Kiss of the Royal

by Lindsey Duga

  She simply wanted her “love” back.

  Millennia reached for a lock of her hair and twirled it once between her fingers, her gaze straight ahead. “And some days…I miss him so much…the pain is so bad that I wish I could get rid of it somehow. If I could just forget him or cut out all this…” She let go of her hair and hugged her shoulders, sighing. “Sometimes I think it might be easier if I were a Royal. And I couldn’t feel anything, like you.”

  I didn’t argue, because I knew she was in pain. But it wasn’t true what she said. I did feel things. All the time. Too much sometimes. The difference is that Royals, like with our Sense, learned to bury it. To push it aside and not let emotions rule us.

  “I promise I’ll do whatever I can,” I said softly, holding out my hand.

  Millennia smiled and grasped my hand, squeezing it tightly. A firm shake.

  Shaking hands with a Romantica. Promising to free a heretic. Maybe I was becoming more like them every minute and less like the princess my mother wanted me to be. The princess I’d set out on this journey to prove I could be.

  …

  “Which way?” Zach asked me as he stomped out the flames from our campfire the next morning.

  Drifting away from our little area at the base of the stones, I reached out with my Sense, the wind blowing through me as I closed my eyes. I felt it then, small but steady, in the pit of my stomach, growing like an infection, spreading into my gut and shoulders. I pointed in the direction where I felt the darkness the most and opened my eyes. It was west, over some rough boulders.

  Millennia raised her blue hood and frowned at the direction. “We shouldn’t stray far from the mountain path. It could get very dangerous.”

  “But we can’t just not follow Ivy’s instinct,” Zach countered. “We’ll get farther from the egg, and it’ll take too long to get there.”

  “Then we’ll make our own path somewhere in-between. I’ll be able to tell if we stray too far from it,” I said.

  With our packs shouldered, we started on our way, picking out our own trail, moving somewhere between the stony feeling in my gut and the stone-carved mountain path.

  Chapter

  Twenty-Seven

  Over the Edge

  The mountains of Wu-Hyll were the epitome of beauty. The stone swirled with gray, cream, indigo, and lavender. When the sun hit the rocks, they glimmered like diamonds. Trees dotted the mountainside, and occasionally we came across deer grazing on plateaus before they leaped off in graceful bounds down the slopes, kicking up loose pebbles.

  I tried my best to lead the way, keeping the regular mountain path in the general line of sight while drifting more westward. We climbed over boulders and jumped over thin streams trickling on smooth rocks worn by hundreds of years of the water’s steady pulse. Bromley stayed behind me, while Millennia and Zach picked up the rear.

  We stopped midday, and despite the chill of the mountain air, we were sweating. I led them to the gentle stream we’d been following. Dropping my bag by my feet, I heard a small clunk of metal against stone. I paused for a moment, remembering the compact in my bag and my last conversation with Gelloren.

  The look on his face when I mentioned the Romantica’s theory was still clear in my memory. Like me, he was unlikely to believe anything he had not seen, especially something that could contradict hundreds of years of Royal history.

  But was it possible for it all to be true?

  The thought paralyzed me. Like when Zach had first brought up the theory of the Golden Effect, I felt nauseated again. So I just stood there, staring at my bag and the magic mirror resting in the folds of its fabric, waiting for the feeling to pass.

  A hand lightly touched my arm. Millennia stood above me with a concerned brow, then she motioned her head toward the stream. I followed her there, leaving Brom and Zach to rest in the shade of a small cliff.

  “You’re doing a good job,” Millennia said as she pulled down her hood and gathered her black hair off the nape of her sweaty neck.

  I washed my hands, which were coated with rock dust, and shrugged. “It’s not so hard, and the added power of Zach’s Sense helps. What’s difficult is repressing the Sense during a battle. Without proper training it could paralyze you. But the Legion taught me how to suppress it when I need to.”

  Her shoulders stiffened as she bent to splash water on her face and rub some on her neck. “That’s good, then.” She returned to her pack for lunch.

