Broken Souls and Bones (Broken Souls and Bones #1)

Chapter 3

3

Lyra

My hands wouldn’t cease shaking as I gathered what was left of the plums and began the battle of tethering Pukki to the cart. Already, the damp symbol faded into the threads of the basket, but blood pounded in my skull.

“Súlka Bien.” A man, a little breathless from the trek up the slope, swiped a woolen hood off his pale, untamed curls.

I chuckled with relief. “Such formal greetings, Ser Darkwin.”

Kael grinned. “I’ve been sent to find you, and I’ll have you know, Sel is convinced you’ve been taken by Dravens or perhaps a wild hulda.”

I snorted and shook my head.

Kael was my brother in every way but blood, and had only returned mere days before from the mandatory training every son of Jorvandal completed with the Stav Guard.

As a bone crafter, there was no mistaking Kael would receive a missive soon enough, securing him an officer rank in the guard. He would be handed a bone blade with an onyx pommel and leave again.

If he chose to join, of course.

Why wouldn’t he? Kael deserved more than Skalfirth, and I held the wretched suspicion he remained here for my sake.

He paused a few paces away, brow furrowed. “Something’s worrying you.”

I cast a glance over my shoulder. “There was a scavenger here.”

“A scavenger?” Kael tilted my chin with one knuckle. “All right?”

“I chased him off.”

“Of course you did.”

I glanced at the basket, no longer marked. “He wrote that I was a liar.”

“Lyra, you always get like this when the Stav are nearby. Let me inspect you.” With a bit of dramatics he tipped my head this way and that. “As I thought, your lies are well hidden.”

Kael was the only soul beyond gentle Gammal who knew the truth. As a boy of twelve, when he’d first discovered my curse, he made a vow with a drop of his blood never to utter a word.

He never had.

I pinched the back of Kael’s arm. “I know what I saw, you ass.”

“What would you like to do, then? Flee into the wood? Go after this scavenger and take his eyes? I’ve been tempted to try a few more brutal things with my craft.”

I laughed softly. Bone craft could crack spines if manipulated well enough, but Kael was too good in the heart. “Let’s just get this damn creature back before Selena truly believes we’ve been kidnapped by trolls. I thought when you returned, you’d draw some of her attention away from me. But you, Kael Darkwin, have been intentionally taking tasks that keep you away from the cooking rooms.”

“I can’t help it if I’m so revered that folk are always asking to see me.”

I shoved his shoulder. “You think too much of yourself.”

“That’s not what M?rta said through her gasps earlier.”

“Ah, still bedding a woman who has painted your name across her bedpost like a shrine?”

Kael winked and strode to the cart, propping one elbow on the edge. “She might have a slight obsession, but she is a delight in my bed.”

“Bed.” I blew out my lips. “You’ve never taken her anywhere other than the Fernwood.”

“I resent that. I’ll have it be known, I was between her thighs in the stables.”

“Ass.”

Kael was added to the servants of the jarl’s household the winter after the youth house sent me. For a lonely boy and a lonely girl, we grew close, we shared our secrets, we protected each other.

If others held my stare too long, Kael would distract them. When anyone tried to learn of a past I hardly knew, Kael would bark at them to mind their own lives.

He was my only family.

“What do you need help with to get us back before the village is overturned?”

I jabbed a finger toward Pukki. “That foul beast needs to return to his duty and pull the damn cart.”

Kael stroked Pukki’s crooked horns, clicking his tongue, and the traitorous goat followed him without pause.

“I hate you.” My smile faded and I spoke in a voice softer than before. “If you are taken into the guard today, I hope you know I am proud of you, but I cannot help feeling like it will change us. I will be a risk to you.”

“Ly, I swore an oath. Those scars in your eyes are safe with me. My loyalty is not divided between you and the kingdom. All I hope is to use my craft and sword to keep you safe.”

Kael bore his craft with pride while helping me conceal mine. I offered a weary smile. “You’re much better than me, you pest.”

“I know, you fool.”

With Kael’s help, I managed to tie Pukki to the cart.

“Have you heard anything about the murder of Melder Fadey?” I asked.

Despite the coldness I saw every time King Damir’s melder stepped into a village, his sudden death lifted the hair on my neck.

“The killer has yet to be found,” Kael said.

“You were in Stonegate, how did King Damir respond to losing his prized consort?”

“I did not see much of the king, but I’m certain he is filled with rage and vengeance.” A muscle pulsed in Kael’s jaw. “Fadey’s death is unfortunate, and I know you like to think this, but that life is not in your future, Ly.”

“Ah, are you one of the Norns of fate now?” I shoved his shoulder.

Kael chuckled. “Your fate is to live a long life free of stone walls.”

A ram’s horn blew from the distant gates, stalling Kael and me on the slope. My pulse thudded in my skull.

We didn’t move, simply stared, frozen in fright, as canvas sails of two longships beat in the sea wind at the docks.

“The Stav.” My teeth were on edge. “They’re here.”