Chapter 12 Ariana
ARIANA
Isat at the table in front of the Sidhe King.
While his gaze often drifted towards me, mine diligently avoided him.
I looked at the intricate detail of the walls, the mosaic patterns decorating them.
I observed the food on my plate; the steam rising from the heat of it.
When I picked up my fork, I took painstaking interest in observing the cutlery before putting it to use.
My attention shifted amongst all things except for the person seated directly in front of me.
“How did you like the walk around the city?” Clause asked, leaning back in his seat after taking a bite of pheasant.
I turned to him, finally giving him the pleasure of my attention. “It is quite the city.”
“Do the people look... tortured or abused?” He quirked an eyebrow, a smirk fighting to curl at his lips.
“Just because I didn’t find any tortured souls yet, does not mean they are not out there,” I replied, reaching for a glass of water, and taking a sip.
A slow smile warmed the King’s sharp features. “You are so determined to paint me a monster.”
Because you are one. I forced my jaw to unclench. “There is a building where some servants stay outside the main castle. I would like to offer them my aid in helping with injuries and ailments.” We would see how kind he was willing to be.
Clause viewed me for a moment before responding. “Are they injured?”
“Not in a way that would prevent them from continuing to be of use,” I answered carefully.
A smile pulled at the side once more. “Not even here a day, and you already are trying to protect my people from me?”
I licked my lips, drawing his eyes to them, which caused me to shift uncomfortably in my seat. “Listen. You got what you wanted. For me to be here, to learn from this experience. But, while I am here, I would like to help the people if I can. I’d like to get to know some of them.”
His head tilted in thought while his gaze continued to hold mine. “You would not prefer to teach children or find a more pleasurable environment to spend your time in?”
“I prefer to work with the people I found.”
His brows drew closer together. “How is this helpful?”
“What?”
“How is this helpful to you or to me? As leaders, what would serving a few servants do?” Those cold gray eyes held my stare, yet judgment and disdain did not color them. Instead, there was an air of wonder. As though he were truly curious about my motivations.
“You said we are to learn from one another?” I asked.
Clause nodded.
“Well, they may be just servants in your eyes. But we built our civilizations on the work of people in various positions. You remove the servants, and how many of your highborn will even know how to draw themselves a hot bath, let alone build a home? Showing the servants grace and appreciation will help inspire them to work harder and better. Ruling through fear may keep them working, but if they harbor love and respect, then you will feel it in their quality of work. They may even push themselves to do better.”
“So, you think you can improve their performance?”
Did he really need me to give him a reason for my desire to help others if I wished to? “Possibly. I can at least improve their lives. But if you are worried about performance, maybe consider feeding them a little better.”
“Feeding?” His eyebrows rose in surprise.
“The younger boys there looked thin.” I nodded. “Giving them more sustenance may help with productivity. Especially if any of them handle harder labor activities.”
“I can assure you they are getting a lot more here than they would otherwise.”
I snorted at his response. “Just because something is better than something else does not make it adequate.”
Clause reached for his goblet, swirling the red liquid in it. “You are free to do whatever you wish regarding the servants. And if you would like, I will see that their food rations get a boost.” He took a sip of his wine.
It momentarily stunned me by how easy that seemed. Mistrust flared to life. “Why?”
He pulled the cup from his lips, head tilting. “Why?”
“Why agree so easily?” I was certain after he asked me for the point of helping them, he was going to be harder to sway.
“Because you wish for it, and it is nothing for me to allow it. If it brings you a sense of pleasure to interact with servants, I do not care to stop you. And perhaps if it improves productivity, then things should change a bit regarding their care.”
I nearly wanted to say thank you, though stopped myself. He did not deserve my thanks. This was not something done due to kindness. He could see for himself the kind of condition his people lived in, that the food rations of those boys left something to be desired.
“So, what is your first lesson?” I asked, changing the subject.
“Lesson?”
“You said you would teach me to be stronger if I came here.”
A smile curled at his lips. “Eager to strengthen yourself in hopes of taking me out?”
“With conjuring?” That was clearly something that would not be possible as long as conjuring could not touch him.
“With that clever mind of yours.”
I nodded towards my fork. “Maybe if you teach me to use my mist in a way where I can use it to send this fork through your heart from a healthy distance.”
He laughed. The sound rich and unbothered by the threat I threw his way.
I gritted my teeth, waiting for him to stop being so sickeningly entertained by my words.
Clause eyed my food. “Are you finished eating?”
The plate was halfway cleared off, and I had not taken a bite in a while. I ate as much as I could manage with the disgust coiling my stomach because of the company.
“Yes.”
“Care to join me for a walk?” I didn’t respond immediately.
I didn’t particularly love the idea of spending more time with him if the meal had ended and I was free to go.
When I did not jump at the invitation, he continued, “If you wish to learn, I would like to start with the history of the Spirits. And there is a place I would like to show you if we have this talk.” He stood from his seat, waiting for me to follow.
“You mean the Spirit?” I followed his lead, standing from my chair.
“No. I mean spirits. Two to be exact.”
“Lead the way,” I answered with a frown, uncertain about where this was going. He remained at my side while taking me through the vast hallways.
