Kortiama wrapped her arms around him. “Thank you!”
She ran outside, the other orphans charging after her. Solais veered off for the tower, needing to get her weapons. Eyro assisted with setting up, retrieving some practice weapons for the smaller or less-proven children. Kortiama chose to do a quick warmup to get used to the weapon. It had far better balancing and weight than the one she’d been using all this time.
Solais returned a little while later. “Okay, who is up first?”
One of the ship captains stepped up, drawing the cutlass strapped to his hip. “I’d like to test Korti. Make sure she’s ready for life on the ships.”
Kortiama smirked, flourishing her rapier. “Have at you, then.”
Steel clashed with steel as Solais went at it with a ship’s captain. Her ferocious attack kept the experienced man on his toes, but she wasn’t gaining much ground otherwise. Kortiama watched with keen interest. The sparring turned into a small tournament of sorts, and now Solais and the captain were the only ones left. Kortiama had done well herself, but ultimately the experience of her last opponent overpowered her.
While unhappy she’d been beaten, Kortiama would use it as a lesson to become better. There wouldn’t be second chances when fighting a true enemy.
The captain disarmed one of Solais’ hands, following up quickly with a hard blow to her other hand. Solais managed to hold strong on her weapon, but the fight was now over. With her weapon too far out to take a defensive position, the captain slipped in and leveled his blade with Solais’ throat. “I win.”
Solais’ face twisted in her displeasure, but after a moment of defiance, she sighed and relented. “Yeah, you win.”
The man chuckled and patted her shoulder while the others around applauded. He looked to Tharne. “You’ve done well with them, Tharne. We need more with their skills on the ships. Just be careful, we might steal them from under ya in during the choosing.”
Tharne grunted, his arms crossed. “We’ll see about that.”
Liadha looked up at the sky, now painted in hues of red and orange with the setting sun. “It’s late. It may be best to call it a day.”
Some of the younger orphans groaned and protested, saying they were having too much fun to leave. Kortiama promised that she’d come and play with them tomorrow, which cheered them up. She then said goodbye to everyone, thanking them for all the gifts and for coming.
Liadha drew up next to her as Kortiama waved to her retreating guests. “Korti, Tharne and I have something important to discuss with you.”
Kortiama cocked her head. What could they possibly want to talk about? She nodded and followed her aunt back into the house, Tharne drawing up behind her.
The procession didn’t escape Solais’ eye, but Eyro stopped her. “I need your help cleaning up.”
“But where are they going?” Solais asked.
Eyro’s expression remained stoic. “They have something to discuss between themselves.”
Yet Solais remained adamant. “But why? Why can’t I be included? I didn’t get any special secret meeting on my birthday.”
Kortiama pressed her lips together as she followed Liadha up one of the foyer stairs to the second level. Solais was right, nothing like this happened for her, so what was going on?
Her aunt led her to Tharne’s study on the second floor, Tharne closing the door behind them. Kortiama’s fingers curled. The air felt a little too tense. Or was that just her nerves?
Liadha stared out the window at the landscape below. When the room remained silent for a little longer than Kortiama was comfortable, she spoke up. “So, you wanted to talk to me about something?”
Her aunt was quiet for a moment longer. “Did you know, at the time of the raid on Penwick, I was with child?”
Kortiama’s brow knitted. That’s a strange question. “I’d heard mention of it now and then. Most said something happened during the raid and you lost it.”
Liadha continued to peer out the window. “What else have you heard?”
She thought for a moment, still confused. “Some have claimed the child wasn’t lost at all, but instead hidden away.”
Liadha nodded, finally turning from the window, but she didn’t look at Kortiama still. “Do you know why that would be?”
“Um.” Kortiama couldn’t begin to wonder why Liadha would hide a child, let alone lie about something like that.
“For her safety.” Liadha finally answered for her.
Tightness formed in Kortiama’s stomach. “Her?”
