by Jack Whitney
Aydra’s heart skipped. “What do you mean?”
“I mean… You were you, and then there was a few weeks when you were a lot happier, and now these last couple of weeks… I’m—I’m not sure. You seem sort of… sad.”
Aydra had thought herself well at hiding the things her core dared not show even herself. “Blame it on the pressures of the kingdom,” she sighed, giving her sister a forced smile.
A small smirk rose on Nyssa’s lips at her sister’s lie. “You know, Dorian told me a secret. He said you met someone.”
Aydra’s lips pressed together thinly. “Dorian exaggerates,” she mumbled. “Besides, it doesn’t matter. He and I had a fight. It’s over. I don’t know that he’ll ever want to speak with me again.”
“I doubt that’s true,” Nyssa argued. “It’s you.”
Aydra sighed and settled back onto the blanket they’d brought with them. Nyssa sank back down beside her, and Aydra wrapped an arm around her shoulders.
They fell asleep talking about the stars that night.
The week before the great meeting came the Belwark Trial day.
Lex had been excited about it for weeks, training with Dorian and Aydra on their downtime to keep her skills sharp. She wasn’t expected to participate, but she’d volunteered to be one of the opponents Belwarks would fight to climb in their ranks. She and Rhaif’s Second, Bard, were, after all, the fiercest fighters in the kingdom. If any lower ranked Belwark could take either, they would be put forth as contenders for the prince or princess to choose as their Seconds.
There were ten fighting for the role of Dorian’s Second that day.
Lex was already standing outside Aydra’s door when she was ready. Aydra’s hair was braided back on one side, the gold of her crown sitting in the thickness of her curls. She’d picked an outfit the day before that she felt represented her own Second well— thigh-high lace-up black boots, a fitted sheath dress that hugged her curves and landed just above the boots on her thighs, leather braces and small belts wrapped around her waist, and a garter to hold up the thick cotton stockings above her boots. Her black leather belt hung low on her hips— her sword dangling against her exposed thigh. The matching cotton arm sleeves pulled from over her hands up to the inner of her biceps. She’d found a single shoulder pad, adorned with spikes. The long black cape billowed behind her when she walked.
“Well, well,” Lex said, brows raised as she pushed off the wall, “Didn’t realize you were competing as well,” she added with a wink.
Aydra forced a smirk to the surface from inside her depleting core. “Thought I would show my support for my favorite person, let the greenhorns know who they’re truly challenging today.” She reached out, stroking her finger on the pointed winged shoulder pads Lex adorned on her shoulders. “I do love these.”
Lex smiled at her. “As do I.”
Nyssa met them on the next hall, and Lex and Aydra both stopped in their tracks upon seeing her. She was wearing knee high boots with buckles, slim navy pants, a brown corset wrapped tight around her petite waist above her hips, creating a silhouette Aydra had rarely seen on her sister. The navy shirt she wore sat off her shoulders, dark brown fur along the trim, long snug sleeves wrapped with small brown belts around her arms. Her sword dangled on her hip as Aydra’s did. Her hair was pulled halfway up, tiny braids on either side of her head. Her thick sideways bangs swept over her left eye, and she was adjusting buckle on her arm when she saw them.
Nyssa’s cheeks reddened upon catching their eyes, and she shifted the weight on her feet. “It’s too much, isn’t it?” she asked shakily.
Aydra’s eyes traveled over her sister’s attire, feeling a smile rise on her face. “Did you pick this out or Dorian?” she asked.
Nyssa fumbled with her sleeve, avoiding Aydra’s gaze. “I did.”
Aydra stepped forward. “I love it.”
Nyssa’s honey orbs lit up, and her chest swelled with a great inhale. Aydra ran her hand through Nyssa’s hair, giving it a fluff over her shoulders and taming the strays that had fallen out of her braids. She reached for Nyssa’s black and gold tiara, straightening it in her thick cinnamon hair.
“Chin up, shoulders back,” Aydra told her. “Don’t let them see you fumble or blush. Everything you do is on purpose. If you trip, you meant to. If you stumble on words, you meant to. You are their next Queen. Make them remember it.”
