Chapter 15 Erik
ERIK
The sword glinted as it scraped against the whetstone, the edge perfecting with every pass.
There was something therapeutic about the sharpening of a blade, the rhythmic movements of the act.
The repetition brought forth comfort. It relaxed me, as if the sharper the edge, the smoother it cut through the grime of life, leaving behind a peaceful purity.
Fire from the hearth provided both light and warmth for the small room while I worked on the blade.
I always sharpened my own swords ever since my father taught me how.
As a King, the responsibility of keeping my weapons pristine didn’t need to fall to me.
Though I never asked anyone else to do the work.
Not that I did not trust others to do the task—I trusted them to do their best—but I just knew I could do better myself. So, I always did.
“You actually ever use any of your blades?” Iver asked from the open door while he leaned against the frame. Edmond peered into the room from beside him.
“I admit it is not terribly often that I resort to using them. But better to have them ready in case the need ever arises,” I answered without breaking stride.
Edmond turned to Iver as if waiting for his next words. That act alone gave away that my brothers conspired to come to me. Meaning that they were also not going to be easy to get rid of.
“You are teaching your Bavadrin to fight?” Iver’s gray eyes narrowed, rimmed with curiosity. And there it was, the true reason they found me.
“She is not my Bavadrin,” I grumbled.
“Of course she is. You control who interacts with her and keep us at bay.” He smirked.
Edmond ran a hand through his golden hair. “You know, Erik, he has a point.”
“I always have a point, brother,” Iver stated casually.
Jorn grunted in disagreement from somewhere in the hall, earning a searing glance from Iver. The three of them funneled into the room without invitation. Iver took a position in front of the hearth, casting a long shadow, making it nearly impossible to continue my work effectively.
“You mind? I am in the middle of something here.” I turned to view all three of them.
“Please, continue. It won’t bother us.” Iver remained standing in front of the fire, placing his hands in his pockets.
With a slow exhale, I laid the blade down on the table before me. All hope of continuing vanished, along with my peaceful serenity. “What is it you three want?”
“I want to better know our guest.” Iver spoke first.
“No.”
“We want to know what you are doing with the girl. Why is she learning to fight?” Edmond asked as if concerned.
“She asked to,” I answered with a sigh. A Bavadrin woman could not hope to physically take us. His worry wasted energy and time.
“And you allowed for it?” Jorn placed his hands on his hips.
“Clearly.”
“Why?” Jorn and Edmond asked nearly in unison.
“A few reasons. One, she asked, and I saw it as a way to please her by easily giving her something she wished for. Second, for her to feel like we may have something to offer her people if we worked together. We have strength. Third, to solidify her understanding that she nor any Bavadrin can ever stand against us. Never will she or they physically beat us.”
“What if she learns something that can be used against us?” Jorn frowned.
“C’mon.” Iver laughed sharply. “You are afraid of that little girl?”
“She is a Bavadrin—who knows the depths of her scheming ways,” Jorn snapped.
Edmond continued our brother’s line of thought.
“There is a reason the great war lasted so long between us all. We currently have control because Bavadrins had no clue we were coming and so we took them by surprise. Now we have their chosen leader, which helps maintain control. But what if she learns something she shouldn’t?
What if she brings that information back and the tides turn?
Bavadrins were told of having gifts that differ from ours.
That they can burrow into minds, though the truth of those tales is uncertain.
We need to use them as warm bodies to fight against the Sidhe, but we also need to not allow them to regroup and stand against us. ”
Jorn nodded fervently. “They ultimately should not be trusted. Deceit is in their blood. They—”
“And hotheaded anger and destruction is in ours,” I interrupted. “The stories we tell of the Bavadrins and the ones they tell of us have slivers of truth, but they are vastly oversimplified. She is not wicked, and neither are we.”
“What if she is a conjuror?” Edmond asks.
“She has shown no sign of gifts.”
Edmond shook his head. “Would you even know what to look for? It is written that Bavadrin gifts do not always fall into the realm of elemental control like ours. If only you had let the two-” He silenced himself when my eyes widened with sudden realization.
“Tell me that you did not send those two youths to lay their hands on her the other night.” I barely managed to keep my tone neutral.
Iver’s head swiveled to Edmond. “How devious.”
Edmond paid Iver no mind, instead keeping his eyes locked on mine. “Fear and threat of death is often useful in flushing out such things. And it would have never even come from you. She wouldn’t have been the wiser for it.”
