26. Elara
Chapter 26
“Wake up sleepyhead!”
I grumbled and tried to roll over, the heavy blankets not letting me move. Or, perhaps, it was the fact that I felt as though I had been both thrown from a high turret and run over by a horse simultaneously. Everything hurt, every bone ached, and somehow my muscles felt as though they had been scrambled inside of me.
I didn’t think it was possible to hurt like this. The blanket felt like a hundred pound weight against my chest.
“Elara, wake up! Does she always sleep this late?” Aeinya sighed from somewhere above me, her question answered by two strong clicks. “What does that mean?” Two more clicks. “Ugh. I don’t know why I’m asking you, anyway.”
“It means no.” Great, it even hurt to talk. My voice came out all scratchy and broken. “He’s saying ‘no, I don’t sleep this late’. But I usually don’t wake up feeling like I was broken apart and put back together in the night. What happened?”
The world spun like I was on a top as I forced myself to sit, looking from the many duplicates of Aeinya and the Boy who stood in my room. Aeinya was dressed as immaculate as she always was, this time in a pale silver dress that highlighted the deep bronze tones of her skin and set off the white in her hair. The Boy was his usual ominous shape. He looked the same as always, same as last night before he had… before I had…
Everything came back in a rush, my eyes growing wide and panicked as the world put itself back together and all the pairs of people combined.
“You probably overdid your training, that’s what happened,” Aeinya said, pulling back the blankets even as I stared at my hands, and then at the Boy who shook his head in a decisive, if not frantic, ‘no’.
‘Don’t tell Aeinya.’
I lifted my brows, only partially aware that Aeinya was now rambling about the event today, and about how I wasn’t even close to being ready. Again, the Boy shook his head ‘no’, the motion even more frantic the second time.
There were three people in the world that I trusted, Aeinya, the Boy, and of course Batian. I wanted to tell all of them, to let them all know that my magic wasn’t gone. That I could still access it, and that I could do so on my own. But something about the way the Boy was shaking his head ‘no’ chased all of those residual tingles away, the lighthearted joy fading.
Not tell them, but why?
“Are you even listening to me?” Aeinya cut through my thoughts, those bright eyes peering down as she leaned over me, cutting off the silent conversation the Boy and I had been having.
“Apologies, I just woke up and everything is spinning. Can you repeat that?” I turned into a Princess on her, and Aeinya rolled her eyes, her hands flying to her hips in a huff as she stepped back.
“I said you overdid your training. Your muscles are sore, which is going to make today a real treat for you. You will have to make do and fight as best you can. You need to do your best, Elara.” She sighed dramatically, looking at me in a way that made the hairs on the back of my neck prickle.
By the Goddess, I didn’t like that look at all.
“Has something happened, Aeinya?”
“I wasn’t able to get you with who I wanted, but you’ll be fine. You are strong, and no one would dare hurt the sick princess. Besides, they will probably be too stunned to see you to do anything, really. You’ll be fine. Everything is going to plan. It will be fine.”
She rambled away, that look she had given me before mixing with a bit too much pity. She had spoken quickly, but I hadn’t missed a word she said, even though she was clearly trying to hide exactly what had happened.
I may have barely woken, but that didn’t make me a fool.
“What do you mean you weren’t able to get me paired with who you wanted?” I repeated back to her and sure enough that look of pity increased before she turned away to a large white box near my wardrobe.
“I mean you need to try your best, Elara, which I know you will. You’ll be fine.” She was busying herself with that box too much to be believable.
“What aren’t you telling me, Aeinya?” I jumped off the bed, grateful for the Boy's gloved hand on my elbow when the world started to spin again.
“I couldn’t assign you with my cousin, but I got you paired well enough, and I paid them off to not use magic. Not that it matters, you are going to show everyone that you can fight. That you aren’t weak. Everything is going to plan.”
“You keep saying that, Aeinya. But why does it seem as though everything is, in fact, not going to plan.”
You would think there was gold and diamond jewelry in the box with how interested in it she had become. I, however, was suddenly starting to feel as though I would be sick. And not only because the world was still trying to upend itself around me.
“No, no, everything is fine. Who cares who you fight with? You’ll do great. This is going to be great.”
“I care who I fight with.” I grabbed her arm, turning her around to face me. “I really care, considering whoever I face has a high chance to kill me.”
“They won’t do that,” she flipped her hand to the side like it was nothing, “Like I said, I paid them off. Besides, no one would dare kill the princess.”
