Chapter 50
The stitches in her side pulled tight as Arla took halting, unsteady steps behind Rheia, Lilith hovering behind like an overbearing mother.
The maid led her from the beautiful, starry room in which she had woken, out into the hallway of pale stone and softly glowing torches.
Their progress was slow and not helped by Arla’s insistence that she would walk unaided, but she used the time to soak in the atmosphere.
It was airy, with gently waving gossamer-thin, lilac-coloured curtains, the scent of vanilla and spices lingering on a light breeze that stroked the curls of her hair.
She tried to take it all in, tried to focus on the beauty of the place, but there was something missing, some integral part of her that felt out of balance. Arla reached for the bond between her and her dragon, urging her mind to latch on to that thread between them.
The answering call sent her to her knees.
‘There you are,’ came a familiar voice inside her head. ‘I was wondering when you might decide I was important enough to acknowledge.’
Rheia and Lilith were speaking to her, she thought, the twins trying to lift her from the ground as if she might disappear into it.
She didn’t care. There was only the bond and her dragon on the other side of it.
‘You are important. I didn’t think I’d ever see you again—’ Arla didn’t know if the dragon could hear her spoken thought, but that concern floated away as Thara’s reply rumbled down the bond.
‘I’m glad to see a brush with death hasn’t stoppered your emotions. Perhaps two swords to the side might help you to control yourself next time?’
Laughter spilt over Arla’s lips, mixing with the tears leaking from the corners of her eyes. She didn’t know how much it had meant to her, this thing she shared with Thara. How deep that bond had managed to run in such a short period of time.
‘Are you safe? Where are we? What about Hark? Is—?’
‘Later, Dragonhart,’ Thara said down the bond. ‘Everything will be explained later. For now, get off the floor before you make the two of us look weak.’
Arla smiled again, blinking rapidly as she became aware of the panicked expressions on the maids’ faces.
She allowed them to help her to her feet then, the creases between their brows deepening as she insisted she was fine.
She had no idea how her being reduced to a weeping mess on the floor affected anyone’s perception of the dragon, but she squared her soldiers and tried to make herself look a little less like she was about to collapse.
Thara was right in that respect; Arla didn’t want to look weak.
Rheia led her through another hallway, the glow of the stars a constant and steadying companion as Arla felt everything she knew slipping away from her and …
didn’t care. She was so lost in the shock and bewilderment of it all that she almost didn’t see the people now moving through these hallways, crossing between wooden doors buried in the stonework and … and they were all looking at her.
That was Jaz, she thought, who had paused halfway through the door to turn back to face her, and there were others she had passed whom she now knew stood still behind her, undoubtedly staring at the utter state she was.
And then, ahead of her, standing with her back pressed against the wall, was Kase – silver hair braided tightly over her shoulder, blue eyes unblinking through the parted fringe framing her face.
A fist curled in Arla’s stomach and a wave of heat spread through her at the sight of Hark’s right-hand crewmate. Arla registered an irritating lack of energy inside her body, and the thought of going head-to-head with the silver-haired battleaxe exhausted the thin sliver of energy there was.
But … Kase didn’t curl her lips into the telltale sign that she was about to launch an attack on Arla. Instead, gods, she … what was she doing?
Kase lifted her fist with a firmness Arla didn’t know how to interpret and crossed it over her body to lay it on her heart. She tilted her head at Arla, a mark of respect she was sure she didn’t deserve. What had happened to bring this about? If something had happened to Hark—
Arla turned, her side complaining at the sudden movement as she witnessed the rest of the hall mirroring Kase’s gesture. Fists crossed over hearts and eyes dipped as Arla’s gaze roved over faces unfamiliar to her. This was… What in the gods’ names was going on?
But Hark couldn’t be dead. Thara would have said something—
‘Enough!’ Thara’s message came clearly now, and Arla was almost certain she heard roaring on the outside of this magnificent building. ‘You will not fall to panic now. Your patience is a fickle thing. Wait, and all will become clear.’
A strong hand rested gently on her elbow, demanding she turn to identify its owner, and when she did she saw silver hair and blue eyes blinking back at her.
‘I’ll take her, Rheia. I imagine there are a few questions it’s best I answer while Hark is … busy.’
Kase slowly led her to a circular room, the roof and walls a picture of night and starlight as the glass let the sky pour in.
