Chapter 17
ERIK
Ariana walked nervously between me and her elderly friend, Edda.
The old-timer was peculiar. A boldness encased her in an impenetrable shield.
It was clear that she had a hand in raising Ariana, for the girl harbored a similar stubborn confidence.
However, Ariana’s held cracks; her shell could weaken when applying the correct type of pressure.
I could push her out of her comfort, forcing her heart to pick up its pace as it now did.
Edda’s attention swung to me. “Tell me, Lysian, when do you intend to bring Ariana back for the ceremony?” There was something I appreciated about her forward questions.
Frustration radiated from Ariana and had to suppress a smile at her discomfort. She clearly hated that Edda continued to address me.
“When would it be best for the Bavadrins?” I asked.
“The sooner the better. We would only need a few days to prepare.” A darkness flickered in her eyes, almost as if a dare of some kind. I did not yet know what to make of it.
“We could return twelve days from now,” I said, needing time to oversee a few things before coming back.
“Good, and then afterward, do you intend to leave her here or take her back with you?” she probed.
“That’s none of your concern.” Kole stepped up beside me, answering Edda with a stern voice, which she appeared unfazed by.
Edda’s tone dropped so that no one around except for us could hear her.
“If you wish for her to be your puppet while keeping her under your watchful eye, then you will need to bring her here at normal intervals.” Ariana grabbed Edda’s hand, trying to hush her, but the old bag continued to speak.
“She has no bond to the Bavadrins as their Leader Superior. Ariana will need to build those. Otherwise, there will be unrest amongst the people. They won’t want to follow a figurehead they do not know. ”
“Given your customs, once she is Leader Superior, what choice will your people have but to follow her?” I asked.
Edda snorted a low laugh. “Was Fraser not handed to you, despite our customs?”
Ariana tensed, her steps turning ridged. “Edda,” she warned, glancing around as if to make sure no one else could have heard.
“If she returns every twelve days, for the time being, staying for a couple of days at a time after we complete her Ascension, will that suffice your people?” I asked the old-timer.
Edda’s gaze, filled with unreachable shadows, looked me over.
It was void of any warmth. The daring edge of the darkness that seemed to surround her reminded me of the warnings about the Bavadrin race.
She nodded in agreement before finally turning her attention back to Ariana, who scolded her for her behavior.
They had a strange relationship.
“That’s going to be a lot of traveling,” Kole said under his breath.
I nodded absentmindedly. “If that is what’s needed to gain easy control of the Bavadrin forces, then that is what we will do.”
“Your brothers won’t like this,” he mumbled before turning his attention towards two quickly approaching Bavadrin guards. Kole advanced, placing himself between us and the strangers, baring his teeth in warning.
“Wait.” Ariana reached for Kole’s arm. She was lucky he didn’t react aggressively to her touch. Typically, when Lysians were on edge and alert to potential threats, they functioned on instinct. Harmless distractions could easily lead to amplified hostile responses.
Kole only looked at her hand before meeting her eyes.
“Please, they are my friends.” Her green gaze then turned to me. “I would like to greet them.”
I only had to nod once, and she was running towards them, throwing her arms around their necks.
It was not the first time I had seen either of them.
Each of the men at some point worked as guards in the dungeons, both allowing Ariana to have access to me.
One of them, Landin, would have been burned out of existence were it not for Ariana giving up her father to save him.
And the other left me with scars on my back.
As Landin wrapped his arms around her, his hate-filled stare found me in the background.
“Thank the Spirit you are unharmed,” the guard murmured before releasing her.
Ariana caught him eyeing me. “Don’t look at them, look at me.
” She grabbed his chin, turning it to better view a healing scar near his jaw.
“I’m glad that you both are alright. I was so scared.
If something had happened to either of you .
. .” Her head shook as if she couldn’t handle even the thought.
The guard with the hateful gaze pulled her in for another embrace. “Don’t, we are fine. Because of you, we survived.” Though his voice had dropped incredibly low, my hearing easily caught the words, along with Ariana’s small sob.
Edda stood beside me, watching the encounter from the distance.
“Are they lovers?” I asked, earning a quiet glance from Kole.
