Prince of Stars, Son of Fate

by H. L. Burke

  A crash exploded from the other room.

  Panic surged through Kay. He wasn’t ready to leave her. He wasn’t ready to die yet. He hadn’t even seen her awake. His legs, however, weighed him down. He couldn’t rise, couldn’t run, could barely wheeze out a protest as men burst into the room and yanked him away from Arynne.

  “Are you mad!” Clindt pushed forward as the two guards from the hall dragged Kay to his feet. “This is a sick room.”

  “Father! Stop!” Olyn’s usually welcome voice sent a pang of regret through Kay. This was going to hurt.

  Kay could barely keep his eyes open. Through blurred vision, he watched as Evyd stormed into the room, Olyn, Friya, and two more wardens at his heels.

  Olyn glanced at Kay, and a ripple of pain crossed his face before he set his jaw firm and glared at their father. “Let him go.”

  Evyd loomed before Kay, blocking his view of the others in the room. “He broke his life oath. He knows what that means. Don’t you, Kajik?”

  Kay’s head spun. He tried to draw on his magic to strengthen him, but too much had gone to Arynne. Still, he somehow managed to rasp out, “A little more time—please.”

  “You should’ve considered that before you broke into the princess’s private chambers.” Friya’s cold laugh killed Kay’s last hope. He’d find no mercy here. All he could hope was that the short time he’d been with Arynne had been enough. “Thankfully we anticipated your inability to keep your word. We took the initiative and warded a cell against traveling and starcasting, so we have accommodations ready.”

  “Father, he was just trying to get to Arynne.” Olyn shoved his way between his father and brother. “Considering the circumstances—”

  “He knew the cost,” Evyd said.

  “Uncle, you can’t do this.” Clindt stepped to Olyn’s side, his arms crossed.

  “Oh, I can. With his oath violated, I can legally do whatever I want to him.” Evyd snorted.

  “Do you want to lose the Sun Princess?” Clindt pointed in the direction of the bed. “Do you know why he can’t stand? It’s because he’s given her his strength. In just a few minutes with him, her lifeforce has regained much of its color. He’s what she needs to survive. However, if you kill her now, if she has to endure the trauma of feeling his lifeforce snap through their heartbond, she will die. There is no magic in Frorheim that will preserve her.”

  Kay’s heart jolted within him. He opened his mouth to beg for his father to listen, but only a whimper came out.

  Evyd’s scowl weakened. He glanced at Arynne who lay, sleeping in spite of the chaos around her. “She still looks like she’s dying to me.”

  “I swear to you, she’s getting better.” Clindt crossed the room to stand beside her bed. He waved his hand over her, and red light flickered above her body. Kay blinked. “She needs more time, though—specifically more time with him. You have a chance to save the princess.” Clindt narrowed his gaze at Evyd. “You say the kingdom needs the Sun Princess to survive? Well, Kajik can save the Sun Princess, but you need to let him go and let him stay with her.”

  “For how long?” Evyd tapped his foot.

  Olyn’s shoulders slumped.

  “It’s hard to say.” Clindt covered Arynne with the blanket. “I’d like her to be up and about on her own, and while he’s done much in just a short while, she has lost a great deal of strength.”

  Evyd drew closer to Friya. “He’s your son. Is he lying?”

  Friya’s lips pursed, but she shook her head. “Clindt doesn’t lie. However, I do not like the delay.”

  “But if your boy is telling the truth, can we really afford the risk? The prophecy clearly states that we need the girl.” Evyd snapped his fingers at the wardens holding Kay. “Release him.”

  Kay toppled to his hands and knees. The floor beneath him rocked like a ship in a storm, and bile rose in his throat.

  His father’s boot stomped in front of his face. “Get up. You’re embarrassing yourself.”

  Kay gritted his teeth. “I think we’re well past saving face, Father.”

  His father kicked him in the chin.

  Kay’s teeth jarred, and he tasted blood. Gray closed in on his vision as his face hit the floor.

  “Stop that!” Olyn pulled Kay into a sitting position, propping him against his shoulder.

