36. Kiera
THIRTY-SIX
KIERA
“ I s she joking? ” Jaxus asked in mind speech as Gran guided him to the place of honor at the head of the table. That used to be reserved for her husband and now was only given to my father when he visited or only the most special guests.
“She often jokes, jests, and pokes fun at but never promises that which she does not mean.” I tucked one leg under myself as I sunk into a cushion. The nostalgia hit me in the chest. I’d blocked out how much I’d missed this place. Just to sit at Gran’s table again provided such a comfort.
“Do healers like to speak in riddles?” Jaxus’ golden eyes bore into the side of my cheek, and I cast him a glance. “What did she mean by hostile?”
“She was exaggerating. No one wishes you any harm.” I didn’t want to scare him. Healers were more bark than bite, like dragons were .
Jaxus gave me a pointed look. “I’ll have to win them over then.” His attitude was precious, and I didn’t want to dash it.
The rest of the guests filtered in while we bantered back and forth in our minds, leaving only Casimir absent.
Jaxus and I kept our private back and forth going between polite conversation with Gran’s sister, Casimir’s parents, and his older brother, Ziven.
“As Gran said, healers only like our own, and there is no changing it.”
“I seemed to have changed your mind quite well.” His mind voice curled around me, alluring with the promises of more.
“May the Goddess favor you. ” I gave him a playful smile while he narrowed his eyes.
But before he could speak, Casimir strolled in.
“Pardon me. I got stuck in surgery.” He tipped his head at Gran and then turned to do the same to the other head of the table, but he stopped short, a growl of sorts coming from his throat in response to finding Jaxus in the honored position. It was nothing like the animal sound that Jaxus could create when he was riled.
“And who do we have the pleasure of as our honored guest this evening?” Casimir knew, but he wouldn’t say so.
“This is Kiera’s flyer. I’m sure you heard the news.” Amusement played in Gran’s voice.
Casimir assessed Jaxus in a cold and calculating manner before he offered his hand. Jaxus stood and took it, and they looked like two roosters placed in a ring to fight. Both puffed up and assessing each other.
“It’s a pleasure to make your acquaintance,” Casimir said at length.
“Likewise.”
It took far too long for them to release each other and take their seats—Casimir with his next to mine, eliciting a sneer from Jaxus .
Casimir locked eyes with Jaxus and slipped his arm around me. “And how are you feeling, my betrothed? Do you fare well after your illness? I was so worried when word reached us. I would have made plans to travel to the First Kingdom to heal you myself, but I was needed here.”
Jaxus squared his shoulders and pressed his lips into a firm line.
I tried not to look at him as I leaned away from Casimir, not wanting him to get too comfortable in that position. “Much better, thank you. There was no need for you to come to the First Kingdom. I was in good hands and I know how much you dread your rotations at the capital.”
“I do not dread them—” Casimir began, but he was cut off by the first course being brought to the table.
The serving staff set the first plate in front of us all at the same time. The gold-rimmed dishes each held a tiny mushroom in the center. An exquisite delicacy only found by wharf birds in Calanthe.
“How you spoil us, Rosemary.” Casimir smiled, his red hair falling over his brow.
“It’s nothing. I still have a few tricks up my sleeve to procure the best.” Gran smirked, loving the notoriety of surprising her guests.
“What is this?” Jaxus hissed in my mind.
“It’s a delicacy,” I replied.
“It’s one mushroom, Firefly. One very tiny mushroom,” he said, bemused, studying his plate. When he looked up at me across the table, I almost burst out laughing. “They do know I’m a dragon, right?”
“There will be more,” I chuckled. “Calm down and eat your tiny mushroom.”
“If I’m only served one tiny mushroom at a time, I’m going to eat your betrothed before we are finished. ”
My eyes flashed to his and I gave him a tiny shake of his head. “Do not make me laugh.”
“What kept you, Casimir?” Violet, his mother, asked, breaking my conversation with the hungry dragon. “Surely your replacement could have handled whatever the issue was?”
“It was a child who’d been struck on the crown of his head with a dropped tree limb. The repair was complicated and needed my hands.” Casimir didn’t brag needlessly. He was the best, and if the child’s life was in danger, he needed to stay.