Her aunt turned her gaze onto Kortiama, a hollowed, haunted expression masking her face. “The night Berngal met his end, our daughter came into this world. She was small, but strong. With his final breath, he placed the Dasati mandate on her—an infant not even hours old. That would have most certainly damned her to death if I allowed anyone to know.”
Kortiama watched her aunt closely, the knot in her stomach tightening.
Liadha closed her eyes for a moment before continuing. “So I lied about her death and smuggled her into an orphanage to be raised away from me. To grow in secret to ensure she lived to fulfill the destiny her father placed on her.”
Kortiama’s fingers twitched at her side, her mind racing as she thought through the ramifications of what her aunt had just told her. “An orphanage? The orphanage Solais and I grew up in? You can’t mean…”
The witch’s eyes bore into her, and slowly, realization dawned on her. Kortiama pointed a shaky hand at herself. “M–me?”
Liadha nodded. Kortiama let out a weak laugh. “You’re joking, right?”
They have to be joking. She looked to Tharne, who had an unsettling, stoic expression. They’re not…
Her eyes darted between the two of them as she tried to process this. Liadha was her mother? She’d been so doting whenever she came to visit, but Kortiama always assumed that was what an aunt should do. Now she could see it was Liadha’s way of being her mother from afar.
And then there was Tharne, who really was her uncle, and not just by the name he’d crafted for all the orphans. And that meant Rikton was her blood uncle, too. She swallowed hard. This was too much.
“She’s what?” A familiar voice cried.
All eyes fell on the window, where Solais peeked in, her eyes wide. There was no doubt she heard that all, too.
“Solais, what are you doing?” Tharne snapped.
The ferocity of his tone startled her. Solais’ grip faltered and she gasped when she fell back. Kortiama’s pulse raced. She’ll die if she falls from that height!
Liadha reacted quickly, muttering an incantation and pointing to Solais with a single finger. Then, Solais ceased to fall, her body now suspended in the air.
The wild-haired young woman looked around. “Wow, that was close. Thanks, Aunt Liadha.”
“Solais? Solais, where are you?” Eyro called from somewhere in the house.
Tharne opened the door and ducked out. “We’ve got her. She was too slippery for even you.”
Eyro sighed. “Sorry, Captain.”
“It’s fine, we’ll deal with it.”
Liadha opened the window and brought Solais in. The moment the young woman’s feet touched the floor, Liadha looked over her, a terrifying aura leaking out of her. “What do you think you were doing?”
Solais, her eyes tight, stuck out her chin in defiance. “It wasn’t fair Korti got some secret special meeting with all of you. So I wanted to find out what it was about, and because Eyro was so busy keeping me away from the door, I scaled the wall to spy and get information. That’s what I do.”
Tharne sighed, pinching his nose. “She’s not wrong.”
Solais’ eyes sparkled. “But not even I could have predicted this amazing news.” She faced Kortiama. “Korti, this is fantastic! It’s—why do you look unhappy?”
All eyes fell on Kortiama once again. It didn’t help the turning in her gut as she tried to wrap her mind around all this. She leaned against the wall and rubbed her
face. “It’s not that I’m unhappy. I’m just… trying to process this.”
“What is there to process?” her sister asked. “We used to pretend we were Eboneye’s lost heir when we were kids.”
Kortiama let out a tight sigh. “Pretending is one thing, but to actually be them?”
Her eyes fell to the ground. “I thought I knew my life. I didn’t have parents to call my own. Either they died or didn’t want me. I was adopted with my best friend by the Lord Captain and raised as his own. I now had a family to call mine. But now…”
Kortiama ran her hands through her hair. “Now I’m finding out that was all a lie. Nothing I knew was…”
She hid her face in her hands, her emotions getting to be too much for her.
Tharne approached and placed his hands on her shoulders. “We did it to protect you, Korti. Taking you in as my own would ensure you’d be safe. I took in Solais so you two could grow up together—and to keep you safer. Rikton would have killed you without a second thought if he knew the truth.”
