Truth of Embers

by Caitlyn McFarland

  Apparently everyone had an opinion about that. They all started talking at once, but Rhys wasn’t listening. What was happening in the Taklamakan was important—vital, even. But first, he had to get his bearings with Kai. The urge to be with her pounded through his body until he could barely stand still, but...would she want to? They’d been through so much. He’d thought that they were past uncertainty. This was like sliding back to the base of the mountain when they’d finally reached the summit.

  He leaned down and murmured, “May I speak with you?”

  She tilted her head toward him and whispered, “Just speak?”

  He slid his hand up her back and let his fingers tangle in the ends of her silky hair. “Among other things. If that’s what you want.”

  Kai cut off whatever Cadoc was saying. “Ashem, Rhys and I need to talk. Alone. Is there somewhere we can go?”

  That fooled exactly none of them. Cadoc grinned. Seren raised her eyebrows. Red spots appeared high on Morwenna’s cheeks. Ashem, of course, didn’t change his expression at all. “The cave continues on about a hundred yards and opens into a grotto with a pool on one side. If you find you can’t make it back, shout. Sound carries.”

  “Thanks for the warning,” Rhys said drily.

  He scooped up Kai’s blankets and pulled her out of the little tunnel, heading deeper into the cave. It wasn’t easy—the walls twisted and turned and came together without any semblance of reason. Finally, they came to a place where the ground dropped about ten feet and opened into the cavern Ashem had talked about. Rhys jumped down. The impact sent him to his knees, and it took him a minute to get his legs back under him.

  Kai followed, landing next to him in a crouch. She turned around and looked up at the wall, running her hands experimentally along the rock, longing on her face.

  He moved to stand behind her and lifted his hands to her shoulders, stroking down her arms. She leaned her head back against his chest.

  “Kai...”

  But she didn’t want to talk. She turned to him and tugged his shirt up, her movements urgent. Glad enough to oblige, Rhys lifted his arms, pulling it off the rest of the way.

  Kai brushed her fingers along his bare chest, tracing the scales of his indicium. Rhys didn’t feel the cold, but his skin pebbled at her touch. He caught her hand, kissed her palm.

  Kai pulled away and lifted her own shirt over her head, revealing the milky, taut skin of her stomach, the lean, inward curve of her waist and the tattered white bra she’d probably been wearing when Owain took her.

  Rhys’s breath caught. At the sight of her, yes, but... “Blood of the Ancients. What have they done to you?” He’d suspected when she’d raised that undetectable shield in Cadarnle that she’d hidden some of her torture from him.

  He never imagined it had been this much.

  Rhys sank to his knees, hands on her waist, so he could see them better. White lines, all faded now, crosshatched her flesh. So many. And these were only the ones he could see—they didn’t account for broken bones, or the internal damages of bleeding. They wouldn’t tell him how many times she’d been electrocuted or half-drowned. He traced his fingers down her back, finding more.

  “Sêr yn yr wybren,” he breathed. He tried to turn her around.

  “Don’t. If I—if you see, then I’ll have to remember.” Kai refused to budge. She bent and spoke against his lips, her hands sliding from shoulders to neck, then up to cup his face. “Help me forget.”

  He gripped her waist and lowered her, her body sliding against his, and the friction of skin against skin—the knowledge that he held her again—made him have to stifle a moan.

  They went slowly, just touching at first. Rhys hadn’t realized that he’d wound himself up, that he’d become cold and inflexible and tight as a bunched spring. Not until she touched him, hands gliding over his skin.

  It wasn’t even sexual at first, just comforting. As if, though their minds were no longer intertwined, she knew exactly how to smooth her hands over his skin to take away the worry. The stress.

  They spread the discarded blankets on the water-smoothed stone floor and Rhys stilled her hands. It was his turn. Just touching, his hands traveled the length of her waist, the curve of her shoulder. Trying to smooth away the fear, the pain. Until she relaxed. Until touching became caressing. Until he had to use his mouth. Kiss her. Pull her close.