I used to envy the specialty he possessed. It made sense that the elders wanted our lines united.
“Did it go well?” I asked. “Should you have left?”
“Kiera, come now, it’s me, of course it went well.” He smiled his smarmy smile. “He will recover. The scar might be large, but he will retain full function.”
It was hard for me to believe I’d found him charming once. Over the years, his head had swelled with his own self-importance. These days, I wondered how I ever felt that way. It now seemed so arrogant compared to Jaxus’ easy demeanor. He really was insufferable. He thought so highly of himself and had deemed himself so indispensable here that he hadn’t considered coming to the bedside of his ‘betrothed’ for more than a passing moment. It was typical of him, not that I would have wanted to see him when I had Jaxus to care for me so well.
“It reminded me of that patient we had while we were training, Kiera. Do you remember? The head surgeon said there was nothing more that could be done, but they just hadn’t met me yet, had they?”
I groaned internally. There was that self-importance.
“Something wrong?” Jaxus asked in my mind.
I shot him a look.
“He seems lovely, by the way. Really humble.” Jaxus added .
I stifled what would have been a snort laugh and pointedly didn’t look Jaxus’ way as I replied. “If you watch carefully, I think you can actually see his head going up a size right in front of your eyes.”
Casimir turned to me. “You can tell it better, love. I was too absorbed with saving the lad’s life to fully witness how miraculous it was.”
Love? Where had that come from? Was he attempting to mark his territory? If so, it was a weak effort. I wrinkled my nose, not at all liking this side of him.
Jaxus leaned forward with his hands folded, elbows on the table and his chin on his fists. His smile was all feigned interest. “Yes, Firefly, do tell.”
Oh, shit.
Now that’s how you mark your territory!
I loved it.
Casimir whipped his head towards Jaxus at his casual use of my childhood name. Disgust came off him in waves. I almost choked on my tiny mushroom.
“Arsehole,” I chided through our bond, but I couldn’t hide the amusement in my voice, even in my head.
The tension broke when our plates were cleared, and Gran shifted the subject.
“Tell us more about becoming a ryder, Kiera,” she said loudly to the room. Throwing me out of the frying pan straight into the fire.
Casimir’s father made a small sound of disapproval. “Yes, it’s most unheard of. Tell us how you intend to balance that with your healing duties.”
I cleared my throat and glanced at Jaxus. He gave me a supportive smile.
“Well, as you know, it’s still quite new, so I have not yet fully worked out how it will fit together. For a while, we had so much disruption in the palace, what with Kol’s death and the revelation that Octavian had been corrupt. Plus, we are so short on healers in the capital that I’ve been extremely busy, and we had hardly come to terms with the changes when I was poisoned. My hope is that things settle down now so that we can really start figuring things out.”
“How do you hope to fit it all in if you are so busy?” Casimir’s mother chimed in.
“I hope the council will send more healers soon, but actually, Jaxus has come up with a very clever plan which puts the flyers and their ryders to good use and gives them some training they will find beneficial in the field.” I smiled at him proudly.
“What kind of plan?” she asked.
“Some of the day-to-day tasks that take up a healer’s time in a busy city, such as prep work and housekeeping, are now being done by our new volunteers, which gives the healers much more time for the essential works we are trained for.”
“You have flyers making medicines?” Casimir’s father spluttered.
“Indeed, and some of them are very good at it. In return, we will teach them field techniques that could save lives when there is no healer on hand.”
“Preposterous! Your father would never hear of it. Healing is sacred.”
“Actually, my father is in full support. He’s very impressed with Jaxus’ ideas. I expect he will present to the council in the near future about implementing the idea elsewhere.”
As pockets of disparaging chatter began around the table, Casimir suddenly brought his hand down on the table. Everything jumped and rattled, including my heart, at the outburst. “Oh, for pity’s sake, Kiera. When are you going to stop this nonsense and come home?”
I turned slowly towards him, trying to keep my cool. “Excuse me?”
“Don’t play innocent with me. You don’t need to live there. I’ve let you have your freedom, but enough is enough. It’s time to come home and wed, fulfill your duties. You’ll go to the capital occasionally on rotation like we all do, but your obligations are here, and to our union. It’s time you met them.” The way he said union made my skin crawl.
