"Where should I put these?"
I glance a the basket of lilies and calendulas beneath a small offering of bright fruits. "Take those to King Rainier and Queen Edila. Eagle Wing, second floor, the fourth door from the Highland Tower - and if you see Lecia on your way there tell her to find Grace, and make sure the preparations in the Council Room are being properly handled, please."
"Of course."
"Thank you!" I yell at the short woman's disappearing figure.
Another already waits for me when I turn around, her hands carrying two dresses and a wooden box likely full of jewelry. "Oh, perfect. Take those to the Queen of Cressida upstairs and hand them to her guards posted outside her door. They won't let you inside so don't bother trying."
She nods and scurries off, weaving through the rushing craziness of the castle halls. They're full of the castle's staff, all carrying one thing or another, and if they're not it's because they're rushing to get something that will.
I spot Bell in the madness and intercept her course to the Healer's Tower. "Did someone get those linens to Siscilla?"
"I sent two of the incomers to handle it."
"How long ago?"
We both jump out of the way of a boy with a wheelbarrow of dirty linens heading for the laundress downstairs. "Twenty minutes."
"While you take those bandages up to make sure they got them. Otherwise, Siscilla will have a fit, and you don't want to be there when she starts yelling."
"Heads up." She gestures to five more of the incomers, all walking all too casually for the chores that need to be done for today.
Darius redrew the lines of those who work in the castle, making sure it was all voluntary and not forced. Oddly enough, we had parents from the town sending their children and themselves if they were able to help us out. We call them the incomers. New and completely oblivious to the hard work that actually goes into working for the King.
"Oof. I wouldn't want to be on the receiving side of that glare," Belle teases.
"Then get your ass to the Healer's Tower." She leaves with a light laugh and I turn to the incomers and step in their path. "Enjoying the fun?"
The boy in the center looks me up and down slowly, his tongue licking his lips like a dog. "Not yet, but we can go somewhere less...crowded to have some." His friends laugh and I resist the urge to hurl.
"If I take you somewhere less crowded, it's to toss you over the castle walls for incompetence and childish behavior that will get you killed if one of the Kings or Queens hear you."
"She's a feisty little thing, isn't she?" I narrow my eyes to the blonde at his left, wondering what would happen if he knew that this 'feisty little thing' is involved with the Sinister Fox.
"I always liked my food spicy," another comments.
"How about angry?" They all spin around, blanching at the sight of Makatza still dressed in her demon blood drenched armor, her hair also matted with the sticky substance, and glaring daggers at all of them. "No? Well, then I suggest you think twice before attempting to get the Sinister Fox's lady and the Queen of Thralia's best friend into your bed. Wouldn't want those pretty faces of yours to end up with a kill mark, now would we?" They shake their heads passionately. "Now run along and find something to do before I suddenly find myself very hungry."
Her eyes turn into reptilian slits for emphasis and they all shove each other to back away as quickly as possible. The one who looked me up and down trips over his own feet in front of me. "Apologies, my lady." He runs off after his friends, all heading for the small door on the left that will take them down to the kitchens.
Lunch will be served soon.
"I had that handled," I tell Mak, turning back down the main hall and walking for the Queen's Garden. I have to check on the Council of Thralia who have taken over the ballroom along with the Generals of the Vandarian Army to use as their main base. Mak easily falls in step beside me. The staff members all give her a decent enough berth, recognizing the shapeshifter. That, or the gruesome stench. It's not hard to remember her. I mean she's got bright orange hair, how are you supposed to miss her?
"I'm sure you did, but I've been bored all morning and needed something to cheer me up," she says.
"Can't relate. I've been up all night and haven't even had a moment to sit down." We step into the Queen's Garden and I aim for the back entrance. There won't be anyone using the back door behind the dais, granting me a small reprieve from the chaos.
"Isn't there a head staff lady or something? Why are you running around?"
"Because one head staff lady isn't enough for a whole castle filled beyond its capacity. Lícia is my boss, and I'm a lot of other people's boss."
"So you're boss number two?" she quips playfully.
"I'm not so sure about that, but - hey!" I yell at three staff members carrying those linens I asked Belle about. "Those go to the Healer's Tower. Over there."
"Oh, sorry!" the oldest one calls back. They change their direction and walk faster than they originally were. This castle's layout isn't that hard to remember, yet everyone seems to be fucking incompetent.
When I turn back to Mak and the door to the dais tunnel, I find her looking at me with raised brows. "What?"
"You looked a little stressed, Kat." I roll my eyes and push past her, pulling open the door.
"It comes with the job."
"More like it comes with the war."
Her boots click against the floor, my simple flats muffled. "Speaking of which...where is the war front now?"
"No idea. That's why I'm here?"
"You think I know where the demon man is?" I ask, pushing the door open with my back. I have to put all my weight into it to get it open. It's made of stone, and not at all as light as wood.
"No."
"Then why come to me?"
"Because I can't find where Clarice and Darius went."
My shoes squeak against the polished floor as I stop. Snickers and dirty looks turn to us at the sharp noise, but I ignore the Council members and Generals and stare up at the tall woman. "What do you mean you can't find them? You're their guard, you should know exactly where they are."
"Well, I don't. None of us do."
"They came in with you early this morning. How could possibly lose them in those few hours since?"
