by Elise Kova
Deneya headed off in the opposite direction as Vi and Taavin stepped into the darkness of the store. The shelves were perpetually vacant. Darkness clung to every corner. Vi crossed to the back of the room; there, hidden behind a curtain, was another doorway. This led to a narrow stairway and up into a cramped second-floor apartment.
Vi dropped her pack heavily and rolled her shoulders. Taavin’s hands covered the sore spots, rubbing slowly. Vi sighed as he took a half step closer to her.
“You should take a hot bath.”
“I should, and you should join me.” She smirked into the darkness. “It’s been a while since we’ve been alone.”
“Now that sounds a delight,” he whispered into her ear, lips brushing against tender skin. Warmth flooded her, from the top of her head to the bottom of her abdomen. “I’ll draw the bath.”
He stepped away and Vi caught his hand, then his gaze. Taavin locked his fingers with hers, pulling her hand to his face and kissing her knuckles thoughtfully. He straightened, a mischievous smile quirking his lips.
“Don’t keep me waiting,” Vi said softly, her voice gone deep with yearning.
“Never.” Taavin stepped back, keeping his eyes locked with hers until the last moment he disappeared into the bathroom. He could have her yearning with just a look or a simple touch in an otherwise chaste location.
Being back on the Dark Isle, with him, made things feel simpler once more. At least for a little while, they could find moments to pretend he was a normal man, and she a normal woman. Their love could be uncomplicated.
As he rummaged in the bathroom, she set about sorting their things. The chest of gold coins from old Lyndum was right where they’d left it. They’d have to convert it once more into usable currency, restock supplies, and then head south. Vi closed the top of the chest and walked over to the lone window wedged between the buildings on either side of their narrow shop, as though their place was a weed that couldn’t be contained.
She opened the window, allowing the room to air out with the cool desert breeze. Vi rested her hands on the sill, leaning out, savoring the sounds of revelry that hung on the crisp night. Laughter echoed up to her, drawing Vi’s attention down to the street.
Two men clung to each other, swaying like willowy branches. They were both clearly intoxicated; their dark hair was thrown every which way. She watched with a little smile as their steps mirrored that of a rolling tide, up and down and not quite stable.
Oh, to be that young and—
Vi clutched the windowsill.
“It can’t be. It’s too early,” she whispered. Her eyes didn’t lie. “Those idiots.” Vi spun, racing through the room, not even bothering to change. Taavin had just emerged from the bathroom, naked to the waist, and the sight of him stopped her in her tracks. Vi let out a groan, resting a palm on his chest. “I need to make sure two drunks make their way home safely.”
“What?” Taavin called after her as she started down the stairs.
“It’s Aldrik and Jax. The Imperial army is here, now,” Vi called back before dashing through the store and emerging out on the street beyond. She was only several paces behind the two men and closed the gap quickly. She could’ve stabbed them both between the ribs before they noticed her at their backs.
Vi rubbed her eyes, pressing to the point of pain and stars popping behind her lids. Then she pinched her cheeks till they were splotchy—though it might have been impossible to tell on her tan skin in the middle of the night. She began running, head down; her shoulder clipped the taller man and she stumbled, sprawling on the ground before them like a proper damsel.
Aldrik was nearly taken down with her. Jax held him up with the arm that was already around his waist. The booze slowed their reactions and they both reached to help her up on a delay.
“Aaaare—” a burp “—are you allrisht?” Aldrik tried to ask.
Clearly, this was not one of his prouder moments.
“I’m fine,” she said curtly, batting their hands away and collecting herself off the ground. Vi stopped herself, blinking the tears she’d pressed into her eyes so they’d roll down her cheeks as she looked up at them. “My prince!” Vi bowed, bringing her forehead to the ground.
“Shhhh.” He brought a finger to his lips. “I’m incognitooo. Haaving a night of fshun.”
“Sorry, miss.” Jax extended his hand and Vi ignored it, helping herself to her feet. He looked like he was barely managing to keep Aldrik upright. Jax tilted his head so far he nearly fell over. “Do I know you?”
