Chapter 7
Seven
Purpose
After what felt like an eternity, a break was called.
Orin and Bohdi had run us through various drills with our swords.
Repetitively. Until my limbs felt like jelly and my hair clung to my sweat-soaked face.
Despite my fatigue, it felt good to hold the sword in my hands.
I liked holding a weapon. The darkness inside me liked it even more.
Steel drums littered what seemed to be a common area between the barracks and the training pits, alight with flames.
My squad trudged towards one of the rusted steel drums as Bohdi handed us each a brown packet.
I unwrapped it reluctantly, the paper crunching beneath my fingertips.
Rations of stale bread and jerky stared back at me, dry and unappetising.
Food was an issue in our Kingdom, one that was marginally better in the castle.
It was impossible to grow anything in a frozen wasteland, but I was used to tender meats, root vegetables and rich sauces.
But I didn’t want them to think me a spoilt princess, so I grabbed the jerky without hesitation and brought it to my mouth.
I hid my grimace; it was as dry as I thought it was going to be.
No one spoke at first, everyone eating in uncomfortable silence. Well, it felt uncomfortable to me. I was not used to being around so many people. Dreya lifted her chin, her voice sounding almost forced like she needed to break the silence for her own sanity. “Why’d you all Ascend?”
“For the glory, obviously. And the women. But mostly the glory.” Riven grinned, sending a wink in my direction that spread heat across my cheeks.
Orin gave him a look of withering disdain.
“My little sister used to look up to the Iron Guards. I wasn’t strong enough to save her then.” Bohdi looked into the flickering flames. “But now, maybe, I can save someone else.”
A silence fell. Orin’s hand clasped Bohdi’s shoulder, giving it a light squeeze.
Dreya’s voice was quiet. “I’m here for family as well. We live in the slums of Talloport. With me here, they’ll never starve again. And if I’d died…one less mouth to feed.”
Hadley snorted. “I couldn’t stand that place a moment longer. After my father died, it was this or whoring.”
Roman’s eyes were hard as flint. “I’m here to kill Fae. The more of those bastards I gut, the better.”
One by one, their gazes found me over the flames, as if it were my turn to share.
I picked at the dense bread in my hands. “I couldn’t handle it anymore.” I shrugged, picking a close enough truth.
Hadley barked a humourless laugh. “I’ve heard the rumours. They say you’re insane. But I didn’t think you were stupid.”
“You don’t know anything about me,” I said, venom lacing my voice.
“Oh, you poor spoilt, little thing, it must have been hard living in a beautiful castle, being fed every night and having a warm bed to sleep in. You wouldn’t have lasted a day in the slums below your pampered fucking feet, people kill over food scraps and freeze on the street!”
The darkness hit like a fever, flooding my veins, tearing through every restraint I had left.
My vision split, everything sharpening, humming.
I didn’t remember moving, only the sound of Hadley’s breath catching as my hand wrapped around her throat.
My fingers squeezed against her windpipe and her face reddened, her mouth open in a soundless scream.
I could feel a strange pull coming from inside of her.
It almost felt like water, vibrating beneath her skin and waiting for me to control it.
“Let go of your squad mate, initiate,” Orin said from behind me.
But I couldn’t. I needed to hurt her. No.
I wanted to drown her. I reached for the water in her body with my mind.
I could feel every single molecule. I tugged at it.
Hadley’s hazel eyes bulged, her body shaking as she scratched furiously at my hand.
“Lyra, I can feel your anger. I’m going to help you calm down.
Okay?” Bohdi’s voice cut through my haze.
But Hadley’s body began to slump, the fight dying from her eyes.
Her skin turned a beautiful shade of purple, red splotches blooming on her throat around my hands.
Bohdi stood behind me, gripping my shoulders.
I could feel him pushing against my mind, offering me calmness.
I pushed against it, slamming a wall of water over my mind.
Bohdi cursed under his breath and drew his hands back as if they were burnt.
“Orin, I can’t,” Bohdi said, shocked.
“Let go now, Lyra!” Orin yelled. But I didn’t care. I pulled at those little water threads harder, pushing them towards her lungs. My hand squeezed tighter against the frantic pulse fluttering at my fingertips.
Drown.
A hand wrapped around my forearm. Gentle. Tentative.
