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Authors: R.K. Ryals

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BOOK: Tempest
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“Do you know what it all means?” I asked again. “The prophecy? I’m supposed to be a phoenix of peace, and yet I have been plagued with death, by people who keep dying because of me.”

Cadeyrn’s gaze met mine again. “You have not been plagued by death. You have been surrounded by patriots willing to risk their lives for freedom. There is death in war. People didn’t die for you, Drastona. They died for a cause. No one in my life died for a cause. They died because of me. You are life, hope, and a chance at freedom. A symbol. Even if you do nothing more than speak to nature, you are a beacon for your people. That is all people need in war.”

My lips parted. “And you then? What are you to the prophecy?”

Cadeyrn bent, his face close to mine. “I am death. Where there is life, there must always be death. In Sadeemia, the scribes believe that the phoenix will save her country, but in the process, I will die.”

I shook my head. “It never says that.”

Cadeyrn laughed. “No, but where you are valued in Medeisia, I warn you now that you are feared here. For my people believe you will destroy a prince in order to save a country.”

I shook my head again, harder this time.

“I have no wish to destroy anyone,” I whispered. “One prince has already been lost.”

I choked on the words, my face heating with tears I would not shed. Cadeyrn stepped away from me.

“Just remember,” he said. “I do not fear death. Death should fear me.”

With that, the prince walked away. He knew I’d follow. He had to know I’d follow, my steps falling behind his as we moved stealthily into the village. Oran walked beside me, but he said nothing.

“Do you believe that?” I asked the wolf. “Do you believe I am life and the prince is death?”

The wolf’s muscles bunched as he moved. “Prophecies are not always to be believed. It is a guess, a projected moment in time. The future can change.”

I looked down at him. “That didn’t answer my question.”

Oran chuckled. “Because it has no answer. Only time will tell.”

I swallowed hard. “I killed Kye.”

My words hung between us. The Sadeemians believed I would destroy a prince in order to save a kingdom. Maybe Cadeyrn was wrong. Maybe the prince wasn’t him. What if I was the reason Kye was dead?

“You reach too deep, Phoenix. You can’t live your life always wondering things that may not be true.”

I knew this, I did, but I also couldn’t live my life knowing I’d destroyed someone.

“He loved you,” Oran said. “He always knew there was a chance he’d die in war. All of us know that. Even you. It’s a risk we all take, including you. Cadeyrn is right. Kye died for a cause.”

The inn was in front of us again. Cadeyrn walked to a back entrance, and we followed him in, our steps taking us through a kitchen mottled with sleeping servants before we made it to the stairs. Cadeyrn took us to my room, waving the guards away before opening my door.

Cadeyrn’s eyes met mine. “You are important to your people. Don’t let grief or fear cripple you now.”

He let go of the door and moved into the shadows. I watched him walk away. The prince had said he wasn’t afraid of death. I wanted to be that way. And he was right, I had let Kye’s death cripple me. I’d spent the last week grieving, sullen and withdrawn. I’d blamed myself and blamed Raemon. I’d cursed, taken down a wyver, and threatened a king. I’d cried into a pillow, and I’d let myself break.

Now, it was time to move beyond that, to hurt and to heal, but to also lead.

 

 

Chapter 22

 

“We’re what?”

It was Maeve that asked, her voice rising. She looked beautiful in a burgundy gown with a wine-colored surcoat. Her dark hair was up, twisted on top of her head with a few wispy strands framing her face. She didn’t have curly hair like mine, and I envied her that. The best I’d managed was a silver circlet that rested on my curls. Reenah had said circlets and hats were the fashion in Sadeemia for women who chose to wear their hair down. Mine was too short to wear up, and I’d quickly said no to the hat.

Lochlen moved up behind Maeve as we stepped from the inn, the early morning sun reflecting off blue and red roofs. Rolleen was a colorful town, almost as colorful as its people. And there were a lot of people. They lined the streets even now, their curious eyes following us as Cadeyrn led us once more toward the sea.

“The sea is nothing to be afraid of,” Lochlen assured Maeve.

She gulped. “
You
can swim!” she argued.

Daegan patted her on the back. “If you go overboard, I promise to jump in after you.”

I hid a smile. “That’s not helping, Daegan,” I said. I was pretty sure the bowman couldn’t swim either, outside of bathing.

