I was burning when I opened my eyes. My skin, I could feel every nerve on fire. My eyes fluttered a little before I ended up squeezing them shut. A sharp breath released from me. It was hard to breathe. My mind was warm, and everything was too hot. It hurt.
"Nasya," A strangled voice spoke to my left. I did not need any Sight to know that it was Aryk. It was like his blood called to mine, the energy always humming when he was near. But even hearing his voice was not going to make my eyes open. I felt it, I felt the heat coming off me. A flare. I groaned as my body lifted slightly, my chest heaving. It was like a rope snapping out into the world; violent and wanting release. My body settled back down as the flare lashed out above me, my eyes snapping open at last to yellowing fire hitting every corner. I blinked to move my eyes to Aryk.
Aryk who stared at me as if life stopped moving. His eyes held relief and pain in them. He was sweating and his skin held a red hue as he leaned his hands above my head. His breath came out fast then slow as he shut his eyes. He was in pain. I let out a groan as I tried to speak. "Aryk." I hoarsely whispered out. My hands found his chest as he was still trying to recover from the burn, the burn I had bestowed upon him. "I am sorry." My breath was still trying to catch up with me as I looked at his face still clenched with pain. My eyes found the ceiling with the scorched marks before staring into Aryk's now open eyes.
"Nasya." His hand reached to my neck before his thumb caressed my cheek. Without thought, I raised myself to meet his lips. His lips which stilled for a moment before relaxing and sighing along with me. I took a shivered breath as his tongue traced my lips to open. My hands found his hair as he pulled me up to sit in front of him.
It was raw and pure between us. Even more so when I grabbed his robes to pull him closer to me, his hands grabbed hold of me with a little more strength and he groaned out loud. My fingers had just traced his blistered skin. The red marks of my fire that scarred him. He took a deep breath; a breath he was holding still as he squeezed his eyes shut. "I am sorry." I said breathlessly.
Aryk's eyes snapped open to look upon me with an intensity that called me to pull forward. Holding his gaze as he brushed my hair out of my face as he leaned in, his head leaning on mine. "You are awake." My lips found his once more. His body suffocating mine as the cloth that covered my bare body fell and his hands found my skin. My body stilled. Aryk leaned back and looked at me with a blazing heat. Again, as he had done many times, his eyes did not move from my face. Did not dare to venture down for a look. No, he was only looking at me. Into me.
Ever slowly, he stood and turned the other way. He grabbed ahold of his robes and held them out for me to grab. My hand reached out and I grabbed the robes and wrapped myself in them. It was then I saw Aryk only wore pants. His back on display, his scarred back. The lashes he had received from merely being alone together. Along with the ones he gained before coming to this castle. I shakily moved off the table I was laid bare on, my legs almost giving out as I walked to him. My fingers found his back. His scars. I felt him stiffen under them.
"I never said how truly sorry I am. That you had to endure such pain again. Because of me." Aryk turned toward me, his hands finding mine. His brown eyes towered over me as I looked up to him in sorrow.
"Don't do that." He whispered. "You never have to apologize to me Nasya." I continued to stare at him. The man from my visions. The man who was bound to me, I felt it; I felt the tether that held us together. It was pulling us together, it was warm, it was life. It was something I dare not speak. I barely knew him. And he I. We could only go as far as to guess what horrors we had been through. And yet... "You are awake."
"I am awake." He let a smile grace his lips as he dipped down to kiss me. It was different than the mere one from when I woke. It was slow, it had a purpose. His hands found my neck and cradled my head. His thumbs brushing my cheeks as his tongue found mine, circling it slow as his hands gripped hold of me tight. I moved back with the slightest of breath.
"The King?" Aryk looked at me now with haunted eyes as he nodded.
"He is in Tereyana with two others. They were to be back two nights ago." Two nights.... "You have been sleep ever since the gathering."
"Not sleep. Burning." I looked to his chest with the now welted red hue. "I was burning. It was only fire, like...like what we saw was not supposed to be seen."
"Nasya." I looked up to him. "What did I see?" He needed me to state the truth about what he saw. As he did not believe it. I did not think I believed it.
"Troy O'Siren. King of Andorla. He is a warlock...He is my brother in this world." The words were forced out with such cruelty. "My power is evolving. Or it is, well I do not know. I have never seen the past since Zarina and Zamora arrived. Since I carried Aadun."
"Aadun?"
"The spirit I harbor, the power. It is called Aadun." The door to the stable that I saw we were in suddenly opened. Doren walked in with his usual attire, his scar menacing on his face.
