31. Aiden

Chapter 31

Aiden

Ruru’s face brightened, but Kiera looked dubious.

I didn’t want to scare her again, but she needed to keep up with Ruru. And to do that, she had to make these jumps. Besides, I’d been slowly losing my mind to impatience over the last few days.

I’d grown used to being in charge, to always being in action. But now, I was waiting for Librius and Nikella to finish their work. The explosives I needed for my part of the plan were different than Kiera and Ruru’s—more complicated. I couldn’t call in the Dags until they were complete.

I’d spent nearly all the stolen gold on bribes for the gate guards, the special materials for the explosives, and to pay off Skelly’s debts for the risk he’d be taking for shipping the Dags around. Maz’s clan—the Yargoths—had suffered enough attacks from Weylin’s border patrols and imprisonment in his gods-damned mine to staunchly support our plan. But I’d still insisted they take a small sum as well. In case things went poorly.

I was using every resource I’d gathered over the years. Which meant I would have very little chance of ever attempting something like this again.

Maz was content to eat and drink and idle these days away, but I felt as though my skin would peel off from restlessness.

I gestured toward their next and last destination, the old inn. “If you two beat me to the inn, I’ll buy you both dinner.”

“You buy us dinner all the time,” Ruru called back.

“Fine, as much sticky bread as you can eat then.”

“Deal!”

I glanced down at Kiera, noticing the way she favored her ankle. I’d winced, watching her fall short on the jump, scrambling for purchase, before awkwardly falling five feet.

She pointed her chin up at me. “Deal, but you have to start from the street like any Wolf would.”

I grinned. There’s my little thief.

I swung from the roof and landed gracefully on my feet in front of her.

She glared at me. “Play fair.”

“Wolves don’t play fair,” I said, leaning closer until our noses almost brushed. “But I will for you.”

The flush on her cheeks deepened, filling me with a sense of purpose I hadn’t felt all week. “Up you get,” I said, tipping my chin toward Ruru.

With narrowed eyes, she turned and used the stairs built into the side of the building to reach Ruru’s rooftop.

“On the count of three,” I said, dropping to a crouch. “One, two, three! ”

They tore off across the roof and out of sight. I sauntered up the stairs after them, giving them a sporting chance. They raced across the roof, ducking laundry lines and evading rain barrels. When they came to the lip of the roof, Ruru flew off without a second thought.

But Kiera hesitated. And looked back at me. I used that moment to run full tilt at her. Her eyes widened. She backed up a few steps and took a running leap off the roof. She landed on the next one and staggered a bit but kept going.

I sprinted faster, relishing the wind in my ears and the flight of my feet. I soared over the gap as my quarries scrambled their way over more roofs.

Ruru pulled ahead of Kiera, nimble as a monkey I’d seen once in Eloren. He reached the inn and began climbing to the top. Kiera kept losing time on each jump she made. I got closer. And closer.

She came to the last jump and leapt. But not far enough. Her hands slammed down on the edge of the roof, and she hung there.

I hurtled over the gap and skidded to a halt on the other side. I knelt and extended my hand to her.

She was panting, her boots searching for a hold on the wall.

“Just take my hand,” I said.

She huffed in frustration, her eyes a blazing gold in the setting sun. “But then you win.”

I flexed my hand. “I already won, Kiera. But I can still save you the fall.”

Her lips clenched tight, stubbornness fighting defeat. But then she locked hands with me, and I hauled her onto the roof.

“I won’t be ready in time,” she said. “What if I can’t protect him?”

“You will be ready, and you will protect him.” I gently moved a strand of her hair from her glistening forehead.

Her face softened. “How much sticky bread am I buying? I didn’t know you even liked it.”

I smirked. “I never said I wanted sticky bread as my prize. I’ll buy some for Ruru, since he did beat me.” I waved at Ruru who waved back from his perch. “But you... I want something else from you.”

Her expression turned suspicious.

“Don’t worry,” I said. “There’s only a slight chance of death involved.”

“I tell you I don’t like heights, and you force me to climb to the top of the Temple?” Kiera’s annoyed voice echoed behind me in the tight stairwell.

I suppressed a chuckle. “Almost there.”

