Page 148 of A War of Three Kings

Murdoc taps his foot loudly and we both turn to him. “We have urgent matters at hand and little time. I am in communication with King Niall. They are coming, but there are things we need to do to pave the way for them. It is a good thing I now have an excuse to see you regularly.”

Murdoc has the guards call for hot water so we can make tea, then we sit at my table and get to work. Suddenly, I no longer feel like a vulnerable prisoner. Like a scared little girl.

And I know how I am going to get out of here.

Chapter 39

Aldrin

Istalk around the priestesses’ sanctuary like a pent-up beast, fury rolling through me in sickening waves. Or perhaps it is fear, like I have never known it before. My limbs are jittery, my thoughts race in circles, and I can’t stand still.

This is where the mad king took her.

The signs of slaughter are all around. Scorch marks on the buildings. The grass churned and kicked up where Mothers of Magic were dragged. Large footprints of armored boots embedded in clay, where the dirt turned to mud with all the blood spilled, then hardened again.

I can’t get the ambush scenes Keira shared with me out of my head. The fear thudding in her heart. The horror that froze her limbs.And the pain rolling through her head where that bastard struck her multiple times.

Finan is a dead man walking.

My fingers twitch with the need to crush his skull in my bare hands.

I should have been here the night his forces attacked. Objected more strongly to this place being left unguarded, sacrilege or not. Self-loathing burns through me. I was supposedto protect her. To make sure no man ever laid an unwanted finger on her again.

I run a hand through my hair, and it snags on all the tangles. I rub my tired, dry eyes and scratch the multiple-day growth across my cheeks.

Deep fatigue hangs over me like a heavy blanket. Sleep has eluded me of late. I spend every moment I can planning and preparing to get her back, and when I finally fall onto my bedroll, I toss and turn for hours. In the darkness, every possible way Keira could be abused flashes through my mind in graphic detail.

I kick a broken bucket discarded by the stream and it clatters as it flies across the ground in a caved-in mess. A deep need to unleash my fury until I have shattered everything that stands in this settlement fills me. I want to roar my rage as I rip houses apart with my hands. But that won’t help anyone. Keira least of all.

This place is packed full of soldiers moving with purpose, when all I want is the peace and privacy to lose my mind. I sit down on a log and bury my head in my hands for a long moment, struggling to breathe. It is like an unseen enemy has their fingers wrapped around my throat so tight I can hardly drag in air.

A few times in the last fewdays, I have felt Keira in my head. The sensations have been weak with her magic mostly suppressed. A vague caress of emotion rubbing up against my soul, but always in panic or anger.

I can feel that something horrible is happening, but I never know what.

Is she being tormented with words or physical abuse? Would I know if the mad king attempts to assault her body, or would she block me out with shame? The unknown is eating me alive, even though we get daily updates on how she is faring in the palace.

My hands shake in my lap, and I ball them into fists to hide the fact. I told her to hold on for me. To eat the poisoned food that is stealing her magic to keep up her strength, but I completely fell apart when her presence winked out in my head.

It felt like a part of me died.

Like the Soul Ripper itself devoured my spirit, breaking me down to parts for the Life Creator to make something new from all the broken pieces.

A desperate, maddening need constantly curls within me to open the portal into the heart of the palace and march our army straight through, but it would be a bloodbath. They would swarm us as we traveled through that bottleneck.

My subconscious screams at me that I am not doing enough. That I should penetrate the palace with a task force and steal her away like we did with the books hidden there—but they are expecting that, and her enemies would keep coming for her even if we succeeded.

In this, King Finan has handed us a perfect opportunity to destroy him.

A reassuring hand falls on my shoulder, and I jolt back to reality under its heavy weight, looking up at Edmund. His eyes are feral, glowing with a literal emerald fire that started burning the day his children were taken.

“Get up, Aldrin. The time for action has arrived.” He holds out a hand and I take it. “Save your murderous rage for the enemy.”

“You are sure about these Southern lords?” I bite out. “That most of them have now declared their allegiance to King Niall?”

Edmund flicks his head toward the portal that leads to one of our so-called allies. King Niall and his delegation party step out of it with mists billowing around them.Countess Lynna and Lord Bradford race over to greet them.

“Lord Tiernay is here himself to oversee our army’s travel through the portal to his estates,” Edmund says. “I inspected his forces yesterday. They will join us, and we will march on the capital. It will take an entire day to transport half our army to the sanctuary in his lands, and the other half to Countess Endeara’s estates. We will march a two-pronged attack on the city and lay siege by the end of the third day. You need to do your job quickly and have the mob in a full riot against King Finan by that time.”

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