Читать книгу Ascension Saga: 6 - Grace Goodwin - Страница 8

Thordis Jax, Jax Mountain Lodge

The Aleran male I had bound to the chair bled, not from any torture or abuse he’d suffered at my hands, but from his attempts to claw his way through the metal binding cuffs that held him. He’d been here for a day and had told me nothing.

That was about to change.

“Where is the queen?” I asked.

“I don’t know what you are talking about,” he spit out. “Release me. You’ll rot in the Optimus unit’s dungeons for this. Let me go. I demand it.” Of course he did.

“Yet you are the one tied up. This isn’t a dungeon,” I glanced around the servants’ room on the top floor of the lodge. We only used the retreat a few weeks a year and there were only two servants who remained year round. They lived in a small house elsewhere on the property. This room was sparse. A bed, a table and chair. A chair that the bastard was tied to now. On the wall behind me was a vid display, recording everything that was happening. He glanced up often, saw himself on the screen.

“But I promise you, I will be ruthless with you if you don’t begin to talk.”

He was noble. Rich. A spoiled son of a wealthy family. And my mate’s distant cousin. I took a moment to think of the royal family tree. Queen Celene’s mother had one sister, Zetta. She had a son, Coburt, now known as Lord Wyse. Lord Wyse and his mate had Radella. When Queen Celene disappeared decades ago, Radella moved into the palace with her mate, Danoth. A few years later, they had a son. Pawl. The little fucker before me.

It seemed the evil didn’t fall too far from the tree, for I’d grown to hate Pawl’s grandfather, Lord Wyse, Inspector Optimi of the Optimus unit, who I now suspected of trying not just to arrest and interrogate my mate but murder her in cold blood. My mother, with her dying breath, had given him up.

He was my enemy. An enemy to all Alera, and yet he held one of the most powerful positions in the land.

He would kill Faith—and her sisters—if given the chance. He’d had several now, and fortunately, they had not been successful.

My purpose in life changed the moment my mother confessed her sins and then died in my arms. My one goal now was to make sure Faith was safe. My mother had tried to poison my mate, the female I loved beyond all thought or reason, and then confessed her sins as my father lay dead in Faith’s stead.

I’d lost everything in a matter of moments. My family. My honor. The wealth and status of the Jax family would be stripped from us. Even if I did not spend the rest of my life rotting in a prison cell, I would be a disgrace to the entire planet. The only Jax who remained alive, to carry the burden of my mother’s sins. All of Alera would judge me for my bloodline, if not for my deeds.

And Faith. Fuck, my heart ached for my mate. My cock longed to sink into her warmth, to fill her again with my seed as she came, milking it from my balls. She deserved more than just a skilled fuck and a male whose soul was not stained by such a terrible legacy. And children who wouldn’t be tainted. She was a fucking princess. While she was not direct heir to the throne—Trinity would become queen after their mother—she was royal through and through.

I was not worthy of Faith. But I could protect her. And that is what I would do—at all costs. If that meant torture and murder of the lying bastard before me—her fucking cousin—then I would bury my disgust and do what was necessary. I was not a killer, I was a noble, a man of business and law.

But for Faith, exceptions must be made. I didn’t give a shit if Pawl’s murder was recorded for the queen’s guard to discover. My life was over without her. As long as she was safe, nothing mattered.

“Where is Queen Celene?” I sat in a chair facing the young idiot, watching his gaze as he looked at me with the eyes of a liar and a cheat. They narrowed as I reclined in my chair, arms crossed, completely at ease as far as he could see. Inside, I seethed with the need to rip his head from his shoulders and unleash the pain within me as violence against my enemies.

That didn’t work well when one of those enemies was my own mother.

Fuck me. Pawl may be the grandson of a traitor, but I was the son of one as well.

“I told you, I don’t know,” he repeated. “I have no idea what you are talking about.”

Lies. Lies. Lies. I sighed and lifted a comm sphere from my pocket. Holding it into the air, I activated the holographic images I had stored there for this purpose and made sure to hold it up to be clearly within line of sight of the recording device on the wall.

As soon as I had walked away from Faith I’d made the call to Nix to ensure her safety. But the moment I watched the assassin’s arrival and stepped foot off Jax property, I’d been on a mission. Get to the truth, to the mastermind. My mother, while guilty, had been a pawn. Just like Zel. I’d known where to go, to dig. I’d paid some very large bribes to some lower level members of the Optimus unit who didn’t care for Lord Wyse’s style of leadership, but I’d finally found what I needed—Lord Wyse’s orders to Pawl, giving him instructions just a few weeks ago to leave the planet and go where?

Earth.

Coincidence? No.

I played the recording, watched Pawl’s eyes widen as he realized exactly what I had found. Not only did it prove his guilt, but his father, Danoth, had been with him when he received the order from Lord Wyse. It seemed evil ran in the family.

