Wings of Blood Read online

  “What, specifically, did they owe you?” I pushed.

  Bren’s eyes narrowed fractionally, but I caught the movement. Did they really think we’d just let something like this go?

  “Three percent of their water for the month,” he said.

  “Did you not receive the notice that no preferential treatment would be given to any flock?” Blaise said, re-inserting himself into the conversation.

  “We did,” Bren acknowledged. “This was an agreement between our two flocks. It did not involve the King.”

  “An agreement forced upon us by Emberich,” Aaden growled. “Don’t be disingenuous, Bren. It doesn’t suit you.”

  “If someone goes back on their word, goes back on an agreement, then we are within our rights to retaliate.” Bren’s eyes narrowed.

  “You no longer have Emberich to back you. You are treading on dangerous ground.” Aaden’s voice was tight with anger.

  “Bren,” I interrupted. “What were the terms of this agreement?”

  He looked back at me, his eyes cold. “We received a percentage of your flock’s clean water.” He leaned towards me. “And I must say, I have to object to you being here. You have an obvious bias in this case.”

  “Perhaps,” I acknowledged. “But our policies are clear—and Blaise has no bias in this case at all. I think anyone would agree to that.” There was a reason having Blaise here was actually useful. I leaned towards Bren, meeting his eyes head on. “Now. What did you give in exchange for the water?”

  I asked even though I knew the answer. Sometimes a little showmanship didn’t hurt.

  His mouth tightened.

  “Nothing,” I finished for him. “You gave back nothing. I think we can all acknowledge that isn’t an agreement anyone would happily comply with.” I sat back. “It wouldn’t matter if the shoe was on the other foot—Emberich’s favors are no longer enforceable by him. On the other hand, Sven’s policies will be enforced.”

  “You cannot simply void all previous agreements,” Bren argued, his jaw clenched.

  “Yes, we can,” Blaise said in an irritated voice. “That is what it means to be King. You had better get used to the fact that you have a new one.”

  I agreed with Blaise.

  But as much as I wanted to keep bludgeoning Bren, I needed to make an effort to smooth things over as well, so I continued on a softer track. “If any flock has need of water, food, any necessity, they can and should contact the Crown. Are you in need of water?” I asked.

  Bren’s nostrils flared. “No, we are not,” he bit out. “But tradition should not be broken like this.”

  “Traditions must be broken to invoke change,” I said gently, feeling almost sorry for him. “This is not negotiable.”

  Especially not when this “tradition” was being used to try to keep Aaden’s flock under Eli’s thumb. I knew he was simply attempting to retain the upper hand wherever he could, no matter how idiotic the means.

  “Furthermore,” I continued, “if anyone attacks on neutral ground or air unprovoked, there will be an investigation. Fines will be the least of the repercussions. Imprisonment is not out of the question. Nor are even harsher means.”

  To my surprise, Bren laughed.

  Laughed.

  “You cannot simply have us dance to your tune,” he sneered. “We have power as well.”

  Then we started all over again, going in circles that went nowhere. It was frustrating, to say the least. I finally had to call an end after multiple back and forths between all of us, the tone getting harsher and angrier every minute we continued.

  The guards were visibly restless at our raised voices, their sharp eyes taking in the scene.

  “Enough!” I called out, slamming my hands on the table to stop the argument between Morgan and Bren. So much for diplomacy. “This is a new day,” I said in only a slightly softer voice now that I had everyone’s attention. “With new rules.”

  I met Bren’s eyes. “Tell Eli he must adapt. There is no other choice.”

  Bren pushed his chair out and stood abruptly, his eyes cold. “We’ll see.”

  Aaden didn’t say anything, standing and nodding at his people to escort Bren and his people out.

  The mood was somber. This was not the ideal ending to these talks. But it was clear Bren had come with instructions not to give an inch. It didn’t make much sense, practically speaking. Whether or not Eli and his flock wanted Sven to be their King, the fact of the matter was, it didn’t matter.

