Chapter 29 #2
Turning on the tap, I splashed water onto my face.
It never failed to surprise, and thrill me, that warm water ran through the pipes.
What a gift that had been when we’d first arrived here.
After each trial, each arduous day, knowing that the water could soothe me.
I turned back to look at Lil, the water had soothed me in more ways than one.
“Stop gawking already and get ready. I’ll let you undress me with your eyes, and hands later tonight.” She winked as she rose from her chair to answer the door. I heard voices, familiar voices.
“Is he ready?”
“Are neither of you dressed yet? Don’t you know we are on a tight schedule today?”
“Believe me, I’ve been telling him all morning.”
“I bet it’s not the only thing you were doing this morning.”
As I turned to leave the bathing chamber and enter the room to greet everyone, the world fell away.
“No, no, NO!” I screamed, reaching my hand out, as if that would somehow connect me to Lil, stop whatever was happening. Piece by piece, as if leaves on the wind, the room vanished before my eyes.
The whooshing sensation hit me with a force I’d never felt before, thrusting me into something hard.
Is that the stone? I breathed in, and was overcome with the scent of wet earth.
As the seconds passed by, the sound of boots on the ground, wagons rolling through mud, and screaming overtook me.
What’s happening to me? I wondered, pleaded to anyone that might be listening.
Please stop, please. The sensation of being sick was beginning to overtake me, the world spinning on its axis.
“Kadian, Kadian,” a familiar voice said as I felt a hand tapping my cheek.
My eyes flew open, I was on the ground. How did I get down here?
Above me was Oz, and next to him, Iona.
“Couldn’t wait for us to get here before you collapsed?” She said as she bent down to look at me. Her stare was assessing, piercing, usual.
I forced myself to sit up, looking at each of them. Concern lined Oz’s face while Iona feigned indifference.
“What happened?” Oz said as he offered me a hand up. I took it, allowing him to steady me.
What had happened?
“I’m not sure.” I turned to look at the door. The rock door remained solid, unmoved by whatever had just happened. But as I looked closer, a small crack appeared in its surface.
“One of you needs to tell me the full story before we go any further,” Oz said as he looked between Iona and I. “You know I’m always happy to help,” he offered her a wink, “but I like to know how much trouble I might be walking into.”
Iona and I looked at each other. What can we tell him? My look tried to convey.
“The fuck if I know” hers said.
“Oz…” I started to say.
“I am being forced to marry,” Iona said, taking us both off guard.
“You aren’t!” Oz shouted before presenting himself in front of Iona. He clasped her arm, offering comfort. I couldn’t help hiding the smile on my face when Iona realized she couldn’t withdraw her arm immediately.
“Yes.” Her voice was pained, whether from being forced into this story or the physical contact.
“Who are they forcing you to marry?” Oz’s concern grew more palpable by the second.
“It’s neither here nor there, but he’s not from our court.” She gestured to me. “Kadian has been helping me look through genealogy documents, you know, bloodlines, they want to ensure that their heir will be something special.” She waved her hands for emphasis and Oz’s eyes grew bigger.
“And what did that have to do with Kadian’s shadow-stepping?” Oz looked between us once more and I too was curious how Iona would answer this.
“Yes, well. Right.” She adjusted her stance, running a hand through her fiery hair before saying, “I am wondering because Kadian spent time in the Eternal House and is now a member of the Court of Shadows, if it is possible to possess, somehow, magic of two courts. For you see, I worry that my offspring will be one of a kind in this world. And what a horrid fate that would be.”
“When is the marriage to take place?” Oz clasped her hand in his.
“Not for a few months yet. No sooner than Revival.” Her smile appeared less forced, more natural.
“I never would have pictured a spring wedding for you,” Oz said as he finally removed his hand from her.
“No? And why is that? Do I not scream fertility?”
Oz’s expression grew sheepish, his hands disappearing into his pockets. “I would have thought Brumal.” His voice was quiet, almost a whisper.
“The dead of winter?” She prodded.
“Yes.”
“But why?”
My gaze was fixed between the two of them, a barrier breaking down in a way I wasn’t sure Iona had ever experienced before.
“Your hair, the color of flames in a hearth. Who does not wish to hold onto heat in the depths of Brumal? It is what everyone covets, and few would be so lucky to have it.”
Iona had moved closer to Oz before I coughed, returning their focus to the situation at hand. “Yes, well.” She turned from him. “I assume you found something, having summoned us here.” Her eyes radiated with something I couldn’t put my finger on. Tenderness? No, it couldn’t be.
Oz’s smile grew feral. “Have either of you heard of The Binding?”
I searched the recesses of my mind, desperate to recall if Brida had ever mentioned such a thing, and came up short. “No,” I said, to which Iona agreed.
“Well, as Kadian knows, I started working for Almer—he’s the new librarian for the Eternal House.” He said to Iona who nodded in response. “In addition to taking notes for the…”
“She knows of the Vitality Council, it’s not a secret.”
“You never know,” he gestured before offering an apologetic smile to Iona.
“Well, when I finished with my notes, he asked me to place them in The Binding, and when I had no idea what that was, he took me into the depths of the Eternal House. The Binding is an archive.”
“An archive?” I questioned.
“Each house holds records,” Iona added.
“Yes, but you see the other courts know of those records, those archives. We believe them to be biased as they benefit each house or court, but the binding is not known outside of the Eternal House, at least that is what Almer said.”
“You’re taking a risk telling us then,” Iona said as she looked between us.
“You shared something with me. It is only fair I shared this with you.” With Oz’s words, it was as if another layer to Iona was slowly being pulled back, beginning to expose more vulnerable parts, the fact that she had more than one feeling, rage.
“So how does this affect us?” I asked.
“It seems like all of the history that Eldara wants hidden is kept there. History of kings, rebellions that were shut down quickly, the mixing of magic.” His smile returned, “I was only in there for a few minutes, and I can only do so much searching by myself. I think…”
Hidden from Azmeer—hidden from Eldara? How has this place been kept secret?
“You think…” Iona repeated.
“I want to sneak you both into the Eternal House to help me look. The answers you need, that’s where we’ll find them.”
“And how do you plan to do that?” Iona’s normal tone had returned, one of skepticism and doubt.
“Do you trust me?” Oz asked, looking between us.
There were few things I remained sure of anymore. What had happened when I’d touched the rock, where Lil and Brida were, and what was happening to me, but one thing I remained certain of was my faith in Oz.
I offered him my arm, and he clasped it.
“Always.”