Chapter 5
CHAPTER FIVE
“Now, you remember what I said about not breaking stuff?” North sighed as I hurled my breakfast plate across the room. It smashed against the exposed rock wall opposite my bed, the shattered pieces scattering across the floor.
North pouted at me. “How am I supposed to let you out of here when you’ve already broken five of my rules?”
“I didn’t break five,” I griped, stalking to the wooden doors and sliding them open to reveal the stone balcony beyond.
There wasn’t any sunlight in the chasm it looked over, but fires burned in braziers that flanked the balconies of the rooms which were cut into the rock of the giant cavern.
The sheer walls rose up to a dark ceiling of shimmering stalagmites and the black sheen of the Hushed Pool sat below us, every drop of water that slipped from the sharp minerals above echoing keenly through the cave.
There were many balconies above and below, thousands of quarters here housing the people of Pyros.
More arrived by the day, or so North told me. I had yet to see a single Fae since my entry to this room. It must have been close to a month since our train had brought us here through an underground tunnel.
Supposedly, a great stairway led to the apex of the mountain that the city of Ravensview hid within, rising up to concealed walkways and lookouts where the Talons could keep watch – with some help from The Matriarch’s magpies.
Ravensview was a refuge. A place which had lain dormant for many a year, only kept habitable by a handful of Flamebringers for the event of an evacuation.
It was so large that it could house every Fae in Pyros, and that was Mirelle’s plan now.
To summon them all here, hidden like moles in the earth.
The bitterness that stirred in me was difficult to name.
When I’d arrived, I’d spent plenty of time recovering from my injuries, daily salves and potions sent to my room to encourage my healing.
But it had been slow and I could still feel an ache in my leg when I moved it the wrong way.
The deep slice into my chest had taken the longest to improve though.
The scar from the cauterisation would remain, but the redness was finally fading and it no longer hurt to touch.
I paced back and forth, relishing the cool air as the fiery energy in my limbs increased.
North followed me to the balcony, casually resting his elbows on the stone wall at its edge and peering down at the Hushed Pool.
“First; you punched me when I told you it was omelette for breakfast again, second; you refused to wear clothes while you ate, third; you called me a cunt and nearly broke my finger when I brushed your hair and caught a snaggle, fourth; you laughed when I told you Bigole Dick had fallen off his balcony after drinking too much ale last night–
I barked a laugh. “Bigole Dick.”
North cut me a glare. “He was a retired warrior with one leg, Kai. He was always the life of the party. He loved to dance.”
I laughed harder at that image and North snorted before quickly flattening his expression. I never really understood why he sometimes showed half a feeling and then quickly hid it away. I had no idea how to do that, even though he tried to teach me.
“What was the fifth rule break?” I asked, moving to stand next to him and gaze out over the chasm.
I felt that swirling sensation in my stomach that I liked.
North said it was something to do with the danger of falling.
Some instinct against hurling myself into the abyss.
But oh how tempting it was to lean into it sometimes.
I enjoyed the way it danced in my chest and made my heart thump. For some reason, it reminded me of Everest. I rested a hand on my shirt in the place the stab wound had been cauterised. That was two scars she’d given me now. And this one I liked the roughness of.
“The fifth was the plate,” he deadpanned. “Tell me why you threw it and name the emotion.”
“You said I might not be able to leave the room today. And then I felt hot and powerful and full of flames. That’s anger.”
“Your favourite.” He smiled then moved closer and flicked me in the ear.
I cocked my head, putting my finger and thumb together then flicking him between the eyes. His smile widened and some of the rage inside me ebbed away.
He shook his head at me. “Mother wants you to attend the war council. I don’t want her to lock you up again, so you can do this, right? You’re ready, aren’t you? Just don’t punch anyone and you’ll be good.”
My lips parted, the offering of freedom filling me with a light sensation. “I can do that.”
North grabbed me by the back of the neck, pulling me forward and kissing me on the forehead.
“Good boy,” he said in that way I was pretty sure was affection. “I love you, freyin.”
I stared back at him, warmed by those words and he gazed at me with a glimmer in his eyes I couldn’t read. The silence stretched on and his brow dipped, the glow in his gaze dimming before he walked inside, leaving me pondering what he was feeling.
