15. A Better Life
A Better Life
Kaiden
His mind still whirled around the story Idalia had strewn long after she had left. Cahira’s message had crumbled into ash when he finished reading it. She had the priestess. He stumbled into a chair, his mind far away
“You good?” Fintan asked, shucking his cloak off, followed by his leather vest.
“You tell me. My entire bloodline is cursed. How am I supposed to look Cahira in the eye? Explain to her that if she dies it’s because of me?”
Fintan rubbed his temples. The answers which normally came quickly from him were muttered curses of despair under his breath.
He said something, but his words were lost on Kaiden. His mouth moved in a blurry wave. The whole room was blurred. No, it was on fire, and Kaiden was going up in flames.
“Kaiden!” Fintan shouted, waving a hand in front of his face.
An orb of flames encompassed Kaiden as his mind drifted into a darker place.
Fintan snatched the thin blanket from the bed and stomped on the carpet where they stood. Flames licked up the blanket, devouring it. Fintan dropped it in the tub, snuffing it out when it touched the watery drain.
“Gods above,” Fintan cursed.
Kaiden shook his head, clearing his thoughts and coming back into the room. He squeezed his right hand. The signet ring glowed as the fire evaporated into smoke.
“Apologies,” Kaiden muttered.
“If you lose control,” Fintan said quietly. “He wins.”
“I know.”
Fintan leaned against the tub. The running water filled it slowly.
“Do we even know if Idalia is telling the truth?” He rested both hands on the rim of the tub. His head hung low as he shook it.
“Witches can’t lie.”
“You believe everything then?” Fintan asked.
“Yes,” Kaiden said, looking at his friend who was closer than a brother. “And I know you do too.”
Fintan crossed his arms, standing straighter, and huffed in confirmation.
“It changes everything,” Fintan said. “We don’t even know how much time we have to fight … well everything.”
“If we don’t figure it out, we’ll be damning ourselves and the entire realm right along with us. I can’t stand by and watch it happen. For too long we’ve been puppeteers.”
Fintan nodded. “This might be the only chance we have to walk away or at least create a better way of life for the realm. For that reason alone, I’d walk through Moliath’s depths and back just for the chance.”
Kaiden smiled. “I know.”
Fintan raised his hands as if surrendering to the harrowing challenge. “Why not? It’ll be a heroic way to die if anything.” His chuckle didn’t reach his eyes.
“It’ll be worth it,” Kaiden said softly, hoping his words rang true.
“If we survive,” Fintan emphasized, gripping Kaiden’s shoulder.
“Let’s get to Vidrena and regroup. Cahira has the priestess and once we join Jasper and Rhydar, we’ll have a chance at taking care of the creatures breaking through the Veil.”
Fintan nodded and turned, testing the water. He grimaced at the temperature. “Would you mind?”
Kaiden put a hand in the water, heating it with his fire.
“Aradia Damali,” Fintan said aloud. “Maybe you’ll find her intriguing. It’ll definitely make our whole ‘save the realm, kill ourselves’ journey amusing if you let yourself fall in love for once.”
“Yeah? Look how well that turned out for you.” Kaiden’s teasing was light, but his words held the weight of all the years Fintan fought for Cahira’s love, only to have happiness stolen away by a single decision from the king.
Fintan punched his arm. “You know that’s different.”
Kaiden shrugged. “Is it? Two sides of the same coin, yet unable to ever face each other. Forgive me if I want to save myself from the heartache.”
Fintan shook his head, mischief arching his brow. “When the time comes, you won’t be able to stop the emotions. That’s the worst part, Kaiden. It doesn’t matter if you desire it or not. Love has a way of betraying even the coldest hearts.”
The thought had already crossed his mind, and Idalia’s comment of her beauty still rang through his mind.
Aradia Damali.
He knew Eslanda had been beautiful because of the portraits he had seen in the temples and a witch could not lie. Omit some truths, yes. But lie? Never.
Kaiden jerked at his name being called.
