Chapter 4
Ifollowed the creature through unfamiliar hallways, dimly lit by sconces along the brick walls. Wherever we were, it was no longer on The Phoenix Heart.
It stopped in a doorway and held its arm out for me to pass. “After you, esteemed guest of honor. Ready for a family reunion?”
My heart sank. It didn’t mean the people of my village, right? I’d not returned since Evri’s death, and I had no intention of going back now.
I stepped past the creature and sighed in relief when I saw Kaelias, Lorian, and Makatza sitting at a table in the center of what appeared to be a library of sorts.
Tears stung the corners of my eyes. A weight lifted off my chest, and I felt like for the first time in a long time, I could breathe.
They were safe. Unmarred and free from the black tendrils of my magic.
This was the family I’d been hoping to reunite with.
“Don’t get soft on me,” Lorian laughed. “First time getting captured?”
Yes. By something like that creature—definitely yes.
“Jyuri. What. The. Fuck.”
I whipped my head around to see one of the most beautiful females I’d ever laid my eyes upon standing in the doorway, with one of the most pissed off expressions I’d ever seen painted on her face.
Before I had time to get a better look at her, I heard a chair topple to the floor next to me, and saw Lorian up on his feet, his palms slammed down on the table in front of him.
“Z-Zorinna?”
She stared at Lorian, her green eyes swirling with emotions that were too complex, too quickly shifting to pin down. It was rage, sadness, joy, all in one. “Brother.” She turned to Kaelias across from me. “Kaelias.”
I had no clue that Lorian had a sister, but looking between them now, the family resemblance was obvious.
Aside from the Elven heritage, their hair was the same shade of brilliant red.
Lorian was much tanner from his exploits in the sun, but they both sported the same smear of freckles across their noses and cheeks.
Their eyes were different, but the shape was the same. The nose. The lips.
“What the hell is that thing?” Lorian shouted, pointing to the creature, who was now swinging his head back and forth in amusement. “What did you do, Zorinna? Was the attack on The Phoenix Heart your doing?”
She sighed. “His name is Jyuri. He’s not some thing, he is… Fae.”
Jyuri looped his arms around Zorinna’s neck, resting his head on her shoulder. “I love when you say my name, darling.”
Zorinna cringed while Lorian exploded. “Are you going to explain nothing? I couldn't care less about it’s— his— name. I want to know why you had my ship attacked!”
The room dropped in temperature as havoc unleashed faster than I could comprehend exactly what was taking place.
Jyuri was behind Lorian with a clawed hand wrapped around his neck.
Kaelias had thrown his chair to the ground and had his sword pointed into Jyuri’s back.
Makatza had shot from her seat as well and had both of her swords drawn, ready to strike.
Each of them were holding their breath, unblinking.
Jyuri spoke first, not taking his eyes off Zorinna as he tilted his head to Lorian’s ear, “I suggest you watch your tone. You may be her flesh and blood, but I will only tolerate so much disrespect before tearing the skin from your bones, you pathetic, fragile thing.”
“Jyuri, stop.” Zorinna stepped forward. “I need to speak with Lorian privately about our situation.” She glared at the Fae as he finally released his grip on Lorian’s neck. “I wasn’t expecting you to bring additional… guests.”
“He smelled like you, and I was asked to save them.”
“Oh- uh- you know what? I’m choosing to ignore that statement. Please, if you don’t mind, I will meet with you later.” She pursed her lips. “Lorian, Kaelias, and,”- she pointed to Makatza “-you. Please come with me.”
I glanced around the room in confusion. I was not included in that summoning. “Am I not going to join?”
Zorinna darted her eyes away, avoiding my own. “Someone will come for you.”
My crew left me there alone with little more than a few pats on the shoulder and hushed words to assure me that everything would be ‘OK’.
If I weren’t so flabbergasted, I would be furious.
I assumed Lorian trusted his sister to know that leaving me alone was safe enough, but being left behind still reminded me too much of home not to hurt, of elders who spoke of my duty in cryptic riddles, never explaining what they truly wanted of me, of a Keeper who locked me in a room to ‘keep me safe’.
Always sheltered. Always left questioning myself. Even now.
Always alone, except for each other. It has been you and I since the beginning. The distorted voice whispered in my head, answering my thoughts.
It had never spoken to me outside of the mirror—a problem I didn’t have the energy to contemplate. “Go away. I’m tired.”
I needed something to busy my hands while I waited, so I took to examining the books on the shelves.
The first few I grabbed were books on magic theory, one in particular I recognized from an author I’d read once back at my village.
A green leather-bound book on botany caught my attention, and I pulled it from the shelf and took a seat.
This was one I’d never had access to in my village or on the ship.
There were drawings and diagrams of rare medicinal plants I’d never had the opportunity to use in my work.
I traced them with my finger, trying to memorize as much as I could.
I was so enthralled with the book; I didn’t hear the door swing open.
