Lips grazed her ear. “Are you so sure he cares what happens to you?”
Ara would have recognized that voice anywhere. When his grip on her loosened, she turned in his arms, lifting her eyes to his. “Let me go.”
He cocked his head, dangerous eyes flashing. “I told you to leave Cana, that I’d send my men to hunt you if you didn’t.”
“That was only hours ago, Eirik. Give a girl some time.”
“Yes.” His eyes darkened. “But why have you come back to my door?”
She couldn’t think with her chest pressed against his, with his fingers splayed against her back. “Eirik…”
“I should kill you, spy.”
“I came to save your life.”
His grip on her loosened until he stepped back and lowered the sword. “I do not need a Belaen witch to save me from my enemies.”
A crash sounded as the front door opened. Eirik pulled Ara against the side of the house and put a finger to his lips. They listened until heavy steps faded away and the door slammed shut.
“Audun is already here,” Ara whispered. “You know.”
“Of course, I know.” He peered around her into the street. “I made a mistake the day I put him in charge of my warriors. A warlord is nothing without the loyalty of his men.” His body sagged against the wall. “It seems I am now nothing.”
“He wants you dead.” It wasn’t a question.
Eirik nodded. “That is not a new development. There is a reason peace talks between Cana and the rest of the Six Kingdoms fail every time, no matter how many Edmund Kents they send. Those of us who touch power do not hold it for long. We all think we can be different, that our men will be the ones whose loyalty does not shift like the sands of Madra. When a kingdom only breeds assassins and warriors, there can be no other life but war.”
In all the time Ara had been with Eirik, he’d never explained Cana in such a way, a way that put vulnerability in his eyes. He’d deny it until his last breath, but she’d forever remember how he’d looked to her when everything he’d built crumbled away.
“Just because one man wants you dead, doesn’t mean you’ve lost your power.”
His intensity burned into her. “Audun would not move unless he was assured of victory, unless he had the support of my warriors.”
“Fight him.”
“What?”
Ara pointed to the sword. “Run that through his belly and see who the men are loyal to then.”
His fingers grazed her cheek. “Who are you, Ara?”
Before she could answer, yelling erupted from inside as something crashed.
Eirik moved away from Ara, still holding her sword. “They’re waiting for me. I have to get in there.”
“That’s what they want.” If he faced Audun and his men, she worried he wouldn’t make it out.
“I don’t have a choice.” He met her gaze once more. “Not if you want the Belaen to live.”
The Belaen. Edmund was inside.
A smile curved Ara’s lips. She’d seen Edmund’s magic in a fight. Audun didn’t know what he was messing with.
“I’m here, Edmund.” Ara whispered the words, knowing they’d reach Edmund inside the house and let him know he wasn’t alone, that Belaens stuck together.
If anything happened to Edmund Kent, Cana would have two kingdoms to fend off. He meant different things to the queens of Bela and Madra, important things. They both loved him like family.
And Ara wouldn’t let them down.
“Where are you going?” Eirik hissed as Ara backed away from him, stepping from the shadows.
She didn’t have an answer he’d like, so she refused to answer at all. The moment he took Edmund, Audun became more than an enemy of Eirik’s.
Ara’s eyes softened for just a moment as she stared at the man she’d spent the past year falling in love with. How many times had she watched his face as he slept, skimming the pads of her fingers along his skin? How often had she melted into his arms, the only safe place in Cana?
Or so she’d thought.
But she was not one of them, and she never would be. She’d betrayed him, lied to him. They’d never had a future, but now, in this moment, they stood on the same side. “I don’t trust you,” she whispered.
Pain flashed across his face, but he didn’t respond as the rain pounded against them.
“But I need you.” A plan formed in her mind, one that could get them all killed. Yet, when she held out a hand to Eirik, he took it, letting her risk both their lives.
She pried the sword from his grasp and squeezed his hand once before releasing him and leading him around the side of the house. Wasting no time, she hammered the hilt of the sword against the door.
