The Myatheira Chronicles: The Vor'shai: From the Ashes (Volume 1)

by Melissa Collins

  “Leyna, what happened?” Maeri’s voice was quiet, cautious not to speak the name loudly enough for Kael to hear.

  Clutching to her, Leyna held Maeri tightly, her head reeling. She couldn’t tell her the truth of what she had learned of her own heart. No one would understand. Even worse, no one would disagree with the simple fact that it could never be. How could she have let this happen? How could she have let herself fall for the one man who had always been so far out of reach?

  Over Maeri’s shoulder she could see Feolan and Kael fighting. The alcohol hindered Kael’s reflexes just enough to place the advantage with Feolan. With little effort he bypassed Kael’s guard, slamming the pommel of his sword hilt against Kael’s head, laying him out cold on the ground at Feolan’s feet.

  “Consul, what happened?” Feolan asked, turning to face Thade with concern. “You know you are not well enough to be exerting yourself in this way. You could have been killed.”

  “He left me with very little choice. For now, if you please, save your lectures for another time.”

  Long strides carried Thade over to where Leyna and Maeri were standing, still wrapped in their desperate embrace. She didn’t know how to act. She feared looking at him, horrified at the thought of him reading the feelings in her eyes. It had been easy to hide from him before. When she didn’t know it for herself, she didn’t have to worry about shielding it from anyone else. How would she talk to him? What was appropriate for her to say or do without making herself a fool in front of him?

  She pulled away from Maeri, stomach churning at the ache in her chest, affecting her more greatly than the stinging of her jaw where Kael’s elbow made contact. Eyes to the ground, she straightened her dress, tugging the corset back into place. “I am sorry.” There was so much more behind her words than he could know. Her entire heart was behind them. And yet she couldn’t bring herself to look into his eyes. He’d always been able to read her so easily. She couldn’t risk opening up like the pages of a book for him now.

  “Are you hurt?” His hand was on her face, searching through the darkness for any sign of injury where she’d been struck.

  Fighting against his gentle pull, she kept her gaze lowered. “Sir, you have fought beside me in many battles. You know I have sustained far worse – where physical injury is concerned.”

  At her resistance, Thade knelt down on the ground, placing himself in the center of her vision. She averted her eyes. She couldn’t bear to see him, looking up at her so sincerely, oblivious to the thoughts racing through her mind. “Leyna,” he said, his voice soft and consoling. “I know that this is well beyond the realm of what is appropriate for me to ask or speak of to you, but as Consul, with my duty being to see to the safety of our people, and as your friend, with the desire to see that you are safe, I must request you answer one question for me.”

  “As your friend and loyal servant, I will answer anything you ask of me.”

  He looked almost hurt, his forehead creasing with strain at the sound of the word servant. Consternation filled his gaze. Despite her permission, he knelt there silently, seemingly contemplating whether or not to continue with the question he thought to ask, suddenly uncomfortable. “I must know. Is it true what Kael says? Have you never lain with him?”

  Just when she thought the awkwardness could not have gotten any worse! The last thing she wanted to discuss with him, of all people, was the intricacy of her private life. It was inappropriate. “I fail to see why that matters,” she stammered.

  “Because if it is so, then you may find the priests more amenable to your quest for annulment of your engagement; if you still are considering the option. And I must implore you to think on it quite seriously, given what you have told me, and what I have witnessed now with my own eyes.”

  “Is it not enough for the priests if the bond was documented under a false name?” Maeri inquired. Curiosity was evident in her tone.

  “It will help the case, but it would not be enough alone,” Thade explained. “They would find ways to argue it, if the traditional rites of marriage had been exercised prematurely.”

  “But how would they prove I was telling the truth?” Leyna asked, the wheels in her mind turning at the possibilities being presented. They were both right. “I shudder to think of how they would judge my innocence, while at the same time; you and I both know proving my true name would be an impossible feat when Prince Enaes has been attempting to do so for years and remains at a loss.”

