A Star is Born: The Coming Dawn: Book I (8 page)

Airia smiled. “Do you want Cobaaron?” Airia entreated, hoping Ky would say yes, but when Ky said nothing, Airia continued, “Forget what everyone else is saying, especially him. I’m sure he’s begging you to let him go, but ask yourself, do
you
want him? Or ask yourself this; do you want to live without him? You could go with him, Ky. You would have scores of men protecting you. There is nowhere safer. They’ll carry you around in a chariot of gold if you wish.

“I’m not saying you have to fulfill your union or have children. I understand you’re young. I’m simply asking you to be honest. See if you want to travel with him and find out what happens. Maybe you truly don’t want him. Maybe there is nothing in the archives about a Star and a warrior uniting. I don’t know. You don’t have to do anything you don’t want to do, and you certainly don’t have to listen to a warrior who in one minute is undressing you with his eyes, and the next pushing you away. It’s proof the union is working, and as a Star your union with him will not let him escape if that is your wish. Your life depends on him wanting you if you choose to be with him. He will have a hard time resisting you. So, keep your heart open, Ky, and search your feelings.”

CHAPTER FIVE

Two stout warriors ushered Ky through the inner caves of the mountain, down to the great hall. She could hear cheering that grew louder. She followed behind the men, easily keeping up, because they leisurely sauntered while sniffing the air. Their pace slowed to a crawl, as the two men exchanged looks, holding a silent conversation. Their body language was worrisome; they often leered at her.

“Are we going to the great hall? I’m expected,” she said anxiously when they stopped. The men traded conniving looks again, as if debating if that mattered. “Take me to the hall!” she snapped. They were use to orders, and she was sure of it. The command worked, and they about-faced and descended a spiraling stone staircase that had a solid wall on one side and open carved pillars on the other that revealed a deep well far below.

“What is taking you so long?” a warrior queried, appearing at the bottom of the stairs. He took one look at Ky, shrank away from her, and locked his hands together as if restraining himself from the temptation of groping her. A moment later, he glared at the two escorts when realizing what the holdup was. “Touch her and
you’re dead men
,” the warrior at the bottom of the stairs snarled.

Ky had never felt more vulnerable. She was in a stairwell with three brawny men who all gave the impression they were fighting an inward battle to ravage her. A councilman came bounding into view. Ky smiled at him in relief. “Come this way. All of you.” They continued down the last few steps, and then filed into the great hall.

Thousands of townspeople assembled along the two longest walls. The chamber was packed with countless warriors huddled around a large platform. Cobaaron was elevated over the crowd of his men, while he waited on the stage. There was a second, smaller platform where all the council sat in chairs. The cheers exploded into a new round of much louder applause, now that Ky had arrived and her presence meant the tournament would begin. Cobaaron watched her as she was escorted to the platform with the council. Ky’s eye remained on him. Cobaaron wasn’t standing on a stage after all, but on cages. She couldn’t see the wild beasts that waited under his feet.

He watched her take a seat, and flinched in her direction when his warriors hoisted her by her waist onto the stage. Ky faced him, and couldn’t understand how he was so confident and calm.

When Ky collapsed in her chair with fear for her friend, everyone in the great hall fell silent. Ky felt sick to her stomach, because he was forced to fight
for her
. Her skin began to glow warm because her emotions were raw. She sat still, petrified, wishing he would move fast and win easily.

“Do you smell that? Is that her? It’s…” A warrior in the crowd whispered, and smelled as his nose lifted skyward and revolved in her direction. His eyes locked onto Ky. He yelled for all to hear: “I want her.” A few others fell in suit, claiming Ky. “I’ll fight you for her, Cobaaron.”

Ky glimpsed Cobaaron. There was murder in his eyes. Men poured onto the stage eager for their chance to duel Cobaaron. Ten, twenty, and then thirty or more warriors made their way forward. Ky gripped her chair. The fight wasn’t fair. Every one of them had weapons, while Cobaaron had none. She felt hot, and her glowing intensified. “I do smell that,” a councilman whispered behind her. The sound of his voice rung like gunfire and made Ky jump.

Without warning, all the warriors sprung into action. They lunged toward Cobaaron before any announcement was given to make the fight begin. Cobaaron spun as a warrior thrust a sword. But then three men surrounded him in an instant. Cobaaron stole a sword after breaking a warrior’s wrist. Then he slit the man’s throat in one solid motion. He extended his arm jabbing the weapon into another warrior’s ribs with such power even the handle of the blade forced its way into his body.