The whole room was ominously silent save for a low growl coming from the head of the table.
“I don’t think you understand, Casimir,” I began. “I’ve been called to be a ryder. That’s no longer an option.”
“You can’t forever remain in Amaya!” Casimir exclaimed, horrified. He scraped his chair back and stood, all pretense of civility gone.
Jaxus got swiftly and silently to his feet. He had a grace no fae of his size should have. “It’s the law. Would you go against the King?”
I jumped up to put myself between them, not sure how it would go. “I have to,” I told Casimir. “All ryders are required to.”
“So what does this mean for us?” Casimir’s upper lip curled in disgust.
“Surely—” I side-glanced at Gran, not sure what I was expected to say.
“Surely what?” Casimir stepped closer to me.
“Surely things are different now? The King—” I tried but I wasn’t sure what I could even say. This was unprecedented.
“We will petition the King. We have treaties in place. He cannot prevent our marriage, nor will he be able to keep you from bearing children—” Casimir kept speaking, but my ears buzzed.
“I guess then you’ll have to move to the capital—” Jaxus said through his teeth but finished his thought only between us. “Where I can beat you to death with a tiny mushroom when you don’t shut up.”
“We will invoke our rights. You won’t have to live in the capital. He can’t keep you there forever. It violates our treaty.” Casimir slammed his hands down on the table.
“The treaty is countermanded by the ryder covenant,” I tried to say, but I was cut off by Casimir’s father.
“That is not stated anywhere. We have laws and agreements that govern healers above all else to keep the stability of all the kingdoms. We are a finite resource that must be protected. If you must have your flyer, he can be here with you while you are doing your duty to your line.” He turned to Casimir. “Son, I don’t think you should allow her to return. If she is in the king’s clutches, it will be much harder to have her returned to you.”
I set my teeth. “I have work there I have to complete. I cannot move back here. I only came back to rest and?—”
Casimir cut me off again. “If you still need to rest, surely they are overworking you and risking your health.” He stepped into me, his hand coming to rest on my shoulder. “We need to protect our kind. You are an asset.”
“I am a fae, not an asset.” I shoved his hand off me and tried to push past him, but he grasped my wrist and tried to pull me into him.
I drew in a breath, about to lose my temper, but I didn’t have time.
Casimir was slammed into the wall next to me with Jaxus’ fingers coiled tightly around his throat, his feet dangling inches from the ground.
Jaxus radiated heat, his skin shimmered gold, and his eyes changed. All dragon. Magic coiled around his fists, and the threads between us tightened, his power and mine swirling together.
“Touch her again without her consent, and I’ll break every one of your fingers. If you even think to raise your voice to her and I will do more damage to your precious bloodline than you ever dreamed possible. ”
“She is my—” Casimir started, his voice a strained squeak, but Jaxus flexed his fingers and cut him off completely.
Jaxus glanced at me. “If you wish me to have restraint, Firefly, now is the time to tell me.”
I shook my head. “No.” I didn’t want to prevent him from doing anything. He returned his focus to Casimir.
The rest of the guests looked on, aghast but unwilling to challenge the barely constrained dragon in our midst.
“She is your nothing,” Jaxus hissed. “You do not control her. You will not attempt to keep her here. I will see that she has autonomy. She is my ryder. She is bonded to me. I will feel it any fucking time you are close to her. Any time she is upset or her magic is pulled. If you so much as breathe in her direction, I will know. So watch yourself, healer, because I’m watching too. Do you understand me?” Fire licked at his lips, singeing the tips of Casimir’s hair.
Casimir tried to nod, but the hand on his throat prevented any movement or sound from leaving his throat.
As fast as he’d grabbed him, Jaxus let him go, and he slid to the ground. He stayed in a seat against the wall, clasping his throat and taking deep, scratchy breaths.
Jaxus pressed his eyes closed and breathed, shoulders heaving. “I need to leave before I burn this entire city to the ground,” he said quietly, only for my ears. Then he turned and left before I could stop him.
I turned to Gran, searching her face.
“Follow your heart, Firefly.”