Ever since that night that still haunted her dreams, she could barely muster the courage to summon a splotch of shade on even the hottest of summer days.
“Well, I suppose there is no use in trying to argue my defenses. It seems as if any argument I have on my own behalf is automatically nullified.” Kaya grumbled.
“Your assumptions are correct.” Alder started, thrusting a leather bag into the arms of his daughter. “Pack your things. Eat your supper. And don’t,” he put an extra emphasis on the word, “Be rude. You are expected to listen tohim as you have so dutifully listened to your other tutors. He is working on my coin, and I will not stand to see things go to waste.”
Kaya smiled prettily, eyes rounded to give herself an air of innocence. “Would Iever?”
To this, her mother let out a quieted laugh, shaking her head as she moved towards her daughter. They embraced deeply, the Queen taking a deep inhale of Kaya’s hair. As she always did.
Alder and Ilias skirted to a far side of the room where her father began handing the guard different texts from his collection. Kaya and her mother remained by the door and she almost darted out of the opening in an attempt to flee, but Kaya’s mother reached out and grabbed her hands before she could even lean into her sprint.
“A’noa, Kaya. Ti na machna ii’loam.” The Lowen tongue was always such a beautiful sound, like a lullaby of flowing waters, of wind dancing between wispy tendrils of willow branches. But instead of calming her, this time it made the shadows ruffle their feathers.
She shuddered, confused at their sudden movements.
Behave, Kaya. He’s your fearless guardian.
?????????
“Machna ii’loam,huh? That sounds rather important.” Moryna sighed, the snap of the book she closed causing Kaya to turn and face her.
“Did you find anything on it?” She asked.
Moryna shook her head, her hand going up to comb through her close-cropped curls. “Not a thing. All I could find were definitions of each individual word, but not of them used together.”
“The shadows didn’t like it.”
“They don’t really like anything. The way it seems to me is that they want you to themselves. Jealous little bastards.” Moryna huffed, shoving herself to her feet as she walked to Kaya’s suitcase. She tossed the book onto the pile that had been started, chuckling softly at the romance novel placed carefully in a side pocket. “I suggest you not reading that in a camp full of male warriors.They’ll smell your arousal and lose all sense of direction.”
Kaya slammed the lid of her trunk, turning to face her friend with a sneer. “Perhaps my plan was to seduce the guards and warriors and have them allow me passage to the human territory. I’ll clip my ears, live my life as a mountain witch that they warn their children of, and live a life of blissful solitude.”
“You’re going to be stoned to death.”
She laughed, shaking her head as she turned back to the trunk. “A proper stoning might be better than demonstrating my powers for the Credulans.” She grunted as she lifted her belongings off of her bed, the leather pack her father handed her already slung over her shoulder. “But, alas, it seems as if I have to be a good daughter. I’m not doing this for my father, but for mama. I owe it to her to at least learn how to control these sneaky little bastards.”
Omina fida. Let me feed, they whispered. Kaya went still, heaving out a frustrated sigh as she turned to the door. Moryna was close behind, following her as usual, but the young guard said nothing as they made their trek through the quiet castle to the front steps.
Kaya hoped that her mother and father would be there to see her off, but she knew that her mother was growing more and more tired with each inch that her belt grew. She retired to bed early in the day, as soon as the skies started to turn pink with the sun’s descent.
Moryna would have to suffice.
“Well,” Kaya sighed, “I’ll be seeing your ugly face in a few weeks.”
The guard scoffed, rolling her bright purple eyes. “I wish it were longer.”
“If my plans of seduction are successful, you’ll feel sorry for saying that.” Moryna went stiff, her body going unnaturally straight, her eyes fixed upon an unknown object in the distance. Kaya’s brow crumpled in confusion.
“There will be no seducing anyone on this journey, princess.”
She turned, cheeks heating when she saw Ilias stepping out from the shadows and into the auralight. There were no snide remarks or clever quips that could save her from her embarrassment, so she merely fixed her eyes on him the way she had in her parents’ private chamber.
Once again, Ilias looked away.
“Are you prepared for your journey, Princess Ailikaya?” Ilias asked,tightening a strap on his steed’s saddle.
She wasn’t ready, that was for certain. But she was most definitely prepared.
Prepared for someone to get hurt and for Ilias to either kill her or send her straight back to her parents, deemed a deadly threat that should be shackled in iron and thrown into a dungeon.
