Chapter 34: Weakened Passion

Note: Thanks to B0b and WRC 264 for beta reading this!

Princess Ava – The Princedom of Kivoneth, The Strifelands of Zeutch

My stomach twisted and writhed as I moved around the campfire. My reunion with Sven and his harem had not gone nearly as well as I hoped. Instead of the passionate delight, making love to Sven and his women, the poison ensured that I couldn’t sleep with him. Abstaining from sex with them kept my bedmaid Greta and I healthy while Sven and his harem grew worse and worse. The last two days were awful.

We were one day out from Az, and I feared we wouldn’t make it.

I knelt down beside Sven. He had his eyes closed, his face pale and clammy, sweat beading his forehead. I dabbed at it with my cloth, giving him a forced smile. His blue eyes stayed closed. A nervous writhe ran through my guts, the dread clawing at my heart.

What if my Sven died? We still had to travel all day tomorrow to make it to Az.

I glanced at the woods. The southern edge of the Forest of Lhes loomed to the north of us, a wall of dense woods that ended abruptly against the cleared strip along the road. I shivered. I tried not to look. I could feel the assassin watching us. He had to be tracking us, watching my family getting weaker and weaker.

What could I do? I didn’t know how to fight. And my bedmaid was utterly useless.

“It’ll be okay,” Greta said as she leaned over Aingeal. The faerie was doing poorly. She whimpered on her back, her feyhound Scáthnamhaid lay beside her, resting its head made of wicker on his paws. “Just hang in there.”

“K-kora?” Aingeal asked through chattering teeth.

I glanced at Sven’s sister. She lay beside him, her body looking so small, the blanket pulled up over her. She trembled in her sleep. I leaned over her, my heart pounding ice through my veins as I peered down at her.

“Kora?” I asked.

“I ... I...” Kora opened her eyes, her blues dulled to grays. “It’s ... so cold...”

“I know.” I dabbed at her sweaty forehead. “Do you think you can eat something?”

“Don’t ... know...”

I hated this poison. It had destroyed my family. Zanyia, Ealaín, Sven, Kora, Aingeal, and Nathalie all lay trembling. And the assassin watched us. I could feel the malevolence of his gaze. When would he strike? When would he attack and put down my family?

“We’re not going to make it to Az,” Greta said, her voice tight.

Keythivak

The time had come.

I cloaked myself in shadows. Sven and his harem lay dying. Too weak to stop me. The princess and her maid would pose no threat. The shadows surged around me, writhing and undulating as I shaped them, molded them, transformed them. My flesh vanished. The shadows hid me. My shoulder throbbed, still healing, but that didn’t matter.

“Now, Master?” my lamia hissed. Hithina crouched on a branch nearby, her dyed-black hair falling about her feral face. She licked her chops, her tail swishing back and forth.

“Now,” I grinned and dropped out of the tree.

I landed as soft as a leaf. Hithina fell down beside me. An owl hooted above. She scurried off to the right, moving through the field on her hands and knees. Only the rustle of grass gave any sign of her approach. I moved to the right, uncoiling my chain-sickle. Using my enhanced shadows had failed me last time. The faerie could counter it too easily.

I’d kill her after dealing with the princess and her bedmaid.

Night deepened around me. The campfire drew me closer and closer. Princess Ava crawled into her blanket, lying next to her bedmaid. Around her, Sven and his harem huddled in their own blankets, too weak to fight. I’d watched them ride, slumped over their horses, hardly aware of the world around them. The styrchnos insidious presence had done its work.

My heart beat sped up as I crept up to the edge of camp. Princess Ava rolled over in her blanket. She stared at the fire, her strawberry-blonde locks painted by the dancing oranges and reds. Wood popped as it burned, smoke pouring into the air.

“It’ll be okay,” the bedmaid said, her voice light. She had blonde hair gathered in twin pigtails. “Maybe we will reach Az tomorrow.”

Princess Ava shook her head. “We won’t. Look at them all. How can any of them ride? Can you lift Sven up into the saddle of his horse? I can’t!”

I crept closer and closer. I slipped past Sven and his sister Kora. I could feel the amulet around the whimpering priestess’s neck. My hands clenched, wanting to grab it but keeping myself disciplined. Deal with the threats first, then claim my Mistress’s prize.

I stood over the princess and her maid. I drew back my fist, my chain-sickle held in the other hand, the chain wrapped about my waist, connected to the sickle. One blow to knock her out. Hithina approached the camp from the other side.

I—

“Kora!” the faerie shouted, her eyes springing open across the campfire.

My head whirled around to the priestess sitting up in her bedrolls, a spike of cold shooting through my veins. She pulled wet fingers out from beneath her blankets as she faced her feverish face at me. Her dull-blue eyes focused for a moment.