The Four Kingdoms

by Maryam Durrani

  It would take me two seconds to bring them to the ground and end this here. I moved.

  It was the slightest movement, but Xavier caught on. He stepped in front of me, blocking my line of sight.

  “There’s nothing else for us here,” he said loudly. “It’s time to leave.” His eyes begged me to leave. They were pleading with me not to reach for the knives.

  If I did, the kings would die, but so would some of us. Knights surrounded us on all four sides.

  There was no escape.

  “We’ll leave,” I said, clenching and unclenching my fists to release the buildup of tension in my body, “in two days. My people need rest. Grant us safe passage out of Trella.”

  “Granted,” the King of Trella said. “Only because I feel sorry for you.” Sorry, because he thought they would win.

  Xavier pushed me out of the room before my explosion,

  back turned towards the royal family.

  “Get your hands off me,” I said, pushing Xavier away as we walked to our chambers. Isabel fumed, walking ahead.

  “Adalia,” Jax walked faster, falling in step beside me, “we’ll figure something out. We always do.”

  “We lost men, Jax. We wasted time. If I hadn’t stayed at that damn island Amghadon, maybe I would’ve gotten here before King Adrean.” I stopped abruptly. “Yes, Xavier, you were right. You don’t have to rub it in my face.” Xavier and Jax both halted, turning back to look at me.

  I felt heat building up inside me. “This isn’t what I planned!” I slammed the base of my fist against a stone wall.

  “Adalia,” Xavier said, gently taking my throbbing hand, “things don’t always go as planned. We’ll find our way to work around it. We can keep training soldiers—”

  “It’s not enough,” I said through gritted teeth. “I know it. That’s why I came here myself. We can’t win, not without a miracle.”

  “We can’t win with that attitude.” The three of us turned to Isabel, who’d spoken for the first time in a while.

  “I’m only speaking the truth.”

  “Toughen up, Adalia. Where’s the woman of steel I know? We can do anything. You can do anything.”

  “I need to be alone for some time.” I opened the door to my huge chambers, suddenly feeling sick at the sight of it. “I’m sorry. Don’t worry, and don’t stray too far.” I walked inside, shutting the door behind me.

  I sat on the bed, putting my head in my hands. We’d wasted so much time, so many lives. Who knew if we could even make it back? There were so many dangers out at sea.

  We’d survived out of pure luck once. It was a risk to travel back alone.

  The door opened.

  “Please, I said I want to be alone.”

  “Adalia, shut up.” I looked up with a scowl.

  “Xavier, not now,” I moaned. “I can’t handle your bitterness at the moment. I have my own problems to deal with.”

  “Stop feeling sorry for yourself,” he said in an annoyed tone. “All you do is complain about how you don’t know what to do. How did you even survive with my father as long as you did?” He stepped down the three stairs that led to the door, making his way towards me.

  “Get out!”

  “You were a terrible assassin. No wonder you were in trouble all the time.”

  I got to my feet, pissed off at this point. “Shut the hell up. At least I didn’t fail my kingdom as a prince.”

  Xavier smirked. “At least I didn’t get myself in the middle of a four-kingdom war. I knew this was going to happen. That’s why I removed myself from the equation long ago.” He stood right in front of me, waiting to see what I would do.

  I grabbed him by his collar, wrapping his shirt in my fist as I scowled right into his golden eyes.

  “I despise you.”

  “Me too.”

  He leaned down, and, catching me completely off guard, kissed me. I was completely shocked. Flustered. Angry, but not angry. My heart thumped in my ears as he pulled away.

  “You should wear dresses more often.”

  I stared at him, lost for words. He looked flustered himself.

  “Have some faith,” Xavier said, pulling me towards him.

  “I could tell the King about Cyprian,” I said through the fabric of his shirt.

  “Would you? What good would that do?” he said, his

  cheek against the top of my head.

  “We’d do a trade. An alliance for the location of his son.”

  “We could try.” He stayed silent for a while. And then suddenly, he let go of me, holding me at an arm’s length. Disappointed, I lowered my arms.

