The Rising

by Kristen Ashley

  He blinked at her, for her words took him aback as he had not shared the Beast had, indeed, awakened.

  It came to him slowly that this was what many people said. It was akin to, “you looked like you’d seen a ghost,” but worse.

  And as sayings go, that one was true. He’d cope with a thousand ghosts before he again had to witness the Beast risen.

  “Tedrey?”

  He came back into their conversation when Moira called his name.

  “Did you hear me?” she asked.

  “I’m sorry?” he queried in return.

  “I was saying, as those villains were there for nefarious purposes, it obviously must be reported immediately as they are Go’Doan and they must be of this Rising.”

  “They were that,” he affirmed.

  She regarded him closely. “If this is so, I do not know why we need to go all the way to the Thicket when we can find a local constabulary and report to them. That is what King True wishes us to do.”

  “They were, er…higher ups in The Rising.” He was pleased with the words he shared that he did not have to lie.

  “And who were those who came up from the ground?”

  And again, he was pleased he did not have to lie.

  “I do not know two of them, but one was a Go’Doan priest.”

  He had found in the short time he’d been in Moira’s company, she was most canny, and she demonstrated this again by asking, “Is there something you’re not telling me?”

  And now Tedrey found that he could no longer utter an untruth.

  But for her sake, should she actually believe the true, but fantastical tale he had to tell, he could prevaricate.

  “I do not know who the woman was. But the man was not…right.”

  “Not right?”

  “I do not think he’s of magic. But I also do not think he’s strictly of the earth. What I think is, if you ever see him again, you must flee.”

  Her eyes flashed with what he was coming to know was an unusual display of fear from her before her shoulders straightened and she declared, “We will go with you.”

  “Moira—”

  “I was heading to market when they took me,” she announced.

  Tedrey felt his heart squeeze at the thought she was simply going about her business and she was thrown into a nightmare.

  She was not finished speaking.

  “Constance was in her own kitchen, baking bread. Terra and Irma were together, making apple butter and canning preserves for the winter. We were not safe in our own homes, living our own lives. The queen was killed at her son’s wedding. Our prince, nay…King True, who is the fairest man in all four realms, had a conspirator publicly disemboweled. I cannot say I disagree with this choice. I also cannot say I agree with it. I simply cannot say. My mother was not executed at my wedding. She died after being run over by an apple cart. She will never see me wed. But I someday wish to be wed, Tedrey, and I do not know what was happening in that clearing, what is happening in our realm. All I know is that the only place I feel safe right now is at the side of a man who could witness those atrocities, and when he has the chance to flee, he does not. He puts himself at risk and saves my life and those of others. That is where I have to be. So I am going to Notting Thicket…with you.”

  Tedrey stared at her, his system coursing with such profound shock at her words, he was unable to do anything but just that.

  When he had recovered enough, slowly, he turned his head and saw six other women staring at him.

  Not Moira.

  Him.

  And slowly, they all nodded that they agreed.

  “I have no coin,” he told them. “I have no weapon. We have no mounts, no food.”

  “You are good and right in a topsy-turvy world, and for now, that is enough for me,” Moira stated, apparently speaking for all.

  They were going to Notting Thicket.

  Tedrey and his women.

  As the decision had been made and there was no time to waste, he didn’t waste it.

  “Everyone, find a stone,” he instructed. “Then go to the wall. Quickly carve your name in it and state you are well, you are heading to Notting Thicket, and they can find you at Birchlire, seeking an audience with King True.”

  “Anyone who reads such a message will think us mad,” Constance noted.

  “Anyone looking, and I am certain loved ones are looking for you, Constance, will not care if you’re mad. They will simply see you are alive, and they will know where you’re going. And that will be all they will need not only to help them find you but give them hope.”

  Without another word, Constance did what the others were doing.

  She started searching the ground for a stone.

  Tedrey found his own stone and went to a section of dilapidated wood.

  He thought hard, but not long, about what he would write.

  And then he wrote:

  Faunus, The Rising is done. But the creature has risen. I hasten to Birchlire to tell King True.

  That was going to be the end of it, but he found himself turning back.

  Thank you for seeking me. I hope you find me, for I very much hope to see you again.

  He was not certain that Faunus was seeking him, though knowing Faunus, and Lorenz (as well as Nyx), he felt sure someone was. That noted, since he knew someone was, he was in little doubt it would be Faunus.

  He also wished he had not written that last part, at the same time he was glad he had. But once he did, he found he could not stop himself from going on.

  If something happens to me before you find me, know you had a place in my heart, tell Saturn he did too, and tell Lorenz and Nyx I died the man they made me, thus I did such with a clear head and a full heart.

  “Are you writing a tome?” Moira asked over his shoulder. “Or should we be away to Birchlire Castle?”

  “We should be away,” he said. “Please tell the others to prepare to go.”

