Trial by Obsidian

by Naomi Kelly

  "There'll be no finishing him. Mara needs him. She's fading fast without our son and the people of Sinlara can't know how vulnerable the Chambers is to attack. He's coming with us."

  Douward's obvious hatred of magicians flashed across his face before he swallowed hard.

  "He will be my heir, and part of the Sinlaran Chamber family," Alpha Karnes spoke steadily as he regained some composure, "As will you, Douward. You have proven yourself a brave warrior. Can you show yourself to be loyal and trustworthy at all costs?

  "Yes, Alpha.” He spoke humbly, and with a hint of awe.

  "Good. Then your first act as our new honorary Gamma is to pick up your Beta." Douward lowered his head to Alpha, before turning his attention to the child at the end of his blade. Although the young boy screamed in protest, he scoped him in one effortless motion and threw him over his shoulder.

  The roars echoed and grew louder and louder until it lost its childlike pitch and turned into a deep rumble.

  I reabsorbed my magic and opened my eyes. Reuben was still contorted in-front of me, but now he was emitting a dark emerald aura that ebbed and grew in rhyme with his shallow breaths. I moved behind him and placed his head into my kneeling lap.

  His arms were rigid to his side, but I forced my hands under his elbows and wiggling them up to his clammy armpits. I winced as I hauled him upright. The weight and heat of his burning body torn at the muscles in my arms.

  I dragged his stiff body backward, cursing at how his boots kept getting caught on tuffs of grass. After another few big hauls, we had reached the riverbank. I set him down on the edge and jumped into the river. I grabbed fistfuls of his sweat-drenched tunic and rolled him into the icy waters alongside me.

  He was submerged from the waist down, and I made quick work of ripping open the buttons of his black shirt. I splashed water over his torso. His neck. His hair. I flung water on him repeatedly and relentlessly. I feared bruising his skin with the force I slapped the water, but it seemed better to be a battered, half-drowned man than a burning dead one.

  The dark shimmer began to die down and was replaced with light steam that rolled off his firm shoulders.

  "Wake up," I begged, brushing his hair from his face. Dark stubble shadowed his jawline, softening the sharp clean-shaven look most Chamber men had. Here he was, the lost boy from Deshure and the Beta of Sinlara, dying on the border.

  Suddenly he gasped deeply and doubled over coughing. I cupped water in my hands and raised them to his mouth. He drank deeply and opened his eyes. Just like the young boy's, his eyes were wide with fear and darting from side to side.

  "Shh. It's okay, you're okay," I soothed and pulled him into a tight embrace. I told myself it was just to stop his swaying body slipping under the water. But that was a blatant lie that my heart knew was untrue.

  His arms wrapped around me and nuzzled his face against my neck, "The headache.... the memories...Teriam's serum must be leaving my system. It felt so real, Juniper, it was like I was there again."

  "I saw everything. Your pain woke me up," I said, "I thought I lost you."

  He pulled away from the crook of my neck and placed his forehead against mine. His toned torso rose up and down against my chest as he drew in deep breaths.

  "You did not lose me," he muttered, his face moving down slightly until my nose brushed off his cheek.

  I inhaled his warm scent to find it had the same hint of cinnamon that I had detected in his room. I had assumed it had been from my satchel, but the smell of home had come from him.

  Maybe that's part of the reason I felt drawn to him. Maybe it was his southern blood or his selflessness, but I did feel drawn to him

  Bound almost.

  The tension between us hung in the air. Once his breathing had calmed and I stepped aside and made my way onto the riverbank. It seemed to be my turn for a quickened pulse and shortness of breath. He followed and dropped his sodden shirt in the grass.

  I told myself to keep walking, for fear I’d become mesmerized by the droplets of water that ran down his bare chest.

  "You did not lose me," he repeated, "This is the least lost I've felt in years."

  He reached for my hand and stopped me walking away. He pulled me close, wrapped one arm around my waist and entangled the other hand in my curls.

  "Stop," I barely spoke as I forced myself to take a step back. My heart clamoured rapidly against my ribcage.