  “What is it?”

  “The weapon,” Xavier said, a glint of excitement in his eyes. “What if we look for the secret weapon that old pirate told you about?”

  The idea was so obvious, I couldn’t believe I hadn’t thought of it sooner.

  “How do we know it really exists?” I asked.

  “We look for the other piece. If it exists, the pirates weren’t lying.”

  “They’ll catch us stealing from them. Their men are on board our ship, and they will only let us leave the island in turn for the missing half of what the King of Archaon wrote.”

  “We fight our way through, Adalia. That’s what we’ve always done.”

  “Fine. Even if we do that, where would we start?” I crossed my arms over my chest a matter-of-factly. “Have you seen this castle?”

  Xavier stared at me dumbly. “The library. For obvious reasons.”

  Of course. The library.

  There was still a shred of hope left.

  TWENTY THREE

  I watched Xavier look through the bookshelves, taking a book out one at a time, hoping to find a piece of a hidden document somewhere. Eventually, he took a step back, annoyed.

  “I was wrong. This library is bigger than one level of my—Astodia’s—” he quickly corrected, “castle.”

  “Oh, really? I didn’t notice.” I really hadn’t. I couldn’t take my eyes off him. It was like I was seeing him differently, now, although I couldn’t describe the feeling.

  I tore my eyes away him, turning to Jax who’d climbed up three set of stairs, looking through the topmost shelves.

  “Have you found anything?” I called up, cupping my hands around my mouth to amplify my voice.

  “If you needed information on how to scoop horse manure without making a horse angry, then yes. I found a whole row on useful information.”

  I sighed, turning to Isabel. “Isabel, have you found—Isabel!”

  She lay on a sofa, legs draped over one arm and head resting on the other as she snored softly. Isabel jerked awake as my voice.

  “Huh . . . what . . . ?”

  “You’re supposed to be helping!”

  She sat up, wiping drool from the corner of her mouth on

  the back of her hand, blinking sleepily.

  “Sorry, the sofas here are just so comfortable.”

  I clapped my hands together. “Focus, Isabel. Get up. This is our last chance not to go back empty-handed.”

  “Why would we find an important document in a book?” Isabel groaned, getting to her feet. She walked to one end of the library, starting there.

  I was in charge of looking through all the ancient documents. Shuffling through shelves, I had to sit and read painfully through each one.

  Surprised, I held one up. “You know if you steal, they cut off your hand here?”

  “In Dystalphi you’re hanged,” Jax called back.

  “According to this book, fae existed hundreds of years ago,” Xavier announced. “I heard they were extremely beautiful.” He shot me a teasing smile.

  “Shut up.” I rolled my eyes, looking through another stack of papers.

  “Jealous?”

  I scoffed, earning a snicker from Xavier.

  “Oi, this says magic used to exist a thousand years ago,” Jax said, leaning over the railing. He tossed the book down and I caught it. “Page one hund
red and sixty-four.”

  The spine of the book was titled Drakonian Lore. I flipped to the page Jax said, starting to read aloud:

  “Before our time, magic existed in two forms. There was spiritual magic; one you felt in your bones, breathing through the pores of your skin. Witches possessed this type, and although they gave one great power, all magic was dark. Spiritual magic was passed down through bloodlines—if you didn’t come from a family of witches, you couldn’t learn it. If a witch was suspected of dealing with dark magic, they were

  burned at stake.

  “Physical magic appeared in the form of creatures. Although rare, faeries existed, living in the canopies of trees. Elves roamed forests and exceeded at archery, and hairy beasts ate whole humans for breakfast. Serpents slithered through the ocean, destroying ships with nothing but their powerful jaws and razor-sharp teeth.

  “Although all of these creatures were widely feared, the most dangerous one was by far the drakon.”

  “I’ve heard from many sources that drakons once existed,” Xavier said, taking a seat on the floor to listen to the story. “When I was little, Mother used to tell us about people who conquered drakons.”

