"I've never heard about him," I said.
"Her," Kerok's mouth curved into a smile, lending laugh lines to his face. "Kyri is a tale about a Diviner who was also a woman. It's a wonderful bedtime tale."
"So she really didn't exist," I said.
"Who knows. There's nothing in any of the history books, but those only go back so far."
"Then tell me," I said.
"You know how Diviners work now—they have to touch you or something from you, to know how things are?"
"Yes." My memory of Barth at North Camp was still fresh in my mind.
"Well, the tale of Kyri says that she was so powerful as a Diviner, that she didn't have to touch anything. She could see into the future as well as the past. In fact, she was so good at what she did that the King asked her to marry him."
"Did she?"
"She refused. He banished her for it and thought that was the end of things. But all during his life, he received messages from her, telling him whenever something was going to happen that he should attend to. Many times, in my mother's tales, Kyri saved our lands through her messages to a King she'd refused to marry."
"That's a nice story. Why wouldn't she marry him?" I asked.
"I don't really know. The reason wasn't given in any tales my mother heard. She speculated often that Kyri had seen the King's death, and didn't want the pain of losing him."
"That's a sad speculation," I said.
"I thought so too, until Grae died. Then I understood it perfectly."
"And here we are." We'd come full circle, Kerok and I. We were back to the ghost that stood between us.
"Remember, I told you that anything you wanted, I would do my best to provide?" He put both arms around me, now. "I don't know how to love anyone else. Not now. Perhaps never. That doesn't mean I don't care about you."
"I suppose you told all your other rose escorts that they'd always be in second place?" I didn't hide my sarcasm.
"I didn't know anything about that until Grae came along, and she was the most recent," he defended himself.
"You're saying I'm the only one in second place? Or is it farther down the line than that for me?"
"You told me once to change the world," he said. "I'm trying to change the world—with you—because of you and what you've shown me is possible. Don't rush my heart, or tell it what to do. It's not nearly that easy, my rose. Love and affection can't be turned on and off like the switch for the lights."
"Let's get this over with." I moved away from him before standing and dusting off the seat of my trousers.
K erok
Armon would call me a fool—a fool sending mixed messages to a woman who deserved so much better.
In her eyes, she'd die deserving more without ever getting it.
"I know about the book," I blurted. Her back was turned to me already, but she visibly stiffened when I said those words. "Barth told me," I added lamely, making a decision to leave my brother out of it for now.
"Then kill me now and get it over with."
She turned toward me; I watched as a tear made a track down her left cheek.
"That's—the reason you're not—this isn't coming out right," I rubbed the back of my neck while searching for something to make the situation better. "Only Barth, Hunter and I know," I stumbled over the words, still leaving my brother out of the conversation.
"So you all hold me hostage, now, is that right?"
"None of us are holding you hostage," I countered. "We recognize your worth, and something you received at a young age before you knew it was outlawed shouldn't be held against you."
"But let Sherra step out of line once, and it will suddenly and conveniently matter," she snapped before turning away from me again.
"I only told you this because I had to take you to save your life," I retorted, understanding that it was the worst thing I could have said the moment the words left my mouth.
"So you were blackmailed by Barth and Hunter into taking me. That's what you're saying."
"No. On the first warrior's grave, that's not what I meant. I meant that I wanted to save you. Yes, originally I intended to take someone else—someone I would never care for and who wouldn't hurt me when, well, when the time came. Then you came along, and things stood on their head around you. Change for the better happened to everything you touched. You changed everything and everyone around you, Sherra. What I'm saying—badly—is that I care about you. I care what happens to you. Can we leave things there for now, until my heart is no longer a grieving mess?"
Her head and shoulders drooped while I watched; as if she'd given up on something. That something was likely me. "Let's get this over with," she repeated, her voice barely above a whisper.
Sherra
His face was a mask, as if he'd withdrawn from me as much as I'd withdrawn from him. I'd been foolish. I'd begun to love him, and that turned out to be the biggest mistake I'd ever made.
He'd said I changed everything around me—except him.
He was what I couldn't change, and for the rest of my life, I'd be forced to work beside him while my failure taunted me.
"Take my hands and reach for my fire," he instructed. I took his hands. His fire, a lake filled with the inferno of it, was easy to connect with.
When he made the first attempt to reach into mine, I sobbed.
I didn't stop him, however, and he reached further, until I felt as if I'd burst with his presence.
Then, he pulled part of my power away with his, sending a huge, fiery blast sailing high over the compound's fence, where it exploded against stone and rock far away.
I wanted to shove all of it at him, then. Give it to him and empty myself. This was what it was for, after all.
One day, he would empty me and I'd die. He'd go looking for a new rose, then, and she'd probably hear his tale of a dead lover, too.
He fired three more blasts, employing my power to do so before he stopped and walked away from me.
"We'll show the others tomorrow," he said. "I'll take you back to the cabin, now, so you can bathe and go to the evening meal."
"You can go on; I can step myself," I mumbled and did so before he could stop me.
