Dragonoak: Gall and Wormwood, page 60
Kondo-Kana, eyes only as bright as they ever were, shrugged.
Haru-Taiki hopped from Kondo-Kana’s arm and landed in front of Claire. He spread his wings out, signing as he chirped at her feet.
“When the castle trembled, he took to the sky. He spread his wings across the entire city,” Kondo-Kana explained. “He has seen what your brother has done to your Kingdom; he understands what will happen, if he is to win. Agados surrounds all of Thule, stopping those who wish to leave, all of those who ought to come in.”
Haru-Taiki nodded, certain whatever Kondo-Kana had said was correct, and Claire barely blinked. It was simply another thing to deal with; one disaster followed another and the enormity of each of them were slowly beginning to blur together.
The thing that really mattered was that Haru-Taiki was in front of her. That he understood what she was doing, and had chosen to side with her.
He continued to sign, but Kondo-Kana’s attention drifted. Queen Nasrin stepped in, interpreting for him, and it readily became apparent why Kondo-Kana had retired from the conversation.
“He betrayed a friend once before. He betrayed someone when they needed him the most,” Queen Nasrin explained. “He will not do the same again.”
Haru-Taiki had spent fifteen-hundred years as bones in a box because of Kondo-Kana. If he could reconcile with her, if he could look past that and see the part he had played in it all, then we could do anything. We could come out of this.
“You speak Myrosi?” I asked Queen Nasrin.
“Conversationally,” she replied, shrugging.
“Haru-Taiki,” Claire said. “I have missed you so, my friend. I never meant to deceive you, or keep you in the dark.”
Queen Nasrin passed the words back to Haru-Taiki and he puffed out his chest, meeting Claire’s fierce gaze.
“Now that Rylan’s taken the city as well as the castle,” Claire said, when Reis and Akela joined us from the upper levels, “We must do all we can to reclaim the latter, before we can liberate Thule.”
The first thing we saw to was barricading our half of the castle. Katja might’ve heeded Kondo-Kana’s warning but I didn’t trust Rylan not to order his soldiers across the lines Kondo-Kana and Haru-Taiki had drawn up. We dragged furniture from chambers and blocked staircases with tables, chairs and cabinets. It was hardly enough to stop an army, but they wouldn’t be able to get through quietly.
Guards were stationed along the perimeter and we kept our operation to a single floor. The castle had been divided in two, but it was only half of the interior we had laid any real claim to. Rylan’s soldiers had taken the castle grounds and the city itself; we were hardly on even footing. Haru-Taiki brought back reports every few hours, and they all involved Agadians filling the streets and ensuring that no one moved freely.
Rylan would starve the city in Claire’s name to turn it against her. He sent soldiers into the streets to spread the world that this would all end, but only if Claire cared more for her people than keeping her throne.
There were a number of wells in our half of the castle and no immediate scarcity of food. Reis drew up a rota for all gathered, guards, servants and nobles alike, assigned dozens of people to new posts and sorted sleeping arrangements. There were plenty of people vocally unhappy about having to sleep on the banquet hall floor with countless others around them, about having to pull more than their own weight, but Kidira assured them that any refuge they found in giving themselves over to Rylan would be nothing short of temporary.
Plenty of our people were trapped on Rylan’s side of the castle, Eden included. I hadn’t seen her since she’d left to share some vital, falsified information with Rylan. Claire looked up every time someone came into the banquet hall, hoping to see her.
“Eden knows what she’s doing,” I reassured her. “She’s probably safer on Rylan’s side, if he thinks she’s turned against you.”
“Stop fretting,” Reis added, irritably. “Plenty of people stuck over there. One more ain’t going to make a difference.”
“Reis,” Claire said. “Your relationship with Eden is none of my business, be it borne of a place of affection of merely physical. What is my business is when she is treated callously in light of past entanglements.”
“My business ain’t any of yours,” Reis countered.
Days without sleep had left us all on edge.
“You have made yourself my business. You came to me with a proposition of family.”
