Page 8 of Cages and Crowns
“Is Thelonious going to be alright?”
“Yes, he was quite dehydrated, but he has been healing quickly. I don’t know how he managed to stay alive all of these months, but I am sure we will find out when we speak with him.” I nod as he pulls me into the throne room and up the dais.
Chapter Four
TheProtector
Two Months Ago
“Just blow the fucking palace to the ground.” Nithe mutters from my left, nursing his cup of whiskey. He’s always quick to jump to the extremes, not caring for the deaths that will follow. He has always been dramatic, even as a child. He would either be the one crying and over exaggerating some ailment, or being a bully to the other lords’ sons. I guess I should be grateful he was always kind to me, but then again, I think my father scared him enough to keep in line. Kassius may look non-threatening, but he has the uncanny ability tofreak people out, especially children.
“Nithe, for once in your life, shut the fuck up.” I whisper back to him, and he sends me a scathing look before rolling his eyes and downing his glass.
“They have been debating how they are going to kill Tobias for months but haven’t come up with a legitimate plan. Are you saying blowing the damn thing to the ground wouldn't be the easiest thing to do, Enzo?” He has a point, but I can’t let him know I agree with him. That’s the last thing his ego needs. “It’s made mostly of glass anyway, it’ll be easy.” He shrugs and sets his empty glass down, reaching for the decanter in the middle of the large, oak table.
“We aren’t going to blow Noterra up. The goal is to eventually place Elaenor there, isn’t it?” I press, constantly having to remind him why she’s important. He’s been calling her an inconvenience since we all came to Rakushia, even though he knows what she means to the rest of us. That she herself is a miracle and will help reunite all of the kingdoms.
Thelonious was more than gracious enough to host not only the King of Labisa and their crown prince, but also my father and I. My father spent quite a lot of time here while I was young. He was close to Elaenor’s mother, Sybil, and left me either here in Rakushia or in Labisa with Nithe, where I grew up, when he would visit her. I always begged to go, but he wouldn’t take me. He would tell me about his time there. How Sybil’s daughter was stubborn, but sweet and caring. He spoke about her often.
When I turned seven, I started to shock nearly everyone I touched. I was terrified and hid in my closet for two days after nearly giving my nursemaid a heart attack. My father was gone and returned to find me missing. When he eventually found me and I shocked him, he sat me down and told me what was going on.
He called us seers, and said that Sybil and Elaenor were seers too, but that they were also witches. That electricity was being caused by a bond that I had with Elaenor. She was distraught, her mother had just died. She was unintentionally channeling all of her energy into the bond, but it was keeping heralive. He told me the king tried to blame him for Sybil’s death, but he wasn’t the one who did it. He was the one who found her and the Elaenor sized pool of blood days after the attack happened. No one even noticed the queen and princess were missing.
It took weeks of my father teaching me how to channel energy for me to find her, and we believed that when we did, it would be a body that was found instead of a living, breathing little girl. All I kept seeing were trees and water. I was seeing the bottom of a lake for days and days, and I was convinced she had drowned, but she hadn’t. She was sleeping down there, at the bottom of The Delaquar. I still to this day don’t understand how she survived, but somehow, I found her.
She was rescued the day after.
The buzz under my skin stayed pretty constant throughout the years after that, and whenever I wanted to, I could push until I could feel her. I felt her worst moments. I felt when her father beat her and whipped her. I felt her sorrow as she thought about suicide. I was angry, wanted to get her out of my head as much as possible, and so I left. I was headed to Chatis, leaving Labisa where we currently lived, when my father stopped me.
He said it wasn’t time, but it would be soon. A year later we came to Rakushia with Nithe and the King of Labisa. We’ve been here ever since, but nearly 8 months ago I was told to go. My father gave me a shard of sirenstone and sent me into the woods outside Chatis. We knew she was leaving; she was headed to Noterra. I had to find a way to get to her, make her take the stone.
I was shocked when I laid eyes on her for the first time. I wasn’t supposed to let her see me. She was absolutely beautiful, but saddened—broken. Her hair was just a mass of unruly, black curls that almost sparkled under the little sunlight that broke through the clouds. Her skin was pale, but I could still make out a small spattering of light freckles along her nose.
She wasn’t scared when she looked into my eyes, nor when she chased me through the woods. She was quick, but I was faster. I dropped the sirenstoneand, like I’d hoped, she stepped on it. The stone needed blood to activate it, and I got it. It strengthened our connection and I no longer had to strain my own power reserves to reach her. With that connection, I felt everything. I could get into her head; I could even shadow walk so she could see me as if I was really there. She could touch me, and I her.
But that came with its own problems. I saw when he hit her. I saw when he drugged and raped her. I saw everything he did to her and every time she forgave him. I saw it all, but I took it for granted. Every second I can’t feel her—can’tseeher—I regret ever hating that ability. I regret not taking her with me in the woods that day, but I couldn't intervene.
That’s the one thing I’ve had to promise: not to intervene until it was time.
And now, I can’t feel her. I can’t see her or speak to her. It ended one day, and it took my father explaining it to me to understand what it meant. He said we still had a connection, but the stone had to have been destroyed. It was the only way the connection could weaken. We couldn't exactly fact check that assumption, so we have just been riding on the belief. The belief that the stone was destroyed and not her, because if it isn't true and she is dead, I don’t know what that would mean for us.
Ever since we came to Rakushia, Nithe has been an annoyance, even if he is my best friend. He says it’s because he hates being here and wants to go home, but I think he just doesn’t believe the truth. He doesn’t understand who Elaenor is, and honestly, I didn’t either at first.
I’m convinced Nithe will be forced to marry her, which he believes also. He doesn’t want it. He doesn’t wanther. He complains and says she’s a child, even though she is just shy of a year younger than him. I just think he prefers his women wild and willing, and he calls Elaenor broken.
I call him an asshole.
I also don’t think he ever believed he would ever have to marry. He’s used to getting his own way, sleeping with every available, andunavailablewoman hecan find. He’s wild and untamed. His father hates it, but before now, he didn’t have a need for his son to bear an heir or have a wife. While Nithe is the heir to Labisa, his father is convinced that he will remain king forever.
“What if she doesn’t even want it?” Nithe whispers. He’s hoping she abdicates, because that would be the only way he wouldn’t be forced to marry her. But if she abdicates, who will take over?
“Then that will be her choice.” I shrug.
“Are you two done?” Thelonious, the King of Rakushia, is a kind man, but his patience is fading. He has been a gracious host, but I don’t think he thought we would be here for over a year. He believes in us and our mission, and he was a friend to Sybil prior to her death. He wants Elaenor on the throne just as much as we do, but it is not without a cost. It seems we are losing people left and right.
“Yes, Your Grace.” I bow my head softly and sit up in the chair I currently occupy. Nithe snorts next to me before downing his glass again and sighing.
“We need someone who can get in. Someone who would be let through the palace gates. I had thought that would be Theo, but it seems his affection for the princess got him killed before we could get to him.” Davenport, Nithe’s father and the King of Labisa,isn’ta kind man. He strictly refers to Elaenor as the princess instead of the queen, which is what she is. I’m almost convinced he’s going to force Elaenor to marryhim, putting him on the throne. Nithe’s mother, Arya, died when he was young, as did mine. Leaving us to be raised by our fathers. While I had someone who cared about the greater good, Nithe’s father cares more about power and how to get it. Maybe Elaenor and Nithe have a lot in common in that regard. I don’t know how either of them grew up to be good people.
