Heir of Vaashaa: The Lost Child of the Crown (The Lost Child of the Crown Series Book 2)

by Celine Simpson

  “Mmm.” He mused, looking not at me but at my hand clasped between both of his.

  The others had moved away, busying themselves with their own introductions and getting more of an idea of what we would do, where we would go tomorrow now that we had current information to help guide us.

  Silas and I had made a home on the ground where we had stood, one of his knees was tucked to his chest, the other stretched out beside me. I sat cross legged in front of him, my leg overlapping his – it felt like this was how we had been for the last few months. It was surreal, to see him before me in the flesh, to remember that it had been months since I felt his warmth.

  Silas had launched into an explanation of a million things. Some of what he spoke about I already knew, like the Black Magic, but still I let him speak if only to hear his voice.

  The world starved of its own magic as it was stolen and wielded by those who had no entitlement to it. He touched only lightly on General Elias, the deceit and betrayal that had rooted itself into the Lygot army and the fate he had eventually met. The armada, its path north while half stayed behind in Altrey. The unidentified ships off the coast of Move and how they simply just sat there and did not much else. There was no further update from what the scouts initially came back with. He began to slow down at that point, his features losing their light slightly as he continued to tell me of Montreese and their suspicions. I had only spoken at that point to tell him of the soldiers we faced, where I was certain they hailed from.

  He paused then, after telling me many of the things that had happened, most of which had come to light when I had been taken by my uncle. His breathing came out a little unsteady, his focus remained on our entwined hands. He lifted my hand up again to kiss my palm once, twice, pressing it against his cheek. He inhaled deeply and told me one last thing that I didn’t know. He told me that we were soulbound.

  The words left his mouth slowly, just the very sound of them, of the words involved, sent a rush through me. My stomach exploding into a wave of excitement as well as uneasiness. He made a small breathy sound as if he had also been overcome by a similar emotion, and then he stopped speaking. Like the adrenalin had run out and he was truly exhausted.

  “What does that mean?” I asked.

  He still wouldn’t look at me, only my hand. Running his thumb in circles over my upturned palm. I moved it out of his grasp to tilt his chin upward. His eyes met mine with a clarity that did not match his disposition. “Silas, what does that mean?” I asked again.

  A tug pulled at my centre. My head snapped down as my hand flew to the base of my ribs where they almost met at the bottom. That spot that felt hollow to anyone else, but not to me. Not anymore. Again, another tug that drew a gasp from me.

  “That’s our bond. I feel like I had always had something there, like I just knew. Had something happened to you I would have known. If you were gone, I would have known. Like there was this lifeline connecting us. It wasn’t until recently that I saw the visions. Like I popped out of my head and into yours.”

  The dream; what I had experienced as Silas, thinking it was my worst nightmare come to take the person I loved the most. A nightmare would have been preferred. A least you can wake up from those.

  Now I knew it wasn’t and I truly wanted to be sick all over again.

  “I thought it was a dream. What happened to you on the ship.” My mind began to wander to darker places and harder thoughts.

  “Tell me.” His words rushed out. His mouth clamping into a tight line like he had begged himself not to say them but they escaped his mouth anyway. My eyes snapped up to meet his. I knew their soft soil-brown colouring had hardened turning to the blackened brown of burnt wood. I saw how his own darkened in response. I lowered my hand to grip his. “You didn’t finish what you were saying.”

  He looked as though he was going to say something but then stopped himself, taking a different path, if only for tonight. “It means our souls are mirrored, Terra. That every mark on your soul, mine was made to fill. To fit. Not two halves of a whole but two wholes made to be one. It means that one cannot exist without the other. It means that no one will ever know you, ever love you as I do, but it means that should I die…”

  I finished the sentence for him, “Then so will I.”

  His silence was answer enough.

  It seemed that thinking of the situation the other way around was harder to bare. “It means if I die Silas, so will you.” He didn’t respond again, but his eyes moved to meet mine, swimming with every emotion I was feeling as well.

  “Oh.” It was all I could say.

  “It’s not common, or so they say. But then in an entire world what are the chances you should meet your soulbound.” He went on, telling me more about the bond.

  “So, I should be able to find you, too. Say you were anywhere in the world I would just have to tug and I would know where you were.” His mouth turned up into a small smile and I could have died then and there, it was like coming home. Knowing that after everything that had been and was to come, we could still smile. “Theoretically, yes.” I knew even before he launched into his explanation. I knew already before he had told me of being soulbound that I would do it all again, endure every second and risk every minute moving forward to be by his side. Soulbound. I didn’t mind it so much. It made sense, for our souls to be the same.

  I tugged slightly at the bond and his breath hitched. A giggle escaped me and his smile disappeared completely like he had been slapped. A feeling pooled in my stomach, right where the bond was now irrevocably tied to my own soul. It melted everything – the good and the bad – into a pool of molten honey that I could have curled up in and never moved. It was how it felt to be held by him, I thought. What it felt like to be loved by him.

