Chapter Twelve
Blood Bargain
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The Upper States, Vrethian.
Naal.
‘They dare…? They dare to make entertainment out of her execution?’
Naal watched Winvara pace the study, her face set with explosive anger.
To an outsider, she was quite terrifying in this state, and Naal was quite glad there was not a weapon in sight, for Winvara had been quite the lethal soldier in her warrior days.
It was a relief, truth be told, that Win’s rage was not directed at her for once.
Not that Naal was afraid of her.
Win had already smashed a vase and thrown a bottle of ink across the room, all the while her perfectly kempt hair was slowly falling from its knot. She was erratic and wild, angry and unloveable in this state.
And yet.
‘Win,’ Naal said softly.
‘They dishonour her and in doing so they dishonour this family! Does their disrespect know no bounds? Filthy humans always taking whatever they want!’
‘Surely you did not think they would give her a fair trial? The opportunity was too good for them to miss,’ Naal said incredulously. ‘You must have expected this?’
‘Are you suggesting I neglected my granddaughter to the gallows?’
‘Of course not,’ said Naal. ‘Though your anger surprises me. I did not think you had any sort of relationship with Kyraena.’
‘So you took that to believe I wished my granddaughter dead?’ The blaze of fury alight in Win’s eyes could have made a grown man soil himself.
Naal, however, did not flinch. ‘I did not say that. Do not put words in my mouth.’
Win pointed a shaking finger at her. ‘And I have told you before, you do not talk about my relationship with my own blood.’
Ignoring the empty threat, Naal said coolly, ‘Kyraena survived today. Allow yourself to feel happy about that, at least. Even if you will not see her.’
The muscles in Win’s jaw worked hard as she tried to navigate a retort. ‘She… I… of course I’m happy she survived!’ she bellowed. ‘Do you truly think so little of me?’
‘I have never thought little of you, Win. Never.’
‘Stop doing that.’
‘Doing what?’
‘Talking like that,’ Win spat, and a flicker of fear crossed her features. ‘As though nothing has changed between us.’
There it was. The wild fury, the misplaced blame…
that was what it all came down to. ‘Nothing did change for me, Winvara. You have known this, whether you choose to accept it or not. I feel the same now as I did the day I met you. The only thing that has changed is the greying of our hair and the wrinkling of our skin.’
Win did not smile, though of course, Naal hadn’t expected her to. After a moment of glaring, the breath heavy in her chest, Win sat down behind her desk. ‘What is to become of Kyraena? Where will you take her?’ she asked, her voice now quiet yet clipped.
Naal leaned back against the door, glad that the whirling storm was now passing. ‘We will go back to Phaenon, to the temple, and I will train her in her magic. It is volatile and turbulent… I can feel it in the air around her. She will need careful guidance.’
‘Will you tell her? Of the prophecy?’
Naal nodded slowly. ‘In time.’
‘And are you any closer to learning the rest of it?’ Win said with barely veiled condemnation.
The question set Naal’s teeth on edge. One hundred and fifty years had passed and still Gallena, nor any of the Four, had revealed to her the second half of the prophecy that Orro Myrso had overheard during the war.
Win’s cynicism was not unjustified, but it was not helpful.
‘No,’ she grudgingly admitted. ‘Though I assure you, I have not grown complacent with my quest for that knowledge. Word of a new Earth Warden will travel fast. I would not put it past Empress Azar to already know of the news; her spies are everywhere, particularly here. War is coming again, Win. I do not know when nor how it will begin, but I have no doubt the Empress will act sooner rather than later. She has been sitting on this war for a long time, waiting for the right moment to ignite the fire. Kyraena will have a part to play in the battles ahead.’
Win gripped her hands tightly together. ‘Where is she now?’
‘Outside of the estate by the river.’ Naal paused. ‘Do you… wish to see her?’
The hands gripped even tighter. Win’s eyebrows furrowed.
The icy mask of indifference she had spent years developing was slipping, and beneath it was a grief too great to completely cover.
Naal saw right through to the heart of it, mask or not.
‘No,’ Win finally said, her voice little more than a whisper now.
‘Some things are too fractured to attempt to piece back together.’
Naal knew she was not just talking about Kyraena now. A cold wave washed over her. ‘As you wish,’ she said, her hand grasping the door handle and pulling it open.
‘Naal.’
Eyes stinging at the sound of her name on Winvara’s lips, Naal paused in the doorway.
Win’s voice was as broken as the vase scattered all over the floor as she said, ‘Keep her safe.’
