by A. E. Rayne
Jael closed her eyes and yawned, knowing that sleep would help her see things more clearly when the sun came up. If only she could stop thinking and dreaming.
Fianna, Eadmund, it was too much.
Fianna.
Eadmund.
Jael sat up, blinking rapidly. Fianna had looked the same as Eadmund. The same appearance of disinterest, as though she was floating outside the world that everyone else existed in. No longer herself. No sparkle in her eyes. No sense of humour. No warmth.
Just like Eadmund.
She had changed.
Just like Eadmund.
Jael was suddenly wide awake.
Meena had not arrived by the time Berard left to breakfast in the hall, and when he returned to his chamber, there was still no sign of her. His bed remained unmade; his fireplace was still full of cold ash.
Berard hurried along the corridor to find out what had happened, but when Meena opened the door to her chamber, she would not even meet his eyes. He hovered in the doorway, trying to get her to talk to him.
Meena felt strange. Uncomfortable. She had enjoyed the privacy of having her own chamber and had welcomed taking care of Berard, but Jaeger had demanded that she leave both behind and move into his.
And she didn’t know what to say.
Nor did Berard. ‘I don’t understand,’ he said again. ‘You were not happy? Did I do something wrong?’
Meena, tapping her head violently, tried to shake it at the same time, her hair shuddering around her in a confused mess. ‘No, no, no,’ she stammered. ‘Your br-br-brother, he... he insisted.’
Berard felt a burst of rage. It was obvious that Jaeger had a hold on Meena that he could not break through; that he could not understand at all.
But there it was.
Women had always been captivated by Jaeger; willing to abandon all sense and reason to simply do his bidding in the hope of gaining his attention.
But Meena?
It didn’t make sense. Why did Jaeger want Meena? She was not someone he would be attracted to. She was not glamorous or elegant, or a lady at all. She had no noble breeding, no wealth, no connections. She was a timid, shy creature with strange habits; so desperate to hide away from everyone that you barely knew she was even there.
Apart from the tapping.
Berard couldn’t understand it. He had thought that at least Meena would have been safe from his brother. Perhaps that was why he found himself drawn to her in the first place?
Meena appeared to be growing more uncomfortable by the moment, and he didn’t want to do that to her. ‘Well, as you wish. I only wanted to help you, Meena, so that you weren’t alone. So that you would stay here, in the castle. As long as you’re happy to be with Jaeger?’ He looked at her, hoping for some sign as to the truth, but her eyes dropped to the floor and he could barely hear her mumbled, ‘yes.’
Berard sighed.
Meena felt ready to cry.
She had to keep Berard far away from Jaeger. He had become so angry and bitter about his brother that she was afraid that he would do something to hurt Berard if he saw them together again.
Berard turned to leave. ‘If you change your mind. If you ever need my help...’ He stared at her, then lowered his voice. ‘If you ever feel... unsafe, I will help you, Meena. Just ask.’
Meena watched him disappear down the corridor, feeling guilty for his sadness, then, twitching all over at the thought of being with Jaeger again, she raced inside to prepare her things.
‘Do you see any colours today?’ Eydis wondered shyly. Gisila and Biddy had left to walk to Aedan’s with Branwyn, leaving Jael and Eydis behind with Edela.
Entorp had arrived earlier, dropping Fyn off at the stables to check on Beorn and the men.
Jael shook her head. ‘No, not today. Not yet, at least.’
‘Do you?’ Entorp wondered, bending over to touch Edela’s forehead. She had pink cheeks, and he was worried that she was feverish, but she felt fine. He uncorked the small jar he was holding and placed it on the bed. Dipping his finger into the jar, he started rubbing a salve onto Edela’s temples in gentle, circular motions.
Eydis nodded, wrinkling her nose at the unpleasant smell. ‘Still black, but it’s different today. It feels clearer. Sharper,’ she smiled nervously. ‘Better somehow.’
Jael looked hopeful, then her face contorted. ‘Entorp!’ she cried. ‘That smells terrible!’ And she rushed through the door before he could even open his mouth to defend his salve, which was indeed eye-watering.
