Chapter 81

Arik

I couldn't think of a single thing worse than riding down the road to the duchy of Fallspire. One, we were riding away from the city, rather than towards it. That meant trusting Selene to keep Magnus away from Jessalyn and the princess from getting into trouble. My hands gripped the reins tighter and tighter until my horse's head jerked up in question. His hooves clattering nervously across the stone road was a familiar one, triggering the second thing that concerned me. Not the lack of sleep from the long ride or the naps we'd caught in ditches, just our cloaks pulled around us, nor the fact we were too far away to do anything if Magnus moved against Jessalyn, but this. The past was the thing I feared the most, because all the best moments in my life happened in Fallspire.

Along with the worst.

Ariel came to me each time I was forced to ride down this track, and she did again now.

"My prince…"

She was straddling my lap, and I was trying too damn hard not to grip her tightly. That or spill in my pants. My cock was straining to get to her, like a hound on a leash, but it wasn't a tumble in the hay I wanted from Lady Ariel of Fallspire. My eyes followed her hand as it danced through the air, sure no woman's hands had ever been so elegant. She let out a soft laugh, almost a sigh, as her fingers landed on my cheek. Just a brief brush of a caress, there and gone again as it trailed down to my lips.

That look of fascination. All of her courtly graces deserted her as she frowned slightly. I needed to know what was going on inside her head, needed to pierce her skull to chase down every thought, to understand what was going on. Did she feel like she teetered on a cliff's edge, just like I did? Did her lungs fight to fill? It was like every automatic process in my body stopped right then, unable to continue without knowing.

"My Arik—"

"Arik!"

I was jerked back to the present, a fine drizzle now coming down from the clouds, but it wasn't a weather report that my brothers sought to give me. There was an intruder on the road, though not one I'd draw a weapon against. Never in my life did I expect to see it again.

A golden stag.

I twisted my father's ring on my finger to reveal the signet caved in the top and as I stared my eyes traced the shape of the magnificent beast as he stood there, pawing at the cobblestones. The stag carved into my father's ring did the same, frozen eternally by cast gold. My head throbbed and my heart felt like it beat far too hard in my chest, because we… We'd just discovered the ultimate pretext to draw my brother out on the hunt.

The golden stag was a symbol of kingship for time immemorial in Khean. My father, wore a golden crown, as did Magnus now, but in days of yore, it would've been made from deer antlers. The stag only ever appeared when a prince was to be confirmed as heir.

The first time I saw the golden stag I was beside myself, quivering with an entirely different energy than what had manifested when I was with Ariel. I'd been told stories of the way each king brought down the stag, claiming his kingship, but none caught my attention more than the story of the twin kings. Each one born heir, each one with an equal claim to the throne, their father had prayed to the gods for guidance on how to keep the country from being split into two halves to accommodate each boy. The gods sent the stag. He who brought it down became king.

And he who failed became the Duke of Fallspire, the largest duchy in the country.

I stiffened in the saddle, memories of an entirely different kind coming rushing up. Of a stag stumbling across the road, bellowing in distress. Of ugly little cuts. Of blood and bone and—

"This is all the excuse we need," Silas said, the excitement evident in his voice. "We'll bring word of this to the king, and he'll be forced to ride out."

But I didn't want that. As I stared into the beast's eyes, I was caught in the net of gold, bronze, and copper there. When his head lifted, so did mine, and when I did, I felt it, the weight. I was one of few men who knew how a crown of antlers felt on his head, and that's what had me standing tall in the saddle.

"Rah!" My shout echoed out across the forest, sending birds flying from their perches, but not the stag. It merely let out a huff of breath, its damn hoof raking across the cobblestones again. "Are you tainted, stupid beast?"

"Arik," Roan rode closer. "Arik, what are you doing?"

"Run!" I slapped the reins against my horse's neck and kicked it into a canter, the two of us going careening down the road, aiming for the stag. Its haunches bunched, the muscles quivering, as I silently told it over and over what to do. Run, I urged. Run!

