Chapter 16
Bael
Beware the Trickster God. Even when he appears to have folded one hand of cards, you may find yourself dealing with an entirely different hand if you blink.”
— ANCIENT IRON KINGDOM PROVERB
Avault door appears ahead of us, shiny with brass. A dozen runes circle the handle.
“This must be it,” Kari whispers, looking dismayed as she presses her hands against it.
“I’ve seen this before,” I tell the women. “The runes are a code. If you pick the right combination, it unlocks the door and the end of the maze should be on the other side.”
“But which ones do we press?” Zyla asks.
Kari squints at the runes. “A bridge. A lightning bolt. A maze. A full moon. Flames. A rose. A house. Ruins. A mask. A knife. A dragon. And… a whip? Is this some sort of language from your world?”
“Not one that I’m aware of, no.”
“Can you work it out?” Zyla asks Kari. “This is what you do, is it not?”
“Not codes, no. I translate languages.” Kari taps her lip.
“But this doesn’t seem like a language. Or is it…
a message? Wait.” She traces her fingers over the lightning bolt.
“Maybe it’s supposed to tell a story.” She glances at Zyla, her cheeks heating.
“Maybe it’s supposed to tell your story? What came first?”
“The full moon,” Zyla whispers.
Kari presses the rune, and it lights up, turning a pale, electric blue akin to lightning.
I release a breath. “It’s right. What next?”
“Lightning,” Zyla says, then points to the maze. “Then the Labyrinth. And then… a house.”
One by one the runes light up, until we’re left with the final one. The whip.
Kari clears her throat as she presses it. “Let us hope this is right.”
All twelve runes light up, the door grinding from within. Suddenly there’s a click.
“We did it!” Kari gasps, and Zyla grabs her hands and jumps up and down.
I set my weight into the handle, forcing it to turn.
The internal cogs whirl with a rusted squeal and then momentum sets it going.
The door swings wide, revealing a stunning garden filled with vivid blue and purple butterflies, and dozy bees.
It’s so unnatural it has to be a mirage and I wonder what this place truly looks like.
I slam the door shut behind us, spinning the wheel to lock it. The circular door is set into a hedge on this side, and the hedge runs in a circle around us. There’s no other way in. Or out.
“We did it,” I tell them. “We’re at the end of the maze.”
Three circular doors are set into a low stone wall across from us, ivy dripping over them. They weren’t there mere seconds ago.
“What now?” Kari asks.
“I’ve only ever encountered one door,” I reply. “Though if a bride wishes to go home, I call upon Kasaros and barter for a second door to lead her home.”
“There’s three doors. One for each of us,” Zyla says, crossing toward them. “Did you already barter with Kasaros?”
I shake my head.
“Then there are three choices to be made.”
The first is a stone arch, inscribed with silvery writings—the language of my people.
Through the arch I see the forests of home, and the stark, imposing mountain that makes up the highest peak of the Shadowfall Ranges, which overlooks Blackfyre Keep.
Little figures whirl in the sky over the distant mountains, and my heart twists as I make out the familiar figures of my brothers.
Home. Everything yearns within me to step through that door.
But that is not my choice.
I glance toward Zyla as she stares longingly at the middle door.
This one is made of wood and painted green.
Red roses climb the arch, filling the air with their gorgeous scent.
Through it stretches more forests, these ones carved of tall timbers that tower over the forest canopy, and a pair of grazing deer that look up, as if sensing danger.
I don’t need to see her expression to know this is her world.
“Oh,” says Kari, peering through the third door. It is made of ivory and glass, with roses blooming on each side. Beyond lies a chamber stacked high with scrolls. A steaming tea pot sits on a silver tray as if awaiting her.
“Home,” she breathes, her cheeks flushing.
“I offer you a choice,” I tell her. “I intended to claim you for my brother, Flynt. He is the last of my unmated brothers, and seeks a bride of his own. I won’t pretend there aren’t challenges in my kingdom—my people know little more than clan warfare—but you would be protected at all times, and cherished as one of us.
If you step through this door with me, then my brother could offer you a new world, a new life.
One filled with children—hopefully—and a home. But more than that, a family.”
Kari nibbles on a piece of her hair. Despite the fact she’s been considerably out of her depths since she arrived, she’s handled each challenge with aplomb.
Hope stirs. Flynt is wild and chaotic, a joker who always has a smile on his face.