They could hear Jael retching outside.
‘Are you alright?’ Entorp wondered as Jael stepped back into the house, wiping a hand over her mouth, looking around for something to drink.
‘No,’ Jael coughed. ‘If you can watch Eydis, I think I’ll take Tig for a ride. I can’t sit in here and smell that!’
Entorp felt almost embarrassed, but his patient didn’t seem to mind, and neither did Eydis, so he continued to rub the salve on Edela’s temples. ‘You go. Eydis will be fine with me. Derwa will be here soon. No need to hurry back.’
Jael took one last look at Eydis, who seemed content to sit by Entorp, and grabbed her cloak, desperately trying to stop herself from vomiting again.
‘Tomorrow?’ Jaeger looked pleased as he paced in front of the empty fireplace, wondering where Egil had gotten too. After days of warm, humid weather, a storm was battering Hest, bringing a sudden drop in temperature, so he’d sent Egil off to bring in some logs. ‘Where? I shall be there.’
Morana hadn’t thought of that. She hesitated, turning towards him. ‘Well...’
‘The book is not leaving my sight, Morana,’ Jaeger said firmly, sensing her desire to simply take the book and leave. Her hands were all over it, and his veins pulsed with jealous fervour. ‘It is not leaving this room. Not without me! If you need it, I will bring it, or you’ll simply memorise the spell while you’re here. Write down what you need and then go. I have ink, quills, vellum.’
Morana hesitated. Irritated.
Beyond irritated.
She tried to remind herself why they needed this thick-headed fool at all, then took a quick breath and grabbed hold of her tongue, which she could feel twitching inside her mouth, desperate to unleash itself upon this, this... idiot.
The spell they had decided upon would be a call to The Following all over Osterland. A signal that the return to the Darkness had begun.
This would be the first true announcement of their intention.
The beginning of the end.
She didn’t want Jaeger to be a distraction, but perhaps it was a good idea for him to actually witness what they could do with the book. To be a part of it himself.
A crash of thunder rattled the window.
‘You may come, of course. Bring the book. I must have it with me. It has the power of Raemus in it still. I feel that. It must be there. I will come for you before dawn –’
There was a knock at the door.
Jaeger frowned, then realising that there was no Egil, he stalked towards the door and opened it to a smiling Meena. She shook, shy, but pleased to see him. He glared down at her and didn’t move.
Meena blinked, feeling awkward as she stood there, sack in hand, not knowing where to look.
‘What is it, Meena?’ Jaeger asked impatiently.
‘I...’ Meena tapped her head with her free hand, crouching over. ‘I have come, as you asked. I’ve left Berard.’
Jaeger sighed, annoyed, stepping aside. ‘Well, come in then.’
Meena hesitated, but he only glared more furiously at her, so she shook herself upright and scrambled under his arm into the chamber.
‘Ahhh, my niece!’ Morana smiled as Meena came to a shuddering halt before her.
Lightning burst outside the window and Meena jumped, looking quickly back to the door which Jaeger had now closed and stood in front of, then back to Morana, who sat there with her long, curling fingernails gripping the Book of Darkness.
Meena f
elt as though she had just walked into a trap; certain that she could hear her grandmother’s cackling laughter, ringing in her ears.
16
Jael watched the storm clouds gather in the distance. They seemed to be heading for Tuura, and she was eager to get Tig back to the stables before the rain started falling. He had been unsettled by the occasional burst of thunder on their ride, and she was having a hard time convincing him to go in the same direction as her.
She was concentrating so hard on Tig that she nearly ran down an old man. ‘Are you alright?’ she asked, reaching out to help the small man, who stumbled backwards, red-faced and cross as Tig blew and snorted over him.
‘Luckily, yes,’ he grumbled, smoothing down his ragged, brown cloak. ‘No thanks to you and that horse!’
Jael frowned. Old and small, but rude. ‘Well, I apologise,’ she said shortly. ‘I’m not used to people wandering across the street without looking where they’re going. In Oss, we keep our eyes open, no matter how old we get.’ She had barely slept, felt like vomiting again, and was more irritable than she could remember.