  Though he’d had partners he wasn’t sworn to in the past, he felt oddly shy. The handful of times they’d stolen to make love before she’d been taken from him, he’d known exactly what she wanted. This time he could only guess, but he seemed to do well enough. She seemed to enjoy it.

  For a few minutes he felt close to her again. Thought he saw her smile. Then it was over, and Kai curled into his side, her head on his shoulder.

  “...the feelings you have for Kai aren’t real.”

  Wrong.

  “Dwi’n di garu di, fy ngariad,” he said.

  Kai lifted her head from his chest and kissed him. “I love you, too.” She hesitated, swallowed. “Rhys...what will this change?”

  He stroked her back, feeling the scars again. “Nothing.”

  Kai shook her head and sat up, hugging her knees, but for some reason, the distance between them felt larger than it was. “The dragons didn’t want me before. I’m pretty sure they’ll be even less enthused now that we’re sundered. There’s no way they’re going to let me be queen.”

  Rhys wrapped his hands around her biceps and pulled her down again. It had been better. While they were making love, he swore he could almost feel her. Almost pretend that they were whole. He wanted that again. “Then they’ll have to find another king.”

  Kai’s expression turned fierce. “If they try, I’ll gut them. As long as Deryn heartswears and has a kid, the mantle can go to her or the kid someday. It would be stupid of them to get rid of you. You’re sort of like an insurance policy.”

  “That’s cold comfort.”

  Kai looked away. “Sorry. It’s all I’ve got.”

  The silence grew until it was awkward. He didn’t want awkward, he wanted connection. So he kissed her again.

  She seemed eager enough, so they made love one more time. After a while, they pulled the second blanket over themselves and fell asleep. Rhys woke briefly when golden light shimmered behind his eyelids. When he opened them, he saw Cadoc standing above them in the tunnel mouth. He waved and said, “Just checking,” then left again.

  Hours later, Rhys woke to Kai sitting up and stretching beside him. He wasn’t sure what time it was, but Ashem would probably come looking for them soon.

  “Cariad.”

  “Hmm?”

  Rhys toyed with one frayed corner of the blanket beneath them. “I want to end the war, and I want to do it by luring Owain to Eryri.”

  Kai stared at him for a long moment. Then, “Yes.”

  He lifted his gaze to her in disbelief. “Yes? Not ‘you’re an idiot’ or ‘you don’t have the right to endanger your people’?”

  Kai shook her head. “You’ll be on your home turf. We can set traps, plan. Control the situation. I’ve heard one of the reasons the American Civil War lasted so long even though the South was outnumbered was because they were fighting mostly on Southern soil. The soldiers fought harder because they were defending their homes and families. We’ll be better prepared and more motivated.”

  The words washed over him with terrible truth. It had been his idea, and he’d thought of the traps, of knowing the terrain. He’d realized he’d be practically inviting Owain into their homes. But if they lost, where would they go?

  Rhys found himself arguing against his own idea. “Didn’t the American South lose that war?” Humans had so many wars they were hard to keep straight.

  Kai spoke through gritted teeth. “We will not lose. We have
to do this, Rhys. Owain can’t be allowed.”

  He waited for her to say, “to win” or something like it, but she didn’t.

  “All right. I’ll call Deryn, talk to Ashem. This issue with humans in the Taklamakan, I think we can use it to get him there.”

  She took a breath. “Rhys, I want to be part of the mission to free those humans. I know you probably can’t go—that you need to get back to Eryri, but...” She shrugged. “Owain has hit me where it hurts hundreds of times. I think it’s fair that I get a chance to hit back.”

  Rhys sat up. Even without being in her head, he’d known this was coming. The thought of her in danger again made the muscles on the back of his neck tense until he could feel a headache building and tied his stomach in knots.

  Ancients, he’d just gotten her back. They’d barely survived a sundering. He knew they’d been down this road once before, but he’d been careless. He’d thought they were both immortal.

  They weren’t.

  He chose his words with care. “We’ll go take a look. After that, we’ll have to see where things stand.”

  He didn’t want to fight with her, so he wouldn’t stop her from going to the Taklamakan. But if things went the way he wanted, when he and the others freed the humans and destroyed the facility, Kai would be standing at least ten miles away.

