by K. A. Linde
“Because I’ve loved you my entire life, and watching you walk away nearly killed me!”
Avoca took a step back, shocked by his honesty. Leifs weren’t a particularly affectionate bunch. It made this all the more difficult for Avoca.
“Tell me you feel the same, Ava.”
Avoca sighed and cast her eyes toward Cyrene. Avoca’s eyes pleaded with her for an answer that Cyrene didn’t have. Avoca would have to decide for herself.
“Matters of the heart cannot interfere when you have a higher calling.”
Ceis’f balked at her clipped tone. His eyes shot down the hallway where Avoca was still looking, unable to meet his eyes. And then he was barreling toward Cyrene. She stepped out from behind the wall and awaited his anger. He engaged her, but she sidestepped him.
She didn’t want to hurt Ceis’f. Avoca was already hurting him.
He rounded on her and came at her again, but Avoca was there to block his attack. She grasped his arm and twisted it behind his back in a painful hold.
“You dishonor me,” she spat.
Avoca released him and shoved him back. Her insult crumpled his features. Honor was all they had.
“We have no future,” Avoca continued. Her voice trembled on the last word, and Cyrene reached out for her. “You choose to cower behind these walls, like everyone else, when we are needed out there. I have no place here. No place with you.”
Cyrene looked up just in time to raise her sword to block the assault from her attacker. She didn’t know what had made her think of Ceis’f, but she needed to keep her head in the present.
Steel screeched in the night air as she met her opponent over and over. Her foe was fierce, well trained, and deadly. She could already feel how sluggish her movements were and wondered where Avoca was. She always flanked Cyrene’s right side, but they had been separated.
Cyrene could use the bond to find out where she was, but even that amount of magic would be painful to conjure up at this point. She needed to conserve her energy. That might be the only thing to stop the enemy from getting through the front line.
Cyrene feinted right, rolled to the ground, and popped back up to slash at the man again. He parried her advance, and with his extra strength, he shoved her backward. She stumbled over a fallen body and toppled over. Her shoulder hit the ground with a disgusting crunch. She released a high-pitched scream.
Another time, when her magic was not depleted, her injuries would have healed unbelievably fast, but now, she couldn’t even count that her shattered shoulder would mend enough for her to hold her weapon.
The man thrust forward for a death kill, and with her last whisper of energy, she batted the blade aside with her powers. That was it. That was all she’d had.
His eyes enlarged, and she used his hesitation to move back to her feet. She switched the blade to her left hand. She was glad for the hours of practice she’d had with it. She would never be a master, but at least she was proficient.
He assessed her with fear that she might be able to produce more magic to stop him. Lucky for him, she was out. Her best chance would be to turn and run, like a coward. Or maybe she had a will to live rather than to be run through by her enemy.
Cyrene heard her name being carried on the wind, and then Avoca jumped in front of her, as if appearing from thin air. A loud thwack sounded. Avoca collapsed to the ground an arrow protruding from her chest.
“No!” Cyrene screamed.
Cyrene dropped to her knees by Avoca. Blood was bubbling up between her lips, and she coughed.
“No. No. No. You can’t do this to me, Avoca,” Cyrene commanded.
Tears welled in Cyrene’s eyes, and her hands trembled as she tried to stop the blood from pooling around at the chest wound. It hadn’t hit her heart, but it was doing enough damage with internal bleeding that it couldn’t be stopped.
Cyrene reached futilely for her magic, but it wasn’t there. She wasn’t skilled enough in healing to mend the wound anyway, but her uselessness was debilitating.
“You’re not supposed to go this way!”
“Cyrene,” she garbled, “I have fulfilled my destiny.”
“No. Don’t even say that!”
“A life for a life.”
“Stop! Stop!” Cyrene screamed. Tears splashed down her cheeks, and she pressed her face onto Avoca’s chest. This can’t be happening. “You think that you’ve fulfilled your destiny, but your destiny is to live.”
“I love you,” Avoca whispered.