  I would have thought Eli was enough of a political animal to realize that and act accordingly. This was more akin to a toddler refusing to give up his toy.

  “I am sorry that did not go better,” I said into the silence, meeting Aaden’s eyes. “But know that we support you in this matter and will aid you if there is another act of aggression.”

  “Another unprovoked act of aggression,” Blaise chimed in primly. “But yes, in this case I do believe it is clear who is at fault.” He frowned, apparently just as unhappy as I was with the way things went.

  Aaden’s anger had calmed as soon as Bren was out of sight. “In truth, I didn’t expect a better outcome,” he admitted.

  “Eli isn’t the smartest phoenix,” Morgan concurred.

  Aaden nodded. “Just so. Cunning, but not very intelligent.” He stood, looking around at the rest of us. “I’ll have my people shown to your rooms for the night. You are welcome to join us for dinner, though I will also understand if you would like to eat in your rooms.”

  That sounded like what I needed. Some time alone with my thoughts.

  The guest rooms occupied two wings of the building. The same young boy who had announced Bren’s arrival led our contingent to one of them, turning to look over his shoulder at us periodically with big, curious eyes. I hid a smile and didn’t acknowledge it. It would only embarrass him.

  I used the walk to send Sven a message, catching him up on how the talks had gone. I wish I had better news, but we’d done the best we could have, under the circumstances.

  “This is your room, Lady, er, Consort, uh...”

  I smiled at the boy. “Adara is fine,” I reassured him. “Thank you.”

  He blushed and stepped back, nodding. “The guards have the rooms on either side of you, but I figured they would want to see where you are,” he explained.

  “We do,” Reelin agreed. “Thank you,” he added gravely.

  The boy drew himself up as the importance Reelin gave him boosted his confidence. I hid another smile.

  “You are across the hall, sir,” he said to Blaise.

  Blaise nodded, muttering something to himself as he went over to the room.

  Reelin watched him go and then turned to me. “Amna and I will take the first shift,” he informed me. “We shall rotate. Simply give us a moment to clear the room—”

  “I’m sure it’s fine,” I interrupted, conscious of the boy’s big eyes and ears listening. I wasn’t naive enough to think he wouldn’t relay everything said back to Aaden. “I trust my flock and this is at the center of it.”

  Reelin frowned. “I do not think it wise.” But then he saw my eyes flick over to the boy and he sighed. “Very well,” he gave in. “We shall be waiting here if you have need of us.”

  “Thank you.” I turned to the other guards. “All of you.”

  They nodded to me, waiting until I’d gone into my room to move to theirs. I closed the door behind myself with a sigh of relief. I needed some alone time to process things.

  The room was a nice one, with a large bed and a sitting area, everything done in a soothing pallet of greens, browns, and creams. The guest wings all vaguely resembled hotels, complete with robes hanging in the bathroom and an internal phone at the side of the bed. Aaden had given us the nicest rooms, a sign of respect. I appreciated it, for the guards more than for me.

  I moved to sit down on the soft bed, weariness weighing me down just at the sight of it.

  The curtains moved at the window, and a sh
adowy figure slipped out from behind them.

  I froze.

  Perhaps I should have let the guards sweep the room after all.

  Stupid, very stupid.

  Chapter Five

  I opened my mouth to call out, then paused when the figure stepped out of the shadows.

  It was a young girl.

  That gave me pause.

  What was a teenager doing breaking into my room?

  “Adara?” she asked quietly, stepping into the glow from the one lamp that was on.

  Those eyes...

  Big, tawny brown eyes with curling lashes. Caramel colored skin, wildly curly hair that reached just passed her shoulders. She was taller, thinner too, but...

  The past and the present blurred together as I suddenly saw the child in the girl that was almost now a woman. My heart squeezed tightly in my chest.

  “Siro?” I asked, taking a step forward, knowing I was right but still in disbelief. “What are you doing here?”