I was that boy again, relegated to the sidelines to watch this horror play out. The queen was there, as was that repellent child that slithered from between her legs. My ‘brother,' the crown prince. He and all his cronies in the hunting party ringed the beast with cruel smiles on their faces as he approached, knife in hand. Not a sword, like a true king, but… I blinked, seeing the concerned looks on the faces of my true brothers, then the steady gaze of the stag.

He shouldn't exist. The golden stag died years ago when I was still a young man, when Ariel still breathed. When the world seemed filled with possibilities rather than hollow and empty, but I nodded to the beast on the road, seeing the poetic justice to its appearance. The stag appeared when a prince was due to be confirmed as the future king.

Or an old king would die.

As if noting that his message had been conveyed, the stag did as I asked and ran off into the forests.

"What the fuck was that?" Roan asked, pulling up beside me. "That fucking deer was the colour of a newly minted coin."

"Why do you think there's bloody gold stags on every one of our flags?" Silas snapped. "He is the symbol of the royal house of Khean. His call cannot be ignored—"

"So we better move then," I said, not waiting for an answer as I kicked my horse into a gallop.

Silas was indeed correct. We'd talked long with the Duke and his allies about how to prick the king's pride and get him riding down to the duchy of Fallspire, but this? No king worth his salt could ignore the presence of the golden stag. To do so was to announce to everyone that he feared to meet the challenge the stag represented, bringing his entire reign into question.

"Arik!" the Duke said as he walked into his drawing room. We'd arrived to be met by his seneschal, who'd offered us refreshments and left us here to wait until the duke was ready to greet us. I'd left my ale undrunk on one of the tiny side tables, pacing back and forth, unable to stand still under this roof. "What brings you down here, my boy?"

Boy? That still rankled, even after all these years, and as if in response to that, I stood straight, affecting the same stance we were forced to use on the parade ground. The duke was always a quick study, nodding as he noted that, the others falling into line beside me.

"We bring some devices that may assist in our plan to…" My throat closed up for just a second. "To bring our problem to an end, as well as news."

"That this is all a feint on the part of the Raven?" he replied, smiling when I blinked in surprise. "One doesn't live under the shadow of the Raven of Khean without seeing some of the patterns in his behaviour. Apologies, Silas."

He nodded to my brother.

"No need, Your Grace. No one feels the cold of his shadow more keenly than I."

"Just so." The Duke turned to me. "So, was that all you needed?" He peered at my untouched tankard. "Let's get you some of the good ale and—"

"The golden stag has been sighted."

It was a strange thing, seeing the Duke's face smooth free of every expression but naked shock. Courtiers, nobles, they never let on what they were thinking or feeling for fear of making themselves vulnerable to attack.

"The stag…" His eyes studied mine, then my brothers', searching for a sign, some kind of confirmation of truth or a lie. "But you—?"

"It's been sighted on the road to Fallspire," I said quickly, pushing past that uncomfortable fact. "On the very outskirts of your lands."

"A king must answer the call of the stag," Silas said smoothly.

"He must indeed." The Duke recovered quickly, nodding to himself, his eyes dancing. "I'll send word to the castle, but first, to my bannermen. We must plan this meticulously."

"We must." I pulled the devices from my pockets and then held them out. "We've discussed things with some people eminently qualified to help us achieve our aims. The Raven had it right the first time. An accident is the only solution. A king dying while hunting the golden stag? The people would see that event as fated, masking our own involvement in the process."

"They would indeed." For the first time since Ariel's death, I saw the duke truly smile as he clapped his hand on my arm. "Now, come into the great hall while we wait for the lords to arrive."

He meant to make me feel welcome by steering me towards his hall, but like everything in this duchy, it just brought back more unpleasant memories. Of the hall being filled with soldiers and lords, pouring over maps and moving around small markers to make clear how they intended to fight the upcoming war.

Back then I'd felt a wild kind of glee, finally, finally striking back against a brother who had made my life a misery. But I'd done so with a crown of antlers on my head. I'd long since put such boyish things aside, optimism being the first casualty of war, but not the last. I blinked, seeing a graceful figure walking down the chairs that lined one side of the duke's great table, wine ewer in her hands as she looked over her shoulder at me and smiled.

"Sit, sit," the Duke urged, gesturing to the table, but I just stared, seeing Ariel fade before my very eyes before I could bear to pull out a chair.