In the comms, there had been no mention of the queen by name, no direct orders, nothing substantial. Nothing I could take to Princess Trinity or the Optimus unit that was strong enough evidence to take down their leader.

But I knew. I knew, and I wasn’t above breaking the law to protect what was mine. Faith. For her, I’d kill a thousand males just like this one.

“I don’t think you understand me, Pawl.” I leaned forward, slipping the holographic comm back into the pocket of one of my best tunic jackets. I looked like I’d just come from the palace. Well-dressed. Powerful. Connected. It was all part of my plan, even though I hadn’t slept since I’d walked out of the Jax mansion and out of Faith’s life.

I didn’t expect her to forgive me. I’d left Faith with my parents’ dead bodies—fuck, had it really happened? Any moment now, I expected the news of what had happened last night in my family home to spread like a wildfire. Announcements would be made, my family shame exposed to the world, my family name worthless after hundreds—no thousands—of years of loyal service to the queen and her royal bloodline.

All because my mother wanted more.

More. More money. Power. Prestige. Status.

Now she was dead and had nothing. Not only was I, her precious son, not going to be a powerful ruler, I would be a penniless orphan and an outcast once my mother’s treachery became known. I could only imagine what had occurred inside that dining room once Nix and the other guards arrived to find my mother and father lying dead in the dining room, and my mate, tear-streaked and broken, kneeling beside them.

I left the Jax mansion knowing Faith would be safe, protected by Trinity and all her royal power, by the warriors Nix and Leo, and by Leo’s father. I knew that what I planned would place Faith in danger. And I didn’t want her to see me like this—desperate and angry and willing to kill. I’d lost my entire family, my parents, my home, my life. I would not see Faith fall. I could give her up, save her from the monster these traitors forced me to become, but I would not risk her life, or expose her to the kind of evil pulsing through the veins of the coward before me.

I’d yet to hear anything through the news sources of my family’s downfall, but it was only a matter of time. The truth would come out and I would be ruined.

Before then, I intended to make sure that Faith—and her family—were out of danger, even if I had to cut Pawl into pieces to do it.

“Faith Herakles is my mate. So let me be clear. I will let you sit in your own piss and feces for days. I will flay the flesh from your body one small strip at a time as I kill you and smile when you scream. I will let you rot, tied to that chair, as maggots eat out your eyes. I will do the same to your traitorous parents.”

“Wait. Wait!” he said, tugging at his restraints. “My mother has nothing to do with this. She’s innocent. Weak. She’s been content to live in the palace and throw parties, but nothing more. Please, I beg you to believe me. My mother knows nothing.”

“Ah, so it is your father and grandfather who have raised you to be a traitor. You follow in their evil footsteps.”

He remained silent, even pinched his lips together. But there was no denying the truth of the holographic message I’d just replayed for him and the camera.

“Faith is mine. Where is her mother? Where did you take the queen after you dragged her from her bed like an animal?”

“Thor, you’re insane. What are you doing?” he asked, instead of answering my question. “We’ve been friend for years. We grew up together.” Sweat ran from his temple, down his cheek and into the creases in his neck. I watched the slide of liquid, oddly detached. Numb. My parents were dead. My life was in ruins. Worse, Faith could never be mine. I would not drag her down with me. I would watch her take another male as her mate, raise a family, live and breathe and love another.

Numb was better than the pain I had locked away at the idea of her in the arms of another. I wondered if I’d ever feel again.

“We grew up together, but we were never friends.” I slid a jeweled dagger—my mother’s dagger—from my boot. It was a work of art. Polished platinum, it was a ceremonial piece, not meant for battle, but bestowed upon her with honor when she had retired from the Optimus unit after four decades of service. The blade was not made for war, but it was wickedly sharp. To prove the point, I walked around Pawl until I stood behind him and placed the dagger on the side of his ear. Slicing up toward the ceiling of the dark room, I cut the hair along that side of his head on a single sweep, chuckling out loud as the dark strands fluttered in a scattered mess onto Pawl’s lap.

“Thor?”

“Faith is my mate. Lord Wyse—your fucking grandfather—tried to have her killed. He sent you to Earth. What do you think Trinity and the royal guard will do to you when they find out you kidnapped the fucking queen!”

“Thor!” he repeated, this time his tone pleading.

I ignored it and continued. “Lord Wyse is the reason my parents are dead. My mate will be dead if he’s not stopped. What value do you believe I place on your miserable life?”

He exhaled shakily. “None.”

“Now you understand.” I pressed the flat of the blade to his sweat covered cheek and waited.

“I don’t know where the queen is now. But I know who does.”

Now we were getting somewhere. “Tell me.”

“He’s Lord Wyse’s personal guard. His name is Marish. He has a scar on his face, from the corner of his mouth to his neck, like a hook. He went with me to Earth. When we transported back, he took her. I don’t know where. I went home—”

“To take out Trinity.”

He was shaking now, the fingers of his hands trembling against the arms of the chair. “Yes. I was sent home, back to the palace, but they transported somewhere else. I don’t know where they took her. I swear I don’t.”

