Chapter 40
Chapter
Forty
Within a few days, we had packed our rucksacks and designed a strategic plan of what we would say to King Franlow in our best efforts to get him on our side. We would need to scare him enough to convince him that he needed our knowledge, and Sebastian seemed fully confident that it could be done.
Archer put on his best father impression in an attempt to talk us out of making the journey, though he quickly realized that he stood no chance in convincing us, so he didn’t bother putting up too much of a fight.
To my surprise, however, he did offer to come along.
He had been essentially a recluse since the whole Venay situation, so the proposition quite literally made my jaw drop.
We assured him that he was better off here where he could keep close tabs on the kingdom, also so Delani wouldn’t be left alone. Her lack of magic and inability to even hold a sword made her much too fragile to bring along.
Early that morning, we set off south, though the day nearly finished before we made a dent in crossing the stretch of land that separated Lumosia from Mealioria.
Aside from the summer months, early autumn was my favorite time of the year. The air smelt crisp and the sound of leaves crunching under our horses hooves as we trotted through a forest of yellowing trees added an ambiance to the ride that I didn’t know I needed.
“You know, we're going to need to offer Franlow something in return,” Kade pointed out from the back of his black stallion.
As much as we had solidified our plan, there was always room for improvement.
On top of our golden mare, Honey, I adjusted myself behind Sebastian, nuzzling in closer to his back. “Like what?”
“Sex usually does the trick for creepy old men,” Sawyer supplied, the sarcasm of his idea taking charge of his tone.
“He’s not that creepy,” Sebastian countered, “or old.”
“Are you offering to do the honors, Sinclair?” Kade retorted, pulling the reins of his horse and directing us down a narrow pathway on our left.
Kade had shown me a map of the land before we left, which I had tucked in my back pocket, just in case.
If I remembered correctly, soon we would break through a clearing and escape the prison of dying greenery.
The forest would be replaced by a valley, outlined with vast mountain ranges that we would follow the rest of the way.
“I’m abstaining during this trip. Sorry,” Sawyer declined absentmindedly, then led his horse after Kade.
“You mean you aren't going to catch up with Mateo while you're here?” Kohen questioned him, Pia giggling from where she sat behind him.
“No way.”
“Why not? I thought he was the best fuck you ever had.” Kohen put air quotes around the tail end of his sentence.
“He was. Until he decided that the best fuck he’d ever had was not me.” Sawyer shrugged.
Kohen snickered. “What about Stella?”
“Nah. Not interested anymore,” Sawyer answered monotonously.
“Got your eyes on someone else, Sinclair?” Kade roughly taunted.
“You’re pretty attractive Lyrise. Too bad your personality’s shot, but you have a sister, right?”
Kade’s eyes dipped. “Unless you're into necrophilia, hooking up with my sister is off the table.”
“Oh, Kade.” Pia clutched a hand over her heart. “I’m so sorry.”
“Thanks. She had been sick for a while. It was for the best when she finally passed.”
“Damn. I’m sorry man,” Sawyer consoled before returning to his regularly scheduled sarcasm. “You got a brother?”
While Kade offered Sawyer some rather vulgar words and gestures, I whispered to Sebastian. “Who’s Stella?”
Turning his head, he answered with a low-toned explanation, “King Franlow had a handful of his soldiers study at Caelestis Academy during our years there. Stella was Sawyer’s regular companion, I guess you could say.”
My eyes widened. “How was that not considered treason?” Caelestis had held some of the continent's most strict laws, treason being top on the list of importance.
“They had some sort of truce. The students got special privileges. I dunno exactly. Never questioned it too much. My father always had some stupid reason for his ways of thinking.”
“Was it only treason in regard to Draemor then?” I asked, wondering if I had missed some very important information somewhere during my upbringing.
“Franlow allowed Caelestians into his borders at will, despite my father not allowing them to leave the bounds of his kingdom.
If my father liked you though, he allowed special privileges to travel into Mealioria, hence why Sawyer, Kohen, and I have been there before.
He was beginning to open up to the idea of doing the same for others, so I suppose you could call it a test run of a truce between the kingdoms. That's all I know on the matter, though. This is more of a question for Aldous senior,” he quipped, reminding me of my choice of name for him a few days back.
Pia audibly yawned as she lifted her head off of Kohen’s shoulder, drawing my attention to her.
