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

by Melissa Collins

  Why would Thade have come there alone? She shuddered to think what Kyros would have done had he sensed Thade’s presence outside the window. Then came the most uncomfortable realization of all. Thade had heard voices coming from inside the house. How much had he heard? Was he aware of Kyros’s orders for her to get close to him? To seduce him!

  Their pace finally began to slow as they neared another line of trees outside of the city. Leyna recognized the area to be near Thade’s home, but still a mile or so off from the tiny neighborhood. Through the woods, she was certain they would reach the backs of the houses, crossing into the property lines of his neighbors. She’d never been beyond the front of his home, her curiosity sparked at the chance of seeing it in more detail.

  A clearing opened up around them, the ground spattered with color from various wildflowers emerging from the vibrant green grass. Thade signaled the horse to stop, pausing to inhale a deep breath of the fresh air before carefully lowering himself down, offering his hand to Leyna to assist her as well. “I hope this will suffice. Normally I would have preferred to take you to my home, but Feolan was having Lady Diah over for dinner this evening and I feel lately that I am more in the way around them than anything.”

  “This is beautiful,” Leyna observed the area in fascination. “How close to your home are we? It cannot be far.”

  “Just through the last line of trees over there,” Thade motioned with his hand to the group of trees opposite where they had entered. “This is where Feolan and I come in the mornings to train and practice our meditation. It is my favorite part of the day, given that aside from my time here, I rarely have an opportunity to see anything but the walls of the house.”

  “Feolan seems very protective of you. I must admit that I am amazed he even let you leave without him.”

  “He does not know I am gone,” Thade chuckled. “Feolan has known me since I was still a very young boy. I think he forgets at times that I am not a child anymore, and in fact outrank him. He means well, though. I cannot fault him for it.”

  Stepping through the luscious grass, Leyna took in the sweet scent of flowers in the air. It relaxed her. Easing her troubled nerves after the fear that had haunted her since the moment she’d seen Kyros outside her door. She felt safe here. And though she knew it was her who should be on guard to protect Thade, she also knew he would never let anything happen to her. “This is another one of those moments where I wish I had good news to bring you. The scenery is far too pleasant for such depressing things.”

  “The sun will be below the horizon soon enough and the bright colors of the land will fade. I believe the shadows will make it more fitting for whatever you could possibly say. However, I feel as though I should be the one to speak first. You should be made aware of our current predicament.”

  Leyna stared at Thade, afraid to know what he referred to. In her mind she’d already pieced together the frightening truth. Somehow Kael was no longer in custody. Her fear laid in how he’d managed to get free. “I have gathered, from some things already spoken, that this predicament involves Kael having escaped. Is Feolan safe? No one is injured, I hope?”

  “Nothing more than a bump on the head, which Lady Diah has been more than attentive to,” Thade chuckled. “I doubt he feels a thing, really. It seems Kael regained consciousness before Feolan could reach the city gates. With the attack being unexpected, there was little Feolan could do to defend himself. Kael struck him, knocking Feolan from the horse, and took off toward the city. I only just learned of it this morning. After tending to Feolan’s injuries, I waited for the first opportunity which would allow me to come to you and verify your safety. My fear was that Kael would immediately seek you out.”

  “He must have gone to Kyros instead. What Kyros did to him afterwards, I am unsure,” Leyna frowned. In her mind she could hear Kyros’s words. Kael would never agree to what I am going to ask of you, which is why I had no choice but to make sure he wouldn’t get in my way. How would he prevent Kael from getting in the way? “Kyros alluded to detaining Kael. I just do not know how long that would last. Given the particulars of what Kyros came to me for, I imagine he would not want Kael underfoot anytime soon.”

  “Maybe you could clarify for me the discussion which took place. I overheard a great deal from my cover outside the window. I admit, only some of it made any sense to me.”

