Chapter 15
Roark
I dared not leave the chamber until the moon was highest. Lyra leaned against one post on the bed, a stiletto dagger hugged to her chest.
I lifted one hand. Windows?
“Stay clear of them.”
Door?
She smirked. “I’m not a fool.”
I crossed the space between us and pinched her chin between my fingers, my other hand speaking against her face. Summon me and I will return. You can always speak to me.
“Soul to soul?”
You merely need to find the connection. It was how the queen would draw out the creature to do her bidding. I ran my thumb over Lyra’s lip, then turned to the door. I won’t be long.
She tightened her hold on the hilt of the dagger and didn’t look away until the door closed between us.
I sensed her fear, but she’d not faltered since agreeing to the sjeleven seal.
The corridors were dim, with only light from sparse tallow candles, and a familiar scent of damp wood and saffron filled every breath. Home, or at least this palace, had once been the refuge of my childhood.
Now it was a pit filled with vipers.
The Draven palace was built like a labyrinth, and done with intention.
Should enemies ever breach the borders of the kingdom, most of the township and royal house could hole away in the endless passages and hidden alcoves with rooms unseen.
Ram’s horns were strategically placed in treetop towers all along the borders, and with their positions, the warning bellow could be heard from one end of the township to the next.
My father, before his soul rend, would hold mock attacks once every season, so folk would know how to maneuver into the royal stronghold with elders and young ones.
As a prince, I was to take cover in the north wing inside a narrow alcove beside the tapestry of the god of war. There, the alcove bloomed into a room in the walls, reinforced with stone and mud, too thick for arrows or blades.
Other sections of the town took up various wings and cellars and the fara wolf keep.
I ought to have confirmed that Brynn and Auki kept the same chambers before trudging all the way to the fara cages. Virki was always near his precious wolves, and the last soul I wanted to know what was about to happen tonight was my uncle.
In the holdings, the air thickened with hints of wet fur, straw bedding, and blood from the hocks of meat fed to the wolves. The ceilings were arched and made of cold stone since the creatures preferred frosts to warm months, but it left passages with fewer servants and guards.
The door was at the end of the corridor nearest to the outer walls.
I knocked once, then stepped back, aggravated that my chest tightened. With what? Nerves? Unease? I was a damn killer, a darkened soul, and the thought of facing childhood playmates left me shifting on my feet.
I knocked again, only to have the door crack open before I could withdraw my fist.
Auki rubbed a palm down his sleep-weary face. He still looked much the same. A stern nose, deep-set eyes, and ears that always stuck out too much for his liking.
When he recognized me, he cleared his throat and dipped his chin. “My prince. Or can I just skip all the damn pretense?”
I waved a hand.
Auki nodded. “Good. Why are you knocking? You always barged your way in before.”
Unbidden, my lip curled. Nothing was as it once was. The sooner Draven folk understood that, the better.
I didn’t bother speaking—he wouldn’t understand me anyway—and shoved past him, searching for Emi.
Auki locked the door at my back and followed my attention to the door I assumed was his sister’s. “Take it you’re here for Nightlark?”
I dipped my chin in a brisk nod.
Auki didn’t make a move. “You know, I’ve been studying hand speak. Don’t know if it’s the same as yours, but as soon as Yanson told us what was sacrificed, I figured you’d find a way to talk again. You always did love your voice too much.”
I arched my brow.
Auki took a step closer. “Watch.”
As though he needed to prove his point, he moved his hands and fingers. The gestures appeared to be fashioning individual symbols. Not exactly the way Thane and I made my words, but similar enough that I was able to see he’d spoken his name.
The barest grin teased my mouth.
I lifted one hand and did the same with less awkwardness, my moves more fluid after seasons of use. Auki.
His eyes brightened. “Yes! How did you form the first symbol? It was different. I don’t know much, but I can gesture to eat, sleep, those are simple enough; I can warn of an attack. I’ll study the way you speak now.”
His words struck me like an iron bolt to the chest. All this time, for a dozen full seasons, Auki had been here, my ally, awaiting my return.
A friend who’d gotten us into more precarious situations than Gunter, a boy raised to be devoted to the Dark Watch and his kingdom, and he’d always remained loyal to me.
For the first time, realization began to crack through the barbed, jagged walls I’d crafted around the folk of my old life.
Auki did not care that I brought the melder here, alive.
He did not care that I still claimed a bond to Lyra.
