Truth of Embers

by Caitlyn McFarland

  “Yes. I thought, if you had the energy, you might help me.”

  “Oh. Sure. Whatever you need. I think I even know what I’m doing, now.”

  At Seren’s questioning look, Rhys told the story of the raid, and how Kai had helped the Noodinoon, Isi, create a dust storm.

  “Excellent. I hope we can be just as successful.” Seren took Rhys’s and Kai’s hands, one in each of hers. She closed her eyes and let her awareness sink into their bodies, scanning them for anything bruised or broken. Her healing power was strong, but her range was limited. She could only work the magic when she made skin-to-skin contact.

  Which was why she couldn’t heal Cadoc. If she touched him and they became heartsworn—Ancients, she could dream—it would mean she could no longer see visions. Visions saved lives...sometimes.

  Seren confirmed that there was nothing wrong with either of them except old scars and exhaustion. In Kai, a few of her injuries from her time with Owain hadn’t healed quite right. Seren knew she’d probably need every bit of her power, but she couldn’t resist putting those few things right.

  Kai inhaled sharply as Seren healed her, but said nothing.

  Not finding anything else to fix, she sank deeper, to the level of the mind. She couldn’t read thoughts, only sense if something wasn’t working like it was supposed to. Seren had limited power to repair damage on this plane, but again, nothing seemed to be wrong. She pushed deeper still.

  Beyond the physical body and the mind lay the soul. She’d only gone so far a handful of times. Perhaps the gold dragons of old had known how to deal with the intricacies they found there, but she did not, and she’d had no gold dragon to teach her. Only Iolani and record stones of lore so old even they had been damaged by time.

  Aha. There were problems here. Nothing Seren could see, per se, but...it was as if there were dozens of chains floating in a void. Once, they’d connected Rhys and Kai. Now, however, it felt as if something hot had sliced through them, melting the edges and breaking them down the center.

  Seren nudged at the chains. But even though they looked necklace-fine, they were too heavy to budge. Undeterred, Seren grasped one of Rhys’s ends and one of Kai’s and touched them together.

  Nothing happened.

  Seren poured healing power into that broken space, willing the edges to come back together. Still nothing.

  “I’d like to borrow your power, if I could, Kai.” Seren heard her own voice as if from a distance.

  “Go for it,” Kai said.

  Seren had used Wingless help in difficult healings before. “Picture opening your mind to me, the way you do with Rhys. I will essentially take what you’re offering.”

  As if a sun blazed just below the horizon, Seren sensed a sudden source of power lurking beyond sight. She opened herself to it, became a conduit of raw magic, her body taking it in and converting into energy that healed.

  She poured that power into the chains she’d found, willing their heavy links together and trying to reforge the bond between them. When they didn’t respond, she syphoned more of Kai’s power. Then more. Still, the chains resisted. Seren gritted her teeth. She would do this. She would help her brother.

  “Enough.” Rhys’s voice.

  Seren’s eyes popped open and she let go of the bits of magic she’d been holding. A tingling buzzed through the air, then was gone. Seren blinked.

  Kai was white as a sheet and leaning against Rhys. Seren put a hand over her mouth. “I’m so sorry. I didn’t realize how much I was taking.”

  “It’s okay.” Kai smiled wanly. “I wanted you to try. Who knew it would take more energy to do that than make a dust storm? What did you see, or sense, or whatever?”

  Seren folded her hands into her sleeves and squeezed her wrists. She’d failed. “It’s like there are chains that used to bind you, but they’ve been broken. In a way, they need to be heated and forged back together. All that magic didn’t even leave a mark, and I was only trying to fix the first of a dozen breaks. Maybe two dozen. I’m sorry.”

  “It’s all right.” Rhys smiled at her, but Seren could see that he was disappointed. “We knew it probably wouldn’t work.”

  Seren wasn’t ready to give up. “There must be a way, Rhys. I think the mantle could do it, but I don’t know if the half you have would work. It might need to be the whole thing. Still, you should try it, once you’ve rested.”

  “Lady Seeress?”

  Seren turned. A woman at the gate was calling her name.

