Page 10 of Return of the Darkness
A deep chuckle sounded from Osiris, and Larelle finally turned to face him. He did not look as though he had been involved in two battles. His neatly pulled back hair showed no sign of dishevelment,and no blood marred his pale hands. His dark velvet jacket, impeccably tailored, was still as dark as the night sky, without a speck of sand. The only colour was the intricately woven amber thread weaving swirls throughout, adorned with a sunlit floral pin.
“I can help,” he said.
“Be grateful you haven’t yet been detained,” snapped Larelle.
“Why haven’t I?” He tucked his hands in his pockets and offered a lopsided grin.
“I’ll happily detain him,” Nyzaia chimed in, flexing her knuckles.
“Like you need any more physical outlet,” muttered Sadira.
“Maybe we should take you in for questioning too, princess,” Nyzaia said, redirecting her aggression. Larelle frowned. She was missing something. Nyzaia was riled up more than normal.
Sadira lifted her chin. “I have nothing to hide.” Caellum released her hand and braced it around her waist.
“Do you mean to tell me you were clueless about Soren working for Caligh this entire time?” Nyzaia challenged. Larelle glanced between the women with wide eyes, while Osiris’s eyebrows rose, mirroring her surprise. While Soren’s wish for the Garridon throne had always been clear, Larelle had suspected nothing more sinister. Bile rose in her throat as she realised a close confidant of Caligh’s, who wished to conquer not only Garridon but the entire kingdom, had been in her home, close to her daughter.
“Where is Soren now?” Larelle asked.
“Sir Cain has her detained by one of Sadira’s trees,” Caellum said. His voice was quieter than usual, his eyes distant. Sadira looked at her feet while they discussed her sister's vile betrayal.
“I’ve requested she be a prisoner of Keres.” Nyzaia’s voice rose. “She is the reason Kazaar is dead and was detained on Keres’s soil. Not to mention, I am the most skilled at retrieving information.” There was no need to question the particular skills Nyzaia referred to. Larelle looked at Caellum for confirmation, who simply nodded alongside Sadira.
“Nyzaia can have her,” Sadira said, looking up at Caellum, whose focus remained on his feet. She rested her head on his shoulder. “I wish to have nothing to do with her.” Caligh’s words returned then, taunting Caellum about his control of Wren, his father. The king’s quiet aura now made sense. How could one begin to process such emotions?
“It appears you’ve had more than just Caligh working against you from the inside,” Osiris finally spoke again after hearing of Soren’s betrayal.
“Vlad,” Larelle called, and the blonde captain stepped forward. Drying blood and orange sand splattered his pale blue uniform. “Have the commanders guide the armies back to the tents.” Larelle did not want anyone else to listen to their upcoming conversation.
“And the enemy soldiers, Queen Larelle?” Vlad asked, glancing nervously from Osiris to the copper soldiers. With smiles on their faces, the men behind Osiris muttered to one another and clasped each other’s forearms.
“They will cause no harm,” Osiris said. “They swore a binding oath when they joined my army. It is because of that oath that my debt to Caligh extended to them, putting them under his control, too.”
“How am I to trust that?” Larelle asked, narrowing her eyes. “The moment our soldiers are gone, you could have us all taken.” Osiris smiled.
“Who gave you the talisman?” he asked plainly. Larelle was taken back to the cave, how certain Osiris had been as he peered among the rocks, how open he had been in revealing the other rulers searched for the missing halves of their talismans. He had been slow to snatch the talisman from Larelle when she had taken it. In fact, he was the one who dropped the stone to begin with. Osiris smirked as she looked him up and down. “I also steered the creatures away from you during the battle.”
Larelle glanced at the other rulers for their thoughts, but Caellum still stared at the floor while Sadira looked only at him. Nyzaiashrugged. Alvan, though, the only other person she trusted, appeared sceptical. His face was neutral, but he scanned Osiris, as though trying to get a measure of him.
“I can take him if they try anything,” Nyzaia said.
“So can I,” Farid said cooly from her side as blue flames licked his arms. Osiris stepped from the pale glow cast from Farid’s wings and moved towards Larelle. There was something about Farid’s flames Osiris did not like, and it offered Larelle more confidence in her decision.
“The soldiers can stay,” Larelle said, meeting Osiris’s eye. Vlad began shouting commands, and the Novisian soldiers retreated up the dune, rejoicing. They clapped one another’s backs with grins, oblivious to the shared feeling among the rulers that this war was far from over.
“Athenios!”Osiris shouted. Larelle jumped at the sound of clanking metal as the copper soldiers stamped and drew their legs together.“Rethea ai wyeth sylen!”he bellowed again. The copper soldiers marched into a formation before turning back towards Myara. When they reached three quarters distance from the ocean-side settlement, they stopped, though their joyous chatter carried on the wind.
“You speak another language,” Nyzaia said, eyeing Osiris closely.
“Observant one, aren’t you?” he smirked. “It is the language of my homeland.”
“And where is that?” A crash of thunder echoed across the sky as Larelle asked the question. Dark clouds rolled in. Osiris pressed his mouth into a thin line.
“I cannot say.”
“You are related to Caligh. Is it the same place he is from?”
Osiris nodded. “Once. But my grandfather has called many lands home under different names and different bodies, like the Historian on Ithyion and Novisia. There is a chance he will take a new name and body now we know the one he uses.”
