“So… my father, traitor to King Hazlitt…”
“He was right all along,” she said. “I suppose he knew the king was deceitful.” And I felt so validated by my father’s refusal to fight for the king that I let out a relieved breath.
“And what of your grandfather?” I asked.
“My father wouldn’t forgive him,” she answered. “He died of grief shortly after, and my father took the throne.”
“That’s why Ronan continues to fight,” I said, finally understanding. “For your mother?”
Ava gave a half nod. “King Akhran, my father, he’s married now. But House Fysher needs to make up its betrayal to the Ronan empire. They and House Ironwood have the means to see this war to the end.”
“And King Hazlitt?” I wondered aloud. “Why does he fight? Why are we at war?”
“I have only speculation,” Ava said, folding her arms atop her knees and resting her chin on them. “Rumors I’ve heard amongst the castle.” I hummed for her to continue. “Magic isn’t against the law in Ronan like it is in Valens. It’s monitored carefully, but it’s practiced.” She laid her head sideways to see me. “I heard of a book, locked away by Ronan scholars for centuries because it contains the darkest magic. He wants its power so he can conquer more than Ronan. He wants the continent: Ronan, Cornwall, the five other nations, The Amalgam Plains, all of it. He wants to establish himself as the first High King.”
“So King Hazlitt has been doing magic?” I asked, feeling a shiver go up my spine. My mother had told me stories of dark magic, everyone in the kingdom knew of its danger, and I was starting to wonder about the truth in all the superstition.
“If he has, he’s not been caught by the right person.”
“And your back?” I suggested. “I suppose he is the one who did that?”
“It would appear so,” Ava consented. “But it’s been years, and I’ve yet to discover the mark’s purpose.”
I let out a heavy, stressed sigh, and sat there for a moment. I rubbed my hands over my face, massaged my fingers into my temples, and sighed again. “Going south,” I said, revisiting Ava’s destination. “What do you expect to happen when you arrive? Why are we going to King Akhran? Does he even know you exist?”
“I’m a love child. I was hoping…” Ava paused, huffing as though laughing dryly at herself. “I’m hoping he’ll feel some affection for me, and finally give me a place to belong.” And her eyes met mine, and her lips pursed in the smallest smile like she knew how wishful that sounded. “I know the castle at Guelder. Maybe I could help end this war, and get my mother back.”
The sigh I let out now was the heaviest yet. “You’re a citizen of Valens, Ava. That would make you a traitor to your kingdom.” She needed help getting south; it was too dangerous for her to go alone. “If I take you, I’m a traitor by association.” I’d never live with myself if I made her go alone and she didn’t make it. I already felt strongly for her. Whether she’d been trying to or not, and whether I could act on it or not, she’d won my devotion. I wanted her to be happy, and to feel like she had a family even if it meant I’d never be able to see her again afterwards. “I’ve been trying my whole life to follow the law, to do what I’ve known to be right and escape my father’s inheritance. Come to find, maybe it’s not something worth escaping.” I shut my eyes against the thoughts fluttering through my mind, trying my hardest to organize them. “It’s a lot to consider.”
“You have a mother and brother to care for,” she said understandingly, and I nodded.
Mother and Nilson needed me. I put meat on the table, I took care of things Mother had grown too old for and Nilson had not yet grown enough for, I sold furs for things I couldn’t make myself. They were my responsibility.
“Kiena, I couldn’t let you regret this decision.” Ava set a reassuring hand on my arm. “I couldn’t bear it if something happened to them because you came with me.”
But did I not have a greater responsibility? This war had been going on since before my birth. The king had conscripted every man he could to the farthest reach of the kingdom. It was only a matter of time before Nilson was old enough. He was small for his age, but the king was desperate. He’d take Nilson, and Nilson would be killed in his first battle. But I could help end it, for Nilson, and for every boy like him.
Nilson was nearly old enough to help mother, and to take over for me around the cottage. If I never made it back from this journey because I helped Ava accomplish what she’d sought out to do, my family would survive. If I went back, and Ava failed because she was alone, it was only a matter of time before the king drafted Nilson to fight, before Mother and Nilson were dead and I was alone in the midst of an unending war.
“I’ll take you south,” I told her, and behind the surprised look in her eyes was a building excitement. “I’ve already broken a few rules. What are a few more?”
Ava grinned, throwing her arms around my torso and squeezing me so tight I couldn’t breathe. “Thank you.” She also kissed my cheek, not once but a handful of times in rapid succession, planting the last one hard. “Thank you, Kiena, thank you.”
“No need to thank me,” I teased, “I couldn’t let a fragile princess travel alone.”
“Fragile,” she huffed, giving me a sporty shove strong enough that I fell over sideways, and I couldn’t help but snort with laughter.
Chapter 7
Not long after I decided to escort Ava south did we begin to wonder exactly where we were now. Every so often voices passed by outside the door to our small cave, but not once did someone try to enter; not since the man who had woken us. Though this place was clearly a secret—I’d decided so at the way the entrance had been hidden after our arrival last night—I didn’t feel threatened at being here. They’d saved Ava’s life, cared enough to replenish the fire this morning, and Albus was still curled up comfortably beside its warmth. Albus always knew when something was wrong.
So we decided it was time to see what was going on outside our chamber, and I gave Ava my dry fur coat because she still had fewer layers of clothing than I did, and I could handle the chill of the caverns. I opened the door, sticking my head out first to check for danger, and meeting the eyes of a young boy sitting on the ground across the hall. When he saw me, he stood, his shaggy brown hair bouncing with the motion. He couldn’t have been much older than Nilson, eleven years of age, maybe.
“Morning, my ladies,” he greeted, bending at the waist in a shallow bow, and I found myself wondering how long he’d been sitting there in wait.
Ava giggled at his enthusiasm, and leaned over to see him eye to eye. “Morning…”
“Oscar,” the boy supplied.
“Willow,” she told him, sticking out her hand, which he took and shook, an action I admired the bravery of despite the fact that he didn’t know Ava was a princess. I also appreciated the fact that Ava gave him a fake name, even if she passed me a coy smile after she did. “Pleased to make your acquaintance.”
“Pleasure,” Oscar said, brown eyes beaming and landing on me.
“Kiena,” I told him.
I don’t know if he could instinctively tell the status difference between Ava and me, but his handshake with me was a lot sturdier. “Oscar. Well met.” And Ava giggled again, causing Oscar to pass her a grin as if he knew he was being cute. Then Albus came out from behind my legs, and Oscar’s eyes lit up even more. “Hello, pup!” The dog’s nose was level with the boy’s, but he boldly reached for Albus’s head, rubbing behind his ears and down his neck, laughing when Albus licked the side of his face. “I’m to escort you to the dining hall for a generous meal. Best stew in all the kingdom, and a lamb leg for the hound.”