Chapter 42
CHAPTER FORTY-TWO
The royal family and Aurelia bunked down in the infirmary after the Order left.
Mom had to get back to Marcus, and she didn’t seem to have it in her to demand Aurelia’s return.
Exhaustion had weighed heavily on them all, but Aurelia was awake almost instantly when Kayce lightly shook her shoulder, finger pressed to his lips before nodding to the window and the brightening skies beyond.
It wasn’t difficult for two rangers to sneak out.
Shades of pink inched over the horizon. Aurelia surveyed the damage from Paxia’s back as they flew over the capital.
Nightmares had hit the Market Guild around the castle hardest. Glass glittered over cobblestones.
Overturned wagons were smashed into walls.
Hay was thrown about, goods destroyed. Various homes stood like charred skeletons.
But the gas lanterns were lit, and people were out, soldiers and civilians alike cleaning the streets before another day dawned.
The only blood that marred the city was red, a small blessing.
The Order had made sure all nightmares were Transcribed to whatever hell-sphere they called home.
But the tear was still there and needed to be monitored so this wouldn’t happen again.
Because it could. Likely would. Owls were so easily missed. And none had reported seeing one during the battle.
Aurelia sent a silent thought of gratitude to those who’d bled—and died—defending this beloved world.
Tears filled her eyes, melancholy bitter on her tongue, but the wind dried them away as Paxia’s wings lifted them higher through the mist and over it, surrounded by a starry sky of seas.
Gulls flew with her, weaving between the seas as dawn continued to inch over the horizon.
Water broke ahead as a sailfish leapt, its large, shimmering blue fin catching an air current.
It speared a bird with its sword-like bill before diving into the next ocean.
The volatequis wove around several buoyant oceans, their waters calm despite the earlier chaos on land, until the alcove off Fealtek appeared.
Aurelia pulled on the reins, slowing Paxia’s flight until her hooves hit the ground, her run turning into a trot before finally slowing to a walk.
Patting her neck, Aurelia dismounted and guided her steed to the small stream that ran down the cliff. She glimpsed her reflection on the wavering surface.
It was her. The coppery hair she had possessed all her life, but with the subtle shifts in darker and lighter tones that she had dreamed for herself here.
Her freckles remained to the number, but her face looked a little leaner.
The softness of girlhood had slipped away, and not just in a physical sense.
Gray like the mist below, wiser eyes stared back at Aurelia.
And she didn’t mind it.
Kayce had slid off Storm with a practiced ease, letting his steed follow as he leaned back against a tree.
“It seems Norenthians aren’t in the habit of letting the dust settle for long,” she said. “The streets will appear like nothing happened before the sun rises.”
“They’ll remember, though,” he said. His gaze trailed over her sure movements, her straight back.
But when she turned to him fully, he averted his eyes.
She wrung her hands, uncertain what to make of such stares when accompanied by the smile that tugged at his mouth.
“You handled it well. The battle…” He paused, his voice dropping an octave. “And the Order.”
Ah. That. She couldn’t help the smile, nor the flush that spread over her cheeks. “I couldn’t very well let Mikayla try to walk about like she owned the place.”
His chuckle was dry. “No, but I’m proud of you. You were a true Norenthian lion—without biting her head off. You made your concerns known, but you didn’t back down. It’s—” He halted, rubbing the back of his neck. “It’s nice to see you stand up for yourself.”
Kayce hadn’t been shy with compliments before, but this time, the way his tone dipped, it tightened Aurelia’s stomach, made her hyper-aware of every sensation.
“This is my home.” She tried to speak around the desert her mouth had become. “And I may have picked some things up from Jace. He knows a thing or two about tactfulness.”
“He’s good at that,” Kayce agreed, stepping closer. “The best of the four of us.”
She smiled, but sobered a moment later, looking out at the expanse of mist cloaking the kingdom. The sun was rising; the seas rippled with its light.
“Vilentia helped a lot,” she murmured. “I didn’t realize how much I lost of myself, trying to be everything for everyone.”
“It looks good on you.” Kayce flushed at her raised brow. “The confidence, I mean. It’s a good look on you.”
“Thanks,” she said with snark, but then softened. “Sorry it took me so long.”
