Chapter 30
Before Lyv realized, a week had passed since they'd come to Arloerin. They took their time in learning everything they could about the kingdom and Laria in general. Kalla was the one to take them around, mostly. Having come when the Krahzaran envoy was there, Cleo already had plans she would have loved to get away from, but being the Queen of Arloerin, she couldn't. She was stuck in the council room with Janan, Malik, a few of his advisors, and Urell watching over them all.
The little Krahzaran prince, however, had decided he would much rather spend time with them instead, especially Elys. Though Malik tried to tell him he should learn the ways of diplomacy when Kav announced he was touring the city with them instead, he wasn't going to listen.
"He's more than welcome to come with us," Lyv told him with a smile. Elys and Kav ran off toward Kalla as she and the others headed for the main palace gate. "Truth be told, I'm actually happy Elys has someone close in age to be with here. He hangs around us way too much."
Malik sighed, looking back at Cleo who was already turning down the hallway to the council room. "Kav's supposed to be in these talks as well according to Mother, especially with this being his first diplomatic trip...and when his future with Arloerin is one of the topics being discussed. Maybe it's a good thing he won't be there for this, though. Especially with Cleo being so..."
"She mentioned you used to be friends before."
He nodded, eyes distant. "Once upon a time, yes, but that was so long ago. We both set fire to that bridge and I don't think there's any chance of rebuilding it." He gave Lyv a sad smile. "Go enjoy your time in the city. Undoubtedly, Kalla will be an excellent tour guide."
Kalla was an excellent tour guide, too. Somehow, she spaced out the grand Arloerin tour to fit specific parts of the city over the next week. One day they were just looking around the palace and the wide expanse of gardens and the small lake behind it, another was the business district with all kinds of shops, the university, and the bank with caverns of vaults below, the next was the port district just a short horse ride north, followed by three days of touring the lands around the city and tasting every single wine offered. That might have not been a good idea with the wine, though. It was safe to say Elys and Kav were the only ones who weren't stumbling back into the palace that night because everything in front of them was spinning.
However, on the seventh day at breakfast, Malik was speaking in a low voice to an obviously upset Kav. The boy had his arms crossed over his chest and refused to touch his food.
"But it's going to be so boring," Kav groaned. "I want to be with everyone else, not you and her."
Malik heaved a sigh, though was unyielding. "I don't care. This involves you, too, you know."
"I'm nine. I shouldn't even be a part of these talks. Or even being in talks about future marriage! I'm nine," he repeated.
"Still don't care. And neither does Mother. You're going to be there."
Lyv didn't even have to be present in the conversation to know exactly what it was about. She remembered a few weeks before when they knew nothing about Cleo being Queen of Arloerin that Empress Sophea was trying to marry her youngest son Kav to bind Krahzara and Arloerin together. That was why Kav was here with his brother, though he didn't seem to want to be. How could he? He was only nine.
But still, the nine-year-old watched as Cleo came into the room, dressed in the same ensemble as she was when they first met her at the border between the Cagny Forest and Lake Iris. Cleo knew he was, too, turning her narrowed gaze to him.
"Too bad this is one of your last days in Arloerin, princes," she said, her tone one of mocking.
"Which is another reason Kav needs to be in the last of today's talks," Malik nodded. He chose not to hear the way she said it. "And I'm not the only one who wants to be over with this so we can go home."
Kav huffed, pushing his plate away from him. "I don't want to."
"Don't want to what?"
"Be in talks. Leave. I don't want to go home."
"Too bad, kid."
The three of them left before everyone else finished breakfast, followed closely behind by Janan and Urell. Elys was pouting about how he couldn't have his new friend with them for the day, so he'd taken to clinging to Jai, sitting in his lap as they both attempted to eat. Lyv was smiling as they both made the same movements, even grinning back at her at the same time.
An hour had passed as they took their time with breakfast and talking. Lyv couldn't help but watch the dining room doors or hear the faint voices coming from the council room down the hall.
"Do we want to head out before that gets any louder?" Kalla asked as she pushed up from the table. "Because I have a feeling with this last topic, it definitely will. Cleo's going to shoot it down, but it will forever be on the table until Empress Sophea gets what she wants."
"I don't see how that will happen when it's Cleo," Renna sighed. "You know her. She's one of the most stubborn females I've ever known...which she got from her mother and I absolutely love her for it."
Both Jai and Gideon were grinning at Lyv then.
"Runs in the family, huh?" Jai teased...to which Lyv answered with a rude hand gesture after making sure Elys was turned away.
"On that note, I think I'll actually stay around here for the day," she told them then. "And no, it's not because you think I'm stubborn...which I'm not."
That got her several snorts and eyerolls from pretty much everyone.