When we stepped out of the stairwell, she gasped, her eyes going wide with wonder. She walked to the stone balustrade as if in a trance to gaze at the gathering night on the far eastern horizon over the sea. Her loosened hair danced in the calm breeze that smelled of the sea—and now her.

It was the most beautiful sight I’d ever seen.

I stepped up next to her. “The Teachers call this the bell tower balcony. It circles the whole dome with four short walkways to each bell tower.” I nodded to the two that flanked us. Statues—one of Mynastra and one of Arduen—adorned the tops.

“How did you find this place?” she whispered, her grip tight on the railing.

“Librius told me about it. He lets me come up here whenever I want.”

“Because he knows who you are?”

“Yes. He knew Nikella. From before.” I glanced over to see Kiera frowning in confusion. A little more of my story wouldn’t hurt. “Nikella is a Teacher who used to train at this Temple.”

Kiera’s eyebrows arched. “I would never have guessed that.”

“She isn’t the friendliest person, but she’s one of the best Teachers in the world. Taught me everything I know.” I took a deep breath and looked back as the starry night sky slowly crept over the fiery day. “She was the one who rescued me and raised me.”

“What happened to your mother?” Kiera asked softly.

“Remember how I told you I was born at sea in a storm?” I pointed toward the deceptively calm waters on the horizon. “My mother died giving birth to me on a boat out there.”

“Oh, Aiden.” Kiera slid her hand next to mine until our skin touched. “May the gods find her soul.”

A lump formed in my throat. A knot of sadness for the mother I never knew. “Nikella was trying to get my parents out of Aquinon via boat, but my father never made it on. Weylin stabbed him in the back while my mother screamed from the deck. Then Renwell wounded her and Nikella as they sailed away. Between the pain of losing her husband, her wound, and labor, my mother didn’t last the night.”

Kiera’s hand jerked away, and she stared at me, horrified. “Renwell injured a fleeing pregnant woman?”

“Yes.” I glared into the invading night. “He tried to shoot my mother with an arrow, but Nikella stepped in the way. Took it in her shoulder. When she fell, he shot my mother in the chest.”

Kiera stumbled backward. “Renwell . . .”

I placed a steadying hand on her arm. “You probably didn’t see much of him at the palace, other than when he arrested you, but that man is just as much of a monster as Weylin is.”

“Gods, that—that’s awful. Then Nikella took you and raised you herself?”

“Yes. We lived in Twaryn for most of my life.” Misty, thick forests filled my mind. “She taught in the villages there and told people I was her orphaned nephew.”

“I thought you might’ve lived there a while,” she said with a small smile. “When we first met.”

“I remember,” I murmured. I’d been so angry that she’d managed to pry those personal details from my lips. But here I was—letting them spill out of me. It felt more relieving than I ever could’ve imagined. “But I didn’t bring you up here just to tell you stories.”

She quirked an eyebrow. “Did you also want to scare me?”

“No. I wanted to help you try to make peace with your fear.” I held out my hand to her again. “Let’s visit the Four, shall we?”

She hesitantly placed her hand in mine, and we walked along the balcony to Mynastra’s tower.

In full truth, I wanted to make peace between us as well.

I tired of spending day and night near her without being able to touch her, talk to her, tell her everything. I longed to have her back in my arms more than I longed for food or sleep. But I craved her trust even more.

Each time I thought of getting closer, I remembered that stark fear in her eyes when I’d threatened her and again in the sitting room when I’d come to get her.

We stopped at the walkway leading to the bell tower. “Touch the bell with me,” I said, tugging on her hand.

Kiera paled, gazing over the railing at the ground a hundred feet below, then at the narrow bridge to the bell.

She shook her head vigorously. “Why are you doing this?” she whispered.

“Because I want you to win,” I said. “Once you’ve proven to yourself that you’re stronger than your fear, you’ll win every battle it wages.”

Her erratic breath warmed my lips. “I watched a woman die once. She fell off the bridge to the palace during Mynastra’s Tide.”

Ah, that was why.

I drew her close. “I swear by the Four, I will never let you fall.”

She closed her eyes and tried to calm her breathing, inhaling through her nose and exhaling through her mouth. My heartbeat galloped like a runaway horse, pounding blood through my body, as I savored her nearness.

