Shattered Kingdom

by Angelina J. Steffort

  “They did,” Armand confirmed. “Now, the best men from my own, personal guard are in command of making sure each and every one of the spelled ones gets rest, and then we’ll need to sort through them and see who remembers what happened or who is still loyal to Linniue’s cause even with the spell lifted.”

  “When you say we—” Gandrett wondered if maybe it was wrong to leave him with this mess. Maybe she should stay and help. At least here she wouldn’t be alone. With a Vala-blessed watching over Armand, she’d have someone to confide in.

  But Armand finished her thought. “I will ask Addie to stay and help. I don’t know if she has family to return to, and I won’t stand in her way if she does want to leave—but if she is willing to help, I’ll set her up in your chambers, Gandrett, so she can learn that Eedwood castle is more than the terror of aunt Linniue she got to know.”

  “May the gods cradle her soul.” Gandrett lifted her gaze to the ceiling and sent a silent prayer to Vala for letting them escape from Linniue’s madness in one piece.

  “May the gods cradle her soul,” the others repeated, Armand and Joshua’s eyes filled with sorrow.

  After a moment of silence, Armand said, “I asked Deelah to bring a pack of supplies to the stables. Your horse, Gandrett, and a horse for Joshua will be saddled and ready when we get down there.” He glanced at Nehelon, not seeming completely certain if he could trust Nehelon. “Will you require a horse, chancellor?”

  Nehelon shook his head. “I will ride with Gandrett until we make it to the forest where I left my horse.”

  Armand raised an eyebrow but said nothing.

  “Well, then.” He pushed away from the table and stood, wineglass in one hand and eyes on Joshua. “To a brighter future for Sives,” he toasted.

  “To a brighter future,” Joshua replied and raised his own glass—filled with water—before he stood.

  “Let’s get out of here.”

  Chapter Forty-Seven

  Lim whinnied as Nehelon entered the stables, the cheerful sound of an old friend’s greeting. Beside him, Gandrett was quiet. Too quiet for all the horrors she’d endured over the past days. Had he known… Had he even had an idea of what had been going on, he would have come earlier. He would have broken down doors and walls just to make sure Gandrett made it out alive.

  Now pensive, as a shadow at his side, the Child of Vala was like a ghost of who he’d met in Everrun. Something had changed. And he wasn’t only thinking about her magic. For of that, he was certain, after Joshua’s and Armand’s detailed depictions of what she had done.

  The lump of stone in Nehelon’s chest felt like a beating heart once more—beating and throbbing with every thump.

  He rubbed Lim’s nose and promised him that they were going to see Alvi.

  In the stall next to Lim, a second horse was saddled in the colors of the Denderlain guard, and by the doors lay two packs and waterskins.

  Joshua led the horse out of the stall and to the back door as Armand had asked while Gandrett hesitated, waiting for Nehelon to make a move. Her shoulders had been hunched since she had hugged Armand goodbye before they had exited into the yard.

  Too long had their arms remained around each other. Armand’s hands too tight on her waist, his words too close by her ear. Nehelon had heard them as he had heard hers. A promise that she’d come back for him.

  He suppressed the urge to rip out the door to Lim’s stall with his bare hands, and opened it like a civilized human instead. Lim trotted to the door behind him, Gandrett following suit.

  Outside, the west side of the building lay in shadows as Armand had promised, and while Joshua was already on his horse, Nehelon let Gandrett get onto Lim first. Then, with a murmured apology to the horse for having to carry both their weights, he grabbed Gandrett by her hips and shifted her behind the saddle, ignoring the sensation that allowing himself to grip her flesh like that instilled in him, before he climbed into the saddle in front of her, swinging his leg over Lim’s neck.

  Gandrett grabbed his Denderlain-blue cloak Armand had given each of them by the shoulders as Nehelon nudged Lim’s flanks, and the horse set in motion. He was grateful she didn’t wrap her arms around his torso, for he wasn’t sure he could trust himself not to fall apart at her touch. He needed to remain focused on getting her out first. On getting all three of them out so Joshua could return to Ackwood palace and Gandrett’s mission would be fulfilled.

