WindSeeker (49 page)

There was such savagery in their faces, such warring emotions crossing the twisted features of each as

they strove for a better grip on their opponent. Fists and feet flew; curses spilled like venom from lips

pulled back over clenched teeth. Physically alike in strength and muscle, neither doubted that he would

be the victor in the clash of wills, now becoming an all-out battle.

Conar’s hands went around Brelan’s throat; Brelan pulled against the tightening hold. Both men

jockeyed to bring the other down, hooking legs around the other, moving hips to toss or flip. They hissed

like spitting cats.

"
Stop it
!" she shouted, but they ignored her. She ran to the door. "
Papa
!
Grice
!"

King Shaz and his eldest son came at a run. "What the hell?" Shaz bellowed.

"
Brelan
!
Conar
!" Grice yelled. "
Stop this
!" He reached out to grip Brelan’s arm, but the man moved

away.

"Stop this, now!" Shaz ordered. "I’ll have no fighting in my keep!"

The men seemed unaware of anyone other than themselves.

"I said to stop!" Shaz shouted, spinning Brelan away from his brother and stepping between them. "Take

this outside if you two want to murder one another!"

Brelan strained to get his fury under control. His lips were bleeding and he had a ringing in his ears where

one of Conar’s fists had clipped him. "I’ll whip his ass here and now!" he bellowed.

Shaz grabbed Conar. It was all he could do to keep the struggling Prince from breaking free and leaping

on Saur. "Be still!" the King hissed.

"Let him go, Highness!" Brelan taunted. "I’ll beat his ass and then Elizabeth and I will leave!"

"The hell you will!" Conar shouted, struggling even harder against his father-in-law’s hold.

"She’ll be mine and
you
will be carted back to Boreas with your tail between your legs!"

"
I’ll rip out your throat
!"

"You’ll do nothing of the sort!" the Oceanian King growled. "I’ll throttle you myself if you don’t stand

still!"

"Let them have at it, Papa," Grice chuckled evilly. "I’ll buy Mama all new furniture."

"Shut your mouth!" Shaz bellowed at his eldest son. "Conar! I told you to be still!" He jerked so hard on

his son-in-law’s arm, Conar yelped.

Brelan threw back his head and laughed. "You have no friends in this keep, McGregor. There’ll be no

one who’ll mourn your loss of Elizabeth when I take her on
our
honeymoon!"

Conar didn’t hear his wife’s gasp of shock, nor see the stunned looks on the faces of King Shaz, Grice,

and Chand as that young man came to a skidding halt inside the doorway. What he did hear was

Brelan’s smirking laughter and what he saw was a murderous red fog spreading white-hot over his vision.

With a snarl of pure animal fury, he bucked under the King’s tight hold, violently twisting himself free,

sending the King staggering back from his sheer raging power. Conar leapt across the distance and once

more circled his hands around his brother’s throat, intent on strangling the laughter, and the life, out of

him.

Brelan’s laughter was gone. So was his breath.

His face was beginning to turn red beneath the ungodly pressure crushing his larynx. He tried working his

arms through Conar’s but the effort to break his brother’s hold only increased the pressure. He was

seeing stars along his peripheral vision and he seriously considered his own mortality. He felt hands

around his waist trying to pull him free of Conar’s hold and wished he could tell whoever it was that it

was
not
helping. As a matter of fact, he was losing consciousness even faster. He gagged, his lungs crying

out for air.

"
Conar
!
Let go of him
!" Liza pulled on Conar’s arms, begging. Her father pushed her out of the way,

screaming at Chand to keep her out of the way.

Chand didn’t hear. He was too intent on trying to pull Brelan away from Conar. Seeing that was no

good, he stepped around Saur and brought his tightly closed fist down on the crook of Conar’s left arm,

striking with enough force to break the hold.

Grice yanked Conar’s other arm and Brelan staggered free, clutching his bruised throat as he gasped.

Pushing Conar with all his might, the eldest Oceanian Prince sent his brother-in-law crashing onto the

settee, where he landed on his back with a grunt of surprise.

