by J. M. Kearl
Daelyn can’t help but wear a pleased grin, watching Verra squirm.
Serpent-like eyes narrow at Boaden. “I’ll regret it? Are you threatening me too?” Verra points to Madison, “like this hag--”
Madison punches Verra hard on the cheek and it almost immediately begins to form a bump under her eye. “Shut your mouth or there’s more where that came from.”
It only takes Verra a moment to recover from the blow and she charges Madison. Boaden grabs Verra by the shoulders before she can get close. “You know what, I lied. It’s not even me that is going to marry him. Someone much more… influential. She’s why I’m even here in the first place.” Verra’s wicked grin spreads and she laughs.
He slowly walks her away from Madison and Daelyn. “Verra, stop with your games,” Boaden says. “Go get your horse. We are leaving. That’s a command, not a request.”
Daelyn wonders if there is any truth in what she’s saying? Who else would want to marry Boaden? Is it all a lie?
Surprisingly without an argument, Verra holds a hand to her swollen cheek and walks away.
Boaden lets out an exasperated sigh. “Madison, I know--”
“Don’t think I’m going to tolerate some young girl who is infatuated with you talk to or about me with such disrespect. She also threatened Daelyn and if she comes at her again…”
Daelyn loves that her mother is protective but she wants to be able to handle Verra on her own. “If she threatens me again, I’ll handle it. You doing it for me makes me appear weak.”
“Verra is a trained warrior,” Madison says sharply. “You are not.”
“I can hold my own in a fight,” Daelyn snaps. The only one on one fight she’d been in was with her mother in the Gap of Freeole when she’d actually gotten the better of Madison by sticking a dagger to her chest. Maybe that fight is making her overly confident.
Madison grabs the cuff on Daelyn’s wrist. “Not with this thing on. But if you think so I will let her challenge you and we’ll see how it goes then.”
Daelyn pulls her wrist from her mother’s hand. “Good.”
Boaden intertwines his fingers with Daelyn’s. “There won’t be a challenge or a fight. I won’t allow it. There’s no reason for it. Now let’s get going.”
∞∞∞
They leave soon after the confrontation with Verra and a few hours later stop at the first large city in Delhoon. Boaden calls it Sanlaiya, which she thinks is a pretty name. Cities in Delhoon are so much different than anywhere else she’s been. They feel safer and lighter. People laugh and smile more. Everyone waves at them as they pass and there is always another magical creature she’s never seen. Today it’s one that she stops and gapes at. An alicorn, a gleaming white unicorn with wings. Daelyn loves Asha but what she wouldn’t give to have this stunning creature. It’s in a corral guarded by four women holding spears and swords at their waists.
No one else seems to notice the alicorn, as they all keep riding further into the city. Jordane pulls his horse up beside her. “I haven’t seen one of those in a long, long time.”
“It’s beautiful,” Daelyn says, watching it prance around the corral. “What keeps it from flying away?”
“Alicorns are extremely loyal to their owners if they respect them. The women guarding are to keep people out not to keep the alicorn in.”
“I want one,” Daelyn says, watching it spread it’s wings and then tuck them back in.
“They’re hard to find, but perhaps someday,” Jordane says, and then turns to Madison who is approaching.
Madison smiles. “Daelyn, come. It’s time we get you a wedding dress.”
19. Enden
The smell of savory food wafts in the air while Enden stands with ten well-armed guards behind him. He’s shaking the hands of guests from far and wide for his coronation celebration. Light music plays in the background from the orchestra, and there is a sea of gowns and pristinely dressed men parading around in one of his ballrooms. It took a few weeks for the invitations to get out and his guests to arrive from all over Hesstia. He was king by succession before but now it’s official. All those within his royal house who stood against him are dead, and new players were all too eager to take their place to serve him. Some may question if he was involved with the death of his brother, but all those who did are dead and everyone else seems they’d rather live.
