Malin – Meant to Be #2
Jacien smirked, looking far too pleased with himself. “I was wondering when you’d ask. Ly’ra, you are a sharp one.”
“You know my name is Malin.”
He rolled his eyes dramatically. “Obviously, I know your name… Duchess Malin Rauno, though I hear you might prefer Hawkson. Ly’ra is the Elven word for Sunshine. It’s a casual term for someone you aren’t attached to… so don’t let it go to your head.”
“Oh.”
The playful arrogance vanished from his face, leaving him entirely serious. “Ana said I can trust you with this, but you’d better keep it quiet.”
Malin stared at him, her mind racing. “How are you my way home? Are you a portaller? Like the one that sent us here?”
He put his finger to his lips. “Not like them. I can portal farther than Ana, but do not let that get out. It is rare magic, and they will force me into service. You saw that guy behind the desk. Talk about being bored out of my mind. I will not get stuck doing that for the rest of my life. It would be like a prison sentence. Not many know I can.”
“It is not my strongest power, but it is one I keep quiet. Portalling has its rules. I can only go where I have been, I can only bring one other person, and it wipes me out for a few days.”
“I know something about having magic that you do not want to share. You have my word. I will not tell a soul,” she offered.
His laugh was a brief, sharp exhale. “You know my big secret. Are you going to tell me yours?” He looked at her expectantly.
She shook her head. “Not yet. What is your main magic then?”
For the first time since they met, Jacien actually looked sheepish. He shifted his weight, suddenly finding the floor very interesting. “I can control people’s emotions if I touch them.”
“You what?” Malin snapped. Her entire body locked with sudden, defensive anger. The very idea of someone manipulating her mind was horrifying. “Listen to me carefully. If you ever use that power on me, you will deeply regret it.”
He instantly threw both hands in the air, his arrogant persona vanishing. “I swear, if I ever use my magic on you, may my cock never work again.”
Malin stared him down, her expression deadly serious. “If the universe does not make that happen, I will personally ensure it.”
Malin thought about this as they walked, gravel crunching underfoot, the air so cold every breath felt like swallowing a mouthful of needles. “Only a few months ago, I didn’t know any of these magics existed. All of this amazes me,” she said after a while.
Jacien shrugged, making a show of tucking his hands into his pockets. “I can’t imagine not having magic.”
“If I’m going to trust you with my life, I need to know more about you,” she said. “Why did you go to the palace to guard Anariel?”
He kicked a loose stone down the road, considering her question.
“Not much to say. Nar and Khelek are my cousins and are bonded to Ana. I respect them, and they are family. I wanted to help them someway… but she didn’t need me there.
Ana loves to joke that I have the attention span of a snezel bug.
Personally, I think I just have a better appreciation of life and adventure and want to find it. ”
She nodded, stubbornly keeping any warmth out of her voice. “Do you always open up to strangers like this?”
“You’re not a stranger,” he said easily. “You’re Aldrik’s daughter. To an Elf, we’re family.” As if in thought, he paused before continuing. “I might not serve in his army, but Aldrik is family by my cousins’ soul-bond with Ana. That means something to me.”
“I didn’t realize you weren’t in the Army.” The words came out before she could stop them.
He stopped short, turned, and looked her full in the face. “I know it’s likely hard to believe, but I don’t do well with orders, and those uniforms would do nothing for my physique. Aldrik’s a hard ass, but he’s fair and smart. I report to him as an independent operative.”
“Many years ago, he sent me on missions to this area. Our portaller was fleeing this. I was in the group that rescued him from the chains of slavery. I’ve always hated Fellspire,” he said flatly. “It was only for Ana that I was willing to come back.”
Malin didn’t reply. She just kept walking; her eyes fixed on the lights ahead as she silently turned his words over in her head.
Taking the hint from her lingering silence, Jacien dropped the conversation.
He moved a few paces ahead of her to take the lead, his focus shifting entirely back to scanning the perimeter.
The road carved through a shallow valley. Frost clung to her eyelashes, and every so often, a bird called from the bare trees above. The silence between them wasn’t uncomfortable, but he kept looking back at her quizzically.
Then, she watched the playful ease bleed right out of Jacien’s shoulders again as he paused to stare into the dark tree line. The sudden vigilance made the hair on the back of her neck stand on end.
