“Remembered what?” Mave asked.
“You watched your mother die, too. You saw Kelsiana die,” he answered, his expression softening.
Mave looked away. “Yeah. It’s the only memory I really have of her.”
“Well, you have more with Kian,” Nevyn said gently, sitting on her free side. “Varon and I will tell you more stories, and so will Senri, and Willem, and Gentrin. And you’ll…you’ll help us tell the baby stories when the child is born. You forgot Kelsiana, and that’s okay because you were young. We’ve been telling you stories of her, and you’ll pass that forward. And you won’t forget him. Promise.”
She leaned on him. “Sorry for the stupid question.”
His weight leaned into her as well. “Sorry for the angry response.”
She shrugged, an awkward maneuver in her position.
“What did you need me for?” she asked, staring off into space.
“We wanted to check up on you. Varon wrote you something because he didn’t want to make you watch him sign for half the day.”
Varon snapped his fingers as if he just remembered, then produced a bundle of folded parchments, holding them out to her.
“Is this anything to do with Kristanya?” Mave asked, looking up.
Varon nodded then began to sign.
“And Kian. Everything I felt the need to say to you. Feel free to find me and ask questions.”
“Thank you,” she whispered, tucking the parchment into her top. “Thank you for thinking of me. I really appreciate it, and…I am…so sorry about Kian. I know you were both friends with him for so long, and…” She blinked at tears again.
“You have nothing to apologize for. The Elvasi do, and we’ll wring it out from their cold dead bodies,” Nevyn whispered, deathly serious. “Now, Varon and I need to talk to Alchan. Privately.”
“About?” Alchan perked back up.
“That whole ‘extinction of the Andinna’ thing. Varon and I had an idea, but I want it to stay between the three of us for a moment until we’ve discussed it.” Nevyn stood back up and pointed at Mave. “You need to go see your mother. She needs you, and you need her. Now. And when they’re done with you, tomorrow, you’ll go see a healer about that wing. It’s not fit to fly, but it can be if it’s rebroken and taken care of.”
“I can’t yet,” she said, trying to keep her face blank.
“You can and you will,” Nevyn snapped. “I don’t understand—”
“I won’t go see them until I let them know his death was worth it,” Mave growled. “And if we’re going to lose this war, then his death wasn’t worth it. Do you understand that?”
Nevyn shoved his hands into his pockets, frowning. Varon touched his shoulder and nodded.
“Fine,” the warrior grumbled. “Go see the healer and get that wing looked at. Today. The sooner it’s handled, the sooner you can get back into the sky. That must be killing you.”
She hadn’t given it much thought. Her broken wing was a natural consequence of her failure.
“I’ll deal with it,” she promised, standing. “Have a good meeting.”
She left them, walking to the healer’s hut in the village. There were always at least two healers on duty in a rotating shift. Sometimes, they worked multiple days in a row, especially when healers went on campaign. It was worse now because only one of the healers with Seanev had come back.
Walking in, she heard the soft gasps and surprise she sent through the room of sick and injured.
“Greetings, Champion,” a healer greeted with a smile. “We’ve been briefed on your injuries and asked to expect you.”
“Ah, of course,” she muttered, trying not to be annoyed. Either Alchan did it or one of her husbands. “Where would you like me?”
“Come. We have a backroom for procedures like this.” He very gently touched Mave’s elbow before grabbing it as if testing the waters. Mave allowed it, knowing healers would be a little handsy. They had to be for their job, and she came to them. It wasn’t as if they were showing up in her house to treat her.
He locked them in after calling the second healer to follow them. With three of them in the room, Mave felt it was too small, but there was enough space for all of them. She was just nervous.
“Have a seat, and we’ll evaluate the break,” the first healer said, patting a padded wooden table. She did as he asked, then tried to open the wing for him to see.
His hands were soft and gentle when they touched the break. Mave had some phantom pain, but because the bone healed, she didn’t know why it was still hurting.
