Birth Stone

by Kate Kelley

  “Thane--?” She swallowed and breathed in and out, trying to process the information, “He—he told me he had just visited the Thanes. How was he back so soon?”

  “He told you that?” His voice lowered an octave. She looked at him sharply, hands out in truce.

  “That’s all he told me. He never has breathed a word of what he has been doing for you all these years.”

  He was silent for a beat, jaw working.

  “He has been helping me find my sister, Iris.” He spoke quietly.

  “Your sister?” She asked incredulously, still trying to wrap her head around her brother going missing.

  The King’s eyes hooded and he looked down. There was a defeatedness in the blank way he looked at the table. “Yes. Ten years missing.”

  “Ten…years..? But that’s how long my brother has been working for you.” Lyra closed her eyes and exhaled roughly before continuing, her voice taking on a life of it’s own.

  “Have you considered she might be dead? Or that maybe she doesn’t want to be found?” Her brother was missing. And he’d wasted the last ten years of his life in one inane pursuit to a privileged, clueless King.

  No, this King was not of sound mind. And Edwin was right about his darkness. Probably right about his involvement in the Devastation, too.

  The King leaned forward as he rose from his seat, his broad shoulders bunching toward her body over the table and his face was suddenly too close for comfort. It felt like a black cloud had descended upon her. Those stormy eyes bore into hers and his next words were nothing but gravel. “I know she’s still out there.”

  “How? How do you know?” Her voice was barely above a whisper. Her mind screamed at her to stop speaking, but her mouth moved of it’s own accord.

  “Because your brother is with her.”

  Confusion met her again and she shook her head. “That makes no sense. You said they were missing. Yet you know they are together?”

  “They’re trapped in a realm together. An otherworldly realm. We just can't seem to tap into it.” He sat back down, stroking his chin.

  She squinted at him in disbelief and shook her head. She nearly laughed.

  “You really are mad, aren’t you?” She stood up, eyes shifting, not knowing what to do. She thought about running to the door, but then what? She shuddered, thinking of the Knights just outside the door.

  “Sit down!” he barked out. Her eyes flashed to his face, over his clenched jaw and furrowed brows. A wisp of malice whipped through the air. She lowered to the seat again. His next words sounded as if they were reluctantly ripped from his throat.

  “Ten years ago my brother banished our sister to an otherworldly realm, seeking to take the throne that was rightly hers. The land chose her, and Techni sought to override the land’s choice. My mother, frail and weak though she was, happened upon the scene and banished him as well. We believe they’re in Eclipsa. She had been sick for a long time, my mother, and that amount of magic takes a lot from a person. It was her last act. Neither of us were expecting it. We thought Eclipsa was a myth.”

  Lyra sifted through the information, trying to comprehend.

  “Magic.” She said flatly, not bothering to disguise the disbelief in her voice. This was met with no response, save for the steadfast look he gave her. But then she could see the barely repressed pain on his face. He really believed this is what happened. For ten years he had borne this pain.

  “You lost your whole family in one day.” Her voice was soft, despite her anger towards him. She understood what it was to lose your entire family. The people you loved. It was a pain she wouldn’t wish on anyone. His pain sought her, confused her, made her want to believe his story.

  “In about a five minute span of time, yes.” His voice was hollow, his face was stone-like. Still, Lyra felt his pain like a stab in her heart.

  It couldn’t be. Magic doesn’t exist like that, not anymore, if ever. But her conversation with Edwin sprung in her mind. Even he had talked of magic like it was real. She took a deep breath. She had questions.

  He sensed her hesitation and sought to explain. “So, this is what Alec has been helping me with. To find Iris. Until three weeks ago, that is.”

  Nodding, she took it all in. She locked eyes with him again and somehow she knew he was telling the truth. This shocked her more than anything else. She sucked in a sharp breath and hands clenched the table, searching for support.

  “Your sister is in a...realm. And my brother somehow...found her. But upon doing so...was also trapped in the realm. That is what you are saying, yes?”

  “Essentially, yes.” The King's eyes bore into her.

