Smiling, I followed Tyr to my room, “Won’t your father have an issue with this?” I asked as he took his shoes and socks off, he sat on the bed and removed his shirt, leaving just his pants. “Why would it matter?” he asked. “It doesn’t.” I answered, distracted, as he stood up and walked towards me. I looked up at him as he towered over me. I looked down, avoiding his gaze; he stopped in front of me and gently tilted my face to look at his. “Why would it matter?” he asked again, his green eyes piercing into mine. I shuffled uncomfortably as I answered, “Isn’t there a law against royalty and peasants?” “First off, you are no peasant and second, what they think doesn’t matter to me never did.” I was doubtful. Who knew how many women he has shown an interest in? I could just be the next notch on his bedpost? He frowned at me, “Shit, you heard that, didn’t you?” I questioned. He moved away from me and sat on the bed, “I did, but to be perfectly honest with you, I am not exactly a lad
I watched as Akasha slept peacefully in my arms, I couldn’t help but worry for her and the upcoming battle. I knew that she and her sisters were speaking the truth when they told me who they were, why was it that my father could not see the truth? It didn’t matter if they were lying or not. I knew my father was using this battle as an excuse to get rid of them. Taoen was a brute and unpredictable warrior, especially with his abilities. The outcome could very well mean death, and part of me believed that was my father's intention. Thoughts swirled around my head, I tried to think of a way to stop the battle but came up empty. Feeling defeated, I pulled Akasha closer and let sleep take me. … Morning arrived too quickly, it felt as if I had just closed my eyes, and yet the noise from the other room told me otherwise. Akasha was already moving around the room. I could hear her rustling and digging through drawers, I opene
Ela and Karm really didn’t find out much information about the King Halamar even with them spying, he was a very secretive man. “Have you heard from my mother at all?” I asked Ela as we walked towards the training grounds. “I am sorry we have been talking to the other spirits to see if anyone has seen her, but so far, they have found nothing.” “Thank you for everything, Ela.” I smiled and asked, “You will let me know as soon as you know anything.” “Of course.” Karm appeared beside her, looking annoyed. “What’s wrong, my love?” Ela asked him. “Prince Uda is up to something, but every time I get close to him, it feels like I am hitting a wall and can’t get any closer.” “Thanks for trying Karm, do you two ready for today?” “You bet; we have been looking forward to it.” Ela smiled in anticipation. When we arrived at the training grounds, if you could call it that. It was more of a Colosseum than a training ground; they made the entire thing from marble and stretched to the sky; w
I narrowly dodged Ari’s first attack because as soon as the King ordered the fight to begin, she launched fire at me without hesitation. Gia threw rocks towards me, which Ari encased in fire, and they whizzed past me as I dodged their attacks, hyper focused on their movements. One rock brushed my sleeve, burning the dress I was wearing. Annoyed that they had ruined one of my very few dresses, I started turning their attacks back on them with my mind, sending the flaming rocks back in their direction. I focused on giving Ela and Karm the ability to move objects, and they began throwing the rocks back at them. “No fair, you are using your ghost guards.” Ari hissed. “Yeah, and you and Gia are throwing things at me. What did you say before… oh yeah, all is fair in training.” I grinned as Ela threw another rock at them. Ari, focusing her fire into flame daggers, began throwing the burning weapons at me while Gia started throwing pointed branches at me, which she conjured from the groun
Seeing Akasha crumple to the ground sent me into a panic. I rushed towards her, kneeling beside her. I hoped her wounds looked worse than they were. She had the puncture wound on her leg from her sister and a deep gash across her stomach. “Akasha, wake up.” Gia knelt beside me, putting her hand on my shoulder she stated, “She will be fine.” I looked at her as her eyes turned emerald and plants I didn’t recognize popped up from the ground. She picked them and Ari walked over, handing Gia her bag. “Thanks, luckily I carry this stuff with me.” Gia stated as she pulled a mortar and pestle from the bag and put the plants into it and crushed them into a paste, adding water from her canteen. Once it was done, Gia cleaned the wounds with water and applied the paste and bandaged it. “She will probably be out for a bit. She lost a lot of blood.” “No, thanks to you.” Ari spat angrily from her position behind her. “I fixed her, didn’t I. Geez so ungrateful.” She muttered as she stood and wa
I had just left the throne room when Ezryn approached me. “Prince Tyr, your scouts have returned.” “Have they reported anything to you?” I asked as I headed down the hallway towards the sister's room. “As you suspected, other allies of the goblins are attacking our allies, they couldn’t get any intel on what the goblins are up to, a vast majority of their army have retreated home and only a few remained behind to hunt down the sisters.” “They know where they are, so they must be planning their next move.” If the sisters joined our army to confront the Drow, they will be at even more risk from the goblins, especially if they are watching the Kingdom. “The scout didn’t learn what their next move was, just that Akasha was their primary target. They see her as a bigger threat because they believe she is the leader.” “I don’t think she would agree with them. She views her sisters as her equals, but they look to her for guidance. I think the only one that doesn't see her as a leader is