  “We have naught but the clothes on our backs, Tedrey,” Moira pointed out. “We do not need to prepare.”

  “Teddy,” he corrected.

  “Pardon?”

  He glanced at the “tome” he wrote on the wall before he looked back to Moira.

  “My friends call me Teddy,” he told her.

  Her lips quirked and then she said, “Shake a leg…Teddy.”

  He smiled at her before he turned back to the wall, carved in a hasty “Teddy,” and then he gathered his women.

  After scanning the area outside with some intensity, they left the stables and Teddy took the lead.

  But as they moved out, Moira fell in step at his side.

  “I am sorry to hear your mother met with an accident that took her from you,” he murmured.

  “Good and right,” she mumbled in return.

  “Pardon?” he asked.

  “Nothing,” she replied, but then wrapped her fingers around his and walked much closer to his side.

  Teddy felt the warmth of her hand, but also so much more through her touch.

  Thus, he felt his head was positioned higher as he led them through the trees in the direction of Notting Thicket.

  He also curled his fingers around hers.

  And they were away.

  128

  The Ink

  Queen Elena

  Northeast Border

  THE ENCHANTMENTS

  I stood in the sun and stared at the open rift in the veil that we had not yet mended since it was rendered yesterday.

  It would be mended that night.

  I saw the new day was gray again in Airen, and threatened rain.

  I also saw the contingent of warriors guarding the fissure.

  Not their side and our side.

  Mingled.

  Nadirii warriors in their battle tunics and leg casings and Airenzian soldiers in their black leather.

  And last, I felt his approach.

  Only when he stopped to stand at my side did I turn my head to look up at him.

&
nbsp; “True,” I greeted.

  “Ellie,” he replied.

  We stared into each other’s eyes.

  I suddenly knew not what to say, and I blamed this on the fact that the last time True and I stood under the sun in The Enchantments, we were in love and hoping against all the odds that we would find some way to live our love in a world where that wasn’t possible.

  Not much time had passed, but much had happened in it.

  I was still in love, as was he.

  But not with each other.

  True broke our silence, whispering, “I would take you in my arms, your losses this grave, this fresh, to assure you of my friendship and support, and yet I feel I cannot.”

  “And now you know how I felt when you lost your mother.”

  He turned his body to me, lifting his hand to run his knuckles along my cheek.

  “True,” I whispered.

  And then I was in his arms.

  We held each other tight and it was again True who spoke first.

  “Ophelia will be missed.”

  “Mercy will be missed.”

  “Jasmine was…well, Jasmine.”

  A bubble of laughter surged up my throat and out my mouth, and I took my cheek from his shoulder to tip my head back and catch his gaze.

  “She was Jasmine,” I agreed.

  There was humor in his eyes, but it ebbed away before he said, “Tonight, during the ceremony, when it is released from its bounds down here, her spirit will restrengthen the veil that protects her sisters and she would be glad of that.”

  “I…I…”

  I could not believe I was about to say what I was about to say.

  But in that moment, the concept of the “us and them” that had been so long was extinguished now, as our soldiers stood intermingled after two days of battle side by side.

  As my heart was owned by their future king.

  And his heart was owned by my sisters’ queen.

  And for more reasons than the warmth and friendship I needed that I felt from his arms about me, I also needed True, the King of Wodell.

  A man whose instincts and integrity I admired.

  “I am thinking of not closing the rift…but creating two more.”

  True stared down at me.

  I continued, “Another to the west, to Wodell. And another to the south, to Firenze. And perhaps, if they find their ways to heal the wounds they have thoughtlessly rendered in their handling of The Rising, also a third to the north. To Go’Doan.”

  “Elena,” True murmured, openly astonished.

  “We cannot…we cannot…” I shook my head. “We cannot call on other peoples to change, to grow in hearts and minds, to accept each other, to accept us, without building our own bridges. Or in our case, breaking down barriers in order to create gates that can be closed, but they can be opened as well.”

  “This would speak a profound message, but I am not certain how it would be received by your sisters,” True remarked.

  “I would not keep them open for anyone to come in at will,” I told him, the plan taking shape as I spoke of it. “At least not in the beginning. We could create a sort of system. Documents required for entry. Petitions made where we will know the travelers’ reason for being here, and either grant it, or deny it. We could vet them. We could establish some kind of communication with Airen, Wodell, Firenze. Assess if someone has some kind of unsavory history with your constabulary or…something.”

  I petered out in the end, deciding he must think I sounded quite mad.

  “This would take a good deal of organization before implementation.”

  I gently pulled from his arms, turned, and standing in the warm sun as I looked to the rift between realms to see the gray beyond, I muttered, “It is foolhardy.”

  “I wouldn’t say that.”

  I again shifted my attention to True.

  “I’m simply saying it would be an onerous endeavor to take on, but not an unworthy one.”

  “I, well I feel like, something of this magnitude, I should, well…I should…”

  I was speaking to True.