  “I...I wanted to come see you,” she said, her voice cracking a bit as she took another step closer. “I’m sorry if I scared—”

  Her apology ended abruptly as I pulled her into a tight hug, surprised to see that she was actually taller than me now. I felt another pang at the physical reminder of how much I had actually missed.

  She hugged me back just as hard.

  That told me everything I needed to know about whether or not she’d started to believe what her parents said was true. Still, the fact that she was literally hiding behind the curtains was a clear indication she wasn’t supposed to be here. I leaned back so I could see her face, smoothing her hair back from her delicate features.

  “Siro...do your parents know you’re here?” I asked.

  Her mouth tightened and she pulled back. “No. I snuck out.”

  Oh no.

  “Sirrocco—”

  “They wouldn’t have let me see you, just like every other time you’ve been here,” she interrupted. “It was the only way.”

  “Siro, you know they’ll worry if they find out you aren’t in your bed where you’re supposed to be.” Not that I was surprised she decided to sneak out. It fit with her personality, even when she’d been a young child. If she really wanted something, she had never cared how many rules she had to break to get it. Sometimes it was an admirable trait. Other times, it got her in a lot of trouble.

  She looked away, folding her arms in front of her chest. “Did you not want to see me?” she asked in a low voice.

  “Oh, sweetie.” I pulled her unresisting body back into my arms. “Of course I want to see you. I just don’t want you to get in trouble with your parents.” I sighed. “They love you and only want what they think is best for you.”

  “Well, maybe they don’t always know what’s best for me,” she muttered.

  Since I mostly agreed with her, I didn’t know how to counter that argument well.

  We both froze at a knock on the door before I had to stumble through a response.

  “Yes?” I asked, raising my voice to be heard through the heavy door. Siro and I had both automatically been speaking in low tones.

  “Would you like dinner to be served in your room?” Amna asked politely. “Someone is here from the kitchens.”

  Siro slipped out of my arms and hurried back to hide behind the curtain. The fabric settled back into place, easily hiding her slender form.

  All right, then.

  I cleared my throat. “Yes, please.”

  I opened the door. A sweet looking teen aged boy with auburn hair smiled at me politely, looking at Reelin and Amna nervously, his hands resting on a laden cart.

  “Come in,” I said, smiling back at him in reassurance and opening the door wider.

  He nodded and pushed the cart into the seating area to the side and started to put the food out on the coffee table there. I saw his eyes flick over to the curtain a couple of times.

  Hmm. I didn’t think I needed more than one guess to figure out how Siro had managed to get into my room undetected.

  As he put the last dish down, he glanced over at me with a slightly guilty expression. I raised a brow at him.

  He flushed, quickly standing and setting his hands back on the little cart. “Um, would you like anything else?” he asked quickly, his eyes sliding away from mine.

  “What’s your name?” I asked.

  “Uh, Lugh,” he stammered, inching towards the door.

  “Lugh, how do you enjoy working in the kitchen? Is it something you want to do long term?”

  “Uh. It’s okay. It’s just a job to make some money for now,” he said, almost to the door.

  “Ah, I see,” I commented, nodding as I went to the door and put my hand on the knob. His eyes jumped to it and he froze. “Thanks for answering my questions. I’m just curious sometimes, you know? I like a little peek behind the curtain.”

  His eyes shot to mine as he went rigid. We both heard the muffled sound from the corner of the room that I was now certain we both knew hid Siro.

  I opened the door. “Have a good night,” I murmured.

  He hesitated, his eyes sliding to the curtain. A flash of concern crossed his face. He was just as sweet as he looked.

  “Everything’s fine,” I said with a slight smile, taking pity on him.

  He nodded, sending me a tense smile as he finally pushed the cart through the open door. “Goodnight,” he murmured.

  Reelin watched him walk away with a little frown. What did he have, a sixth sense?

  I closed the door before he decided to ask any questions.

  As soon as it was shut, Siro burst out from behind the curtain. “That was mean,” she accused, but her mouth twitched with amusement.