“Some things never change.”
It was a visceral reaction I had to the sound of that voice.
Every nerve in my body lit up like it was on fire.
My back straightened, and the air left my lungs in one quick breath.
The voice I’d heard in my dream, the one that had sounded so far away, was now in the same room as me, clear as day.
Deep and melodic, not in a singsong way, but in a way that settled in your mind, lulling you into the loveliest of slumbers.
And this familiar voice belonged to a face I’d never seen before.
The Elven male leaned against the door frame was stunning in every sense of the word.
Staring at him, I couldn’t move or breathe, much less form words.
His long, dark hair hung to his waist, over a navy-blue shirt haphazardly tucked into black leather pants that hugged every curve of his muscles.
Perfect body aside, it was his gaze that truly struck me.
His eyes, a clear and crystalline blue, were comparable only to the icy waters of the North.
We’d stared at one another for far longer than should have been acceptable, before I scolded myself for my debased reaction to seeing the male and forced my eyes back down to the pages.
I felt, before I heard him sit down in the chair next to me. He was closer than I could handle when he dragged a finger across the picture on the page and said, “this one is poisonous.”
“I see,” I think I said. It may have been more of a squeak than intelligible words.
“I learned because someone used to tease me for my lack of knowledge.”
“Right.” I shifted to look at him, and when our eyes met, he scooted his chair back like I’d burned him with my gaze. It broke my trance enough that I remembered what I was doing. “Why am I here? Where is here? Who are you?”
His eyes crinkled, and a breath of a laugh left his lips. “My name is Alandris, and I am the Grand Arch Magus of the Mages Consortium, where you are currently located.”
I’d heard of the place in our travels. It was the only place in the realm where you could go to train your magic under the best of the best. People supposedly considered it a place of neutral allegiance, a paradise for Mages where no one would exploit their abilities.
But rumors had spread of the claws of greed digging their way in, corrupting its leaders.
If there is one thing you learn at sea, it is that no place is truly neutral.
There was no such thing as paradise. No one was immune to wanting more, and more came at a cost. Usually, your morality.
Alandris, the Grand Arch Magus. Beautiful—but no doubt with hands painted red like the rest of them. I would no longer be distracted, at least. “Why were my crew and I captured at sea? Collecting on our bounty?”
He seemed startled by the change in my tone, but he returned my coldness in kind.
It was a drastic enough shift that I’d had to stifle my shock.
“Yes. You are fugitives of the Elven Kingdom of Val’Naeris.
Four of you were specifically mentioned in the bounty, but we’re in the process of securing your ship as well. ”
“You sent a Fae to capture us—seems like overkill. Why do you have a Fae in your back pocket to begin with?”
“Power.”
I scoffed. “Of course.”
His mouth twitched, and I could’ve sworn it edged towards a smile.
“I’ve decided against turning you in for the very same reason.
You see, Jyuri reported the strangest thing.
He mentioned you used magic against him.
Quite powerful magic, or it could have been, had it been harnessed properly.
That sort of innate ability is not something I can ignore. ”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“Nairu, the Fae never lie.” He folded his arms in front of him. “You’ll be staying here at the Consortium as a Mage in training, mastering your ability, until I figure out what to do with you. In exchange, I will harbor your crew as fugitives rather than turning them into my King.”
“And if I refuse?”
He furrowed his brow. “Then I’ll have to force you to stay, and I imagine your friends will be executed. The King is old and rarely stays his hand these days. His son, the Prince, and I have a good relationship. I believe I could have the charges dropped altogether, though it will take time.”
“Time?” I repeat through clenched teeth.
“I’m sure it could be arranged by the time you finish your training.”
I hate this bastard. It was idiotic of me to have been attracted to him—however, briefly it was. “I want to speak with my Captain first.”
Alandris stood from his seat and walked towards the door. “I’ll have Lorian sent to you in the morning. You can stay in the room you’ve been in the past week for now. You’ll be assigned a room in the dormitories once you’re officially accepted as a Mage.”
It infuriated me that he spoke as if he knew I was going to agree to his plot.
Wait. Week!? I had been unconscious for a week?
And my screwed-up mind had been hearing his voice while I slept?
I shuddered at the thought. He’d probably been talking in the room and my mind had confused him with someone who wasn’t a total prick.
“I presume you can find your way back?” He asked, though he didn’t wait for my response before he left the room.
“Sure thing. Thanks.”
I didn’t head back to the room immediately.
My head was a mess, and returning to bed would only result in tossing and turning, stewing over my thoughts and emotions.
I decided to distract myself in the way I’d always done when I was a child—with a book.
Nothing was better at calming me than words on a page.
I scoured the shelves for something less textbook and more storybook.
I easily forgot the reality of life when lost in make-believe.
Back then, it had been for forgetting that I was alone, trapped in a room.
Now, it was for forgetting I was alone, trapped in a castle.