Chapter Twenty
Kaleo hovered inside the manse with the girls and Lara staring at him. His wings twitched nervously. Serai brought them all home - Liam included, unfortunately - even with the tol shal still coursing through Reven’s veins. The poison not only rendered the caster unconscious - or worse - but also prevented magic from being cast upon them. The woman was an enigma, capable of more than most gave her credit for including stealing the bard’s heart. Ajana and Liam spoke outside, their voices rising and falling in pitch as they remembered that others were still nearby. It was not a pleasant conversation from what Kaleo could hear.
“They’re hand-fasted,” Lara said, jerking her head toward the cracked window. Kaleo frowned, the term unfamiliar to him. “Uhm… united?”
“Married?” he corrected but shook his head. “I don’t think so, no. They act like it don’t they?”
Lara nodded, glancing at the window then over to where Serai sat with Reven. The fever was gone and there were signs of life beginning to return. The girls sighed, making faces at each other as if wanting to ask questions or start a conversation without knowing how. Navid instructed them to stay in Mahala, so they sat, waiting like Kaleo.
“Reven?” they heard, Serai hovering a little closer. Azure was in the manse with them, everyone gathered in the grand foyer or the open space that would be the dining hall. Malek and Fionn loitered nearby, though not together as the two beasts did not seem to favor one another.
“Is he alright?” Kaleo asked, rising to his knees.
Serai waved him down, repeating the bard’s name in soothing tones or stroking his hair until Reven leapt off the floor and across the room as if bitten. It was so sudden Serai squeaked and fell back onto her rear, flinching from a backlash of Power that stirred the air inside the grand foyer. The girls blinked and Lara rose to her feet right along with Kaleo. It was unsettling to watch the bard behave in such a manner, disoriented and frightened, cowering from everyone. Kaleo realized that Eila and Rielle were the calmest ones in the room. They’d seen this reaction before.
“Reven, it is alright,” Serai soothed, rising back to her feet. “You are safe. Listen. Shhh. You are safe.”
She repeated the mantra a few times until Reven groaned, releasing a breath he’d been holding that sank him back to the floor. Tears rolled down his face as he palmed his temples or eyes, trying to clear the last of the poison from his system. He frowned at the floor or at Serai until finally focusing on her face to actually see her. She smiled, squeezing his hand.
“Kaleo…” he said, the fear returning to his eyes.
“I’m here,” the young avian said, moving carefully to the bard’s side. “I’m fine. Are you ok?”
“Ugh…” Reven groaned, making a sour face. “I think I may vomit. Gods, what happened?”
“Liam,” Kaleo snipped. “After a fashion. It’s a long story, not worth telling right now. How do you feel?”
“Awful.”
Awful was better than unconscious. Kaleo was about to say so as well when Fionn’s mental voice ripped through his mind.
Kaleo! There is a problem! the chimera cried so loudly that Kaleo brought his hands to his semi-pointed ears. He frowned as he jogged out of the manse to the front yard. The chimera met him there hovering near a snow-owl gryphon; Aisling. He knew the Kormandi king’s audeas, having met her when he and his father went to Kormaine before the Fall. She carried two very still forms on her back. Two girls sobbed as they stumbled into the yard behind the gryphon, one dark of skin and one fair. Nadya and Kendall - the princess and queen of Kormaine.
“Nadya?” he breathed out, rushing to her side. She collapsed in his arms, chest heaving and tears streaming like rivers down her dirty face. She was frantic, filthy, covered in ash, blood, and bruises. Kendall was equally filthy and injured, and at a point of panic to be nearly catatonic. “It’s alright, you’re safe. What happened?”
“Aeron!” Nadya finally sobbed, looking at the gryphon. Kaleo’s heart dropped into his stomach. It was Aeron draped on Aisling’s back. The young man beside him looked eerily similar to Nadya - Demyan, the Kormandi king.
“Oh gods…” Kaleo breathed out. He moved without thinking, carefully taking Aeron down while Nadya helped Kendall pull Demyan down, cradling him in their arms. The two were inconsolable. Liam and Ajana watched helplessly. Eila and Rielle came out, the color draining from their faces when they saw what pulled Kaleo from the manse.
“No…” Eila said.
“Aeron?” Rielle added.
“No…”
“Navid! Where is he?” Rielle finished, her voice growing in pitch as she spoke.
“Shut up!” Kaleo said, unable to focus clearly with all the sobbing and screaming. He put all of his effort on Aeron first. The tirsai prince bled from too many places and had a wicked gash that went from shoulder all the way up to the base of his right ear. The wounds were festering, black veins starting to spread outward across his torso. “Serai!!”
Kaleo’s voice cracked as he hollered for the woman with the stunning eyes. Everyone stared, frozen with uncertainty and concern. Serai pushed through the small crowd with Reven stumbling along at her heels. Kaleo looked at her, tears welling in his eyes, a silent plea to help his cousin. She dropped to her knees, looking Aeron over as Kaleo slowly stood.
“This is my fault,” he said, tears spilling over his cheeks. “I knew where he was and… and I followed Azure instead…”
“Kaleo,” Rielle cried. “Navid… he’s still there. We sent him to get Aeron! He’s not here!”
Kaleo felt his stomach knot as he searched for a solution, looking first at the ground and then at everyone around him. The world tilted, spinning radically out