  “You are both Vor’shai. The decision would be in the hands of the Tanispan priests. I believe I could sway them to lean in your favor, but I would need you to give me your word, not as a servant the way you say, but as a friend,” Thade replied quietly, clasping Leyna’s hand in his. “If you swear to me that you are Leyna Evantine, and that everything you have told me is true and accurate, then I will vouch for you to the council.”

  A single question nagged at the back of her mind. “Why do you do so much for me?”

  “Why have you done so much for me?”

  It was a simple question. One she couldn’t answer. His eyes were steady, gazing into hers against her desire to look away. She couldn’t say everything had been done out of love. During the war, she’d been too young to have fully understood a concept as complicated as that. Then she had only known that she cared about him. But as a friend. A colleague. Her superior officer. It had been duty mingled with the personal emotions that already were out of her grasp of understanding even then.

  “The night will not be with us much longer. Kael cannot be allowed to go free. His behavior is out of control and a threat to us and the mission. It can no longer be overlooked,” Feolan interrupted. “I will take him to Queen Nesperiti and request him kept in her prison until transport can be arranged to carry Kael to Tanispa for a proper trial. My recommendation would be for Leyna not to return. The situation is far too dangerous. Zander will be fine on his own.”

  “Zander.” Her heart pounded hard in her chest at the sound of his name. Kael’s words echoed through her mind, chilling her to the bone. For some reason I mistakenly believed you would run back to Zander’s bed like the good little slave that you are. “We need to get back to Zander’s home. If Kael thought I would be there, he more than likely paid a visit to him before he came here. And all things considered, I fear what he might have done.”

  Rising to his feet, Thade nodded, his brow furrowed. “As much as I dislike the idea of you returning, Leyna – I will see you back, for Zander’s sake,” he stated, turning to face Feolan, cutting off his protests before the words could fully form. “You can take Kael into the city. Find a way to get him there out of sight. We cannot risk any of his friends seeing him or they will fight. Lady Diah, you are welcome to accompany Leyna and I, or you may remain here. I leave my home open to you if you prefer to wait for Feolan inside.”

  “Consul, I cannot let you risk being seen with Leyna or Zander. To do so would be putting you in direct danger –”

  “Feolan, it was not up for discussion,” Thade cut in. “I have been stuck here in this house for months. For all the danger Leyna exposes herself to on a daily basis, I feel a single trip to see her home safely is the least I can do.”

  They stared at each other silently. Leyna could read the displeasure on Feolan’s face at the idea of letting Thade go. It was dangerous. For everyone involved. If Gislan was there, it could draw attention to them. They would have to be extremely cautious to avoid being seen by anyone on the road – or by any unexpected guests who might be inside Zander’s home.

  In the end, it was Thade who won the unspoken argument. Feolan’s eyes shifted away from Thade’s face, down to the limp body of Kael at his feet, a trickle of blood rolling down his skin from where Feolan’s sword struck him. There was no way to know how long he would be rendered unconscious from the blow. Leyna feared he would wake up before Feolan could get him somewhere and escape.

  “I will go with Leyna as well,” Maeri chimed in. She avoided Feolan�
��s devastated look. It was a losing battle for him to try and convince them all to change their minds.

  “I am in no position to order any of you not to go, but I will express to you all my severe discomfort at the thought of you leaving here,” he frowned. “I could simply take Kael to the palace and go check on Zander myself, and the ladies could stay here with you, sir. It would be safest for everyone.”

  Thade moved past Feolan, through the front door of the house, emerging a moment later with a heavy cloak draped over his shoulders, the hood pulled down to conceal his face. “A single horse would be the easiest to keep out of sight, but with three of us, we will need to take a second one. I will leave it up to the ladies to decide which one of you will ride with me and which one will take the other horse.”

  “As embarrassed as I am to admit it, I do not know how to ride a horse without a saddle. Preferably one designed for a woman,” Maeri blushed. “Faustine didn’t exactly let us experiment with any other form of riding.”

