Chapter 37 #2
She yanked on my covers and I let my head crash against the pillow and groaned.
“What is this place?” I asked.
We were in a part of the castle that was typically off limits, where more private residences were.
Isabella shot me a look that said my thoughts exactly.
I followed her and Roslyn inside. The room we entered looked like a palace.
Deep crimson and gold overwhelmed me; the rich design work detailed with creatures and flowers in small patterns.
The flames cast shadows across the polished marble floor adorned with a patterned rug.
Across one wall was a golden dragon that gleamed as if it were made of actual gold.
I stared at it, my eyes following the sprawling framed artwork stretched across ornate wallpaper, before I saw a man about our age by the window.
He was dressed much more formally than the other Aurkai, with deeply pressed creases that made it look unnaturally perfect—a long-sleeved, button-up, and close-collared black shirt with detailed golden stitchwork of a dragon across the back.
He had to be Ash. He turned to greet us, his hands behind his back. He inclined his head, to which Roslyn formally curtsied. My eye twitched. Was I supposed to do this, too? Her expression was like a mask, hard and unflinching, with no hint of playfulness.
Roslyn turned to me, a gentle smile spreading across her rose-colored lips.
“Introducing His Royal Highness, Prince Asher Rometheus Saint, Heir to the Kingdom of Celestia, Blood of the Goddess of Light and Protector of Roran.”
I stared at her, waiting for someone to laugh and tell me the truth. He couldn’t possibly go by that many things, right?
I glanced at him, then to her, but no one laughed.
“You’re serious?” Isabella asked.
Roslyn cast her a look of utter seriousness as Ash neared her, touching her at the waist.
“It is the duty of all Aurkai to hold our sovereign in the highest regard,” Roslyn said. “At Nightfall, we do try to accommodate the many cultures of this world, but for us, the ancient bloodlines of the kingdoms have served our Realm for millennia.
I smiled politely, trying to blend this side of Roslyn with the one I thought I knew.
Had it all been an act? No. It certainly hadn’t.
This was the act, even if she believed in it as she said she did.
But Blood of the Goddess of Light? It was indeed a lot of titles.
I had no idea there were so many ways to reference one person.
“It’s nice to meet you,” I said, smiling and nodding at Ash.
“And you,” he said, inclining his head politely. “You may call me Ash, if you like. And thank you for welcoming me here to your world.”
My stomach tightened; the idea that Valyria was somewhere else in the cosmos was still an unfathomable concept to me. And what about Blake? Was it like this for him in the Realm, too? No one formally introduced him like this, but he had already been here when we were Initiates.
“Does Blake have this many titles?” I asked.
Roslyn immediately looked at Ash, eyes wide, but Ash only watched me, his expression lifting almost imperceptibly for just a moment.
“Ah, so you know Prince Rykiren well? Few call him by that name in the Realm. And, yes, he, too, has many titles.”
His voice was smooth and firm, a sense of authority permeating the air.
As he moved across the room, I noted that the dragon was the same as the one on the gate in the Realm and in the Nightfall emblem.
He was broad-chested and taller than me, with neatly trimmed blond hair only a shade darker than mine.
His blue eyes were steady and confident, which put me at ease, despite the clear status he held.
He poured two drinks at a small bar and offered them to Isabella and me. I accepted and took a sip—a strong red wine.
“I hear you are skilled in the art of Raicanya,” he said, watching me like a hawk. “Caelan speaks highly of you.”
I parted my lips to speak but a knock at the door startled me. Ash called for them to come in.
Saryna and Caelan entered, followed by Eli and Riya.
“Ash! My man, what up? How you been? It’s been like two hours since I saw you last,” Eli crooned, approaching Ash and clasping his hand and bumping shoulders.
Isabella raised an eyebrow while Roslyn’s face went white as a sheet. She stepped forward, as if to intervene, but Ash stayed her with a brief glance.
“I take it you two have already met?” Isabella asked, shooting Eli a bemused look.
Ash, despite the way he tensed up at being greeted with so much physical contact, handled the culture clash with grace.
“Eli! You found your way here,” Ash said. “From the look you were giving me when I gave you directions, I was certain we would have to come and retrieve you.”
“Nah, man,” Eli said. “I had Riya. She led me straight here.”
“Ah,” Ash said, grinning ear to ear. “Now it makes sense.”
Riya shook her head and was glaring so hard at Eli I thought she might set him on fire.