When it flew open, a broad-shouldered man she’d met many times before towered over her, his lips curled into a smile. He glanced from Ara to Eirik, his teeth flashing. “The lord and his lady.” A chortling sounded behind him from the warriors crowded into the room, a single candle between them. A trap. They’d been waiting for Eirik, but he was too smart for them.
Ara lifted her chin. “I am no one’s lady.” She jerked her arm back, slamming the hilt of the sword into Eirik’s stomach. He grunted in pain. She hit him again, driving him to his knees.
With rain falling in a sheet between her and Audun, Ara narrowed her eyes. “I’ve come to make a deal.”
Audun studied her for a moment, his eyes keen. His smile dropped, and he nodded, gesturing to his men. Two warriors lifted Eirik under the arms and carried him in out of the rain.
“Tie him up,” Audun ordered as he stepped aside for Ara to enter.
Water trailed her steps, and she stopped at a table where two warriors had Edmund tied to a chair. Jerking her head to one of the men, she channeled her inner general. “Start a fire in the hearth. It’s freezing in here.”
The man looked to Audun, who only nodded.
Ara dropped into his vacated seat as he kneeled in front of the hearth. She met Edmund’s curious gaze. No fear shone in his eyes. That wasn’t who this man was.
If they were to get out of this, she needed his magic. Hers was practically useless in a fight, but throwing sounds wasn’t her only skill.
Ara set her sword at her feet and leaned back, wringing water from her hair. “Congratulations on your transfer of power, Lord Orr.” She said the title with a sneer. He’d stolen Eirik’s power without a fight, yes, but also without earning it. One was only as powerful in Cana as the warriors who supported them. Audun, it seemed, had much support.
Audun sat across from her. “I never thought I’d share a table with the fabled Edmund Kent, but I do not know who you are other than the woman who shares Eirik’s bed. Why should I make a deal with you?”
Ara crossed her arms over her chest. “Ask him.” She nodded toward Eirik.
Eirik thrashed against the ropes tying him to his own bed. “She’s a Belaen spy.”
Understanding dawned on Audun’s face. “A spy.” He laughed. “We like spies in Cana.”
“No, you like assassins.” She lifted a brow. “If you’d like, I can be that too.”
“The woman has bite.” His face sobered, and he leaned forward. “But I assure you it is not as strong as mine. Tell me what it is you want.”
“Safe passage for the delegation. That includes Edmund here.”
“And what of Eirik? Do you wish to beg me to spare his life as well? Do not forget, girl, I now have a host of warriors supporting my claim. What do you have to bargain with?”
She shrugged, ignoring the nerves building in her gut. “Your life.”
A laugh boomed out of him as his eyes surveyed the room. “You are surrounded, Ara of Bela. My life is not yours to give.”
“Are you so sure about that?” She met Edmund’s gaze with a nod.
It was faint at first, the buzzing of magic filtering through the air. A breeze blew through the room, bringing with it rain through the open window. One of Audun’s men jumped to close it, but
he was too late.
Air tunneled through the window and under the door, lifting the wet hair from Ara’s neck. A chill raced through her as she watched every Canan in the room jump from their seats in panic as Eirik’s belongings flew at them.
Four years. That was how long Ara had gone without seeing magic other than her own.
Four long years of pretending hers didn’t exist, of hiding it like she’d done most of her childhood.
She laughed into the wind as it picked up speed, circling the outer edges of the room and throwing the warriors against the walls. Eirik held onto the bed, his ropes keeping him in place.
Yet there was Edmund, sitting with his hands tied behind his back and his face serene, showing no signs of the effort this magic cost him. Wind was his power, much more useful than voice.
Ara used the distraction to take her sword and cut through Edmund’s ropes, freeing his hands.
Audun yelled orders to his men. The wind didn’t touch him.
Ara grinned. “He’s mine.” Audun stood in the center of the room, the eye of a storm where everything was calm.