  “I remember,” I said softly. “But they’re all myths. I’d love to see a faery, but if they ever existed, someone would’ve been bound to find proof, or remains of some sort.”

  “Continue,” Xavier urged.

  I cleared my throat. “The most dangerous one was by far the drakon. Drakons were different from dragons, more serpent-like, and a millennium older. Some said the drakons were two-headed. It is ‘known’ that they had two pipes running down their throat and into their belly, where they breathed fire from. The heat was more scorching than any fire one had felt, almost as hot as lava.”

  “So it’s a living, breathing volcano,” Isabel said with a weird look. “I don’t believe these things. There’s no possible way mankind could destroy such creatures.”

  “Someone from Trella definitely wrote this,” Jax called. “Their flag is a two-headed drakon, and their knights are called Drakans, for goodness sake.”

  “Well, what else does it say?” Xavier asked, interested. He reminded me of a toddler, listening to a bedtime story. My heart warmed towards him even more than before, if that

  were possible. I scanned the pages, flipping to the next one.

  “That’s it. The next paragraph is about trolls.”

  “That’s perfect. Now we’ll finally know where Jax came from,” Xavier snickered, and Jax threw down a book, hitting Xavier on the head.

  “Ow!”

  “Focus!” I scolded. “Look at how much time we wasted reading about mythical creatures.”

  “Yes, mother,” Isabel mumbled, resuming her search.

  “I heard that.”

  We found nothing. The missing piece was nowhere. We spent the whole day looking through the shelves, picking out every book in order and flipping through the pages.

  Eventually, Jax just started taking out books, flipping them over and shaking out the pages in case the piece was hidden inside.

  Isabel had once again fallen asleep on the floor long before. I looked up to see Jax arm hanging through the balusters.

  “Xavier?” I whispered softly. He sat on the sofa, a book over his face. He grunted, turning to his side, the book sliding off.

  I was the last one awake.

  The only source of light were the candles we’d lit and my eyes were starting to ache. Slowly, inching towards him, I took a seat next to Xavier, letting his head rest on my shoulder.

  Suddenly, I froze.

  Someone was entering the library.

  My hand slipped to my waist, reaching for a weapon, when I realized I had no weapons. I muttered a string of curses under my breath.

  Footsteps got closer as I listened, alert.

  A dark shape came into view. The first thing I noticed were the deep blue eyes, resembling the ocean. The curls were next.

  “What are the four of you doing in the library in the mid-

  dle of the night?” Prince Theo asked.

  I held a finger to my lips. “My apologies, Your Highness,” I whispered. “They’re very tired.”

  “I understand.”

  He gave me a small smile, noticing Isabel who lay on a floor, a pillow under her head. Without making a sound, Theo walked towards her, taking the book from her outstretched hands. Gently, putting one arm under her knees and the other below her neck, he lifted her up, taking her to the long, plush sofa. The prince lay her down slowly. Then he turned to me.

  “You didn’t answer my question. Why are you at the library in the middle of the night?”

  Xavier moved his head from my shoulder to my lap. I felt a blush rise up my face.

  “We were looking for something.”

  “What kind of something?”

  “Do you have, by any chance, a torn piece of paper with a location written on it, Your Highness?”

  Well, I had nothing else to hang onto. That was my last shot.

  “No,” he shook his head.

  “It’s alright. That’s what I was expecting, anyway.”

  “But,” he continued, “It sounds like something important. Important things usually stay in my father’s study. Not that I’ve been in there but . . . I should know.”

  I eyed him carefully, resting one hand against Xavier’s ear. “Why should I trust you, and why would you tell me

  this?”

  “We’re not all our father,” he said with a shrug.

  “You surely didn’t say a word when we were betrayed. The King didn’t even send us a message telling us a decision had already been made. He purposely let us cross the waters. We lost most of our men.” I watched his features change, turning embarrassed. “When did this ally even form?”

  “Months ago. So yes, you’re right. He did it on purpose.”

