by Gwynn White
Mom stood and walked over to him. She draped her arms around his shoulders and hugged him, hard. “I know I asked you to be nice, but I can’t tell you how proud I am of you for choosing to stand up for me, however unnecessary.”
Talon hugged her back, stunned by her reaction. Then he pulled away. At sixteen, he really was too old to still be hugging his mother. “I thought you’d be mad at me.”
“How can I be? Not when you are merely doing what you were born to do.” Mom took his hand and led him back to the fire. She waited for him to sit on his cushion on the floor. “Tao and I know you have sought answers for a long time, but you have to understand that there are two very good reasons why we haven’t satisfied your curiosity.”
His eyebrows quirked. This he had to hear.
Mom sat next to him and grazed his knuckles with her lips. “Firstly, we wanted you to have a carefree childhood, because once you hear what we have to say, you will never be free again.” A chill shot up Talon’s spine. “At least, not unless you fight for it—and win.”
“No doubt about me winning,” he said, not wanting to admit that Mom’s grave face and tone were unsettling.
Now that the moccasin was on the other foot, he decided being disconcerted wasn’t much fun.
“You have no idea of the odds, Talon,” Uncle Tao said, equally grave. “But you will have help. If you accept it, you stand a chance. Alone, well . . .” His voice trailed off.
Mom cleared her throat. “The second reason is that your father’s eyes and ears are everywhere,” she waved a hand around the cottage, “and we feared that if we told you anything, he would try and take you away. Tao and I were not willing to risk that.”
His father’s eyes and ears?
That sounded creepy, even if Talon didn’t know what it meant.
“Okay, I get that you had reasons, even if I don’t understand them.” He pulled his hand away from Mom’s and dragged Thunder, almost comatose in front of the fire, across his lap for comfort. “So how about we start at the very beginning. Like, why do we live here? Why does Lukan come every month and then you all pretend he only comes once a year? Why don’t we ever see other people? And, most of all, why does Lukan hate me so much?”
Mom snorted her surprise. “Oh, the beginning starts way before all that. But, tell me, how do you know Lukan comes every month?”
Talon’s eyes narrowed as he considered her very blatant deflection. “If I answer, do you promise to keep your promise and tell me what I’ve waited years to know?”
“What is the one principle I have always tried to teach you, Talon?”
“Mom, you’re deflecting!”
“All for good reason. Answer me.”
“Honor,” he said with an impatient wave of his hand. “Being honorable, so the Winds will find me worthy of help.”
“Yes. Exactly that. Talon, you will need the Winds on your side if you are to win against your father. And not just the Winds. Every deity on this planet will need to lend a hand.”
Talon dug his fingers into the coarse hair under Thunder’s collar. The dog whimpered, and Talon quickly dropped his hand.
Mom said, more gently, “I make you an oath, I will answer every single one of your questions, if you just answer this one of mine.”
An oath. There was no higher, more binding promise his mother could make. It bound her soul to the Winds. If she broke it, the Winds would curse her. He wasn’t sure he believed in mere curses, but she did, and strongly. It was enough that she had made the promise.
Talon relaxed for the first time in months.
“Just because Uncle Tao takes me out before Lukan arrives doesn’t mean I don’t hear him coming. He gallops around the forest as if he owns it.” He shifted his attention back to the barn. “In fact, I can hear him now. He’s finally leaving. Hope he never comes back.”
“He does own it,” Tao said flatly.
Talon looked at him in surprise. “The forest? Lukan owns it? How is that possible? This is our land.”
“Lukan Avanov owns two-thirds of the land on this very large planet, including our tiny patch of forest,” Uncle Tao said. “You’ve always wondered if there are other people besides us. Yes, there are. Millions of them—and many of them are controlled by Lukan. And when I say controlled, I mean just that. His priestesses have injected them with devices made from a substance called ice crystal. It allows Lukan and his Lord of the Household, Felix Avanov—our uncle—to monitor and control where people live, what they do, and how far they can travel. No one embedded with ice crystal leaves their town or village—or cottage in the forest—without his permission.”