If Daelyn and Boaden hadn’t gotten away, this would feel like a joyous occasion. Delhoon was able to hold their southern border as he expected they would. What he did not anticipate was Daelyn and the others reaching the border before they could be captured. Now the only way he’ll get them back is if and when they defeat Delhoon.
Enden signals his guards to give him privacy and takes a seat at the table where his highest advisors sit. Two are from what they call the Outlands and are Entari: leaders who enforce the laws, from large cities around the kingdom. The Outlands are a part of the kingdom, they pay taxes and are under its protection from invaders but there seems to be constant skirmishes between the clans of northern Hesstia. There are old feuds that existed before Hesstia’s rule took over the land. These men are two of his most hardened warriors and they hate each other. The other six are Entari from all over Hesstia. All of them are much older than Enden except one named Harvin. He was appointed when his father died last year.
Enden sits at the head of the table and takes control of the conversation. “I am sure you have all heard we’re going to war with Delhoon. Queen Kyria confirmed that my brother’s assassination was her doing. I did my best to track down the killers but they escaped and there was a skirmish with Delhoon on their southern border.”
The men get antsy and look amongst each other. “So it has already begun,” says Freyloc. He’s one of the Entari from the Outlands. He has a scruffy beard and long dark hair that he managed to pull back for the event. “What is the next move?” he speaks with an accent of the northerners though he’s well educated.
“It’s time to crush their hearts. We’ll show them what it costs to mess with us. We’ll attack both the north and south and split their army.” Enden talks battle strategy for hours with the men and many arguments amongst them erupt, which Enden only quells when they get too loud.
“We can’t kill innocent villagers,” says Entari Harvin. “The battlefield is where the fight should stay.”
“You’re young and idealistic. It never stays on the battlefield,” Freyloc argues. “Besides don’t we kill all magic users unless they are children? I suppose we can take the kids as slaves. If we want to crush their spirits that is what it will need to happen. Burn the cities, run them from their homes. If women and children get caught in the heat of battle, then so be it.”
“Freyloc is right,” Enden says, though he doesn’t like the thought of it. He’s never liked that his kingdom requires the execution of families and taking children as slaves, and now that he’s king he has to live with their blood on his hands. The thought of it weighs heavy on him and he stands. “I’m retiring to my chambers now.”
Enden leaves the celebration that is dying down anyway and walks into his room. Saveena stands on the balcony staring up at the moon. He stops in the doorway waiting for her to turn. Since the time she’s been with him he hasn’t allowed her to attend parties. He only allows her to leave this room during the night when most of the castle sleeps and he must escort her. People will ask questions; questions he doesn’t know the answers to.
“Sire, I am feeling trapped. I need to get outside.” She turns, still holding onto the railing. “Please.”
Enden looks down her body and a wave of desire hits him hard. He hasn’t touched her since the night at Madam Della’s, not that he doesn’t want to but he won’t force her. “If you’re ready to talk about who you are and about Collweya then you can go outside.”
Saveena lets out a sigh but there is something different about the way she looks at him as she sways towards him. Her hand slides to his chest and she looks up at him wit
h those bright blue eyes, bewitching him to stillness as she moves her lips to his.
Enden embraces her and their kisses grow in lust. She unties her dress and pushes it to the floor leaving her completely naked. The shock of her actions has him aroused more than the first time they’d been together. Enden pulls her bare body to him and then pauses. “Why are you doing this?” He places his hands on her shoulders. There must be something she’s playing at, she hasn’t so much as looked at him in days.
She answers by grabbing his manhood and tugs him to her lips. No more questions are asked by either of them. When they’ve finished, he falls asleep with her lying on his chest.
∞∞∞
The sun peeks through the window and his eyes flutter open. He instinctively feels the spot next to him and shoots up in bed. Saveena isn’t there. He throws the blankets off him and searches the room and balcony to find nothing. The bathing room is the only place left to check, and when he steps inside, there she is soaking in the tub with flower petals all around her. She smiles at him with pearly white teeth. “Want to join me?”
