21. Chapter 21
Chapter twenty-one
Denora arrived at dawn with two wooden swords in one hand and a few clementines in the other.
“Sugar is important before training,” she said, tossing me one of the plump citrus fruits.
I dressed in my leather bodice and pants again. Two parallel braids pulled tight against the side of my head adorned my temple. That was the extent of grooming for today.
Kaed being taken away last night should have been a blessing for me and my escape attempts yet to come. But my guilt gnawed at me so hard I felt it scraping at my bones. I couldn’t just leave him there to rot if this was my doing.
If I could help him and clear my conscience, I would.
But there was also the matter of what his father had set in motion. Shutting down the trade routes seemed reckless by anyone’s standard and might make my own journey across the Four Corners more difficult. I hadn’t given up on my family. The family I knew I had. Somewhere.
But breaking down trade, it went both ways.
Could Hayden survive without trading with the other three corners of the continent?
How many people relied on Hayden or traded with the North?
How did Kaed—or his father—hold that much sway with the Crown of Hayden?
Kaed was a lord in his own right. And seemingly important enough to travel with two sentinels of Hayden.
And it wasn’t cold indifference between them, as though this were purely a formal arrangement.
Where Kaed and his father fit into the Crown and its politics, I wasn’t sure, but I folded the question of Kaed’s place in the story into my mental notes.
He had power in Hayden, and not just magical.
The Crown, being the sole ruler of the Four Corners, was relatively new.
In its infancy by historical standards. So, to have the newly mended peace rocked by such a change in societal norms in one move was a huge political gamble.
Regardless of whether the fortress of Hayden could withstand a blockade or not, it meant Kaed was a prisoner in this city.
As Denora had explained, holding someone of such importance would be a key factor in their ability to open negotiations with Hayden.
There was no way they’d let him leave the city even if we could get him out today.
I followed Denora out, a little confused. We left the not-palace and wove through countless alleys and avenues I was never going to recognise or remember. My skill at detailed memory for places was not getting any better.
“Where are we going?”
Denora kept on, ignoring me or not hearing me. The result was the same. Silence.
“Shouldn’t we be focusing on Kaed?”
“No.” She turned, hiding a smile. “But I’ll tell him you asked for him.”
I was about to protest when Denora swung open a heavy iron gate that led up some stairs, cloistered by a curved ceiling hallway.
“Come,” she said as she led me up.
The tunnel opened up to reveal something that looked like a garden, but it was atop a building. Manicured lawns punctuated by pale stone slabs. Like markers erratically placed around the garden.
“What is this place?”
“Training grounds. It’s unlikely we will have company here today, so this is perfect for us,” Denora said as she threw the two swords onto the soft lawn and began peeling a clementine.
“What are those for?” I eyed the slabs in the grass.
She popped a segment into her mouth. “Footwork. The more advanced step work can be done on the north corner of the area.”
Footwork. Right. Swords. This was going to be a long day.
“Now hardly seems like the time for this,” I huffed.
“This is exactly the time for this.”
I folded my arms. I knew she was probably right, but it didn’t feel like it. My centre of reality was all off recently. I felt torn in so many directions even before this mess.
“Kaed wanted you to be able to defend yourself. He told me what happened.”
Her eyes were sorrowful. Knowing. As if she felt the pain first-hand.
“He might be an arrogant ass sometimes. But he does protect—”
“His investments. I know.” I finished with a roll of my eyes.
“Yes. I suppose you could say that.” She smiled.
“Well, he’s not here.”
“He’s not. No. He’s in the Cage.”
I winced. People kept saying that word like it hurt. It came up a lot last night when we’d all arrived back at the Alabaster Palace.
“And that’s the point. The city just arrested him for protecting you.”
“So we should be fixing that. Not here.” I gesticulated with vigour at the surroundings.
There was a pause, and Denora rested an elbow on her knee as she perched on a low wall. “What would you have done? If he hadn’t been there? If he hadn’t come when he did?”
The thought chilled my insides. The reality of what might have happened had been teetering on the precipice of my mind since I’d been healed by Celeste. And it terrified me.
I hadn’t found that piece of me that belonged. The part of me that had urged me to leave everything I knew. There was still a part of me that was going to fight for what I needed.
