by Cara Violet
Deep in the most corner pocket of her heart, Julius was waiting. She’d felt it for him too, she’d realised it was love in her heart, but she refused to speak on it. If she had to shut every single person out of her life just to put Rivalex and her sister first, she would. And there was no way she would accept someone who left her with her dying parents to mourn them alone.
She stopped crying. “It would have never worked,” she said rationally and robotically. “We both know that. You hunger to be King—”
“And I will be.” He cut across her.
“Yes, and I cannot sit on that throne with you in Sile …” Her voice turning bitter, “but I’m guessing you can with another … that is why you remain here. That is why regardless of the way you feel; your obligation comes before anything else.”
He looked away.
“These are your choices,” Kaianan said curtly.
“I have responsibilities, Kaianan.”
“To the humanity of the galaxy, not to your parents,” she bit back.
“You wouldn’t understand,” he whispered.
“Your people killed my parents. What wouldn’t I understand?”
“I didn’t want that,” he said distraught.
“Then tell me how I don’t understand?” she said, watching him stare mechanically at his grey hands. Her agitation had turned to fury at his silence, she knew he could heal people—why in Holom’s name did he want to throw away all his divine gifts? Could he just be reasonable for once? “You are capable of system-wide reform, Julius, and you chose to remain in this outdated system to wield it. You are a Silkri Drake, the galaxy knows your capability. Why do you not acknowledge the strength you have?”
And then he grew volatile, standing up and pushing his chest out. “I have no idea why you’ve come here. I offered you a place next to me. I’m saying it again now. Come with me, Kaianan. Let’s start our new Rivalex. What are you waiting for? Be my queen.”
Kaianan tried to steady her voice, her hands were numbed and sweaty, she was looking for the courage to speak, she needed to lie, needed to tell him what he had to hear. “I can’t …. because …. I don’t love you.”
If someone had of taken a blade and slit his throat, that is exactly what he would have looked like, without the blood. Julius was wounded. Every muscle on his body was twitching. Kaianan could see the damage she had inflicted and wanted to scream.
“Love is not for those who play in shallow waters,” he finally spoke.
Kaianan swallowed. What was he saying? Why was he saying it? Was this the poem by Boku Jove? Was it the Neck Deep in Water poem?
“Do you think so little of me?”
He didn’t answer, he just walked across the room to her and held her against her shoulders. “When I am King, I will do what is best for my people. I’d advise you, to stay out of my way.”
The upset hit her as he spoke the words and let go of her.
“Why did you come all that way to Earth?” the questioned burned her lips. “Why did you stay with me? Why did you hug me?”
“You’ve chosen your life, Kaianan, you need to let me choose mine.”
“Who is your mentor? If you could give me that one truth?”
“You’ve got five minutes to leave.”
It wasn’t a joke this time, like it had been every other time on Earth. She stared at Julius’s hollow eyes and drawn cheeks. The torture had gotten to him. Inch by inch, scar by scar, he was coerced into doing what they wanted.
“I’m sorry, Julius. I want you to know that. I never wanted to come here and upset you.”
There was a knock at the door.
“Don’t worry about it,” he whispered.
The door opened. Kaianan moved behind the curtain before opening the window and climbing out.
“Addi,” Kaianan heard Caidus’s voice from inside, “shouldn’t you be ready by now?”
“Boku Jove,” Julius said out loud. “The Giliou foreseer. People trust him as their mentor.”
“What are you talking about?” Kaianan could hear Caidus’ confused voice as her heart pumped wildly in her chest, “just get ready!”
Kaianan hopped to the side of the building, out the window, a face full of streaming tears, knowing Julius had just told her his truth.
Chapter Seventeen: An Uninvited Guest
The snow fell lightly against her skin. Kaianan brushed off the tears that ran down her face. Perching on the roof above the Sile Mansion, Kaianan looked blearily out to the many buildings between the beaten roads of hard dark clay. With nothing of Miry-like beauty or bluestone to build with, the dwellings of cobblestone, black mortar and wrought iron, constructed from the deep mines of Sile, were dull and bland in comparison to Layos. Everywhere was deserted. Most likely at Julius’ coronation. Kaianan stared at the jet-black House of Swordsmanship. That was where Necromancer Arch Mages were trained. She then laid her eyes on the golden-shining, Silkri-worshipping Previle Temple.
She knew they worshiped the Silkri aura in that building; they worshiped the Necromancer that had brought it back, the Defeated King. The Necromancers hated her because she turned out to be the Rivalex Mark. Being here was probably a massive risk. But obviously one Boku Jove wanted her to experience. What sense did it make though? He was Julius’s mentor, and he was sending her on two completely different journeys? Did he send her back in time to redo everything? By her being here, did that mean Arlise was still stuck on Earth? Boku Jove wanted her to save lives, certainly this meant Arlise was still safe. Just thinking about Arlise after seeing Julius made her feel strange.
Maybe the foreseer did it to rub it in? Because if it was on purpose, well, she was hurting.