“Being given away by the same people don’t make us family.”
Reis’ pistol was placed on the table between us. I wanted to knock it to the ground before one of them snatched it up.
“My family consists of a brother who has destroyed much of the continent and left me like this, a father who set these things into motion, and a mother who would see me drinking again to pry me from the throne,” Claire said bluntly. “I still have Alex, of course. Forgive me for indulging in the thought that I might have one more sibling to count on my side.”
Reis rose to their feet, slammed their hands on the table and grabbed their pistol.
I didn’t have time to panic. They holstered the pistol at their hip and threw their arms out to the side.
“Fucking fine,” they said, drawing everyone’s attention. “I’ll go out looking for her. Bloody hell.”
They were still muttering under their breath as they marched out of the room, ignoring Atthis as he called after them, wanting to know where they thought they were going.
I gathered blankets from the chambers that had been marked as off-limits and Haru-Taiki kept the fires burning. Claire sat at her table in the banquet hall for four days, drawing up plan after plan, listening to every idea every council member was certain would work. She listened stony-faced and immediately put anything Kidira or Akela suggested into action.
Reis returned alone on the second day, sullen and silent, but no worse for wear. Varn’s usual, gruff bravado worked them up when it usually amused them, and whatever they were butting heads over culminated in Varn kicking a table and stubbing her toes. Reis and Atalanta began arguing in loud, rough Yhouan, and the hall fell silent as they exchanged threats that none understood, but all knew they meant.
I rose slowly to my feet, thinking I could intervene before Reis ended up with an arrow in their eye and Atalanta earnt a bullet hole in her forehead, but the situation resolved itself as quickly as it’d roared into being. Atalanta patted Reis heartily on the back, Varn scowled and rubbed her toes, and the three of them fell asleep in a pile in front of one of the fires.
Claire didn’t return to our chambers, so I didn’t, either. Kidira, Akela, Queen Nasrin and Kondo-Kana used them as their base, but I stayed by Claire’s side, waiting, as she did, for some word from Rylan.
She fell asleep in her chair more than once. I did my best to stay awake as she did, but ended up napping in fits and starts until I couldn’t tell where exhaustion ended and a headache began.
“It’s all well and good holing up in squalor in Kastelir, but this is Felheim. Reducing ourselves to rebels is absurd. If Prince Rylan believes he has our Kingdom’s best interests at heart, then I see no reason to doubt that,” one man said. The longer people went without rest the more delirious and desperate they let themselves become.
“Excuse me? If you have not noticed, Her Majesty is our Queen. That is all the reason we need to defend her, along with her Kingdom,” another retorted. It was the same endless argument. “You are merely siding with a would-be usurper because this is the first time in your life you’ve actually had to do something without delegating it to a dozen servants.”
“As though you are in a position any different to my own!”
“That may be true, but I have risen to the challenge admirably.”
“I—my goodness, Your Majesty. I do not mean to speak of betrayal as easily as I do. I am merely tired. Tired and frustrated. Of course relenting to your brother’s demands will get us nowhere. I believe I ought to rest before I say something exhaustion alone cannot redeem me of.”
Claire merely nodded, as tired as the man claimed to be. Her head rocked forward and every time she blinked, her eyes threatened to never open again.
“Kidira!” I called across the room. “Take over for Claire.”
If I didn’t drag Claire back to our chambers, no one would.
Kidira glanced up from the plans she’d been drawing up with Atthis, took one look at Claire and nodded her head.
I wrapped an arm around Claire’s. She barely protested.
“You’re no good to your Kingdom if you can’t keep your eyes open,” I said. “Let’s get some sleep. If Rylan really is trying to starve us out, he isn’t going to strike in the next few hours.”
Rising to her feet, Claire murmured, “I supposed I will not have a thought worth thinking, lest I rest.”
I led her out of the banquet hall, through the darkened corridors, and our guards stood to attention. Our chambers weren’t on the ground floor but being in a tower meant there was only one way in and out. We were safe, unless Rylan’s soldiers were willing to risk evoking Kondo-Kana’s wrath by climbing through the window.
