The Light Unleashed Page 6

  Kyran studies the old man’s face. “You are serious?”

  “Aye.”

  The outlaw strides toward my father. “And what do you think of this? It is one thing to admit you threw me out of the Sanctuary without proof of my loyalties.” His eyes watch Geran closely. “It is another thing entirely to see me take your only daughter as my wife.”

  It takes my father a moment to look up from the table. “Far better you, than Braedon.”

  Kyran tilts his head in agreement. “But would you not rather see her with someone of your own kind? Or even a true Commoner? Than one like me?”

  “I would be lying if I said otherwise. But I can also see what is best for Ayden may not always be what I consider best for my daughter. It was her decision to abide to the contract as written, if you are willing to accept the proposal.”

  “Aye? Her decision?”

  My father’s eyes flicker to where I hide in the galley. Kyran follows his glance.

  I step out of the shadows. “I’m sorry to be eavesdropping. I didn’t want you to feel pressured to agree to this.”

  The room remains silent while Kyran and I stare at each other. My father rises from the table. “What is your decision? Will you sign the betrothal contract and make it official?”

  Kyran doesn’t break his stare. “May we have a moment together?”

  “What?” Geran asks.

  “Your Majesty, I request an audience alone with you.”

  I force myself to breathe before I answer. “Please show him to the library. I’ll speak with him there.”

  I arrive before Kyran, so I wander along the shelves, letting my shaking fingertips trace over the leather bindings. I think I picked this room because of the comforting smells of oiled wood and leather. Somehow they ground me.

  I don’t turn around when the door opens, instead I study the book I hold in my hands as the door clicks shut. I don’t know what makes me more nervous, the idea that Kyran will refuse the proposal, or that he’ll accept it.

  “Your Majesty?”

  I replace the book to the shelf, force myself to smile, then face him. “It’s good to see you again. Especially when there’s no one trying to kill me.” I let out a nervous chuckle. “At least not at the immediate moment.”

  He doesn’t laugh, but the corners of his mouth curve up for a second. His eyes scan me over from head to toe. Tamra has left most of my hair down today, braiding only a few strands back so they keep off my face. I know the emerald green gown I wear complements my latte-colored skin. I may not be as well-endowed or beautiful as the woman he rode here with, but at least I’m cleaner.

  He breaks the silence between us. “The crown becomes you.”

  My hand flutters up to it. “You think so? Mostly I just think it’s heavy.”

  He shrugs. “It should be heavy. To remind you of the responsibilities you have as queen.”

  “I suppose you’re right. I don’t usually wear it, but the Assembly thought I should today.” I grow uncomfortable under his intense scrutiny. I look away and read the titles on several bindings before he speaks again.

  “Why do you want this?”

  “Our betrothal?”

  He nods.

  “For all the reasons you heard the others say.”

  “Such as?”

  “You’re of Elder and Mystic blood. The Commoners accept you as one of their own. It’s only the Mystics of the Council that oppose you and they’ll go to war against anyone I choose other than Lord Braedon. With you as my husband, the Commoners will rally to our side. We’ll have a chance of defeating the Mystics.”

  He watches me for a moment. “Is that the only reason?”

  “No.” My fingers reach out to touch the bindings again. “I signed the contract. I honor my promises.”

  “Any others?”

  I wish I could pull the answer he wants from out of one of the books on the shelf. “What more do you want me to say?”

  He lets out a soft, almost sad laugh. “Do you even like me?”

  Now I feel like a jerk. “Of course I do. I mean, you got me out of the Fey twice. You saved my life. Of course I like you.”

  He comes closer. “So, because I saved your life, you like me?”

  “No. I mean yes, I like you, but not just because you saved my life.” His proximity makes me nervous. Like the first time I met him. I can’t think straight.

  “Then why?”

  “What?”

  “What do you like about me?”

  I can’t fathom what he wants from me. My mind is a total blank. “What do you want me say? Tell me what it is and I’ll say it.”