  Leyna chuckled to herself. A bit of her old spark came over her the way it had during the war. She’d always been proud of her self-sufficiency. It mattered little that it wasn’t considered to be lady-like to do the things she was able to do, but it was assuring to know that she was not so dependent upon men to help her through life. “I will take the other horse then. Saddles are rather overrated anyway,” she chuckled.

  In a way it was a relief that she would be riding separately from Thade. She was still too confused by her own emotions to know how she would handle being so close to him if she had to share his horse. It excited her in a way to think about it. But it was best she keep her distance. If she had any hope of maintaining their friendship despite her foolishness, she would need to do everything in her power to keep from putting herself in situations where they would be alone together. Or too close. Time would surely help to ease the feelings she had and allow her to again view him as the friend she did before.

  He flashed her an approving smile, nodding to Maeri in understanding. “I will bring them around from the stables,” he stated, patting Feolan on the shoulder comfortingly. “While I do that, you will find an extra cloak for Leyna on the hooks in the front closet of the house. See that she is properly covered. Once we are all ready we will have to move quickly toward town. We have very little time.”

  Chapter Eighteen

  Wind whipped through Leyna’s hair, tossing it about her face wildly with every clatter of the horse’s hooves along the gravel road. She felt free. In the back of her mind she could picture herself just running, never stopping, until she reached the furthest coast of the land, leaving everything behind her. To start a new life. But she couldn’t do that to her friends. They meant too much for her to leave them behind in exchange for her own selfish desires.

  Closer they came to Zander’s house, their pace slowing to ease the sound of the horses approaching. Within several houses of their destination, Leyna signaled for her horse to stop, kicking up stones behind her. “We will have to avoid the road from here. The woods to our right lines the properties between here and there. They will grant us cover all the way up to the window of the room where I have been staying. If everything is as it was when I left, the window should still be unlocked.”

  Their pace was hindered by the dense foliage. No path could be found to lead through it, only an occasional patch of ground where old hoof prints could be seen, breaking up clusters of wildflowers with the upturned soil. Leyna’s heart raced frantically with every step they took. Grotesque images were conjured up by her subconscious mind, of Zander’s body lying mangled and broken in a pool of blood on the floor of her room.

  Kael was unpredictable. It was hard to say how far his anger would have taken him. Convinced there was some affair. Even considering what Kael believed to have been between them in the past, his accusations were unwarranted. She hadn’t done anything to lead him to a conclusion involving infidelity. The only one to blame was Kael for his own behavior, luring out his jealous nature to a level beyond what Leyna would have imagined.

  Easily she maneuvered her horse through the woods, her leg swinging over its back and down to the ground upon catching sight of Zander’s house through the tree line. There was no time to bother with tying the horse in place. She needed to get inside.

  The skeletal fingerlike branches on the ground tore at her skirt as she ran. She could hear the crackling of the ripped fabric. None of it mattered. It was just a dress. One that she was anxious to be out of for many reasons anyway.

  Through the dim light of the coming dawn, she found her way up to the window of her room, her fingers sliding along the edges, lifting it up enough to grasp the bottom, pushing it open. She listened intently. Fear remained in the back of her mind; fear that someone other than Zander would be inside, waiting for her when she crawled through, calling out her deception. No sound came from house. It was a relief, while also chilling her with the possibilities of why Zander was not there to greet her.

  She wasn’t sure when Thade had reached her side. In silent communication, he offered her his hand to step on, boosting her up through the window into the darkened room. Bracing herself for the worst, she pulled her body over the sill.

  Within, everything looked exactly how she had left it, aside from a small red stain pooling on the floor in the middle of the room. Blood. Fresh, but soaking into the wood. She was startled by the sight of Zander sitting on the bed, clutching his left arm to his chest painfully. “Zander? My goodness, are you alright?”

  “Leyna,” he breathed. The relief was evident in his eyes to see her there. Uninjured. “I was afraid Kael found you.”

