Chapter 9

9

To inspire youth to grow up and do great deeds is to create a future you want to live in.

~ Queen Henova

Kaylina walked side by side with Vlerion along the river trail, clasping his hand as they headed for a park they'd visited once before. The last time, they'd kissed on the bank, leafy trees giving them privacy from others in the area. It had been dangerous, tempting the beast, but she'd more than once dreamed of being with him there, of him pushing her against a tree and satisfying the unquenched desire that had tormented her since she'd met him.

"We will resume what the arrival of the Kar'ruk interrupted last time," Vlerion squeezed her hand, giving her a sultry look.

"I wish we could, but we both know we can't." She squeezed his hand back, then tried to let go and step away. They couldn't tempt fate—couldn't tempt the beast.

But he didn't let her go, instead stepping closer and wrapping his arm around her. "I can't be without you any longer."

"Vlerion, I want you too, but ? —"

His mouth came down upon hers, hungry and demanding as it stole her words. And her breath.

She wrapped her arms around his shoulders, unable to keep her body from responding to him with fiery desire. She kissed him back, pressing herself into his hard length, tempted to wrap her legs around him. He growled as he gripped her, pushing her against a tree, and a frisson of fear shot through her. That growl was as much animal as human, a promise that he was on the edge of turning.

Breaking the kiss, she pulled her head back enough to see his eyes.

The savageness of the beast rose in their blue depths, lust driving out the man. Even as she opened her mouth to say they had to stop, fangs erupted, and the change began.

Before he gained his supernatural power, Kaylina slipped her knife from its belt sheath and stabbed it into Vlerion's chest. Again and again, she struck him, killing him before he could kill her.

His eyes locked onto hers, stricken with pain and betrayal. Immense betrayal. As he crumpled, dying at her feet, he never took his gaze from her.

Kaylina woke with a scream, her sweaty nightclothes plastered to her body, sheets tangled around her waist, and something hard clasped in her hand.

Her knife.

She stared at it in shock and looked around the second-floor bedroom that she'd cleaned and claimed for herself weeks earlier. As she struggled to push aside the dream—the nightmare—and remember reality, a terrified part of her thought she might find Vlerion in the room with her, dead on the floor, knife wounds perforating his chest.

But she was alone, enough morning light creeping through the shutters to confirm that. Kaylina reminded herself that Vlerion wouldn't come into the castle. Further, she never could have killed him that easily, even if he had been in the middle of changing. Both as the ranger and as the beast, he was far too powerful a fighter for her to overcome.

But waking with her knife in her hand chilled her, and she set it on the bedside table. When she'd gone to bed, she'd left it in her belt, the same as she always did, and hung it and her sling by her clothes near the door. She must have sleep-walked to grab it, but she'd never been told she did such things before. An alternative was that the plant had used its power to float the knife into her grip to make a point, that it wanted Vlerion dead. It still believed he was a threat to her, one that had to be dealt with.

Shaking, Kaylina pushed damp hair away from her eyes. "I'm going to lift his curse, not attack him."

She looked in the direction of the tower, though she couldn't see its glow from the window of the room she'd chosen. She had deliberately picked one on the far side of the castle from the plant.

A knock sounded at the door, and she almost lunged for the knife again. What if the nightmare had been a warning that a threat was coming?

Frayvar called through the door. "Kay, are you all right?"

"Fine," she said, though she wasn't.

"The curse didn't attack you, did it? Should I send Lord Vlerion to get Doc Penderbrock?"

"No and no. Don't bring any rangers here under any circumstances." She climbed out of bed, afraid he wouldn't go away until she showed him that she was all right.

The vestiges of the nightmare clung to her, and she kept seeing Vlerion fall to the ground, half-changed into the beast, her knife in his chest. On the way to the door, she pushed open the shutters, hoping more light would drive away the memory of the dream.

Had it been a dream? Conjured by her own mind? Or had the plant sent it? Like the visions it had shared with her?

Kaylina didn't know. Since moving into Stillguard Castle, she and Frayvar had both received visions in the form of nightmares, but she didn't know how much to blame on the plant and how much was their subconscious fear finding a way to arise.

When she opened the door, she found her brother dressed, a broom and damp, dusty rag in his hand.

"How late is it?" she asked.

How long had she been captured by that dream? When she should have been helping him prepare for their sister's arrival?