Damn it. I believed him. I knew I wouldn’t trust such information to a male of his low caliber. “And Lord Wyse? Why does he want the queen now? After all these years? Why not leave her alone on Earth?”

“He needs the royal gemstones. He wants to be king.”

The idea was ridiculous. “Alera has never had a king. Not in thousands of years.”

“Tell that to him,” he countered. Now that he was talking, he’d relaxed, a bit of his arrogance settling back around his shoulders. He even had the nerve to smile as he continued, telling me of his plans to seduce Trinity when she first arrived at his parent’s home, how he’d learned of her Ardor from Lord Wyse and decided to take matters into his own hands. He’d intended to fuck and murder his own cousin. But he’d been late arriving back at the palace and the royal consort had slipped into her bed first.

“You thought, what? That you’d mate your own cousin? Do you fuck your mother as well?”

That had made him angry, and he puffed up, face turning red as he cursed at the male. “No. Fuck you, Thor. Insult my mother again and I’ll—”

“What? Go on. Do tell.” I pressed the flat of my knife into his cheek so that the meat covering his bones edged over the blade, a shallow sliver slicing open from the pressure, just enough to make him wince. “Thor. No. I wasn’t going to fuck her. I do not need a mate. I said I’d seduce her into bed. Get her alone. Then kill her.”

“Lord Wyse needs all four heirs to die, and all four spires to darken before the people will accept him as their new king. Kill Trinity in her bed and there are only three to go.” I said it aloud as I worked through the ludicrous plans. I lifted the blade and didn’t even try to pretend the sight of that small sliver of blood didn’t please me. This bastard had every intention of murdering Faith’s sister, had kidnapped her mother, and would, without hesitation, have moved on to Faith next. He deserved to die. But not yet. I needed more information first. “Take them out one by one?”

He nodded. “Exactly. It wasn’t like my father could seduce her. Trinity had already met him and he’s too old for her. Seduction wouldn’t work.”

“And after?”

“After, it was brought to light that Leo is her mate. Since then, he hasn’t left her side… or her bed. Their bed. I had no chance again.”

“But Zel did, at the royal reception.”

He nodded but didn’t say anything. I knew what happened there, when Trinity had been taken prisoner and nearly killed by one of my mother’s guards. I had already left the reception for the night and, thank the goddess, Leo and Nix had been there to save her. Otherwise, that would have been one more sin, one more death my family was responsible for. I didn’t want or need to hear Pawl’s account of that evening. But Trinity did.

I walked over to a chair and sat, facing him once more, the bloodied dagger twirling in my hand. “You should be thankful, Pawl, for I have no doubt Leo would have made quick work of you if you dared crawl into Princess Trinity’s bed. Especially if you had tried to kill her.”

I saw agreement in his eyes, the hint of fear at the thought of being ripped to pieces by Leo. “I told you about Marish and the queen. What else to you want from me? Let me go! I haven’t killed anyone. I’m not a murderer. You have to let me go.”

“Do I?” I sighed deeply and slid my thumb carefully along the edge of the blade collecting the scant remains of his blood into a small drop. He watched, his eyes glued to the movement as I smeared the blood between my fingertips. “I will promise not to kill you, on one condition.”

“Yes. Whatever you want. Anything. Just let me go.”

“Start talking, Pawl. And start at the beginning. What do you know about the events that led to the king’s death twenty-seven years ago?”

“I wasn’t even born then.”

“But your father and Lord Wyse were adults. And you, now their trusted confidant. Their assassin.”

“I didn’t kill anyone.”

“You kidnapped the queen.”

He sighed, perhaps resigned that his involvement couldn’t be concealed any longer, that talking was the only way to save his sorry life. He talked for over an hour and answered my questions. When he was done, I had the information I needed to move forward. He knew more than I did, but not much more. And I still had no idea where to find the queen. But it was a start.

“Thank you, Pawl.” I stood and walked toward the door.

“Wait! What? Where are you going? You said you’d let me go! You can’t leave me here!”

“I said I wouldn’t kill you. And I won’t. But you are a threat to me and mine. Did you really think I would let you leave? To run off and warn your father? Your grandfather?”

He blabbered like a fool, begging for his mother, for the guards, for anyone to come save him. I was not a cold-blooded killer, but I could not let him go. Not yet. Not until the queen was found and my mate was out of danger.

I should simply slit his throat and be done with it. But he didn’t deserve such an easy death.

No, he deserved to suffer.

I pointed to the vid screen and his eyes flared wide. I’d gotten what I needed from him. I typed in my commands and the data was sent to the palace, specifically to Leo’s father, the head of the royal guard. “You’ll be fine until the royal guards show up. It might take some time for them to figure out where you are, but you’ll be alive. For now. But it is a centuries-old tradition on Alera to execute traitors.”

“Wait! No!” He howled as I closed the door behind me with a very soft click.