Whisper of War and Storms (Heirs of Elydor #1)

Chapter 21

21

MEV

I didn’t even have time to react before Kael closed the gap between him and the human knight. Lyra shoved me behind her as both of them demanded answers. Peeking around her shoulder, I couldn’t see Kael’s face, but could imagine it.

Surprisingly, this Rowan guy didn’t appear at all intimidated. If he knew Kael, then he would know how strong he was.

“How do you know?”

Four words, but Kael uttered each one as if it were a deadly threat. It occurred to me just now that I’d not been as terrified as I should have been when Kael first took me.

“Surely you’re aware word is spreading?” The knight’s response was calm and not at all sarcastic or taunting. Just a simple question. I pushed away from Lyra, but she kept moving in front of me.

“He’s not a threat,” I whispered to her.

“Tell me of this ‘word’ that is spreading?” Kael asked, not backing down.

“You don’t know that,” Lyra whispered back to me.

“That a woman came through the Gate. You took her and the other former Council members have been looking for you since. None know, yet, she is the lost princess.”

Kael’s eyes widened.

“It was not difficult to discern. Her age.” He gestured to me. “Her hair. Perhaps the Gate made an exception for King Galfrid’s daughter?”

He wasn’t a threat. I knew it. Pushing past Lyra, I joined Kael.

“Go back to Lyra,” Kael said in a tone that left very little for interpretation. It was a demand but, unfortunately for him, I wasn’t a fan of demands.

“He isn’t a threat to us, Kael,” I said.

Both men turned to me. Kael was furious. The knight, confused.

He was extremely handsome. His brown tousled hair, lighter than Kael’s, and roguish smile, coupled with mischief-filled eyes, made him even more attractive up close. Though not as attractive as Kael, of course. He had that look about him that said, “Only come close if you’re good at mending your broken heart when it’s all said and done.” Actually, more like the kind of guy that would help you mend it, give you answers and closure and all that. But he’d break it, nonetheless.

But more importantly, he would not harm me. That I knew, for certain.

“Kael,” I said again, more firmly. “Trust me.”

This time, it seemed to get through. He glanced from me to the newcomer and then moved to my side. When Kael grabbed my hand, I couldn’t have been more surprised. Mostly, because possessive guys weren’t usually my type, and despite the fact that the movement was a clear sign of possession, I was actually a little turned on by it.

No fucking way I’d ever let Kael know that, though.

“You will tell us everything you know.” Kael had apparently forgotten this guy wasn’t one of his men. But strangely, Rowan of Estmere didn’t seem to take offense.

“Only that you are the most hunted man in Elydor at the moment. None are pleased that you took her, especially with the Summit still in session and former Council members in attendance.”

“It is as I said.” Lyra’s version of “I told you so,” directed at Kael, nearly made me laugh. But I didn’t dare. Kael was not a happy camper at the moment.

“Was Lord Draven on the old Council?” I whispered, thinking of something suddenly.

All three of them stared at me. Kael, apparently satisfied he’d staked his claim, let go of my hand. “Why do you ask?”

I belatedly realized the knight, Sir Rowan, was human. He very well might know Isolde’s commander, so speaking openly about him wasn’t a great idea. But I had a difficult time forgetting the feeling of foreboding I’d had when he was near.

“For… reasons.”

Not surprisingly, Kael didn’t seem amused.

“No.” It was Sir Rowan who answered. “No humans served on the Council. We are not recognized as one of the clans of Elydor.”

Oh yeah. I’d forgotten about that.

He said it so matter-of-factly, and without bitterness, that I didn’t know what to say. Wasn’t he angry? Or resentful?

“We ride at once.” Kael was apparently done with his interrogation.

No one moved. I studied the human, knowing Kael would be pissed. But if these feelings were truly glimpses into the future that I could not see, I should begin embracing them. What that meant for Kael and me, for me leaving Elydor, I wasn’t sure. But those were problems for another day.

“Sir Rowan,” I said. “You travel to Aethralis. Come with us.”

“Rowan only, if it pleases you, princess.”

Only one man would call me that. “Mev,” I said. “And you can ignore his glare.”

“You’d do well not to take her advice,” Kael grumbled. “On either point.”

“Be nice,” I said, earning a smile from Lyra who seemed to be enjoying the whole exchange. Realizing she might be an ally in this, I recruited her. “Lyra, do you not think a man as capable as Rowan clearly is, would be best served to join us? We’re going to the same place, and he’s not a threat to us.”

“You have the Sight?” Rowan asked me, before Lyra could answer.

“Maybe,” I said. “This is all new to me. Back home, I had as much psychic abilities as a piece of chocolate. Wait, do you guys have chocolate?”

Rowan grinned. “We do, but it is more common in the south.”

“Do you have the Sight too?”

“A form of it.”

“Kael,” I said, pretending he wasn’t about to explode. “Rowan can help me learn about my human abilities, just like Lyra is doing with my magic. Great idea, right?”

“No. It is not.”

“Good. It’s settled. You will come with us. I mean, if you want. I’m not in the business of making people do something they don’t want to do.”

That last bit was for Kael, specifically.

Lyra outright laughed and headed back toward her horse. The more time we spent together, the less I remembered to be intimidated by her and liked her a lot.

“I would be glad to accompany you.”

“I do not think?—”

Shoving Kael toward Stormbreaker, I whispered, “You’re being ridiculous.”

“I am being anything but ridiculous,” he responded, but walked in the right direction nonetheless. “We know little of his intentions.”

“That’s where the ‘trust me’ part kicks in.”

“You believe he is not a threat?”

