Chapter 33
CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE
One maiden turned to ten, turned to hundreds. And in secret, the lowly messenger god fathered an army of half-breeds.
—Fabia’s Fables, “People of the Stars.”
Breath whooshed from my chest as the casting severed, cutting off Tiberius’s last words. I eased myself to the ground, the energy from casting at this distance hitting me like a stone wall. Unease twisted its way into my gut. What else had happened? And who was he with? Could it be Bayne?
Conflicting emotions warred at the thought. A desperate need to see him, to make sure he was alright… Grief at the death of a future he deemed impossible… Anger at his disbelief…
His marriage to the queen…
My eyelids fell shut as I refocused on the stone, and I slowed my breathing. Think. What would matter the most? I tapped the rock, knocking with my knuckle in various places as I twisted and pulled on its edges, searching for any opening.
“I am—” I began again as the stone door slid open.
“Out of time,” Xenelpha finished from across the room. “You may return tomorrow.”
Rays of midday sunshine gilded the tops of the conical trees surrounding the ice village. Children chased after one another while men and women returned from hunts with massive stags and plump, aquatic creatures I’d never seen before. There was so much life among the Guardians of the Dead.
I had one week to figure out how to open the damn stone container before we needed to leave after their celebration of the equinox, Maadon.
Two massive, tusked beasts stomped through the center avenue, one with a basket-like saddle on its back, where a handful of warriors sat, many waving to the gathering crowd. The second was flanked by four amatohk riders on either side and pulled a caged sled behind it.
I rushed through the crowd, coming face-to-face with the massive, shaggy creature, blocking its path in the road. A young man stood atop the first beast, staring down beneath his mask of bones and nodding in respect to Xenelpha as she approached. Ronan appeared at my side a moment later.
The warrior gently tapped the side of the beast’s head with the base of his spear.
The creature slowly got to its knees, lowering its head and swinging its long trunk, and the young man slid down its outstretched leg.
He stepped forward to Xenelpha and dropped to his knees, placing his armored head against the frozen ground.
“Thank you for your journey,” Xenelpha said, taking the clawed hand of the warrior and lifting him to his feet.
“Our visitors,” she motioned toward me, and I bowed my head toward the young man as I stepped forward.
“Lyvia, Ronan, and Vienah of Sultira. My nephew, Kai, Guardian of the Rhashtai in the east. He’s brought the rest of your party. ”
“With your permission, I’ll take responsibility for the group now.” My eyes darted to the bodies in the cage behind the second beast. Bound and unmoving.
“Your responsibility,” she confirmed. I moved to step past Kai, and he held an arm out.
“Two others,” he said, voice thickly accented, tilting his head as he examined me beneath the large skull on his head, “escaped in our initial encounter. We’ve sent scouts into the woods and have been unable to locate their tracks.”
“Nor will you,” I replied, keeping my voice respectful, yet firm. His dark eyes blinked behind his mask, and I stepped past him to what remained of our group from the lake, bound and bloody.
“I would like to request a separate lodging, one safe and comfortable, for Carina Ravindra, Princess of Lotrennia.”
The men and women within earshot peered curiously in the cage, eyeing the female.
Xenelpha surveyed the unconscious princess for a heartbeat and gave me a knowing look. She nodded to me, the massive skull dipping as she did so.
“Only the best for a free princess,” she murmured.
A free princess. The debt I racked up with Xenelpha began to feel heavy, as she fulfilled yet another favor I had asked. Carina was not bound by an air oath.
The elven princess blinked as the celosia powder drew her from her slumber, and she took in the icy, yet warm, chamber Xenelpha procured for her. White furs draped the wooden cot she lay on, and her Ravindra eyes held a thousand questions as they scanned me.
She eyed my wrist, no doubt taking note of the absence of the rubelline cuff. I glanced down at the red glow peeking beneath her torn sleeve. She opened her mouth, and I held up my hand, “We found the bone.”
Her emerald eyes widened as I relayed all that had transpired, and I straightened as I held her gaze.
“I need you to listen very closely to this next part. I will get this cuff taken off,” I said, motioning to her wrist, “And we will return to Lotrennia with the Advetis Bone. But I am done playing your queen’s games.