“I doubt it.” Vi played with the short ends of her hair. She’d cropped it back to her ears before arriving on the Dark Isle. Long, short, long, short, her hair was the one thing that she could easily make sure was never the same between each meeting.
“I’m sure I do,” he insisted.
“Forgive me for being blunt, but I think that’s the alcohol speaking.” Jax grinned wider at the remark and Vi smiled as well. “I’m a lowly one who wouldn’t have the honor of meeting a prince or an illustrious member of the Golden Guard.”
Aldrik burst out laughing. “She, she called you a member.”
Vi had no idea why that was supposed to be funny. But Jax laughed along, snorting as he tried to regain control of himself.
“Well, now you have. Please do keep our appearance a secret? It’s my fault the prince is out so late, and I don’t want him or I to get in trouble.”
If you wanted it to be a secret, you shouldn’t be walking down the middle of the main street drunk, Vi nearly snapped. What she said instead was, “My lords, the Crossroads at night is not the safest of places. Perhaps I could have the honor of escorting you? I know these streets well, and I planned to enlist in the army come morning. I’m quite capable of being your temporary guard.”
They had not planned on enlisting in the army come the morning. Their plan had been to head south, switch the crown, and then head North. But Vi didn’t miss an opportunity when fate handed her one.
If she did this favor for them tonight, it was likely that they would keep her close at the front.
“Let her,” Aldrik declared. “Secoond pretteh lady of the nighhht.”
Second? Just what did that mean?
“Come on, then, walk with us back to the center of the Crossroads,” Jax said lightly. The brief moment of recognition had passed and they began to walk. “Why do you want to join the army?”
“To serve the Empire.” Vi sniffled, rubbing her eyes until a few more tears squeezed out.
“What’sh wrong?”
“I got in a fight with my parents about it,” Vi said, looking at her feet. The sorrow in her voice at the mention of parents was genuine; it was compounded when she looked over at Aldrik. He had the bump in his nose now that she remembered her father having. His cheeks were gaunter than the last time she’d seen him. Deep bags clung underneath distant, harrowed eyes. “They don’t want me to enlist. But I’m a woman grown. And well…”
“Yooou ran away from hoome.”
Vi nodded at Aldrik’s slurred words.
“You should go back,” Jax said firmly.
“Jax, don’t lose-us sholdiers.”
“You only get one family. Hold them close.”
She’d been worried about the two men getting a dagger between the ribs by a cut-purse in the night. But it was Jax who caught her off guard, striking her breathless. Vi took a second to compose herself. Her family was, and would always be, a soft spot. She formed an answer befitting the seventeen-year-old girl she’d once been, and not the timeless traveler she now was.
“I do hold them close,” she insisted. “But they have to understand I’m doing this for them. I’m fighting for them. So they can have a better life. They have to understand that this is my choice, not theirs.”
“Yooou’re doing ah goodthing.” Aldrik patted her on the shoulder and his hand stayed. He blinked into the brighter lights of the center of the Crossroads as they entered their aura. “Not like me. Not like so
meone who’s done terrible things.”
“That’s enough for tonight. We’re not far from your bed.” Jax led them over to the Imperial lodging. Three, large, circular windows kept an eye on the square below. “Wait here just a moment, I’ll be back,” Jax said to her, giving her no time to reply before disappearing inside with Aldrik.
Vi sat on the stoop, elbows on her knees, staring at the other revelries happening at a bar across the square. Her mind was on Aldrik, on those haunted eyes— the ghosts of her actions haunting his nightmares. She clutched her hands so tightly together that her nails left crescent moons in her skin.
The door behind her opened again, startling her. Jax hopped down two steps, wobbled, and sat with a sigh.
“He’ll be fine,” he said.
“‘Fine’ is an interesting word choice for the hangover he’ll be nursing.” Vi glanced up at the second-floor window that she knew to be her father’s room. “Does the prince drink to excess often?”