The old man froze, his curiosity quickly overriding his annoyance. ‘You’re from Oss?’
‘Yes. I am the... Queen of Oss.’
His eyes widened as his body retreated. He bobbed his head quickly. ‘Oh, my lady, I am so sorry,’ he said, dropping his eyes briefly towards the muddy street, before looking up. ‘You’re Edela’s granddaughter? Jael?’
‘I am. And who are you?’
‘I am Alaric Fraed,’ he smiled. ‘Edela’s friend. Perhaps she mentioned me?’
Jael shook her head. ‘No.’ She was impatient, watching Tig’s ears twitch.
‘Oh.’ Alaric looked disappointed, but not for long. ‘How is Edela? Did she come to see you on Oss?’
‘She did, but she was stabbed, left for dead. We have brought her here to try and heal her. Derwa is trying to save her.’
Alaric gulped in shock, his eyes wide, his mouth opening and closing as he sought to find any words.
‘Are you alright?’ Jael wondered, trying to control Tig, who heard thunder again and decided that he would like to go to the stables after all.
‘Will she... live?’
Ido and Vella came rushing up to Jael and Tig, welcoming them back. Jael tried to push them away as they jumped up on Alaric, who stumbled again. ‘I don’t know,’ she said quickly. ‘Ido! Vella! Get down! Edela is at Branwyn’s. Why don’t you go and see her? Perhaps she can hear us talking to her, and if she can, I’m sure she would be happy to have some new company.’
Alaric hesitated, not wishing to intrude, but then he nodded, eager to see Edela. ‘I will. Yes, I will. Thank you.’
Jael turned Tig away, pulling him towards the stables, remembering her talk with Marcus. The Following was everywhere, he’d warned. He couldn’t trust anyone.
She glanced over her shoulder, hoping that she hadn’t just sent a Follower to her grandmother’s bedside.
Jaeger wondered what he’d been thinking, inviting Meena to stay in his chamber. He could barely remember asking her, but there she was, looking as uncomfortable as ever as she hovered by the fire Egil was setting.
Morana had left, thankfully, and he was eager to get downstairs and find Haegen. They had started training every day; both determined to strengthen their injured bodies, preparing for their next assault on the Brekkans. The storm was still lingering above the castle, but they could train in a ship shed as most were still empty.
‘I’ll be back later,’ he grumbled at Meena, reaching for the door handle.
Egil turned around. ‘Will you be eating your supper in the hall, my lord?’
‘I suppose I will, Egil,’ Jaeger muttered, and without looking back, he pulled the door closed behind him.
Meena sighed as the flames sparked to life beside her.
Egil glared at her as he struggled to his feet and waddled to the table, picking up the empty wine goblet and heading towards his corner of the chamber without saying a word.
Meena peered around the sparsely furnished room but didn’t move. She thought of her own little chamber, then glanced down at the pitiful sack she was still holding, filled with nothing more than a comb and her cloak.
She had nothing else. Nothing she wasn’t wearing.
Dropping it to the floor, she started tapping her head.
Aleksander was distracted as they fished.
They had all left the cave, eager to inhale fresh air; wanting to feel the warmth of the sun as it popped out from behind the clouds from time to time. And they were hoping to find something tasty for supper. But Aleksander hadn’t caught a thing. He stood, spear in hand over the stream, barely concentrating.
‘Aleksander!’ Amma scolded as another fish slipped away. ‘You could have got that one!’ She smiled at him, then frowned. ‘Are you alright?’
Aleksander shook himself awake. He’d had such a disturbed night with that voice drumming inside his head. It was familiar, he knew, but he didn’t want to listen to it.
It was too confusing. Too troubling.
What did it want? To trick him?
To lure them all into a trap?
Yet, if he didn’t listen...
‘I think I could do with a mattress and a pillow!’ he yawned. ‘I’m not sure I slept at all last night.’
Amma looked sympathetic. ‘Well, hopefully, it won’t be long before Gant arrives.’ She turned to Axl as he drove his spear into the water, straight through an escaping trout. ‘Well done!’
Aleksander’s smile disappeared, the voice echoing in his head again.
