by K. A. Linde
It had all gone so wrong.
She had thought that they would be able to make it.
That he wouldn’t choose this.
That he wouldn’t choose power.
That he would see that all he had to do was choose her.
But it had been a game.
And she had been tangled in his web.
She had been so lost after Maelia’s death that she clung to the first person who showed her any kindness. And perhaps he loved her, but how much of it was her, and how much of it was her magic? How much of it was the bond?
“I am sorry,” she whispered to Kael before she finally let Dean drag her away from his lifeless body.
The run out of the castle was a blur.
Dean kept talking through the whole thing, but Cyrene didn’t hear any of it. She was sure he was trying to use it as a distraction. If she was overwhelmed with everything that had happened, she didn’t doubt that Dean was, too. That everyone who had been in that room was.
Magic was out.
No longer a fairy tale.
The entire Byern court had seen that she and Kael had it. One or two people could have tried to push the thought away as a hallucination but not hundreds of people. This changed the fabric of their world. She was sure there would be repercussions, but she didn’t want to be here to find out.
“Cyrene, this way!” Dean said as he nearly slammed into a body.
“Took you long enough,” Ahlvie said. “Hello again.”
Cyrene grinned. “I told you not to come back.”
“Then, you sent my brother. Decided to ignore your first request and listen to your second.”
“Of course you did.”
“Weren’t you supposed to wait for us on the perimeter?” Dean asked Ahlvie.
Ahlvie shot him a disbelieving look. “You think I’m going to trust you?”
Dean breathed heavily out through his nose. “I was taking all the risks. You could have at least given me the benefit of the doubt.”
“Not a chance.”
“Stop. Both of you,” Cyrene snapped. “I don’t want to hear it.”
Ahlvie and Dean fell silent and hurried along. They burst out a side entrance and sprinted through darkened gardens.
“This way,” Ahlvie said, running ahead through the maze, as if he could see the twists and turns perfectly in the dark.
She was panting as she tried to keep up. And then, out of nowhere, they rushed out of the hedges and ran straight toward an open gate. The handful of guards lay like knocked over dominoes as they passed. Cyrene felt a tug as she stepped through the exit. It was as if she were passing through an invisible barrier that didn’t want to release her. She pressed forward, and it let her go with a pop.
“Creator!” she breathed, leaning over with her hands on her knees. “What was that?”
“That’s whatever has been keeping you from your bond with Avoca,” Ahlvie said.
Cyrene’s mouth fell open. “She’s here?”
“We all are, but we should hurry.”
No wonder she could never sense Avoca. She could feel the bond, but she had assumed Avoca was too far away, still in Eleysia, and that Cyrene couldn’t pinpoint where Avoca was because of that. But no. She reached down within herself and felt that bond snap back into place.
She gasped as the familiar sense radiated through her body.
Avoca.
She tugged on that bond and immediately felt a response. She placed a hand on her heart and was near to tears. After all this time of feeling so abandoned, it had been this invisible barrier blocking her from Avoca. Her friend had been here, waiting for her.
“Enough crying over some barrier thing,” Ahlvie said with a laugh. “You’ll get to see her in a minute.”
“Yes, of course. You’re right.”
“Oh, I love the way those words sound out of your mouth.”
She smacked him on the shoulder as she passed, moving in Avoca’s direction. “Don’t count on hearing it again.”
Their trek was longer than she’d anticipated. Up, up, up they went through the Taken Mountains until she thought her legs were going to fall off. Her energy was waning. She could feel the last dregs of adrenaline leaving her body, and all that she had to hold her up was sheer force of will. But, when they came to the mouth of a cave, it was all worth it.
Avoca stood at the entrance, dressed for battle in fighting leathers. Her long blonde hair waved in the mountain breeze. Her features angular and pensive. Her ice-white blade held loosely in her hand. Her body tensed for a fight.
“Ava,” Cyrene whispered.
Avoca’s blue eyes slanted to her, and then a smile ripped across her stunning face. She dashed down the rest of the mountain and pulled Cyrene into her. “Do not ever leave my side again.”
“I won’t,” she promised.
“How can I protect you when you are away? When I cannot even feel you?”
“I missed you, too.”
“I know.”
Cyrene laughed, the first soft and buoyant thing she’d had in so long.
“I see you’ve finally decided to join us,” Matilde said from the doorway. “Do you think we could do the hugging inside? We’re in a bit of a hurry.”
Cyrene’s eyes rounded. “You’re here! You…you came from Eleysia?”
“No, I’m still in the southern islands, and you’re imagining things. Step one, two, girl. Let’s get this moving.”
Avoca and Cyrene released each other and hurried into the mountain cave. She gaped at the high ceilings and spacious living area. This must have been here a long time to accommodate so many people.
“What she means to say is, welcome back,” Vera said as she appeared around a bend, carrying two oversize packs.
“What is this place?”
“A remnant from a time long past,” Vera told her. “An old Doma retreat. The entrance was still sealed off to us, so we knew that no one had been here. We’ll do the same when we leave.”
“Which is now,” Matilde told her.
“Yes,” Vera agreed. “Please take a pack, all of you. The remaining supplies are down with the horses.”