I wasn’t ready to die.
And I wasn’t ready to give up on my future.
Kaed had stood between me and that future. He stood between me and everything.
My freedom. Death.
Those men. Their lust for violence and brutality dripped from them like acid rain. I didn’t want to rely on someone else to save me.
I squared my shoulders and picked up one of the swords, testing the weight.
“I know you’re not trying to scare me. And I don’t like the truth that without Kaed or one of you around, I can’t defend myself.”
“So let’s change that.” She grinned at me and picked up the sword.
Everything hurt. I had bruises in places I didn’t know I could get bruises.
But Denora had been in a good mood, she said.
“I’d hate to see what your training looks like when you’re in a bad mood.”
She laughed with her whole face, and her short hair danced as she embraced the levity.
“Don’t worry. Those training days are reserved for Kaedian. He deserves them.”
I took a gulp of water from a canteen Denora had produced and drank greedily. “You really think I can get good enough at this?”
“Your footwork is excellent. Your sword work is good. We can improve it. You need to work on your awareness of your surroundings, though.” She was right on all counts. “There were a few times I beat you, and it was just because you weren’t paying attention.”
“My father—the man who raised me—was a smith.” I didn’t think she needed to know that distinction, but I gave it to her anyway. “That’s how I can use a sword at all. I’ve held one before.” I don’t know why I told her that, but it didn’t feel wrong to open up to her.
She just smiled at the proffered memory of my past. “You can do this. We all have the potential for change within us. It’s just about how we focus that potential. How we hone it.”
Denora walked me back, wooden swords crossed behind her neck. She was unapologetically herself, even in the streets of Viverna as merchants and children eyed us.
Before we even made it to the front doors of the house, Audrie came shooting out of them, a missive in her hand.
“They’ve asked for you.” She handed me the note. “The council. Just you. They don’t want anyone else.”
Denora looked at me, recognising the swirling riptide of panic that gripped me. “You will do fine. Just tell them what really happened.”
“I … It’s a blur.”
“But you can remember that Kaed stood between you and them? Tell them that. Someone is trying to paint it like he attacked you and carried you off.” I resisted the urge to scoff, as that is pretty much what he did the day we met.
Today was different, though. Today, I owed him my life because of my choices.
“And the men he attacked?” I chewed my lip.
“Kaed didn’t do it out of malice. He did it to protect you,” Denora affirmed. There was no wavering in her voice.
He’d gone back to attack them. He’d been with me while I healed, but I’d not seen him after he left me at the bathing chamber. He’d hunted them down.
Gavrin had stopped him before …
Audrie took my hand and squeezed.
“You sure you want his future resting with the female he kidnapped?” I chuffed a pathetic laugh.
Did I really want to be that person? I wasn’t sure how I felt that his fate rested with me. It would be different if Denora or Gavrin had to speak on his behalf and I just had to nod in agreement. This felt like too much rested with me.
“Don’t tell them that part, maybe.” Denora winked.
“You care about him. Really,” I said, eyeing her.
The statement sobered Denora instantly. “I do. He’s capable of good. In his way. He’s just not good at showing that. He … I am his sentinel. Hayden’s Head Sentinel. But Kaed is my friend first. He always has been. I owe him more than either of us cares to remember.”
I wanted to ask Denora more, but now wasn’t really the time if I’d been summoned. Maybe that’s why they travelled together. There was more to it than simply lord and armed escort.
Audrie smiled at her words. “It’s because of him that I’m here at all.”
That surprised me.
“Kaedian, he had seen me. Noticed me in the library. I was working in the castle in Hayden.” Audrie hesitated like it was a silly story no one wanted to hear. But with a nod from Denora, she continued.
“He’d wanted a book. I was able to give him the reference that he was looking for verbatim.
Even though he got the information he was after, he made me find the book to prove it was correct.
He actually didn’t say anything after that, but the next day there was a letter saying I was going to Viverna to study at the expense of his family. ”
“He saw your potential.” Pride coloured Denora’s voice.
I’d been prepared to be mad at Kaed for everything he’d put me through, but what Audrie and Denora had said softened a part of me.
But he was still the person who had upended my life.
I would release him.
We’d be even.