  "I'm the reason you're having those painful memories. You're in this entire mess because of me."

  "My past has always been my past; it was just locked away from me. You're the only person I can trust in my life of lies," he said sternly, "If you do not want me then fine, but I will not have you blame yourself for any of this."

  "Of course I want you," I ached, fighting the urge to step into his warm embrace. I balled my fists at my side and squeezed tightly. Semi-moon shaped cuts began to tear into my palms as my nails dug deeper. "But you're Beta Sinlara."

  "You still view me as one of them, as the enemy?" he asked with a poorly hidden pained expression.

  "No. You're not the enemy, but you are a leader. A warrior. A strong man who deserves someone better than an orphaned magician girl who the Chambers want to execute-"

  He growled a curse in a husky tone that made me blush, "Do you think I give a damn about what the Chambers think? Or that I'd let them touch a hair on your head ever again?" He stepped closer and placed his boots on either side of my feet.

  We were almost touching but not quite.

  I tilted my head upwards to look at him, exposing my neck to his lips that were mere inches away, "If you don't care about the Chambers, then don't go back. I have lost enough people in my life. I can't be yours if I lose you to the north in a weeks’ time."

  A barely audible groan slipped from his mouth as I said: "Be yours". It was the softest sound I had ever heard him make.

  "Your family were brutally killed by the same Chamber men who killed mine, and those bastards are not your real family. They have no claim to you,” I said.

  I released my fist and instead placed my trembling hand on his bare-chest. "Please don't go back to them."

  He rested his chin on top of my head and sighed heavily. I felt his racing heart beat a handful of times before he spoke, "Those women that Karnes and Douward burnt alive were my mother and her younger sister. Their names are still absent in my mind but when she screamed Aspen, I could remember how much she loved me. I could feel it, but then I lost it again. I couldn't protect my mother or aunt against the Chambers, but I promised I'd protect you Juniper-"

  "We'll find another way. Let me protect you too." I begged, blinking away un-shed tears.

  He pulled back to look down at me, and swept his thumb over my eyes, down my cheeks and stopped at my lips. I brushed my lower lip against his thumb. He lifted my face upwards and lowered his to meet me, our mouths grazing against each other.

  "We will find another way," he vowed before parting my mouth with his.

  His tongue moved slowly with gentle care before the hunger started to seep into the kisses. The longing I felt for him bloomed in my chest. My heart, unable to beat any faster, exploded in a swell of hot emotion in my core. He became the one all-consuming focus of my mind. A wave of dizziness came over me as desire and lust rushed through my body.

  As if he sensed my weakening knees, he wrapped his forearm behind the small of my back and held me steady. I felt solid and strong against his body, but also like I could melt into the soil beneath our feet.

  I felt invincible and vulnerable for the same reason.

  Him.

  "Juniper."

  He elongated every syllable as if my name was honey that dripped slowly and was something sweet to be cherished.

  "Mmm?" I offered, biting my lower lip which seemed to frustrate him more.

  "I want to saviour you, but I can't do that on the run, in a wild meadow wearing damp slacks, on minimal rations. You deserve more."

  "I'd settle
for less chivalry." I laughed and shook off the feeling of rejection.

  "We have to mount up and leave. There's no way I could sleep after that, and well, I don't trust myself to lie innocently awake beside you," he said, mercifully kissing me once more before moving away.

  I tacked up by myself but allowed Reuben to help me mount. Once ready, he gestured me to ride in front.

  We had crossed the border. Now it was my time to lead our way.

  Nine

  Between the early morning start and knowing the land better, we managed to cover more ground than we originally had thought possible. We paused once at my request to stretch my wobbly legs and allow the horses to drink. However, once my feet were out of the stirrups, I was scooped into Reuben's waiting embrace.

  My feet never even made it to the ground.

  It took a lot of self-discipline and determination to get us back in our saddles, but after some much-needed kisses, that's just what we did.

  We continued to race the sun for the rest of the day. We were less than an hour away from the cottage when it cast the last of its golden light.