  “So you heard Kael has told Kyros everything. About his work for you,” Leyna sighed. “He told Kyros he believes there is still another spy among them. Not to mention, having told him of the nonsense involving you and me. Kyros has ordered me to get information from you which might expose the other spy.”

  A curious half-smile passed over Thade’s lips, a soft sparkle twinkling in his silver eyes. “Yes. I believe you are supposed to seduce me? Did I hear that correctly?”

  It sounded so much more ridiculous when Thade said it. The humor eased the humiliation only somewhat, Leyna’s cheeks still flushing with warmth at the thought of discussing the idea with him. “It seems like it would be hard to seduce a man who is already aware of the plan to do so.”

  “You are welcome to try. I must warn you though, I am not easily seduced. Many a woman has tried and failed.” His tone was playful. She’d never heard him speak in that manner before, seemingly almost flirtatious.

  Peering at him quizzically, she shook her head, laughing quietly to herself. “My only experience with seduction comes from the conversation I had with you and Feolan while in Velorum. The morning you informed me Prince Enaes was coming to Siscal.”

  “Ah, yes. How to seduce powerful men,” he smirked. “Something tells me that our advice would not have been very helpful. If my memory serves me well, it was suggested that you do nothing if you hoped to catch their eye.”

  “Even if I were a woman who knew how to manipulate my wiles, as you called them, you would be far too clever a man to fall for it.”

  “You are well on your way to being the most evil kind of woman, then. I shall have to beware your natural charms.”

  Their eyes met, holding each other’s gaze for a moment before dissolving into laughter. “I cannot believe you remember that conversation,” she smiled, shaking her head emphatically.

  “And you,” Thade agreed. “That must have been nearly twenty years ago now. So much has changed since then. Most noticeably, you.”

  “I am still the same girl I was back then. The only difference is that I wear a skirt now instead of the less than fashionable commissioned pants and jacket of the military uniform.”

  Making his way out into the center of the clearing, Thade tilted his face up toward the sky, the grey clouds overhead signaling the coming of night, the last light fading away over the grass. “You would have enjoyed the military training in Tanispa,” he mused. “I have never found anything quite like it since I was ordered to come to Siscal. The fighters here have always felt lacking to me, in comparison.”

  “Why did they send you here?” Leyna couldn’t hold back the question. She’d never heard him speak of his personal life before the war. He was as much a mystery to her in regards to his past as she was to him.

  Calmly, he lowered his gaze, motioning for Leyna to come closer. “A political trade-off. Truthfully, I know little about the details. My mother was the one who handled it all. I had no choice but to go where I was told.” Extending his right arm outward, Thade bent his wrist, directing the back of his hand toward Leyna, his stance relaxed. “Come,” he smiled. “I will test your senses and reflexes while we discuss how we will deal with this change in our plans.”

  She stared at him, at a loss to what he was referring. Test her senses and reflexes? She could barely see a thing. He couldn’t possibly expect her to spar with him in the dark. And in her dress! She wasn’t prepared for any form of test. “I really am not dressed appropriately for – anything,” she argued.

  “There is no dress code for this,” Thade chortled, lightly taking her right arm, positioning it like his own, the ba
cks of their hands and wrists touching. “It is an old training exercise. One which Feolan and I still enjoy to this day. You do not have to move at first. We will start easy.”

  With a gentle motion, he pressed against her arm, his upper body circling slowly. He kept his center in perfect alignment, shifting his weight back and forth between his legs. She followed his lead, laughing nervously, unsure of whether or not she was doing any of it right. “So what exactly is this supposed to do?” she asked, their arms continuing the slow, relaxed circle in the air between their bodies.

  “General Cadell called it ‘Harmonious Hands.’ Similar, in theory, to the way your teacher at the academy taught you blind fighting,” he explained, never ceasing the movement between them. “Only with this, you learn to feel your opponent’s next move. It is more about evading. Flowing. Less about the power and more about how to manipulate your opponent’s momentum against them. My goal is to remain in constant contact with you, staying relaxed, and trying to keep you off balance without utilizing any force of my own.”

