Chapter 87

Dijana shrank back in horror at the sight of the man filling the doorway, long sword in hand, his crimson gaze malevolent as it raked over the females in the room, and when it finally came to rest on her, she fought to control her fear as his lips curved in a smile that made her insides twist in remembrance of what that smile meant.

Not waiting to suffer what he intended, Dijana darted towards the garden, not really knowing where she would go but needing to put distance between them. But he reached her in two long strides and caught her arm in a painful, punishing grip before hauling her back against his body.

He lowered his head to the crook of her neck and when she felt his hot breath she swallowed nausea. "My sweet Dijana. How you have changed! I look forward to making you mine again."

"Never!" she cried with more bravado than she felt.

"Let her go!" demanded Quynn who took a step towards them. The stones at her throat were glowing brightly and Dijana could smell burning flesh.

"Stop!" Prince Staefyn stumbled to Quynn, and seizing her around the waist, he pulled her back. He whispered something in her ear that made her look sharply at him and the stones ceased to glow. Staefyn lifted his hand to her throat and Dijana knew by the bluish white light flowing from him to her that he was healing her.

Kai snorted with disgust before he jerked Dijana around to face the doorway and she was not surprised to find Princess Cyeara waiting with a sickening smile of triumph curving her lips.

"Come taste the female, wife," Kai offered, thrusting her at the other woman. "You and I shall drain her and leave her empty corpse behind for that bastard Taeron to find."

At the mention of Taeron, Cydeara gasped in delight and seized Dijana. She tried to escape using what Amyr had taught her, and while she managed to break Cydeara's hold, Kai seized her hair and catching her with an arm around her waist, he held her so tightly that she could not even struggle.

He jerked her head to the side, baring her neck to his wife.

Laughing, Cydeara swiped her sharp nails across her flesh and Dijana heard Keilana cry out in horror as blood sprayed from the wound across Cydeara's face before she clamped her mouth on the wound and sucked in several mouthfuls of blood. But she suddenly stumbled back coughing and wheezing and the stench of burning flesh was as the blood that had landed on the Varoonyan female sizzled on her skin. Her lips were blistered, and as she faced Kai, her eyes wide with fear, blood leaked from the corners, from her nose and while what was left of her lips tried to form words, she began to convulse before falling to the floor. Dijana was sickened by Kai's laughter as he watched his wife's body dissolve before their eyes until there was only a pile of unrecognizable flesh that burst into flame.

Kai moved her away from the burning mass. "Foolish female. Testing your blood was the most use I have ever gotten from her." Yanking her around to face the others, he thrust her at Staefyn who released Quynn to catch Dijana in his arms.

"Remove the impurity of that bastard's blood from her," he demanded of Staefyn

Dijana looked at Staefyn, terrified that he would comply. The Varoonyan was his warlord and she had no reason to believe he would help her keep Kai at bay, but she prayed that his affection for Taeron would prevail

To her relief, Staefyn shook his head. "I will not!"

Kai sneered at him. "That was the wrong answer, stupid sorcerer." He lunged towards the bed where Yori was lying, but before he could reach the innocent child, Dijana was shocked to see Keilana cut him off.

"Leave him alone!" she cried out. "He is but a child!"

Sweeping out his arm, he struck Keilana aside as if she were a pesky gnat, but she rolled nimbly to her feet and leaped at him, sinking her teeth into his hand when he reached out to seize Yori. Dijana was horrified to watch him fling her around as Kai's blood poured out the sides of Keilana's mouth, and when he finally slammed her against the wall and she slid away from him unconscious, she had taken a chunk of his flesh.

He glared at the injury she had done to him for a moment before he crossed to her to seize her unconscious body and was about to sink his teeth into the tender flesh at her neck when Staefyn shot towards him to grasp his arm.

"I will do it!" he cried out. "Let her go!"

For a moment Kai stared at the woman hanging limply from his hand, saliva drooling over his lips in anticipation of feeding from her. Dijana knew from experience how difficult it was for him not to take her blood at this point, even for a powerful Varoonyan master like him.

"If you don't release her, I will not heal Dijana," Staefyn warned him. "I do not care if you kill us all, I will not make her pure for you unless you leave my wife alone."

