Hyacinth, Scarlet - Craving Owen [Tides of Love 2] (Siren Publishing LoveXtreme Forever ManLove) (12 page)

As if to confirm Valderr’s words, their father emerged from the halls beyond. He smiled at Alcharr, but his eyes were cold chips of ice. “Hello, son. Welcome back.”

Alcharr broke away from his sibling and bowed in front of his father. “Greetings, My King. It’s always nice to be home.”

Amadeus ushered him inside, with Valderr following silently behind them. “So tell me, son, any news as to who kidnapped your brother?”

Alcharr shook his head. He trusted Sassaki with regard to the wyrms’ lack of involvement in it, but he couldn’t exactly tell his father that. “There is no news,” he answered.

For a few moments, Amadeus didn’t speak. Alcharr expected his father to have an outburst of anger on Valderr’s behalf, but it didn’t happen. Instead, he hummed thoughtfully. “I can’t say I’m surprised. They covered their tracks well.”

It wasn’t a reproach directed at Alcharr, but still it bothered him. He didn’t have the time to say anything though, as his father continued, “At any rate, we’re focusing on the wedding now. It’s in a couple of days, so there is a lot to do.”

Alcharr gaped in disbelief. A couple of days? Sure, his brother had suggested something similar in their brief exchange, but that was pushing it, especially after the ordeal Valderr had gone through.

“Father, with all due respect, shouldn’t we take our time with this ceremony? It’s a very important event.”

Amadeus froze and turned to stare at him. “Are you questioning me, boy?”

The hostility took Alcharr by surprise. Their father had never been particularly kind, but neither had he hurt them in any way. The way Amadeus spoke now almost suggested an underlying threat. “I’m merely pointing out my opinion, Father,” he answered.

“Did your little brother come crying to you?” he asked mockingly, throwing a glare over Alcharr’s shoulder. “Don’t bother. I don’t want your opinion, boy. Just close your mouth and do what I say.”

Without further ado, the king turned and started to walk again. Alcharr tasted bitter humiliation in his mouth as he started to follow. His father never treated him and Valderr like this, not even when the marriage had first been established. For crying out loud, they were still in the hallway and all the servants could hear the unpleasant conversation.

By some miracle, his father suddenly turned and said, “Just go. I don’t want to see your faces.”

Even if being pushed away like this hurt, Alcharr was thankful for it. He bowed in front of his father, mumbled a formal goodbye, and dragged his little brother out of the palace. They flew off the terrace and into the clouds. Alcharr wordlessly led Valderr out of the city but didn’t go too far before he stopped. He didn’t know if there were still hostiles watching Valderr, waiting to strike.

They descended toward the surface and found a small patch of land that, according to Alcharr’s history lessons, had once been a small hill. There were similar spots all throughout Uli, like scars reminding them their world hadn’t always been like this.

They landed on the ground, and Valderr sat on a rock, biting his lip in the endearing way that reminded Alcharr of their childhood years. “Do you remember when you found me on Connor’s boat and Father saw into my mind?”

Alcharr nodded. How could he forget? He’d gone on a hunt for supposed Imperium offenders, and he’d been reunited with his brother instead.

“Well, our minds touched then—mine and Father’s,” Valderr continued. “And it felt so odd. For a minute there, it seemed he was hiding something.”

He gave Alcharr a desperate look. “I might have thought it was just me, but now he’s acting like this with you, too. He’s become a stranger, and I just don’t know what to believe. You’re the only one I can trust.”

Alcharr felt awful. His brother’s words were like a dagger piercing his heart. After all, he’d betrayed Valderr more than anyone else. For several years, he’d been fucking Valderr’s fiancé.

Alcharr knelt at his brother’s feet and took his hand. “I’m not sure I’m worthy of that trust,” he whispered.

Valderr gave him a wide-eyed look. “W–What do you mean?”

“I have a confession to make.” Alcharr gulped, anxiety coursing through him. “I’m in love.”

His sibling’s expression of anxiety disappeared in a wide smile. “That’s wonderful. Who is she? Do I know her?”

Of course, Valderr assumed Alcharr would want to wed a woman, since he was expected to sire heirs. It only made Alcharr’s next words even more difficult. “His name is Yane and he is a nymph.”

Silence. Total and utter silence. Alcharr suppressed a wince. Finally, Valderr whispered, “Yanentah? My fiancé?”

Alcharr nodded and dared to speak again. “I know I shouldn’t have lied, but the circumstances are just so awful.”

He looked into Valderr’s blue eyes, for the first time uncertain of what his little brother thought. In many ways, Valderr was so much braver than him, but the kidnapping had affected him greatly. Alcharr hated adding another thing on top of this mess, but if he continued to hide this secret, it would just grow in a hideous, purulent wound that could never be healed.

All of a sudden, Valderr threw his arms around his neck. “I’m so sorry,” he said. “If it weren’t for me, you’d be able to be with your loved one.”

That was, indeed, the case, but the fault didn’t stand with Valderr. Alcharr hugged his sibling. “Don’t ever say that. I love both you and Yane. We’ll find a way to make things work.”

For the longest time, they sat there, embracing, finding comfort in each other’s presence. Alcharr found himself telling his brother about Owen, and his brother showed quite a lot of enthusiasm in hearing about it. He didn’t speak of the crystal or the plan involving the damn wizard, but he still felt a bit more relieved that his brother had taken the news of his relationship with Yane well.

