The Kingdoms of Evernow Box Set

by Heidi Catherine

  He pulled her close and she pressed her face against his chest to protect herself from the sting of the sand. She’d grown up having never been touched like this. She’d never been fed by her mother or held by her father. Never been embraced by a lover or struck by an enemy. She’d never been picked up when she fell. She’d lived a life untouched.

  All that had changed when she was reborn. And it was to the desert that she came to call her gratitude to the sky. The place that nearly stole her life was the place she came to pay her respects.

  “Am I dead?” she called over the wind, using the words she’d first said to her husband so long ago, as she struggled to believe he’d returned home at last.

  “No,” her husband shouted back. “We’ve never been more alive.”

  THE END

  The Guardians of Evernow

  BOOK FOUR

  For my father - my fiercest protector

  BEFORE THE EVERNOW

  “Next! Step up. Next! Next! Next! Step up.”

  The women shuffled forward, their pace slow and measured, their heads held high. The navy tunics they wore had been neatly pressed and their blonde hair pulled back into braids, making them look like mirror-images of each other. As each woman reached the front of the line, she paused and waited for the King to make his assessment, aware he was selecting which of them would carry his bloodline into the future.

  It would be an honor to be asked to step up. A privilege to make his shortlist. This group had been chosen for their purity and youth, but only a handful would make it to the next stage. And only one would make it to the end. But they were all grateful to have been given the chance.

  For these were no ordinary women. These women were Guardians, protectors of the kingdom of The Bay of Laurel, bred for strength and trained to fight. Their bodies were lined with muscle, and their hearts coated with courage. The Guardians’ duty was to their King. There could be no greater purpose than serving him. All the generations of Guardians before them felt the same, male and female alike.

  However, they’d never been asked to step up in this way before.

  There was one Guardian waiting patiently in line who was different from the others. She wasn’t different on the outside, though. She walked in step with the rest, doing what they did, dressing as they dressed and saying what they said. She was the same impressive height as the others, had the same muscular build, and the same blue eyes and fair skin. Just like every one of these Guardians, she took her tonics as instructed, performed her daily exercises, and prepared to pair with a male Guardian to ensure the next generation was stronger and more courageous than ever before.

  In fact, so similar was this Guardian on the outside that she didn’t even know she was different. But there was no question about it. For this Guardian was destined to alter the course of the Kingdom. This Guardian was no ordinary Guardian at all.

  “Next! Next! Next!” Small particles of roast potato mingling with saliva flew from the King’s mouth as he shouted. This was a leader who liked to sample the produce of his kingdom and was rarely seen without a fork gripped tightly in his pudgy fingers, almost like it was a scepter.

  The Guardian reached the front of the line and lowered her gaze so as not to make eye contact with the King unless asked to do so.

  “Step up.”

  Her heart swelled to have made the shortlist.

  “Ne—” The King set down his fork and wiped his mouth with the back of his hand. “No, wait. The last one. Step back.”

  She stepped back, disappointed at being returned to the pack of Guardians, but determined not to show it.

  “No, not back to the pack,” the King said. “Back here.”

  She stood in front of her master and waited.

  “Look at me,” he instructed.

  Trying not to focus on the enormity of the King’s girth, she locked eyes with him, feeling her life change with each moment that passed.

  “Untie your hair,” he instructed.

  She pulled the tie from her glossy hair and let it fall across her shoulders, the blonde waves shimmering like moonlight.

  “Yes! This one. Send the rest away.”

  She steadied her breathing and waited. She may not be able to see that she was different, but the King had.

  “Send for my son immediately,” he said, picking up his fork and banging it on the arm of his throne. “Tell him I’ve found him a bride.”

  RIVER

  THE NOW

  River took the small wooden cup, lifted it to her lips, and winced as the bitterness assaulted her tastebuds. She swallowed the first gulp down and imagined the goodness pooling in her stomach before her body got to work to draw strength from it.

  She’d come to the tavern to take her daily tonic ever since she was weaned from her mother’s breast. And given that her mother also drank them, she supposed really she’d been taking them for the full seventeen years of her life.

  River took another sip and swished the liquid around her mouth, certain she could pick up on some of the separate ingredients as the liquid swirled across her tongue. She’d asked the herbalist about the tonics before and knew there was turmeric to prevent disease, flaxseed for a strong heart, and milk thistle to protect the liver against toxins. She’d forgotten what the rest of the ingredients were, though.

  The herbalist worked from ancient recipes recorded by her ancestors in a large leather-bound book that River had seen in the kitchen adjoining the tavern. Her work took place in isolation, apart from the assistance she got from her son, Edison, who sadly seemed more interested in the Guardians themselves than the tonics they drank. River imagined this was a source of frustration for his mother, although she’d never heard the herbalist complain.

  Soon, River would be taking her tonics in the palace, instead of here in the tavern. Did the Prince drink them, too? She didn’t think so. He didn’t look like it, although admittedly she’d only ever seen him from a distance. Perhaps he took another kind of tonic to make him wise and fair—fit to be King one day. He didn’t need to be strong when he had an army of Guardians to protect him. Their current King was proof enough of that.

