Chapter 1
The Whispered Storm
-KADIAN-
King.
I couldn’t have heard that correctly. I hit my head when I collapsed, it was a dream. All of it. The words, the pain… The pain in my hand lessened as I rose to my feet, staring around the atrium outside the House of Shadows.
The door is gone. A shadow barrier formed in its absence.
“Gone in a manner of speaking.” The voice broke me from my stupor. “I really thought you would have put this together by now. Honestly, Kadian, Brida was capable. She chose you. Do better.”
Stumbling, I leaned against one of the onyx columns whose tops disappeared into darkness.
Breathe, just breathe. That’s what I always tell Brida to do, right? We need to breathe? Why do my lungs feel heavy? Why does everything feel heavy? Do feet normally weigh this much?
I bent forwards, hands resting on my knees, when I saw it.
The mark.
The mark on Alvar’s hand had been faint, in a different position—the mark of Sendiar, not Televandir, Azmeer’s first true king, a mark that now rested upon my skin, elevated, scarred flesh that had been forged with flame.
“Do better?” I turned to face the voice that taunted me, the voice that had provoked me for months.
Her face gleamed with challenge, arms folded over her chest.
Despite her formidability, there was something about her that was impossible to ignore.
She’s beautiful.
Her hair was a deeper red than Iona’s—the color of leaves in Durum. Her almond-shaped eyes radiated an intensity that could force a man to his knees, however, I would compel myself to stand my ground.
“Yes, Kadian, I am. This is not news. Well, it might be, as I was previously a gem to you, but now, here I am.” She gestured to herself, the black clothes she wore.
“Are you preparing for a battle?” She wore leathers, fighting leathers, clothes akin to what we had worn in our trials upon arriving in Azmeer.
“We are all preparing for battle, your highness. War is a dance, and it is a dance in which I am well versed.”
“Don’t call me that.”
She made her way around me, analyzing the gaping hole left in the wall. “Is this the space I took?”
“Uh…”
“This is it? This is the size I was? I wasn’t larger? Truly?” She turned to face me, her brows furrowed. “Are you telling me I was not the most imposing door in Azmeer? I was a mere hole in this fucking wall?”
How do I even respond to this?
“Kadian, I can still hear you.” She shouted from across the atrium before waving a hand in front of the space she left behind. Smoke, once wispy and free-formed, hardened. No longer the traditional smoke from the house, it transformed into obsidian, forming a new door.
“Well, it certainly isn’t as beautiful, but it will have to do.” Wiping her hands together like she was a tradesman who had built the door, she approached me. “Now, your highness, what’s the plan?”
It’s a dream, it’s a dream, it’s a…
“Kadian, we do not have time for disillusionment. You and that new growth of yours.” She gestured to my hand, “have changed things. Not only for me, but for all of Azmeer. Thanks for letting me out, by the way, it’s been far too long.”
She gave a light slap to my cheek as she looked around the atrium.
“Why is it so dark in here? Is it always like this?” Approaching the wall, she laid her hand atop it.
The walls, which, like the door, had been solid obsidian, cracked.
A deep, fiery glow, a twin to the one within the House of Shadows, veined its way through the obsidian, lighting the atrium from top to bottom.
Thousands of feet, that was how high the columns rose.
While still unable to see the very height of the space, it was more illuminated, warmer, kinder-looking somehow.
The breaks in the obsidian wove together like wool in a tapestry, threads in a throw, and twigs in a nest. It was an intricate design, one that could not be replicated by human hands.
Her steps echoed across the vacuous space as she trailed her fingertips along the volcanic glass, spreading the light wherever she touched.
“That’s better. No doubt a man let it darken in here.
Honestly, what are they good for?” She looked back towards me.
“Ha, you’re the wrong person to ask. I forget sometimes that you aren’t all the same.
It’s not my fault, really, you all looked so small from the gem.
And all of you much redder.” She paused to look at me.
“I’m disappointed by the lack of red in your hair, not that I thought it suited you. ”
The pulse in my ears drowned out any rational thought.
