Chapter 30 #2
Ezer glanced at Six, who had lifted her head. And with a look …
She sent a vision towards the raphon.
It was simple, sending it outwards. Not a touch required, as if whatever was inside Ezer had unlocked itself. Six, nestling near Kinlear the way she did with Ezer. Keeping his body warm and safe.
The raphon lifted her head and twitched her tail twice.
‘Six,’ Ezer whispered. ‘Please. He is our friend.’
And with a sigh, the raphon stood, padded across the cave floor, and settled back down beside the prince, tucking him away in the shadow of her wing.
‘You speak to her,’ Arawn said. ‘How?’
Ezer noticed their arms were touching. Like he’d drawn closer to her of his own accord.
‘Visions,’ Ezer said. ‘I don’t know what sort of magic it is. But she’s been giving them to me since the moment we met. Visions of strange things, beautiful things, silly things, even. And last night when the wolves came, when death was close … I was able to send one back to her.’
‘Without invocating?’ Arawn asked.
Ezer looked at him, brows raised. ‘Of course not.’
He looked puzzled. Like she was something new and strange.
Ezer shivered. The fire was warm, but—
‘Are you cold?’ Arawn asked.
She shook her head.
‘Minder.’
‘Fine,’ she said. ‘A little.’
‘I gave my cloak to Kinlear,’ Arawn said. ‘But … I’ve always heard Firemages are warmer than most.’ And he surprised her when he lifted an arm, as if to welcome her to his side.
She stared up at him.
He gazed down at her.
And she sidled close to him, a sigh leaving her lips.
He was warm. A furnace, practically, and gods, it felt good as he draped his arm over her shoulders, holding her close.
‘You still smell like a raphon,’ he said.
She dug her elbow into his side.
‘And you smell like ashes.’
They fell silent again, as they watched the fire together.
‘Your magic came back,’ Ezer said. ‘Six showed me. You started the fire. A real flame, not just a candle this time.’
She felt him take a deep breath.
‘You … have done something to me, Minder,’ Arawn said suddenly. She could hear him swallow. ‘Something I have not felt before. Something … that scares me.’
Her head was on his shoulder now.
She could hear his heart beating against her ear, and suddenly she got a flash of a vision from her dreams. His lips against hers, then brushing her scars.
‘Why?’
He took an unsteady breath. ‘When I found you in the woods, I thought you were dead. And it broke something loose inside of me.’
Ezer released a shaky breath and glanced up at him.
His eyes, the sharp angle of his jaw.
His lips.
‘What sort of something?’ Ezer asked. Because she was lacking words, and he was warm, and every fiber of her body was taut. Like she was a bolt of lightning, ready to explode.
This time, she knew it wasn’t from the winterwine.
She knew it was all her.
‘Something I’m not supposed to feel,’ Arawn said. ‘Something forbidden.’
His hand reached for her chin. He tilted it up gently, slowly, until she met his eyes again.
‘And for the first time, Minder … I am doubting the laws for my matching. I am …’ He sighed. ‘I am not sleeping, because when I do, I think of you.’
Her heart felt like it stopped.
‘When I see you, I feel like I can’t breathe.’
She released a shaky breath.
‘When I am near you … it is an effort to look away.’
‘Why?’ she whispered.
‘Because you are different,’ he said. ‘You are … like nothing I’ve ever encountered before.’
‘And that’s a good thing?’ she whispered.
‘I’m still trying to figure that out,’ he said.
He was shaking beside her, or perhaps that was her too, because suddenly she wanted him. It was like their dance from last night had never ended. Like she was still spinning in his arms.
‘Are you afraid of me, Firemage?’
His breath hitched, and he was looking at her lips now, instead of her eyes. ‘Terrified,’ he whispered.
She wanted him the way her dreams did. She knew it was dangerous, and reckless, and she knew their time was fleeting. He was a rigid, pious, law-abiding Knight, her future king, and she was …
She didn’t know what she was.
A Raphonminder.
One who might die the moment she passed into the Sawteeth.
But in this moment, she didn’t care.
Because she might die right now, if she didn’t have him.
‘You can kiss me now,’ she said, because she was feeling reckless and brave. Because she’d tasted the wind, touched the sky, and none of that compared to the feeling of him so near to her.
‘I don’t know that I should, Minder,’ Arawn said.
She guided his hand to her face. He sucked in a breath as his thumb stroked her cheek, and she swore her heart almost stopped. ‘I don’t know that I care,’ she said.
And they leaned in at the same time.
When their lips touched, her body melted into flames.
He kissed her slowly at first, gently, like he’d truly never done it before, but neither had she. They learned about it together, until her lips parted naturally, and his tongue slid across hers.
‘Ezer,’ he groaned.
Her name on his lips was her undoing.
He pulled her against him until she was on his lap, her legs around his waist, his hands at the small of her back, and suddenly he wasn’t close enough.
She dug her fingers into his back, and he groaned against her, and she knew this was wrong, knew this was forbidden for them to be together, so why did it all feel so right?
A soft warning growl sounded out from Six.
‘Well. This is certainly an interesting sight.’
They broke away, Ezer practically falling into the fire as they spun to find Kinlear frowning down at them.
His eyes, positively filled with rage.
‘Kinlear,’ Ezer gasped. ‘You’re awake.’