When he saw Ara approaching, he growled. “You!”
She flexed her fingers around the sword hilt. “You wondered who I am.” Her eyes flicked to Eirik, who’d asked the same question.
Because Ara was not the spy she’d played for years. She was so much more.
“My name is Ara Caron.” She stepped closer. “Bastard daughter of a Duke of Gaule. The once-general of the largest Gaulean force. I’ve fought in two wars, faced the greatest dark sorceress to ever live. There is magic in my blood.” She closed the remaining distance between them. “I am not the woman who warmed Lord Eirick’s bed. He warmed mine. Do you wish to fight me?”
“A woman?” he scoffed, fear shining in his eyes.
“Yes.” She lifted her sword. “A woman.”
She saw his attack before it happened. He yanked a knife from the belt at his waist and lunged for her. Ara sidestepped him easily, careful to avoid the force of Edmund’s wind that continued to keep Audun’s soldiers pinned to the walls.
She twisted on her heel to avoid another attack, kicking her leg out to drive him back. He stumbled away from her, and she readied to strike again. Audun would not leave this room alive.
“Ara,” Edmund called. “I can’t redirect it.”
She tried to figure out what Edmund meant, but it all cleared when she caught sight of one of Audun’s men advancing on Eirick. Edmund used all his strength to keep the rest of the men pinned to the walls. There was none left to protect the man she’d come to save.
Audun advanced, his knife held out in front of him. Ara batted it away, and he slammed into her arm, forcing her to drop her sword. She looked from the sword to the helpless Eirick and tore herself away from Audun, sprinting toward the bed and throwing her entire weight into the other warrior.
He went down hard, his head smashing into the bed frame. As she landed on top of him, he didn’t move.
“Ara!” Eirick called.
She rolled off the dead man and jumped to her feet, ignoring the pain in her side to face Audun once again. But as she whirled around, she didn’t see him.
Audun Orr had run.
Ara heaved a sigh and retrieved her sword. “Edmund, release them.”
Edmund’s magic receded as he pulled it back inside himself.
Audun’s warriors dropped to the floor before scrambling to their feet and out the door.
Ara closed her eyes for a brief moment before turning to the bed and sawing through Eirick’s ropes.
They were safe for now, but Audun Orr still lived, and he’d return.
FOUR
THERE WAS NO time to revel in the simple fact that they still lived. Once Ara freed Eirick of his bonds, she turned back to the table where Edmund sat slumped. Magic came at a cost. It drained the user, leaving them vulnerable.
“Come on, Edmund.” Ara pulled one of his arms over her shoulder and tried to hoist him from the chair. “We have to leave. He’ll be back.” With reinforcements. She looked back over her shoulder at the man who had yet to move from the bed. “Eirick, we have to go. Now!”
He shook his head. “I can’t leave.”
“No choice.” Edmund’s voice was weak.
Eirick stood and crossed the room to tower over them. “I am a warlord. I can’t just leave. These are my people.”
Ara’s face softened. “Not anymore.”
She saw it, the moment her words broke something inside him. His shoulders hunched forward and realization washed over his face. In a single day, he’d lost every bit of power he possessed.
But that was the thing. This couldn’t have happened over a single day. Audun must have courted Eirick’s people for weeks, months. He’d turned them little by little until the day came that their lord had to die.
That day was today.
His eyes scanned his home, a forlorn look on his face.
Ara dropped Edmund’s arm and reached for Eirick’s hand, threading her fingers through his. “Nowhere in Cana will be safe for you, not while you’re a threat to Audun’s newly-won power. He won’t stop until you’re dead.”
“I don’t have anywhere else to go.” He rubbed the back of his neck. “This place…it’s all I’ve known.”
She looked to Edmund, who nodded in agreement with the thoughts he read in her gaze. Their queen would welcome anyone without a place in this world into Bela. It was a land of the misfits, the persecuted. A kingdom free of the prejudices those with magic had experienced their entire lives.