K erok
"She's at regular mess," I explained to Armon and Caral, as they sat at my usual table after asking about Sherra. "She's—upset."
"I worried that she'd have difficulty," Armon began.
"That's not it," I held up a hand. "I'd prefer not to talk about it," I added. If I'd had a script of everything wrong I could possibly say, I couldn't have done a better job at alienating her.
Should Levi and I, Armon sent mindspeak.
I doubt it would help; I really messed things up.
Will she be able to teach the others?
Yes. She won't back away from that—not if I know her at all. She will do everything she can to save lives, including mine.
"I hate this," Armon spoke aloud.
I snorted my response.
Sherra
"At least give us a preview," Wend begged. We'd finished our meal and now sat outside in a circle beneath a tall fir with low-hanging branches. Warriors had allowed us to sit and talk, while they remained inside the mess hall, doing the same thing.
"All right. Link hands," I instructed, grasping Wend's fingers on one side and Jae's on the other. Closing my eyes, I connected with everyone in the circle and showed them what I'd learned.
"That's it?" Neka breathed.
"Yes. But know this, too," I relayed more images to them. Images of the levels of their power. This is where your line is, I informed each of them. If you are drained below this line, you will die. Remember this. I am going to show you how to stop the drain at that point. If you choose to allow your warrior to have more of your power after that, it will be your own choice and not his. Understand?
"Yes," they all whispered.
See that line? Memorize it. See it whenever you close your eyes. Now, place a shield at that line, hear me? One no warrior
can break through, understand?
"Yes."
Good. Protect them, but protect yourselves, too. Never forget. If you are sacrificed, it will be of your own choosing and none other's.
"Thank you," Reena breathed when she opened her eyes and blinked at me. Dusk was falling, but I could still see her face clearly.
I saw all of them clearly—as if their very essence was tattooed on my mind. "I love every one of you," I said. "I refuse to let you go to the battlefield without a defense for yourselves."
Yes, I'd just taught them a defense I'd created while stewing in my bedroom. My training period with Kerok hadn't gone as well as he'd have liked, and he had nobody to blame except himself.
Nobody in their right mind should ever send troops to the front lines to perish like the King and his son sent the black roses out to die. I was tired of accepting my future death at Kerok's hand. Tired of thinking and dreaming about it, too.
It was time to take a stand. If the King didn't like the ultimate result, then he could have me killed.
In fact, with Barth, Hunter and Kerok in possession of the knowledge regarding a certain forbidden book, I was dead anyway. They only had to choose the time and place to release the information against me.
I may as well save as many lives as I could in the interim.
As for the roses already on the battlefield, I considered what had turned them away from the new method, which could surely prolong their lives.
Had any of them been friends with Merrin, or was it only the warriors who found in him something to admire or aspire to?
Any one of them, committing the same crime as Merrin, would have met the same fate. Did they condone his breaking of the laws? Did it bother them at all that he'd gotten a trainee killed by the King's assassins?
"You've stopped talking," Wend bumped her shoulder against mine.
"Just thinking," I released a heavy sigh.
"Armon says you think too much," she laughed.
"Armon is probably right," I agreed. In truth, I thought that people had carried that attitude for far too long, and it was more than time for somebody to think—about the enemy. About dwindling numbers in the army. About trainees being taught by those who had little knowledge of the power a trainee held and certainly had no way to train from experience, because they'd never had that in their lives.
Somebody should think about the completely idiotic laws governing warriors and escorts.
"Marc is walking toward us," Wend breathed before standing up.
"Everyone, remember what I taught you," I said while standing beside Wend. "I'll see you on the training ground tomorrow."
K erok
When I walked through Sherra's shield around the cabin, I felt as if claws were scraping against bare flesh. So much so, in fact, that I felt my face and hands to check whether they'd been scratched.
She'd allowed me in, but hadn't missed the opportunity to let me know how upset she was. Had any other black rose accomplished something like this?
I seriously doubted it, as I'd read a history of escort innovations during the past two centuries.
It wasn't a large book, if book you could call it.
Hunter had already written twice as much on Sherra's accomplishments within a matter of months.
Where are you? I asked Sherra.
In my bedroom, she replied stiffly.
Would you like something to drink?
No, thank you.
What can I do to make things better?
Change the world.
Sherra
Another dream about Pottles came that night—likely because of my anger at Kerok. She was motioning for me to follow her to a strange place.
A line divided us—on my side, desert, where only scrub and cactus grew.
On her side, it was green and lush—a sight I had never seen in reality, but one which, once I'd seen it, I wanted more than anything.
Behind Pottles lay a floor made of tiny, square, colored stones, depicting a huge, red rose, surrounded by trees I'd never seen.
Catalpa trees, the words whispered into my mind. Certainly not Pottles' voice; it was a strange one to me. I studied the trees, which were in full flower with the most magnificent pink blooms. You are invited, more words followed.
