Song of Blood and Reign

Chapter 9

Chapter 9

Lyv thought having Jai there for just a few, much needed moments and then disappear right in front of her would cause her to have another breakdown.

It didn't.

He was searching for her. Hadn't stopped since she'd been taken. Wouldn't stop until he was face to face with her again. And he had help with Gideon, Thia, and Allel, as well as Lyv's parents and the rest of their family. Maybe even both Dalcaine and Escarral.

Why she ever doubted they would do everything in their power to get her back, she didn't know. Maybe it was that obsidian stone inside her, poisoning her every thought and making her doubt everything she ever knew. But now, with her and Jai's mating bond connecting them once more, even though it was the tiniest of threads between them, it was all she needed.

A small shimmer of light glowed inside her, challenging the shadows that were poised and ready. Whenever she was feeling daring enough...maybe Lyv would even take the chance to learn those shadows without completely going under.

The two torches outside her cell were flickering along the stone, casting shadows of their own that were nearly as frightening as the ones inside Lyv.

A third joined in and she realized Mik was back.

And he brought another person along with him.

Guinevere paused on the other side of the bars of Lyv's cell, still looking ever the queen she always seemed to now she was out of her own prison in Asturia. In all the months Lyv had been locked away, her adoptive mother had never come to see her alone. Corliss was always with her and had been the only one to speak.

Before, Guinevere would look at her with a smug smile, loving that it was Lyv locked up now and going insane. It wasn't until Corliss forced that darkness to take over and slaughter Moswen and Tairin's village that Guinevere's look changed. And over those last few weeks...well, Lyv could have sworn Guinevere feared her.

Now, she was looking at Lyv in her blood-stained lace dress, her hair a mess around her shoulders, eyes wide and alert, and skin pallid. But Lyv felt fiercer than she had in a long time and played a part she knew best.

Which made it all the more fun for her to taunt Guinevere now.

A slow smile etched at the corners of Lyv's mouth. "Hello, Mother."

Guinevere paused at the term, which Lyv hadn't called her since she still sat on her stolen throne. "I am not your mother, Alyvia Deverell."

"After all this time, you finally state that fact," Lyv chuckled darkly, slowly stepping closer to the metal bars of her cell. To her delight, the fallen queen took a step back. "Is there a reason you do not claim me anymore? Did I do something that may have scared you?"

Guinevere swallowed, shaking her head once. "You were talking to someone."

"Myself," Lyv lied easily. "That's what happens when you're alone and locked up in a dungeon. You had someone to talk to, though, didn't you? To plan once before after my real mother locked you up twenty-plus years ago and when I helped her do it again last year."

"You're lying."

"Am I?" Lyv asked with a raised brow, curling one hand around the metal while reaching out for her with the other. Both of their eyes went to the obsidian stone buried in her arm.

And how it began to glow.

Lyv didn't allow that darkness to take her over, though, even though she knew it wanted to. The light inside her leashed it firmly, allowing it to bend to her own will enough for the shadows to twine around her fingers and dance along her palm. Something else her light magic allowed her to do was to latch onto another. Mik's black eyes turned to hazel, pushing back his own darkness without the need for physical contact.

Guinevere watched wide-eyed, not even noticing his change behind her.

And Lyv laughed once more.

"You're right, though," Lyv told her then, willing the darkness to curl away from her and caress Guinevere, who stood completely still as a wave of panic flashed through her. It curled around her body, brushing against the bare skin of her arms and neck, brushing back her blonde hair. "I have the shadows to talk to now."

As quick as she conjured them, Lyv made those shadows disappear as her smile brightened across her face once more. Guinevere took another step back, but only ended up running into Mik, who stood silently behind her.

The look of fright on her face was enough to make Lyv laugh again.

"Do you know how long I've waited to see these looks?" she questioned. "You do realize that this is what you signed up for, correct?"

"Yes, I...I do."

Seeing who Lyv had been talking to must have been the only reason for Guinevere's visit or so she made it seem. Maybe she wanted a sneak peek at what that darkness was like up close with a female she'd known since she was an infant. She'd watched Lyv grow up, see her happiness and love despite all her attempts to break her.

Guinevere turned on her heels, eyes cast forward as she lifted her skirts to head for the stone steps. Bypassing Mik, she didn't even notice the hazel color of his eyes, even as he watched her leave.

Lyv laughed again, loving that she scared Guinevere enough to make her run.

Even though Mik was himself without the need for physical contact, his hand still wrapped around her forearm just as they always did. It was that which had Lyv falling back into herself.

And realizing what she just did and how she did it.

"What the hell is wrong with you?" Mik hissed, watching as Lyv's shadows curled around him then before she snatched them away, smothering them with light once more.

"Nothing," she tried to tell him. "I just..."

"Don't do it, Lyv. Please, don't do it," he begged, fingers gripping her even tighter. She tried not to wince, but couldn't, especially when it helped to bring her back into herself. "Don't let the darkness tempt you into using it just to figure out how to control it. Corliss did the same thing. How many times do I have to tell you until you finally realize?"

"I'm fine. Promise."

"No, you're not. You've never been able to control the shadows without being fully under. And look what you just did."

She swallowed hard. She hadn't before.

And it had come so easily to her just then that she didn't even have to think about it.

"Mik?"

Lyv's voice was small, coming out in barely a whisper.

Though his grasp was still firm on her arm, it was more comforting than anything. "It's all right," Mik told her with a smile. "Just keep those shadows at bay, Lyv, until we figure out how to get us both out of here."