  When they walked back out into the main area of the cave, they found Ashem, Cadoc, Morwenna and the rogues gathered together around a smokeless, fuel-less fire. Cadoc held a battered metal bowl in his good hand, and Rhys could feel the subtle buzz of fire magic surrounding it. It smelled a lot like food, and only then did Rhys realize he was ravenous.

  “What’s that?” Kai asked Cadoc, leaning in toward the bowl. Apparently she was more than a little hungry, herself.

  Cadoc tasted the steaming liquid. “Broth for Seren. If you two are hungry, there’s some elk.”

  “I’ll get it.” One of the rogues, the male Derkin, Kephas, stood and left the circle.

  Rajani, the Naga rogue, scooted over to make room for Rhys and Kai in the circle. They sat, and Rhys leaned over to speak to Ashem. “Do you have your communicator?”

  “Yes.”

  “Call Deryn. I need her to speak with the Lung, Noodinoon and Mo’o councilmembers.”

  “Why?” Cadoc asked.

  Rhys put a hand into the flames, letting them trickle through his fingers. “They’re about to have second thoughts about supporting me. Along with destroying 90 percent of Owain’s cordial and pretending to steal the rest—on top of stealing Kai and Seren right under his nose, of course—I think that should make him angry enough to attack Eryri inside a month. I want ideas for traps. We’ll have to subdue as many of his people as we can. I don’t want them dead, just unable to fight.”

  Dead silence met his words. Then Ashem gave a humorless laugh. “Stars, I think that will work.” He let out a breath and looked to Kai. “I have something to tell you.”

  Dread reared up inside Rhys. That expression and tone were burned into his memory. That was exactly how Ashem had looked and sounded when he’d come to tell Rhys his father had died. Without thinking, Rhys took Kai’s hand.

  Kai clutched Rhys’s fingers. “What?”

  Ashem rubbed his forehead. “Owain’s agents have been attempting to increase production. Once we started looking in the right place, we found dozens of missing persons reports from all over the world.” He hesitated, then said, “Your parents and one of your brothers have been taken.”

  Rhys swore. Kai opened her mouth, but nothing came out. Her fingers tightened convulsively. Instinctively, he tried to send her comfort, but he couldn’t reach her.

  Kai stood. “We’re going, and we are going now.”

  Ashem looked to Rhys. Rhys been hoping for time to convince Kai that she didn’t need to go to the desert, but there was no hope of that now. “How soon can we leave?”

  Ashem considered. “One hour.”

  “Then let’s move.”

  Owain had sundered his heartswearing, but Rhys was not his father. If Owain had thought that everything he’d done in the past weeks would make Rhys an easier target, he’d been sadly mistaken. He’d finally pushed Rhys beyond his breaking point.

  It was time to end the war.

  Chapter Thirteen

  Promoted

  “You want me to what?” Cadoc stared at Rhys, a vague feeling of dread rising from somewhere around his stomach and overtaking his brain.

  Rhys sighed. Around them, the others busied themselves preparing to leave. “I’m promoting you, boyo. Congratulations. You’re the new primary bodyguard for the Lady Seeress of Eryri.”

  “Why?” Cadoc reached for a joke, but seemed to have lost them all. The curse was gone, though only the Ancients knew why. They had Kai and Seren back. He was with his family—most of them. That should have fixed him, but he couldn’t seem to stop being broken.

  Rhys’s gaze went somewhere distant. “We can’t take Seren on the raid, and I don’t control the vees who guard her in Eryri, or the Lady Protector—the Council does. I can’t replace them, and they aren’t doing their job.”

  Sunder it, there had to be a way out of this. It was far and away the worst idea Rhys had ever had—and he’d had some bad ones. “Which job?”

  Rhys lifted a brow. Despite his apparent ease, Cadoc could see the strain around his eyes, in his movements, which weren’t quite abrupt enough to call jerky, but it was a near thing. Sundering had taken a heavy toll. “The one where they keep her from running off and disappearing for months on end. I need someone in that position I can trust.”