She crosses her arms and widens her feet like she's sizing up for a fight. She may be a magical shifter, but I will kick her ass to the underworld if she tries anything after losing the very people she's sworn to protect.
"They were tired and wanted some space, so we gave them some. We left them in the King's chambers and stood in the halls. When we went in this morning, they weren't there."
"Unbelievable," I sneer. "I'm here doing a thousand jobs at once and getting them all done, and ten immortal and magically gifted women can't even do one so simple as to watch their King and Queen."
"It's harder than it sounds," she defends, pouting a little like a scolded child.
"I find that all too hard to believe. Did you at least look for them before coming to me?"
Her eyes roll. "What do you think we've been doing for the past two hours."
"They've been missing for two hours-" I cut off my own words and fist the air in front of me. Taking a deep breath, I rub at my aching temples. "Did you check the hidden room in the Moonrise Tower?"
"Yes," she clips. "Along with every other room they've been known to occupy, the King's Garden with a few hundred other people running around, the Jade Assassin's keep, the tunnels below the castle, and even the stables and dungeons."
"She wouldn't go anywhere near those cells."
"We are highly aware of that, but we checked everywhere else so that was our last hope. Aside from you. We thought you might have further insight into the Queen's mind."
I shake my head, trying to think of the last places to look. "You really should be asking Lance."
"That's not an option."
"Why not?" Her mouth clamps shut, eyes moving to look around the room and avoid my eyes. "Why not, Makatza?" I ask slower.
"It just isn't, okay? Now can you tell me where else to look?"
"Not until you tell me what's wrong with Lance," I challenge.
"Nothing's wrong-"
"Bullshit. Tell me what happened to him, right now, or so help me the Gods won't be able to stop me from choking the life out of you."
"Could you even reach my neck?"
"Makatza!"
"Oh, for Saint's sake, Katarina, he's fine. Unharmed. Not a single scratch. He's just busy with his own duties as the King of Jade's, that's all. We didn't think adding this to his plate would necessarily help him out."
My anger could burn the large table next to us, but I bite down on my tongue and try to think of happy thoughts.
She's right, of course - but that doesn't make me feel necessarily comforted. If he knew his sister went AWOL again, he'd drop everything and send his assassins to find her. Seeing as they all currently stand watch on the walls, I don't think it's wise to remove them from there.
I take a gigantic slow breath and gather my thoughts, feeling the weight of that tricky dagger weighing down the left side of my dress. "Did you try the library?"
"The librarians said they hadn't seen the King or Queen anywhere."
Saints sometimes I really do believe that these immortal women don't live up to the older the wiser saying. "They wouldn't have to walk through the front door to get in, Makatza. They would've taken the tunnels to Darius's old tutoring room."
Her jaw works itself. She doesn't seem happy that none of them seemed to have thought of that before. I shake my head and walk to the second door to the right of the thrones on the dais. I'll send someone else to check on the Counselors.
"I don't suppose you know where to find some food?" Mak asks, catching up.
I sigh longingly up at the ceiling, wishing for a single reprieve that would slam a hardcover book of common sense into everyone's mind. "None of you have eaten yet, have you?"
"The Bhaltayr likely did. We sent them to their own rooms when we got back, taking the morning shift."
"They wouldn't have eaten," I tell her, knowing the men all too well to think they were actually responsible enough to do so. "Nor would they have slept." We make it to another main hall and I turn towards the Library doors. I search the staff for one not doing anything and catch his arm gently. "What's your name?"
"I, uh...Seth," he answers after glancing between me and Mak.
"Seth. Would you do me a favor and go down to the kitchens and tell Lícia that King Darius, Queen Clarice, and their guards request food to be brought to the study room on the seventh floor in the library, please? And when you're done, find chef Tyr and tell him Katarina told him to give you my rations for the evening."
He blinks at the gesture, then nods without another word and heads to the kitchens. The rations are small as is with all the people we're currently housing, but he's doing me a favor, and I'll likely just end up stealing something off of the plates that they bring up anyways, so my portion is useless.
"That was kind of you," she muses, once again matching my pace and easily following the weave I set about working through the crowd.
"I am a kind person, Mak."
"I am plenty aware of that."
I lead her into the library and up the steps to the seventh floor. Clarice would've come here for the quiet. If the King's chambers weren't solitude enough for her, this is where she'd go next. Somewhere where the noise outside couldn't reach her, and she could be surrounded by books, and no one would bother looking in here because why would they? Nothing special ever happened in here. Everywhere else in the castle can't give her the peace she'd find. And if the Ginerva already checked all their usual spots, then this is the last place they'd be. Here, or in the training room in the tunnels, but I don't think she'll be going anywhere that could remind her of the torture she went through.
I sure wouldn't.
We turn down an aisle, the door at the end closed with no guard outside or anywhere nearby. "Where's the Bhaltayr?"
"On their way." I don't ask for further information. Her sisters are likely rounding the men up now. If I know them, then they're likely training back in the barracks of the guardhouse, sweating out their own thoughts and trying to get whatever energy they have left out.
I pause in front of the door, Mak saying nothing as she does the same. I'd usually just barge in, but if they came here and away from the King's chambers, then it's their choice to let us in or not. I wait until I feel a tendril of wind wrap around my wrist like a bracelet, then open the door and walk in.