Running a hand through my not-red-enough hair, I paced.
Movement will help, helps with breathing, right?
I still need to breathe. Breathing is good.
Why is this thing on my hand, how does it come off, I can’t be king, I can’t even read.
What is Iona going to say? Gods, what will Lil and Brida think?
Oz, what is happening to me, who is this woman?
The woman dissipated like smoke on the wind before forming in front of me, placing her hands on my shoulders. “Kadian, you need to slow down, and breathe, apparently. You are very focused on it, not sure why.”
“Air keeps us alive.” I rubbed my neck, pulling at the invisible noose that tightened its grip.
“Does it now? What else can you tell me about this world of yours?” Red and gold danced in her eyes, a waltz of unnatural colors, locked onto mine, their fiery clutches refusing to let go.
I steadied my breathing as she held me in place, grounding me to the moment. I’m here in the atrium to the House of Shadows, in Azmeer. Illerium is dead… I had a vision… and now, this.
“And now this.” She removed her hands from my shoulders, the warmth noticeably absent as she did, and pushed her hair behind her ears.
“Rounded.” I pointed at her.
“What are you going on about? The door, you mean? I suppose I was rounded in a sort of way. Wasn’t a shape I had ever been before, can’t say I hated it. Still think it should have been larger, though.”
Closing my eyes, I willed the words to me, taking painstaking moments to compose myself. “Your ears are round, they’re not pointed.”
“Of course they’re not.”
“But the Fae have pointed ears…”
“Good thing I am not one of the Fae, then.” She mused, tone dripping with sarcasm.
My mind whirled, unable to cease the stream of thoughts swirling within. Where is Lil? Why had she felt so close, and was the string between us tauter than it had been before? Where is Brida? Is she safe? Why is this gods-forsaken mark on my hand?
“Your blood, like most things.” Her posture was casual, like she hadn’t been trapped in a door for…
“How long have you been in the door? Or were you the door? Or just the gem?” My palms dampened, leaving behind marks as I rubbed them along my pants.
Her smile was predatory, wicked. “A little bit of both, for it was all of me, and I was parts of it.”
It was cryptic, infuriating, and typical of my time here in Azmeer.
“As for how long I have been a part of the door, well, always. But also not always.”
Gods, help me.
“There is no need to keep thinking about it, Kadian. I am trying to help you right here.” She gestured her arms around us as she twirled.
“Well, that’s fun, forgot how fun it was to have legs.
Good to see they’re still strong, well,” she bent over to examine herself, “not the strongest they’ve been, but we’ve got some time.
There will be plenty of lessons to teach. ” She straightened to her full height.
She was taller than Brida, not like that was difficult, moderately taller than Lil, and about on par with Iona.
Iona.
I needed to get inside, tell her everything that had happened, and show her my hand. Maybe she would have answers, somehow. I wasn’t sure how, but I was desperate to grasp hold of anything tangible, anyone that could help shed light on what was happening.
“Kadian.” The woman snapped her fingers, “oh, I forgot they could do that. Great to have fingers, really, look at this.” She unfurled each finger on her right hand, closing and opening it.
“Have you…”
“Spit it out.”
“Have you ever had fingers before?” I cleared my throat, watching her admire her digits, wondering if, like a fawn, she was appreciating stability, taking steps for the first time.
“Of course I’ve had fingers before. What a ridiculous question.” She ran a hand through her hair, “ohhh, soft. So many different textures. You all take for granted how things work.” She pointed a finger at me, smiling at her ability to do so.
“Now, what was I saying…” she mumbled.
“I have no idea.” I didn’t. While I had convinced myself that Illerium’s death had been real, perhaps the vision as well, I decided that I was in a coma. Again. I had passed out from pain, and I was now stuck in a dream world. With a lunatic.
“Things.” She snapped with both hands this time, resulting in a chuckle. “How marvelous.”
The hair on the back of my neck rose to attention. Maybe I can distance myself and she won’t notice. She’s occupied… with her fingers.