Six stood behind him, tail twitching in frustration.
Her dark eyes slid to Ezer, head cocked as if to say, really? That couldn’t have waited for another time?
‘And forgive me for interrupting … whatever this interesting little union is,’ Kinlear said. ‘You’re lucky it was me that found you, or the penance you’d both pay …Father is dying, Arawn. You’re soon to be King, and here you are, playing with her heart when you know you’re soon to be Matched.’
‘Enough,’ Arawn growled up at him.
‘It’s the truth and you know it,’ Kinlear snarled. ‘This can never happen again.’
He was bent over at his middle now, forehead slick with sweat though he was shivering. A healing rune marked his own hand, and the blood on his head had dried, crusting his curls.
‘That’s our decision to make, not yours.’ Arawn stood up. ‘You need rest. You need to lie back down.’
‘Because you want to be rid of me?’ Kinlear asked. ‘Or because you genuinely care for the state of me?’
Gods.
Ezer backed away from Arawn, suddenly feeling cold.
A bit broken.
Her lips were swollen, and she still tasted him on her tongue.
‘Kinlear,’ Ezer said, smoothing out her cloak. She was mortified. She stood and went to him, reaching out to place her hand on his arm. He was too cold. The runes on his cloak were already fading. ‘You need to lie down again. You took a hard hit when we crashed, and—’
He pulled his arm away.
‘I’m tired,’ the prince spat. ‘Tired of people telling me what I need. Lie down, Kinlear. Rest, Kinlear. I am the prince of Lordach. And I will not be commanded by you.’
‘Brother,’ Arawn started. ‘Don’t speak to her like—’
His words fell away as Kinlear began to cough again, until he was gasping. Until he bent over, the sound of something wet and terrible in his lungs.
He spat blood on the stones.
And when he came up to standing, his eyes were bloodshot.
‘Calm down,’ Arawn started. He walked towards him, reaching out as if to help.
‘Enough!’ Kinlear yelled. ‘That’s enough.’
His teeth were red. He coughed again, and reached for the vial around his neck, but Ezer already knew it was empty. So he cursed, recorking the vial with shaking hands, and let the chain fall against his chest again.
He wasn’t himself.
‘Kinlear,’ Ezer tried, approaching him slowly, like he was a wounded animal. Her heart broke at the sight of him. ‘Please. Sit down … with me.’
‘I will sit when I’m dead,’ he growled. He wobbled and placed a hand against the stones.
‘I’m tired of resting. Tired of withering away in the shadows, while life goes on …
and right beside me.’ He glared at Arawn next, and something seemed to shift in his eyes.
He smiled. But it was cold and thankless.
‘But what perfect timing, since I’m awake.
Since we’re all three together now! Are you going to tell her the news, Brother …
’ Kinlear raised a dark brow. ‘Or should I?’
Ezer glanced back and forth between the two men.
‘I don’t know what you’re talking about,’ Arawn said slowly.
The two were stuck in a glaring contest, the flames of the fire sending strange shadows across the cave wall behind them. Where Six had now begun to pace, her tail twitching back and forth as if she sensed the tension about to overflow.
‘I only learned about it yesterday,’ Kinlear said, looking back at Ezer.
‘And imagine my surprise when I approached my dear brother to discuss how we should break the news to you … only to discover he’d already known.
He knew months ago, before either of us ever met you.
’ He looked back at Arawn, the other side to his coin.
‘Since you’ve clearly grown so close, it only seems fitting that you should be the one to tell her. ’
‘Tell me … what?’ Ezer asked.
‘The truth,’ Kinlear said.
She looked to Arawn now.
Whose eyes had suddenly fallen, downcast. ‘Kinlear,’ he said. ‘Please.’
‘She deserves to know,’ Kinlear said, and coughed into his sleeve. ‘Or were you going to carry on using her, hiding the secret until someday, she discovers it on her own? And it utterly shatters her.’ He shook his head. ‘You may be okay to play with her heart. But I will do no such thing.’
Ezer whirled on Arawn. ‘What is he talking about?’ She wrapped her arms around herself, suddenly cold. ‘Arawn?’
His face was pained.
He wasn’t looking at her anymore.
Why wasn’t he looking at her?
‘Tell her now,’ Kinlear said. ‘Or I will.’
Arawn glanced up. His eyes were haunted, utterly broken, as he looked at her and said, ‘Your uncle isn’t dead, Ezer. He’s alive.’
A breath left her lips.
‘What?’ she whispered.
She could hear nothing but the roaring of her blood in her ears.
Could feel nothing, beyond Six, who suddenly paced to her side and pressed her warm body against Ezer’s, like she knew she needed her strength.
‘He’s … inside the Citadel,’ Arawn whispered. ‘In the dungeons.’
She felt like she was going to crawl out of her own skin.
‘Why?’
It was Kinlear who answered. ‘Because he’s a traitor, Ezer. Shortly after he arrived here … he discovered what we were doing with the raphons. He was the one who broke into the catacombs, where the raphon pups were kept.’
She shook her head, because what he was about to say …
She didn’t think she would survive hearing it.
But Kinlear spoke anyway. ‘He’s the one who killed Six’s siblings. He killed them all. And he almost killed Six, too. He’s the one who left that scar on her beak.’