As he waited, he paced back and forth through the hall. It was a habit of his. He’d worn furrows in the floor when Genny was ill. But this was so different. He’d at least known what to expect with her sickness. He couldn’t begin to prepare himself for an enemy who could injure from afar.
Michael had stopped pacing and was leaning against the door when it moved behind him. He turned to see that her eyes were red and puffy. The gown she’d changed into was a deep navy blue with a silver beaded bodice and a white fur-lined cloak. Her hair fell in blood red ringlets past her shoulders.
It took him aback to see her in the dress, having only seen Genny wear it on one occasion —the ceremony for Michael’s father. There’d been no body to bury, so they had held a vigil, lighting candles in his honor. All of Adoria had been united on that day.
“Ariana ...”
“Not right now, please.” She looked tired.
Nodding, he started to put his arm around her shoulder when she stepped out of his reach and walked ahead of him.
It was for her own good that he remained distant in his sympathies. As rightful ruler of Adoria, he couldn’t entertain any notion of Garren’s virtuousness, no matter how much it pleased his sister to do so.
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
A THOUSAND YEARS
T
he room was filled with people. Michael had told her that it would be, but somehow it hadn’t readied her for their reception. As she and Michael entered, every Adorian fell to his knees. He held her hand outstretched as they descended a wide set of steps. All eyes were on her and she felt vulnerable, naked. As upset as she was with Michael, she gripped his hand like it was the last thing she’d ever do.
The room was vast, stretching three stories to a cathedral ceiling made entirely of stained glass. Tall, white columns framed the edges of the room and set off several sections in the middle. Open balconies were mounted on all sides. She was in the process of wondering about the stairs when she saw several Adorians fly to take their places. It certainly explained why the ceiling was so high.
The décor was intricate from the doorways down to the designs on the marble floor. Painted tiles were scattered across the walls among paintings and tapestries, much like those in her room. She heard music and singing coming from somewhere behind the crowd.
The elders greeted them at the foot of the stairs. Their robes were dark navy, matching Ariana’s cloak. She recognized Jenner, who emerged from the group first. He took Ariana’s hand in his as he bowed, and kissed it. She wasn’t sure how to respond, and was grateful when he rose to face them.
“Lady Ariana, begotten of Gabriel Briony of Leiden and Caelyn Edessa of Lipsius, we are honored to welcome you home. Antu oinai worno ethomos.”
All of the elders then came to her, one by one, to grant her the same Adorian blessing. When they were finished, everyone cheered.
Michael leaned over to quietly inform her they’d be moving into the dining hall. She walked beside him, still keeping a firm hold on his hand. Although she was anxious about being the cause for so much fuss, she couldn’t get Garren’s face out of her mind and it brought heat to her cheeks. Michael mistook it for nerves.
“It’s alright. You should feel loved. You’re a part of this realm now, a daughter of Adoria.” He smiled, but she couldn’t even bring herself to nod in acknowledgment, nor could she force the feel, from the dream, of Garren’s hand on her cheek. Her cuts stung despite the salve that had been used and she wasn’t in the mood to hear Michael’s idealistic banter. It wasn’t that she didn’t think he believed what he was saying, he appeared to take every word of it as absolute truth, but after seeing the dissolution of so many promises in her life, Ariana couldn’t recall the last time she’d had faith in anything substantial. How could she just accept that everything was going to be fine when nothing ever was?
They walked through a large set of doors into a room of identical proportions, filled with long rows of tables. A separate table was set on a large platform at the far end of the room, no doubt for Michael’s and Ariana’s use. Michael approached the table and pulled out a chair for her. They sat down, facing the room.
Servers brought out many kinds of game — pheasant, venison and quail — and other animals that she couldn’t begin to name and had no interest in learning. It was a shame that she still had no appetite. Scores of Adorians came to speak to her as the night progressed, repeating their names over and over in the hopes that she’d remember them. It was hard enough to appear interested in what they were saying, much less keep track of their identities and the purpose they served in Cyphrus.
Michael must have sensed her state of mind and leaned over to check on her several times throughout the meal. She nodded respectfully each time, but declined to enlighten him further. She was pleased to see Duncan, who came around the table to hug her. She held on tightly this time, happy to see a familiar face.
He kissed her cheek. “I know this is all strange to you. It’s nothing like home, but you’ll come to love it here, I promise. Are you settling in alright?”
Ariana shrugged, hoping that her lack of a response would answer his question.
“If you’d like, we can ride sometime soon. I can show you a bit more of Adoria.”
“I would love nothing more,” she said, giving him a genuine smile in return.
“Then it’s settled. Tell me when you’re ready.” He gave her one overzealous pat on the back, unaware of her wounds, before he turned to leave.
“Wait, Duncan?” She swallowed back the newly revived pain that spread now from one side of her back to the other.
“Yes?” he asked, kneeling down in front of her.
“Do you think any of them are still alive?”