  “It’s a small price to pay, I think.” I could hear the weight of the emotion in my words as I spoke them. How I had thought about this, just being able to see him. Not even selfish enough to want to reach out and touch, but just to see him. Gods, how I had prayed for this.

  “What is?” He asked, knowing full well what I meant. Just as I knew what it was to tell someone their life was forever tied to yours, the worry and uncertainty that would erupt from that knowledge. Forever, for better or for worse. To wonder if it was worth it. If he was worth it.

  As if it were even a question.

  “To love you, Silas. It is a privilege to be your soulbound, and I’d do it all again. Every last thing. I’d endure every minute of it, if it meant that finally you would be here in front of me. I’d do it all again.”

  Pulling his hand towards me I didn’t hesitate to kiss him. There would be no tentative waiting or questioning distance. His mouth opened for me instantly, the warm of his breath sending shivers down my spine, making me instantly aware of every part of my body, every part that touched his.

  We broke only for a second, our breathing had deepened and started to become uneven. Our eyes locked for only an instance, the flood gates opened for every emotion he had been harbouring. It now shone through his eyes – down our bond. This intangible line of energy between our souls – in a way that sent every thought flying from my mind. There was only enough time for a small sound to escape my mouth before Silas curled his hands around my waist and pulled me close. A throaty groan escaped him that ignited every nerve in my body as he crashed his lips to mine once again. My arms found their way around his neck – minding the sword still strapped to his back – and into his hair in a desperate frenzy, leaving their post only to find the ties of his fighting leathers. There was far too much between our bodies. It was a mess of fingers that refused to move faster, their slow work leading to a hopeless attempt at pulling anything that was tied together and praying it would loosen. Pulling me into his lap I straddled him, earning another throaty groan that threatened to send me over the edge then and there. Gods.

  It would have been incredibly easy to ignore every responsible thought in my head and push Silas gently down onto the forest floor, b
ut my mind became increasingly aware of the pounding in the forest floor. I could sense heavy footsteps from seven different sets of boots making their way back to camp.

  “They’re back. They’re coming back.” The words were less than dignified as they came out in breathy pants. Silas kept his arms around my waist. His jaw strained with the clear effort of stopping our reunion. He kept a hold of me, keeping me close and kissing me again.

  “Soon.” He murmured in his acceptance of defeat, that we would not get our time together now. He lingered for a heartbreaking moment and I was about to build a wall of earth around us, the others be damned, but their footsteps became audible to my ears now, not just to my magic. They were lingering around the edges of the camp, giving us our privacy for a moment longer but I suppose it was our queue.

  This time it was my turn to smile as I gently re-tied the bands of his fighting leathers back, moving his hair back into what it had looked like before my hands invaded it. It was longer now than I remembered.

  How many months had it been? I couldn’t bring myself to count.

  We sat there for a moment longer, holding each other until our breaths had turned from breathy pants of anticipation to calm and peaceful inhales.

  “I forgot to wish you happy birthday this year.” My fingers were still working away at the ties when he moved his own up to still them.

  “What? That was when I was on the Tour of the Kingdoms not – not since…”

  “No. No, I know that, I just...When I was alone, when I was in Altrey I mean, I thought about it. How I didn’t say it and how I wished I had, just in case…you know.”

  “Terra.” His voice cracked as I moved to look at him, and it must have been something he saw in my face because he once again seemed to choose a different road to travel down tonight, and for that I was grateful. “You’ll be able to say it again soon. You can say it twice, in fact, and I’ll consider it a debt paid.”

  “Ha-ha.” I shoved him in the chest playfully but really I was glad for the lightness he brought. I had missed that.

  Breaking into a smile he tipped his head back in a genuine laugh that reached all the way to his eyes. Still, it faded too quickly. The sound no more than an echo off the trees, his solemn expression returned too soon.

  “If you wanted to talk. I mean…Terra, I tried to...” His swallow was audible. Moving my forehead to rest against his I shushed him gently. Still on his lap I moved my hands back around his neck to hold his shoulders. “It was the only thing we could have done. No one would have left Altrey alive, Silas. We both know it.”

  I knew that his decision to leave me there was harder than the decision I made to give myself up. Had it been the other way around I don’t know if I would have been able to do it, to leave him there. Of the two of us, I was sure that he would be stronger. If not for himself then for me, for what was needed to save his kingdom and my own. Still, I knew what it would have done to him, how it would have broken him to turn his back and walk away from me. To know that I was the one to do it, to leave him like I had vowed not to and force him to move forward; there had been no other option. I had known it then and believed the same now, but it was still something that I would live with. Knowing that I was responsible for that etch of darkness in his otherwise bright eyes.

  “I know, I just…” His arms circled around me tighter, holding me closer to where it was near uncomfortable, but I didn’t mind so much.

  “It was a choice I made for our home. For my kingdom. It was for something Silas. I don’t know if I…there are parts of me, I mean, that might not, might never…but I know it was for something. For Lygot, for Vyterra, for Vaashaa…for you. I can’t bring myself to regret it because of that, no matter the cost.”

