by K. A. Linde
“I do,” he spat.
She held her hands up. “I believe you. But…please.”
He ground his teeth and then shoved past her. “You owe me for this.”
She nodded. She knew that. She owed a lot of people for this. She owed everyone.
Ceis’f followed them down stairs and into a room where Dean was carefully deposited on a bed. Once inside, Ceis’f ushered everyone else out, closed the door, and refused to let anyone inside.
Cyrene hurried back out onto the deck just as the Eleysian vessel cast off from the dock. If she squinted hard enough, she could almost see Kael’s retreating form on the horizon. She had to be imagining it. But something yanked at her, called to her, pulled her back toward the shore. She couldn’t tear her eyes away from the sight.
Ahlvie clamped a hand down on her wrist, dragging her from her thoughts. “It’s not your fault,” he said.
“What?” she croaked.
“What happened back there is not your fault.”
She hung her head.
“I don’t know about that,” she whispered.
“Well, I do. I don’t understand Kael’s actions though. He won, yet he yielded. That doesn’t sound like him.”
“No, it doesn’t,” she breathed.
“I’ve fought him before, you know. He’s never looked that good,” Ahlvie said. “Kael cared more for flirting than swordplay. Unless he’s been doing something no one else knew about, he’s improved immensely in a very short time.”
Cyrene nodded. “Yeah.”
“Are you going to tell me what it is?”
Something like magic.
Cyrene kept silent.
Ahlvie sighed heavily. “I can accept that you have magic, but you can’t trust me with this thing with Kael.”
“I don’t know. All right? I don’t know anything about Kael. I just had a crazy night. My mind is all fuzzy, and Dean is injured. Kael said that he would let me go, but I’d come back to him, and then everything that happened would be my fault. I don’t know what any of that means, Ahlvie. So, maybe I just want to think through it all.”
“Okay,” he said softly. “It’s been a stressful night all around.” He looked off pensively toward the ocean.
She thought she saw his eyes flash yellow for a second, but when she looked more closely, it was gone.
“Are you all right?” she asked him.
“I’ve been better. We all have.”
Then, Ahlvie pulled her against him. Tears sprang from her eyes and soaked into his shirt. She hated herself for crying, but all she could do was wait and think and worry. Things she was not any good at.
When Avoca let Cyrene know that it would be awhile before they had news about Dean, Cyrene was taken to the captain’s quarters by Darmian where she managed to finally fall into a fitful slumber. He had offered up his accommodations for her on account of her being a special guest of the Prince. She was too tired to even argue how that might come across.
A few hours later, she stumbled out of bed to find a fresh change of clothes lying on a chair. Her heart skipped a beat in panic. She circled the room in desperation.
Where is my dress? Oh no!
The Book of the Doma and the Presenting letter were stashed in a hidden pocket she had sewn into the folds of the full skirt. This couldn’t be happening. She had spent all that time making sure that, even if they were separated from their belongings, her book would always be with her. And, now, it was gone!
She searched the room high and low. She had left the dress on the floor next to the bed last night before she had fallen asleep in nothing but an oversize shirt someone had offered her. Now, it was missing.
With a frantic pitter-patter of her heart, she stepped into the fresh change of clothes from the chair and darted out of the cabin. She raced toward the stairs that would take her up to the deck, but right before she got there, a body stepped out of the bedroom.
“You’re in a hurry.”
“Dean!” Cyrene cried. She threw her arms around him without a second thought. She was just so happy to see him alive.
“Ugh!” he groaned as she collided with him.
“Oh Creator, I’m sorry.” She hastily stepped back, embarrassed.
She was elated to see him whole and healthy. He had a sling holding one arm up, but as far as she could tell, his shoulder looked repaired.
“How are you?”
“Your friend patched me up as best as he could. It seems Prince Kael tore through some pretty important parts of my shoulder, and even magic couldn’t fully heal the wound. Going to have to just let it rest like normal, I suppose.”
Cyrene recoiled at the use of the word magic. He used it so flippantly, as if he had always known of its existence. As if it didn’t matter that it existed at all.
“You speak very freely of magic.”
Dean grinned. “Eleysians don’t fear it like Aurumians or pretend like it doesn’t exist, like the citizens of Byern. We remember the old ways even if the only magic we see comes from the fights against the demon spawn, such as that Braj we saw in the palace. They don’t cross to the capital city, but we see them enough in the rest of the country.”
“So…Eleysia believes that magic exists.”
“Of course it exists. It is everywhere in everything. We just have lost the ability to tap into it.”
“I see,” she breathed.
No wonder he had been so accepting of her magic from the start. Coming from a world that always believed in it would have been such an advantage. Instead…she’d been born in Byern.
“Speaking of,” he said, “the laundress came by your room and returned with this.”
He held out the cracked leather book that she had grown so accustomed to, and all the breath left her lungs. She reverently took it between her hands.
“Thank you.”
“That book is very old for it to be blank.”
Cyrene’s head snapped up. “You opened it?” she demanded.
His cheeks colored a rosy red. “I didn’t mean any offense. I wasn’t trying to pry.”
