The Darkling

by K L Hagaman

  “So understand, my sweet Keeper,” she started slowly with a hedge of something most troubling as her heart began to hammer in her throat, knowing what she had to do—something that had Kaden’s own blood sensing the peace around him crumbling, and his brow began to knit in pending dismay.

  “—that I do not do this with ease.”

  “Lilja,” Kaden all but warned quietly, sitting up some as his intuition whispered her words to him before she spoke them. The air about her, it was as edgy as it was serene. It felt of sacrifice…

  “I release you of your charge,” she whispered so gently, so tenderly, wishing for him to understand...

  “No,” he spat back as if he could reverse the command, tense against the wall as if he might spring to his feet at any moment in rebellion. “No. That’s not how this works anymore. I don’t release myself of it.” He was starting to tremble for as collected as he was trying to be. “This is just too much—all of it. We’re both tired and overwhelmed. There’s a lot happening and I—“ he rambled on.

  Lilja steadied him with a soft but sure hand on either side of his face. “Shh…Shh… Kaden, listen to me,” she begged tenderly, fingers sweeping his hair behind his ears. “You need to be with your mother. You need to spend time with the Towen in Shinrin and figure out what and who you are on top of your healing—“ She couldn’t keep those things from him. And that’s exactly what his charge would do. Remaining her Keeper would demand a sacrifice of himself she couldn’t allow him to make anymore.

  “I know exactly what and who I am,” he told her quietly, almost angrily, eyes hot with growing tears and jaw trembling under her touch. “I am yours. Lilja…no charge, no order, no law, no blood, no title could ever tell my heart what I am. That has always been for me to decide. The oath I took before you was one for your own benefit. It wasn’t because I needed to speak those words before I could truly live them. I serve you with my entirety and always have, not because I took the title of your Keeper, but…but because, Lilja…” His pause was thick as he fought for the words. “You’re my Keeper. I can’t be without you.” He licked his lips. “I can’t release you.” She may have been strong enough for such a sacrifice, but he wasn’t. Did she understand?

  Lilja was silenced.

  His Keeper?

  For as deep and new as such words ran in her heart, she…found she had already known them somehow by some way or another. Or perhaps she had simply just wished for them for so long that hearing him finally say such a thing wasn’t as foreign as it might have otherwise been…

  The Keeper swallowed, and a small smile, filled to the brim with so much love for him, was painted on her lips. And then, she bowed her head to him and they breathed in a moment as they steadied before she righted her path.

  “Then I, Lilja Tani Ade of the Wys, as Commander of the Royal Defense, swear by the blood in my veins that your life, Kaden Finton Ashe, will forever come before mine. I swear all power and strength vested in me, that I possess now or shall ever come upon possession of through my time on this earth and the one after, will be used solely in the service of your well-being. This charge I take as my life. I am yours.”

  Not once did he move to stop her from making such an oath to him. Because Kaden, he understood that by simply willing something one way or another didn’t change the truth in one’s heart. It was her oath to give—not his to control. This was her life to live. And he would not deny her those freedoms anymore than he would have her deny his own.

  “And I, Kaden Finton Ashe, accept your oath and will take you, Lilja Tani Ade of the Royal Defense, as my Keeper,” he promised.

  She raised her face, resting her forehead against his.

  “If you can keep up, that is,” he muttered between them in the cool night.

  “Challenge accepted,” she sighed through the grandest of smiles.

  Chapter Twenty-One

  The Uninvited

  There was no parting them that night. They didn’t even bother to move from the quiet corridor. Lilja fell asleep in Kaden’s lap, his hand in her hair as he rested himself back against the stone wall.

  Just a boy and his Keeper.

  Lilja had drifted off that night thinking of his words, playing them in her mind only to reach the end and replay them over and over. She was his Keeper…Her precious Kaden. She loved him with all her heart.

  As the sun rose, the former Keeper woke first, lifting his head from the wall with a sharp breath.

