Page 34 of Steeling Light
We both turn to see the innkeeper standing in a pair of linen trousers and tunic, something that no one would wear anywhere in Draenyth, in the shattered doorway as he looks at the room with shock.
Rhion chuckles and pulls a small pouch from his belt before tossing it to the innkeeper. “Sorry about the door. I heard yelling. That should cover the repairs.”
Then he promptly ignores the innkeeper as he turns back to me. “It seems that every time I kiss you, someone interrupts us. I’m kind of new to this whole kissing thing, but it seems like an unusual coincidence.”
I grin at him. “It is. Then again, most people who kiss don’t shine like a beacon in the dark.”
He nods and gets a suspicious look on his face. “What about the other men you’ve kissed? Were you constantly interrupted when you kissed them?”
“I’ve never shone like that before,” I say without thinking about what it means. The smile on Rhion’s face precedes the scent of forged steel and wildflowers by a half second.
“I guess I’m just a natural kisser then.” The smirk on his face only makes me smile, and then he takes a step back. “Until I see you again, Ainslee. Thank you for making the last week the most memorable and wonderful week I’ve ever had. You be safe, too.”
Then he walks away, past the still-concerned innkeeper and down the hallway. “Are you okay, Miss?” the man asks. “He wasn’t trying to hurt you, was he?”
I shake my head and pack up my things. “No, he’s not that kind of man.”
Chapter 17
We hid the house relics from our children. “Why?” you ask. Because they each showed flaws that terrified us. Casimir easily succumbs to fear. Brenna forgets she is more than a shadow walker. Roderic takes the House of Earth’s distrust of outsiders far beyond reason. And Gethin… My only son is not a good man.
~Daegon Rahn, personal journals
Rhion
They found it. Kieran and his group found the Burning Brand in a tiny village slightly further inside one of the human kingdoms. I hate that I’m standing in front of the Keep of Steel right now instead of getting ready for another night with Ainslee, but Kieran refused to give it to anyone other than me. Even my father. There’s no doubting his loyalty.
He’s a good soldier and general. After his son died from his deal with the Shade, he’s devoted everything he is to the House of Steel and to me.
But that means that I had to come back. I have to give it to my father, or word would eventually get around that Kieran was keeping it from him. The last thing I need is for one of my generals to be killed for being overly loyal.
Grimnar, a dwarf that’s probably as old as my father, stands beside the door in a tailored butler uniform and his steel collar. All the dwarves wear them as a point of pride. Each of them is bound to the Steel Throne, and they, of all the Immortals, are fully immune to the effect of steel. Their powers are based around enchanting, and no one can enchant as well as the combination of a Steel Immortal and a dwarf. Dwarves’ abilities aren’t influenced by the steel tools necessary in many of the more complicated works.
“Prince Rhion,” he says with a bow, his twin braided gray beard touching the ground in front of him. “Your father has requested your presence when you arrive.”
“I need to stop by the barracks first, but then I’ll go directly to him. Thank you, Grimnar.”
The dwarf resumes his position with an approving look on his face, and I go directly to the barracks where Kieran should be waiting for me. I can’t believe they actually found the Burning Brand. My heart is torn at the thought of it. With the Burning Brand, Cole and Maeve’s Shadows will be neutralized. It gives my father the ability to protect our troops, troops I’ve trained and watched over for nearly my entire life.
But it gives him an edge in a war where he’s in the wrong. I want to protect the men and women who serve under me, but I don’t want my father to win. Cole may be an arrogant ass, but the world needs him to win.
There’s no way to do both.
I step into the meeting room of the barracks, and all my generals stand around the table. On the map we’ve used to maintain our progress in the hunt for the Brand lies a wooden stick that seems like the least important item I’ve ever seen.
“Commander Rahn,” Kieran says in his most formal tone, “I present the Burning Brand.”
The rest of the generals don’t look away from it. They know exactly what that stick can do. It would give them the ability to wield a second Great House’s power. If my father is correct, it would allow them to sit on the Throne of Flame and become a Conduit, a King. That simple stick is the most valuable item within the Keep of Steel.
“Where was it?” I ask without looking at Kieran, my eyes drawn to the relic just as much as everyone else.
As he speaks, I walk straight to it and pick it up. “A village about a hundred miles inside the human kingdom. I believe the village was named Brimholt.” Every word is said in a formal tone, and I can feel his eyes on me as I hold the stick.
I have trained in enchanting nearly as much as I have trained in the arts of war. I can feel the power flowing through it as I’ve felt it within magic mirrors, speaking bowls, and countless weapons. Never before have I felt so much power in my life. Everyone’s eyes are still on the Brand, and when I speak, they all look from it to me. “This is it.”
I turn away from the table toward one of the gray granite walls that the Keep of Steel is made of. I wrap a leash of steel around my emotions, and I think of the moment that I kissed Ainslee. I remember the feeling of fantasies becoming truth. Of pure joy.
But only the slightest touch of it. Flames are fueled by joy and extinguished by sadness just as pride and fear power Steel. The Brand’s enchantment weaves its way into me, into the very fiber of my being, and augments who I am.