He spun with even more speed as he ducked. He wrenched a shield with a foot long spike off the arm of a warrior. Immediately, he decapitated a man with the edge of the shield. As Ky watched, everyone else seemed to move slowly, while Cobaaron alone gained yet more speed. He thrust the spike into another man’s heart, and sliced another warrior in the gut with the shield, leaving it in his side.

Ky gasped, but she wanted to scream. She never saw anything so barbaric or gory in real life. The sight was shocking. She closed her eyes, praying it would be over. She willed him to hurry yet faster, not wanting to see him do such acts of violence, especially not for sport.

When she opened her eyes again, most men had died. Cobaaron jumped. Someone threw an axe at him. She screamed, certain he wouldn’t survive it, but Cobaaron caught the handle as it spun, and hammered the iron into the man’s skull.

Suddenly, he was moving faster than ever. Before he touched down on the platform, three more men were dead. His stealth was impossible. Blood was splattering from maimed bodies, and wetting the stage. There was a pool of blood staining the floor. It worried her, hoping none belonged to him. As Airia hoped for, she willed him to be stronger, faster, and better. Ky wanted him untouchable, and now he was. Before her eyes, she watched him transform, until his fighting was one graceful movement, as if he planned everything ten steps ahead.

Cobaaron unexpectedly stopped when there were only three remaining challengers. One man had a spear, another a huge spiked club, and the last man had a whip with spikes on the end. Cobaaron slowly spun in a small circle while eyeing his warriors. He picked up a long sword from the ground, and then waited.

A warrior swung his spike-tipped whip. Cobaaron caught the deadly end with the point of his blade, and with a twitch of his wrist, he yanked the weapon from his opponent. As the crop flew toward him, Cobaaron hurled his sword at that warrior; it whistled, ripping through the air, and pierced the man’s skull between his eyes.

Not a moment later, a warrior flung a spear at Cobaaron. The attempt at his life was dismal. He easily snapped it in two and threw both pieces at the remaining men, killing them instantaneously. It took another second for the men to collapse to the bloody stage.

“I’m not here to fight you,” Cobaaron yelled. “I came for the beasts. Not my men.”

“Did you see him fight?” Airia asked in triumph, speaking over Cobaaron’s shouts. “I could barely keep up with him. She did it. She likes him fast. She likes him unconquerable.” Ky glared at Airia, despising her. “He’s the perfect warrior, achieving unnatural feats,” Airia bragged as if it were her achievement because she contrived the idea.

“That is enough,” Ky snapped, furious with Airia. She got to her feet, and scanned the city center, disgusted at the masses of people who gathered to watch. She never thought much of gladiators and that was all Cobaaron was to this city. In their eyes, he was a slave fighter. “He’ll never fight for me as sport again. Men died tonight, Airia. Don’t forget the men who died!” It was then she repeated her last words to the crowd, vowing Cobaaron would never fight for her again. However, the entire hall burst into cheering as if they just witnessed a legend in the making.

Because of her anger, Ky’s light flared. A council member stood and took Ky by the elbow. “It’s frustrating; I know. I hate the fights myself. Let’s get you away from the hall, before you start a riot, shall we?” Without waiting for a response, he ushered her to the edge of the platform. Three warriors helped her down. Cobaaron watched as she left. The councilman escorted her through the crowd to the winding staircase.

“You know,” he said consolingly as they wound up the spiral stairs, “it’s not too late for you to reject the union. It’s been done before plenty of times. I’m a powerful authority in the council and I can see to it that you bond for love, and when you’re ready.” He hurried her, picking up his pace. “Of course it’s your desire I long for.” When they reached the top of the steps, he pulled her down the wrong corridor if he was leading her to Airia’s room.

“Where are you taking me?” she asked and tried to free her arm from his firm grasp.

He ignored her question and struggling, as he continued to lure her down the tunnel. “I do smell something, though. It’s sugarbeads or...I can’t put my finger on it…”

“Let go of me, please.
Get off
!” she yelled when he stopped and yanked her toward his chest. He was a wild beast the way he was acting. He grinned, making no apology for not giving her space. He pressed her against the wall, and he was so close she could feel his breath on her cheek. She shoved him hard. “Get off me!”

