Chapter 21 Lyra
Lyra
“Are you sure this isn’t a problem?” I call the words through the closed door, surveying the bathing chamber I’m currently enclosed in. The iron tub in the middle looks like the one some poor soul dragged down to the prison for me to use, except bigger.
It would have to be, I suppose, to hold the person these rooms belong to.
“Quite sure,” Eres calls back airily. I’d expected him to take me back to my cell to clean up, but instead he brought me here.
Not to the rooms I woke up in—quarters he apparently rarely uses, although they’re set aside for him anyway—but to the space he shares with a certain shadow-wielding prince.
For once, the thought of Kaelen Duskbane doesn’t fill me with irritation, although I’d prefer not to think of him at all right now.
I continue my exploration. The corner holds a battered-looking table, bearing a jug for washing, soap and a variety of cloths hanging from hooks attached to the wall.
A cracked looking-glass is propped against the ground, and it’s the only sign of anything beyond basic necessity in the whole room.
There’s not much else to see, aside from the chamber pot.
I give it a wide berth, preferring to avoid that for as long as possible.
The one in my cell is bad enough. At least in Solvandyr we have a pipework system.
Everything here is a far cry from Solvandyr, I realize. The Darkwielders live sparsely. Even my own bathing chamber in the Sunspire was more luxurious than this. Duskbane clearly has no thought for fripperies.
My father would have been insulted to step inside this room, let alone be offered its use. My finger traces over a well-used bar of soap, and I breathe in the faint scent. It smells like the fruit I picked this morning—fragrant, a little earthy.
It smells like him. Frowning, I back away as the door knocks. “Yes?”
“Sera is here. She brought some things you might want.”
Sera?
When I open the door to the bedroom, Eres has his arms wrapped around a tall female Darkwielder with short dark hair, murmuring quietly into her ear. She leans into him, her head nestled in the dip of his shoulder. They look… familiar. Intimate, even.
His hand is spread over her back.
My muscles lock me in place. When they don’t look up—as if they haven’t noticed me at all—my breathing deepens. A pounding erupts in my ears, and I feel… unsteady. Off-balance.
Furious.
Moving isn’t a conscious decision. Something propels me forward, something heated and painful and unrecognizable. But it hurts.
My hands grip the back of the female’s neck as I rip her away from Eres, throwing her at the wall so hard that she slams into it and stalking after her.
She gapes at me. “The fuck—”
“Mine.” I snarl the word directly into her face, my arm slamming up to pin her by the neck.
“Lyra.” Hands cover mine, attempting to prize them free from the wielder’s neck as she chokes. “Let her go. She’s a friend.”
Those are the wrong fucking words. It feels as though emotion has overwhelmed my mind in a rapid, whirling wave, and I can’t focus hard enough to regain control.
A second hand grips my wrist. The female wielder pushes forward, using my wrist as momentum to flip us and banging my head against the wall in the process. She slams her arm into the same position I held her in. “Stop.”
It’s as though the heavy rush vanishes between one breath and the next. My chest heaves as I stare wildly at them both. “What…”
What in Aedryn was that?
“That’s enough.” Eres places his hand on her arm. And then lifts it, so he’s not touching her skin. “It’s the Binding, Sera. Lyra—it’s all right. It’s gone?”
Looking between them, I nod.
It’s almost true, though a small, burning ember of anger still lingers in my stomach as they exchange glances.
Without a word, Sera pulls her hand free and backs away, still eyeing me warily—only for Eres to take her place, caging me in. His hands cradle my cheeks, nudging them up so I can’t avoid his eyes. “This was my fault, not yours. I thought the feeling would be gone by now.”
My hands raise to cover his. The feel of his skin beneath mine helps to clear the last of the fog away, and my voice rasps. “That was the Binding?”
“It was.” He doesn’t look away from me. “Sera, give us a moment?”
My eyes follow the woman as she slips out of the door without another word. As it closes behind her, Eres tugs me forward. I stumble into his arms, and he wraps them around me in the same way as he had with her. I tense, my arms hanging awkwardly at my sides. “What are you doing?”
His lips brush my ear. “Trust me.”
One hand touches my hair, brushing over the back of my skull and down, running his fingers through my braid.
He repeats the movement once. Then again, repeating it until the tension holding my body hostage gradually seeps away.
I lean more heavily into him. His heartbeat sounds against my ear, and I press myself closer to listen.
My heartbeat.
Ours, and it thuds a little faster as we stand there.
“I don’t know what happened.” I admit the words into his chest. The cream shirt he wears is similar to the one he gave me when I first arrived. Well-worn, impossibly soft. Comfortable.
I’m not sure I’ve ever been more comfortable than I am right now, despite my mortification. “Don’t stop.”
The only person I remember holding me like this was Reena. And even then, not often. Only when we were certain we weren’t being watched.
When I look up, Eres’s eyes are endless, midnight blue and creased at the corner, hair rumpled and wild. His hand holds the back of my head, tightening. “I won’t stop.”
“What about Sera?”
“She’ll come back.” There’s amusement in his voice. “Possibly. But she understands the effects of the Binding. This is just a… an aftershock, of sorts. Mood swings, emotional changes, it’s all common. Like I said, not your fault.”
