20. Maren
Maren
The Rivean who once killed my husband stumbled and tripped behind Kye’s horse.
We’d tried a prisoner cart first, after Kye had restored Kazimir’s dislocated shoulder with a meaty crack, leaving Sindri to bind his hands with a clever knot of rope that would have made any sailor stare at their boots in shame.
The Rivean refused to allow himself inside the boarded wagon, fighting against us like a mad cat to remain outside its enclosure.
Sindri’s avalanche had buried all the Riveans but him. At the head of his march, the Rivean managed to scale a tree before the snowy tide drank him alive. The Venusians had found him, beaten and growling, halfway under a bed of snow and bent branches.
Now, he trailed Kye’s gelding, eyes like narrow shards of steel glinting through the morning sun. Our troupe rode quietly through the alpine forest, each of us huddled under furs.
I was unsure what to do with Nori. Her outburst toward Kye still rang in my ears. You may seethe into the distance as I stand here reminding you that you are worthless. Your life will run its course, while hers will continue on.
I’d sent her and Olinne back through the Sylus Lake along with most of my Naiad army to meet me in the Juile Sea, hoping that by the time I saw her face again, I’d know how to reprimand her. Something I wished I could also do with Cebrinne and Selena.
The happier they appeared, the more isolated I seemed to become.
My heart felt betrayed by both of them, but the angrier I grew, the more my guilt bled through the walls of my anger.
My own body berated me for it, demanding I forgive them simply because they were my blood.
Watching them set my teeth into a grind I only noticed when my jaw began to ache, so I avoided glancing in their direction altogether.
It seemed years ago that I’d climbed in beside Kye’s corpse to weep only to have Selena send me on an errand to retrieve her sister, a mission she’d kept to herself the entire time I’d known her.
I hadn’t had enough time to consider the depth of that mission—the underlying purpose within every interaction I’d had with her.
Seated on Kolibri’s back with nothing but the trail to stimulate my thoughts, everything she’d ever said returned to me one moment at a time, and though I tried to ignore it, I couldn’t help but latch to each one.
They were wounds carved into my hide, and I was addicted to the sight of my own blood.
It would be prudent for you to treat Nikolaos as though he knew nothing of your contract, she’d said in her office when I’d asked if Kye knew he’d be bound to me forever.
Cordaeing with the prince will bring you one step closer to fulfilling your blood vow, she’d promised when I‘d grown restless at the loss of my freedom.
You didn’t write your contract, Maren. But you did sign it, she’d spat when I’d decided to deviate from her plan and find Sidra.
The worst—the sharpest, needling little razored edge—wasn’t any words at all.
It had been the look in her eyes after Thaan had left.
After he’d forced me to reveal my tail to Kye.
A foreboding sorrow had nestled in the depths of her blue gaze before she’d watched us climb to our tower, knowing Kye’s fate was sealed.
Even then, she hadn’t said a word.
Aegir rode beside Selena and Cebrinne now. He’d sent all of his Naiads but Sindri to follow my Juilean warriors through the mountain stream to the sea, an order that I liked as little as everything else.
I’d wanted to decline when he asked to join me on the return journey to Calder, though after he’d subverted a Rivean attack against my forces, I had little choice but to accept.
“What will we do with him?” I asked softly.
Kye tilted his head at me. “The Rivean?”
Even under his thick pelt, Aegir’s wide shoulders flexed as he leaned to the side to cast a short string of words at Cebrinne. Whatever she replied, she answered easily, almost indifferently, though Selena’s posture grew stonier each moment that passed. My mouth pressed flat. “Yes.”
Kye exhaled, crossing his forearms over his thighs to glance at Kazimir. Then followed the trail of my gaze to the male Naiad ahead. “What would you like to do with him?”
Kazimir? Kill him. Boil him. Tear him limb from limb. Strike his heart with a bolt from the sky and leave him for the worms under Kolibri’s hooves.
But my eyes didn’t leave Aegir as I murmured, “I’m not sure yet.”
White teeth scraped Kye’s lower lip in thought. “Did you meet him in Calder?”
I offered a small nod. “Once before. I was with Selena.”
“She doesn’t like him,” Kye said, more question than statement. When I didn’t immediately answer, he straightened, aiming golden eyes to rest patiently over mine.
“I think,” I said slowly, turning the words over in my head as I combed through them aloud, “it’s more that she believes he doesn’t like her.”
Kye frowned. “Any idea why?”