  “And how did this happen? How do you know he is with her and if you do, how come you don’t know where they are?”

  The King smiled then, a pathetic thing that didn’t reach his eyes. “Because I have someone...who uses magic. Who works for me.” his eyes flitted to her throat, then away again, “He told me he saw them together in a vision, trapped together in a misty globe. That can only mean one thing.”

  Lyra’s eyebrow quirked up. “And you trust this person.”

  “Entirely," he said without hesitation.

  She licked her lips, thinking.

  I have to trust him, don’t I? What choice do I have?

  “Can’t these..magic users, you know, help you find them?”

  And why was my brother being used to find his missing sister?

  Warning bells went off again in her head. Things weren’t coming together clearly.

  The King walked to a large stained glass window and peered out through the thick colored glass as though he could see through it perfectly.

  “The magic is dark. It is tied to something many magic users won’t involve themselves with or refuse to believe. I don't have enough magse at my disposaBut we have--too late, perhaps--shot down the feasibility of it being an air portal. We wasted so many years looking and feeling the winds over the earth for the portal. All of our trails went cold. Before Alec disappeared, we established it was a ground portal in Thane Mountains. After Alec left for his annual visit to his family, I made this connection.”

  “Which is why you called him back so suddenly after he had just arrived.” She concealed her irritation for the time being.

  “Precisely. And we traveled like demons were at our backs to get back there, and…” His eyes held a faraway look, as if he was reliving the moment. Lyra shuddered.

  “What exactly happened?” Lyra dared to ask.

  “He jumped from a cliff.”

  Alarm sparked through her head. “What do you mean by that?”

  “I mean, I saw him jump over the edge of the cliff. I ran to grab him but it was too late. I looked over the edge, and..I saw him disappear. Swallowed up into nothingness. It was the same way I saw Techni go ten years ago.”

  Lyra’s hands cupped her mouth in shock. This King was surely mad. He had witnessed Alec take his own life or fall, and had turned it into some fantasy. She searched his eyes for truth and a spark of something--a seed of knowledge--swam through her mind. That familiar prickle was back, raising the hairs on her arms. The world spun and the prickle made its way up her spine before her head became heavy and everything went black.

  Cold slab of rock under my belly, the jutting rock gouging his fingers as I held onto the cliff’s edge.

  The dizzying motion of hanging half my body off of a cliff looking far below at the tops of evergreens and rushing water.

  The thin, freezing air whistling around my ears, and then the air gives, a loud crackle, a flash of desperate blue eyes, blonde hair, and Alec’s body disintegrating into thin air.

  “NOOOO!!!” A guttural deep cry erupted from my lips. He was gone.

  A haziness rose around her and she was back in the throne room, sitting across from the King. He was kneeling on one knee near her chair, his face expectant, desperate.

  “What did you see?”

  Lyra shook her head and backed away from him
in her chair.

  “I...no, it was….” She let out the breath she had been holding. “I think I need a lie down, perhaps some tea. It’s been a long journey.”

  What had just happened was not normal. Fear stabbed her heart. She wiped her mouth with a shaking hand.

  “You had a vision, didn’t you, Lyra?” The smile reached his eyes this time, though still soft.

  Lyra closed her eyes. “This is too much. I can’t--”

  “But you must.” He was grabbing her--his large, rough hands encircling her upper arms. She cowered from him.

  “You do have an Aura, I knew I felt it. You’re a mage. You must be incredibly strong, like your brother.”

  She flinched when his hands clamped down harder.

  “Lyra, open your eyes.” His demand was wrapped in silk, but was a demand nonetheless. She did as she was told but avoided his gaze.

  “We can find Alec. And Iris. With your help, alone.”

  “I--I don’t understand--”

  “I will help you unlock your potential,” he implored. She couldn’t tell if he was asking or demanding her.

  The truth, the devastating truth, crashed into her--what had happened to Alec, the reality of magic, her own magic within her--and with it came an inkling of determination to get Alec back. Turning slowly to meet his eyes, Lyra gave an barely imperceptible nod toward him. He breathed deeply and let it out, standing. He wiped his hands on his thighs as though he had been sweating in anticipation of her answer.

