Kali stared down at the dark green blanket that was her only cover and wished she didn't feel like an empty shell, washed away by the icy understanding of Rhone's betrayal. The anger she'd clung to felt hollow and insignificant now. A brittle shield that fractured more with every passing moment.
"Idiots," the slender blonde fae muttered as she stared at the abandoned doorway. "Don't they know not to upset a sick person?"
Kali remained silent, numb down to her toes now that the tide of anger left her.
"I'm Talia," the female introduced quickly, "the healer who has the misfortune of tending to this lot. I'm guess you already know Stryker, but the dark haired fae with him is Aria-she runs this unit." As she spoke, Talia rummaged through the packs on the ground to produce a pair of pants and a loose, long sleeved shirt. "I'll wager you'll feel a little better if you're not sitting naked in the middle of nowhere with a bunch of strangers."
Kali nodded gratefully and accepted her help pulling on the soft clothing. All she could feel from the healer was a mild irritation directed at something else and a deep well of concern, endless as the ocean outside. It made some of her tension ease. Despite her prickly exterior, Talia didn't appear to be a threat.
After she was dressed, Kali was forced to sit back down on the edge of the cot or face the embarrassment of collapsing in front of this stranger. Both of them looked up when Juno pushed her way into the tent and made a happy sound at the sight of Kali. The wolf dartered across the small space and rubbed her large body against Kali's legs, careful despite her size not to jostle her too much. Some of Kali's sadness ebbed at the sight of her furry shadow healthy and happy here. She sank her fingers deep into the thick fur of her ruff, running her fingers through the soft undercoat and trying to match the steady rhythm of the heartbeat beneath her hand.
"Where am I?" she finally asked, voice hoarse.
"A few miles away from Adirata in one of Aria's hidey holes."
That close...Kali felt a fresh wave of worry hit her gut. She was too close to Adriata to feel this raw and out of control.
"What-" she cleared her throat and shifted the question away from Rhone, "What did you give me?"
"The wound on your side was infected badly enough that it spread throughout your body-not to mention the mess they made of your back," Talia's lips pursed in displeasure. "You've been pretty heavily sedated and given every kind of cure I could think of to try to beat back the blood sickness. It will be a few days before you're back to your normal strength." The healer put a gentle hand on her forehead to check for fever and nodded, "The cocktail of medicines I've given you might make your abilities fluctuate more than usual - though, you being conscious should help somewhat."
Kali winced, already tired of this weakness. Her mind felt blurry and distant, playing the image of Rhone's distraught face over and over again. To push away the unwanted thoughts, she addressed the healer again, "Why did you help me? Are you from Hybern too?"
"Yes-" the word made Kali's head snap up and her magic surged to her fingers, ready to fight if need be, but Talia only arched an eyebrow, "-but that was a long time ago. We haven't worked with anyone in Hybern for nearly a century. Our unit has found much more satisfying work in Prythian."
She let out a shaky breath, but continued to press her, "So why are you here?"
"Listen," Talia snapped with another burst of irritation against Kali's shields like heat from an oven, "I don't have to explain why I helped haul your ungrateful ass back from death's door. I'm a healer-it's what we do." With a disgusted sound, she began to rifle through the packs once again, pulling out a few of the bottles. Juno made a disgruntled sound when Kali's distraction meant she stopped petting her, flopping down on the cot despite its' creak of protest.
Kali's cheeks flushed with embarrassment and she looked down at her hands again. It wasn't fair to place blame on the healer just because she was furious with Rhone. Her eyes kept flicking back to the entrance of the tent as though she could sense where he was through the fabric. She was hopeless.
He betrayed you, you idiot, she growled to herself. Lesson learned.
Still her heart thundered in her ears at the sound of soft footsteps outside of the tent, but it wasn't the familiar figure of her princeling on the other side. Instead, a tall, heavily scarred Illyrian female stepped into the shade from the awning and gave her a cursory glance. Kali's eyes tracked over the wicked scar that bisected her throat, only barely covered by a white siphon that gleamed with an opalescent sheen.
"Illyrian," Kali blurted, mind trying to piece together how an Illyrian female was so far from the camps. All she'd learned of their society spoke of a fiercely patriarchal system that kept a close watch on their females-even to the point of clipping their wings. She glanced over the female's shoulder to see more pale scars marring the dark wings tucked tight against her back to avoid scraping the ceiling.
Talia glanced over and gave a sweeping gesture, "This is Ifrit-she's part of our unit. Try not to insult her."
Kali narrowed her eyes at the bad tempered healer - which was openly ignored - before giving Ifrit a weak smile. "I'm Kali."