  Cadoc made his way toward the door. “Lady Seren isn’t seeing any more supplicants this evening.”

  “I can see her, bard. I think she can speak for herself.”

  Amusement tinged Seren’s discouragement at her failure. She knew that voice. Athena, one of the Wingless who sat on the Council. “Let her in, Cadoc.”

  Cadoc muttered something, but opened the gate on the far side of the audience chamber.

  The woman entered, following Cadoc across the room. As she approached, she dipped her head at Rhys and Kai in a perfunctory way.

  Athena was a composed woman of average height with sepia skin and tightly coiled hair that floated like a cloud around her pretty, oval face. Seren inclined her head. “Councilwoman Athena. How may I serve?”

  The woman returned the gesture, the metal discs of earrings clinking with the movement. She sent a sideways glance toward Rhys. “Conveniently, I’d like to speak to both you and the king. During the emergency Council meeting tomorrow, I have a feeling Wingless will feature heavily in what is said. My people have asked that I put forth a measure that will allow Wingless—all Wingless who choose—to ride into battle with their mates the way the queen has ridden with the king.”

  It was not a new measure. “I already support you, Councilwoman. You know that.”

  Rhys, to Seren’s surprise, didn’t speak. Kai frowned at him.

  Athena fixed him with a piercing gaze. “Majesty?”

  Rhys shifted. “I’ll think on it.”

  Kai turned on him with her own withering look. “What do you mean, you’ll think on it? Of course we’re going to support them.”

  Rhys’s expression hardened. “You were taken from me and tortured. That wouldn’t have happened if I’d left you here. I won’t stop you, but that doesn’t mean the rest of the Wingless should fight, as well.”

  Kai’s mouth formed an O. Then she drew in a breath, and Seren thought it was rather like watching a thunderstorm form before her very eyes. “Oh, hell no. You are going to support the Wingless. They’re people, Rhys. They have just as much right to decide how to spend their lives as the dragons do. I was freaking essential on the raid. You couldn’t have done it without me. There might be fights you can’t win without them.”

  “We’ll talk about this later,” Rhys said.

  “No.”

  “Yes.” The word came out harsh enough to surprise Seren. Kai pressed her lips together, her cheeks flaming, her eyes narrowed.

  There was no way Rhys had heard the end of that, but it was not a good idea for Rhys and Kai to fight in such a public place. Seren made her voice serene. “Councilwoman, you can understand why the king might be hesitant. Perhaps it’s a good idea for all of us to sleep on your question. You’ve met the queen?”

  Again, Athena inclined her head in that perfunctory way. “I recognize her.”

  Kai was staring hungrily at Athena. “Are you...sorry, but your accent. Are you American? I’ve met some of the other Wingless. I thought Juli and I were the only ones. I wasn’t aware that there were other Wingless who wanted to fight.”

  Athena raised an eloquent eyebrow. “I am. And why would you be? It’s not like you’ve come to us and asked.”

  Kai stepped back, apparently disconcerted by the vehemence in the woman’s tone.

  “Counci
lwoman,” Rhys said, his voice warning.

  “No. Let her talk.” Kai turned back to Athena. “Was I supposed to?”

  Athena crossed her arms and looked at Kai like she was the biggest fool she’d come across that day. “You’re the first Wingless in memory to have any kind of power. By all accounts even Mair was kept on a short leash by Ayen. What do you think? We are your people, and we need you.”

  Kai’s eyes widened, a spark lighting in them Seren recognized. It was the look of a person who’d found a cause. “When and where?”

  Rhys sighed.

  Athena pursed her lips, expression skeptical. “Tomorrow afternoon.”

  “All right.” Kai smoothed her hands down her sides. “Where?”

  Athena laughed a little. “I’ll send someone for you.” Her gaze jumped back to Rhys, and this time Athena bowed, pressing the fingers of her left hand to her forehead. “Majesty. I do hope you’ll consider. She’s right. We should have the right to choose.”

  Seren silently agreed.

  Rhys bowed in return, but he didn’t look happy. Seren exchanged a few pleasantries with Athena, then Cadoc showed the councilwoman out.

  Rhys watched Athena go. “I think we’d better get back to our rooms.”