They both share a chair despite the dozen set around the table. Clare sits on Darius's lap with her head resting on his shoulder, her eyes closed. I pause again, planning on walking back out when her head rises. I thought she was asleep.
"Something wrong?" From the sound of her voice, she should be sleeping. They both should.
"Yeah," I answer, walking deeper into the room, but not too quickly. "You two look like absolute shit."
"Feel like it too." I notice her pale coloring and the darkness beneath her eyes. She goes back to leaning her head back on his shoulder and I shove down my yearnings to drag her upstairs and get rid of all the sadness written all over her in different fonts.
He doesn't look much better than her, but his skin is still the same shade as before. I eye the rest of her body, noticing the hand on her stomach and the purpleness of her nailbeds. I heard about how she plunged a stone arrowhead into her stomach to kill the baby. The staff are horrible gossips, and the healers love to brag about the events of their days when they include large, exciting injuries.
I threw up in the garden over a bush after hearing about it. I could never imagine having to do that, even if it was a mutt. And then it scared me because I did the stupid thing and went to find Siscilla or Willa and demand what really happened, only to end up finding a few Sitara's trying to soak up a pool of blood and change the sheets on a bed, also soaked. My appetite left me then, and it hasn't returned.
"You two should be sleeping," I tell them.
"Couldn't sleep," Darius answers. I watch his arms tighten further around her, a shadow going over his face. Demons wouldn't keep them up, not when we've encountered them for the past cycle and they've slept nearly okay then. Or okay with nightmares, but they at least got a few hours.
"Anything I need to know?"
"Nothing you didn't already know." I squint at the coldness of his words. Apparently, their lack of sleep is somehow my fault.
Mak returns to my shoulder and leans down to whisper, "The babe and the fating bond."
My eyes snap back to Darius. If she's speaking those words in front of him, then he knows. That's why he's mad. He found out that I knew and said nothing. He has every right to be mad, but his foul mood is because he's been thinking about it all night and not getting any sleep. I want to apologize, but even I know that's useless. Words doing fix actions, they just keep reminding you of them.
"Well, shit. If we're going to hold grudges about secrets, then I guess I'm pissed at you for keeping the one from me and Lance." Clare's head shoots up, and Mak slams a palm to her face. It was honestly a gamble in thinking that it was secret that Mak earlier referred to, but my gut is rarely wrong. "So there is something wrong with him."
"I didn't tell her," Mak whispers to the elementals.
"You didn't need to. I know Lance better than any of you seem to think. I knew something was wrong with him before you showed up," I tell Mak. "He would've come to see me first before going to his Jade's, and he definitely wouldn't have had me working all night and morning without giving me a much-needed break."
Her face scrunched in disgust. "That's not something I need to picture."
"Are you going to tell me what's wrong with your brother? Or are you still keeping your little secrets?" I ask Clarice. I don't fault her for not telling me right away, I fault her for thinking she could keep it from me for longer than this. Not to mention think that I wouldn't notice his absence.
Clarice studies me for a moment, but I don't shrink away. If something's wrong with Lance - really wrong - then I need to know. We made a promise to keep the other from jumping over the edge, and I can't do that if she doesn't tell me where he is and how I'm supposed to help him.
She sees that, and then she suddenly bursts into tears. "For Saint's sake, Kat. We just got her to stop crying," Mak scolds.
"I...I didn't mean to...is it really that bad?" No one answers and I suddenly get a very bad feeling in my chest. Gut feelings can be questionable sometimes, but chest feelings...that's your heart telling you that something's wrong.
Still, I get no answer and Darius tucks her back into his arms. The door opens then and the rest of the Ginerva and Bhaltayr all walk in. Willa comes in behind them, along with some familiar pirate faces.
"Saint's, Darius," Alex says. "What'd you do? Pinch her?"
Darius gives his friend a warning glare, and I take it as well, dropping the subject for now. The restraint has my foot tapping, and I let it do so as Arlene and Thyra approach me with big smiles.
"How's our little Kitty Kat?" Arlene asks, throwing her arm over my shoulders. Thyra does the same on my other side, and I get a thick whiff of sea salt and days without bathing.
I step out of their friendly hold and plug my nose. "Crying thanks to your stench."
"Still sassy, I see," Svenja chimes, giving me a wink as she leans against the doorframe. Her eyes go to Clare and Darius and she pushes off the wood to walk to the table. "Gods and their Saints. I never did think I'd live to see the day the great Ebony Rheasydia shed tears."
"Go throw yourself off the plank and into a shark's mouth, you cretin," Clarice mumbles between her sniffles. I blink at the odd retort.
Svenja just stares at Clarice before responding with a crooked smile. "Go dig yourself a grave and choke on the dirt, you pitiful wretch."
Clare raises her face from her hands and looks at Svenja with a matching grin. Despite the little fight and unfinished conversation, a part of me is relieved to see her smiling. I never want to see her hurt, and I don't like being the cause of it, but how am I not supposed to be mad when I'm left in the dark?
"Cockroach."
"Clod." Clarice's laugh fills the room.
I look around the room, watching as everyone's face lights up with it.
One person. One person can do this to dozens. Make them feel like there really is hope and a future for them to have. Not only that, it's one they can look forward to without fearing what it may mean. They just light with the force of it.
