A War of Silver and Gold Page 7

  He chuckled. “Goodnight, Lady.”

  He turned away and walked out of the room. Cassia pressed the door shut. She twisted around and leant back against the cold wooden panel. She exhaled and shook her head. She should have been more careful if she had been; then nothing would have happened.

  She turned her glance back to her bed. It was foolish to think so, but he was the first male she had let inside her room, and the first male she had allowed to lie on her bed.

  He was a lycan for the sake of Nature.

  8

  The blood in her ears thrummed.

  She woke up in the morning, her eyes sore from the lost sleep. Her guts ached from the two glasses of Flamebolts she had drunk. The heavy liquor had been necessary for she had to cope with the citrus smell that had suddenly befallen over her sheets. She hated lemons and everything that had to do with them, especially when that was how a certain lycan smelled.

  When the maids had come to her room to clean up, she had already woken up, took a bath to wash away the lycan’s smell and changed clothes. She hadn’t worn a dress that day. She had decided to return back to her old habits. Pants, loose shirts and leather jackets with her sword strapped to her belt and two daggers on either side of her waist instead of one.

  Times were becoming dark and dangerous again. She had to protect herself the best way she could even in the reputed safety of her castle, of her private chambers. She had come to know, after years of being on the run, years of being under the constant pressure of being killed, that nothing was to remain the same forever.

  Even there in her chamber, a place that she only had the key to the door, someone –anyone- could walk in and even stab her in her sleep. It gave her chills to think that she might be found one day by some random maid with her guts splayed on the bed beside her on an act of someone to avenge the death of a loved one. It was to be expected.

  She ran her hand down to the hilt of her sword. The green leather had once been hard and unyielding but after hours of training and fighting it had turned softer, or her hands had become so accustomed to it, like an extension of herself. She left the training ground, her forehead sweaty and her hands trembling, but she had gripped them in tight fists to prevent them from wobbling further.

  She wanted to hurl over a toilet and empty the contents of her stomach, but she gritted her teeth instead. It was beyond foolish of her, but after the War, she had become a remnant of what she had been before it.

  Her arrogance had left her seconds after she had been mortally wounded in the last battle.

  Her self-confidence had diminished to sapience.

  It had only taken minutes for the enemy to alter every little princeling essence that existed inside her.

  She was left empty and without a purpose after the War. She had been glorious, but void and hollow. When the King gave her reign over the city, she had suddenly acquired a purpose in her life.

  She bit her cheek and clenched the handle of the sword tighter between her fingers as her eyes skimmed towards Ael talking with Ana.

  The insolence of that male.

  She was certain that he played with her own capacity of anger-resistance

  The muscles on her left arm twitched, the fingers flexing around the leather handle. If he had made one wrong move Cassia would have cut his hands and held them above her fireplace as a prized trophy.

  She shook her head, dissolving those amusing thoughts; she gritted her teeth and rolled her eyes, as she walked past them, her head held high.

  The effrontery of him! Cassia wanted to snatch his head off. He had been in her bed the previous night, he had been tangling himself with her sheets, he had drunk her Flamebolts, he had broken her nerves, and he had almost dragged her to bed with him.

  She was angry, angrier maybe than she had ever been before.

  She was tempted to draw her dark blade on his neck.

  Filth.

  She swallowed her pride, instead and left the armoury in a hurry. If Ardan knew that the lycan was flirting with his beloved mate he would have skinned the creature, no matter what honour Ael had acquired in the city.

  “Are you alright?”

  Speak of the devil.

  Cassia turned around with a grunt. She smiled, though bitter and sour. “Ardan,” she tightened the grip on the sword. “Is this not your turn to stay with my godsons at home?”

  He blinked. “It is but Ana’s mother arrived yesterday from the Western Lands.”

  “Right. Why would I know this, I am just your Lady.” She shook her head. A careful swell of anger burst to life in her chest. “The bloody guards, lazy swines. I’ve told them to report me who goes in and who goes out.”

