WRATH (Rise Book 2)

by J. M. Kearl

  She stills and turns slowly staring into his face but says nothing.

  “I should have seen it sooner,” Enden mumbles. She’s well spoken, proper most of the time, was a virgin, and she’s been trying to manipulate him in several ways; something that reeks of high society. The main thing that gives her away as royalty is the way she speaks to him. If she were a simple courtier she’d have more respect, at least in Hesstian society, perhaps Collweya is different.

  “My father will come for me,” she says raising her chin.

  “Now’s the part where you tell me who you are and the size of your father’s army.” She hardens her jaw and looks away. Enden grabs her by the arms and slams her into the wall, pinning her there. “I’ve had enough of your games. Here you are not a princess, you are my slave. If you don’t tell me everything I want to know, I’ll give you to my men and you’ll find out what it’s like to be a real prostitute.”

  Her chest rises and falls rapidly. “Let go of me and I’ll tell you.”

  Enden releases his grasp but doesn’t step back, forcing her to stay against the wall.

  She rubs her wrists then glares into his eyes. “I haven’t seen your numbers but I can guess by the size of your kingdom we have a quarter of your army, yet we have magic and dragons. You don’t have either or at least you only use magic in secret.”

  Enden let's that little dig go. “How many dragons and how big are they?”

  She bites her lip and says, “Four fully grown dragons under our control. Each of them breathes fire and has talons as large as a horse. I don’t know what to compare their size to but they are massive.”

  “If you’re a princess how is it that you were taken? Were you not safe in your castle?”

  “I’m the youngest of seven children. My father doesn’t keep a close eye on me simply because there’s never been a reason to. We were safe in our city, at least during the day.” She pauses.

  “And,” Enden chides.

  “I snuck out with some of the men who were going to one of your northern cities for trade. I wanted to see what it was like outside Collweya. Obviously it was a mistake.” She looks away with tears in her eyes. “Your people never asked where we came from but someone somehow found out and took me. I went from a princess to a slave in a matter of moments.”

  Enden doesn’t let his emotion show. He feels sorry for her but he needs to know more. “Why would they sell you to Madam Della if they knew who you were? You’d be worth more than what she paid.”

  She shrugs. “They didn’t know I was a princess. They barely spoke to me; they only knew I was from Collweya. If they knew I was a princess I’d imagine they wouldn’t want you to know about me because if my father finds out where I am...” she doesn’t go on.

  Enden steps back and taps his fingers against his thigh. If her father finds out where she is he’ll assume that I took her, and that means war. He’ll come with his dragons and rain fire on Hesstia. “I can’t afford going to war with two kingdoms right now. We need to speak with your father and send you back.”

  Saveena folds her arms. “Once he finds out you took me into your bed and so took my honor, he will send his armies anyway. He won’t believe it wasn’t your idea to take me.”

  Enden lets out a frustrated groan. “Then don’t tell him. You’re the one sending the letter. Not me. You’ll go back and no one will ever know. Can you send a letter through fire?”

  Saveena narrows her eyes at him. “How would I send a letter through fire?”

  “It’s what the Delhoon do with their magic.”

  “No, I can’t.”

  “I’ll have Jershon do it then.” He goes to his desk and pulls out parchment and ink. A part of him doesn’t want to let her go. He looks up admiring her lovely appearance. “Come, write the letter.”

  Saveena sits down and scoots the chair in. “How do I explain how I came into your—possession without telling him I was sold as a prostitute?”

  “Just tell him you’re in Hesstia but you’re coming home. That is all. No mention of me whatsoever.”

  As she begins to write, Enden grabs her hand. How can I be so ignorant? If she goes home and tells her father what happened, he might bring his armies anyway. He can’t trust her not to say, and there’s no way, as long as he keeps her identity a secret, her father will know where she is. No one goes to Collweya. The men she was with from her kingdom are likely dead and if they are not, she could have been sold to anyone, anywhere.

  “When the war with Delhoon is over, you can go home.”