“I love you, too.” Cyrene’s voice shook.
Avoca’s eyes fluttered closed, and then she went still.
Cyrene opened her tear-filled eyes and stared at Avoca, where they sat crumpled in a heap on the floor. It was as if they had gone through a lifetime together all in a matter of hours. Avoca nodded in understanding of what had passed between them. They were both still shaking, but their arms were linked.
Loyalty. They had sure proven their loyalty to each other.
The crown, home, love, and death.
They were cruel challenges, but Cyrene already felt closer to Avoca. Her soul had been stripped bare for another to witness.
“You completed the task,” Queen Shira said in awe. “Let me perform the final binding. I suspect you would like to finish?”
“Yes,” they said in unison.
There was no longer fear. Just determination.
A smile crept onto Avoca’s face, and Cyrene’s eyes crinkled at the corner. They stood uneasily, holding on to each other on unsteady feet.
Queen Shira dropped her hand onto their clasped hands and breathed in deeply. Energy passed from the Queen to the joined hands. The Queen spoke a few words in a language Cyrene did not understand. Then, a jolt zapped through both of them, and she released them.
When she next looked up at Avoca, Cyrene gasped. A gold nimbus hovered all around herself and Avoca, like they were shining beacons of light. The magic coursed through them, and when it had finished, the light disappeared. It embedded itself into their wrists, leaving a shimmering gold tattoo in the shape of a dragon making a figure eight, and then vanished entirely.
They released each other and took a step back.
For the first time, Cyrene’s mind was filled with the sense of another. She could feel Avoca’s presence.
They were bound.
“Excuse me,” a voice said from the entrance to Rhea’s office in Master Caro Barca’s home where she lived in Albion. His fingers wrapped softly on the wooden door.
Her head snapped up. “High Order Eren!”
“Hello, Rhea.”
“How can I help you?” she asked, standing quickly.
“King Edric has requested your presence at court. We should have a report in from Aurum,” Eren said.
“Wonderful. We should go swiftly then.” She grabbed her bag and hurried with him out of her home.
Ever since Cyrene had left, Rhea’s life had been turned upside down. In truth, the kingdom had been turned upside down.
High Order Eren had been in charge of the investigation regarding the deaths of the Affiliates and High Order when they traveled on procession to Albion. It had turned out that the deaths were linked to Cyrene. After discovering that she had magic, she had confided in Rhea and told her that she was fleeing the country to discover how to use her abilities.
While that was great news for Cyrene, it’d left Rhea in a terrible place. She was the only one who knew the truth, and as much as she hated lying, she had promised to hold Cyrene’s secret.
“Do you think they’ve located Cyrene?” Rhea asked.
High Order Eren sighed and let his guard down. He didn’t do it often. “I’m not sure. King Edric sent the remaining Affiliates back to Byern this morning. I fear he is losing hope on her rescue.”
“It has been weeks since she disappeared without a sign.” Rhea wished the King would call the entire thing off, but she couldn’t sound too eager about it either. “I just hope she’s okay.”
“I’m sure she will be,” High Order Eren said, dropping his hand down on hers.
She stared at their hands between them. Their eyes met, and then he quickly pulled away.
“She’s a fighter, and as far as we know, she has Affiliate Maelia with her. Born with two Captains as her parents, I’m sure Maelia will defend Cyrene. I can’t think she was involved,” he said.
“Oh, yes…Affiliate Maelia.” Rhea heard the bitterness in her own tone but couldn’t seem to stamp it out.
Maelia and Eren had had some kind of relationship while on procession together, and every time Maelia’s name was brought up, Rhea would feel guilty, for she could not stop the growing feelings she felt for Eren.
Their trip to the palace was thankfully a short one. Albion had been built up around Krisana, the great white castle, which gleamed like a whitewashed pearl at all times. Surrounding the castle were the various neighborhoods called Vedas. Her master lived in the wealthiest of all the Vedas, and his estate spanned an entire city block.