Fintan pinned him with a quizzical look then glanced at the tub. “Do you plan on boiling me alive?”
He removed his hands from water which bubbled and hissed.
“At least it’ll last the entire time.”
Fintan said nothing but a shadow of a smile flashed across his face.
“Idalia named at least two types of monsters who have escaped,” Kaiden said, switching topics. “Who knows what other hordes of beasts have crept through and are unleashed throughout Peraynia.”
Fintan nodded, testing the water. Seeming satisfied, he stripped his remaining leathers off and climbed into the tub.
It was the smallest tub Kaiden had ever seen. Barely accommodating Fintan’s long legs as he scrunched down in the water. Kaiden roared with laughter as Fintan tried to maneuver his hands and wash his body.
Fintan threw him a dark look, but his eyes shone with humor. “Don’t laugh. You’re next.”
Kaiden shook his head. He tossed off his cloak and sat down in a chair.
“Do you think Cahira has had success in winning the girl over to our side? We’re not exactly allies and your father did kill her mother. Who knows the earful of poison spoken about the dreaded Arkan prince.” Fintan cupped water and poured it down his back.
Kaiden sighed, rolling his neck with a crack. “Is it even poison if it’s true?”
“I suppose you're right,” Fintan agreed. “Still … it might be better if you let her believe the lies she’s been fed.”
“Control her with fear, you mean?”
Fintan shrugged as he held Kaiden’s gaze. “Until we know who we’re working with. It’s what we’re best at.”
You’re not wrong there.
“What do you think she’s been told?” Kaiden stretched and leaned back into his chair, looking up at the ceiling.
“Me,” Fintan pointed to himself. “Not much. You, however, aside from your crippling wine addiction?”
Kaiden laughed at the spoken truth. There was nothing sweeter than Arkan summer wine.
“You know what they say about us all, Kaiden.” Fintan shrugged as if the words whispered behind doors didn’t bother him.
“Jasper and Rhydar drink the blood of their enemies, Cahira sacrifices children at Morana’s altar, I’m a whoremonger, and you …
you are your father’s son through and through.
A greedy powerful bastard who will slay anyone in his way.
” Fintan dramatically held up a finger for each title.
The lies grated against his ears and he forced himself to laugh with Fintan, lest their minds travel to a darker place of contemplation.
Fintan eased his head back as far as the tub allowed, slowly relaxing.
“My father has spun his web of lies well,” Kaiden said quietly.
A rising hatred fueled him as he looked out the window through the city, the Blackwood, through the halls of the palace, and to the throne room. He imagined his father sitting on his obsidian throne.
“They’re all wrong,” Fintan’s voice was soft, breaking apart his hatred. “Anyone who knows you, knows you’d sacrifice everything before letting your loved ones get hurt.”
Kaiden shrugged, but tucked the words in his heart. “There are only a select few who actually know me.”
“All the same, they’re still lies.” Fintan said. He threw a roguish smile which always got him in and out of trouble since they were children up at Kaiden. “Besides, I’m not a whoremonger. Women simply can’t resist me.”
Kaiden burst into laughter again. It was too easy to fall into the brotherly jest. It was what had kept them pushing through their training.
The weight of expectations their father’s had placed on them, remembering there was still life to live outside of their strong grip.
The single hope of a better life and the realm they would build together.
He turned toward his brother with a smile. Once again, Fintan brushed away the dark webs clinging to his mind and heart.
“Thank you,” Kaiden said.
Fintan nodded.
Kaiden knew he felt it too. The shift in their lives and the change which could shake the realm with their next decisions.
They sat in a peaceful silence, lost in their own thoughts.
Even after switching bath waters, and redressing in warm leathers, they remained quiet.
They stood staring at the door, sheathing swords and daggers back into their proper place.
“The King of Arkan, a family curse, a vengeful priestess and the possible end of our realm as we know it,” Fintan whispered. “I wonder what it’ll cost us.”
Kaiden grasped the doorknob and turned slowly, opening the creaky door.
“Everything,” he said as he walked into a new dawn, a new day.