“I would notice, Kadian, besides, I only have two arms. Which is a design flaw. I tried to convince her to change it at one point. I said, ‘Why give two arms when they could have seven? Do you understand how much would be accomplished if they had seven arms?’ But she knew best.” She scoffed, “honestly, she was right. Now that I’ve had time to watch you lot, I’m not sure how much more you’d accomplish.
You all would just squander five extra arms.”
Seven arms.
“Yes, but alas, we only have two, so, as you can see, I am limited, and therefore, I need your help. How pedestrian.”
A loud crack sliced through the air, forcing us both to search for the source. “How exciting,” she whispered. “So nice to hear things at full volume, it was so muffled in there. Tedious, really, just…”
“Would you be quiet,” I begged. Had something else been in the door with her? Gods, what have I done?
“It was just me. Preferred it that way for a while…”
“Be quiet,” I hissed as thunder roared. I’d freed the voice from the door, only to unleash a storm outside the House of Shadows. Just something else to add to the list of my accomplishments.
“And what a list that is. Let’s review, shall we?”
“Is there a way to make you stop talking?” I pressed, pulling her towards me, angling ourselves behind a column. The sound boomed, and we spotted it. The new door. There was a sheen to it, unlike traditional obsidian, it looked stronger. But there was something on the other side…
“Someone is trying to get out,” I whispered.
“Of course they are, that’s an exit, and there’s a door.”
“Why isn’t it opening if it’s a door?” My tone was biting, my fatigue and patience wearing thin.
“A curious question, indeed.” Her eyes glinted with mischief. “This is thrilling, do you feel that?” She placed her hand on my chest, fingers tapping, thud thud, thud thud. “What’s that called again?”
“A heartbeat?”
“Yes!” she shouted.
“Shhh,” I pulled her back behind the column.
“A heartbeat, a breathing, living thing. Marvelous, really.” She tapped the column, thud thud, thud thud, thud thud. And it listened, responding in kind. Memorizing the pace of the beat, the glow of the walls mimicked the sound, pulsing, it too was alive.
With each beat, the walls glowed brighter, and for the first time, you could see the magma moving within. The woman closed her eyes, listening to the steady beat as it grew louder, more constant.
Shadows danced behind the glass, moving alongside the current of the orange, reds, and golds. They slithered like snakes in the grass, hissed as the pulsing grew steady, maintaining its beat. “What are those things?”
“Spirits.” Her tone was reverent, admiring as we watched the darkness swirl within the atrium.
I placed my hand on the column. “Gods!” I yelled, pulling it back. Unlike the walls within the House of Shadows, the columns burned.
I opened my mouth to question her, but she silenced me. Closing her eyes, she started to sing, a song softer and sweeter than any I’d known.
They say she was a herald of light,
A dawn awaiting her dusk.
She walked through flame with her silence tight,
And eyes the color of rust.
But gods grow quiet when mortals cry,
And fire forgets who it trusts.
As she finished, she turned to the walls, holding her palms to the doorway. A shrieking cry unlike any I’d heard bellowed through the entrance hall, accompanied by a force so strong that it knocked me to the ground and extinguished the flames in the tripods.
“What spirits are those?” I yelled over the wind, fearful of the monster I’d unleashed. Why did I do this? Why couldn’t I have controlled my temper? I will have destroyed Azmeer.
“Azmeer has been dying for some time, Kadian.” Another cry.
It was not from any animal I had ever heard.
Piercing, it could cut through glass, forcing anyone to submit.
I wanted to flee, to run far from here and never return.
But my hand, that was now flush with the floor, felt the pulse.
Azmeer was alive, and it was within me. And it beckoned me to stay.
“What are those the spirits of?” The black smoke that had been small, separated, free, transversed the walls, gathering in larger groups, new forms taking shape.
“What…” I started to ask once more, but was silenced when she turned to face me. Where her eyes had been red and gold, they now blazed fire, shadows dripping from her eyes.
What the fuck… My hands were slick, my throat dry. Who are you?
“These are my children, Kadian.”
Her children… Oh gods.
“Mummy’s home.”
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