by JF Jenkins
Darien let out a soft sigh. "I can't focus on what I want. Then who would protect our people?"
Brian chewed on his lower lip for a moment. "It's only my interpretation of things, but it obviously scares you to be taking on all of these responsibilities. I can't blame you for that one bit. They petrify me, and I'm not even the one who got chosen. Ever since Dad died though, we've all had to take on new tasks for this family. Are you looking at it like it's the end of everything though?"
"Kind of," he admitted.
"Well it's not. Stop being so afraid, and don't let go of your past goals. Should help end your nightmare pretty fast."
"To be honest, I'm not sure I ever had any goals. I've never known what I wanted to do with my life."
"That doesn't mean you don't have dreams. Just think about it, or ignore my suggestions. You're the one who's losing sleep over it, not me."
Darien shook his head. "No, you're right. I need to chill out a little. We should do this more often."
"Maybe." Brian grabbed the pizza cutter and moved to leave the kitchen. He paused in the door. "I would like to understand you, understand all of this, better."
He laughed. "Me too." He watched his brother leave, giving little more than a small wave on his way out the door. Taking a sip of his freshly poured coffee, he sat back in his chair and closed his eyes. Everything Brian said had made sense to him. But how could he not be petrified of doing something he wasn't ready for?
Chapter Eighteen
The Inero
So close. They were so close to getting there. Gwen lay next to Jason half naked, on her side, contentedly. He too was in a similar state, and as frustrated as the inner voice sounded with him, he loved the warm feeling inside of his gut. They were going at the right pace for them. Each of their own apprehensions slowly faded away as they grew more comfortable with one another. They'd gotten so caught up in the moment, they didn't make it all the way. Which was fine by him in a lot of ways, because he still needed to figure out how to make the voice stay quiet. The more absorbed he became in her, the better he could do so. The overwhelming sensations of her skin, her smell, her everything, however, easily pushed him over the edge in all the good ways. Having her next to him again was nice. He'd missed falling asleep and waking up near her the most.
You are trying my patience boy.
He squeezed his eyes shut. All hope that maybe he'd chased this voice out of him was gone now. Here's an idea for you, maybe you should shut up then and stop distracting me. Putting me on edge and reminding me of your existence doesn't keep me turned on.
Release me. The time is coming where I must make my presence known. You have been chosen to be my carrier and you must release me.
It was like talking to a brick wall. How could he make whomever, whatever, this was understand? Give me a good reason to want to. All you're doing is hurting your case. I liked it better when you were quiet most of the time.
You're getting an attitude. This is useful to me.
I'm not someone you can only use. Do I look like a tool to you? No, so I think you need to adjust your method. I tried being nice and hoping you'd go. Now it's time to make you do it.
Perhaps I was wrong about you. Maybe we could make a deal of sorts after all.
Deal? There was no doubt about it. He was possessed. Unless he was crazier than he originally anticipated, he didn't know any other reasons for why there'd be bargaining happening. Who are you?
Leo is my favorite name. You may call me that.
Why didn't you tell me this earlier, and what are you doing in my head to begin with?
I chose you, and my silence was because I didn't think you worthy of knowing. A big mistake on my part. I underestimated you. My original plan was to wait for you to release me and then do my business instead of bothering to work with you. You've proven yourself worthy of my cooperation finally.
This isn't very convincing.
How is this for an argument: I can give you the power you need to make a difference in this war, to help your brother, and your father.
And what exactly do you want from me in return?
To be released so I can go about my business at last.
No matter what Jason would lose. Even if he made love to Gwen without agreeing to this deal, this thing would be released. The only way to keep it inside was to keep rejecting her. How was this fair to him? If he agreed to this proposal though, maybe he could get more from this possession. Not only would the voice be gone, but he would have the ability to end this stupid feud his father had begun. Assuming he ever made it back home of course. He wanted to believe he'd return some day. As a couple, they were happier away, but he missed his family too.
Okay, fine, but you need to stay quiet. It might not happen right away either. Maybe by the time the next opportunity arose for him and her to be one, he'd have forgotten about this completely. He could only hope, because the only motivation for him to be with her should have been love.
Chapter Nineteen
The Inero
"What do you think of the new girl, the one from Oceina?" Matt asked Kat as the two walked through the castle together. They were on their way out for a night on the town, something they'd done maybe once before and that was before they had even gotten married. Granted, they hadn't dated before they were married. But they did things together, explored, and it was an activity she missed doing with him. She liked knowing they were friends as well as lovers. It helped her remember he in fact loved her.
Why was he bringing up the Oceina woman though? Kat raised an eyebrow. Maybe it was only her hormones impacting her thought process, but she was grumpy at the mention of Ashley. "I only just met her. Should I have an opinion?"
"You usually do, that's all." He shrugged and held the door open for her so they could leave. A small gesture, but it spoke volumes to her as well as everyone else watching them. Some of his half-brothers stared with slack jaws of awe and confusion, a few of the women swooned. Kat made sure to hold onto his arm to make it clear he was hers.