  We sat together again in silence, my head had moved to sit in the crook of his shoulder and neck and I breathed in the fresh scent that followed him everywhere that he went. A Prince of spring and fresh air. He held me still and rocked us gently. I closed my eyes, fighting against the emotion that built in my throat.

  He took a deep breath in before he began talking, like he had taken the time to think about what he was going to say, what he could say.

  “Together, if you’ll let me, Terra, we’ll walk out of this, the war and all the things that come with it. The shadows it has left behind. The scars it might make on our minds. Our bodies. I’ll be there every step of the way with you, you won’t be left to face it alone, I swear it.”

  I could see it in his eyes, feel it through this bond, so new and open. It was strange to have his emotions flow to me so clearly. I had always known them in his eyes, but to feel them…It would take some time to get used to. I suppose that meant he could feel mine. It made it easier, for him to know how I left without having to say the words out loud.

  So, I held him tighter and nodded. Moving my head up to meet his eyes, refusing to hide from him, all the blackened, rotten parts that had become a part of me in these last few months.

  I felt them then clearly, those tendrils of wind still wrapped around my soul, holding all the fragments intact and repeated the word back to him, believing it with every fibre or my being.

  “Together.”

  Nineteen

  The rest of the group came back shortly after we had dusted the dirt and leaves off our clothes and tended to the fire. Silas fuelling it with air as I dried the pile of wood, sticks and kindling we had accumulated to further take to the flames easier. Simeera was tagging behind with Asher. I had recognised him only vaguely, but Silas mentioned he was not around as much when I was aboard and sailing with the armada. They were talking softly and their smiles softened their features. It made them both seem younger, after everything that had been going on it seemed weird and out of place to see a pair talking casually, relaxed so completely that joy could be felt. It seemed strange for me to be able to relax to the point where joy could be felt. A small smile made its way onto my lips as I caught Silas in the corner of my eye and it dawned on me, that this feeling, it was joy. Eyes focused on the fire before him, his right hand out in front of him with his fingers splayed slightly and his palm casually upturned as he grew the fire, fuelling it with air and being sure to dissipate the smoke it gave off, keeping us perfectly safe and undetectable in our camp. I could take a deep breath in that moment without any weight bearing down on me, without any fear eating away. Even if it lasted only for a moment, it was a gift from the Gods. A small reprieve.

  Jude led the group back while Dee spoke to the other three soldiers from our group. No doubt about preparations for the trip to come. Jude caught my eye and I turned my attention to him, the smile that was still lingering from my previous revelation grew wider at the sight of him. My friend. Jude made a line straight up to me, his strides full of purpose and pride then he bowed, as per protocol. Though it was never really necessary, not between us.

  “Jude, please! You know that makes me uncomfortable.” I swatted his arm, earning a small laugh from him, though it didn’t reach his eyes. I offered him a small smile of my own hoping to ease his uncertainty.

  “It is…Terra, I am…” I stepped closer to take his hands in my own, my heart swelled with the same emotion I read on his face and though our circumstance had differed, I had wondered like I knew he had; him, Tashka and Ramoan if we would see one another again. I didn’t know truly what it was like to care for so many people and have them care back. My friends, it was still strange to me, the notion of having friends.

  “I am happy to see you too, Jude.” The smile he wore then did reach his eyes. A nod of his head was all he offered, perhaps because he knew I would scold him should he bow again. Squeezing my hand back I let him go with a pat on the back and he made his way past me to Silas.

  Dee was standing to the side, I was on my way over when Asher walked in front of me.

  “Your Majesty. It is an honour to finally meet you. Well, I mean we have met before at sea but I have not yet introduced myself. I am Asher.” He presented me with a bright s
mile, I couldn’t help but offer one back and felt as though it would be very easy to become friends with Asher.

  “The honour is mine, Asher. When things quiet down you’ll have to tell me all that His Highness got up to in the time that passed.” I meant it to sound as a joke, but as the words continued out of my mouth their lightness dissipated into something else. Something heavier, a truth I hadn’t yet faced myself. The words sounded haunted. Burdened.

  There was a lot I hadn’t yet come to terms with, but maybe in time, when it was okay for me to break apart, maybe then I would face it all. But not now. Asher placed his hand on my shoulder, drawing me back to the present. A place I was drifting away from more and more it seemed. I longed to be here, in the present and living, its challenge presented itself with the ultimate ending of facing the truth. Things that had happened both to me and those I loved.

  His eyes were gentle, knowing. Their blue colouring struck a resemblance to Niko’s, one of the twins I had for so long believed to be my blood siblings, had loved so fiercely as I raised them myself, it was in his eyes that I found my brother staring back. A reminder of the man he could have been but would never become. Still, it was a comfort. A reminder of the pure happiness an unbiased love could offer and I felt the heaviness that seemed to press on me constantly lightened just a little.