  "We're almost there," I said, recognising the tall oak tree at the fork in the path. It had shed its leaves and the ring-like scar from my childhood swing was clearly visible in the wide branch overhead. Adonis had risked breaking every bone is his nine-year-old body scaling the ancient bark to string up the wooden swing he had made us. I told him it was silly and unnecessary. He said every child deserved a swing, regardless of whether they were orphans are not. It became the focal point of our childhood. It was made from old scrap-timber, but we always joked that a fellow magician must have cast a spell on it, for it had properties no normal wood should possess. Whether Adonis was missing our parents, or we were hungry, we could come to the swing and feel at ease. As we aged, heavier topics such as the annual voyage for crystals and fearing we were the only magicians left felt lighter once discussed on the swing.

  "What are you thinking about?" Reuben asked and halted Omega beside me.

  "We used to have a swing here, but there was heavy snowfall three winters ago and we had to cut it down for quick firewood when we had nothing else. I remember telling Adonis it was just wood, it didn't matter as long as we stayed alive, we could build another. Now I'm scared we won't ever get that chance. What if I'm too late?"

  Reuben didn't say anything as there was nothing he could say. He couldn't promise me my brother was safe and sound, waiting at the door for me. Or that I would even find our cottage still standing at the end of the laneway. My future was just as unclear to me as his past was to him.

  Before I could frazzle my mind anymore, I urged Pepper forward towards the uncertainty but was stopped by Reuben's hand grasping my reins.

  "Do you want me to ride ahead?" he asked.

  I thought about it briefly but declined, "Together", I said with as much strength in my voice as I could muster.

  We took the narrow path to the left, and our horses remained walking shoulder to shoulder for the remainder of the lane. As we rode around the bend that would reveal my home, I found myself staring at Pepper's withers. I buried my eyes into her coat afraid to look at anything else. Black. White. Cream. Grey. I could have counted every strand twice and still not be prepared to peek ahead.

  "Look." Reuben's voice broke my trance.

  I forced my eyes up to see the long, thatched roofed and ivy-covered cottage still standing before us. Thin wisps of smoke rose from the chimney. Through the window shone a candle on the table.

  I dropped my reins and jumped out of the saddle. My tired legs protested my need to run but I somehow sprinted the short distance. Without pausing to catch my breath, I pounded on the door as I twisted the cold doorknob.

  I burst my way into the kitchen and turned to see Adonis rounding the sitting room doorway.

  "Juni'?" he asked, stopping in his tracks. Hearing the nickname my mother had coined decades ago immediately sprung me to tears. I threw myself into his arms.

  "I've been so worried. I thought the Chambers might have found you." I cried.

  "No, no, I'm fine. Elm came to warn me that she saw Chamber men north of the market last week. I kept a low profile, but it was you I was worried about. There were rumours of you being attacked and captured?"

  "I was being held at the Chambers, but I got away. Who is Elm?" I sniffled, pulling out of his hold and checking over his face and body. He looked less frail and more rested than the weeks prior to my leaving. It was reassuring to see him not only alive but thriving.

  "Elm Topaz, it's a long story," he said as he gave me a once over as well. "Are you okay? How did you even get here?"

  The soft thud of the saddles hitting the ground outside caught Adonis' attention. Reuben knocked on the open door before he stepped into the archway carrying my satchel.

  "I'm guessing from the happy tears and the matching curls that this is your brother?" he grinned and reached out his hand. Adonis accepted without hesitation. He pulled him into a warm embrace and patted him heartily on the back.

  "I am indeed, and who do I have the privilege of thanking for saving my sister?"

  "Juniper did most of the saving herself, I'm sure you're aware of how much she refuses to be helpless," Reuben laughed and threw a warm smile my way, "As for the name it's Reuben. Reuben Sinlara.

  Adonis' body immediately tensed. His eyes fell onto our grey uniforms.

  "Sinlara as in the Chamber family?" he asked through a stiffened jaw. His anger was obvious, but he held his temper well. Even without access to his magic, he always had impressive control over his mind and emotions.

  "Yes, I am the current Beta of the Chambers," Reuben said and stood up straight, using his extra height to look down on my brother, "However, I was born Aspen Onyx."