“What do we have to offer besides Maeve's power which we're trying to keep hidden?” she inquired.
Sebastian and I had debated keeping the information we discovered regarding my markings between the two of us, but my friends were risking their lives for me, and it felt wrong to keep them in the dark.
I wouldn’t do to them what I hated being done to me.
When we had filled them in on our discovery, every one of them found themselves in utter disbelief, and Kade took a lot of convincing to get on board.
“Guess that brings us back to sex. Lyrise, maybe you can give him a little mouth action.” Sawyer made a gesture involving his clenched fist and tongue.
“Sinclair, you better shut your godsdamn mouth before I push you off of Luna,” Kade snapped, the white mare Sawyer rode whining in response to her name.
“We have nothing to offer except for valuable information that could very well save his kingdom. That should be more than enough, but even so, Franlow may make a request. All we can do is wait and see what happens during our meeting,” Sebastian finalized, shutting the other two right up.
“I wonder if any survivors from Caelestis came to King Franlow's aid,” I whispered to only him.
“Maybe. If you were to rank Franlow, Beaumont, and my father by who was the most generous, it would hands down be Franlow.”
A glimmer of hope sparked in me.
The warmth of Sebastian's body and the slickness of his leather jacket against my cheek convinced me to take a brief rest. By the time I roused, we had broken through the forest and were deep in a meadow of white and yellow flowers, the last of summer’s petals before the first frost came.
About an hour in, the mountains came into range, the view forcing my lips to fall away from each other. The setting sun peeked out from behind the highest peak, illuminating the entirety of the range with an alluring orange hue.
“Wow,” I whispered, unable to break my gaze from the spectacle. Birds flew in and out of fluffy clouds that hid the leftmost side of the mountains, and trees of all sizes coated the entire landscape.
“First time seeing mountains?” Sebastian asked.
I nodded. Caelestis had them, but I never had an opportunity to venture far enough to see the glorious peaks in person. “Yes, and not going to lie, this view almost makes up for the lack of ocean in Lumosia.”
“I can’t believe you just said that.”
“I said almost,” I clarified.
“Still.”
“How much of the continent have you seen?” I asked him, tightening my grip around his waist as Honey picked up her speed.
“A lot,” he scoffed. “Most of it I would say, aside from the uppermost northeast.”
“You’ve seen the deserts down south? I've always wondered what they are like.”
He nodded while pulling the reins back, slowing our pace. “Briefly. They’re brutally hot; the closer you get to the southernmost part of Mealioria, the more likely you are to melt into a puddle of flesh.”
“Ew.” My nose scrunched. “So the river we crossed when going to Draemor, the River of Reisneim, that flows into Mealioria, too? Right?”
“Only slightly, but yes. A good portion of it is spread across the unclaimed land,” he supplied.
“What was that beach called? The one you brought me to last year?”
Sebastian glanced over his shoulder with an entertained smirk. “If I had known you were going to quiz me on my geography knowledge, then I would have studied before we left.”
A small giggle escaped me, a sound I hadn’t heard much from myself lately.
His smirk turned into a full blown smile. “That beach is such a small strip of shore that it was never named, so I took the honors upon myself.”
“When you were a child?” I remembered the story he told me about how he had run off to that beach once when he was young.
“No, actually. I named it after I brought you there.”
My heart fluttered in my chest. “What’s it called?”
Switching the reins to one hand, he reached the other behind him, settling it on my thigh. “Stubborn shore.”
I smacked his hand with my own. “Ha-ha, very funny.”
A gravelly, sexy chuckle filled my ears. “I named it, Someday Shore.”
My head cocked. “Someday Shore?”
“Remember last year, we were in the archives? It was right after you found the prophecy and you told me, someday, we’ll live again.” He returned both hands to steering the reins as we increased our speed in line with the others ahead of us. “That beach is our someday.”
I swear, every inch of my skin blushed. I nestled my cheek in his back, running my hands up to his chest. “Seb—”
“Shh. Let me finish.” He took one of my hands in his, pressing his lips to it with a soft kiss.
“Before you, every day felt like my own personal purgatory.
I was so…lost, in every aspect of my life.
Then, the gods gave me you, and I haven't been the same since, nor would I ever want to go back to how I was.”
A tear fell from my eye, sliding down the smooth material of his jacket.