Chapter Two
Arim stared at the familiar faces around the large, marble table. He wondered if he might have been better off letting Jonas pass the word about the situation in Philadelphia while he chased after Lexa.
His nephews sat around the table arguing while Ravyn and he did their best not to intervene. Except for their eye colour and personality, each brother was an exact replica of the other.
“Cadmus, first of all, not all the Djinn are sympathetic to the Light Bringers, just the Sarqua warriors like Jonas.” Marcus, the icy, blue-eyed River Prince nodded in Jonas’ direction. “Most of the Dark ones are still working with ‘Sin Garu to kill the last remaining Storm Lords—which would be us, in case you’ve forgotten. Secondly, we can’t just invite all the Sarqua Djinn into Tanselm without stirring our people into a panic. Half of our Light Bringers have never seen a Djinn before. Integration takes time.” Marcus spoke with a bite, yet without raising his voice, intentionally aggravating his sibling.
The angry flush on Cadmus’ face warned Arim of the coming argument. The Earth Lord had quite a temper when provoked, for all his mischievousness.
“Screw panic,” Cadmus answered. “It’s time we stopped our prejudices from blinding us to the truth. Since I’ve been back, Tanselm has been reaching out, touching the Earth Lord within me. The land wants more Dark to help balance our presence here. So many Light Bringers is starting to wear her thin.”
“Cadmus is right,” Aerolus agreed, glowing with magic, ever the peacemaker. The Wind Mage, a sorcerer in his own right. “Balance is needed. Tanselm’s power scatters.” He glanced at Arim, holding his gaze for a moment before turning back to those at the table.
The arrogant whelp subtly let Arim know his weakening magic had been noticed. He needed to have another talk with his nephew. Too big for his own britches, Aerolus’s deceased father, Faustus, would have agreed.
“Fuck balance.” Darius, Prince of Fire and resident hothead, spoke without thought to his mother beside him. Too late he realised his blunder, chastised when she smacked the back of his head. “Sorry, Mother. I mean, to hell, ah, heck with balance.” Darius fumed, his red eyes gleaming with frustration. “It’s not the Light Bringer populace Marcus is worried about. It’s the Congregation of Idiots.”
Ravyn sighed. “Church of Illumination, Darius. And Marcus is right to be wary. The Church exists to check our power. Tanselm’s watchkeepers. They make sure our sorcerers and Storm Lords abide by the needs and wishes of the people. Frankly, with all that’s going on around our lands right now, we can’t afford to alienate them.”
Arim wondered. The Church used to stand for what was right. But lately… Things weren’t as they should have been with the Church. He’d been so busy hunting Dark Lords he’d begun to lose sight of Tanselm’s domestic problems.
“Arim, what do you think?” Ravyn asked.
“I think we have bigger problems than the Church just now.” He related the battle he’d fought with Jonas on the mundane plane, pleased to see frowns darkening his nephews’ faces. Good, they understood the ramifications of the Netharat’s interference.
“So what do you intend to do about it?” Ravyn asked.
“I need to talk with Sava and a few others I can think of off the top of my head. It’s time the leaders of our worlds came together to form an alliance. If ‘Sin Garu mounts a successful attack against the xiantopes, other Dark Lords may come forth and try the same with other mundane worlds, upsetting the Balance. Earth must stand fast against those with magic, or Light worlds will begin seeing serious repercussions.”
Aerolus nodded. “In the altee scrolls I’ve been studying, I’ve watched prior battles fought over worlds without magic. Did you know Kreer was once like Earth? A flat plane with little to recommend it. Then one of the Aellei found it and began tinkering. Now the place is lit with odd resonances of energy. Though it’s mostly Light, Kreer is expanding—”
“Enough, Aerolus. Thanks for the unnecessary lesson about Kreer, but if we could get back to our main problem at hand?” Darius rolled his eyes.
“I feel like I’m back in University,” Marcus mumbled.