My jaw clenched. “I said to stay away.”
Edmond did not back down. “And I have. We all have. But she is a potential threat. If she is more than just a Bavadrin woman then we need to contain her and not allow her free reign.”
“I will not tell you again,” I said slowly. “Keep away from her.” My claws lengthened on their own accord.
Edmond’s gaze dropped to my hands before he dipped his head. “I apologize for overstepping.”
Iver chuckled under breath.
There was a knock at the door, and Kole stuck his head in. “Your Highness, may I have a word when you have a moment?”
Iver smirked, enjoying Kole addressing me so formally and unbothered by the tension trapped within the room. “And where is your delicious little friend?”
Kole ignored him. “When you have a moment,” he said to me once more and began backing out of the room.
“Kole, now is as good a time as any.” I was fairly certain that I knew what he wished to discuss. It seemed everyone wanted to debate our guest’s activities. My claws retracted.
Kole glanced at my brothers before entering.
“Well.” I moved my hand through the air invitingly.
My peaceful evening had come to an abrupt end and there was no point in dragging out the torment.
Kole and my brothers wished to discuss Ariana and so we would.
Of course, there was a chance that Kole wanted to speak of something else, but I would bet otherwise.
“You are letting Eislyn teach Ariana to fight,” he stated, thinking carefully about his next words.
“Your issue is Eislyn. However, she is a splendid teacher and a skilled fighter.” Iver spoke before Kole completed his thought. “From what I recall, she could have you lying on your back with hardly any effort.”
Kole clenched his hand into a fist, though he did not rise to Iver’s comment.
“Eislyn is . . . untamed.” Kole’s eyes were icy cold as they focused only on me. The strain of not responding to Iver’s methodical jabs was clear in the thinning of his lips.
“Just because you could not control her does not mean she is untamed.” Iver’s tone remained casual as he continued to prod with his words.
Kole gritted his teeth. “Do not push me, Iver.”
“Why? You going to push me back?”
“Ariana will be fine spending time with Eislyn,” I said before they could escalate things any further.
Iver made his remarks partially because he was a fool who enjoyed playing with fire, using his words as sparks to set the world ablaze, only to then run away and watch the destruction he created from a safe distance.
He also pressed Kole on this particular matter as a misguided attempt at helping him.
Iver saw the history between Kole and Eislyn as something that Kole needed to get over.
So Iver pushed him, crawling under his skin and driving him mad in an effort to numb him to the pain.
“She took her to a dining hall.” Kole informed me of something I already knew.
“I told Eislyn she could take Ariana wherever she believed was safe to do so.”
Edmond frowned. “You are letting others get to know the Bavadrin yet keep her away from us. Why?”
I shot him a glare. “We want her to see us as friends. That is more likely to happen if she spent time with those who did not look forward to killing her.”
“I do not look forward to such a thing.” Edmond’s eyes grew larger as if he took offense. As if he had not set forth a plan to have her attacked in the middle of the night. He had no qualms about taking a Bavadrin life.
“You have a reason to want her dead if she does not comply. And though you are typically the most patient of all of us, you are not on this matter. You simply lack the tolerance to pretend otherwise,” I pointed out.
“I hope that you all will have your chance to better know her in the future. However, at present she needs to be protected and shown that we are not vicious. She needs to want to help us. That is the only way this is going to work.”
“What if we promise to be on our best behavior for just a short time? Dinner perhaps?” Jorn suggested. “We are curious. It is not every day we have a Bavadrin living amongst us.”
“It is unreasonable to have us as confidants and advisers to you when we are some of the least informed Lysians here when it comes to our guest,” Edmond added. They were going to continue to press on this matter, and my brother’s point held validity.
I learned long ago that when it came to my brothers, especially when they teamed up against me like this, it was best to wisely choose my battles. If they indeed behaved themselves, then one dinner was unlikely to drastically change anything.
“Fine. Once we return from our trip to the Bavadrin city, we will all have dinner together.” My attention drifted to Kole. “I know it’s difficult for you to have to interact with Eislyn and for that, I am sorry. But I believe she will do well with Ariana.”
“As you wish,” Kole replied, void of any emotion. His response came automatically, a subordinate following his King’s commands. With a brief bow of his head, Kole turned and walked from the room.
My brothers also scattered, pleased to have gotten the outcome they wished for.
Finally, I was left to myself once more, yet I could not bring myself to pick up the blade again. So instead, I leaned back, staring at the hearth and the flames.