“Garren had a particular loathing for Palingard.” He leaned against the wall behind them and looked away for several moments. “I wish I could tell you differently, but I seriously doubt that if they’re alive, it’s a good thing.” A profound grief clutched at his words as they left his lips. He’d loved Palingard and though the other Adorians she’d met had expressed regrets, it wasn’t the same. None but Duncan, Roahn and a handful of Braeden understood what had been truly lost. It was more than just a stronghold, or a name on some map. It was home.
She could tell by Michael’s attitude toward the Braeden that he felt they were languid in their character, simply by not disagreeing with the elders. This aside, when she’d finally let go of her initial anger, their presence here above all others made her feel at ease. The Braeden had been in Middengard with them — or with the humans. She still couldn’t think of herself as an Adorian.
“I have so many questions, but I suppose now isn’t the time.”
He nodded and looked as though he wasn’t going to speak again, but turned back just before leaving. “I’ll make time to answer anything you want to know later.” He cleared his throat and absently swung his hand, hitting the door frame, as he breezed out of the room.
Michael leaned toward Ariana again. “You barely touched your food.”
“I’m alright.”
He kept his arm on the table beside her, unimpressed with her answer. “It seems you and Duncan have made amends.”
She nodded in silence.
“I was never able to see Palingard except at a distance,” Michael noted. “Tell me, what was it like?”
She’d been playing with her fork, and when Michael finished his question, she dropped it beside her plate. She still wasn’t interested in talking, but realized that he was going to press her until she gave him some sign that everything was alright.
“It was different. It’s hard for me to explain how. Everything was simpler, less elegant.” She took a deep breath, pausing before saying anything further. “I was raised by a friend of our mother’s, her name is Bella. I’ve known her since I was born. She helped mother around the house and in the fields in return for room and board. Then, when mother died, she tended to me while Father was gone. Eventually, she was all I
had left.”
“What about your lessons, what were they like? Is there a school there?” He seemed genuinely interested, but she’d have preferred to finish her meal, or rather play with her meal, in peace and quiet.
“There were few children left after the first siege, so we were all taught by the same teachers. It was a small building near the center of the village. The older children helped the younger ones, and though it was nothing like what you have here, it worked for us. Mother read to me when I was little, and while he was still there, Duncan taught me all sorts of things.” A slight smile forced its way to her lips. “I tried to teach Sara a few words of what I now know was Adorian. Certainly explains why she was never able to grasp it. She’d tell me stories that she’d heard over the years of winged men. It was all fun and games to me, nonsense, but she really believed it.”
“I take it Sara was a close friend of yours?” He asked.
“She was my closest friend.” She was terrified for Sara, and though Duncan had said it would be worse if she were alive, Ariana desperately, selfishly hoped that she was. She pushed the thought of what Sara would be going through out of her mind; it was too much to bear at the moment.
“She told me once that she’d seen an Adorian. We’d just finished celebrating a wedding, and just as everyone had readied for bed, she came tearing through our house yelling for me. I’ll never forget her face. At the time I thought she’d gone mad, but, I suppose she could have seen one of you.”
Michael lifted his head. “What did she say to you of this Adorian?”
“She said she was walking through the woods, looking for flowers for a wreath, or something equally ridiculous, when she spotted him from a few yards away. She went on about this for weeks, well, years afterwards. The armor he wore, his horse. Even after she’d gotten engaged, she still talked about it, all weepy eyed and sappy.”
“Did she marry?” Michael asked.
Ariana thought the question odd. She shook her head. “No, the wedding was set for a few months from now, though if you want to know my opinion, I don’t think it was ever going to take place. They didn’t get along very well.” A smile crossed his face. It had a quaintness to it that caught her interest. “Am I missing something?”
“I saw Palingard once from a distance, as I said earlier. It was at dusk after a ride from Ruiari and when I approached the village, as I shouldn’t have done, I witnessed what I assumed to be a wedding. It was several years ago. I think your friend may have seen me.”
Ariana wasn’t sure how she felt about this. “Are you serious?”
He nodded, looking a bit self-conscious. “I’m afraid so. No other Adorian would have ventured that close. I deviated from my riders because I had the authority to.”
Ariana thought it over for a moment and found the revelation saddened her. It may have been the only time that Sara would ever lay eyes on him. “You would have really liked her.” Ariana closed her eyes to keep from crying. “She was the human embodiment of trust and loyalty.”
“Ariana, there’s someone I would like to introduce to you.”
She opened her eyes to see Jenner, his hand on the shoulder of an aged, pleasant-looking human. At least, she assumed as much — he didn’t have wings and didn’t have the build to be Braeden.
“This is Bronach.”
The man bowed, a generous smile lighting up his features. “My Lady, it is truly my pleasure to meet you. It seems your name is all I hear these days.”
She rolled her eyes. “Don’t believe a word of it. I’m not nearly as feisty as they would lead you to believe.”
Bronach laughed as he patted her hand. “Fair enough, but I should tell you that you are every bit as lovely as I was told. You remind me very much of someone I once knew. Perhaps I’ll tell you about her sometime.”
“Bronach is a historian,” Jenner said. “I imagine he could tell you far more about Adoria than any of our elders, myself included.”