"Nasya." He nodded with warmth in his eyes. I smiled at him, no doubt knowing that he and Chael guarded my door as I burned. "The other Seers have woken." I frowned.
"All the Seers fell ill. Mostly sleeping, Asani was the first to wake. She came to visit you. The others have been waking slowly ever since." Aryk answered.
"My brother."
"Nikoli is with the King. They should be returning within a day or earlier." I looked out the window at the sky that held at dawn.
"What is in Tereyanna?"
"We know not. Only that they were to return a day ago and now require another day to settle matters." Doren looked down to my body, my lack of clothing and nodded. "I'll get one of the maids here to dress you."
"Thank you Doren." I smiled as he left the room. "Tereyana is just outside the city walls. It has no means of importance."
"That we know of. The King left shortly after you fell ill." I nodded to myself. I had much to catch up on. I have missed two days.
"Why are we in the stables?"
"Your flares. With the other lands and the king, queen, and quest quarters; we could not chance that the flares would or would not reach them. Though, it may not have been the best place either way. Their guards roam the grounds just outside." Aryk made a stiff face that I made a small laugh.
"Thank you for watching me." He did not speak for a while as he looked at me.
"What did you See?"
"Enough."
***************************
I made my way down the cellar doors quickly. Herra had come to change me into more suitable robes. Her eyes wet as she looked upon my face. She dressed me quickly and we walked through the Knights that littered the castle grounds. Tents and fires everywhere, men joking until we left the safety of the stables. Their eyes followed our every step as Chael, Doren, and Aryk walked us back inside the castle. My head held high as Herra walked a foot behind me. My golden dress like a beacon into the night. It was night. I had slept for two days they said. And Nikoli...I needed to see him, but there was one who I needed to see first.
Once inside the castle, Chael walked me down to the dungeons. Aryk needed to meet with Mitus and Doren took Herra to the Queen's quarters. Soon though, I stood in the cells with my mother.
"Nasya." My mother looked tired, and she was dirty. Her pants and shirt were wrinkled from the tough cot she lay on. My heart dropped at her face, she was barely being fed. It had probably been a fortnight since I was down here with her.
"Mother, I am so sorry. I-"
"Are you okay sweet girl?" Tears threatened to spill from my face.
"I should be asking you that." Chael finally found the keys to the cell and I quickly held onto her. She rubbed my back, my hair, gripping me close to her.
"Do not worry, I am unharmed."
"When was the last time they fed you, any of you?" I let her go to look around, the cells. Though many beings were released, there were still a good number of them down here.
"Oh, maybe two days ago." Right when the King left for Tereyanna. "Queen Dasyna has been here to feed the children. The least she could do." My eyes widened at her words. "The young are still the young." Her eyes swept over me, and I knew that she knew. She always knew. Her hand cradled my face, her eyes looking deep into mine. "You've seen it." She whispered. I nodded. "Was it what you needed?"
"I do not know. Mother, I- we -"
"Do not speak of it here." She brushed my hair behind my ear. "You know what you need to do Nasya." I looked to her. "Have no fear sweet girl. We will all be together again." My heart squeezed at her words. She always knew. "I do worry of your father. I have been gone longer than we both thought."
"I can go to him- I"
"You will do no such thing." My mother looked at me hard. And she was right, I had no way of seeing my father, of seeing the weapon warrior Nox. My father, I had not seen his face in a full year.
"I miss him." She hugged me once more and this time tears did indeed fall onto her shoulders. Tears that fell fast, sobs that wrecked my body as I finally told her. "It was a girl, Mother." Her body froze at my words before she made me sit down and cradled me in her arms. Seeing her made me remember, seeing my mother made me realize what I had lost, feeling her love made me realize what was taken from me. A love for a child. "I don't-I don't think I can go through it again."
"Sweet girl." Her hands kept brushing my hair. "My sweet sweet girl." I cried harder, so hard that I thought I would fall ill. "Shhh, shhh." I stayed in my mother's arms for what felt like hours, though it was mere moments before I heard the shuffling of feet. I looked up to see Julssa.
"Miss, we must get you to the dining hall." I sucked in a breath before looking to my mother. She nodded at me before placing a kiss to my head.
"You will change this World Nasya. Do not fear it." I nodded at her words.
"You will be released soon; I promise to get you home." I stood and Chael, who had been ever so silent locked the cell bars. My heavy feet carried me away from her cell, the cell she was in because of me. I would make it right. I would get her home to my father. I had too.