Hearing voices outside, I opened my eyes and looked around. “How did I end up back in my room?” I mumbled to myself. I went to move, but it hurt too much so as I laid there, I took stock of my injuries I knew my leg was injured by my careless little sister, luckily it didn’t feel too bad, my stomach burned I reached down and felt the bandages that wrapped around it realizing the only thing covering me was a sheet. Great, just how many people saw me naked? “We are so glad you are awake are you okay?” Ela asked worried as she moved towards me. “I’ll be fine.” I replied as I looked around to make sure we were alone. “Karm is keeping an eye on things.” Ela shared when she saw me looking around. I nodded and carefully stood up and limped over to my dresser. Finding a clean dark blue dress, I pulled it on and tightened the laces, but leaving them loose enough not to irritate my wound. “You should rest.” Ela scolded me. “I’m fine.” “No, you're not.” Ignoring her, I opened the door a
I looked at the man that had just declared Taoen as our brother; they shared a lot of similarities. They had the same green-grey eyes and black hair only the mans had begun to turn grey, they both had the same build. “Let me guess, you’re his father?” I asked the man. "I’m sorry, but we don’t have a brother.” He nodded, “I am Evander, and Taoen is your brother.” “Our mother would have told us.” Gia defended. “Your mother Valda had Taoen before she met your father, and she had given him to me to raise and to keep him safe.” Ignoring the fact that he knew my mother's name, I asked, “And how do you know she is our mother?” “You are the spitting image of her Akasha.” “Why would she need to keep Taoen safe?” Sunama asked skeptically, “She wouldn’t have left him without a trainer.” Something caught the corner of my eye pulling me from the conversation, I followed where I thought it went and saw my mother. Ignoring the group. “Akasha, where are you going?” Tyr asked as I got up from
I headed to the wall and climbed up Huricana’s makeshift ladder, hoping to speak to the army and convince them that I could protect them and their families. I looked down at the faces of the soldiers; they were yelling and arguing amongst themselves but soon quieted when they saw me. The ground was dry again, improving the conditions of their imprisonment. The men were quiet, I cleared my throat and spoke, “I want to let you out of this cage, but first I need to know who my brother was working with and why you would choose to betray me?” I yelled down at them. One man stepped forward and bowed, “We can’t say, Prince Tyr.” “I will help you protect your families from the enemy, I swear it.” “You can’t swear anything, Prince Uda is the future King.” Another man yelled in response. “If you do not cooperate with me, I will not release you from here.” I tried to reach into the men’s minds and find out what they knew, but came up with nothing. They were all focused on the safety of the
While the camp was being cleaned up, I made sure my brother’s restraints were secure before heading over and climbing up the wall looking down at the men inside. They looked uneasy; I tried reading their minds, but mostly just got their emotions. Feelings of regret, fear, and hatred but not for me, for my brother, and worry for their families consumed me. They didn’t seem to be worried about the conditions they found themselves in at all. “Can you get Huricana please?” I asked one of my guards when I noticed the men inside the wall were standing in a foot of muddy water. The guard nodded and walked away. Why would my brother try to kill me? He was already named future King. I was furious that this betrayal had happened, mostly because I didn’t see it coming. I dropped a bag of my brother's provisions down to them and a few canteens of water. I couldn’t be angry with them because they were only trying to protect their loved ones, anyone in their position would do the same. I climbe
“Bram…. Ward.” Ezryn yelled. They looked up from their respective fights and looked at us as they blocked their attackers. "What?" Bram yelled. “We need you to watch over these two.” Ezryn shared, motioning to Prince Uda and his guard. Ward and Bram finished their battles quickly and worked their way towards us, knocking soldiers out of the way and blocking stray blades. Once they were guarding the asshole prince, I turned and told Ezryn my plan. Once that was done, I went to help Tyr with the men that had surrounded him. I made myself invisible again and walked through the crowd, knocking the men unconscious, I could feel my energy fading using too much of my abilities. I would have to be careful not to use anymore, controlling the dark spirits drained more than I thought it had. Once I was beside Tyr, I helped him defeat the surrounding group; they cut him up and he was bloody but still standing. "Are you okay?" I asked him. He blocked an oncoming sword and nodded. I thought t
Tyr had barely blocked the blow from the man that had attacked him. I rushed to help him, but he had already knocked out the attacker. Men surrounded us, none of them were the ones loyal to Tyr. I drew my weapon facing the enemies in front of me while Tyr faced the ones behind me. I looked around at the chaos that had erupted around us in disbelief. Karm and Ela frowned as they stood beside me, I sent them the energy they needed to help me fight them off. Loyal soldiers looked confused as their comrades turned their blades on them, barely blocking the blows. Most of Tyr’s soldiers were falling to the ground, injured, before they could comprehend what was happening. Gia and Ari made their way to the injured men, blocking blows with their swords and dodging attacks when they were able to. When Gia knelt beside the first man to help them, Ari positioned herself between them and the battle, watching her back. Men continued to attack them, but Ari could keep them at bay with her fire.