And what about that poem Julius had brought up? Kaianan had recalled it from childhood:
Love is not for those who play in shallow waters
Yet not all those that display caution are afraid
Love is for the divers who jump when the time is right
Yet not all that dive alone are searching for a mate
Love is for the brave who meet underwater
The rare few that see the depth is worth the while
Yet love can give those oxygen in the darkest ocean places
For the ones that seek it within themselves, will be the ones that make it
Love offers breath
Love offers life
Yet love can stab you like a knife
And if love sets those timid souls to drown, it is best to look around
The water settles at some point and peace will soon return
But it’s those brave souls who defy the waters assault
And overcome the assailing knife’s edge
They are those that are worthy to feel the emotion of the water wane
They are those that are also worthy to love, and love again
Neck Deep in Water, was a poem by Boku Jove. Kaianan had it somewhere in her room. It was one of her favourites. But why would Julius assume she was playing in shallow water? If anything, she was being cautious enough to know better. Not only was the timing wrong with him but he wasn’t willing to risk leaving his family on his own. The whole point of the poem, she thought, was self-love, was in the ability to dive alone. Wasn’t it? Or was what he was saying, was that she was actually a coward? And she was being overly cautious?
She dropped the questions; her brain was hurting.
She ran her hands through her knotty hair and took the opportunity to fix her topknot. She also tightened her leather boots. Every part of her was restored; back to how it was when she first left Rivalex. Clean black slacks, fresh white tunic, and solid orchid chestplate; a completely new and stable body, not like the one she’d left on Croone.
Kaianan exhaled and knew two things were clear. One, Julius was not going to be someone she could ever be with, and two, her sister was stuck on Croone, in dire need of rescue.
Nose twitching, Kaianan began coughing.
Foggy steam was wafting through the atmospher
e from somewhere. The mines of Sile in the distance, excavating metals daily—she’d nearly forgotten they existed. She turned her head around, taking her eyes over the deep shades of charcoal mortar against black cobblestone of the Sile Mansion and the huge charcoal pillars holding the black roof up around the building, including the four higher towers in the corners of the Mansion’s wings.
Then her eyes stopped in the courtyard between all four Mansion buildings.
In the snow-covered courtyard was a huge white marquee and outside of that were filling timber rows of noisy guests seating themselves in the courtyard for some sort of winter ceremony. The Necromancers were dressed in thick, coat-like dresses of fur, some the colour of wine stains and some black; men in formal dress robes, red uniform to black and grey patterned robes; and most of them were sniggering at one person out the front. Kaianan turned her body and got closer.
A red carpeted aisle ran in between the rows, and there were red roses bunched in bouquets at each row. It was red against white snow. The person at the front turned to look down the end of the aisle. Kaianan saw Julius in his red ceremonial robes standing in front of a red rose arch. Her heart started racing. This looked somewhat strange for a coronation.
King Elli Nermordis walked out and stood in front of the arch facing Julius, the crowd and the aisle.
Two bells, one after the other, suddenly chimed and Kaianan flinched in fright. When a few instruments began, brass sounds accompanied by wood, Kaianan nearly fell off the roof. The guests shuffled to their feet; the music grew in raucous rhythm.
Kaianan’s eyes kept staring. Then, a woman made her slow entrance into the courtyard.
The pieces were all together. This looked like a wedding. Julius was getting married.
In a low-cut dress of deep scarlet fur, the girl Kaianan remembered as Kydra, pranced down the red carpeted aisle. The dress ran the all the way to her ankles and wrists. Alone, she stalked down the aisle staring at each individual under a long red veil that covered her straight black hair, and after a few moments, she reached Julius. He had brought himself to face her and his cheeks spread in a broad smile.
The music stopped and they both knelt down on a small wooden board in front of King Elli. Elli gestured for the guests to be seated.
Kaianan crouched down on all fours, memorised.
The King began his speech, and conducted much of it away from the subject of matrimony, focusing heavily on the history of the Silkri Drake; the ability they possessed to be as powerful, if not more so, than the Felrin Liege with their control of the Siliou; and the fact that somehow the prophecy was to do with the forthcoming reign of the Necromancers.
After several minutes of this—Kaianan couldn’t take her eyes away the whole time—the King finally got back to the day’s topic.
“Rings are symbolic of eternity because they are circular,” Elli said, moving back to the two of them. “If you have them, would you exchange them now.”
Julius rummaged in his robe pocket and pulled out a ring and placed it on Kydra’s forefinger. She then did the same to him, with a thinner and lighter ring.
“I wish you strength in this union and leadership,” Elli said, “and may your union solidify and bless you both by the hands of our Ancestors of the Drake—they already have done, so far, by giving you each other.”
This was her confirmation. That was all she could take. Kaianan breathed out and decided that this was enough punishment. She’d gutted him with one invisible knife today and he’d done the same to her. The man who had told her he once loved her was marrying another woman. Deep inside her something was splitting. She realised she knew three things for certain, on top of not being with Julius in the future, he would be a married man when they met again.
The tears were surfacing, and angry, she refused to keep staring.
The only way forward right now was to get Jahzara to conduct her out and get back to her sister on Croone. She couldn’t believe how much time she’d spent hypnotised by Julius’ wedding.
