by Jack Whitney
CHAPTER SEVENTY
AYDRA’S EYES WIDENED at the sight of Draven bursting through her door. The wild look on his face made her core drain.
“Draven, what—”
He was standing beside her at an instant, and he reached for her hands. She stood and faced him, unable to make out the flaring happiness in his dilated sage pupils. He kissed her knuckles and then whispered, “Oh, Aydra,” before cupping her face and kissing her lips.
She felt her feet lift from the floor, and she pulled back to look at his face as he spun her.
“Draven!” His happiness radiated into her muscles, and she couldn’t help the laughter that emitted from her lips. “Draven, what—what are you so happy about?”
He put her down then and shook his head above her, staring at her face as though it was his first time looking upon it.
“Have I told you how much I love you?” he whispered, his chest heaving.
“Draven, what is going on,” she demanded.
“Arbina has given us a gift,” he told her.
Her eyes narrowed, a full frown slipping onto her face. “That doesn’t sound right. Try again.”
He chuckled under his breath and brought her knuckles to his lips. “Come sit with me,” he said as he took a step back. Her gaze narrowed, but she followed him to sit on the bed nonetheless.
“Draven…”
“A child grows inside you,” he said quickly. “Our child.”
Glass broke behind them.
A ringing filled her ears.
She blinked, suddenly feeling lightheaded, and not because of the pain in her stomach.
“What?” she managed, sure she hadn’t heard him right.
“What did you say?” Nyssa managed, leaving the glass broken on the floor as she came to stand beside her sister.
Draven didn’t look away from Aydra. “A child of Sun and Darkness. Born of the Promised and the Venari. Our child grows in your belly.”
Aydra wasn’t sure she was understanding what he said.
“What—But how… Our children are born of the Lesser Ones. No Lesser being can conceive—”
The door opened, and the Nitesh walked in, Lex following behind her. Aydra’s heartbeat pounded in her ears as the Nitesh crossed the room to her. There were tears in her eyes, but she took Aydra’s hands, and she sat down beside her.
Aydra listened to the Nitesh tell them what Draven was on about. She listened to her tell the stories of the ancient beings, of the ones across the seas who could bear children. Her sister sat behind her and Draven squeezed her hands in front of her, the wild happiness still radiating through his core.
She wanted to be happy as Draven was.
She wanted to dance with the glee her sister held behind her.
She wanted to feel the warmth radiating through her core.
But all she could think about was what her brother and the Council would do when they found out.
Once the Nitesh had finished, Aydra inhaled a deep breath and stood from the bed. “I need to speak with the Nitesh,” she told them. “Alone.”
Draven, Nyssa, and Lex did not argue. Draven kissed her forehead, and she memorized the look of pure happiness in his features. The door closed behind them a moment later, and Aydra pulled her robe tighter around her.
Aydra stepped up to the window and looked out of it, the shadow of her phoenix passing over the moons.
“So this is how my mother plans to finish me,” she whispered. “I will assume you agree?”
She could hear the Nitesh’s pause and shift in her weight as she stood from the bed. “Not will I pretend to know how others will take this news,” she replied softly.
“They will kill me,” Aydra whispered. She looked back at the Nitesh over her shoulder, and the gaze the woman gave her confirmed her suspicions. “They won’t understand. They’ll think it a trick of Duarb. A play to take over Magnice.” Aydra swallowed hard. “You have to get Draven out of here.”
“Not will he leave you.” The Nitesh walked around the bed then and stood beside her at the window. “Leave. Both of you. Take refuge in my realm,” she begged.
“I’m not running,” Aydra managed. “I will not live in fear or bring their treachery to your realm.”
“Pride,” the Nitesh almost laughed. “You condemn yourself and this child because of pride.” She started walking in paces in front of the bed, and Aydra hugged her chest tighter, biting back the tears in her eyes.
“Then tell them, you do not,” the Nitesh said then. “Stay here. Get care. I will check in.”