“Do you know why it would hurt?” she asked. “It healed…almost in the right spot.”
“It healed like a ball,” the healer explained, making a fist. “And that’s putting tension on everything around it. When we rebreak it, we need to get rid of as much of the inconsistencies as we can. The closer we can get it to its proper size and shape, the better it will heal.”
“You will always feel some pain in the area,” the second healer said, his voice male and much deeper than the first. It didn’t have gentleness. It held truth. “The cold will bother it. The heat will bother it. Flying too much or too far will bother it. It won’t fail on you, but it’ll become an old injury, you’ve heard many warriors talk about. The sort of thing that bothers you at home but doesn’t really hinder your life.”
“You can do this?” the first healer asked. “You’ve done more of them than I have, so…”
“Yeah, just knock her out when she’s ready, and I’ll do the big work.”
Mave took a deep breath. “I’m ready.”
“Whoa,” the bigger male said with a chuckle. “We need to go over aftercare and need at least two Andinna willing to carry you home since you won’t be waking up until tomorrow. I noticed you came in alone, so I sent two guards to your home to see if any of your husbands are home.”
“They should be,” Mave said, sighing. “Sorry. I’m just ready to move on from this. What’s the aftercare?”
“Your wing will be bound to restrict movement. No opening or closing it for two weeks. Take everything slow after that, and check in with us before you try to fly, so we can evaluate the break.”
“Yeah, I know how all of it works. I’ll keep the wing bound until you think it’s time to take it off,” she promised. There was a small knock at the door. “And I won’t fly until you give me permission.”
“Who is it?” the big male asked.
“Zayden. I’ve got Matesh and Brynec with me. We’re looking for Mave.”
“She’s in here. We’re going to put her out, and you’ll need to carry her home afterward.”
“All right,” Zayden called back. “We’ll wait outside.”
“Thank you.” He turned to her. “This is it.”
Mave didn’t have the fight in her to argue or try to speed up the timeline.
What’s the point in flying if we’re all going to die in the next year?
“We ready?” The smaller healer reached out.
She nodded and let him send her into the darkness.
32
Luykas
Luykas sat in Alchan’s living room, trying not to think about seeing his wife and brother outside. They were close, those two, and in ways he couldn’t really fathom anymore, but it was a good thing. If she couldn’t bring herself to deal with her husbands, Alchan would force her to listen to reason. Luykas was a husband. A dominant husband, but a husband, nonetheless. He was one of four and loved being a member of the family, but it made him less special in its own way. Alchan was the only leader Mave had ever accepted as one she would follow. That made him unique.
It stung a little. He’d remind her later no male really liked seeing his wife run into someone else’s arms, and she would tease him a little and promise to be more considerate of his fragile male pride. And she would keep that promise.
She always kept her promises.
She had come home, after all.
Luykas was enj
oying his first drink of spiced rum when Alchan walked in from the cold late autumn day.
“That was tested, right?” Alchan demanded, pointing at the glass.
“By the best, who I live with,” Luykas confirmed, smiling. “How is she?”
“Bleeding out, but nothing fatal,” Alchan whispered, getting a glass from the kitchen. “She asked me the stupid question. I’m sure I don’t need to clarify which one.”
“Nope.” As he said that, Nevyn and Varon walked in, both surprised to see him. “Hey,” he greeted, lifting his glass.
“Alchan, we wanted to speak to you privately,” Nevyn said carefully.
“Whatever you can say to me, you can say in front of my brother,” Alchan countered. “You know that. And if it’s anything to do with the war, it’s even more important he hears at the same time as I do. He can start thinking on it as well.”
“Alchan, this is…sensitive,” Nevyn whispered the last word, looking uncomfortable.
“How sensitive could it be? Leshaun was murdered in front of us. Kian didn’t make it home. We’re beyond secrets, Nevyn, and I don’t keep any from Luykas.”