Bronach nodded. “If you could stand the company of an old man, grumpy and sardonic in his ways, then I will teach you anything you wish to know, child. All you need to do is ask.”
Ariana was intrigued by him, relieved by his humor and his humanity. “I’ll take you up on your offer. Just remember that you made it.”
Michael leaned back relaxed in his chair. “Bronach has begun the restoration of the Saeculum, which I have no doubt you’ll find interesting. It might eventually lead to excavating the old world, but we’ll see what comes of this first.”
Bronach eased a chair out beside them, settling himself against the high, thin back — fashioned so for those whose wings would fall to either side. “In due time we’ll tell you all about it, though I cannot imagine why a spry young thing like yourself would bother with dusty, overgrown ruins.” He appeared well aware that such a choice of words would do nothing but pique her interest all the more.
“Spry indeed, my bones say otherwise. I feel well over a thousand years old these days.”
Bronach’s face stilled. His rounded eyes and bulbous little nose paused only long enough for her to catch it. “My deepest sympathies for your loss, this cannot be easy to bear.” He looked to Michael then. “Have you taken her to the Garden of Dedication?”
Michael shook his head, “I haven’t. Too much has been weighing on our list of considerations lately. Palingard will be dedicated with a statue of its own sometime in the coming months. I think you’ll be pleased. Every village and city has been — ”
Ariana abruptly rose from her seat, the legs of the chair screaming against the polished floor. She didn’t intend to be rude, but the finality of his words fell on her like a hundred stones.
Memorial. Remembrance. Sara is not lost! Bella is not lost!
She started to explain her sudden change of emotion, but found herself without the words. As she turned to leave the dining hall, she heard Michael start after her and Jenner’s voice telling him to let her go.
As she walked deeper into the keep, down one corridor to the next, she sobbed. She missed Bella and everything else about home. She missed the smells and the sounds, and all the things that she’d longed so desperately to escape. Michael had meant no harm in his questions, nor Bronach in his teasing. But Adorians and the few from Middengard who were raised in Adoria didn’t seem to really understand humans. Everything in Adoria was a matter of principle alone. Things in the human world weren’t always that simple. She couldn’t explain why she kept thinking about Garren, but whatever the reason, she couldn’t just shut off her emotions. He had released her. The look in his eyes, both that day and in the visions where she’d encountered him since, wasn’t malicious, wasn’t evil. His hold on her was far from being in her control, even had she wanted it to be.
She wandered through halls and rooms of various sizes and purposes, until she came to a heavy wooden door in the corner of a broad gathering area. She was pleased to discover it was a library.
She took a lit candle from the hall and carried the flame to the sconces that were fastened along the wall, revealing immense bookshelves and several generous chairs. She pulled a couple books out, flipped through the pages, surprised to see there wasn’t much dust on any of them. Adorians, she gathered, were enthusiastic about education. It made her feel a bit lacking. She remembered hearing about Sara’s mother and father, who’d gone off to school in Ruiari years before Sara was born. Ariana’s father had told her those schools were no longer in existence, having been turned into orphanages, or training camps for human soldiers. The humans had made an effort to protect themselves — it just hadn’t held a candle to the forces of the Laionai.
She ran her hands along the shelves, feeling the bindings of the books. They were deep with artistry, metals woven into the trim and decorative designs embossed into the leather. She was so involved with inspecting them that she wasn’t paying attention and ran into a rolling ladder that was attached to the wall. It made a loud squeal as it was jarred to life. Startled, she stepped back, only
to bump into something else behind her. She turned to see not what she’d run into, but who; a very well-built, pleasing to the eyes,who.
“Forgive me, my Lady. I didn’t mean to frighten you.” He was tall like her brother, but had skin that more closely resembled Duncan’s, tanned enough to give him a healthy glow, his hair a light brown color, with just a hint of auburn to it. He seemed to be about her age, or maybe a few years older. He leaned against the bookcases with a smug grin on his face.
She found herself blushing as she realized that she was staring at him. “You should feel honored, I don’t frighten easily.”
“So I hear.” He laughed. “I’m Jareth. And I do believe I am the last one in Adoria to make your acquaintance.” He took her hand and brought it to his lips, bowing his head as he did so.
She would have to at least give Adorian males credit for being a lot more civilized than any of the men in her village, who were barbaric in comparison. “Well, Jareth, I’d very much appreciate it if you didn’t address me so formally.” As soon as she said the words, she heard a noise that sounded very much like a dragon, which made no sense until she looked down and saw that it was indeed a kind of dragon. A small creature with jade green scales and a plum-colored chest sat at Jareth’s feet. He crowed as he peered up at her.
Jareth gestured to his little friend. “I’m sorry, I forgot to introduce you. This is Cryx. He’s my faithful companion, useless in the most important of assignments, but comforting in the least of them. He tends to have a bit of a temper, so he’ll pitch a fit if you don’t pet him. And the bit about formality — understood.”
She smiled, having never heard of or seen a dragon so small before. She leaned down to pat him on the head. He cooed, leaning his head into her hand so she could more effectively reach behind his pointy ears.
Son of Ereubus Page 12