"Your wife," sneered Kai, his throat tight. "Her people betrayed you. She deserves to die."

"Let her go." Dijana did not want to be disappointed when Kai released Keilana to sag to the floor, but she knew it meant she was doomed. Staefyn knelt by Keilana for a moment and after touching her briefly, he straightened and turned to look at Dijana.

"You are not going to do it!" cried out Quynn anxiously.

He did not look at her. "I must."

Kai threw back his head in laughter. "That is what I like about you, sorcerer! No matter where your foolish choices lead you, you honor your word."

As Staefyn came to Dijana, she intended to scramble away, but she suddenly found it impossible to move and she was mesmerized by the glowing golden light emanating from his eyes. When the healing light radiated from his hands and he laid them on her, she was enveloped by the same light and her body grew warm for several moments until she felt cooling pleasure race through her.

She felt dizzy and had to close her eyes for several seconds and when she opened them, she was no longer in the room with the others, but standing on the edge of the pool where Taeron had claimed her on Norvana. Now she was with Staefyn.

He glanced around for a moment, a wry smile on his lips. "A fitting place to lose one's innocence," he remarked before returning his gaze to hers. "We must return soon, but I have brought you here to tell you that you will no longer have the protection of Taeron's magic from Kai."

Dijana could not be angered that he chose to protect Keilana. "If he does not kill me, he will enthrall me again!"

"He will not have enough time," Staefyn told her. "Taeron is approaching to rescue you. Although I knew of his plans, Yori still managed to distract me when I was leading the men to repel Kai's attack on the palace just long enough for Kai to breach the gate. Yori will keep the thralls on the roof to keep them from shooting down your rescuers."

"How will he do that?" she asked and then wondered why she bothered since she was standing in a trance on Norvana with Staefyn.

Staefyn shrugged. "Yori is a clever boy. I trust him to figure that out. Keilana may have unwittingly given Yori enough time to do whatever it is that he plans. One way or another, this will come to an end today. It is in Taeron's hands now."

Before she could respond, she became dizzy again as the pond spun around her until it was gone and she saw Kai flinging Staefyn away from her. He reached for Dijana, but before he could touch her, the ground beneath the palace shook so violently that they all lost their balance and cracks appeared in the walls.

"Ancestors!" cried out Staefyn as he clamored to his feet and hurried across the room to where Yori was lying on the bed. The child was surrounded by blue light but he appeared to be sleeping undisturbed by the shaking floor.

Before Staefyn could reach the child, Kai bolted across the room and seized him, probably sensing that if Staefyn reached him, his magic would become insurmountable. Before he could strike him with his huge, meaty fist, several thralls hurried into the room.

"The gate is under attack!"

Snarling in frustration, Kai tossed Staefyn aside to glare his men. "Repulse them, you fools!"

"Canyon beasts are charging! They will break through!"

Kai thought for only a moment before he made a sound of disgust and reached out to seize Dijana's arm. "Bring the rest of them! We will welcome our visitors properly."

As the warlord dragged her along with him, Dijana had no way of knowing what was happening behind her although she heard Quynn's outraged shouts when they must have tried to take Yori. Kai strode through the corridors without stopping until he came to a wide, open area that resembled the reception hall in the imperial palace. The old woman that she recognized as Prince Staefyn's bonded mate was waiting with her cowering servant whose face was bruised, blood crusted at the corners of her mouth.

"There you are! What are you doing to repel that attack?" demanded Xuxa shrilly as she kicked Vaedra away.

Kai had no chance to answer before another thrall rushed in. "The walls have been breached!"

Xuxa shrieked in fury and she went to Staefyn who she slapped while viciously scoring his face with her fingernails. "You are worthless! I should have bonded Taeron! He would have led his army to victory! He would have held the palace against invasion! He would have ..."

Staefyn seized her wrists when she would have struck at him again. "You should have," he agreed through gritted teeth. "But he would not have done the things that I have done for you. He would not have let you twist his mind as you have done mine."

Laughing, Kai pulled Dijana with him to the chairs that would have served as a throne had the emperor used the palace for its intended purpose. When he sat, he pulled Dijana onto his lap and held her tightly with his arm around her waist. "I have longed for this day, Dijana, to have you back in my arms, to hold you, to taste you."

