by Everly Frost
Nathaniel gives her a nod, but I don’t think he agrees with her. I’ve become attuned to Nathaniel’s moods over the last day. The tension in his shoulders tells me he’s worried.
By the time Nathaniel turns to me, I’ve lowered my hand from my heart and composed myself. As Esther, Emily, and the other humans follow Nathaniel’s line of sight to me, I draw myself upright, assuming the posture I’ve cultivated for years—a Queen’s Champion. Untouchable. At the same time, I relax my arms and hands so I don’t appear threatening.
The gap between Nathaniel and I grew with the people crowding around him, but now he closes it. “This is one of Luciana’s Warriors. The one I told you about. She has agreed to join us.”
Silence falls around us as everyone finally focuses on me. I sense the hush extend far back to the village as they study me—starting with my face, then my pelt and armor. Their reactions run the full spectrum from excited to reserved.
Esther pauses in the act of stepping forward, her quick gaze following the lines of mud drawn on my face. Her posture stiffens for a moment and a shot of surprise breaks her serene expression. She buries it quickly, extending her hand.
“Welcome,” she says. “We’ve been waiting for this day for seven years.”
I take her hand briefly. Despite her graceful movements, her palms are calloused at all the points that indicate she handles weapons on a daily basis. She squeezes my hand, sizing me up, no doubt discovering that my hand is more calloused than hers.
I give her a reserved smile, wary of reacting to her now-hidden emotions. “It’s a pleasure to meet you, Esther.”
She clears her throat, staring at my muddy cheeks. “I see you’ve accepted Nathaniel’s name. You’re bonded. That’s… unexpected.”
So that’s why Nathaniel said they’d think we’re married. It’s this damn mark on my face. When he drew it on me, he seemed far too pleased about it. If I’d known what it really meant, I would have stopped him.
I hold Esther’s gaze, fighting the instinct to cast a glare at Nathaniel. Seven years as the Queen’s Champion has taught me how to hide my emotions completely. Nathaniel is the only one who seems to draw them out of me against my will.
“Some of the strongest bonds form quickly,” I say, keeping my calm and hoping she’ll leave it at that.
“Indeed,” she replies, a challenging light entering her eyes. “But quick bonds break just as fast.”
My hackles rise, even though I probably shouldn’t react. I’m accustomed to hearing what people don’t say, reading between the lines of their polite declarations to discover their true motivations. When we first arrived, Esther was training the others. Whatever the hierarchy is here, she’s high up in it, possibly only second to Nathaniel. Now that I’ve arrived, I’ll displace her and threaten her position—even if I don’t intend to.
I maintain eye contact with her as I step forward, conscious of the pelt swishing around my shoulders and the way my armor gleams. “The only things I break are people who threaten me or anyone I care about.”
She blinks at me for a moment, and I can see her reassessing her assumptions about me. “Then we’re lucky you care about Nathaniel.” She takes a step back. “There will be plenty of time to find out everything else there is to know about you in due course.”
She spins on her heel, clapping her hands twice. “Everyone, back to practice! Let’s give Luciana Elect some space to settle in and get her bearings. Emily—not you! You will take Flare to the stables and brush him down.”
My forehead creases at the name Esther called me—Luciana Elect—and I make a mental note to ask Nathaniel about it. Now that the tension has broken, I’m surprised to find most of the trainees are grinning at me, glancing between Esther and me.
I was worried I might have come across too aggressively, but Emily veers toward me on her way to Flare. She speaks in a not-so-quiet whisper. “It’s nice to see someone take Esther on. I can’t wait to see you in action.” She pauses. “You’ll be training us, won’t you?”
I give her a nod, making a quick assumption that it’s the response I’m supposed to give, even though it twinges my conscience. I won’t be here long enough to train anybody.
“Great. Okay, then. I’d better get a wriggle on.” She casts a worried glance at Esther, who’s impaling her with a dagger-filled glare.
“Get a what on?” I ask, confused by her human speech.