Jax’s long silence was answer enough. When the “No” finally came, Vi knew it was a lie.
“Well, that’s good, I suppose,” she lied right back, pretending she didn’t hear all his unspoken hesitations.
“And, for that reason, I appreciate your discretion about tonight’s events.”
“I don’t really have any friends. So I’ve got no one to tell. Not that I would tell anyone. I’m looking to be in service to the crown and I know what’s best for the crown isn’t rumors of what the prince does during his downtime.”
“He gets precious little of it.”
“I’m sure,” Vi murmured. “But he still has it better than he thinks.” What Vi wouldn’t give to be a “tortured” princess again.
“I wouldn’t count on that.”
“How so?”
Jax shrugged and Vi let that topic of conversation die. She didn’t want to seem too eager for information on the prince.
“You said you wanted to enlist, right?”
“That’s right.”
“Come find me in the morning.” Jax stood. “You can be under me, or Raylynn, depending on if you have magic or not.”
Vi didn’t have to force or fake her smile. She could enlist in the army and be near Aldrik. Moreover, she could fight along Jax and Raylynn. The idea of continuing to protect them both was appealing.
“Are you certain?”
“Yes, just remind me I was when the sun is up. Nights like this have a tendency to be forgotten.” Jax laughed.
“I will.”
“See you in the morning then—” Jax paused, holding out his hand.
“Gwen,” Vi said, filling in the blank. “My name is Gwen.”
“‘Soldier Gwen’ has a nice ring to it, don’t you think?” Jax clasped her hand and they shook on both their second introduction and a deal.
“It does,” she agreed. “Almost like it was fated to be.”
Chapter Twenty-Two
Vi, Taavin, and Deneya enlisted under Raylynn. Since Vi was the only person among them who could conjure her magic in the elemental ways of the Dark Isle, it was too much of a risk for them to try and join the sorcerer-warriors of the Black Legion.
Instead, they were foot soldiers—part of the nameless, faceless masses that exercised the will of the Emperor in his thirst for conquest.
Part of her thrived in the anonymity. It guarded her heart from seeing the Northern peoples she’d once considered friends and kin put to the sword. Being no one allowed her to move without raising attention or suspicion.
The other part of her clung to her identity. That was what motivated her to look after Jax and Raylynn, intervening on their behalf in more than one battle. Her small acts had no bearings on the outcome of the world’s fate, but protecting them both honored memories of people she’d cared for.
“Thank you for today,” Vi said to Deneya as she sat heavily around their campfire. The smell of burning bodies and ash was still thick on her from earlier in the day. “You really helped with Raylynn.”
The very woman leaned against a tree some distance away, hair slicked to her neck with sweat, talking with Baldair. With every turn in the conversation, Baldair took a half-step closer. He never missed an opportunity to be by her side.
Their unspoken love was obvious to everyone but them.
“We’ll have to leave her side, soon.” Taavin didn’t mince words. “Aldrik will sustain his injury soon.”
“Yes, the one that brings him to Vhalla. Because nothing says ‘fall for me’ like being wounded and helpless,” Deneya said dryly.
“You’ve been saying he’ll sustain his injury ‘soon’ for months.” Vi glanced at Taavin.
“Things aren’t happening exactly when we expected.”
“The world is changing. We’re getting closer to the end of the vortex.” Vi poked at their campfire with a stick, watching the flames dance.
“It’s just variation,” Taavin insisted. Vi shared a look with Deneya. The man wasn’t going to admit they were on their final course until they were extinguishing the flame of Yargen. Vi had accepted that much.
Vi stood. “I’ll be back. Off to the latrine.”
“You know where to find us.”
She always did. The campsites were mostly the same—only the terrain changed. The three of them set up their tents together, maintained their own campfire, and kept to themselves. The moment someone made a passing attempt to befriend them, Vi or Taavin would say or do something extremely off-putting.
