Chapter 35
Lyra
There was no sound of clashing blades. Not yet. Alone in the tent, I made quick work of securing boots and a cloak around my shoulders. When I went to run through the door, I was stopped by the princess.
“Lyra.” Yrsa’s dark eyes held a touch of fear. “We can’t go out there.”
“I’m not going to sit here and have Thane make a grave mistake, or Roark, should he see no other way to get to me except killing the prince.”
“Lyra.” Yrsa tugged on my arm.
I shirked her off. “Believe what you wish, but I tell you with clarity, I did not write the missive. You were brought here for a purpose, and I was led to the exact place you found me by the queen of Dravenmoor, Yrsa.”
“What?”
“Yes.” I let my hands fall to her shoulders, my pulse racing.
“Elisabet is the one who took me to the willow wood. She told me Roark would come after me. We already were planning to leave, and she knew it, but the Draven council was refusing to let me free of the walls, fearing Jorvans would take me back. There are enemies in Stonegate, and we have ways to defeat them. I am not bespelled by soul craft. Now, let me go and stop those two fools from killing each other.”
Yrsa’s face pinched, but after a few tenuous heartbeats, she returned a brisk nod, took my hand, and together we rushed for the front of the tent.
No blood hung in the air, and no bodies were scattered along the ground, but we seemed to be on the brink of battle.
Arrowpoints were aimed at the heads of two Stav Guard, and two fara wolves—Kyrre and òlmr—snarled at the other two men. Between the wolves, Brynn and Auki had blades leveled at the hearts of the guards.
Behind them, Thane sat, eyes distant, almost milky. Roark knelt in front of him, the gold of his eyes now shifted to a rich red.
Good gods, Skul Drek had taken the prince.
“Ah, Lyra. Glad to see you unharmed.” Gunter flashed a playful grin, never lowering the arrow he held against the Stav Guard. “You’re not harmed, right? Because I might as well put this sod out of his misery if you are. You know our dear prince will make it much more painful.”
“I’m fine.” I went to one of the Stav. Young in his face, terrified, but clearly distraught over the state of his prince. “Thane isn’t being harmed. The Sentry—”
“He is not the Sentry.”
I sighed. “Roark uses soul craft. He’s speaking to Thane. If the Dark Watch lowers their blades, will you stay yours?”
The Stav flicked his eyes to me. “Are you mad, Melder Bien?”
I rolled my eyes. Emi held the other Stav Guard still. Her brow was twisted in pain, and I understood why.
Yrsa had not moved from the front flap. Frozen, locked in a tangle of rage and heartbreak, she looked at Emi.
“Yrsa,” I said softly. “Let them explain.”
Tears lined the princess’s lashes. “Whatever there is to explain, it will never excuse such lies.”
Emi winced as though she’d been struck.
Gods, I did not have time for this. “I’m going to bring them out.”
“Find those connections.” Gunter winked. “You’ll be all right.”
I’d drawn up the bond in the tent, felt the pull to the prince. Now I merely needed to find the crueler threads.
One palm to my chest, the hum of craft was there. Solid. Firm. Flesh on my fingertips glowed in fibrous tendrils. Golden and hot to the touch, filaments spilled off my palms, weaving into a taut rope.
I curled my grip around it, pulling, tugging, drawing the end nearer to me. Each pull and light faded. Smoke burned the back of my throat. A cold breeze flitted my hair about my cheeks.
Murky trees bent and curved. Leaves dripped from the branches like they were made of slime on the banks of swamplands. But in the darkness, the forms of the Stav, of the Dravens, even the two wolves were starlit beams, keeping the shadows at bay.
There, in the center of them all, were Skul Drek and the prince. They were not lashing at each other. Truth be told, Thane looked a little defeated, a little weary.
Skul Drek, the most brutal shards of my husband’s soul, stood near the prince. His expression was almost…compassionate. Between them lived a glittering silver thread, weak and delicate, but the longer they spoke, the brighter it gleamed.
Brothers without blood. They were the same as Kael and me. If only they would not remain too damn stubborn to see it.
And we had little time to spend bickering about the past. They would need to accept what had torn us apart, so perhaps we might move on together.
I took the first step forward.
—
My vision had hardly refocused on the small camp before I was crushed against a broad chest. Roark’s fingers dug into my hair, tilting my head back. Those furious golden eyes bounced back and forth between mine for a heartbeat, then another, before he slammed his mouth to mine.
There would never come a day when I grew tired of this man’s kiss.
I dug my fingernails into the back of his neck, my tongue brushed over his, and I arched against his body.
The rough skin on his palm patted the side of my cheek, once, twice, three times. Mine.