“I hated University. Too much learning,” Cadmus said. The troublemaking Storm Lord turned a sly grin Arim’s way. “So how about we ask what we really want to know?”
Arim inwardly cursed.
“Have you found Lexa yet? With Jonas’ help, you must be close.”
Jonas smirked. “Yes, oh great sorcerer. Do tell them how the hunt goes.”
Arim clenched his jaw, not amused when Cadmus shared a grin with the Darkling. “I’ll speak to you about your ‘help’ later.” He glared at his brown-eyed nephew, then turned back to the group. “As for Lexa, it’s been three weeks and she’s still missing. I’m sure ‘Sin Garu doesn’t have her. We’d have heard if he did.” I’d have felt it.
“I, for one, am glad she’s still alive.” Ravyn nodded. “Her magic helped save my life, and that of my sons, lest you forget. Aerolus, she healed you and Alandra when you needed it most, and asked nothing in return. Cadmus—”
“You don’t have to sell her to me, Mother. She took care of Ellie for years and saved my ass—myself—from ‘Sin Garu.” He shivered, clearly recalling his time in the Netharat’s grasp. “The wraiths are not nice creatures. At. All.”
Jonas piped in, the Djinn always needing to have his say, Arim thought with displeasure. “Don’t forget me. She allowed the Sarqua Djinn to return to our homeworld.” Jonas directed his emphasis Arim’s way. “She’s not the monster you think she is. She’s actually a very nice woman.”
Darius stared at Jonas as if he had three heads. “Right. The woman who kills with a touch, who murdered her Light Bringer family and who worked with B’alen and ‘Sin Garu to kill our father, aunts, uncles and cousins, is just a wonderful gal.”
Arim wondered why Darius’s sarcasm bothered him, considering he’d been thinking the same thing.
“She didn’t kill anyone.” Jonas huffed, then quickly amended, “Well, not anyone not deserving of it. I’m telling you, my Dark Mistress—the woman—I know, is no more a murderer than you or me.”
Marcus eyed him with a raised brow. “That so? Because I clearly recall you killing several Light Bringers not too long ago. A hunting party near Foreia during the Dark moon? I guess they deserved it, hmm?” His tone was as provoking as his words.
Jonas’ amber gaze flared. “For your information, Prince Jackass, those Light Bringers were trying to kill me and Ethim at the time. I’ll be damned before I lose my ruler to a measly Light Bringer warrior who doesn’t know his head from his ass.”
Cadmus chuckled. “Well said. Though I think those particular warriors were Church brethren who confused their left from their right, not exactly a head and ass thing.”
“Shut up, Darkling,” Darius shot at Cadmus and leaned closer to Marcus. “Ever since he married Ellie, he’s been more one of them than us anyway.”
Marcus nodded, his lips quirked, and chimed in about wraiths and the Dark, pecking at Aerolus, who’d married an Aellei.
Aerolus, for once, didn’t remain silent and absorbing, but fired back in retaliation for the slight on his affai. “Alandra helped defeat B’alen, who could have seriously damaged our people if he’d been allowed to live and join with ‘Sin Garu. What are you thinking, Marcus?”
“You have some nerve, you arrogant lekharn.” Cadmus glared at Marcus, including Darius in his hostility. Jonas crossed his arms over his chest, apparently in agreement with the Djinn insult—lekharn translating to shithead. “Ellie saved our world from annihilation at the cost of—”
Marcus cut him off, and then Jonas joined in the fray, voices rising in volume as male annoyance overrode the uneasy calm in the room.
Arim merely sat back, locking his gaze with his sister. “Well, this is nice. Something to break the tedium of hunting missing Dark Lords.”
Her lips curled, and she chuckled, ignoring the sudden bursts of heat and cold, of vines appearing out of nowhere in the room, and wind blowing wildly around the brothers. Jonas burst in truth, taking on the common form of the Djinn. White energy in the form of a man was surrounded by Dark flame all around the outline of his body. He crackled as he leaned closer to Marcus, who shot a blast of icy water his way. Jonas easily diverted the water with Dark magic, drenching the vine curling around Darius’s feet that Darius flamed with a blast of fire from his fingertips.