Kolibri’s coat smoothed between my fingertips as I absently patted her neck. Her tail swished gently against her rump. I clicked my tongue.
Our positive connection with the Venus Videre has faded in recent years, a tangle caught in the rope I did not wind, Thaan had once aimed at Selena. The words rippled from the back of my memory as clearly as if I still stood outside Selena’s door, listening through the wall.
“Something to do with their history.” The realization sank to the bottom of my belly. I’d have to ask Selena if I wanted to understand. I could hardly speak to her, let alone ask her to recount her political history. I folded faintly over myself, a hand braced under my core.
As though he felt our gaze, Aegir turned his head, green eyes finding me across the trail. Kye and I watched as he broke off from Cebrinne and Selena, slowing his mare’s tread to land astride Kolibri. Unwittingly, I stole a glance at Kye.
I’m not going anywhere, he said softly.
Aegir gazed ahead as he asked without preamble, “Who taught you coruscation?” I suppose pride obstructed me from answering rather than clarifying what he meant. The Videre must have known, however, because he cleared his throat. “Star-wielding. Was it Sidra?”
“I taught myself,” I answered.
Aegir snorted softly. “That explains it.” I flashed a rigid glimpse at Kye, who in turn watched Aegir with tight composure, a placid veil masking his thoughts.
Aegir stretched his arms enough to roll his silver byssus silk sleeves away from his wrists, the smoky hue of his skin at odds with the bright luster of the snow that draped around us.
“Your control is lacking. Electricity is not like water. It’s not like calling to the moisture in the atmosphere and letting it gather together. It’s finding the static that’s already there and connecting the dots.”
White marbled the skin across my knuckles. “And I suppose I should ask you to help me strengthen my skill?”
Aegir cocked his head slowly, studying the harsh line of my neck and shoulders. Somewhere behind us, Aren swore and Leal laughed. A muffled crunch as Kazimir lost his footing and staggered to regain balance, a soft growl rumbling through the air.
“I’ve offended you,” Aegir said softly.
“What leads you to believe that?” I asked through fixed teeth. “Was it arriving to our rescue to throw silver shackles over my wrists? Insinuating we are allies simply because you are Venusian and I’m Juilean? Couldn’t possibly be the criticism of my abilities.”
Over the last few hours, I’d hardened into a ball of granite under Selena’s silent stares and Cebrinne’s obvious determination to look at anything but me. But the words left my mouth juicy and sweet, a soothing poultice for my own wounds. I’d always loved the taste of poison.
Aegir’s mouth hovered open. He glanced at Kye, who gave the world’s most subtle head shake and aimed his head skyward to scrutinize the shape of the clouds, though the singular white tuft in the vast canopy overhead offered little to aid the imagination.
I waited for the Venusian to scoff in offense.
Maybe, if I were lucky, he’d call Sindri to him and leave.
Warmth flared under my skin with the hope that he would, tension releasing from my shoulders.
It doubled as he ran a hand through his ropy hair with a breathless chuckle as he muttered a soft wow.
He slowly rocked his head to the side, amusement stretching his mouth wide. “You’re like your mother.”
My thoughts vanished in a whirl of white wind and tight breath. Every retort I might have invented blew out. I’m not sure he meant it as the low blow that it was, though his smile only grew at my vacant expression before it quickly faded.
“Maren,” Aegir tried again, but I clicked my tongue and squeezed my thighs, pushing Kolibri ahead.
The mountainside glittered where snow bathed under the sun.
Damp rock poked through, mist curling softly as it rose and vanished.
The slopes beyond us dipped and spread and shone with blinding intensity, the sky a reverent blue against all the illuminated white.
It did nothing to pacify the incendiary glow in my chest, a box of tinder searching for a flame.
I’d thought Kye might ride ahead with me until I remembered he still dragged Kazimir behind him. My fingers curled tight against Kolibri’s reins. Even imprisoned, the Rivean managed to separate me from Kye.
I warned him not to, Kye suddenly murmured into my mind, but he’s catching up to you.
“Queen Maren,” Aegir called from just over my shoulder. I threw the Naiad a threatening glare. He drove his horse shoulder-to-shoulder alongside Kolibri, then leaned heavily to grasp my reins.
The short hiss of a blade escaping its sheath twenty feet behind us slithered through my ears.
“Let go,” I aimed at Aegir through my teeth.
“I’m not your enemy,” he said calmly, the way a parent might force patience into their voice after repeating a command to their child.
“And I am not your ally,” I shot back. His shoulders fell by a fraction. I ripped my reins from his hand.