  I see pain flash behind his eyes but don’t understand what I’ve said to cause it.

  “You do not have to say anything.”

  I think about all the women I’ve seen fawn over him whenever I’ve been with him. “Please don’t tell me that’s it.”

  “What?”

  I hadn’t realized I’d spoken aloud. “I’m sorry if I’m not like all those lovesick girls that worship the very ground you walk on. If I’m not drooling over your every word and waiting for the moment when you can take me to your bed and ravish me.”

  As if I’ve flipped some kind of switch, his eyes grow cold. He walks toward the door.

  “You’re leaving?”

  He pauses. His knuckles rap on the corner of the table. “I see no reason to stay.”

  “Then . . . you won’t marry me?”

  Kyran shakes his head.

  “What did I say?”

  “It’s what you couldn’t say.” He faces me again. “I love my country, Your Majesty. I love the people in it. Those that work the land, that accepted me into their lives as if I were one of their own. I will gladly stand up and fight with them. I will give my life for any one of them.” His eyes pierce my soul. “But I will not sign my life away to a marriage where there is no love. No real friendship. Only obligation. That would be too hard a sacrifice.”

  My heart catches in my throat. “I’m so sorry. If that’s what you thought I meant. That’s not it at all.”

  I plop myself into a chair. This wasn’t going the way I’d envisioned it. Folding my arms on the table, I hide my head in shame.

  In truth we can have no secrets. Your thoughts are open to me as mine are to you.

  I wipe the tears from my cheeks and raise my head. Then you can tell I never meant to sound so cruel.

  “Aye.” He sits down in the chair next to me, turning it so we face each other. “But I’d prefer it if we could actually tell each other what we felt, rather than stealing it from each other’s minds.”

  I study his face. His eyes are the color of mahogany, warm and deep. His hair looks like wire bristles on a brush, he keeps it cut short against his scalp. His face is clean shaven. Little laugh lines edge his eyes. His rich, brown skin seems without blemish.

  Kyran reaches out to take my hands in his. “There is something in your thoughts that I cannot read. Some fear . . . some . . . I cannot tell what it is. What is it you don’t like about me?”

  “It’s not you. Please believe me, it’s nothing about you.”

  “There is something. Will you not tell me the truth?”

  I pull my hands from his and stand. “It’s stupid. It’s stupid and there’s nothing you can do about it anyway, so I don’t want to tell you.”

  “Is it that I’m a bastard? That Mystic blood runs through my veins?”

  “No!” I cross my arms across my stomach, trying to stop my nerves from overtaking my mouth. “I wasn’t raised here, I don’t have the same prejudices as my father and some of the other Elders.”

  He studies my face. “Is it the boy then?”

  “What boy?”

  “The boy whose life you saved by signing the contract. Do you still have feelings for him?”

  “Tegan?” It hurts to say his name. A physical pain in my chest. I lower my chin, unable to stand Kyran’s gaze. “I’ll always care for him, I can’
t help that. But we’re not meant to be together.”

  Please. Tell me.

  I find comfort again in touching the leather books. I pull a thick volume out and clutch it to my chest like a shield. “I don’t want to get married to anyone. Not yet.”

  Kyran’s brows come together in a questioning look.

  “In the Other World, the world I know, the culture I grew up in . . . it’s practically unheard of for a girl to get married at sixteen. I mean, I don’t think it’s even allowed without special permission unless you’re eighteen, and hardly anyone gets married that young anymore.”

  I pace to the other side of the table. “Until two months ago I wasn’t planning on getting married until I was at least twenty-four or twenty-five, so I’m having a real hard time picturing myself married to anyone, not just you, in another year.”

  “I see.” He lets out a long sigh. He shifts his chair and leans back against it. “Is there something else?”

  Still clutching the book, I sit down opposite him. I place it on the table and rub the cover with my hands. “It’s nothing against you personally, but yeah, there’s something else.” I force myself to spit it out before I lose my nerve. “Where I come from, it’s really weird when someone my age even dates a guy your age.”