She laughs. “I forgot you’ve been secluded most of your life. I mean I’d better hurry before Esther whips my backside.” She dashes toward Flare, who waited patiently during the whole interaction.
“I’m taking care of Flare now,” she calls back to Esther, who folds her arms across her chest.
Taking hold of Flare’s reins, Emily prepares to lead him away, but I quickly join her, reaching out to rub Flare’s nose and press my cheek to his. “Thank you for bringing us here safely.”
He bounces his head at me, nickering softly in my ear before I let him go. Emily casts me a final smile before she leads him away.
Nathaniel snags Esther’s attention. “Luciana Elect and I need to get some sleep, but I want you to let me know the minute Christiana returns.”
She gives him a business-like nod. “I sent scouts out at the same time as she left this morning. They’re due back soon. I’ll make sure they come straight to you. In the meantime, I’ll have food brought to your hut. Perhaps some comfortable clothing for Luciana Elect as well.”
“I’d appreciate that,” Nathaniel says.
She strides away without a backward glance.
I exhale what feels like a long-held breath.
Nathaniel smiles at me, his eyes crinkled at the corners. “I’ll explain everything once we get inside,” he says.
I make an unhappy sound in the back of my throat. “Don’t expect me to hold all of my questions until we get there.”
Walking with him toward the courtyard where the group has resumed training, I ask, “Where did you find all of these people?”
“I’ve been building Null since I was eighteen.” Nathaniel’s jaw clenches again and I sense an irrepressible rage growing inside him. “Every person here is someone Cyrian hurt and left for dead. Emily’s family was killed by hunters. I pulled her from beneath her mother’s body when she was only nine years old.”
He points to an older man standing at the edge of the row. “That’s Geordie—his wife and baby were killed in front of him and he was strung up in a tree to die. He stayed alive for another minute by resting his foot on a broken branch. I got there just in time to save him.”
My heart hurts, a new ache. “This is a village of ghosts. That’s why Cyrian doesn’t come looking for them?”
“As far as he knows, they’re all dead,” Nathaniel says, darkness growing in his expression. “I couldn’t save everyone.”
I reach out to touch his shoulder where his scars are hidden behind his shirt. He told me he asked Mathilda to make a cut—to carve a scar—for every person he lost. “You marked them on your body and carry them with you now.”
“Yes.”
We’ve reached the courtyard and the trainees are back at work on their maneuvers. Despite the affection they showed Nathaniel when he first arrived, they demonstrate their discipline by remaining focused on their tasks, even though Esther isn’t here to instruct them. She’s disappeared ahead of us into the village.
“What about Esther?” I ask.
“Esther was once part of Cyrian’s Court, but she was betrayed by her sister. She doesn’t trust anyone easily—and she’s very protective of everyone here. Don’t worry; she likes you.”
I choke at his last statement. “I don’t think so.”
“She respects your strength.” The darkness leaves his expression as he adds, “Luciana Elect.”
“Is that who I am now?” I screw up my face with dislike. “It’s your mother’s name.”
He laughs. “Luciana means ‘leader.’ It’s a title. My mother’s actual na
me was Paloma.”
“Then what does ‘Luciana Elect’ mean?”
“‘Future leader,’” he says.
I miss a step. “Nathaniel.” I shake my head at him. “That’s not… I can’t…”
I suddenly realize that I’m too close to the trainees to speak plainly, so I quickly swallow my objection.
The trainee Nathaniel pointed out before—Geordie—stops the maneuver he’s practicing and gives me a polite smile. “Luciana Elect,” he says. “Will you teach us something?”
“Oh… uh…”
The other trainees also turn in my direction, pausing in their practice. I’m suddenly the focus of attention again.
I lean close to Nathaniel and keep my voice down. “I don’t want to hurt them.”
Geordie’s smile widens. “You won’t hurt us.” He has a mop of blond hair that he flicks out of his eyes, a challenge growing on his face. “We can hold our own.”
