Page 13 of A Spell of Bones and Madness
“Free to wield our power as intended. Free to live as we wish. Free from the gods who think they own us.”
It didn’t make sense, the Grechi were mere figureheads in the isles since the war. They led certain kingdoms, but not all. For the most part, they did not use their power in aid or destruction of mortals, at least nothing like the Olympi used to. At most, they survived to keep the seasons changing, the elements thrumming, the world spinning. It was their binding law—as was written in the treaty a century before.
A fire lit deep in Khalid’s eyes, smoldering red. “Free to raise the rightful heir to Odessia. Hades will return, and when he does he will thank us for our undying loyalty to the cause.”
An unnerving chill swept through the room, despite the fire in the corner, despite the heat that radiated from both men’s bodies.Kohl’s deep skin paled as he spoke, “And how does one raise an Olympi?” A rapping came at the door. One of Khalid’s guards stepped through, head to toe in the black leathers of Morentius, the orange viper stitched on his chest.
“Excuse me for interrupting, Your Highness, but we have been unable to find your daughter as requested. We found this shoved in her desk drawer. It does not appear she intended us to find it.” Khalid held out his hand while the guard dropped a crumpled piece of parchment into his grasp. Farah’s delicate script was scrawled across in deep red ink. No not ink—blood.
I hope you rot in the dungeons of Aidesian, and I am the one to put you there.
I will never forgive you for what you have done.
“Get out!” Khalid seethed, and the guard slithered back out of the room.
“What is it, Father?” Kohl tried to look over at what was written on the parchment.
“It appears your sister has left Alentus.”
“Farah has gone home?”
“No—not home.” Khalid stormed off into the hall before Kohl could ask why. Farah and his father had always had a tense relationship, but she would never defy him, neither of them would. What had his father done to make her run?
“Watch where you are going!” Kohl yelled as he stumbled around the corner into someone. His temper was still heightened from speaking with his father, and now Farah going missing only added to that. He peered down and was met by two sets of wide emerald eyes. A pair of boys no older than five stood peering up at him. Cursing himself for raising his tone at two innocent children, Kohl lit a smile across his face in apology. The children had long, silvery blonde hair, but deep umber skin. Those eyes though, they looked oddly familiar to him.
“Carlyle! Corliss! What did I tell you about running through the halls?” a woman's voice rang out from down the hall near the courtyard.
“Don’t worry, I won’t tell her I saw you both running,” Kohl whispered to the two boys who nodded at him, fidgeting with their fingers as they peered back down the hall.
The woman whipped equally as fast around the corner, and halted short in front of Kohl. “Boys! This is not our home, and I expect you to behave your—oh!” She blushed, noticing who stood before her. “Your Highness, I apologize for the yelling, and the unruly twins. They really are difficult to manage. I hope they are not disturbing your home too much.”
The woman was no servant or lady’s maid.Ileana.Edmund’s wife and a queen in her own right.
“My home…yes…” It didn’t feel like his home. Only a month before he would have said it was. That these walls had seemed more a home to him than where he grew up, that he was grateful to leave that place for such a warm and inviting place. But then the attack changed it all. “You do not need to apologize, Ileana, you and Edmund are guests here, as are your two children.”
“Thank you, I promise I will keep these two under control as much as I can.” The boys squirmed, attempting to release themselves from their mother’s grip, no doubt to continue pounding through the halls, but she held firm.
Kohl chuckled. “I was a boy once, I understand what it’s like to be in a place this extravagant and not know what to do. If you would ever like me to go with them on one of their, dare I call them exploring adventures, I would be honored. When we met, I did not realize you and Edmund had children.”
“Yes, just the two. Carlyle and Corliss. They are just turning five and are absolute terrors.” She gave them both a squeeze as she knelt down to match their height.
“Carlyle and Corliss…” They didn’t sound like anything from the isles, nor from the coast of Voreia where Harrenfort stood. “What interesting names.”
Ileana’s face went blank and she clutched her hands together, rubbing palm over palm. “Yes. They were my brothers’ names.”
Family names. Now that was something Kohl could relate to—the honor and dignity that came with such a tradition. “I bet they are very humbled by the choice.”
“They would be, if their souls had not since passed over into Aidesian.” She gripped each of the boys’ shoulders and her eyes turned glassy. Kohl wondered if they looked like her brothers. Ifeach time she peered into their eyes she was reminded of them. To lose one sibling seemed unbearable, but to lose two—Kohl could not imagine. Though, from what his father had said, it may seem he would lose his sister, at least in name.
“Do you still have other family, your parents perhaps?” Ileana stiffened at his question. Why was he asking such uncomfortable questions? This poor woman looked stressed enough.
“Only my youngest brother,” she replied, both voice and hands shaky. Her eyes darted past Kohl, avoiding looking at him directly.
“Do you see him often?” Kohl hoped so, though she had family in Edmund and the boys, the bond one had with a sibling after losing another—it must have been a saving grace knowing one brother still stood.
“I’m sorry, Your Highness, I really must be getting the boys to their father.”
Kohl bit down on his lip. He should not have pried for information she so clearly did not want to give. It was Ileana’s place to talk about her own family, not Kohl’s, but she took off with the two boys faster than Kohl could say he was the one who was truly sorry.
