Soul Relenter (Soul Saga #3) (23 page)

“Then you cannot expect that of me.”

“Aleco—she tried to kill me.”

“Then
why is she one of your advisors? Why would you bring her among you, with a sword on her hip and a bow across her back?”

Accacia shook her head. She didn’t want to tell the story at the moment.

Aleco studied her features and saw the despair in her body. She was truly horrified at the sight of him with Roxian and he pitied her. He knew exactly how she felt. Whenever Aleco saw Zyle grab her hand he was driven insane with jealousy. But he didn’t know what to say to Accacia. He wasn’t betraying her in any way. “I’m sorry, Accacia. I never meant to hurt you.”

“Does she know h
ow you feel about me?”

“Yes,” he said. “We talk about it often.”

“And that doesn’t bother her? Does she love you?”

“No, it doesn’t bother her. And no, she doesn’t love me. She loves another. That was why I agreed to this relationship.”

“So, she pursued you?”

“Yes.”

“She is just doing this to hurt me, Aleco. I know she is.” Accacia finally felt the tears leave her cheeks and felt the anger shine through. “She found out who you were to me and she wants to hurt me.”

Aleco shook his head. “I doubt that, Accacia. She told me she would never tell anyone about the context of our relationship and she never has. If that were the case, she would have tried to hurt you a week ago.”

“Did she say who she loved?”

Aleco stared at her for a moment. Roxian never said the content was confidential but he still felt obligated to keep her secret. “I’m not at liberty to say.”

“It’s Zyle, isn’t it?”

Aleco sighed. He knew there was no point in hiding the information anymore. “Yes.”

Aleco felt her body relax under his grip and he released his hold on her arms. He moved them to her waist and held her close to him, trying to comfort her without the use of his words. Nothing he could say would make this better, easier to accept. They stood in silence for several minutes. He listened to her heavy breaths slow to a normal rate. He could feel her heartbeat decrease in her chest and knew she was returning to a calm state. Aleco doubted her pain had ebbed away, however. “Why did you come to see me, Accacia? It must be important.”

Accacia pulled away from him and met hi
s gaze. “I’ll tell you tomorrow. I don’t have the strength to discuss it now. I need to be away from you.” She pulled her arms to her chest and avoided touching him. She was disgusted by his actions. She saw the tiny scratches on his chest and she felt the nausea return. “I don’t want to look at you right now.”

“Accacia, tell me.” He placed both hands on either side of the tree, blocking her escape without touching
her. He understood her feelings. He felt them on a daily basis. “I know it’s urgent. You never would have invaded my privacy like that unless it was necessary.” Accacia didn’t respond. “I won’t release you until you tell me.”

Accacia was too upset to be angered by his words. She hated being forced against her will but she was too depressed, too hurt, to care. “Can we go inside? You should put on a shirt.”

Aleco dropped his hands to his side and walked toward the house. Accacia trailed behind him and watched his back muscles move under the skin as he walked. She forced herself to look away from his skin. They were covered in scratches made by long fingernails. Aleco opened the door to the study and let her walk in first. He lit a fire in the hearth and put on the cloak hanging by the entrance.

Aleco sat in the chair next to her and looked at her. “Speak now.”

“Give me a moment.” Accacia closed her eyes and thought about what she would say. Father Giloth understood the future of events without any possible means of discovering them. She was certain in her accusation. Aleco sat in silence beside her and gave her a moment. He could only imagine how upset she was. “Father Giloth had the prescient stone, one of the five stones created by my ancient ancestors. Drake has the Aqua Stone and Father Giloth had the one that detailed the future. It is the only way to explain his knowledge about upcoming events.”

Aleco flinched slightly at her words. He was silent for a moment. When he spoke his voice was deeper than usual. “How do you know this?”

“I can’t explain it—I just do. How else did he know I was in the Prisoner’s Circle? Then how do you explain the knowledge about the island and the continued existence of the remains of my people? He knew Drake would march on his lands and would succeed in killing him—it’s the only explanation.”

