by A Lonergan
Cal licked his lips. “They are very much real. They are in the archives with the rest of the rare, and terrifying creatures. But, taking care of your teeth is part of it. They only collect the best. It’s a treasure to them.”
I wanted to ask what else was in there, but I couldn’t get my tongue to move. It was glue down with terror. I was sure there were things in there that came out of nightmares, but like the head staring at me from the counter.
“They’re camping in the Mystic Mountains. It’s about a month’s journey from here.” Cal said, all business now.
“The Mystic Mountains? I thought those were only in Arinal.” I tried to think of all the maps I had studied, but nothing was formulating in my mind.
“The Mystic Mountains are practically the borders between our people and Arinal, but there are more that stretch around and keep us separated from the elves. There are legends that say the Gods put them in place to make it impossible for wars, and trouble between races. But we evolved, and changed, and the Gods disappeared.” Nico scowled. I had never heard him speak so darkly. He was usually the happy one out of the bunch, but war would do that. It would turn us all into dark creatures, even if it was against our nature.
“Aren’t the Mystic Mountains impossible to cross?” My father had gone on many assignments to the Mystic Mountains, before he died, but never across. That was never spoken to us. The Mountains were created so you couldn’t get across, my father had whispered that many times to my mother when they thought I had fallen asleep. I had heard about the intense, and unendurable terrains. The animals and plants that lived there were just as worse than the weather and unpredictable temperatures.
Cal bit his lip. I couldn’t seem to look away from them since we had shared many delicious kisses, but I needed to keep my head back to the present and not to fantasies. Fantasy didn’t win war. Fantasy didn’t save lives. We needed to be realistic, starting with myself. What if I died?
“They’re not impossible, we have traveled over them many times, especially when Armia went to married. When Freya came from the barren lands, but they’re tricky. When it comes to war, you can’t fly over them. They are fueled by magic that I wish I could uncover, and understand. They say you will die if you try to pass over them with ill intent, that you can only go on foot through it.”
“They must have found a way.” I shook my head. There was something we were missing. “How would Armia have been able to make it through?”
“She could have traveled through. Somehow.” Nico said, flatly.
“I supposed I need to pay her a visit then.” Cal said darkly.
Chapter Thirty-Five
The King
Armia, was the same as always. Her black hair hung in thick rivers down her face. Her complexion was red with anger, and her eyes would have cut through me if that was apart of her magic. Defensive magic was her affinity, but with as many binds as she had around her, all she could do was internally scream. Her lavender eyes were bloodshot from the strain and her face was frozen in a mask of panic. There was something though, something different that I hadn’t noticed the previous few weeks.
I waved my fingers and let the spell dispatch from her lips. “I don’t have to help you, in fact, I don’t want to. But here we are.”
Her voice came out in a gasp. “I’m pregnant!”
It was like a physical blow. The magic must have been restraining her belly from growing, and I didn’t know the right way to proceed if this was true. I stepped backward. Stunned was an understatement. I swallowed hard. That wasn’t the news I had planned on receiving.
“If you think they won’t come for me, imagine that they will come back for his child. A royal child. The heir to the Elven throne.”
Chills erupted over my skin.
“Don’t look so surprised, you should have known that it would happen. I thought you of all people would be well versed in how that happens.” I imagined that if she could laugh, she would have then. I snapped my fingers and the spell wrapped around her face once again.
I was to be an uncle. If it were true... and that was a big if. I needed Nico. His judgement was the only thing I could trust. Wyna would get blindsided by the baby part and nothing else would matter. A powerful child it would be, too. One of elven and Armia’s decent could rule all kingdoms, if it wasn’t born a null. Many children born of different races weren’t blessed by the Gods and there for they became nulls. No magic. But there was no way to tell until the child took its first breath. I stepped forward and held my hand out. The wisps of magic surrounding her stomach parted and allowed me past it. I steadied my breathing and listened.
After a few seconds, I could feel the life within my sister’s womb. Its heart beat thumped against my palm. The beat was strong, even as I started to pull away, I could still feel it. My binds rewrapped themselves around her. I flicked my fingers and the magic fell from her mouth again.
“Is this what you wanted? To be contained while expecting?” Pain filled my voice as the question fell from my lips.
Her mouth turned up in a sneer. “If you had given me what was rightfully mine, we wouldn’t have to be going through this right now, now would we?”
I shook my head. “I found them in your room bound to your bed and naked. Slavery is illegal here, but sex slavery is something that people die for. You knew this and you continued to push them and do what you wanted to their bodies. I saw the marks on their skin.”
She pinched her lips together.
“Do you know what kind of position that put me in?” I roared.
“Hopefully a good one, they are quite skilled with their mouths.” The magic fell back over her face as I stormed from the dungeons. I couldn’t contain my rage at her words, and harming her wasn’t an option. It didn’t matter that she was with child. It mattered that she was my sister, no matter how evil she was. I wouldn’t have been able to harm her even if I wanted to. I knew we were evenly matched on the battlefield, but my rage would do things... things I didn’t want to happen. I could never be a monster.