He tore her tunic to expose her, and she cried out in pain when he sank his teeth into the flesh of her shoulder were Taeron had once marked her and which had caused Kai pain in the past. But now he growled in satisfaction as he drew her blood into his mouth and she fought to hold back the burning arousal from his feeding by concentrating on the pain he gave her.

"You are an animal," she forced out. "My husband will spit you like the pig you are."

He raised his head and seizing her chin, he forced her to meet his crimson gaze. "I am going to kill him, Dijana, and you are going to help me. Remember how you helped me in the past? This time we will not fail."

He was trying to mesmerize her with his eyes, to enthrall her again, but this time Dijana knew what he was doing and she struggled to escape his hold, twisting her head, closing her eyes to keep from becoming his slave. She would not betray Taeron! She could not!

The far doors suddenly burst open and Kai was forced to break his gaze to look at the intruders. He grunted with annoyance when he saw that it was not Taeron. Lord Duo strode into the hall, his long sword drawn, which he used to easily skewer and slice up the two thralls that hurried to attack him.

After removing the threat, his eyes scanned the room before coming to rest on his daughter. "Quynn!"

"Father!" She took only one step towards him before a commotion behind her made her spin to face the direction they had entered the hall. Dijana was as shocked as Quynn to see Prince Amyr advancing holding his unconscious son in his arms, his sisters on either side of him. "Amyr!"

As she rushed to him, Staefyn shrank back, holding Xuxa by her wrists and Dijana realized the reason when she saw that Lord Duo had been followed by the emperor and his wife and her brother. "Stay back!" he shouted at them.

"Staefyn!" cried Lady Arora and Dijana could see her eyes glistening with tears. "Let us help you!"

"Set her aside and come to us. You belong with us," said Trey, holding out his free hand as he held his sword in the other. Dijana knew what he planned to do with that sword just as Staefyn did because he put his bonded mate behind him to protect her and made no move towards his parents.

Kai rumbled with laughter. "I see this will end today, one way or the other." He slid his tongue up Dijana's neck and breathed into her ear. "I intend for it to end with you in my arms, my sweet Dijana."

"You will have to kill everyone in the room for that to happen!" Dijana was overjoyed to see her father fly into the room through the wide opening to the balcony overlooking the canyon. He was followed by her mother along with Guillem and Valter. Although her mother held chakrams in her hands and her father was prepared to use his glaive, Kai held Dijana before him as a shield.

The Varoonyan snorted derisively. "Do you think I cannot kill the lot of you?" His contemptuous gaze swept over the Teralonians and Calabrians. "Not one of you can challenge me."

"You will not leave this room alive," warned Lord Duo, raising his sword menacingly. Standing just behind him, the emperor and Lady Arora along with Lord Apolo also lifted theirs. "The canyon beasts are below waiting to feast on your corpse although you will probably give them a nasty case of the runs."

Kai burst into mocking laughter. "They will be feasting on yours after I kill your bastard. Where is he? Will he make you fight his battle?"

"No one fights my battles."

Dijana sucked in her breath as Taeron strode into the hall. She rarely saw this side of him, the fierce warrior now making an appearance to face the warlord. As he advanced, he reached both hands back over his shoulders and drew two long swords, and when he came to the middle if the hall, he stopped. "Release my mate."

"She was my mate before she was ever yours," boasted Kai, and for emphasis, he leaned down to clamp his mouth on the wound he made on her shoulder, drawing in more of her blood. "And she will be mine long after you are naught but canyon beast shit."

"Step before me then and take her in honorable combat," said Taeron calmly.

Kai brought Dijana tighter against him. "Honorable combat?" He nodded to the Teralonians in the air and then to the Calabrians holding their swords ready, thralls dead at their feet. "The moment I put her aside, you have but to watch as they try to kill me."

"Try?" goaded Neria from above. "I will cleave your head from your shoulders even before you take one breath."

"No!" Taeron raised a sword to stop her. "I, alone, will face the warlord. If he is victorious, he will take everything that is mine."

Kai raised a brow and he turned his greedy gaze to look at the emperor. "Everything? Would you give me his lands? Would you make me your crown prince?"