  When they arrived at the side gate in the north, Armand was waiting as he’d promised. Unlike before, there were no guards by that entry, nor on the battlements above them.

  “They’ll be back soon,” Armand answered Nehelon’s unspoken question. “You should hurry.”

  Joshua inclined his head as he rode past his cousin in front of them. The future king of Sives nodding his farewell to the Lord of Eedwood, the hood of his Denderlain-blue cloak hiding his features.

  “I’ll send word about developments,” Joshua promised.

  “As will I.” Armand bowed, his elegance worthy of a prince itself.

  Joshua hesitated before he led his horse out the gate. “Make sure Addie is all right,” he said, worry lacing his voice. “And tell her she won’t be forgotten.”

  When it was Nehelon’s turn to ride through the gate, he stopped Lim and inclined his head at the young lord he had underestimated so dearly. His nobility, his bravery, his good heart. “Thank you, Lord Armand, for keeping Gandrett safe during her mission,” he said and was about to nudge Lim forward when Armand looked up, but not at Nehelon.

  “Tell Addie I said thank you,” Gandrett said behind Nehelon’s shoulder.

  “I will.” Armand smiled. ”Thank you for keeping me safe, Gandrett whatever your last name is.”

  Behind him, Gandrett’s heart quickened and he could have sworn he heard a chuckle.

  Before she could respond, Nehelon kicked his heels into Lim’s side, and the horse bolted out the gate, trailing Joshua along the path that followed a line of bushes and led into the forest in the distance—ten, fifteen minutes maximum if they kept up that speed.

  She hadn’t thought it was possible, but she would miss Armand. For the first time in years, someone had opened up to her because he had chosen to, not because he was stuck with her in isolation in the desert. And he reminded her of her brother, the way he’d smiled when he was little. With half a thought, Gandrett wondered what Andrew would look like today. A young man of fifteen years, almost sixteen. If his blond hair was still curly, if his dimples were still there.

  But not yet. They needed to make it to the forest first and back to Ackwood.

  “Alvi is waiting a little bit south from where we enter the forest,” Nehelon said over his shoulder, his voice familiar and yet strange. “We’re going to go off the path the moment we’re in the shelter of the trees.”

  Joshua was riding in front of them, glancing back only once or twice all the way to the forest, probably reassuring himself that they were still there, and the terrain was becoming more uneven, Lim’s steps less steady.

  As the welcome shade of the first trees swallowed the view of the castle, Gandrett glanced back one last time. No one was following them. They had made it.

  She didn’t dare hold on to Nehelon more tightly than clutching his cloak until they stopped in a hidden clearing where Alvi was grazing lazily in the morning sun. As Lim spotted her, he made a joyous leap to the side, forcing Gandrett to grab Nehelon’s biceps in order to keep herself from falling.

  He didn’t comment but swung his leg over Lim’s neck again. The horse stopped as if he knew what Nehelon wanted to do, and he slid off the horse’s side, out of Gandrett’s grasp.

  She didn’t dare frown at him with Joshua watching them from where he was waiting a bit further into the clearing. But when Nehelon offered his hand to help her down, Gandrett swallowed her pride and placed her fingers in his, allowing him to catch her as she followed his lead and flipped her leg over the saddle, sliding down Lim’s flank.

  Ne
helon’s free hand caught her by the waist and lingered for a long moment as he let her glide to her feet, his eyes deep and open. “I wouldn’t mind sharing a horse with you all the way to Ackwood, Gandrett,” he said with a hint of a smile, “but I am almost certain Lim wouldn’t mind sharing his burden with Alvi.”

  Lim threw back his head as if demonstrating his agreement.

  So Gandrett took Lim to the black mare who was fidgeting with anticipation.

  Nehelon followed his steps, almost soundless on the forest ground. In the shade by the trees, Joshua had sat down on a fallen tree trunk and was sipping from his waterskin while Nehelon greeted his horse and rearranged one of the packs to her saddle. Gandrett joined Joshua, silent beside the future king of Sives.

