"It really is very discourteous to be so late, you know," Alcina sniffs, tears steadily trickling down her cheeks."My most heartfelt apologies," Brendan says, and Alcina snorts."And what were you going to do if you hadn't made it in time?" Alcina digs her chin into Brendan's shoulder like a particularly petulant huff. If you had let me go, and I had made it all the way back to the Heartlands, with an entire kingdom in between us; if you had let me go, and I had left?Brendan's smile is somehow both calm and disastrous at the same time, like the gaze of a man who, incomprehensibly, is calmly prepared to tear entire kingdoms asunder in his path.It's a magnitude of affection Alcina has never been privy to before and one she doesn't quite understand nor know how to receive."Something as trivial as time and space is not sufficient deterrents," Brendan murmurs. Alcina feels her eyes prickle once more."I would have come for you," he says simply.As though it were as simple as the words
“And? So you are going to stay here?” Nordin leans forward from his seat at the table, voice incredulous.When the grand House of Clair procession had promptly returned, right back to the gates of House Warner, Alpha Warner had come shuffling out in confusion.Before Nordin even had a chance to protest, Brendan had led his father aside and quietly informed him that Lady Alcina of House Clair would, in fact, be staying.In the Western Plains, and the arranged betrothal as planned.To say Alpha Warner had been exuberant would be an understatement.An alliance forged on mutual needs is satisfactory, but just barely; in the uncertainty of wartime, shaky political alliances will not do.The permanent, immutable allegiance forged by marriage is infinitely preferable to that predicated by something as trivial as coexisting mutual need.By the time Nordin had managed to dashboard the carriage, Alpha Warner had already swept cheerfully back into the castle to begin making preparations for the
By the time the three siblings’ conversation is over, it is nearing midnight, and Alcina is quite exhausted. She just barely manages to stumble to her room, where she heads immediately for one trunk in particular.Perseus and Orion practically tackle her to the floor the moment she opens it, snuffing and clicking in unfettered joy.Alcina giggles, squirming when the dragons nose their snouts against her cheeks and neck, and it takes nearly ten minutes for the two to stop wriggling with wild excitement.After that, all Alcina has the energy to do, is to change into her nightgown and dig up her sleeping mask from the bottom of her trunk.She glances at the closed door separating her and Brendan’s bedroom with a bitten lip.* * * * * * * * * *Brendan is stretched along his bed, a book open in his lap when he hears the separating door open.He looks up and watches as it swings slowly, carefully, slender fingers visible where they’re wrapped around the edge of the door.And then, Alcina’s
Alcina parts from Brendan with a pout and somewhat unwillingly, as Alfred has requested his sister’s company to the library in House Warner’s possession.Brendan, meanwhile, decides to head to the soldiers’ courtyard to seek Lincoln for another spar.He is accosted, having hardly made it down the hallway, by Nordin Brown.The man, wearing his beauty like the most lethal armor in the world, adorned in a chic, classic blue suit, storms up to him with a radiant smile on his lips that somehow manages to convey a world of pain. At his waist, Brendan can see the gleam of silver, his sword swinging at his side.“Good morning, Lord Brendan,” Nordin greets, as though he had not openly denounced him just the day prior.Brendan smirks. “Good morning,” he replies pleasantly enough.When Nordin nears, his beautiful smile drops into something far more predatory. Brendan thinks to himself that this man would have not at all been out of place in the center of a warzone, decapitating enemies left and
Brendan is in the middle of conversing with a nobleman from one of his kingdom's prominent families when abruptly, the man pauses in his tale. He turns and is---- spellbound.Alcina stands before him, a figure sublime in the pale blue fabric and golden threads she wears, cheeks rosy as she bites her lower lip with a bashfulness that makes something in Brendan's chest heave. Under the glittering, dazzling lights of the crystal chandeliers, surrounded by a room full of extravagant nobles dressed in silks and laden with enough diamonds to fund several wars, Alcina - who wears no jewels but for the small, barely visible diamonds on her ears - somehow shines brighter than any gem or star Brendan has ever seen. Brendan's eyes are unable to tear away from the vision that Alcina is, like a midsummer's dream come to life by some hazy miracle.Alcina shifts, hand nervously tracing the embroidery along her side. She seems entirely unaware of the way that she's holding the stupefied attentio
From across the dancefloor, Nordin pauses with a flute of champagne halfway to his lips. Having grown tired after a set of several songs, he and Alfred had retired to the sidelines, seeking to mingle and enjoy the refreshments offered at the ball. He looks to the dancefloor, where he sees Alcina be dipped dramatically down by his intended, a shriek of giddy laughter escaping her lips, a joy so potent written on her features that it’s almost painful to watch.He hasn’t heard such- happiness from her sister.Not so unrestrained and loud.Alfred places a gentle hand on his lower back, grounding him, and Nordin’s eyes burn. “She is happy,” Alfred murmurs in his ear, and with a sigh, Nordin leans back against his chest. Together, the two of them watch their younger sister dance in the middle of the crowd, the effervescent joy radiating from her features making her glow brighter than any of the countless people surrounding her.* * * * * * * * * *In the morning, Alcina wakes with far mo