“I mean no offense,” he lied as he continued to be forceful, and tried pinning her hands to the wall.

She kneed him hard in the groin. He toppled over, and she turned, desperate to flee back to the great hall. However, he clutched her garments and seized her. He dropped her to the floor.

“Get off me!” Ky screamed as she struggled and fought him.

She heard running footsteps and at once the councilman stood, and put several feet between them. Ky scrambled away from him, crawling backward as fast as she could. A moment later, Cobaaron found her in the hall. He picked her up from the floor and stood between Ky and the councilman. Airia soon arrived in the tunnel, panting as she clutched her chest for breath.

“Explain yourself! What is going on?” Airia asked, eyeing the councilman.

“I should kill you!” Cobaaron roared, looking as if he could tear the councilman to bits. Instead, he held Ky closer to him, and then led her away. His long strides forcing her to run beside him.

“He could smell me,” Ky trembled. “You did something to me, Cobaaron, and I want you to change me back to the way I was. I’m terrified to be alone, now. I trust no one.”

“Cobaaron,
stop
,” Airia called, and then hurried to catch up. Cobaaron didn’t halt right away. He slowed at first, and then spun around to face Airia. “What is everyone smelling, Cobaaron?”

“It’s the way
she
smells. It’s sweet like warm honey, or sugarbeads, or maybe it’s sandraberries. I don’t know, but I like it. The scent is very strong,” Cobaaron confessed.

“Well, you better start wanting to be the only man who can smell her because you’re putting her at risk.” Airia poked a threatening finger into his chest as she chided him. “Now, I’m going to study archives. You two can have my room tonight. Why don’t you
finish the job
?” Airia catechized while scolding him.

“I hate this city. They have no respect at all,” he growled when she left. Cobaaron then began walking Ky to Airia’s room again. They were quiet for some time, at first Ky was calming herself from the encounter, but then she became curious about what Airia said about Cobaaron’s brother. She wondered how much of it was true.

“Have these last few days made you comfortable around me enough to tell me things about you if I asked?” Ky prodded carefully.

“What is on your mind?”

“It’s something Airia said to me.”

“You can speak freely,” Cobaaron said mildly.

“Airia talked to me when you left the room. She told me your brother loved a witch, and they may have had children. Is that true?”

“I never saw children.”

“So,” Ky paused, wary of what he would say. She was merely curious. “Warriors of high rank
do
fall in love? Airia was adamant that he was ambitious but also loved, while you said warriors with elevated command could never love, that it was impossible because they were born fighters. Which is it?”

He stopped mid-stride, and faced her. “
I
don’t love.
I
am a lost cause.”

Ky tried not to be disappointed, but surprisingly, she was. Ky wondered if it was the union, or if she was genuinely attracted to the gorgeous man in front of her. She sulked but nodded. “Right, of course. I wasn’t saying it’s what I want. Airia wants me to love you, and even the warrior part of you, so you will take me with you, and we will both fight the darkness.”

“Is
that
what the wretched woman is up to? It goes to show how
little
she knows. My men are like animals. We don’t feel, at least for the most part, we shut it out. A woman around a pack of wild men who crave two things like beasts is a disaster waiting to happen. They’d fight each other, and use you most gruesomely.
The thought sickens me
. It should you too, because I can’t control thousands of men with
no one
on my side. I’m not even sure I trust even my closest allies after witnessing their lust. Half those men I fought were loyal to me but...Jax…” He shook his head, disappointed. “He was one of my best. He was the first to stand up to me. I wouldn’t have let them bring you to the great hall if I didn’t trust them. No, it’s madness to think of you living among warriors. Even with me changing your scent so only I smell you.

“And the business of fighting the darkness. How does she expect us to do that? It’s as impossible as it sounds. I can’t touch the sky, let alone change the heavens. No mortal has that kind of power. No magic could reach the sun. We can barely keep the three kings at bay and beasts from entering the cities. They’re forming a new army of dactylas as we speak, which I’m sure is at least one hundred of hundred thousand strong. And if she thinks I’m bringing you into a war, then she’s not only incredibly naive but clearly she has lost her mind. I won’t pretend to be unfeeling enough toward you to allow you to follow me into battle. How would I protect you? And it
cannot possibly
be what you want. You haven’t seen enough of the world to be frightened of it.”