Come, Pottles mouthed the words as she continued to beckon. Remember the red rose. Find your way here, the strange voice begged.
Sherra, time to wake—we must go to General Linel immediately. Kerok's voice disturbed my dream and woke me with a gasp.
Shaking, I tumbled off the bed in complete disorientation, as I'd just been elsewhere in my dream.
Hurry, Kerok's mindspeak sounded close to panic.
I hurried.
K erok
We hadn't had a murder at the battlefront in six decades, yet I studied the burned bodies of a warrior and his escort inside their tent, which hadn't been singed anywhere. Judging by the severe burns on the bodies, the murder had occurred elsewhere, and the bodies dumped in their tent afterward.
Who could do this? Sherra, standing nearby, was more than upset. I'd already sent a message to Barth; he would arrive very soon.
Had the phantom struck again? That was my first thought, although in the past, bodies had been left outside camp after a visit from that elusive entity.
This time, the dead had been dumped inside their tent and easily found by those from nearby tents when the call came for early breakfast.
I don't know; I hope we'll have better information when Barth arrives, I responded to Sherra's question.
The phantom hasn't burned anyone before—has he?
No, my rose. This is a first.
This looks like—torture.
I know. Perhaps it was. It is my hope that Barth can find something—some clue—in all this tangle.
"I am here, Prince Thorn," Barth pulled back a tent flap and entered before drawing in a shocked breath at what he saw.
"I need you to touch them," I said. "I know it's horrible, but please try."
"I will."
Sherra
Barth knelt beside the bodies, both burned horribly, as if someone with fire had toyed with them before allowing them to die.
If I'd had breakfast, I may not have kept it down. Instead, I felt queasy as Barth, kneeling near where Kerok and I stood, reached out to touch one of the least-burned parts of the warrior's feet.
Barth's body stiffened, causing me to jump. And, because he was kneeling precariously, he looked as if he would topple over. Quickly, I reached out to steady him with a hand on his shoulder.
The visions that came through Barth made me wish to scream in anguish.
CHAPTER 18
K erok
I'd never seen Barth so shaken before. Sherra had experienced Barth's visions when she touched him, and I was still waiting to sort that out with Barth, who held a cup of tea in his hands while wrapped in a blanket and sitting inside Linel's tent.
Barth shivered, as if he'd been so cold it would take hours to warm up again.
"Barth, what is it?" I laid a hand on his shoulder. "Tell me what you saw."
He turned his eyes toward me, blinking to keep the horror at bay, I imagined.
"I," he began, his voice so cracked that he was forced to clear his throat before continuing. "I saw some of it, before something blocked the vision. The moment Sherra touched me, it was as if the block had been removed and allowed a flood of images to come."
His next words chilled me to the bone.
"Merrin is alive. He did this, my Prince, and I believe he has his sights set on killing you and many others before he's done."
"Are you saying Merrin is the phantom?" I couldn't accept that—couldn't take that in.
"He's just as afraid of the phantom as anyone else," Barth snorted before sipping tea. "The other thing I have is this; Merrin was saved by Poul and Wendal's interference." With help from your brother, he added in mindspeak.
My rapid intake of breath let Barth know how shoc
ked I was at that revelation. This gave another reason for my brother's locking himself away—he'd convinced Poul and Wendal to save Merrin's skin by pretending to remove his power. I had no knowledge of that when I'd left Merrin in the poisoned lands—he'd stepped away the moment I left.
This will kill your father, Barth informed me.
Which will leave Drenn in charge, and if he's in charge, he has enough support in the Council to change as many laws as he likes, and one of those changes will be to exonerate himself of any crimes committed, I sighed.
He'll have to kill you, Hunter and me, too, Barth pointed out.
After this, I flung out a hand, what's to keep him and Merrin from succeeding?
Kerok? Sherra's mental sending was hesitant.
What is it, my rose?
Perhaps Barth should look at Merrin's friends and supporters?
She'd waited outside Linel's tent, keeping a shield in place while Barth and I talked.
I cursed—she was correct.
"Linel," I snapped, bringing the General into the interior swiftly. "Gather Merrin's friends and bring them to me. Now."
Sherra
The moment they learned of Kerok's summons, three of Merrin's friends deserted the army, two of them stepping away and leaving their escorts behind. The third had taken his escort with him; whether she went willingly, we didn't know.
Two others, a Lieutenant and a Sergeant, had been forced into Linel's tent, where Kerok waited to question them with Barth at his side.
I was grateful I wasn't asked to witness it, especially when Garkus and Colonel Kage appeared nearby and were ushered into the tent by the General.
After I'd drowned in visions through my contact with Barth, I knew of the Crown Prince's guilt in the matter. Not just for keeping Merrin alive, but for his participation in Merrin's taking of Ura's innocence.
I wanted to vomit every time I considered it. Both had known what the results would be should they be caught. They'd promised Ura that they'd protect her. That promise had been as empty and fragile as a discarded eggshell.
The Rose Mark: Black Rose Sorceress, Book 1 Page 25