I small but sharp gasp was heard to a cell on the far left and my eyes fell upon the small Melina. Melina, who had probably thought me a dream, but I was now before her, in real time. My eyes found her small form, her dirty rags as she looked to want to say something. My head did the smallest of nods before I looked back to my mother. My mother who was already watching me before she looked to Melina in wonder. My feet continued there steps up the stairs. I would get them all home.
Julssa hurried me to change into a red dress. The silk gown flowed long behind me as the dress lay at my shoulders. My legs bare on either side as golden vines wrapped the bodice. It was beautiful. And new.
"When did the King have this made?"
"You have plenty of new dresses Nasya. It is for the coronation." I shuddered at her words.
"Of course." The coronation. If I was not mistaken, Alxander would be crowned in less than a week. Though, I wonder with all the activity going on if he would move it further.
"You will be dining with the Queen and the other Kings." I relished at her words. I was not ready to face the likes of Troy O'Siren, no I was not ready at all.
"What of the Seers?"
"You are the only one to be present. Asani is still feeling rather unwell." Asani...I needed to see her, to talk to her about what we saw. About what I saw in her eyes.
My hair was pinned to the top of my head with some hair letting loose before Julssa walked me to the dining hall. The hall where the twelve kings were poised and ready; only missing O'Siren, Lyre, and Kellion. Alxander and the Queen yet to arrive. My shoulders were pulled back, and I stood tall as I made my way to a seat beside King Morac. An older King just east of Andorla. He was a mere head taller than me, and he was grey in all the wrong places. His head held high as he looked over me in his bright blue robes.
"Seer." I dipped my head low before I sat down and looked among the men. I let a smirk lie on my lips as I looked from one after another. A ploy I must admit I was out of practice with. I was to appear confident, bold, but most of all seductive. I was the most powerful Seer they had ever seen and one they wanted.
"Pleased to see you have made a fine recovery Seer. Although it appears to have affected our own." King Aiden spoke, his eyes moving over my chest and slowly to my face.
"I hear that they are now all well rested. No need to worry." My eyes found his dark green ones. He was one of the three northern kings that surrounded Andorla. A peaceful neighbor, Queen Dasyna would say though I feel it had more to do with his castle walls being too high to venture over, Castle Roalk.
"Everything about this is worrisome." King Balig sneered out.
"Just as so when you aligned with Hypire." A few Kings snickered at my words. Balig was the only Kingdom that I knew of that had neither witch nor Seer at his side. His distaste coming from a mutiny that killed his castle's former King and Queen. He tolerated beings in every other land, but he had stripped his castle from magic long ago. He eyed me with a glaring distaste. His mouth struggling with a retort. We had won Hypire, but I had seen the meetings he held with them. Had seen when he realized he would be caught and pulled his forces just mere days before. The only reason my King had not acted against Balig was because he had more allies than before.
Seconds passed with his eyes on me before Mitus and two Queen's Guard walked through the doors. We slowly stood as Queen Dasyna walked to the head of the table in her polished green dress. She looked regal, her hair casting down to her waist, her dress falling over her body with grace as it ruffled to her feet. Her shaw dropping just below her shoulders. She looked at me as I bowed before her, dipping low to the table, eyes to the floor. Our last words to each other were tense. I had no doubt the dinner would prove to be ever interesting.
It was then, I heard the next pair of footsteps and tried to keep my heart from bursting out my chest as Alxander stopped just in front of me. I stood slowly and looked him over as dashing as ever, but even more cunning. Prince of Andorla as he stood with his smock of royal colors upon his robes. He slowly took my hand and placed it upon his lips with the slightest kiss.
"My Prince." The words came out of my mouth smoothly, but all I wanted to do was peel away from him with everything in me. Mitus stared at me from the corner behind Queen Dasyna, his presence comforting.
"Let us all sit." The Queen spoke. She sat at the head of the table, me on her right, Alxander on her left. Soon wine was poured, and small talk was being made around the dinner table. Wine, the only real solace I had as I stared upon Alxander's face. His face, that looked back at me with hunger in his eyes.
"Best to keep it in your pants boy, she is not yours yet." King Dota snickered out as he sipped some wine. An eastern king with deep dark skin, beautiful by all means. His castle sat alongside King Morac's.
"But she will be soon." He let out with a smirk before turning to face the King with more words. I kept my face like stone, it was all I had to not squirm.
"Tell us, Queen O'Siren. What is it that is keeping your husband away?" King Balig let out. His voice carrying over the dinner table. O'Siren, not Dasyna. She looked at Balig with mild contempt as she cut into her meat.