“Straight here is hardly how it was. It was only after considerable effort that I convinced him that the meeting was this evening. Then, I had to argue about each line Roslyn wrote in Valyrian script because he couldn’t read it. ”
Eli was shaking his head with his lips pressed together and waving his hand dismissively at Riya.
“She’s having a rough day,” he said. “Y’all can ignore her. So, are we making this a regular thing? Ya know, to beef up our everi?”
Roslyn laughed and patted Riya on the shoulder as she glared at Eli.
“We wanted to spend time with you all. All of us chose an Adept we found to be the most promising to join us today. We want to offer as much insight into your training as we can and help your everi attune by being around individuals from the Realm.”
Eli made himself comfortable on one of the velvet sofas and became interested in a candy dish on the side table, gently lifting the glass-speared lid and peering inside.
He took one of the candies by pinching the paper wrapper with his index finger and thumb and returned the lid.
He then carefully opened the paper, finding a bright red hard candy.
He tilted his head, giving Ash a side glance.
“Hey, Ash, this isn’t gonna burn or explode in my mouth or something if I eat it, right?” he asked, highly skeptical. “Because Caelan gave me something once that gave me tremors the rest of the day.”
Ash shook his head. “It is sweet, I swear.”
“Uh-huh,” Eli muttered, popping it into his mouth.
I watched him suspiciously as he sucked on it before his face slid into a wide grin.
“This stuff is amazing,” he said. “Tastes like cherry pie.”
I frowned, displeased nothing more interesting happened. I crossed my arms, tuning everyone out. I could be in my room sulking, but instead, I was here.
“Anna,” Caelan said. “How is your affinity training going?”
I glared at him. They knew I didn’t want to be here. Was this an intervention or something?
“Fine.”
Moving across the room, I sat in one of the armchairs and zoned as the others chatted and laughed.
I hated to admit it, but being here did feel a lot better than sitting in my room crying.
These people—they were like me. Back home, I had Katie and Eiryn, but I ‘d never felt like I was a part of their group. It felt good. The little things made me smile, though I was trying to hide it. Things like Roslyn’s expression of disapproval at Caelan’s inappropriate joke about how short he thought Saryna’s dress should be, or Isabella’s ability to speak far longer than a person should be able to without taking a breath.
Which was true.
Good lord, it was true.
I couldn’t help but giggle when Caelan leaned down, kissed Ash on the cheek, and started talking in a high-pitched voice. He was pretending to be Riya, who had been casting nervous glances at Ash ever since she got here.
Roslyn glanced at me with a small smile and I lifted my cheeks in forced look of cheer. Caelan was prattling on about something of interest though, so I sat up and listened.
“I mean, how could he have been an actual dragon?” Caelan said.
Ash pressed his lips together tightly, lifting his hands and shrugging.
“There is little room for interpretation. It says he was transformed into a dragon, never to be seen again. And from that point on, the Saint clan was said to have an affinity that allowed them to tame and control the dragons. It saved everyone in Venustas from being burned alive.”
“Okay, Prince Asher,” Caelan said in a mockingly serious tone, “then where are the dragons?”
Saryna shook her head. “Stop Caelan. You know they are real. It is written in the Arynthian Codex. It says the dragons were enslaved after years of terrorizing the people of southern Valyria and tortured, too. Some fled back to oblivion from whence they came, while some were lost to the ice and cold of the far north. Legend says, some of their souls escaped as they lay dying by the hand of mages, consuming the souls of members of the Saint clan, merging their everi forever.”
Mages merged with dragons?
“Now we know why the Prince of Celestia is hot-tempered,” Roslyn said, smirking at Ash.
I glanced at him, too.
He gave her a playful glare.
They were serious.
Ash’s sandy brows were raised as he regarded me with mild surprise. His lips twitched as if he were about to ask me a question, but he changed his mind. Good. I wanted to keep talking about these dragons.
“There were dragons in the Realm?” I asked.
Ash nodded. “A long time ago.”
I wanted to question him further, but the chamber door opening stole everyone’s attention.
My thoughts faded from my mind as I saw Blake in the entryway. My lungs refused to take in breath and my mind was clouded with doubt. I was an Initiate again, paranoid I was seeing things, uncertain of what to do and drowning in grief.
No.
I wasn’t seeing things. My fingernails dug into my palms.
Blake was back.