  I stuck my hands in the stream again. Even though I felt like we’d been able to make some progress from our conversation last night, she still hated the Legion, meaning that she couldn’t completely trust me. Yet, for the sake of her fiancé, she was willing to try. Though I didn’t understand the primitive tradition of marriage the Romantica upheld, I knew they took it very seriously. She must believe she loved Tarren deeply to turn to the enemy for help.

  The enemy. Fields of Galliore, I’m calling my own people the enemy now?

  I stood, but the rocks were slippery, and I lost my footing, falling backward into the stream. Though it was shallow, the icy water brought me back to the well’s enchantment, and panic, like claws, gripped my throat.

  Seconds later, I was lifted out of the water.

  “Troll’s breath,” Zach swore next to my ear. “What were you doing?”

  Relieved, I rested my head against his chest and breathed deeply. “C-clearing my head.” His heartbeat thundered in my ear.

  “It looked like you were trying to drown yourself.”

  Surprised at the tremor in his voice, I looked up and saw how pale he was. Like black lightning splitting apart the frozen ground, the look on his face struck me, breaking open the very foundation of who I was. It made me realize that whatever he felt for me, I didn’t understand, but I wanted to.

  That single thought. That horrible, blasphemous thought—suddenly wanting to understand Love—made my whole body shudder.

  Last night, sitting next to Millennia, I’d admitted I was confused, but now I actually wanted to understand the heretical teachings of True Love. I might as well burn my Legionnaire cloak now.

  Holy Queen, have I forsaken you?

  “You’re shaking.” Zach stepped out of the shallow stream and knelt on the rocks. “But warming you up has its perks,” he said with a smile, and hugged me tighter to his chest. Then he called for Millennia to start a small fire.

  I could hardly feel the chill in my bones, only the mad struggle between wanting to run back to Myria, fall at my mother’s feet, and confess that I really wasn’t worthy to be her heir—that she’d been right all along—or bury my face in Zach’s neck.

  I gave in to the latter and pressed my cheek to his collarbone. Despite everything, I was smiling.

  “I believe you.”

  “What?” Zach dipped his head to hear me over the running stream and my chattering teeth.

  “I believe you.”

  There was hesitation, then, “About what?”

  Did I believe in his feelings, the Romantica theory, or both?

  Even I didn’t know in that moment.

  I placed a hand on his cheek and brought his face to my lips. Shockingly, he didn’t pull away. Kissing his cheek gently, I said, “Thank you, Zach.”

  Zach blinked, then his lips tugged to the side in a half smile. He pressed his forehead against mine. “My pleasure, princess.”

  Millennia walked over and held out a small flame around my damp clothes, letting it warm me. Brom watched me with wary eyes. But was it from my dip in the stream? Or the way Zach held me?

  What would my best friend think if he knew I was starting to believe Love actually—maybe—could exist?

  …

  “So are you going to tell me what’s been going on with you lately?” Brom loaded an arrow he’d just sharpened for the tenth time into his crossbow and lifted it to rest on top of the boulder we hid behind.

  “I’m not sure where to start,” I said, twirling an arrow’s feathers between my fi
ngers. We’d been sitting behind the boulder for the better part of an hour, waiting for a herd of small mountain elk to pass through. We’d found their droppings this morning, and Zach and I both agreed that a little hunting would be a good idea, considering we didn’t know exactly how long we’d be stuck in these mountains where game was scarce. So we’d paired off, Brom and I following fresh tracks that led to a grazing area on the side of the mountain, while Zach and Millennia investigated another set of tracks.

  “There’s just…so much,” I said finally.

  Brom just shrugged and peeked over the boulder again.

  I searched for the right words to continue our conversation. Until just a moment ago, Brom had been silent as we’d waited for the elk. At first I thought his silence was because he was being moody—upset that I hadn’t confided in him yet. Brom was like my brother. He was always there for me, as I was for him. He was probably hurt that I’d left him in the dark since the cursed village. In truth, it wasn’t because I didn’t want to talk to him. It was more because I was ashamed to put these conflicting—heretical—thoughts into spoken words.

