Chapter 6
Apit of writhing snakes had taken up residence in my stomach when I followed Wista through the bustling campsite the next day.
I had dwelled on the meeting with the king all morning, no closer to a solid plan than I was when I awoke.
Since Wista’s reveal last night, I loathed leaving Eleanor, but Meline would be keeping her company, with Pierce close by, both of whom were incredibly fond of my sister.
I couldn’t blame them; she was easy to love. Her pure outlook on life was a breath of fresh air. Not yet corrupted by horrific trauma and nefarious deeds, she took everything in stride, determined to remain positive and see the best in everyone around her.
She was ten when our parents died. At that age, of course she’d been affected, felt the loss keenly, but Eleanor hadn’t been the one to come across their bodies.
She thought it was a freak accident, and I had done everything to not divulge the sinister truth.
I kept that wonderful experience locked away in the deepest, darkest part of my mind.
The king’s obnoxiously large tent was positioned dead center of camp. Four circular tents the size of the one I stayed in were joined together to make one massive space. Guards flanked the entrance, and even with it pinned open, I couldn’t see within.
“Miss Adelia Masters, here to see King Terym,” Wista said to the guard who’d stepped forward at our approach. He inclined his head and let us pass.
The ridiculously pretentious interior came as no surprise.
A large solid timber table dominated the space—it must have taken twenty men to lift it in—set for two at one end while the other held a variety of maps and scrolls.
A heavy navy curtain portioned off a large section of the area.
Though partially drawn, I could make out the end of a bed.
A cozy sitting chair placed next to an overflowing bookshelf drew me in. The kind of space I could see myself snuggling in with a good book and eventually falling asleep. Everything about the setup was far nicer than our childhood home, and we hadn’t been poor by any means.
“My dear Adelia, thank you for joining me.” The king stood beside a long serving board spread with an assortment of cured meats, a roasted fowl, and a variety of vegetables.
Had my stomach not been twisting in on itself, I would probably stuff my face full of the delicious food. “That will be all, Wistari.”
My palms grew clammy at the king’s dismissal of my only friend. It was foolish to hope she would stay, but I had done it anyway.
She sent me a reassuring smile and offered Terym a small curtsy before turning and exiting the tent, leaving me alone with the king.
“I hope you’re hungry, the cooks went all out today.” His expression was impassive as he waited for my response. I hadn’t said a word since I arrived, nothing good could come from the words I wanted to spew, so I nodded instead.
Terym chuckled lightly and filled two plates from the board. Unsure what to do, I waited off to the side, twisting my hands in my skirts, my body wound tight and ready to flee at a moment’s notice.
“Come. Sit,” he ordered, placing both plates on the table.
I offered a silent prayer to Roburvirtus, the Wielder of Strength, before I joined him at the table, sitting at the edge of my chair.
The perfect gentlemen, Terym poured two glasses of red wine from a dark bottle, only the expensive kind from Mortremon came in such a color.
When he took his seat next to me, he raised his glass in toast, and I hastened to follow.
“To changing the fates.” The king’s eyes sparkled as he took a deep sip of wine.
I hesitated, waiting until he placed his glass back on the table before I gulped half the drink.
The king tucked into his meal, either oblivious to my unease or simply ignoring it.
I followed suit, not tasting the small pieces I picked at.
The excruciating silence dragged, and only when Terym had cleared his plate did he speak. “How do you find the camp? Are your lodgings comfortable?”
Since he was so intent on civility, I played along, offering him the same. “Yes, thank you. Eleanor and I could share, we don’t want to take up too much space.”
“Nonsense,” the king said, waving my words away. I didn’t like the disappointment filling me when he did. Eleanor would be enjoying this independence, and I wanted to snatch it back. “You’re doing a great service to your kingdom, the least I can do is provide you comfort.”
He poured wine again, filling both our glasses, so I took the opportunity to speak. “How are the flowers blooming?” Not the question I intended to ask, but the one to leave my mouth anyway. I had been burning to know since our arrival; with winter on its way, they should have died weeks ago.
“Aahh.” Terym smacked his lips. “That is a very interesting story. Do you wish to hear it?”
At my nod, he continued, rising from his chair as he spoke. “You know our histories? That before the Great Divide, our lands were joined together as one, the Kingdom of Galisordis?”
Though I had learned little of the history before the Great Divide, since my studies ended with my parents’ deaths, everyone knew Torglea and Mortremon were once one kingdom.
Terym didn’t wait for a response, retrieving a book from the overflowing shelf, the pages of the leather-bound tome yellowed with age.
He placed it on the table between us, opening to a page with an intricate depiction of the fields where we camped.
The trees were younger, thinner, and less intimidating, but the flowers were the same, a breathtaking sea of white and blue in exquisite detail.
Terym pointed to the page opposite, filled with an ancient language, one long since lost to time.
“What does it say?” I breathed, unable to stop myself from caressing the fragile page. Everything about it drew me in. A strange connection I had felt the moment we arrived. Whether it was the field, the forest, or the flowers themselves, I couldn’t say.
“Only a few scholars can translate the old texts, but I know the story. It speaks of an ancient king and a battle waged on the very ground beneath our feet.” I didn’t speak, waiting for him to continue. He regarded me with hands steepled under his chin.