“Eyes on me, Princess.” My head snapped up. Grey eyes, with dancing flecks of amber filled my vision. Like the sun breaking through a storm. I gasped, fingers loosening slightly.
“Good girl. Now, please let go of Hadley,” Riven urged.
I don’t know why I listened, or how he cut through the darkness, but my fingers went slack.
Hadley choked on a ragged breath, crumpling forward, coughing and spluttering.
The haze over my vision lifted, leaving only the terrible clarity of what I’d done. I let my hands fall to my sides.
Roman and Bohdi were already there, hauling her upright by the elbows. Orin pressed his thumb to his brow, muttering a curse that burned more than if he’d shouted.
“Let’s get her to the infirmary,” he ordered, then his sharp gaze cut to me. “I’ll deal with you later.”
I took a stumbling step back, my eyes fixed on the purple bruises blooming across Hadley’s throat, perfect imprints of my fingers.
“It’s alright, Lyra.” Riven’s voice slipped through my daze, steady where mine had fled.
Orin led Hadley towards the barracks, his expression unreadable.
I could only stare, words lodged behind the tightness in my chest. I should feel remorse.
Guilt for hurting someone. Shame for letting the darkness take over.
But all I felt was anger. Anger at myself.
The Gods for willing me to live against my will.
Riven slipped an arm around my shoulders. I flinched at the contact, but didn’t pull away.
“Come on,” he murmured, leading me to the cliff we had climbed through the night before.
Dreya walked quietly next to us, the curious stares of the other squads following us.
Their gazes felt like a physical weight, suffocating me.
The wind clawed at my flushed cheeks as we reached the cliff’s edge.
The Dead Sea writhed below, its waves shattering against the black-pebbled shore like a thousand furious hearts beating out of time.
I took a deep breath, the salt sinking into my lungs and tingling through my veins soothingly.
“I don’t think she will bother you again after that,” Dreya said hesitantly, picking up a rock and throwing it into the waves. She eyed me with a mix of curiosity and wariness, as if she expected me to lash out at any moment.
“I didn’t mean to lose control like that,” I muttered, arms wrapping tightly around myself. My body could still feel the heat of Hadley’s pulse beneath my fingers, the way it faltered when I’d squeezed too hard. The way I had liked it. I hated that I liked it.
Dreya picked up another rock, studying it in her hands. “It’s this place. We went into the Dead Sea and lived. It unmade us. Our bodies are changing. Becoming stronger. Faster. Soon, we will have our Sanctum. I think a temper tantrum here and there is allowed.”
I watched her rock disappear, claimed by the violent waves. But that wasn’t the first time I had touched the sea and craved more. Even after drowning during Ascension, I longed to go back.
“Did the sea drown you?” I murmured absently. Perhaps it happened to everyone.
“Drown?” Riven asked. “It was hard to swim against the swell. But no, clearly none of us drowned, Princess, or we wouldn’t be standing here.” They both stared at me as though I was broken. I sighed. I had drowned, and since then the voices had never been so loud. The urges so close to the surface.
Something inside me felt awake in a way it never had before. It scared me how natural it felt. I had spent my life fighting it, fearing it. Now it lurked just beneath my skin, patient and volatile.
“What happened to you in the water, Lyra?” Dreya asked with careful wariness, studying as if I were an animal about to lash out. “Did you drown?”
“Nothing happened,” I said too quickly. The words tasted wrong even as they left my mouth. I shoved the unease aside as it tightened in my stomach, willing it not to show.
“You can’t be serious, Dreya,” Riven scoffed, his attention flicking to her before returning to me. “You know those myths are just stories.”
“Those myths are all we have left of our Gods! It is our duty to—”
“To believe every little bedtime story?” Riven cut in.
His grin came effortlessly, and he punctuated it with a wink towards me, as though Dreya’s worry meant nothing.
Before I could ask what story they were talking about, Captain Bronwyn’s voice boomed from the training pits. “Break’s over, initiates!”
Captain Bronwyn’s boots struck the floor in a steady, merciless rhythm, echoing through the amphitheatre like the pulse of a war drum as she walked down the steps.
We were herded from the barracks into a vast hall opposite the dining room, the theory hall.
Rows of iron chairs descended towards an empty stage, silent and expectant.
I sat in between Riven and Dreya, watching the shadows dance against the stone walls as the flames of the torches flickered.