  “Tomorrow after breakfast, meet me in the library. We will begin our lessons.”

  Lyra was about to ask what he meant by lessons, but he had already stalked away.

  Left alone, tears came, silent but plentiful, like a dam within her had been opened. When the last tear had fallen, she rose and made her way out of the cold throne room and was greeted with a nod from Silo. He led her through the eery silence of the palace, her footsteps the only sound, echoing down the stone hallways, until they reached her room, and he left her alone.

  Chapter 7

  Lyra closed the door to her room and leaned her back against it for a moment. She took in the softly lit chamber, candelabras on either side of the canopy bed and a roaring fire in the fireplace to her left. The room was toasty, and yet the chill in her spine remained. She eyed the wash tub and to her surprise noticed steam tendrils rising from it.

  Someone refilled it, thank the gods.

  Sinking into the chair, she removed her boots, this time with every intention of seeping into the bath. Standing, she tugged her shirt from her skirt and removed it, tossing it on the floor. Loosening and untying her skirt’s laces from behind her slender waist, she let the worn, sand-rumpled garment drop and then shrugged out of her chemise and undergarment. She stepped from the skirt’s pool at her feet and made haste to climb into the beckoning water. It was perfect. Just hot enough to chase and tinge the chill, but not too hot to burn. Gripping the edge, she lowered to her knees so that her full hips were now submerged, and then sat back all the way until she was neck deep and enveloped in the seductive pool. A sigh escaped her lips and she leaned her head back, the upward curved edge of the tub cradling her neck. Closing her eyes she turned the day off. Everything she had learned, her brother missing, Iris, the reality of magic..the possibility of her own locked magic. Aura, he had called it. She turned it off, all of it, and let herself simply be a woman enjoying a delicious bath.The warmth of the water drew out the tension in her back, shoulders, and neck. She spiraled downward into the deep pleasure of the bath and soon found herself standing in front of a black figure.

  “Lyra.”

  He was standing in his Kingly garb, looking like the black angel he was. I looked down at myself and realized I was naked. When I looked up again I saw that he was standing so close to me I could feel his hot breath on my mouth.

  “Where are my clothes?” I asked weakly, rubbing my arms, but I couldn't take my eyes from his rugged mouth.

  “You have none. You're in my courts, and at my mercy.” His gravelly tone sent a shock of lust through me and I felt myself grow wet between my legs. I grabbed a handful of his silky black mane and tugged his face toward mine before crushing my lips to his. His mouth was hard, opening on mine and meeting my tongue, gliding and tasting. My senses tingled. Thunder rumbled somewhere in my mind. I felt myself spiral out of control and I ripped my mouth from his and licked from the base of his throat to his jaw, feeling the prickly sensation of stubble. He let out a low purr and closed large, callused hands into the flesh of my hips, yanking me closer. My body was crushed against him and the feel of his hard body, his clothing rubbing against my naked skin made me yearn for more. I wanted to feel his skin against mine.

  Our eyes locked, his stormy grays boring into me with such intensity I felt a throbbing between my legs that was almost painful. A throaty, wanton moan escaped my lips as Terrin’s mouth found the side of my neck, lightly grazing. He growled low in his throat again and brought a rough palm over my ass. I found his other wrist and brought it down across my front, toward the spot I needed him most. I begged him, losing all sense of decency.

  “Please, Terrin.”

  Water sloshed over the sides of the tub suddenly and the sound of ringing echoed in Lyra’s ears. Her lungs burned, and she realized she was suffocating. She tried desperately to breathe, doubled over on her hands and knees, retching. Water ran off her naked body and pooled onto the marble of the floor. Goosebumps trilled up her legs, arms and up her scalp. She was vaguely aware of a warm hand on her upper back. When the coughing subsided, she felt a soft robe across her back and was lifted up like a baby in strong arms. Breathing returning to normal, she looked to see who her rescuer was. The King moved aside the silken canopy on the bed and set her atop the impossibly soft surface.