She tucked it away, realizing that she had already made too big of a deal out of it. “Thank you again for everything.”
“I think it was all worth it to see you in an Eleysian gown.” His eyes ran down the length of her dress.
Cyrene flushed at the words. She hadn’t even paid attention to what she put on before rushing out of the room. But now she took note of how well made the dress was. It was of the thinnest, finest Eleysian silk. Featherlight so that it was almost sheer and slimming in all the right places in the softest Eleysian purple.
“Why did you have this on board?” she asked, deflecting the compliment.
“Eleven sisters, remember?”
“Right. I forgot. What exactly was it like, growing up with eleven sisters?” she asked.
He offered her his good arm, and she looped her hand around his elbow.
“Terrifying,” he admitted with a laugh. “Eleven older sisters, mind you.”
Cyrene shook her head in disbelief. She had thought that she had a large family with two sisters and a brother. She couldn’t even fathom a family of twelve. Let alone a royal family with that many.
“Why did your parents continue to have so many children?” she asked as they walked up the stairs to the main deck.
“How much do you know about Eleysia?”
“Considering my questions about magic just now?”
“Good point.”
She sighed. “And, if my journey thus far is any indication, the things I know about Eleysia are probably not accurate.”
Dean laughed and angled them toward the railing. “Well, if what I’ve heard of Byern is true, you wouldn’t even be able to carry on a successful conversation without trying to convert me to your Class system.”
“That’s ridiculous!”
“Yet to be determined,” he said with a smirk. “Anyway, you’re probably aware that Eleysia is, in fact, a queendom
.”
Cyrene nodded. She had heard that in her lessons. She had always thought it sounded like a fairy tale for the Queen to rule. A nightmare in Byern, where Queen Kaliana was a devil. But she had envisioned a benevolent queen as a ruler. Someone like the Leif Queen Shira.
“My mother, Queen Cassia, always wanted a girl, of course. Someone to rule the queendom after she and King Tomas were no longer around. They were lucky to have my sister, Princess Brigette, first. And then, after a while, the running joke became that they couldn’t have a son. My mother really wanted a son.” Dean shrugged. “So, they kept trying until they had one.”
Cyrene felt a laugh bubble out of her, and it felt so good to just relax after the stress of the last couple of weeks. They were on the royal ship bound for Eleysia with the Prince as an escort. She had survived Kael…if barely. She couldn’t shake the feeling that there was more to what he had said. But at least she was free of him. For now.
“Seems to have worked out for them,” Cyrene told Dean.
“Yes. I’m fortunate to have parents who love me very much.”
“Me, too. Though I haven’t seen my parents in some time. Not since I made Affiliate.” Speaking about her home made her heart contract. She hadn’t been able to tell anyone she was an Affiliate since she had left.
“You leave home for Affiliate training, as far as I know, correct?”
“Yes. You move into the castle and work with your Receiver.”
“And what was your area of expertise?”
Cyrene snorted. “Expertise is a stretch. I wasn’t there that long before I left, and the Queen…well, let’s just say we weren’t on great terms.”
“I met Queen Kaliana. She…left something to be desired,” he said.
“That’s one way to put that she’s a conniving bitch.”
Dean’s laugh boomed over the bow of the ship. When he looked back at her for a second, his eyes glittered in the early morning light, and she had to take a deep breath. His smile brightened his entire face. Everything changed about him. His features smoothed. His eyes lit up. His body eased. She could just stare up into that face all day.
For a second, when they stared at each other, she forgot that she was a refugee, fleeing Byern to discover her magic, and he was the Prince of a foreign land. They were just two individuals on separate paths that had converged at just the right point. And though she hardly knew him at all, she found herself at ease with him.
His eyes stuttered to her lips and then back. He seemed to realize his error and looked back out at the ocean beyond. She swallowed and was glad that she wasn’t the only one effected.
“How much longer?” she whispered, standing shoulder-to-shoulder with him against the rail.
“We should arrive by nightfall. It’s only a day trip from Aurum.”
She breathed a sigh of relief. “Good.”
“You don’t like the sea?”
“No. I do. I’m just anxious to be there.”
He questioningly raised an eyebrow, and she thought he was going to ask her about why she had left, but the words never came.
“Stay with me,” he said instead.
“What do you mean?” she asked cautiously.
“In the palace. We have plenty of room, and I’d love to get to know you.”
“And you can’t do that if I’m staying elsewhere?” she asked. She knew she was playing hard to get, but in reality, her heart was racing away from her. She hadn’t expected a direct invitation to the palace or to have more time with Dean. A thought she was relishing at the moment.
“You know I would come see you every day regardless of where you stayed in my homeland,” he said with a bright smile, “but I’d prefer if I could show it to you from my home.”
Even though every inch of her was screaming to say yes, she forced herself to consider the offer before jumping into something. “I’ll think about it.”
“So, what you’re saying is, we have nothing to go on,” Ahlvie said.
“Um…not exactly,” Cyrene said.
Ahlvie gave her a look that said he knew her too well. He seemed to see right through her. It had always been that way with Ahlvie.