  “Thank you, Edison.” River slid the empty cup across the table to the herbalist’s son, keen to leave the tavern and get back out into the sun where she could lift some weights to transfer the energy from the tonic into her muscles.

  “I heard you got selected,” said Edison, stilling her retreating steps.

  She turned. It wasn’t like Edison to engage her in conversation. He was usually too focused on her sister, Daphne, which suited her just fine. Not that it suited Daphne all that much. She was always trying to avoid him. Although, Daphne wasn’t here right now to deflect the attention away from River.

  “I did.” River tried not to look as impatient as she felt.

  “I’m not surprised he chose you.” Edison let his pale blue eyes sweep over her, lingering on her chest far longer than necessary.

  Resisting the urge to cross her arms, River flicked her blonde braid behind her back and held Edison’s gaze, waiting for him to finish his assessment. She could crush this puny man’s skull with one hand if she wanted to. If anyone should be intimidated, it should be him. He was shorter than her, thinner than her and most definitely weaker. She wasn’t sure how smart he was, but she liked to think she was smarter than him, too.

  “People think you all look the same.” He lowered his voice and glanced at the other Guardians nearby. “But I can see the difference. You’re not as pretty as your sister, but you’re prettier than most. And you’re not quite as tall as some of them, which is good. And you’re not flat all over.”

  “Have you finished?” she asked, wishing she could make him flat all over…on the floor. But it wouldn’t go down well with the King if she killed the herbalist’s son. The man destined to take over and be the herbalist himself one day.

  “I was giving you a compliment.” Edison rolled his eyes as his boney fingers toyed with the braided hemp co
rd he wore around his neck. “Women never know how to deal with compliments. Not that Guardians are real women, of course.”

  “Thank you for the compliment.” She pulled her lips tight as she ground down on her teeth. “But if you ever comment on my appearance again, I’ll ram that cup straight down your throat.”

  “I like my women feisty.” He let go of his necklace to stroke some wispy sprouts of hair on his chin that he seemed to think constituted a beard.

  “And I like my men quiet,” she hissed. “Not that you’re a real man, of course.”

  She left the tavern, letting the door slam behind her.

  “Ungrateful wench!” Edison called after her.

  She paused, wondering how she’d never noticed just how insipid this creature was before now? When Daphne got better, she was going to have to ask her more about him. Hopefully, he hadn’t harassed her like that. Certainly, River had never witnessed him doing anything quite so extreme, or she’d have flattened him for real.

  They all had their jobs to do in the kingdom, and as the herbalist’s son, Edison’s was to feed the Guardians with tonics, not poison them with his words, or his lecherous gaze.

  She’d thought her job was to protect the kingdom, but it seemed she had another job now. As a Princess. And one day as a Queen. The Bay of Laurel hadn’t had one of those since River was a young girl. She could barely remember the King’s wife now. The Guardians may have been able to stop the kingdom from being invaded, but they hadn’t been able to prevent the premature death of their Queen. But did becoming a Princess mean that she was no longer a Guardian? Was it possible for her to be both?

  River made her way out to the training fields and joined the group of Guardians lifting iron balls and raising them above their heads.

  It was good to see everyone looking so healthy. Far too many Guardians had been falling ill and it was becoming a concern. Daphne was the latest victim, having gotten so bad she’d taken to her bed, recently. Her skin had turned yellow and looked a little like it was made from wax. She hadn’t been well enough to attend the King’s selection and River wondered if the outcome would’ve been different if she had. Edison had been right when he’d said Daphne was prettier than she was. Well, she had been, before she got so sick. And one day she would be again, which was perfectly fine with River, just as long as she got better.

  The herbalist was working hard to adjust the Guardians’ tonics to find a way to return them all to full health and River was confident Daphne would be okay. She had faith in the herbalist, who wasn’t anything like her son, and not just because she was a woman. It was because she was kind. She’d never stop a Guardian to comment on their appearance.

  River went to the end of the line of Guardians where the lighter of the iron balls were kept, but as she bent to pick one up, she changed her mind and moved further up the line.

  Edison had hit a nerve when he’d complimented her size. She was a little shorter than most of the other Guardians, albeit still taller than any ordinary person. And she did have curves that refused to be tamed into flat lines of muscle. Was that why she was selected by the King? Because she was a Guardian, but also still resembled an ordinary woman at the same time?

  She’d never thought of herself as different before, but perhaps she was. The King certainly seemed to think so. But was this difference a strength?

  No, she refused to accept that. Being different was a weakness and weaknesses must be abolished. Guardians were strong. She was fearless.

  She picked up an iron ball, far heavier than any she’d attempted to lift before and hefted it into the air. She could do this. She was no weakling.

