The Affiliate

by K. A. Linde

  “I’m ready.”

  He found her hands empty, and then his gaze darted to her face. “You didn’t bring a candelabra with you this time?”

  She swallowed. “No.”

  “Then, I guess I won’t need this after all.”

  He made a swatting motion in the air, and her eyes grew wide.

  He winked at her. “Pity.”

  “Oh, honestly,” she snapped. Her cheeks flushed crimson, and she turned away. Did the man think of anything else?

  A soft chuckle sounded behind her, and she tried to keep a smile from her face.

  “You’re fun,” he whispered, following her out the door and swatting at her butt.

  “Kael! Stop that.”

  “As ever, your wish is my command, Affiliate.”

  She grumbled under her breath. She walked through the winding walls of the White Castle and came out into the morning sunshine. Every guard in the city knew her likeness now, and they all stared at her as if to remind her that she wasn’t going anywhere.

  Two horses were saddled and waiting for them. Cyrene hurried onto her horse and Kael took the one next to her. Just when she thought it couldn’t get any worse than this imprisonment, six Royal Guards on their massive black stallions broke into formation around her and Kael.

  Yes, parading through the city with armed guards is worse.

  “So,” Cyrene began as their atrocious display pranced through the main lane of Albion, “why are you escorting me?”

  “If you’re asking why me and not my brother, you’ll have to ask him,” he said, looking straightforward.

  She had wondered why Edric hadn’t come to see her the whole time that she was alone in the castle. After the way he had acted on the procession, she’d thought that things would have been different.

  But besides that, she was surprised that Kael was here at all. After she had knocked him out, she wouldn’t have thought he would want to be anywhere near her.

  “I was simply asking why you and not just six guards? Isn’t it all a bit much?”

  “Don’t you know how important Affiliates are to the kingdom? We can’t lose any more,” Kael said, every bit of humor gone from his voice. “If this is how Edric wants to stop it, then so be it. He doesn’t believe the killer will attack a royal.”

  “And you? Do you think that?” she asked. She hadn’t expected honesty from him.

  He shrugged. “I think killers probably don’t think too much about it, but I’m not the king.”

  Cyrene held back her snide comment about him obviously wanting to be the king. He was being polite, and she didn’t want to ruin it. It was such a rare occasion.

  Being out in the city, even with the unnecessary guards, was refreshing after being cooped up for so long. The library wasn’t exactly where she would have chosen for her first time out of the white walls, but she wasn’t going to complain.

  “So, why the library?” Cyrene asked.

  “Master Barca sent a request for you.”

  “Did he?” Cyrene hid a smile. “What was the request?”

  “Something about helping him with an explosion.” Kael scratched his head. “I couldn’t make much sense of it, but the man is a genius, so we usually oblige him.”

  Cyrene giggled, ducking her head into her cape. She knew exactly what he was talking about, and she also knew that Rhea was likely the person who had sent that request.

  When she glanced up, Kael was staring at her, and she quickly looked away.

  A moment later, the guards stopped at a large entrance to the library. Kael dismounted and helped her out of her saddle. She slid to the ground with their bodies nearly pressed together, and then took a hasty step back.

  “Thank you for the escort. It was nice to have company,” she admitted.

  “It was nice not to be unconscious. So, our interactions are improving.”

  “Yes, well…” Cyrene flushed.

  She should apologize. She had been the one to lead him on since she was in a rush.

  Just as she was about to, Kael took a step away from her. He tipped his head in her direction and then swung back up into his saddle. “I hope you find what you’re looking for in there.” He stared off into the distance, his face unreadable. Then, without one last glance, he heeled his horse in the other direction.

  “Thank you,” she whispered at his back. She wondered if he had wished that she had asked him to accompany her inside. She chewed on her bottom lip and let it pass.

