Chapter 27
Alora
We dress quickly, knowing that the horrors of the world are just outside the city. This moment can’t stay like this, encased in glass to be preserved forever, much to my disappointment.
Leaving River’s End so soon, after spending merely two days back, wasn’t what I planned.
Abandoning the sanctuary of the underground village should feel harder than it is, but yet, I find myself excited by the prospect of freeing Kassiel.
I should want to stay home with Oak, the warmed pools, and with the people who’ve become my family, but yet it’s all shifted.
Where there was once only vengeance for my parents, who were reguls with a lowborn daughter who had magic, and Hanin’s tragic ending, now something more fuels me to live.
Seeing the depths of King Euron’s sadistic ways, knowing what more people may possibly endure at his hand was met with something greater—the possibility that hope would change the realm.
I look to Kassiel, who sits there in the grassy meadow just out the door while I pack up my final pieces of clothing and feel the butterflies in my stomach flutter.
I roll the clothing tight before stuffing it in one of Dahla’s saddlebags.
Without looking back, I exit the cottage I’ve spent nearly all of my adult life in, and close the door for the first time, not worried if I won’t return.
Kassiel is now standing next to Dahla, rubbing her nose and whispering into her face.
Caym and Leeson are also nearby, packed up and ready.
As soon as they heard about our plans, they didn’t even give me a chance to argue with them about following us.
I reach Dahla in a few moments and throw the leather bag over her hind end and strap it down.
Caym’s stern voice comes over my shoulder and I turn to face him.
He’s looking at Kassiel, not quite trusting of him yet.
“I guess we should be thankful we don’t have to go back through the damned haunted woods this time, huh?”
His attempt at conversation with Kassiel is a vast improvement and I smile internally at the fact Caym’s trying to be cordial with a man he’s detested most of his life.
Kassiel quirks a smile, “I think it’s rather fortunate for you so you won’t have to be pulled out from sinking sand again.”
I scoff, not sure if they’re going to get along on this leg of our journey.
“I’m not sure about you, but I’m damned glad we won’t have to.” Leeson pipes in.
The sentiment is the same for me, so I nod in agreement.
“We should be off, is everyone ready?” I ask, eager to get underway.
Kassiel walks towards the horse that’s been brought for his use and inventories the saddle and checks the cinch before tightening it one more time.
Caym chuckles, his pale eyes twinkling with mischief, “I was wondering if he would be forced to ride behind you again.”
Kassiel’s face cracks with laughter.
We both look at him, questioning his sudden outburst.
Leeson also looks like she’s about to burst out in laughter.
Caym and I still continue to look at each other dumbly, before Kassiel’s laughter ceases.
“Caym,” he begins, laughter threatening to rebound, “I don’t think anyone realizes, you in particular, that me being behind Alora is nothing but paradise. In fact, being behind Alora might be one of my favorite positions now that you mention it.”
My face burns with embarrassment tinged with memories from the previous night where he made me come so hard that I saw stars.
“You rake.” The name sounds more like a compliment than a curse.
Leeson just smiles, exhaustion etched under her eyes from the hard fortnights we’ve been having.
“Where did Zedriel and Merinda go?” I shift the subject quickly, hoping to not draw more attention to my burning cheeks.
“They left early this morning, something about Merinda needing to meet someone from the southern kingdom?” Leeson says nonchalantly.
My mind threatens to chase for more answers, but I settle on one, “Where?”
Caym adds, “Down in Scyleyre, they’ll remain down there until we know that we’re safe leaving Ezmilir.”
I nod, knowing I can’t focus on their trip right now.
I pull myself up on Dahla and urge her on, not wanting to be around when Kassiel surely reveals more than I’d like to hear.
“Alright,” I rush out, “I’m going to go meet up with Jessamine, Merinda, and Naaveen.”
A smile twitches on my face before I spur Dahla, leaving the three of them to join in a chorus of laughter.
I leave the group with a renewed sense of contentness. I had lost my entire world, and oddly, due to the fates twists, built an entirely new one.
I follow closely behind Naaveen’s horse as we file along the trail that edges on the beachy cliffside of the Leith Mountains. These are a warm difference to those of The Fiordian range.
I’m grateful for the balmy breeze that blows by.
“I bet you’re thankful to not have a freezing backside this time, Lees!” I shout over my shoulder.