"You sure?" Gideon asked her. "We're going back in the direction of that one café you loved..."
"I'm sure. Just don't go buying Elys anything and everything he wants. Especially not that dagger I saw him and all you males ogling at the other day. Or anymore chocolate because the Mother knows we have enough to feed it to everyone in Dalcaine once we're back home."
"No promises," Jai grinned as he kissed her once. "Come find us if you decide to get out."
Everyone filed out, trying to decide which shop in Arloerin to go to first. Elys was the last to go, mostly because he wanted to give Lyv a hug and kiss on the cheek before bolting for the closing door.
Leaving her alone with Renna and the few staff who were clearing the table.
"Are you all right, dear?" Renna asked her after she finished off the last of her juice. "You seem a little...distant this morning."
She was, surprisingly so. "I am. I just...have to have time to myself sometimes. It's easier to clear my head, which has been harder to do these days."
She nodded as if she knew exactly what she was talking about. "Then don't let me disturb you..."
"No," Lyv said quickly, reaching forward to catch her hand. "I'm actually happy you're still here. With everyone else being around, I don't feel like I've gotten to know you well enough yet."
Renna smiled, though it didn't reach her eyes. "And why would you want to know me?"
"Why would I not? You're family. My family."
Though she hesitated for the slightest of moments, Renna reached her hand across the table for Lyv's. She grasped it tightly and nodded. "Like I've said before, you remind me so much of your mother. Not only in looks, but in personality, too."
Lyv grinned. "So I've been told...many times. Especially by my fathers, both Alberich and...and Bence. "
She leaned back in her seat, letting go of her hand. "How are they, Bridget and Alberich?"
"Very well, actually, even though everyone in Dalcaine is preparing for war while we're here. They're worried, though. And I know it's mostly about me. Not only because of what happened with Corliss and Guinevere in Escarral and what they did to it, but also about me as in the dark magic I now carry. Wonder how they and everyone else will take the news Jai and I share that magic now...?"
Renna's eyes darkened. "You two are repeating a history that took Meron and Corliss from us all."
"Hoping to not repeat it, actually, but rather change it. Which is why we're here."
With Cleo being in meetings with Malik all week, Lyv hadn't had time to press her on the topic of the vessel's location. Kalla, Allel, and Mik wouldn't even budge, not even giving an excuse as to why. They wanted Lyv and Jai to be rid of it, too, didn't they?
The two of them left that topic far behind as they slowly walked through the palace. Lyv told her more about her life in both Escarral and Dalcaine and what happened to change it all over those last few years. It didn't take her long to realize just how much Renna missed Dalcaine. More specifically Eld since that was where she and her mate and husband Evander had been from. She spoke about Lyv's grandparents, too, since they'd been close with them also.
When they made their third walkthrough of the palace was when the voices from the council room grew louder. As they approached the doors, Lyv noticed shadows beginning to curl out from beneath them, edging their way across the carpeted floor toward them.
Renna sighed, having obviously seen this before as the shadows seemingly created a hand that stretched upward toward her. She reached forward, plucking a small slip of paper with a handwritten note written across it.
Save me from this idiot before I lose it.
"Cleo?" Lyv asked, raising a brow as she smiled.
"Of course," Renna nodded. "I wish everything was all right between those two again, but I don't know if it ever will be. Not after Adeena and Evander and especially not when Malik brought Krahzaran forces to overtake the city."
"Do you mind if I go?" Lyv asked, hesitating only slightly.
"Fine by me, especially when I had to break them apart last week before you all arrived. I miss when the two of them were close and not trying to kill one another. Well, more so Cleo kill Malik." Renna patted her hand on Lyv's arm, smiling at her. "Good luck."
Lyv waited a few heartbeats in front of the council room doors as Renna walked away. The yelling grew, making her second-guess her decision to be the one to break up the fight without the other female by her side.
She strode inside without even knocking.
"...dare think your mother will be getting what she wants," Cleo had growled out, her green eye narrowed at Malik, who sat across from her at the circular table. "I have said that from the start."
"Even if it ensures peace between both our kingdoms?" he challenged. "If we don't come to an agreement...
"Are you threatening me, Crown Prince?"
"No, I'm not. But..."
"You think I'm going to even entertain the thought of marrying your nine-year-old brother?"
"You wouldn't now. Just a promise to once he's of age."
Sitting between them and shrinking back more into his chair was Kav, whose cheeks grew bright pink at the topic they had broached. Just like earlier, he knew exactly why he was to be in this conversation. Urell and Janan sat across from him and were eyeing the boy as well, with the orc giving him a wide, fanged grin and the mage trying not to give her queen a certain look while she stroked Shamira's head on her lap.