  An odd air suddenly caught him—he could taste it on his tongue and gave his mouth a good lick to purge it. He would have paid the sensation far more mind had it not been for the overpowering grief his shoulder was bearing down on him. Between having not applied any salve recently and sleeping against a wall, well, he was feeling the consequences of such poor choices that morning.

  A bit of movement in his lap had him looking down at her, though—his Princess and Keeper.

  If she wasn’t the most beautiful creature to walk the earth…

  His hand was soft through her hair, admiring the silky strands between his fingertips while he looked up and down the corridor, finding it still quiet as the morning hours were wee.

  Tokū was a unique place, of course, but the one oddity that stuck out to Kaden the most was the lack of buzzing—that ever present electrical fizz and static that always filled the air at the spires was missing here. He liked its absence. He could make sense of the world a little better without the interference—hear it clearer. Feel it more.

  Perhaps that was the Towen in him.

  He’d been thinking of his own oddities over the last few days, and perhaps how he was less of a rare bird than he’d always thought, and more so, just simply misunderstood.

  Misunderstood firstly by himself.

  He looked back down at his Princess as he heard her breathing change—as he heard the more conscious breaths of her waking.

  Her eyes cracked open and she turned her head in his lap, looking up at him when she remembered where she was.

  “Morning, Keeper,” he hummed.

  “Morning, my ocean,” she hushed back with a drowsy little smile.

  He gave her a bit of a toothy grin as he stretched his back a little, having more freedom to move about now that she’d woken and he needn’t worry about disturbing her. His shoulder gave a twinge and he winced.

  Lilja sat up slowly, her hair tumbling over her shoulder. “Do you have any salve left?” she wondered. She knew he’d been getting low. They’d tried to use it sparingly, but conservation only went so far.

  Kaden’s eyes didn’t meet hers as he gave his arm a gentle flex with a curl of his fist. “Yeah, a bit.”

  Lilja dropped her chin and looked at him from the tops of her eyes.

  “This is the berries all over again.”

  “Hm?” Kaden ticked, emerald gaze sweeping up to her in a humored confusion. “Berries?”

  “When you told me you had plenty at Oscine’s,” she reminded him of this past dishonesty. “Don’t lie, you’re terrible at it,” she hushed in a bit of a scold, though truthfully she was appreciative of the trait. “Are you completely out?” she figured.

  Having been made, Kaden gave a meek smile and rewarded her with half a nod and a lazy blink. “But it’s alright. I can manage.”

  Lilja’s brow softened with quiet worry. “As soon as we receive a report,” hoping for the best from the Accordance and their accosting the Faithful, “You need to go back to Shinrin and be tended to.”

  Kaden breathed a tired sigh and rolled his head back. Were they here again? He thought maybe they’d sorted this last night. He wouldn’t leave her, and she couldn’t come with him—the Wys were in grave need of their Commander and Princess.

  “Kaden, listen to me,” Lilja started, trying to speak reason. “I’m not going anywhere, and neither is my heart. It doesn’t matter where you are, or I am.” Her hand rose as she placed it over his chest—over the beating heart that she so desperately loved. “A great man once to
ld me that the ones we love are always breathing back and forth across our heartstrings—that we’re never apart from them. Not truly. I believe that now for both the living and beyond.”

  His eyes wandered hers softly; ease returning to them after a time. But his heart, the one her hand rested upon, quaked at the thought of parting from her again.

  But he knew she was right.

  With a silent brace of his jaw, he nodded. “I’ll go back,” he promised quietly. He’d get well for her—for them both. “But not until this is over,” he compromised. He wasn’t about to abandon her at the doorstep of war.

  Lilja took a deep breath, uncomfortable as she wished he would do solely what he needed to in order to right himself. But if that had been the kind of man he was, he wouldn’t have been the sort she loved.

  “Alright,” she agreed, bending forward and giving him a kiss. A sound kiss that led into another, and then another, and then another.

  But with a smack of their lips, Kaden pulled back a hair rather suddenly. “You feel that?” he had to wonder. It was such a brazen sensation.

