The Darkling

by K L Hagaman

  There had been wicked losses that no apologies could amend…

  “That is how Oscine found herself banished. It was never our desire to bring anyone grief,” the queen shared. “We simply wished to carry on this season of peace experienced between the territories.”

  Oscine had simply believed that once the queen had seen her work—her dreams being brought to life of an amassed stone with insurmountable power—Aalin would be wooed—would understand and come around.

  But the queen did not.

  Kaden’s eyes were glazed over with a tremendous emotion born of fury and pain. Oscine—she’d taken so much from him. She’d tried to take even more. It had always been her—the monster that had destroyed his heart, that still walked the earth only to plague existence further.

  A lurch of something in the Keeper’s chest made him wince—a thrum of energy he didn’t recognize as his own for as close as it felt, and his pressed into his chest until the sensation abated.

  “Why are they still here?” Lilja wondered to the queen, paying close attention to the faces of weavers. They all appeared at peace. To be willfully working. “If they’d been brought here by Oscine—forced into this….charge, once she’d been banished, were the weavers not freed?” Wouldn’t they have fled? Return to their homes? The Princess didn’t understand.

  “They are here,” the queen carried on gently, “Because they now truly choose to be. Many of their families are really gone, whether taken by Oscine’s hand or another misfortune. And having seen such darkness, they now genuinely believe in the fight to merge the stones for the sake of protecting magic from an undeserving world—from those like Oscine who have already begun to bring destruction.”

  Kaden swallowed his rising heart down his throat and cast his eyes to the ground before his attention was sharply brought back up by an explosive cry.

  “Das?! Das!”

  The focus of the entire room snapped from their work to Solly as her scream echoed through the hall. And though the soldiers made to stop her, their hands tearing at her robes to hold her back against her sudden burst of energy, the queen raised her hand quickly for her release. But not before Solly had kicked one of the soldiers with a heavy boot, breaking free of them all on her own. The other soldier quickly released her.

  Solly took off across the room and was met halfway by a man with disbelief etched onto his face, writ from his very soul. His arms were open and he snatched his sister up to his chest, cradling her there as they embraced.

  “Das…” Solly wept into his chest. Her brother. She’d found him. Here. Simply here. Whole? Well?

  “My Solly…” was all Das could breathe back, tears streaming down his face. “They told me— I thought you were no more…” he cracked out in disbelief.

  After a moment of taking in the scene unfolding before them, Lilja looked over her shoulder for her Keeper to see him rigid, jaw tight and eyes a bit glazed, though not a tear threatened to fall. It wasn’t his nature to grieve in the presence of another who celebrated.

  Despite his knowing deep in his heart that his mother wasn’t in that hall, Kaden couldn’t help but to look for her and had come up empty. But when he felt Lilja’s eyes on him, he was sure to give his attentions back to her with a faint and crooked little smile. He was alright. And they’d found what they’d come for.

  The truth.

  She gave him a soft nod, heart sweet for him as she wished to say so much in that moment. Or perhaps nothing at all. She simply wished to be present for him and him alone as his heart worked through the revelations of the day.

  But…

  “I believe I need to speak with the Accordance,” queen Aalin confessed soundly, looking to the Princess for remedy.

  With one last look at Kaden, tender and wistful for another time, Lilja returned her attentions to the queen and bowed her head. “I’ve brought the means.”

  Together, the royals retreated back to the throne room where their belongings were returned. After such, they struck contact with the Accordance through the communications unit Lilja had brought with her to summon the Dorai for the once-planned extract.

  And in that time—more coming to light during their discussion with the Accordance—it became clear just what Oscine’s game had been all along. With a few pieces of the puzzle, it was easy to align the rest in a ruse such as this.

  The wicked weaver had never abandoned her plans for a Master Stone, she’d simply changed her means to acquire it. Through manipulation and fear-mongering, she’d planned to turn the territories against each other, and then, while they were all busy in the delusional throes of conflict, she’d have found her way back to Tokū in Masuku’s wake to collect what she’d wanted all along—the spoils of another man’s war.

  Power.

  And with it, control of Tokū and the weavers once again—of them all.

  All she had to do was convince another territory that Tokū was on the verge of an uprising…

  Masuku had been her pawn. With his lust for authority and his proximity to it, he had been an ideal choice.

  The scout’s discoveries had been as disheartening as they’d been fruitful.

  ✽✽✽

  Eventually, after such a trying day where the deeds of Tokū had been found without true devilish fault and a plan had been set into motion with the Accordance—a plan to unite, support, and defend the Wys, the Tokū, the weavers, the stones, and to bring down the Faithful with their might before dealing with all else—the Princess and her Keeper were fed and given guest quarters for the night that they might rest.

  Rest. At time such as this. It seemed a bit absurd.

  But they’d done all they could for now. And the ultimate fate of the stones would come later from the Accordance after the more immediate threat of war had been diffused.

  It was much to wait on—much that hung in the balance. But for now, and while they could, they made to take rest.