  “Don’t bother yourself with them.”

  Cassia’s eyes widened a burned with mismatched fire. “I commanded battalions in the War, and now I can barely take control of my own bloody guard.” She snarled at the soldier who passed by the spears in the armoury. She grabbed her dagger from her left side and pointed it at them. Her voice vicious and rough, every bit the intimidating little thing she was. “I’ll skin you, Drakon and feed you to my dogs. Where are the reports from yesterday?”

  The Elf stopped in his tracks and lowered his head in defeat. Cassia almost swore she could listen to Drakon’s thoughts. Whore. Witch. Bitch of the Adanei. Whore. Witch...

  She snarled at him, baring my long canines. Even though she lacked the male muscles, she had technique and experience the young elf could have only dreamed of.

  He could have challenged her in a swordfight. He could have drawn his sword and pulled her to the ring. He knew though, that she could easily defeat him. By Nevdori laws, anyone strong enough could challenge Cassia and snatch her position as the Lady of the City.

  “I am sorry, Lady I thought the list had reached you.”

  She waved her hand. “Bring the list to my chamber.” She motioned him with her head to get out. Once he left Cassia turned to Ardan.

  “You scared the poor Elf.”

  “I have a reputation to uphold.”

  He sighed and combed his fingers through his brown locks. “What happened yesterday in the kitchen?”

  Cassia quirked an eyebrow and sighed. “News travels fast in this place I see.”

  “The maids think the castle is haunted.”

  She shook her head and pulled the dagger back in its sheath. “What do you think, Ardan?”

  “Nightmares again?”

  She bit her cheek again and flinched for a moment, astounded that the elf before her knew her that well. “Apparently.”

  “It was the King again, wasn’t it?”

  She cleared her throat and looked away. Her eyes falling onto the silver swords and arrows splayed around the armoury. She was suddenly reminded of the battle camps, smoke and instantaneous laughter that got to her nerves and turned her blood to fire.

  “Blood is thicker than water, Ardan.”

  “Unfortunately,”

  He laughed and sighed. Last time she had heard his sinister laugh was in the night before the final Battle, he had sat with her away from the soldiers and had gotten himself drunk to the marrow. They had talked about anything that came to their heads and had spoken of their dreams. Maybe he was the only one she trusted. She had let him kiss her. One time. And she hadn’t squirmed away or yelled at him.

  She had remained there, his wine-coated lips against hers. One time and she had thought of giving herself away, allowing herself one moment of freedom where no sane thought crossed her head.

  She had pulled away as a fake smile had conquered her face. She couldn’t have done it. He had been drunk and it had felt as if she had snatched his freedom away.

  She couldn’t have gone to battle the next day, knowing that she had feelings for an elf that might have been killed. She needed her concentration to strike the enemy. That was what Cassia did best. Fight, because without fighting she was not whole, a part of her was missing.

  She shook her head, dismissing the thought. �
��I went to the kitchen to get wine, a glass fell from my hand and for some reason, I do not know, Ael had woken up. He followed me.” She sighed and looked at Ardan, boredom kicked in her system as she crossed her arms over her chest. “I didn’t wear shoes and he was chivalrous enough to help me.”

  “What did you do?”

  “I refused, of course. I had better walked over the glass than let him touch me.”

  “So he left you there in the kitchen?”

  She shook her head. “He is stubborn, he walked over the broken glass, picked me up and the oh-so-gallant lycan saved the damsel in distress.” She exhaled heavily and kicked her heel against the ground. “Swine.”

  Ardan laughed, his face turned a shade redder as he gripped onto the counter beside him to stop himself from indulging into more laughter.

  “What’s so funny in this?”

  “Oh! Sia, you never change.” He sighed. “Always the good, old Sia.”