She replies quickly, “Alora, you have no idea. None. I think I’m still chilled from those damn woods.”
Gods knows I am too.
Jessamine turns in her saddle and faces us. “You could not pay me to trek those woods, ask Naaveen, that’s why we dropped down to Lake Zuria and then rode up the mountain range.”
“They are definitely not for the faint of heart,” Kassiel says. I’m glad to hear him finding his place among us. I had worried he would have felt out of place with such a large group of friends, but so far he hadn’t seemed like it bothered him.
Merinda pulls up the lead, her watchful eye determined to keep us out of the view of passerbys.
She had volunteered to come with us when the rest of the council had revealed that more attacks from the Heliante led by The Nightmare pillaged through a nearby village.
Kassiel was right in that he had been sought after by the Siorai Ban, especially when he had another attack that left him unconscious for a few clock hours.
The others had watched in horror as Lees and I simply just held his large form while he fought with the damned eternal tie.
Distant light that flickers and dances with crashing waves is the first to greet us from The Depths of Zuria.
We made quick time to reach here after riding for a day once we left River's End. Thank the goddess the trail was clear and all downhill so we could make up for lost time.
“There’s the lake!” a shout from behind caused by the wonderment of the black sand beach that is licked by flames of the waters edge. It’s one of the purest scenes to unfold in all of Noxia.
Naaveen and Jessamine pull up their horses, waiting for the rest of our party to join.
He looks at me, eyeing me curiously. “Are you sure you think it smart to split up? After everything?”
I nod, it was all part of the plan we’ve rehearsed. Kassiel and I were to arrive separately to the capital after he had sent Oak to deliver a note to Rune. We were going to gauge the situation with whatever information Rune had gathered.
As far as we knew, it was safe for Kassiel to return, at least alone. Which left me unattended as I entered the capital city of Ezmelir. It was enough of a worry that Kassiel insisted that Rune be the one to help me into the castle grounds. I didn’t argue either.
“I appreciate everything you’ve done so far, I need you now more than ever to go prepare for what’s to come. You know the network best there in Ezmelir. We’ll take care of business on our end and then meet you there in three moons’ rises.”
He nods. I can see the worry etched in his face but he doesn’t voice his concerns which I’m grateful for.
Jessamine moves her horse to stand next to Dahla.
Quietly, she urges, “If you need anything, just send Oak. We can be here fairly quickly if anything should—”
I cut her off.
“We’ll be okay, I trust the goddess on this one. It feels right, like the winds are changing course with us.”
“Goddess help us then. Cause I’d like to take a break for longer than a few days next time.”
I chuckle, I could have said it myself.
The rest of the group meets up and we split like we had discussed days prior.
Caym had threatened Kassiel more than once with what would happen if I was harmed or taken while in Kassiel’s care.
Finally they had made a pact under the moons' light. Their word was weighed by the goddess herself and found worthy of such a promise.
The group begins to split off and Leeson blows a kiss in my direction while winking.
I shake my head with laughter as she yells to Kassiel, “Remember, she has to actually show up for the plan to work! So don’t steal her away, Devourer!”
He looks at me with a brow lifted and asks, “What does she mean by that?”
I’m still watching the party ride off before I answer him.
“I told her that I wouldn’t put it past you to take me away to your sex lair.”
He blanches, confusion making him blink quickly. “You what? A sex lair?”
He looks so innocent in his expression it makes my lips turn up until I think my face may break.
“I’m kidding,” I chuckle, “I didn’t tell her anything. She only said that she’s glad to see me happy. That she had always hoped I’d find someone to fall for.”
I watch his eyes darken, the green pools deepening with something primal.
Like smoke, his breath wraps around me as he speaks, “Fall for someone? You believe you’ve fallen for me?”
The whisper leaves my lips, barely audible, “I have, yes.”
The water of the lake laps rhythmically against the sandy beach. It’s odd watching the waves turn to flame, or something that looks akin to it, with each crash along the black sand.
Kassiel sets up our bedrolls nearest the small fire he started and I walked to the edge of the waters to clear my head.
It shouldn’t bother me, but my mind keeps getting stuck on whether falling for him, the man who was there the day my village burned down, is a bigger disrespect to my family or if they would find solace in knowing I’d found someone who helped me find my spark again.
My mind wrestles with itself.