  The rooms supplied were simple though warm, lined and floored with the same stone that ran throughout the rest of the castle, but rugged with thick, cotton knittings. Elegantly crafted iron-barred, glass-paned windows and the flames from the cobblestone fireplaces balanced out the cold night. The sky was clearer here without all the light pollution from the spires of home that Lilja was accustomed to, and now that she actually had time to breathe (for however brief the time could prove), she decided to enjoy the stars. So that’s where she was now, sitting before her window and looking out into the night like she had done countless times before in her own palace. And, just like so many other times in said spire, a familiar knock came to her door.

  Lilja turned and took the few paces needed to answer it, not surprised to see her Keeper there on the other side, curls crisp and clean, face fresh and shaven, arm freshly bound.

  “Favor a walk?” he wondered, standing there in his coat.

  With him? “Always,” she breathed, gathering her own coat from her room and slipping her arms through the sleeves as they set out.

  They headed elsewhere from the castle for a bit, back across the moat and into some gardens close by. They were practical plots, filled with items ready for a late harvest in the given season. And for a time the pair just rested in the silence, Lilja lacing her arm around his to hold him closer for warmth as much as pleasure. She leaned her head against his whole shoulder.

  “You did good today, Princess,” Kaden told her, looking down at her while they strolled in the quiet tones of evening.

  Lilja took a deep breath and let it out with an unconvinced hum. She wished she could have done more and done it better.

  “You did,” Kaden pressed soundly. “You stopped a war, Lilja, by coming here yourself. If it had been anyone else—”

  “But there still might be another,” she hushed into the twilight realistically.

  “Well…” Kaden started fairly, taking his eyes back to the path with a dip of his head. “Why don’t we focus on this day’s victory for now before we go on worrying about
the next.”

  Lilja looked up at her Keeper with a soft smile and kissed his shoulder. “Challenge accepted.”

  When her eyes lingered on him for a spell longer than the norm, Kaden looked back down at her with a little smile. “What?” he chuckled quietly, and sensing the weight of the air around her growing heavier, his pristine emerald eyes narrowed a little curiously.

  Lilja parted her mouth to tell him how very sorry she was—Sorry his mother hadn’t been in that hall. That even though they’d gotten some answers, they’d not gotten them all. But before the thoughts were given breath, someone else spoke through the gardens, their voice crisp and clear.

  “My babe?”

  Chapter Twenty

  The Other Keeper

  Kaden froze in place, and thus so did his Princess. Lilja turned to look over her shoulder and saw a woman who looked strikingly familiar, though she was certain she’d never met her before.

  And then she remembered the photo from his home.

  “My babe?” the woman called again, voice starting to quake. “Kaden?”

  Slowly, as if moving too quickly would

  cause the specter to vanish in the wake of his own air, the man turned cautiously.

  His heart raced, but he did not move. His feet rooted themselves into place lest his weight pitch and he fall with a weakness.

  The woman’s hand rose softly over her mouth to stop her lips from trembling when she saw his face clearly.

  It wasn’t possible.

  Kaden’s viridescent eyes trailed softly over her, distant, unsure of reality. His heart couldn’t make it if this vision proved false. He had to be careful. He had to be wary.

  “Kaden,” Lilja whispered to him after a long moment—for him to move or speak. That woman…that was his mother…It had to be. Her hair, gilded and curled, and those eyes she carried were all but his own.

  Finally, Nauraa broke and strode over to him. Lilja released Kaden and stepped back to give them space just before his mother swept up her son’s face needily in her hands, eyes hungrily exploring the features of the man, looking for her little boy in them.

  And he was there. She’d know that face and heart anywhere.

  Tears started to stream down Kaden’s face of stone, shock stronger than his will for a moment before he snatched her up likewise, fingers dragging at her, digging into her to anchor her to him that she might not vanish.

  “Mom?” he croaked quietly.

  Tear-filled laughter bubbled out of her as she held her precious son.

  “I don’t understand,” Kaden voiced in troubled sincerity. She’d been here? But the queen had said she’d released the captive weavers—“Why didn’t you come home?” he asked almost angrily though he didn’t loosen his grip over her. Had she chosen the cause here over him? There was no way she’d have abandoned him. If anything, she’d have collected him first—

  “Kaden,” the mother said in sorrow, her hands and eyes still exploring his face. “They told me…They told me you were no more.” She could barely get the words out. The horror of that time and how such a belief had plagued her every day since was vibrant behind her steady gaze. “They told me you’d fought against the captors and had been killed.” And she’d believed them. The lie had so sounded like her precious boy and his will of fire. “I could not return to that place knowing you wouldn’t be there. It would have been no home.” Just a hellish nightmare.

  “Oh, my babe! I’m so sorry, Kaden. I’m so sorry!”

  Kaden gathered her up again, trying to bring her closer though such a wish wasn’t physically possible even if he’d had the use of his other arm.

  Oscine. A scorching hatred began to burn in his veins.

  But that wasn’t all that coursed there.

  After a moment, his mother straightened slightly, leaning back a little to look at her boy and the radiance pulsing there—his veins ignited by the magical wonders within, set ablaze by the intensity of his heart.