Willow was waiting for me at the top of the stairs with a hopeful expression. I pushed past her a little more aggressive than what I had planned, but all in all, I wasn’t in the mood to talk.
I could hear her keeping up with me and after a few twists and turns through out the castle, she finally spoke up. “I’m going to take it, that didn’t go as well as you hoped.”
I didn’t say anything and continued to the next stairway, except this one went up to one of the towers. To my private study, a place that I didn’t bring anyone besides my king’s guard. I whipped around and came face to face with the beauty that had taken over my dreams. “Where do you think you’re going?”
She cocked an eyebrow and smirked. “I didn’t realize I wasn’t wanted in your company today.”
I blinked hard. “I hadn’t meant to be rude.”
She shrugged. “You were rude, and thats okay to a certain extent because of what’s going on in your kingdom, but next time give a girl a warning so she’s not chasing after you like a lost bitch.”
Willow turned on her heel, her hair making an arch around her head, as she strode down the hall. I scrubbed my hand down my face, and tried to think of something to repair what I had done. But she didn’t turn back and I didn’t call after her. I knew she was a spitfire, and I admired that about her. But I didn’t have time to dwell on it or romance.
I took the stairs two at a time, now annoyed with myself. I had let my sister rule over more than just the kingdom and the war; she had also gotten into my heart.
“There have been many times I have been an ass to women, but that just topped it. Future Queen, eh?” Nico leaned against the wooden door that lead to my study, and private library. It had been entirely too long since I had been here, based on the cobwebs collecting on the doorknob.
I growled something under my breath and pushed past him, too. “You’re going to lose friends that way.” He chuckled when I threw him a nasty
glare.
“Aren’t you grumpy today!” he exclaimed as I tried to close the door on his face. “Seriously, what happened down there?”
I let go of my hold on the door and my childish antics. I threw myself into the giant winged back chair that sat beside the floor to ceiling window that overlooked the Wasted Sea and the corner of the Mystic Mountains. There weren’t many places that had this view, and there was a reason I had snagged it as my own when I was a child exploring. There had also been a reason I was allowed to have it over others. Magic was a finicky thing and it had embedded itself in the walls of the castle.
It had been an abandoned bedroom, turned storage. When I had transformed it into my safe haven, no one had even noticed. Just how I liked it. Over the years it had been turned into a playroom, then into a place I snuck girls after parties with pillows and candles lying about, and then eventually it had matured with me. All the books I had collected that were just too good to leave in the main library had found their way back to my room and then here, when there was no more room beside my bed.
A bookshelf stretched along the side of the window all the way to the small corner of the room where the roof did strange things. The other side of the room held my desk, pushed up against the wall covered in different maps and colored parchment. Nico sank down onto the Fenrir pelt on the floor and watched me with curious eyes.
“You have never tried anyone that way in a long time.” He pulled his lip in between his teeth and shook his head.
“She’s pregnant.”
His head pulled back and he blinked. “Willow?”
I pressed my palm into my forehead. “No, Armia.”
“That’s not good. Then they must know that she’s with child.” he muttered.
“But how would they know? She can’t be that far along.” I leaned back into the plush chair and tried to not throw something. My anger was starting to rise again and it felt like I couldn’t control it. It had been years since I had felt this way, so useless.
“Unless that was something she was using as insurance. Maybe they wouldn’t have cared if she hadn’t returned. She isn’t a very favorable person.” Nico ran his hand over the white pelt under him.
“You think she got pregnant right before she left and told him of the unknown possibility?” I shook my head. I would have been able to sense it on her.
“What about the guard? The one that Willow took out before you made it back to the castle?” Nico asked.
“The one Armia sent back because of his eye..” Yes, it was possible that she had sent him to tell them she was pregnant. But I couldn’t piece it together how I hadn’t known. How I hadn’t been able to tell.
“You were wrapped up with Willow at the time, you couldn’t have known, and your magic was bound.” Nico’s lips turned up slightly.
He had a point. I just needed to get my anger in check to find out just how far along she was.
Chapter Thirty-Six
Willow
After hearing about the way Cal had treated me, in my ranting, Wyna had insisted we get some air and take a stroll through the market. As soon as the wind hit my cheeks, I knew she had been right. Getting air was exactly what I needed, and probably what Cal needed, too. We had all been cooped up in the castle for far too long worrying about everything happening in the mountains. We were itchy and antsy for a fight, and it was making us turn on each other.
Wyna held a berry to her lips and watched me. “Where was he headed when he was acting all moody?”
I fiddled with my hair. “He was headed to another tower, a tower I didn’t even know existed.”
Wyna dropped the berry and gave me a nervous smile.
“What? Why are you looking at me that way?” I put my food into a waste bucket, no longer hungry. The look in her eye made my stomach flip flop.
“Nothing, it’s nothing.” Her tone of voice told me it was everything.