  She jumps to her feet with a fiery look in her eyes. “That could be years!”

  “I don’t trust you not to bring your father’s army here once you get home.” She begins to protest but he puts his fingers to her lips. “Don’t make promises that I know you won’t keep. They can’t do a locator spell with that kirune in your arm, magic stones or not. No one knows where you are.”

  “He probably thinks I’m dead,” Saveena protests.

  “That’s good news for me.”

  “You’re such a selfish--”

  “I’m protecting my kingdom, Saveena. That is all. You can go home later.”

  24. Daelyn

  Daelyn paces in Sir Gideon’s room, the same place she stayed in the last time she was in Delhoon. Gideon, the black and white striped cat, sits on the end of the bed watching and critiquing Daelyn.

  “You are saying it wrong again,” Gideon says in Daelyn’s mind.

  Boaden is teaching her the Delhoon language, Delian, since she never learned it as a child. They’d been practicing off and on a few weeks but now he’s making her take it seriously. Nothing could make her feel more like an outsider than speaking Heshan, the enemy's language. “Can’t you just spell my mind to know the language or something?” Daelyn says, throwing herself on the bed and stares up at the purple tapestries hanging on the posts.

  “No,” Boaden says but in the Delhoon language. Daelyn understood that much. “You speak a few other languages, why is this one so hard?”

  “Because I learned them as a child and it seemed so much easier then,” Daelyn says, half in broken Delian and the rest in Heshan. “And when your mother won’t speak anything else but the language you don’t know yet, you figure it out faster.”

  Boaden kisses Daelyn’s shoulder, and says something Daelyn only partially understands. Something about, speaking only Delian. Boaden’s lips then move to her neck.

  Gideon perks up with his green orb-like eyes growing wide. “There will be none of that while I am around,” he says, flicking his tail back and forth. Daelyn assumes he’s speaking in both of their minds. “Disgusting humans.”

  Boaden chuckles, tossing a small pillow that sails over Gideon’s head. “Then get out.”

  Purring loudly, Gideon hops on the bed, turns in a circle and curls up in a ball. “You forget this is my room. Do you not have your own?”

  “Not at the moment,” Boaden says, laying his head back on the pillow. “A room for Daelyn and I will be prepared. I have to talk with the queen. She wanted to see Madison and Jordane first. We knew you wouldn’t mind us taking a rest in here for a little while.”

  “Does Queen Kyria know you are married?” Gideon asks.

  “Why would she care if we’re married?” Daelyn asks, scratching behind Gideon’s ear. He lifts his head so she’ll scratch under his chin.

  “She may or may not.” Gideon replies. “Yet she does speak of Boaden with a certain fondness that she does not about other men.”

  A flash of red hot jealousy spreads through her. I wondered if there was something between them, and if the cat noticed, I’m not crazy, she thinks to herself. Boaden has never let on that there was but she’d seen their interaction before and Kyria was different with him. Less formal, more smiley.

  “Some fondness she has of me,” Boaden says with a huff. “She wouldn’t even send help when we needed it most.”

  “There was help at the border for you, was there not?”


  “To protect our lands, not us,” Boaden retorts.

  “Maybe both,” Gideon says and lays his head on his paws. “I am tired now. Please stop talking to me.”

  “Are we meeting Rorin for dinner?” Just as Daelyn says this, a note pops out of the fire and floats onto Boaden’s lap. Daelyn’s eyes scan foreign letters. It must be written in Delian. “What does it say?”

  “Queen Kyria wishes to see me. Alone.”

  Boaden

  The butterflies in Boaden’s chest grow stronger with each step he takes toward the queen’s throne room. He hasn’t spoken to Madison or Jordane since their meeting with Kyria and worries what the outcome of that meeting might have been. He pauses before the double doors and taking a deep breath, pushes them open. Kyria is alone by the large window that looks out over the outdoor training grounds.

  “Hello Boaden Exavior Veilspar,” she says without turning.

  The doors quietly swing shut behind Boaden and he ambles across the room to stand beside Kyria. “You wished to see me, Queen?”

