Silence. A silence that propelled towards her like the vicious cracking of a whip. She recoiled from the crack of the door, sucking in a gasp when a pair of green eyes snapped into view. Ailikaya looked at the male—no,man—standing before her. She noticed his ears, one of them rounded and very much human and the other pointed at the tip.
Both small.
Human. Not fae.
“You are not supposed to be here.” The timbre of his voice rumbled through her chest, his sage-green eyes narrowed through the slit of the door.
She could just barely make out the presence of stubble on his chin—a rarity with the fae, as they chose to uphold themselves to a thoroughly kempt manner.
This was aman, if she’d ever seen one.
“This is my home, I can be wherever I like.” The man loosened a sharp breath through his nose, smirking. “Who are you, anyway?” Ailikaya moved to peer around his shoulder, eyes landing on her mother again. She stood with her arms folded across her chest. She looked sad, still, despite the change in atmosphere.
“I—”
Kaya’s mother stepped forward, opening the door so that she and the strange half-creature were entirely visible. She could feel her parents watching her, but Kaya’s perfectly honed gaze was still fixed upon the man.
“Who are you?” She asked again.
“Ailikaya, do not be rude.”
She ignored her mother, moving closer to the man to more effectively scrutinize him, only to feel as if she had slammed into a wall. Kaya stumbled back, face crumpling.
“My name is Ilias. Ilias Dothrae.” The man said.
He offered no hand to shake, and did not stoop to a bow. She frowned.
Kaya looked at her father, who now appeared at the side of his queen, his hand affectionately placed upon her waist. “Ailikaya, I have summoned Ilias to Holiadon to be your teacher. He will be teaching you how to control your Blessing. He is Captain of the Silver Guard and you will treat him with the respect that he has so dutifully earned.”
“He’shuman.”
The queen’s cheeks heated, her eyes going wide. “Kaya, donotbe rude.”
“Unfortunately, I believe that I must defend myself, your majesties.” Ilias spoke the Lowen dialect with an odd accent, one that Kaya could not place. She watched as he bowed to her parents. A smirk tugged at the corner of his lips as he raised himself to face her. “I am not entirely human.”
“You are not entirely fae, either.” Kaya snapped.
His eyes narrowed. “Not entirely, no. But I am. Where it matters the most.”
“And where,” Kaya began, folding her arms over her chest, “exactly would that be?”
It took but a moment for her to feel it—to be toppled over by an invisible brute force. She landed on her bottom, arms splayed at her sides to lessen the impact. She let out a huff, shock etching its way across her face as she peered up at the halfblood before her. He approached her with an outstretched hand, his shirt rolled up to his elbows to reveal a multitude of jagged scars. She found it boastful of him to show them so boldly, but assumed it was his right to bear them. Scars were earned—sacred.
Serving in the Silver Guard was no easy feat and most were lucky to see their thirtieth year in service. Moryna had been training for years to become apart of the guard, but with no such luck.
Kaya knocked Ilias’s hand away, pushing herself to her feet. “When will my training begin?” She asked, not even daring to take her eyes off of the cocky grin plastered across the guard’s face.
Smug bastard.
“You will be leaving with him tonight. He’s taking you across the border and into G’Illach.” Alder Aesa was turning away from her at this point. It seemed as if he couldn’t look at her and she could understand why. If she were a parent sending her only child off to train with some strange…man,she would feel guilty, too. Her father’s most recent decision making skills were proving to be rather ludicrous, his fear and desperation overtly evident. And her power was the only thing of value Alder Aesa had in his possession that could change the Tymon Thepyra’s mind.
She continued to observe Ilias. Though, by this point, his attention was solely upon her father. Her father requested for her to learn how to harness the Dark Bringer and expected for it to be done quickly, as the Credulans were demanding to see her within a month’s time.
It was unnerving, to say the least. Kaya was used to toying with her shadows, but was more fond of talking to them and learning about them than she was actually having to use them. It could get dangerous at times.
Especially when they were hungry.
The scar on her mother’s face was enough proof of that.