Talon’s eyes bulged. He shook his head, hoping that if he rattled his brains hard enough against his skull, Uncle Tao would make more sense. Shaking didn’t make what Uncle Tao said any clearer. “Huh?”
Mom chuckled, and then her face fell back into the gravitas that set Talon’s nerves on edge. “It’s only the people who live in the Chenayan Heartland who have been tagged. Lukan didn’t have enough ice crystal for everyone in the empire. This forest is in the Heartland.”
Talon’s mouth dried, and he struggled to swallow a lump that had formed in his throat. “So . . . are we tagged?”
“Tao and I are.” Mom pulled her hair away from her neck and pointed to a scar Talon had never noticed before. He knew Uncle Tao had one, but had never thought to question whether his mother had anything similar. Why would he have?
“Acting on Lukan’s orders,” Mom said, “Felix did this to us before you were born. The ice crystal allows us to live within a prescribed area in the forest. If we stray beyond those boundaries, it will fire a shock, killing us instantly.”
Talon stared at Mom, then rubbed his own neck. As far as he knew, there was no scar there.
Uncle Tao touched his shoulder. “You were never tagged. You were Lukan’s terrifying secret, the one no one was ever supposed to know about. That’s why he sent your mom here before you were born. He didn’t want anyone to know of your existence. Then, just after your birth, Lukan came here with Felix to tag you. Your Mom and I fought them off. In the end, Lukan realized he would have to kill your mother to get to you. As you saw tonight, he’s obsessed with possessing her, so he wasn’t willing to sacrifice her. He and Felix left with the job unfinished.” Uncle Tao’s expression hardened. “That’s why I always take you away when Lukan comes.”
Talon’s core warmed at how much his Mom and Uncle Tao loved him. “That kind of explains why Mom is here. But why you?”
“I did not agree with his plan to inject everyone with ice crystals, so I refused to swear allegiance to him. As punishment, he banished me, too.”
“You fought for me, but you didn’t fight for yourselves to prevent this?”
Mom and Uncle Tao looked at each other and laughed; it sounded bitter.
“We fought like wild things,” Mom said. “But Lukan was too powerful. It was not a fight we could win—and survive to tell the tale.”
“He stole your freedom. Powerful or not, that would not have stopped me fighting!”
“I was pregnant with you,” Mom said, dryly. “Keeping you alive was more important than anything else.”
Talon grimaced, ashamed that he could accuse them when all they had done was protect and love him. He took Mom’s hand. “Thank you.” Then he scowled, trying to understand the complexities of the situation. “Uncle Tao, why would you need to swear allegiance? Who is Lukan that he has this much power?”
“Your father is Emperor of All Chenaya and the Conquered Territories. Considered by many to be the most powerful man in existence. Like I said, he owns two-thirds of the world.”
Tao canted his head. “Then why do you sound doubtful about all his power?”
“There are two other people who wield as much power, if not more, than Lukan.” Mom twirled her feathers and braids.
She always did that when stressed or deep in thought. He wondered now which emotion she rode.
�
�The first is a man named Axel Avanov. He is Felix’s son”—she gestured at Tao—“and Tao’s cousin. Your cousin, too. Axel runs a private army of highly trained mercenaries. They have waged war against Lukan since before you were born.” She pulled out a familiar chunky gold button—she used to let him play with it when he was little—and held it up for Talon to see.
“You think this is just a button.” She smiled. “A chew toy.” The smile vanished. “It is actually a device called an informa. It allows us to communicate with Axel. We will be re-introducing you to him tonight. He’s been waiting since the day you were born to reconnect with you.”
Talon kept his face neutral, trying to pretend he understood all of this crazy stuff. Or that he wasn’t hurt that she’d kept this information from him. It left him feeling like a fool. “I thought you said no one else knew of my birth? Now you say this Axel wants to meet me again?”
Mom and Uncle Tao grinned conspiratorially, as if sharing a precious joke.
“We didn’t say Lukan was successful, Talon.” Tao’s grin widened. “We had a full house here on the night of your birth. Axel; his sister, Malika; her husband, Stefan; and an old friend named Tatiana attended your birth. It was also the night the Pathfinder comet swept through the sky.”