“Long ago, before our land was divided into two kingdoms, one family ruled them all. Their power was so great that none could defeat them, even lands across the seas failed to conquer them.” Terym’s blue eyes seemed to twinkle while he spoke, and unease settled in my chest even though I desperately wanted to hear it all.
“They ruled for generations until one young king desired more. In his quest for power, he made a deal with a dark sorcerer to raise a great evil from the deepest depths of the earth. With it, he could travel across the seas and expand his empire.” He paused to turn the page, this one showing the king pointing at a man in flowing red robes, smoke and flame curling around his feet.
“But the king was betrayed by the one closest to him. His own brother turned his people against him, and a great battle raged. The people fought bravely, but they were no match for the evil the king had raised.”
He turned the page again, a familiar field filled with men and women dressed in leather armor fought against beings of shadow and fire. My mouth dried and an intense shiver crawled down my spine. The creatures were terrifying.
Another page turned. Another depiction of the same field, except bodies filled the ground, and a man knelt among them.
“Knowing they were no match against the creatures, the king’s brother begged the Gods to save them, sacrificing himself in the process. To honor his bravery and that of his people, the Gods filled the valley of their final resting place in everlasting flowers, where they still stand to this day.”
A lump settled in my throat at the sheer and utter anguish on the man’s face. He looked to the sky, sunlight shining down on him despite the surrounding haze of death.
I cleared the emotion from my throat before asking, “And the king, what happened to him?”
“The Gods banished him and the creatures he raised back to the depths of the earth. Where they still remain, or so the story goes.” Terym snorted and took another gulp of his wine.
“You don’t believe it, then? The story of the king and his brother?” Terym studied me, the corner of his lips curled in an expression I couldn’t quite identify.
“I believe powerful magic once graced this land, and I believe evidence of that magic is still visible today, these fields included.”
I nodded, deciding not to voice my opinion on the story. My mother had said stories told our histories and we shouldn’t discredit them. I looked at the book again, at the man kneeling among his people praying to the Gods to save them.
My heart ached at his pain, to have someone he trusted betray him so thoroughly he prayed to the Gods to destroy him. I could understand such a betrayal, had experienced it myself, with no chance of resolve and forgiveness out of reach. It was impossible when the person who hurt you was dead.
Empathy for the king’s brother filled me as I stared at the drawing until something about Terym’s words tickled my mind. “Magic is back, isn’t it?” How else would Mortremon curse the Torglea soldiers if not?
The king’s brow furrowed, and his eyes grew cold. “It would seem so.”
“How do I fix it? What do I need to do?” I finally asked the questions I needed answered. I couldn’t be like those five other women. I had to succeed in order to survive.
A man with sparkling armor strode into the tent, interrupting us before I could get the answers I sought.
The fine details of his attire gave away his position as someone important, his gray hair almost the exact shade of the metal across his chest. It was his harsh and calculating gaze when he appraised me that was most unsettling.
He stopped to bow before the table. “My king, there is an urgent matter I must discuss with you.”
“General Lenek, can’t you see I’m busy,” the king bit out, not taking his eyes off me. A flash of something in them held me immobile, my muscles freezing like a rabbit in front of a fox. It disappeared as soon as it appeared, but I didn’t dare move.
“It’s quite important,” the general continued, unperturbed by the anger in Terym’s tone. The king broke eye contact, and I sagged in my chair, adrenaline sending tremors through my limbs.
“Very well, I must cut our meeting short, my dear. Tomorrow, we will journey into the forest.”
My heart seized, but I was too off-kilter from our interaction to ask more. Especially with the general’s eyes boring into me.
“Thank you for the meal, my king,” I said, eager to leave despite not getting what I wanted.
We stood at the same time, and Terym took my hand in his, raised it to his mouth, and brushed his lips against it.
The move should have been endearing, but the glint in his eyes only sent my heart pumping, and not in a good way.
I shuffled on my feet, uncomfortable under his stare.
“The pleasure is entirely mine, Adelia, dear.”
When he released my hand, I gave a small curtsy and hurried from the tent, both men’s eyes like ice-cold droplets on my back the entire way.
I’d barely made it halfway across camp when I ran into Eleanor, almost toppling us over in my hurry to get away.
“Whoa. Lia, are you okay?”
I willed my racing heart to slow as my gaze darted between her concerned hazel eyes and Pierce’s furrowed brow.
“I’m fine.” I brushed my hands down my skirt and forced a smile on my face. “Where are you off to?”
“Pierce is going to show me where the soldiers train.” Her tone was hesitant, and she pursed her lips. “Are you sure you’re okay?”
“Of course!” I waved her concern away, desperate to think of something else. Anything other than the curse I needed to end and the fact I still had no idea how to do it. “Let’s go see some men train. With any luck, they’ll be shirtless.”
Eleanor giggled and tucked her arm in mine, sufficiently distracted. “Let’s pray Ammoraelis is looking down on us today.”
“Gods, I hope not. The Giver of Love can steer clear of me, thanks.” That would be just my luck, the Goddess of Earth had already screwed me once with Ergo. He thought he loved me, but I knew better, his infatuation nothing more than the desire to have what no one else had before.
Eleanor laughed again, patting my hand, and we followed Pierce through the city of tents. “She’ll set her sights on you one day, Lia, and you’ll have no choice but to listen.”