Untethered

by KayLynn Flanders

  “If you did declare war against Riiga, would your people fight alongside Hálendians?” I asked. “I got the impression on my journey to Turiana that no one trusted me.” Evidenced by the innkeepers with no rooms for me to stay in and bakers who refused to let me buy their offerings.

  “They would,” Chiara said with a frown, but Queen Cora had put her head in her hand.

  I rubbed my hand along my jaw and sighed. “Also, I’m not sure how much of Hálendi’s forces could be spared.”

  Silence dropped over the room like a bucket of ice water. Accusing stares hit me from every corner. Yesilia’s gaze burned a hole into my forehead, like she was trying to see into my mind.

  “Why not?” Mari finally spoke up from where she stood by the silent Cora. “I thought we were friends now.”

  A breathless chuckle escaped before I could lock it back. “We are, Mari. We are friends.” I sat in the chair next to Chiara’s. It was as hard and uncomfortable as it looked, and my backside still ached from ten days in a saddle. Didn’t Turians believe in cushions? “Hálendi is…ill prepared for conflict at the moment.”

  Jenna narrowed her eyes. “Explain.”

  I swallowed, knowing she could feel the rising panic that tightened my throat. Although if there were other tethers, maybe she wouldn’t feel mine as much.

  Deep breath in, out. Steady. “I cut the council in half. There’s no general leading the army—I installed a council of five captains instead. I’m only sure three of those are loyal to me. Mostly loyal, anyway, as I couldn’t get the three without the other two.” My voice dropped off as I rambled.

  It didn’t matter how much I rationalized my choices—the entire Plateau would suffer, maybe even fall, because I couldn’t manage to transition the monarchy despite having spent my entire life training for it.

  “Why didn’t you write? Why didn’t you tell me how bad things have gotten?” Jenna asked quietly.

  I pressed my lips together. It wasn’t as though she’d written to me. She was here in her new role with her new family. She didn’t need me or my troubles.

  The Medallion cooled against my skin, pulling me out of my thoughts.

  The very capable, though distressed, queen of Turia sat on my right. The future king and queen of Turia stood before me. Yesilia’s gaze only held pity. It was my kingdom that was in shambles. I was the weak ruler in the room.

  “We need to focus on King Marko,” I said, infusing as much confidence into my words as I could. “We must retrieve him before the wedding and whatever Riiga is planning.”

  Jenna’s stare promised we’d talk later.

  “So we keep looking. Send more men—” Enzo started.

  “But not too many,” I interrupted, and Chiara’s glare burned into my side.

  “What do you mean?” she asked with a frown. “We should send every available person to look for him!”

  Enzo caught on and muttered something under his breath.

  I shook my head slowly. “So far, no one knows he’s missing. Marko is the key to stability on the Plateau. He has the strength to keep the Turian nobility in line, a chance to talk sense into Riiga, to call on Hálendi for aid with enough power to get the council’s head out of its own problems.” I stopped. Licked my lips. “If he’s…if two kingdoms have young, untested leaders—no offense meant, Enzo—the entire Plateau could fall into chaos with the slightest nudge from any enemy.”

  Enzo groaned and slumped onto a sofa. “The kingdom—the Plateau—will panic if they find out.”

  Chiara’s eyes snapped and she held her jaw tight. “So we do nothing? Sit here while something awful happens to our father?”

  “No. We have to find him,” I said. I touched my chest, feeling for the Medallion, wishing it had guidance, answers, anything. Wishing I’d come sooner.

  Enzo’s head jerked up. “What about Cynthia Hallen?”

  Chiara’s nose wrinkled. “What about her?” she muttered low enough that I was probably the only one who heard.

  If Cynthia had been the girl throwing herself at me earlier, I agreed with Chiara’s assessment. “Can we trust her?” I asked.

  “Father saw something in her, enough to not banish her with the rest of her family. She’s been allowed a trial period to prove she’s loyal. If she passes, she’ll inherit her father’s lands. And she’s leaving soon for Riiga,” Enzo said. “With an official invitation to the wedding.”

