Chapter Forty-Four

**REMI**

A few days ago, I never thought I’d ever see my home again.

I’d forgotten what the lands looked like, how much duller the stars of the sky are compared to Keiran’s court. How the fields of meadow and wildflowers span on and on forever, with no sight of river or ocean. It seems smaller, somehow. More of a cage without the ocean, or any body of water besides small, hidden ponds.

Which is why, I suppose, Keiran has landed Vienna’s ship on top of my mother’s castle.

Directly. Fucking. On top.

Vienna shrieks like a girl as we crash through my mother’s throne room.

Beneath us, the ship cracks in two, the sound ear-splitting. Wood fractures, splintering into jagged shards that scatter across the marble floor. The ceiling groans as the heavy vessel settles, displacing air and sending a cloud of dust swirling around us. The elegant throne room, once pristine and regal, now looks like a scene from a nightmare—splintered wood, shattered glass, and debris everywhere.

I should be happy to be home, but I’m not. I feel a deep dread in my stomach. We’re all soaking wet from the river’s water, the remnants of our journey clinging to us like a curse. My head hurts, foggy and disoriented from the crash.

When I finally look up, I see my mother, my sister Rose, and my sister Rebecca. They look terrified, except for my mother, who looks disgusted and asks, “Remi, who are these men... hugging you?”

It’s then I realize that during the crash, Xaden, Kallias, and Rhodes have all thrown their bodies over me. At my mother's comment, they all turn red, grunt, and get up.
Keiran takes over the conversation elegantly, addressing my mother with a mischievous and slightly arrogant smile. “Nice to see you again, your highness.”

My mother’s expression doesn’t change. She’s disgusted. “Have you come to return my daughter?”

Keiran’s smile doesn’t waver. “She seems rather content with my men.”

“Remi…” Rebecca is looking at me like she doesn’t know me anymore. “You’re wearing…a sword?”

Among other things, apparently.

I stand and speak up, explaining quickly, “We’re here for something important. The witches hid something in our castle without our knowledge.”
My mother’s eyes narrow. “We didn’t steal anything from him except a flower.”

I comfort her, “That’s precisely what they hid here. Do you know where it is?”

She shakes her head, confusion mingled with concern. Keiran steps forward, his presence commanding. “If you’ll allow me, I can sense my magic. I’m drawn to it.”
My mother’s lips press into a thin line. “I won’t allow it.”

“Please,” I say, desperation in my voice. “His people will die without his magic. I’ve come to care for his people.” It’s true, I mean every word. In some odd, and twisted way, I’ve come to care for Kallias, Rhodes, Vienna, and even Keiran, despite his arrogance.

She hesitates, then finally nods. “Very well.”
–
It takes us just a few minutes of searching for Keiran to determine that his magic isn’t in the castle. So we’re all out with lanterns in the meadows, looking for his precious Black Pearl.

Write that Remi wanders off, finds the pearl, and is going to bring it to Keiran. However she can’t find him, and doesn't feel good again, like when the witches were stealing her power.

It’s so dark, and she can’t see in front of her. Then suddenly someone grabs her from behind and she shouts for help, “Kallias, RHODES–” but the person covers her mouth.

Immediately the four males began shouting after her. And she feels the magic of all of them, some of them even knocking down trees in the distance.
The person who captured her turns her to him, he looks a bit like Keiran but with a crooked nose, and a long, ugly scar down his left eye. He scares her, even more than Xaden.

Keiran gets to her first. He goes rigid when he sees the male.

“Ryder,” Keiran says in a growl.

Who the hell is Ryder?

“Brother,” the male holding me says.

What the fuck?! Brother?!

“You know,” Ryder pushes my hair off my shoulder. Kallias and Rhodes crash through the trees, their ire palpable.

They shouldn’t attack me, not when Ryder could snap my neck at any moment, but Xaden…something is going on there.

“She’s rather pretty, brother,” Ryder smiles down at me. “Prettier than the rest, but similar. Maybe I should steal her from you this time, too.”

Wait a second, did Keiran's brother say steal me?

Vienna steps forward, her cherry red hair like a gemstone in the moon. "Leaving with you was the worst mistake I ever made," she says, then pulls out each of her swords. "I was so miserable in your crew, I switched to women."

Kallias and Rhodes, even given the seriousness of the situation, stifle a laugh.

“Shut up,” not once in the time that I’ve known Keiran has he ever looked…not like a King. He’s shaking all over, the furthest thing from elegant and smooth.
It terrifies me.

“Ah, but I have so much to tell you,” Ryder goes on. He picks up a piece of my hair and plays with it between two fingers. “Like the Black Pearl, for instance? You feel it here, don’t you?”

Keirans silence says it all.

“How did you know it was here?” Keiran takes another step.

Kallias and Rhodes match his movements, flanking their King.

But it’s Xaden’s job to watch me, and he…he’s leaning against a tree with a cigarette looking like he couldn’t care less.

But maybe, just maybe, that’s the plan.

“I always knew it was here,” Ryder answers. “I put it here myself after sneaking onto your lands.”

From the back of the tree line, several more dark and scary-looking men step out from the shadows. There are seven of them in total, dressed in a royal crest I don’t recognize.

They have a hostage. Someone flailing in the arms of two men. My heart drops when I realize it’s the Priestess in the teal cloak. The one Rhodes and Kallias and I met in the forest when I saved the little boy.

“What makes you think you can bond with my power?” Keiran spits out.

Ryder smirks, then kicks my ankles and shoves me to my knees. Two of Ryder’s men move in front of me, holding me captive with a blade to my throat.

Xaden doesn’t move from his spot on the tree, doesn’t even flinch.

To my left, Ryder brings the Priestess forward. She’s bleeding in several places, and her hands are bound behind her back.

“Prophet,” she addresses me, I can see the tears in her eyes through her thin veil. “Please forgive me, I didn’t mean to tell him–”

Ryder shuts her up with a kick to the face. These must be the men, then, that Xaden warned me about. The men who break little girls for no other reason than to watch them suffer.

Ryder grabs the Priestesses throat, she whimpers and lashes, but doesn’t verbally protest. “And now that this sweet little Priestess has told me that the last born Solis Princess is are conducts,” his dead, half-blue eyes meet mine. “I’m going to use your little doe here to steal the power from you.”

Keiran laughs, he’s returned a bit to the cool, dark Prince, but not enough to convince those who truly know him. Not enough to convince me. “You can’t handle my power, it will destroy you from within.”

“You know, as cocky as you are, brother, every single member of your Inner Circle could easily handle it. Including its past members.”

Holy shit. Ryder was a part of Keiran’s Inner Circle?

“You were a cruel and vicious king,” Ryder goes on. “And although they won’t admit it, every single one of your followers secretly hopes you won’t return to your full power.”

I swallow back tears. Keiran is a cruel King, yes, but just how cruel is he? I watched him murder a few members of his court just for touching me, but is there more?
Something in the King’s eyes suggests maybe there is.

I’m not afraid of him, but maybe I should be.

How well can you really know a person who’s lived for thousands of years?

“I’m a different person now, all of my men know this,” something in Keiran’s voice makes me think he has the slightest bit of doubt. “I’m not letting you stop me.”
“I won’t let you leave here with your Pearl,” Ryder says.

There is a quiet, still moment. Then the fighting breaks out.