Chapter 2 #2
Holm’s face held a red hue, maybe from his effort at beating the hay bag into submission, but more likely over his eagerness to find his bondmate in the kitchen.
He and Iris were the only couple Aeliana knew who were happily bonded.
Considering she’d had less than a year in Vendaras, where bonding both symbolized and strengthened marriage ties, that wasn’t saying much.
She rubbed the dark red bond mark on her left palm, still not sure what to think of being tied to Lukai in such a permanent way.
She compared it to the ugly black brand bubbled up on her right palm.
A bond was meant to connect people in a way that allowed them to protect each other.
It went both ways to aid both bondmates.
But a brand went one way, allowing the one who performed the branding ceremony to control the other.
They still seemed too similar to Aeliana.
“I should watch for Lukai anyway,” Sylmar said, finally leaving his sanctuary at the room’s edge when the last of the winex had followed Holm from the room. “He and the others are due back from scouting soon. In the morning you can try to show them the peak where Durriken took Mayvus.”
“All right. I’ll go check on my mother.” A wave of anticipation rippled through Aeliana. After years without family, every moment she could spend with her mother was precious.
Sylmar nodded. “I wouldn’t tell her about Durriken’s memory. She’ll find a way to convince herself it means Mayvus is alive, feeding her delusions.”
Aeliana stiffened. “I doubt she’d believe Mayvus was dead even if we presented her sister’s body to her.”
“Which is what made her such a wise leader. Illusions and memories are too easily crafted to take the first thing you see or hear as truth.” He limped through the doorway, throwing his final words over his shoulder. “But no one could survive Durriken’s vengeful jaws.”
“She still is a wise leader,” Aeliana muttered to the empty room. “And she’s right. Mayvus is alive.” Sylmar was usually the mistrusting one, but with Mayvus, it was almost like he needed the closure too much to see the truth.
It didn’t matter if Aeliana was the only one who believed her mother. They’d prove it to the others soon enough.
The training room was at the center of the fortress, directly above the kitchens.
It had probably been a dining room in more affluent times, but now it was empty save the weapons and armor they’d brought in for sparring.
Aeliana left it behind for the hall to the eastern wing, passing several soldiers who touched their fingers to their foreheads while inclining their heads in her direction.
She’d given up on deterring the strange custom, deciding to view it as their cultural way of respecting her mother, the high priestess—the woman many of them wanted to be their queen.
But it still made her uncomfortable. If Sylmar and the others continued writing Emeris off as a mere figurehead, it wouldn’t be long before they expected Aeliana to fill that role instead.
A glance out the hall window revealed the precarious northern keep where they’d confronted Mayvus.
They’d removed all the bodies and blocked off the battlements surrounding it, uncertain when its deteriorating structure would eventually give.
Since then, Orra had quietly claimed it, escaping there for days at a time when she wasn’t scouring the mountains for the stone starbridge she was so desperate to find, either unconvinced or unconcerned about the keep’s inevitable fall.
Sometimes Aeliana feared her mother’s mind was like the northern keep. One wrong step could shift the balance and bring the whole thing down.
When she reached her mother’s chambers, the door was already open, Sunlight streaming in through the windows.
That was a good sign. Sure enough, she found her mother sitting on the settee instead of lying in bed, her short walnut hair intricately braided.
Iris, her mother’s loyal maidservant from years ago, must have been here to help before she made it to the kitchen.
“Aeliana.” Her mother breathed the word out as if it cost her, but her smile seemed sincere.
The starlock hanging from the leather cord around Aeliana’s neck grew warm against her chest, practically begging her to push some of her energy through to ease her mother’s pain. When she did, her mother’s tense posture relaxed ever so slightly.
“You’re looking well.” Aeliana bent down to embrace her mother, taking careful note of her pallor and the dark skin under her eyes. Still, her words were true. Her mother looked better than the day before.
“Yes, unfortunately.”
Aeliana laughed lightly as she settled next to her mother. “Usually people find that to be a good thing.”
“Not if it means she’s getting stronger too.”
Aeliana grimaced. “Durriken gave me a memory today. He showed me the cave where he took her body. I think I might be able to find the right peak for the soldiers to search.”
Her mother patted her hair, her face troubled. “They won’t find her. She’s been healing just like me. If Mayvus were dead, I would be too because of the curse. I told your father the same thing after the dragon took Mayvus.”
Aeliana’s heart sank. Gaeren, Riveran, and Cyrus had traveled across the barrier to look for her father weeks ago. No one had seen him for years, not since the day he’d taken Aeliana across the barrier for her safety just to be overpowered by two of Mayvus’ Zealots.