"Glad to see you've got your good ol' memories back."
"Your memory's back." Everyone looks at me like I turned into a demon.
"Gods, Kat. Did you stay under a rock all night?"
I flip Ethan off. "More like making sure the castle is still running properly and people are being fed and taken care of."
"This castle wouldn't run without you, Kat."
"You wouldn't run without me," I correct Darius. "I mean look at you. None of you went to sleep, or ate, or took a bath - which is honestly really gross - and I've only been gone for one night."
"I took a bath," Branka says.
"And I ate," Willa adds. Everyone else says nothing. Not even the pirates who always tend to swipe things off of plates and drink nonstop.
I shake my head at all of them and walk to the door, opening it just as a small parade of the castle staff walk down the aisle, plates of food in their hands. "Honestly, I should be considered the hero seeing as I keep all of you from collapsing during the fights."
They set the food on the table. Fruit, eggs, bread, chicken, buttered corn, bacon, and cut potatoes. Lícia was smart and only had water brought up. Much as the pirates and everyone else may have preferred alcohol, their bodies need water. Not something to dehydrate them further.
"What would we do without you, Kat?" Winston wonders aloud.
"Die. You'd die - I thought I just made that perfectly clear."
"And everyone is grateful for your clear thinking," Willa chimes in, gently pushing him towards the table. I shake my head as they all crowd around the food, tossing the bread to each other over everyone's heads.
The staff shuffles out, and I thank every one of them. The last one stops in front of me. "A shipment of herbs just came in. They want to know where to put it."
"Gods and their Saints that was supposed to be here last night. Uh, tell them to take it straight to the Healer's Tower and notify Siscilla. She'll tell them what to do with it from there. And any outgoing medical supplies should be approved through her. If this shipment's late then we don't know when the next one will come in, so nicely tell her that she should ration what she currently has."
"One more thing." I glance back in the room, making sure everyone's eating and distracted with it before lowering my voice. "See if there are any Sitara's available. If there are send them here. If not, make sure the first available one gets sent to wherever either King Darius or Queen Clarice is. Preferably the latter, as Darius will likely refuse to have himself treated until she is."
She leaves with a nod, and I watch her until she turns the corner out of view.
I shut the door, not bothering with the lock. I shake my head as I approach the table and find people fighting over it. They're pigs. Every one of them.
Willa walks out of the madness, a full plate in her hand. "I thought you said you ate."
"I did. This is for you." She hands me the plate and I take it thankfully. "Much as you scorn them for their lack of self-care, you yourself have forgotten to take care of your own body."
"It comes with the job, I suppose." I dig into the eggs first at my stomach's behest.
"Believe me, I know that better than anyone. My daughter and her sisters like to brag about how they can go days and nights without food or water, but their stomachs are always gurgling for more. It's their stubbornness that keeps them from eating, not their ability to do so."
"I don't suppose you know anything I don't?" I say through a mouthful of brunch.
She smiles at my own animalistic hunger. "Darius knows of the fating bond and that Fauna broke it-"
"Fauna?"
"The Mater's real name is Fauna," she explains. I feel my jaw drop, not having expected that just yet. "For Saint's sake, Katarina, close your mouth. No one needs to see what you chew."
I swallow the food and put the plate down on the small table nearby. "Okay...that's a thinking process." I already knew her real name, it's just so weird to know that's the Ebony Nightingale's real name is likely flying through the castle right now.
"You asked," Willa points out.
"Yeah, well, I didn't think it'd lead to that," I confess.
"And what's so wrong about the Mater's name?"
"Yeah, what's so wrong with my name?" I nearly choke on a piece of potato that got stuck in my teeth. I glare at the eight-hundred-year-old woman before turning to Clarice - uh - Fauna. She and Darius stand behind me, the former leaning on the latter a little. She really needs to rest.
I busy my nerves with getting the chair in the corner and bringing it to her. Darius helps her into it, and I thank Willa for distracting the others with some kind of ground for an argument. As usual, it's Rohana and Henry who start the verbal war.
"I would've told you myself, you know." I look down at her. The woman who gave me more than she could imagine.
"I know, and I don't care if your name is Fauna, or Clarice, or the Ebony Nightingale, or...John. I just thought I'd be the one you'd tell first. Or, second." I add, glancing up at Darius. "Truth is, I'm just glad you're okay. You scared me a little there."
"I know. I'm sorry." I nod, trying not to cry. If I cry, she'll cry, and then we'll both be crying and that's just chaotic and messy.
"I'm sorry too."
"For what?" Darius asks.
I shrug, already feeling the guilt that had been plaguing me for cycles returning. "Well, for not telling you about it for starters. I wanted to because if I was in your place then I'd want to know too, and that didn't seem fair. But none of us should've known. It wasn't our story to read first, nor one for us to tell. I blame Roseia, really. Little genius can read between every damn line."
"How did she figure it out?" Fauna asks. I notice her hand drifting to her stomach again. If the Sitara doesn't come soon then I'll drag Willa back over here.
"Visha gave us a riddle. It was very confusing and I hate riddles, so I gave up on it. She heard it and within two minutes she cracked the whole damn thing."
"It seems we have a kid to thank," she says to Darius.
Pride glints in his eyes as he says, "It seems we do."