  “Weird? What does that mean?”

  The twelve year age difference between us seems vast to me. “Weird . . . creepy . . . not normal.”

  “And what is . . . that other word you used? ‘Dates’?”

  “It’s like courting.”

  He looks surprised. “Aye? So if the women do not marry until they are twenty-four, what age do the men marry?”

  “The same. I mean, generally you marry someone the same age, give or take a year or two.”

  He frowns. “Now I understand your hesitation.”

  I lean forward. “Do you? Because I want you to know that I think you’re very attractive—” I feel my cheeks burn with a blush when his eyes twinkle at me. I lower my head in an effort to hide it. “I mean, you’re a very brave man, too . . . but it’s just weird for me to think of us, you know . . . married.”

  He moves his chair closer to the table, then reaches across to take hold of my hands. “We do not have such customs here. Most girls marry before they reach eighteen. And it’s quite common for an arranged marriage to have such a difference in age.” He folds his hands over mine. “I know you to be a girl of intelligence and great strength. I know you care deeply for your family and friends.” His eyes stare into mine. “And you are a girl of rare beauty. It radiates from you, spilling over to those around you.”

  He chuckles at my blushing. “And you are modest. An uncommon quality from most of the women I have been with.”

  I don’t want to look at him anymore, but he takes my chin in his fingers, turning me back to face him. “There’s just one more thing we need to clear up before we decide if this marriage is one we can both live with.”

  Without warning, he leans across the space between us and presses his mouth to mine. It isn’t Tegan’s hungry kiss of passion. It isn’t Josh’s desperate kisses of love. This is a gentle kiss, almost chaste in its touch. A promise. Tiny currents of electricity run from my lips to my toes.

  “Aye.” He smiles when I open my eyes to look at him. “I think there’s something there, don’t you?”

  Afraid my voice will crack, I nod in answer.

  He stands up. “Come. The others will be waiting for my answer.”

  We walk along opposite sides of the table until we come to the end. Kyran reaches over and tugs gently to bring me to his side. He places my arm on his as we walk down the hallway. I catch the guard smiling before he opens the door.

  The Assembly stands as we enter the room.

  “Well?” asks my father.

  Kyran looks to me. You must be the one to tell him.

  “He has agreed to the betrothal.”

  My father’s eyes stare into mine. I know he isn’t as happy as the others around the table, but he nods as the rest sigh with relief or call out congratulations.

  Quinn unrolls the parchment on the table. “Then if the matter is settled, we’ll have you sign the contract.”

  Kyran shakes his head. “I will not be signing it as it is now.”

  A gasp echoes around the room.

  I pull my arm from his. “Why not?” What are you doing?

  Giving you time. “I would like an amendment to what is written. As you said yourselves, Alystrine has only just learned of our country and her role in it. The crown is new to her and the coming year will be one of war. We all know that.” He takes a step toward my father. “That’s a lot of changes for a young woman to experience, even one as gifted as she is. I dare say, to become a wife now may overwhelm her.”

  He turns back to me. “I’d like to reword the betrothal so that she may wait until after her second year as queen to wed me.” That gives you two years to get used to the idea.

  “You’d really let me wait that long?”

  “I would marry the girl that you are now. But I can wait for the woman you are going to become.”

  Relief spreads through me, my muscles letting go of the tension they’ve held since the Elders first called to Kyran. “Thank you.”

  He turns to the others in the room. “Are there any objections?”

  No one raises any, so Quinn makes the changes to the contract. “Now will you both sign it?”

  Kyran dips the quill in the ink and scratches his name on the yellow parchment. I try not to let my hand tremble as I do the same.

  We step back from the table and face each other.

  Quinn’s voice echoes in my mind. Read the vows.

  I pull out the notes I scribbled earlier under my family’s instruction. I look at the first line. “I Alystrine, Elder and Queen of Ayden, d-do hereby pledge to take you, Kyran, as my husband and my prince.”