  Kai looked worse than she had when she’d come in. Seren felt guilty about that. She really should have been more careful with Kai’s power.

  “Wait,” Cadoc said. He looked from Rhys to Seren. “Before you go, I need to speak with you. Alone.”

  Rhys followed him toward the open wall that overlooked the sea, the two of them speaking too quietly for Seren to overhear.

  “He is not okay,” Kai said, watching Cadoc, who still had his broken right hand inside his jacket. “He looks like Napoleon. Which would be funny if it weren’t so terrible. And my fault.” She rubbed her face. “I don’t know what I’m doing here. I don’t have a job. I don’t have a purpose. I’m not even heartsworn to Rhys anymore. I can’t tell if people expect me to be a queen or to sit in a corner. Juli’s been captured. Deryn apparently has everyone flying around the archipelago, laying traps. And now my parents are here, and I’m afraid if I spend too much time with them I’m going to start regressing into what they think I am.”

  Seren felt a wry smile come to her face, though Kai wouldn’t be able to see it. “Expectation is an odd thing. Sometimes people expect both too much and not enough of us, and we get crushed in the emptiness between.”

  Kai rubbed her thumbs over her fingertips, her face thoughtful. “I guess we have to grow to fill it, then. That’s what people do, right? Grow up and become strong enough to carry their responsibilities? I want to do that. I want to be enough for Rhys, and for whatever the people here need of me. I’ve seen Owain close up, and whatever happens, he can’t be allowed to control the dragons.”

  “No, he can’t.” Seren watched Cadoc, thinking of what Kai had said. She’d spent her entire life trying to grow large enough to fill the emptiness, but no matter how much she tried, she couldn’t quite make herself big enough.

  She hoped it worked for Kai. As for herself, Seren didn’t know if she could stretch much further.

  Chapter Twenty-two

  Embers

  Cadoc’s fingers itched with inactivity. He stood with Rhys, as he had a hundred times, watching the sun lower itself into the ocean. With no instrument to hand, it felt like he was only half there. Like the sun shouldn’t be able to sink unless he could play it down.

  That’s a grandiose thought if you’ve ever had one, wind-for-brains. The world will literally stop turning because you can’t pluck a few strings at sunset.

  “Cadoc, what’s going on?”

  Cadoc drew a deep breath. For once, he wasn’t sure what to say. So he dove right in. “I can’t be Seren’s bodyguard.”

  Rhys’s brow furrowed. “I don’t trust anyone else.”

  Cadoc nearly laughed. “I’m the last man you should trust.”

  “What do you mean?” The question came out sharp.

  “Sunder me. Rhys, she’s my heartsworn. Or, Ancients, she would be, if I touched her.”

  Rhys sat back, his mouth turning up a bit. It wasn’t the reaction Cadoc had expected.

  “Why would you think Seren is your heartsworn?”

  So Cadoc related Seren’s story of Mair’s dissolving ring and the conclusions he’d drawn.

  Rhys ran a hand through his hair and smoothed it down again. “Perhaps she didn’t see what she thought she did.”

  Cadoc took a calming breath. Of course Rhys didn’t believe him. Cadoc hardly believed himself. “It happened at the exact moment the curse broke, boyo. Mair showed me that ring. There is no other explanation. If I touch Seren, she’ll be sworn, and you’ll lose your Seeress.”

  Rhys’s mouth twisted. “I need Seren protected, and I don’t have anyone else. I need you to do this.”

  This was not going as well as Cadoc had hoped. “Until when?”

  “Indefinitely. Just... Ancients, just stay away from her.”

  Cadoc flinched. “That’s what I’m trying to do.”

  Rhys pinched the bridge of his nose. “Sorry. Listen, she may be one of the people you could swear to, Cadoc, but there’s no reason to believe she’s the only one.”

  Cadoc snorted. “And when, in all the fragments of history we have, have you ever heard of there being more than one option for a person’s heartsworn? Identical twins being the exception, of course.”

  Rhys shifted. “Never. But we’ve never known two dragons could heartswear before they actually touched, either. It could be entirely possible that you’ll swear to someone else. Perhaps you should go out a little more. Try. Then you don’t have to worry about accidentally heartswearing to Seren.”

