Chapter 9 #2
He’s estimated two days’ ride if we push it, three if we’re slow. I didn’t want to be slow.
We leave Nettle and Sara, the horses Lyle took to Kirrasia, with Calix and Kyra.
Lyle doesn’t bid us farewell or even wish us luck. It’s as if everything Kalan shared and revealed has broken whatever she was holding onto, and the only thing that would mend it would be having Ever back. That’s just my theory.
There’s a part of me that sympathises with her—I feel like a part of me is missing, too. But Lyle left Ever to deal with so many things alone. She was banished, and just… took it. Even knowing Ever was a Fifth. Even knowing what she might face.
Lyle can live with that now and deal with making her own amends when we bring Ever back.
“Which direction?” Crimson asks Kalan when we’re finally set.
“West, until we meet a fork in the river. We’ll cross there. Stay off the trails.” She nods and, without even a goodbye to Calix, races off west.
“You’ll have to watch her. Her power will drain here, and it’s still over a week away from the full moon,” Kalan grunts to me.
“She’ll be fine. She’s a Warrior. Come on.” I repeat Crimson’s words.
I nod to Calix and Kyra and press my heels into the flanks of my new horse to follow in Crimson’s tracks.
Kalan sets a fast pace, but after crossing the fork in the river, Crimson sets off again. We’ve made good time, and dusk is still hours away.
There’s been little conversation past the obvious directions and adjustments, but the growing number of questions about Kalan and his role in all of this does nothing to help my mind settle.
Rather, embers spark one after another, driving me to distraction, because there are still too many dark gaps to burn through.
“I won’t ask you anything that might betray your loyalty to Ever. But how did no one know this was coming? There hasn’t been a Fifth—”
“Since Ever and Fenix were born. No.”
“If the Orders knew, why didn’t they help her?” I think back to the argument with my father. What was he busy keeping protected behind years of secrets? He knew about Ever being a Fifth, but why are they so worried about her?
“They… only knew so much. Once Ever showed up, they would have known immediately who she was. Elex didn’t make friends, least of all the Heads of Orders. They lived through what happened last time. They would want to keep her as incapacitated as possible.”
“They tried. Are they frightened of her?”
Kalan doesn’t answer. Fine.
“Ever heard the name Elex. She thinks it’s her father.”
Kalan looks at me this time, but still doesn’t confirm. He doesn’t need to, though, and I don’t need to poke around his emotions to read him, not with the surprise in his eyes.
So Elex is her father.
“It’s going to be a really long fucking journey if you’re not going to talk.”
“You’ve got your wish. I’m taking you. What more do you want?”
“Look, my friend nearly died trying to protect Ever. I was banished because I was helping her. We all want to see her safe, and you’ve done nothing but feed us scraps of information, all of which only incriminate you in deceiving her.
The Orders tried to keep her in the dark, and that failed.
You think she’s not practising or working out how to use her magic?
She is. We were helping her. But we don’t have any real idea of what a Fifth can do.
So, for once, it would be nice to know what we’re up against. If not for Ever, then because of what’s waiting for us across the sea.
Because so far, nothing has fucking worked.
She’s at every disadvantage, and that’s unacceptable.
You say you want to keep her safe, then do it.
” My knuckles whiten as I grip the reins.
“Are you done?”
“Yes.” No.
“You love her?”
“Yes.” The hollow at my chest where she belongs—our connection belongs—beats as if in response, punctuating my response, never letting me forget where she’s meant to be.
How I can miss her so much after only knowing her for a few months is infuriating, but the alternative is never going to happen. I’ve seen the possibility, and there’s nowhere in this world that she can go that I won’t follow to ensure that vision never comes true.
“What has the Maker told you?”
“The Maker? That’s none of your—”
“If you meant anything you just spouted at me, it means everything. You think any of this has happened by chance? What has she told you?” His gruff voice begs no room for argument this time. He pauses, for dramatic effect, apparently.
Fine. “She told me I’ll have a journey to make.” Check. “And a choice that will play a part in shaping Kirrasia.”
“Hmm. Is that it?”
“That’s the important highlight. Have I passed your test?”
Kalan pulls his horse to a stop, earning a disgruntled neigh from the steed. “This isn’t a test, boy. You have no idea what is at stake.”
“Because you won’t fucking tell me.” My horse stomps the ground, backing up at the anger growing between Kalan and me.
“Ever’s parents and who they are is a story I will only tell her, but—” He pauses, and for the first time, I see the weight of the secrets he himself is hiding. “They were both Fifths.”
I take the information and add it to everything else I know. “The Maker told me that it was Ever’s role to bear all of Aslendrix’s power. Do you know what that means?”
“I think it may mean that history is going to repeat itself. No matter what we’ve set in motion. And Ever and Fenix will be at the heart of it.” He kicks his horse forward, and they leap into a sprint.
Guess he’s found his urgency now.