Chapter 25 Kaden
KADEN
“You have to be careful, Kaden,” Zasyn said, casting a disappointed look my way. A small bowl sat at her side, and she cupped Isaiah’s small face in her hand, forcing him to look up at her. He winced as she cleaned the gash that sliced through his eyebrow toward his eye.
I kicked my legs and twisted my hands together. We had left early this morning, heading for Forest Creek. No one, celestial or otherwise, went out there, and it was the perfect place for when our skin would itch. That deep tickle that started when we hadn’t changed forms in a while.
We had made it to the forest’s edge before we’d changed into beasts made of fangs and fur and four legs.
Then we ran and ran and ran. We didn’t realize how late it had gotten, not until the sun began to set.
Isaiah thought it was me when we heard a deep growl from the shadows, but it wasn’t. Terrified, we had raced toward home.
“Our skin was itchy, and we just wanted to go somewhere fun,” I said. “Mera said Forest Creek was fine. We cannot stretch our legs here, and I just wanted to have fun.”
A look passed over Zasyn’s face, those soft features hardening for a second before settling.
She kissed Isaiah’s cheek and set him on his feet, watching after him as he ran across the room.
The love I was accustomed to seeing was back in her eyes when she leaned forward and gently cradled my cheek.
“Forest Creek is too far from home, okay? We’ll find you another place to play. ”
I nodded, still at war with myself that I’d let my brother get hurt.
“Don’t be sad,” Zasyn said, lifting my chin. She tipped her head toward the bathroom where Isaiah had gone. “Good or bad, he will follow you anywhere. You have to be more careful, for him, if not for yourself.”
The rest of the day went on as usual. It wasn’t until that night, as I lay across from a snoring Isaiah, a small bandage on his brow, that I heard the yelling.
I scooted out of bed and snuck down the hall.
A small creature that even the guards overlooked.
Up and up I raced, kneeling in front of the small intricate vent near the floor.
From here, I often watched my father as he held important meetings and made plans.
Boots crossed in front of me, and then I saw Father sit at his massive desk.
“She’s a rebellious teenager, but nothing more,” Unir said.
“Rebellious means sending our boys to a restricted area to play?” Zasyn asked. Her arms folded as she glared at him.
“Boys?”
The silence between them was heavy, and I didn’t understand it.
“Yes, boys. They are children.”
“No, they aren’t,” Unir said, his voice echoing with power that made my stomach churn. “Not really.”
I didn’t see what happened, but there was a sound as if something was slapped against the large table in his study. “How dare you say that, let alone think it?”
The pressure in the room shifted as if my father realized his mistake and who he was speaking to.
That Zasyn was a celestial meant nothing when it came to power.
She had taken an entire army down, nearly by herself, with a bow made of silver and arrows sharper than any sword.
Her house had offered her the role of queen even without a lineage because she was their greatest strength, but she turned it all down for the man who spoke to her now, for us.
“Adelphia,” Unir said.
“Don’t call me that! You only call me that when you’re trying to win an argument.”
“There is no argument. Perhaps my training with her and not them has made her more agitated, but I don’t believe she sent them there with any ill will.”
Silence fell between them again.
“She was made differently than them, Unir,” Zasyn finally said. “Your intentions for her differed from what they were with them.”
My eyes opened, and I straightened my neck, surprised to still find myself in the chair I had sat in to read.
I had not even realized I’d fallen asleep.
I hadn’t wanted or needed it for weeks, but perhaps my body finally understood I was not in any danger and relaxed.
It was a fool’s mistake, given the midnight bird that watched me from the open balcony door.
The long, thin, flowing curtains twisted from side to side, making the little beast appear then disappear.
“Dreams, they say, are windows to the soul,” Death said, his beak not moving. “You seek what you missed behind closed eyes, or perhaps things you have yet to see.”
“Oh, I see all right,” I said, closing the book with a snap. “Trust me. I know my father. Singing our praises to our faces and then cursing our very existence behind closed doors. As if we had any choice in the matter of our creation.”
“Look deeper,” Death whispered.
The sound of heavy boots came from the hall a second before my door opened, and Isaiah strolled in. He wore his usual armor and looked back to his usual self.
“I found her!” he exclaimed as I stood.
