Chapter 4 #4
He started to reach for my hand, and on instinct I pulled back. I didn’t like to be touched. Not without warning. Not by most people.
“I didn’t mean—” Dario took a deep breath, his hand making a fist. “Sorry, I won’t touch you.
You have my word. I shouldn’t have even—It’s just instinct.
” He stepped back, and held his hands up as if to reassure he’d keep his word.
He frowned, his eyes searching mine. They softened.
“You know you’re safe with me, right? I promised Lyriana.
But more than that, I remember when Rhyan wrote to you—the friendship you two had—it meant a lot to him.
He was so determined to get you out; you have no idea.
So if he—Fuck. If he’s not here, and Lyr isn’t …
I am. And I know I’m not what you want. Or who. ” He exhaled sharply.
I looked him over. He was sincere. I’d been around enough men to know the difference, to know which ones spoke out of their ass, spoke to get something, and then the few rare ones who spoke true. Rhyan had been one. And Dario was as well.
He looked miserable as he met my gaze. “Rhyan’s better at all of this than me.
Look, I don’t know what you’ve been through, or what to say to you to make it better or how to help.
I only know how to protect, and how to fight.
So for you, I will. I swear it. I give my oath to you, Julianna.
Me sha, me ka.” He pressed his fist to his chest, tapping it twice, before flattening his palm across his heart. “I will keep you safe.”
I looked around the foyer of the inn. We were still alone. Cal and Marisol were the only people nearby. And they already knew my secret.
I swallowed roughly. “Fine. The Purple Sun comes from an old Ka’s sigil. It’s a shortening of it, a kind of code.” My heart pounded. “The sigil was a purple Valalumir star in front of a golden sun. When shortened it becomes the purple sun.”
Dario’s eyebrows knitted together, his eyes squinting in concentration. “Purple Valalumir. Golden sun.” He shook his head. “I don’t know that one.”
“There’s few who do anymore. The Empire tried to erase every image of it, burning any banner or flag depicting it. They even cut its mention from our scrolls. They started in our library at home. Then they destroyed every sigil they could find after they executed everyone in the Ka.”
“Executed?” His eyes widened in alarm. “You mean … Ka Azria of Elyria?”
And there it was. Ka Azria. The Ka that had been a scary story for us as kids.
The tale used to keep Lumerians in line, to remind them what happened if you concealed vorakh.
Even if you were noble. Even if you were Arkasva.
It didn’t matter, anyone with forbidden magic would be found and exposed, would suffer the consequences, and so would everyone else who had kept the secret.
Even I’d believed the stories as a girl—believed that Ka Azria had broken the law by protecting their vorakh family members.
I believed that the whole Ka had conspired to keep the secret in defiance of the Empire.
I even thought, at one point, that they had deserved their punishment.
But it turned out that vorakh had had nothing to do with their murder. It was about power. Everything was always about power. Clearing the way for Ka Kormac to rule the South, to open the borders for their occupation of Bamaria.
I took a deep breath. “El Zan Vylette is a network of Elyrians across the Empire still loyal to Ka Azria. They reject the High Lord of Ka Elys as their Arkasva.”
“Okay,” Dario said slowly. “Okay, so they’re a rebel group.
” His eyebrows furrowed. “There are groups like that all over Lumeria. I learned about dozens of active groups in the last year alone. People who don’t believe their Arkasva is the rightful Heir to the Seat of Power, that the bloodline is false, or that their leader is corrupt.
But that doesn’t explain why they would be willing to hide fugitives like us. ”
“They’re not,” I said. “Not fugitives like us.” I met his eyes. “Like me.”
Dario frowned. “Like you?” He shook his head. “I don’t understand.”
“El Zan Vylette isn’t like the other groups. They don’t just reject the Elyrian Arkasva. They’re working to restore the Seat of Power to the rightful heir. The Heir of Ka Azria.” My ring finger burned.
His mouth tightened, his eyes narrowing as he took in my words, before he scoffed, “But that’s impossible. After the Blade came, none of them—”
“Survived?” I exhaled sharply. “No. Not in Elyria, they didn’t.
But no one knew that Arkasva Azria had another heir, because he kept his lover a secret.
She wasn’t Elyrian, but more importantly, her duties kept her away.
At the time, she was the Second to Arkasva Marianna Batavia, the High Lady of Bamaria.
She was her sister, Lady Gianna. And so, when she bore the Arkasva’s child, the child who would become Heir Apparent, she was kept secret, too, to save her life.
And after Ka Azria, she was raised in the Bamarian Court with her cousins. ”
“The Bamarian Court.” Dario’s eyes widened. “You,” he said, his voice barely above a whisper. “It’s you.”
I nodded slowly. Cal and Marisol opened the door.
They nodded once. It was done. We had a safe house to escape to.
A way to hide from the Emperor. But it meant going back to the people who’d cost me everything.
The ones who could be salvation, if they didn’t damn me again.
I just prayed that this time was different, this time they’d save us.
Because I was the Heir of Ka Azria.