  Jenna rubbed her hands together, catching on to his idea. “We can use her to get our people into Riiga to search without raising any alarm.”

  Luc nodded. “That could work. She’s vain enough to need a large entourage, and she has a lot at stake to prove her loyalty.”

  Enzo nodded to him. “Get it done. I want to know the exact location my father disappeared, and possible routes to anywhere a king and his entourage could be hidden.”

  Mari, who’d been silent, helped the queen stand, with Yesilia on the other side.

  “We’ll find him, Mother. I promise,” Enzo said. And despite all the possible ways for his plan to go sideways, even I believed the conviction in his voice.

  Cora gave a watery smile. “I know you will, carino.” She left, still holding tight to Mari and Yesilia.

  “What if we ask Janiis?” Chiara said in the silence that filled the space the queen had occupied. “See if he denies it or takes responsibility?”

  I leaned my elbows on my knees. “We can’t ask him outright—can’t alert him that anything’s amiss. But what if we did send him a letter saying Marko’s been delayed at the cliffs, and asking whether he knows anything about it?”

  The others nodded slowly, and Enzo rubbed his hands together. “It’s a start, anyway. I’ll pen the letter myself. Send it with a messenger within the hour.”

  Luc, Enzo, and Jenna continued planning—where to place men, roles, timing. Chiara watched them, staring without seeing. What was playing in her memory to make her look so lost? Finally, she slowly eased out of the chair with the perfect posture and bearing of a princess. But she radiated sadness in a way that tore at something deep in me.

  Jenna didn’t need me, but making sure Chiara was okay was one thing I could do.

  I grabbed her hand before she could slip out of the room. A warmth I hadn’t expected shot up my arm, and I released her, staring at her hand with furrowed brows.

  She tucked it into the folds of her dress. “Did you need something, Ren?”

  My mind was wiped blank. I’d forgotten what I was going to say. Was it the warmth from her hand? The relentless journey here? The way her dark hair moved around her shoulders?

  “I just…” I swallowed and stood, hoping that would jolt my brain enough to put together a coherent sentence. Say something, you ice head. “It will be okay.” I winced as soon as the words left my mouth.

  Her eyes brightened with unshed tears and I wanted to throw myself into the dungeon. “I hope so,” she whispered, though her voice remained steady.

  Someone walking by in the hall burst into laughter. I startled, nudging Chiara behind me, my hand going to my sword. I’d forgotten everything but Chiara for one precarious moment. A luxury I couldn’t afford.

  My chest tightened and I started to sweat, though my skin felt clammy.

  Oh no. Not here.

  Jenna’s eyes darted to me. “What’s wrong, Ren?”

  My jaw flexed. What wasn’t wrong was a better question. “Did you really ask me that?” I said, brushing her question aside, trying to steady my breathing. “Did you hear everything we’ve been talking about?”

  She glared at me. “You flinch at every loud sound. You aren’t supposed to be here—”

  I inched away from Chiara. Did she realize I’d repositioned myself to protect her? I hoped not. “I was serious about you not writing often enough,” I said with a shrug, eyeing the door
to freedom.

  “But that’s not the reason you came,” Chiara said quietly. “You knew something was wrong.”

  I swallowed, and every eye landed on me. The tight feeling in my chest returned. I rubbed the Medallion. “Something…felt off. Like I needed to leave Hálendi. But I don’t know more than any of you. Less, probably.”

  I didn’t know why, but Chiara’s eyes were the ones I felt heaviest on me. Like she saw right through me. My breaths got shorter, and I couldn’t—I needed—

  “E-excuse me,” I said, then turned and slipped out the door.

  Ren

  I took off at a jog, darting through hallways that all looked the same, trying to find my room. I turned corner after corner. Tried one stairway, only to have it lead me in a circle.

  I grabbed a boy carrying a bucket. “You,” I said, my raspy voice unrecognizable, “where is my room?”

