Heir of Pendel (A Pandoran Novel, #4) (64 page)

I looked over his beautiful face, taking in every line, every detail. Loving every part of him. "Yes. There's nothing in this world I want more." And then I paused, my gaze teasing. "Well, there is something else that's pretty high up there."

His laughter moved through me. "Well, I promise to make it up to you once we're married."

I smiled at him, trailing my fingers over his full bottom lip. "I love you, Alexander James Del Conte. I don't need to wait to marry you. I would've married you yesterday."

He smiled and kissed me. "You know, this is the first time in all my nineteen years of knowing you that you haven't said my full name because I was in trouble."

I chuckled against his mouth. "And it'll probably be the last."

He smiled against my mouth as his hands moved to my hair, and he kissed me again. His kisses stayed resolutely behind a line, but we kept kissing each other until I eventually fell asleep wrapped up in his arms. And for the first time since I'd come to this world, I didn't dream.

42

STEFAN

S
oft light cast long shadows upon the wall beside me. I had a dull memory of waking to pain, but I did not feel pain now. I was cold, not uncomfortably so, but the air was chill and damp and it smelled…old.

"He's awake."

The voice belonged to a woman, and I had the distinct impression I should know it.

A hand pressed against my cheek. "Stefan? Can you hear me?" Her voice was urgent—hopeful. She pressed her hand to my forehead. "He feels a little warm," she said to someone else.

A few seconds later, something cold and wet touched my forehead.

"It's all right," she continued, running fingers through my hair. "You're safe here. Rest. I won't let anything happen to you."

And then I knew.

Sonya. The voice belonged to Sonya. But what was she doing here? Wherever
here
was. Shouldn't she be in Karth, with Master Durus? How was she with me? And shouldn't I be…dead? A person did not survive a stab wound to the heart.

I blinked my eyes open. Lamplight flickered from somewhere to my right, where Sonya's silhouette bent over me, though I could not see her face in the shadows.

"Sonya…?" I croaked. My throat was raw from not using it in…I had no idea how long.

"I'm here." She squeezed my hand. "Everything is going to be all right, but I need you to relax." A pause, some fumbling, and then she slid her hand beneath my head. "You need to drink this. It's only water."

She helped me lift my head just enough to drink. The water tasted cool and refreshing, and I hadn't realized how dry my mouth had been until that moment, and then I couldn’t drink enough.

"Careful," she said. "Not too much. You're extremely dehydrated, and the last thing you need is to throw it all back up."

She pulled the cup away and I licked my lips. They felt dry and cracked, and they stung when my tongue touched them.

"Shall I fetch some more water?" asked a male voice from the shadows.

"No, thank you, Master Antoni," Sonya replied. "I believe this is enough for now."

Master Antoni? But wasn't Master Antoni at the guild? Did it follow that I was at the guild, too?

"What is it, Stefan?" she asked.

"Where…where am I?"

"You're in the escape tunnels beneath the castle," she said, removing the wet cloth from my head.

Ah. I recalled a distant memory of my father telling me about escape tunnels. "But…how?"

She dabbed the damp cloth around my face and neck "Well, you were brought down here after Eris…" Her hand paused on my neck, and then she went back to dabbing the wet cloth on my forehead. When she continued, her voice was softer and shaken. "You've been kept alive down here for almost a month. Master Durus and I arrived a few weeks ago, with Arioch Prime's help. We entered the tunnels from the other side, at the Aegis Quarters where they end, you know, and we've been here with you ever since. You're very lucky to be alive, Stefan. The blade missed your heart only by a few centimeters, though it did puncture your lung. Master Antoni saw to your wounds when it was most critical."

But it didn't make sense. Master Antoni had not been in the meeting hall when my uncle had stormed in and murdered my grandfather and tried to murder me. "How did Master Antoni get me out of there?"

"He didn't," she said.

"Then who did?"

"I did," said a new, deeper voice.

My eyes followed the sound to where Headmaster Ambrose stood at the edge of the lamplight. His face was hard and severe per usual, but concern marked his eyes.