  She shook her head, fighting a sad smile. She was thankful that he had been that drunk the night in the battle camp. When he had woken up, he had no reminder of kissing her, and she had made no move to remind him. It was better that way, forgotten to him and feverish to her own mind.

  “Anyway, go manage the lycan around your wife because he’s dangerously close to her.”

  “I trust Ana can take care of him on her own.”

  “If I were you I would have run to my mate’s side.”

  “Ana’s fine. If she’ll need my help she would shout down our bond, anyway.”

  She buried her fingers in her dark hair and tugged softly. “Don’t you have to take care of the children?”

  He rolled his eyes. “My mother in law looks after them today.”

  “Go make yourself useful in some way, Ardan.”

  “It’s my day off today. I came to get my wife to lunch.” He took a step closer to her and set his jaw. “If you need help, I am here for you, Cassia. I had ever been.”

  She gave him a stern nod and looked away. “I know. I know.”

  She turned and walked out of the armoury.

  It had been too suffocating in there.

  The atmosphere.

  She couldn’t stand looking at Ardan for a moment more. Ardan meant many things to Cassia, but first and foremost he was a friend and she couldn’t bring the shadows of their marred past in their unblemished future.

  She went to her chamber and remained there until she fell asleep on the desk. There was no knock on her door or a voice that could have woken her up.

  Drakon hadn’t come with the list.

  9

  Waking up to a spoilt bed because of the thrashing and pushing in the night during Cassia’s nightmares had not been one of her fondest experiences. She had tidied the mess as well as she could without using magic and washed her face in a hurry.

  She strapped the sword and the daggers on her belt and went out of the room.

  After the usual daily beast hunt in the forest, she returned to the castle empty-handed for the fourth day in a row. She washed the dirt of the forest from her skin, dressed in clean leathers and pulled the daggers and sword to her belt.

  Cassia was determined to drag the lycan to Nadaon’s town and then back to the Citadel.

  She had taken that decision the moment she had seen him kissing Ana’s hand. Since that moment, something feral had snapped inside Cassia. A muscle in her jaw kept on twisted along with another muscle in her thumb.

  It was the most infuriating moment of her life. She was filled with an avid need to grab that golden haired head of his and dip it in mud while jumping with the heels of her boots on his chest.

  She cleared her throat and walked down the hallway leading to the armoury.

  A scream, a female’s scream echoed through the training fields.

  “Help!”

  Cassia’s snapped towards the woods beyond the training rings.

  She rushed out of the armoury. Cassia’s hand instinctively went to unsheathe her sword.

  Ardan’s presence lurked behind her, following her towards the woods with the proficient grace of a warrior.

  The General turned her head to the side and surveyed the soldiers, who had now stopped and looked at the woods with a ghosting sense of fear in their eyes.

  Cassia’s blood chilled in her veins and her eyes narrowed at a brown lizard, climbing onto a mossy rock, its glittering dark eyes glaring at Cassia with curiosity, but holding a warning also.

  A shiver went down her spine.

  A few drops of melting snow fell from the branch of the tree, tapping against the black, mossy rock the lizard stood on. The creature remained there, unflinching, its eyes hollow, but a darkness brewed inside.

  Cassia shivered, and-

  The she-elf collided against Cassia, interrupting the silence in the Lady’s mind.

  The female’s lips quivered, her eyes teary as Cassia pulled her behind her, trying somehow to give her a sense of security.

  There was nothing more irritating than a female that wept from fear because she had taken not a second to think of arming herself with a sword or a dagger.

  Her frock was torn though, her legs bruised as if she had fallen multiple times on the rough ground of the forest, or as if someone had clawed onto her and tore into her skin. The blood soil of the forest was mixed with the she-elves’ blood, sticking onto her once white skin.

  “He... he was there.” The she-elf stuttered. “He... he killed... he killed my mate.”

  Cassia’s nose twitched, sensing the scent of the female.

  Drakon’s mate.

