Chapter 4
Four
Roman
I wake before dawn, darkness still lining every corner of my chamber and yet for the first time in weeks, I feel rested. Galen’s breaths tickle the back of my neck, his slender arms and legs intertwined in mine. I’m not sure what time he came back to my chambers, I must’ve been asleep already. He’s always slipping away, planning his next move.
Our next move.
I don’t ask questions when he’s away. I suppose that’s cowardly, to not ask questions, but I’ve never pretended to be brave. Even as a king.
“Why are you awake,” Galen grumbles from behind me. He’s always had a keen sense about him, knowing things when maybe he shouldn’t. Like that I’m awake, when I should be sleeping. Or how I’m feeling when I haven’t offered a word. His intuition is one of the first things that drew me to him.
“No idea.” I turn to face him. His eyes pop open, and I scoot forward so my nose brushes against his. “You were gone awhile.”
He nods but says nothing.
I run my hand through his hair, pushing the blonde locks out of his face, then down the side of his cheek until it rests upon his shoulder. I twist the hair at the nape of his neck. “When do you leave again?”
“After the Autumn Moon.” Galen runs his hand along my bare arm. I close my eyes at the softness in his touch. Savoring it. “If the Guild’s come this time, I want to be here for it. Having their support will change everything. I need you to convince them this time. Make them see our vision.”
Now it’s my turn to stay silent.
I don’t want to talk about what I need to do. How I must convince the Guilds that we need their support to show the people of Valebridge that what we’ve been working toward is dignified. They have denied my invitation to the Autumn Moon for the last four years, have denied their duties to report to Valebridge on the happenings of their respective Guilds. Have disrespected me as their king.
The thought of their rejection yet again makes my stomach clench with nerves.
Galen strokes a piece of hair from my forehead, bringing forth a contented sigh and washing away any thoughts of self doubt. Reading my emotions like a book he’s studied his entire life.
I revel in our quiet moments. His body is secure and strong next to mine. A lifeline through so many painful moments in years past.
Though our time together has been few and far between these days, it’s so easy to get lost in it. To forget what is happening just outside my door, to my people.
“The Enchantresses are not your people.” Galen once told me.
Maybe they’re not.
Maybe there would have been an uprising after all, and if we hadn’t been proactive, more people could have died. Far more than the first uprising before my time as King. More people just like his sister, Rose.
Galen has written us in a way of saviors, and I’m a fool to have believed him.
Perhaps I'm still a fool. Blatantly ignoring the harm we’ve done. Especially now with the new prisoner to deal with.
“We need to discuss?—”
“No,” Galen says. “No more discussion tonight.”
His hand makes its way to the back of my neck as he draws me in. His lips find mine in the darkness with ease. His mouth is warm, soft, and I part my lips even further as the intensity of his kiss grows. I run my fingers through his hair again, gripping the strands and pulling him on top of me. “I have missed you,” he says, lighting a fire in my stomach.
I need him closer, because I know when this ends, he’ll be gone again. And we’ll slip into our roles. Galen as the quiet leader of our plans, and I as the corrupt king leading a country that despises me.
I chase the thought away and bury my fears into kissing him. His strong hands run over my bare chest, through my hair. Every touch ignites fire upon my skin. I moan against his lips, our tongues meeting briefly as his hand wanders down my body, memorizing the sculpted muscles of his arms and torso. My stomach flips as he pulls at the strings of my pants, but my heart breaks just as violently.
He’s leaving again.
He’s done it again.
Hurt someone.
I push the thoughts into the farthest, most shadowed recesses of my mind, and I kiss him and kiss him, until I’m drowning in the touch of his skin and the taste of his tongue.
Everything else can wait, everything else is secondary.
Right now, there is only this.
Only him.
The sun has risen to mid sky by the time I make it out of bed, Galen up long before me. With only a few weeks until the Autumn Moon, there’s so much work to be done. Invitations to be sent. But if we’re to convince the Guilds we need their support, we must break ground on the Dyrsjel magick. Without it, our promises of unlimited power and magick will be unfulfilled and we can’t risk losing more of their trust.