Instead of answering, Ifrit silently handed her a blade that gleamed wickedly in the sunlight and Kali looked up at her in surprise. The Illyrian's hands moved in a quick, complicated pattern.
"She says she knows what it's like to be defenseless and that a good knife goes a long way against it," Talia translated.
Kali wrapped her fingers around the handle, tears stinging at her eyes once again. She cleared her throat and glanced at the blonde, "How do you say thank you?"
Talia made a simple gesture that Kali replicated to Ifrit who smiled at her. "She can hear just fine-it's speaking that's the problem," the healer explained.
"Speaking is what gets most people in trouble," The dark haired mercenary from before muttered as she stepped into the tent. She paused to give Kali a brief smile, "Glad to see you're finally awake."
Kali wasn't sure how to respond so she just shrugged.
"Males," Aria continued with a disgusted snort as though Kali had responded, "they're next to useless."
"More than useless," Talia agreed.
Ifrit made series of those graceful gestures to Aria, who scowled, "You didn't have to bring that up."
Kali looked over at Talia who explained with a wicked grin, "Ifrit reminded Aria that she used to have a number of other uses for Stryker."
Aria seemed to sense she was losing the high ground and made a dismissive gesture. "That was a long time ago - now he's just as much of a nuisance as any other male." Talia and Ifrit didn't look convinced, but they didn't press the issue. So Aria leaned against the central post and regarded Kali with a level gaze. "Mates can be a gift and a curse."
Kali looked away. "He's not my mate."
"Funny, he doesn't seem to agree."
Frustration had Kali tightening her hold on her gifted knife, threading it through her fingers in a complicated pattern in an attempt to distract herself from the complicated knot of emotions that was Rhone. Somehow Rhone believed he was mated to Delorea, despite the presence of the mate bond she still felt burning in her chest.
The thought was painful enough that she changed the subject quickly. "How soon until I can move without problems?" she asked Talia.
Talia grunted, flicking a glare to Aria, who hid a smile behind her hand, "You need a few days of rest before you can go ruin all my hard work."
Kali slipped the dagger back into the sheathe Ifrit had provided and pushed off the cot. The world shifted dangerously for a moment, but she gritted her teeth and rode through it. Juno pressed against her leg and Kali leaned against her gratefully. "I need some air," she muttered to the others and stepped out into the sunlight.
The heat of it helped ease the stink of the pit that still lingered on her skin. The thought was enough to propel her forward towards the shoreline nearby, the ocean's song like a beacon for home. She didn't stop until her toes hit the line of foam that crested each waves. For the first time in weeks, she didn't feel like the jagged pieces of her soul were in danger of breaking loose.
Instinctively she turned toward the only other figure standing on the beach, heart lodging in her throat.
Rhone watched her silently, eyes shadowed despite the late afternoon light. His face looked like he'd aged decades since she'd last seen him, before...everything. The rough stubble of a beard made the lines of his chin chased away the memories of the clean cut princeling she'd teased and tempted. It was still odd to see the short hair that was a symbol of a lost future they'd shared in a small apartment above a simple woodshop.
The air between them felt heavy with the pain and broken promises.
Kali clutched at the anger that would keep her heart safe, but felt it slipping through her fingers at the sight of her name forming on his lips. She clutched at Juno's collar, needing an anchor to keep from running to the male she'd wanted to be her mate so badly she'd sacrificed everything for.
And doomed them all.
His chest heaved in a deep breath and he turned, moving towards the last of the mercenaries and began speaking with him. She watched him for a long moment, trying to ignore the way her throat tightened with the need to call out to him and sighed. The ache in her chest spread deep into her bones, weighing her down to the earth.
Slowly, she walked deeper into the water, pulling herself onto one of the rock lining the shore and perching herself on it. Juno made a disgruntled sound and left her to flop into the sands nearby, eyes watchful. Kali let her bare feet dangle into the water and watched the sun begin to set on the distant horizon.
She wasn't surprised to hear footsteps approach her new perch. It didn't seem like anyone trusted her alone anymore.
Stryker settled onto the rock beside her and bumped his shoulder against hers affectionately. "Glad to see you up and about, thief."
"Would have preferred it under better circumstances," she muttered with a frown.
"Do you mean when you decided to sacrifice yourself to Delorea instead of just asking for help?"
The gentleness in his tone was a harsh contrast to the anger that burned against her mind. Kali frowned, glancing over at the tension in his jaw that didn't quite match his bland expression. "It's not like I planned to catch Thrace in the midst of killing his father," she growled defensively.
"But you were planning to leave-without bothering with goodbyes or even telling us just what kind of a threat Delorea was."
She sighed, feeling a little sheepish. "I wasn't exactly thinking straight."