Nathaniel understands what I mean. I can’t lay hands on any of the humans if it chances hurting them and breaking the Law. But of course… that rule doesn’t apply to him…
“Why don’t we give you a demonstration?” he says, his grin growing wide.
His relaxed smile is catching, even though I’m not sure how I feel about engaging him in mock battle right now.
“Sure,” I say. “Why not?”
Nathaniel catches my arm, careful not to touch my bare skin as he leads me forward. The trainees back away from the center of the courtyard, creating a wide circle around us. The ground is well-cushioned with soft grass. I quickly gauge how springy the surface is and the extent of the space I will have to move within it.
Nathaniel draws me close with a hurried whisper. “They’ll expect us to take a knee and bow. It was my mother’s way. No matter how much you hate your opponent, you always show respect.” His dark eyes glitter at me. “Just like the respect you showed Calida yesterday.”
I draw away from him so that we can take a knee at the same time. Gliding back to my feet, I quietly remove my pelt, folding it up and laying it on the ground behind me.
My senses expand as my focus narrows.
Nathaniel tilts his head, a quick, challenging movement as I stalk toward him, but a playful smile tugs at his lips.
So that’s how it’s going to be.
I give him a sweet smile before my fist darts out, testing his reflexes. He sidesteps the blow—just like he should. He turns his body in a defensive move and catches my covered wrist along its forward trajectory, tugging me so that I would lose my balance if I wasn’t ready. My other palm plants on his chest—my real target. Knocking him onto his back foot, I spin and kick high. My foot stops a scant inch from his face. It was never my intention to make contact, but he’s already caught my ankle, pushing upward. I happily backflip and somersault away from him.
He strides after me and this time, I know that play is over. Around us, I sense the trainees holding their breath. I guess they also sense that we were just getting warmed up.
Jumping to my feet, I avoid the series of rapid hits he throws my way, retaliating with my own sequence of flat-handed moves and rapid kicks, enjoying testing my strength against an equal partner. It’s been a long time since I’ve practiced against someone who can hold their own—in a situation where we aren’t trying to kill each other.
For the next minute, we trade near hits and careful misses in a sequence that begins to feel a lot like a careful dance between us. Nathaniel never lands a blow and neither do I, even though we both work up a sweat, our bodies moving at rapid speed—every attack defended and every defense tested.
Finally, Nathaniel leans just a little too far forward and I see an opening that I can’t resist. Stepping into him instead of avoiding the blow, I take his flat-handed hit across my left shoulder, turning and at the same time hooking my right leg behind his foot. He wobbles, his eyes widening a split second before I sweep him off his feet.
He lands on his backside while I innocently arch an eyebrow at him.
Grinning up at me, he takes a breath before he bounces back to his feet. “That’s enough for now, I think. Back to drills, everyone!”
The trainees audibly exhale, casting smiles at both of us as they rearrange themselves to continue their own practice.
A shout precedes Emily as she runs up to the side of the courtyard, puffing.
“Did I miss it?” Her face falls. “I missed it, didn’t I?”
Nathaniel picks up my pelt and hands it to me, inclining his head toward the village.
He squeezes Emily’s shoulder as we pass her. “Next time.”
“Darn,” she says.
As much as I enjoyed the fight, Nathaniel is right to get us moving. There’s a whole mountain of questions to which I need answers and I have no doubt he won’t speak openly out here.
Esther appears ahead of us on the path as we reach the edge of the village. “I’ve left food and clothing on your porch,” she says to Nathaniel. “Emily took care of Flare. And Maggie is baking a cake to celebrate your bond.” She rolls her eyes as she strides away. “I nearly broke a tooth on the last ‘cake’ she made.”
“Maggie is our oldest resident,” Nathaniel explains. “She’s thirty-five.”
Yesterday, Nathaniel told me that the Ebon Rot slowly kills humans once they reach forty years of age. Maggie is only five years away from that.
He leads me past several rows of neat-looking huts, some larger than others. “Maggie doesn’t train with the others. But they all help out with cooking and tending to the fields and animals.”