  A member of the Royal Guard opened the door to allow her access to a large atrium. A gorgeous painted mural of angels—some floating on clouds, others walking on the thick green grass that she associated with the Byern countryside, and more bathing in the great Lakonia Ocean—covered every speck of wall space. The artist really captured the likeness of the ethereal nature of the angels.

  Cyrene entered the main library and found it to be a perfect circle that went endlessly upward toward the domed ceiling. A white marble staircase with a black metal railing wrapped ever upward to the floors above. Books were stacked atop books that were stacked atop more books. They were pushed into shelves, stacked against the wall, and covering once used desks, yet they still managed to be neatly arranged. The soft aroma of paper, ink, and old leather bindings reached her nostrils, and the familiar scratching of quills against parchment made Cyrene feel right at home.

  The best thing of all was seeing Rhea’s smiling face among the stacks, her nose buried in a book, just like old times.

  She rushed down to where Rhea was seated and threw her arms around her friend. “I knew it was you,” she murmured against Rhea’s auburn hair.

  “I had to get you out of there somehow,” she whispered.

  “Thank the Creator you did! I assume you want to show me what you’ve found.”

  She took a seat next to Rhea, too anxious to know what she had discovered. Over two weeks ago, they were supposed to meet in the library to discuss this.

  “Yes!” She grabbed two books and stood. “Follow me.”

  They walked to the first staircase and followed the spiral to the next floor and the next after that. She was a bit dizzy when they finally made it up to the fourth floor. It was much quieter up here, and the books were dustier from neglect. She couldn’t even make out the sounds of the gentle markings of the quill by the Affiliate librarian standing at a horseshoe-shaped desk at the center.

  Rhea replaced one book on a shelf and then glanced around to see if anyone had noticed them. The guards were staring straight forward, paying more attention to the entrances than to Cyrene herself, and the rest of the people in the room were too involved in their studies. Rhea cocked her head to the side, and they walked all the way to the opposite side of the stairwell before standing in front of a bookshelf that just about looked like every other bookshelf in the place.

  Rhea swallowed, glancing anxiously at Cyrene, before pulling down four nondescript books from various locations on the shelves. They all looked rather ordinary to Cyrene.

  “Do you have your letter with you?” Rhea whispered even though they were four floors up and no one could hear them.

  Cyrene shook her head. She had been in such a rush to get out of the castle that she had left it behind.

  “No bother. I have it memorized. I just thought for proof—”

  “I know it by heart, too,” Cyrene admitted.

  “And you hate memorization,” Rhea said with a smile. “All grown-up.”

  Cyrene chuckled, but the laugh died as her nerves escalated.

  Rhea licked her lips and then laid the books out across a half-empty table. She opened the book at a seemingly random place until Cyrene noticed the scrap of paper holding the page. She did that for each of the four books. Cyrene bounced on her toes as she stared forward at the pages.

  They were each written in distinct handwriting and different languages. The first was written in ancient Helix, which she was proficient in, but her eyes darted to the next book, which was a modern H
elix. The third book was barely legible and smeared to the point that Cyrene wondered how much of a hurry the writer must have been in to get this on paper. When she squinted her eyes, she could see it was a Sorpo dialect of some kind. The biggest book of the lot was clearly from the Northern region when Carhara and Tiek had originally been split into multiple counties and then unified under the rule of the Trejcken Empire.

  “This is what I’ve found,” Rhea said, gesturing toward the books. “I was looking for riddles and answers to riddles, and I couldn’t find anything. Then, randomly one day, when I was cleaning out Master Barca’s room, I stumbled across this journal. She pointed at the Sorpo dialect. I was fascinated at first just because of the rare language and the rushed writing. Then, I found this.”

  Cyrene stared down at where Rhea’s finger pointed. She carefully deciphered what she could from the text and then gasped. “But this…this is my Presenting letter.”

  “I know! I couldn’t believe it. Then, I started looking for others like it in the library, which is how I discovered these,” she said.