Not true. I’ve seen the way you look at Lady Lilliana, and we haven’t touched that with a ten-foot pole yet.
Nevyn looked at Varon, seeking permission. Varon looked between Luykas and Alchan, then nodded.
“We think you need to claim the power of the throne,” Nevyn said boldly, lifting his chin.
Luykas dropped his glass, letting it shatter against the stone floor. Glass went everywhere, but no one made any indication they heard it happen.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Alchan said simply, but there was no missing the warning.
“He does,” Nevyn retorted, pointing at Luykas, who stood slowly at the gesture.
“You heard your king. He doesn’t know what you’re talking about,” Luykas said, projecting his willingness to fight over this.
“If there was such a power tied to the throne, how do you know about it? How do you know I don’t already have it?” Alchan asked, crossing his arms as he glared at the lovers.
“That’s where this story gets a little interesting, and why we wanted to speak to you alone. Obviously, our thoughts were wrong. Luykas does know, so he’s fine to speak to as well. We didn’t think he would, being a mutt who could never sit on the throne or produce heirs,” Nevyn said with a smirk. “See, Varon and I know many secrets. We would know you don’t have the power because we understand what an Avatar is, and we know you are not one.”
Luykas looked at his brother, his jaw-dropping. A thousand questions ran through his mind as he stared at Alchan’s equally shocked face.
How did this get out? Who else knows? I didn’t tell them, did you? Brother, we can’t ignore this. How do they know?
It was Alchan who came to his senses first.
“We are going to sit down, and you will tell me what you think you know and how you know it,” he said softly, pointing to the seats in his main room. “Now.”
Everyone moved quickly. Luykas fell back into his seat, his heart pounding hard enough to worry him. Nevyn and Varon found seats beside each other, their tails curling together as they settled in. Alchan went to get something from the kitchen, then came back, holding a broom out to Luykas.
“Get this off the floor,” he ordered, pointing down to the broken glass.
Luykas went to work, everyone silent as he cleaned up the mess, then found his seat again and waited.
“Maybe we should go back to the beginning, love,” Nevyn said as Alchan pointedly glared at them.
Varon nodded, silent and unconcerned. It was unnerving how at ease Varon seemed, especially since Nevyn didn’t seem the same. He was hiding his fear under humor like Nevyn always did. He hid everything behind a layer of humor.
“Well, everyone knows how Varon and I got together. We met in a temple of Amonora, things went down, and Varon made a…sacrifice that nearly cost him his life. It put him in a short coma, and when he woke up, he was different. Instead of being blind, he was a mute. Amonora can’t create something out of nothing, so she had to make it an exchange. His eyes for his voice. For the beauty lost when he became mute, he gained eyes better than any eagle. He’ll never miss a shot, and he can see things none of us will ever be able to. But…” Nevyn looked at Varon, stopping as if he was unsure. “You…you would tell this better than me, love. It’s yours to tell.”
Varon nodded slowly and reached out, touching his husband’s cheek for a moment before pulling away and closing his eyes.
Nevyn’s face went blank, and his eyes glazed over.
“Nevyn can still hear, but…this is much faster,” Nevyn’s mouth said, but the inflection was wrong. The speed and cadence were different.
“How?” Luykas asked, sputtering.
“When someone has been bonded to an Avatar for three thousand years, the bond changes,” Varon answered as if it seemed obvious. “I’m considerably more powerful than the typical Andinna, so it was not a normal blood bond to begin with.”
Luykas nearly fell out of his seat. He leaned back, trying to breathe as he looked at the priest in a new light, trying to make sense of what he just heard.
“You are the Avatar of Amonora,” Alchan whispered. “Why…How…”
“I kept it a secret from everyone except Nevyn, my priesthood, and…your grandmother,” Varon explained. “My priesthood kept the secret for the most part, but someone here in Anden told one lonely female. I know where she is, and I know she won’t tell anyone. As for how? Nevyn was getting to that point. Amonora…she’s considered a bit of a wild child compared to her sisters and for good reason. Only she would pick a broken male to give the gift of power to. She didn’t think the trade was fair and thought I would do well representing her, so she made me her Avatar that night.”