To say I was shocked was a gross understatement. He had been standing in the hall when it'd all happened, and he hadn't lifted a finger to help. In fact, Eris had acted as though they worked together.

"I don't understand," I said. "You were there…and…and…you didn't…"

"Shh." Sonya placed her hand on my forehead. "Headmaster, he's too weak. This can wait."

"No, it can't wait," I said, trying to sit up, but my arms gave way. Sonya caught me and eased me back down. "He's a traitor. He was there when my uncle murdered my grandfather, but he just stood there and let it happen!"

"I did not know he would do what he did," the headmaster said quietly.

"Liar." I coughed and Sonya held my head down, trying to force me to rest.

"Headmaster,
please
—" Sonya's brow hardened into a line, and when she turned her face I noticed the wet streak along her cheek.

My anger dimmed to a sharp, sorrowful point: Cicero.

The headmaster started walking away, and I said, "Headmaster, wait."

He paused and turned, his profile sharp, his nose like a beak in the dim light.

"What happened to everyone else at that meeting?" I whispered.

He was quiet a long moment, and then he said, "They're dead."

Dead.

I winced as if the very word had thorns. "All of them?"

"All of them."

"And you…you didn't do anything to stop it?" My voice rose with my anger, and it made my chest ache. But this pain had nothing to do with the wound there.

"Stefan, please…" Sonya whispered.

"I could not, your grace," Headmaster Ambrose said in a tone softer than I'd ever heard him speak. "It all happened too fast, and my focus had been on getting you out of there safely. I knew the blade had missed your heart, and I placed an enchantment to slow your blood flow until I could get you out of there. That was risk enough, doing so without Eris noticing, and when he asked me to dispose of the bodies, I brought you down here with Master Antoni's help, and we've been keeping you alive in these tunnels ever since."

Sonya was still turned away from me, her head bowed. Cicero Del Conte was gone. My uncle had killed him and everyone else in that room, and Sonya was here, taking care of me, when she had just lost her husband.

Straining, I lifted my right arm and reached across myself to grab her hand. She started at my touch but then squeezed my fingers, hard.

"Sonya, I…" Guilt and grief swallowed my words. Because of me, her husband was gone. Because he was loyal and honest and good, and because he would do anything for my family to ensure our safety. And it had killed him. "Any word from Alexander?" I asked.

She wiped her eyes, leaned forward, and picked something off the ground. "Last we heard, he was on his way here from Alioth, and he's got a thousand Nords with him." Despite her sadness, her voice filled with pride when she said this.

Alexander was alive, and he had an army, apparently.

"But…Daria is missing," she whispered.

My chest squeezed again at mention of Daria. "Missing…?"

"She fled Orindor the night…the night it happened. No one has seen her since."

"Do you know where she is, Headmaster?" My tone bit.

He was unaffected, or at least if he was, he didn't let it show. He never let anything show. "I do not, your grace, but I believe her absence a good sign that she is safe."

"
Safe
." I sneered. "Nowhere in this bloody world is safe. Not with my uncle alive." I tried breathing in deeply, but my chest was too tight and it hurt when I tried. "Where is he now?"

"He's proclaimed himself king," the headmaster said.

"Then as his servant, what in the blazes are you doing down here with me?"

"I do not serve Eris," he replied with a calmness that made me want to scream at him. "I serve only Gaia. At first I believed what Eris was doing was for the good of this world. He brought a balance of power that hadn't been seen since this world's inception, but then…I realized how it affected him and what he was becoming. I opted to stay close to him so that I might keep an eye on his actions and help where I could, but even so, I did not see the incident at the throne room coming—or at least not so quickly. Otherwise, I would've snuck you and your grandfather out at a much earlier time, and I am sorrier than you know that I failed to do that."

Sometimes I really envied Daria and her ability to sense others' emotions. That ability would come in handy right now, because I didn't know if a single word of what he'd said was true. Sonya didn't seem to take issue with him, though, and if anyone else were to have an issue with him, it would be her.

"Where are Master Durus and…Arioch Prime, did you say?" I asked Sonya.

