not.”

She studied him for a long moment. He wanted something. Men like him always did. It was better if she discovered what it was now and put an end to whatever aspirations he had. “Lead the way.”

Delight lit his eyes as he walked toward the stairs that switched backed to the top. The red sandstone steps had been traveled so much there were depressions in the middle of each. She watched the priest try to look at her without turning his head.

“How many did you round up?” she asked.

His lips curved as only someone who took great enjoyment in their work could. “Three. The woman you provided has been most helpful. After some coaxing, that is.”

“Good. Daelya continues to give you names, I take it?”

“She does, my queen. Just a few moments ago, I sent a group of soldiers for another.”

Miena would have to stop by and see Daelya on her way out. Though she knew how the one-sided conversation would go. Daelya had thought to escape her fate, but she had sealed it the moment she divulged her secrets to Miena.

They finally reached the top of the stairs. Aksel turned and bowed while holding out his arm toward the door. Miena paused beside him and gently touched his face. She liked him. She would have to keep him around. As long as he didn’t overstep. He had aspirations.

Her gaze moved to the door. She opened it. There, her gaze landed on a black-haired woman who stood defiantly as three children huddled behind her.

“Come for them and die,” the woman declared.

Miena eyed the female who’d dared to stand against her. “You have no idea who you’re dealing with.”

“Oh, but I do know,” she stated before lifting her hands.

Magic pelted Miena, throwing her back as the room exploded with a blinding light.