It would have been valuable to know such a thing. Despite the days Ariana had spent on our lands, under the same roof, much remained a mystery. Whatever of her past and present, I wished to know it.
Edda released an irritating laugh as if she were not laughing at the question but at my asking of it. “When Ariana and Landin were little, there was talk of possibly arranging a marriage between the two. They were best friends, both attractive, and he came from a prominent family.”
“Such a prominent upbringing didn’t spare him from being my prison guard in a dungy, dark, smelly prison?” I asked. I had imagined he came from a less fortunate upbringing.
“Fate was not the most kind to him. Ariana has protected him. She is the reason he and Willis had the positions they did. Now, with her ascending to become the Leader Superior, they will rise with her.” The old bat didn’t exactly answer my question.
“What did she protect them from?”
“It is the reason she and Landin could never be more than what they are. Ariana and Landin love one another. That is true. But they do not love each other in that way.” Edda turned, viewing me with a thoughtful expression.
“I’m afraid I don’t understand.”
“It is not my place to say more.” She smirked.
“Does she wish to be with him?”
Edda laughed again. “Landin and Willis are both like brothers to her. There is absolutely nothing romantic between them.”
My attention turned back to Ariana and the two men.
“I saw Shay when we approached the city,” Ariana said to the large Bavadrin with dark amber skin.
His golden eyes met with mine before turning back to Ariana. “How did she seem?”
“Fine, healthy.”
“Good.” He smiled tightly. “Did the Spirit choose you?”
“What do you think?” Landin cut in with a heartfelt smile.
Ariana nodded in answer.
“Then perhaps there is hope yet for us,” Willis said. His attention briefly drifted to where I stood with Kole and Edda. The scars on my back no longer bothered me but, in that moment, they itched. “How long are you staying?”
“I think it’s just the day.”
Willis frowned. “Better keep moving then. I know the old advisers will wish to speak with you.”
The smile slipped from Ariana’s lips. “I will need to get some new ones,” she grumbled under her breath.
I watched from a close distance as Ariana made her way through their small town with the two Bavadrin males.
She stopped by what seemed to be a home of children.
Kids greeted her with squeals, cries, and hugs.
Ariana made a point of speaking to each child, leaving the keeper of the home with a large supply of food.
It was clear that the little ones loved her, and suddenly I felt a sliver of guilt.
From what I knew of Ariana, she had a difficult go at life.
Her father killed her mother, and I recently took her father’s life.
Though raised in a harsh environment, she did not allow it to harden her against the world.
Instead, she gave the world life. She tended to the unwanted children of her village.
She even tended to my wounds, and I was the Lysian who threatened her entire world.
I would have destroyed countless amounts of her people to get to her father without an ounce of remorse, all because I thought I knew the truth.
There was a saying that nothing was more dangerous than someone certain they knew the truth when they were wrong.
I was sure the Bavadrins were not blameless for taking my sister even when I had no proof.
And now, I still had no evidence. Instead, I was getting to know one of them and learning that possibly they were not as evil as I had always assumed.
One child pointed a dirty finger at us, fear in his big brown eyes.
Ariana kneeled and grabbed his hand, taking it in hers.
“You needn’t be afraid. They will not harm you,” she said to the boy in a gentle voice.
“But they attacked our village,” the boy whispered in rebuttal.
“They did that because they were afraid . . .” Ariana said.
Kole scoffed beside me, not liking that she called us fearful.
“Someone very important to them has gone missing, and they thought we had something to do with it. They were afraid, and so they attacked, but that is all over now. No one will harm you. I swear it.”
The boy’s brown eyes glanced at me, looking as if he were on the verge of tears before turning back to Ariana. “But you are very important, and now they have taken you from us.”
Kole released a low whistle to replace the curse he would have said otherwise. Just like that, I became like those who had taken my sister. I stole someone precious from them.
I believed the Bavadrins were not to be trusted. Evil. All of them. They worked with the Sidhe and kidnapped my sister. But perhaps I was wrong for thinking that. Perhaps in Ariana’s life story, I was the villain who destroyed their home. I was the monster.
Ariana pulled the boy close, embracing him. “Sweet child. I’m here with you now, and soon I will be back for good.”
“Promise?” He sobbed against her.