My allegiance is not to her, or even to Lotrennia.
But an alliance with Lotrennia, an alliance with you… ”
Carina straightened in her cot, swallowing the uncertainty building in her gaze.
“I will ally with you, Carina.”
She straightened her cracked spectacles, whisps of disarrayed hair floating down as she shook her head, “To stand against my mother...”
“You are not bound to her. Not with an air oath,” I countered. If Carina was surprised that I knew she was tied to no oath, she didn’t show it.
“No. She leaves that for more important people in the court,” she murmured.
“You are important, Carina. And you are worthy of your title.”
Carina blinked twice, as if seeing me for the first time.
“Think about it,” I continued, giving her a nod. “For now, I have a favor to ask.”
“Good afternoon, milord.” I sketched a bow to the man lying on a cot in the corner of the small ice structure, hands bound with rope and cuff glowing from beneath his coat.
“Solitary confinement…” Lord Astraeus mused as he sat upright. “Who knew a pretty thing like you could be so cruel? Where is my crew?” The pirate lord’s dark eyes flashed, and I returned the look with an innocent smile.
“With the others I have little trust in,” I said as I neared the edge of his bed. “I brought you lunch.”
Astraeus kept his eyes on mine as I dropped the plate of roasted venison and bread on his lap, a sudden stretch of silence crawling through the small ice structure as I waited for him to acknowledge the meal.
“Are you going to eat this or not?” I asked, jerking my finger to the roast. He dragged his gaze from mine and edged his way up the back of the bed with a groan.
“What do you want, Lyvia?”
I blinked, realizing it was the first time he’d said my name. Unease followed by something warmer twisted in my gut at the way it rolled off his tongue.
“I came to negotiate our departure from Rhashtai.”
Lord Astraeus scoffed as he shoveled the deer into his mouth. A small groan escaped his lips, and I shifted on my feet.
“Then negotiate,” he murmured.
“In exchange for an alliance with you and safe passage to Lotrennia, I will lend my service in the hunt for the bone connected to your family bloodline.”
A deep, throaty chuckle filled the small chamber.
“No.”
I bristled at the tone, the Obscura responding in kind. The corner of his lips twitched, and he glanced up, his gaze softening in curiosity.
“Those eyes…” he mused, “Like embers in the night.”
“Stop looking at my eyes,” I snapped.
Lord Astraeus sat back as he smirked, resting his head against the icy wall as he lifted his bound hands to take another bite. My eyes shot to his lips as he sucked the fatty juice off his thumb, before darting up to find his dark eyes searching mine.
“The Advetis Bone does not belong to you,” I continued, “and you will not leave with it. But another might.”
“It does not belong to you,” he retorted. “What do you know?”
A demand, not a question.
“The matron of the Rhashtai knows of your connection to one of the Bellators. If there is a bone you think you can harness—”
“I told you already, it’s not for me,” he cut in.
“What do you mean?”
The pirate lord’s lips drew a hard line before he ripped back into the venison.
“Astraeus.”
He raised his dark auburn eyebrows at me and winked. These fucking men and their inability to have a conversation without throwing a gesture like that into it… Fine. Just fucking fine.
“Now that I think of it, I only need what’s left of your crew to sail the Hydra to Lotrennia.” I crooned, leaning in close. “This was a courtesy, as it is your ship after all. But I have no more patience for your games. You may stay here if you wish.”
I turned on my heel to leave.
“Wait, Bonscaíh,” he groaned, and I moved for the door.
“Wait!” Astraeus called, his voice echoing off the icy walls. “For fuck’s sake, it’s a deal.”
“Swear it,” I said, turning around slowly.
“Fine,” Lord Astraeus dropped the venison in his bound hands and held them up, grungy palms facing me. “I swear it.”
“Swear an air oath to me.”
Lord Astraeus’s hands lowered as he raised an eyebrow. “An air oath?” he asked quietly. I nodded at him.
“You know what that means, right?” he said softly, “We’ll be bound in our own way. Until our last breath.”