Being a man who had trained hard all of his life, King Shaz Wynth had no difficulty in straddling Conar,

turning him before the young man could rise, and dragging up his arms behind his back, yanking hard as

Conar tried to whip from side to side.

"
Be still, I told you
!" the King bellowed. "I’ll break your damned arms if you don’t!" He jerked Conar

to his feet and shook him. "I said stop it!" He grunted as Conar stomped hard on his instep in an effort to

get loose. "Son-of-a-bitch!"

"Throw his ass in the dungeon, Papa!" Grice yelled.

"I just might do that!"

Trying to buck away from the King’s hold once more, Conar glared at his captor. "You’d like that

wouldn’t you? That would serve your purpose. Then you could give her to whatever bastard you like!"

"Brelan Saur will be the one we give her to!" Grice shouted back.

"Then you’d better have me locked up, for that is the
only
way you will
ever
give her to that bastard!"

"
Stop it
!
All of you
!" Liza screamed, covering her ears with her hands. "I can’t take any more!" She ran

past them, her tears falling like the rain that swept against the windowpanes.

Grice tried to stop her, but she pushed him away. He turned glowering eyes to his father. "Send him

back, Papa. Send the son-of-a-bitch back
now
! In chains, if necessary. You see what harm he has

caused?"

"You’ll have to kill me first, Wynth!" Conar screamed. "Unless you do or unless you lock me away, I’ll

come back for her with the entire might of Serenia behind me!"

King Shaz let go of Conar and threw up his hands in disgust. His handsome face twisted with fury. "I

have never known two more pigheaded, addlebrained little snots!" He glared first at Conar and then

turned his fury on Grice. "
Shut up, the both of you
!"

"He’s shown what kind of man he is…" Brelan began.

"He tried to kill Brelan, Papa. We can’t let her go with him!" Grice badgered.

"She is my wife!" Conar yelled. "She belongs with me!"

Shaz was on the verge of pitching son-in-law, eldest son, and his eldest son’s best friend in the farthest

reaches of his dungeon and leaving them there.

Brelan took a step forward, ignoring the warning hiss Chand sent his way. "She deserves better than

what she’s gotten from you, McGregor!"

"And you think
you
can take better care of her?" Conar snapped.

"A helluva sight better than you, you despicable little shit!"

"You can’t even take care of your own self, you turd dropping!"

"At least I wouldn’t have to rape her to get her with child!"

Conar tried to get to his brother, but Chand stepped between them and grabbed Conar’s arm. King

Shaz took hold of Conar’s other arm, pulling him back as Grice had the good sense to step in front of

Brelan’s advance.

"I’ll not have any more of this!" the Oceanian King snarled.

"
Shaz
!" a voice shouted, the high-pitched shrill gaining their immediate attention.

The Queen stood in the opened doorway, her face as white as the lace at her throat. She was trembling

from head to toe. "It’s Anya. She’s in labor!"

He could hear her cries. He could feel the cold invading his soul with each groan and scream that

filtered down to him.

He was locked inside the very room he’d fought with Brelan a few hours earlier. Two guards had been

posted outside, and when he had tried to climb out of the window, another guard met him, a sword thrust

at his belly, making it plain that he would as soon run him through as not. His own guards were under

house arrest, their whereabouts unknown.

That had been four hours earlier. After his unceremonious reentry into the library, he had paced. Tried

the doorknob a hundred times. Screamed his anger to the men guarding him. Slammed his fists against

the portal. But no one answered, no one came to tell him what was happening in the bedchamber above.

The sounds of scurrying feet stilled overhead and he turned his eyes to the ceiling. He thought he heard a

loud wail raised in alarm, sobbing, and then all was quiet. With held breath, he leaned against the door,

straining, yearning to hear anything that might make some sense.

For a long while, no sound came from the upstairs room and he was too afraid to reel out his senses, to

probe the room, to listen in to what was going on. Knowledge that he could fathom the events did little to

calm him. If anything, it added to his nerves. Sometimes it was best
not
to know, not to be
able
to know.

