Page 11 of Once Written in Gilded Blood

I nod and put on a convincing smile. “Okay. I appreciate that you’re trying.”

Kalel lifts my hand to his lips, bending low and pressing a kiss on the back of my hand. “Of course, little godling. Now let’s get back to our chambers. I’m exhausted.” He glances up from my hand, and my heart twists with the dark circles that are more noticeable up close.

What is he keeping locked inside? It’s wearing on his soul.

He looks hungry too, although he’s been much more reluctant in the last two weeks to drink my blood. Guilty conscience, one might think, but why? I worry my lower lip and try to put the questions out of my mind.

“Are you hungry?” I ask as we walk back to the palace. Tessa is standing in front of an arched window on the second floor. Her eyes follow us as we make our way back through the garden toward the large wooden door I snuck out of.

Kalel glances down at me and gives a small nod. “Like you wouldn’t believe.”

He doesn’t say anything else until we reach Tessa in the corridor, who waits for us with her hands behind her back, standing straight at attention. She offers a small inclination of her head to Kalel as we stop before her.

“Alira, head to our chambers. I’ll be there shortly.” He nudges me toward our room, and I reluctantly let my legs guide me down the hall. I spare one last look back at the two of them speaking in low voices with grim expressions on their faces.

Something terrible is happening outside the veil, and he’s keeping it from me.

I shut the door and stand with my back against it, muscles tight.

If he won’t tell me, I’ll have to figure it out myself.

Chapter 4

Kalel

Tessa glares at me and folds her arms across her chest. “You can’t keep her in the dark forever on this, Kalel. She will find out sooner or later.” Her eyes dart to Alira’s chambers, ensuring that the door is still closed.

“I know,” I snap, running my hand through my hair and letting out a long sigh.

Alzhor’s army of demigods is practically camped right outside the veil. They clearly haven’t found the bridge and the gates yet. Thanks to the dragons in that area, I’d bet.

Only the oldest of demigods would remember the creatures. The dragons have been extinct in the holy Alzhorian territory since Apollo took his fury out on the demigods by eradicating their dragons centuries ago.

King Borlin is the only demigod that might remember them, but either way, I’m grateful for the veil and any creatures that may be keeping the demigods at bay.

Nonetheless, they are much closer than we assumed. After we sent out a few scouts and heard the news of their whereabouts, King Achill almost set off an alarm throughout the entire city. It took me an entire fucking day to talk him down and to convince him that I can very much handle the situation.

King Achill has been holding war meetings every morning in his castle. He’s ready to wipe them clean off the map, use what’s left of them for our gardens and every drop of their golden blood. It’s not like I can disagree with him. If I do, there’s no telling what he’ll do to Alira. I know Achill more than most, and if he says he will lock someone away in his dungeon, he means it.

He may be a foolish king, but he’s powerful. I’ve watched him cleanly sever a head with a single shot of a bow from a hundred yards without even blinking. The royal blood in his veins gives him rule over demons. He cannot be outmatched by us. It has to be one of divine power to overthrow him.

I swallow thickly. Alira will never forgive me for everything I’m doing.

Everything I’ve done…

I can see it in her eyes that she knows I’m keeping something from her. Even with all the classes and distractions I’ve arranged for her. But I doubt she knows the severity of what’s at stake. She won’t let her people be slaughtered like cattle. And who’s to say that they’d be so easy to attack now that they are the ones who’ve come to us? When it was my army overthrowing their kingdom, they weren’t prepared in the slightest. They were outnumbered. They still are…but something feels different.

It’s a bold move on their end, one that makes me consider the possibility of King Borlin being in cahoots with some of the gods. There are certainly many more of us than there are of them. But if Jupiter or any of the gods help them, we are in grave trouble. I grind my jaw at the bloody vision playing out in my head.

“Have Nikolai take her to the library and the shops tomorrow. It should keep her preoccupied a bit longer. I’m going to speak with King Achill and see if there’s something I can do with her to draw her suspicions in a different direction. I have to make my routine trip out to Mortem anyway; this would be a good opportunity to show her that there’s nothing happening out there.”

Tessa gives me a look that conveys she doubts it will work. “Yes, but only because their camps are on the west side of the veil. You know she will never forgive you for this… A lie will catch you no matter how fast you run from it. Why not just do as Achill says and put her in the dungeon? Then the fault will be his, and you might be able to salvage the relationship after.”

I glower at her advice. “You’d have me lock her away until the war has ended? You know that could be months. Years. Possibly longer. And Achill…he will take her away from me in every sense.” I drag my hand down my jaw. She flinches at my words, a grim expression settling over her face. I’ve already thought about this situation eight hundred times over—what I’m doing to protect her will be enough. Even if she hates me after. “I won’t send her to his cellar.”

Tessa nods slowly and lets out a long breath as she saunters down the hall toward the guest wing. She’ll be staying here tonight until the shift change with Nikolai at dawn.

“I’ll see you in the morning, commander.”