Nyssa swallowed hard and gave her a deliberate nod. “Right,” she managed.
“Just channel your inner Aydra,” Lex said with a wink as she came to stand beside them.
Aydra’s brows narrowed back at her. “What does that mean?”
Lex smirked down at Nyssa, and Nyssa grinned a grin Aydra hardly recognized.
Aydra’s eyes darted between them. “I leave you two alone for ten days and suddenly you’ve inside jokes,” she mocked.
Lex chuckled under her breath. “Come on. You’ll both make me late for my fight.”
The stadium was high on the cliff east of their castle. The road around the castle walls was steep. Dreamers and Belwarks both made the trek up the path and filled the great seats. Aydra and Nyssa entered the stadium to their platform. The crowd gave a great cheer upon their entering. A few of the Village Nobles had made the journey, each giving bows and widened eyes upon seeing the pair reach where they would stand. Shortly behind them approached Rhaif and Dorian. A wide smile was spread on Dorian’s face as he waved at the jeering people, as the day was for him, after all.
Aydra swore he was getting taller by the day.
She turned her attention to Lex standing at her side, watching her Second as she examined her sword in the bright glint of sunlight coming down on them.
“Are you sure about this?” Aydra asked her.
Lex whirled her sword in her hand, staring out at the coliseum. “Looks like a good day to slit kneecaps, don’t you think?” she answered with a coy brow.
A deep breath entered Aydra’s lungs, and she nodded. “Yes it does.” She gave her Second a deliberate once over, allowing a smile to rise on her lips. “Show them the ferocity they’ll need to be worthy of the Second Sun position.”
Lex winked at Aydra one last time before turning on her heel and going back down the steps towards the tunnel entrance.
The words Rhaif spoke as he announced the trials, Aydra barely heard. Her raven landed on her shoulder, Nyssa’s eagle on the banister. The crowd cheered upon his announcing Lex as the champion volunteer. Her reputation preceded her, and Aydra’s chest swelled with pride.
Dorian’s figure came to stand beside she and Nyssa, and Dorian pressed a goblet of wine into her hands. Aydra glanced sideways at him. She noticed how calm he seemed, the cool of his white blue gaze staring at the rumble of people around them, smile spread over his growing features.
“For someone who’s Second is being chosen, you certainly are calm,” Aydra muttered to Dorian.
“It’s Corbin,” Dorian muttered as he pressed the goblet to his lips.
Aydra felt her brows narrow. “Come again?”
“Discussed it with Lex yesterday,” he answered. “I want Corbin. He’s of your company and not Rhaif’s. He’s trained beneath Lex on more than one occasion. He’s bold, brave, loyal…” He paused a moment, the pair watching the Belwarks warm up and stretch around Lex below them. “These trials are simply a formality on this round. Something to keep the people entertained.”
Aydra’s weight shifted as she stared at her younger brother. “Why are you growing up so quickly?” she mused.
Dorian smiled a crooked smirk at her. “Tell me, sister… why did your lover run off so hastily last he was here? Did you scare him?”
Aydra’s core froze at the mention of it, but she tried to brush it off. “You know me. Scaring is what I do best,” she managed.
The horns blew, and Aydra felt her weight shift. Lex crouched in the middle of the Belwark circle, eyes darting around her as she dared each of them to storm at her.
; “Are you nervous?” Nyssa asked her.
“About Lex fighting? No,” Aydra said fast.
Nyssa raised a brow up at her. “You’re a terrible liar.”
“Shut up,” Aydra grumbled. “As are you.” She pushed her arms behind her back pointedly and watched Lex as she moved, knees bent, sword drawn. “Pay attention to how Lex remembers where each of them are at all times,” she told Nyssa. “She’s no powers of an eagle or otherwise to tell her where her enemy is approaching from. She must use her senses. When you fight, you’ll have your eagle—” Aydra reached a finger up to her raven, giving it a scratch under its neck “—she will watch out for you, let you know from what side your enemy is approaching.”
The fight began, and the shouts of the Belwarks echoed in the air.