“My brother will be looking for any reason to harm me now that I have humiliated him. The Council has simply been biding their time since I nearly blinded him,” Aydra told her. “If you are traveling back and forth to this castle, he’ll know something is wrong.” She paused, her weight shifting as she felt the nausea well up inside her once more, and this time not because of the child in her belly.
But then an idea hit her, and for the first time she breathed with an ease as she allowed it to fill her core.
“We’ll go to the Forest,” Aydra said, meeting the Nitesh’s eyes. “It’s the only way. They won’t be suspicious. They’ll simply think I’ve run away with Draven again, abandoned Magnice for good. But we have to leave before the sun rises.”
The Nitesh’s golden eyes widened, and she seemed to contemplate it a moment. Her gaze darted to the floor, moving back and forth, and then she nodded quickly.
“Yes. Yes, quickly—”
Aydra darted to her dresser and began throwing clothes onto her bed. The Nitesh ran for the door, and she opened it swiftly to urge the others inside. Draven bounded to Aydra’s side at once.
“What are we doing?” he asked as he touched her back.
“Help me pack,” she said fast. “We have to go to your kingdom. It’s the only way. I cannot stay in Magnice and have this child here. They won’t understand.”
Draven’s eyes were narrowed, and she knew he didn’t understand the extent of what was happening.
“What do you need me to do?” Nyssa asked her as she took her side.
Aydra turned and grabbed her sister’s arm. “I need you to go back to your room. Act as though you know nothing. You did not see Draven and Balandria. They were never here. Lex—” she stepped past Nyssa to Lex “—go with my sister. Protect her and try to keep the noise of my departure to a minimum. I do not know what will happen once we’ve left.”
Lex nodded, and Aydra hugged her tightly, feeling a lump rise in her throat when she pulled back and Lex pushed her palms against Aydra’s cheeks.
“I’ll bring your youngers to visit,” Lex whispered.
Aydra gave her a tight-lipped smile and swallowed hard. “I would love that.”
She hugged her again, breathing in the ash and fire smell of her best friend, before then turning to her sister and giving her a long hug. Nyssa’s tears stained her shoulder, and she almost choked on the words she said to her.
“Be strong for me,” she whispered, pressing her hands on Nyssa’s cheeks. “Listen to Lex. I will send word when it is time. You know I cannot stay here. You know what would happen if they found out.”
Nyssa swallowed hard and nodded. “I do.”
Aydra hugged her again, swaying with her sister in her arms as she kissed the top of her head. “Go back to your room. Stay quiet. Take your brother to the cliffs tomorrow and tell him what has happened. Do not tell him within the confines of these walls. There are spies everywhere.”
Nyssa and Lex left the room only a few moments later, leaving Aydra to finish packing her things. Draven still stared at her in silence, his mind obviously working out what was happening and why they were leaving.
“Spit it out, my King,” Aydra said as she started buckling her back closed.
“What happens if they find out about our child?” he asked in a low voice.
Aydra stopped moving, but only for a second, and then she ignored his question. “The Nitesh w
ill check in with us. She doesn’t know how long it will take this child to come to term.”
“You’re dodging the question.”
Aydra ignored him. “I will leave a letter for my brother, explaining that I have left of my own accord, unable to stay a prisoner in this realm any longer.”
“Belwarks have already seen me coming in,” Draven argued. “They know I am here. I threatened a few on my way to you yesterday.”
Her hands dropped and she glared at him over her shoulder. “Good job.”
“What happens if he thinks I have come and kidnapped you in the middle of the night?” Draven asked, stepping up to her side. “What if they come for us?”
“Do you not want me in your kingdom?” she dared to ask.
“I do—” he paused, a great sigh leaving him as he closed his eyes briefly and his hand pressed to the small of her back. “I want you there more than I want the Dead Moons to rise,” he breathed. “I only worry of what could happen when they find out you’ve left with me after declaring you a prisoner.”