“We’re leaving now?” Cyrene asked.
“In quite a bit of a hurry,” Vera said with an easy smile as she handed her a bag. “You might want to change. I think your ball gown might be recognizable.”
Cyrene had completely forgotten that she was even wearing it. Another gorgeous dress in tatters. Just like her life.
Vera stepped forward and placed a warm and comforting hand on her shoulder. “We’ll explain everything once we’re on our way.”
She nodded, grateful that her hesitation was understood. Avoca led her to a room in the back. There were straw mats on the ground and little else. Cyrene attempted to undo all the tiny buttons that Rhea had done up earlier.
“Let me,” Avoca said.
She took her blade and sliced up the back of the dress. It fell away in pieces.
“Well, that’s one way to do it.”
Cyrene balked at the matching fighting leathers that she pulled from her pack. “Someone expects me to wear these?”
“There will be a time for gowns once more. That time is not now.”
She felt ridiculous once she had them on. They hugged her frame in all the right places. Her butt in particular was on full display. Her legs were thin but muscular—a fact she never noticed in her dresses. All in all, she felt exposed.
“You’ll get used to it,” Avoca said with a wave of her hand.
Cyrene added the precious Dremylon red ruby necklace into her bag, and then she was trailing the others down a different path through the mountain. From her vantage point, she could see the Nit Decus castle below. She wondered what was going on in there and if they would recover from what she had done.
Soon, they reached the base of the mountain on the Keylani River and found a pack of horses clustered together in an alcove. Cyrene’s eyes darted between the people in attendance�
�Orden, Reeve, and Aubron.
Her heart sank.
“Where is Elea?” she asked frantically.
Reeve glanced up at her with panic on his face. “I thought she was with you.”
Cyrene shook her head. “No, no, no. We have to go back for her. That was the deal. My entire family out.”
“You cannot go back there,” Dean said in anguish.
“Do not tell me what I can and cannot do.”
“Dean is right,” Avoca said, as if it pained her. “We cannot risk you.”
“The king said that he would kill my family if I tried to leave. If I leave, I’m signing Elea’s death warrant.”
“An empty threat,” Reeve said.
“You did not see his face when he said it.”
“I think they have some recovering to do before they think of hurting anyone else,” Dean added.
“What happened in there that you are not telling us?” Ahlvie asked.
“Nothing,” she said at once. Her eyes cut to Dean to tell him not to reveal a thing. “I won’t leave her.”
“I’ll go with you,” Reeve said at once.
“No,” Aubron said. He put his hand on Reeve’s sleeve. “They’ll kill you, too.”
“Who was responsible for her?” Cyrene demanded.
Everyone glanced around. No one wanted to assume responsibility, but then Aubron stepped forward. His head was tilted up, and though he was small in comparison to the rest of her party, she saw he had fire in him.
“I attempted to corral her out of the party, but she wouldn’t listen to me. Then, I asked her to meet us in the gardens. She refused. When I went to collect her, I was barred from access to the ballroom.”
Cyrene sighed. Kael’s barrier. Of course. Not Aubron’s fault.
“She likely wouldn’t have come with me anyway. Not when…” She trailed off and glanced down at her hands.
“I understand that you fear for her,” Vera said very quietly, “but if we are to save all of our lives, we must go.”
Cyrene nodded. Sacrifice one for the many. Just like they had with Maelia. Her heart constricted, and she sent up a prayer to the Creator to keep her sister safe.
Their party hastened to the horses. All of her friends were together again. It felt too good to be true…except that she’d kept losing people along the way. First Rhea, then Maelia, and now Elea.
Dean placed a hand on her sleeve. “Come with me.”
She snatched her hand away and sent him a venomous glare. “Don’t touch me.”
He held his hands up in defense. “My apologies. I wanted to show you to your horse.”
“I can do it myself.”
“Cyrene, please,” he muttered. “I was wrong. Everything that I did after my parents’ deaths was wrong.”
“Yes, well, I know exactly how that feels, and I didn’t go off and try to ruin someone’s life.”
“But you teamed up with your enemy,” he countered.
“An enemy you threw me at,” she hissed.
“I’m trying to make things right.”
She shoved her finger in his chest. “Start by keeping your mouth shut about everything you saw in that ballroom.”
“If that’s what you wish.”
Orden appeared then with her horse. “Here you are. I think she’ll remember you.”
Cyrene’s mouth dropped open as her prized dapple, Ceffy, appeared before her. “Oh Creator! How? How is this possible?”
“I had her brought back for you,” Dean said softly. His eyes were open and unguarded. “I knew what she meant to you.”
“You brought my horse back, all the way from Eleysia?”
“I thought it was the least I could do.”
She averted her gaze at the heat coming from him and attached her pack to the saddle. “Thank you.”
“Of course,” he said.
Then, as if realizing that was all she was going to give, he went to hop on his own horse.
She patted Ceffy twice and hugged her before hauling herself up into her saddle and departing, leaving the rest of her life behind her.