Aleco rose from his chair and paced around the room with his
arms crossed over his chest. He felt his heart quicken in his body at Accacia’s words because of the severity of her accusation. If Father Giloth had access to an elemental stone then why didn’t he tell him? Aleco was trying to kill this vicious dictator and Father Giloth didn’t think he could use the stone? Aleco thought the possibility was unlikely. Then he began to recall the conversations of the past. Aleco remembered questioning Father Giloth about his ability to know the outcome of events without experiencing them and his reaction was always the same; complete silence. Aleco realized Accacia’s thoughts weren’t just an unfounded idea. It was true. Aleco sat down. “You’re right,” he said. “I can’t believe I didn’t realize it earlier.”

Accacia looked into the fire. “Why didn’t he tell us?”

Aleco sighed. “I have no idea. You would think the old man would have given it to us so we could use it to aid our attempts to kill Drake.” Aleco felt the anger course through his body. How can the man be so selfish to hide it from him? He hadn’t even mentioned it in his Soul Catcher. Then he remembered the last mistake he made when he doubted Father Giloth. He had assumed that his uncle was a coward when he wasn’t; he was fulfilling his oath. “There must be a reason why he didn’t mention it.”

Accacia nodded. “I have no idea what that reason is though. He obviously had used the stone himsel
f. That was why he sent me away. He knew I had to leave.”

“So, he already knew the fate of the Continent. He knew there was no chance for success because he had already foreseen it.” Aleco dropped his face into his palms. “Perhaps he thought the truth was too much to bear.” Aleco felt the hopel
ess despair soak into his heart. He knew there would be no victory. “You should return to your shores, Accacia. I appreciate your aid in coming here, but it was in vain. Leave the Continent while you still can continue your existence in secret. I will never reveal the truth of your people—even under pain of torture.”

Accacia wrapped her arms around her torso. She could return to her land and continue her life in peace, away from the violence
that was ensuing on the Continent, and leave without the guilt of wondering what would have been if she stayed. They would lose the battle. It was foretold. But Accacia couldn’t leave Aleco here alone, having to defend his forest and people until Drake came for him and killed him just like Father Giloth. She couldn’t take Aleco with her and she knew he would reject the offer anyway. “We will stay and fight, Aleco.”

Aleco turned to her. “Don’t be st
upid, Accacia. You are subjecting yourself and your people to death in this life and the afterlife. I will not allow you to waste your soul. The future is foretold. It will come to pass.”

“We don’t know that for certain. Perhaps Father Giloth knew I had to be sent away in order to return with
a larger force. He even said, ‘I will die so something greater than I will persevere.’ He could have been referring to the people or the forest. He sacrificed himself so you could be the new Nature Priest. He gave you the tools to defeat Drake because he knew he couldn’t do it himself.”

“Then why didn’t he just tell us this? Why keep it hidden from us?”

Accacia didn’t know the answer to his question. She only had speculations. “Maybe he didn’t want to admit that he had used the elemental stone, ashamed that he couldn’t resist the temptation to use it. Or maybe he didn’t want us to use the stones ourselves, for fear of us abusing its power.”

“He didn’t trust us?”

“I don’t know,” Accacia said with a sigh. “But I am certain he did it for a good reason. I have faith in him, Aleco. Don’t lose your belief in him.”

“It’s too risky, Accacia. If you are wrong we are wasting our efforts a
nd our lives in the undertaking, playing a game with standards we can’t meet. We will lose more than we can afford in this gamble.”

“Or we may accomplish our greatest dreams.”

Aleco looked at the glow of her face in the fire. Her cheekbones were highlighted in the dark and her eyes reflected the intensity of the flames. Aleco knew he would never get what he wanted even if they did succeeded. “It is destiny, Accacia. We can’t fight what is meant to come to pass.”