There was another sideways glance before Kayce looked back toward the horizon with a smirk. They stood quietly, both lost in their own introspection, Aurelia aware of every inch of space between them.
She opened her mouth to speak, but Kayce broke the silence first. “You don’t need to apologize to anyone. For anything,” he rushed. “You are so much more than you realize.”
“A Flameheart with a unique knack for bringing creations where they don’t belong would certainly qualify as being ‘more’. I think to stay in step with my progress, I should keep dragging you along, no matter what the Order says.”
Unable to help herself, she glanced up at him. Kayce was already watching her. The way the growing sunlight caught the angles of his face halted her tongue.
He looked to the seas before turning toward the creek, stepping over the stones to head inside their outpost. “Until you can’t.”
Aurelia frowned at his retreating back, her steps quick to catch up. “Since when have we bowed to authority before?” she asked as the stone door shut behind her.
Kayce didn’t reply as he made for the spiral staircase, taking the steps two at a time.
That wasn’t what he meant. Aurelia frowned, following him up to their rooms. “Even when we fix the tears, I can come here. Fancy tricks, remember?” She prattled as he slipped into his room.
“Besides, I might not even need the tears to bring you around. Special powers, and all.” The lightness was forced, but she didn’t care.
Old habits died hard, and the thought of being separated from Kayce was a vice clenched around her chest, tightening with each passing second.
Aurelia had to change the subject just to be able to breathe. “Should we look for the third piece and leave whatever section Papa found hidden? Surely he’d put it somewhere safe enough.”
Some tension had loosened from Kayce as he reappeared, a small leather pouch in hand. Aurelia liked to think he found relief in the change of subject as well.
“It makes sense,” he said, his thumb brushing back and forth over the seam. “If only you can find it, then I truly doubt others can. Even if the Seekers find the third piece before us, they won’t be able to free Malum without Sir Julian’s.”
“Where do we even start? It feels like we’d be searching for a needle in a haystack.
” She frowned, following again when he turned for the final stairs up to the lookout.
“I’ve always hated that metaphor. But as huge as the Emperium is…
” Reaching for the end of her ponytail, Aurelia worked out the knots woven from flight.
“How did Papa find one? How did Adrian?”
“The same way the rangers trained us.” A sly grin slipped over his face as he turned toward her, the window framing the waterfall at his back.
“Every animal leaves a trail. Find the trail, follow it to the Initiis. We double back over Sir Julian’s research.
Perhaps we pay Adrian’s shop an impromptu visit, learn how the weasel found his piece—”
“You just want the excuse for some breaking and entering.”
“Because I am oh so good at it. Besides”—Kayce’s tone took an edge to it—“he has it coming.”
If the squirrel hasn’t packed up and run by now, came the sour thought.
Aurelia steadied her breath, letting it drift by. There was little point in fretting over it. Adrian would likely do what he did best: hide.
“We’ll start there, see where the path leads. Then once we get that missing piece, we can get Papa’s, and finally, do what we’ve really been training for.” She smirked. “Steal the piece from the Seekers.”
And with the Initiis whole, they could repair not only the tear in Norenth, but those all across the Emperium. Hopefully leaving Malum right where he belonged, then she’d never step foot in his frosty world again.
Kayce nodded, but a frown emerged. “They won’t stop coming for it, even after you seal the First Rift.”
He wasn’t wrong. No one births an entire company that’s a near-instant success like ImaginX without seedy, underhanded deals. Malum’s influence must be linked to the CEO. Would finding the Initiis and mending the realms treat the symptoms, but not the actual infection of Malum’s darkness?
It was one of those moments that Aurelia desperately wished for her papa’s advice.
Her vision blurred. The swells of grief were low, but there.
Aurelia’s breath shuddered as she steadied against them, blinking rapidly to clear her sight.
The urge to rip at her nails needled her, but instead, she pulled out her pen, twirling it between her fingers. “Papa would want them gone. For good.”
“So, we’re graduating from solving a murder to taking out an entire underground organization with hands in your world’s political and economic climate?” Kayce whistled low, a look of danger darkening his gaze as he tossed the pouch between his hands. “Sounds a bit steep, Harpy.”