Chapter 3 #2
He shook his head. “Too risky. The king has over a thousand loyal soldiers and four thousand loyal citizens. If any one of them saw you escaping with Maelis, you’d be done for. Imagine a city with five thousand eyes all reporting to the king.”
I frowned. “Well, I could disguise her and myself and strike in the middle of the night when everyone is asleep. He won’t even know I’m there.”
Godric’s jaw clenched, and something wild flashed across his face. I stepped back at the sudden, fierce anger radiating off him.
“It will never work, Brynn,” he snapped.
The sharpness of his tone startled me. I froze, heart tripping.
His face softened immediately, regret flickering there. He reached for me, voice low.
“I’m sorry. I’m not upset with you. As a brother, this is… hard for me.”
‘He’s not telling you something. Ask him why it wouldn’t work, because I think we can do it. In and out in one night. We will never see the king.’
“Val says we can be in and out. The king will never see us.”
Godric closed his eyes briefly. “It will never work because I’m told that the king sleeps with Maelis in his bed almost every night. She’s his favorite.”
The world seemed to tilt.
All the color drained from my face, but it was nothing compared to the flood of fury pulsing from Valkaryn. She flared hot at my hip, deep purple light rippling through the metal. Godric’s eyes widened.
‘I’ll cut the manhood from between his legs,’ Val promised.
I nodded without hesitation. Rage burned low and steady.
“What if Val could protect me from his control?”
“Can she?” Godric sounded hopeful, desperate.
‘I’m not sure without seeing the magic at work. Possibly. But it would be constant work to fight that kind of spell. It would weaken you.’
Always back to my weak mortal flesh.
‘Fine, then I’ll get weak. I don’t care,’ I challenged her.
Silence held for several seconds.
‘I want to help as much, if not more, than you do, but not at the cost of your life. Maelis wouldn’t want that either. Let’s practice and wait for more intel. We can find another way that doesn’t put you in danger.’
I growled under my breath, frustration boiling.
“What did she say?” Godric asked.
“She said I’ll get too weak. She wants me to train and wait for more information. Find another way.”
Godric tipped his chin, seeming calmer. “That’s the safest thing, and what Kaelric would want, too.”
I narrowed my eyes slightly. What did he know about what Kaelric would want for me?
“Want to go get lunch?” Godric asked suddenly.
I stared at him. “We barely had breakfast a little over an hour ago!”
He shrugged, unbothered. “I can always eat.”
“You remind me of Kaelric,” I teased, shaking my head.
He gave me a lopsided grin. “That’s a compliment in my book. No finer alpha, second to his father.”
We walked toward a food tent. Smoke curled from a long pit where wolves roasted meat. The smell was rich, warm, and strangely comforting.
“So his dad was alpha, and when he died, Kaelric automatically became one?” I asked.
Godric nodded. “The alpha power is a bit like Elite magic. It stays with the bloodline, makes them the strongest in the pack, gives them power to control wolves if necessary.”
Interesting.
“But Kaelric lost his father when he was young.” Ten, if I remembered correctly. Maybe eleven.
Godric nodded. “And so I carried on leadership duties as the eldest male in the family until he turned sixteen, but I was never an alpha.”
Sixteen. That was still so young. Too young. Why were we talking about him? I was supposed to be forgetting Kaelric.
“So he was alpha for one year before he entered the Arcane Trials for the first time?” I asked as Godric entered the food tent. His expression tightened, silently warning me not to continue this topic here.
People stared at me as I passed, curiosity sparking in their eyes. I made no move to hide Valkaryn, letting her remain visible at my hip.
Godric silently filled two plates with honey rolls, corn on the cob, and peppered beef before tipping his head toward the trees. I followed him to the tree line, where a large hand-carved bench sat among roots and underbrush.
I peered at the plate. “I can’t eat all that.”
“Just try.” He set it before me. “I’ll mop up what you don’t.”
Did Kaelric tell him to fatten me up?
We tucked into our food, Godric taking small, deliberate bites of his meat.
“I can tell you’ve never skipped a meal,” I teased as he settled beside me.
“Are you saying I’m fat?”
He looked mock-offended, and I laughed.
“No, you just eat too slow.” But a shadow crossed his face. “No one should go without food. That’s a very big deal in our culture.”
I nodded. “And yet it happens.”
Fenmyr was fertile, overflowing with abundance. It made me wonder who was suffering outside Aerlyn, far from this rich land.
“So when he entered the Arcane Trials for the first time…?” I redirected the conversation.
He nodded slowly. “He was looking for her.” He pointed toward Val at my hip. “But she wasn’t there, so he went with the next best thing. He was hoping to procure a weapon strong enough to take on Harrow.”
Guilt burned a hole straight through me. I knew this already, but hearing it from Godric made it sharper somehow. More real.
I felt the need to defend myself. “I would have given her to him, you know. I would have given him anything. But she said he couldn’t wield her.”
Godric bit into his corn and nodded. “I know my sister to be truthful and levelheaded. If she said that, it was no ruse.”
Val thrummed lightly at my hip.
“Well, a lot of good that did me,” I muttered, picking at the sweet roll.
We ate in quiet companionship, watching the camp. Wolfkin in human form sparred with wooden practice blades while others ran drills. Wolfkin in wolf form sprinted through the surrounding trees, weaving effortlessly.
Beyond them, farther out, a long black wall cut across the landscape. I pointed with my roll.
“Is that it?”
Godric sighed. “Lunaria, the greatest city in Fenmyr.” His voice carried longing, a softness I hadn’t heard before.
I stared at the wall. I wanted to see the city. But ten years under the rule of a king who could force loyalty would change everything. Whatever it once was, it wasn’t that anymore.
‘Meet me at the river.’ Kaelric’s voice entered my mind suddenly, and I stiffened.
‘Why?’ I shot back, defensive without meaning to be.
‘Please?’
I sighed. I could deny this man nothing, especially when he asked nicely.