  But I was also speaking to a king and what I was thinking of saying was outrageous.

  And would seem more so to a supreme ruler of a realm.

  “You should?” True prompted, his expression open and interested and so very True.

  “Put it to a vote,” I blurted. “Of the Sisterhood,” I went on to explain. “To see if they agree and support my plans.” When he said nothing, I murmured, “I sound mad.”

  “I’ve already begun forming a parliament,” he announced.

  I felt my lips part.

  “And so I can say in all earnestness that you do not sound mad, Ellie,” he told me. “You sound like you have been but days the queen of your people and yet you’re demonstrating precisely why your mother decided on you to guide her realm into the next generation.”

  “Do you believe she would be supportive of it?” I asked.

  “I feel she would have trusted you to do right by her sisters. And if you feel this is right in this time, yes. Definitely. She would have been supportive of it.” He glanced at the rift and back to me, and when he spoke on, his voice had lowered. “And it is right in this time, Ellie. Trust your instincts. Your mother did.”

  I drew in a deep breath, released it and settled in the relief his words brought before I looked over his shoulder to see Cassius approaching.

  True caught the direction of my gaze and twisted that way.

  When Cass arrived at us, he muttered, “True,” True muttered, “Cassius,” and then my intended not only claimed me in a hold about my neck which was strong and fitted my front to his side, he kissed the top of my head.

  Once he was finished laying this claim on me, I tipped that head back.

  “All right?” he asked me.

  “Yes,” I answered, my eyes narrowing on him.

  His lips twitched but he said no more and looked at True.

  “Any news?” he asked.

  “Of what?” True asked in return.

  “Of anything,” Cassius replied.

  “Naught. You?” True said.

  “Naught,” Cassius murmured.

  Cassius then sighed.

  I tried to pull a hint away, and Cass allowed it.

  A hint.

  Thus, it was then I who sighed and wrapped my arms around his middle.

  “What are you expecting?” I queried.

  “Two days, two campaigns,” Cass responded. “For the most part, they are not trained. They are not skilled. They have limited intelligence of our allegiances and our force, and that does not deter them. But they are organized, and they clearly have a plan.”

  “Calm before another storm?” True suggested.

  “My guess, yes. Thus, we also must plan,” Cass declared, his arm around my neck tightening for a moment before it relaxed again and he went on quietly, “Today is Jazz’s. It is Rose’s. Tomorrow, we will sit down and make decisions.”

  True nodded before he said, “Then now, I will leave you. Cass. Ellie.”

  “True, thank you,” I replied.

  “Any time, my friend,” he murmured, warmth in his gaze on me.

  He then jerked up his chin to Cassius, turned and strolled away.

  I watched but stopped doing this when Cass asked, “Why did you express gratitude?”

  I had my own question thus, I did not answer his and asked mine instead, “Was it necessary you lay claim to me in front of True? I mean, really, Cassius. I am yours, he is Farah’s. This possession you feel it necessary to relay—”

  “Cease speaking,” he ordered.

  I stood still in his hold, mostly so I wouldn’t do something stupid, like break free and punch him in his arm (or elsewhere), and instead I shared my ire at his command by glaring up at him.

  “Accept this, woman, it is the way it will be,” he declared.

  “Every time we’re around True?” I demanded.

  “Every time you
are around a man.”

  Every time I…

  What?

  I could not believe what my ears were hearing.

  “Have you gone mad?” I asked.

  “No.”

  “Every time I’m around a man you will stake your claim,” I stated to be certain I was hearing correctly.

  “I will amend,” he returned. “Every time you’re around a man who might wish to be between your legs, be that in the past, the present, or I might have some inkling he would consider this in his mind in the future. Others, such as those who prefer their own gender, those too old to remember what to do with a stiff cock or those too young to know how to use one, no.”

  “You have gone mad,” I decreed.

  He shrugged.

  I began to pull from him only to find myself pressed closer, but now we were front to front.

  “It is me, Ellie,” he informed me. “And you love me. So let it be.”

  “And what if I were to do this around every woman who might conceivably find you attractive, which is about seventy percent of all the realms, not including women who prefer their own gender, or little girls who have not yet learned the uses of men, but definitely including older women who likely never forget what a man can do with a stiff cock.”

  He grinned wolfishly down on me. “I invite your claiming at your leave, my queen.”

  I could only hold my glare for approximately three more seconds before I burst into such gales of laughter, I found myself collapsing against his chest.

  When I was finished, and I felt his lips against the top of my hair, his hold about me, it came to me he had not laughed with me, and I realized what he was about.

  He wanted me vexed, or frustrated, or amused.

  He wanted me anything but grieved.

  Oh, my Cassius.

  I turned my head and pressed my face into his chest as I rounded him with my arms.

  “Ellie,” he whispered into my hair.

  “It was good while it lasted, sweetheart,” I told him.