None of it had changed the loyalty of a young boy learning to hand speak as best he could because a playmate had lost his voice and he knew they would face each other again one day.
I offered a tight grin, then pointed at Brynn’s door.
“Right. Prepare for gnashing teeth.”
Hushed arguments followed the moment Auki stepped through the door. A low rumble of a growl came, followed by a hissed curse.
Auki reappeared, back first, his hand out. “Brynn, godsdammit, call her off.”
The head of a tall, silver wolf stalked Auki through the door. òlmr was stunning. Frigid blue eyes, streaks of black in the tuft of her chest, but the rest of her coat was sleek and pale gray.
The wolf had her lips curled, fangs flashing, and was wholly focused on Auki, who scrambled with familiar movements to calm a fara.
Brynn filled the doorway, the long half of her hair braided over her shoulder.
She chuckled, observing her brother’s attempt to touch òlmr. Auki’s craft had a way with wolves, soothing their minds and hearts.
Fitting for a keeper of fara wolves. Brynn held similar talents, but from what I recalled, she was called a soul guider.
A craft that could ease burdens until clarity of the mind was restored, a craft that led hearts forward.
Brynn guided the wolves in their training, their battles, their lives.
My old craft, before it was ripped out and replaced with the deledan, had been similar but connected to the guidance of the souls buried in the soil. Much like now, only gentler. It was how I stumbled upon Lyra during the raids. Like whispers of the dead urged me forward until I landed at her feet.
“Next time, you’ll learn to knock, Auki.” Brynn wore a smug grin that did not shift when she looked my way. “My prince.”
Brynn Oakbriar had been in my life since infancy.
A woman I’d expected to call my wife when I was a boy, even if we both knew no soul bond would form between us.
I would not forget the day she insisted we make our vow that if either of us found a bonded love, we’d defend it for the other with our lives.
She’d always run with the lot of us, always planned to serve the Dark Watch, and like Auki, it was evident she had honored her vow made long ago to a young prince.
“Call him Roark…gods”—Auki swatted at the wolf when she snarled again—“he doesn’t want pretenses and titles.”
Brynn popped one shoulder in a shrug. “What brings you here?”
At long last, Brynn whistled, drawing her fara away from Auki, whose back was pinned to the wall.
Her brother let out a heavy sigh and dragged his fingers through his hair. “Where’s Nightlark?”
“Here.”
Relief was heady, like a rush of blood from dropping too fast, when Emi appeared behind Brynn.
Already securing a belt around her waist, she’d dressed in new clothes, likely Brynn’s and too big, but her face was clear of any lingering dirt and sweat, and my cousin’s pale hair was braided loosely down her back.
I motioned for Emi to join me. I have need of you tonight.
“What’s going on? Where’s Lyra?”
My chamber. I hesitated before going on. We need you to witness something.
Emi’s lips parted. “Damn the gods, you’re serious?”
I swallowed. She and I both agree it is the swiftest and best way to keep her safe here. Until we find a way out.
Emi snorted. “How disappointing you are as a romantic. Sounds very straightforward and dull.”
“Wait. Romantic?” Auki snapped his head up. “What’s happening?”
Emi didn’t respond to him and kept speaking to me. “Tell me you didn’t present this as a mere transaction or a duty. Gods, Roark, I told you—”
I waved a hand. I am not a fool. I spoke the truth of my desire.
“And she shares the same desire?”
Heat scorched the back of my neck from memories of the twisted, sensual, stunning way I’d claimed Lyra not so long ago.
How all of me had claimed her.
Gods, I had not anticipated that the use of my broken soul would stimulate every surface of my flesh like I stepped too near a blaze. She’d wanted me to suffer, a bit of cruel pleasure handed down for the secrets kept.
I would suffer at her hands over and again if she asked.
“Roark?” Emi tilted her head. “She agreed because she feels the same? You know bonds aren’t sturdy if both sides are not devoted.”
Auki’s mouth parted. “You’re sealing your sjeleven bond?”
I frowned at him but spoke to my cousin. Lyra agreed.
For a moment, Emi studied my features, as though searching for the lie. Then, little by little, her grin spread. “Did you at least grovel a bit for not telling her the truth sooner?”
I rubbed the back of my neck with one hand and spoke with the other. Something like that.
“We can stand as more witnesses.” Brynn stepped forward. “You will need us.”
Instinct drew me to begin refusals, but Emi placed a hand on my arm. “She’s right. Their word is respected, where we are both in disgrace.”