“If they knew I was the princess.” She seemed to be forgetting that part. Most people in Okivo couldn’t pick me out of a crowd. Batian on the other hand…
“You are really far too worried about this,” she sighed, turning again to the box. “Everything is going to be fine. I’ll see to it. But first…” she turned around, hair and skirts whirling through the air as she faced me, a pile of black leathers in her arms.
“You need to look the part.” She was beaming as she held the pile out to me.
“Fighting leathers.” I wasn’t sure if I said it in question or in awe.
I reached out, almost scared to touch them. They looked so much like the ones the third year trainees, the Cedrian, wore in the pit when they were preparing to join the army. The leather was supple, well-greased and both stiff and soft enough that I knew they hadn’t been worn much, if at all.
“We can’t have you going out in a dress, after all.” She placed the pile on the foot of my bed and lifting the tunic against me. It was as soft as it looked, the insignia of a sun behind what looked to be a raven expertly done. Every feather of the raven was created to perfection, the sun bright and blazing behind it. Even the river full of caspyn lilies that someone had placed far below the raven was perfectly embossed on the leather.
I hadn’t owned anything this fine in years. Everything was formed and expertly made, the matching pauldrons and gauntlets reinforced with a thin layer of iron, the same image of a sun on each of them. The boots were the same, soft leather, good tread, a sheet of metal over the toe with bright sun beams stretching over them. I hadn’t had any footwear this fine in ages. By the Goddess, I hadn’t had any new footwear in nearly two years, the royal cobblers having forgotten about me once my feet stopped growing.
“Where did you get this?” I traced the side of the raven’s head.
“I found it in a shop in Turin.” She was now lifting the pants against me, clearly checking for length. “When I saw the sun I knew it was perfect. It might be a little on the nose, you being the sister of the Sun Prince after all, but I wanted everyone to know who you are and how bright and amazing and powerful you really are. You have your own light, brighter than your brothers, and it’s time they knew that.”
She had no idea how true that was.
Her hands went to her hips again as she stepped back, ornate skirts swishing. The Boy clicked once in agreement, but she still stood there grinning as I held the leather against my chest.
The world had stopped spinning in one way, but now it felt as though it was spinning in another. Hours before now I had decided to do this, and hours before that magic had exploded from me for the first time, magic that I had now been able to replicate. The world was spinning too fast. This was happening, everything was changing. I was going to show her, show everyone. I would get to go to the wedding. I wouldn’t have to hide.
Standing there, I could feel that buzz of power rumbling underneath my skin. Even it was reminding me what I was. What I could now do. It didn’t feel dangerous anymore, just bright and happy.
“Now, not only can you be a fighter, but you look the part.” Aeinya’s smile stretched as she placed both pants and tunic on my bed. “I can’t wait to see the old bat's face when she sees what you can really do.”
I looked to the Boy, who nodded again. Firmer this time.
“She might shit herself,” Aeinya continued, pulling my focus from my need to find out why the Boy was so set on keeping my magic a secret.
“Aeinya!” I was in absolute shock that she had said that. Aeinya, however, only laughed.
“Well, it’s true! Serves her right, too.” There was too much vitriol in her voice that time. I looked at her in question, but she only pursed her lips.
The Boy clicked again and Aeinya sighed, her eyes sharp as she looked from me to the Boy and back again.
“What does that mean?” Aeinya stared him down, hands on her hips again.
“That means he agrees with you.” He stood still, the shroud faced out toward the sitting room, toward his partition and the space beyond. There was something about the way he stood, so rigid, I had only seen him this stiff when Batian was around.
“See, he sees it too. Now, we simply have to show everyone else. Now, out Boy! We have work to do.”
He didn’t need any further prompting, he walked right toward his space, Aeinya already moving to close the door behind him.
He didn’t look back like he usually did, he continued to stare at the divider, his gloved fingers pressing against a center panel before his entire body stiffened. I could have sworn he turned back right before the door latched shut; before Aeinya went to work.
—
Two days of real training was not enough.
The words kept echoing in my mind as I stood beside the Boy, both of us leaning against the stone wall outside of the hall that had been transformed into a fighting ring after dinner the other night.
Shouts and cheers vibrated through the stone, the sounds mixed with grunts and what were obviously magical explosions; the booms and blasts loud and ominous. The sounds tightened in my chest, that tightening growing worse as screams and cheers followed each one.
Pressing my back against the cool stone, I shifted my leathers for probably the hundredth time. I had never worn fighting leathers before. Although they were undoubtedly the best choice for this, I had trained for years in a dress, I had always trained in a dress. They felt as though they were trying to strangle me alive.
