Chapter 128 -Avianna-

Chapter 128 -Avianna-
\-Avianna-

Caylix looks over at him.

"Are you trying to make this sound worse?"

"I'm trying to make it accurate."

"You helped."

"I did…"

The guard looks at Erik.

"But I wasn't already carrying two arrows when the worst of them reached us."

My stomach twists and Caylix feels it immediately. His thumb strokes once over the back of my hand.

Don't.

I know exactly what he means. Don't go back there. Don't replay it.

I'm trying.

Erik's gaze moves over Caylix's wounds again.

"Six Veylan trackers."

Caylix shrugs. 

The guard smiles, but it fades quickly.

"I knew them. You do as well, my King."

Erik looks back at him.

"We trained together. Served together. We have fought beside you."

His voice lowers.

"They're my brothers."

Erik's face tightens.

"I told Caylix who they were."

A silence settles over the room.

"And?" Erik asks.

The guard looks at Caylix.

"He refused to kill them."

Erik's attention shifts to his son. The guard shakes his head.

"I hadn't even asked yet."

Caylix looks uncomfortable now. Not because of the wounds, but because all attention is on him.

"Every strike he made was meant to put them down without killing them," the guard continues. "Knees. Shoulders. Hands. Anything that would stop them from following us but leave them alive."

"You did the same," Caylix says.

"Because you ordered me to."

The guard looks back at Erik.

"They weren't giving us the same courtesy. Even after the first arrow. Even after the second, he wouldn't change his mind."

The room has become very quiet. 

Erik steps toward Caylix. "They were trying to kill you."

"They were being controlled."

Caylix's expression changes.

"They thought they were protecting their Queen."

Erik says nothing.

"Elise put those memories inside their heads. She made them believe you were dead. She made them believe Caelthar killed you and Rhydon was their king."

Caylix's jaw tightens.

"I'm not killing Veylan soldiers for something she put inside their minds."

Something shifts in Erik's face. Caylix doesn't seem to notice though.

I do… So does Father.

Erik looks toward the guard.

"All six?"

"Alive, Your Majesty. And the three I fought are alive as well."

Caylix exhales. "Several undoubtedly were extremely unhappy when they woke up."

The guard smiles. "Alive enough to be unhappy."

Erik looks to Caylix, then crosses the remaining distance between them. His hand lifts toward Caylix's shoulder. Agameus makes a warning sound and Erik immediately redirects and grips Caylix's other shoulder instead.

For some reason, that nearly undoes me.

Caylix looks up at him, but Erik doesn’t speak immediately, he just studies his son.

Something shifts in his expression as he looks at the wounds covering Caylix’s body, then toward the Veylan guard on the other bed.

“You had every reason to kill them,” Erik finally says. “They were hunting you. They outnumbered you. They put three arrows through you, and not one of those men would have hesitated to put a blade through your heart.”

Caylix’s expression hardens slightly.

“They didn’t know what they were doing.”

“I know.” Erik’s voice roughens. “And that’s what matters.”

Caylix goes still.

Erik looks at him differently now. Not like the father who lost his son thirteen years ago and is still trying to understand the man who came back. But like a king looking at the man who will one day take his place.

“You protected them when they couldn’t protect themselves. You saw soldiers trying to kill you, and somehow, you still saw your people.”

Emotion catches briefly in Erik’s throat.

“Do you have any idea what kind of king that will make you?”

Caylix doesn’t answer. For once, I don’t think he knows how. Through the tether, I feel everything he refuses to show on his face. The surprise… The discomfort... And beneath it all, something deeper that aches so fiercely I tighten my fingers around his.

Erik’s eyes shine as he gives his son’s uninjured shoulder a firm squeeze.

“Veylan couldn’t ask for a better one.”

The room falls silent.

And Caylix, who can face twelve armed men without flinching, looks completely unprepared for that.

A deep, aching warmth moves through the tether, tangled with something almost painful.

Caylix clears his throat.

"There's something else." They veylan guard adds. 

Caylix closes his eyes.

"No."

The guard looks delighted. Erik turns back.

"What?"

"There really isn't," Caylix says.

The guard ignores him.

"When the reinforcements were closing in, we couldn't get back to the main road. Caylix put his hand against the ground."

Erik's brow furrows.

"And he found another road that hadn't been used in decades."

Caylix looks at me as though I might somehow save him from this conversation. I smile sweetly.

Absolutely not.

The guard continues.

"There was nothing visible. Trees had grown over most of it. Parts were completely buried. But he put his hand against Veylan soil and told me exactly where it went."

Erik stares at Caylix.

"You read the land."

Caylix frowns.

"I felt the road."

"No."

Something almost like wonder enters Erik's expression.

"Your earth magic. You connected to it and tapped into its memories."

Caylix goes quiet and so does Agameus. Erik looks toward Father.

"Earth magic doesn't only respond to what exists now. Stone holds impressions... Roads… Foundations... Rivers that changed course generations ago... Most of us can sense traces if we know exactly what we're looking for."

His gaze returns to Caylix.

"But you didn't know what you were looking for."

"No."

"And you'd never been there before."

"No."

Erik lets out a quiet breath as Caylix shifts uncomfortably.

"Can everyone please stop looking at me like I've grown another head?"

Agameus finally steps away from him.

"Fortunately, whatever inexplicable combination of magic the two of you have developed appears determined to keep you alive."

Caylix immediately swings his legs off the table.

"Good."

Agameus turns.

"Where are you going?"

"To bathe."

"I haven't dismissed you."

Caylix looks down at himself. At the dried blood covering his skin and at what remains of his clothing.

Then at Agameus.

"I've been shot three times, chased through Veylan and spent the last thirty-six hours sleeping in a saddle."

"Technically…"

"I smell like blood, horse and several things I have no desire to identify."

Caylix turns to Agameus. "I'm dismissing myself."

Agameus looks like he wants to argue. "Fine. But you eat."

Oh I plan to… 

Caylix looks at me and I bite my lip to keep from smiling. His eyes drop briefly to our joined hands. The look he gives me changes. The humor doesn't disappear entirely, but something warmer moves beneath it.

I know exactly what he wants. Quiet… A locked door… Hot water… Me… 

Caylix stands and holds out his hand.

"Come with me."

I take it without hesitation. Behind us, Father clears his throat. Caylix doesn't even turn around.

"Respectfully, Your Majesty, I've done enough for both kingdoms today."

There is a moment of silence, then Father laughs.

…Actually laughs.

"I suppose you have."

Caylix pulls me toward the door. Agameus calls after us.

"Food!"

"I heard you."

"And sleep!"

Caylix opens the door. I laugh as he pulls me into the corridor.