I bit down on his bottom lip, consumed with the need for more, a need to nestle beneath his ribs and never break free again.
“My prince, what would you have us do?”
The voice broke through the spell. Brow to Roark’s, I breathed him in for a moment.
Behind us, the Stav Guard looked to Thane. The Jorvan prince slowly rose from the dirt, brushing off his trousers. Sweat dampened Thane’s brow, he wiped the corner of his lips with the back of his hand, and he gave Roark a strained look.
Yrsa broke through her resentment of Emi and hurried to the prince’s side. She gripped his arm. “Are you all right? Did he hurt you?”
Thane swallowed. “I’m fine.”
Roark’s eyes shadowed. He stood and tucked me behind him, using one hand to address the prince. I tried to despise you when I first came to Stonegate.
“After I saved your ass.”
You were an enemy and I should’ve hated you. I didn’t. You became my brother.
“Then we see brotherhood differently. You had a fealty bone.” Thane glanced at the missing tip of Roark’s finger.
“A bone I never used, never wishing to take your freedom from you. All the while you kept such secrets from me.” The prince ground his teeth together, fists clenched. “You said there are explanations.”
Roark dipped his chin.
“Well.” Thane took a step closer and held out one hand, a show of a truce. “I’d like to hear them.”
Roark hesitated, then, slowly, he clasped Thane’s forearm.
Thane wasted no time before slamming his fist into Roark’s jaw.
“You are a damn prince! And you never said a word!” Thane raged. “Gods. The things we could have done with that twisted soul of yours. The torment we might have leveled against the sods who traipsed those halls. It would’ve been glorious.”
He struck at Roark’s shoulder again, but one of the Stav pulled the prince back before Kyrre’s teeth could sink into the prince’s arm.
“Kyrre, no! Down,” I shouted at the pup. The wolf pulled back, ears flat, teeth bared.
By the gods. Thane was furious that he didn’t know Roark was a prince? That they couldn’t play tricks on noble folk at Stonegate with Skul Drek? I fought the urge to roll my eyes. Of course those would be the direst offenses to Thane’s nature.
Gunter’s arrow was lowered, but he seemed confused about which prince to focus on. No doubt he’d want to retaliate against Thane, but Roark was spitting blood.
Brynn and Auki spoke with Emi, and none of the three seemed disturbed. Almost like they agreed Thane had earned his strike.
“Dammit.” The Jorvan prince pulled back, shaking out his hand. “Does that creature in your soul make you made of stone?”
Roark leaned over his knees, one hand on his jaw. I pressed a palm to his back and glared at Thane.
“What?” The prince arched his brows. “The bastard deserved it. Now we can sit peacefully and tell our tales.”
Roark straightened, a trickle of blood dripped from his lip, and he glared at Thane. Feel better?
Thane lifted his chin. “I do, actually. Thank you for asking. Although I’d feel even better if I could have a go at the other side.”
“No.” I stepped between them. “We can’t waste time. Yrsa, Thane, you both deserve answers, and I hope by the end of them, we don’t bid farewell again. I hope you will stand with us.”
—
The fire crackled between us. Logs were placed in a circle, and what an odd gathering it was.
Brynn stroked her wolf’s head, her glare pinned on one of the Stav Guards.
The kohl on Auki’s cheeks had smeared into his beard, adding a feral look to his features.
It did not help that he kept shaving a branch into a sharp point with his knife.
Gunter had his Dark Watch hood pulled over his head, black streaked through his lips, and he’d eaten something that had stained his teeth to look like blood.
I knew it was a ploy from the Draven folk to frighten their enemies. And it worked. Gunter pestered one of the stiff Stav who sat three paces away, constantly reaching for the guard’s knives, asking about the quality compared to Draven blades.
“Ever torn out a man’s throat with your teeth, Stav?” Gunter flashed his bloody grin.
Emi’s smile was hesitant as she listened to Thane’s boisterous tale of his and Yrsa’s escape from Stonegate without alerting the whole of the royal house.
Something about Yrsa feigning womanly pains in such a way that her attendants rushed to seek bone tonics, but Thane was there at the window to smuggle her free.
They slipped through the tunnel Emi was brought through as a girl, took a few of the more loyal, adventure-starved Stav Guard, and faded into the night.
“Figured it wouldn’t be wise to come with a full unit of Stav when we needed to actually cross Dravenmoor’s borders, which explains our meager rescue party,” Thane said. “We didn’t want to alert any Dark Watch scouts, yet here we are all the same.”
Emi’s smile grew more sincere until she looked at Yrsa and the princess promptly looked away and settled at the side of Prince Thane.