She understood why the others didn’t trust anything Emeris said about Mayvus to be true when she had these moments of confusion.
“If my father’s alive, he’s on the other side of the Lorvandan barrier.” The gentle reminder made Emeris furrow her brow.
“Oh, that’s right,” her mother said. “I hope the others find him before Mayvus returns.”
“You still think she used the stone starbridge to cross the barrier to Ahmranas?” Aeliana asked as she pulled the piece of parchment from her pocket.
“If the people can’t find the starbridge or her body, it’s the only thing that makes sense. She wasn’t dead that night, but she was weak. She couldn’t have made it far.”
Aeliana nodded, hating her mother’s logic because it meant Mayvus was out of their reach, growing stronger.
Orra had denied the possibility, claiming she would have sensed it because of her strange connection to the four starbridges.
After the Great Divide, when all of Rhystahn had been broken into five lands and separated by water and barriers, the Sun had forged four objects to take people across the barriers: a golden arrow, an onyx stone, a silver fish, and an iron cutlass.
Each one connected a different land to Vendaras.
When Aeliana had touched the arrow that took her from Lorvandas to Vendaras, Orra had sensed it. But the strangely powerful woman also begrudgingly admitted she’d been weak the night of their battle. Perhaps too weak to sense Mayvus using the onyx stone to go from Vendaras to Ahmranas.
“What’s this?” Emeris asked, reaching for Aeliana’s parchment.
“I found more vials of blood in that passageway you suggested I search.” She flattened the parchment against her lap, pointing out a spot on the crude map she’d made of the fortress. “That makes eight stores we’ve found and destroyed.”
“Good work!” Emeris beamed at Aeliana, which sent an unfamiliar rush of pride through her.
“Do you think there are more?” Aeliana asked.
“Of course. We haven’t found her stash of my blood yet. Or Durriken’s.”
It was the only reason Aeliana had kept the brand on Durriken.
Sylmar wanted her to use it to gain information, but that felt too much like something Mayvus would have done.
If Mayvus had truly been dead, Aeliana would have cut out the brand herself.
Durriken deserved to be free. But if Mayvus had a stash of his blood, he could easily be branded by her evil aunt once more.
Keeping the brand was a form of protection for Durriken, even if it felt invasive.
“We need to find them all before she returns—keep her powerless,” Emeris muttered, bending over the parchment.
“What about the eastern gardens?” Aeliana asked. “I haven’t looked there because it’s where the winex nest.”
Emeris shook her head. “She spent more time in the western wing.” She pointed at a spot on the parchment. “You should try this turret. And maybe this hallway. I think there’s a servants’ passage that hasn’t been used for years.”
Aeliana took the parchment back and made a note on it.
“When Holm’s not out searching the caves,” her mother said, “he’s been clearing out the Sungazer for me. I’d like to start praying with people a few times a day. Iris thinks I’m strong enough now.”
Aeliana smiled. “That sounds good for you.”
“You’re welcome to join me. The people are eager to welcome you in as my daughter.”
“I might be able to come.” Aeliana squirmed at what was likely a lie.
Praying would be strange enough. She’d grown up around humans in Lorvandas learning to worship the Stars, while the Vendarans gave praise to the Sun.
But that was just one small sobering reminder of how little Aeliana understood about Vendaran culture and how unfit she was to follow in her mother’s footsteps.
Until this year, she’d hated the magic that lived and bred in her starblood. Now she was here among other half-lights, descendants of both humans and Stars. She’d finally come to terms with the magic in her blood, but she still had so much to learn.
Emeris held out an arm, beckoning Aeliana to lean against her.
When Aeliana did, her mother settled her chin on Aeliana’s head.
“Holm found several of Mayvus’ journals in there.
It would be good for us to go through them.
Maybe find evidence of the curse so Sylmar will finally believe me and rebuild a defense. ”
Aeliana’s heart picked up its pace. Her mother had insisted some curse connected her to Mayvus, tying their life forces together in ways beyond even blood magic.
It was magic no one had heard of, so the others all filed it under the category of “things Emeris was confused about.” But Aeliana had seen Emeris’ confidence the night they fought Mayvus—the way she’d been willing to sacrifice herself because it would mean killing Mayvus.
It was the reason Aeliana believed her when no one else did.
“Have you started reading them?” Aeliana asked.
“I’ve tried, but reading makes my head ache. So far I’ve only seen recent notes about her tests on the winex.”
Aeliana shuddered, not sure she wanted to know what horrible things her aunt had done. She sat back up to face her mother. “The night of the battle, Lilik told me she was breeding them and testing their blood in the dungeons. She probably stored more there.”
Emeris narrowed her eyes. “Then we should check the dungeons next.”