Page 44 of Wrath Of Suns And Shadows (The Osparia #2)

Chapter Thirty

Emelyn

I woke to breakfast on the side table, but Kade was nowhere to be seen.

He must have just dropped it off because the Pojo next to the tray was still hot.

Steam billowed off it. The thought of him made a frown tug at my lips.

He was trying to be kind, but I couldn’t get past why he would’ve brought me here if he cared at all.

I sat up, feeling weak from the irons. I grabbed the hot mug, took a long sip of the tea, and took a deep breath afterward as it loosened my taut muscles and made me relax further into the bed.

Once I had set it down, I quickly grabbed the tray and indulged in the mixed fruits, oats, and toast. It was light and delicious.

Once finished, I crawled out of bed and went to relieve myself before washing up and brushing out my tangled hair.

I made my way to the closet, which appeared to be filled exclusively with gowns and extravagant dresses.

Swiftly, I changed into a simple black gown.

I missed my fighting leathers and battle axe.

I hated these royal clothes. They looked good on my body, but they didn’t suit me for who I was.

A light knock came from the other side of the door, and I almost wanted to laugh.

“I’m your prisoner, remember? No need for such pleasantries,” I said, knowing any fae could hear from the other side of the door. Though I knew it wasn’t just any fae; it was Kade.

I heard the click of the locks, and then a moment later, he walked in.

“You deserve your privacy, just like anyone else,” he offered, and I scoffed, glancing at him.

He continued, “We have to get ready. Valla has made it home and isn’t pleased. We’ll have to put on another show, Bunny.” I couldn’t hide the flinch at Valla’s name.

“What if she . . .” He stopped my words by walking to me and gripping my shoulders.

“She won’t touch you again, not while I’m breathing.” One of his hands palmed my cheek before it fell away, back down to his side. “I have my father’s favor. I planned this. I just need you to play along when we get down there.”

“Alright.” I nodded, and he took a step back and offered me his hand.

“Are you ready?” he asked, and I took his hand to let him know I was as we made the walk down to the throne room.

When we were still three hallways away, I could hear Valla’s viscous shouts. My palms grew clammy just from hearing her wrath.

Kade placed a steady hand on the small of my back, and it calmed my racing heart.

Since she’d tormented me in that cage for days, I hadn’t faced her.

I didn’t fear her, per se, but it was as if my body were reacting to her.

The torture she’d inflicted. I didn’t have control over the nerves, but something about Kade’s hand and his closeness soothed me even though the moment his light touch disappeared, I felt his demeanor change from an ally to an enemy.

He glanced over to me, a silent question if I was alright to continue, and there wasn’t a bone in my body that doubted if I would have told him no, he would have carried me back to my room and faced this himself, even with the cool mask he had placed on his face.

But I looked forward with my chin held high, and he nodded for the soldiers standing on either side to open the double doors to the throne room.

When they did, Valla shifted on her feet and was instantly facing us. Her hair was out of place, and she had a murderous twinkle in her eyes.

“You,” she spat toward Kade before shifting on her feet and sending a burst of fire through the room directed toward both of us, aimed to kill.

Kade sidestepped and reached for the flames hurling at us and redirected them to the floor effortlessly, but they had heated my skin and made my brow sticky with a thin coat of sweat.

“See, she doesn’t even care to keep your property alive, Father. She’s reckless and a danger to your plans.”

“Enough!” Valos spoke fiercely behind her, standing from his throne.

“Father, please,” she snapped back to him, pleading. “I didn’t lose the Peacebringer. Kade stole her from my ship. It was a setup.”

“Father, she is a liar. She left the Peacebringer with a couple of soldiers who couldn’t handle the responsibility or the power the Peacebringer is capable of.

She escaped and killed them with little to no effort while Valla was busying herself with other things.

I showed up and spotted her abandoning Valla’s ship and captured her myself. ”

“I do not care. The only thing I know is that Kade delivered the Peacebringer to me, so the glory of her capture belongs to him, and he shall keep her under his watchful eyes until I proceed with my plans.”

“But, Father—”

“That’s enough. You’re dismissed. All of you.” He directed the last of his command to Valla, who was seething. I could feel her ferocity thrumming through the air. Kade grabbed the crook of my arm aggressively with a disgusted expression as he dragged me from the throne room.

Once we made it to the hall where both of our bedrooms were at the end, I lost my footing and almost tumbled to the floor.

He grabbed me, and for a slight moment, his mask slipped and I saw the concern in his amber eyes.

The flames he wielded practically danced within them.

Moving from within the depths of his very soul.

He looped his arm under my knees when he realized my legs didn’t want to work, and he carried me to the door of my room.

He shouted a command with venom to the soldiers before they opened the door, and he slammed it behind us. The moment we were hidden away, I watched his persona fade and the same Kade from the ship came back.

“Emelyn, are you alright? What’s wrong?” he asked, setting me on the bed.

“I just feel weak,” I replied, lifting my arms, showing off my new jewelry. Imagine if you continuously kept pumping poison into your body, never reprieving yourself of it. That was what it felt like to constantly be in irons. I felt ill and weak, and I hated it.

He grabbed my wrists and looked at me with pleading eyes.

“Emelyn, I will take these off of you, but I need to trust you. There are guards, and my father has eyes everywhere. I need to know that you will stay in this room, that you will not try to escape. Please, let me help you.” I watched the concern play out over his face as he gripped my hands in his.