I followed him, letting him brush my hair before he made me put on a fine black jacket over my shirt. He took his time inspecting me before eventually giving a nod and leading me to the door.
My heart began to beat faster, quickening to the drumming pace of war. The moment North unlocked it, I was past him, through the door and racing for freedom. A wild laugh escaped me as I ran down the corridor and North called after me, “Fucking hell – wait!”
I ran faster, glancing back over my shoulder, spurred on to flee when my brother sprinted after me.
I found a stairway, the thing cut right into the stone, stretching out over a towering abyss and climbing up in a twisting zigzag. I sprinted up it, knocking into some Fae and making them cry out and all the while my laughter grew louder.
“Kaiser!” North bellowed, somewhere behind me, but not near enough to catch me.
I took the steps two at a time, hearing a few gasped words from the people I passed.
“Was that him?”
“It’s the strange one.”
“I’ve never heard him laugh before.”
I made it to the top of the stairs, rounding onto a vast terrace where tables were laid out beside a bistro and beyond them was a thundering waterfall that cut through the rock.
The sun blazed through the hole in the cave roof and I needed to reach it, a roaring desire inside me blocking out all else.
I ran through the sea of tables, my gaze set on the rocky wall beside the waterfall and before I knew it, I was climbing it, clawing my way up and kicking my shoes off as I went to make the ascent easier.
The old injury in my right leg protested at the movement, but I was fuelled by adrenaline and there was no stopping me now.
Yells called out behind me but the loudest of all came from North.
“Get down!”
“Climb up!” I shouted back, scaling it faster, almost losing my grip on a slippery rock and grinning when I caught myself a beat before I fell.
“Kai!” North yelled, a note of some emotion in his voice. I ran through them all in my head, trying to place it, always so foggy when I tried to remember them all at once. Fear? No, not quite right. Panic? Closer. But that still wasn’t it.
I made it to the top of the waterfall, pulling myself over the edge, spray wetting me through.
The air up here was crisp and fresh, the sky above me so blue it was like the wide open stare of a cerulean eye.
And there was the sun, beating down upon me, warming my face and promising summer on the horizon.
I could feel the kiss of magic up here, no doubt silencing shields and layers of concealment spells were hiding this place well. It crackled against my skin and warned me to retreat.
I pulled my jacket and shirt off to feel the sun better, opening my arms wide and closing my eyes to let the wind and heated rays bring my skin to life. I had never felt life like this. In all its sharpness. All its sweet everything.
I inhaled the air and relished the rush in my lungs, then I opened my mouth and howled just as I’d heard North do so many times.
I knew why he did it now. I understood the call in his soul because I could feel it too at last. And there within all this feeling, was her.
The girl who had offered me this. My enemy, my saviour. Silka la vin.
A flurry of magpies came at me, wings clashing with my face and silencing the howl on my lips.
I batted them away but they didn’t fully disperse until a woman landed before me, her black and white wings outstretched and a look of war about her.
A flurry of magpies gathered above her in the sky, circling higher and higher.
“Kaiser,” Mirelle gasped. “What are you doing up here?”
“Howling to the sun, I suppose.”
A smile broke across her lips. “It’s so good to see you at last.” She swept forward, wrapping her arms around me and I found my head tilting low to press to hers.
“Are you sure you’re ready to be out of your room?” she asked as we parted, glancing down at my bare chest, my shoeless feet then back to my face.
A huffing noise sounded as North hauled himself up onto the ridge beside the waterfall. “I told him to come up here,” he blurted and my brow lowered.
“No you didn’t,” I said blankly.
“Kai,” he said through his teeth.
“North,” Mirelle said a little sharply. “What’s going on?”
“He just wanted some fresh air on the way to the war council,” North said quickly.
Mirelle stepped closer to North, lowering her voice to a whisper. “How is he?”
“He’s fine, aren’t you freyin?” North looked to me and I nodded. “And he has something to say to you, Mother.”
“I do?” I questioned and North nodded encouragingly, winking one eye then trying to mouth something to me.
“I cannot hear you,” I said with my brows lowering.
“Remember the thing you wanted to say to Mirelle?” North hissed. “You know.” He cupped his hand around his mouth and mouthed, “The apology.”