"A couple hours past dawn. It's raining, so it's not surprising that you slept in."

"Slept in, right." She snorted at the idea that her sweaty nightmare-plagued thrashing had anything to do with something as restful as sleeping in .

"You're sure you're okay?"

"Yeah." No. She rubbed the back of her neck. "I will be."

Frayvar studied her face with concern. "Yesterday, I checked out some other commercial buildings with space for lease."

"Oh?" she asked with wariness, though maybe she should have made it an enthusiastic inquiry. After all she'd endured in Stillguard Castle, she shouldn't want to stay here.

But she'd put in so much work. Not only in cleaning the place up—twice, thanks to the fire—but forging a relationship with the plant. She glanced at the brand on the back of her hand, all too aware that she was now tied to this place. Even if she left, that wouldn't change.

"Yeah. Just in case. I thought rates might be down due to all the trouble in the city of late."

She snorted again. "No kidding. Were they?"

"No. I guess the hardy northerners are used to constant trouble. Invading Kar'ruk killing residents and lighting fire to the city and the countryside aren't viewed any differently than pirate attacks and hurricanes back home. People endure."

"Yes," Kaylina murmured, glancing at the brand again.

"The going rates are well out of our price range, unfortunately. I think we have to stick it out here and find a modicum of success before we can afford to move. Further, if we broke the lease, we would be responsible for the ten months of rent we would still owe to the Saybrooks. As shrewd businesspeople, they wouldn't let us out without demanding those payments, I suppose."

"No." After her last encounter with Lady Ghara, Kaylina couldn't imagine her showing leniency. It wasn't as if she and Frayvar hadn't known the castle was cursed when they'd signed that paperwork.

"I assumed not. I don't suppose… now that you're… friends with Lord Vlerion… do you think he might wish to back your fledgling business venture? If he would give us a loan…" Frayvar raised hopeful eyebrows.

"I don't want to ask him for money." Kaylina shied away from the idea, especially after Ghara had accused her of wanting exactly that from Vlerion.

"Ah. I thought when you said he'd given you that fancy sword that he might be plying you with gifts to win your love. Like in those romance novels you like."

"They're romantic adventures with swashbuckling, and Vlerion isn't plying me. He lent me the sword so I can better protect myself. What's with this interest in leaving all of the sudden?" Kaylina couldn't blame him, but he hadn't spoken of this before.

"I've had some nightmares too."

"About me killing Vlerion and him dying at my feet?" She doubted the plant was sending her brother nightmares of that, but who knew? It had given them shared visions before.

"No. Of Silana showing up and everything going wrong. In one of them, vines came out of a bowl of stew that I was serving a customer and tried to strangle him. At the time, Silana was standing behind me with a clipboard and a checklist. She shook her head and crossed something off. It felt like a teacher grading a test—a very substandard test." He winced.

"I'm not sure whether to be relieved or saddened that you're also stressed about our sister's visit." Kaylina wagered the letter was what had prompted Frayvar to look at other buildings for lease. "I'd offer you a hug, but I know how you feel about touching."

"Yes." He stepped back as if she might forget and spring upon him. " Silana will hug me when she arrives. And then tease me for being tense and weird."

"Normal people don't understand un-normal people."

"I know . I think we're stuck here though. Maybe you and Lord Vlerion can figure out who hired the kidnappers today and convince them to stop."

"That would be ideal. Wait, did you say earlier that you wanted to send him for the doctor? He's not here , is he?" She pointed toward the courtyard.

"I think he's waiting on the bridge or up the trail a ways."

"How do you know?" Kaylina imagined Vlerion stopping a safe distance from the castle while chucking rocks over the courtyard wall to get their attention. But he would have thrown such projectiles at her window instead of Frayvar's.

"Uh, a hunch." He walked to her window, pushed the shutters open wider, leaned out and pointed.

They had a view of the back of the courtyard, including the gatehouse, and she could make out two blue-furred snouts pressed against the bars.

"Ah. Give them some honey drops, will you? I need to dress."

Frayvar left, muttering about abundances of taybarri saliva, and Kaylina hurried to wash and put on clothing that wasn't rumpled. She would have to clean and press everything before Silana arrived. Their sister would doubtless be fastidiously put together, even after a long voyage at sea.