  I shuddered. “I need to leave this place.”

  “Don’t we all,” he said with a sigh. “Which is why Cyprian tried to leave, only to get lost somewhere.” I let my eyes fall to Xavier’s sleeping face, fingers curled in against my thigh. “You know where he is, don’t you?” Theo asked quietly.

  My head shot up. I studied his eyes—there was no use lying.

  “What gave it away?”

  “Your reaction to his name, twice now.”

  “I’m good at hiding my reactions,” I said, raising my eyebrows.

  “Which means you wanted one of us to figure it out.” I didn’t reply, waiting for him to go on. “Well, I’m relieved he’s alive.”

  “Don’t you want to know where he is?” I asked.

  “Me?” he laughed. “No. But Casimir might, which is why I won’t tell him. Cyprian needed his freedom. If you know where he is, I’m guessing he was free enough to have a choice to come back. But he didn’t. I won’t push it any further.”

  “I understand.”

  “I’ll leave you be. Your eyes are tired. Get some rest.” Theo looked at Isabel’s sleeping form, and then turned to leave.

  “We have one day left,” I said the next morning, taking a

  bite of roast deer. “Are you all going to help in my attempt to sneak into the King’s study?”

  “Lower your voice,” Isabel hissed, elbowing me.

  I rubbed my bruised arm, scowling.

  “What if we get caught?” Jax asked. “I’m too young to die here. I’d rather die in a battle of ten against one.”

  “Are you one of the ten?” Xavier asked. “First to go, then?”

  “If you win against me in arm-wrestling, I’ll help,” Xavier said, chewing on corn. He put his elbow on the table, his hand open, waiting for me to take it.

  I grabbed it with a smirk.

  “Three, two, one. . .” Jax counted down, “begin!” Our hands stood still.

  “Well, what are you waiting for?” Xavier asked, when none of us moved first.

  “You first,” I said, adjusting my grip on his fingers.


  “Why should I push first? So you can tire me out?”

  Isabel groaned. “This is why these two should never play games together.”

  Well, I would win anyway. I pushed against Xavier’s arm, keeping my elbow on the wooden table. Xavier rolled his eyes as if it didn’t make a difference, blowing coolly on the nails of his other hand. Scowling, I pushed harder.

  Isabel, bless her for I didn’t want to say anything I would regret, poked me in the waist, trying to tell me to put my all in it. I jumped, and in that second, Xavier slammed my wrist against the table.

  “Rematch,” I said, shooting out of my seat. My knees hit the back of the bench, causing it to scrape against the ground. “That wasn’t a fair game.” I turned to Isabel who stared at me, and then the bench I’d pushed back—the one she was

  sitting on. “Can’t you keep your hands off me for a minute?”

  Isabel stared at me, deadpanned.

  Suddenly, Jax burst into laughter. Xavier joined in. The ex-prince threw his head back, guffawing.

  “What?” I asked, annoyed, taking a seat.

  “And this is why you never play anything with Adalia.” Isabel took a nonchalant sip of mead. I sat back, crossing my arms over my chest.

  “It doesn’t matter if I won or lost. We’re still going to find the study.”

  “You seem pretty sure there’s something there,” Xavier said, sitting back in his chair. He stretched his arms. “Did you get some sort of an overnight revelation?”

  “You all remember Prince Theo, right?” I said, turning in my seat at an angle to face all three of them.

  “Green eyes?” Isabel frowned.

  “Blond or brunette?” Jax asked, trying to remember.

  “Tall or short?” Xavier added to the confusion, mischievously.

  “No,” I frowned at them. “Brunette, blue eyes.”

  “I think so,” Isabel said, tapping her chin. “There’s just so many of them.”

  I tapped the table with my silver spoon. “He came to the library last night while you all were asleep. I asked him where I would find an important document—”

  “You what?” Jax asked, leaning forward, his eyes disapproving. “I think you may have forgotten, but everything is treason here.”

  “They’re not all like their father,” I shot back, “or at least, according to Theo.”