"I did," she replied. Her voice had gained some of its strength back. "Arioch Prime is above ground, keeping an eye on things and making sure no one finds us down here, and Master Durus is waiting just outside the room."

"But…why are
you
here?" I asked.

"What do you mean, why am I here?" She sounded surprised by my question, and quite possibly a little offended.

"Sonya, I only meant…as my aegis, I understand, but I also understand Alexander is your son. You absolutely have my permission to go to him. I hope you know that."

She combed her fingers through my hair. "I am not here as your aegis, Stefan. And I hope
you
know
that
." She squeezed my hand. "Alexander does not need me right now. Right now…making sure you recover is more important."

43

ALEXANDER

S
he looked so beautiful lying there, like some
fraeling
from the Arborenne, and I hated to wake her. Her dark hair spilled over the pillow, and a piece of it lay across her forehead, which I brushed back and tucked behind her ear. I'd almost given in last night. I'd wanted to so badly, but if there was one thing I wanted to do right in this world, it was loving her the way she deserved.

Her long, dark lashes fluttered gently across her cheekbones as she adjusted her slender arm over the blankets, then she paused, sensing I wasn't lying beside her. Gaia knew I wanted to be, but there was still too much to be done. Her eyes blinked open and rested on me, crouched beside the bed.

I leaned forward and kissed her cheek, letting my lips linger there a moment. "Good morning, love."

I pulled back to find her studying every turn of my face, and when she smiled it was as if the sun had materialized in the room. Spirits, I loved her. This war couldn't end soon enough.

Her curiosity surged as she noticed I'd already put on my shirt. "Mm, where are you going?" she asked.

I kept my hand on her hair. I couldn't seem to stop touching her. "The sun will be up in a few minutes. I thought I'd go ahead and speak with the prisoners."

Her gaze slid back and forth between my eyes, those large grey eyes seeing and understanding everything. "Did you want me to come with you?"

I rubbed my thumb along her temple. "I always want you with me, but you don't need to come if you'd rather stay here. I can fill you in on everything later."

Her gaze moved distractedly to my hair, my brow, my mouth. "Then I'll stay here and see if Thad needs any help. And maybe I'll try to see where Nexus went."

"What do you mean? I thought he was just in the woods?"

"Um…" I felt a dim flush of her embarrassment. "He wanted to be a little farther away last night."

I'd forgotten about Nexus's ability to invade Daria's mind. "I'm sorry…I wasn't thinking," I said. "All I could think about was kissing you."

She laid her hand over mine. "Never apologize to me for that," she whispered.

Her eyes were big and bright, and they looked at me with so much love and affection and pride, I felt as though I could conquer anything. She rubbed her thumb against mine, and suddenly all I could think about was her touch, and then I found I couldn't stop staring at her mouth. My senses were still full of her—her taste, her sweet scent, her warmth. Her promise.

She smiled in a way that made me think she'd probably sensed the direction of my thoughts. "I think you should probably go."

I stroked her hair. I loved her hair, and I wanted to bury my face in it again. "That hurts my feelings."

"No, it doesn't." A mischievous glint lit her eyes. "Right now your feelings are…very warm and sensuous, and I think that if you don't leave now, neither of us will be going anywhere for a while."

I chuckled, trailing my fingers over her lips. I loved her lips, too, and really wanted to kiss them again. Now, in fact. I leaned forward and kissed her on her perfect mouth, lightly, delicately. Savoring the suppleness of her lips. I didn't want to stop kissing her. With a sigh I pulled away, trailing my fingers along her jaw. "I love you."

"I love you," she said softly, running her fingers through my hair, and her smile almost made me lose sight of my purpose again. She seemed to sense this and lightly shoved me off. "
Go
. Before I pull you back down here with me."

I smiled as I stood and walked to the door, but before leaving, I looked back at her, one last time. Just because I needed to look at her again, to remind myself I wasn't dreaming, that she was there in the flesh and she loved me as I'd always loved her. That she was mine. I finally closed the door between us, my heart feeling fuller than it had ever felt in all my life. And, of course, it took Thaddeus all of one second to steal the moment away.