She looked up at him with a small smile. "I'm not sure how much I trust her, but that might be more my problem than hers. She seemed nice enough, interested in life here. I'd be willing to spend more time with her."
He nodded, and his arm went around her waist as if he were making his claim over her known to everyone else as well. "I understand. Gwen and Navi did burn you pretty badly this summer. I wouldn't want to trust just anyone either."
Kat bristled slightly at the mention of Gwen and Navi. The two had rejected her offer of friendship, blown her off and left her to fend for herself in a new scary world where she had no friends. If it wasn't for Lenora opening up to her and inviting her in, she'd still be lost. With Lenora's help though, she had a mother again, two good friends, and power amongst the women.
"I didn't mean...." Matt said.
She shook her head and wiped a few tears from her eyes. "No, it's okay. You're right. They did. Most of the wives are hard to get along with in general." She paused. "Why do you care so much? About Ashley I mean. I didn't think the women interested you much, beyond how they treat me of course."
"She's Oceina, so yes I am curious about how she treats you. I also want to know how much I should trust her." He led her through the streets, taking her towards the outskirts of Inero City. The castle became further away, but loomed over all of the other buildings making sure it's presence would not be forgotten.
Kat's brow furrowed in curiosity. "Oh? Why's that?"
"Work things," he said and kissed her lips. "I was only curious. Come on, let's go see what kind of trouble we can get into shall we?" She wanted to press the matter further. What did Ashley have to do with work? He kept things he did for his father a secret from her most of the time, only telling her what happened after the fact. Something that bothered her, a lot, but old habits die hard. Being the leader of the military, he needed to keep things secret sometimes. She knew he'd say eventually. If only it didn't have to be so hard
to get out of him. He could trust her too, and when it came to Ashley, Kat needed to know just as badly.
Chapter Twenty
The Oceina
As soon as Darien stretched out onto his couch to relax for the first time in several days, the doors to his bedroom burst open and Lance entered.
"They're back," he said.
"Huh?" Darien raised an eyebrow, sitting up and trying his hardest to not let his agitation show. His fists clenched slightly at his side and his jaw tightened. It must have been more obvious than he intended after that because Lance shrunk back towards the door.
"The spies. I didn't mean to interrupt, but this is important," he said.
It was. No one could deny it. Tai sat up in bed, also interested.
The spies your father sent to Inero? She asked.
Yes. Darien glanced her way momentarily to give her a slight nod before fixing his eyes on his brother again. "Are they ready to meet? I'm guessing so?"
"They are," Lance said. "They just got back in about fifteen minutes ago, and are eating. You'll understand soon enough."
"I'm sure I will," he said and let out a small laugh. "I guess I need to get dressed again. Can't be showing up in my pjs to an important meeting."
Lance shrugged. "I think Dad did it once or twice, but it's probably a good idea to wear something sort of nice. This is your first time meeting them and it would be wise to make a good, professional impression on them. You know?"
"Good point." Darien stood up and went to his closet to find something casual but professional. Finding a pair of clean khakis that weren't wrinkled and a loose blue button down, he threw those on inside of the walk in closet. He came back out and smiled at his brother. "Good?" He glanced over at Tai to see if she had an opinion as well. He'd never been good at this sort of thing.
Lance tilted his head to the side. "Uh, sure?"
"You look fine," Tai said and gave him a reassuring smile. "We can wait and watch the movie when you're done. I mean, you won't be taking all night with this will you?"
"I'm not sure." All of the ruling a country business was new for him. How much information did the spies have, and what would he be expected to do afterward? There were a lot of things left in the open.
"If it's going to be longer than three hours, let me know," she said and let out a long sigh. He could tell she was disappointed. It was supposed to be their time to snuggle on the couch. Given her delicate condition there wasn't a whole lot he felt comfortable with doing. Anything could go wrong. He'd killed his mother from the womb with his magic, and he didn't know what kind of an effect it was going to have on Tai. Keeping her home and safe, at least in his sight, helped put his mind at ease.
Darien blew her a kiss. I love you.
I love you too. Hurry back.
He waved his hands at his brother to leave and followed him out the door.
"I seriously didn't mean to interrupt." Lance ran a hand through his short dark hair. He gave Darien a weak half smile and his blue eyes softened.
"I need to get used to it sooner rather than later I suppose." Darien gave a slight shrug.
"I guess."
"You know I'm right." As much as he didn't want to say it, it was true. Being the Great Lord of the Oceina would mean a lot of inconvenience for him, and Lance being his First Council would be responsible for a lot of it. His brother had the duty to advise and field a lot of the communication channels for Darien. If anyone was going to be interrupted the most, it would be him.
"Did you call Arthur?" Darien asked.
"Yes, I told him first so he could be here by the time you were ready."
Lance thought of everything it seemed which is why he was made First Council. Dragon Lord law stated that a new Lord had to have a new First Council. It seemed silly to Darien, but in some ways it made sense. Most particularly with the Terran who elected their Lord frequently. A new First Council guaranteed a new reign. There was less chance of a secret political corruption. His Uncle Arthur had been his father's First Council. Darien was honored the man still wanted to help so much.