Reminded that she and Vlerion were going to see her nemesis, Jana, today, Kaylina belted on the sword. Despite Vlerion saying that his brother hadn't been much taller than she, having the long blade dangling in a scabbard from her hip made her feel awkward as she walked. Some of the rangers wore their swords on their backs, and she would look into that if she didn't grow accustomed to this.

As she'd guessed, Crenoch and Levitke were the taybarri at the gate. When she arrived, they were lapping at the cobblestones with their large tongues.

"Frayvar didn't throw your honey drops to you, did he? Like you're stray beasts and not intelligent beings who prefer being hand-fed?" Kaylina had no idea if the taybarri cared how they ate their food—when traveling, the rangers put their piles of protein pellets on the ground—but thought they might be offended by having their treats chucked through the gate to the ground.

Crenoch and Levitke whuffed with no indication that they minded, but when she offered a few more in her palm, they butted shoulders in their hurry to get to them first. A few birds chittering from a nearby tree branch flew down to investigate. One landed on her shoulder and dared swoop down to pluck up a honey drop that had somehow evaded the tongues. A cat meowed and padded past, then darted away when a couple of stray dogs ambled down the street with their noses in the air.

Since Kaylina didn't want to end up feeding all the animals in the area, she wiped her palms and pointed toward the bridge. "Is Vlerion here?"

After whuffing again, Crenoch ambled in that direction. Levitke waited for Kaylina to mount, not rolling her eyes—or the taybarri equivalent—when Kaylina got the scabbard tangled in her legs.

"Being a ranger takes a lot of practice, doesn't it?"

Levitke whuffed agreeably and padded off after Crenoch.

When they'd battled the Kar'ruk they'd stumbled upon at the Virt press, Kaylina had somehow drawn upon the brand's power to communicate with the taybarri, even hearing Levitke's telepathic words in her mind, but she hadn't tried to do so since. The elder taybarri could project their thoughts to those without any druidic power, but the young taybarri didn't seem to be able to.

Vlerion was indeed waiting at the bridge, and the memory of the nightmare flooded her mind. She took a deep breath and pushed it away. He was fine, not a single knife hole in his chest.

Unaware of her anxiety, he smiled, his brows drifting up as he took in not only the two taybarri, but the dogs trailing after them. No, after Kaylina . She hadn't seen them before and suspected the scent of honey drops had drawn them.

"If I had any doubts about you being an anrokk, I suppose seeing you lead packs of strays would squelch them."

"Two dogs isn't a pack , and I didn't think you had any doubts."

"Oh, I don't. Levitke isn't the only taybarri who tried to leave headquarters this morning when I grabbed Crenoch. I didn't say where I was going, mind you, but they knew."

"It might have been a guess," she said, though the elder taybarri could read minds, and the young were quite perspicacious too. "We do spend a lot of time together."

"To my mother's consternation, yes."

Kaylina hadn't seen Lady Isla of Havartaft since their first meeting when she'd warned Kaylina of the beast curse. She'd also warned Kaylina to stay away from Vlerion and under no circumstances flirt with him. It hadn't been bad advice, especially in retrospect, but Kaylina had not succeeded in heeding it.

"Have you seen her recently?" she asked as Vlerion mounted Crenoch and led the way into the city.

"She came to ranger headquarters yesterday to let me know about repairs that are ongoing at the estate—as I feared, it was targeted the night of the Kar'ruk invasion. Fortunately, no one was hurt. They only lobbed incendiary devices at the stable and a couple of storage buildings. Other estates weren't so lucky." Vlerion gazed toward the top of a building they were passing.

When Kaylina looked, she didn't see anything up there except a chimney and a weathervane. "I'm glad your family wasn't hurt."

"Thank you. She also wanted to make sure we weren't seeing each other." Vlerion's attention shifted from the roof to her, his expression hard to read. "For our own good."

"I hope you didn't tell her you've ordered me to move into the barracks. Also for my own good."

He sighed. "I didn't, but I didn't lie to her. Even if I had been inclined, I know she talks to Targon occasionally and would find out the truth."

"Do you think she'd be less distraught about us if I sent her more mead?" Kaylina smiled, but it saddened her that they were causing Vlerion's mom to worry. Since she'd lost her husband and her older son when their beasts had been out, Kaylina understood perfectly why Isla was worried about Vlerion. Of all people, Isla knew that Kaylina was a threat to his safety. To both of their safeties.

"I don't think she would be less distraught, no."

"But she'd drink it, right?"