  The boy looked up at me with wide eyes and shook his head. He backed away a step. I advanced. I wanted to ask nicely, explain I was lost, but nothing came out.

  And then a shadow moved in the corner of my eye. A weapon coming at me.

  I brought my arm down hard, blocking the blow, and spun with my elbow aimed at my attacker’s gut. But they dodged my blow and hooked a leg in front of mine, trying to flip me. I shifted my weight and took them down instead, drawing my sword and bringing it to their throat.

  “Whoa!” my sister’s voice yelled. “It’s me, Ren! What is wrong with you?”

  The edges of my vision lined with pillars, darkness, tombs of the kings.

  “Ren!” she said again.

  I shook my head. Focused.

  Jenna lay beneath me. Not an assassin.

  “Cavolo,” a tiny voice whispered. The boy was pressed up against the wall watching us, his bucket clutched tight to his chest.

  I sheathed my sword and held my hand out to him, palm up. “I’m sorry,” I murmured between gasping breaths. “I—” Jenna grunted and shoved me off her, then helped me stand. “I was trying to find my room. I need…I need to…to find my room.”

  “It’s okay,” she murmured, slipping her arm around my waist and nodding to the boy, who ran off.

  I let her lead me through the palace. I didn’t recognize any of the turns, any of the hallways, but then we were at the room the steward had taken me to when I’d arrived.

  We stumbled inside and I immediately locked the door, then shoved a chair in front of it for good measure. I stumbled to the basin with clean water and dunked my head. With all sounds muffled, my thoughts settled, and I stayed under until my lungs burned. Jenna grabbed my collar and yanked me out again, splashing water over both of us.

  “You show up in the throne room with no notice, no guards, in traveling clothes. Your tether is…a mess. What. Is going. On.” She brushed the water from her hands and the front of her skirt. “The seamstresses will kill you if they see what you’ve done to this dress, by the way.”

  “They can join the club,” I muttered, and yanked at the buttons of my tunic. It was too blasted hot in here. I pulled the whole thing off and tossed it on a chair. I shook out my wet hair, flinging water everywhere. I should have changed before finding Jenna, but I’d been so anxious to see her again. To get answers about the Medallion’s warning.

  Jenna sucked in a sharp breath. She stared at my stomach. Right where—I cursed, spinning so my back was to her.

  “Who did that to you?” she asked, and yanked me around to inspect the long scar across my torso. I couldn’t read anything in her voice—it was flat. Emotionless. Sometimes I wished I had her gift of the tethers, because I had no clue what she was feeling.

  I reached around her and pulled out a wrinkled tunic from my bag, then threw it on.

  She folded her arms. “I felt something a while ago, but I didn’t know what it was. How—”

  “It’s not your problem,” I said, maybe too harshly, because she recoiled. I sighed. “I only meant you have enough problems here. We need to figure out what to do about Marko.” Just as soon as my hands stopped shaking.

  Jenna went to the sofa and sat. “We were trying to. But then you ran out like you were being chased by wolves.” She patted the cushion on her right and raised an eyebrow.

  I fell onto the sofa, next to her.

  Oh, glaciers. Everyone had seen me run from the room. The boy in the hall saw me attack my sister. I ran my fingers through my hair until it stuck up everywhere. “Two of my guards cornered me in the crypt.” I swallowed down the contents of my churning stomach. “I got lucky.”

  Jenna’s face might as well have been made of stone, but she flickered in and out of sight, almost like she’d lost control of her magic for a moment. I couldn’t help the small smile forming on my lips—her magic was incredible.

  “You don’t get to smile about this,” she said in a deadly voice. “Who was responsible?”

  I wiped my expression clean, my constant companion, dread, settling in the pit of my stomach again. “Isarr. The other attempts weren’t close to successful.”

  She growled. “Other attempts?” She took a minute to compose herself, and I wished again that she could be with me in Hálendi. “And the attack, the panic, is staying with you?” she finally asked.

  I licked my lips. She knew what this felt like. I wasn’t sure how, but she knew. A tiny part of me relaxed. “Yes.”