“Whatever happens will not be as bad as them finding out I am pregnant,” she argued.
“What. Will. Happen?” he growled deliberately.
“I can tell my brother and the Council that I am giving up my crown for good—”
“Aydra, what will happen—“
“—That I am banishing myself to the Forest—”
“Drae—“
“—We can be safe there. With your people—”
“Aydra, tell me!”
“If they find out, we will die,” she snapped.
Draven froze on the spot, and she watched as the words radiated through him.
A heat rose on her chest and neck, and she felt nervous as her weight shifted, and she swallowed hard as the still silence encompassed the room.
“If they find out, they’ll drive a knife through my stomach and throw us both from the tower. We will be condemned. They will not understand or see this child as we do. As a bridge between our worlds. They will see it as a monster.”
“She is correct, Venari,” came the Nitesh’s words.
Draven stepped forward and took her hands. “So then we’ll fight.”
The tears whelped up inside her, and Aydra couldn’t stop her heart from beginning to throb in her chest. “If they find out, we won’t be able to fight. We won’t be able to run. We have one chance. If they find out about the child, that chance will be gone,” she managed. “If they find out, and we escape, my brother and the Council will destroy everything to find us, to destroy us. The peace we just bartered between our lands will cease to exist. The war will turn between Magnice and every other realm instead of the united Echelon against the strangers. Everything we just acquired will have been for nothing.”
The words seemed to click in his head then, and she watched his jaw tighten. He reached for her bag on the bed and threw it over his shoulder.
“One chance?” he asked.
She swallowed hard and nodded. “Only this one. There is no other.”
“Someone should inform the Chronicles,” he muttered as he picked her other bag off the floor.
She frowned at him. “Of what?”
“The only time they’ll ever hear me utter these words.” He paused after swinging her last small bag on his arm, and then he met her eyes. “We’re running.”
CHAPTER SEVENTY-ONE
THE NITESH FOLLOWED them out of Aydra’s bedroom and through the halls.
Draven’s steps were wider than Aydra had ever seen of him. He didn’t speak, and she could feel her body swelled with anxiety and anticipation of Belwarks being around every corner. The adrenaline pulsed through her bones, and she kept one hand on her sword on her belt.
“I will meet you in the Forest,” the Nitesh spoke to Aydra as they walked. “I must see my mother. Tell her of what has happened.”
“Do you think Haerland will help us?” Aydra asked.
The Nitesh’s jaw tightened. “I will not pretend to know of her reaction. I can only hope she knows the two of you, approves of your mating.”
“You make us sound like a pair of wild Wyverdraki, Nitesh,” Draven mocked ahead of them.
“What he means to say is we appreciate you,” Aydra insisted.
She could see the smirk on Draven’s face, so different from his attitude only minutes earlier, and her chest swelled with the sight of him hauling her things through the castle to run away with her for their child.
“Swift in your journey,” the Nitesh told them. “You cannot rest.”
“We could take the phoenix,” Aydra suggested.
The Nitesh froze on the spot. “Take what?”
Draven stopped walking, and Aydra nearly ran into him. She felt the tense energy come to the surface of his core beside her. He didn’t turn, but Aydra watched as his jaw tightened.
Aydra frowned between them, unable to focus on just one of their suddenly annoyed facades. “The… the phoenix…”
“What sort of phoenix?” the Nitesh hissed deliberately.
“A… black… one…” Aydra said slowly, watching as the Nitesh’s eyes widened. “I’m sorry, am I missing something?”
“You didn’t—Venari, turn and face me!” the Nitesh demanded.
Draven turned just slightly, his eyes meeting the Nitesh’s, but he didn’t answer her question. “This isn’t the time,” Draven growled.
“Venari!”
Draven rounded on the Nitesh, his figure towering over her petite one. “I did what I had to do,” he said in a low voice. “I don’t have time to explain my reasons. She is free. That is all that matters. If we do not hurry, my freeing her will have been for nothing.”
