Happiness was the most dangerous and fragile of all emotions. It was the force that allowed people to create and love and experience the beauty of the world around them. In her lifetime, Kali had witnessed true happiness in the eyes of a child and in the heated looks exchanged between new mates. To be happy was to have a well of strength that burned like a light amidst the chaotic emotions that swirled through the city.
It also hurt the worst when it was ripped away from you.
Kali could feel the growing tension in her mind each time she looked at Rhone. Looked at the male who made her soul sing with joy, but should never be hers. No matter what the fragile bond that permanently tied her heart to his might think.
She should tell him. Tell him he was her mate.
To do so could ruin everything between them. Even if Rhone wasn't a High Lord's son, he was still far too good for her. He could reject her offer of her heart and loyalty and send her back onto the streets where she belonged. He could destroy her.
In all honesty, he probably should send her on her way before he was hurt again-no matter how stubbornly he refused to accept the threat she posed.
It was a struggle to force those thoughts from her mind as she walked beside Rhone up the main steps of the Winter Palace. To remind herself that he'd chosen her. Even after seeing the brutal monsters that followed in her wake. Even after seeing the monster she truly was.
He'd woken her up with gentle kisses that morning and the open affection in her eyes had made her want to stay in their bed all day. Unfortunately, he'd informed her reluctantly, he needed to speak to his father about what they'd discovered on their ill-fated scouting trip. The reminder of Rhône's injuries and the unknown victims lying beneath the earth was enough to dim the light fluttering in her chest from the night before.
Juno was a warm weight against her side and Kali let her fingers sink into her soft fur, centering herself against the turbulent emotions of the city. As they moved deeper into the walls of the palace, she breathed a sigh of relief that the constant press of other minds against hers was finally ebbing. She still felt weak after her burnout and the wild push of the crowd's reactions to the world around them felt like it was scraping against a raw wound.
Rhone was more relaxed now too, even stopping to chat with the guards on duty near the main entrance. She looked up curiously when one of the guards had a sudden spike of anxiety.
"My lord," he said, "Thrace requests your presence in the receiving room-he said you were supposed to meet him about an issue with Hybern."
Immediately, her prince was back to the stiff shouldered soldier that she'd first met on the palace grounds and he nodded abruptly before moving forward once more. Annoyance and frustration bloomed in him and she instinctively brushed her hand over his in a silent show of support, hoping that this was nothing more than a disagreement between siblings. Rhone's eyes flashed to hers for a moment and she felt him relax slightly under her hand.
The thought that she could ease his moods so easily made a small seed of happiness bloom in her chest. She looped her arm through his and smiled up at him as they entered the receiving room where the Winter Court greeted their guests.
"Rhone," a haughty voice called out from the massive carved marble throne that dominated one wall of the room. She tried not to flinch as those icy blue eyes looked her over from the top of her messy braid to the scuffed leather boots on her feet. Thrace gave her an annoyed look, "What is she doing here?"
Rhone stepped forward, letting his body block hers partially. "I don't need to explain my companions to you."
Kali tried not to smirk or stick her tongue out at Rhone's oldest brother at her mate's one. Instead, she watched Thrace give his brother an amused look before shrugging. "Indeed."
It was a casual enough dismissal of such a blatantly disrespectful comment from Rhone that she frowned. Tentatively Kali opened her shields enough to feel the room, but only caught a vicious sort of a anticipation coming from the Winter Court's heir.
Thrace gestured to someone standing in the wings out of their line of sight. "Come, Delorea," he said politely. "My little brother must have forgotten that he was supposed to meet with you for lunch again today..."
A delicate female moved gracefully to Thrace's side, her emerald green gown whispering over the stone floors in an elegant wave. Wine red hair curled gently around her face and Kali tried not to wince as the sight of that shade made her stomach churn. Then she curtseyed to the two males before rising to her full height and exposed a face of regal beauty that smiled sweetly at Rhone for a moment before her kohl lined eyes flicked to Kali.
Her voice made shivers crawl across Kali's skin and bile rise in her throat as Delorea smiled with predatory intent at her, "I have so been looking forward to meeting you."
Kali made a soft sound of horror as a wild scream seemed to build in her throat, choking her. She stared into the face of her nightmare come alive with shock and panic, her mind struggling to understand what was in front of her. For a moment it was Amarantha who stood, smirking and watching her with a familiar predatory gleam in her eyes. Enjoying the fear that even Rhone and Thrace were beginning to notice.
Gritting her teeth, she forced herself to look past the evil lurking in the golden depths of those eyes and find the traits that marked her as someone else.
Delorea was prettier than Amarantha had been, her features more delicate and even. Her skin lacked the subtle pattern of freckles that had appeared after years marching with Hybern's army on the dead queen's face. Even her hair wasn't the same iconic red that had been Amarantha's pride and glory.
The malice in those eyes was all too familiar though.
The last time Kali had seen the other female was the day that Amarantha had exiled her from Under the Mountain. Delorea had been furious, bristling with barely controlled rage that smashed against the mental shields of Kali's mind.