“I don’t know how you can wear these every day,” I grumbled, pulling at the suffocating fabric as if I could keep it from eating me. “I can’t move.”
The Boy chuckled, pulling my hands away as I once again tried to tug at the tunic and the pants at the same time. He clicked twice, his hand wrapping around mine as more cheers and screams erupted from the hall.
This was the third fight since everything had started. Aeinya said I would go fourth, but to wait for ‘The Keeper of Sun’ to be announced as a fighter. I should be next. Which would explain why the world was closing in, and why these leathers were trying to eat me alive. Something that the rumbling light and heat sensation that hadn’t left since this morning was not helping.
I shimmied in yet another attempt to escape, the Boy moving around to face me. I tried to take the opportunity to pull at the neck line again, but he grabbed my hands in his, his leather gloves somehow too cold against my skin.
I knew I was panicking, how could I not? I shoved it all away, forcing myself to repeat my mantra again.
I could do this, I could fight. I could show all of them that I wasn’t sick.
So then why did my entire body feel as though it was going to turn inside out? This level of panic was not me. I looked to the Boy, but he only stood there, his thumbs moving over the back of my hands as he prompted me to breathe. It was enough.
“I can do this,” I said, and he nodded, prodding me on. “I will show her how strong I am. I will show them all that I am not weak.” He nodded again, his thumbs still softly moving against my hands.
“I am not the person she tried to beat me into. I am amazing and strong, and it's time she sees that.” I was firm, the words so close to what I had screamed at her.
His hands squeezed mine as he pulled me into him, his arms wrapping around me. The weight of his hand against the back of my head, against the thick braid that Aeinya had pulled my curls into was something like a promise as we stood there. As every part of him rattled against me, his heat moved through me and my heart stuttered. The knots of nerves that had been tangling in my gut rose into my throat as he held me there, the crowd erupting in what was clearly the end of that match.
The third match.
I was up next.
By the Goddess. Why had I thought this was a good idea? Even if Aeinya had paid whoever I was facing not to use their magic, even if I could somehow get mine to cooperate, there was no way this was a good idea.
He pulled away, those knots dropping right down to my legs, tangling everything on their way down. I couldn’t breathe, couldn't move as the announcer relayed the winners and the losers.
“I can do this,” I said again, although that time I wasn’t sure I believed it.
The Boy nodded and held his hand out to me, his palm flat as he held something. A small circlet of what looked like white and red thread was coiled against the black leather. The threads were intricately woven in a twelve strand design; shapes and patterns woven through it in something that was far too complex for how dainty the band was.
I stared at it, unsure of what it was before he grabbed my hand, quickly sliding the small bracelet onto my wrist and tucking it under the leathers. The second it touched my skin that same feeling from last night raced over my skin, the shocks and zings turning into a fire.
It wasn’t thread. It was hair. Fae hair.
He had clearly stolen some from the training arena and, thankfully, washed it.
He touched the spot where he had hidden the bracelet, then his heart, then mine. A gift. He had made me a gift.
“Thank you,” I whispered, staring at the spot where it was vibrating against my skin.
He nodded once, his hand again moving to the bracelet before making a motion that was clearly magic, and then something he had used before.
Wait.
“Wait to use my magic?” I asked, piecing together his message as he nodded in acknowledgement.
“You said before not to tell Aeinya?” In fact, he had seemed quite firm about that.
Again, he repeated the motions, before gesturing to the arena, and then placing his hand against my heart again.
“Wait to use the magic?” Again, a nod. “When the time is right?” Another nod.
I would have asked him when the time was right, when I would know, but I think I already knew the answer to that.
The last minute, when everyone would think me dead.
Well, it would make sense to wait until then. It was also risky, especially seeing as I didn’t have even an ounce of control over the power and the one and only time I had knowingly produced even one explosion of power I had also passed out.
The last minute was probably the only time I would be able to call the magic.
His hand lingered against my heart as the announcer's voice echoed again.
“Our next fight, Lix from the Kingdom of Spryv, and The Keeper of Sun.”
This was it. This was the moment when everything was going to change. I would make sure of it.
“Thank you,” I whispered again, pulling his hand from my chest and placing my lips against his knuckles. “Thank you for everything.”
There were a million things I wanted to say. A million things I wanted to hear from him. But I could do nothing but hope that he could see everything before I turned and ran through the doors into the arena.
I didn’t turn back.
I couldn’t.
Not anymore.