  “River!” her father called out from the other end of the line, a weight of his own in his hands. “What are you—”

  Before he could get his question out, River had hoisted the ball to her chest and planting her feet on the soil, she lifted it over her head. Let the curves cling to her body after this.

  It was only when her arms began to shake that she realized she’d made a dangerous error. Then her legs joined in and the shaking in her upper and lower limbs spread like a wave through her body, meeting up in her core.

  She caught her father’s startled gaze as he set down his weight and ran to her.

  He plucked the ball from her hands as if it weighed nothing and placed it on the ground, motioning for her to follow him with a twitch of his head.

  She drew in a breath to wash away the trembling of her body and followed him to a patch of grass away from the group.

  “River,” he said, when they were out of earshot of the others. “What was that about?”

  She shrugged. “I want to increase my muscle.”

  “You could’ve injured yourself. How would we explain that to the King?” He ran a large hand through his finely cropped fair hair. It was no wonder he’d lifted the ball so easily with hands like that. The female Guardians were strong, but they’d never been able to get close to matching the strength of the males. As powerful as the tonics were, it seemed gender had far more influence.

  “You’re right,” she said, not wanting to anger him further. “I’m sorry, Father.”

  “I don’t think you should be training anymore. Your duty to the King has changed.” These words seemed to pain him to say, almost as much as it did for her to hear them. He’d just answered the question that’d been plaguing her since her selection by the King. No, she couldn’t be both a Princess and a Guardian at the same time.

  “I can still train!” She grabbed at the front of his shirt, desperate for things to be different. “I’m still a Guardian. I’ll always be a Guardian.”

  “You won’t.” He swallowed hard and looked away, as if the intensity of her gaze was hurting him. “You’ll be a Princess soon. It’ll no longer be your duty to protect the royal family. It’ll be our duty to protect you.”

  “I can protect myself.” She let go of her father and thought of Edison and how she’d stood up to him earlier. She knew how to look after herself.

  “I don’t think you’re listening to me,” her father said. “Do you realize what’s happening to you? How your life’s about to change?”

  “Of course, I realize.” Surely, he didn’t think she was stupid? Just because she’d accepted her duty to her King, didn’t mean she had no understanding of the gravity of what was happening to her.

  “You’re not acting like it.” He shook his head and River thought she could see a glint of something other than frustration in his eyes. Concern? Was her father worried about her?

  “Do you wish he didn’t choose me?” she asked, wondering for the first time how he felt about it. She’d just assumed her parents were as honored as she’d been.

  His eyes still refused to meet hers. “Your mother and I are very proud of you.”

  “I know you’re proud of me.” She stepped to the side to force his eyes on her. “But I asked if you wish he didn’t choose me.”

  He looked at her for several long moments, a deep sadness pooling in his eyes as he let her question hang in the air.

  “We live to serve the King.” His voice cracked as his shoulders sagged. “It’s an honor to serve him.”

  She nodded, not wanting to press him any further when she’d just been given an answer, even if he’d sidestepped her again. His eyes had spoken for him. No wonder he hadn’t wanted to look at her.

  It was hard to know what to do with this revelation. If her parents weren’t happy with her selection, then should she be? She hadn’t realized she had a choice in how to feel about any of this.

  “I may not always be a Guardian.” She pushed down a lump in her throat, trying to accept what she now knew was true. “But I’ll always be your daughter.”

  He brushed some imaginary dirt from the sleeve of his tunic and took a step back from her in typical male Guardian style. Like his peers, her father wasn’t known for his ability to express emotion.

  “Go and do whatever it is that Princesses do,” he said, turnin
g away. “I don’t want to see you at training again.”

  “Yes, Father.” She watched him go back to the other Guardians, leaving her standing there with a new kind of panic washing over her than when she’d been stuck holding that iron ball.

  She’d been raised to fear nothing, with her whole life mapped out for her. But now everything had changed. Her father had made it clear that she was no longer a Guardian. She was the Guarded.

  It was no different to someone telling her she wasn’t a female or her name wasn’t River. Being a Guardian was who she was.

  She sat down on the grass and put her head between her knees, drawing in a series of deep breaths. For the first time in her life, she knew what it felt like to be scared.

  Instead of holding an iron ball, she was holding her whole future above her head, and it was heavier than any weight she’d ever dreamed of. And the only thing that seemed more impossible than continuing to hold it, was deciding to let it go.

  TATE

  THE NOW

  Tate dashed through the cornfield, hoping to beat the farmers to the traps. He normally came before sun-up, but this morning he’d been delayed.

  He picked up his pace, aware he was probably too late. The farmers had a lot of work to do. They wouldn’t have slept until this late hour.

  But he had to try.

  A loud squeal pierced the air and he knew the early morning talk he’d had with his father had cost at least one life. Peeking through the corn, he could see a farmer holding a rabbit by its injured leg, the open trap lying on the ground beside them, wet and sticky with blood.

  That poor rabbit had no hope now.

  Tate winced as the farmer twisted its neck and hung it from a hook on his belt. It would be rabbit stew for dinner tonight.