  The thought of heartswearing had always appealed to Cadoc. Suddenly, it made him a little ill.

  Rhys wasn’t finished. “Perhaps Seren didn’t dissolve the blood charm because she’s meant to be sworn to you. She’s the only one of her kind—a healer. Her blood could have some kind of special ability to break curses. In a way, breaking the curse was a healing. There could be no more to it than that.”

  Cadoc felt as if Rhys had stabbed him in the gut. “I didn’t... I... perhaps.” The thought gutted him. He’d only “known” that Seren was his for a few days, but somehow it had already become one of the foundational truths of his life, inevitable.

  Rhys frowned. “That’s good news. Why do you look like someone cut off your tail while you were sleeping?”

  Cadoc shook himself, then forced a grin. “Just remembering I haven’t eaten dinner yet.”

  “Do that.” Rhys hesitated. “Leave her inside the lattice and keep yourself on the outside. We can get this sorted when things settle down.”

  “All right.” Cadoc looked at his feet, then back at Rhys’s face. “Just... Ancients. Just remember, if I do anything...stupid, know it’s because I’m too stupid to see a way out.”

  Rhys’s frown deepened. “Cadoc. I’ve got enough going on. Do not do anything stupid.”

  Cadoc didn’t respond. He didn’t prefer to make promises he couldn’t keep.

  * * *

  Rhys was not looking forward to meeting with the Council.

  He rose, leaving Kai and his warm bed to go stand on the ledge and watch the sun rise. To his surprise, Ffion was there. She wore her human body instead of that of the dragon. Her face was as pale and unreadable as carved marble.

  “Ancients, Ffion, have you left this ledge since you’ve been back in Eryri?”

  She gave him a look. “I feel useful here. Don’t worry, I trade off shifts with the Invisible so I can eat and sleep. Would you rather I went back to moping in my rooms?”

  Rhys raised his hands defensively. “No.” After a pause he asked, “How are you?”
>
  She looked to the sea. “Alive.”

  Rhys crossed his arms, watching the sky lighten bit by bit. “I’ve never hated Owain before. Maybe I should have, but I never did. Iain, Griffith, Cadoc’s hand, Kai...I swear Owain will pay.”

  Her face softened, her lower lip wobbled. “I want you to win this war, but answering death with more death is not the way to peace. Once you’ve won, we have to become one people again. There are so few of us. When that happens, if I see Demba, I have to walk by. If we reunite only to take vengeance on those who killed our loved ones, there will be no dragons left.”

  He hadn’t thought about it like that. When Rhys thought of the war, it mostly involved ending the threat to himself and the people he loved. Not having to watch his back, or fight. But if he won this war, he would be king of all the dragons—even the ones who had been trying to kill him nearly half his life.

  Tears dropped from Ffion’s eyes, and she put a hand over her stomach. “Vengeance is not what Griffith would have wanted. More than any of us, I think, he wanted peace. When you win, that will be your hardest job. You’ll have to heal us. You and Kai. Our people used to be such a fire, Rhys. We lit the world. But we’ve become embers—scattered, dying coals. We can burn bright again, but not as we are. You must unite us.”

  The truth of her words sank into his bones. “If every dragon were as gracious as you,” he whispered, “that might not sound like the most impossible thing I’ve ever heard.”

  They watched the rest of the sunrise in silence.

  After a while, Kai shuffled out to join them. She was wrapped in a thin blanket and soft with sleep. “Are you ready for today?”

  Rhys smoothed her mussed hair from her forehead, his heart swelling a little when she leaned into his palm. He wanted to kiss her and make her breakfast, to spend the day talking to his friends, reading and falling asleep with Kai on the couch. Maybe—in his dream world—they could take a walk along the edge of the lagoon, and he could show her the tide pools.

  Instead, he had to plan a war.

  Kai didn’t ask what he knew she wanted to—whether or not he would support the Wingless. Rhys wasn’t sure himself. It was one thing to allow Kai to ride with him. She was queen, after all. If he told the Wingless they could do what they wanted, their mates—not to mention the rest of the dragons—could mutiny.