  “Friend of yours?” I drawled, moving over to sit down by the food.

  She sighed. “Yes. But he really didn’t want to help me do this. I had to twist his arm.”

  “Hmm. I have a feeling Lugh wants to be more than just your friend,” I commented.

  She colored a little. “No he doesn’t,” she muttered.

  “Uh-huh,” I responded, unconvinced. Deciding to give her a break, I changed the subject. “Are you hungry? There’s enough for three people here.”

  She looked at the food, nodding. “I had to sneak in when you guys got here,” she admitted, taking a seat across from me. “It was when everyone was most distracted.”

  That made a lot of sense.

  “I don’t think Aaden would be pleased that it was so easy to get in here,” I remarked as I dug in.

  Siro shrugged. “They aren’t protecting this place from the flock,” she said, taking a bite of the chicken with obvious hunger.

  That was true. Still, maybe it would be a good idea to let Aaden know he might need to refresh everyone who worked here about the rules. What if I had let Reelin and Amna look through the room first? What if she’d gotten hurt? Accidents happened all the time.

  “You need to be more careful about where you decide to sneak in,” I warned. “If I had let my guards look through the room, they might have struck first and asked questions later.”

  Her eyes widened. “You have your own guards?” she asked. “That’s so cool!”

  Here I thought I was getting through to her. Silly me.

  “Not when you can’t go anywhere without them,” I retorted. “It’s no picnic. Trust me.”

  She sobered. “It’s good you have them,” she said, her face serious. “When I heard you’d died…” Tears gathered in her eyes.

  “Hey,” I said gruffly, reaching across the table to cover her hand. “I’m fine.”

  She turned her hand to grip mine. “Yeah,” she said, clearing her throat. “I’m really glad you’re okay.” She met my eyes. “After that… I wasn’t going to miss my chance to see you this time.”

  How could I admonish her for the risk she’d taken now?

  “Also, side note, it’s really weird that you literally came back from the dead,” she added.

  I
chuckled, shaking my head. “Tell me about it,” I said. “It wasn’t exactly a picnic for me either.”

  “What was it like?” she asked, her expression fascinated. “Was there anything on the other side?”

  I shrugged, uncomfortable with the subject. There might have been, but… “I don’t remember anything clearly,” I finally said, honestly. “Mostly I was just confused when I woke up.”

  “I bet,” she murmured.

  Figuring that was enough of that morbid topic, I switched to something less… iffy. So I got to know more about Siro and her life now, about school, her future plans.

  “I want to be an engineer,” she said with a conviction I had definitely lacked at her age. “I’m good with math. Numbers make sense, you know? There’s always a right answer.” She reached out to grab one of the small cakes. “And I like the idea of building things.”

  I nodded. “Sounds like a good plan,” I agreed, impressed with her maturity. “You have a much clearer idea of what you want than I ever did.”

  “Yeah, but you’re the Internal Liaison to the Crown!” she countered. “That’s so interesting! And I’ve heard a lot about everything you did, under Emberich,” she added, frowning. “I don’t know why Mom and Dad are so stubborn about this. It’s clear to anyone with a brain that you were never Emberich’s flunky.”

  It warmed my heart that she’d actually been following me like that. That didn’t mean I wanted her to harbor resentment towards her parents.

  “They have their reasons,” I said obliquely. Time to switch the subject to something I had to address. “You have to call your parents, Siro.”

  “They’ll just make me leave,” she said stubbornly. Siro looked at me, her eyes pleading. “Please don’t tell them—I won’t be able to leave the house again ever.”

  Siro saw me wavering and leaned forward to push her advantage. “I’ll go straight home from here.”

  I sighed. I knew I shouldn’t give in, but I missed her too. Who knew when I’d get to spend this much time with her again?

  “Fine,” I sighed, to her delighted squeals.

  So I gave in.

  I spent most of the night getting to know this grown up version of Siro. One I found I was really proud of. She was smart, level headed, funny, someone I could be friends with.