‘Danger!’ it cried. ‘You are all in danger!’
Jaeger glared at Berard as he walked into the hall with Haegen. He turned away quickly, following his eldest brother over to Irenna and Bayla, who were sitting at the high table with Nicolene.
‘You seem to have made an enemy there,’ Karsten said quietly to Berard as they stood around the map table, observing the strange tension that had built up between his two youngest brothers. He lifted an eyebrow, noticing how Nicolene was glowering at Jaeger as well.
Everyone, it seemed, was starting to lose patience with the Bear.
Except, oddly enough, Haegen. But he’d always been overly tolerant and weak, Karsten thought to himself. A weak man, who’d make a weak king, if he were ever lucky enough to find himself in that position.
If...
Berard sipped his wine and frowned. He’d been frowning ever since Meena had told him that she couldn’t work for him anymore.
Because of Jaeger.
‘Well, I think the opposite is true,’ Berard murmured, almost to himself. ‘I think our brother has made an enemy of me.’
Karsten’s instinct was to laugh out loud at such a statement, but as he looked at his normally shy, bumbling brother, he was surprised to see a fiery determination in his placid eyes. His back even looked straighter as he stared Jaeger down from across the hall.
There was no smile on his face.
Karsten shrugged. ‘I guess it’s going to shit all over the kingdom then. Inside and out.’ He looked at his wife, watching the way her eyes kept flicking towards Jaeger. No matter how disinterested she was trying to appear, she couldn’t stop looking his way.
They were all used to that, he supposed: the way women admired Jaeger.
But Nicolene? Karsten chewed on a toothpick, rolling it around his mouth.
That was new.
‘My sons!’ Bayla smiled as Karsten and Berard wandered over to join them. Once they had sent the children off with their servants, Bayla had started enjoying the company of her family as they sat around drinking wine and picking from a tray of sweetmeats. There was nothing to celebrate, but Bayla had sent her servant to buy a selection of her favourite treats that morning, eager for a little something to help pass the time while the storm rattled the castle.
Berard tried to smile back, but his eyes were cold and fixed on Jaeger.
Bayla didn’t no
tice. ‘And how is your new servant?’ she wondered, winking at Nicolene, who rolled her eyes. ‘I think, perhaps, you do look a little tidier today. Cleaner, even.’
Berard frowned at the tittering of his mother and the full-throated laughter of Haegen, Karsten, and Nicolene. Only Irenna and Jaeger stayed quiet, but for very different reasons. Irenna had always felt sorry for Berard and the way the entire Dragos family made him the butt of their jokes.
Jaeger was still furious that Berard had tried to steal Meena away from him; Meena, who was not Berard’s at all. He smiled at his brother, remembering that she was waiting in his chamber now.
‘Well, it did not last long,’ Berard said curtly. ‘I shall be back to my messy self by tomorrow.’ He grabbed a sweetmeat from the tray, not caring that it was the last one.
Bayla was intrigued. ‘And why is that? What has happened to your little helper?’ She sipped on her wine and considered her moody son with interest.
‘Why not ask Jaeger,’ Berard grumbled. ‘He is the one who took her away from me. Apparently, he needs two servants now!’
They all turned to Jaeger, who simmered, irritated by Berard, and not keen to encourage anyone’s interest in what he chose to do. ‘Well, Brother, if you couldn’t keep your servant happy, don’t blame me. I can’t help it if Meena prefers to work for me instead.’
‘Work for you?’ Berard snorted. ‘Is that what you call it?’ Despite the intimidating size of his brother, he leaned towards him, puffing out his chest.
Haegen stepped in between his brothers, pulling them quickly apart. ‘This weather has made everyone turn one-eyed with madness!’ he laughed, trying to sound light-hearted but nobody was smiling, especially Karsten, who didn’t appreciate any reference to his one eye. ‘Perhaps we’ll have to send you away to join the children? They couldn’t stop fighting either!’
Bayla watched Berard and Jaeger eyeing each other up. She noticed the way that Karsten was glaring at Haegen, and Nicolene was frowning at Jaeger.
She had the uneasy feeling that everything was slowly coming apart at the seams.
