Twisted Fate

Chapter Twelve: A Chained Beast

Kendra was smart, I'd give her that.
But The Seer was smarter.
The silver laced kiss I had stolen from Seraphina had been enough to keep Kendra's control from taking me completely.
I could feel it when she had crawled into my bed after her meeting The Seer.
She had smelt of the mountain tops, sweat and blood. Though unharmed and she looked the same beautiful Fae, her scent was altered.
Stronger, sharper and it unleashed the part of me that had been sealed since my birth.
The part designed for my mate.
Something no magik could touch, not with a blessing of silver from The Seer.
Seeing Seraphina's power during our escape.
It was more than I could have imagined her possible of.
I had managed to use our bond to fuel my channeling, sending all the servants to the Misty Halls.
Elias and some of the guards had got out, I knew that.
But I had lost focus, seeing Seraphina go down.
Then Kendra bound me, a collar of control at first before she changed it for a hideous ring she placed around my groin.
It took twelve of her guards to finally pin me, after I'd slaughter another twenty in their ambush.
I'd felt my bond with my mate vanish, like a light being snuffed out.
It had been a moment of weakness Kendra used against me.
I woke up snarling.
The room was nothing but a stone prisoner with a bed that filled half of it.
I threw off the hideous black silk sheets and padded to the bowl of water to wash my face.
Two days. Dorian's voice echoed in my mind like a bad smell.
There was no clocks or timekeepers, no sun to show what time it was.
The ring on my groin flared painfully. I dropped my magik, releasing control.
The door opened and Kendra strolled in.
Her eyes of crystal stared from head to toe and back again, like I was a prize.
I forced back a snarl and turned at another flare, stepping to her and kneeling.
I couldn't wait to rip her in half.
She stroked my ear, brushing my hair with claws.
"What is her knowledge of Demons?" Kendra purred, a pulse of controlling magic forcing words out of me.
Silver laced my tongue. "Very little. I kept her quite guarded."
Kendra ran the claw across my jaw before she pierced it to force my head up.
I kept my face blank. The puppet she thought she controlled.
"How guarded? I want the little bitch to suffer. She thinks she's good enough for the Beast Lord, let alone my Lord!" Her lips curled into a sneer of hatred.
I had to fight to stay still. The want to tear her arm off and shove it down her throat almost breaking, but I nodded.
Silver laced my tongue again as I retold her of the Wraith and a Banshee attack, both being twisted to conceal the Misty Halls and Seraphina's bravery in those moments.
Kendra turned, placing the claw to her lips and tapping it.
She paced a few steps before she spun and pointed at me, forcing me to stand.
My body covered in Dark Court armour.
I clenched my jaw as she smirked.
"Find me a Cyclops. You know where they hide, take fifty of my men and bring me one back. Alive." She vanished into shadow, clicking her fingers at me.
If her control had been solidified.
I'd have brought back the Cyclops and her men without a scratch.
Sadly, only the Cyclops, the horses and I made it back.
Kendra had created a deep gladiator pit in the middle of her throne room.
Tossing the Demon into it the moment I brought it back and sealing it behind a stone door.
She had bedded me afterwards.
I sent my mind elsewhere. A brief warning to Seraphina of her battle to come.
She had scoffed, saying it wasn't her first Cyclops battle. Thankfully this time she'd have her magik back.
I hadn't questioned it, merely gathered enough power to give her a kiss before I left as the Guard Captain entered.
Kendra was gone when I returned to my body.
I didn't hide my snarls or disgust while I bathed her stench off me and cleaned myself.
I went in search of the Guard Captain who seemed to have an interest in my Lady.
I hid in the shadows of a walkway, hearing Dorian's voice shaking the stone.
"WHY WERE YOU THERE?!" He screamed.
I peered into the room enough to see he had the Captain on his knees, surrounded with a suffocating shadow that choked his words.
"You...said...feed...her." The Captain's eyes bulged as the shadows curled around his throat and squeezed. Dorian lent in close, his nose almost touching the Captain's as he snarled.
"But why you?" He grabbed the Captain's throat and pulled him to his feet. "I can feel something between you!" He released his grip on the man, slinging him back into the hard stone wall. His armour was stripped by the shadows as they receded before he hit, leaving him open to the full blow.
He crumbled to the ground, broken and bleeding. He gave a gargled cough and spat, turning his eyes on Dorian with rage that looked so familiar.
I tucked myself into the shadows, waiting.
"Just because you allowed her lover to sleep next door," the Captain got to his feet, defiant as Dorian snarled at him. "Doesn't mean your men are the enemy." The words seemed to stroke Dorian like a physical blow, he took a step back and his eyes widened.