"Surely, you do not expect me to answer for my husband Balig?" Her voice graceful, save her that was as cunning as ever.
"With two Southern Kings not present, one has to wonder." His words speaking true, even I wondered what my King was up to.
"Wonder for yourself Balig." A man grumbled out as he swallowed more wine. His face reminding me of another, he sat the furthest from the feast. Looking like he would like to be anywhere but here. "My only desire is to be rid of these beings that took my son." My heart stopped. He was King of Diarra, Prince Merida's father. Even sitting one could see that he was rather large, taking up immense space. His face still young but haunted, he had a gash on his cheek of that of a star. His eyes found mine as I continued to stare and meet his hollow gaze. A small nod in remembrance to his son is all I could give him, I could not give him the satisfaction of letting me know his son was at peace. Prince Merida's soul was shattered. No magic could repair that.
"We are sorry for your loss King Merida, the young Prince was true to your name. A name of great pride and care to its lands." The Queen's words rang around the room. King Merida gruffed in response as he downed his wine and signaled for another. I could not think of a single thing that would heal his heart, the loss of his child. A child grown, full of life...while mine never even felt the wind of their faces.
"So, Seer, tell us what caused such a ruckus?" A laugh went about the room as the question moved my morbid thoughts a drift. I knew not who spoke and addressed the room.
"Oh, I am sure you are all quite curious, though it is not a time to dwell on such things." My glance slid to Balig. "Like King Balig said, we are missing company."
"Who is the other witch with you?" My eyes focused on King Sian, his golden eyes drinking me.
"If I remember correctly, you already had such a being your side." My voice clipped enough that his brows rose high amused. He was indeed a handsome King, his face was angular and younger than most here. His fingers glittered with rings, so many rings. King Sian was a Southern King, the further of them, which made it even more interesting that he would care to travel so far. King Islan of the West had not even dared to respond back for the meeting of the Kingdoms.
"Forgive Nasya. She has certainly become attached to her fellow Seer." Alxander looked to me with stern eyes, my own met his with just as much fire, but it was the Queen who put me at ease.
"Asani is under our law, should you wish to bid for her, well you must take that up with my husband upon his return. Though it will be futile." She slipped a vegetable in her mouth to chew and gave me a glance. I gave a slight nod before returning to my own food. The meat tasted less than desired. King Sian looked at me with a glint of anger.
"So, it is true. You hold a great deal of power in this castle." My eyes focused on him once more. Alxander tensed at his words, his head turning to face the King as he sat towards the other head of the table. His mouth ready to move, though it was the Queen's words that struck first.
"Petty gossip, is what you bring to this meal. I will not have it."
"Is it gossip? Here she sits as a right hand, your king has vacated the castle, he holds all beings in his cell. I can only assume he puts a lot of trust in her eyes." His eyes did not meet mine, more so they were challenging. His words got the attention of the other rulers.
"Be reminded that you were invited to this Land." Alxander growled out.
"An invitation only sent after matters were already handled. Are we not only here to provide support to find Nathoria?"
"Nathoria is a myth. And we would be daft to think otherwise." King Balig now added.
"So then what is the reason for this gathering? Two young girls. Surely your King could kill them, and we be done with it all." The queen sat straight and alert as she hissed her next words. "You have no idea what power they possess."
"And that is exactly my point. What happened in Damaris?" King Sian smiled widely at my Queen now.
"Are you suggesting-"
"I am merely suggesting that you have this girl running a castle with no more than her word" My eyes started to fill heavy at her words, my ears ringing. "I know what happened in Damaris, you are not the only castle with a Seer." My breath became labored. So labored that King Morac looked at me in question.
"What is he speaking of?" King Damus asked. My eyes blinked to a vision of our castle from the outdoors. I blinked rapidly.
"Nothing." Alxander bit out. My eyes settled upon a window; I was jumping through it. A sword.
"Oh do tell them, young Prince. How this Seer led you on a wild goose chase." I soon gasped and my eyes fully entered the vision. I felt my body still and the sounds of the dining hall quiet.
The grounds of the castle were littered with soldiers and shadows, shadows that snuck behind and into the castle. The men covered in black as they opened windows and crashed into the O'Siren castle. A man unsheathed a dagger as he stabbed a kitchen maid, a guard, not O'Siren's, met his dagger with sword. Another man, sword met flesh as he looked upon...Aryk.
I gasped as I stood fast. My heart beating wildly. "Mitus," I spoke hastily but a Knight opened the door in a rush.
"My Queen, the castle is under attack."