Chapter 13 Erik #2
Taking a seat beside her, I gently smeared the healing mixture over the injury. She hissed at the stinging, her hand briefly grabbing my arm before releasing it as if my touch burned her. Her hands clenched into fists in her lap, her pulse quickening beneath my touch.
“What did you do to them?” Ariana asked, her voice barely above a whisper.
I glanced at her face briefly before returning my focus to her arm. “They were put in their place, but they will live.”
She nodded, biting her lip. “Can Kole train me to fight?”
My hands paused at her request, my gaze pinning her as I considered her words. “He has agreed to that?” I asked, a hint of surprise in my voice. If Kole agreed, then I would need to have more than a few words with him about his recent behavior.
“No, I don’t even know if he would want to. . . It was just a thought.” She nearly held her breath at the request.
“Kole will protect you. What happened tonight will not happen again. Plus, you broke one of their noses. It doesn’t seem like you are without defense.” It was impressive for her to break a bone of theirs, no matter how minor of one.
“A lucky elbow to the nose is not defense,” she said with a displeased grumble, then her eyes boldly narrowed on me in a challenge. “What, are you afraid I would learn enough to take your entire kingdom down? Breaking one nose at a time?”
I smiled at that.
Her sarcasm faded, replaced by a genuine plea. “As silly as it may sound, it will help me feel less defenseless. Please.”
I watched her, considering the request. She would still be vulnerable, even with training. A slender Bavadrin woman stood no chance against a Lysian warrior. But there was something about the fire in her eyes, the determination in her voice, that made me want to grant her request.
“Fine,” I relented. “I will allow it. But Kole will not go easy on you. I doubt it will be a pleasant experience for you.”
Her eyes briefly widened as if she had not expected my response. “Thank you,” she murmured.
I focused back on her shoulder and felt her stare tracing the lines of my face.
“What’s with the earring?” She asked after a moment.
“Don’t like it?” I glanced at her.
Green eyes narrowed in open appraisal as she tilted her head. “It… strangely suits you.” Her voice was smoothed even though her cheeks flushed. “You and your brothers all seem to have one.”
“It’s my mother’s doing. Believed the Onyx would give us strength and protection. She had several stones all cleansed and blessed by some strange conjuror before she ever even had children.” I didn’t know why I was sharing any of this with her.
“What happened to her?” Ariana’s voice softened with caution.
“Died in childbirth.”
She did not apologize for the loss as so many might.
Nor did she shy away from the topic. Instead, she simply said, “It’s difficult not having the guidance of a mother.
” Ariana looked at my ear, and the stone there.
“I suppose she still offers guidance and protection, in a way.” Her green eyes met mine again, uncertain only a heartbeat before asking, “Iver?”
I nodded, finished with talking on the matter. She seemed to acknowledge this and lapsed into silence as I worked on her shoulder.
When we were little, Jorn and Iver often got into fights.
During a particularly nasty one, Jorn blamed Iver for our mother’s death.
Not that he believed it to have been our little brother’s fault, but it was away to injure with words.
I then injured Jorn in return with my fists.
No one threw the blame at Iver again, except for himself.
Withdrawing my hands from Ariana’s arm, I wiped them on a rag and set the bowl down.
Hesitation kept me from rising, wanting to stay in her presence a while longer.
It had been several days since I found myself in the same room as her.
Truthfully, I was avoiding her while considering how best to approach her with the tasks required.
“Where have you been?” she asked before I got up to leave. It appeared I wasn’t the only one thinking of how long those few days of absence were.
“There were things I needed to take care of,” I replied vaguely.
She did not need to know how I oversaw the training of my warriors, the plans of how I intended to fatten my forces with her people.
Nor did she need to know about the male I sent to seek out the Oracle, only to have his severed head left for us to find on the edge of that mountain which acted as a border between what’s mine and what’s my cousins.
The disease my father had allowed to fester and take root on that damned mountain.
It was obvious that Ariana did not like my response by the way her brows shifted down and together, her jaw clenched.
“I too have things I need to take care of,” she stated. When I did not respond she continued, “I would like to see my people.”
