The King's Cursed Bride

A Thirst for Vengeance: Part 2

Algernon loosed his first arrow, and Elon merely stepped back, letting it whizz by before it thunked into the ground.

Algernon cursed, drew another, and fired.

Elon began walking to the left, letting the arrow slash through the space he'd previously occupied. "You'll have to do better than that."

Algernon growled, a low, guttural sound that almost sounded like a yare wolf. He shot at Elon again. And again. And then there was only one arrow left.

Algernon unsheathed his knife and charged at Elon. Elon held his ground, even when Algernon lunged to cross the last few feet between them. He caught Algernon's wrist, gripping it tightly.

Algernon jerked against Elon, but Elon's grip remained firm. With his free hand, Algernon removed the last arrow from the quiver and moved to jab Elon's chest.

But Elon was faster. He released Algernon and darted backwards. But then his foot hit a stone in the road, and he fell flat on his back.

Carissa's heart nearly burst passed her ribs. Elon had slipped. Had he done so purposely? Or had he not used his foresight? She curled her toes in her boots. She mustn't run after him. Elon was ten times the warrior she was, and he could handle this.

Before she could blink, Algernon had his arrow nocked and ready.

"No!" Lyron shot past her, running towards Elon.

Carissa reached out to grab him, but merely brushed his sleeve. "Lyron!"

Algernon's dark gaze was completely fixated on Elon. He hadn't even noticed that Lyron was running towards them. Algernon's arm tensed as he pulled back on the bowstring.

Just as his fingers released the arrow, Lyron halted in front of Elon. There was no way he could survive that.

Carissa lunged forward, shoving Lyron to the ground. Only when she fell atop of him, nearly crushing him beneath her, did she feel the burning pain raking across her shoulder. It felt like her skin had been set on fire.

"Carissa!" Elon's and Algernon's shouts merged together.

Carissa sat up, tugging Lyron into a sitting position. He had a scrape on his chin and some dirt on his clothes, but he appeared relatively unscathed.

"Carissa, I am so terribly—"

Carissa glanced up and found Algernon standing nearby. Her gaze swerved to her shoulder, and she didn't hear what Algernon said next. Her shoulder was a mangled mess of flesh, skin, and blood. It seemed the arrow had skimmed past her but taken a good chunk out of her shoulder in the process. Some of the flesh was blackened, as if burnt—likely an effect caused by the Nephesh.

Agony suddenly gripped her shoulder—as if merely looking at it had caused the pain. She clamped down on her lip to stifle a scream.

Arms wove around her, slipping behind her back and her knees. She turned into Elon, recognizing his touch.

Algernon spoke again, "Carissa, I didn't mean to hurt you."

Regardless of whether or not he'd meant to hurt her, he had hurt her. And it could have prevented if he'd simply listened to her.

Algernon stepped closer. "Carissa, you have to believe—"

Elon took a step back. "If you'll excuse us, I need to heal her before she loses too much blood."

After a beat of hesitation, Algernon nodded.

Elon strode in the direction of the river, and Carissa felt a sense of déjà vu. This was exactly what had happened last night. In fact, it seemed they'd spent a good deal of their lives heading towards a water source so Elon could heal her.

Elon set her beside the river. He poured water over her shoulder, and she cringed as he reached out to touch the raw wound. But, as always, his touch brought only a sense of warmth.

She tore her gaze away from her healing wound, evaporating beneath his fingers, to glance at Elon. "Elon, are you alright?" After all, this was no ordinary wound. It had been caused by an arrow head with Nephesh.

Elon looked slightly pale, perspiration beading beneath his hairline, and he offered her a waning smile. "It hurts, I'll grant you, but it's manageable."

The fabric at his shoulder grew dark with blood, and Carissa seamed her lips lest she was tempted to tell him to stop. She hated that healing her came with a price.

Finally, he removed his hand with a sigh, relief washing over his expression. "I'm done."

Carissa rubbed her fingers over the smooth, newly healed skin of her shoulder. "Did you know that Lyron would try and run to you?"

"Yes."

"And that I would try to save him?"

"I told you to do what you thought was right, didn't I?"

"Then you knew Algernon would hit me."

Elon nodded. "You're wondering why I allowed it."

"Yes. You could have prevented it, after all, through either warning me to keep ahold of Lyron or intervening later."

Elon sat back, running his fingers through the stream water. "Algernon thirsted for violence. Now that he has harmed you, he won't be so ready to fight others in the future. His bloodlust would either be quenched now or later, and if I'd allowed it later, it could have resulted in death."

"So you chose to allow him to harm me instead." Though his reasoning made sense, she felt a spark of frustration that he would have so readily allowed her to be hurt instead of others. He could have warned her ahead of time or sought her consent. She would have agreed.

But then her gaze landed on the dried blood on his shirt—the wound he'd taken for her. Whenever she suffered, it was Elon who ultimately paid the price.

Carissa glanced up at him, a smile softening her lips. "Will I ever be able be able to stay angry with you?"

"You will," Elon replied without hesitation. He rose to his feet and offered her a hand.

She accepted, feeling his callouses rasp against her palm, and allowed him to pull her to standing. But she didn't release his hand. What could Elon allow that would cause her to stay angry with him? She thought back to a comment he'd made earlier: I know every single way you have betrayed me and every single way you will betray me. If she were to betray him in the future, perhaps it was related to whatever event that would cause her to become angry with Elon.

Elon's gaze flicked between her eyes. "So many questions."

"And are you willing to share the answers?"

"Eventually, but not yet."

Which was as expected. Carissa began to say so when she felt an iciness pierce her chest. It felt like Nephesh—and not just a fragment of it. Was it possible that someone held the final piece of Nephesh here, the one that created the Esmerian border?

She glanced up at Elon, and he nodded. "I felt it too."

Carissa recalled the glowing Nephesh at the end of Algernon's arrows. He hadn't come with the Nephesh, so where had he gotten it? "Perhaps we should visit Algernon and ask him where he obtained the Nephesh fragments for his arrows."

Elon nodded. "I agree. But before we seek out the last Nephesh, let's put Kybelle to rest."

***

Author's Note: Sneak peek is in my bio! And just to give you guys a heads up , once I'm done with finals, I'm probably going to take some time to condense some of the chapters of TKCB, given that many are pretty short and I'm about to run out of chapters (I only have 12 more that WattPad allows)!