“Boys will be boys.” Ravyn smiled.
Arim couldn’t help laughing with her, the tension in him easing somewhat at the familiar scene of his nephews bickering. They normally teased one another, Cadmus being the worst offender. With all that had been happening lately, Arim knew they needed to let off some steam. Had he thought for one minute any of them meant what they’d said, he would have smashed their heads together. But he caught the feelings they were unaware of projecting, the underlying entertainment they found in taunting one another.
To Arim’s surprise, Jonas fit in as if he’d been born into the family. The Djinn, like Cadmus, had an uncanny knack for being both amusing and irritating at the same time. And like Cadmus, he had Marcus in fits.
After several moments of sheer chaos, Ravyn nodded to Arim. He immediately quelled all the magic in the room, Light and Dark.
Jonas gaped like a fish out of water as he found himself in human skin again, his Dark energy caught by flesh and bone. “Damn, didn’t know you could do that.”
“Remember that the next time you’re pestering me about Tanselm’s precious need for balance,” Arim muttered.
“Boys, I take it you’re feeling better now?” Ravyn asked. “All out of your systems?”
Her sons nodded, their faces full of chagrin. Jonas, however, laughed out loud.
“By the Dark, that was fun. How about another round?”
Darius snorted, and Marcus snickered. Cadmus slapped him on the back, their fight as if it had never existed.
Aerolus stood, a slight smile on his face, still the most serious of his siblings. “Sorry, Mother. Tension’s been building throughout the land, and I know we all feel it. Believe it or not, I think Marcus has the right of it. We can’t introduce more Dark into the land without figuring out what’s wrong within the kingdoms. There’s more than just Tanselm’s magic at stake, but the welfare of our people. Alandra and I have discussed it, and we think the Church of Illumination is somehow behind this subtler discord.”
Ravyn sighed. “I’ve had similar reports, but I hadn’t wanted to believe it. Bad enough we’re fighting a Dark Lord and the Netharat. At this point, we really don’t need any infighting to worsen our situation.”
“How bad is it?” Arim stared at his sister, suddenly more worried about her than Tanselm. Now that he opened his senses to truly see her, Ravyn looked more than tired. She appeared drained, her magic much weaker than his. Of the two of them, despite being more than a hundred years younger, he was stronger, magically. But Ravyn had always possessed the ability to take him down a peg when needed. Now she looked as if a stiff wind would knock her over, the same way she’d appeared just after learning of her husband’s tragic death.
“Reports of attacks on Djinn and Aellei have been coming in. It’s not just the northern and eastern kingdoms with problems. In Marcus’s territory to the south, the rilk forest has begun dying, the trees decaying from within. Our healers and sorcerers are baffled. Here in the west, the Church has been stirring unrest in the marketplace. Questions about the royal affai and,” Ravyn paused, staring directly into Arim’s gaze. “Your loyalty has been challenged.”
“My loyalty?” Arim didn’t understand.
Darius was happy to explain it to him. “Those dickhead—sorry Mother, but you know it’s true—Church brethren are implying that since you helped Lexa to heal, you’ve fallen under Dark enchantment.”
Arim could feel the heat behind his eyes, anger building. “What?”
“Yeah. Apparently, doing the decent thing and not killing a vulnerable, unprotected female now goes against everything we stand for. I don’t get it either.” And I don’t think our walls are safe anymore, Darius projected to Arim, using the telepathy he’d inherited from his mother. Mother’s still recovering from ‘Sin Garu’s attack and doesn’t hear the things I can. There are those among the Light Bringers that seek to overturn Storm Lord leadership.
Arim’s gaze narrowed. We’ll speak of this later. Say nothing to your mother. She doesn’t look as if she can handle any more stress.