Uncle Tao and Mom never failed to mention that the rare Pathfinder comet had appeared at his birth. Talon could never understand what all the fuss was about. Planetary bodies and stars moved all the time, so what was the big deal about the coincidence of a comet appearing?
“An epoch-changing event,” Mom added, voice brimming with her usual pride when it had anything to do with him. “Anyway, Axel is the reason Lukan has only managed to tag the people in the Heartland. His army has stopped Lukan getting his hands on the biggest supplies of ice crystal in the world. They are still fighting for it, but Axel keeps them at bay.”
Her voice softened into something almost tender. “Axel’s other great claim is that he is the man I would have married, had I been given a choice.” She gave him a speculative look. “Who knows, maybe one day I might still get the chance. If you manage to win against your father, of course.” A small smile played on her mouth. “No pressure.”
Talon chewed on that information. What was more astonishing? The story of Lukan and Axel and the ice crystal? Or the fact that, for his whole life, his mother had secretly loved a man he knew nothing about? He swallowed and then started to laugh at the absurdity of the situation.
“Mom, if Lukan is an emperor, that makes you an empress!” Hysteria threatened to overwhelm him. “Shouldn’t you be living in a . . . a bigger house?” He looked around, trying to ground himself in reality and noticed their ragged curtains. “With . . . with velvet curtains?”
Mom’s smile was gentle, indulgent. “Velvet curtains would be just part of what an empress would have in her palace. And you haven’t stopped to ask what it makes you.”
True. Talon’s nose scrunched in thought. He had no idea what the son of an emperor was called. It had never come up before. Surprise, surprise.
“So what does it make me? Apart from incredulous. And a little bit ticked off, if I’m honest.”
“A crown prince. The other person who wields as much power as Lukan.” Tao leaned back in his chair. “The fateful troika: Nicholas, also known as Talon; Lukan; and Axel.” A shadow crossed his face. “I should mention that Lukan has two other heirs: Grigor and Meka.” His eyes dropped along with his voice. “I am told that they are actually my sons.”
Jealousy stabbed Talon at Uncle Tao’s subdued tone. He pushed it aside as quickly as it rose. He had no doubt of Uncle Tao’s love for him. Pain at his uncle’s obvious sorrow drove out all other emotions. “You’ve never seen them?”
Uncle Tao stretched, then stood. He walked to the fireplace and threw another log on the embers. “No. They live with Lukan and their mother.” A self-deprecating smile. “Your Aunt Kestrel. Your mom’s sister.”
From having only three people in the world, Talon felt overwhelmed with family. He picked at Thunder’s collar. “There’s rather a lot of us, isn’t there? Does everyone always inter-breed? It doesn’t work in the animal kingdom, so why do humans do it?”
“Not by choice,” Mom said with a firmness that surprised him. “Norin princesses, that’s my tribe—we are vassals of Lukan’s—have always been forced to marry Chenayan crown princes. My father is the Norin king, and he has no more daughters, but my brother Wolf does. Her name is Petal, and I bet she lives in fear of the summons from Lukan to marry—” She shrugged. “Well, I’m really not sure who she’d marry, now that you have been born. The imperative for Norin princesses to marry Chenayan crown princes fell away at your birth.”
Talon didn’t want to pursue that line of questioning. Instead he asked, “And your sister, Kestrel?”
“Kestrel’s summons to Chenaya was unusual. Lukan’s father wanted her to marry Tao. It wasn’t a successful match.”
Uncle Tao flinched, then busied himself with poking the fire.
Mom stood and squeezed Uncle Tao’s shoulder before heading to the kitchen. “A drink, anyone?”
Talon’s stomach rumbled. “Any dinner left? I kind of lost my appetite over supper.”
“Soup. I’ll heat some up for you.”
Talon scratched Thunder’s neck while Mom clanged pots around the range. Uncle Tao sat back in his chair, stretching his long legs out before the fire.