The little genius was brought back here late last night with me. Serephina misted her into a bed here before she woke up. From what Siscilla told me, she wasn't happy about it.
"She and her siblings have been staying with the Jade Assassins in the castle," I inform them. "I can have someone bring her to your chambers later if you'd like?"
Darius nods. "I think that's a good idea."
I smile at the two of them.
Gods, there's so much to do on top of that, and depending on how the meeting with the Ker rulers goes later today, their reunion might not be until nightfall.
Fauna sucks in a sharp breath and I instantly look up toward Willa. The woman has already parted from the group and walks over, the Ginerva staring after her but not following. Willa kneels in front of her and waves a hand over Fauna's stomach. A moment later they both relax.
"What in ten hells is going on?" I whisper harshly, not wanting anyone else to crowd in concern.
"I'm fine," Fauna insists.
"Bullshit. Willa?"
The woman looks between me and her own rulers. They don't stop her when she turns to me. "When Fauna drove the arrowhead into her abdomen to sever the babe from herself, she tore her uterus. I healed what I could but the reproductive system of the elementals is considered...sacred to the Spirits of the Living. If they're meddled with or corrupted, then..."
"Then what?"
"There's only so much I - or anyone else with healing magic - can do."
"What do you mean there's only so much you can do? You're powerful, it's an injury. You heal it," I reason.
"I can't."
"Why not?" I demand.
"Because the Spirits won't let me - and lest we wish to anger them and risk losing the elemental power, I can't do anything."
"Spirits? You're telling me your power doesn't work against things that are already dead? That doesn't make any sense."
"Little of the spiritual world, does."
"So what can you do?"
"Kat," Fauna warns. She may be okay with whatever this is and means, but I'm not. Darius doesn't look too thrilled about it either.
As if noticing the same thing, Willa looks me right in the eye and tells it to me plainly. "Nothing. I can't do anything aside from easing her pain when it comes. It has to heal on its own."
I look at all three of them, still clearly not seeing what they know. "For Saint's sake, if you're not going to tell me about Lance, you could at least tell me about this."
Willa looks to Fauna for permission, and I gape at how long it takes her to get it.
"The probability of the organ healing properly without magical intervention is a supportive one so long as the stitches hold and the Ginseng root keeps the swelling down."
"But?"
"But with the damage done, I...I cannot guarantee that it'll..."
"She doesn't know if I'll ever be able to have children." I stare at her.
She can't have children. A...a family of her own. I take a deep breath, my anger evaporating once more. "No wonder you've been up all night."
"That amongst other things," he agrees quietly.
I turn on Darius, already dreading what comes next. "There's more?"
"Later, Kat," Fauna assures. "I promise."
I instantly drop the subject, knowing what her promises mean and stand for.
Gods and their Saints. To think that I was worried about floral arrangements and polished floors while they were getting bad news after bad news. I definitely feel guilty about yelling at her now. Some friend I am.
I look back down at her. She's got that pleading look in her eyes. The one that says that she's sorry and she really wants to make it up to me. Okay so that's not what she's saying, but it's what I'm picturing her saying.
"I really want to punch you," I tell her.
Her lips twitch into a small smile. "I know. I missed you too."
Sighing, I walk over to grab another chair and fall into it. I pick up my plate of food and put it in her lap, giving her a stern look that tells her she'll eat or I'll start screaming. I wait until she's taken a few bites and swallowed them down without puking. Darius seems to watch her too as if they've tried it before and she did, in fact, hurl it all back up. After a few testing bites, she grabs more on the fork and starts to clean the plate.
"So. Tell me about this sea monster people keep vastly storytelling about."
I end up getting a rather controversial answer from Rohana, Nilsa, Vanya, and Fauna. You'd think the women would be able to easily describe the newfound demon, but it turns out they just like to point out each other's fuck ups whilst trying to kill it.
Then there's everyone else who are all butt hurt that they didn't get to see it before Fauna disposed of it. The pirates start telling us about others they've caught glimpses of during their few cycles at sea. Svenja lets her crew do the talking and lays partially on the table next to me, dropping grapes into her mouth. I think she's liking the lavish life of being a friend to a Queen.
"Wait, so Xaxias just disappeared again?" I ask after listening to Ozzie finish the recitement of last night. "And no one can track him to where he might've gone?"
"Xaxias was able to live under our radar on an island for over a century," Dee answers. "Even if we tried we couldn't tell you where he'd be until he decided to let you know."
"So then what do we do next? Just wait for him to launch his next attack?"
Branka leans forward in her chair shaking her head. "Xaxias plays the war like chess. You make a move, he counters, you counter, and he moves again. We made the last move and his pieces are all cloaked from our view, so we couldn't predict it even if we tried."
"And we've tried," Vanya states, looking drained from having done so.
"Not to mention that we technically didn't let him make his move after killing Visha and making another," Tanith adds. "Which means that he'll make his next one precise and well planned, and one that will hurt us and slow our reaction time to it."
"But he released his demons, which means he did make his move," Mal reasons.
The twelve women shake their heads. "He plays chess in the sense that he sticks to the patterns of the trading off moves, but aside from that, he doesn't follow the rules. He'll consider last night a forced defensive move on our part, which leaves him with the next move."