“Tomorrow morning, I will have a servant come by and get your measurements for a dress. You can tell her what you would like to wear for the party we will have next week to welcome your arrival.” He casually told me as we made our way down a stone hall before turning onto a staircase and rising.
“A party?” I eyed him.
“I wanted to give you a week to get settled before having you attend any events.”
“And if I refuse?”
“Refuse a chance of being in the same room with my generals and important people to the Sidhe King? I doubt you would want to miss out on such an opportunity.” His gaze slid to me in challenge. He knew I wished to see him crumble, yet he had no concern about that possibility coming true.
I did not rise to the bait and remained silent.
He led me up higher until we found ourselves in a long hall.
Window archways opened one side to the outside, the city on full display below.
Torches lined the other wall, which was solid stone.
A beautiful array of rich colors painted the rock with images, drawing the eye stronger than even the city and mountain views on the other side. The pictures told a story.
Clause paused at the first image. The painting was of two beings floating above thousands of people, one swathed in black, the other in white. Both of their faces remained obscured by the shadows of their hoods.
“There were always two Spirits,” Clause said. “One, the Spirit of light. The one everyone thinks of and worships. It is the one that brought us the gifts we typically think of with conjuring. The various effects on elements such as mist.”
Gray eyes drifted to me before turning to look at the floating figure wrapped in darkness.
“The other is the Spirit of darkness. It also gifted conjuring, but a different kind. Its gifts spanned the shadow world, not something you can touch, but something still very real. Conjuring in the form of Seers, Dreamers, Telepathy, and Empathomancy came from this spirit.”
Clause took a few steps to the next image, and I followed at his side.
The picture portrayed the two Spirits holding blades at each other’s throats.
“There was a rift that formed between the two gods. The history books and sacred documents are not clear what it was. But their division was the reason the great war broke out.”
The next image was of people slaughtering each other.
Rich red paint coated the base, as if the earth flowed with blood.
“Each Spirit tried to squeeze the other’s control out.
The Bavadrin’s harbored the most people with the gifts of the Spirit of darkness, and they found themselves surrounded by the conjuring of the Spirit of light, the Lysian and Sidhe strongholds. ”
“But I conjure with mist, the gift from the Spirit of light,” I said.
“One does not exclude the other.”
“I am Bavadrin.”
“Your people harbor both gifts, more so than any other race,” he stated and nodded for me to move further down the hall.
The image painted mothers holding their dead babies. Fathers mourning the loss of their families, children crying. “The spirit did not make the treaty. At least not alone.”
I looked at him in shock, yet his attention remained on the painful image before us. “The tears and sacrifices of your people formed the treaty.”
“The Bavadrins?”
“Those with the most powerful of conjuring gifts came together. They made a deal with the Spirits for protection. They laid down their lives to put a stop to everything. To protect the lands. Their sacrifice was so profound that the spirits stopped their feud and agreed to a truce.”
“They killed themselves?” I looked at him in shock.
Gray eyes flickered in my direction. “No. They did not simply take their lives. They sacrificed themselves. To protect the unborn, to protect the lands from more death. To protect all people of our world.”
I shook my head, looking at the images lit by flickering flames before me. “Why is this story not told?”
“The Spirit of the light always searched to be seen in a positive view. It controlled the narrative. And the Spirit of the darkness simply stepped back, heartbroken by the pain brought on by their decisions. It allowed itself to disappear from most of the history told in our lands. However, the sacrifices drew together the spell and the so-called curse which would protect the lands for generations remained.”
I turned to him once more. “When I ascended, I saw a Spirit. It wore dark robes.”
“It was a Spirit of darkness.” He answered my question without my having to fully ask it.
“Why not the one of light?”
“The Spirit of light set loose its narrative for history and then left a long time ago. Darkness still lingers, call it sentimental. It also favors those who still possess its gifts. You may conjure mist, but if you saw that Spirit, then you also have a gift from the dark.”
“It doesn’t care that I assumed it to have been the wrong Spirit?”
Clause laughed. “Its mind is of another world. The Spirit does not care for things the way you and I may. It likely could not care less about that.”
The wind picked up, tugging my hair wildly, causing the torchlight to flicker.
Though it was not the breeze that sent a chill down my spine, but a thought triggered by a reminder of that time I shared with the Spirit.
“When did the Sidhe cross the border for the first time?” I asked, uncertain whether he would answer.
Clause reached out, brushing my hair back over my shoulder and out of my face with the back of his fingertips. As if he wished to see me clearly.
“The day you were born,” he answered.
The words of the Spirit replied in my mind then. It was your birth that was the curse.
“And the curse?” I asked, my heart in my throat.
His lip curved, eyes remaining unbothered. “We shall see what the meaning of it is. As you can see, the translation of history got lost, if not changed. What’s saying that the Spirit of light did not want the treaty broken? That it is not a curse, but a gift that the breaker will receive?”
The way he viewed me, it was as if we both were considering what I was. One thing I certainly knew, where he was concerned, I was no gift. I was going to be his curse and his downfall. This was the one future I fully accepted.