“I think I’ll question the new prisoner myself,” I say when I emerge from the bathing chamber.
“Oh?” Galen shouts from behind the wall, still finishing up in the bath.
“Perhaps it’s time for a fresh set of eyes.” Harvesting magick hasn’t always been smooth. It was messy, at first, using the enchanted blade of Galen’s own crafting to expel the magick inside each Enchantress. But with the years we’ve had to practice, Galen has practically mastered it.
All but this Dyrsjel it would seem.
I run my fingers over the purple amulet that hangs from my neck. It pulses against my touch, full of magick that was never meant to be mine.
Ours .
Wet slaps sound from the bathing chamber as Galen plants his feet on the marble floor. It takes only a few seconds until he’s in my main room, nothing but a cloth wrapped loosely around his waist.
“Do you not trust that I’m handling it?” He crosses his arms and leans against the doorframe. “And why do you care how long it takes? I said it would be done and it will.”
Why do I care?
Maybe because for the last five years Galen has withheld so much from me. Maybe because even though the magick we have harvested together has proven successful, and we have been able to wield it, I don’t quite understand how this Dyrsjel magick has taken so long to harvest. Or maybe I care because I don’t want anyone else to get hurt. Maybe because deep down a part of me wishes to be the one with the upper hand.
“Of course, I trust you can handle it.” I slip into my dark blue tunic and pants. “But this is different. There’s a much more powerful magick at hand here and seeing as how it’s been weeks of failed attempts, maybe it’s time to change things up. You can’t always be doing everything , let me help.”
I cast him a smile but it’s left unreturned.
“I don’t need your help with this.” He turns and dresses himself quickly.
Heat spreads over my cheeks and down the back of my neck at how quickly he dismisses me.
“We need to stay our course,” he says, finishing up the ties on his black shirt. “The plan has always been to find the Dyrsjel, then the Stones. Your involvement isn’t needed for either of those things. I can handle harvesting her magick on my own.”
“I am still your king,” I say, squaring my shoulders. I hate the words as soon as they leave my mouth. Galen has never been a subject to me. He’s my partner. The root of my heart. But his blatant dismissal lights a fire in my veins. Mostly because he knows how often I am already dismissed by others. I can handle it, the way people look at me. The whispers of inadequacy. But from him, it strikes deep, leaving me tending to a wound that has worked so long to heal.
His glacial eyes snap to mine. Then, his features soften and once more returns the man I love. “Of course, little bird.”
His nickname sends a shiver down my spine.
“My little bird, always trapped in a cage. Let me be the one to set you free.”
He crosses the room so that he stands just inches away. “All I’m saying is you haven’t always been fond of the part that comes next. Because her magick is so much more stubborn, we’ll have to break her walls?—”
“You mean hurt her.” I cross my arms across my chest. I’m tired of these games. The twist of tongue that’s intended to make me feel better about what we’re doing, as if I cannot handle the full truth.
Galen’s eyes shift again, narrowing, showing that other side of him I know lives just beneath the surface. “If it comes to that, then yes. We’ll hurt her if we need to. But it’s a small sacrifice for what we’ve been working toward.” He plants his hand around my forearm. “Her magick will give us the power to wield the Stones and after that, we’ll have no need for Enchantresses anymore. This will all be over. Justice will be paid and you, little bird, will be a very powerful man.” Leaning forward, he places a gentle kiss on my lips.
He says it in such a way that I always believe what we are doing is for the good of the people. Guilt washes over me for questioning his motives. I know he mourns the loss of his sister. Wishes to rectify her untimely death at the hands of an inexperienced Enchantress Healer, but how many innocent lives is worth the loss of one?
“And what will you have me do?” I wriggle free of his grip. “Simply let the Enchantresses go? They will never forgive us.”
“They won’t need to.” Galen cuts me short, making his point vividly clear.
They won’t need to forgive us because when we have control of the Stones, the Enchantresses will cease to exist.