With one last look at the couple, she wandered over to the quiet side of the building and slung her body down onto a balcony. She sighed as she landed, moved the curtain hanging over the internal doors sideways and assessed the lack of movement and activity within. Coast was clear.
She stepped through the unlocked door and entered an empty hallway, regarding the dark and ominous statues of Bones down the length of the corridor. She noticed the history in the paintings that hung on the black walls and the artefacts that stood beside the statures. She neared the end of the passageway looking for an exit. She had to take a second glance at a picture she had just passed on her left. She knew the woman in the painting almost immediately.
“Julius’s mother,” she muttered.
Oklenza Nermordis lay with long copious black hair along a Stav bed. She had a steely expression, and she was striking in the painting’s icy tone. Julius had her face shape and penetrating eyes. Kaianan inched closer, touching her hand across the rough canvas of the portrait.
A clatter behind her startled her. She hurried for the open door on the left. Sile guards approached from the right. She closed the door, leaving it open just a slither while they carried on down the hall. She breathed in quietly. There was muffled noise in the room off to her right side.
“This process always starts off with a cause, a just and rightful cause.” The words were faint but Kaianan could just make them out. She decided to get closer, slowly making her way through the dark-stained Miry furniture to the door. She peered in and saw Metrix stalk the balcony in the slight winter sunlight. Nake stood beside her, shaking his head.
“We cannot let this royal line pass through Sile. Silkri Drakes they are, but Addi—a leader, a sworn lover of the enemy—should be hung. They show compassion and feeling without discipline and order. The very ideology of what we stand for is lost. I will not let it go, not on my watch. I’d rather see the Silkri extinct then in the hands of those fools.” Another voice said.
That was Krivta, Kaianan thought.
“Caidus has a dirtier offence with the kept hostage of the Daem-Raal, Chituma. He beds with her, the Gorgon Princess,” Metrix contributed.
Chituma and Caidus have been exposed? Kaianan felt the urge to tell Julius, did he know this?
“We must act rational if we are to overthrow the Nermordis family.”
Metrix nodded to the General. “Julius and Caidus must both be killed: are we all in agreement?” She searched round the room. “That leaves the question, where will ruling lie then?”
“It will pass temporarily to me, then to Fenix. As a Skeletongrey he will have enough authority to keep the people in check.”
Kaianan couldn’t get a clear vision of Fenix.
“I will reinstate Sile to its former glory, terminate any ordeals in the making, and end the speculation of the Drakes’ playing down of weakness. The Skeletongreys have waited long to be in line for the Sile governance.”
Kaianan didn’t know the voice, so assumed it must be Fenix.
“And what of the King?” Kaianan could just see Metrix look to Nake and Krivta.
“It has been already taken care of. Within the hour, we will seek revenge in the very garden Elli Nermordis was knighted.”
Kaianan leant too far forward and the door creaked open.
“What was that?” Metrix said with her eyes darting around into the dark of the room.
Kaianan hurried for the door to the hallway, spilling out into the aisle, scanning left and right. She frantically made her way back past the statues looking for an exit. Where was the balcony she just came out of? The voices amplified. She swung open curtain after curtain and found no balcony. Then, when she opened a final one, she saw a giant windowpane. That would have to do. Unless she wanted to wait here and die by Necromancer torture, this was her only option.
She lifted herself up onto the wooden ledge of the giant windowpane and frantically shook the clasp. Drat, stuck.
“Find them! N
ow!” she heard the voice call from down the hall. The footsteps began to gather speed. Kaianan’s heart raced. She kept tugging on the clasp. She had had two near escapes on her life today and she was beginning to think her luck was coming to an end.
“Keep searching!”
With one more yank, the clasp finally gave way, hurling the window open in a flutter of cold wind. Impulsively, she swung her body over the windowsill, tried not to think about a fatal landing, closed her eyes, and flung herself off of the ledge.
She inhaled and exhaled, spiralling through the air at speed. How could she slow down? Was this it? She heard voices from the window. She squinted upward, General Krivta stood smirking in the window, watching ever metre of her descent. Was this the last face she was going to see before she broke every bone in her body? Highly likely.
Just before impact, she closed her eyes and unexpectedly the purple aura seized her, ‘porting her out mere moments before she made contact with the ground.
Chapter Eighteen: A Poisonous Matrimony
Kaianan’s purple sparking aura burst outward and back inward.
The force of wind through the Siliou winded her. Holding her stomach, Kaianan had crashed into the snow face first. She could hear screaming. She turned over, above her was the rose arch.
Her eyes widened. This was not good. She lifted her head up, Caidus, in his Necromancer form, was running for her and behind him, the rows of wedding guests, fat and skinny grey-haired faces scrutinised her. After a second, they deviated their eyes to someone beside her—Julius.
“Father!” Julius was screaming, “Father! Wake up!”
King Elli was slumped to his knees clasping his fingers around his throat to Kaianan’s left. He was making muffled noises like he was struggling to breathe. The guests were unsettled and screaming. Foam bubbled out of his mouth. Elli had his arms stretched out to Julius. His pupils were wide and the whites bloodshot.
