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“Did you despise her before, Xian?”
His sister grimaced. “No, I respected her.”
“Should that change because she is of the shadows?”
Xian gazed steadily at the humming city below, refusing to meet his gaze. “We have ostracized her kind since they took our queen.”
“My king, we should prepare your address to the nation, missives must be sent, and we need to strategize our position in the event of war. Your kingdom’s needs must always be placed above yours, my king, always,” Bastien said softly, moving to stand beside Xian.
The silence that resounded was interrupted upon Uriah’s arrival.
“What have you learned?” Ajali asked, his heart jerking in fear for Tehdra.
“The sentry warriors report a force of at least a thousand warriors wearing the insignia from Mevia in the Taryllion, about three hundred miles east from our borders.”
“A thousand?” Gavyn frowned. “That is not an invading force; our borders are manned by more than five thousand warriors. They are far enough from our borders so as not to disturb. What do they wait on?”
Comprehension settled heavily in Ajali’s gut, and his fire stirred. “Tehdra.” Ajali’s voice was hoarse as he said her name. “They wait on Tehdra.”
Acheron stiffened.
“We have no proof of that,” Bastien said. “And if they wait on her, it is not the concern of Nuria.”
“Our high chancellor is right, Ajali,” Uriah said. He overlooked the city with his face wiped clear of all expression. “If the warriors that gather in the empty lands wait on her, it is of no concern of ours. She belongs to the Darkage, and we have no alliance with them. We cannot interfere when they have not invaded our lands.”
“She was taken from our kingdom,” Gavyn said to Uriah, fists clenched. “I doubt I would consign my enemy to the dungeon of Mevia.”
“Neither would I,” Acheron rasped in a voice that echoed nightmares. “Was her departure recorded, Uriah?”
“Not a sight or whisper.”
“Darkans are the ones that took her,” Ajali reasoned, “for her departure to be done so secretively. Yet her warrior prowess should have stopped them.”
“Is it possible they took her by surprise?” Gavyn asked. “After all, they came for her in your private chambers, Ajali.”
“No,” Ajali said, remembering her fighting grace and brutality. “Her response was slowed or stopped completely before they took her or the signs of a fight would have been evident. The food poisoned?” The cowards. “Cordon off the morning room and kitchen. No one enters or leave. Have all servants within the royal household sequestered for questioning. I trust you to see my command completed, Gavyn.”
With a nod, his blade flashed away.
“My king, you go too far!” Bastien closed his eyes as if it pained him to look at Ajali.
“Listen to Bastien, Ajali!” Xian snapped. “You are acting unlike yourself.”
“Our sister is right, kalija,” Uriah said, clasping his shoulders. “A spy from the Darkage being taken from our kingdom is not our concern. Her own kind took her possibly on the orders of her king. We cannot trample where we were not invited. It seems, yes, that the force gathered in Taryllion waits for her, but we cannot interfere. To take action against warriors that did not attack Nuria would be a declaration of war, and we would be the instigators, Ajali.”
The truth of their words sank inside of Ajali. Rage burned through him at the knowledge he had to abandon her to whatever fate was decreed for her.
Ajali…. The voice was a mere whisper in his mind.
He stiffened, eagerly grasping at the faint cry. Where are you?
Jumbled impressions tunneled at him, their meanings elusive. He pushed with so much power, yet he could not find her.
Uriah was right in his assessment. She may have been taken at her king’s order even though Ajali’s instinct warned him otherwise. The force in the empty lands would be to ensure that her escape was not feasible. They knew of her might? For them to hold such knowledge proved the traitor had struck again. But why did they want her? Why not try to capture him again? What did they have in common except what they struggled to control inside of them? His thoughts froze along that track as he swiftly analyzed that pattern. They wanted him for his Phoenyx and Tehdra for her Dracan? The very idea of Mevia controlling their powers was too much to accept. “They took her because of the beast housed in her. She possesses a Dracan. The betrayer has free reign of this castle. Not just Adara, Acheron. The betrayer observed her in the dungeon…enough to report on the type of beast that formed on her skin.” Bile burned in the back of Ajali’s throat to think that someone close to him, a citizen of Nuria, would hand their realm to Mevia to raze. He would have no mercy when he uncovered the traitor.
“Do we send a missive to her kingdom? We could address it to her brother, and he could confirm if the order was given by their king,” Acheron murmured.
Ajali slowly walked to the edge of the turret. The notion of Tehdra under the brutal care of Mevia was gut wrenching. Whether it was for torture or something to do with the essence she buried inside her, she would suffer in ways he doubted she could recover from. Acheron still silently suffered after years of escaping them. Ajali knew why his blade slept in the wing farthest from them when he stayed at the castle. Nightmares still plagued him. He hid it well, but the agony was there.
