Chapter 7
CHAPTER SEVEN
I cannot unsee it. May Aelius forgive me for dooming his son to a life tethered to the poisonous crown.
—Journal of Khato, Master of Spells.
Sweat poured from my temples after an hour of hand-to-hand combat. Drystan dodged my uppercut and swept to the side. Though he hated it, he’d conceded to learning to fight. A cloud of night swept past as Tiberius landed a few yards away to watch.
It’s time to fly.
You’re bossy.
To the left.
Drys threw a hook, and I dodged just in time.
“That’s cheating.” Drystan took a step back, signing the words as he caught his breath.
Nerissa huffed her agreement from the edge of the ring. Drys bounced on the balls of his feet, eyes darting between mine, before narrowing them at Ti.
I dodged the next blow and threw an elbow, barely missing his jaw.
He took advantage of the opening and ducked, throwing his shoulder into my gut and scooping me up before plopping me down on my back.
Drystan had gotten stronger, looking more like a soldier than a scholar these days.
The move knocked the breath from me, and I lay there, coughing.
He reached a long, sweaty arm out to me. I grasped his hand, and he hauled me up.
“I’ve got to go. See you later, Drys,” I murmured.
Drystan looked at Tiberius and nodded his farewell.
“Want a ride?” I asked Nerissa.
She scowled in return, not deigning to answer. I knew she would refuse, but it felt impolite not to ask. Though she’d never admit it, I had the suspicion the stalwart ex-War Slayer was afraid of heights.
She stalked toward a tie-up where a large, gray mare stood. The horses in Lotrennia weren’t much smaller than the agrippa, but they were somehow more elegant. Their strong bodies were lean, with curved necks, thick manes, and feathery ears that tilted in toward each other.
They met us in a large valley full of targets. The field of green was draped in a lacey covering of white and pink blossoms that swayed in the slight breeze of late spring. We began a series of exercises on the ground and then in the air.
Riding Tiberius was entirely different from before he became my caeluma. His instincts were mine, and mine his. But my thighs… My damned thighs ached like never before.
Nerissa tossed me a bow and quiver, and all the confidence I’d racked up over the past hour was snuffed out in an instant.
This is pointless, I grumbled to Ti.
You need practice. You’re a piss-poor shot.
“Whatever silent conversation you’re having,” Nerissa said, eyeing the two of us, “I agree with Tiberius.”
Ti let out a low nicker of approval.
Kiss ass.
His ears tilted back, and he lifted his back leg, threatening a small buck, which I ignored.
Grabbing hold of the bow and nocking an arrow, we moved into a steady gallop.
The muscles between my shoulder blades warmed as I drew back an arrow, holding the force of the bowstring between my fingers and breathing as Evony taught me.
A warmth bloomed in my chest at the thought of her.
I hoped she was alright and somewhere safe in Sultira.
Hoped to the gods that Bear had been reunited with both her and Ezrich.
At the end of my breath, I let the arrow slip from my fingers where it found its mark on a target.
Not exactly where I’d been aiming, but at least I hit it.
My thighs tightened while Tiberius flared his wings wide and kicked off the ground, flapping strong gusts of wind beneath us.
I nocked a second arrow, this time, taking aim from above.
I held firm until I found my target, staying as steady and still as possible as we soared through the air. I released and…
“Are you kidding me?” Nerissa swore as she dove in time to avoid the arrow I’d aimed at the target twenty feet from her.
“I’m sorry!” I cried.
You banked! I accused Ti.
I’m flying! What do you expect? There will be updrafts and other factors I can’t control, he retorted.
Nerissa took cover behind a large boulder and signaled me to continue. We banked, I loosed another arrow, and… Miss.
On it went for the better part of an hour before we finally called it a day.
I opened a sliver of myself to that connection that tethered me to Bayne, allowing a bit of my day to pass through it…
disappointment, laughter, hope, exhaustion.
Just to feel a little of him. I received the faintest of emotions in return…
Longing, concern, love. He was alive, and as far as I could tell, unharmed.
I held on to that thought as I prepared to fulfill my oath to the queen.
It didn’t take long to reach the rocky strip along the northern curve of the Eye of the Wood. Queen Antares had chosen a location with a spectacular view of the lake.
Heavy clouds hung overhead, amplifying the muskiness of the humid summer that approached.
They cast a dark net over the mysterious body of water.
I stepped to the edge of the cliff, risking a glance over the thousand-foot drop.
The lake was bordered by cliffs of varying heights, making it impossible to fish or traverse.
The Awakening would bring a pilgrimage of elves from all over Lotrennia to these shores to celebrate the summer solstice.
Tiberius stalked to the edge of the pine forest that spread to the sea. A soft breeze blew from the north, and the smell of pine and sea mingled in the air for the briefest moment. I inhaled deeply, my heart squeezing at the thought of Bayne.
“I thought you might appreciate seeing the Eye of the Wood before the festivities,” the queen crooned from behind, and I turned to face her.
Queen Antares was dressed in bone-white leggings and a vest. She wore a single, golden chain in place of her usual living crown of vines and flowers.
“The Awakening is a time of magic. A time of bounty and fertility,” she preached.
“It is the one day a year Aelius is high enough in the sky to illuminate the entire surface of the lake. Miracles have been known to happen.” Her eyes narrowed as they ran along the length of the thick scar on my neck.
I waited for her to say whatever it was she wanted to say to me without the ears of the others. That was her condition. We came alone. But I wasn’t unarmed. The Obscura power was quick to respond to my call these days. It took barely a thought before it surged forward, begging to be released.
“I don’t need to tell you,” she said, her voice taking on a charismatic lilt, “that there has been a plague upon these lands since Captain Ravindra abandoned us a century ago.”
Abandoned. Such a deliberate word.
“What did you expect him to do?” I asked, unable to keep the accusation from my voice.
Light brows tilted up as her eyes bore into me. “If he’d been honest about his gift… If his parents hadn’t hidden his powers, I never would have sentenced them. You are not a queen, Lyvia, but you are not stupid. If I’d let the seers continue their propaganda, our people would have suffered.
“Our land has suffered with his absence,” she continued. “He had taken the essence of what is Lotrennia. The light and life of our soil, our land. His return is a blessing.”
Everything she said was true. The land had slowly started to become greener, lusher, since Bayne’s return, though it still wasn’t back to its former glory. Many elves continued to struggle.
I’d seen firsthand how Bayne’s power had evolved after the unexpected twin eclipse, the Sending.
How he could literally give life to the leaves and the trees.
It was more than tree singing… that took hours, days even, and sometimes several mages to influence the growth of saplings.
Bayne could command the essence of the life that was already there.
“I thought we were here to train,” I said, changing the subject.
Her eyes drifted between my own, as if searching for something.
“Indeed,” she said, backing away from the edge of the cliff.
My molars scraped against each other in irritation. I wasn’t here to play games with her. I took one last look at the sprawling lake before a hard hand hit the center of my back, and I was flung into open air.