“How does that explain you knowing about the royal family?” Luykas asked, frowning.
“Like calls to like,” Alchan answered. “An Avatar will always recognize another Avatar. You saw my grandmother and knew immediately what she was.”
“And she knew what I was. Because of Nevyn and my situation, she told both of us the whole truth, and we told her the whole truth about our relationship and how we came together.”
“So, she told you everything?” Alchan snorted. “Then you would have never thought to ask me—”
“For a thousand years, I have watched you struggle and fight. You have become the best king I could have ever hoped for and more. You have brought us, all the Andinna, from the brink of total annihilation, and given us something new in Olost. You have also tried your best to win us the freedom and peace we deserve. But we are losing, Alchan. The path we are on leads us to the end.”
“And it’s the only path,” Alchan snapped. “Because if you knew everything, you would know that no male has ever claimed the power of the throne. It’s not our right. A king has died for that greed once before, and I will not go and die to Lariana and her fury when I have people to rule!” Alchan stood and glared down.
Luykas saw a king projecting his power, a male who was being asked to do something that went against everything he knew and believed in.
“My job as a king is to produce a female heir. I should have done it ages ago, I know that, but I also wouldn’t become a monster to do it, and I had no choices outside of that. My job is to hold the throne until a female heir of the royal bloodline is of age to claim it. To sit on the throne is to sit in the Hall of Queens and be judged by the goddess Lariana herself. No male has ever proven worthy because we can’t be. The females of my family are made in her image. I am not, and I will not pretend to be. I can only do my best.”
“I’m sending Mave to the Mountain,” Varon said softly, looking up and directly at Alchan’s eyes.
“No,” Alchan hissed. “You will not get her involved in whatever scheme you’re cooking up, Avatar Varon. Just a fucking priest. I can’t fucking believe you. A thousand years of secret
s and lies.”
“Those secrets and lies convinced you to follow your heart,” Varon snapped. He stood, but he didn’t go far from Nevyn, their tails still joined. Luykas had forgotten it was Nevyn talking because it didn’t sound like him. “I saw the bond between you and Rain before you even knew it was there! I saw the bond Luykas had to Shadra before either of you decided to bring it up. I’ve been keeping your secrets for far longer than you can imagine. Schemes? No. Plans. Why? Because I love my people. I love them enough to ask you to do something that has never been done. And before you ask where my love for you is, it is this. I love you enough, Alchan, I waited until the last possible moment to ask this of you. The last possible moment. The power of the throne, becoming the Avatar of Lariana, could help us win this war more than anything else. It could give us a real chance, my friend. I would never ask you to do something like this if it wasn’t what I truly thought was best, but we are running out of time.”
“You saw?” Luykas sputtered, still trying to understand the first half of that speech. He remembered Varon’s words that day, the strange day when his secret maternal connection had come out.
I see your bond to the Andinna and to your brother is deeper than your bond to the Elvasi and your mother.
“You saw,” he said strongly, knowing now what those enigmatic words meant. “I remember something about how I thought you saw too much sometimes.”
“As the Avatar of Amonora, I can see real representations of the bonds between people. I can see ones that should maybe be strengthened and ones that have rotted and are unsalvageable, even though they refuse to fully break. That’s one you and your mother share. It’s rotten to the core, abused, but since it’s a blood relation, it won’t ever fully break. I see you love Mave, and…you deeply care for her other husbands. I see the bond between you and Alchan is unbreakable. I quite literally see too much sometimes. Much more than people would like me to.”
Luykas ran a hand over his face. He’d never known, never even begun to suspect.
“I might have missed this in my education over the years, but what is the problem with sending Mave to the Mountain?” Luykas asked softly, wondering why his brother was so quiet. “Other than the fact that we need her here.”
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