  Cyrene shook her head and sat down in an available chair. Dust billowed up around her, and she coughed, swatting it out of her face. “I don’t understand.”

  “Neither do I.” She picked up the modern Helix and read through it.

  Four different books and my letter in five different languages. All the same thing. All the same riddle. What did any of it mean?

  “Do you have a guess? What do they all have in common?” Cyrene asked, hoping for something, anything.

  “They’re all journals of some sort. One is a collection of letters going back and forth during a battle. Two are daily accounts of their lives, but they have no connection in time or place. One woman is a high-class educated woman, another a beggar who used to do transcriptions and translations but lost his voice in an accident of some sort, one is a farmer, and the other is a sailor. The Helix text is the hardest to piece together, and even then, I can tell that some woman finds it important to write down this passage. She even says so,” Rhea said. She pointed at the passage.

  “But if they have nothing in common—”

  “That is their commonality,” Rhea continued. “Their urgency. Three of them, it comes out of nowhere in the middle of another thought, and another, it appears the man had to write it down before he lost it. I just don’t know why.”

  Cyrene touched her friend’s hand with a smile. “There has to be more. Why would my Presenting letter be in all these books? It must mean something.”

  “What if…” Rhea swallowed and averted her eyes. “Never mind. It’s even crazy to consider.”

  “I could use a little crazy right now,” Cyrene said with a sigh.

  Rhea glanced up. “All right. What if it’s all…going to happen?”

  “Like…like a prophecy?” Cyrene asked, trying the word out. “But no one can predict the future.”

  Then again, no one should be able to see font that didn’t exist or lose time from looking at a book. Maybe it was possible.

  “I know, but why else would it be in all of these books?”

  Cyrene sighed. “I don’t know. Maybe it is prophecy. But then, why do I have it?”

  Rhea meaningfully looked up at her. “Maybe you are meant to fulfill the prophecy.”

  The doors banged open four floors below, and Cyrene jumped at the interruption to the quiet library. She and Rhea glanced over the metal balcony. The imposing figure standing at full height in the center of the entranceway commanded attention with his abrupt arrival, and they weren’t the only ones staring at him.

  Rhea’s hand fell to the railing. “What’s the King doing here?”

  “I don’t know,” she answered honestly. She hadn’t seen him since the night she returned from Master Barca’s residence.

  They watched him walk to the Affiliate librarian seated behind her enormous horseshoe desk, buried to her forehead in books. A second later, the woman pointed upward. Cyrene swallowed and watched as his gaze found her among the stacks. Knowing she had no other option, she left Rhea with the pile of mysterious books and walked down the spiral stairs.

  “Affiliate.”

  “Your Highness,” she said with a curtsy.

  “I thought you might enjoy some company on your way back to the castle.”

  She hadn’t expected to be escorted back already. Rhea and she had just begun. Surely, they could find more clues in this massive library. But she could hardly refuse Edric, and she didn’t really want to. Just seeing him this close again sent a spark up through her chest.

  “Of course,” she said. “Do you mind if I say good-bye?”

  “No trouble at all.”

  She veered back to Rhea.

  “I have to go,” she said.

  Rhea grasped her hand, her expression slightly worried. “I’ll get word to you if I find anything else. Hopefully, this whole mess will be cleared up shortly.”

  “I hope so, Rhea.” Cyrene smiled forlornly. “Good luck.”

  “Cyrene,” Rhea said before Cyrene could turn to go, “be safe.”

  Cyrene nodded and returned to Edric. She followed him out of the library. A command of Guard members sat on their black stallions when they exited. Edric hoisted her up into Ceffy’s saddle, and they trotted through the winding city. The Guards took a sharp right at the first juncture, and Cyrene sat up straighter in her saddle. This wasn’t the way back to the castle. Her eyes darted to Edric, and he smiled.

  “I thought you might want to see the white shores of Albion.”

  “Very much so, but is it safe?”

