by Terah Edun
Ciardis nodded. She even decided not to take offense at the word brat, though any other time Thanar would have been on his knees because she would have kicked his shins to hell.
Thanar sighed. “My will is my own. Which means my decisions are my own. My god is still coming, but I will deal with that as it arrives.”
Sebastian's eyes changed color, a sign that his mood had shifted.
If he was anything like Ciardis, he was feeling anger, optimism, and indecision. But the prince heir was schooled enough in court training to not show that publicly.
At least in that sense, his courtly training was useful in this conversation.
Thanar licked his lips that all of sudden looked parched, and then said through a hoarse throat, “What I'm trying to say is that I will stand by the prince heir in these matters, in your work in Kifar, because I stand by her.”
The “her” referenced was as silent as a stone. Ciardis was afraid that if she spoke she would break up this very weird moment, or she'd wake up and find out it was all a dream.
Sebastian hesitated, then nodded and held out his hand. “That's all I can ask for. Your support.”
Thanar looked down at his extended hand and back up with an exasperated expression. He tended to just not like human customs, Ciardis knew that.
Nevertheless, the daemoni prince uncrossed his arms and shook the prince heir's hand.
A verbal agreement had been made.
Ciardis, for her part, almost melted in relief.
It wasn't that the tension in the triad's relationship was gone, far from it—it was that she no longer felt that as a group they needed to really watch out for a knife twisted in their backs. And knowing Thanar, this had been entirely possible. But he would keep his word.
I hope.
Sebastian sat down. Thanar did the same.
“As I was saying,” Sebastian said in a low voice while leaning forward.
Ciardis shifted forward so she could hear him, a bit surprised that they were immediately going back to the conversation from before as if nothing significant had just happened, but she supposed they were pressed for time and pressed for a solution to more imminent concerns.
“I think there's a spy and I'm pretty sure that Seven himself is that person,” Sebastian said while ruffling his hair.
“How?” asked Thanar.
“His magic,” said Sebastian with a frustrated wave. “When we entered the room, Ciardis lobbed her own gift at the wall to find weaknesses in the setup. The entire place is shielded.”
Thanar narrowed his eyes. “Not an improbable concept.”
“Then why did I feel his magical residue not just on the walls but on me?” Sebastian said in a disgusted voice.
Ciardis and Thanar looked at each other in mystification and then back at him.
“What do you mean?” they asked in unison.
“It'd be easier for me to show you,” Sebastian said with a frown. “Then try to guide you through the process. I only stumbled upon it by accident, and unless you're looking for his magic inside the room and not just the walls, it'll be immaterial to you.”
“Show us,” commanded Thanar.
Ciardis sneaked a peek at the dragon. She wondered if Raisa should not be here with them, but when she looked at the table, the ambassador was gone.
“She and Terris went to get clean,” Sebastian said quietly when he noted the questioning look on her face.
She nodded and said, “That's good.”
Twisting a bit, Ciardis saw that the rest of the room was indeed clear.
The guards were at their post. Christian was resting on a chaise longue against the far wall, the Muareg tied at his feet, but she was quite sure that if his chains so much as rustled, the koreschie would be on his feet in a flash.
Ciardis looked back to Sebastian and said firmly, “Show us, then.”
Sebastian looked a bit sheepish for a second before he said, “I'll need your hands. A physical connection for this sort of magic is best.”
Neither Ciardis nor Thanar commented as they gave him their left and right hands respectively.
“Scoot closer,” Sebastian said, “until we are in a triangle, and take the opposite person's hand.”
Ciardis did as he asked and immediately felt magic fall onto all of them. It was controlled by Sebastian, but it wasn't uncomfortable.
It flowed between all of them equally and felt almost as if a lock had been settled into place the moment flesh met flesh.
Sebastian closed his eyes the moment the magic surged.
No, not surged…thickened, Ciardis thought in wonder.
The magic hadn't grown in power—it had grown in depth.
She nearly gasped as she turned to Thanar. The black aura around his form was not only visible without diving into her own gift, but it radiated softly from his body like cresting waves.
Sebastian's, a rich royal blue, did the same.
Ciardis guessed from their gazes that her own golden aura had taken residence around her body as well.
“Now look up,” Sebastian commanded.
Hands held, they did, and Ciardis hastily swallowed the bile that rose in her throat.
The entire ceiling and about a foot below the surface was covered in red.
The red of an aura, but no person was present.
But that was not where the irregularities ended.
In the cresting red waves that hovered over them like a bloody cloud, Ciardis could make out faces. Detached from bodies and screaming in an ever-present swirl.
“What is that?” Ciardis breathed out in horror.
“I don't know,” said Sebastian as the firmness of his voice brought her attention back down to him.
“But I do know this,” the prince heir continued. “It's connected to Seven. The faces in red swirled around him like a pack of dogs from the moment I saw him. They followed him and they followed us into this room.”
“But they stayed here,” Thanar said.
Sebastian nodded. “They stayed. And I think we'll need to be more careful from now on.”