My grip on her tightened, and she opened her eyes. “Let’s go,” she said.

The bridge was barely wide enough for the two of us, so I hugged her close to my body. She didn’t seem to mind.

The wind pushed us a little harder out here in the open, and Kiera let out a whimper.

“Just reach out and touch it,” I said, guiding her arm forward.

Her fingers trembled as she inched closer. Finally, she lunged forward and grazed the smooth brass bell. She made to flee back across the bridge, but I held her back.

“Go slow and easy,” I instructed her. “We’re safe.”

The moment we reached the balcony, Kiera sagged against the smooth white dome.

I grinned at her. “That was excellent! Only three more to go!”

She gaped at me. “I take it back,” she rasped. “You don’t want to scare me. You want to torture me.”

“Never.” I leaned next to her against the dome. “It might feel like that at first, but you get used to it.”

“Like with you being underground or in chains?”

I grimaced. “Admittedly, I’ve never shackled myself on purpose to overcome that fear.”

A glimmer of amusement lit Kiera’s eyes. “You let Maz bind your wrists for your night of survival in the Dagriel forest.”

I chuckled. “That was different. I could have gotten myself out of those ropes. But the point was to prove that I didn’t need my hands to survive.”

Kiera smiled and looked up at the nearly violet sky. “Does being underground still frighten you?”

“Sometimes that fear will ambush me, yes. Especially if I’m already anxious about something. But I’m only ever underground because I have to be. Because there’s something more important than my fear.”

Her eyes narrowed in thought. “Perhaps that’s what I’m missing in my training with Ruru. Instead of thinking about who I’m running from, I should think about who I’m running toward. The other end of the tunnel—or bridge—so to speak.”

Gods, I couldn’t agree more. For the first time in years, I was also beginning to see beyond the one thing I’d been running toward for years—vengeance against Weylin and his allies, giving a better life to all Rellmirans.

For the first time—just as Maz hoped—I also wanted something for myself. A life free of the darkness that had haunted it for so long.

I wanted her. She was the light beyond the darkness.

But we were still so deep in the shadows.

“Aiden?” she whispered, searching my eyes.

I’d leaned closer to her without realizing it. I cleared my throat, shifting away. “Who do you want to visit next?”

“Who’s nearest the sunset?”

I led her around the dome, the air warmer here in the last of the sunlight. Crimson and gold painted the sky over the weakening sun. But she pulled up short when she realized what else she could see from here.

“The prison. Is—is Asher still down there?” She kept her head turned away.

I rubbed my thumb over her scarred fingers. “No. I heard someone stole his head several days ago.”

“Stole? Who in the deep, dark, wandering hell would—” She stopped, narrowing in on my perfectly composed expression. “It was you. Why?”

“I gave it to Floren so he could bring his ashes to the sea with the others. I doubt the rest of his body received the proper rites, but I did what I could.”

Kiera threw her arms around my neck and hugged me tight. Like the day we’d discovered him in the square.

I hugged her back just as hard. Gods, the relief nearly crushed me.

“Thank you,” she whispered in my ear.

A shiver coursed down my spine. Every muscle in my body grew taut, barely keeping from delivering her mouth to mine. Those lips had tasted like fire and honey, and they teased me every night in my dreams.

But what if she didn’t want that anymore? What if she was still afraid of me?

She pulled away from me, breaking the moment. “I’m ready for Terraum’s bell, I think,” she said with a brave smile.

She touched Terraum’s and then Viridana’s with my help, getting more confident each time. For Arduen’s, she placed a hand on my chest, telling me to stay put. Then she walked across the short bridge, arms aloft as if she were dancing on a stage once more. She laid a palm against the bell, smiling at me over her shoulder. I grinned, bursting with pride.

Then she came back to me and clasped our hands together. “Thank you,” she whispered. “That felt amazing.”

I bent toward her, but then someone cleared their throat behind us. I whirled, shielding Kiera.

Librius watched us from the stairwell with a knowing smile. “You said to tell you the moment we finished. This is that moment, Aiden.”

My heart leapt. It was finally time to send word. There was no going back now.