He rakes his fingers over his hair, relieved she hasn’t escaped. “I—no. I have things I need to do.”
She sits up in the water. “May I come with you?”
“You know the deal.” He leans against the doorway.
She stands, the water running down her body. “Will you hand me a towel, Sire?”
Enden grabs one from a shelf, hands it to her and she wraps herself in the soft cotton. “If you take me with you to breakfast and outside today, instead of keeping me locked in this room like a prisoner, I’ll tell you about Collweya.”
Enden smirks. It was only a matter of time before she relented. “That’s not how this works. You’re to tell me about Collweya before I take you anywhere. And until I know more about you, you are my prisoner. No one I know has ever come from Collweya. Perhaps your people sneak around in the Outlands but not here.”
She wrings the water from her hair. “Of course they have or I wouldn’t be here.”
“Well you’re the first I know of.”
“You want to know why no one goes to Collweya?” She saunters towards him with a seductive look in her eye. “Because we kill anyone who comes to our land. Or the dragons eat them. Or…” she stops in front of him and presses her lips to his bare chest, leaving his skin burning. “The blood drinkers get to them.”
Enden steps back, maybe it’s the way she’s looking at him as if he is prey, or the dangerous, sultry tone to her voice. “Blood drinkers?”
She peers up at him through dark lashes. “Beautiful, seductive, savage people-- they’ll rip your heart from your chest and drink your blood. They look human but their pale white skin turns to ash in the sunlight.”
Part of Enden thinks she’s playing him for a fool and yet, what if she isn’t lying? The creature she described is her… beautiful, seductive and her skin is as white as snow but she didn’t burn in the sun. He’s never heard of such a thing. Dragons sure, there are books, handwritten accounts on them, but no one south of Collweya has seen one in hundreds of years. “If there are dragons and blood drinkers in Collweya, how is it that humans survive there?”
“We have our ways.” She walks past him and pulls open a drawer to shuffle through clothes.
Enden follows. “You have magic, don’t you?”
Her eyes flick to him when she pulls out a top, but after looking it over she tosses it back.
“These are my clothes,” Enden says.
She lets out a long, frustrated breath. “If I’m going to be trapped in this room I’d rather be comfortable in a loose tunic than a fancy dress. And yes, we do have magic. I don’t understand why that is against the law here. My captors shoved a small piece of metal into my arm and then cauterized the wound and I haven’t been able to get it out.” She runs a finger over a small oval scab on her arm that is almost healed.
“It’s kirune. It blocks magic,” Enden says.
“I gathered that much after you placed this thing on my wrist but I can’t use magic without my stone which was taken from me.”
“Why not?” Enden asks, confused.
She stops rifling through the clothes and meets his eyes. “Can others here use magic without a magic stone?”
Enden doesn’t know what to make of her. Collweya is clearly isolated but for them to not have a single person with natural born magic ability is highly unlikely. “Yes, and it’s dangerous. That is why it’s against the law.”
“In Collweya, it’s the only reason we survive.”
20. Boaden
The men in the crew and Verra, dine at the Smokey Dragon while Daelyn and Madison shop for a dress. Boaden, not being particularly choosy, had quickly found himself some dress clothes for the ceremony. A simple loose long sleeved black shirt that tightened at the wrists and had gold embroidery around the neck. A thick brown belt and black pants with some new knee high boots. Rorin had chosen the shirt, saying Boaden couldn’t have plain attire on his wedding day.
Rorin picks up his turkey leg before taking a bite and asks, “What about your family? Won’t they be angry they missed the ceremony?”
Mother will but she’ll understand. His duties rarely allow him to go home and he doesn’t think Queen Kyria or Lord Everon would give him time off for a big wedding. “With everything that is going on, this is for the best.”