Some of that crackling anger dissipated and he leaned back on his elbows against the rock behind him. For a long moment they fell into a comfortable silence only broken by the waves crashing against the rocks.
Summoning her courage, Kali asked, "So what happened?"
"Thrace killed Kallias and tried to kill you - from what I could piece together. He had his guards toss Rhone into the palace holding cells to wait for whatever show trial he thought would suit his needs."
The image of her princeling being ripped away from her made her chest throb, her fuzzy mind sluggishly conjuring images of that night. His wild eyes fixed on her and mouth forming words she couldn't quite remember in the light of day. Silently, she cursed the drugs still in her system and refocused on the spymaster.
Stryker didn't seem to notice her internal struggle and continued in a matter of fact tone. "I...recruited Aria to help get Rhone out and he took us Under the Mountain."
Frustration at the reminder of Rhone's decision to hand over the book chased away the lingering horrors of her captivity that Stryker had helpfully skipped over.
"Did you know what he planned?" she asked, voice sharp.
"No," Stryker replied steadily, "but I had an idea of why they took you."
"He's an idiot," Kali snarled, her fingers digging into the rock beneath her.
"He's in love with you." Surprised, she looked over at the spymaster to find him watching her with a mixture of sympathy and impatience. "I understand why you're mad at him - hell, I'm not happy with him right now either - but he has done everything, everything he could do to make things right."
"Amarantha is alive because of him," she snapped, trying to remind herself exactly why she was so furious.
"Yes and so are you - I guess Rhone believed it was a good trade."
Kali made a frustrated sound, unable to put into words just what Amarantha's return meant to her.
Stryker sat back up and fixed a flat stare on her, reminding her of the way he'd looked the first time they'd met in the Warrens. Like a wicked king. "You need to decide if your anger and fear is worth being miserable for the rest of your life."
She curled her knees to her chest, looping her arms around them and frowning at the dying sunset.
He pushed himself off the rock, ignoring the water seeping into his clothes and took a step in front of her so she was forced to meet his eyes. Like his expression, his voice was intense with the same emotions pushing against her ragged shields. "Listen, I'm not going to excuse what Rhone did Under the Mountain...but that male has lost his father, brother, and possibly his Court all to save you. He has sacrificed everything he had left to make sure you woke up - even if it meant damning him in the process."
Without waiting for her to even begin to process that, Stryker waded through the waves and back to the shoreline towards the campfire Ifrit had cobbled together from driftwood. Kali watched him leave feeling breathless and raw despite the comforting presence of the sea around her. All she could think about was the look in Rhone's eyes when she'd pushed him away the moment she realized what he'd done.
Rhone had…
Heart thundering, she slipped off the rock, feet finding their way through the sand without the same hesitation her mind seemed swamped in. She didn't have to search for him, hidden against the rocks nearby like she knew he would be. Even after all she'd said, there was no part of her that doubted Rhone would stop watching over her while she healed.
Eyes the color of the sea behind her met hers and she felt the breath rip free from her on the wind that brushed the sweat dampened strand of hair away from her face. All the pain and panic that lingered like a poison since she woke up faded until all she could think about was how wrong it felt to be this far away from him.
To know her mate was in pain because of her.
Without conscious decision, Kali began to move toward him, closing the distance with a blinding sort of need to touch him. To reassure herself that he was truly here with her.
Rhone stood, the ice she'd felt from him melting away with the heat in his eyes. Eyes that fixed on her for a breathless second before sliding over her shoulder to something behind her.
Kai's warning shout was muffled by the sound of hoofbeats racing up the shoreline behind her. Her hands wrapped around the hilt of her new knife and she turned to face the unexpected intruders with it outstretched before her. Rhone whistled to his wolves and they were at her side instantly, a living wall of ice and fur.
Instead of the dark red uniforms of Hybern, the riders wore the bright silver and blue armor of the Summer Court. Kali felt a new panic rise in her at the sight of the dark skin of her ancestors pulling up sharply at the edge of their camp and dismounting. The mercenaries around her kept their weapons tucked out of sight, not appearing surprised at the arrival of Tarquin's forces. She frowned at the realization that only she and Rhone looked worried.
Had they sold her out?
A tall male strode ahead of the others, tugging off his helm to reveal a handsome face with closely cropped hair and the broad shoulders of a warrior. Blindly she reached out to hold on to Freya's collar, too stunned to more than gape at the cousin she'd never met in person.
The world seemed to tilt on its axis the moment his clear blue eyes scanned the group and fell on her.
"Varian," she whispered.
Just when you thought Rhone might get away with giving away the book, Varian's got to show up. All hail the true Princess of Summer. :)