Talon wasn’t sorry for the respite. It gave him an opportunity to think. But the more he thought, the less any of this made sense to him, despite the overwhelming evidence to the contrary.
Mom handed him a warm bowl of soup, which he rested on Thunder’s back. The dog must have smelled the food, because he awoke, eyeing Talon hopefully.
Talon looked around to make sure no one was watching and then slipped him a piece of fish. It vanished down Thunder’s gullet before anyone noticed, and he flopped back to sleep on Talon’s lap. Talon ate the rest. He put the bowl on the floor and sighed. It was time to get more answers.
“You still haven’t explained what I did to make Lukan hate me so much. If I’m the crown prince with all this power, shouldn’t Lukan be teaching me to—”
What did crown princes learn about? Surely not how to plant and grow chickpeas or make the perfect rabbit snare? He looked down at his hands, calloused from the dozens of chores he performed daily to help keep his family alive, and compared them to Lukan’s soft, mushy ones. “To read and write, for a start?”
“You heard your father,” Mom replied. “He has no intention of ever letting you educate yourself. What we’ve managed to teach you with charcoal and homemade paper is as good as it’s going to get. The music I made you learn was to give you some culture. We Norin love music and dancing. I wanted to give you that. The math . . . well, that’s all yours. You figured that out by yourself.”
Just like he would have to figure everything else out if he ever became emperor.
He snorted at his own folly. Thunder would grow wings and fly before he became emperor of anything.
“Okay. Back to the hate.” He sensed that despite the oath, Mom and Uncle Tao were holding back on that all-important issue.
“Talon, you have always loathed your real name, but it is the key to understanding Lukan’s hate.” Mom pointed out the window at the night sky.
Talon glanced out, guessed from the position of the stars that it was well after midnight, and shrugged. He’d said no one was sleeping until this was resolved. “I assume you mean the Nicholas part?”
“Actually, your full name is Nicholas the Light-Bearer. I suppose if we were to tack on a surname to that mouthful it would be Avanov.”
Talon rolled his eyes in disbelief. “That’s the name of a constellation! And who needs a surname? What were you thinking, Mom?”
He didn’t add that the stars that demarcated Nicholas the Light-Bearer, the constellation in the northern point in the sky, were by far his favorite. Watching the Light-Bearer always gav
e him a sense of power, a sense of purpose.
Now the coincidence—too creepy to be laughed away—sent a shiver up his spine.
Mom swatted the side of his head. “I most certainly did not choose that name. My choice was Talon—a good Norin name—and that’s what we have always called you. But I was asked to name you Nicholas the Light-Bearer by a friend of someone you love very much.”
Talon turned accusing eyes on Uncle Tao.
“Whoa!” Uncle Tao held up his hands. “Don’t blame me. Blame Thunder.”
“Thunder? The dog? He told you to call me after a bunch of stars?”
Thunder lifted his head and looked up at Talon. He swore he saw agreement in the dog’s loyal eyes. Talon grimaced. This was beyond weird and creepy, and he didn’t like anything that made his skin crawl.
“Remember, I said getting answers will be the end of your childhood?” Mom’s face was sorrowful. When he nodded, she said, “I want an oath from you that you will be adult about this discussion.”
Despite his growing certainty that something wasn’t right here, Talon didn’t even hesitate to answer. “I can be an adult. I’m not a boy anymore. Tell me everything.”
Mom studied him for what seemed like an eternity. Finally, she said, “I accept your oath and consider it binding.” She looked down at the dog. “Explain it to him, Thunder.”
Chapter 8
Thunder sighed, a long mournful sound.
Talon reached down to pat him, but the dog’s body arched, then shuddered. His skin and fur began to bulge.
Talon’s eyes widened almost to bursting as a brilliant light burst out of Thunder’s back.
It grew in size, unfurling like a butterfly escaping from a chrysalis. As it blossomed, it revealed a stocky man with gray hair and a stern face. His skin glowed with a pearlescent light before settling into the monotone of human skin. His robe was dark with brighter stars patterned after the Nicholas the Light-Bearer constellation. He hovered briefly in the air before descending until his booted feet touched the floor planks.