  “You know that without your help, I wouldn’t be here today,” he said, voice solemn, emerald eyes clear and serious.

  Gandrett shook her head. “If it wasn’t for me, you wouldn’t have ended up with those scars. She hardly dared look at his neck and hands, which all, despite the healing properties of the Dragon Water, held scars—nothing as bad as what a natural healing process would have left him with but still scars to tell a tale of Gandrett’s magic.

  Joshua pulled his collar up, covering the evidence.

  “If it weren’t for you and your magic, my mother would have killed another innocent.” He lifted his gaze to the canopy above them. The greens were a darker shade than the first springy sprouts she had observed on her ride from Everrun back to Sives with Nehelon a month and a half ago. How much had changed since then, her magic being only one of the many things within her that had recently scared her. She stole a glance at Nehelon, who was absently massaging Alvi’s ears, his own, pointed ones probably intently listening to their conversation.

  “I am sorry about your mother.” Gandrett placed one hand on his arm in comfort. “I wish there had been a way to stop her without—”

  “You didn’t kill her, Gandrett,” Joshua interrupted, face stern as he relieved her of her guilt. “She made a choice to drive that knife into her own heart. It was her choice.” His fingers curled around the air in his palms. “She made her choice long ago when she decided to put a spell on me so she could manipulate me into becoming something I never wanted to be. My own mother—” He shook his head.

  “And it still hurts,” she said, fingers squeezing his arm.

  He nodded, that sorrow filling his eyes again. “It still hurts,” he agreed.

  That night after miles and miles of riding, Gandrett couldn’t find sleep, even when Joshua was already deep in dreams.

  “I wonder if he has nightmares,” she whispered to Nehelon, who had been sitting like a statue on his bedroll, eyes on the small fire they had risked. “After years of sharing his mind with another presence—” Gandrett could only imagine the horrors he had endured and to what degree it might have scarred the young prince. A prince. That was what Joshua Brenheran was.

  Nehelon got up from his bedroll and noiselessly prowled to hers, where he sat down beside her.

  Gandrett curled herself into a sitting position, resting her chin on her knees.

  “Will you have nightmares?” he asked, sincere concern in his words. He picked up a piece of wood from the ground between his feet and played with it. “After what you’ve seen down there,” he didn’t need to say in the temple of Shygon for Gandrett to know what he was talking about, “it wouldn’t surprise me.”

  As Gandrett tilted her head, shoving her forearm under her cheek so her knee wouldn’t dig into it, Nehelon’s eyes studied her with caution as if he didn’t fully believe she was truly there.

  Gandrett herself couldn’t fully believe she was truly there. Too much had happened in Eedwood—

  “Does it scare you?” he asked. Words she would have never expected of him. Words that didn’t come with any mockery or pitfalls. “Your magic, I mean.”

  Gandrett searched her chest for the hollow space that had throbbed this morning but couldn’t find it. She didn’t know what kind of magic it was that she had, only that she had almost killed Joshua with it, and hadn’t it been for the icy cold in the caverns, she probably would have killed Linniue and Armand.

  “A little.” It was an understatement, but admitting to fear wasn’t something she was used to.

  As if Nehelon understood anyway, he nodded and held up the piece of wood before her.

  It burst into flame at the top of his hand, dissolving into ash before her eyes.

  Something in Gandrett’s chest stirred.

  “I felt it,” Nehelon whispered. Gandrett blinked—a silent request for what he was talking about. “I felt your magic awaken, Gandrett.”

  His eyes sparkled in the firelight while pieces of ash still floated before him.

  Gandrett didn’t speak for lack of a response, just locking her gaze on his.

  “You will need training, or you will expose yourself.” His eyes were full of wisdom, of history, and it occurred to her again that he wasn’t human, that he had roamed the realms of Neredyn for centuries and longer, and that he would when she was little more than the ashes floating between them.

  She knew he was right. She could feel it even now as he spoke, that space in her chest that had replenished over the past hours, that would soon be brimming with power.