  Lilja popped a coy brow at the loaded question.

  A reflexive grin popped on his face in unspoken reply. He hadn’t meant…

  But his face fell again the instant he felt the wave once more, all playfulness fleeing as the obtrusion grew more pronounced.

  “What is it?” Lilja asked, straightening, sensing the change in severity about him.

  “Nothing good,” he breathed, getting to his feet with her in his arm. “We need to get to the queen,” was all he had time for, taking her by the hand and sprinting down the hall.

  He recognized that misplaced energy—that electrical hum of home…

  The Faithful had come.

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  The Round

  “I’m aware,” queen Aalin informed the pair just outside the throne room where they’d nearly collided. “The broad patrol lit the signal fire.”

  “How much time does that give us to prepare?” Kaden asked as Lilja took the comm from the belt on her hip, grateful she’d not changed since she’d used it last night.

  Behind them as they talked, the Princess was already making contact with the Dorai and informed them of war having come to Tokū, beseeching they inform the Accordance and come to their aid in haste.

  “Half an hour at most,” the queen shared gravely. “If you’ll excuse me, I must assemble my soldiers and inform the rest of Tokū of the evacuation.”

  Kaden nodded just as Lilja hopped back into the conversation. “The Accordance is coming,” she gave, but they all knew how unrealistic it was they’d arrive in time.

  “Thank you,” queen Aalin hummed distantly, the fate of her people heavy on her mind. “If you wish to be of immediate aid,” she called over her shoulder to the pair, “—help my soldiers on the streets. They’ll be escorting the town’s people to a quarry for safety. It would be best for you two to remain there yourselves afterwards. This war is not your fault.”

  Kaden looked at Lilja over his shoulder and found her to already have eyes on him. The queen then left their company, vanishing beyond a set of doors with a heavy clank.

  The two Wys set off without a moment’s hesitation after that. They would help the Tokū so much as they could, for as long as they could—but they’d not hide in the quarry. All soldiers were needed here and they would not sit idly by when they could protect those of innocence—there was no question. And they both knew all that without even saying as much.

  “How did you know?” Lilja asked between them as they moved out. The signal fires started hundreds of miles out. How could Kaden have sensed the Faithful that far off as he had? How could he have sensed them at all?

  For a moment, he looked at her quizzically, not because he found her question wrong or odd, but simply because he realized he’d not wondered of such a thing himself. He’d just…known. He’d recognized the shift of energies as they coursed over the earth as easily as he felt the air going in and out of his lungs.

  “I dunno,” he mumbled all the same, not knowing how to word it—how to explain it. But even if he had known, they didn’t really have the time to discuss his quirks right now.

  Lilja didn’t press the issue, though she found him impressively impossible as her eyes swept about him for a moment when they crossed the drawbridge leading out of the castle. She was lost thinking of just what it meant for him to be Towen—thinking of how in truth, neither of them knew what that meant. Not really.

  It didn’t take them long to find themselves of use once in the streets. The people of Tokū were panicked, rushing to gather their families before following the soldiers set within the walls directing them to the aforementioned quarry, tucked under the skirt of a mountain just behind the castle bearing to the northeast. It was as far away from all shared borders as was possible. The location would buy time and protection for the laymen of war for a while at least, as well as free up the soldiers to focus more fully on protecting the stones and queen.

  Lilja and Kaden helped organize and settle the crowds as best they could on the main street that carved through the heart of Tokū , Kaden in particular keeping an eye out for his mother. But it was she that found him.

  “My babe!” she shouted over the torrent of scrambling people as soldiers fought to keep them in a controlled, steady-paced stream to their haven despite the chaotic air.

  “Mom!?” Kaden called back, stretching his neck to see over the crowd of heads. Luckily, she wasn’t hard to find with that head of hair.

  Lilja watched as Kaden started wading into the crowd, having heard his call for his mother. She did what she could from her own post to keep things moving along, knowing he’d be back.