"Likely so. She has mentioned on numerous occasions that it's a delight."

"Good. She needs some delight in her life."

"Yes." Sadness lurked in Vlerion's blue eyes, but he waved toward the street, and the taybarri turned to take them deeper into the city. "We'll go see Bloomlong and get to the bottom of the kidnappers."

"Thank you for coming to help me with this."

"Of course."

As they rode, Kaylina told him about Grittor and the information he'd shared.

"That's interesting," Vlerion said when she finished.

"That the Virts are still trying to recruit me?"

"No, I knew about that. But would Jana Bloomlong be trying to discredit you and ruin your opening night if she had a plan to make you disappear?"

"Since the kidnappers failed and two died in the process, she's probably assuming her plan didn't work and is now trying something else."

"That's possible. I had assumed she would try again."

"I hope not. Even if my brother says the odds of surviving kidnapping attempts are better than surviving murder attempts, I don't want to experience either again."

"Understandable. You said the Virt's name was Grittor?"

"I don't think that was his real name."

"I don't recognize it."

Kaylina hesitated before asking, " Are there hangings taking place in that square?"

Face grim, Vlerion nodded. "Yes. In the aftermath of the invasion, the king is adamant that punishments be severe for any who made deals with the Kar'ruk and invited them into our city." He lowered his voice and guided Crenoch closer to Levitke. "Unfortunately, I believe many who are being hanged aren't guilty of that. Of lesser crimes, yes—there's been an uptick of sabotage in factories—but the Kingdom Guard, under orders from the royal castle, is being ruthless."

"You don't approve." Kaylina didn't either, but she was a nobody.

"No. I've said as much, but the Havartafts don't have the sway with the throne that they once had."

"Because the king won't listen? Or because he's not the one making the decisions?"

"Some of both. My grandfather was close to Gavatorin Senior, King Gavatorin's father, but the older men are both long gone. The current king has kept my family's secret, so it's difficult for me to openly oppose him." Vlerion lifted a hand. "The reprisal has even benefited me, as the Virts are so busy trying to avoid hangings that I haven't heard any new accusations about the beast. But I cannot wish their deaths. Such harsh measures will have repercussions."

Everyone's measures were harsh here in the north. Kaylina could have argued that the Virts had brought the hangings on themselves—those who'd been in charge—but she had little doubt that a lot of innocent people were being punished.

Kaylina caught Vlerion looking toward another rooftop, this one three stories up and flat. She didn't see anything, and he soon turned his attention back toward the street. But was it her imagination or was his hand sitting closer to his sword hilt?

They'd entered a market area, and the dogs who'd been trailing the taybarri wandered off, their noses in the air as they investigated cooking tents serving everything from skewers of roasted meat and early-season vegetables to raw octopus and caviar. The latter were kept chilled, lying atop blocks of crudely chiseled ice, and Kaylina remembered Jana mentioning that ice houses in the city preserved pieces carved from glaciers. There was nothing like that in the Vamorka Islands, where glaciers—and snow, for that matter—existed only in story. Since the northerners apparently sweltered when the sun grew vaguely warm, she would have to investigate the cost to purchase ice for the eating house. She trusted the root cellar would keep the mead pleasantly cool without need for it, but Frayvar might use it in some dishes.

Giggles from the side drew Kaylina's eye. A couple of girls working in a market stall selling skeins of yarn pointed at Vlerion while whispering.

They were younger than Frayvar but old enough to appreciate men. When he glanced over, they turned away, cheeks reddening as they straightened already-straight skeins. Blushes, Kaylina noted, were easy to see on the pale-skinned northerners.

Surprisingly, a girl selling fish in the next stall focused on Kaylina instead of Vlerion, her eyes shining.

"Mom," she whispered to a middle-aged woman recording sales in a logbook, "another girl ranger. I thought Sergeant Zhaniyan was the only one."

This time, Kaylina blushed, the attention surprising her. She also felt like a fraud since she was only a trainee. She didn't wear a ranger's black leather armor, but the taybarri were so associated with the rangers that Kaylina wasn't surprised someone might make the mistake, especially since she now carried the sword.

The mother glanced at Kaylina but only flicked an I'm-busy hand.

"Maybe I really can be a ranger," the girl continued unfazed. "They sometimes allow commoners in now, you know. There are a bunch of male rangers who aren't nobles. She doesn't look noble."