Swords clashed. Some fought with each other, each of them charging at Lex on their own time. Lex was fast. She dodged and moved from their advances, bouncing around them and then running at the ones who annoyed her with sweeping glances.
“Do they ever use bows in Belwark trials?” Nyssa asked.
“I’ve never seen it,” Aydra answered. “How are you doing with your training?” she asked, having been absent from her sessions since before the last meeting due to helping Lex prepare for the trials.
“Fantastic,” Dorian said from the other side of her. He beamed around Aydra at his sister, and Nyssa shook her head at his proud face. Aydra smiled at the tug Nyssa had on her lips, biting back the grin that threatened her lips.
“He’s exaggerating as usual,” Nyssa argued.
“She’s being modest,” Dorian muttered. “Should have seen her yesterday on the cliffs. Firing arrows three at a time now.”
Aydra’s smile widened at her sister. “Perhaps I’ll join you tomorrow. See how much your brother is truly exaggerating.”
“No—”
Brows raised on Aydra’s face. “You don’t want me to come?”
“It’s not that. It’s just…” Nyssa tucked her hair behind her ear, and Aydra could see her chest beginning to heave. “I mean—”
“She thinks you’re intimidating,” Dorian butted in.
Aydra frowned between them. “What? Intimidating?”
“Shut up, Dorian,” Nyssa hissed through clenched teeth.
“Wants to be the best she can be before she shows you anything,” Dorian continued.
“I swear, Dorian, if you don’t shut your trap—”
“I’m quite sure she thinks you’ll disown her if she’s a disappointment.”
The eagle screeched and fluttered its great wings in his direction.
Dorian balked at the beast. “Down, bird,” he muttered, shaking his hands at it.
Aydra took a long swig of her wine, using it to cover the laughter threatening her lips.
Dorian leaned closer to Aydra, whispering in her ear. “She also has a plan and wants to go back to the Forest so she can show up—”
Nyssa grabbed something on her side. The glint of iron in sunlight made Aydra snap into motion, but she wasn’t fast enough. A tiny sliver of silver rushed in front of her face—
Dorian caught whatever it was Nyssa had thrown between his flamed fingers.
“There’s my sister,” he grinned.
“What the Infi is going on down there?” they heard Rhaif hiss. “Behave yourselves!”
Aydra pressed her amused lips together and looked between her youngers. She took the weapon out of Dorian’s hand, noticing the proud smile spread across his features as he smirked at Nyssa. The weapon was not larger than her pinky. A small blade shaped like a feather, razor sharp at the tip and on the sides. Aydra handed it back to her sister, not trying to hide the smirk on her lips.
“Careful. We’ll make mother mad,” Aydra muttered, glaring at Rhaif over her shoulder.
Their attentions turned back to the fight below then, and they saw there were only five left to battle Lex. Lex knocked through the remaining ones, forcing two to yield. Aydra moved closer to the banister, out of line with her brother and sister, and she began to pace slowly despite herself at the sight of Lex beginning to tire. The last three in the stadium were nearly as fast as her.
“I thought you told me not to pace,” Nyssa muttered behind her.
Aydra took her finger out of her mouth and began to bite the inside of her cheek instead. “I lied.” She paused and wrapped her hands around her chest, forcing herself to stand stationary as she stared at the scene on the ground.
Lex was heaving, the scratch on her face showing the reddened ash insides of a Belwark’s core. The three left to yield were dancing around her. The final two would battle one another instead of her. She only had the one left to put on the ground.
Aydra knew she was favoring Corbin, trying to strike down the other two from Bard’s company.
Give her a reminder, Aydra told the raven.
The raven flew off the railing. It circled over the stadium and gave a chortle she knew Lex would hear. Lex straightened and cracked her neck, sword whirling in her hand again. The sun beat down directly on the stadium, light glistening off the iron.
Bard’s Belwarks charged at her. She blocked their advances and shoved them backwards. They were quick back on their feet. They gathered themselves up off the ground and rushed at her again and again. Corbin jumped in, taking care of one for her as Lex struck with the other. And when it was finally only she, Corbin, and the last, Bard bellowed a horn to cease the battle.