Kortiama’s hand fell to her side, though she struggled to meet his gaze. “I know you did… I just…”
Her shoulders sagged. She didn’t even know how to put this all into words.
Liadha crossed her arms. “Korti, you’re going to have to accept this as your new normal. We don’t have time to waste. There’s a lot to go over so you’re ready for the choosing.”
“Liadha, slow down,” Tharne said. “There’s no harm in giving her more time to take this in.”
“How is this going to be revealed to the clan?” Solais asked.
Tharne pulled away from Kortiama, drawing her attention. “A Grand Choosing will be called in place of the standard choosing, and Korti will be presented as Eboneye’s daughter, and the new Lord Captain.”
That’s only three months away! Kortiama’s mind raced, her thoughts jumping in different directions trying to think of all the things she’d have to learn. Was it even possible to be ready to take over the Dasati in that short a time?
“Great, we can get Korti ready in time, no problem.” Solais sounded far too confident about this for Kortiama’s liking. She tried to catch her sister’s eye, but Solais’ gaze was firmly fixed on Liadha. “Excuse me, Aunt Liadha, but there’s something I don’t understand. You said you put Korti in the orphanage to later be adopted by Tharne for her protection”—she placed her hands on her hips—“but you’re the infamous Witch of the Seas. There’s no way her life would have been in danger with you around.”
Kortiama’s brow ticked up. That was a good point. All heads turned to Liadha, who stood there, her eyes closed. Silence pervaded the room until she finally responded. When she did, her voice was low. “Her life would be in constant danger, even with my protection.”
Liadha opened her eyes and leveled them at Solais. Nothing menacing dwelled there. No, instead Kortiama saw respect within them, as if Solais’ questioning had earned her points with the witch. “There was also the matter of her taking over the Dasati when she came of age. If she were raised by me, the entire clan would think I was controlling her. After what happened with Berngal…” Liadha sighed and shook her head, her eyes filled with regret. “It was better this way.”
Solais crossed her arms, her lips pursed. “Then why not raise Korti as a Ramulos instead? You didn’t have any obligation to keep her as part of the clan.”
The corner of Liadha’s eyes tightened. Kortiama sensed the build-up of ominous magic in the air. Leave it to Solais to push things too far. Kortiama almost stepped in at that point, but then Liadha’s face relaxed, the sudden spike of magic in the air fading away.
“I owed it to Berngal,” Liadha replied in a cold tone.
Kortiama knew the conversation was over at that point. Solais’ probing had irritated the witch for some reason.
Solais accepted the answer rather easily, most likely because she sensed the same thing as Kortiama. She turned to face Kortiama, flourishing with an unneeded bow. “Well, influenced or not, I know where my loyalty lies. Let me be the first to pledge my allegiance to our new Lord Captain.”
Intense heat rushed to Kortiama’s cheeks, and her hands balled up tight against her hips. “That’s not funny, Solais!”
Her sister gave a goofy grin. “Sure it is, because you won’t lighten up.”
Kortiama’s gaze fell again. “I’m just processing.”
Tharne place a firm hand on her shoulder again. “And we’ll give you tonight to do that. Tomorrow we can go over what needs to be covered in the next three months before we tell the clan. It won’t hurt to wait. And if you have questions between now and then, ask them. There’s nothing to hide here.”
Kortiama nodded, thankful he respected the time she needed.
Liadha was the first to leave, but not before passing Kortiama a spine-shivering intense look. Kortiama had seen the witch give this to others, but never to her. She couldn’t deny, the longer the stare lasted, the harder it was to stave off her fear.
“Don’t take too long, Korti,” Liadha warned. Her gaze shifted to Tharne, the dark expression not letting up, and then she left.
Solais passed Kortiama a concerned glance before leaving. Tharne was the last to follow. He looked back at her for a moment, his expression pained.
“Uncle Tharne,” Kortiama said, before he could close the door behind him. He halted and listened. “You’re still my father.”
Tharne turned to look at her, his eyes wider than before.