“You’re lying,” I rolled my eyes and tried to concentrate on the people milling around us. I pulled my cloak tighter around my face and hoped we weren’t noticed. I hadn’t been spotted outside of the castle without Cal yet, and I didn’t want that to be another reason for him to be angry with me or anyone else. But, I could take care of myself and I enjoyed my freedom. The main thing I was worried about was how the people would react. They would either love me or hate me. My mind convinced me it was the latter. What would they do when they found out I was an assassin?
“That’s Cal’s study, no one goes there, except some nightly guests and the King’s Guard.” Her words came out quicker than a flitterjack.
“Nightly guests?” I snickered.
“Yes, the women that he takes to bed, that he wants to woo. I have heard the view from up there is incredible. I am truly surprised he hasn’t let you up there yet. I would have figured with your courting, he would have tried to woo you, too. ” Wyna shrugged like it wasn’t a big deal, but there was something in her words that bothered me. Something underneath the fluff and the pretend. Something serious that truly worried her.
I shrugged. “We haven’t exactly gotten to that part yet, but I am sure when we do, he will be more than accommodating.” But, there was something that was bothering me. “Did he ever take Freya there?” The woman that had stolen his heart and then stomped on it.
Wyna shook her head vigorously. “No, they never did that. Not that I know of. I don’t think so. She did spend time in his room a good bit, but they weren't overly physical."
The more she stumbled on her words the more I didn’t believe her.
Nico caught us on the way back into the palace. He opened his mouth to say something then shut it before he opened his mouth again. He looked like a poor fish gaping like he was. “Every time I address you, I am not sure what to call you because you are betrothed to the King, and you aren't married to him, so I am not sure on your title just yet.” His cheek stained pink as he, too, stumbled over his words.
Everyone was acting weird. “Willow is fine.”
He nodded his head. “Perfect!”
Weirder and weirder. I thought we were past this strange limbo we had fallen into.
“We need to talk.” I grabbed Nico’s sleeve and dragged him down the hall, to let Wyna know I didn’t want us to be followed, I waved at her dramatically, hopefully it let her know she was released from the babying gig. When we turned the corner and I knew there was no one around, my dark magic flooded my body. It swirled in the air around us and pressed the poor guard up against the brick wall. “What’s going on?”
His Adam’s apple bobbed as he swallowed. “Cal will have to tell you himself.”
“He must have not told you how he treated me earlier. I do not wish to speak to him at the moment.” Magic filled my voice as I whispered.
“I saw it,” He sighed, defeated.
“You were watching?” I took a step back at the sound of voices down the hall.
“I am always watching. It is my duty.”
All I could do was nod. “Then you must know why I don’t want to see him or speak with him.”
“Yes, it wasn’t polite, and if I were courting you, the only place I would be rough like that would be in the bedroom.”
My jaw snapped closed, and the sound of my teeth clattering echoed around us. A blush crept over the guard’s face, but he didn’t take it back. I took a step away from the man watching me with big eyes. Eyes that didn’t seem to know what to do as they moved over my face and down my neck.
I pressed my lips together and tried not to snicker. I didn’t know where this change of heart was coming from, but I sure hoped no one else heard it. That was the last thing anyone in this castle needed. We had enough happening. We had enough drama, and trouble.
A throat cleared behind us, and I turned around slowly. There was no reason for quick movements. It would only make us look guilty, and we were anything but.
“I wish you would speak to me,” Cal said. He was watching Nico with new eyes, almost suspicious, but I kn
ew his words were directed at me. “I hope you had a nice trip outside of the castle.”
Nico slipped away and I was left to face the one person I didn’t want to. My magic slithered under my skin, close enough to call on, but far enough to not be seen. “Did you hear our entire conversation?”
He leaned against the wall, casually, while he inspected his fingers. “Yes, Nico and I will speak later, but that’s not what I wanted to discuss with you.”
I sighed and waited for him to continue. I wasn’t the one that needed retribution.
“I am sorry for the way I treated you earlier.”
I didn’t respond.
“I don’t know how to handle my emotions properly sometimes, and having to share them with someone else doesn’t help.” He cleared his throat again, and looked up from his fingers. “This is new to me. Being with someone I truly care about for a long period of time is different. Everyone I have cared for hasn’t stayed around, and then here you are. You are still here and for the life of me.. I can’t figure out why.”
I stood there and couldn’t mutter a single word. Somehow he was making all of this better and worse at the same time. I didn’t know what I was doing either, and love wasn’t something that I was familiar with at all. For goddess sake, I had never even kissed a man before him.
“Can you be patient with me?”
I lifted an eyebrow and bit the inside of my cheek. “I will try, but I can’t make any promises. I remember the way my father treated my mother and I will not accept anything less. Even if you are the King.”
He nodded, like my terms were just.
“But, I am curious about your study.” I trailed off, I wanted him to have the idea that I knew what the place had been, even though I didn’t believe rumors.