"That's not chess at all," Winston snicker to Nilsa. She shrugs a shoulder as if the notion was clear from the beginning.
I don't like this metaphor either. It's confusing.
"I suppose it's a good thing he can't get in here then," Svenja says, throwing another grape in the air and catching it in her mouth.
"No, but he can very well burn another kingdom without us knowing until it's too late." The room goes quiet at Darius's words.
He's not wrong. With all the rulers here he could go anywhere and launch an attack. We wouldn't know for at least a cycle with a messenger on a ship being the only means of communication. And Darius and Fauna aren't tied to their lands as they were with Thralia, so they might not even feel the ground cracking or a fire being lit. For all we know he could be there now. Killing innocents, destroying homes. Time is limited and scary as is. Thinking about how the time of others could be ending right now and there's nothing we can do to stop it...it's not soothing.
"So what are we supposed to do?" Alister asks.
No one answers for a long while, and I think that's scarier than I ever thought silence could be.
"We go meet with the rulers of Ker," Fauna decides. "We'll need their answers on whether or not they'll join, and we'll need the total of the numbers they'll give and figure out where to put them all and how to make a system that works for all of us."
"That's going to be hard with the rivalries between certain kingdoms," Tanith says. She had to go to Kaweth and Melinoe, two of the biggest rivals with the longest history. If anyone would know, she would.
"Those rivalries will have to be put aside," Darius states. "This isn't a fight of a kingdom against Xaxias."
"It's the world against him," Garrison finishes.
"Well, this world may be a hell hole of a kind," Cliff chimes, leaning back in a chair with his feet on the table. "But it is a pretty one."
"Oh, how I've missed that optimism of yours, Cliff," Fauna tells him. He gives her a wink. Then he leans too far back in his chair and topples over with surprised curses. Thyra, Toya, and Arlene burst out into laughter. They say something in that pirate language I don't understand a word of, but it has Fauna laughing with them and Cliff threatening to give them the taste of the cat...
I'm confused. And concerned.
"Some crew you've got," I say to Svenja. She turns her head to look over at the four of them as they go from yelling at each other to suddenly bursting out in a loud and oddly happy song. She just smiles and goes back to feeding herself grapes, bouncing her foot to the beat of their song.
"I don't understand pirates." I look to Benny, finding him watching the pirates with widely frightened eyes that have me bursting into laughter.
Darius joins in too when he sees Benny's face, and soon the whole room echoes with it. Our world could very well be ending, but you can always count on the pirates to run into it with a sword in one hand, a glass bottle in the other, and a smile on their faces.
*****
Everyone disperses to go bathe at my insistent demand. Both of the guards didn't want to leave Darius and Fauna, especially with the state of the latter. She ate the rest of the plate of food and hasn't looked like she was going to hurl it back up, but she does look like she'd topple over any second and fall unconscious. They only agreed when Willa said she'd go with us, that way she can watch over Fauna for the next few hours. I refused to let Fauna walk all the way back up to the royal chambers, so Willa misted us up into the hallway just outside of them.
Thomas and a Sitara wait for us by the doors. I turn to the healer and gently guide her to Darius. "Go with Thomas and Darius. Do what you need to make the King look more presentable, and fix that cut on his arm."
"How'd you-"
"Oh, please," I cut Darius off. "I see a lot more than you believe you can hide."
"I don't need a healer, Kat."
"And I don't need air to breathe, Darius. Bath. Clean. Now." He knows better than to argue and gives Fauna a kiss on her cheek before swiping Thomas in a headlock and walking for his bathing chamber.
I follow Willa and Fauna through the right doors and past a few rooms before coming into the secondary bathing area. I don't know why there are so many rooms for only two people, but at least they'll be put to use with twelve men and ten women to run around in, creating their chaos.
Willa undresses and tends to Fauna while I draw up some hot water. We carefully lowered her into the tub, and I try not to stare too long at how skinny she still is even though most of her muscle mass is back. I begin to work through the mess of her hair while Willa throws some nice-smelling stuff into the water and lays her hand just on the surface. A few moments later and Fauna's whole body melts into relaxation.
"Is she asleep?" I ask, looking down to find Fauna's eyes closed.
"For a while," Willa answers. She picks up a washcloth and some soap and starts getting the ick from last night off of Fauna's skin. I keep combing out the tangles in her hair.
"In all the time that you've been alive, have you ever wondered what it would be like to be mortal?"
Willa gives me a strange look. It's a rather random question, but it seemed weird for both of us to be scrubbing away in silence while Fauna sleeps.
"I believe my life would've been a lot simpler," she admits.
"But is simple exciting enough?"
Again she looks at me. "A simple life can be just as wondrous as an enigmatic one like ours. It just has fewer dangers to it, not to mention the simplicity would be nice right about now."
I shake my head. "I used to have simplicity. I'd wake up before dawn, do my chores, bring breakfast up to Claritia, do my chores about her apartments, follow wherever she went, and then by nightfall after she went to bed I'd have more chores and go to sleep when the moon was high. Every day was the same. The only excitement I'd get was when Thomas and I had a few minutes to talk and gossip about everyone in the castle, but even that was rare.