They walked quietly down stairs to the ballroom of the apartment complex where they lived. Darien didn't have an office, something he needed to change fast. His father Orion had one, but much like the bedroom, Darien couldn't bring himself to go inside of it. It was too soon. He'd want to remodel it to something more of his liking, and the idea of moving all of his father's things into storage hurt Darien's heart. Cleaning away Orion's stuff made his death all the more official.
The ballroom would work well for the time being. It currently was empty, outside of a few plush black chairs and a wooden table. There was a lot of space which made the room intimidating. Their footsteps echoed on the wooden floor as they made their way to the chairs. Darien sat down at the head of the table, Lance at his right, and he saved the one to his left for Arthur when he arrived.
Ten minutes passed and then the doors opened. Arthur entered with two other men. Dark circles rimmed the eyes of the two strangers, and their bodies were slouched. The three walked slowly through the room. Arthur trailed behind, as if to be polite, helping one sit down in a chair before taking his seat next to Darien.
"I am Clove," one said and lowered his eyes as though he was too tired to bow as was the custom.
"My name is Raife," the other said. With a bit more energy he nodded at Darien.
"I'm glad you have returned to us safely." Darien leaned forward in what he hoped was a sympathetic fashion. He wanted to press and demand answers from them, but he knew the journey from Inero to Oceina City was a long one. With the borders closed between the two nations now, he imagined it was a difficult one to take. The Great Lord of the Inero had sprung that on him by surprise. One day Darien woke up to the message from Lance, who received it from one of his uncles who was supposed to be an ambassador to the Inero. They'd been given the week to withdraw all of the Oceina citizens from the country. Something about the fire dragons only having enough resources to support themselves. Darien wanted to give aide to the Inero people, but not to the members of the Royal Guard. Lord Lynx would make sure it went to the wrong hands, should Darien supply anything and so he held back.
Raife exhaled deeply and nodded slowly, eyes closed. "I was barely allowed through the gate. If they had known who I was, they would have killed me on the spot like they did the others."
"There were others sent?" Lance's jaw dropped and his eyes went wide.
Clove leaned his head onto a hand, squeezing his eyes shut and nodding. "Lord Orion sent five men to observe the nation. One was shot and killed in the middle of the street as he tried to go towards the gate shortly after the proclamation of the borders closing. Another was thrown into prison and died there. The other went missing. I haven't seen or heard from him in over a month. Raife and I met by chance in Katmos City which as you know is ten miles into our country from the border."
Darien took in a sharp breath, doing his best to keep calm. What he wanted to do however was go into a fit of rage. How dare the Inero do that to his people. Darien was positive there were Inero spies in his country, but if they were found he wouldn't ever do something so horrible to them. At the very least they would be given a trial before any action was taken.
"What did you find?" Lance asked.
Raife straightened his posture. "My station was out in the country, along the border of the nation. Your father wanted me to watch the activity in the farmland. The crops were plentiful this year, but I heard many of the townspeople make business with other means instead of money. They had money, enough of it, but the food was hard to come by. Families had enough to feed themselves but not the rest of the town, so they traded goods with each other."
"So their food isn't poisoned like the Great Inero Lord claims?" Darien leaned forward with great interest.
"Is that what he's saying?" Raife scoffed. "No, the food is near perfect. I've never eaten anything like it before in my life."
"The food where I was a
t wasn't excellent," Clove said. "I was one of the three spies sent to watch the city. One of the other missing spies had watched the country as well. In the city, things were as different from the farms as night and day. Even more so than what would be normal. The whole nation of Inero is. The food supply for the upper class citizens of the city was good, as would be expected. The middle class, where I was, so-so. Produce was harder to come by, and getting fresh water, we had to venture further into the city, or out. Something about the source being contaminated. It was off-limits to humans. The Royal Guard protected it as if it were a crime scene. In a way it was."
Darien raised an eyebrow. "So maybe he didn't lie completely. Interesting." He had wondered how the Great Lord could make his claims so convincingly. Half-truths were a lot easier to sell than full-blown lies.
"It took some time, but I was finally able to sneak in and get a look. The other two spies placed in the city joined me. Their names were Paul and Eric. Eric played the look out while Paul and I investigated. We were able to get right to the pool where they purified the water, or where they were supposed to. The pool was a dump of overflow from a stream. What we found instead was something I'd never even heard of before. Magic was in the water."
"Magic? Are you sure?" He wasn't sure if he could believe it. He'd seen and heard a lot of things having to do with magic before. Being Touched gave him an advanced knowledge in the skill, though it wasn't necessarily one he used often. His magic scared him. It had ever since he'd been told the truth behind his mother's death. The best way for him to protect himself and those he loved was to learn. In all of his studies though, not once did he stumble upon magic being put into another object, or element. It needed flesh and blood to survive.