Treyan's Promise | The Empire Saga Novella #2

Chapter Six

Retrieving the Empress from the Otherrealm was task enough but at least a task that was planned. The ambush from the mages within the Empire was unexpected, and Treyan was paying the price.

He just hadn't expected Reylor to be prepared so quickly.

He still saw colors flashing behind his eyes as they brought him to the healers, but he wasn't sure if it was due to the blood loss, shock, or the hit to his head when they sent him flying halfway across the field. Memories of seeing the banished souls while in Boston was his indication something wasn't right. Remembering Reylor's mage so close to the Empress the night of her birth celebration was too much. Treyan had no choice but to act as hastily as he did to take her away to safety, and away from him.

It seemed all he'd been doing lately was acting hastily.

"Bring him over here. What happened?"

"Ambush at the tree line."

Convincing her that he had no choice in the matter was harder than he expected and proved to be more of a challenge than tracking her down and bringing her back to the Empire. He spent many nights within the Councillor's chambers, trying to determine the best way to show the Empress that this was where she belonged. The Councillor had told him the best thing to do would be to allow her time and she would soon discover it on her own.

But how much time did they truly have?

He tried not to consider that he gave her a death sentence the moment he brought her to the Empire, but what other way would he have to fulfill their Prophecy without doing what he was destined to do?

"Who was behind this?"

"The Betrayer."

"Send for the Councillor."

She fought him. He knew she would. But he wanted her - he wanted her more than anything he had ever yearned for. He didn't think it could be possible - that a connection could exist between two people as it did, but once he saw her outside of his dream he knew, in that instant, that everything he had learned, everything he lived for, was worth it. It all had meaning for he had found her.

He found Alexstrayna.

He let his heart get before his head- he knew that now. Allowing her to find the wedding dress within the armoire, or showing her the family wedding ring so soon after her arrival would only cause her more distress, but he couldn't help himself. What better way to terrify a stranger in a strange land than to convince her she was never leaving, and on top of that, would be forced to marry someone she had just met?

He didn't blame her for running, and he knew he didn't need to follow her. She'd find herself, in her own way, in her own time.

He knew the minute she laid her hand on the Annals.

The flashes of memory flooded him, the Prophecy's magic making him stagger on the stairs as he descended them that faithful morning. For a split second, he wondered if Reylor sensed it too, but he quickly ignored that thought. He was banished, and their magic couldn't survive within the Borderlands.

But that curiosity was too much for him, and he had to see for himself.

"Will you stop it? You're going to give her a heart attack."

He should have known when he saw the Borderland's camp on the Empire's side of the tree line. His stomach was in knots as he halted his patrol. Reylor knew. And he was planning his next move.

He couldn't allow them to return to the other side. He knew that once he jumped down from his horse and unsheathed his sword.

He didn't expect them to be mages, controllers of the Borderlands' darker spells and unorthodox magics.