  "Onyx as in the clan who killed the old Alpha?"

  "Yes, except former Alpha Kole's nephew was also killed and I was kidnapped by Alpha Karnes from my burning mother as a replacement. It's as you put it a long story."

  Adonis continued to scan his face for quite some time, before turning to give me a questioning look. A single confirming nod from me was all he needed to accept this man who was supposedly the enemy into our home.

  "Juni' and I know what it's like to lose your family because of the Chambers. I'm sorry for your loss. And I thank you for bringing safely home what family I have left," he said sincerely, "But when you're better rested, I'll need to hear the full story." He gave Reuben a final pat and made his way towards the pot on of the stove.

  Without asking he dished up two large bowls of stew and set them on the table in front of us. I wasn't sure what type of meat it was, but it was delicious, warm and the first proper meal we had consumed in days, so I savoured every piece without question.

  "Hmm, that was far too good to be your cooking," I joked, as I popped my empty bowl into the sink and filled a goblet with fresh water.

  "Ouch, I see you didn't lose your sarcasm along the way," Adonis rolled his eyes, "Like I said long story, you've been gone a while and there's a lot to catch up on tomorrow, but now I think it's time to get some sleep."

  I wanted to stay up all night and fill in all the lost weeks, but the thought of sleeping in my own familiar bed sounded too glorious to resist. Reuben agreed and placed his bowl on-top of mine.

  "There's a spare bed in our parents’ room, or I can fetch blankets for-"

  "No," I cut my brother off and placed my hand on Reuben's forearm, "He stays with me."

  Adonis stared at my hand on him before looking deep into my eyes like he could read my thoughts.

  He shrugged, tutted lightly and raised his hands, "Alright fine. I'm just glad to have you home in one piece." He wrapped his arms around me, and whispered, "Even if you do want to sleep with the enemy."

  I gave him a sharp dig into the ribs before grabbing my satchel and leading a confused Reuben down the hallway.

  Nothing in my bedroom had been moved, but somehow, I was more aware of everything wit
hin my four walls. My attention bounced from trinkets to furniture to clothes, and I gave a silent prayer of gratitude for them all. I felt like an entirely different woman to the one who had left this room, but I was thankful that this still felt like home.

  I lead a waiting Reuben inside and scooped my blue linen sleeved dress off the back of the chair it hung over. It never quite made it to my wardrobe as it was always either being worn or strewn across whatever piece of furniture was nearest for the following day.

  Reuben politely busied himself with looking around as I got changed and kicked the grey tunic to the corner. I opened the bottom drawer and retrieved a soft, worn white shirt.

  "Here, this should fit you," I said holding it up against his wide chest.

  "Do you always keep a collection of men's clothes in your bedside locker?" he asked with raised eyebrows.

  "No, not at all," I laughed, "It was actually my fathers, but I've worn it a hundred times more than he ever did."

  He accepted and stripped off whilst holding my gaze. When my eyes wandered downward towards the ridges of muscle along his lower abdomen, he tutted at me and to my annoyance pulled the white shirt over his head. It was snug around his upper arm and the sleeves fell short at his wrist, but he looked ruggedly handsome.

  "It looks better on you than it ever did on me," I said as I raised my hand to my forehead and pretended to faint onto my bed, "I can barely stand to be in a presence so majestic."

  I was too busy playfully fanning my face to see Reuben move closer. He tucked his right arm under my back and lifted me further up the bed. I landed with a soft thud with Reuben's body towering over me.

  "You have this raw wildness to your beauty that cannot be rivalled. You in your dirty, sweaty, dull tunic made those women in their puffy dresses at the Harvest Festival look insincere and almost silly. But you, smiling in this clean, non-grey dress? I think you could start or end a war."

  His serious tone sobered my giddy mood and sent shivers down my spine. I draped my arms around his neck and pulled myself close to his warm lips which was quickly become second nature to me. He rolled onto his back and flipped me over with him. The kisses turned from passionate to comforting, and after a few minutes I nestled into his arms.