Amarantha, after all, was a strategist that would never let herself risk losing a valuable tool like a natural born empath-so she'd trained two.
Now Delorea stood smiling her cheshire cat smile as she watched the myriad of emotions cross Kali's face even as she rebuilt her mental shields to try to keep her feelings her own. Protectively she stepped in front of Rhône, as though her presence could keep Delorea 's magic at bay. "What are you doing here?" she managed.
Rhône shifted in confusion. "You know each other?"
"Kali and I go way back," Delorea chuckled with a cruel gleam in her eyes.
A twinge of guilt hit her at the look in Rhône's eyes at that revelation. He frowned and turned to face Kali, "How do you know Delorea?"
Kali chose her words carefully, "We were raised together for a time." Delorea's eyes laughed at her for all that she left out in that simple statement, but she ignored it. "What are you doing here?" she repeated.
"Didn't Rhône tell you? We're to be married!" Satisfaction was laced through each syllable even as Kali felt her gut drop to the floor in mute horror.
No. This couldn't be. He would have told her.
"What are you talking about?" Kali asked, disbelief evident.
Delorea's teeth flashed in a predator's smile as she went in for the kill. "We're mates."
Kali's eyes flew to Rhone's and what she saw there made her heart lurch.
A chasm seemed to open in front of her as her muscles bunched with the urge to run and run and never return. Distantly Kali realized she was panting and trembling like she'd run for miles in the space of two steps. Juno rumbled with a silent growl against her leg and she felt Freya move to guard her back in a silent show of support.
How could this be? a small voice in her mind keened, trapped between the words he'd told her and the triumph in her enemy's eyes.
There was a moment of silence as Kali felt the world around her shift and she stumbled on wobbly legs. A river of ice curled around her ankles, crawling up her body as she realized what Rhone had been hiding from her even as he kissed and claimed to care for her. That ice seemed to bleed into her soul until she could sweep away her riotous emotions where they could not distract her, could not hurt her.
Pain could come later-not here, not among her enemies.
She cobbled together the broken pieces of her heart and used her battered pride as the mortar, drawing up her defenses like a castle under siege.
Kali wished for the burn of anger, the boil in her blood that burn away the wash of agony that was looking into her mate's eyes and watching her hope for the future wither and die. She wished for heat, but all she felt was the cold wind of the Winter Court blowing through her heart. Seeping into her bones until there was nothing but the memory of his sunshine.
Rhone reached a hand out to her, worry and guilt marring the blue-green of his eyes. She stared into them, still willing this to be some kind of joke. A mistake.
"Is it true?" she asked with a voice barely above a whisper.
He opened his mouth to explain, but she could see the answer to her question written all over his face. "Kali, I-" he broke off and ran a hand through his hair with a frustrated sound. "I wanted to tell you…"
"Oh, isn't this sweet," Thrace said from behind Rhone. "The girl thought she was more than just another one of your infamous flings."
Rhone's eyes never shifted from hers, silently begging her to understand. To forgive him.
The memory of what Thrace had said about Rhone meeting Delorea again made ice curling her veins. She eyed him with new understanding, "You've been meeting with her?"
He winced slightly, "Yes."
"How long?" She bit out.
"Since the day I met you."
Kali tilted her chin up, gathering the tattered remains of her pride and broken heart. At the corner of her eye she could see Delorea smiling as her magic curled around the room like the coils of a snake. Touching her mate in a familiar caress.
The satisfaction in her eyes made Kali's blood boil. With a burst of strength, she yanked her arm out of Rhone's grasp and stepped out of his reach. "Don't touch me."
Anger was easier for her and protected her from the silent agony in his gaze or the burn of tears in hers. Rhone's hand slowly fell to his side as she took another step away from him, then another.
"I hope you enjoyed your games, your highness," she managed flatly, still reeling from what she'd been too lovestruck to realize. "I'm done."
"Kali," he whispered and the emotion in his voice made her want to weep.
Instead, she tucked that grief and pain deep within her shields and looked at him with a cold fury. "Consider this the end of...whatever we were. If you come near me again, I'll gut you."
Juno started to move with her, but she moved her hand in a jerky command and the wolf stopped a few steps away. Freya whined, but she refused to look at them. Refused to think about how willing she would have been to stay at Rhone's side like his faithful beasts.
Turning on her heel, Kali stalked out of the room without bothering to bow to Thrace or Delorea. They could rot for all she cared. By the time the door to the receiving hall closed behind her, she was running, pouring all her hurt and sorrow into every once of speed her body could produce.
Deep within her heart, she felt that tiny, bright tie that linked her to Rhone flicker and go out.
I hope you enjoyed this very emotional and angsty chapters! Oddly, this was one of the first scenes I wrote for this story-everything so far has been leading up to some pretty dramatic moments in the very near future so stay tuned for the next update!
Don't forget to vote on whether Stryker should get a spin-off story of his own! I've started brainstorming some ideas for a side story that explains how he came to the Winter Court and introduces you to his mate. Very exciting. :)
As always, thank you to each and every one of you who take the time to review these chapters! I love getting feedback and I try to add more of what y'all like into the story (hence Stryker's growing role).