Shadows detached themselves from the frosted boulders lining the shallow valley.
Two figures dressed in stark white and crimson robes blocked the road ahead, their deep cowls completely obscuring their faces.
They carried no visible blades, but the air around them vibrated with a suffocating, heavy pressure that made her skin crawl.
Jacien reacted in a heartbeat, his sword clearing its scabbard with a crisp hiss as he threw himself into a defensive stance directly in front of her.
The relaxed, arrogant mercenary vanished completely, replaced by a cold, lethal protector.
She took the moment to step back with one foot into a ready stance and cocked her fists.
Neither robe-clad figure moved toward a weapon.
Instead, the larger of the two lunged forward with blinding speed, hands outstretched not to strike, but to secure a firm hold on Malin's shoulders.
The second attacker intercepted Jacien, swinging a heavy, iron-weighted staff that seemed to materialize within his hands to keep the Elf at bay.
Malin sidestepped the grasping hands, her combat instincts taking the wheel before her panic could paralyze her.
White-hot fire exploded from her palms, splashing across the chest of her assailant.
The crimson robes scorched instantly, and the man grunted in pain, stumbling back as the smell of burnt fabric filled the cold air.
He did not counterattack with lethal force, his movements strangely restrained as he reached for her wrists again, clearly trying to capture rather than kill.
“His Divine Righteousness has ordered your safe return to him,” he said, his deep voice carrying an eerie, absolute certainty.
“Return?” Malin said, her eyes flashing with defiance as she dodged another clumsy grasp. “Your Divine Righteousness will not be getting me.”
The staff swung in a brutal arc on the other side of the road.
Jacien parried the first strike, but the sheer momentum of the heavy iron drove right through his guard, catching him hard across the ribs.
A sickening crunch echoed through the valley.
The Elf gasped, his posture buckling as dark blood began to stain his tunic.
Despite the injury, his silver blade flashed in a tight, desperate circle, slicing deep into his opponent's thigh.
Fury erupted in Malin's chest at the sound of Jacien's broken ribs.
Dropping low beneath another non-lethal grab from her own assailant, she drove her dagger straight into the soft flesh just above the man's knee, twisting the steel with clinical precision.
The disciple shrieked, the sound raw and painfully human, before collapsing into the frosted weeds.
Blood pooled in the snow from both wounded attackers.
Seeing their mission compromised, the robed figures did not press the assault.
The one striking Jacien grabbed his limping comrade, and with a coordinated, frantic surge, they dissolved back into the thick shadows of the pine trees, their bleeding trails staining the white landscape.
A heavy silence fell over the road, broken only by Jacien's ragged, wet wheezing. He collapsed onto one knee, his silver sword dropping into the dirt as his hand clutched his fractured side.
Malin ran to his side, dropping her daggers to press her palms flat against his torn tunic.
Golden healing light immediately poured from her hands, illuminating the gray dawn as the broken bones knit back together beneath her fingertips.
The siphon magic inside her chest gave a frantic, hungry twitch at the proximity of his life force, but she ruthlessly caged it, forcing her energy outward until Jacien's breathing finally smoothed into a clear, painless sigh.
“So, I see you have flames and healing,” he said, pushing himself up to sit against a frosted boulder as he studied her with a piercing intensity. “Those aren’t reasons to be cautious. What other magic are you hiding?”
Anariel’s trust in this rogue and his behavior during the ambush were solid reasons to keep her from fabricating a lie. Weighing the risks of his reaction to her taboo magic, she considered how he would react to the news. He had shared his secret.
“I can levitate,” she murmured, turning her face away from his searching gaze as the real truth struck in her throat. Her voice dropped to a barely audible whisper in the quiet valley. “And… I…I’m a siphon.”
Silence greeted her admission, heavy and loaded, but Jacien did not shrink away in horror. With a solemn, processing nod, he hauled himself back to his feet. “You’re not going to use that on me… are you?” he teased, throwing her own warning right back at her.
They quietly continued their trek down the rock-strewn road toward the glowing horizon.
After a while, the Elf moved back to her side, his usual cocky swagger noticeably absent as he looked out over the valley. “You’re not what I expected,” he repeated softly.
“What did you expect?” Malin asked.