Inside, I found everyone else had had the same idea. Varn had made a nest of blankets on the floor and invited Akela to play the part of her pillow, while Haru-Taiki slept on the back of the sofa Queen Nasrin and Kondo-Kana had made a bed of.
It was dark outside but I’d no idea whether night had just taken its dominion or if it was early in the morning. I nudged Claire towards our bedroom but she remained on the spot, surveying the tangle of bodies before her.
I expected her to insist on returning to the banquet hall, determined to work while the others rested, but all she said was, “I think I might benefit from a bath. I cannot relax like this.”
I left her in one of the armchairs and saw to filling the bath. I pumped water from one of the lower wells, straining my back in the process. It wasn’t until then I appreciated how extravagant the bath was. I only managed to fill it sparingly after twenty long minutes. Luckily, Haru-Taiki didn’t mind being roused to help heat the water. I made certain all the soaps were within reach and ushered Claire to the door.
“All ready,” I said.
“I, ah…” Claire began, lowering her voice. “I would usually seek Sen’s assistance at such a time, but…”
“Oh,” I said, biting my lower lip. “Oh. I can help. If you don’t mind.”
“Of course I don’t,” Claire said, and tried to smile.
I locked the door behind us and stood in front of Claire. I placed my hands at her collarbone, knowing she didn’t need me to do this for her. Still, I tentatively undid the first button, hoping she wouldn’t tense.
She did, but not enough to suggest that I ought to stop.
Steam drifted from the bath, filling the room, and I kept my eyes on Claire’s as I eased her shirt off. She held her eyepatch loosely in one hand, bringing the other to my cheek as her shirt fell to the floor. I didn’t know what was harder: Claire standing there and letting me look beneath her throat or tearing my eyes from hers.
Burns clung to her skin as clothes once had. They spread from her collarbone, down her arms and sides, enveloping her. Like the sides of her face, there were small slivers of skin that remained white and smooth. She’d been pinned down on her front, yet the burns ate at her chest and stomach.
I placed my hands on her hips, thumbs brushing over her burns, and she turned away, eyes closed.
“I admit to having ulterior motives,” she said grimly. “I believe I am attempting to scare you off.”
“Scare me off?” I asked, pressing my lips to her collarbone.
“Indeed. If you are to see all that I am, all I have become, then you will truly understand what you are getting yourself into,” Claire murmured. “The longer I hide, the more convinced I become that this is all it will take for you to leave me. And I would rather that happened today, in this very moment, rather than a month or year from now. For my own sake.”
“Claire,” I breathed against her skin. “I’m not going anywhere. Except into the bath. I feel disgusting.”
She buried her face atop my head and laughed softly into my hair. She inhaled sharply when I brought my hands to the waist of her trousers but didn’t stop me.
The burns laced her legs. They were not quite as severe as those on her arms, but her skin was rugged, twisted. I eased her over to the edge of the bath and she sat down, more patient than I could’ve been.
I pulled off my own clothes without giving myself the chance to hesitate, dropped them into a pile by Claire’s, and jumped into the bath.
The water barely reached my knees. I held out my arms, helped Claire slide into the bath, and she landed unsteadily on her feet. She gripped my shoulders and I kissed her face, skin turning red between the burns. She leant into me as I eased her down, water lapping around her collarbone.
She closed her eyes, letting the warm water relax her muscles, and I sat in front of her, cupping handfuls of water and letting it slip between my palms, into her hair.
“This all became rather serious rather quickly, didn’t it?” Claire asked, tilting her head forward.
The tips of her hair floated on the surface and I reached for the shampoo, pouring it into my palm.
“Mm?” I asked, lathering it into her hair.
“Us,” Claire clarified. “When we met, my head was in a poor place, and we were parted soon after. All the freedom you knew in Canth is gone. It is rare that we have a moment to ourselves to enjoy.”
