Chapter 11

They were so well trained. It was the first thought that entered Rissa’s mind the moment they came across a patrol in Isenore.

But not just any patrol. These soldiers didn’t belong to the lecherous duke. Eisner would no doubt send troops of his own to cut them off soon enough.

This unit once pledged their loyalty to Marcus Renauld and now followed his son. Rissa smiled for what seemed the first time in ages as she took in the Renauld colors. A red and gold banner flapped in the wind as if singing of their arrival.

Rissa jumped from her horse. Trystan would have rolled his eyes at this move in front of their soldiers as it wasn’t very princess-like. She didn’t care.

“Captain,” she greeted, taking note of the rank emblazoned on his worn uniform.

“Princess.” His weathered face relaxed in relief. “It sure is good to see you, my lady.”

“It’s quite a shock to see Dreach-Sciene troops this far South. Are we pushing into Isenore? We are still dangerously close to Duke Eisner’s land.”

He scratched his face. “We are making our way to the border.”

She nodded, a smile returning to her lips. “Good.”

Davi slid from his horse and stepped up beside her as his eyes scanned the sea of soldiers.

“About time we caught a break.” He ran a hand over the top of his head and shielded his eyes from the sun. “Have you run into any trouble.”

“Yes, sir.”

Davi grimaced at the title. He was no leader. Not anymore. The captain went on. “We had a minor skirmish when we first crossed from Aldorwood into Isenore. We sent a liter of injured back to the palace and lost a few good men.”

“I’m sorry about your losses, captain.” Rissa reached out and gripped his arm.

The soldier’s eyes widened in surprise at the informality of the gesture, but Rissa didn’t remove her hand. “Do you have messengers with you?”

“Yes, Princess.”

“I will need one of them brought to me. I must send a message to my brother to let him know of our victory in Dreach-Dhoun and our return trek.”

“But Princess…” The captain glanced from Rissa to Davi. “When we saw the king last, he was headed to Isenore.”

Rissa dropped her hand and glanced over her shoulder to Ramsey. “Why would my brother come here when we’re preparing for war?”

Ramsey shrugged, but Rion nudged his horse forward before sliding down. “May I speak, Princess?”

She nodded.

“If we are to battle the great army across the border, the king must call on all loyal people. There are still those in Isenore who will answer that call.”

“Cullenspire,” she whispered. “That’s where he went.”

“Cullenspire?” Davi asked.

She looked from Ramsey to Davi to Rion to Lorelai. None of them had been there. Edric had and now he was gone. Would she be able to find the way herself?

That was a question for tomorrow. Exhaustion weighed down on her and she sighed. “Captain, we camp with you tonight and part ways tomorrow.”

“Of course, Princess. We will have a tent prepared for you. I’m sorry, we’re lacking certain luxuries.”

Rissa waved his worry away. “If you knew what the last few months have been like for us…” She shook her head. “No, Captain. We will be more than happy with anything you can provide.”

Two soldiers came forward to retrieve the horses and Rissa followed the captain through the camp with Davi and the others close behind. Tents rose on either side of them. Every soldier was very aware of their presence, but they only watched them go by. Never approaching. Never speaking.

Rissa recognized the curiosity in their stares, but also the fear. It had been the same inside the palace.

Stories of Davi’s death and resurrection had spread throughout Dreach-Sciene, but not only that. His father’s name sat on the tip of every tongue. Calis Bearne. They knew Davion wasn’t one of them.

Rissa lifted her chin, hardening her features. Davi belonged there as much as any of them.

“Forgive my men,” the captain said, turning to Davi. “They only know what they’ve been told. Who your father is. But I trained as a guard inside the palace before being assigned to this patrol. I watched you fight King Trystan repeatedly. Always with honor. Always with mercy. And I was in the hall the day he broke tradition and chose a boy with no family name as his second.” He dipped his head. “I believed in his choice that day and still do.”

Davi stopped walking, his feet frozen to the spot and his breathing ragged. He shook his head. “I can’t… it was a joke. A humiliation.”

The captain’s eyes pleaded with Rissa for an explanation, but she ignored him and took Davi’s hand. Leaning close, she dropped her voice. “Dav, it was real. Pull the memories apart. Separate the false from the true. You’ve been doing well. You are Davion, second in command to the toha of Dreach-Sciene. It was a great honor, given of love.” He closed his eyes and his chest expanded as he sucked in a breath.

When he opened his eyes again, clarity had returned. He gave a short nod and pushed past them into the tent they’d arrived at.

Rion followed him in, but Lorelai walked by them, taking a path to the trees at the edge of the camp.

Ramsey put a hand on Rissa’s back. “Captain, can we count on your discretion as to Davion’s… troubles?”

The captain nodded. “Alert my men if you have need of anything. I’ll send my best messenger your way.”

When Ramsey and Rissa stood alone, she turned to look at him. “What are we going to do? Davion sits on the edge of a cliff. It’ll only take one strong false memory to push him over it.”

“We can’t trust him,” he agreed. “But we can watch him.” He took off into the sea of tents. “Come.”

Rissa ran to catch up, taking two small steps for every one of his larger ones. He followed the same way Lorelai had gone.

“Where are we going?” she asked, avoiding the eyes of a few passing soldiers.

“Lorelai always seeks peace. Something I’m sure she hasn’t had in her mind since we recovered her.”

She grabbed his arm and forced him to stop. “But why are we going after Lorelai? You just said we need to watch Davi and then we left him.”

