by H. L. Burke
Little things, odd things, about Kay presented themselves to her. The secret he’d told Vanya but said he was under oath not to reveal to her ... How he’d stopped Ivak from giving information about him. How he was able to negotiate with Vanya. How he obviously had rank amongst his peers in spite of his youth ... and how he’d spoken about the late queen with such tenderness—a queen who had ice blue eyes, eyes that she’d reportedly passed on to her son, Prince Olyn.
Arynne’s chest tightened.
Kay’s beautiful blue eyes had been the first thing she’d noticed about him. Had the truth really been staring her in the face this whole time?
“You all right?” Kay tilted his head to one side, gazing at her quizzically.
“Yeah, just considering what all this means.” She focused on her own hands.
“I understand. The idea of someone trying to kill you—it’s a lot to take in. Oh!” He reached into his pocket. “You dropped this when you passed out.” He extended his hand, now holding the fragment of starshard he’d given her. “It’s your own little piece of Frorheim. I thought you might want to keep it. Especially since we need to get moving again soon. I want to get you to the palace as soon as possible, where you’ll be safe.”
“Safe with Prince Olyn?” She took the starshard and rolled it between her fingers. The magic stirred her blood.
“Uh ... yeah.” His eyes darted away from her, focusing on the fire.
“Kay, do you think Prince Olyn will like me?” She scanned his face.
The corners of his mouth twitched. “I do.”
“But are you sure?” she pressed.
He smiled. “Yeah, I am.”
Her insides twisted. How could he be sure, though? How could he know what sort of woman Prince Olyn would like—unless he was Prince Olyn. Her heart raced. Of course a prince would want to pick his bride, not trust a random group of soldiers and politicians to do it for him ... oh, but why not tell her who he was?
A vow.
Kajik had flat out said there was something he couldn’t tell her due to a promise, and if King Evyd was as stubborn as Kajik said he was—and as disapproving as he also said he was—then who knew what kind of arbitrary restrictions the man might put on the prince ... her prince.
Butterflies took wing in her stomach. Was Kay her prince? The man she’d agreed to marry?
Hope twined around her heart. It wasn’t just that he could be Prince Olyn. She wanted him to be Prince Olyn. She wanted it so badly. It would explain so much, but it would also mean so much to have the man who had risked his life for her, who had laughed with her, who had stood up for her, to have that man be the man she was destined to spend her life with—destined to love.
Love ...
It had been an idea she’d put aside long ago as impractical for a princess doomed to an inevitable arranged marriage. Even bargaining to choose her spouse, she’d never hoped it would be a match that would promise love, merely freedom. However, now, looking at Kay and considering him as the prince, she could love him. In fact ... she might already love him.
Didn’t he make her feel all fluttery and silly when he smiled at her? Didn’t he make her feel safe and ... happy... he made her feel happy. He was a friend, which was more than she’d hoped to have in a spouse. Oh, but to think that he could be more made her heart swell to bursting.
She opened her mouth but immediately shut it again. What if she were wrong?
Fear gripped her ... but no, she couldn’t be wrong. What other explanation could there be for his strangeness and secrecy? Still, she’d wait. If he were the prince, he’d have to tell her when they reached the Starspire.
And when he did ... oh that would be the perfect moment.
Still trembling, she avoided looking at him, though she couldn’t help but be aware of him as he moved about their camp. He opened their two packs, dumped the contents upon the grass, and sorted through them. He picked each item up, examined it, and either put it in his pack or tossed it to the side.
“We should be able to cover the remaining distance to the Starspire before we need to stop to rest—I hope. If we travel over large sections especially.”
Arynne’s gaze shot to him. Remembering how Kay had collapsed after the jump through the dark valley sent a spike of panic through her. “I don’t want you to push yourself too hard. It could hurt you.
“I’ll be careful.” He gave her a winning smile, and for once she didn’t fight the fluttery feeling in her chest. He tossed an ice pick onto the pile of discarded items. “If we can lighten the packs, traveling will be less of a strain.” He considered a package of dry soup. “I just don’t want to leave something behind and then regret it.”
