Chapter 12
12
KAEL
There was every possibility Mia would tell Issa what had happened. It was a chance I had to take. Lyra was following us, and others looking for her may realize I had diverted this way as well. Though a human, I had no doubt Issa would remain loyal to me, but this situation would certainly test our bond of friendship.
After sleeping for a short time on a pallet in the spacious bedchamber Issa had given us, I awoke well before dawn. A quick walk around the battlements, confirming our position, for now, was safe, I returned to find Mia still asleep.
A knock at the door helped me decide if I should wake her.
“My lord,” a maid said, her arms filled with clothing. “Lady Isolde sent these for your companion.” I took them, as she continued. “There is a gown, or if she prefers, breeches and a tunic, as our lady wears.”
I thanked the young maid who promised to return with a bowl of scented water and invited us belowstairs to break our fast. I asked instead for a tray to be brought here.
“Why can’t we eat breakfast in the hall?”
She was awake.
I’d watched Mia sleep, attempting to stir the anger that typically came when I was around humans, Issa an exception. Instead of anger, I found myself wondering what she lied about. And more importantly, how she’d come through a closed Gate.
I unfortunately also found myself admiring her beauty. Her long hair, tied back in a ponytail, as her people called it. Mia’s unusual clothing did little to reveal a comely shape, her breasts pressed against my back as we rode telling me all I needed to know about what was beneath.
“Why are you looking at me that way?”
I stepped closer. There were few windows in this chamber, only arrow slits, as Hawthorne Manor was built for defense. Issa’s parents, now both dead, had seen to its construction themselves. Its position along the Gyorian border meant both Issa and her parents, nobles in high esteem with the human king, saw little peace.
Especially these last thirty years.
“Your hair,” I said, the little light that did shine through hitting the top of her head at just the right angle. “It seems… lighter, almost.”
It was an offhanded comment, but the look on her face made me wonder if there was something more to it. Her eyes widened temporarily, before Mia schooled her features back to sleepiness. She yawned.
“That’s odd.” Kicking off the coverlet, she hopped from the bed.
“Issa sent some clothing.” I put the pile where she’d been sitting. “Your choice of gown or breeches.”
Mia looked at the pile, frowning. “And if I do not wish to wear either?”
The response I’d expected. “You are much too conspicuous in that. It draws attention.”
She laughed. “Only here would a pair of jeans, tee, and a hoodie draw attention. By the way, why wasn’t I cold on the trail? There still seemed to be snow on the mountains where we came from?—”
“Aetheria.”
“Sure. And last night Isolde said something about spring coming, which means it’s winter? So you have the same seasons as we do?”
“Uninitiated.” I sighed. “Put those on, and I will answer your questions.”
“What does that mean? Uninitiated? You’ve used that word before.”
Another knock at the door. That would be the maid. Rather than having her speak with Mia, I took the bowl and clothes and sent the girl away.
“Rosewater to cleanse yourself,” I explained. “I will give you privacy to get dressed and answer any questions you have.”
With that, I left the chamber and waited outside. It took less than two minutes, or what a human might mark as such. We kept less rigid time in Elydor, or had, until the humans influenced that too.
“Oh,” she said, opening the door and seeing me.
“Going somewhere?”
“No.” Her sensuous lips pursed together. “Just wondering if I’m a prisoner.”
This had to stop. Though none were in the corridor, neither did I want anyone to overhear. Stepping back into the chamber, I closed the door behind us.
Before Mia moved away from me, we were almost toe to toe. If she were any other woman, and not a human, I’d have acknowledged my body’s reaction to her.
“I told you of the Gate Council. Every one of its members, representatives from all clans?—”
“Except human.”
“Irregardless. Each were imbued with magic to alert them when someone came through the Gate. It was our duty to be present when that happened, determine if that person, or persons, would be allowed through. I’d assumed after so many years that the spell had dissipated, but it had not. I knew the moment you came through, which means every person on the Council did too. They will be looking for you.”
“Like Lyra?”
“Aye. Like Lyra.”
“And I am safer with you than them? Is that what you’re saying?”
“Aye.”
“Bullshit.”
“You do not believe me?”
“No. I do not.”
Smart woman, though that fact meant I had to be more vigilant. “Get dressed, Mia. We’ve much to discuss.”
As I turned from her, I heard her mutter, “Wonder if the term high-handed means anything here?”
Leaning against the stone wall, I waited for as long as I supposed it might take, attempting to sort through the past few days’ events to keep my mind from what was happening behind me.
The skirmish. Another dead Gyorian. Mia coming through. Imagining my father’s reaction. In truth, I worried about that last one. While it was true that I fully intended to get Mia safely into Gyorian territory, my father did not necessarily share my desire to avoid any unnecessary bloodshed. He believed my brother and I “too moderate” when it came to humans, but we both also felt his beliefs bordered on fanatical.
“My lord?”
The maid had returned. I took the tray from her. “Thank you. I will bring this inside.”
“Lady Isolde inquires, if you will not be coming to the hall, if she might visit you both in your chamber?”
There was no avoiding her. Issa had told me as much last eve before we retired. We could shelter here, but she’d require more answers than I’d thus far provided.
“Of course,” I said, bringing the tray of warm bread and fruit inside. Since the humans traded freely with Aetheria, and to a lesser extent, with Thalassari, their crops benefited from a hybrid between their cuisine and our own.
I was wholly unprepared for this version of Mia.
“Don’t you dare laugh. I figured I could wear this until we had to leave. I’ve always wanted to try on one of these medieval gowns.”