The Royal Guard posted at the gate bowed to High Order Eren as he walked through the door. She knew their respect ran deeper than just the fact that he was High Order. He’d frequently train with the guards in his spare time and consult their strategists for the best way to initiate his plans and even change them based on their suggestions.
Krisana’s mother-of-pearl doors stood open, and they walked across the beautiful foyer to the doors of the throne room. The new Royal Guards Edric had created after Cyrene’s disappearance—the first such group in two hundred years—were posted at every corner. It was an elite small group that had been handpicked by Captain Merrick, Edric’s personal Royal Captain of the Guard.
Eren lightly placed his hand on her back to usher her forward. Butterflies hit her stomach at his touch, and she immediately felt foolish.
“It’s going to be winter soon, Edric. There is so much to do to prepare for the Eos holiday. You know it’s the biggest holiday of the year, and we host the entire country in Byern. Why must we continue to be away from our home?” Queen Kaliana nagged.
Rhea ducked her head and pretended not to hear. Since day one, Queen Kaliana had been arguing with King Edric about his plans, but she hadn’t yet convinced him to give up.
“This way,” High Order Eren said.
Rhea followed him to the side of the room to observe the court and wait for the messenger from Aurum to arrive.
“Kaliana,” King Edric said sharply, “enough.”
Consort Daufina whispered something in his ear that Rhea couldn’t hear, and he smiled up at his Consort. Queen Kaliana fumed even more at the display, but the King wasn’t paying attention. He was playing a dangerous game, one only he could get away with. For who would challenge the King?
“You could always return to Byern to begin your festival preparations alone,” Prince Kael suggested to the Queen.
Kaliana openly scowled at him.
A mischievous glint was in his eye.
Rhea was certain he was only around to badger everyone. He never offered any real insight and infuriated the whole lot of them.
Queen Kaliana opened her mouth to respond, but King Edric stood and sliced his hand through the air.
“I’m tired of hearing both of you speak. Do not say another word until we have news! Do not forget that Affiliate Jardana was recently found dead. The threat is not past us yet, and this is the most pressing matter to the country.”
Everyone fell silent at that proclamation.
King Edric wasn’t easily angered, but weeks without news had him on edge. Not to mention, there was the gruesome death of Affiliate Jardana. That had even shaken Her Majesty, who had been close to the Affiliate. Rhea hadn’t liked Jardana much. She had thought Jardana was a simpering idiot, either trailing the Queen or Prince Kael at all times. Prince Kael was the only one who didn’t seem too terribly upset by her death. He clearly took everything in stride.
The silence chilled Rhea, and she turned to High Order Eren. Words stuck in her throat as she took in his handsome dark features. She spat out the first thing she could think of, “What do you think of this weather, High Order Eren?”
“The weather?” Eren asked, looking down at her. “And, please, Rhea, no official titles.”
Her face burned, and she pulled away from his warm brown eyes. “Of course, Eren. I simply mean that, in the last couple of weeks, we’ve gone without rain. It’s so dry.”
“And it’s the rainy season,” Eren finished.
“A rainy season with no rain.”
“Odd indeed.”
Just then, a messenger ran in through the double doors. The woman was small, only just over five feet tall, with a wiry frame that probably suited her well for a long day on horseback. Her clothes were travel-worn, but Rhea was too excited to hear the news to pay attention to much else.
The woman bowed at the waist and crossed her arm over her chest in a formal military greeting. “Your Highness,” she said stiffly, “I bring news.”
“Speak freely,” King Edric commanded.
“As I was about to leave, two of the kidnapped were apprehended in the Aurumian Hidden Forest and brought into river town of Strat.”
“Two?” King Edric asked curiously.
Thus far, they had only discovered that Maelia was missing. Rhea knew that Ahlvie and Orden were going to be the likely suspects of the kidnapping, but she didn’t know how to stop their arrests.
“Affiliate Maelia and High Order Ahlvie. Before I left, neither had confessed to participating in the kidnapping, Your Highness.”