“Canth wasn’t that great. Okay, it was, but it wasn’t perfect. It wasn’t everything to me,” I said when she gave me a pointed look. I worked the shampoo into her hair, running my fingers from roots to tips. “It was like being in a furnace every day. Which I could’ve put up with, if you were with me. But you don’t need to make it sound like we’ll never have fun again, Claire. Once we’ve kicked Rylan out, things will become easier. It won’t happen quickly, but it will happen. Next year, we’ll have a Phoenix Festival for all the right reasons. We can go out to Thule and dance again, and we’ll find time to go down to the lake and fish in boats. Whatever you want to do.”
“What I want is to be with you. Without any pressure, without any rush. Without anything looming on the horizon,” Claire said, wiping foam from her brow. “What you said about the Phoenix Festival… before all this, I was already receiving letters from those claiming to have family heirlooms carved from phoenix bone. I expect the bard’s tale has been heard by half the city. Imagine what we could do, Rowan.”
I placed my hands on her shoulders, lowered her towards the water and rinsed the bulk of the lather from her hair.
“Don’t tell Haru-Taiki. He’ll probably sulk if we bring back more phoenixes. But only for a while, and only until he remembers how big the world is and how much he likes company.”
“I’m glad he’s back,” she said softly.
She blinked drops of water from her eyelashes and put her hands on my hips, drawing me closer.
We stayed like that until the water cooled, needing to say nothing more as we held each other close, trying not to drift to sleep after days spent pacing hallways and sitting upright in wooden chairs. I grabbed the soap and Claire lathered it between her hands and ran her palms across my back, fingers trailing up and down my spine, up and down.
Easing herself back, she splashed water in my face. I ducked under the surface to rinse myself clean and blew bubbles. We’d spoken about a future that was still out of reach and didn’t yet have time to be together as we wanted, so I climbed out of the bath and helped her out. We needed to sleep before another disaster struck.
We dried each other’s hair and made for the bedroom draped in bathrobes, for there was no strength left in our bones to pull clothes back on. Akela had stirred and grinned at us as she idly played with Varn’s short hair, and I feared my legs would crumble before I reached the bed.
I threw myself face-first into a pillow, certain the bed would swallow me whole. Pulling the blankets over myself was a task beyond my capabilities and I closed my eyes, body buzzing. The mattress dipped with Claire’s weight. I held out a hand but couldn’t make myself move beyond that.
“Rowan,” Claire said, and I mumbled something into the pillow. “Rowan.”
I rolled onto my side. Claire was trying to free the blanket I was pinning down. Somehow finding the energy to shift, I ended up beneath the covers with Claire’s fingers tangled in my hair.
“You mentioned the Phoenix Festival, earlier,” she said. Her words thrummed pleasantly through me. “That first day of the festival, I was kept occupied by Kidira until late. I believe she was testing my loyalties and patience alike, for she certainly did not need me by her side. Throughout most of the festivities within the castle, I was allowed to do as I pleased, so long as I stayed within eyesight. After months spent travelling, it was as though I was back in my own world again. Banquets, dances in great ballrooms, fine clothing, and dozens of servants to attend to each guest.
“I had longed for those very things throughout nights spent sleeping on the grass, around a fire. I wished for what I considered normality to return to my life. Yet once it was placed in front of me, I found myself distracted. Everything I believed I wanted was there, yet there was no joy in it. All I could think was that you were out in the city and I was not with you.
“Eventually, I passed whatever test Kidira had set me. I was allowed to leave. Had I been wearing better shoes I think I would’ve run to the marquee where I eventually found you.”
Her words gave me all I needed to push myself onto an elbow and kiss her. Her hand found my cheek and she kept me close, bodies warmed by the bath. She wrapped her arms around me as though her body did not hurt, as though she was not ashamed of it, and I took all the pain the warm water hadn’t eased out of her.
“What you said before. About your leg…” I ventured.
“I meant it,” Claire said, only stiffening slightly. “I said it in anger, but it remains true. Once this matter is dealt with, Reis will help me find someone to… Well. The rest is implied.”