He finished his sorting and shrugged on his pack. Between the supplies he’d abandoned and what they’d already used up on their journey, he was able to fit all the items in one pack, hers remaining empty on the ground. “My plan is to walk to the far side of this valley, right up to the edge of the light, then travel along the first stretch of road. That way if the grimwolves are lying in wait just outside of the starshard’s radiance, we’ll skip over them—hopefully without them realizing it.”
“Makes sense. As long as you don’t wear yourself out.”
“I know what I can handle.” He winked.
She rolled her eyes. “Says the man who nearly killed himself traveling me away from the grimwolves.”
“Extreme circumstances.” His smile weakened at the corners.
“I won’t have you kill yourself to save me.” She stood and crossed her arms. “We get through this together.”
He let out a long breath. “Ideally, yes, but your safety is what really matters. My own well-being is secondary.”
“No, you matter too. Just as much as me,” she snapped.
His smile returned but different this time. His usually mischievous eyes had a quiet sobriety to them. “I’m so glad you’re ... you’re coming to the Starspire. The royal family will be better off for what you bring to it.” He offered her his hand. “We need to get started.”
Chapter Fifteen
At Kay’s suggestion, Arynne removed her outer layers of clothing and carried rather than wore them as they walked. While not as warm as Solea by a long shot, the temperature in the light of the starshard was pleasant and temperate.
“If you wear everything through here, you’ll be sweating long before we reach the edge. We’ll take a minute to gear up before we travel out of the light, of course.” He led her through the trees. “The road actually cuts through the valley—a little to the north of here, closer to the village, but I wanted to stay off it, just in case I’m right and someone is watching. We’ll meet up with it again once we’ve traveled. Then it’s a half moonnotch walk at most, around the foot of the mountain—honestly, if not for the mountain, you could probably see the Starspire from here. It’s bright enough to see from a great distance.”
After moonnotches of traveling through the snow, the warmth and light of the valley lulled Arynne into a dreamlike state. The soft grass and green trees gave off a sweet, fresh scent. Birds chirped in the distance.
“Is the Starspire like this?” She waved her hand before her.
“It’s far more built up. Other than a few tracts set aside for crops and animal grazing, it’s all stone streets and houses—though most homes keep a garden as well, so you’re never far from plants and flowers.” He rubbed at his beard. “For the most part, us Frorians live in the shelter of the Starspire, but you have a few small villages scattered about the various larger starshards and a fishing and hunting settlement at the edge of the Grinding Ice—that’s a large inland sea, mostly frozen over, but there’s a patch of it filled with ever-shifting chunks of ice, some small as pebbles, others large as mountains. There’s enough access to the water for fishing, for humans but also marine mammals and birds. Some people live there starcycle round. Hard life, but they manage. There’s also a mining colony, heated by fires from deep in the earth, about a moonnotch south of the Starsp
ire—so while most Frorians live in the light of the Starspire, it’s not all of us.”
“How many folk live at the Starspire?”
“Several hundred—though I don’t think we’ve ever done an official census, at least not in my lifetime,” he said. “I like to say that we’re a large enough community that not everyone knows everyone else’s name, but it doesn’t stop them from somehow knowing everyone else’s business.”
The tree to their right shook. Kay grabbed her arm, and they both paused. After a moment, a strange, mewling sound rose from within the branches.
Kay grinned. “Oh, I’ve got to show you this.”
He crept towards the tree, mimicking the sounds as he went. Arynne stood back, head tilted, wondering what he was about.
Whatever creature was in the tree, it echoed Kay’s vocalizations, an odd sort of cooing mixed with a caterwaul. Then, when Kay was within arm’s reach of the fir’s thick branches, the tree trembled from top to bottom, and a great bird with a wingspan of brown feathers as wide as a grown man’s armspan glided from the tree onto the grass before Kay.