“That isn’t a good idea.” The words slipped out before I could stop them. In reality, I knew she needed to be reunited with them, otherwise how else would they know she was their new Leader Superior?
“Let me guess,” she said, her tone slightly mocking. “You’ve enclosed them in the main city with no way out or in? The problem is that the city is not prepared for something like that. I expect they will be running out of food soon.”
Of course, I already knew this. The Lysians left behind remained in contact with me and they did a thorough evaluation of her so-called capitol, which was more like a town.
“Why would you share such information?” There was a flash of distrust pulsing within me.
She was openly voicing a valuable weakness of her home.
For the Bavadrin stronghold to have been so easy to destroy was remarkable.
They had planned nothing out in the event of an attack.
Though they likely saw no necessity to prepare for one because of the protection the treaty offered.
Still, even as a precaution, they should have been more equipped.
Instead, they looked to have gotten lazy and careless.
“Because if you don’t know, then they will all die,” she replied evenly, her gaze unwavering. “You will have no additional army to help your cause, and I will have no home. Both of us lose if that were to happen.”
I contemplated her words, knowing that bringing her to her people was necessary.
“There is a ceremony that must take place for you to claim control of the Bavadrins, correct?” I asked to confirm what I already knew.
“Yes.” Her voice softened. “It is one they would need time to organize for.”
“We need at least five days to prepare, but I will take you there,” I said, deciding.
“You?” She looked surprised, and a hint of confusion crossed her features. “But you are the King to your people. Certainly, they would want you to be safe and not at risk?”
My teeth flashed at such a cowardice insinuation. “Lysians do not hide behind their own. The King leads and sets an example for his people. I cannot expect them to risk their lives if I cower behind them.”
She seemed taken aback by my words, but there was a flicker of something that nearly looked like respect in her eyes.
“The Bavadrins typically protect their leader.” Her voice then dropped to a whisper.
“Except I didn’t.” Goosebumps spread over her flesh.
It was clear she harbored some discomfort with her actions against her father and what that meant for her.
“You protected your people and for that, you will be a better leader for them,” I said with certainty.
Ariana showed me a few sides to her, and each portrayed the potential of a far better ruler than the Bavadrin before.
If she was the one in charge when I came to destroy the treaty, then I may have failed to do so.
She could have ruined everything. Or perhaps the treaty would never needed to be broken in the first place.
Maybe she would have listened to me and agreed to help despite my being a Lysian.
I both wished that to be true and false.
If it were true, then I was right to feel kindness towards her, but if it were false, then there was no reason to feel guilty for what I was now doing.
“That is, only if they accept me as their leader.” She frowned in thought.
“You bled when Fraser died, is that not a sign to your kind that you were chosen?”
“How would you even know that?” She stared at me. “The Oracle?” She asked when I did not reply.
“No.” We had journals from before the treaty was enacted. Old documents on the verge of turning to dust, but they had slivers of information regarding our enemies.
She nodded, accepting my refusal to give her more information. “The choosing can still be opposed until the Ascension is finalized. My people need to accept me.”
“They will.” For her sake, they’d better.
I had an idea what my brothers would want to do with her if she ended up not being the Leader Superior.
They certainly wouldn’t wish to return her to her people.
Fearing the possibility that she learned some secrets while living here and then using that knowledge against us.
“And if they do, what sort of leader would I be under the thumb of another?” Ariana challenged, and the conversation turned sour.
“This is the position we find ourselves in.”
“You have the power to change it.”
I stood, collecting the bowl. “I will not change a thing.” The words came out harshly.
Power, for all its allure, is but a mirage—a fleeting illusion that conceals the burden it carries.
I was a King, bound by the chains of my people.
Their lives intertwined with mine, each decision weighed against their survival.
My refusal to unnecessarily endanger those lives narrowed my choices, leaving little room for personal desires.
Even if I wished to release Ariana, I could not gamble my people’s safety on the fragile hope that she might prove an ally.
No ruler who truly cared for their people was ever free.
I left Ariana without another word.