Naal could not help but look at her then. There was barely contained sorrow on Win’s face, and Naal’s heart shattered to witness it. ‘As though she were my own,’ she vowed. ‘By the Four, I swear she will come to no harm.’
Foolish to promise such a thing with war looming ever closer. Yet, as some of the distress in Win’s eyes melted, she did not care. She would say anything if it meant alleviating that deep anguish in those eyes she had always loved.
Would always love.
Win nodded once, then looked determinedly out of the window.
Swallowing the hard lump in her throat, Naal forced herself to leave.
To shut the door and flee the manor house before she damned Kyraena, damned the whole world to a fate of blood and fire and ash and stayed right there in that room forever with the earthling female who still, after all this time, had her heart.
She would be glad to see the back of Vrethian. Aside from Winvara, there was nothing in this corner of the world that made her soul smile. The humans, specifically in Avaldale, had turned it into a place of ruinous hostility.
As she approached the river, ready to depart for the ship waiting in the harbour, Kyraena was nowhere to be found. Rosary was still there, however. She stood as Naal drew closer.
‘Where is Kyraena?’ Naal asked her cautiously.
Rosary gave a grim smile. ‘It’s just Kyra. She had something she needed to take care of. She said she would meet you in the harbour.’
How had it been a mere hour and Kyraena had already failed at following instruction? Naal pushed the thought away. ‘Where is she?’
Rosary shrugged, though Naal knew her ignorance was a lie. Her loyalty to Kyraena was most vexing, though admittedly admirable. ‘Very well. It was a pleasure meeting you, Rosary. I hope our paths cross again.’
‘I’m sure they will,’ she agreed, then with an amused smirk said, ‘Just a heads up… don’t expect Kyra to be an easy student. She’s not known for her conformity.’
Gallena save her. Naal smiled tightly. ‘I appreciate the warning.’
Swinging her satchel over her shoulder, Rosary paused, her eyes turning glassy. ‘Please… please keep her safe.’
For the second time, Naal bowed her head in a promise, and wondered if Kyraena knew just how much she was loved.
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Kyra.
Kyra was waiting. Patiently, or as patiently as was possible, for Lady Lilion Perdy.
She’d stopped by her old house to pick up a cloak she’d left behind, less thick and heavy than the one she’d lost that fateful night, but hooded and long enough to sneak into the Arc unnoticed.
The pits were void of its normal gambling rabble this early in the evening, and it was eerily quiet below the arena without the stamping of hundreds of feet and hoarse cheers.
Lilion’s office was a shrine. Trinkets of gold, silver, brass and crystal alike all sat on stacked shelves in an orderly fashion.
It was like sitting in a museum of splendour, though she knew each item had to have had a bloody history to wind up on Lady Lilion’s shelves.
Spoils of her conquests of men and women who had wronged her, compensation for betrayal in the form of these valuable oddities.
Kyra had picked the lock with ease, a little trick Rosary had taught her a long time ago, and slunk into the room to wait for her former employer.
The magical barrier at the door had broken as she’d stepped through the threshold, no doubt alerting Lilion to the break-in.
But it didn’t matter. The sooner Lilion arrived, the sooner Kyra could turn her back on her and this place of fucking misery and death for good.
The handle pulled down, and the door was cautiously pushed open. Lilion stood there, in her usual sweeping, elegant black, her beady eyes landing on Kyra right away and significantly widening. She closed the door behind her. ‘Kyra… what a pleasant surprise. I didn’t think I would see you again.’
Slowly, Kyra stood.
She ran her hand along the shelf behind Lilion’s desk, knocking every trinket off its surface, each landing on the stone floor with a ringing clang. Some were glass, and they smashed brilliantly.
Lilion’s expression hardened. ‘Is there a reason you have returned, or are you simply here to destroy my office?’
‘Oh, this?’ Kyra said innocently, knocking another trophy from its home. ‘This is just to piss you off.’
Lilion moved into the room with delicately controlled grace. ‘I am glad you survived.’
‘Why? Already thinking about how much people might pay to see the Earth Warden fight?’
‘So, Miss Talbot was telling the truth,’ Lilion said in a hushed voice, an odd excitement twinkling in her eyes. ‘How wonderful.’
‘I didn’t think you believed in the Four,’ Kyra said, frowning.
Lilion fiddled with a black ring on her gloved hand.
‘Just because I do not have faith in the Four does not mean I deny their existence. To do so would be folly. You are a prime example of Their power, standing before me.’ She looked up, and Kyra was horrified to see tears glistening in her eyes. ‘I am so proud of you, Kyra.’