“Horseshit—it’s our destiny!”

Aleco smiled at her words. He had said it to her a year ago.

“I will commit my life and my subjects t
o the undertaking and I will not stop until Drake is dead. I will not cease my advance until the Soul Binders are destroyed. The future is subjective, Aleco. The paths of the roads we take always change by the choices we make with our own freewill. Perhaps Father Giloth saw our failure in the future because he chose to give up. He saw our defeat because, in that point in time, it wasn’t possible to prevail. But now the stakes have changed, Aleco. We have accomplished more in the past year than he would have imagined. I will march on the gates of Letumian and I will win, Aleco—failure is not an option.”

“Are you sure? I will not hold you accountable for sailing back home—it would be the right thing to do to protect your subjects.”

Accacia grabbed his hand. “I am certain, Aleco. I will not stop until this is over.”

Aleco squeezed her hand in return. He gave into his weakness and ran his fingers through the strands of her hair, pulling them from her face. Aleco adored the silky strands of dark hair that covered her shoulders. She was smiling at him, convincing him of the success of the undertaking. He kn
ew he would follow her anywhere, even into a battle that would kill them all. Accacia forgot about Aleco and Roxian for a moment and just saw Aleco before her. He pulled his hand away and she wished he hadn’t.

The door to the study opened and they both looked over their shoulders to see who had entered. Roxian stood at the door, wearing only Aleco’s shirt that fell down to her thighs. Accacia quickly looked away from her, feeling the redness flush her cheeks. The hol
lowness in her body was filled with rage and hatred. Roxian had crossed a line she could never uncross. Accacia could forgive the woman for trying to kill her, trying to take her husband away from her, but she would never forgive her for this.

“I’m sorry, Aleco. I—I didn’t know where you traveled off to.”

Aleco nodded at her. “I will return in a moment, Roxian.”

Accacia pulled her hand away and rose to her feet. She didn’t meet Roxian’s gaze as she walked over to the secret doorway in the study and opened the latch. “Goodnight,” she said to Aleco. Aleco watched her go with a stomach full of acid. He hated hurting her. A part of him felt justified i
n his actions. She was the one who had moved on from him while he held a vigil in his heart. He had never even looked at another woman in her absence, even though he knew she would never return. He had been faithful to her even when she hadn’t been to him. But he felt like an asshole anyway.

Asylinth House

21

Zyle had waited for Accacia to return to the ship
all night but she never came. He passed the hours reading a book but he couldn’t concentrate on the words. He reread the same passage three times before he abandoned the book altogether. The hours of twilight had disappeared and the sun was about to crest the horizon. Zyle had been frustrated with Accacia’s absence. His mind was overstuffed with fear. What were they doing?

The K
ing of the Asquithians advanced to the house and pounded on the door, waking everyone in the building with the force of his slamming fist. He couldn’t hide his anger at his life partner. She hadn’t checked in with him and she hadn’t sent a missive, telling him she was okay. Natalia opened the door. Before she could speak, he walked into the house. “I need to speak with Accacia. Where is she?”

Natalia shut the door behind him. “She isn’t here, Your Majesty.”

Zyle stared at her. “She must be. This is where she said she was coming.”

Natalia shook her head. “I’m sorry, sire. She hasn’t visited the grounds.”

“Good morning, Your Highness,” Aleco said as he walked down the stairs. He was putting on a white shirt as he walked into the parlor.

Zyle flashed him a look of anger. He had just been undressed a moment ag
o and Zyle felt his heart pound. Accacia was nowhere in sight. He looked up the stairs and into the open bedroom, hoping Accacia wouldn’t emerge from the doorway.

Aleco caught his look. “She isn’t here, Zyle.”

“Then where is she?”

“I have no idea.”

Zyle stepped closer to him. “She told me she would be here. She didn’t return to the ship all night. If Accacia isn’t here, then where is she?”