Shadows (Book Two of the Accalia Series)

The Start of it All

Five Years Earlier — Continued

Atlas's POV

As I approached the dining room, everyone stood in the customary greeting and waited until I had taken my seat at the head of the table before sitting again. I had always thought the custom was excessive, but it wasn't something anyone here wanted to let go of, so I left it.

The table had been set with full cutlery and a wide spread — dragons burned through energy at a rate that demanded it. I had been taking my meals in my room lately. Tonight I made myself come down.

I noted who was here. Uncle Ellis at the far end. Beside him, Katrina. Their daughters Destiny and Kimmy. On my right, Adam. Beside him, Sorena. I didn't look at her directly. Beyond them, Parrish and Paris.

The room was loud. I ate in silence and kept my attention away from one end of the table.

Then her voice came into my mind.

"Why do I feel like you're avoiding me?" Sorena said.

"I've just wanted to be alone," I told her. Half true.

She held my eyes when I finally looked up, until I held them back steadily enough to make my point, and she turned away.

"If you say so, Atlas," she replied.

I looked up and found Ellis watching me. He always knew. He had been quietly steering people away from my door for days.

Around two in the morning, I was at my desk reviewing a border report when the knock came. I hadn't called for anyone. As I approached the door, I caught her scent.

Why is she here at this hour?

I opened it. Sorena. Black lace nightgown, hair loose, no reasonable explanation. I stepped back to let her in — if someone saw her at my door, the assumption alone would be damaging. I closed the door, turned, and she was already on my bed with the nightgown on the floor.

"Get out, Sorena," I said.

Her face went through hurt and she began explaining what she had thought, and I could see exactly how we had arrived here. I had let the familiarity run too long.

"You weren't thinking," I told her. "Go back to your room. Don't come to mine again unless there is something that cannot wait."

She raised her hand. I had the motion read before she finished it. I was across the room and had her against the wall by her throat before she could complete the spell.

"My room is spelled against witchcraft," I said. "If you try that again, I won't be restrained about it."

I dropped her and opened the door. She left. I stood in the quiet of my room for a long time. She was lucky she served a purpose for Adam. And I knew — turning it over in the dark — that I had brought some of this on myself. I hadn't been paying close enough attention.

I didn't know yet just how much that would cost me.

Adam's POV

I woke up to an empty bed. I reached for Sorena's energy through the castle and let my power take me to where she was. I ended up in the corridor outside Atlas's room.

I stood there for a moment, telling myself it wasn't what it looked like. I knew my brother. There was no way. Yes, I had noticed the way they sometimes nudged each other, the occasional glance — but I had never let it concern me, because Atlas was not that man.

I was still giving him the benefit of the doubt when the door opened and Sorena rushed out, tears on her face. The door closed behind her.

She saw me and ran into my arms. I brought us back to our room.

"What happened?" I asked, working to keep my voice level while my mind ran through every version of the answer.

"You're going to hate me if I tell you," she said.

I put my fist through the wall before I said another word. I looked back at her sitting on the bed, knees pulled up.

"Did you sleep with him?" I asked.

More tears. She shook her head violently.

"What kind of person do you think I am? Do you think I wanted any of this?" she said.

And then it hit me. The way she said it. What she hadn't said.

I sat beside her. She flinched when I moved, which told me everything I needed to know before I even asked.

"Did he hurt you?" I asked quietly.

She broke down completely. I had heard things — whispers from a few women in the castle about Atlas's roughness. His room was spelled against magic. She wouldn't have been able to defend herself.

"Yes," she said.

Flame and I erupted. I was on my feet and ready to transport to his room before the thought had fully formed.

He hurts our mate. We kill him. We end him,

Flame said, and for a moment I agreed with every word. But Sorena was in front of me, her arms around me.

"Please. Don't go. Stay with me," she said.

I chose her. My brother's reckoning would come later.

After hours of holding her, I fell asleep — and into the same dream I had been having for months. I was king. Sorena sat at my side, visibly pregnant. Then Atlas appeared behind her and drove a blade into her heart, and the bond shattered, and I woke up.

Not the first time. Every time I had this dream, it felt less like imagination and more like something trying to tell me something. Being king had never appealed to me — Atlas was built for it. But the more I had this dream, the more something insisted the throne was mine by right, and the only obstacle was my brother.

I lay in the dark and made a decision. I wouldn't kill him. I would take what he valued most. I looked at Sorena sleeping beside me, and the shape of the plan came together almost on its own.