Page 9 of Where We Belong

So run and hide when it’s nearby,

no wisdom in this fight,

“Put me down!”

The woman thrashing on my back is my betrothed? The graceful savior of our people depicted on our temples? Almost instantly, my cheek had healed from what she’d hurled at me, but a drying streak of blood still clings stubbornly to my face. I cannot imagine the Prince would be impressed with her incessant swearing, though I’m sure her uncle may find it endearing. She’s a mess. Almost as untidy as her wretched little home. Which I should have burned down, including that pathetic being who left her to die with me. He will be dealt with when the time is right. As I march back to the waters, two men on a bench turn to see what the commotion is about. Smoke swirls in my palm, braced for an altercation, but one glance at me has them minding their own business. Humans are so weak. Abandoning their own kind with no remorse.

Small fists pound uselessly at my back, and tiny sparks emit from her fingertips that are more irritating than anything. If I could put her down, I would. She doesn’t deserve to be stolen from her home in the middle of the night. But she was born with a target upon her back and a destiny to fulfill. As was I.

“I said I was sorry about your face! It was an accident, I swear! Now put me the fuck down!”

A foreign cold bites at my waist, and her thrashing slows, though her heart beats a rhythm of panic.

“I can’t swim!”

I swing her around to my front, cradling her in my arms. The waters erupt in light when heat climbs my spine, and my wings solidify. I launch into the sky, sending waves rippling below. The air is sharp and salty, the moon alive with greys and silvers. God, I’ve missed this. She shrinks into me, clutching at my shoulders, and a muffled whimper fights to escape her throat.

“Flying?” she squeals. Her ponytail whips across my face, a few strands catching in my beard. For one stolen breath, the world loosens, and for a breath, I am no longer a soldier, only a male who remembers how to want. The world opens at my feet. Freedom. If I could soar far away from here, I would. And maybe one day I will. But duty compels me first. Her stomach tenses before she leans forward and retches miserably over my chest, then she faints in my arms. An interesting introduction. Moonlight sweeps over her, and disbelief grips me. She is more beautiful than I thought possible. Olive skin smattered with freckles like sparks left from a forge. Her dark hair rebels, half curl, half silk. The mismatched metal shapes glinting along her ears sparkle in the light like tiny trophies of defiance. I fly south for a while before the Princess stirs, groaning softly. The roar of the swirling Chasm approaches. When I tilt my wings and drop lower, alarm bells blare in my mind. Trouble. Creatures rise from the depths. Menacing shapes swarm around the opening in curious schools.

“Wh—what the hell are they?”

The first lurches from the water, a fray of tentacles laced with jagged teeth snap inches from her dangling legs. I spin midair, her nails biting into my skin. My wing flares and burns through its middle, a pungent aroma fills the air as it hurls back into the water. Smoke spills from my fingertips and pours into the mouth of a Mer creature clinging to my boot, burning her lungs to ash. But more follow, surging up in a wild frenzy, the thirst in their eyes crystal clear. I take a quick breath to steady my excitement and settle into the beautiful rhythm of war. Smoke, ash and fire stream from my pores. A craving satisfied. By the time we plunge into the Chasm’s swirling mouth, I am drenched in blood and adrenaline, hoping she lives to see the end of this journey. Pressure builds with every second of the blurring descent. Her piercing screams are swallowed by the howling air around us. Tears slide into my neck, and my shoulder itches where small char marks press beneath her fingers.

“My brain’s gonna explode.” I lower my chin to rest on her head. So close. Any. Second. Now.

“Urghhh Fuck!”

We burst through the ocean floor, and the creatures in the arena around me pause, shocked by the promise I hold in my arms. A familiar face hurls towards me; one I haven’t seen in nearly a year since the rebels took me. He seizes me with all his strength. Nyk.

Chapter 12

Aiden

it’s tricky and witty, it jeers and lies,

it’s bark as bad as its bite.

So, Kaed lives after all. The King’s trust in his survival over the last year, and his strategies to escape from the rebels’ prison was not misplaced. And he retrieved the Princess too. But how? My lip curls as my nose almost touches the pane of my mother’s old window, where I have been ordered to remain for safety. The battlefield is a cathedral of ruin. Nykholas, his Phoenix, and the Captain plummet from the Seas Above like meteors. My half-sister strapped to Kaed’s front with ropes of black smoke as the Volker try desperately to control the situation. The army struggle against the unending tide of creatures, and flames of every colour erupt from Ember Court’s Tower. A slender pyramid of sandstone veined with golden symbols of prayer and war. Some of the fire hesitates, twisting and turning midair as if unwilling to strike Nykholas, turning instead toward the beasts that encircle them. Cheers erupt at the sight of the Captain and his apparent return, but something is…off.

Kaed moves faster than magic, landing brutal blows on Nykholas’s face. On his own soldiers. The Lieutenants on the ground relay commands to their airborne units, Dragons and Phoenixes surround them to fend off the relentless swarm of sea beasts. Theron smashes a vial of royal blood into the basin, and the Chasm closes instantly. Creatures still suspended within it plummet to the ground met by blades and crushing hooves of the giant rams of Ashen Reach. I rub my thumb and forefinger together, something in my chest tightening.

“Capture him! Do not hurt him!” My uncle bellows from the arena’s edge, panic-stricken, “He is under a spell.”

Tilting my head, I squint, wondering if he truly believes a handful of Volker can best a male like Kaed. As if he is anything less than a weapon made flesh. Eyes glazed and unblinking, he hammers through crowds as if batting away smoke. My lips part. Mind control. And it would have to be a damn strong elixir to restrain him. Of course, the rebel cowards would not come themselves into an open battle like this; they can only play tricks in the dark. How incredibly risky to send their own hostage home to do their bidding. I am almost impressed, but boldness and stupidity do tend to resemble one another. He releases waves of grey smoke from his palms, soldiers and beast alike tumble from the air, Nykholas among them.

From their ziggurat watchtower, Ashen Reach soldiers summon storms of ash, commanding it to encircle him, but Kaed gathers it into his hands, shaping a single burning sphere. Some dive to the ground as he hurls it back, and by the time it explodes, the Captain and the woman vanish. The rolling ash, something like a scorpion scuttles off into the haze. The legions of sea creatures are nothing but observing shadows above now. Watching. Waiting. My grip tightens on my sword as my head pounds with the realisation that they are on their way back to the rebels. Both now hostages imprisoned gods knows where. After I gather my thoughts, I stalk through the bustling tunnel toward the arena. The Volker who have not been sent after them relive the battle’s victories. They mourn their fallen, and spin theories on how Kaed managed to get past us, when Nykholas had not yet even managed to breach the Chasm with his unit. The acrid stench of burnt flesh surrounds me while trainee Volker clear the arena. Lili digs through the entrails of fallen beasts before tossing them onto the cremation heap. What a royal fuck up that was.

Chapter 13

Kaed

I was forced to face my faults,

my failures and where I could grow,

“Don’t touch me! Get the hell off me! Where am I? What the motherfuck—”

With the Princess slung over my shoulder like a satchel, I claw at the chains binding my mind with everything I have. But the spell holds. Reluctantly, I wheel us away from the palace walls that I have not seen for far too long, and towards the rebel camp that has been my prison. This will be our cage for now, until I wrench us out. Which I will. Nyk tried to stop me, but if I cannot stop myself, what hope did he have? Gritting my teeth, I pray to whichever god bothers to listen that he is unharmed and the poison in my smoke will only disarm him for a short time. My head pounds as I try and try again to fight the vapor Vale doused me with and turn back. But my treacherous body obeys the commands it received from the traitorous deserter.