"Hell no. If I wanted to be tied to someone from a rivaling kingdom...well, I would never want to, so it won't happen."
"We weren't always rivals, you know. Why can't we let the past be in the past?"
"Oh, there are two events in our history will not allow that, Malik. Two events we will never forget."
Malik gave an exasperated sigh. "Cleo..."
Cleo slammed her hands against the wooden table, rattling the glasses and shifting the papers that sat atop it. Her shadows curled around her in shimmering tendrils speckled with silver, warning not only Cleo herself of what would happen if she didn't calm down, but Malik if he dared to challenge her again.
"Arloerin and Krahzara will never be bound while your mother is on the throne," Cleo edged out through gnashed teeth. "She made that clear when she sent you and your Krahzara forces to overtake the city, though that was how I was able to gain my crown from the people who love me."
Malik swallowed hard, his throat bobbing. "You know I wouldn't have done it if I..."
"I know what you're going to say. You were given orders, though those orders didn't include the fact that the Guild went after me again and failed. But you still had to invade, had to try and take what little we had from under us."
"I did, but I shouldn't. I didn't want anything to happen to you, but...Cleo, please..."
She held up a shadow-laced hand. "But before that...Sophea was the one to send the Guild of Starlight assassins to kill both me and Adeena. We were four years old. We were babies. I will never forgive her for that. She took my twin sister away from me, the one person who I'd had from the start, who knew exactly what I was going through with...with everything that makes me who I am."
Her voice had dropped to a whisper by then, shadows pulsing darkly around her. "Don't you dare try to tell me it wasn't her, Malik. It was and you know it. Because of Sophea, I will never get Adeena back, no matter how much I study the dark magic or ways to get to wherever it is we go after this life so I can get her back myself. So, you can shove your talks of me marrying Kav for peace, because there will never be peace between us. And if you think of ever trying to send the Guild and your Lady in White here to kill me for a third time...just know she will be met with every bit of the darkest of magic I can throw at her. I will kill her myself before going for Sophea. And then maybe you. Kav can have your thrown since his mind is still young, still impressionable."
Kav's light hazel eyes were stuck on Cleo. He didn't look scared of all her threats, though. If anything, admiration was bright...and so was something else, something that Elys must have whispered to him that first night they were in Arloerin.
Slowly, carefully, Cleo stood from her seat and reached for her wineglass before downing the contents in one go. Malik, Kav, Janan, and Urell watched her every movement, waiting for her shadows to recede, but they weren't going anywhere.
"Now, these talks are over for the day," Cleo said as she licked wine off her lips. "You've managed to piss me off after barely two hours, Malik, so good job on your part. Maybe if I cool down, we'll finish the draft of the treaty tomorrow, sign it after some revisions, and then you'll be on your way. Janan, Urell, you finish up today's topics since you know my stance on everything, and I trust you. But now...now, I'm going to spend some time with my cousin."
With Cleo on the warpath, they didn't even notice Lyv's intrusion as she stayed by the door until she pointed her out. Lyv tried to smile, but it might have come out more like a grimace.
"Are you all right?" she asked as soon as Cleo looped her arm through hers and led her out.
Finally, her shadows seemed to ease back into her, disappearing from sight. "I hate these talks. I know you're Crown Princess, but have you had the joy of dealing with a kingdom politically, one you can't stand?"
"Unfortunately, not yet, though some of the rulers in Ethran when they threatened to take Elys from us by force. And what you said about Empress Sophea...about the Guild being who came after you and Adeena...that's really true?"
Cleo pulled her braid over one shoulder before readjusting her golden eyepatch. "They would never admit it, but everyone knows it is. I do...because I remember his face, the assassin that killed Adeena and my grandfather. He was the one they found butchered in front of the Guild's main house. The head of the Guild of Starlight whose head was now bashed in. He had a scar along his jawline, dark red and jagged, and that was the only identifying element. When word got here about it, how the Guild had their new leader with the Lady, I was fine with it. She took care of a problem I would have done myself. If I ever get to meet her, I want to thank her...before getting the hell away."
Still, Lyv couldn't imaging Cleo being afraid of anyone. "She's that...intense? Have you met her before?"
"Nope, and still I don't think I want to just yet," she said as they made their way down the hallway. "I'll just write her a letter in that case...with an offer of employment in another kingdom so she wouldn't have to be under Sophea's obvious control. What a pair we would make."
***Well, obviously it's not Sunday...but this chapter was kind of switched around with another and I had to do some tweaking to the ones that followed! In the next one, though, we're going to get a little Lyv and Cleo cousin time, which I'm very much looking forward to!
What did you guys think? Comment and vote!
Happy reading!
- Ansley***