  She closed her eyes tightly against the light, pained. “I have so failed you, Kaden.” She’d made the mistake of thinking they had time. “Please. Please, forgive me.”

  “No fault is ours,” he whispered gently for as powerful as he looked. He understood that now. Oscine had deceived so many—the truth had been muddied and buried. How many other torn families must there have been? Solly and Dax. He and his mother. He wouldn’t risk the assumption they had been the only ones.

  The weavers may have been free now, but they weren’t wise to all the lies of the past. They were victims still.

  Nauraa’s eyes opened and she rocked to the tip of her toes, bringing down her son’s face with her hands, and kissed his forehead.

  The light about him lessened and cooled, easing back into his veins as his throbbing heart receded, returning to his control.

  “We have so much to talk about,” his mother smiled quietly through glistening eyes.

  Kaden looked into her face and nodded. But then he glanced up for a moment, for Lilja, only to see her fair silhouette far in the distance, walking back towards the castle. Her energy was tender, and he knew all was well. She simply wished for mother and son to have this time to themselves.

  It was more than theirs to take. To keep.

  “A lot,” Kaden agreed quietly, looking back to his mother in as much love as he did awe.

  ✽✽✽

  The family united, talked late into the night as they wandered the gardens before they found a bench to roost on, the darkness broken by scattered braziers along the grounds and those butted against the high, ivied castle before them.

  Nauraa shared that while she did spend some time merging the power of stones here with the other weavers, she spent even more time teaching the young of their kind—the next generation of weavers as they were brought up here in Tokū.

  Tokū. Since the time of Oscine, the citadel had turned into a safe-haven for weavers—a place they were welcomed and treated as equals. Their presence, though, was one not flaunted, as the natives and weavers alike wished against having the scrutinous gaze of the other territories upon them, as they most definitely would have been had they all known. For all sorts of reasons.

  And Kaden told her everything: of his search for her, of Ms. Mai and the Wys—how he’d found himself the Princess’s Keeper.

  The pride in his mother’s eyes for all he’d done already in life—how brave he’d been and how kind he’d remained—was immense.

  “And the Princess of Wys? Lilja? You two…seem…close,” Nauraa both commented and pried at the same time with the art of a true mother, smiling brightly the whole while as if any answer he gave wouldn’t change what she already knew to be true. Her eyes twinkled with a joy she’d not held for far too long.

  “We’re…” Kaden hedged suddenly under the weight of his mother’s attention, face flushing a shade as he scratched his nose to buy a bit of time while he figured out how to answer. “Complicated,” he settled on, not willing to leave her without an answer.

  A forbidden romance sounded a little dramatic…Even if that’s what it truly was.

  His mother’s smile softened as she leaned forward, caressing her darling boy’s cheek.

  “Usually the things we call complicated are just the ones we simply haven’t allowed ourselves the time to solve yet,” his mother shared.

  Kaden’s demeanor settled while his eyes trailed throughout her own. “I’ve missed you,” he said simply.

  “And I’ve missed you, my babe, every second of every day.” She never wanted him to doubt that. He was her world.

  The pair exchanged a bit more, with promises to meet again for breakfast as Kaden escorted his mother back to her home late that night. It was a modest place that sat perched on the third floor of one of the buildings they’d actually passed on their way in. She’d invited him to stay, but he couldn’t. He had a charge, and he was by no means a man to ignore such a thing.

  Regardless of…anything.

  She understood wit
h her ever present grace and love, admiring the man she’d played a small part in raising.

  Kaden’s walk back to the castle was a quick one—time having been lost in the wake of his thoughts. But he was drawn back to attention when he saw Lilja leaning back against his door at the castle, asleep.

  She’d been waiting on him—having drifted off thinking of just how to speak the words needing to be spoken between them after seeing his mother. After everything.

  For a few minutes he just watched her, peaceful and still with the moonlight painting her skin in a glossy blue hue. And then he came up alongside her and eased down quietly, hip to hip with her.

  Her eyes fanned open lazily, and he opened his arm for her, letting her nestle in.

  And the world fell into place just that much more.

  “I’m so happy for you, Kaden. I wish I had better words to express the joy in my heart for you and your mother…” she hushed sincerely. He deserved such goodness in his life—such richness. He deserved his family.

  Kaden gave a tired smile and laid his head atop hers. “I’m not sure I even believe it,” he murmured a little vacantly in a low, exhausted voice. He’d spent the better half of his life without her—living with the horror of her theft. And now…that had come to an end after a simple walk in a garden.

  They sat in the quiet for a bit, tender hearts mulling over the last week and just how drastically their lives had been changed. But Lilja—something more was on her heart. She was thinking towards the future. They had to.

  Finally, she sat up and repositioned a little, turning to face him as she sat on her knees, eyes set sweetly in his with worlds dancing behind them.

  “I love you,” she told him there, softly but soundly.

  Kaden grinned a little, watching her move. “And I love you,” he returned so deeply. They’d yet to utter those exact words in such a direct order. He favored it.