Chapter 5
Five
Icatch sight of Zek waiting for me at the end of the corridor, and I release the breath I’ve been holding to keep me together.
He looks a little worse for wear, but he’s alive.
Ash covers his face, and his uniform has holes burned into the scarlet sash over his chest. Yet he still dons his easygoing smile.
It’s a welcome sight after the emotional battle I’ve been through.
My guard falls in next to me and matches my stride. “I’m guessing you didn’t enjoy your time with the Stigian prince.”
“No. But I am glad to see you alive,” I say.
He places his hand over his heart. “Aw. Were you worried about me?”
“I should have been glad that you weren’t looming over me for once. But I might have been a little sad if something happened to you.”
“I’m taking that as a compliment.”
I pucker my lips to hold back my smile. “Take it as you like, just don’t be completely insufferable during the ride home.”
“Did nobody tell you? We’re staying for a couple of days at least.”
I stop and spin to look at him with wide eyes. “What do you mean we’re staying? I did what was required of me and now it’s time to leave.”
Zek shrugs, and the soiled golden curls at his shoulder bounce with the movement.
“They’ve sent guards to scout the route between here and Lucent.
General Mansi doesn’t want to take any chances that the Allaji will attack on our way home.
The Stigians could barely fight off the shifters and regain control, so our little caravan wouldn’t stand a chance. ”
Micah, my father, and a Stigian warrior move toward us, and I lower my voice to ask, “What’s to say the Stigians weren’t behind this and are setting up a trap?”
“It would be a frivolous attempt at this point,” Zek says. “Before we came to get you, the king and queen signed a treaty, and the Divine Sibyl bound it. The two agreed to call a truce while they figure out what’s going on with the Allaji and what actions they need to take next.”
This is the last thing I want to hear, yet I can’t argue against it.
During the brief time that I was a part of the chaos, things got out of hand.
Explosions, wild animals, and human-sized birds—we couldn’t have faced that alone and survived.
Kyron was a step away from not making it out of that mess alive.
If it weren’t for my father tackling me to the ground, I could have been hurt or worse too.
“Raelle,” my father calls as the men draw near. Papa’s cape is dirty, and scratches and dings cover his breastplate and boots. He walks with a limp that most wouldn’t notice if they hadn’t seen his confident stride before.
“Are you all right, Papa?” I ask, running my fingertips over the blood trickling from a gash in his cheek.
“I’ve endured worse,” he says with a weak smile.
I don’t need to dig too far into that statement. The worst he speaks of also happened on Stigian soil. I’m sure if he had the choice, he would pick a battle with the Allaji over the time he spent here with Esmeray.
The Stigian warrior with eyes the color of the night sky clears his throat and says, “If you’ll follow me, I will show you to your quarters for the evening.”
Papa goes rigid against me, but quickly composes himself, nodding at the man who doesn’t look much older than me.
As we follow the warrior, Micah reiterates what Zek told me about staying.
He doesn’t appear bothered by the change of plans, but I don’t miss the way my father’s eyes dart around the dimly lit hallways.
It doesn’t matter that he spent hours meditating in this sanctuary when he was a young man; what was once his place of worship, he sees as a prison.
We reach what looks like a dead-end and the king and young warrior simultaneously reach behind a tapestry on the wall.
Micah glares at the Stigian and says, “I understand it’s hard to believe, but I used to love roaming these passages, and I was doing it long before you were born.
” He pulls a lever, and the wall gives way to a tunnel of slick gray cement outfitted with light fixtures of braided iron hanging from the highest point, lighting the way.
The king takes the lead with us following close behind and our chaperone grunts his disapproval.
“We will meet with the Stigian council first thing in the morning. Hopefully, we will have word from Lucent by then. If the Allaji are brave enough to attack Stigian, our kingdom will not be far behind,” Micah says.
“You don’t think they attacked after we left, do you?” I ask, and a wave of nausea washing over me. If the Stigians struggled to regain order today, our people have no chance.
Micah’s gaze meets mine and the command in his tone wavers. “I pray to the Statera that they haven’t.”
I look up as the light around us changes and gasp.
The other side of the passageway is nothing like the one we entered through.
Naked winged beings carved out of marble stand guard over wide steps.
At the top, blooming jasmine vines crawl up white columns and potted shrubbery decorates each side of the doorstep.
The entrance is a massive wood-planked door with golden hinges and a knocker shaped like the Stigian shield.
“Talk about over the top. This is just the palace entrance from the secret tunnels?” I ask.
My father shakes his head. “The LeFurs have always had a taste for unnecessary extravagance.”
