Chapter 5 – Kian
Chapter Five
KIAN
Alight flares as I walk into my bedroom, causing me to draw a blade.
“Where have you been, Ki?” Alex drawls from where he’s seated in the corner, one leg propped up on the other, a tumbler of golden liquor in hand.
“Gods, Alex. What are you doing sitting here in the dark? You nearly stopped my heart.” I re-sheathe my blade.
A dry chuckle comes out of him. “How else am I supposed to find out what you’ve been up to? You’ve been shutting me out for months.” He eyes me suspiciously. “Nice outfit.”
“This old thing? I was just out for a midnight stroll and didn’t want to be bothered.”
“I wouldn’t believe you if Luna came down and told me herself. What aren’t you telling me?”
I sigh and sink into the chair next to his. Every part of me wants to keep this to myself. Trust doesn’t come easy to me.
“I’m sorry, Alex. I just don’t want you to get mixed up in my shit.” I grab the bottle of liquor off the small table between our chairs and pour a generous portion.
“That, or you expect me to keep covering for you without knowing what’s going on.
It feels like you’re just using me, Ki. You’re hardly around anymore, but I keep hearing stories about us partying together.
” He raises a brow. “What parties are they speaking of? I surely have no clue. Strange, considering I’ve supposedly attended them. ”
I palm my face and lean back in my chair. “I’m sorry. I’m the absolute worst. Can you forgive me?”
“Forgive you for what, exactly? For sneaking around and not telling me about it? Or for using me as your alibi without informing me in advance?”
I throw back the glass, enjoying the burn of the alcohol as it slides down my throat. “Both, Alex. Both.”
It’s clear from his expression that he’s not going to let it go this time, nor can I ignore the hurt in his voice. Alex can be like a dog with a bone when he wants to be; perhaps it’s time to come clean.
He leans forward in his seat, his hazel eyes widening. “What happened to your arm?”
I reach for it and frown, realizing the temporary bandage I threw on has come undone. Fresh blood coats my fingers when I pull them away. Great.
“Ah, nothing to worry about. Just a little consequence of my actions.”
“What in the realms have you gotten yourself into?
I blow out a breath. I guess I’m doing this. “Have you heard rumors of the masked man—the Shadow—running around Elsmont?”
A burst of nervous laughter leaves Alex and he stares up at the ceiling. “Shit, that’s you?”
Gods, I hope telling him wasn’t a mistake. I reach for the bottle, pouring myself another glass.
Alex drags a hand over his face before sitting up and glaring at me. “How could you be so damned reckless? And why in the hells did you wait this long to tell me about it?”
I clench my jaw, my hand squeezing into a fist at my side. “I didn’t dare put your life at risk for my vendetta. You know your life would be forfeit if I ever got caught and you were implicated. You don’t have the privilege of my station to protect you.”
Alex grimaces and picks up his glass again. “You’re not wrong. But what makes you think you’d be safe? You’re only the spare, after all.”
“Don’t remind me. My father has complained of my uselessness plenty of times, but I don’t think he’d ever actually harm me . . . at least I hope he wouldn’t.”
“Your father and all the lords have been losing their minds about the Shadow’s thievery,” Alex says, shaking his head.
I can’t stop my grin. “As they should.” As scary as it is, I have to admit it feels good to let someone in, to share this burden.
“I still can’t believe it.” Alex takes a sip of his drink before setting it on the table and getting up to pace.
“I’ve also heard tales of this ‘Shadow’ doling out punishments to the usually untouchable lords.
Why would you take such a risk, Ki? You’re practically enemy number one in the kingdom of Rakveren. ”
“Something had to change. There are so many people in need, and my father has done nothing to help. He’s happy to just sit on his throne and watch people starve.
The majority of his lords are no better.
I’m only taking the excess he has no need of .
. . and trying to ‘encourage’ the lords to take better care of their people. ”
“What about the innocent people you’ve attacked during these thefts?”
A pang of guilt makes my stomach queasy when I’m once again reminded of Mateo, but I try to brush it off.
“Most of Father’s guards are far from innocent.
As far as everyone else, it’s only ever been a little bump to the head or a minor stab wound .
. . nothing that can’t easily be taken care of by one of the healers. I’ve never meant to kill anyone . . .”
Alex laughs again. “What a vigilante you are.”
“I try,” I say dryly, glad he’s not prying further.
“How can I help?” he asks.
I raise a brow. The absolute last thing I want is to drag him into this. I work alone. It’s safer that way. “Well, technically, you keeping your mouth shut and letting people think I’m with you is a help.”
Alex groans. “That’s not what I mean, Ki.”
I wave a hand at him. “Yeah, yeah, I know, but I’m worried what my father would do to you if he suspected your involvement. I’d never forgive myself if something happened to you.”
“Typical Kian,” Alex mutters, leaning against the wall. “Have to do everything yourself.”