Traveling was no more fun than Cyrene remembered it being. Saddle aches and pains returned with a vengeance, and after her huge drain of power, there wasn’t enough food to sate her. Not to mention, they had to ride a whole league out of the way to get to a bridge to cross the Keylani River. And, with a party as large as theirs, it was hardly inconspicuous.
She still couldn’t believe that there were nine of them leaving the city. Though…it should have been ten. She tried not to think about Elea. What she had seen. What she must be thinking. If Edric was in fact going to kill her. Cyrene had abandoned her sister, and she felt personally responsible. Though everyone assured her she wasn’t.
The bridge itself was on the official dividing line between Byern and Carhara, their militaristic neighbor. Lucky for them, the soldiers guarding either side of the bridge were too busy arguing with each other to notice a shift in their surroundings. Matilde and Vera managed to cloak their entire group across the bridge without either military being any the wiser.
“How did you do that?” Cyrene asked Vera once they were across.
“I’ll teach you once we’re safe again.”
Cyrene’s expression must have shown exactly what she thought about that.
“I promise, I will. It’s an incredible drain on powers especially for a party this size. For now, I think you need some time away from your powers.”
“Why?” she breathed.
Vera raised her eyebrows. “I can feel that much has happened since we were last together. I am not trying to stop you from learning whatever you wish. Nor will Matilde. However, I would like to ensure you are being trained properly.”
The key word, properly.
For no matter that she had gained considerable control back in Byern, she hadn’t done it the right way. The painstakingly slow, obnoxious way that she detested.
“Patience,” Vera said with a kind smile. “You will get it. I believe in you.”
Cyrene didn’t say another thing, just trudged forward.
For six days.
Six agonizing days of no magic. After training so regularly, it felt like torture. And, worse, though she was desperately happy to be with her friends, she felt as if she didn’t fit in the same way that she had before. Then, she had been an ambitious, reckless girl but a leader. Now, she was withdrawn and distant. Dean was the only one who had seen what she did, and she wasn’t about to confide in him. Nor was she ready to confide in anyone else.
But they all looked at her, as if they expected her to take the lead, to be the leader she had once been, but she didn’t.
She didn’t ask where they were going.
She didn’t try to take charge and order people around.
She didn’t even try to cajole Matilde and Vera to work on her magic with her.
She just…existed.
And she tried to forget the burning feeling of blood magic racing through her system. The connection between her and Kael that called to her with desperation. The tug of a bond she was trying to ignore. The darkness that crept up through her.
She had information to share about going forward. All the things that Serafina had said that she hadn’t dare let herself think about, beyond getting out of the castle.
“Use the coin.”
What coin?
“Find the lost ones.”
Who were the lost ones?
“Learn the truth.”
Which truth?
“Let the past be your guide to remake the future.”
Whose past? How would she remake the future?
“Don’t give in to this blindness.”
Had she been blind?
“There are bigger factors at play, trying to draw you in and away from me, and I want you to be safe. Guard your mind and open your heart.”
That was not very encouraging. She already thought that there were too big of factors at play in this fight.
<
br /> “I dare not speak her name.”
Who was this mysterious woman? And how could she possibly frighten Serafina that much. If she was that terrifying then Cyrene was doomed.
But she didn’t share her fears.
They made camp on the banks of the Taken Mountains about a mile outside of Levin—a northern Byern city ruled by a regent, Duke Wynn Reagles, whose brother, Duke Halston Reagles, was regent of Albion. Cyrene actually liked Duke Halston and his wife, Duchess Elida, who had been pregnant when she last saw her. Though she dearly hoped she would not meet Duke Wynn.
“I’m going into the city to get supplies,” Orden told them only a few minutes after they set up camp.
“I’ll come with you,” Ahlvie said at once.
Reeve jumped up as well. “I will go too.”
“No offense,” Ahlvie said, “but I don’t think you can exactly fit in as Third Class.”
Reeve looked offended at the comment, but Aubron held his hand out.
“He’s right. I’ll go.”
Cyrene took her time brushing down Ceffy before stepping back into the circle of people and taking a seat. Orden, Ahlvie, and Aubron had already departed. Avoca had taken one look at the camp and said she was going to set up traps in the woods. Dean had offered to go with her, but she had snarled at him so violently that he sat down and started up a dicing game with Reeve. She was glad that Ahlvie was not here to cheat them out of what little money they had brought with them. It made her heart ache to see Dean and Reeve together like that. She quickly looked away and focused instead on Matilde and Vera.
“Can I ask a question?”
“You just did, child,” Matilde said.
Cyrene gave her a halfhearted smile. “How can you be here if the magical barrier is still up in Byern?”
“The barrier is down,” Matilde told her.
“What?”
“Yes, it is a strange thing. You probably cannot feel it, but to those of us who know what we’re looking for, a magical barrier such as the one constructed two thousand years ago by Viktor Dremylon has a consistency to it. Like running your hand through water.”
She understood that. She had felt something similar when leaving the castle. “And now that it is gone?”
“The night before we got you out of the castle, we were planning on how to move up through the mountains to avoid magical detection. Then, out of nowhere, it was as if a shock wave went through the mountains. Matilde, Avoca, and I all instantly felt it.”