He plays with my hair. “Although I can’t say I didn’t enjoy being claimed by you. It’s a good job it wasn’t Kaelen. Between the two of you, this room would be nothing but dust by now.”
My mind is caught on his earlier words.
I can’t say I didn’t enjoy being claimed by you.
I look up at Eres again, and he drops his head at just the wrong moment.
His lips brush against mine. Both of us stop.
Stop moving. Stop breathing. We just… stop.
Kaelen. He has Kaelen, and he—
The groan comes from deep in his chest. “Lyra.”
I don’t know who moves first. Maybe it’s Eres, or perhaps it’s me, but our shared heartbeat thumps in my chest as our mouths meet.
Liquid lightning. That’s what he feels like. A storm in the desert; impossibly hot, bright flashes as he grips my neck to pull me impossibly closer. My back meets the wall, his hand cupping my head as he captures my cry and takes it for himself.
His lips trace my mouth, my cheek, my neck, and I tilt my head to give him better access, little sparks erupting everywhere his mouth touches my skin.
It’s too much. Too much, yet not enough. “Eres.”
My eyes squeeze shut as he pauses his slow, lethal exploration. I wait for him to pull away, but his forehead presses against mine. For a moment, we breathe each other in.
The knock on the door startles us both, the shout following. “If it’s safe to enter, dinner will be served soon, and I’d like a warm meal before I head out.”
“I…” Eres examines my face. He shakes his head, once, before his lips press to mine. Just once, so soft that I might have imagined it. “I don’t regret that.”
And then he steps away. His hand steadies me when I stumble, and he waits for me to regain my breath before his voice raises. “Come in.”
Sera pokes her head around the door, a wary expression on her face. “Is it safe?”
Heat flushes my cheeks for an entirely different reason. But the apology is still halting on my tongue. Possibly a little reluctant. They were so close. “I’m sorry about what happened before.”
When she enters fully, I see the small package in her hands. “Just remember that I’m only here because of you. That should help.”
“For me?”
She holds up the package with a smirk. “His royal ass asked me to bring some things you might be missing.”
“Duskbane?”
She grins. “Who else?”
Perhaps I might like this female after all.
***
My wet hair hangs around my face as I sit cross-legged on the bed in a fresh uniform, free from the mud caused by my sparring session with Kaelen. Sera lounges beside me, her hands folded beneath her head. Sighing, I attempt to wrangle the knotted mess using the wide bone comb she brought me.
She had assured Eres that we absolutely, definitely wouldn’t kill each other. He hadn’t looked totally convinced, but he’d waited for my nod before leaving.
And he had kissed me. I frown down at the floor. How inconvenient.
Particularly since I… didn’t mind it. More than that. I’d wanted it.
“My sister died,” Sera says quietly. “Elerie.”
My fingers stop moving. “I… I’m sorry.”
Sera purses her lips, staring hard at the ceiling. “Not your fault. But that's why Eres was hugging me. All three of them like to act like annoying brothers. It’s been the case since we were children, but… more so, now.”
Slowly, carefully, I resume combing. “She died in battle?”
“Of a sort.” She still doesn’t look at me. “Her unit was betrayed in the Veilspire. There were no survivors.”
Her choice of words gives away the truth. “She was with Darian’s father?”
“She was.” Her tone sharpens, offering a warning. “I wasn’t talking about him when I mentioned betrayal. As far as I’m concerned, he was never a traitor. But not everyone believes the same thing. My father certainly doesn’t.”
“I don’t know if I’ve met him.” I try to place her features against any of the people I’ve seen, but nothing stands out. “Not that I’ve met many here.”
There don’t seem to be that many people here. Nowhere near as many as I’d thought there would be, given the castle’s proximity to the Veilspire and Solvandyr. I would never have been able to hide myself well enough to sneak inside, as I had initially planned.
Perhaps there’s a secondary location somewhere close, though we never learned of one.
“There aren’t that many to meet. It’s Galus Valcor.” She says his name with just enough dryness that I manage to prevent my initial feelings from showing. “On the Council.”
Unfortunate.
“You two are… not alike.” I glance at her quickly. “I mean no offense.”
“None taken.” But there’s something impossibly sad beneath her words. “Elerie was far more his daughter than I am.”
She sucks in a breath before she pulls herself upwards. “We should get going. Braid your hair back, and put more of that oil on. It should get rid of the knots. Elspeth gave it to me, and her hair is longer than mine.”
“Who’s Elspeth?”
“Doesn’t matter. She’s mine.” She turns, cocking an eyebrow at me, and I bite down on what might be the beginning of a laugh. Sera pulls the door open once I’ve finished. “She probably won’t be at dinner, since we’re leaving for a patrol straight after the meal.”
“Is that because it’s easier in the dark?”
Her grin is a brief flash. “Careful, Lightbringer. Ask too many questions, some will start thinking you’re a spy.”
“And you don’t?”
Sera shrugs. “I think it doesn’t matter what you are now. Besides, Darian vouched for you, which is enough for me. This way.”