  I hesitate, unable to read the rest of the lines my counselors want me to say. Kyran deserves more. I crumple the note and let it drop to the ground. I’m not very good at this.

  He takes my hands. The words are for them. I can see what is in your heart.

  I study our clasped hands before I go on. “I promise to serve you, as a queen should serve all her people. I promise to honor you, because you are a man of courage and valor who deserves to be honored.” I look into his eyes. “And I will try to love you, as a wife should love her husband.”

  “And I, Kyran, Elder and Mystic by birth, Commoner by choice, pledge to take you Alystrine, Queen of Ayden, as my wife. I will honor you, as a queen deserves to be honored. I pledge my sword, for the protection of your person and your throne.” He lifts one hand and cups my cheek. “And I will love you, as a husband should love his wife.” Kyran leans down and presses his lips to mine. We are now bound together. Half of one heart, half of one soul. He pulls away so he can look into my eyes. And when you are ready. When you truly love me, we will be united. Two people as one.

  “Announce it throughout the country,” cries Naill. “The queen has chosen and Ayden shall have a new prince!”

  .

  CHAPTER SIX

  Mom . . . Meet Kyran

  I’ve been forgotten as the men want to talk about war preparations. My mind shoots a thought to Kyran. Now what?

  He doesn’t look up from the table where he’s surrounded by members of the Assembly. This was your idea, Your Majesty. I was not planning to get betrothed when I came here today.

  What were you expecting?

  Now he glances at me, eyes sparkling with mirth. Perhaps a hot meal and a medal? A little gold for my help in the Fey?

  I’ll see what I can—

  “Excuse us, gentlemen.” Maris and Nitza push their way through the crowd. My grandmother stands next to Kyran. “I am sure our guest would like to relax before dinner. There will be plenty of time for strategizing tomorrow.”

  As the highest ranking Elder, my grandmother’s words carry weight. The men back away to let
Kyran stand, even though their faces show their annoyance.

  “Maris,” Geran’s voice is stern. “These are important matters.”

  She glares at him. “What makes you believe I am ignorant of that fact?”

  My father has the good grace not to argue further.

  Maris scans the room. “We have all lived with the possibility of this marriage for several weeks now. But for Kyran, this is a surprise, to say the least.”

  Kyran can’t stop a snort of laughter from escaping.

  Maris smiles. “Let him have an evening to rest and contemplate his new future, before we bombard him with battle plans.”

  The Assembly members mumble their agreement.

  “Very well. Follow me, Kyran.” Maris and Nitza lead my new fiancé from the room. Maris pauses at the door. “Alystrine? Are you coming?”

  By her tone, it isn’t a question, it’s a command. I hurry to catch up as they exit the room.

  Kyran shoots me a nervous glance. Where is she taking me?

  I have no idea.

  “He can Mind Speak, Maris?” Nitza asks. “You did not inform us of that gift.”

  My grandmother eyes me disapprovingly. “I was not told.”

  “Sorry,” I mumble. “But you never asked.”

  Although Kyran’s legs are longer than hers, he has trouble keeping up with Maris’s pace. “May I ask where we’re going?”

  The grin she flashes him is mischievous. “It is time you met your future wife’s mother.”

  “What?” His sudden stop causes Nitza to run into him. The two dance awkwardly for a moment.

  “She means Kennis.” I watch as Nitza and Kyran regain their balance. “Remember, I told you before that my aunt raised me.”

  Maris frowns. “Did you think we were going to summon the spirit of Etain? Only the Mystics work such dark magic.” She starts back down the hallway. “I thought it would be better to have you meet Kennis before the ceremonial dinner tonight.”

  She leads us to the small sitting room. A table has been laid with several goblets, a pitcher, and trays of bread and cheese. Kennis stands as we enter.

  My mother’s eyes appraise Kyran. She smiles graciously, but I know she’s good at hiding her feelings. She gives me a questioning look.