Lichgates: Book One of the Grimoire Saga (an Epic Fantasy Adventure) (43 page)

Braeden couldn’t believe it. Her gaze challenged his lifetime of slavery to his father.

He crossed his arms. “You can’t understand the yakona Bloodlines, so don’t judge me. You’ll never have to endure such a thing!”

“I’m not judging you, but I did lose both my parents in the same year. I think I know a thing or two about how difficult and unfair life can be.”

“Ourea hasn’t been kind to you. I’m sorry you’ve had to endure so much death. But what I’m talking about is entirely different from loss. It’s a complete lack of control over your own mind and body.”

“Like I said, you don’t have to come with me.”

“I would be a sorry bodyguard if I didn’t.”

“You’re not very useful if you suffocate yourself.”

“This isn’t funny.”

“Sorry.”

Braeden sat beside her with a heavy sigh. “I just don’t want to go near Carden again. I barely escaped last time.”

“I get it. I really do. It’s probably better if you stay in Hillside, anyway.”

He rubbed his hands together, eyes fixed on the ground. “But what if a Stelian finds you? What if you encounter something along the way? Those forests and even the mountains are full of creatures, most of which prefer their dinner raw and screaming.”

She cringed. “Charming.”

“I don’t know what to do about this. You have to get that Stelian amulet or you’ll never find the Vagabond’s village, but I can’t bring myself to let you go alone. I can’t trust anyone else to go instead. The muses never stick around for long, so you can’t rely on them. I don’t really have a choice but to go.”

“There’s always a choice,” Kara said under her breath, echoing what Adele told her when she first arrived in Ourea. Back then, Kara had to choose between abandoning her father or risking his life if she went to find him. In terms of her father’s soul, she and Braeden chose wrong. He didn’t want to repeat that mistake.

His jaw tensed. “I have a compromise. How about this—we go back to Hillside for now. Rest. Relax. Once I feel mentally prepared enough to go with you, we’ll both go get the amulet. In the meantime, we have to figure out what to do about Losse.”

“Oh man, Losse. What a disaster.” She slid down the log and laid her head against it like it was a lumpy pillow.

“So, is it a deal? We finally take a break before we risk our lives this time?”

She grinned. “I never said I agreed. There’s no telling when you’ll be ready, and time’s running out. I should—”

A short laugh floated through the clearing, interrupting her.

“Can the two of you go anywhere without causing trouble?” a woman asked.

Braeden stood and instinctively reached for his sword—which was still in his room in Losse—but relaxed at the copper glimmer of Adele’s hair. She stood in the grass at the far end of the clearing, one hand on her hip.

“It’s always an epic chase with you two,” she said. The muse teased the pendant on her neck as evidence that something had gone wrong.

“It’s good to see you, too, Adele,” Kara said.

“What happened in Losse?” The muse sat on the log. Braeden crossed his arms and leaned against a tree, watching from a short distance.

“They weren’t very agreeable,” Kara said with a shrug.

Braeden laughed. “What an overpowering understatement. They tried to kidnap you!”

“And kill you,” she added. “Regardless, Losse isn’t interested now, and Kirelm would consider the peace talks only if Frine was involved.” She glared off into the forest. “I’m starting to wonder if there’s anything in Ourea worth saving.”

“As long as there’s evil, there will be good,” Adele said. “You must watch for it and allow it to surprise you. For as many people that hunted the first Vagabond, there were just as many who fed him, hid him, and sent him safely on his way. These people defended the helpless and would have stood before a rising army to protect a stranger. They were true heroes. Don’t lose your faith in life or the world. Millions already look to you for hope when they have none. To them, you’re one of those heroes. You must be strong.”

Kara slouched against the log, looking off into the trees. Her eyes shifted out of focus. Streaks of grime covered her face. Deep purple bags cast shadows under her eyes. Her eyelids drooped. Still, somehow, the sun made her skin glow beneath the dirt.

“I failed,” she said.

Adele shook her head. “Not quite. The Lossian Bloods have trusted Garrett for generations, as they are some of the few who openly speak with drenowith. We’d hoped we would not need to interfere, but we suspected what happened when we sensed you were in danger. He left to speak with their Blood to help him find reason.”

Braeden frowned. “Why didn’t he do this before? Why make us go there in the first place?”

“Because the more we interfere, the more likely it is that the Council which forbade us from helping the Vagabond will kill us for treason. You must understand, then, why this wasn’t our first course of action.”

The muse had a point. Braeden huffed and leaned against the tree, avoiding her gaze.

“Will it work? Will Losse agree?” Kara asked.

“I believe so,” the muse said.

Kara sighed with relief and leaned against the log, staring into the sky with a thin smile. Even Braeden’s shoulders relaxed at the news. He hadn’t trained with Kara, as he wasn’t allowed near her masters, but he’d watched to make sure she was safe and cringed every time she was thrown to the ground in combat. She hadn’t learned, there. She suffered. It was no way to train a new warrior.

He looked her over. She made him ashamed to think he was tired.

“I really want a bed right now,” she said.

Adele brushed back a tangled lock of Kara’s hair. “You’re only a few hours from Hillside. I’ll go with you to the gates to make sure you arrive safely. We should leave now, while there’s still a little light left in the day.”

Braeden was closer to the griffin, so he mounted and reached out a hand to help Kara. She took it, wrapping her small hand around his wrist. A thrilling chill ran through him at her touch. He smiled despite himself.