“Alex—”
“Don’t you trust me?” he blurts out.
Of course I trust him . . . but I will not be responsible for his death. “It’s not that simple.”
“It absolutely is. We simply do not get caught.”
“I wish I had your optimism.” I scoff.
“I’ll be optimistic for the both of us then.”
I shake my head. “That’s why I love you, Alex.” And why you’re definitely not coming along.
He grimaces. “Shut up. Don’t get all sentimental on me now.”
I blow him a kiss, and he rolls his eyes before dropping back into his seat and knocking back the remainder of his drink.
“For real though, I’ve missed spending time with you, Ki,” he says sincerely. “You’ve been off vigilante-ing and I’ve had to entertain all the ladies on my own.”
“You poor sod.” I gasp. “However have you survived it?”
He frowns. “I can’t keep up, that’s for sure.”
I laugh at him and finish off my own drink. “I’ll join you one of these nights, I promise.”
“You better,” he insists. “Now, tell me, what else have you been up to?”
My heartbeat quickens at the sudden flash of green eyes that takes up my thoughts, and while my instinct is to stay quiet and keep everything else to myself, I fight against it, trying to let Alex in. “Well, I might have paid Lord Astoria’s home a visit the last two nights.”
“Whatever for?” Alex frowns. “According to rumors, he doesn’t have much worth stealing.”
“True as that may be, my research led me to him.”
“Research on what?” he asks.
“Kyros, the lost sun god.”
“Kyros, the lost sun god?”
“Are you just going to repeat everything I say?” I sigh in exasperation, looking up at the ceiling.
“Apologies, my prince. I may have had too much of your fine liquor while waiting for you in the dark.”
I snort. “Clearly.”
“What kind of research has you looking into the lost sun god?”
I blow out a breath. “The highly treasonous kind.”
“More treasonous than your vigilante-ing?”
“You know that’s not even a word, right?”
He grins. “So what? I like it.”
“You idiot.”
He snickers.
“I’ve been chasing stories of him—of Kyros. Trying to figure out the reason for his unexpected appearance and then disappearance a few decades ago.”
“Sounds like you have a death wish with your vigilante-ing and ‘treasonous’ research.” He snorts. “You know I’m not devout. Luna, Galyna, Veritius . . . they are as good as missing too with how they abandoned our realm centuries ago. We’re on our own here.”
“Fair, but I believe something else is amiss,” I say, rising and walking to my desk.
“If Kyros were merely in Celestia with the other gods, our realm wouldn’t have faced all the famine and lack of sunlight for the past few decades.
He was here, and then he disappeared, sending our realm into chaos that’s only getting worse. ”
“That might be true, but even if you prove the correlation, what do you think you can do about it?” Alex asks.
I flip through some of my notes. Despite all his questions, it feels freeing to have someone to talk about this with.
Maybe he’ll see something I missed. “I have to find him or find out what happened to him. Resources are getting thinner. One wouldn’t know at the palace with our overabundance of stores, but even with the famine, the king steals portions of crops from all the surrounding farms. Despite the lack, he hasn’t lowered the tithe.
He continues to demand his share, even though our people are dying.
If I weren’t ‘vigilante-ing,’ as you put it, my people wouldn’t make it through the coming season. ”
“I respect that, but do you realize how much pressure you’re putting on yourself to solve an entire realm’s problem?”
“It might be our only hope of things going back to normal around here. It’s not like I can travel to Celestia and ask the other gods for help. Surely, Kyros must be somewhere on this plane. If I can find him, maybe he can put things back. I have to at least try.”
Alex arches a brow. “But if Kyros is here, why hasn’t he done anything to help us?”
“That’s a damn good question, and one I am trying to find the answer to. I have the feeling that something is wrong . . . something is preventing him from acting.”
The frown on Alex’s face reeks of skepticism, but I appreciate that he hasn’t completely shut me down like Father has.
“Why Lord Astoria’s house?” he asks.
I grab my notes and retake my seat. “My research led me to some old stories of his connection with Kyros. Apparently, they were rivals. Both in love with the same woman.”
Alex snorts a laugh. “That seems unlikely.”
“That’s what I thought, but I had to know for sure.”
“Did you find anything?”
I grimace. “No, I couldn’t find a thing in his study tonight, and his daughter interrupted me the night before.”
Alex waggles a brow. “Daughter? Which one? Was it the lovely Lady Erika?”
I shake my head.
“Ugh, don’t tell me it was Chessa. Stories of her make me never want to cross her path.”
I snort. “No, not her either. I’m fairly certain it was Lady Raelyn.”
“Ah, the mysterious beauty who never leaves the house?”
“I suppose.”
My mind flashes back to her warm body seated atop mine, and I harden at the thought. Hells. The last thing I need is the distraction of a beautiful woman, as intriguing as I might find her. She’s already broken my heart once; I can’t let her in again.