“Rion is with him. Not that he’ll do much good.” Ramsey shrugged her hand off and started moving again, even faster this time. “In order to protect Davi—mostly from himself—you must have at least a basic understanding of magic.”

“I use magic just fine.”

He stopped at the edge of the trees and turned to her. “You think being able to do a few tricks, use a little power, means you understand? The tenelach gives you an advantage, I admit. Without training, you are able to control the flow of power and shape it. But, my dear, that is only the surface. This power the earth allows us to have is so much more than flashes of light and emboldened strength.”

They walked past the first row of branches to find a clearing surrounded by a circle of trees. The sky had long since grown dark and away from the torches of camp, the night was black.

Ramsey stepped forward and found a stick on the ground. Nestling it among the grass, he snapped his fingers and a flame burst free. The light illuminated the pale-haired Lorelai in the center of the space.

She lifted her face, the fire reflected in her eyes. “What do you want, Ramsey?”

Her harsh tone didn’t deter him. He lowered himself to the ground in front of her. “Lorelai, it’s time.” His eyes flicked to Rissa. “You cannot continue to hate us for a choice that was no choice at all.”

“Still the same man, I see.” She shook her head. “Take your riddles somewhere else.”

“No.”

“No?”

Ramsey rocked in agitation and Rissa couldn’t remember ever seeing him so worked up.

“Listen to me, Lorelai. We had to come for you. Davion and I couldn’t have allowed you to die.”

“Of course you could have. Ramsey, you are the one person in your little band of…” She looked to Rissa dismissively. “Rebels, who should understand what your actions have unleashed. Hundreds will now be dead. Calis will send his army through the villages, wiping away any trace of rebellion. He’ll station his best men along the border now. No longer ones you have a chance of bringing to your side. It will be impassable. You gave my uncle reason to turn on his own earth darned people. I am not worth their lives.”

“You’re right.” Rissa sat down hard, splaying her hands on her knees. “You’re not. If I’d had it my way, we wouldn’t have come after you at all. We’d have let you hang.”

“Rissa Renauld.” Ramsey’s eyes burned into her.

Lorelai leaned forward. “No, let the girl speak.”

Anger rose up in Rissa, swirling through her mind. The woman before her was the reason her father was dead. She may not have slit his throat herself, but that didn’t matter.

“I don’t like you,” Rissa stated. “I didn’t agree with letting you escape Dreach-Dhoun with us the first time and frankly, I was secretly relieved when you were caught. You got my father killed.”

“I did.”

“He was a good man.”

“He was.”

Rissa jerked back. “Don’t agree with me, dammit!”

“What do you want from me, Princess?”

What did she want? Rissa wasn’t sure of anything anymore. Before she could stop them, words tumbled from her lips. “How was he? In the end?”

No explanation was necessary, and Lorelai met her gaze, the ice melting away. “Kind.” Her voice grew quieter. “Brave.”

“Did you love him?”

Was there a right answer to the question? If she said no, then she really had just been a traitor who’d lost her nerve.

But if she said yes… had her father held any love for the seer?

Lorelai’s shallow breaths were the only sound in Rissa’s ears.

Finally, the seer nodded. “I did.”

A fist clenched around Rissa’s heart.

Lorelai wasn’t finished. “You have to understand… I’ve spent my life catering to the whims of powerful men. Being what they wanted me to be. Obeying them. Never challenging. To my uncle and those he deemed worthy, I was something to be used.” A small smile tilted her lips. “Marcus respected me. You don’t know how powerful that is.”

“And you tried to kill him for it.” The accusation faded from Rissa’s voice as sad truths smacked her in the face. Lorelai really hadn’t had any other choice.

She’d forgiven Davi for the things he’d done when under his father’s control, but she would never forget the look in his eye as he tried to kill them.

Just like his cousin, he’d been trapped in a sequence of events he couldn’t escape.

Rissa swallowed. “Teach me.”

Lorelai’s eyes flicked to Ramsey. “What?”

“That’s why my grandfather brought me to you, yes? Teach me. I want to learn. Push aside your anger and regret and I’ll rid myself of mine. The past cannot be undone.” Rissa rose up on her knees and scooted closer. “I want to help Davion. Save my people. Keep Dreach-Sciene from disappearing into darkness. Teach me.”

“I don’t think—”

Rissa reached forward and gripped Lorelai’s wrist in desperation. “Please.”

Images of the injured soldier in Dreach-Dhoun flashed through her mind. She could almost feel the feathers of her arrow against her fingers. It changed to her uncle’s vacant eyes staring up at her.

She shook her head as the months crashed in on her. None of the hatred or the darkness went away when Davi returned. It was still there, wrapped around her beating heart, threading through her chest.

“Please,” she whispered. Magic was the only thing that could spark the light inside her. But only if she gave everything she had to it. Her grip on Lorelai tightened as the words she’d said in Dreach-Dhoun echoed through her skull, filling the spaces of her mind. I am not good.

Finally, she released Lorelai and sat back. Her voice was barely audible. “I want to be good.” Her words carried on the breeze that wrapped around Isenore like a cloak. I want to be good.

Ramsey reached out to take Rissa’s hand but thought better of it and pulled away.

Lorelai watched them with burning intensity. Moonlight caught in her hair, giving the pale strands a silver glow. The orange flicker of the fire danced across her skin.

She placed her palms on the ground as if seeking strength from the earth’s magic for her next words.

“I do too.”