Darius discreetly nodded, shooting his mother a concerned glance, and turned back to Marcus to agree with his brother’s latest tangent about instilling a curfew at night, to help protect the people from Netharat invaders.
While his nephews came up with a game plan to better secure their people, Arim tried to see past his sister’s inner shields. How injured was she? Like Lexa, Ravyn had fallen during an attack by ‘Sin Garu. For weeks she’d lain unconscious, her energy perilously low. None of the Light Bringer sorcerers had been able to help her. Until Lexa had done something to restore his sister’s power.
Arim still didn’t understand it and planned to fully interrogate Lexa when he found her again. Why would she do something so out of character? For that matter, why help his family at all? She’d saved Ravyn, Aerolus and Cadmus. Had turned both her Dark Lord kin into blooddrinkers, weakening them substantially, and even had a hand in B’alen’s death. But why? There had to be a sinister motive in there somewhere, something he didn’t see, or couldn’t see, because he was still too damned close to her.
Despite the years and battles between them, the passion that existed whenever they neared was still in force. Hell, taking care of her had soothed him in ways he couldn’t explain, even as it bothered him to still feel for the murderous—he glanced at Jonas—alleged murderous, Dark Lord.
Why am I concerned with Lexa when my sister sits wounded before me? Shaking free of his traitorous desire that should no longer exist for the enigma constantly taunting him, Arim focused again on Ravyn. The idea floating in her mind shocked him into speech.
“You know who the next overking of Tanselm will be?”
The room fell silent, and all eyes turned to Ravyn.
Arim didn’t understand why she hadn’t told him before now. Like Arim, Ravyn possessed a strong background in sorcery. A Valens by birth, who up until a few months ago had kept their sibling bond a secret from even her sons, Ravyn commanded Tanselm’s magic and wielded it with astonishing skill. She had particular talents that ebbed and flowed as she aged. The telekinesis that had once been her strongest gift had faded decades before, but her telepathy was still powerful. She still commanded the lightning her husband, a powerful Wind Mage much like his son Aerolus, had mastered when alive. And apparently, Ravyn could still prognosticate—an ability she’d passed on to Cadmus not long ago.
“Mother?” Darius croaked. “Who is to be the next overking? Which of us has sowed the next Royal Four?”
“Tell us, please,” Aerolus said with a smile, seemingly the only Storm Lord not panicked at thoughts of ruling all of Tanselm.
“She isn’t pregnant yet, and until she gives birth, I’ll say no more.” Ravyn glared at Arim. I’ll talk to you about this later. Had I wanted any of you to know, I’d have said something. Now stop digging through my mind. You’re giving me a headache trying to repel the intrusion.
Arim released his mental hold on his sister, shocked she would have kept anything from him at all. From the time he’d been old enough to understand their place in the world, they’d bonded with a strength that had withstood curses, spells and familial deceit. Even while Faustus had lived, Ravyn and Arim had maintained that blood bond, though in secret from all but her husband.
The Valens name, once synonymous with fear and death, had undergone a transformation centuries ago after Ravyn had recreated herself in order to marry the man she loved, King Faustus Storm. Even so, she’d pledged to remain faithful to her brother, her last living blood relative, and she had. Keeping their relationship secret had protected him as much as it had helped her. Only recently had they shared their relationship with his nephews, and only with the Royal Four and their affai.
For Ravyn’s ceaseless selflessness and dedication to helping those in need, Tanselm had chosen Ravyn to birth the next generation of Storm Lords. Not only that, but the land and the Light had graced Arim with the power to protect his sister and her children, so that they might one day return the favour, defending Tanselm.
Arim, however, had not protected his sister well enough. His inattention when it was needed most had given ‘Sin Garu the opportunity to kill not only Ravyn’s beloved husband, but nearly herself as well. Arim took a deep breath, trying to release the rage roiling within. He would do none of them good by sinking in self-blame, not when he had a kingdom, and a sister, to protect. Logically he knew he could never have protected Faustus from the insidious Djinn poison that had killed him, considering it had been served by a loyal servant. Emotionally, Arim couldn’t help second-guessing the measures he’d once ordered to protect the king.