We’d stopped just beside Stormbreaker. Kael reached out a hand to pet him, likely without realizing it. That gentleness was one of the things I liked best about him. It was so at odds with the man he was, prince of all things hard and immovable.

“It’s more than just a belief,” I admitted, unsure how to put it into words. “My mother always said gut instincts were just your body remembering something your brain did not. That the body has a longer memory. I had no idea what she meant, but I think I do now. These are more than just feelings. It’s like a certainty that courses through my body even before I’m aware of it. With you—and Lyra and now Rowan—there’s a rightness there. Like the opposite of a threat.”

Somehow, I made him even angrier. “You had the same feeling of him as you did me?”

Oh shit.

“No, not like that. Not at all.” He didn’t believe me. “Are you telling me, an actual prince, an immortal who can do all kinds of Thor-like magic is threatened by a mere human?”

In response, Kael grabbed me around the waist and lifted me with two hands onto his enormous warhorse. With a grunt, he mounted in front of me just as Rowan caught up with us. Though I couldn’t see Kael’s face, he must have given Rowan quite a look because the corner of our knight’s lips raised just before he rode ahead of us to join Lyra.

“First of all, I am not threatened.”

Thankfully Kael couldn’t see me roll my eyes.

“Second of all, I do not have Thor-like magic. Mine is rooted in the ground, tied to the land. It works through connection, not force.”

Oddly, I understood what he meant. All of Lyra’s teachings were tied to harnessing the air in some way. Without it, there would be nothing.

“Kael?” I asked quietly, needing a real answer.

“Princess?”

Ignoring what that did to my insides, at least for now, I forged ahead. “Why do you hate humans so much? I understand their coming here led to your mother’s death, but… except for the whole magic and immortality thing—you don’t seem all that different from us.”

I thought maybe he didn’t hear me, Kael was so quiet. Waiting for his response, I rested my cheek on his back, scooting closer and hanging onto him more tightly. We’d passed the village and were back to traveling in a dense forest, the dirt road below only wide enough for riders in one direction. Aside from a quiet, otherworldly energy and the distant calls of unfamiliar creatures, I could still be on Earth.

Maybe, I thought as I listened, waiting for him to answer, there was one more difference. Lyra’s words rang through my ears. Listen to the whisper of the wind through the branches, feel the air flow past you.

“My father hates them,” Kael said finally. “My brother and I have watched that hate consume him over the years, and neither of us wishes to become that man. I… do not hate them as much as I fear them. Humans are not native to Elydor, and I’ve witnessed firsthand the implications of their integrating into our world.”

A part of me knew Kael admitting fear of anything was unusual. “Thank you for your honesty,” I said, wondering how to respond to the rest of it. I could only go by my own experiences which were admittedly much more limited than Kael’s. Who was I to give him advice?

Limited, but different. Just speak from your heart.

“I was terrified of dogs,” I said, lifting my cheek from his back. “When I was four, a dog knocked me down, just being playful. No big deal, except it must have been. My mother said that little fear grew into something that paralyzed me anytime a dog was nearby. She stopped visiting friends who had dogs, put me into therapy. When I was in high school, I still had the same therapist, but we didn’t talk much about dogs anymore. Somehow, I got past what was a debilitating fear. So I asked her once how she’d done it. I couldn’t remember a single instance where I’d begun to feel more comfortable around dogs, but just knew by that point I was no longer afraid of them.”

I paused, remembering that conversation. Over the years, whether it was my fear of dogs or worry about failing a test, my therapist had been an amazing resource. One of the best things my mother had ever done for me, and she did a lot of amazing things, especially as a single mom.

“What did she say?”

Brought back to our conversation, I quoted her exactly. “That most people fear what they don’t know. She said, ‘I haven’t treated a single patient who fears grass or trees. But planes? Plenty. Animals? You aren’t the only one. When we aren’t exposed to something, we can make up stories in our mind about that thing.’ My story was that dogs were scary and could hurt me. I don’t remember all of it, but she said my mother took me to a neighbor’s house with a dog, and we sat in the car while she brought her dog onto the porch. We went every week, apparently, eventually moving from the car, to the lawn, until I worked up the courage to pet it. Just being exposed to a dog, and not having anything bad happen, eventually changed the narrative in my mind about dogs. I stopped crossing the street when a dog would pass or hightailing it in the opposite direction when one came toward me in the park. I love dogs now and can’t imagine a time when I was that afraid of them.”

While he took that in, I shifted to the side, looking past Kael. Rowan rode ahead of Lyra, each of us still single file. Kael said Elydor had no need of human innovation and that mostly seemed true. But a quick plane ride to Aethralis would have been nice.

“I do not fear humans in that way. They cannot easily kill an Elydorian,” Kael said finally.

“But you are afraid of how they might change Elydor. And fear clouds our judgment.” He went quiet again, so I asked, “How much time have you spent with humans or in Estmere?”

“As little as possible, and only when it’s unavoidable.”

As expected. “Exactly. You need a new narrative. Obviously you like Isolde, and she’s human. There must be a few others.”

“There’s not.”

He was quick to answer, and his tone was still curt, as it always was when he spoke of humans. But I didn’t believe him. Instead of probing, I focused on something else.

“You like me. And I’m half human.”

He didn’t say anything.

Attempting to pull the man from the Gyorian was proving a monumental task. He knew how little I cared for silence. But I refused to need validation from a man who’d kidnapped me.

Don’t ask, Mev. Do. Not. Ask.

And now I was at war with myself. Independent “doesn’t give a shit” me, meet the “don’t want anyone to dislike me, people pleasing” me. It was a constant battle.

“You do like me, don’t you?” I asked.

He smiled, shaking his head and turning back around.

“I like you very much, princess.”