The creature landed, stretched out two long front legs, and eyed Kay with large, amber eyes.
Arynne gaped. Though the creature had the wings of a bird, it had the front legs, tail, and head of a cat. It now sat, tail twitching, considering Kay with a shrewd gaze.
“It’s ... a cat-owl?” she stammered.
“Meowl. I told you about them, remember?” He put forth his hand. The meowl crept forward and sniffed his fingers.
“I thought you were joking.” It was a lovely creature, with elegant feathered wings as well as feathers on its chest and back, but with all the grace and beauty of a feline as well.
The meowl rubbed up against Kay’s fingers then stretched its wings and returned to the air. After circling the two humans twice, it disappeared into the trees again. Arynne smiled. For all its harshness, Frorheim had its share of beauty and wonder.
Though Kay had already explained and exhibited the strange way starshard light diffused over an area, how the light spread throughout the zone, not being brighter near the great crystal in the middle of the valley nor growing dimmer as they approached the edge, still gave her a vague feeling of not really unease but strangeness. There was nothing evil in the way the light spread, nothing frightening, but it was still odd.
When they left the fir forest and found themselves in a sloping meadow leading up to the darkness beyond, she got her first real look at the boundary between the dark and the light. It looked almost like a shield or a barrier, shimmering and white, but in a hazy, transparent way. The fields of moonlit snow beyond were unobscured.
She drew back. Would crossing through that hurt? Would it burn?
Kay, however, strode confidently to the barrier. “Let’s get geared up. I’ll travel us through as soon as we’re ready, so we don’t have time to start sweating.” He shrugged off his pack and started to don his outer garments: woolen gloves, a thick coat, an outer cloak with a fur-lined hood. Arynne copied him, and soon they were both similarly clothed. Last of all they strapped on their snowshoes.
She nodded to the barrier. “What’s it made out of? Is it solid?”
“Pure magic, and no. It keeps in heat and light, but doesn’t prevent passage through for much else. Even wind and snow can pass through it, though the wind loses its chill and the snow melts to rain upon contact with the magic.” He paused and tilted his head to gaze at her. “You want to touch it?”
A tremor ran through her, and she almost quailed away. Embarrassed that he might see her hesitancy, she instead straightened her posture and strode forward. She extended a gloved hand towards the barrier, and magic sparked at her fingertips, that same strange magic that had crackled around her in her dreams, that she felt when she handled the small starshard Kay had given her—or when Kay used his magic around her.
The shield of light rippled then bent towards her touch.
Kay arched an eyebrow. “Interesting. I’ve never seen it do that before, at least not to someone who isn’t a starcaster.”
“What kind of magic is it?” she whispered. “It feels different from mine.”
“I guess it’s whatever starcasters use.” He slipped his pack over his shoulders again. “They’re the only ones who can manipulate it, anyway. Still, even if it is different from yours, it definitely responds to you. I’ve never seen it do that with a traveler, mender, or seer.”
“It sings to me somehow.”
“Well, that’s a good sign. Prince Olyn is a starcaster, and the heartbond will be more likely to work if your magic is compatible.” His gaze dropped to his feet, and he cleared his throat. “We really need to start moving. The longer we linger at the edge, the greater the chance the grimwolves will pick up our trail.”
Pulling her hand away from the tantalizing magic, she pushed her fur-lined hood back over her head. “I’m ready.”
He gripped her arm, and the world blinked around them. Cold wind smacked her in the face, and she fell against him.
“Easy!” He grasped her by the shoulders and helped her stand upright again.
She glanced behind him. The starshard valley glowed like a beacon on the horizon, farther away than she’d expected. She examined Kay’s face for signs of stress. “Are you all right?”
“Fine,” he said lightly, though his shoulders slumped. “Come on. We’ve got a long walk ahead of us.”