“How can you be tired? You slept all day?” Sunama asked Akasha, as she walked towards us with a pot full of water. “She needs to sleep to fight the infection, leave her alone.” Gia scolded her as she dumped cut up vegetables and herbs into the pot Sunama had handed her. “We should eat and have an early night, tomorrow might not be so calm.” Huricana pointed out as she looked up at the sky. “I agree we were supposed t have run into the Drow already, but the camp's location wasn’t where the scouts said it would be.” I shared. “We will have to take turns on night shift and make sure the Drow didn’t find out about our plans and decide to plan a night attack.” Akasha shared. When the soup Gia had made was done, she handed everyone a bowl. It was a simple vegetable soup, but it was delicious. After everyone had eaten, we retired to our tents, aside from the ones who opted to take the first shift. Akasha headed into the tent to sleep while I sat outside with Mohan and Ezryn, taking firs
Everything hurt, the movement from the horse made my healing wounds stretch uncomfortably and I felt exhausted. “Akasha, wake up.” I heard Tyr’s deep voice in my ear. I looked up at him as he touched my forehead. “What’s up?” “You have a fever; we are going to make camp for the night.” “We have been riding all day?” I asked, alarmed that I had slept so long. He nodded, yeah, The Drow have moved their camp further, our scouts had been mistaken.” “Okay, we will find them tomorrow.” “Akasha?” Gia asked, looking at me, “let me take a look at your wounds.” I shook my head, “I’m fine. They’ll heal. I just need sleep.” Gia looked at me, her face turning red, “Sometimes you are an idiot, if you have a fever, it could be infected. Let me look at it.” “Says the one who gave me one of them.” I snapped at her irritably. “Let her look at them.” Ela stated as she looked at me, worried. “By Accident.” She retorted, upset. “Please.” I looked at her, feeling bad for snapping, and nodded, “
We had spent most of the night entangled in each other before she drifted to sleep. She said I had not hurt her, but I knew her wounds were still sore, so did my best not to aggravate them. I watched as Akasha slept in my arms, wanting to protect her from the Drow and the mission we would leave on in a few hours, I cursed my father for his order and sending my useless brother Uda with us. He had never even held a sword; he would be nothing but a distraction and another person to protect while we dealt with the Drow. Was he hoping I would be so distracted protecting Prince Uda that Akasha would be left vulnerable and be killed? The thought made me feel sick. I would protect her, no matter what. I pulled her closer to me and traced the outline of the wings on her back; the diamonds hypnotizing me as I studied them; she was so smart and so beautiful. I couldn’t wait to make her mine forever. Eventually, I drifted to sleep as well, only morning came too soon. Knocking at my door woke
“Where are we going?” I asked again as we headed down the hallway. “You’ll see.” He smiled. “He is a man on a mission.” Ela laughed as her and Karm followed behind. “Maybe we should leave them be for the night.” Karm suggested. “Why?” He gave her a look, and she giggled. “You will be safe with him; we will see you tomorrow, Akasha.” “See you tomorrow.” I replied as they vanished. “Ela and Karm left?” Tyr stated more, then asked. “Yeah, they will be back tomorrow.” He led me through parts of the castle I hadn’t seen yet, stopping in front of a big wooden door. The guards outside opened the door and let us in. The room was incredible, there was a large canopy bed in the center across from an enormous fireplace. Off to the side was a sitting area with a couch, chair, and tables. Bookshelves lined the walls, along with a large dresser. Smiling, Tyr opened a large walk-in closet and entered it. Walking out with towels, he headed across the room to another door and opened it to a
“We should have a meeting with your sisters and my men.” I told Akasha as the door to the throne room closed behind us. “Yeah, we need to strategize before your brother gets involved. No offense, but he doesn’t seem like the type to be trained in battle.” “He’s not, my father is sending him for appearances. He wants the kingdom to see him as the future King and respect him. If they see him go to battle and come back alive, it will help him gain favor from the people. My father knows he is not their first choice for a successor.” “I know, because he is not a logical choice.” Akasha frowned. We saw Bram and Ward guarding the sister's suite doors when we turned the corner. “Prince Tyr, Akasha, it’s good to see you.” Ward smiled when we approached. Akasha smiled and looked at Bram. "How are you feeling?” “All healed.” He smiled. “Why do you look so angry?” Ward asked me. “I need you to gather my men. We need to have a meeting, Get Frey, Ezryn and Mohan and meet us back here.” I to