"Darius liked to go out into the town and venture through it. He'd bring Thomas a lot if he wasn't doing chores, and they wouldn't come back until later in the night or early the next morning. Claritia didn't always find out, but when she did she'd wait for them to return before sleeping, and if she was up, then I was up. I had simple, and I'm not so sure if I miss it."
"A simple life doesn't have to be a routined one," Willa points out. "It can be as simple as making a family and living every day out with them and watching your kids grow old and have grandchildren for you to spoil and abhorrently love. A simple life, but a fulfilled one."
I picture that life. Lance and I with two kids, a boy and girl because we each wanted our little mini me's to drag around. They'd grow up loving what they have, being loved by all their drunk aunts and crazy uncles. I can see that whole life, but looking down at Fauna, those images subside and leave me in this reality.
"Do you think she'll ever have it? A simple life?"
Willa doesn't answer for so long that I look up at her to find her staring blankly at the water. She traces her finger through it, ripples running away from her and shrinking the further they get away.
"I hope she does. I hope you all do, especially Branka and her sisters. They've been fighting for so long that it's all they know aside from each other and their blood-sworn duty. They deserve a rest after all of this. This is never the life I imagined for them when they were sworn into the service of the elementals. I imagined the life I told you. The love, the kids, the grandkids, and growing old with all of it."
"Seems a little hard for immortals."
"It is, but I did it, and despite what became of it, I don't regret any of it."
"What made you choose to do it?" I ask curiously. The questions been nagging at me. "To find someone and make a life with them even though you could outlive all of it?"
She smiles fondly to herself and lifts Fauna's other hand to start scrubbing. "I was like the Ginerva the first few centuries of my life. I stayed away from anything longer than a one-night stand. Friends were questionable, and I tended to keep with the Mater Natura through the years just as my mother did. I learned from her early on that a simple life was never an option for us. The only reason she had me was because she took men to her bed to produce her heir. Me."
"That's a horrible thing to say to your child."
"Maybe, but it's true. The Resolute Protector's bloodline is just as sacred as the elemental's, the only difference is that we took lovers every month until we became pregnant and the babe was born and protected. Without an heir, we'll die off, and the knowledge we've gained over the millennium would die with us."
"So you took lovers to your bed every month for eight centuries?"
She laughs as if that isn't even the least bit absurd. "And never the same one twice." I'm pretty sure my eyes pop out of my head.
"Saint's I...I am so sorry for you." I try to imagine, but all it does is make me uncomfortable.
"It wasn't all bad," she contests, still smiling. "At least I got sex every month. Mind you, it wasn't all mind-blowing as I had thought it'd be."
I cringe further and hold in a gag. "T.M.I. Willa."
She laughs again, and this time I join her. I still can't believe she did that for eight hundred years. I don't think I could last one.
"Anyways, I thought that that was all that was meant for me. A male every month until I got pregnant."
"So what happened?"
"I wanted more," she answers simply. I wanted what my mother told me I couldn't have - what her mother told her she couldn't have. I didn't want my child to grow up in the same way I did, so I made her a new life. I found a man I came to love, and when I told Queen Lira and King Hart - the elementals at the time - they didn't blink at my request to bind myself to him. They threw an outrageously grand ball when Branka was born, then again when Cleménce came along. Branka was the only one that showed the signs of an immortal. Cleménce took after her father as for her life span, but those girls didn't care one bit. They lived every day of their lives to their fullest. Even when Branka went off to the camps for training, she and Cleménce would write to each other every day. In spite of how it all turned out, I don't regret giving my daughters the life they lived. I regret not being able to give it to them for longer."
"Well, if it makes you feel better, I don't think your efforts were a complete failure." She raises an eyebrow, and I smirk as I finish with Fauna's hair. It's grown so long. "I spotted Branka and the Andrastian King walking in the gardens last night, away from any listening ears. I may have taken it upon myself to ask around about them."
"And?"
I stand up from the stool I sat at and grab a towel, hiding my mischievous grin. "Well it's hard to find any actual rumors with everyone only have gotten here last night, but the few that drift in the wind and off of the King's guard's mouths, says that they're...close."
"How close." I peek at her motherly glare. I can't tell if she's excited about her daughter's renegade or being a typical overprotective parent. I'm assuming it's a mix of both.
"They didn't say. They just said that they were hardly separated after they took back the castle and that they tend to sneak glances here and there, but his guards refuse to allow the thought that they're sharing a bed take root."
"What for?" Nope. Definitely a protective parent.
"Something about her not being fit for the crown."
"My daughter not fit for a crown?" She scoffs angrily, glaring out the small window on the opposite wall.
"I don't think that King Ascian is like his guards," I say quickly. She looks like she's about to go show the guards what 'not fit for a crown' looks like. "He's far kinder, and from what I saw yesterday, he doesn't necessarily like his guard."
"Then that makes two of us." I chuckle at her scowling expression. She may be several, several years older than me, but she sure is a hell of a lot of fun to hang out with.
"Come on. Help me get her out and onto the sofa."
Working in silent tandem, we get Clarice dry and slip the white corset dress on her. The edges of the train are sprayed with blues and greens and lilac to look like flames but colored to her powers. Willa gets her laced-up sandals on while I set about coloring her eyes with charcoal and a dash of white paint.