Under the light of the silvery moon, they pressed onward. Arynne tried to engage Kay in conversation, asking gently probing questions about his family and upbringing which he sidestepped as lightly as any dancer. Frustrated, she finally gave up and focused on their hike. They developed a system of walking for a while, then, whenever Kay felt up to it, traveling over the next gap. After each session of traveling, she would check to make sure he wasn't fatigued. While he occasionally looked winded, he seemed to be capable of continuing onward.
As they traveled, the wind picked up, and Kay started glancing nervously at the sky. Dark clouds drifted in, covering the brilliant, star studded heavens.
Arynne swallowed. “What is it? You look anxious?”
He let out a long breath that fogged before him. “I think we might be in for a storm. We need to move faster. If at all possible, I want to be at the Starspire before it starts to snow.”
They managed to travel twice more before the gray pall consumed the sky, cloaking them in darkness. Arynne brought out her starshard fragment again. It cast a circle of light around them, allowing them to keep track of the road markers which still stood as silent sentries along the route.
The wind spit cold flakes of snow into Arynne’s face. She flinched but shrugged it off. After all, what was a little snow?
“Maybe we should take another jump.” Kay squinted into the darkness. Without the moon and stars to light their way, they stood in an unending sea of shadow.
“You just traveled!” she protested. “It’s too much of a risk.”
The wind howled about them, nearly blowing them off the path. Arynne cringed against Kay.
“Keep your head down,” he ordered. “Hopefully this blows over quickly.”
It did not.
Arynne consented to him traveling again, bringing them to the top of the nearest hill. As they settled, a gust of wind pushed them both into the snow. The starshard fell from Arynne’s hand. Panic surging through her, she dove for it, fishing it out of a snowdrift and cradling it close to her chest. The area around her blurred into a world of white.
Kay? Where was Kay?
“Kay?” she yelped but found her voice carried away by the blizzard. She was just with him. They’d been side by side after they traveled, before she’d gone after the starshard. They had to be close, but she couldn’t see him. She couldn’t see anything. “Kay?” she wailed.
A hand grabbed her shoulder, and she shrieked.
“Easy!” Kay shouted above the gale. “Let’s try to get down the slope. There should be les
s wind in the shelter of the hills.” They stumbled along the path. Arynne stretched her hand with the starshard as far as she could before her body, hoping they could track the road markers and avoid losing the path. A tingling magic rose through her, rushing down her arm like warm water and into her hand. The starshard’s glow increased. She shot Kay a glance, but he avoided her eyes.
More starcasting, Kay? Or should I say Prince Olyn?
A smirk crept across her face, and she opened her mouth to say something only to have a gust of wind push her into Kay.
“Easy!” He caught her. “You all right?”
She managed a nod. The blast of wind had pushed her hood from her head. She fumbled trying to get it back in place, but snow already stuck to her braids. Kay brushed at her head to help her dislodge the flakes, though ice and snow likewise stuck to his gloved hands. She yanked her hood over her head and face. However, the damage was done. Cold water dripped down her neck as snow melted under her hood. Afraid to draw heat from her core with her own magic, she focused on the starshard, holding it close to her chest and imagining the warmth of its light chasing away the swiftly growing chill.
Her teeth started to chatter. A little at first, but soon hard enough that she feared her jaw would break.
Kay halted and held his hand over his eyes. He squinted into the swirling white snow around them. “I think we’re in the trough of the valley. The path has leveled off. Moss-elk droppings! The wind’s just as fierce here.” He paused. “Arynne, are you shivering?”
“I ... I’m fine!” she snapped. “We need to k ... k ... keep moving.”
He pulled her against his chest and rubbed her arms fiercely. She leaned into his warmth, but it didn’t reach her core. The wind increased from a distant shriek to a deafening howl.
“We can’t keep going through this!” Kay shouted over it. “We have to be close to the Starspire by now. Let me travel us—”
“No!” She jerked away from him. “Wh ... what if you’re wr ... wrong? If it’s t ... t ... too far? I won’t let you risk yourself. I forbid it!”