He slumped down the wall, buried his face in his hands. Time dragged on and on. It tore at him, gouging

deep furrows in his heart.

When the prolonged, agony-filled scream split the night, his face blanched as white as a freshly covered

field of snow.

He knew she had delivered the babe.

He felt cold despite the flames in the hearth.

He felt cold despite the adrenaline racing through his system.

He felt a coldness inside his very soul. He was so chilled by it, he was numb.

He knew his child was dead. Knew it as surely as though he was in the room with his wife. A child

conceived through his violence had now died because of his violence.

He hung his head and wept.

And he waited.

Waited for the door to open.

Waited for them to tell him his child had not survived the premature birth.

Waited for them to tell him that he would be traveling back to Serenia alone.

When at last he heard the key in the lock, he felt only a mild curiosity at what words they would use to

bring about the total destruction of his world.

He didn’t bother to stand when the Queen entered. He didn’t think he could have anyway. He was still

numb, his eyes red from crying silent tears that had dried on his cheeks.

"I am sorry, Conar." Her lovely face twisted with grief.

"I killed him," Conar stated in a flat voice. "Because of me our child died."

Medea was tired and the muscles in her shoulders were on fire with tension. She rubbed her neck. "You

can not blame yourself."

"There is no one else to blame but me."

"What of Brelan? Do you not think he played a part in this?"

He shrugged. "If it wasn’t for my jealousy, this wouldn’t have happened. If I had left her alone, if I had

stayed in Serenia, the babe would still be alive and I would not have his blood on my hands." For a long

time he stared silently at his palms, seeing the crimson stains spreading across his flesh. He felt the weight

of his guilt pressing against his palms as he imagined the body of his child filling them.

He whined, the weight growing cold in his hands until there was only a rigid pressure pulling at his arms.

"Oh, sweet Merciful Alel! I killed my own child!"

His cry became a torrent of unbearable grief.

Her son-in-law’s sobbing unnerved Medea. As she watched his shoulders shaking, she knew she should

go to him, comfort him, but she was too numb with her own sorrow. She could think of nothing to say to

quiet him or to lessen his sorrow.

"Liza," he groaned. "Oh, Liza!"

"Liza is weak, but she will live."

He raised his head and stared at her. His voice, when he spoke, was dead, as dull as his eyes. "I destroy

everything I touch and if you allow me to stay with Liza, I’ll destroy her, too."

"That’s not true," she said, again wanting to ease his pain, but she was so very tired, and wanted nothing

more than to hide in her chambers. "It was the gods’ will that the babe pass on."

"They took his life as a punishment to me."

Medea flinched. "That’s not true, Conar. No one is punishing you."

"I…I…" His voice broke and he squeezed his eyes shut.

"Conar," she said, tears she thought had dried beginning to ease down her face, "she will need you now

more than ever. You must be there for her."

"To do what?" he sobbed, swiping angrily at his tears. "Cause her more heartache? Hurt her? I’m

damned good at hurting her. I’ve done nothing but cause her pain for the last year! Why in Alel’s name

would you want me anywhere near her?"

"To love her, Conar," she answered, her lips trembling. "To love her as she loves you."

"Oh, Alel," Conar whimpered, burying his face in his hands. "She should curse the day she ever laid eyes

on me!
You
should curse the day you ever agreed to betroth her to me!"

"Stop that! Your mother and I knew you were the best man for her. You know it, too!" She took a step

toward him. "Do you doubt the gods’ wisdom, Conar McGregor? They put the two of you together!"

His head twisted to the side. "I hurt her."

"She does not blame you, Conar," she said with exasperation. "Neither do I! Neither does my husband

or sons. It was an accident."

"Brelan blames me," he said, knowing that truth.

"He also blames himself."

"He loves her."

"Aye and probably always will."

He hung his head, his shoulders quaking beneath the burden of the guilt and the terrible pain in his heart.