I couldn’t swim, but I wasn’t terrified of the water. If anything, it fascinated me. Like anything in nature, I was beginning to learn that water had a language of its own. It didn’t speak words like the animals did, and it didn’t speak to me in the scratchy, wooden language of the trees. Instead, it hummed. It was a soft hum. I’d first noticed it that morning as I was standing at the window of my room, the glass pushed open. I’d smelled the breeze and listened as the seagulls goaded each other. And then there was the hum.

“Are you singing?” I’d asked Oran.

The wolf had looked up at me and growled, “Wolves don’t sing.”

I’d glanced back at the ocean, my eyes going wide. “I think it’s the ocean,” I’d gasped.

Oran had chuckled. “Of course it is the ocean. You didn’t hear it before?”

I’d shaken my head, my eyes on the distant waves. “No,” I’d answered.

Oran had walked to me then and jumped up, his paws resting next to my hands on the sill.

“Don’t forget to listen to us, Phoenix. If you aren’t listening, you won’t hear us. Water may belong primarily to Liqueet, but Silveet has a hand in it, too.”

I’d not forgotten to listen again, and I heard it now as we paraded through Rolleen’s streets. Humming. Quiet humming.

“They’ve taken Blayne Dragern into custody,” Daegan said as he dropped back to walk beside me. “And now we meet with the king.” He sounded unsure.

I looked up at him. Cadeyrn had filled the rest of our entourage in on Blayne’s arrest before we’d left the inn after breakfast, but he’d omitted my involvement. I was grateful for that.

“It’s a good thing, Daegan. Now maybe we can get help in Medeisia.”

Rolleen’s people cheered as Cadeyrn passed by them, but they quieted when their eyes landed on us. If only they knew I was the girl who was supposed to destroy their prince. I understood now why the prince’s guards watched me warily, why their eyes always seemed to avoid mine. I knew now why they’d all gone quiet when Kye had spoken of the Kiarian Freesonalay in the prince’s tent. But these people didn’t know yet. No one outside Cadeyrn’s men knew. That would change when we faced the king.

The wharf from the night before came into view, the trade-cog sitting quietly in the sea-green water around the dock. Gryphon stood next to one of the posts, quietly leaning against it as we moved toward him.

“Everything secure?” Cadeyrn asked.

Gryphon nodded. “Blayne spent most of the night throwing a fit. It seems he’s not used to anything less than royal treatment.”

Cadeyrn snorted. “He wouldn’t be.”

A few men stepped from a loading platform and onto the dock, each of them greeting the prince and the personal guard that had traveled with Cadeyrn into Rolleen. His personal guard was an extraordinary bunch of men and very observant, even if some of them didn’t like me. Ryon, for example.

 
“It’s a good day to travel by sea,” Gryphon said, his eyes going to the water. I saw Maeve shudder from the corner of my eye.

The people of Rolleen gathered around the wharf as we boarded, their handkerchiefs waving. It was such a new experience for most of us. We didn’t cheer for Raemon in Medeisia, we hid.

I took one last look at the village by the sea. At the white sands and whitewashed houses with blue and red roofs, at the cliffs, and at the small trade-cogs and fishing boats that filled the water. Many of them were getting ready to go to sea for the day. Others were being loaded with goods for towns further down the coast. Our trade-cog was the biggest vessel.

“Larger trading vessels and foreign ships dock in Majesta,” Cadeyrn said from behind me. I looked over my shoulder at the prince. He wasn’t looking at me. His eyes were on the sea.

“I didn’t ask,” I said.

“No,” he answered. “You didn’t.”

But I’d been thinking it. I looked away.

“I’d really prefer traveling
in
the sea,” Lochlen groused from beside us. He pulled at the collar of his now blue tunic.

“I’d prefer traveling on land,” Oran added.

I pinched my lips together to keep from grinning. Oran was having a difficult time staying on his feet as the anchor was pulled up. Men moved behind us, letting out the single sail so the breeze off the ocean could pull us down the coast.

“I’m going to be sick,” Maeve groaned.

She leaned over the side of the boat, but quickly swiveled, her green face toward us once she caught sight of the water.

“If you throw up on me, I will throw you overboard,” Daegan mumbled.

The bowman didn’t look too good himself. He gripped the side of the cog, his knuckles going white, his jaw tensing.

“A less sea friendly lot I’ve ever seen,” Gryphon teased as he moved past.

I caught a quick smile passing between him and the prince. They were both amused by the misery.

“We’re forest folk,” I defended.


They
are,” Lochlen corrected. “Dragons can adapt to anything.”