Then we switch. Willa working color back into her cheeks and lips, and out from under her eyes, and me slipping silver jewelry on her arms, wrists, and fingers. While Willa double-checks the rest of her body I pin her hair away from her face and leave it to fall into her long natural waves. A little coconut oil and it shines like fresh silk.
"Which one?" I ask Willa. She chews her lip as she looks between the two crowns in my hands. One is the elemental crown, cleaned overnight and looking stunning as ever. The other is one Claritia requested was brought up. It's a white starry night crown. Jeweled and fashioned to look like the night sky with starbursts, shooting stars, and the moon phases, the crown sparkles against the daylight twinkling in through the windows. The large crescent at its center sits on its back, decorated with a few black rhinestones to portray night.
Willa chooses that one, saying that there's no need to state the obvious of Fauna's abilities. The rulers saw her power last night. They know who she is and what she can do, and if they need a reminder then they can look to Víđarr and Kalla.
Once the crown is on and pinned in carefully, Willa puts her hand around one of Fauna's wrists and wakes her up.
Fauna's eyes flutter open.
I wish I woke up looking like this. Pretty and pristine and perfect. Instead, I wake up like a fucking gremlin. Hair sticking out on all ends, limbs crooked in odd but comfortable positions, and a groan roaring in my throat because I don't want to have to get up and do responsible crap. Not to mention the drool that slips down my cheek.
"How long was I asleep?" She goes to rub her eyes and I let out a strangled cry before catching her hands. "Kat!"
"You are not messing up my masterpiece." She pouts, but she doesn't rub her eyes when I let her go. "Now come on. You have people to impress and others to crush."
Willa snorts at my statement. I give her a passing glare and head back for the foyer. Darius should be dressed by now too. Men are ten times easier to get ready.
"You're not coming with us?" Fauna asks, following me on steady legs. I inspect her body, wondering what the hell Willa put in her bath to make her look like she's glowing and give her five times the energy she had walking in here. I need a magic bath. Or three.
"Someone's gotta make sure no one burned down something in the castle, but I'll pop in sometime in an hour or so," I assure her.
We get into the first sitting room when her hand catches mine. I turn to face her, Willa continuing past us and into the foyer.
"We should talk." I take one look at her eyes and know that it's about Lance and whatever it is that's happened to him. Based on the way her eyes gloss over, I don't think now's the appropriate time for it. Even if will bother me for the rest of the day. I don't want to have to redraw the black and white lines on her eyes because her tears washed them away.
I squeeze her hands and force my cheeks to lift a little. "We will. Later."
"Kat-"
"If Lance wants space then he should have it, and if you tell me what you're about to he won't get it, because I'll care too much to leave him alone, and then I'll get hurt when he pushes me away. So later. We'll talk later when you're not about to go discuss war and I have more than one drink in my hand."
She huffs a small laugh. "I think we'll both need a few drinks later tonight."
"I'll make sure they're waiting for us."
She nods, a sad smile slowly falling. There's so much to say and not the time to say it, so I wrap my arms around her instead and hope that it's enough for now.
Her arms squeeze me back, and before tears can fall from my eyes I pull back and straighten out her crown and hair and jewelry and then her dress. "There. You look like a Goddess."
"I always do when it's your handy work."
"Ugh, you've grown soft and sentimental. I don't like it." Another laugh widens her smile. A victory. "Come on. Let's see if Thomas's own work can hold up to mine."
I take her hand and lead her into the foyer where Darius and Willa talk quietly, Thomas standing behind them. They turn when we walk in, and I let Fauna's hand go when hers and Darius's eyes lock.
The three of us imposing on the private moment quickly walk out of the room and into the hall, closing the door behind us. "How'd you know to pick the sun crown?" I ask Thomas, having noticed the band on Darius's head.
He shrugs a shoulder as we turn towards the stairs. "Lucky guess."
I squint at him, not at all believing his claim but letting it drop.
He did, in fact, do a good job of making Darius look just as good as Fauna. His black suit hugged his form in a perfect way that shows off his body rather nicely. He did cut his hair, though, which I'm thankful for. Darius looks good with slightly long hair, but the shorter cut does him justice entirely more, and it looks better with the golden sun-rayed crown on top of it.
"Where'd you find the overcoat?"
"It was his father's," Thomas says plainly.
"I don't remember Neven ever wearing it."
"Because he never did. He had it made but never wore it. I think he meant to give it to Darius for his coronation - or, at least, his coming into power celebration. Didn't you notice the designs on it?"
I did. Grey base with orange, red, and yellow small full-bloomed flowers stitched into the border. "Neven always knew what was to become of his son," I sigh.
"It seems that way to me, but I think destiny knew the truth before anything was ever set into motion."
"What do you mean?"
He points down the hall, and I follow it to the Vandarian crest welded onto a thick piece of metal hanging on the wall. It's a crowned bird showing its wingspan behind a shield with a rose and a sword sitting in an 'X' across its center. I look at it longer, realizing the bird looks a lot like Kalla.
"Gods and their Saints. That's not creepy at all."
"I hate foreshadowing," Thomas mumbles, eyeing the thing with a unamused expression.
I nod my agreement as we pass the Vandarian crest I've seen throughout my whole life. Months into this madness and I've only now just noticed how deep this game of the Gods goes. I hope this means they're in our favor. I'd hate to be them if we all end up dying and they have to deal with us in the afterlife.