41. Between A Rock & A Hard Place
Between A Rock & A Hard Place
Aradia
The walk back through the city was drastically different.
Freedom was taverns and buildings opening their boarded doors and lighting the braziers and lanterns which lined the streets.
It smelled of fire roasted foods, cheap mead, and sweaty bodies hugging one another in high-pitched laughter and relieved tears.
The growing maunder reached her ears as she passed citizens of all ages and races.
A couple near her ran toward each other and jumped up and down in an embrace.
A woman squealed with delight as a man twirled her in a circle. Her boot smacked into Aradia’s arm, pushing her forward.
Kaiden’s strong arm wrapped around her waist, steadying her. He placed his hand at the small of her back and a wave of safety calmed her. She dared a glance at him and found his gaze already on her. Heat crept up the back of her neck and her stomach fluttered.
“Where are we going?” Cahira’s voice came from behind.
“I don’t know about you,” Kaiden glanced over his shoulder. “But I could use a hot meal after the day’s endeavors.”
Cahira mumbled behind them in agreement.
“Besides,” Kaiden looked at Varinis. “We have a lot of things to discuss.”
Aradia didn’t know what to think of the man responsible for their rescue.
She observed him as he led the way. His long strides were confident.
He was an average size for a man. Nowhere near the towering height of Rhydar, nor the chiseled outline of Fintan or Kaiden.
Varinis was a lean man. She imagined Jasper to be much like him underneath all his shadows.
“I suppose we have you to thank for clearing the street’s city constables and taking over the council?” Aradia called to Varinis from behind.
“That you do.” He didn’t bother turning around as he walked the rickety steps of a tavern where people poured into.
People began to cram into the door, grabbing alcohol from behind the bars and storming the kitchen for any food. The poor bartender ran around the tavern, beside himself with worry. When was the last time the city had been so alive?
Varinis led them through a back room and the noise instantly quieted to a dull murmur.
The room was small in comparison to the rest of the tavern.
The wooden floors were in surprisingly good condition and polished from frequent use.
A few chairs and tables were placed on the sides of the walls with candles lit low, wax pooling at the base.
In the middle of the room, a small, circular bar with bottles of glass liquor ranging from clear to the darkest browns.
“We’ll be able to talk freely here.” Varinis reached for a glass bottle behind a counter and grabbed five glasses. He poured with a heavy hand.
“We’re still waiting for —”
The door opened behind them. Rhydar, Fintan, and an older man walked in.
Cahira gasped.
“What happened?” Jasper slid away from the wall, walking toward Fintan.
“I’m fine,” Fintan said.
Aradia sighed with relief. Everyone was here. Everyone was safe. When did it even begin to matter? When had she let her walls down?
Kaiden crossed the room to the older man — Fintan’s father. Aside from the gray around his temples, a shorter height, and more laugh lines, they looked identical.
Kaiden hugged the man like a father.
Aradia watched with interest, knowing there was no way in Ukoron’s depths Kaiden treated the king with such openness.
“Byron!” Cahira squealed and ran into the man’s open arms.
Byron’s laughter was warm and deep, filling the dimly lit tavern with a feeling of being home.
“It’s good to see you too, my girl,” Byron chuckled.
Byron’s gaze landed on her and his smile softened. “You must be Aradia Damali.” He closed the gap between them and lifted her arm, planting a soft kiss on her hand. “It is truly my pleasure.”
Aradia smiled at the older man, instantly liking him. His eyes were liquid gold like Fintan’s and they shone with mirth and wisdom.
“As is mine,” she said.
Byron nodded in acknowledgment to Varinis, keeping slight skepticism at the new addition.
Varinis gave a fox smile and drained his drink.
“Come,” Byron headed for a seat at a round table. “We have much to discuss and little time to explain everything.”
It was nice to see someone else take charge for a change. Everyone followed Byron’s lead in a comfortable and trustworthy silence.
“As we are all aware, the king is planning to unleash Ukoron from his prison. At the moment it is us against the entire southern realms of Peraynia and time is not on our side. The Veil is but a thin sheet of magic and still cracking open as Ukoron’s power grows.
The monsters crawling out of his prison have already damaged our realm as it is.
If the king is successful, Arkan will be the first realm destroyed by Ukoron. ”
“Why?” Aradia asked.
“The god of chaos will follow where there is power. Arkan is ripe with it. Ukoron has been without a form for centuries. In order for him, or any god for that matter, to stay within the realm he must take on a human form.” Byron glanced at Kaiden and Cahira with a grimace.
If he merges his magic with Ukoron … well.
” A shadow of grief flickered in his eyes as he scrunched his brows together.
“Let’s just say if we thought the king was unstoppable now, he would be invincible with the power of a god fully inside him. ”
“There is however a downfall to fusing magic and binding yourself to a god,” Varinis spoke up.
All eyes turned to him.
“It could overpower him.” Varinis stood and paced the room, hands behind his back.
“Where in history has any being ever survived the tether of a god, let alone for a long period of time? No matter which royal blood flows through your veins. The old kings were mightier, stronger, more …” He rubbed his hands together as if the action could bring about the words escaping him.
“Well, just more. Until Ukoron’s true form is regenerated he will use your father’s body to keep him in Peraynia. ”
“Your father, as much as I despise him, is a great and fierce king. Since the first war he’s rewritten history, making a name for himself and the Valencia line. But even he cannot control a god. Least of all, the god of chaos, and certainly not for a long time.”