Why would I laugh?
Her hair was down, the gown Issa lent her a vibrant green with gold thread lining its sleeves and neckline. That neckline… I could not tear my gaze away.
“Yeah, I know. I don’t usually show this much boob.”
She was outrageous. “You look beautiful.”
The words came out of my mouth before I could stop them, because they were true. Shaking my head to clear it, I put the tray of food on a table as Mia attempted to sit. It took her multiple attempts to smooth the gown beneath her.
“This is all so confusing,” she said, reaching for a glass. “No modern plumbing, but coconut oil for my hair. And orange juice. Where do you get oranges from? Yet no windows. It’s like I stepped back in time to medieval England but with some modern touches, and not necessarily the ones I’d choose. Though I’ll admit your version of toilet paper is pretty sweet.”
She began to eat.
I sat back, watching her as Mia popped a strawberry into her mouth. She quickly picked up a handkerchief as the juice ran down her lips. By the stones, this was going to be a long journey.
“It would be less confusing if the humans had never arrived.”
“No?” she asked between bites. “You carry an iron sword, and yet can wield magic. Your buildings are made of marble and glass, but surely such materials are inferior to what you could contrive with your”—she waved her hands in the air—“magic.”
“We use materials native to Elydor. I cannot contrive something from nothing, but I can manipulate any element found here already. As can each of the clans.”
Finally, she finished the damn strawberries. I thought back to her earlier questions.
“Uninitiated are humans who come through the Gate with no prior knowledge of Elydor. Seasons here are different, in part because the land responds more to the magic of each region than to solar patterns. While we’ve adopted human names for seasons, Elydor doesn’t experience the same extremes as Earth. The weather is temperate year-round, though we do mark time similarly to you, and certain flora and fauna appear only during specific times. In Aetheria, for example, you’ll see snow during winter—and on the mountain peaks, even in summer—but without the intense cold you might expect. It’s more an effect of air magic binding the snow to the landscape.”
As expected, my explanations did little to ease her curiosity. “Snow, but it is not cold? How is such a thing possible?”
I closed my fist. It was easier standing on the ground, but I was not an infant Elydorian. Turning my hand, I opened it. Mia gasped.
“That is”—she leaned forward—“one of the most beautiful flowers I’ve ever seen. It looks like a Hawaiian hibiscus. How did you do that?”
“Watch,” I said, waiting for another gasp. It wasn’t long in coming. The flower, though it had materialized, faded quickly.
“Where did it go?”
“The sea blossom is native to Thalassari, our southernmost clan. But since I’m neither in Thalassari, nor is that flower in season, it does not remain.”
Her perfectly formed mouth opened and then closed.
“But… you just said you can’t produce something not in existence. So how did you do that?”
“I can temporarily create objects that exist naturally within Elydor, but they cannot be permanently maintained if the conditions aren’t suitable.” And then, remembering the speech I used to give, I continued. “One time, we all had the same… what you would call it, magic. But as the years passed, some migrated south, to Gyoria. Others, further south, to the sand and tides of a tropical Thalassaria. Some of the elders remember those times, when Aetherians could initiate tremors in the land, or when Thalassari could wield air. Eventually, the longer each remained in their region, the more their magic evolved to what it is today.”
I took a bite of bread.
“And you are immortal?”
“Aye.”
“But can be killed?”
“Correct.”
“But you age, clearly. You are not a child.”
Neither was I having child-like thoughts of Mia at the moment.
“I am not. We age, as you might, but more slowly.”
“Forever?”
“As far as we know. Some elders are over three thousand years old.”
“Holy shit. What do they look like?”
Usually, I was annoyed by Uninitiated human questions. But Mia learning about Elydor, while filling her stomach, meant she forgot to be wary, and angry. I liked this Mia more than I should.
“The same as all vaelith.”
“Vaelith?”
“Those who have lived for more than one thousand years. They are revered for their wisdom and authority in all clans.”
“Are you vaelith?”
“No. I am haranya, those who have seen more than one hundred years. My father is thaloran, as are all those who reach five hundred years.”
“I’m still confused.”
“I’ve heard humans say haranya appear as if they have lived thirty years in the human world. Thaloran, maybe forty-five or fifty years, and vaelith as if they are sixty or seventy years.”
“That’s… ideal. I’m surprised humans who know about this place haven’t tried to figure out how to replicate it in our world. It’s basically the fountain of youth.”
“They have. Your example, the fountain of youth, for instance, is a legend that stemmed from encounters with Elydorian magic. Explorers like Juan Ponce de León believed they could find a source of eternal youth but misunderstood our natural longevity as a physical fountain.”
“So the fountain of youth?—”
“Was an attempt to capture the essence of vaelith’s longevity by those who’ve visited our realm. But without true knowledge, their expeditions led only to peril and failure. Typically human.”
“Hey,” she said, the indignant Mia returning. “You forget, I’m human.”
“I haven’t forgotten.” Nor could I, even for a moment.
Mia waved a hand as if to dismiss me.
I sat up straighter.
Unless I was mistaken, when she did so, the slightest bit of air wafted toward me.
“Mia,” I said, more sharply than I’d intended. “What was that?”
“What was what?”
Had I been imagining things?
“When you waved your hand…” I stopped, realizing how nonsensical I was being.
“I really do hate that tone. Do you guys have the word ‘bully’ here?”
“No. We don’t.”
I dismissed the thought as another knock at the door interrupted us. I opened it to find Issa on the other side, but I could sense immediately that this was not simply a good-morning visit.
“Kael. You have to leave.”