  “It sounds complicated.” Leyna found herself distracted by the slight increase in speed from Thade’s arm, rocking them back and forth at a steady pace. Suddenly she felt her arm collapse against her chest, halting the motion mid-circle.

  Grabbing her arm, Thade shook it gently, noticing the tenseness in her muscles. “Relax. It is like a dance, really. When doing a waltz, when your partner steps forward, you do not move into him, do you?” he smiled. “When the man steps forward, the lady steps back – moving with him. Similarly, if I come toward you, your body should bend with it. Continue the flow. However you can maneuver yourself to avoid it, be it bending or twisting. Let us try again. But this time, do not think about it so much. Tell me more about what happened this afternoon. It will act as a distraction, forcing you to naturally follow the movement of my arm.”

  They reset their hands in the middle, beginning the slow circle once again. She tried to think of it like a dance. A very strange dance. One where she had no idea what the moves were, but hoping she would be able to react properly to Thade’s lead. “Kyros claims he has killed Mikel. If that is true, then I am a free woman. In a way.”

  “Do you have reason to believe he would lie to you about Mikel’s death?”

  “No. Honestly, I feel the only thing he told me which was not accurate was his claim that he attempted to speak reasonably with Mikel before taking his life. It seems more Kyros’s style to simply walk in and take what he wanted, much like Damir.”

  “Then you are free, except for the debt Kyros feels you owe him for having released you,” Thade nodded. He never missed a beat with their flowing motion, occasionally directing the rotation higher or lower, testing Leyna’s reaction to the change. “He blackmails you with that debt to force you into seducing me for information?”

  As she opened her mouth to speak, Thade switched up the circle again, aiming the rotation toward Leyna’s head. Instinctively, she rolled with the movement, bending her back low to evade it, catching a hint of a smile on Thade’s lips as she rose back up, carrying on with the momentum as if nothing had happened. “That is essentially the way of things, yes,” she replied. A swell of pride was building inside her at the successful evasion. Afraid of losing her focus, she tried to suppress it. “I just am not sure what that means in the long run. Kyros wants me to spend time with you, though I am not certain how he intends to take me away from Oksuva without creating a scene. She thinks I am still one of her ladies.”

  “Then she is not aware of her husband’s death?”

  The thought came as a shock to her. How could Oksuva know? They had only just returned to Siscal the day before. It was possible the news had not yet reached anyone else in their group. With Mikel dead, Oksuva would have no use for her, unless Kyros or Damir insisted on her presence. Though if Kyros kept his word and removed Leyna from the house, Oksuva’s opinion mattered little. “No. I believe she is unaware.”

  “In that case, she will have little to say on the matter if I were to ask you to accompany me to Mialan before the week’s end,” he stated matter-of-factly. “You can tell Kyros it is part of your plan for seduction, and then you will be free to join me in meeting with the Mialan royals. It originally was supposed to be a social gathering to show the continued allegiance between Mialan and Tanispa, but I have since decided to request a new alliance with them, in preparation for the possibility of a coming war.”

  Mialan. It had been over two decades since she saw that island last. Slowly, she brought her arm to a halt, staring blankly at Thade through the shadows. “I cannot go to Mialan,” she whispered. There was no logical reason she could give him for not wanting to see it again. Over time, the area would have grown. Changed. There was more than likely nothing left of the neighborhood she once lived in with Reina. Even then, it had been run down and dilapidated. Someone would have torn it down.

  The lighthearted expression on Thade’s face faded away. He looked disappointed, though why it would mean so much to him; she couldn’t put her finger on. “Leyna.” His voice was calm. Quiet. “What is it about your past that prevents you from doing so much in the present?”

  “What makes you think that my reasons have anything to do with my past?”

  “Because there is no other explanation,” he frowned. “As far as I can see, there is no reason why you would not want to go unless it held some significance to your past which you were afraid I would find out. Or you are afraid to face.”