  Cadoc held up his crushed right hand. “You trust this? You’re making a mistake, Rhys. I’m useless.” He let his hand drop. Or maybe that was why Rhys had chosen him, after all. Rhys, Ashem and Morwenna were flying into a potential battle. As that dawned on Cadoc, he realized that Rhys had chosen him—weakened but still more or less capable—for the safer job.

  Cadoc could hear the stiffness in his own voice. “Ashem would be a better choice.”

  Rhys shook his head. “Ashem can travel without being seen. I need him.”

  “What about his connection to Kavar? You aren’t afraid that will give things away?” Cadoc tucked his bad hand into his jacket.

  Rhys’s mouth twisted. “I think Ashem knows how to keep his secrets.”

  “What about Morwenna?”

  “Morwenna...doesn’t get along with your rogues. I need them to go, too.”

  Cadoc suppressed a sigh. Morwenna. If the vee was family, she was the rampaging, bossy eldest sister no one wanted to cross. An annoyed Morwenna made life hell for everyone.

  Cadoc pressed his lips together and shrugged gracelessly. “Fine. If you need me, I’ll do it. I’m sure Rajani and the others won’t mind.”

  The rogues were the only thing that had made life in the tiny cave bearable. Rhys and Kai had been unconscious. Seren was off-limits. Ashem and Morwenna were constantly brooding. Despite that, Rajani told stories every night, illustrated by Tharah’s illusions. Kephas, young and bored, had needed someone to spar with—even if that someone only had one hand.

  Rhys relaxed. “Thank you.” He rubbed his chest.

  Cadoc pushed his own apprehension to the back of his mind. “You all right?”

  Rhys dropped his hand. “It’s like being part of an incomplete bond again. It hurts. It fades a little when we’re close, but it doesn’t go away.”

  “That’s something.”

  Rhys shook his head. “I don’t know. Not being heartsworn to her...it’s different. Like I used to be able to see all of her, but now I can’t. She doesn’t mind being...ah...physical, but it’s like we can’t connect.”

  Cadoc rubbed his lump of a hand. “Seren is a healer. Is there some way she might be able to hea
l your heartswearing? If you can’t do it with the mantle?”

  Rhys frowned. “The heartswearing isn’t a living thing.”

  “Relationships grow, change, breathe, die. They seem alive enough to me.”

  “Figuratively. Not literally.” Rhys pinched the bridge of his nose. “Ancients, it would be worth a try, I suppose. When she’s feeling better. I’d—” He exhaled. “In some ways it’s freeing, being separate. Kai has always treasured her freedom. The longer this goes on, the more I worry she won’t want to be bonded to me.”

  “Don’t be a scalebrain.” Cadoc changed the subject. “What about Tharah, Kephas and Rajani? They’ve stuck with us. I don’t want the Council to do anything stupid once we’re back just because they used to be rogues.”

  “If they want to stay in Eryri, I’ll assign them a vee when I get back.”

  Good. They’d hoped for that. “Diolch.”

  Rhys looked out of the mouth of the cave. The sun was rising. “How soon can you be ready?”

  Cadoc forced himself to grin. “As soon as our eminent Golden Lady is.”

  Rhys clapped a hand on his shoulder. “Take this.” Rhys placed an egg-shaped sunstone in Cadoc’s palm. “Ask Seren if she’ll look at it again once she’s rested. She was always better at interpretations.”

  Cadoc curled his fingers around the stone and slipped it into a pocket. “I’ll tell her the news.”

  Rhys followed the left fork in the cave and Cadoc went right. Seren was alone, propped against the cave wall and fussing with her long, red-gold hair. She looked up at him with eyes the color of a tropical sea. “Yes, awenydd?”

  Cadoc’s heart thumped. What had Rhys gotten him into?

  Chapter Fourteen

  Kavar’s Shame

  Juli slipped through the halls of Cadarnle, invisible to the minds of the dragons around her. She trailed her fingers over its veins of gold and ice. The ice should’ve crumbled the stone, she knew, and wondered why it hadn’t. She thought of human roads, buckling and cracking from the continual cycles of heat and cold. The things dragon magic could do for the human world. Roads, of course, being the least of it. Magic could improve many, many lives.