Fear sliced through Saieke’s veins. She stumbled, and her breath wheezed at the dark drawl. Someone else was with them? Impossible. She flared her senses, seeking for any other chakra and found none. Yet the voice indicated that he stood near. What was even more unbeliev
able was that he offered them passage to leave. Other kingdoms would arrest and question if the sentry entrances were not used.
Hope stirred in her breast. “I seek sanctuary within your forest. I am being pursued. My kingdom, Boreas, will recompense yours favorably and honorably.” Saieke made her voice firm and even, though she was anything but calm and collected.
“Denied.” Came the voice silky with menace.
“Please…I am the Princess of Boreas. For your aid, I will honor you with several jars of my kingdom’s elixir,” she countered.
“We will depart,” one of the assassins interjected. “But the princess leaves with us. We are Grand Generals from the great empire of Mevia sent to retrieve her. If you interfere, you risk death. If you think to offer her sanctuary against our emperor’s order, both of you will die. Is that understood, Darkan?”
The suddenness of their decision to kill her was so startling it rendered her speechless. They must have thought the Darkan would agree with her bargain, but why would Mevia murder her if they could not take her?
A chuckle of amusement echoed from the dark before she was buffeted with feelings of such blood thirstiness she trembled. Without thinking, she expelled her energy to light up her surroundings to see where such a chakra came from.
She stared at the Darkan mesmerized, fascinated, yet repulsed. She was within touching distance of the most primal male she’d ever seen. He was darkness and sensuality. Black chakra pulsated around him with menace. He stood less than ten feet away and observed her with an awareness that had her instincts screaming at her to run.
Her heart pounded, drowning out sounds, and the hand that held her dagger shook. His macabre beauty scared her—obsidian eyes, a sensual mouth that hinted at cruelty, the palest of skin, a frame lithe yet coiled with power. The raw carnality he reeked of caused something hot and unwelcomed to squeeze low in her stomach, startling her.
It had the sharper taste of desire she’d normally felt from others.
She clenched her fist tightly around her dagger, trying to hold his penetrating gaze.
“Kill them.” A harsh order from one of the Mevians.
They rushed in deadly unison at them and screamed out a sound of destruction. Her world tilted as she was moved with a speed that left her dizzy.
The Darkan had actually lifted and moved with her, and she stood behind the Mevians. Their sound wave splintered trees in its path and rendered them to chips. If she had been caught in the attack, the pressure from the waves would have caused her to explode into bloody pieces.
The assassins spun, and she blinked. Decapitated heads slid from lifeless bodies. Fear cramped her stomach. She’d not seen the Darkan kill them. Saieke sucked in a harsh breath as he appeared before her. An explosion of dread snaked through her, leaving her heart quivering and mouth dry. The light stood about two hundred feet behind her, but she would not make it.
There was no cocooning darkness swirling around him anymore. Saieke did not know how it was possible, but she could not sense him at all. It seemed he had absolute control of his chakra. Her heart jerked, and her breath became shallow. He had not responded to her offer. Instead, he killed the Mevians without hesitation. The blood drained from her face as he leaned in close to her, so their lips almost brushed.
Cold chills of fear slithered through her as he calmly said, “Bargain accepted.”
Chapter Three
The Darkage—kingdom of darkness and shadows.
He was a barbarian, unkind, and certainly not deferential to her as the Princess of Boreas. Each step, every uneven gait, every stumble took Saieke closer to the heart of the Darkage with a man who had killed two people with an apparent total lack of remorse. Cold bit at her, and her fractured ribs ached. Healing had already started, but she felt every bruise made by the assassins. Every time it occurred to Saieke to draw on her mantle of royal arrogance and demand a carriage, the memory of the Darkan’s chakra acted as an effective deterrent. She consoled herself by remembering that the dark ones were reviled by everyone.
Exhaustion and hunger pelted her, and not once did he query as to how she fared. The barbarian simply ordered her to follow. Saieke thought fleetingly about using the elixir around her neck, then dismissed the idea. She only needed food and rest. The healing elixir should only be used for fatal wounds.
She had not thought her bargain through, reacting with instinct. She knew the power of her kingdom’s healing elixir and had offered it like a lifeline. But how would she even get the elixir to him? She promised jars, and she had no way honoring her promise unless she returned to her kingdom. She flinched from the thought. Her plans could not be waylaid.
Had her Queen’s Blades escaped? She sent a swift prayer to the King of All that Kamu and Thyon lived. In their plans, they had prepared for the possibility of separation, but it was still hard to accept.
Icy wind whistled, the thinness of her caftan offered her no protection. She wrapped her arms around her shoulders. After a few minutes of trudging faithfully behind the Darkan, her chakra glow petered, and Saieke was plunged into absolute blackness. Doubt jerked her to a stop. Where in kings’ teeth was he?
“I will go no more.” She made her voice firm. Saieke twitched as something brushed against her face.
“You rescind your bargain?”
His voice was so emotionless, Saieke shivered. “I do not, sir. You ordered me to follow. I do so without any knowledge if I travel to my death, imprisonment, or torture.”
“You think us without honor? Did you not claim life for sanctuary?” he growled.
She recoiled from the menace in the voice that whispered too close to her. “I meant no offense…I…” Fear tried to steal her thoughts. “Forgive me if I caused offense. I assure you it was unintentional. I am exhausted, hungry, and anxious about this situation. You have not shared any information as to where we travel,” she said with as much calm as she could muster.