Speak of the devil, and he shall appear.Lord Alfred ought to have known better than to summon the evil by speaking them into existence.It happens while the three men are gathered in Alcina's room that night. In the Heartlands, it had been the regular custom for Alfred and Nordin to spend time with their younger sister at the end of the day.Nordin, with well-practiced hands, deftly tames Alcina's hair with a brush as Alfred peruses the stack of books accumulating in the corner.Brendan had been unable to leave, not with Alcina looking at him with such an imploring gaze. He's now flipping quietly through one of his own books from the floor, seated beside Alcina's nightstand, where the girl is currently having her hair attended to."This is a pretty brush," Nordin comments idly, eyes fixed on his task before him.Alcina smiles. "Brendan acquired it for me," she says, not without a furtive glance in said lord's direction.Brendan doesn't look up from his book, but his lips do press tog
When Alcina wakes, it is with a gasp and cold sweat breaking on her forehead.She opens her eyes, desperately attempting to flee the horrifying images dancing behind her closed eyelids. It grounds her, in the next moment, that she can feel the warmth radiating from Orion and Perseus, like twin flames circling her head.They had been nearly inconsolably agitated earlier when she'd finally returned to Brendan's room where they'd been waiting.They'd felt the spike of fear running through Alcina's heart at the intruder's attempt. They had nearly thrown themselves at the separating door in order to get to her.There's a constant brand, now, in the back of her mind, in the form of two fierce, nearly bloodthirsty protectors. It isn't at all a bad feeling.Heart still hammering in her chest, she looks wildly around the room. Her panic subsides only when she sees Brendan standing by the door - evidently, having just returned.Lips trembling, Alcina reaches out with a hand and sinks into the h
When Alcina manages to trudge her way to her room in the palace, she has hardly made it past the doorway when Brandon is instantly at her side.Brandon grips her by the shoulders, expression blank but eyes almost frantic in the way they run over her frame from head to toe, as though cataloging any possible injuries. And then, at last, Brandon lifts a hand to rest gently along Alcina’s cheek.Alcina shudders and sinks into it, sighing. “I half feared the Duchess may have buried you somewhere in the courtyard, and I would have to go digging for my wife,” Brandon drawls, teasing and insouciant but with genuine worry in his eyes when Alcina peers up at him.Alcina manages to muster a scowl, though she loses the energy for it right after.Drained, Alcina allows Brandon to help her change into her silken pajamas and guide her right to bed, where Alcina sinks gratefully into the pillows. “I really ought to shower,” Alcina murmurs uselessly, wrinkling her nose in distaste. “I’m quite disgust
The courtyard is a ruined wasteland.Everywhere the eye can see, the ground is shattered into nothing more than rubble, uneven and dusty and jagged with uneven footing.But there is one woman who maintains perfect balance, even as the ground shakes violently underneath her precarious red heels: the Duchess, hair flawlessly coifed with not a single strand out of place, even four hours into their training session.She lifts her chin, and a massive, tapered boulder, narrowed to a lethal point, separates itself from the ground.And then, it goes shooting forward, soaring through the air to hurtle towards the two figures hovering in the sky. Alcina sees it coming and grits her teeth as Orion dives sideways in a spinning tumble to avoid it.The Duchess straightens up.All of a sudden, the ground falls still.The silence that follows feels oddly deafening in Alcina’s ringing ears, after hours of its cacophonous din. She, too, straightens up, peering down at her mother in confusion. The Duc
“Survive.”It is all the warning Alcina gets before the ground erupts.That is the only word that can be used to describe the way the earth shifts and jagged little spears come hurtling upwards, all around her, tall enough to pierce Orion’s underbelly should she be standing over one.With an enraged shriek, Orion hurries to take to the air, and Alcina has to scramble to hold on as she frantically takes off.When she is airborne, and Orion has steadied herself with measured, powerful flaps of her great wings, the ground finally stops shaking.Again, she finds her mother standing effortlessly even amid the ruins she had created. “You were lucky, before.” When Alcina had recklessly charged into Elton’s stronghold alone, with nothing but an untrained dragon and a flimsy sword. “The soldiers then had been wholly unprepared for the sight of a dragon, and had been too stricken to react.”She lifts her hand once more. “But you will not be so lucky the next time. And you must be prepared, to f
