Kingdom's Vice Series: Journey to Alleria ( #1 2014) #Wattys2015

Chapter Twenty-Three

Of the few times I have witnessed the King cry, I am moved to tears. The way he holds her hand screams that he never wants to let her go from his sight again. She glows like a lantern is beaming from within her, and Duhamas wears a smile that only hints to relief and joy. He had waited a long time for this day, so he told me.

Alec holds my hand as we stand in the crowd, smiling at the two of them as they join hands before the King. Uncle is dressed in a fine silver robe, a tight, patterned waistcoat beneath it and boots stemming up past his knees. Duhamas looks dashing in his vest and white undershirt, while Faeore steals everyone’s eyes.

Mae cardarch e lai e-ho.

It is a phrase I have often heard exchanged between the two of them. Four very sacred words. It is the equivalent of ‘I love you.’

What follows is one of the most sacred and beautiful things I have ever seen. The ceremony is not taking the importance of the whole affair for granted. Everything is in perfect order; not one flower petal out of place. The Sapphire Tree hovers above them as they exchange their marital pledges to one another, before Faeore finally secures her immortality with a sip from a glass goblet. With her words and her promise to both Duhamas and her Father, she is granted immortal life. She falls into Duhamas’s arms the instant the King declares her a member of the Olak, and Duhamas absorbs the shock as she collides into him. He holds her close for a long moment and kisses her hair, before sweeping her off her feet and running out of the courtyard with her.

~.~.~.~

They don’t get very far before the King recalls them. Duhamas brings her back quickly, at the speed of light and sets her down before her Father. He extends a hand and she takes it as the crowd flows around them, making room. They dance like there’s no air surrounding them at all; like nothing is keeping them from floating into the sky. I hear very little of what they are saying to each other, but I can only assume that they are saying “Mae cardarch e lai e-ho” many, many times. When they finally finish dancing, Faeore hurries to the banquet table, where gifts wrapped in silken sheets are stacked high. She grabs the first one she sees and runs back to Duhamas and they take turns in peeling back the wrapping. Faeore’s mouth drops and Duhamas smiles and his eyes meet mine. He knows. I nudge Alec in the ribs.

‘Told you they’d like it,’ I say with a pout.

He chuckles, rubbing his ribs casually, ‘I never said they wouldn’t,’ he replies, ‘And besides, it doesn’t help that Faeore is a Seer now. She would have seen it coming.’ He jokes.

I laugh a little and lean in to whisper in his ear. ‘That doesn’t make it any less special, Alec.’

He nods and smiles, applauding Faeore and Duhamas some more. I go blank when I see them coming this way, though. Should I bow? Should I lower my eyes or something? I just cling to Alec’s arm and, gently, he clings right back.

‘Layr,’ Duhamas greets us with a charming smile as he holds something behind his back. ‘Your gift is wonderful, beyond anything we could have imagined for ourselves!’

I smile at Faeore, who smiles back cheekily. ‘It is a Wishing Box is it not?’ she asks, her eyes still on me as she pulls back the wrapping some more.

I nod, ‘Yes. You write a wish on a piece of paper, put it in the box, and close it. When you read the wish, it will come true if you believe it. We wish for...’

‘Prosperity,’ Alec continues for me, ‘And happiness.’

Faeore smiles and nudges Duhamas. He pulls the wrapping from a small pair of twin wooden boxes, engraved with a S and an A.

‘These are for you,’ he says, handing them to us.

I open mine to see a string of pearls on a strand of silver. The pearls are beautiful and the way the shine in the light is like nothing I’ve ever had the honour of seeing.

‘To protect you from The Dark,’ Faeore says, ‘And let The Light keep you, wherever you go.’

Tears swell in my eyes. All this time I believed that Faeore had a deep hatred for me that would never fade, but it seems her heart has room for the kin she never knew she had. I watch as Alec opens his box. He looks unsure, as if they had accidently given him the wrong one. He looks to Duhamas with a confused look on his face.

‘An Allerian blade,’ Duhamas explains. ‘of the finest silver this kingdom can forge. May it serve you well in showing the world how brave you really are.’

Alec closes the box and embraces Duhamas for a brief moment. ‘Thank you,’ he says, ‘for everything.’

~.~.~.~

Duhamas and Alec talk beside a stand full of cakes and sparkling wines, while Faeore and I walk arm-in-arm around the courtyard together.

‘So, my Father will announce your engagement tomorrow,’ she says casually. I look to her in surprise, but remember that I should have seen it coming, because she’s a Seer now.

I nod, ‘Yes,’ I reply just as casually.

‘Cardarh is a funny thing,’ she says, ‘It binds the unlikeliest of people together.’ She looks to Duhamas and smiles at him, the same way I had seen them exchanging romantic glances at the Lunar Traegorn.

‘It is.’ I say, ‘I never thought I’d come to know what it would feel like to love someone else, but now I do.’ I sip from my glass.

She swallows a sip of her wine after she savours it in her mouth for a while. ‘Immortality is something that will keep us together,’ she says, ‘But don’t you think it will be hard to be together if only one of you gets to live forever?’

I stop and drop my glass. I look to her, yet say nothing.

‘Skaya,’ she eyes me worriedly, ‘Are you alright? Is something wrong?’

Alec spots me and starts walking over to us. I feel like all the air has been sucked out of me, leaving with nothing but a racing and sinking heart.

Alec and I will not be able to marry as equals.

Alec will die and I will be the one to bury him.

Something is very wrong.