Ciardis paled. “I wish you'd told me this before.”
“Why?” said Sebastian with a piercing gaze.
“Because of what I said to Raisa…and what she said to me,” Ciardis said weakly.
Sebastian smiled. “She knows. She was shielding you and the entire table the whole time. Though I have no idea what good it'll bring.”
Ciardis nodded. “Well, something is better than nothing.”
“It'll have to be,” Thanar said with a steady gaze. “Because this Seven individual seems to be two steps ahead for our every one, and I don't like playing with opponents who have a winning hand.”
22
Ciardis sighed and shook her head. “Me either.”
They all laughed uneasily at that.
Thanar even smiled. A genuine smile this time. It may not have reached his eyes, but nobody was perfect.
Besides which, Ciardis noted that he looked a little more relaxed. Not quite at ease, but getting there.
“If that's all in regards to showing us the red demons,” Thanar said, “I think we can move on.”
He raised his hands, almost to the point where he could free himself from each of their grasps.
Ciardis felt a mild twinge of disappointment that she preferred to think of as a desire for more bread. She wasn't going to miss his calm, rational, simple touch that asked no questions and gave no promises.
Not at all.
But Sebastian quickly spoke up: “If you could just indulge me a minute further, I think we need to explore this even more.”
“Meaning?” Thanar said.
He didn't automatically say “no,” which was a relief to Ciardis. This was new territory for her. New territory for them all.
Who would have imagined us leaving the capital in such discord, she thought with a touch of mirth, only to end up with this?
Sebastian caught her eye and bit the inside of his
cheek.
She could tell, because his mouth suddenly grew taut, and Sebastian was a little too well bred to purse his lips naturally.
“What is it?” she asked.
He said finally, “I think we need to be more unified.”
Thanar shook their joined hands. “And this isn't unified?”
“On the contrary,” Sebastian said. “This is just a physical representation of exactly what I mean. A magical meld that shares our gifts in times of need.”
They shared glances. “Don't we already have that?” Ciardis asked in some confusion.
Sebastian shook his head and let their hands go.
When they didn't move from their places, he continued, “You have that, Ciardis Weathervane. You can access both of our magical gifts, without permission or forethought.”
Ciardis stiffened in her seat. Was he accusing her of something?
Sebastian hastened to say as a grim silence descended over the three, “I'm not complaining.”
“Right at this moment,” Thanar said under his voice.
Sebastian looked at him and raised an eyebrow. “Have you something to say?”
“Only that I have my own reservations about the Weathervane’s…peerless access, shall we say, to both of our gifts,” the daemoni prince said with a soft purr.
Ciardis leveled a glare at his seated form. “Well, that's rich, seeing as it was you that instigated it in the first place.”
“It was not I who bound our gifts to you like light meets dark,” said Thanar loftily. “That came after my own experiment…and an experiment was all it was.”
“An experiment in subjugation,” Ciardis snarled.
“Enough!” shouted the prince heir loudly enough that other conversation around them stopped and Christian surged up out of his sleep, looked around in confusion, glared at the angry party, and then said, “Don't make me come over there, Ciardis Weathervane.”
“It wasn't me!” she snapped before he promptly rolled over and went back to sleep.
Shaking her head, she said, “This is pointless.”
She prepared to stand.
Sebastian pulled her back down with one hand tightly gripped about hers and glared at Thanar for good measure.
“If you two would listen to me, you may learn something,” the prince heir said with ice in his tone. “It's this very issue that I was hoping to combat.”
“And what issue is that?” Thanar said.
“Division,” said Sebastian. “Ciardis flouncing off at every offense. You instigating a fight and leaving the opponent no quarter to back off and cool down.”
Ciardis said, “What about you acting all high and mighty when I know, we know, you don't have everything all figured out, as you would have us believe?”
“Which is why I need your help,” said Sebastian earnestly. “We can't be divided by discord or petty jealousy or political intrigue. We must be strong and present a unified front.”
“Or what?” said Thanar with boredom in his tone.
“Or,” said Sebastian slowly, “our opponents sweep the deck with all the winning cards in their hands.”
Interest flickered in Thanar's eyes as he looked at Sebastian with something Ciardis had never seen in his eyes before. It was respect.
It was clear that Sebastian had been listening to Thanar, and of that, the daemoni prince approved.
“Unity,” said Ciardis with a light shrug. “We just agreed to that. We will try.”
Sebastian shook his head. “I want us to do more than try. We are all very powerful individuals. Ciardis more so when she can use us as a conduit. Agreed?”
Thanar dipped his head. Ciardis said, “Well, yes.”
Sebastian took a deep breath and said, “Then what I suggest is we complete the triad. Everyone on equal footing. Everyone being able to access the gifts of the other…with permission. Everyone using the strengths of the other to succeed.”
There was an awkward pause.
Sebastian forged on. “For Thanar that means tripling his access to a wellspring of power and understanding the motivations of kith and humans alike through his mental access to our minds.”