Dijana could not believe that Taeron would make such a deal with Kai nor would she believe that the emperor could agree to it, but Trey nodded in ascent. "Knowing you will kill me at the first opportunity, I will agree to his terms. Should you defeat my crown prince, you will take his place. I vow there will be no interference this day and no retribution in the future."

The Varoonyan laughed, the sound chilling Dijana. "Then I accept the challenge." Grasping Dijana's chin, he turned her face and she gasped when he covered her mouth with his own, stroking her bared flesh possessively with his free hand as he held her tight around the waist. Lifting his head, he smiled down at her. "After I have rid myself of that bastard, I will dispose of the one in your belly so that you may bear my son."

"Never!" she cried out, nauseous at the thought of submitting to him, horrified by his intention to destroy her unborn child.

He suddenly thrust her away and she stumbled only a few steps before she was caught in strong arms and borne aloft by her father. As Kai descended the steps from the throne, drawing his own swords, Xuxa cackled with delight.

"You are a fool, Trey! After he has killed your pet, you will die next, but only after you watch everyone you care about die around you, and you will watch that Guerani whore die at your feet."

The emperor did not respond, did not even look at the woman or the son that was protecting her. Dijana saw that Keilana had regained consciousness and after Vaedra had helped her stand, she moved to the balcony to get as far from the coming fight as possible. The dark-haired, pale female looked over the edge and then shrank back in horror, and remembering Lord Duo's claim about the canyon beasts, Dijana knew what Keilana had seen. She shuddered in her father's embrace as she remembered the gruesome creatures from the day Taeron had marched to battle and she imagined them waiting below.

Kai approached Taeron with his swords ready to battle and Dijana remembered the last time the two men had faced each other. The first time Kai had never fought Taeron before so he did not know what to expect, but the warlord was forewarned, and with the promise of gaining an empire, he would fight viciously to prevail. She could see on his face that he was confident in his ability to best Taeron who stood calmly waiting for him. If he had been affected by Kai handling her, he did not show it. The emperor might trust Taeron to the point of risking his life and the lives of his wife and children, but Dijana was terrified of a future dominated by the warlord.

Stopping almost within reach of Taeron, Kai flexed his arms and swiped his swords before him, but Taeron did not even flinch. "When you are dead," he told Taeron, "Dijana will be mine. She has been mine these past few days, lying with me, crying out for me as I took her blood and her body."

Dijana's insides twisted with disgust at the image he gave Taeron. Even if he did defeat Kai, would he hold her with thoughts of Kai touching her?

"Do you think that matters to me?" asked Taeron as he met Kai's gaze without blinking. "Even if you were not lying because you were barred from the palace until shortly before my arrival, I would have spent the rest of my days making her forget what you did to her. I love her, regardless of what a foul creature from the netherworld has done to her."

Dijana's heart swelled with love for Taeron.

Kai's smile faded. "Then imagine what I will do to her when you are dead, bastard, what I will do to the child in her belly. I will allow it life, and then one day I will use it as I used her before I take its life, drinking every last drop of your blood from its dying body."

"Are you going to fight?" asked Lord Duo with annoyance. "Or are you going to continue boring us with your empty threats?"

Quynn snorted. "You have no idea how long he can keep it up, father. I have had to tolerate it for months now."

Taeron used the distraction of Kai's outrage to lunge with an attack that Kai parried easily. The warlord laughed as he deflected the following series of blows that Taeron delivered with both his swords swinging. Kai outright laughed at his efforts and Dijana was dismayed to see that Taeron seemed to have difficulty handling the two long swords, and she wondered if his injury on the battlefield was hindering him now. Her gaze flew to the emperor who surely knew his own life depended on the outcome of the fight, but the man stood with his lips pressed together, watching with no emotion as Taeron swung the heavy long blades only to find his blows blocked by his opponent.

After several moments when only the sounds of Taeron's blades ringing against Kai's could be heard, Kai made a sound of disgust and pressed his own attack. At first Taeron's parries barely blocked his and several times only Taeron's speed as he jumped back kept Kai from slicing his flesh with the sharp edges of his swords. Kai drove him back, again and again, and Dijana felt true fear that Taeron could not defeat him, that Kai's evil would prove stronger.