  “With me you’re always safe.”

  When they finally rounded the bend leading down to the beaches, Cyrene was nearly bouncing up and down. Ceffy pranced, feeling the weight of her owner.

  “We’ll leave the horses here. Wouldn’t want any broken ankles,” he said. He dismounted, helped her down, and then escorted their horses to the Guard.

  A retinue of guards followed behind them as they set out onto the sandy beach. The waves gently rolled into surf, leaving traces of the white foam across the surface. A soft breeze lingered in the air, cool against her skin. She breathed in the distinct salty smell and listened to the seagulls in the distance.

  Cyrene wondered what had possessed Edric to come out here with her this afternoon. After all this time apart, here they were, as if they were back on that procession boat. It was just the two of them lost in this dream of seclusion. She knew that this wouldn’t escape the Queen’s notice. Nothing did. And while Cyrene hadn’t received any instruction since coming on the procession, she was sure Kaliana would cook up something when she thought Cyrene was getting closer to Edric again.

  Maybe he had been staying away for her benefit. She really didn’t know. She cut her eyes over to him, appraising him, and her feet sank too far into the sand.

  “Oh!” she yelped, losing her balance.

  She staggered forward, and Edric pulled her close with a steadying embrace. Once he had her in his grasp, he didn’t release her. It had been so long since they were this close together, and she had to fight her instincts to keep her eyes from lingering on his lips.

  “I’ve missed you,” he whispered.

  Her heart sang with the news. She hoped she sounded composed when she spoke next, “I’m sure you’ve been busy.”

  Edric sighed. “I have been. The Eleysian Prince should be here soon, and we’ve been preparing for his arrival, but…”

  “But?” she prodded.

  “It has been hard to stay away.”

  Cyrene flushed. She was glad that she was not the only one who felt that way.

  “Cyrene”—he brushed her dark brown hair out of her face as the sea breeze whipped it around—“I don’t want to stay away any longer.”

  His hand moved to the back of her head, and he drew her lips to his. It was the first kiss they had shared since the night on the procession, and she was shocked at how much she wanted this. She was the one
who had made him stop before, but that was now the furthest thing from her mind.

  Her whole body stirred at his touch. Their connection shocked through her. Her lips turned desperate. She couldn’t get close enough to him. She couldn’t find her breath or keep her heart steady. All she needed was this moment here with him. She clutched his shirt, and his fingers threaded back through her hair. He had the same maddening need pushing through every kiss and every touch. The ground seemed to shift beneath them.

  They broke apart with a gasp. The heady look that passed between them was a far cry from their innocent looks across a ballroom. She wanted more. She wanted to feel again.

  Edric removed his shaking hands from her and struggled to take control of his body. She could see the depths of desire pouring through his blue-gray eyes. She was sure that she was a mirror image of him. Slowly, she released his shirt and let her arms hang limp at her sides.

  “Cyrene…”

  She swallowed. “Yes?”

  He shook his head and grasped her hand. Their fingers laced together, and he placed a soft kiss across her knuckles. Her heart hammered from the intensity of it all.

  Edric directed her to continue their walk while the time permitted. She had so much going on, so much she didn’t understand, and so much she had to worry about, but here, on the beach, the worries disappeared.

  She didn’t know how much time had passed before they headed back. The sun sank low across the horizon, and Cyrene noticed how high the tide was coming in, covering their early footprints in the sand, wiping them away as if they had never been.

  “I never thought it would be so beautiful here,” she said with a smile in his direction.

  “You’re beautiful,” he whispered, drawing her to him again. “Come to me tonight.”

  “Edric…” She knew that she shouldn’t do it.

  She had to get to Eleysia, which meant far away from him. He had a Queen and so much more that mattered to him.

  Yet how can I turn him down?

  “Tonight?” he asked before punctuating his request with a soft kiss.

  Her eyes fluttered closed. “Okay. Tonight.”