He didn’t know how long they remained there, but their chat abruptly came to an end when Alcharr sensed someone approach. Above them, a couple of guards loomed. “Your Highnesses, His Majesty requires your presence,” one of them said.

Mentally sighing, Alcharr nodded. He needed to come up with a plan. If Valderr was right, something was amiss in their kingdom, too, not only in the plague lands. And for Alcharr’s part, he didn’t believe in coincidences.

“We’re coming,” he told the guards. “Go on ahead.”

The guards obeyed and flew off. Hugging Valderr once again, Alcharr whispered, “Don’t worry. I’ll talk to Yane. We’ll figure something out, even if we have to go against Father.”

Valderr gave him a wide-eyed look. “But what about the dryads? We’re supposed to be leaving for their palace in two days.”

Two days? Fuck. Talk about a rushed wedding. Why were the dryads and Amadeus suddenly so intent in hastening it? It had to be because of the crystal. They needed the alliance before the crystal failed them and the wyrms attacked.

Still, there had to be a way. Alcharr refused to give up on Yane, and Valderr deserved better than a loveless marriage. If push came to shove, he’d just wed Yane himself. He’d deal with the issue of the heirs later on. Eagles weren’t crazy about surrogate mothers, but perhaps it wouldn’t be a bad idea to consider it.

Even as he thought this, Alcharr knew his father would never agree. Well, too fucking bad. This time, Alcharr would not allow Amadeus to rule his life, not if it meant losing his love.

There was one more thing he needed to make sure of. “Little brother, don’t mention Owen to Father. It’s very important, okay?”

Valderr nodded. “I already grasped that. Don’t worry. I won’t say a word.”

Unfortunately, they couldn’t linger there any longer. They flew off the small strip of land and headed back toward the city. All the while, Alcharr wondered what other plans Amadeus had for them. He needed to make arrangements with Yane to fight this. There was too much at stake to simply go with it.

“Fucking hell…This is the crystal?”

Hash stared at the accumulation of energy in disbelief. It was roughly of a diamond-like shape, and even bigger than Hash himself in shifted form. Odd shocks of light crackled all around it, emanating from its surface into the water around it.

Kyllian had stopped the boat quite a distance away and seemed to be contemplating the huge object. When Hash spoke, the wizard turned toward him. “I need you to do something for me.”

Hash arched a brow. “As long as it helps.”

Kyllian looked almost absent. “It will,” he answered. “I just need you to shift into your second form and approach the crystal.”

Hash found the request odd. He couldn’t shift in the plague lands. How did Kyllian expect him to do so this close to the source of the enchantment? Nevertheless, he tried to change into his second form. Unsurprisingly, he failed. He could sense the powerful energies coming from the crystal reining him in like an unbreakable leash.

“I can’t,” he told Kyllian, unable to keep the frustration from his tone. “It’s impossible.”

Kyllian shook his head and turned toward him. “What’s impossible is this thing. This crystal…It’s not just a binding enchantment, Has’hendral. It’s so much more than that. How did I never know about it?”

Hash didn’t like the sound of that. “What is it? What’s wrong?”

“This, my friend, is the reason why the waters around Tanarak have never cleared and the plague lands never healed.” Kyllian turned and gave Hash a serious look. “The dryads might have wanted the wyrms off their land, but they made a terrible trade in doing so.”

For a few moments, Hash didn’t understand exactly what the wizard meant. But dragons were creatures of magic, and he focused on the crystal, trying to figure out what Kyllian meant. In mere moments, he saw it as well. The light seemed to morph into dark energies that flowed beyond this plane and into the next. With his mind’s eye, Hash saw the plague lands being swallowed in the deadly shield, keeping the shape-shifting magic at bay.

It was a shield against life, he realized, the only type of enchantment that could possibly keep their power at bay. How had he never grasped it? The spell on the plague lands had always puzzled him, but he’d never considered such a thing could exist.

“This is dark magic,” Kyllian said. “We need to go talk to your friends. I’m not fixing this.”

Hash couldn’t blame the wizard. He himself felt reluctant to go through with the original plan now. What in the world was going on? What did the plague lands really hide?

He nodded wordlessly, still staring at the dark crystal. Just the sight of it gave him the shivers. He could definitely believe this thing had something to do with the death of Yane’s lands.

Kyllian started to maneuver the boat back the way they’d come. They moved away from the evil thing, but Hash wasn’t really relieved until they lost sight of the crystal.

“So what now?” he asked.

“We’re going to my home,” Kyllian said. “Perhaps we can find something on this type of magic in my books. Then, we need to let your friends know of the problem. Perhaps by that time, we’ll realize what we’re dealing with.”

Hash suspected Kyllian had a clue as to what exactly they were facing, but didn’t ask. Even if he disliked the wizard for the trade he’d suggested, he also sensed the other man was competent in his field of work. Truth be told, he was somewhat relieved they hadn’t fixed the crystal. He still needed to figure out a way around Kyllian’s request, because he didn’t intend to just hand in his mate to the wizard.

Neither of them spoke during the trip. Hash watched the scenery as it passed them by. The boat seemed to go faster and faster until everything around them became a blur. At one point, Hash swore they’d started flying. Thankfully, he was used to such voyages, so he just took it in stride, his mind still on Owen. He remembered Owen’s hopeful voice and the way the human had spoken of the possibility of fixing things between wyrms and dryads. Could it be done? What would they do about the crystal? The situation seemed to be getting out of hand. As soon as Hash returned to the plague lands, he’d steal his mate and take him someplace safe. Even if he wanted to help, endangering Owen wasn’t acceptable.