They were the odd ones—odd, but effective. Too weird for anyone to want to spend much time with, too valuable to discharge.
“Do you think he’s really going to do it?”
“Of course he won’t. He’s mourning, not suicidal. Well… I don’t think he would.”
Two men murmured by a campfire. Their backs were to her and neither seemed to realize Vi was there. She shifted her weight onto her back foot and floated her front foot forward before shifting her weight. The need for silence seemed suddenly paramount.
“You don’t have me convinced… Listen, I’m worried. We should go after him. The attack today was hard on him.”
“He was delivering a message. He’ll be back within an hour and you’ll feel foolish for this.”
“What if I don’t?” The man turned his head and Vi slid behind a tent, creeping around the back to remain out of sight and within earshot. He lowered his voice to a whisper. “What if I have every right to worry? It was his son in that village. There were no survivors and you heard the way he was talking. He had a whole plan on how he was going to get close to and attack Prince Al—”
“Stop that nonsense,” the other man hissed. “You’re going to get him killed for treason with that talk and there’s no point to it.”
“You don’t know that. You didn’t see his poisoned dagger. He was serious.”
Vi pressed her eyes closed and took a breath. She started off in the opposite direction, away from the men, rounding back through camp in a different way than than she came. She crouched down at Taavin’s side, clasping his shoulder.
“That was fast.”
“We have to go.”
Taavin did one quick scan of her face. “What happened?”
“I overheard two men talking about someone going to attack Aldrik,” Vi whispered.
“He’s supposed to be wounded in battle. That’s how it’s always happened.”
“I know what’s supposed to happen, but that’s not what’s actually happening,” Vi interrupted curtly. “Something changed.”
“Too many somethings,” Taavin murmured, glancing at the fire, as if he was the one who could find truth in flames.
“We need to move, now.” Vi stood.
They both followed her into the woods. Aldrik’s camp wasn’t far—probably an hour by foot for a normal soldier. She wanted to cross the dense forest in thirty minutes. If anyone could do it, it was her.
Not looking to see if her companions could keep up, Vi began to run. The trees
blurred around her and, seemingly in a blink, they emerged into the camp. Rising above the other tents was a large, square canvas structure.
She was so close.
Magic flared. The inside of the tent glowed orange.
They were too late.
Fate had sneaked past them. As Vi’s eyes had been on Raylynn and Jax, thinking she had a bit more time to look after each of them before Aldrik required her attention, fate had made a mad dash for the prince.
Vi pushed past soldiers. Two guards positioned at the outside of the tent didn’t even have a chance to stop her.
“What’re you—” they tried to ask, but she ignored them, barging into Aldrik’s tent.
A charred husk of a man was on the floor. The prince had his hand pressed against his side. He was on his knees, hair a mess, covering his face as he lifted his dark eyes to her. His jaw was clenched shut and he swayed.
“My prince, I’m here to help you.” Vi rushed over. Aldrik slumped against her. His eyes were hazy. The man was an inferno to the touch. “Halleth maph,” Vi murmured. The prince was too far gone to hesitate using her Lightspinning.
“Don’t heal him entirely,” Taavin cautioned.
“But—”
“It’s not what we expected, but this wound will be what takes him south.”
“He can head south when he’s not on the verge of death.” Seeing Aldrik like this made Vi panic more than she would’ve wanted.
“Trust—” Taavin was interrupted by the two soldiers bursting in the tent behind them.
“The prince has been poisoned,” Vi said hastily. She could feel the foreign substance attacking his body. “He dispatched the assailant, but he’s wounded. He needs to return to Lyndum for healing.”
The soldiers looked at the carnage, at the blood soaking her shirt.
“Now!” Vi barked, standing. Taavin took Aldrik’s other side. “Fetch his horse and every other warstrider or hearty breed.”
“Who are you to give orders?”
“I don’t have time for your strutting and self-importance,” Vi sneered, looking down at the man as she passed. “Your prince is dying. I am the woman trying to save him. That’s all that matters.”