  “Does it have anything to do with Zach’s fuss about us splitting up?” Brom said.

  “No. Well, maybe a little.”

  My palms suddenly felt clammy, as if the very mention of Zach set my entire body on edge. Zach had wanted to stay with me, but I told him that out of all of us, I’d have the most warning thanks to my Sense. It was logical for a powerful mage and swordsman stuck together to watch each other’s backs. With a frustrated groan, he’d reluctantly agreed.

  I chewed on my lip, not sure how much I wanted to keep secret. Though Zach hadn’t come right out and “declared his love” for me in front of Millennia and Brom, I wondered how much Brom had figured out for himself.

  “Can we just not talk about him?” I said.

  Brom raised his eyebrows. “Okay…then how about this: why did you let Millennia join us?”

  I hadn’t expected that. “She’s proven to be a powerful mage. If Zach still refuses to use the Kiss, then we might need her.”

  “Does that mean you’re giving up? Trying to use the Kiss, I mean?”

  I sighed. “I don’t know, Brom. I’ve been studying the spell you copied for me, almost every night, so I still have to hope, but honestly? After what happened with the amulet, I don’t see Zach giving in. Everything is… It’s so confusing. I mean, the Royal’s Kiss has worked for five hundred years, why should I doubt it?”

  He frowned. “What do you mean?”

  I relayed to him what Zach had told me about the Golden Effect.

  Brom stared at me with wide eyes. “That’s amazing,” he whispered.

  I shot him a look. “Amazing?”

  He turned back to look over the boulder. The herd was still nowhere in sight. “I’m sorry, Ivy. I know it goes against everything you were taught but…”

  “But what?”

  “Even though this could change everything, and it would mean that all this time Royals have been wrong, wouldn’t it also mean that Love really exists? It’s just a nice thought, that’s all. That an emotion, a force, could be so powerful as to stop all the evil in the world. Any normal person could use it. They wouldn’t have to be… I mean anyone could protect whoever they…”

  He kept his gaze focused on the tall rippling grass.

  I understood what he was saying. It was the same issue as the night of the storm in the forest, when he’d wanted Zach to stay and protect me because he knew he couldn’t.

  In his eyes, Zach was a powerful swordsman, I was a powerful princess, and Millennia was a powerful mage. And he was just…well, Brom wasn’t just anything. Not to me.

  What he didn’t understand was how much he really did protect me. Every day.

  I wrapped an arm around his shoulders and tugged him close. “Bromley, I owe you my life, you know.”

  He let out a snort of disbelief, his crossbow sliding down the rock as he surrendered to my hold.

  “Down in the well, one of the enchantments we had to overcome was loneliness. I saw my childhood—my childhood before you. You saved me back then, Brom. When I was shipped from Freida to Myria to start my training, I had been suffering from loneliness for a long time. I barely knew my sisters. And my mother…well, you know my mother. Then later you were assigned to me. I’d never have admitted it then, but I relished your company. You were always with me, and I never felt lonely again.”

  Bromley stared at the mountains, his eyes narrowed as the breeze blew his hair back.

  “I wish you wouldn’t say you can’t protect me. Because you do. You always have. I wouldn’t know what to do with myself if you weren’t here with me.”

  “Well, of course I’d be here,” Bromley said. “You’re my sister.”

  At this I threw my other arm around his shoulders and hugged him tightly. My chest glowed with warmth. I felt safe, just like I had when Zach had taken my hand down in the well, when he broke the enchantment. If Zach claimed Love had been the force that broke through the amulet’s curse, then was what I felt for Brom…also love?

  It wasn’t the same kind of Love that Zach felt for me. According to the Romantica, there were two different types of Love: Romantic Love and Familial Love. I knew what I felt for Brom wasn’t Romantic. I’d always thought this feeling was just the family bond that united all Royal lines. But what if it wasn’t just a bond, but a force? An all-powerful force that could move mountains?

  Again, more heretical thoughts. I almost laughed. What would my mother say?

  Squeezing him tight, I breathed in his scent of home—of brucel wood and shassa root—and wished I was back in Myria where things were simpler, where I knew what was up and what was down.