Micah straightens the lapel of his filthy red jacket and walks up the stairs.
“There is nothing wrong with enjoying the finer things in life. Some of us just happen to walk on the side of gaudy.” He pushes the door open, revealing a foyer with a huge chandelier and precisely placed pieces of wood lining the floor.
They create an intricate design that must have taken months to lay.
The further we move into the castle the more elaborate the architecture becomes—high arches, gold hand-carved wall trimmings, hand-painted ceilings with ethereal scenes, and endless spiraling staircases.
Chandeliers adorn with crystals and candelabras designed to represent climbing vines speckled with blossoms. My neck aches from craning it back to take it all in.
“Her Majesty asked me to inform you that your room is how you left it upon your separation,” the warrior says to Micah.
“I’m surprised that my sister didn’t turn it into a closet for her dirty laundry,” the king mutters.
My father snickers. “A practice room for battle axe throwing with your image painted to the walls.”
The warrior gives both men an unamused glare as we turn into a long corridor with doorways spaced meters upon meters apart.
The rooms beyond them must be massive. Micah eases a door open and peeks his head around the frame.
He releases a breath that makes his lips rattle together and my father peers over his shoulder.
“It looks the same, Micah. I don’t think the servants have even touched it,” Papa says.
The king walks inside and thumbs the dusty pages of a book left open on the table in the sitting room. The furniture is hand-carved in dark woods and covered in rich sapphire fabrics. This is a room designed for a future king.
Micah glances around like he has entered the past, and his features take on a youthful appearance. I know how jarring it can be to return to a familiar place after changing into a new person. He was a prince who was sick of traditions that demeaned others, now he is the king of a free people.
“Princess Raelle, if you’ll follow me, I will show you to the room where your belongings are,” the warrior says.
Both my father and Micah look up from the items they’re fiddling with, concerned expressions on both their faces. Before they have a chance to voice their objections, Zek says, “Don’t worry, I’ll be right outside her door.”
“Do not leave her alone for even a second, Zek,” Micah orders.
Papa chimes in saying, “And if I find out you do, you will regret it.”
“Understood,” my guard says, bowing his head.
The warrior leads Zek and me to one of the last doors, and I reach for the handle, coming up short.
“I’m going to summon a healer, otherwise it will leave a hideous scar, Your Grace,” a small gray-haired man with bifocals says as he chases after the shirtless, stalking frame ahead of him.
“What is one more fucking scar?” Kyron mumbles, his gaze falling on me.
I freeze in place and shift under the weight of his stare.
“At least allow me to inspect the wound and sew it together.”
Kyron holds up a hand, and the man I assume to be a medic clamps his mouth shut.
Zek steps between the prince and me, crossing his arms over his chest.
“I see Micah has brought in a new lapdog to keep an eye on you,” Kyron says, eyeing Zek like he’s planning the best way to take him down.
“Someone has to watch over her, and we all know that the Lucent army couldn’t handle it.” Zek returns Kyron’s glare. “An accidental lapse in His Majesty’s judgment. He shouldn’t have left the job of the Royal Guard to a backstabbing general with ulterior motives.”
“You mean the same Royal Guard who she rode past not once but twice in defiance of the king’s orders?” Kyron purses his lips and raises a brow. “At least I knew where she was at all times.”
“Of course you did. What better way to keep track of your enemy than to plunge your cock in—”
I push Zek out of the way. My cheeks burn with anger and embarrassment. “I have nothing else to say to you, Kyron. I’ve said all I need to say.”
“Good. I’m exhausted,” he counters, falling into pace behind me.
I stop short of reaching for my doorhandle, and my spine stiffens.
Kyron can be hardheaded, but he has lost his mind if he thinks he’s sleeping in the same room as me.
Especially when there must be two hundred other rooms for him to choose from.
And yet I can’t deny the desire that sparks to life within me.
“Relax, princess,” he says, moving past me to the door across from mine. “I’m sleeping in my room… tonight.”
“Every night,” Zek counters.
“I’d let your future queen be the judge of that.” Kyron walks into his room and looks back at me. “Goodnight, Raelle.”
With a curt nod, I step inside my room and slam the door shut.
I lean against the wall, the cool wood calming my heated body.
He makes me a jumbled mess of emotions that contradict one another, and at the same time, they make perfect sense.
I should attribute it all to the parah bond, but part of me knows that my feelings for him run deeper than that.
What I feel for him isn’t just the result of a predestined match.
It’s why the coming days inside this palace will be some of the most difficult I’ve ever had to face.