  She stared at the floor. “It gets easier,” she whispered. “The memories won’t hit you out of nowhere.”

  I leaned my head back against the sofa. “Do the nightmares go away?”

  She tucked her legs up onto the seat and rested her head on my shoulder. “I don’t know.”

  * * *

  I woke with a gasp and sat up in bed. But it wasn’t my bed.

  “What is it?” Jenna asked from the sofa. She’d sprung up, sword in hand, spinning around unsteadily. “What happened?” she slurred.

  I pressed my palms into my eyes. “How…what happened?”

  She sheathed her blade and sat down with a yawn. “You fell asleep. You said you didn’t sleep well anymore, so I stayed. If you ask me, you could use a month’s worth of sleep. You look awful. Worse than when you showed up in a throne room in your travel gear.” She grinned and pulled out the tie from her braid, running her hand through her hair.

  “You aren’t going to let that one go, are you?” I asked.

  She chuckled. “Nope.”

  She was free here. Happy. In a way she never had been back home. I should have been happy for her—the chances of finding this kind of life were slim with a kingdom riding on your shoulders. But all I felt was lonely.

  Jenna paused, brows furrowed, and I tucked those emotions away. I’d gotten good at that over the years.

  “So you fired half the council, huh?” she asked.

  I pulled my knees up and rested my arms on them. “You should have seen their faces.”

  She smirked. “Lenor?”

  “Gone.”

  “Good. I never liked him.”

  “He didn’t like me much, either. But at least he was vocal about it. Maybe I should have kept him. At least I knew where his loyalty lay.”

  Jenna shook her head and arched her back. “Everyone loves you, Ren. What’s going on up there?”

  I didn’t know if she meant up in Hálendi or up in my head, so I shrugged. She patted the cushion next to her. I grumbled about getting out of bed, but the truth was I hadn’t slept so well in months.

  “I received the invitation to Janiis’s wedding almost as soon as I got back to Hálendi after we’d signed the treaty,” I said. “The council rejected it outright, saying they didn’t trust the Riigans. With the pass closing, I agreed; it was the one item of business we came together on. But they were looking at me, saying they didn’t trust me. Then little things started happening. Cider
that had been tainted—”

  “But you can heal—”

  “I know that, and you know that, but I’m glad they didn’t. So I sent out feelers, trying to figure out who was angry about the treaty’s terms. I made sure not to move forward with dismissals without proof, but the more changes I made, the less everyone trusted me.” I sighed and Jenna waited for me to continue. “Then the Medallion started changing. Warming against me. Then, the day after”—I gestured to my stomach, unwilling to say the words in case it brought the memories back—“I don’t know how to explain it, but it was almost like the Medallion was in my mind. Urging me to leave. So I did.”

  Her eyebrows shot up. “Just like that? Alone? Ren, you don’t have an heir.”

  I stood and paced between the bed and the empty fireplace. “I didn’t come alone.” I paused, then muttered, “I brought Aleinn’s brother with me.”

  “A stablehand?” Jenna almost shouted. “That’s not the right company! There are mages who want you dead! You hold one of the keys to the Black Library—”

  “I’m aware of that,” I said, kicking at the rug. “Edda counseled me to go. We set everything up nice and tidy.”

  Jenna lowered her head and rubbed her face with shaking hands. “I can’t believe you went through the Wild with only Adri.”

  I sat next to her again. Would she want my help? I wasn’t sure, but I put one hand on her shoulder.

  Jenna calmed, but more worry uncurled within me.

  “Shouldn’t the messengers have returned?” I asked. “How hard is it to find two really old mages? The Plateau isn’t that big.”

  Jenna frowned and rubbed a finger along the embroidery of her skirt. “There’s a lot of inhabitable land in the Wild and to the west, where no one goes. Or the Ice Deserts. What if they went back?”

  I shook my head. “Why would they retreat? They have a key—they’re closer than they’ve ever been. And if someone killed my friend, I’d—” I stopped cold. “You’re not using your wedding to draw them out, are you?”