  “Please, Ivy, you’re choking me.”

  I relinquished my hold and turned to the meadow. “Do you think the elk will come back before dusk?”

  “I think they will eventually. There’s not a lot of grass on these mountains.”

  I rubbed my eyes and leaned against the rock, staring up at the passing clouds. “I’m sorry for all this, Brom. I know I need to be sure of myself. Especially right now. Maybe my mother was right. I’m too weak to—”

  Brom bumped my shoulder. “Forgive me for saying this, milady, but your mother is an old crone.”

  I choked on a laugh. Maybe Zach was rubbing off on him.

  My page flushed. “Sorry, that was out of line. But it takes a strong person to admit when they’re confused, especially if it means questioning everything you’ve ever known.”

  Smiling broadly, I bumped his shoulder back. “You’re right. She is an old crone. But she’s still my mother, and I want to please her. Even after everything.”

  Brom said nothing for a while, then, “But why?”

  “I don’t think I ever told you this, but when I first arrived at the Legion in Myria, at six years old, a dragon attacked the outer wall. It was unlike anything I’d ever seen, Brom. It was pure bronze, with scales that gleamed like topaz. My mother was bringing me to Myria from Freida to officially crown me. When the dragon attacked, she shoved me into the arms of one of her attendants and placed a Kiss on my forehead. It was a Kiss of protection. She’d never done anything like that before. Then she raced off with her partner. I watched under the cover of a wagon, encased in a glowing red protective shield, as she performed the most powerful Kiss I’d ever seen. Her partner sliced off the dragon’s head in one blow. And I thought then, I want to be her. Powerful enough to take down an entire dragon.

  “Even as mean as she is to me, as cold as she is, how can you not admire someone so strong? So noble? Especially when that someone is your own mother.”

  Brom said nothing. He simply gripped my hand.

  “But it doesn’t matter what she thinks anymore.” My gut twisted at the truth of the words.

  “What are you talking about? How could it not matter now?”

  “I’m thinking of turning my back on everything she stands for, B
rom. On the Legion’s teachings. On everything. I keep obsessing about it—what would she think about me traveling with two Romantica and wanting to understand what Love is? That would be it, Brom, she’d truly hate me. She’d even try to disown me—get rid of me as a pure descendant.”

  “You’re right,” he said in a low voice, “she probably would. But what if you manage to defeat the dragon without a Kiss and figure out how to end this war? Then you’d be the one to admire.”

  Leaning my head against the rock and closing my eyes. Now that would be a miracle.

  Brom suddenly twisted around at the sound of hooves. “They’re coming. Finally.” He held out the crossbow to me, but I pushed it back to him.

  “By all means. You tracked them.”

  Brom smiled and propped himself up on his elbows, getting into position just as the herd leaped into view.

  ...

  The evening chill settled early in the mountains. By sunset, it was nearly freezing, and Brom, Zach, and I had to turn to our heavier cloaks as we moved across the rocks. Millennia seemed perfectly fine in her thick blue robes. She was, however, considerate to our thinner clothes and conjured up a small flame to follow us.

  Zach gave the flame a wary glance. “When it gets dark, you’ll have to extinguish that.”

  Millennia tugged her hood farther over her face. “Whatever you say, prince.”

  “It’s one thing to have a fire when we’re stationary and vigilant, it’s another to have one when we’re traveling and exposed,” Zach continued.

  “Oy, I’m not arguing with you,” Millennia said, glancing over her shoulder at the sound of a rock Bromley had knocked loose with his boot.

  I climbed over a particularly large boulder then stopped to look down. “We may as well camp there.” When all three of them were behind me, I pointed to the dimly lit expanse below.

  Bromley let out a low whistle. “I have a feeling what we’ve been through doesn’t count as real mountains.”

  He had a point. Below us was a steep ridge that could be climbed down, given careful maneuvering, and beyond was an entire valley of stone walls. They weren’t too steep, but the valley itself was huge—perhaps a whole mile of just rocks.