“Our final challengers for the title of Second Sun to the Prince,” Rhaif announced. “Belwark Corbin, and Belwark Jhost. A round of pride for our Queen’s Second, Hilexi.”
The crowd cheered loudly. Lex was doubled-over at the knees, but she jolted her sword high into the air upon hearing her name. As she walked off towards the tunnel entrance, Aydra gave her siblings a squeeze.
“Can you two not fight long enough for Corbin to be given the title?” she asked them.
“Where are you going?” Nyssa asked.
“Find Lex. Make sure she’s okay.”
Aydra gave Dorian one more ruffle of his hair and kissed Nyssa’s temple hard before turning and practically running out of the box. She skipped down the steps towards the tunnel, hoping to catch her Second before she went too far.
Lex was leaning against the wall, clutching at her chest as she tried to regain her breath. She did a double-take upon seeing Aydra approach, and a smile spread over her face. “You were worried,” she mocked.
“I wasn’t,” Aydra argued.
“Sending your raven to screech over my head says otherwise,” Lex grinned.
Aydra nearly laughed as she reached her. The scratch on Lex’s face was gaped open, but blood did not trickle from her insides. A look of fire poured from inside the wound, black ash around it like molten rock. Aydra reached out and took the sword from Lex’s hands, pushing it into her belt. She helped her take her shoulder pads off, and then she draped them across her own forearm.
As Lex straightened and finally regained her breath, Aydra wrapped an arm around her. “Come along, my Sun. I’ll make you food myself.”
“Should we wait on Corbin?” Lex asked.
Aydra glanced at the deteriorating battle going on still in the stadium. “Dorian can make his own Second victory food. I’m making my best friend a meal.”
“So raw carrots in bone broth?”
Aydra glared at her. “No,” she argued. “Thought I would try a Venari recipe. One of Balandria’s. Maybe I won’t burn them.”
Lex snorted.
“Shut up.”
CHAPTER FORTY-FOUR
IT WAS THE next Council meeting before she heard from Draven again.
The big Council meeting.
Every race from Haerland convened in one castle.
They’d even asked that the High Elders from the Blackhand mountains join them, as well as sent invitations to the Honest people instead of her simply hoping Draven would bring him.
Her nerves were already getting the b
est of her, and after not hearing from Draven, she was more than concerned about him simply not wanting to be with her. She worried for the peace they’d come to share, whether he would treat her as his equal as he’d done before or if a feud would start over dinner.
Aydra wondered if perhaps he’d decided to let her go.
Her stomach was in knots as the day of his arrival came. She hugged her arms around her chest and stared out of the window on that morn, desperate to see him come in on horseback.
“You’re being ludicrous,” Lex said, lying on Aydra’s bed and popping grapes into her mouth. “Draven isn’t stupid.”
Aydra frowned back at her. “What do you mean?”
“I mean, no man ever gets to know you, enjoys your company, and then runs away from you,” Lex replied.
“They do if they’re scared,” Aydra argued.
Lex huffed amusedly and shook her head. “This is the Venari King… Your match. Your equal. Your death of moons in the Noctuans’ eyes,” she said dramatically with a roll of her eyes. “I highly doubt you could scare him.”
Aydra raised a brow at her, and Lex chuckled.
“Right, okay, maybe you could scare him a bit, but—”
The door opened, and in walked Bard, his hands pushed behind his back. Lex sat up, and Aydra frowned from the window.
“Good morning, Bard,” Aydra said, crossing her arms over her chest. “To what—”
“The king wishes to see you in his study,” Bard said simply.
Aydra exchanged a look with Lex, and Lex stood from the bed.
“I’ll escort her—”
“I’m fine,” Aydra insisted, pressing her hand to Lex’s chest. Lex’s jaw tightened.
“I am coming with you,” Lex argued.
“No,” Aydra affirmed. “You will find my youngers and make sure they are ready for the meeting.”
“My Queen—”
“Now, Hilexi,” Aydra demanded.
Lex’s eyes softened, but she gave Aydra a bow nonetheless. “Yes ma’am.”
Lex left out the door, and Aydra turned to Bard with a forced smile. “Very well, Bard. Take me to him.”