"Sebastian?" His voice sounded concerned and he stepped forward.
A rage that altered his mThe Captain raised his hand, calling a shadow of clothing to cover his body.
"I am fine, my Lord." He spoke softly, as if Dorian hadn't just brutalise him for an order he gave. "You should see your mother, she is fooling around with the other Beast Guards at the Oasis."
I swallowed my bile that threatened.
My men.
She had captured some of them.
Who!
I pressed against the cold stone, using it to anchor me, keeping my Beast from taking hold. Dorian channelled out, shooting through the stone roof to the desert oasis the Caves hid under.
There was only two exits to this hellhole.
Down the tunnels from the Oasis or through the Core that connected all our lands in labyrinths and mazes of tunnels.
I stepped around the corner, closing the door and dropping my shadow.
The familiar green eyes met mine.
He straightened, his hand going to his sword.
I slid my hands into my pockets and gave him a smirk as I stepped into the room.
His body was covered, but I could smell the blood leaking into his armour and the crunch of shattered bones.
His jaw tightened. "What do you want?"
I stopped, giving him a quick once over before I pulled my hand from my pocket and hit him with a wave of healing magik.
He stumbled, stepping back and grabbing the stone wall. His eyes wide with shock.
"He forgets, doesn't he?" I asked casual, slipping my hand back.
Sebastian pushed himself off the wall, snarling.
I scoffed. "Even controlled, I could kill you in a heartbeat, boy."
His face paled and he fell silent.
"What do you want?" This time, his voice was a shaken whisper.
"Just a reminder," I smiled, baring teeth. "I never forget." My words were enough for him to understand.
I knew who he was.
Which meant I knew who he was to Seraphina.
I turned to leave. The Captain grabbed my arm, shaking but determined to say something.
I raised a brow at him. "Speak, I'm busy."
He blinked in surprise. "I-you won't....she doesn't know."
I leaned closer, letting enough magik reveal my Beasts eyes. "Do you mean to harm her?"
He shook his head, squeezing my arm. "Never."
I straightened and removed his hand, smoothing my shirt. "If I find otherwise."
"My Lord," he hissed, cutting me off. His eyes darkened and he stepped forward. "I will ensure her safety as well as I can." He said through his teeth before calling in a slip of paper and handed it to me. "There's more, but I managed to get most of their names. We both have worked to do." We shared a steel eyed look and nodded, each of us channelling out.
I waited until I was in the confines of my hellhole before opened the paper.
A list of names.
Twelve of my men.
Trapped in the Oasis.
I memorised the kit and then scorched it to ash, sending it in a secret channel through to Elias.
He would know what it meant.
The door opened a few hours later, after I'd been a shadow of half the time, listening and watching.
No one bothered to check on Kendra's pet, not when the Beast was bound by the balls and seemly docile under her control.
I had to bide my time, find a way to free us from the hex of Kendra's blight and then we could attack.
Kendra strolled in once more, glancing over my appearance.
Waving a hand, she shadowed my clothes to be nothing but tight leather pants.
I wanted to growl.
She smiled. "Come on, Beast. I want to show you off." She pushed a force through my collar and my feet moved to obey.
She walked ahead, a gown of black and silver off her shoulders and overbearing as it took up the entire hall. I followed behind like the obedient monster she paraded me as.
Leading us to a grand hall filled with servants and Fae of the Dark Court.
Two thrones sat above stairs of black marble.
I almost stumbled see Dorian seated in one, smiling up at a barely dressed raven Fae woman who danced in front of him.
Seraphina turned, her docile drugged smile setting my heart to stone.
She wore nothing across her chest and a thin piece of fabric attached to a silver belt that was black and sheer.
Her body on display for the entire Court.
My eye caught Kendra's as she smiled.
I bit down my anger and claws.
Biting down the want to tear her throat out.
If it wouldn't injure Seraphina.
She took my hand and led me to the throne where Seraphina danced for Dorian.
Kendra sat down, resting a finger against her cheek as she watched me.
She smiled. "Dance for me, my Beast."
Seraphina froze for a moment beside me.
Not long enough anyone else noticed, but long enough I felt the pulse of our bond flare.
We will have our revenge. We will get home. My love. Seraphina's beautiful voice rang out. I met her glazed emerald eyes and for a moment, they looked like newly polished stones.
The eyes of a Lady.
So I danced, not for Kendra, but for my Lady. Knowing it would soon be her I took to bed to every night.
Soon, I'd become the Beast they claimed I was and I would get us home.