  Nauraa swept up her boy by the arms when she reached him, as much to simply hold him as it was to anchor them together in the middle of the tumultuous sea of people.

  “Are you alright?” Kaden all but had to shout over the masses.

  Nauraa nodded and looked him over for her own answer before glancing around. “Is it true? The torches have been lit?” War? The Faithful from Wys he’d spoken of were coming for the stones? Now?

  “Yeah,” Kaden breathed, taking her by the hand to lead her back to his and Lilja’s self-imposed post on the edge of the main street. He would help who he could on the way, but he wanted to escort his mother himself to the quarry and told his Princess as much when they made their way back to her.

  Lilja nodded, searching his face for a quick moment. “Be safe. Don’t do anything stupid.”

  “Oh, gracious,” Nauraa sighed almost disappointed, causing both Lilja and Kaden to regard her in curiosity. “He still has to be reminded to not do stupid things?” the mother asked in a dismay of dry humor.

  Lilja, pleasantly surprised, chuckled as Kaden looked at his mother in a bit of a stupor, only to find her smiling at him innocently.

  “Thanks. Thanks, mom,” he replied in sarcastic appreciation, knowing Lilja would sing of this moment forever. She now had an ally to help establish any and all of his flaws.

  “But, no,” Nauraa settled on.

  “What?” Kaden ticked, already mid-step in his leading away with her.

  “I can take myself. I know the way and I’m completely capable. There are others who need you more,” she told her babe soundly.

  Kaden took a deep breath, letting it out slowly through his nose, jaw rigged as he cocked his head to the side in a sign of hesitancy. He didn’t want to leave her with the situation being what it was. He wasn’t about to risk losing her again.

  “My boy?” Nauraa pressed in a motherly fashion.

  After a spell, Kaden gave a resolute nod. “But you be safe. You dig in and hide. You hear me?” he said all but gravely.

  Nauraa’s heart fluttered for him as a small smile swept over her face. “I’ll be alright,” she promised, rising up on the tips of her toes to kiss his cheek before she boldly shared another kiss to the Princess’s own cheek—propriety for
royalty absent, her heart full for the girl as simply just that. A girl. Lilja’s brow rose and she nodded at Nauraa in parting before she gave a glance to Kaden and found him standing there smiling gently at a sight he’d never expected to see.

  His mother and his Princess.

  But work. Duty.

  There were too many people to evacuate in the time given, but they did their best with the time they had. Before long, Kaden and Lilja both could hear the engines of the crafts as they approached. As impressive as the wall of Tokū was, the barrier did absolutely nothing in regards to sky-fallen invasions.

  As the crowds thinned, the Princess and her former Keeper stood in the center of the quieting city—in the midst of an eerie peacefulness they all knew would soon end with the rancid explosion of war, looking high around them as small dots of men took their footing on the wall’s ridges with canons loaded.

  Kaden looked to his moon. “They won’t stop a single ship,” he said aloud between them what they both knew. The projectile tracking systems on their crafts would negate any incoming fire from the ground before they made a dent.

  Lilja stared back him solemnly. “I can use the comm,” she started, a hint of desperation maybe lost somewhere in her voice. But no sooner had she attempted the suggestion, then Kaden was shaking his head no—knowing what she was thinking and knowing it wouldn’t work.

  “I can use the comm and try to get through to Masuku one more time,” she plowed on, regardless.

  “Lilja,” Kaden hushed, shaking his head softly as his eyes locked with hers. They both knew talk was useless now, noble as such an intention was from her. Not to mention, “He can’t know you’re here.” For Masuku, it would be like killing two birds with one stone. He could take out his niece and take the magic. Kaden knew at this point, Masuku would blow the whole city just to kill her and secure his claim to the throne if he realized Lilja was there. The thought of that, the thought of what Masuku would do—what he wouldn’t do. A swell thrummed about his heart, and had he known all his strengths, he’d have better understood why Lilja looked away so suddenly as if her breath had been stolen.