I held his gaze in confirmation, refusing to balk beneath the weight of his dark eyes, but a pang of guilt slipped its claw into my chest.
“You’ll need a wind whisperer.”
“Way ahead of you.”
Snow crunched as I slid the icy door open, and Carina’s small silhouette darkened the entryway in the dimness of the evening.
Lord Astraeus kept his dark eyes on me as I led Carina to the hearth.
Orange flames danced along the blue ice of its watery walls, and for a fleeting moment, I marveled at the meeting of the two extremes, at the unexpected balance.
My eyes slid to Astraeus, the skipping light casting a golden glow against the pirate lord’s sharp features.
Carina eyed the captain with disgust as he stepped next to her and held out his hands. I pulled Honor from my boot and cut Astraeus’s bounds, the blade slicing through them like water.
Lord Astraeus pulled his gaze from me and settled it on Carina. He sketched a low bow, murmuring “Princess,” as he straightened. Her lips formed a thin line as she held her wrist out.
He slid his fingers around the rubelline cuff, and Carina let out a sigh as the red glow vanished and the white cuff clanked to the floor. I tucked it inside my coat before turning to Lord Astraeus.
“Are you sure about this, Lyvia?” Carina asked, voice low in warning.
“Aren’t you going to ask me?” Lord Astraeus took a step closer to me. Carina narrowed her eyes at him and backed up a step.
“I’m sure,” I said, nodding at Carina. Her eyes searched mine for a moment before finally shaking her head.
I stepped up to Lord Astraeus, bristling at the memory of my proximity to the queen, and craned my neck to look up at the man.
His beard, overgrown and crusted with old blood, hung just above my head.
“You’ll need a stool,” Carina murmured.
“What?”
“It’s an intimate ceremony,” Lord Astraeus purred as he gazed down at me. “We need shared air, shared breath, for the magic to work.”
“I know that. I’ve done this before,” I snapped.
“Eye level.”
I slid my gaze to Carina, and she nodded her confirmation. She dragged over a log meant for the hearth, and I hopped on.
Little flecks of gray danced in Lord Astraeus’s dark irises as I met him at eye level for the first time. And something in them brushed against my mind. Why did they look so familiar…
Carina cleared her throat and steepled her hands before murmuring the spell beneath her breath. Her lilac wind spun through the small space for a moment before it stilled, as if suspended in the natural air of the ice chamber.
The flames in the hearth quieted, listening carefully to the next words. She nodded her head toward Lord Astraeus. I turned back to peer into his dark eyes as he said clearly into the dimness of the chamber, “I, Lord Astraeus…”
Carina, hands still steepled, cleared her throat and murmured, “Full name.”
Astraeus’s dark eyes flashed at her once, and he began again, “I, Kellan Astraeus…”
Kellan. A distant memory blinked an eye open.
“I, Kellan Astraeus, swear on my last breath to assist you, Lyvia Cantor, in your call to protect the innocent from all threats to this world. My oath to you shall not break until the air of death escapes your lips, or my own.”
Something primal stirred. The puffs of air off Astraeus’s lips kissed my own as he spoke his oath. From the corner of my eye, Carina’s head bobbed, nodding to me. I’d chosen the words carefully, for both of us, ensuring Tiberius would not be tied to this oath.
“I, Lyvia Cantor, in return for your air oath, swear upon my last breath to assist you, Kellan Astraeus, in the search for the bone of power tied to your bloodline and restore it to its chosen owner. My oath to you shall not break until the air of death escapes your lips, or my own.”
A gust of lilac wind spun around the room, sending strands flying wildly from my braid.
Lord Astraeus’s loose hair whipped around, shadowing my face from both sides.
Kellan’s gaze was hard on mine as air siphoned from our lungs, where it mingled for a moment in the small space between us and shot into our mouths as we gasped. An exchange of breath.
Lord Astraeus’s eyes darted between mine as he caught his breath, our breath, his chest rapidly expanding, the wind tunnel around us settling.
My eyes reluctantly traced the striking lines of his face.
I slowed my breathing as my heart raced and noticed a small tug of air laced with notes of cedar and leather drifting from the man before me.