  Evyd stuck a finger at Kay. “This room is warded against traveling, and there will be guards watching the exit at all times. Don’t think you’ve escaped your fate. This is only a temporary reprieve because for once in your life, you’ve managed to make yourself useful.” He spun to face the wardens. “Two of you take the first shift, the other two, go fetch Starwarden Jaxon. I want to see him immediately. If Prince Kajik escapes, it’ll be on all of your heads.”

  He stormed from the room, Friya following, and the wardens scuttling after.

  Clindt knelt before Kay. “You’re bleeding.”

  “Getting kicked in the teeth will do that to you,” Kay grunted.

  Clindt’s mouth quirked into a half-hearted smirk, but he ran his finger across Kay’s lips. Cool, refreshing energy chased away Kay’s pain.

  “Can you stand?” Olyn asked.

  “Not for long.” With the immediate danger posed by his father gone, weariness overcame Kay. He wanted to lie down and stay down ... but more than that, he wanted to be with Arynne. If he asked for rest, would they be separated?

  “I’ll bring in a chair.” Clindt strode from the room only to return a moment later carrying the promised seat. With Olyn’s help, Kay got into it. He sat with his elbows on his thighs and his face in his hands, drawing deep breaths and trying to stay conscious.

  Olyn cleared his throat. “Can we have a few minutes alone, Clindt?”

  “Of course.” Clindt walked to the door but paused with his hand on the knob. “I’ll be in the hall if you need me, though. If anything changes with either of them, Arynne or Kajik, I want to know immediately. We’re in uncharted territory with this. I won’t risk losing them because I grew complacent.”

  “I’ll shout if I need you.” Olyn nodded.

  Clindt left the room.

  Olyn groaned, brushed his fingers through his hair, and started to pace.

  Wincing, Kay braced himself for the barrage.

  “For Ever’s sake, Kay, what were you thinking?” Olyn threw his hands in the air. “Father has been pulling at the reins for starcycles, looking for any excuse to ... and you just gave him everything he needs! I know you love Arynne, but you had to realize this would end badly for you.”

  “Of course I knew.” Kay frowned. “She was dying, Olyn. I was running out of time. I had to do something.”

  “There had to have been another way.” Olyn shook his head. “I’ve been trying to get Father to lift your banishment.”

  Kay snorted. “How was that working for you?”

  Olyn grimaced. “Not well. Still ... Kay, he’s furious. I don’t know if I can save you this time.” A sob choked his words.

  Grief swelled within Kay at the sight of his brother’s stricken expression. “I’m sorry, Olyn. I didn’t want to put you through this, but I could feel her fading. Her life was ebbing away like blood from a wound. If I hadn’t acted she would’ve died before the next moonnotch.”

  “You don’t know that!” Olyn snapped.

  Kay bit his bottom lip and lowered his gaze from his brother’s glare.

  Olyn’s face softened. “Or maybe you do somehow? The heartbond?”

  Kay managed a nod. “And other things I don’t want to burden you with.” Olyn had enough worries without knowing about Athan’s attempts to meddle in Kay’s life. His throat tightened. With the panic of trying to get to Arynne on time fading, the inevitability of his own doom crashed into him like an avalanche. It was over. Not immediately, perhaps, due to Clindt’s quick thinking, but soon. He had at best a few moonnotches to live.

  “Maybe I ... there has to be some way to get through to Father.” Olyn rubbed at his forehea
d as if it hurt. “He has to see that you came back to save her, understand that it wasn’t selfish, that you had good intentions, that you’re a good man, that ... that you don’t deserve to die.”

  A faint smile crossed Kay’s lips. His brother just couldn’t help himself, even now. “Olyn ...”

  “I can’t just give up on you!” Olyn punched one fist into the opposite palm. “Frost take me, you’re my brother. You haven’t done anything wrong.”

  “Just broke a life oath. As far as Frorian law is concerned, that’s a capital crime.”

  “A life oath you were bullied into taking—again to save Arynne! Moss-elk droppings!”

  In spite of their dire situation, Kay arched an eyebrow. Olyn had sworn more in the last five minutes than he had in his whole life.