Aydra was so confused.
Draven straightened, and he reached for Aydra’s hand as he spoke to the Nitesh’s glaring figure. “If you’re done shouting at me, I’d like to get my family to safety. We can talk about the phoenix once we’re safe in my realm. Until then, you can help or you can leave.”
Aydra didn’t have time to think on their argument. Draven was already starting down the hall. She met the Nitesh’s flared nostrils and blazing eyes over her shoulder as he tugged on her hand, and she followed behind him.
“What’s going on?” she whispered to him.
“It’s fine. She’s being dramatic,” Draven muttered.
“I shall show you drama,” the Nitesh growled behind them. “Freeing the Sun,” she mumbled beneath her breath. “You know—”
Aydra’s head spun. “Wait—what—”
The sun peeking through the window ceased her words, and her stomach dropped. She gripped tighter to Draven’s hand and felt her heartbeat pick up. “Shit,” she cursed.
His urgent eyes met hers. “We can make it.”
They ran through the remainder of the halls.
They opened the last double doors together and burst down the steps to the courtyard. Aydra started to reach our for the phoenix. She could feel it far away, but it answered her call nonetheless. The black of its core filled her, and she inhaled sharply.
“She’s coming,” she managed.
Draven froze at the bottom step. “Balandria—”
His eyes were widened with fear as he looked around them. Aydra’s heart dropped to her stomach. They couldn’t leave without her.
A shadow passed over the sun.
“Go—” the Nitesh urged them. “I will find your Second. Bring her to you. You two must leave.”
The phoenix circled over their heads.
But the noise of armor sounded in Aydra’s ears, and her core froze.
They appeared from every direction, blades pointed at them. Along the top of the catwalk on the walls, the Belwarks drew arrows. Draven dropped her bags to the floor and pulled his own swords. Back-to-back, the pair faced the horde of Belwarks suddenly surrounding them. Aydra’s chest heaved, and she found the face of her brother’s Second coming up beside them.
“Is there a reason you’ve surrounded us as
though we are criminals?” she spat at Bard.
“Word of the Venari First and Second inside our walls reached us overnight,” Bard said, his attention on Draven.
“I came for the meeting,” Draven as though it were obvious.
“And now you’re fleeing the kingdom with the Queen under the cover of darkness with the Nitesh in tow,” Bard smarted. “Or should I say kidnapping the Queen.”
“What can I say? She’s a beautiful creature to behold,” Draven smarted. “Thought she’d be better off in my hands.”
Aydra saw a guard move out of the corner of her eye. But Draven was faster. The pommel of the guard’s sword came towards him. Draven shoved his own sword handle into Aydra’s open hand behind him. Draven’s arm pushed out, and he caught the throat of the guard in his fingers.
The guard’s sword clanked on the ground. His gasps for air filled Aydra’s ears, but she didn’t look away from the stare she shared with Bard.
“He’s not kidnapping me,” Aydra affirmed. “I am leaving. For good this time.”
“You’ll have to explain such a desire to your King and the Council. Get their approvals,” said Bard.
“My King is right here,” she smarted. “He approves— don’t you, my love?”
Draven’s hand tightened around the guard’s throat. “Well, you’re a bit annoying, but I wouldn’t leave here without you.”
She couldn’t help the smirk that rose on her twisted lips. If they hadn’t been surrounded by Belwarks and trying to flee, she would have kissed him.
“You’ll be going no where,” came a new voice.
The guard Draven had been choking fell to the ground. Aydra jerked in the direction of the new voice, of the person standing at the top of the steps in the doorway. The amusement she’d held only a moment earlier vanished, and she felt her fists curl in on themselves.
Fucking—
“Ash,” Bard called out. “I did not realize you had arrived.”
Ash’s gaze stared through Aydra to the point that she shifted uncomfortably beneath his stare. The sight of the smirk on his lips made her insides grow cold, and she felt her core drain.