  “He did.” A thud at the window caused them both to jump, glancing over to see Maeri working her way inside, finding it difficult to hoist herself up the final few inches. Rushing over to help, Leyna grabbed onto her arms, pulling her the rest of the way in.

  Seeing Maeri, Zander rose quickly to his feet, wincing at the movement. “Lady Diah. This is an unexpected surprise.”

  “For you and me both,” she huffed, catching her breath from the exertion of the climb. “Had I known I would be testing my physical prowess on this trip, I might have dressed more appropriately.”

  Leyna leaned her head back out the window, extending her hand down to Thade. With her help he ascended the side of the house, sliding into the room with ease. She felt awkward. He was still seemingly unaware of her feelings for him, unfazed by the contact of his hand with hers, paying no attention to the closeness of his body while pushing himself higher over the sill. Once he was nearly through, Leyna released her hold, stepping nervously away, her gaze shifting over to where Zander now stood.

  “Consul,” he gasped, his body bending at the waist in a courteous bow. “I feel a bit guilty for having left you to sneak into my home rather than greeting you appropriately.”

  “The climb was far more exhilarating,” Thade chuckled quietly. His hands smoothed over the folds of his cloak. “This whole trip has made me miss the old days. Every day was like a new adventure. Politics have left me a bit out of shape, though, it would seem.”

  He looked out of place there in the tiny room. The fine cloth of his cloak shimmered in the light, his short hair tousled from the wind, yet still somehow looking perfect in Leyna’s eyes. Even when disheveled, he carried an air of nobility unlike anyone else she’d ever known. It radiated from him, exuded from every inch of his body. There wasn’t a single bone in him which didn’t belie his attempts at appearing like a common man.

  Tearing her eyes away from him again, Leyna tried to focus on Zander. He was injured, though the extent of his wounds couldn’t be seen from where she stood. She made her way across the floor, lightly touching his favored arm with her hand. “What happened? Did Kael do this?”

  “A better question is if there are any other people in this house with us right now,” Thade asked. Zander had barely shaken his head before Thade continued, his hands reaching up to remove the cloak from around h
is shoulders, laying it along the floor by the window. “Lady Diah can see to Leyna. If you would not mind. Help her to get cleaned up and make sure she has suffered no injuries. Zander, I will inspect your wound and get it dressed before it becomes infected.”

  He didn’t give Zander a chance to protest. Not that any of them would have. He was the Consul for their Queen. Whatever direction he gave, it was an order, and they would be expected to follow it. Never did he give an impression of pompousness, but it was obvious he was used to giving directions. His time as Captain had played a large role in that. Or so she could only assume.

  Ushering Zander out the door, they left Maeri and Leyna alone, staring at one another through the dim light of the room. For the first time Leyna took note of the candles which were lit, placed around the floor to illuminate it. The low level of their flames caused shadows to play about their faces and darken the ceiling.

  “Leyna, you never did answer me about what happened.”

  No, she hadn’t. She didn’t know how to. It didn’t make enough sense to explain to anyone else. And she hated the thought of being a burden to her friend. Maeri had been out with Feolan. She was happy. Things were going well for her. Leyna didn’t want to be the cause of strife for her after the many years Maeri had sacrificed to help. “It was nothing, really,” she lied. “I am tired, Maeri. Nothing in my head is coherent right now. It might be best if we discussed things later.”

  Maeri’s elegant features scrunched together in frustration. It was an interesting look for her. Leyna had never seen her make such a face before. Grabbing Leyna by the shoulders, she twisted her around, pulling off her soiled dress, working to loosen the laces of her corset. By the time she finished, Leyna already felt refreshed, her sides aching but free of the restraining stays. She breathed in deeply, enjoying the large gulps of air filling her lungs.

  In nothing but her chemise, she let herself be escorted from the room, shuffling down the hallway toward the bath. The water in it had been sitting there for a while, cold, but tolerable. Capable of cleaning the unwanted dirt from her hair and skin. She tugged the chemise up over her head, letting it fall to the ground. All she could think about was the water.