  “I am not afraid to face my past,” Leyna argued, hearing the trembling in her own tone. She couldn’t hide it from him. She didn’t understand why it frightened her so much to return to that place. If anything, it might present her with some kind of closure. The thought of trying to face it with Thade there only made it seem that much more impossible. There was no telling how her emotions would react to the memories, and she just couldn’t bear the thought of breaking down in front of him.

  “We make an interesting pair, you and I,” Thade mumbled, turning away from her to gaze off into the darkened trees leading toward his house. “Haunted by our pasts, unwilling and unable to tell anyone anything about it. You might think I could never understand, but you would be surprised just how understanding I might be of your situation. Whatever it is.”

  “You are haunted by your past?” Leyna asked. A familiar frustration bubbled up inside her. So many people had tried to claim they knew exactly how she felt while she was growing up, but none of them ever did. And how could they? How could he? A man of his position couldn’t possibly know what it was like to live in her shoes. “I find it difficult to believe we are as similar as you think. I would ask you to elaborate, but I already know you will refuse.”

  Thade straightened his back, smoothing out the folds of his coat uncomfortably. “You are right,” he said suddenly. “I have no right to ask you to come with me if you have no desire to go. You have done so much for me already that it would be selfish of me to continue to press. I will go alone.”

  “Alone?” Leyna blinked. “I assumed Feolan would join you if I did not.”

  “This business runs a little outside and above the typical duties of the Consul. I act as Queen Vorsila’s voice here in Siscal. To travel to another country steps outside that rank. Because of this, Feolan will be remaining here to act in my stead in the event that anything is needed in my absence. There is nothing for him to learn by accompanying me.”

  Damn. He had known exactly how to word it to make her refusal impossible. There was no doubt in her mind he’d done so intentionally. He was a clever man after all. “Why me, then?” she exhaled, her shoulders drooping forward in defeat. “If this trip is so important that Feolan cannot even go, why am I any different?”

  He lifted his brow at her, curious. He could tell she was giving in. “Because it happens that the Mialan court is having a celebration during the time I will be there. Coincidentally, that day also happens to be your birthday. For once, since I have known you, I wo
uld like to see you enjoy yourself on that day. No wars. No drunken men in taverns. No tedious etiquette lessons or waiting on other people hand and foot. Just you; enjoying being you.”

  How had he remembered? After all these years, he still recalled her birthday from that admission at Malic’s. And this year would mark the sixth that had passed since he showed up on Faustine’s doorstep looking for her. “You have turned the tables on me,” she said lightly. “I believe it was you who once asked how you could say no to me; and how could I say no to you when you look at me like that? You look miserable.” She laughed at the words, breaking the awkwardness. “I will go. Just stop giving me those puppy eyes. They do not suit you. Captain.”

  “Back to Captain, hmm?” he chuckled. “Then as your Captain, put your arm back up. We still must continue with the final stage of the exercise.”

  “And what might that stage be?”

  “Reading the reactions in my body to predict what my next move will be. We both must try to bypass the other’s guard to strike. Whoever is being struck at must register the subtle nuances of their opponent’s actions through changes in movement and muscle tenseness to know when and how to block.”

  “Interesting,” Leyna smiled, extending her arm out to connect with the back of Thade’s hand. She felt relaxed. For the first time in years, she actually felt free of the burdens which had weighted down on her shoulders. There was only one last thing she needed to do. “I have a stipulation before I will fully submit to your invitation.”

  Gently starting the circular pattern with their arms, Thade peered at her through the darkness, the silver glow of his eyes illuminating the inquisitive expression on his face. “A stipulation? I am almost afraid to ask what that might be.”

  “It is nothing too great. I merely request that you pen a letter to the priests in Tanispa,” she replied quietly. Thade gazed at her solemnly, immediately aware of her implications. “It is best it be done in a way that prevents Kael from knowing the deliberations have started. That way he will be unable to argue it. And once the decision has been made, it cannot be rescinded.”