“We know we’re looking for two women named Matilde and Vera. They had to have consorted with the likes of Basille Selby, a swindling Eleysian merchant traveler. So, that probably steers us to the underbelly of the capital city, if I had to guess. Otherwise, we don’t know what they look like, their age, their trade, or anything about where they could be whatsoever.”
“Okay. When you put it that way, there’s not much to go on.”
“Then, we’ll need to split up,” Avoca said practically.
“And do what?” Ceis’f asked. “This isn’t a six team on a mission, Ava. At the present, this is a melting pot of outcasts. An exhausting, pompous little girl who thinks she’s a leader, an Affiliate mute, a drunken fool, a disgraced former Prince, and two Leifs.”
“I feel like you fit into at least two of those categories,” Avoca said flatly.
“Enough!” Cyrene said. “If we’re going to do this, everyone needs to learn to work together. If you two are always at each other’s throats, I’m going to go crazy. Are we all here together?”
Cyrene expected Ceis’f to make some smart response to her outburst, but he just sat up straighter. No one else said a word.
“Aye, aye, boss,” Orden said, tipping his wide-brimmed hat.
She wasn’t sure that he knew how much that meant to her. It didn’t matter the troubles they had gone through to get here right now because, in less than a day, she would have her feet on Eleysian soil.
“Okay, good. Well, Prince Dean asked me if I would accompany him to the palace as a royal guest, and I’ve decided to accept,” she said formally.
All the while, her insides were squirming. She couldn’t believe she was allowing herself to get lost with another royal. So far, they had only proven to be trouble. But that smile…
Ugh! She couldn’t think about that right now.
“So, I’m going to go with him to the palace. I think it will be a good idea to have an insider to search the palace grounds.”
Ahlvie snorted, and Maelia hid a smile. Cyrene just glared at both of them. Through the bond, she could sense Avoca had her own concerns about it, but her face was a mask.
“Do you have something to add?”
Avoca frowned. “You can’t go to the palace alone.”
“I planned to bring Maelia.”
Maelia nodded in agreement.
Avoca opened her mouth to protest, but Cyrene cut her off, “It will look more normal if two Affiliates are coming into the palace as a delegation with the Prince than with a whole group. I don’t want to draw attention to us.”
“But the three of us won’t be suspicious,” Avoca argued.
“You’re suspicious, Avoca.” Cyrene hated admitting it, but it was true.
If someone looked too closely at her, they might realize that there was something different about her. She knew most people didn’t believe in Leifs, but Dean had said magic was more commonplace. It could be dangerous to bring her into the palace.
“Avoca can go with me,” Ahlvie said quickly.
Ceis’f laughed. “Over my dead body.”
“That can be arranged.”
“Enough!” Cyrene cried. “Enough.”
“I’m just saying, if Avoca is suspicious, they’ll be doubly suspicious together,” Ahlvie argued.
“If she isn’t with me, then I’ll abandon the mission to be with her,” Ceis’f said.
That struck the nail in the coffin.
Cyrene sighed heavily. “Avoca and Ceis’f. Ahlvie and Orden. Maelia, you’re with me. End of discussion. We’ll split up the city sectors. Anyone familiar with the city layout?” she asked.
Orden sighed. “I’ve been there. It’s all laid out around the harbors. There are five main harbors and seven sectors divided by the river systems on the island—eight, if you include the pala
ce at the center. But it’s a big island. This could take a while.”
Cyrene nodded. She was prepared for that. They would do what they could. “Draw up what you remember, and we’ll separate the sectors for each group.”
“Are we just going to not talk about it?” Maelia asked quietly as Orden worked on the map.
Everyone stilled and looked at Maelia. Right away, Cyrene knew what she meant but was afraid to acknowledge it.
“Talk about what?”
Maelia looked up into Cyrene’s eyes. “What happened back there? Everything that happened since we were imprisoned. I mean…Avoca healed Ahlvie. He had huge gashes across his chest, and a minute later, they were gone. Nothing but a fine line.”
“Gashes?” Cyrene asked, her eyes searching out Ahlvie.
He shrugged, and his eyes flashed that yellow color again. “A story for another time. It’s not a particularly bawdy one.”
“That’s the part you’re interested in?” Maelia asked, nearly hysterical. “She healed him. I study medicine, but this was something else. Just like with Prince Dean. He took a sword to the shoulder, and now, he’s fine. Then…the buildings and the earthquake.” Maelia shuddered. “Why have we not talked about this?”
Cyrene looked around the room and then sighed. “We have. Kind of. Back in Albion, before we left, I told you that I had abilities, and that’s why we were going to Eleysia.” She shrugged. “At the time, using the word scared me. Magic. I have magic. So does Avoca and Ceis’f. That’s how they were able to heal Ahlvie and Dean. That was how I was able to level those buildings. I’m here in Eleysia, trying to find people to help me control it.”
“Matilde and Vera,” Orden said knowingly.
“Yes.”
“If we’re really at full disclosure,” Avoca said, “Ceis’f and I are actually Leifs.”
Maelia’s jaw nearly dropped to the floor at that announcement.
“And I’m…I’m Doma,” Cyrene said with her chin tilted up. “The first Doma in two thousand years.”