They hauled him up a short set of steps and dumped him on his knees. He slumped forward.
“Oh, no, you need to see this.” Anon snatched a handful of Rawn’s hair and violently yanked his head up. His eyesight stung against the bright daylight. Having been in the dark for countless days, it took a moment for his aching vision to clear. They had brought him to a wooden dais adorned with yellow flowers overlooking the courtyard below. “Revere the valiant souls who came for you.”
King Leif rode in with an entourage of soldiers. Rawn’s chest hitched sharply with relief to see him, Eldred, and the many soldiers he fought with in the last war.
Anon then hissed in his ear, “Not a single one of them is leaving here alive, Norrlen. After today, your blood will mark the walls of this keep.” He forced Rawn to look at a young elf dressed finely as a Prince of Greenwood. With his face and Aerina’s eyes. “As will your son’s.”
CHAPTER 83
Lucenna
Lucenna kept close to the tail end of King Leif’s delegation as they entered the Blood Keep’s courtyard. They dismounted from their horses and the elves fell into formation behind their king. She kept close to Raiden. Klyde couldn’t be seen beneath her invisibility spell, but she sensed him beside her, and Keena was doing well to stay quiet in her pocket. They had caught up with them at dawn at the West Wall, and it had been a long tense morning as they rode the rest of the way to the Blood Keep in silence.
Being here now made her magic react to the tension in the air. An Elder Tree with red maple leaves stood out in the center of the courtyard.
The soldiers of Greenwood were on high alert. Lucenna’s stomach rolled at the many bodies hanging from the keep’s walls. The blood of many had stained the brick as if dripped with dark russet paint. Black flags with the red sigil of a maple leaf fluttered from the Blood Keep’s tower. A dais of wood adorned with yellow flowers was the only thing in the courtyard.
And she sensed magic there, too. They were being watched.
“Welcome!” A red elf with a gold crown and crimson robes greeted them as he climbed down the main steps of the tower. “I hope the journey here wasn’t too difficult, Leif.”
The King of Greenwood smiled, though it didn’t reach his eyes. “Not at all, Altham. I thank you for allowing this treaty between our kingdoms. It is time peace has been brought to the Vale, and it can only start with unity.”
“I cannot agree more.” Altham approached with his Kingsguard in black armor. Only a few for a sense of protection or decorum. He glanced at Raiden, and his smile widened. “This must be your nephew. He takes after his father, doesn’t he?”
“He does.”
Raiden’s expression remained blank and apathetic.
Altham chuckled. “Well, my daughter is beautiful, Raiden, I assure you. I believe this is the first union between our kind since the separation of the Vale some ages ago.”
“And where is the princess?” King Leif asked.
“Garaea should join us soon.” Altham shot a look at the guards standing by the main doors, and they disappeared inside the Blood Keep. He went on to say, “I think you will be pleased with my desert flower.”
“I care nothing for your desert flower,” Raiden said tersely. “I want Rawn Norrlen returned. For which we rode in haste across the desert, yet he is not present as well.”
Leif laid a hand on Raiden’s shoulder, giving him a look. “Forgive his comportment. He is anxious to be reunited with his father, as are we all.”
King Altham chuckled. “Well, you need not wait any longer. He is right here.”
He waved a hand at the dais set up for a wedding, and the illusion magic there rippled as it faded away, revealing Rawn.
Lucenna stifled a gasp.
He sat on his knees in only torn trousers with many wounds and scars on his chest. He was thin, pale, and gaunt. Barely alive as blood spilled from a fresh wound on his side. Lucenna could feel the power hovering off the red prince standing beside him.
Must be at the level of a Magi Master.
Curses and growls surged from the Greenwood soldiers. Raiden stared at his father, frozen in place. And Rawn stared back at him. He made a strangled sound that was caught in a weak groan.
King Leif’s jaw clenched. “You gave me an oath not to harm a single hair on his head, Altham.”
“And I did not.” At Altham’s nod, the prince holding Rawn captive pulled up a golden strand, and he laughed. “There, see? A strand unharmed.”
“You’re despicable,” Raiden growled.
“Now, now, let’s not be tetchy. Your father is alive to bear witness to your blessed union with my daughter.”