“I may be Eboneye’s daughter by blood, but you’re the one who raised me.” She licked her lips. “So, I don’t want you to think anything changes, because it doesn’t.”
He smiled, moisture brimming his eyes. Kortiama sensed both joy and pride radiating of him, even at this distance. “Thank you.”
3
A Sister’s Gift
Kortiama leaned against a tree, watching Renere far below. So much hustle and excitement. Soon the ships would leave, and the grand event would commence. Of course, none of the clans knew just how important—yet. Kortiama wasn’t quite sure she comprehended its importance. Since the reveal on her birthday three months ago, she had struggled with the truth. Add to that everything Tharne and Liadha had taught her in preparation for taking over the clan, and it was a wonder she could breathe at all. She was barely an adult, with no experience sailing a large ship, let alone captaining one. How in all Arinthar was she supposed to gain the support of and lead an entire clan?
The more these questions looped through Kortiama’s head, the further away the simpler days of carefree fun and pretending seemed. What was I thinking, dreaming of a responsibility like this?
The crunching of footsteps behind her caught her attention. Kortiama ripped her gaze away to see Solais approaching. “Is it time?”
Her sister had given her the space to think before they headed down to meet with Tharne. Solais had been one of Kortiama’s most crucial supports during this time of adjustment. She thought her sister may get jealous after a while and pull away, but the opposite occurred. Solais was more determined than ever to be her anchor during this storm.
“Almost,” Solais said. “Before we go, I want to give you something. I think it’ll help get you through tonight.” She rubbed the back of her neck. “Of course, as I was walking down here, I realized I left it in the tower. I figured we could both just go up there instead of me running back.”
Kortiama shook her head. That was just like Solais. “Only because it’s you.”
Her sister smiled and then took off up the path. “Great, race ya there!”
“Hey!” Kortiama chased after Solais, mindful of the protective wards and traps. She cleared over a few fallen trees and bulging rocks with ease, yet Solais remained several strides ahead.
Kortiama’s lungs burned by the time she and Solais made it back to the villa. Her sister maintained her lead as they raced through the courtyard, making it to the front entrance and into the foyer first. She taunted Kortiama for a brie
f moment, though it hadn’t been that much of a win, then rushed up the stairs to their tower. Kortiama remained hot on her heels up the winding staircase.
She nearly ran into her sister, who had stopped short on the landing of the top floor. “What gives?”
Solais spun around and held up a bandana. “It’s a surprise, so you need to wear this.”
Kortiama’s brow spiked, but she took the cloth and wrapped it around her head, doing her best to cover her eyes. She saw the shadow movement of Solais’ hand waving in front of her, making her laugh. “The secret is safe. Can we please get to the surprise? We’re going to be late if we dawdle too long.”
Solais took Kortiama’s hand and pulled her into a room. Her sister positioned her to face a specific way and then took a step back. A moment passed in silence.
Kortiama’s brow spiked again. “Can I take this blind off yet?”
“Nope, not yet.” Solais’ voice sounded a little too far away for her liking.
“Where are you?” she asked.
“Getting your gift.”
A muscle twitched in Kortiama’s neck. Something didn’t feel right. “You’d better not be pulling a trick on me.”
Solais laughed, her voice carrying farther than before. “Would I do that to you?”
“Yes.”
Silence fell in the tower. Kortiama shifted her weight between her legs, impatience growing stronger. “Solais, are you done yet?”
Silence.
Her lips pressed into a tight line. “Solais?”
Silence.
Kortiama pulled her blindfold off and looked around. She stood in her room of the tower—alone. A door below slammed shut, echoing up the stairs. She took slow steps out of the room, her boots clicking on the stone floor. Kortiama looked down the winding staircase. “Solais?”
The sound of something heavy dragging across the floor below carried up the tower. Kortiama’s shoulders tensed as she flew down the stairs. She knew her sister was acting strange. She should have been more careful.
Tales From Thac Page 7