Somewhere far, far below the grounds of the Western Plains, is an elaborate passageway of holding cells, built of heavy metal bars and lit only by the sparse torches.The dungeons, though no one quite likes to use the word.The dungeons have long been empty for years, having only been used once in recent times. And only briefly, too, given that the inhabitant had been quickly disposed of, once all the information had been extracted from his mind with Lord Alfred’s Gift.Today, the unused torches in the dungeons have been lit once more, for a new guest.It is a young woman, hardly older than twenty, her features lovely and delicate in violent contrast to the grimy holding cell she has been chained to. Everything about her seems like a sacrilege, here, in the dank walls of a dirty underground prison; as though she is something that does not belong in a place so dirty and murky.Even the color of her hair - pale pink locks, vibrant even in the darkness of the cell - stands at odds with t
Alcina watches wordlessly as the Gifted medic heals Brendan’s palm. She stares intently at the white glow emanating from the woman’s hand, as she hovers it over Brendan’s burned palm. Slowly, the reddish hue of the burn recedes, until Brendan’s palm has returned to its normal state.Alcina wishes she could have been born with a Gift like hers, something that would allow her to chase away the bruises and ailments and scars on Brendan’s skin; not something that would hurt him. Human nature, she realizes, is greedy beyond all belief. How many years had she yearned for a Gift, any Gift, she remembers wishing desperately in these very halls? And now that she has been graced with one, she yearns for something more, still.With a respectful bow, the healer excuses herself, leaving just the two of them in the otherwise empty room. Alcina doesn’t move from her perch, sitting ramrod straight in her chair. Stares at Brendan’s hand, every fiber of her being longing to reach out for it so that
Alcina sips dutifully at the glass of water Brendan had forced upon her, eyes doleful as she peeks up at him from underneath her lashes.Brendan stands over her, arms crossed, not unlike an ominous guard watching with keen eyes as if to ensure Alcina truly is drinking the water. They had hardly made it to the closest parlor room from the courtyard entrance when Brendan had promptly sat her down on a chair and ordered a terrified attendant to fetch a pitcher of water.Alcina sips obediently at her second glass now, shoulders slumped both in exhaustion and misery as she glances up at Brendan through her drenched bangs.“Why do you look as though someone has slaughtered your childhood pet?” Brendan demands.Alcina recognizes the terseness of Brendan’s awkward attempts at caring for someone, but cannot help the slight grimace all the same. “You were watching, weren’t you?” she says sullenly, mouthing at the rim of her cup. “I was terrible-”“You were not terrible,” Brendan begins to say,
Two hours in and Alcina is already exhausted.It is midday, now, and the sun beats harshly down on her back, thoroughly drenched with sweat. The wind whipping at her face and limbs from Orion’s movements as she darts through the air does little to cool her down, perspiration dotting her temples and her hair matted to her forehead and neck.Alcina can barely hold on to her sword as it is, while still maintaining her tenuous hold on one of Orion’s spikes to steady herself on her back.A pair of arrows whistle as they just barely miss her cheek, her hair whipping upwards from the projectiles spinning past her just a millimeter away from her skin. “Pay attention,” Percy says from the ground, where he stands, perfectly relaxed with his hands tucked into his pockets - not at all unlike the form he’d assumed, that day of the ruinous wedding.Darla, seated beside him still in her panther’s form, licks her lips in a manner that sends a shiver down Alcina’s back.She yelps, then, as Orion jerk
Back in the Western Plains, a Commander General continues his vigilant observance throughout the night, long after all the castle lights have been extinguished.Alone, he sits, eyes sharp as he assesses each unobtrusive corner of the room.It is none other than Lord Brendan’s own private study, a room that is locked and forbidden to all those aside from the lord himself, and his most trusted advisor: the General who has tasted only the sweetness of victory, each time he has stepped onto the battlefield.Lincoln tilts his head.And then, in a motion too quick for an ordinary man to catch, seizes the dagger laying innocently across the desk, and hurls it across the room.It sinks itself into its target.A gasped expletive fills the air.Lincoln picks up a second dagger, its blade gleaming under the single line of moonlight spilling in through the sliver in the curtains. This, in the next breath, he throws with lethal accuracy.“My, would you look at that,” he says cheerfully, brightly.
“No.”Alcina fumbles with the straps currently adorning Perseus’s broad back the contraption that, she claims, is meant to strap a person in. Brendan stares at it with an unmoving expression.Alcina pouts.Brendan remains firm. “You do realize,” he drawls. “That I am, technically, still in recovery, yes?”Alcina winces.“I don’t know about you, but I’m rather certain that falling hundreds of feet to my death is not what the healers advised for a speedy recovery-”Alcina whines at him. Stomps her foot, even, in a way that Brendan resolutely does not find at all endearing.“You won’t fall,” she says. “I have been practicing very hard this entire week, at flying with Perseus!”Brendan raises a solemn brow. “You mean to say that this is a newly acquired skill that you are attempting to pass off on me, then?”Alcina flushes. “Brendan,” she wheedles. Brendan briefly spares a moment of appreciation, anew, for the two older brothers who have raised this petulant little thing, all these years