A fire burned beneath a mantel of wood and stone, and Arla sighed in relief as the heat embraced her.
Kase helped her to a couch of white fabric and a mountain of cushions and blankets.
Arla winced as she lowered herself onto it.
‘Are you in pain? I can call for a healer?’ She did not recognise the delicate, twinkly voice that belonged to Kase, but now she was speaking to her, Arla’s eyes prickled unwelcomingly.
‘I’ll send for one now—’
‘No, Kase, it’s fine. I’m fine,’ Arla said, her mind scrambling to make sense of Kase’s new kindness.
‘You are not fine. Must I coddle you like an infant? Tell the girl to send for the healer. I won’t see you injured for longer than necessary. You humans are far too breakable.’ Thara’s voice held the command only a creature of the gods could possess.
Not that it made Arla want to heed her advice.
‘Would that be a concern? I think you’re getting soft since you left Castle Grey.’
A huff washed through the bond but the dragon didn’t object.
‘Tea, then?’ Kase spoke, pulling Arla’s attention back to her and the curious worry in Kase’s eyes.
‘Tea would be good,’ Arla said softly, the weariness setting in quickly in this warm, comfortable room.
How had her body become this useless? She’d been training for years and had been so sure that her body would never fail her in its strength or reliability.
Now she was out of breath and wanted to sleep after a short shuffle down a hallway.
‘Hark will be annoyed you’re awake, you know,’ Kase said as she stood by a cabinet close to the fire and poured tea into two cups.
‘He’s here?’
‘He was. He’s out dealing with something right now and assumed you would still be asleep, but I see that you’re not one for resting.’ Kase handed Arla the tea with such carefulness she might have believed herself about to fall apart.
‘Where are we?’
‘I’ll leave that for Hark to explain, but you’re safe. We’re past the northern border. No one can reach us here.’
Beyond the northern border was nothing. It was mountains blanketed in mists too dense to navigate, and any time a soul had been brave enough to risk the journey beyond that icy, miserable border, they’d returned a shell of their former self, or not returned at all.
But Kase had no reason to lie about that, so until Hark returned from whatever it was he was dealing with, she would have to accept the vagueness of it all.
‘It’s beautiful,’ she said, mustering the energy to sip from the cup.
The second the liquid touched her lips she sighed, the sweet, earthiness of it washing over her senses with something so comforting and reminiscent of home that she found herself fighting a knot in her throat. What was wrong with her?
‘It is.’ Kase paused before continuing. ‘Arla, when Hark arrived with you and … and the dragon I … I didn’t have the words. I didn’t expect him back here for a long while and the dragon … I was surprised Hark brought you here.’
Arla didn’t know if that was a good or bad thing, but when she looked at Kase, sitting opposite her on a couch identical to the one on which she lounged, she did not see accusation or dislike in her eyes.
‘What happened?’
‘I … I’ve never seen anything like it. And I don’t think I ever will again in this lifetime,’ Kase began, a seriousness weighing heavily in her voice and her eyes, so much so that Arla found herself tensing, as if her body listened to that tone and expected danger or the need to defend herself. Thara grumbled in her head.
‘You both arrived with the dragon, and I thought we were being attacked. I thought Kastonia had pulled off some fucked-up scheme and had sent the dragons to slaughter us. But that’s not—’ Kase’s eyes refocused, snagging away from where they had settled on the flames of the fireplace and moving to look at Arla.
‘It has a name,’ Thara growled. Arla bit her lip to hide the grin that tried to spread across her face.
‘It landed outside and before we knew what was happening, let alone launch a defence, Hark was dismounting with you in his arms and… Oh, Arla, I’ve never seen so much blood.’
‘Tell the silver girl I’ll burn her bones to ash if—’
‘Perhaps stop listening in on private conversations,’ Arla teased back down the bond.
‘Never.’
Silver lined the bottom of Kase’s eyes, and it unnerved Arla to see her so rattled.
‘You lost so much blood. So much. And Hark was hysterical. He couldn’t speak or do anything but barrel through all of us, screaming for a healer.’ Something cold gripped Arla’s heart, a sickening, horrid feeling in response to what Kase was telling her.
Had she come that close?
‘More than you know.’
A shiver trailed down Arla’s spine.