  “I don’t want to hurt anyone,” she admitted, offering the truth about how she felt for once.

  Nehelon turned to the side, propped up on one arm, and brushed his fingers across her cheek in response. “You won’t,” he promised. “I won’t let you.”

  Gandrett held very still, anxious he would continue and anxious he would stop.

  “I will be there to guide you,” he breathed as he leaned in, the thrilling, nameless scent that promised his presence filling the space between them. “You won’t be alone.”

  She took a deep breath, indulging in the thought of speaking those words which had been following her around since that moment in the forest, but Nehelon was faster.

  He dragged his thumb across her lips, straightening up as he cupped her face in both hands, bringing his own to level with hers. His breath was a rush of heat on her skin, and his glamour was slipping, exposing the full beauty of his features and letting Gandrett’s pulse thump in her throat. It had to be so loud it might wake Joshua.

  But Nehelon smiled. A sweet smile that didn’t match the torment in his eyes. “One day, Gandrett Brayton, I will kiss you…” His finger traced her lips in a slow curve that made her breath catch. “One day, when I’m a better man.”

  The next morning, they were back in the saddle before the sun rose, taking the most direct route to Ackwood, stopping only to water their horses and to rest and eat when necessary.

  By the time the monumental drawbridge and the statue at the main gate over the water became visible two nights later, both Gandrett and Joshua had told Nehelon the full story of what had happened at Eedwood castle. Nehelon didn’t interrupt often. Only when he learned both his dagger and his knife hadn’t made it back out of Eedwood did he voice his complaint. But Gandrett noticed a smile as he fretted. And whenever his gaze met hers, his eyes seemed to be saying, Alive. You are alive.

  Mckenzie’s squeal of delight set the entire courtyard on red alert as Joshua climbed off his horse, his hair shimmering in the afternoon sun like molten gold.

  They had stowed their Denderlain-cloaks away into their packs the moment they had made it out of Denderlain territory, and they’d arrived in Ackwood with their dirty riding clothes telling tales of their journey.

  Gandrett observed from her spot between Lim and Alvi how Mckenzie wrapped her arms around her brother, both laughing and crying at the reunion. Nehelon had left the two horses in her care as he had prowled off to inform Lord Tyrem and Lady Crystal their lost son had returned. Which gave Gandrett a moment to breathe. After almost four days of riding side by side with Nehelon, she still hadn’t had a chance to bring up the one topic that wouldn’t let her sleep at night. She had caught herself
studying him from the side countless times, never able to figure out if those curves of his lips had touched hers. And if it had been so, if Vala would forsake her.

  She handed the reins of both horses to the stable boy who had come to retrieve them and headed for the closest guard, who drew his sword as he saw her approaching. There was something she needed to do.

  “Unarmed,” she said by way of greeting, cocking her head and lifting her hands, palms outward.

  The guard didn’t seem convinced. Gandrett recognized him to be the mountain of a man she had put on his back that first day in Ackwood. A grin broke onto her features. “Sorry for last time.”

  He gave her a sour smile in response.

  “Where can I find Brax?” she asked, one hand absently wandering to the silver and emerald pendant on her chest.

  “In the gardens, Miss Brayton,” he said, not seeming certain he was doing the right thing giving her the information, and knowing that if he didn’t, she could easily make him.

  His uncertainty seemed to grow as she thanked him and curtseyed before she strode through the gate that led to the gardens under the palace windows.

  She found Brax sitting under a tree, back resting against the trunk, a book open on his knees. His black hair was moving in the warm breeze, the sun painting patterns on his pale skin through the branches above his head, and his black jacket was open, exposing the collar of a casual, white tunic. Gandrett stopped at the corner before stepping out of the shadow of the wall.

  She didn’t think she had ever seen him in a different color than black. And his face… He looked so peaceful. A slight smile on his lips, one hand flipping the page every now and then while the other played with the grass beside his hip.

  Her hand tightened around the necklace he had given her, and she pulled it over her head then weighed it in her palm.

  Think of me when you wear it. She had thought of him many times during those days in Eedwood.