Chapter Twenty
“Where is Ussay?” Octavion asked. He’d brought Kira to her room in the castle the instant he saw the welt on her arm. Not because of the wound itself, but because the fin needed to be removed and he couldn’t do it himself for fear of it bleeding.
“She is in the hall.” Luka said. “I tried taking her home so she could get cleaned up and change, but she insisted on staying with Kira. She feels responsible.”
“I need her to remove this,” Octavion said.
“No!” Kira yelled. “She’s not touching it. I don’t want to take a chance of her getting pricked by it. I’ll do it myself, just give me a pair of tweezers or a knife. I can get it out.”
Octavion sat on the bed next to Kira, her face scrunched in pain. He didn’t have the heart to tell her how bad it would get before her ordeal was over-worse than any physical torture she’d ever endured. And the long term damage would render her barren. Although they’d never discussed having children, he knew it would break her heart.
He took Kira’s trembling hand. “Look at you. You are shaking. There is no way you can take that out. At least let Luka get Gregor. Ussay can be here if he needs her help.”
Luka disappeared from the room without a word. A few moments later he burst through the door, Gregor in tow.
The old man grumbled something under his breath before he spoke. “You boys think you can rip me from my home at a moment’s notice and assume I will be at your beck and call day and night. I do have other patients and-”
“Gregor!” Octavion scolded. “Stop complaining. My father pays you well to be at our disposal. Have you forgotten that?”
Gregor’s face softened. “No, dear prince. Please forgive my rudeness. I did not know it was you who required my services.” He moved closer and bowed.
Ussay stood at the door, still wearing Luka’s tunic over her torn slip. “May I help?” Her voice barely a whisper.
“Yes,” Octavion said. “But I need to speak with you first.” Lacing his fingers through Kira’s hair, he held her tear stained face in his hands. He wiped the moisture from under her eyes with his thumbs then kissed her forehead. “I need to explain what will happen next-what the S’Kiff will do to you.”
Kira’s chin quivered and more tears welled up in her eyes. “I already know. And I know you’ll need to choose someone else to marry now. Someone who can give you an heir. You can take me back home. I don’t belong here anyway.”
“What? No. I do not want anyone else. We belong together-whether in your world or mine. This changes nothing, Kira. Do you understand? Nothing.”
Kira stifled a sob. “It changes everything.”
Octavion took her in his arms and held her close. “I love you. Nothing can change that. Not even this.” A spasm ran through her body and he laid her back on the pillows. Her injured arm shook violently.
“It hurts,” she cried, pulling her arm close to her body. “Get this thing out of me. Make it stop.”
Octavion turned to Luka. “Perhaps Mara would be better suited to explain this and give her comfort.”
“Consider it done.” Luka vanished.
Gregor stepped closer. “S’Kiff?”
“Yes,” Octavion said. “The tip is still in her arm. Can you take it out-gently?”
“Of course. I will need someone to hold her arm.”
“Ussay can help, but I need to ask her something first.” He turned back to Kira. “I will not be far. You will be all right, Kira. I promise. As bad as it gets, this will not take your life. Do you understand?”
Kira nodded. “I know. What I don’t get is why she doesn’t just kill me.”
“Who?”
She cringed from another surge of pain. “Shandira.”
Octavion clenched his fists and stood. “Shandira did this? You saw her?”
“No. I mean yes, she sent them. No, I didn’t see her.”
He swore. “This ends now.” He turned and left the room, grabbing Ussay’s wrist on the way out and pulling her down the hall to a bench. He motioned for her to sit. “What happened? What were you doing up there and how were you involved? Who did this?”
“You think I had something to do with this?” Ussay asked.
“I do not know what to think.”
Ussay crossed her arms. “I would never hurt Kira. Never.”
Octavion pointed to the closed door leading to Kira’s room. “Then explain this to me. How did you get involved? You were supposed to be at the festival.”
“Maybe you should ask Cade. I went to sit with him and he told me to leave.”
“Why would he do that?”
She ran her hands through her tangled hair. “I do not know. We have been seeing each other since our youth. He said he wanted to ask my uncle for my hand, but he wanted to wait until the festival so he would be in a good mood. When I saw him there, I thought perhaps he had already done it, but when I sat down, he said he changed his mind. All the time he spent in bed made him think about his future and. .” She buried her head in her hands and mumbled, “He does not want me.”
Octavion let out a deep sigh and crouched in front of her. He gently pulled her hands away from her face and lifted her chin until their eyes met. “He has a crippling injury, Ussay. That takes a lot out of a man. Perhaps he feels he can no longer provide for you, that you would be better off with someone else.”
“So he said that to save me? So I would not be burdened with him?”
“Perhaps.” Octavion used a section of his sleeve to wipe some of the dirt from her face. “Now, why were you in the Aubelet?”
“I went there to be alone. I go there sometimes to pray and think. But when I got to the door I heard voices. They were talking about Kira, so I stayed and listened. They said Shandira’s name. I got scared and turned to leave, but they heard me. They said they could use me as bait. Then Kira came to the cemetery. The girl took my dress and pretended to be me so Kira would come to my aid. I did everything I could to stop them but. . but they were stronger than me.”
Ussay’s shoulders slumped forward and she tried to cover her face with her hands, but Octavion held them fast between his. “I tried to scream. I tried to warn her. I should have fought harder to-”
“No,” Octavion cut in. “They would have killed you.”
“I would rather die than see her suffer like this-to know she will never have children.”
Octavion stood and took a step back. The muscles in his shoulders ached to transform, to take his rage out on something or someone. Anyone. “Send for me if she asks.”
He didn’t wait for an answer, merely appeared a moment later in his lair. All the days he’d spent waiting for Kira to wake from her nightmares he imagined his revenge. Over and over he plotted and planned how he would escape to her world and rip the hearts from the monsters that hurt her. Always afraid to leave her alone, he’d held back. And then she woke. She healed quickly and the thought of leaving her fled from his mind, especially since he did not know when the king of Panthera would claim him. But he would wait no longer.
With his focus and determination on dispensing his vengeance, he transformed himself into the mighty warrior his enemies feared. The leather and steel he strapped to his body were mere weapons. The real force to be reckoned with was the beast within him. He would unleash the curse that flowed through his veins and he wouldn’t hold back. It wouldn’t be easy to leave Kira, but with the task set before him, he could not delay and he would not fail.
As Octavion neared her room, he saw Luka standing at the top of the stairs, his demeanor much like his own. He, too, had suited for war.
“I will do this alone, cousin,” Octavion said.
“I did not come to get your permission,” Luka said. “I took the Darkords into her world and created this mess. I should be the one to help you take them out.”
“Is it not enough that Cade has suffered? I will not look into your mother’s eyes again and see the pain of a fallen son. You will not go.”
“I will either be at your side or on your heels. The choice is yours.” He folded his arms across his chest. “You know I am a good tracker and I am familiar with their scent. You would be a fool not to take my offer.”