“And the kidnapper and Cyrene…Affiliate Cyrene?” he asked.
“We have men tracking the kidnapper who had abandoned them in the midst of a wolf attack. The target eluded capture and was not found after the attack had ended. We lost Affiliate Cyrene, Your Majesty.”
The room was silent.
Then, King Edric erupted. “You mean, you finally tracked her down, and neither apprehended the kidnapper nor located Cyrene!”
The messenger’s eyes dropped to the floor and then met the King once more. “Yes, Your Highness. We have High Order Ahlvie and Affiliate Maelia in custody. The guards are waiting for your decision before returning them to Byern for questioning.”
Rhea felt light-headed with the news. She was equal parts relieved that Cyrene had not been caught, worried about the wolf attack, and terrified that Ahlvie and Maelia might give away the entire thing that Rhea had been protecting all along.
“No,” King Edric said. “I’ll go to Strat myself!”
“What?” Queen Kaliana shrieked.
“Edric!” Consort Daufina chided.
Prince Kael just looked smug.
“Nothing seems to get done around here unless I do it myself. I’m on my way to Strat now to sort this whole thing out!” King Edric said.
“You can’t go into Aurum, Edric,” the Consort said. Her voice was shaking, and she tried to regain control.
“I am the King of Byern. I can do as I please.”
“Your Highness,” a man said off to his left.
The King whirled on who had spoken. “Yes, Merrick?”
Rhea shivered. She detested the King’s new Captain of the Royal Guard. King Edric had chosen him because he was the very best at what he did, but something was off about him. He never smiled, and his features were so severe. It was like he cast a shadow over the court.
“If you entered Aurum, it would not only look like a direct proclamation of war that we could not get your sister, Queen Jesalyn, to fix. It would also look like a dire situation for the country. You are needed here, Your Highness.” Merrick slapped his hand to his chest and bowed after giving his advice.
Consort Daufina glared at him. She didn’t like that Captain Merrick was overstepping his bounds into her advisement territory. And he had done it without blinking an eye in her direction.
“I could go in your stead,” Prince Kael said nonchalantly. He raised an eyebrow at the Ki
ng, as if awaiting his outburst.
Tension rose in the room, and Rhea felt like she needed to do something to defuse the situation. She couldn’t have the King or the Prince gallivanting through Aurum and bringing war onto her homeland.
By the Creator, Cyrene! Look at what you have done!
“Your Highness,” Rhea said, boldly stepping forward. She curtsied low and waited for him to acknowledge her.
“Ah, yes, Rhea. What is it?” King Edric said.
“I thought I would provide some insight into Cyrene, as you would still need to find her.”
“Go on.”
“If I know anything about Cyrene—and I do since I’ve known her my entire life—she would go after her friends at all cost. I doubt she would cooperate with her kidnapper if her friends had been taken away, and she can be quite convincing under any conditions.”
Rhea looked up into King Edric’s blue-gray eyes and then quickly dropped his gaze. She hoped he hadn’t read too much into her words.
“I am not a military strategist, but there is nowhere else other than Strat to safely cross the Huyek River. I would concentrate your guards at the crossing with the acquired Affiliate and High Order. She will turn up. I would count on it.”
“Are you actually incompetent or just deaf?”
“Why you little…” The Aurumian guard stood, thrusting his chair back against the wall, and towered over Ahlvie, as if meaning to hit him.
Ahlvie blankly stared back.
“You will answer the question!”
He sighed. This was all so very tiresome. “I don’t know how many times I have to tell you. I don’t know where Cyrene is. I wasn’t involved in her kidnapping.”
“We’ll see about that,” the man said.
Ahlvie groaned. “How do I always end up in these situations?” he mumbled under his breath.
Ahlvie and Maelia had managed to escape from those murderous beasts through the woods, only to run headfirst into a Byern raiding party on the search for them. The guards had trussed them up like prized turkeys and brought them straight to Strat. The pair had been in the dungeons ever since.