“What’s your point?” Fintan asked.
“My point is the Veil will come down and there’s nothing we can do to stop it. It’s too late for that. We should be putting our efforts where they can make a difference.”
The room quieted but no one interjected with words of delusion. Varinis voiced their reality.
Varinis continued, “There is a small time frame where the king will be at his weakest. The merge between god and man is no feeble notion or event that happens in the blink of an eye. Kingdoms have been torn to pieces, brick by brick. Men and women have been cleaved into two by the force of their magic. If we can get to the king before their merge is complete you might be able to stop them both.”
It was an idea none of them had thought of before. A rather frightening idea, but an idea nonetheless. She glanced around the room and found the others thought so as well.
It was Byron who spoke first. “It could actually work.”
“What if we fail? How do we stop him then?” Aradia asked, looking at Varinis.
For once, no mocking smile played on his lips. Instead, his eyes darkened with her question. He looked at Kaiden and then his gaze drifted to Cahira, waiting. Their faces were void of emotion.
Kaiden cleared his throat. “We kill him.”
“Agreed.” Byron spoke for them all.
Cahira’s chair scraped the floor as she stood up abruptly. “I need some air.”
Fintan nodded at them and followed her.
“So be it.” Kaiden sighed and walked toward where Rhydar held out a foaming beer.
Byron glanced at her, then at Varinis. His gaze hovered over the spy before joining Kaiden and Rhydar.
Aradia twisted back in her seat to find Varinis’s gaze on her.
“What?”
“You seem rather comfortable with the inner circle.” Varinis looked around the small room then back at her.
“Your point?” She crossed her arms in front of her.
“Your current company is …” He pondered for the right word. “For you to have found a way to worm your way through the inner circle is incredulous.”
She wasn’t sure if it was a compliment or not.
“Speak plainly.”
“The Valencia blood runs thicker than oil and richer than the gemstones uncovered within these mines. They’ve won over entire kingdoms and together these bunch of highborns have faced every adversity unlucky enough to be in their way.”
“Are you saying I’m an adversity?” Aradia squirmed in her chair.
“I'm saying you might find yourself in their way.” His words floated in the air between them.
“It's not like that,” she muttered, glancing at Kaiden. A vein throbbed in his temple, his knee bounced up and down, and he slurped from a bowl of stew Rhydar had brought back from the kitchens. “It’s different — they’re different.”
Varinis rolled his eyes as he sat back in his chair with a sigh. “You’ve become delusional in assuming he will return the feelings you have for him.”
“I have no feelings for him.” Aradia’s voice raised to a deadly hiss, drawing the attention of Kaiden and Byron. She offered a small smile.
Satisfied she was not in any need of assistance, Kaiden returned his attention back to his food.
“Why would you say —” She whipped her head back to Varinis.
“Why not? I find the truth deliciously amusing. Don’t you?”
She couldn’t lie. She wasn’t good at it anyway. Her lips thinned to a small line as she frowned.
She lifted her chin. “We’re all too deep in this now to stab each other in the back.”
“You’re right. Ukoron could be unleashed at any moment.” Varinis took a swig from his glass. “Still, don’t you wonder what will happen once you have reached your usefulness?”
She hadn’t thought of that. She didn’t want to. The truth was Varinis was right. She had grown accustomed to the presence of the inner circle. Their taunts and training, conversations and lessons. Kaiden’s steady gaze — his touch.
“I’m not disposable,” she whispered.
Varinis nodded. “You’re a Damali. You’re more than someone to use and toss aside. You bring light into this realm no one else can and you can give hope where there is none.”
Aradia swallowed under the pressure of his gaze. “Then why question my worth?”
“I never questioned it. I was ensuring you knew yours. It can easily be swept away when in the presence of such” — he tilted his head toward the inner circle — “greatness.” His gaze was cold and bore into her, making her shift uncomfortably.
“Why did you join us?” She crossed her arms, tilting her brow up.
Varinis’s smile grew as he tsked. “Joined is not the word I would use but, if you have to ask, I’m not here for the greater good. I couldn’t give a damn about this realm.”
Aradia raised a brow at his blunt truth.
“I get it.” she stopped, thinking of what to say.
“I’ve been alone most of my life. My mother was always busy healing or working when she was alive.
In the few moments at night we did ever have our own time together, I cherish those simple nights.
What I would give for one of her home cooked meals right now,” she chuckled.
“She sounds enticing.”
Aradia sighed. “She’s everything I’m not. Everything the realm expects me to be.”
Varinis hummed, “The realm can go back to the depths. Nothing matters but your opinion of yourself. Your expectations, dreams, ambitions. What you want. If you put yourself first, you won’t just survive, you’ll thrive.” He touched her glass with a small clink.
Aradia shook her head. “No, there’s more to life than only looking out for yourself.” She glanced back at Kaiden who laughed quietly with Byron, Rhydar, and even Jasper. “Something I’ve actually learned from them.”
Varinis rolled his eyes, draining his glass. “Leave the dramatics to the poets and stick with what you know best — surviving.”
Aradia smiled as she heard music through the walls of the tavern.
Celebrations would last the whole night and she wanted nothing more than to join them.
To dance like it was their last night, laugh as if there were no worries of tomorrow.
She glanced down at the ring on her finger.
The power and the promise it held. The vision resulting in the girls’ capture had shown her death — her sacrifice.
The thought alone sobered her up and for the first time that night, she reached for her amber filled glass and drank deeply.