The Husband With many Identities

Ch 4 - Kidnapped

Only a few minutes ago, the kingdom’s best healers had declared Seraphine dead. This man had ignored every one of them and restored her failing core.

Yet Danaya knew nothing about him. Of who this man really is. Is this his fiance or a completely different person? That thought keeps on running in her mind.

She did not know where he had learned to heal. She did not know why he shared her missing fiancé’s name and face. She did not even know whether bringing him into the Valcrest estate had been a mistake.

“Who are you?” Danaya asked.

Akeel looked at the guards standing behind him.

“I already told you,” he said. “I’m not the man you were looking for.”

Danaya wanted to dismiss his claim as another lie.

After what she had just witnessed, she could no longer do that.

Akeel turned toward the door, but the guards blocked his path.

But how did Akeel end up in this situation?

It started the previous morning, inside his small relic shop in Asterra.

One day earlier.

Akeel was repairing a broken heatstone when three men entered the Second Spark Workshop.

None of them bothered to knock.

The first man wore a dark uniform beneath a long coat. A silver crest rested near his collar—a winged sword surrounded by ten small stars.

The crest of House Valcrest.

The two men behind him spread out, blocking the door and the small path leading to the back room.

Akeel continued working. But his eyes and ears are all sensing.

The heatstone rested between his fingers. A thin crack ran through its center, leaking faint blue light. With one careful turn of his tool, he guided the remaining energy back into the damaged channel.

The stone came alive.

Warm air flowed across the counter.

“Shop is closed,” Akeel said.

The man in front placed a crystal portrait on the counter.

“Are you Akeel?”

Akeel glanced at the portrait.

Then his hand stopped.

The man shown inside the crystal had his face.

The same dark hair. The same eyes. Even the small mark beneath the left side of his jaw was there.

But Akeel had never posed for that portrait.

He looked at the guard. “Who is he?”

The guard ignored the question. “Your name.”

“Akeel.”

“That is enough.”

The two men behind him moved.

One reached for Akeel’s shoulder.

Akeel sensed the attack before the guard took his second step. He knew exactly where the man would place his hand. He knew how much force it would take to break the wrist, dislocate the shoulder, and put him on the floor without killing him.

The second guard had an enchanted blade hidden beneath his coat.

The captain carried a Level Seven binding artifact.

Three opponents.

None of them would have lasted ten seconds.

Akeel lowered his repair tool.

He looked at the portrait again.

Whoever the man was, House Valcrest believed they had finally found him.

That made the situation interesting.

The guard grabbed Akeel’s arm and twisted it behind his back. Akeel allowed his body to turn with the movement.

“You are making a mistake,” Akeel said.

“You can explain yourself to Lady Danaya.”

The captain removed a narrow glass tube from his coat. Pale mist moved inside it like smoke trapped underwater.

He broke the seal beneath Akeel’s nose.

The mist rushed into Akeel’s lungs.

It was a powerful sleeping agent. Enough to keep a Level Five unconscious for several hours.

A warm current moved through Akeel’s energy core. The poison broke apart before it reached his blood.

His knees weakened anyway.

At least, that was what he allowed the guards to see. it was an act. 

Akeel let his eyes close and collapsed into their arms. He has reasons.

“He’s out,” one of the guards said.

“Tie his hands. make sure it's tight.”

A cold metal band closed around Akeel’s wrists. The binding artifact released a pulse that was meant to suppress his energy core.

He felt the device searching for power.

Akeel carefully reduced his energy until only a weak current remained. 

The artifact settled at Level One.

The captain checked its reading and frowned. “He's that weak? He's not worthy to be the Lady's fiancé.”

Akeel remained still. He heard those words. Fiancé?

They carried him through the rear entrance and placed him inside an energy powered hover car. The vehicle lifted from the ground as soon as the doors closed.

Akeel listened to the guards without opening his eyes.

“Lady Danaya will not be pleased,” one of them said.

“She told us to bring him back. We brought him back.”

“Are you certain it’s him?”

The captain answered, “Same face. Same name. That is more than anyone else has found in six months.”

“What if he denies everything?”

“He already ran once. Of course he’ll deny it.”

The carriage turned sharply.

Akeel counted the turns of the hover car and measured the distance through the changing energy currents outside. They were heading toward the northern district, where Asterra’s oldest and wealthiest families kept their private estates.

He could leave whenever he wanted.

The cuffs would take less than a breath to destroy. The carriage floor contained six charged Energy Vials, but one strike in the correct place would disable the vehicle without causing an explosion.

He did nothing. He needs to know why they these people from Valcrest family are hunting him, atleast his face and name. But he don't recognize anyone from that family. Nor see them in person before.

Someone with his face had disappeared.

House Valcrest wanted that man badly enough to seize him in daylight.

Until Akeel understood why they had his face and name, escaping would be a waste, he needs to know more.

For now, that mistake could protect him. He can even use this situation to hide as well.