  “I have to get him to see reason. He can’t do this to you!” Olyn’s shoulders convulsed, and he hid his face in his hands. “I can’t lose you. I just ... I can’t.”

  Kay’s heart jumped into his throat, and he surged to his feet, forgetting the weakness in his legs. He stumbled, but Olyn managed to catch him. He drew Kay to him in a fierce hug that both kept Kay upright and threatened to snap his ribs. The brothers stood for a long while, holding onto each other with all their strength—which on Kay’s part wasn’t much.

  At last Olyn withdrew to arm’s length. “You should rest. I know he wants to keep you under watch, but I might be able to convince Father to let you go to your chambers.”

  Kay shook his head. “I need to stay with Arynne. I’ll move the chair closer to her. I can sleep sitting up.”

  “I’d really feel better if you lay down.” Olyn let out a long breath. “You’re right, though. The closer you are to her, the better, and my instinct is that if it’s keeping her alive, she won’t mind if you are sleeping beside her ... I don’t think she’d mind even under better circumstances.” He gave an awkward chuckle.

  Emotions gripped Kay by the throat, and he had to look away from his sleeping beloved. “I wouldn’t try anything. I just want to be close enough to help her if something goes wrong.”

  “Of course.”

  Kay staggered towards the bed.

  “Easy.” Olyn linked arms with him and guided him to Arynne’s side. Kay sat down, his body sinking into the mattress.

  “I should at least take my boots off.” He bent to do so, but his head spun. He slumped forward.

  “I got it,” Olyn soothed. He gently eased off his brother’s boots. “Is there anything else I can do to help?”

  “Keep Father away from me until Arynne’s on the mend, if at all possible.”

  “I’ll do my best.” Olyn squeezed Kay’s shoulder. “I won’t be far. Get some sleep. I’ll have food sent up in a little while. Don’t give up hope, Kay.”

  A sad but freeing acceptance washed through Kay. It wasn’t that he’d given up hope, but he’d done what he was meant to do. Whatever the cost of saving Arynne, he’d pay it. He didn’t feel like fighting any more. Still, Olyn would never understand that, so instead he simply said, “I won’t.”

  With one last worried look, Olyn left the room.

  Limbs and eyelids heavy, Kay sank into the pillows. Arynne lay beside him, so close he could feel the warmth of her breath. He thanked the Ever it was warm. For a moment he clung to the edge of the bed, worried his body would brush against hers. Then the call of her magic, still drawing nourishment from his own, and the longing within his heart overwhelmed him. He slipped his arms around her and pulled her against his chest. She sighed in her sleep, her lips parting, their mauve tones begging him to taste, to press his mouth against hers in a glorious kiss. Instead he buried his face in her curls and focused on the heartbond.

  Fear still quavered at the edge of their connection, so he conjured courage.

  I’m here, Arynne. You’re going to be all right because I’m here now. Please grow strong again. For me. You can do this for me.

  Chapter Fourteen

  Dark clouds swept across a bone-white sky accompanied by the shriek of wind. Arynne cowered beneath it, clutching her shredded garments and begging her magic to return to her. It did not. Fingers of cold crept through her skin towards her heart.

  You’ll die here, cold voices hissed on the wind. Alone, helpless, unloved. It’s what you deserve. Traitor. Selfish beast. A girl who would come between brothers and set her desires above the good of a kingdom.

  “I didn’t mean to,” she whispered. “It wasn’t supposed to happen this way. The star spirits ...”

  The star spirits are a lie. It’s all a lie. There’s nothing beyond but cold and darkness, an empty plain where the dark ones will feast on your soul. That is your doom, the doom of all things.

  “No!” Arynne clenched her teeth. She’d felt warmth. She’d felt love. She’d seen the star spirits dance from their crystal home to bond her with Kay. That was real. “You’re lying.”

  Why fight it? Why draw this out? Come with us, to the Lingering Dark. We will consume you quickly until nothing remains to feel pain or weariness or fear.

  Arynne placed her hands over her ears. She couldn’t keep her eyes open. Her whole being was tired, stretched to the breaking point, and the voices—oh, would they never cease?

  “No,” she growled. “I’m the daughter of the bright-lands, wielder of the fire, princess of the sun. I have no business with cold and dark.”