The sea hummed in response and Lochlen closed his eyes, taking a deep breath, his nostrils flaring. The prince took pity on him.

“You can swim beside the vessel,” Cadeyrn said.

Lochlen groaned, lifting the blue tunic he wore over his head before handing it to me. His human form wasn’t bad to look at. He was skinnier than Kye had been, and not quite as broad in the shoulders as Cadeyrn, but the sleekness of his muscles was just as attractive. It went well with his reptilian eyes and russet hair.

Lochlen handed me his shirt. I held it up, my mouth twitching.

“What’s the point? It’s going to disappear when you change,” I said.

Lochlen grinned. “I had to do something to distract Maeve. She was about to lose her breakfast on your shoes.”

I glanced quickly in Maeve’s direction and realized the dragon was right. She looked more than a little ill, her hand over her stomach. Lochlen’s chest diverted her attention, but not for long. She moaned, leaning over so that her hands rested on her knees.

I pushed at Lochlen. “Go before the prince changes his mind.”

Lochlen winked before climbing up on top of the small ship’s rail, balancing easily. Suddenly, he jumped, transforming in midair before his golden dracon body sank into the waves.

Lochlen’s aerobatics were too much for Maeve. Daegan and I barely got her to the side of the cog before she lost her entire breakfast in the sea.

“Dear Silveet!” Oran groaned, his body going to the deck, his paws over his face.

I glared down at him. “Wolves can get seasick, too?” I asked.

One of Cadeyrn’s men walked by, his head shaking, an amused grin on his face. Daegan growled at him almost as fiercely as Oran did.

“Why aren’t you sick?” Maeve complained, lifting her head weakly from the rail, her puny gaze meeting mine. “You’ve had as much experience with sea travel as the rest of us.”

The ocean’s humming grew louder, and I glanced out at the sea.

“It feels like the forest,” I said finally.

Gryphon laughed from where he stood next to Cadeyrn. “It’s no forest,” he said. “The sea is as fragile as glass and as ferocious as a beast. It depends on her mood.”

I glanced at him. “And you think the forest is any different?” I asked. I raised a brow. “You’ve obviously never met a tree.”

Oran laughed, the sound turning quickly into a groan as the cog moved over a particularly large wave. Mostly, it was a smooth sail. The cog was a flat-bottomed ship with high sides, which meant it generally rode the waves well, but it was still the sea. The sea meant waves and waves meant motion.

Daegan was peering at me hard. “Are you saying you can hear the ocean?” he asked.

I didn’t look at him. I moved to the rail instead, staring into the water, my eyes catching the occasional glimpse of gold among the waves as Lochlen swam. The dragon’s head lifted from the water, his large eyes moving up to the ship, and I smiled at him. He dove again.

“Drastona?” Daegan asked.

I sighed.

“It’s okay to call me Stone.” I turned, my back going to the rail. “The ocean doesn’t speak to me like the forest. It hums.”

Maeve dry retched, her stomach having completely emptied itself. “And that keeps you from being sick?” she asked.

She slid to the deck, her bottom landing wearily on the wood next to Oran. Neither of them moved.

I shrugged.

“It’s from all those hours spent in the trees,” Daegan said. “That far up in the sky, anyone would be used to motion.”

I didn’t comment. The ocean kept humming.

“What does it sound like?” Maeve asked suddenly. She was now lying on the deck; her cheek against the wood, her eyes closed. It didn’t look very ladylike, but I don’t think she cared much.

“The ocean?” I asked.

I listened for a moment. The humming grew loud and then faint, high and then low. I didn’t know much about music; in Medeisia, people rarely sang. Aigneis had sung to me at night, in a sweet, lilting tune. It often depended on how tired I’d been. Oftentimes, she told stories. Sometimes, she sang. Occasionally, she hummed.

“It sounds ... like a lullaby,” I whispered. “Sometimes it sounds like breathing.”

Daegan looked out over the sea. “It just sounds like water to me.”

“And it feels awful,” Maeve grumbled.

I looked down at her, my gaze sympathetic.

“It sounds like home,” one of the sailors said in passing.

“Aye!” a Sadeemian woman said from a few feet away.

“Like home,” Reenah agreed.

Before long, the entire ship had picked up the chant. All except Daegan, Maeve, Oran, and me. Home was a long way off, across a desert where we’d lost people we’d loved, where we’d left behind marked rebels who depended on us. Home was Medeisia.

 

BOOK: Tempest
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