  Kyria faces him with an expression and feelings he can’t quite get a read on. Most of the time she takes caution in hiding her mood since she knows of his ability. Today is no different, she doesn’t appear to be angry or happy to see him. I wonder if she is guarded like this even when I’m not around.

  Kyria folds her arms, which he finds odd. This is a defensive position, maybe she’s letting on after all.

  “Is it true that you put the mission in jeopardy for Daelyn Magnevera? That you love her so you didn’t want her to marry Prince or should I say, King Enden?”

  Even knowing he must lie, Boaden looks her straight in the face. If she knew he planned to disobey her orders, to assassinate Rolland on the wedding day, and he did fully plan to do so, if they weren’t caught first, it would be treason. “No, I did not put the mission in jeopardy because of her, your highness. Why would I have purposefully allowed Daelyn and her parents to be caught and put on stage for execution? What happened is that Hesstia has a magic using—”

  “Slave, I understand that part. Who was suspicious of Madison and her daughter and so they were caught. How is it that you were not then? How is it that one immature slave had the better of all of you?”

  “The slave never suspected me,” Boaden answers. “Enden trusted me.”

  Kyria drops her arms and now appears frustrated. “Why are you lying to me?”

  Boaden is taken by surprise at her comment. “Lying, your highness?”

  “Stop calling me your highness,” Kyria says, pushing her long red hair over her shoulder and walks away from him toward her throne. Boaden follows a few paces behind, still reeling at her anger.

  “Kyria, why do you think I’m lying? And if we’re being open and frank here, why didn’t you send help when I—when we needed it? I have been nothing but loyal to you.”

  Kyria plops down on her throne and taps her fingers on the arm rests. “You had help the moment you set foot across our border. I couldn’t send troops into Nordia without possibly starting skirmishes with their warlords, and we cannot afford to have our military split when Hesstia attacks us. And how can you say you’ve been loyal to me when you married Daelyn days ago without even speaking to me? You barely even know her.”

  Heat rises in Boaden’s face as he clenches his jaw. Kyria had her chance with me, and that is not what I meant by loyalty and she knows it. “I have been loyal to you as my queen and Delhoon, always. And why would I need to speak with you about who I marry? I do love her, and no, I did not want her to marry Enden but that is not the reason your plan wasn’t completely successful.”

  Kyria stands up and her feelings of anger, betrayal and jealousy rush into him like a blast of wind. “You were going to be my king if you succeeded in this task! And I knew you would. I told my father, Gord, and the warlords and now I appear to be an imbecile.”

  What?! Apparently Verra wasn’t playing a game. Kyria sent her. “Maybe you should have told me! Not that it would have mattered,” Boaden says, raising his voice louder than he should. “I wanted you for years and you never even once showed me that you cared. It’s long over now. I love Daelyn, she is my wife, and we are bound together.”

  Kyria stamps down from the throne, stands in front of him, and even though she only reaches his chin in height, she’s as intimidating as any man. “I can’t just marry anyone, Boaden. I couldn’t show you favoritism when we were so young. I am the queen of Delhoon. It had to be someone who proved themselves a loyal and extraordinary warrior. My father suggested one of the warlord’s or their sons but I wanted you. Why do you even think I gave you the chance to assassinate King Rolland? Once you became the hero of Delhoon people would beg for me to take you as my husband, to be our king. Gord would have been better suited for the task but he’s not someone I’d want to marry.”

  A low growl rumbles in his throat. “Why would Gord have been better suited to assassinate Rolland? I am the best warrior in all of Delhoon and you know it,” Boaden says still in a raised voice.

  Without warning Kyria grabs Boaden by the front of his shirt and presses her lips hard to his. If this was ten years ago it would be a dream come true, but his anger flares up. But what can I say? I can’t insult her, she is the queen. Unsure of himself in this moment he stays silent. It seems like a lifetime passes as he waits for her to provide an explanation but one never comes. She stands there with a hand on his chest with her head bowed.

  “Daelyn is my wife and soul mate.”

