Kai was busy unbraiding her long, blonde hair when he said her name, and she looked up, smirking. Her locks now flowed in waves down her back, barely grazing the top curve of her pants. Aidan swallowed and quickly turned his head away.
Snap out of it, he chided himself.
Jade rolled her eyes. “Let’s just go,” she said, grabbing the small bag that carried their meager possessions to the rooms they were assigned.
“I saw what that man did to his wife and child, you know,” Kai’s musical lilt came from behind him. “You’re a good man, Aidan. A bit brash, but good,” she said, affection in her eyes as she brushed against his arm and headed to the rooms.
A good man.
He smiled and did what he did best: followed her.
Over the next two days, they continued north through Karstos. The further they traveled from the capital of Delarossi, the less timid and tight-lipped the people became. Their words flowed freely, and even their speech became looser and more drawling, instead of the flat precision of the southern region. The citizens in the north were not afraid to speak their minds against the crown. Aidan began to hear more and more stories about the king and his loyal men, and they were definitely not kind.
Their anger ran hot. As someone who had been front and center to a kingdom devolving into chaos over decades, Aidan knew the difference between a slowly stoked rebellion and a short fuse ignited into an inferno. These people of Karstos had not carried this resentment with them for long, but when it struck, it was difficult to tame. Aidan caught snippets during their time in taverns and inns about this apathetic king who forced families to sell their possessions in order to pay their taxes, who imprisoned or sentenced merchants to death for the smallest indiscretions. And yet, these stories only went back a few years. It was as if this larger-than-life tyrant had sprung from the ashes of a boy king mourning a father.
Just as they had overheard at the bar on their first night together, suspicions regarding the king’s true motivation for such cruelty revolved around him searching for something. Magic, medicine, weapons—the rumors were endless.
Aidan’s favorite explanation was that the king sought a mythical egg that, when hatched, yielded a dragon that would lay golden eggs.
He’d snorted out loud at that one.
As far-fetched as some of the tales were, it became increasingly obvious to the three elementals that the king was vicious, powerful, and desperate to find something. Which was a dangerous combination.
What made Aidan most curious was that King Sebastian hadn’t been seen in person for nearly two years. He had his advisors hold court instead of himself, refused invitations to visit neighboring kingdoms, and stopped showing his face in public completely. For a fairly young ruler—only around thirty years old—with no wife or heir, that was peculiar. A king of his age would normally be courting every eligible woman in the kingdom, flaunting his youth and virility—not keeping himself locked up and out of the public eye.
Aidan wondered what he had to hide. Or what he was hiding from.
By the sound of it, unity among the kingdoms was also waning, which didn’t surprise the three of them, who knew from personal experience that when a ruler began using their power to force their subjects into submission instead of leading them, things did not end well. Attacks among merchants had become commonplace—groups of wild rebels or angry citizens scrounged the kingdoms for vulnerable travelers to pillage and send a message.
The more stories and gossip he heard, the more it made Aidan sick to his stomach.
History was repeating itself.
“What’s on your mind?” Kai asked, bringing him out of his thoughts.
Aidan glanced up at Jade and, seeing that she trotted along well ahead of them, said, “Just thinking about how familiar this feels.”
Kai snorted. “Which part? I don’t know about you, but I don’t remember ever riding through an unknown village on stolen horses with only the clothes on our backs,” she said with a chuckle.
He smiled and shook his head. “Not that. Although, you have looked marvelous riding away from me on that horse.”
She rolled her eyes, but he didn’t miss the blush creeping up her freckled neck.
“All of this conflict. The unrest. The king’s injustice, the people’s violence. Doesn’t that feel familiar to you?” he asked seriously, looking at her as they rode.
Kai bit her lower lip. Gods, he loved it when she did that. “I wish it didn’t.” She looked away. “People can’t live with an oppressor, Aidan. They need someone who will guide them and keep their best interests in mind. Not a ruler who only seeks power and control.”
He had a feeling she was no longer talking about King Sebastian.
Aidan simply nodded, not wanting to get into an argument about the past. They’d had enough of those a thousand years ago.
“I missed you, Aidan,” she said after a moment, so quietly he almost missed it, and he swore those four, hushed words were the most beautiful he’d ever heard.
“We’ve been together for three days. You haven’t grown tired of me yet?” he asked teasingly.
The somber look on her face quickly wiped the grin from his. “You know what I mean.” She paused, emotion gleaming in her eyes. “Even before we all went our separate ways. I’ve missed you for a long time.”
Swallowing, he reached over to grab her hand and placed a gentle kiss on it. “I missed you, too, sweetheart.” He softly traced a circle around the finger where she used to wear that silver ring, the one he’d forged in his fire and given to her so many years ago. He didn’t blame her for taking it off, of course, but its absence still tugged at his heart.