Roman sat next to Riven, he had returned without Hadley.
A part of me wanted to ask if she was okay, the other part hoped she wasn’t.
“Forget what you know about our history. About our purpose as Iron Guards,” Captain Bronwyn’s voice echoed as she stopped in front of a large chalkboard.
“Now that the Commander of Death has resurfaced, they will be unpredictable and ruthless.” She paused, the silence as taut as a wire. “We are preparing for bloodshed.”
Riven’s leg brushed mine. Light, accidental even, yet heat bled through the fabric and into my skin. I stared at the place we touched. I told myself to move. To pull away. Not to be curious about the steadiness his touch offered. But I couldn’t. I didn’t want to.
Bronwyn’s cold voice carried across the amphitheatre.
“It is because of this that the war games are being brought forwards. They are designed to awaken your Sanctums. The squad with the highest number of victories by year’s end earns leadership within the Iron Guard.
” She paused, letting the weight of her words settle.
“They will be more brutal than ever to ensure we are as strong as we can be.” A ripple of murmurs spread through the amphitheatre.
My pulse quickened, a drumbeat of equal dread and excitement at the thought of more bloodshed, more death.
Maybe the Gods will change their minds and take me as a sacrifice after all.
“Now,” she said, turning towards the slate board, “let’s begin. It’s time you learn the true purpose of the Iron Guard.”
Captain Bronwyn’s gaze swept over us, sharp as drawn steel. She seemed the sort of person who had forgotten how to smile long ago.
“Before the Gods left us, the Sirens didn’t just rule the sea,” she began. “Their queen ruled over us all, Fae and Mortal alike. Until the Fae slaughtered them.”
She walked along the stage slowly, hands clasped. “Does anyone know why the Sirens were killed?”
Hands shot up around the room, Captain Bronwyn pointed at an initiate in the front.
“Their blood held magical properties, drinking it gave you powers, strength.” My skin prickled. Perhaps I had something in common with the Sirens, they had also been drained of their blood against their will.
“Correct. But what commoners don’t know is that the Sea Goddess herself was their queen.
She turned her back on our beloved Gods, because she fell in love with a Mortal.
The Gods were furious with her. And because it was a Mortal that she fell for, our Gods turned their back on us.
They stole her Mortal lover and turned him into a monster and cursed our lands.
As you already know, the Fae led the final battle,” Bronwyn continued.
“They slaughtered the Sirens and the Sea Goddess for the Gods, staying in their favour. It is because of her we are cursed.”
She turned towards the slate board, drawing three sharp lines across it with a piece of chalk.
“But before she died, the Sea Goddess shattered her own soul, splitting it into three Relics scattered across the realms. The Soul Relics.”
Bronwyn faced us again, her eyes hard. “Our duty, the true purpose of the Iron Guard, is to find these Relics and destroy them before the prophecy is fulfilled. This is not knowledge shared beyond this island.” Her voice dropped to a near-whisper, though it carried like a threat.
“The prophecy says the Sea Goddess will rise again, that she will drown the world for killing her Sirens and kill the Gods themselves for taking her lover. We exist to make certain that never happens, and if we destroy the Relics, the Gods may shine on us again. And that, initiates, is why anyone who manifests a water Sanctum is deemed too dangerous to live.”
Captain Bronwyn kept talking, but I couldn’t hear her over the pounding of my own heart.
My stomach dropped; the air felt too thin.
I’d moved the water in Hadley’s body, hadn’t I?
No. That couldn’t mean… My hand gripped Riven’s thigh, and I sat rigid on the edge of my seat.
I’d done it. I had moved the water in her body.
It had sung to me. No. I was confused. I was just angry. Caught up in the moment.
“Uh, Princess?” Riven shifted beneath my touch.
I blinked, pulling my hand away. “Sorry.”
“Oh, it’s more than fine,” he murmured, that stupid, lopsided grin tugging at his mouth. “Just… maybe not in public.”
Heat rushed to my cheeks, and I shuffled away as Dreya leant forward with an irritated sigh.
“Can you two be quiet?” she hissed, snapping her book shut.
Riven only rolled his eyes, slinging his arm across the back of my chair. But the seed of worry had already taken root in my stomach. I’d felt my Sanctum awaken, and it was something forbidden.