But after one deadly swipe of the sword, Taeron leaped into the air to avoid it, coming down behind Kai who had anticipated the move to block a blow that would have taken his head from his shoulders. Taeron did not betray his feelings to have been thwarted, but Kai laughed.

"You did not think I would allow you to do that to me again?" he mocked Taeron as he lunged at him, probably expecting him to be off balance.

"No," said Taeron after easily side-stepping him. "But I have sufficiently tested you and now we may begin the fight."

With those words, a soft golden glow began to rise from his body and Taeron began to move so fast that Dijana had difficulty keeping track of him. Although Kai managed to block his deadliest attacks, Taeron slipped his defenses several times and soon the warlord's robes were stained with his own blood from several wounds. Realizing that he was facing a formidable opponent, his wide eyes betraying the terror he felt at facing a man oozing magic, Kai began to fight in earnest and Dijana wanted to look away from the fight but she could not. The first time Kai managed to wound Taeron, Dijana cried out as if she felt the pain herself, and she noticed that Kai immediately danced away from Taeron, his eyes warily trained on the wound he had put on Taeron's arm.

Taeron did not even seem to notice the wound as he continued to fight with the deadly skill the gods had granted their paladin. His movements were more like those of a graceful dancer as he twirled and leaped, his swinging swords little more than a blur. Dijana was surprised that Kai managed to block as many attacks as he did, and the two men looked as though they were performing a dance together rather than fighting to the death. The second time Kai slipped his guard, he would have fatally wounded Taeron with a cut to his thigh, and Kai leaped back, expecting the spray of blood from the cutting of an artery, but Taeron had nimbly turned aside to avoid his blade.

Dropping back, Taeron narrowed his gaze on Kai for a moment as the two men circled each other, Kai looking for an opening. But Taeron's stare suddenly became blank although his feet continued to move. Dijana thought he looked distracted as he stared at Kai without blinking, and having seen that look before, she realized the reason and her gaze flew to Prince Staefyn. She was horrified to see that he had the same blank look on his face, that he was distracting Taeron! Looking around frantically at the other Guerani sorcerers, she saw that they were watching the fight, oblivious to what Staefyn was doing.

She opened her mouth to scream, to warn someone of what was happening when Kai lunged at Taeron who suddenly crossed his swords before him and he held his ground as the blade of Kai's sword came down. Taeron's swords took the brunt of the blow, but Taeron suddenly released his swords and as they clattered to the floor, he bared his neck to the blade that surged forward. Instead of shouting in triumph as his blade nicked Taeron's neck, Kai screamed with the same horror that Dijana felt as Taeron's blood sprayed forth, splattering over Kai's face. Kai stumbled back, and despite the blood pumping from him like a fountain, Taeron seized the Varoonyan's wrist to keep him close as Kai tried to escape.

Then Dijana smelled the foul odor of burning flesh and she was horrified and overjoyed to see Taeron's blood eating away Kai's face. She knew then why Kai had been leery of wounding Taeron, that he had been looking for one fatal thrust that he could escape before Taeron's blood could harm him. Now the two men slipped on the bloody floor and they rolled together, Taeron's blood pouring out and covering Kai who screamed in agony until Taeron managed to make a controlled roll to his sword. He straddled the Varoonyan, and raising the sword of the crown prince, he thrust it into the chest of the other man, jerked it out and jammed it up through his chin until it emerged from the top of his skull.

Kai's body convulsed once and then was still. Taeron rolled weakly away from him, and as he struggled to his feet, Dijana could see that he was affected by the loss of blood, that he had allowed Kai to give him a mortal wound to defeat him. Now Taeron stumbled weakly a few steps, blood pouring from his wound, and he held out his arms, not to his father, not to Amyr and not to Dijana whose father had descended to the floor now that Kai lay dead.

He reached for Staefyn, and when Staefyn made a move to go towards him, Xuxa screamed with rage and clung to him tenaciously until he spun and struck her with the back of his hand. Dijana hurried to Taeron just as Staefyn reached him and when she would have prevented him from touching her mate, Staefyn quickly brushed her aside and dragged Taeron into his arms.

Staefyn covered his wound with his hand and leaned down to press his cheek to Taeron's. "Beloved brother," he crooned softly into his ear, "I am with you."

Taeron was enveloped in blue-white light that was so brilliant that Dijana had to look away.