“I’m going to sleep for days when we get home,” she whispered to him once she mounted. She wrapped her arms around his waist for balance. His heart skipped a beat, and for a moment, he couldn’t swallow.

“Hillside is your home now, huh?” he joked when his breath returned.

Kara laughed, but didn’t answer.

He turned toward Adele, expecting a snide comment, but the muse had already transformed into a griffin. Gleaming white feathers spiked along her neck, and pale beige fur covered her torso and legs, which ended in the sharp claws of a lioness. She preened, cocking her head when she caught his surprise.

Kara’s griffin shuffled toward Adele. It curled its head and sidestepped, inching closer to her. Braeden nudged it with his heel, urging it away from the muse.

“Stop that,” he muttered. “She’s taken.”

Kara laughed as the griffin batted Braeden’s leg with its tail in revenge. It trotted forward, took a bounding leap, and they took off for Hillside.

Braeden was looking forward to his bed, but he knew that he couldn’t walk into Hillside with Kara. He couldn’t keep her safe if all of Hillside knew he was her bodyguard, and he would be interrogated if anyone discovered that he somehow went to the other kingdoms with her. He would sleep in the woods tonight and enter the kingdom through another gate in the morning. Even then, he wouldn’t be allowed to go straight to bed if Gavin had his way. The Blood would want a report on the isen raid. And since Gavin always got his way, Braeden needed to speak to Adele to find out how it had gone.

CHAPTER TWENTY FIVE

PURPOSE

Just a few hours after Adele found them in the forest, Kara rode her griffin along a misty trail near Hillside. She was alone and not entirely sure if she was going the right way. Thick fog hung in the woods, blurring the path the muse told her to take before she’d shifted into a small bird of some sort and flown off. Adele the sparrow or nightingale or whatever was watching from the trees, small and overlooked.

Braeden had ruffled Kara’s hair before he walked off to find his hidden drowng, whom he said was getting fat waiting for him in some remote meadow. She grinned at the memory, but the smile dissolved when she remembered that he’d be out in the unprotected forests overnight. She hoped he would be safe.

“Hello again, Vagabond!”

She wheeled around in her seat, trying to find the source of the voice. Captain Demnug stood behind her, half-submerged in the thick layers of fog. He bowed as she sighed with relief. The haze coursed around him, swirling through his beard and half-hiding him in the mist.

“You startled me,” she chided.

“I was merely being cautious. You’ll forgive me if I ask you to dismount your...” He trailed off and tilted his head. “Is that a griffin? To think, all we gave you was a horse.”

“It’s not a competition, Captain. Besides, he’s mine.”

The griffin knelt. Kara slid off its back and landed light on her feet. Once she was on the ground, the beast nipped her shoulder in a playful jab. She grinned and patted its neck, but at her touch, it broke apart into a cloud of dust with a small
poof
.

“You certainly are full of tricks,” the captain said. “Now, please hold still for a moment.”

He reached for her wrist and sniffed it. She eyed him, confused, as he did the same thing to her hair.

“Um,” she muttered. “What are you doing?”

“It’s a safeguard to check that an isen didn’t steal your soul while you were away,” he said with a lazy shrug, as if smelling someone’s arm was absolutely normal. She really needed to rewrite her definition of ordinary.

“What are you looking for, exactly?”

“Master Braeden taught me to look for the scent of lilac and pine mixed together. It’s hard to miss if you’re ready for it.”

She smiled wryly, knowing the answer to her next question before she asked it.

“Is he back yet?”

“No, but there’s no need to worry. I’m sure he’ll be back soon. Now you’ll have to forgive me, but I can’t show you into the kingdom.” He pulled out a green blindfold. She sighed and let him tie it around her head, too tired to complain.

“Lead the way,” she said with a grumble, reaching out her hands so that he could guide her through the gate she had already watched Braeden open.

Kara had been warned against thinking she could go straight to bed, no matter how tired she was. When the captain removed the blindfold and Hillside’s markets bustled before her, she made a preemptive beeline into the castle and headed straight for Gavin’s study.

She somehow remembered where the room was, but when she rounded the corner and found it, she couldn’t recall which painting had previously hung on the hidden door. Whatever it had been, the late Queen’s portrait had taken its place in the time Kara was away. The dead Queen looked down at Gavin’s visitors with a thin smile, and though Kara expected the portrait to move like some of the Grimoire’s sketches, it was still. She paused at the painting to rub a finger along the rough layers of paint before pulling the tassel which hung by the frame. No chime sounded, but she did hear a faint voice from within.

“Come in, Kara.”

She shuddered and looked around for a security camera before she could stop herself. No, yakona just knew these things.

The door opened on its own with a soft click and closed with the same sound after she’d crossed the threshold. Gavin sat in a chair, reclined with his feet on a new, broad table in the middle of the room. The table was covered with piles of maps, and a single plate of powdered sugar cookies sat at one end.

“Welcome back,” he said without moving. “How was your trip?”

“Adventurous.”

“I suspect that to be an understatement. Did anyone give you trouble? We thought you would return two weeks ago at the latest.”

“I did run into a bit of an issue with Losse,” she admitted. Her thoughts scurried over the weeks of brutal training, and she couldn’t hide a relieved sigh that it was all over.

“We expected as much.”

“However, I’ve spoken to the drenowith and they will see if they can change Frine’s mind.”