“Sorry,” he said to her softly before standing and addressing the others. “I’m going to take Ravyn back to her chambers. The rest of you, continue to plan our defences. And Cadmus, focus. You need to see when ‘Sin Garu plans to hit next.”
Cadmus nodded.
Arim took Ravyn by the arm and helped her to her feet, concerned when she glared but said nothing about not needing his help. The fact that she clearly did spoke volumes, and her sons noted as well, their faces strained with the knowledge.
“Jonas,” Arim continued, walking with Ravyn from the table. “Stay here and gather the Sarqua Djinn. I want you and Cadmus to keep a sharp eye on your people. I have a feeling one of them is not as innocent in all this as he appears.”
“Why do you say that?” Jonas didn’t protest the accusation, and his lack of defence against his Dark brothers told Arim what he’d wanted to know.
“Just keep a sharp eye out. In the meantime, the rest of you watch your affai. ‘Sin Garu has thus far failed in his attempts to prevent the next coming of the Storm Lords. But if he harms any of your women before they conceive, Tanselm will fall.”
Ravyn nodded beside him. “I’ve seen this possibility. It’s not pretty. You must take care with my new daughters.”
Darius nodded. “We will, Mother.” His gruff voice softened as he stared at her hand clutching Arim’s forearm for support. “Now why don’t you let the Tetrarch take over the city’s protection and get some rest? You must remain strong. We still have need of our overqueen.”
“And of our mother,” Aerolus added softly, his eyes bright. “Please, go with Arim. I’ll send Alandra to you soon.”
Arim thought about it. “No. Keep her in the east with the Aellei. She’s safer there. Cadmus, the same goes for Ellie. Jonas, play bodyguard, you and the select Djinn you can trust.”
Jonas nodded, his expression tight.
“Marcus and Darius,” Arim continued, “send Tessa and Samantha to the keep to help your mother. Ravyn, don’t argue.” He halted her objection before she started. “This will keep both affai safer than they would be without you. And they won’t argue if you tell them they’re needed.”
Darius raised a brow at Arim. You want Samantha and Tessa with Mother to keep her safe, or to keep them safe and out of the way?
Both. And despite my reasoning, the plain truth is that your mother needs to take her mind off her worries. Having her daughters near comforts her. It makes her think of babies and a future instead of the bleak promise of Darkness over the land.
“Good idea.” Darius nodded with vigour. “Mother, tell Samantha how much you need her with you. It would put me at ease to know she’s safe with you. She’s a little bloodthirsty when it comes to setting fire to invading Netharat,” he said with pride.
Marcus agreed. “Tessa will listen to you over me. For some reason, she questions everything I tell her.” But he didn’t sound displeased.
Cadmus snorted. “That’s because you don’t ‘tell’ her anything. You order her around.”
“I do not.” Marcus grinned, his blue eyes lighting with pleasure. “I lovingly suggest. I am, after all, her lord and master.”
“’Lord and Master?’ Please. She’d kick your ass. From what I hear, the master thing is more Aerolus’s department,” Cadmus ragged, earning a flush from the tight-lipped Wind Mage.
Arim couldn’t help staring. He’d once overheard Alandra saying something of the sort to Ellie, and the two had shared a wicked laugh, but he’d believed her to be joking. Apparently, his nephew really was quite ‘masterful’ in bed.
He winked at Aerolus. “It’s always the quiet ones.”
Ravyn coughed, not managing to hide her laughter, and tugged Arim away from the others. “Before Aerolus gets any redder, let’s go back to my chambers. We have a few things to discuss in private.”
Arim teleported them both to her room. Ravyn had never believed that he no longer cared for Lexa, so he was fully prepared to stave off any more questions about Lexa and his nonexistent feelings for the woman. He was shocked to see Ravyn’s dead husband, Faustus, shimmering with the glow of the afterlife, waiting for them with open arms.