Verra keeps glancing at him and though it’s annoying, it reminds him of what she said. Who would send her that wants to marry me? He’d dismissed it as one of her games but in the back of his mind he sensed some truthfulness about it. Though he doesn’t want to even bother asking, it’s not as if it will change his mind about marrying Daelyn.
They’ll arrive at the coast in three days and he has the perfect beach in mind, one he hopes Daelyn will love as much as him. He’d gone there several times as a youth. Rorin and he would run along the white sand and swim to the big rock and pretend they were climbing the top of a castle. It’s a small serene cove that is protected by a reef as well as towering cliffs, and in the summers the water is quite warm. This time of the year with the cold biting the air, he isn’t sure how warm the water will be.
Rorin leans closer. “I see that Verra didn’t take the news well.” And then he laughs. “Did Daelyn give her the black eye?”
Boaden thinks back to the haymaker Madison threw and was glad it wasn’t him that got it. “No, her mother.”
“She is a mean one, isn’t she? I can see it in her eyes,” Rorin says and takes a slug of his drink.
At first Madison was as cold as a winter dragon but Boaden has grown to like her. There are still things he doesn’t appreciate about her but he’s accepted she won’t change. For how quiet and serene Jordane appears to be, they are an odd couple. Though perhaps Jordane hadn’t always been that way. “She’s a complicated woman,” Boaden replies. “She’s mean, and fierce, but loyal. Exceptional with magic and swordsmanship, she can shift personas better than most. It’s likely her temperament that kept her from being promoted to a leadership position. Although the one thing that bothers me most about Madison is that she’s, at times, abusive to Daelyn as she is with anyone else.”
Jordane, from behind Boaden says, “What do you mean she’s abusive to her?” He takes a seat next to him with a mug in hand.
With the loud chattering all around, Boaden hadn’t realized that Jordane was there. “It hasn’t happened in a while, and I don’t think it will again.” The fight they had in the Gap of Freeole put an end to it, for now.
“But you can’t have met Daelyn long ago. Which means it was fairly recent. What did Madison do?” Jordane appears calm but Boaden can feel an underlying anger about him.
Boaden doesn’t want to lie but for some reason he feels like a rat telling on Madison. “Once, Madison must have smacked Daelyn in the face just before the festival because when I arrived she had a faint red handprint on her cheek,” Boaden says, lifting his mug. “And they got into it af
ter we left Delhoon but Daelyn held her own, and I think earned her mother’s respect.”
The normally placid expression on Jordane’s face hardens. “Which means she’s most likely been doing it for years. She and I will speak of this. It’s something I feared because even when Daelyn was a little girl Madison was too aggressive. She never bruised her but she’s short tempered as you’ve seen.”
“Do you know why she’s that way?” Boaden asks.
Jordane nods. “Madison’s parents were-- cruel. Her mother broke her arm at age four. Her father chopped off her hair for dropping a plate of food. She was constantly belittled and hit. She escaped them when she was chosen to join the academy but some of that pain and aggression clearly never left.”
“She never talks about it,” Boaden says. “Does Daelyn even know this?”
“No, I don’t imagine she would speak about it. It took years to get her to open up to me because she said that part of her life was over and she never wanted to think about it.” Jordane spreads butter on a thick piece of bread and takes a huge bite.
That explains a lot. His attention is drawn away when Madison and Daelyn enter the Smokey Dragon. Madison walks toward them and for the first time Boaden finally understands her, and has some sympathy.
Rorin smirks at Jordane. “When I first met your wife, I have to admit I found her quite attractive, angry or not. I tried some of my best lines on her and she didn’t fall for it. Course I didn’t know she was married at the time.”
Jordane laughs and takes a drink from his mug. “She is very beautiful. It’s like she hasn’t aged a day in ten years. Then there is me. I’m nothing close to the man I once was. I’m skinny, weak and not handsome. I once was as big and muscular as the two of you.”
Rorin raises his cup. “You’re a good lookin’ guy, and you spent ten years in a shit hole prison. With time, you’ll be as good as you once were.”