  “Who killed him?” Cassia didn’t know the she-elf, maybe she was the daughter of a farmer in Lord Dolothos’ town, down to the valley. The Lady hadn’t ventured to that brightest part of the city in years. Cassia grabbed the elf by her elbow and shook her in a failing attempt to bring her back to reality. “Who killed your mate?” Cassia shook the young elf again; her voice came rougher this time. “Speak, she-elf!”

  Her emerald green eyes widened as she looked at the forest. The pupils of her eyes blown wide from the horror she had seen. She shook her head, her brow frowning, her eyes narrowing as tears ran out of them.

  “It was a monster. A monster in the forest.” Her voice was barely audible.

  Ardan stepped beside Cassia. “Did you not hunt today?”

  Cassia’s eyes rose to his. “I patrolled for three hours around the woods. There was nothing, not a footprint or a scent that I could catch.”

  “Then what is she talking about?”

  “There was nothing, there had been nothing for days.”

  “Maybe you didn’t see it.”

  She snapped at him then, her pride immensely wounded at his words. “If you think you can do a better job at this than me then, by all means, challenge me for the Lordship.”

  He pulled away, flinching. “I didn’t mean it like this.” He shook his head and grabbed the she-elf's elbow. “I’ll take her to a healer.”

  Cassia nodded sternly. “I want to talk to her after my hunt.”

  Ardan left with the elf, nodding to the Lady.

  The General turned to the training soldiers in the rings. She said, pointing her sword at them, “Where is the lycan?”

  There was a long, pregnant pause, silence filled the training fields. The grip Cassia had on the sword’s handle tightened, her breath came faster.

  She threw a glance at the rock. The brown lizard was gone.

  Cassia could feel the evil emanating from the sinister woods behind her; it brought chills up down her curved spine.

  She wanted to turn around and peek through the thick, dense branches.

  It was calling out to her. She didn’t yield. She grabbed with her right hand the dagger that hung idly from her belt; scream for its mistress to use it. Her glance fixed on the lycan who walked towards her; he stood a few steps away.

  The General’s eyes inspected his features for any essence of guilt.

  “You called for me?�
�� His unique blue eyes reflected the darkness in the forest.

  “I did.” Her voice stern and cold as she met his glance with equal force. “Are you involved in this?”

  He looked uncomfortable, he flinched. His grip tightened around his own sword. “No,” he frowned. “Did you think I would abuse what you have given me?”

  “It crossed my mind.”

  She turned around and looked at the other elves around. “Winter in the other lands is coming, it would be the harsher Aethos has ever seen,” she shook her head and bit the inside of her cheek. “War is coming too.”

  “That’s the reason I came here in the first place.”

  “I’ve sensed it and Lord Argoth has too. I must meet him immediately.”

  “I can arrange that.”

  She turned and looked at the forest, her back shivered at the possibility of what might lurk in there in the dense and strange shadows. “There is something in there, Ael.”

  “You hunted today, didn’t you?”

  Cassia turned her glance back at him, she shook her head. “I did, but there was nothing, I patrolled for hours. Nothing.” Cassia tightened her fist and bit her cheek harsher. She had no other choice. She marched into the woods. “I must go in there again.”

  He grabbed her elbow, stopping her. In another occasion, when she wouldn’t have been that anxious she would have stabbed him with her dagger. She would have, but his glance was stable on her and reassuring and for one second she found herself leaning onto that reassurance he provided her.

  He shook his head, his mellow voice wrapped around her as she tried to escape his clutches. “Send a few elves to patrol the lands.”

  Cassia tugged her arm away from his soft grip and pursed her lips. “Do you dare insult me?”

  “No,” His brows rose as he made a sound exhale. “I don’t like arguing with you and every conversation seems to lead that way.”

  She sheathed her sword back into her belt and glanced at him, her eyes almost tearing apart every piece of self-restraint he had in himself.

  “I don’t need your help, Ael.”

  “I didn’t say you do. I merely offered some advice.”