  But you have no fire left. The voices were in her skull now, their tone mocking.

  She needed her fire. Searching the deepest parts of her soul, she begged for a spark, anything that could give light and heat in that weary wasteland.

  Nothing.

  Nothing ignited within her, and she felt the ground slipping away, turning to icy water. She was sinking. So tired. So cold. So alone.

  “Arynne!” A burst of light rushed across the sky.

  The mocking voices shrieked.

  “Kay?” Arynne breathed.

  Black flames sprang to life, their appearance like fire, but radiating cold rather than heat. Arynne set her jaw hard. No, she was not giving up. Not when she could hear his voice.

  She stumbled to her feet. “Kay! Kay, I’m here! Where are you?”

  “I’m here. Arynne, I’m here. Please, let me know you’re still in there. Don’t let me lose you.”

  Lightning snaked across the sky, striking the ground around her, but instead of flickering out, the bolts hit the earth and grew brighter. They twisted, churning up stones. Starshards jutted from the earth, singing with the bell-like voices of the star spirits. A thousand glittering sparks flew from Kay to Arynne. With a cry of victory, she breathed them in. Magic exploded in her lungs, and her exhalation shot fire into the dark sky.

  A ring of flames, reaching to the stars, sprang around her. The biting gale wailed one last desperate cry then disappeared.

  She fell into darkness, but not the cold, empty dark of her fears. No, this was warm, caressing, like a mother’s embrace after a nightmare ... and within the warmth was Kay.

  “Kay,” she called.

  For a moment chaos and fear rushed through the heartbond, and she winced. He was near, but he was frightened. In danger?

  “Kay!” she shouted. “Oh, Ever, protect him!”

  Her pulse pounded in her ears. What was happening to Kay? Where was Kay?

  A whisper of cold brushed against her skin. Her throat tightened. She couldn’t fight the voices again. It had been so long, and while Kay’s interruption had given her hope, now he was gone, and she had no idea how to find her way out of the dark.

  A flicker of light danced before her. She put out her hand, and a starshard fell into her palm. A small one, only the size of a plum pit, but familiar and beloved. It was the shard Kay had given her when they’d met in Solea, that she’d kept under her pillow for so long. She tightened her fist around it and drew from its light.

  “I’m here, Arynne,” again his voice echoed about her. “You’re going to be all right because I’m here now. Please grow
strong again. For me. You can do this for me.”

  “For you.” She smiled, and a tear rolled down her cheek, not the icy tears of her illness, but a rich plump tear, full of warmth and hope. “I’ll stay for you.”

  The light overwhelmed her, and she drifted into a peaceful sleep. For the first time since her illness, she didn’t need to fight. She was safe. She was warm. She was loved.

  ARYNNE’S EYES FLUTTERED open only to have the faint light filtering through her bed’s curtains threaten to overwhelm her. She immediately shut them again. Her head ached, and her tongue stuck to the roof of her mouth.

  She tried to raise her head, but found it so heavy the effort made her dizzy. With a moan, she nestled into her pillow ... her firm, warm pillow that rose and fell in measured breaths ...

  Her trembling hand crept towards her face before gripping the cloth beneath her. A thin layer of fabric wrinkled in her grasp. Beneath it she felt muscles, ribs, a beating heart. Sparks danced into her body at the contact.

  Sense told her it couldn’t be him, but the magic filtering between them chased away her doubts.

  She managed to pry one eye open. This time her strength rose to the occasion, and she was able to follow it with her second eye. Her vision cleared, and she found herself lying against Kay’s chest, his head lolled to one side, his eyes closed in sleep.

  Joy blossomed within her, followed swiftly by panic.

  Kay couldn’t be here. He’d sworn a life oath to stay away. If his father caught him—

  She turned her head enough to glance around the room. All was calm. No wardens burst in to separate them. No threatening presence stood watch. She swallowed. Had Evyd lifted the banishment? Would Kay be allowed to stay with her? She couldn’t imagine the stubborn king giving in to that extent ... but if he hadn’t reconsidered Kay’s doom, why was Kay in her bed?