Ara had never imagined she’d return home so soon, that her life as a spy would end in such a fashion.
A smile curved her lips. “What if I told you there’s a kingdom that will welcome you without questions? A land across the sea where rolling green hills provide hope for the hopeless. You’ve never seen anything as beautiful as Bela.” She could almost smell the clean, salty air.
“I’d say I didn’t believe such a place existed.”
“And what would you say if I wanted you to come there with me? This morning, you wanted to kill me, and this evening I’m hoping you want to love me. Eirick, I am a spy for Bela, but I betrayed my mission the day I fell in love with you.” She could never have imagined saying those words as he yelled at her hours before. But now, everything was different.
Eirick didn’t say anything for a long moment as he considered her words. When he met her eyes once more, a new sort of desperation shone in their depths. “I very much want to believe in this place you speak of.”
“And me?”
“You betrayed me, Ara. Repeatedly. And you saved me. I’m having trouble reconciling the person you are with the one I thought I knew.”
Her chest deflated, and she stepped back.
He refused to let go of her hand as he bent to stare at her. “But I’d like to try.” He pressed a kiss to the corner of her lips. “Because I fell in love with you too.”
A tear tracked down her cheek. In a single day, she’d both lost and gained everything.
Coughing interrupted their professions of love, and they both looked to Edmund.
“This is touching and all, but we don’t want to be here when Audun returns.”
All emotion faded from Eirick’s face, and he became the warlord Ara had first met. Cold, logical. “We’re only a day’s ride to the Madran border from here. Once we cross, we’ll be safe.”
He helped Ara lift Edmund to his feet and steadied him on the way out the back door, bringing none of his belongings. They’d find everything they needed across the border. She caught Eirick’s eye as they crossed the narrow alleyway to the barn behind his house. Maybe everything they needed was right here.
Eirick owned only two horses, neither of them particularly young. They pushed Edmund up onto a grey stallion, and Ara climbed up behind him.
Once Eirick mounted his white steed, they took off through the back alleyways of the Canan town, barreling past surprised citi
zens and warriors yelling their names.
Ara grew up in Gaule, where all those with magic were little more than prisoners. She’d lived her life in enemy territory, so as they found the road that would take them away from town, a grin formed on her lips.
Four years as a spy undone in a single day.
And she’d never felt more alive.
Flashing Eirick a grin, she gripped Edmund’s waist and urged the horse into a full gallop.
Once the town was out of sight, as dusk fell upon them, a rider rode into the middle of the road, lifting his arms to make them slow.
Ara pulled back on the reins as soon as she recognized Prince Quinn.
“You made it!” he yelled.
“Where are the others?” Edmund asked.
“I sent them on ahead.”
Ara’s brow furrowed. “Then why are you here?”
He narrowed his eyes like he didn’t understand the question. “I couldn’t leave anyone behind.”
A new appreciation for the annoying prince bloomed in Ara as she nodded. “Well, come on then. We need to get to the border.”
As night descended, the three horses didn’t slow.
Resting only once, they reached the border the next day with a brilliant blue sky replacing the stormy clouds of the day before, a sign that they’d left the darkness behind.
FIVE
ARA HAD ONLY seen Madra once before, when she first took on her mission as a spy. This time, she didn’t marvel at the extravagant palace or the sheer size of the capital. All she had eyes for was the ocean spanning the distance between Madra and Bela.
Three days later, they boarded a ship with Edmund and the other delegates for the two-day journey.
Eirick didn’t speak much on the trip. He stayed mostly below deck.
Ara stood at the rail listening to sailors shout their orders as the white cliffs she’d dreamed about came into view, looming over the ocean as its protector.
She imagined Bela beyond the cliffs, stretching into the distance, a patchwork of green fields and forests. There was no more peaceful place in all the Six Kingdoms.
Edmund rested his elbows on the rail at her side. “Home.”
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