I could see them together, his adventurousness drawing her out of her shell, and her sensible nature reining his in.
“We have a library,” I add.
Kari glances at Zyla, then back at her doorway.
“Ever since I arrived in this world I have hoped and prayed for a chance to go home. I’ve rarely been outside my father’s keep, and the only adventures I ever yearned for were the ones I could read in my books.
My father used to say I was useless to him as a spinster, that my only worth lay in what I could translate for him.
That I owed him that.” A shuddering breath escapes her.
“But then I met you, Zyla. And you showed me there was more to this life than the safety I had previously known. You showed me I do have more to give this world. I am not useless. I am not a coward.” She swallows hard and meets my gaze.
“And I’m terrified right now, but I also know that if I don’t take this risk, then I will never know if there is more to me. ”
Relief floods through me. “Then you’ll come with me?”
“Do I have to mate with him if I don’t like him?” she blurts.
“Of course not.”
A smile blooms on Kari’s face. “Then I would like to meet your brother, kind sir. If he’s half as handsome as you are, I should be delighted.”
There’s just one last dragon to slay. I turn to Zyla.
“I’m coming with you,” she says, before I can even open my mouth.
“To see your sister?”
Zyla arches a brow. “That is one of the reasons, yes.”
My heart sings, even as I shake my head. “I cannot take a mate. I’m a warlord. My entire life is battle, and I could not protect y—”
“You assume I need protecting,” Zyla cuts in. “If you chose the right mate, then would she not fight back-to-back with you? Would she not be your shield when you needed it, and thus your brother’s shield too? You would be keeping your oath to your mother as well as earning your own happiness.”
“Children—”
“If anyone touched my children,” she says as she bares her teeth, “then I would burn their kingdoms to the ground.”
The beast inside me rumbles its approval. She could almost be drei, this one. I knew it the moment I saw her in that cell. Utterly magnificent. Fearless. Impertinent. And so fucking beautiful my heart skipped a beat right then and there.
I’ve never yearned for someone for myself.
I’ve never dared.
You could break your oath to Kasaros.
It would invite the God’s disfavor. I don’t even know if I care anymore, for the way I feel about her… It would be worth any sacrifice.
“You’re a fool,” I breathe.
Zyla slides her hands up my chest. “Only for you.”
Capturing her face between my hands, I kiss her so deeply that it takes a moment to realize Kari is clearing her throat for the third time.
“I love you, my little lioness,” I whisper into her ear. “And if you’ll have me, then I will claim you, now and forever. I will destroy all who seek to harm you, and risk everything to put a smile on your face.”
“Now and forever,” she whispers fiercely. And then her cheeks heat, her gaze growing distant as if she’s struggling to work her way through her feelings. “I-I love you too.”
The words sear right through me, for I know how hard she had to work to get them out. This must terrify her—to deliberately make herself vulnerable for me.
I squeeze her hand. We’ll have many years together for her to heal and grow comfortable with the emotions within her.
“I am trying not to listen,” Kari says loudly, staring deliberately at the sky. “But perhaps we should venture through the doorway so you can both procure a room.”
Kari grabs Zyla’s hand and the two of them whirl toward the door.
A bee buzzes past.
Then another.
The drone of them becomes a slightly threatening undertone, and I’m halfway to the doorway before I realize we’re no longer alone.
Thousands of bees stream together, sweeping into a tall figure that stands between us and the portal to my home.
Kasaros.
I push past, planting myself between the God and the women.
“Well, well, well,” he says, as the bees darken and become a masked figure wearing a cloak. Their drone cuts off obliquely as he bows to us. “What luck. You’ve defeated my maze, destroyed your enemies and burned down half my Labyrinth.”
“It was one building,” Zyla growls, shoving her way to my side.
“And now you’ve come to claim your final reward,” Kasaros laughs, gaze locking on me. “But the problem is… only two may receive passage through each door. A bride. And a hunter. You must make a choice, drei prince. Your beloved huntress. Or your brother’s future mate.”
Zyla
Bael freezes and as he turns to me I see the pain in his expression, the dilemma in his heart. It’s not his love for me that I doubt. It’s his belief that he comes first. That he should also be rewarded in this life, rather than being merely his brothers’ guardian.
This was never a choice between me and Kari.
It’s a choice between his brothers and himself.
And there is no answer that will not break him.
I take the decision away from him, stepping closer and capturing the collar of his shirt. “Look at me.”