Since the taybarri didn't slow down for the conversation, Kaylina missed whatever came next.

Vlerion ignored the girls who'd gone back to giggling, and he smiled at Kaylina. Because he agreed that she didn't look noble?

"She can tell because the tilt of my chin isn't haughty," Kaylina said.

"Are you sure that's it? Your chin can assume a haughty tilt when you're discussing the superiority of your mead."

She squinted at him. "I don't believe that's true."

Had Queen Seerathi, the taybarri elder who'd read her mind when she'd been thinking about how good her mead was, spoken to Vlerion about her thoughts?

"When you're thinking about its superiority then," he said, eyes glinting with humor.

Damn, Kaylina wagered Seerathi had ratted her out. "Is Sergeant Zhani a commoner?"

The subject hadn't come up during their training.

"Far from it," Vlerion said.

"What does that mean? She's more than an aristocrat?" Kaylina thought of Zhani's accent. "I thought she came from the desert. She once mentioned growing up with the sandsteaders."

"Yes. You'll have to ask her if you want more details. Only Targon and a couple of other rangers know her background. She may still technically be in hiding, though I suspect her family knows where she is."

Curiosity about her instructor made Kaylina want to probe him for more details, but Vlerion said, "We're here," and pointed toward a two-story brick building with a corner on the market square.

Signs labeled the intersecting streets as Fountain and Second, and the inn stood across from a nursery painted in cheerful yellow with blue trim. Something about that struck Kaylina as familiar, but it took her a moment to remember why. Vlerion had once mentioned it as a place with catacombs access in the basement.

But his focus was on the brick building, not the nursery. A wooden sign over the door held a tankard with the words Nakeron Inn.

Kaylina sniffed. "That's an unimaginative and generic sign. No wonder she's worried about competition."

"Not everyone sets up shop in an establishment with such a reputation that a sign isn't needed," Vlerion said mildly.

"I'd be willing to give her the plant if she wants a building with a reputation of its own."

Vlerion swung down from Crenoch's back to knock on the door. Above it, a second-story curtain stirred, but nobody came down. Vlerion tried the door, but it was locked.

Kaylina pointed to a sign made from paper in the window. It said the eating house and meadery wouldn't open until dusk because the owners had "gone to the hanging."

"That's awful," Kaylina said. "People go to watch ?"

"Always." Vlerion pointed at another sign that said an inn access door was around back. "This time, the crown is encouraging it."

"As entertainment?" Kaylina couldn't imagine wanting to watch people die.

"As a lesson. The crown wants to deter further uprisings." Vlerion kept saying the crown instead of the king . If he believed someone else was making the decisions, maybe that made sense.

Kaylina dismounted and followed Vlerion toward an alley that presumably led to the back entrance. Even though Jana was her nemesis now, Kaylina hadn't had time to check out the establishment before. Maybe she would come later to buy a goblet of mead—to sample the competing beverages.

The alley was wide, free of garbage, and offered few hiding spots, but Vlerion paused in the entrance, his hand finding the hilt of his sword.

"Trouble?" After seeing him glance toward rooftops numerous times, Kaylina wondered if he believed they were being followed. She touched Levitke's shoulder, making the question for her as well. With their keen senses, the taybarri might detect enemies sooner than humans.

"Maybe." Vlerion's gaze probed the rooftops again.

There weren't any windows on the first level, but a row of them looked down onto the alley from the second floor, the inn rooms perhaps. All were closed, and Kaylina didn't see any faces pressed to the panes. The building on the other side of the alley lacked visible windows.

Crenoch cocked his head, a floppy ear twitching. Levitke lifted her snout in the air, nostrils flexing.

"My instincts are telling me," Vlerion started, but he didn't get to finish.

A crack came from behind them, a ceramic jar striking the side of a building next to the nursery. It exploded with a deafening boom that made Kaylina cover her ears.

The explosion caused both taybarri to roar in alarm. Broken ceramic shards flew everywhere. One struck Crenoch in the head, and he sprang away.

"Put your back to the wall," Vlerion ordered Kaylina, his sword already in hand.

Smoke flooded the street and square as the noise of the explosion dwindled, replaced by alarmed shouts from the market area.

The threat, however, came not from that direction but from the alley. Several men in loose white and tan garb dropped down from the rooftop of Nakeron Inn with swords in their hands. Without a word, they charged at Vlerion and Kaylina.