“He might even grow a conscience,” said Ciardis.
“Watch it, Weathervane,” said Thanar lightly.
Sebastian turned to her with an eager look. “You joke, Ciardis, but I believe it's possible!”
“Ouch,” said Sebastian as Thanar slapped him, lightly, with an outstretched wing.
“I didn't mean literally,” Sebastian complained. “But your moods and intentions might be more…compassionate.”
Ciardis stifled a rolling laugh. “That'll be the day.”
They both glared at her.
She pinned her lips closed and waved a hand at Sebastian. “But do continue.”
“You will gain gravity,” Sebastian said slowly, “as well as the experiential wisdom of being fully linked to two individuals with a wealth of different court experiences.”
“You mean I'll be more diplomatic,” said Ciardis blandly.
“More circumspect,” said Sebastian. “Along with the continuation of the powerful gifts you've already begun to explore. The lightning, for instance, that you used to char the guards in the throne room.”
Ciardis winced. “I didn't mean for it to go that far. I just got caught up in my…emotions.”
Thanar said with a wicked barb in his voice, “Then perhaps it's a good thing that you will be gifted with our wisdom…and the ability we retain to control our own gifts, which only comes from experience.”
Sebastian nodded.
Ciardis relaxed her shoulders as she tried to take it as an offered incentive and not any sort of criticism.
“And you, Sebastian Athanos Algardis,” Ciardis said, “what do you get out of this?”
Ciardis looked from one to the other.
“Absolute loyalty,” Sebastian said.
Thanar laughed darkly. Ciardis regarded him with a frown.
She said, “We're not your servants.”
“No,” said Sebastian. “You're not. But this link will do more than the bond between Thanar and you does on its own. It will link us as a full triad. Make our thoughts one. Our emotions, our powers tripled. It will make us almost insurmountable and link me with two individuals that I’ll know inside and out—that is what I meant by loyalty.”
“But it will also make us vulnerable,” Thanar said in a chilly tone.
“Vulnerable,” Ciardis echoed as she imagined how the court would react when they found out that those two weren't just bound to her, that they were bound to each other.
Sebastian to Ciardis.
Ciardis to Thanar.
Thanar to Sebastian.
It would be a full circle, she realized with some trepidation, a triad.
It wasn't something she'd ever contemplated before. And she had the feeling it wouldn't have been Sebastian's first choice either.
But the links were already there. They couldn't sever what they had.
And he was right. As of now, it just made them weak. Constant fights. Constant division. As they pushed back against something that bound them with tangential links. That pushed Ciardis one way and another from all sides. But this would eliminate that.
Or at least they hoped it would.
“Do you really think that this is the right choice?” Ciardis asked with hesitancy. “To strengthen and extend the bond so that it envelops us all?”
Sebastian looked at her solemnly. “Do we have any other choice?”
“Yes,” said Thanar. “Leave it well enough alone.”
Sebastian shrugged. “And how well has that worked for us thus far?”
Thanar said nothing.
Ciardis didn't speak either.
They were all thinking of the discord that had driven them like whipped dogs before it.
“We need this,” Sebastian said in a weak tone. “And believe me, I'm the last person who would have suggested this as we left Sandrin for K
ifar. But I have had some time to think it over. A lot of quiet reflection on horseback and over fire has made me sure that, even though I am reluctant, we cannot leave this bond as it is—like an unfinished sculpture with jagged edges. Our enemies are using the mental friction between us as easily as they would play an instrument in concert. Our powers are weaker alone and almost unstable against mighty foes like the enemies we've come across, and what's more—we cannot underestimate the true weakness in our magic. What happened on the road cannot happen again.”
Thanar frowned. “You mean the incident with Raisa?”
“I mean,” said Sebastian with a harsh tone, “the fact that she ambushed us with no one the wiser.”
Ciardis cleared her throat.
“And if the link had been there, we all would have known,” Thanar said in a soft tone.
Sebastian smiled. “Now you see. We'll be better when actually working together.”
“And just how do you plan to pull this off?” Thanar asked.
Sebastian’s smile grew. “With the help of our very own dragon representative.”
“I suppose you've already talked this over with her,” Ciardis muttered, just a tad miffed. Sebastian and Raisa sure seemed to be a bit chummy lately.
“No,” Sebastian said with calm eyes. “I haven't. I wanted to get your opinions first. Your agreement.” He looked from one to the other. “Well?”
Thanar rolled his eyes. “Mortals. You're all always in a hurry.”
Ciardis smiled. “Well, if we're going to die anyway, we might as well get our business done.”
Sebastian pinned her with a glare. “That's not funny.”
“You have to admit that it is,” Ciardis said as she reached over and poked him in the chest.
“I have to admit nothing,” said Sebastian grandly with his face suitably solemn and his eyes dancing.
“You know you won't be able to hide behind that imperial mask if this works,” said Ciardis.
“I know,” said Sebastian with a twist of his mouth. “But I suppose loyalty works two ways. You both will have access to my thoughts, and I to yours.”