“You’re talking about murdering…hundreds of people, Galen.” My stomach twists itself into a tight knot. It isn’t as though our hands have been clean all these years. We’ve killed many in the process of learning to harvest magick. And once their magick has been drained... But to line them up for execution… I shudder. “An entire population?—”
“You once told me your greatest wish was to rule without the shadow of your father looming over you.” Galen’s voice drops as he backs away, resting against the large post of my bed. “This grants you that, Ro. This will give you all the power Silas could never dream of having. Not just in Valebridge, but in the world.”
He pushes off the bed and takes a few strides toward me, closing the gap between us again.
He runs his hand down my face, before tucking it under my chin. “No one will ever doubt you again,” he whispers before leaning in and planting a kiss on my neck. “No one will hurt you or question you or belittle you.” His tongue glides over the soft skin of my throat before he kisses me deeply.
My stomach swirls and I fight with myself not to drag him to my bed right now.
His hands land on my hips, pulling me flush to his body. “You will have the advantage. You will have the power .”
That single word is enough to snap me back to reality. I grasp his arms to keep them from running over my body, my fingers digging slightly into his muscled forearms.
“Does it give me all the power, my love?” I whisper, our breaths still intertwined and heavy. “Or does it give you all the power?”
Snarling he backs up again, running his hand down his face. “What is it about this Enchantress that has you so distressed?” He pulls at his hair, pacing the room. “I didn’t hear you fight for the countless others.”
He isn’t wrong. I’ve played the part of corrupt king so well; I’ve started to believe that is just who I am. But now, with how different Galen has become… How much more volatile and secretive… I run my hands down my jaw. Somehow simultaneously wishing for the heat of his touch to disappear from my skin and ignite me further.
“Maybe I’m just tired.” I shrug, moving to the settee to slip into my boots. I smooth the wrinkles from my shirt. Perhaps I should change it altogether before the commoners add disheveled to my list of inadequacies.
“Tired.” Galen laughs, his head tipping back. “Tired of what, Ro? Tired of a country that takes what we’re doing for granted?”
I pause, laces still pinned between my fingers.
Tired of a Kingdom that resents me.
Tired of hurting people.
Tired of lying to myself.
Tired of Galen leaving.
“Tired of…” I run my hands through my hair, attempting to tame the curly locks. “I’m tired of everything.” I sigh, slouching against the settee. “The people are at unrest. The Guilds have shut me out?—”
“I just got word this morning that the Jade Guild will attend the Autumn Moon. I can’t imagine the other’s responses will be much longer now.” Crossing his arms, his mouth tips upward at the sides. Clearly proud of this information and turn of events he decided to withhold from me.
“How? We haven’t sent invitations.”
Galen shrugs. “I sent a page the day I returned to Valebridge. I’m not sure what’s changed, but it’s an opportunity we can’t pass up. This is our chance to win them over. Force them to see the good we’re doing by ridding Valebridge of Enchantresses and putting the magick into our own hands. With the Guilds on our side, it’ll be easy to convince Scandavi and Hofin. Their soldiers have been restless, not to mention the people of Valebridge have been questioning more and more.”
My jaw clenches. Of course he’s right. Valebridge has been anything but united the last few years and the violent outbursts and frustrations against us, me , have been more notable. I can hardly pass through the courtyard without some profanity shouted my way.
“If we are backed by them,” Galen continues, “the rest of the country will have no choice but to aid in our favor. We control our fates, remember?”
It’s me who finally raises my voice this time. “How can you be so indifferent about the lives and people we are hurting?”
Galen flinches, his eyes widening slightly.
He studies me long enough for the silence to thicken between us, and that nagging self doubt to sprout up again in my stomach.
When I’m about to apologize for raising my voice he lets out a long breath. “I am indifferent, Roman”—I flinch at the use of my full name, it sounds so formal coming from his mouth—“because no one was ever there to save us. We saved ourselves from the hands of our fathers and ignorance of our mothers.” He cups my face in both of his palms.
“So why should I waste my life saving anyone else?”