“Yes, you can trust me,” I whispered, and he didn’t hesitate as he held my wrists out and shoved the key into the first one, and it unlatched from my arm as he went for the next one to do the same.

I gasped for a breath as power thrummed to life within me again. The seared marks on my wrists healed.

“Thank you.”

“No need to thank me. Try to get some rest. I’ll be back. Guards are by the doors. If you need me, knock on the door in the bathroom. It connects to my room.”

“Whose room is this?” I asked. I hadn’t thought about it before.

“Mine.”

“Then whose room are you staying in?”

“Evereht’s.”

“Why did you put me in your room?”

“You don’t want the answer to that, Bunny.” He looked me over possessively. He didn’t have to tell me why now.

Males.

“Plus our rooms are the only ones with the conjoining bathroom, after all the time we’d spent on the ship together I thought you might want a little privacy.” he added thoughtfully.

“But what about Rhet? And what if you’re not in your room?” I changed the subject.

“This is a palace, I’m sure he found a place to rest his head.

And don’t worry, all you have to do is think of me, and I’ll come running,” he quipped, giving me a sly grin, and I rolled my eyes at his flirty jesting.

But I couldn’t deny the small flutters that filtered through my gut as he walked away and closed the door behind him.

A full day went by, and I hadn’t seen Kade at all.

I walked over to the door in the bathroom more times than I cared to admit.

The guards would come in and leave meals for me.

Three throughout the whole day. I hid my bare wrists whenever they would knock to deliver it.

They never stayed long, nor did they say anything to me, and it made me wonder if Kade had threatened them.

Suddenly, the door flung open as I was in the middle of eating my dinner, and I flipped my plate while shoving my hands under my ass to keep whoever was walking in from seeing my wrists unbound.

Evereht tossed his hands in the air in defense.

“Jeez, calm down.”

“You bastard, you scared me.” I quickly grabbed for the plate that was now flipped over and oozing all the deliciousness I was thoroughly enjoying moments ago onto the bed.

“Sorry, I’ll get you a new one, and I’ll call for them to bring you fresh linens,” he said as I stood, and he began undressing the bed.

A few minutes later, he walked over to the door and cracked it.

“She made a mess. Call to have new linens put on the bed.” He said it with an edge to his voice that made it seem like we were doing something more than just eating dinner, and I picked up one of my boots sitting at the end of the bed and threw it at his head.

He didn’t even try to dodge it as it thudded between his shoulder blades. He closed the door and lolled his head back with a laugh. I didn’t know when it shifted, but in the same breath, I started laughing with him.

“You’re impossible, you know that?”

“You love it,” he said as he walked back by and sat on the empty bed.

“It reminds me of someone back home,” I murmured without thinking as my mind shifted to all the times I had chucked a boot at Ace within our lifetime together.

The memory made a smile crack across my features that was different from the full belly laugh only moments ago.

Gods, I missed him, and being alone in this room all day had only added to all the thoughts warring through my mind.

Of everyone I missed, of my need to escape.

Of my need to learn more about the powers that lurked within my being.

I could feel a stirring in my chest that seemed just as curious about me as I did it.

“Sorry.”

“No need for apologies. I enjoy thinking about home, keeps me hopeful.”

“You still have hope even after you’ve been dragged to Ember?” he asked, and I nodded. “How?” he questioned lightheartedly.

“Because I know I’ll restore peace to this world one day.”

“What makes you so sure?” he probed with a grin.

“Intuition,” I answered, and he leaned back on his elbows on the bed.

“I guess we’ll have to wait and see.” A knock came from the door. Rhet stood quickly, opened the door, and gathered the blankets. The woman on the other side protested.

“Your Highness, you shouldn’t be making beds. I—”

“I have it handled. Thank you, you're dismissed,” he ordered with a wink before he closed the door in her face. I helped Evereht make the bed one corner at a time.

“Where’s Kade?”

“Off doing princely things. He asked me to check in on you. But I must say, you don’t seem to be up to anything very exciting.”

“There’s not much to do when you’re a bird in a cage,” I said, tossing the pillows back on.

“As much as I would love to bust you out of here, I can’t, brother’s orders.”

“I’m sure that’s more than just your brother’s orders. No one in this palace wants me free.”

“I wouldn’t say that. There are plenty of people in Ember that are on your side. Maybe you’ll get to meet some of them at the light festival.”

“What’s the light festival?”

“It’s something we do in Ember once a year during the day of no sun.”

“During the summer eclipse?” I asked. I had seen them growing up, but I was sure our ways of celebrating differed from theirs.

“Yeah, we have a big celebration. The fire lanterns are beautiful. The night of the eclipse is the darkest of the year, and the fire lanterns are even more beautiful than the stars.” Evereht stared off, lifting his hands as if he could see it now. I plopped down on the bed.

“It sounds lovely, but isn’t that still weeks away?” I asked, and he sighed.

“Yeah, looks like you’ll have to wait weeks before doing anything fun, Peacebringer.

” He grinned mockingly, and I sunk farther into the bed as he stood.

“I’m sure Kade will be back soon. Until then, good night, Emelyn.

” He said it over his shoulder as he walked out of the door and closed it gently behind him.

That asshole had forgotten to replace my dinner.