  “I don’t know what happened.”

  His eyebrows furrowed, eyes hidden in the shadows of the room. His hair was wet and he was in night robes.

  “My sleeping quarters are across the hall. I, uh..heard a noise as I passed and thought I'd check. I saw you as you had just slipped under and managed to pull you out in time.” His voice came out mumbled and he averted his eyes. She has fallen asleep in the bath. Suddenly, she remembered her dream and bit back a groan.

  Gods, had he heard me--? Her entire face felt as hot as the hearth.

  Had me heard me say his name?

  Silence stretched between them for what felt like an eternity.

  “Thank you,” was all she could manage. She couldn't look at his face. She wanted him out of her sight. How much more could this man dismantle her life?

  He saved my life. Ignoring that truth, she was about to ask him to leave when he beat her to it.

  “Get some sleep...in the bed this time around.” He rose swiftly from the bed and made his exit. A short while later, when the fire had died, Lyra blew out her candles and sank back into bed, wondering what the hell had just happened.

  ✽✽✽

  Lyra’s eyes opened and she felt like a new woman. Her body and mind were refreshed from a full night's sleep on a proper bed. Sun shone softly through the clear oriel window to the left. Rising, Lyra made her way to the latrine, relieving herself and then checking her appearance. To her surprise, there was a silver hairbrush sitting next to the wash basin. She splashed warm water on her face, dried, then picked the hairbrush up and worked it through her hair.

  Thankfully the bath last night had softened it. Despite the way my hair had gotten rinsed.

  She was to meet the King in the library after breakfast. She was determined not to let the shame of him seeing her naked deter her from working with him to find her brother. Heat flushed her face again.

  That dream. It was nothing. My body wants to bear children is all. Twenty six years old and no babies. Humans have urges for multiplying just as animals do.

  She looked for the pile of clothes she had left on the floor and saw that they were gone. A moment of panic had her fearing she would have to w
ait for a servant to come check on her so she could get new garments, but her eye caught the doors left of the bed and she sauntered to them. When she opened the doors, she gaped. Dresses of all colors and fabrics hung in beautiful and perfect shape. Pulling an emerald green day dress out, she held it up to herself. It looked like it would fit.

  They have it stocked with dresses fit to my measurements? The thought was disturbing. Though the dresses were beautiful, she had to admit. She dressed quickly and checked herself in the mirror. The garment was a soft but simple cotton, the color and shape were richly designed. She noticed it was more snug than her more modest gowns and skirts, and quite low cut, offering a view of her golden decolletage and tops of her breasts. She frowned. No, this was certainly not her normal style. The dress clung to her torso and cinched at the smallest part of waist, then flared out delicately until it just reached the floor. The sleeves were billowy and made of a transparent, shimmery fabric, bunching at just below the elbows.

  The emerald color made her eyes practically glow, and the rosiness of her cheeks had come back. Lyra pulled the ribbon from the hanger, meant to adorn the dress as a sash, and tied the thick ringlets of her hair back at the nape of her neck.

  There, she looked presentable. Like a true lady, if not a little forward.

  Edwin would love this on me.

  Her stomach lurched. She hadn't thought of Edwin much since she had arrived and guilt stabbed at her.

  I should write to him, let him know I am at least alive. If not entirely well.

  Slipping into her black leather ankle boots, Lyra cautiously opened the bedroom door and stepped into the hallway. Her eyes landed on the door directly across from hers.

  Why is the King residing in this wing of the palace? She shook her head, puzzled and annoyed.

  I’d be dead if not for him being so close. She shook the intrusive thought away and made for the stairs. She was hit with the succulent smells of breakfast foods and realized she hadn’t eaten since last morning, a thin stew that was more water than anything. Her stomach growled violently and she laid a flat palm to her belly. When she reached the bottom of the stairs, she let the aroma lead her to the kitchens. She found her way back to the spacious dining hall she had seen when she first arrived. Various important-looking and serious ladies and gentlemen sat conversing at the long wooden tables and eating their morning meal.