He points out the food hall, the kitchen, and the stables as we keep walking. In the distance on the left of the village, I make out the shapes of cattle and horses. On the right are fields filled with crops, far more vibrant than the fields outside of Null.
Farther back from all of the other buildings sits another hut, larger than the others, which Nathaniel leads me toward.
I shiver as we approach it. It has a porch around the front and is solidly built, but there’s a force around it that makes my skin prickle.
Nathaniel brushes my arm. “Do you sense the dark magic? There’s an extra layer of protection over my quarters in case Null is ever breached. You can enter only by my invitation. Once inside, we can speak openly. Nobody will hear us.”
I take the porch steps slowly one at a time, inhaling the scent of cedar. Nathaniel scoops up the basket at the top of the steps and opens the door with a quiet murmur. “Come inside, Aura Lucidia.”
The veil of magic whispers across my skin like it did when I first stepped into Null. It’s quiet inside, the outside noises canceled out as soon as Nathaniel closes the door.
The building has a simple layout consisting of a living area with a table, chairs, and a fireplace on the left and a bedroom on the right. There’s another smallish room at the back on the right that I assume must be a bathroom.
A wide window on the opposite wall reveals the other side of Null—fields ringed by the Bitter Patch. The crimson-and-black wilderness is a monstrous sight compared to the earthy tones and simplicity of Nathaniel’s home.
“How is it so green here?” I ask.
While I fold my pelt across one of the kitchen chairs, Nathaniel unpacks the contents of the hamper onto the table.
He finishes with a cloth bag that I assume contains fresh clothing. “Cyrian is constantly draining our environment, but his dark magic can’t reach inside Null.”
Now that we’re alone, I rub my eyes. It must be mid-morning. I already had a quick nap in the tunnel through the Bitter Patch on the way here—but fatigue is catching up with me.
“You’re Cyrian’s Shield. How do you spend time here without him noticing your absence?”
Nathaniel’s jaw clenches. “I can come and go—the same way you fly out on Treble when you need to check the border. But I have to be careful. If Cyrian wants something and I’m not at the castle, he sends out a hunter to find me. That’s why our scouts are
so important. They alert me if a hunter’s tracking me. I can’t be here as often as I want to be.”
He pushes a bowl across the table. It’s filled with warm vegetable stew with fresh buttered bread on the side.
He pours water from a flask into the cup beside my bowl while I try not to eat too fast as I fill my empty stomach. I need strength for the conversation ahead of me.
Carefully mopping up the final smudges of stew from my bowl, I try to swallow despite my suddenly dry mouth. “I need to know what your father said that made you come for me.” I meet his eyes, demanding that he answer me. “I’m fae. I need to know what he said to make you believe I would help you.”
Nathaniel pauses in the act of breaking his last piece of bread. He stares into his bowl for so long that I don’t think he’s going to answer me. Then he puts his bread down and silently rises from his seat.
Walking to the mantelpiece over the fireplace, he takes a small box from the top of it and returns to the kitchen table beside me. The tiny case nearly disappears inside his fist.
“My father was holding the contents of this box when he died,” Nathaniel says, placing the box on the table.
The container is wooden and circular except for the flat base.
My hand suddenly shakes as I reach to open it. I sense a chasm inside it, as if this tiny box contains a whole universe. A shock of electricity shoots through my chest the moment I hover my fingers over the case. My ears hum and my palm tingles.
At the same time, an empty space opens up inside my chest, a cold, vast expanse spreading at a rapid pace. Shivers run up and down my spine and my breath is suddenly rapid.
My power runs cold inside me, nearly freezing me to the spot.
“Aura?” Nathaniel drops to his knees beside me, searching my face.
I fight my sudden, unexplainable fear as I take off the lid.
The box is lined in black silk just like the scarf I wore to hide my hair before we reached Null.
Nestled inside the silk lining is a tiny, glittering fragment of stone. It’s very small, the slightest sliver of rock.
Crescent-shaped, just like the scar across my heart.
