“I don’t know if that’s a good idea,” Willis spoke before Erik had a chance to answer.
Erik’s gaze moved past me to Willis before returning to me. “Are you sure you don’t want a Bavadrin to help you?” They both feared the implication of how it would be taken by the Bavadrin people to see their new Leader Superior being helped by a Lysian. Perhaps I would have worried about the same; however, the Spirit essentially told me to trust my choices and to follow my gut without fear. And my heart was telling me that the Lysians were not evil, that in the end, we would stand on the same side.
“Yes, I’m sure,” I answered them both.
Erik smiled softly and nodded.
He walked with me a couple of steps before turning the corner to the courtyard area where a large gathering of Bavadrins stood; we appeared on the steps above them.
Murmurs moved through the crowd when they caught sight of me.
“My people,” I began addressing them, my voice loud as it carried across the space between us. The particular spot where Erik and I stood thankfully had good acoustics so that all could hear me without my needing to yell. “I stand before you, exhausted from my journey last night and excited to share that I spoke with the Spirit.”
Again, murmurs moved through the crowd.
“I asked questions, but the Spirit only offered a glimpse of answers for a few. During that time, the Spirit answered one key question.” I paused, and the purest form of silence settled between all around. “We, the Bavadrins, are not cursed due to the breaking of the treaty.”
There were some audible sighs of relief.
“But then, what of the Lysians?” a voice rose above all the whispers.
Erik tensed beside me.
“I asked the Spirit of the Lysians.” The Spirit did not tell me anything about them other than for me to follow my gut. “They are not our enemy,” I announced. Erik’s gaze turned, boring into me while I remained focused on the Bavadrins before me. “I do not yet understand the path we have been set on, but the Spirit confirmed that there is a good reason the Lysians are in our lives, and we are in theirs.”
“Will you stay in the city?” another voice asked, and I felt myself weakening.
“No. I am leaving now, but I will return in twelve days, and when I do, I hope that more of your questions can be answered. I wish to leave with a vow that I will bring us back to the lives we were always meant to live. For far too long, we have been burned by the world, by those who wished to harm us, and even by those who had promised to protect us.” I alluded to Fraser without saying his name.
My gaze found Landin in the crowd. “Some of us had to hide parts of ourselves to survive. I will not support the notion of causing my people more pain and difficulty when life is hard enough. Love does not have bounds, and we will no longer try to bind it.” Landin’s eyes glazed over.
My attention shifted, moving over the crowd of people. “It is time for us to rise from the ash. We will take our lives back, andthe land will recognize the Bavadrins as people of character, strength, and compassion. I must leave today, but I promise that I am coming for you all.”
Cheers erupted through the crowd.
“Let’s go,” I whispered to Erik, who reacted at once, taking me away from the mass, and sheltering me from the excitement, which only further drained my energy.
29
ERIK
It pleased Kole to learn that he did not need to ride back to the Lysian lands with Edda. Given the state Ariana was in, I insisted she ride with one of us. She was in no condition to keep herself upright on a horse. Thankfully, she must have come to the same conclusion, for she did not fight me on it.
Ariana agreed to ride with me while Edda happily took Rain.
Despite the occasional jostle of the horse, Ariana quickly fell asleep when we began our trip back home. Her body leaned into mine. Now and then, her head would roll to the side across my chest. Every breeze blew the scent of wildflowers from her hair and skin around me, encasing me in her. I kept my arms firmly positioned around her to keep her from sliding off the horse.
Even unconscious, she was distracting, taking up room in my mind and drawing my attention. Wind blew an unbound piece of her hair wildly around her neck, pulling my eye to her throat. Strange how most went about life with their necks exposed and it did nothing to me, yet in that moment it felt somehow intimate. The way my gaze drifted over her skin, across her jaw, the corner of her lips.
I forced my eyes up, refocusing on the land surrounding us.
Despite my gaze being on everything but her, my mind could not escape the strange pull she had on my thoughts.
Thankfully, even sleeping, Ariana appeared better than before. Her body no longer shivered; her eyes focused whenever they were open. Despite these improvements, she remained frail, unable to effectively walk on her own. Whatever that concoction was that supposedly brought her to the Spirit left her vulnerable.
Ariana seemed so small for someone who now carried so much weight on her shoulders. The responsibility of her people fell to her just as the responsibility of the Lysians fell to me. We shared that now. I had been bred for it, trained throughout my entire life to take my father’s place, for I was his first-born child. Ariana did not know whether the Bavadrin crown would fall to her after her father’s death. She did not have time to prepare as I had.
It was unfortunate for her to have such a burden placed on her in the middle of something like this. Siding with us would be the easiest choice for a smooth progression in the days ahead.
