Page 81 of Forgotten Fate
“Your father was supposed to be in mourning right now,” he hissed, as if he didn’t hear a word I said. “Instead, he has gone full savage, looking for you. This has caused a great headache in my fucking plans, and that damned wolf owes me an explanation.”
Wolf? I tried to make sense of what he was saying. Did the King of Sprath really hire someone to fucking assassinate me? “Why…why do you want me dead?” I tried to ask calmly, but could barely hide the quiver in my tone. Maybe if I could keep him talking, it would give Elias enough time to get back and we could fight our way out of this.
He blinked at me. “It’s nothing personal, my dear. It’s all just part of a greater scheme.” He grinned, showing his teeth, which reminded me of a predator about to devour its prey.
A scheme which involved my death but not my father’s? I knew Volund was a fucking rat, but I didn’t think he would plot against my father, the most powerful king in the Four Kingdoms. What the hell did he have planned?
“If you kill me, my father will have your head removed and put on a fucking platter,” I scolded. It was not an empty threat. My father would do exactly that.
Volund chuckled as he ran his fingers over his bearded chin. “That’s why I hired an assassin, darling. Your death was supposed to be quickand abrupt, with not a trace of a killer left behind.” His nose twitched in a sneer. “But instead he took you and gallivanted you across the continent. Now I have to change my entire fucking plans.”
I knew Volund had spies all over the place, but didn’t realize he had assassins for hire at any given moment. Was Elias really one of them?
You’re a bounty hunter?I had asked Elias once.
Something like that.
No. I couldn’t believe it.Wouldn’t. Volund had to be talking about someone else. And he obviously didn’t know that no one took me away, and that it was my own choice to leave Rimor.
I glared at the king. “Maybe I killed your assassin, and came to kill you next,” I bluffed, still trying to stall as much as I could.
Volund glared in my direction. “I wouldn’t threaten me if I were you,” he sneered.
“Why? You just told me you want me dead. It only seems fair that I kick your ass. Tell your lackey to let me go, and you can fight me yourself like a real man instead of hiding behind others like a coward.”
If I could get the guy behind me to drop his blade and let me go, I could fight off at least one of them while Elias killed the rest. I didn’t doubt that he could. Or would.
Volund’s nose twitched again and I could see anger swirling behind his eyes. He turned to the Sprathian woman who had stood at his right. “Make sure she has no weapons on her,” he ordered.
The woman, face covered by her hood, strode over to me and began to pat me down. I struggled for only a moment before I was quickly reminded that there was a blade at my throat. The woman took my mother’s knife from its sheath and tossed it to Volund. He caught it and inspected it in his hands.
The Sprathian warrior finished her search and backed away. “That’s all she has on her,” she said to her commander.
Volund chuckled. “One measly knife, Princess Aurelia? I have tentimes as many, and that’s only where you can see them.”
“That’s the difference between you and me, King Volund. I only need one.”
Volund’s expression darkened at the insult, and he quickly strode towards me until he was an arm’s length away. Quicker than I could have expected, he extended his arm until he had my own knife pointed directly at my throat.
“Hold her arms,” he ordered the warrior at my back. He obeyed, lowering his own knife and then pulling my arms so tightly behind me, I felt like my bones were going to snap.
Volund moved forward until the point of the blade pricked my skin. I felt a drop of blood drip down my neck. “I will remind you, Princess, that you are in no place to insult or threaten me.”
I tried to look down at my knife, but couldn’t see the blade from the angle he held it. I looked back up at him. Before I could say another word, a sinister grin formed on Volund’s face. “Your dog is here,” he whispered.
As if on cue, Elias’s large frame entered my vision as he tore through the trees and into the small area where we all stood. His fists were clenched, his eyes murderous. The four Sprathian warriors around him took a fighting stance and readied their weapons, the fifth still at my back.
“Let. Her. Go.” His demand was deep, guttural, and absolutely lethal – a pure threat. Even the warrior holding my arms shifted behind me. Elias stepped toward us, his eyes beginning to glow. I definitely wasn’t imagining it this time.
“Ah, ah, ah,” Volund scolded. “Shift, and I’ll slit her throat.”
Shift? What the hell did he mean by that?
The growl Elias made was beastly, almost inhuman. His eyes darted to me and my knife that Volund held to my neck, and I watched as the glow in his eyes slowly dissipated.
“Get down on your knees,” the king ordered.
Elias’s eyes shot to Volund and he took another step towards us. “On your knees,now!” Volund screamed, the blade pushing slightly farther into my neck. I grunted at the sharp pain, and felt more blood run down my skin. Elias froze, then obeyed, slowly lowering himself to his knees. “Toss your blades and any other weapons to the side,” Volund ordered Elias, and he complied.