I glanced at him and walked to one of the small bookcases flanking the fireplace. “Congratulations?”
Isaiah scoffed and plopped into a chair, stretching his long legs out in front of himself. “She sold her to Milani.”
“Ah, yes. The celestial. Have you been looking for her this whole time?” I said with a shake of my head.
Isaiah glanced at me, and I knew that look. He was embarrassed to admit it, but we both knew it was the truth. “Yes,” he finally said.
“Is that why she has you expanding and training up her legions? To find her?”
He scowled at me. “You’re in a mood.”
I shrugged, my eyes constantly pulled toward the balcony behind him. No midnight bird, only the sun beginning to rise.
“I’m tired.”
Isaiah nodded. “Feeling better since your return?”
I shrugged. “Sure.” He stared at me for far too long. The last thing I wanted was for Isaiah to worry over me. “I’m fine, I promise. Just slept too long.”
“Well,” Isaiah hopped to his feet, “get dressed. We both have legions to attend to, and the reprieve she gave you is over.”
I nodded and forced a smile before walking toward my closet.
“What about his kingdom?” Isaiah said, and I stopped. “When will we tell her where they stay? She’s already asked me, Brother. I’ve kept my mouth shut because I know you still harbor feelings for Dianna, but I think she knows I am keeping something from her.”
I blinked and looked out past the balcony off my room, my hands flexing at my sides. A bird made of midnight perched in one of the towering trees, staring back at me. Something was amiss, an unease I’d felt since my return. A part of me knew I should tell her. Another part of me screamed defiance.
Death watched me, and I studied him. Finally, I turned back toward my brother.
“Not yet,” I said. “Just … not yet.”
Isaiah nodded, but said nothing as he left my room, closing the door softly behind him.
I knew he would say nothing more about it until I did.
His loyalty to me was far greater than to our sister.
My only question was why Death wished for me to keep my mouth shut.
Was it because Nismera would not only find Samkiel’s kingdom and decimate it, but also Dianna?
No matter what I had lost to Oblivion, that part of me remained intact.
I still loved Dianna.
THE DAYS BLED together, yelling at soldiers, training soldiers, sitting to eat, spewing shit about what we liked and disliked.
When I retired for the night, I dreamed every night of my past, and then there was that fucking bird staring at me, haunting me.
Death switched from Dianna’s face to showing me the victims of my past. Cold dead eyes on every man or woman I’d slain, finding me in every room, every courtyard, every fucking day and night, all of them constantly whispering, telling me to look deeper. I was losing my godsdamned mind.
“And what of Oblivion, my king?” one of her Order members asked. “Perhaps you should continue to use that to our advantage.”
My body tensed at that word. The world flashed, and I saw Samkiel standing with us on that lost world, looking more like a demon than any god had a right to.
He’d gripped that blade so easily, purple flashing sickly within the swirling darkness.
When he’d moved, he’d been so fast, there one second and the next …
nothing. He was a false idol in silver armor.
A beacon of hope and peace, yet the power he wielded could unravel worlds if he so wished.
I was a fool not to see it sooner, an arrogant fool.
I knew Nismera’s power, but did not fear her like I did him.
I curled my nails into the arms of the regal chair we sat in, trying to steady my nerves.
I unclenched my fingers, flexing my hands, hoping no one here had noticed.
Concentrating, I took one deep breath and then another, battling the images threatening to send my mind into a terrified rage.
I was here, not there. There was no darkness, no empty howling nothingness.
Another breath, and I caught Isaiah watching me.
I forced my hands to my lap and tossed him the most reassuring look I could manage.
His pierced brow lifted, but he returned his attention to Nismera.
Nismera shook her head. “Unfortunately, it only worked once. The ring crumbled beneath its own power. I plan to send more gold to Milani to supplement the armada. We will continue to finalize our next stage and prepare more weaponry.”
Another councilman nodded. “Arrange that, yes.”
“Of course, my king.”
On it went, with discussions and debates centering around battle plans, possible traps, and strategies. It seemed endless, and when I heard the cry of that fucking bird, I snapped. My chair scraped across the floor as I practically flung myself away from the table and headed for the door.
“I’m sorry,” Nismera said. “Do you have somewhere more important to be?”