  “Get out,” Kyria says, pushing him away. “Go to your wife.” She puts a particular venomous tone on “wife” that he doesn’t appreciate.

  Boaden holds out his arms, frustrated. “Get out? Kyria, you can’t be angry with me about this.”

  “I said,” her voice drops low. “Get out.”

  With her head turned, arms folded, and the anger and hurt she feels pouring off of her, he fears for the first time ever that his own queen, the kingdom he’s always been loyal to, might turn on him. Daelyn’s life could be in danger because of this. Without another word, he turns and leaves.

  Once he closes the doors to the throne room, panic swells inside of him. He has a sick feeling in his gut that something has happened to Daelyn. Kyria could have sent guards or even Verra while he was gone. They’d given Verra over to the guards when they arrived, who knows what happened to her after that. Sprinting through the halls, and dodging students, he draws the eyes of everyone he passes including Rorin.

  “What’s wrong?” Rorin asks when Boaden rushes by.

  There’s no time to respond and once he is in close enough range he uses the appearus spell. He pops into Gideon’s chambers and frantically rushes around the room searching for Daelyn. The bed is empty. He calls her name with no response. He checks the balcony to find nothing, hurries to the bathing room and stands heart racing at the emptiness.

  Gideon appears from somewhere behind Boaden and rubs against his legs. “She’s not here.”

  “Where is she?” Boaden asks, breathing heavy.

  “Madison came and took here somewhere. She left a note.” Gideon’s eyes flick toward the bed.

  How in the hell did I miss this note? He snatches up the paper and it reads:

  Boaden,

  we’re eating dinner and waiting for you at the Mermaid’s Call.

  ~Love, your wife

  Boaden lets out a relieved sigh and crumples the parchment. Yet the underlying feeling that Daelyn’s life may be threatened is still there and he isn’t sure what to do about it. He thought Kyria to be a benevolent ruler, to be someone he might call a friend but he underestimated her ruthlessness. He felt in the very depths of her, a rage he’d never thought her capable of. She wasn’t simply jealous that he chose to marry Daelyn. Her pride had been shaken. She told those she trusted of her plans, and what they will think when they find out the man she chose to be her husband, to be king, married someone else…

  Gideon’s purring breaks the
silence. “What did you think happened to Daelyn? You seem rather upset.”

  Boaden shakes his head. “Nothing.”

  “I think you are not being truthful,” Gideon says flicking his tail back and forth.

  Boaden strides across the room and pulls the door open. “Whether I am or not is none of your business, Gideon.”

  When Boaden exits the room he sees Rorin leaned up against the wall across the hallway. “What the hell was that all about? You’ll have half the castle talking about this.”

  He’ll think I’m being paranoid. Perhaps I am. Boaden tilts his head to the side and steps down the hallway. “We can’t talk about it here. We’re going to the Mermaid’s Call.”

  “I know, Daelyn told me. I was coming to find you when you sprinted by like someone was chasing you.”

  Boaden nods to a guardswoman as they pass. “Not here.”

  ∞∞∞

  Boaden and Rorin ride their horses across the canyon bridge that separates the castle grounds from the rest of Delmar. Only when they reach the busy city does Boaden feel it’s safe to talk about what happened with the queen. He explains everything and Rorin sits in silence for long enough to make Boaden uncomfortable. “You have nothing to say?”

  Rorin rests his hand on the saddle horn. “What can I say? I’m… not sure what to think, and I don’t know what this means.” A slow smirk pulls at Rorin’s lips. “I called it though, didn’t I? I mean, I knew she was jealous of Daelyn. I even said you could be king. You really missed out, brother. Do you think she told Verra to set fire to your cabin on the wedding night?”

  Boaden grips the reins tighter. He hadn’t thought of that. “No. I didn’t miss out. And that seems more like a Verra move but I don’t know.” This situation makes thoughts of running away an actual possibility, but to have both Delhoon and Hesstia hunting them, they’d never have peace. There would never be a day they wouldn’t be watching their backs.