A Baron of Bonds (Conduit of Light #2)

16. Karus

Chapter 16

Karus

“ Ash! ”

A distant yell rattled me from the dark sleep I had slipped into.

It had been two weeks since I had left with the lumens in that forsaken hole in the place I loved. Two weeks since I had made the choice to delve into a sickening semblance of all the Blightress was and had been for hundreds of years.

I loathed her.

I wanted to rip that crimson grin from her face and force her to see how much Revich loved me. I would find a way to someday return to her and show her that I was worth what I said I was worth. I was no sprout. I was a fucking tree of life just in my midst of blooming again after the winter, and I would find my way back to my love where I would never leave his side again.

“Ashton!”

The call flew across the tall grasses that swayed like waves in the fierce wind. A storm rumbled from the sky above me, and I opened my eyes to see the face of a child staring back at me.

“What are you doing down there?” he asked, tilting his head. His ginger curls bounced with the movement and I grinned.

Half a moment later, Parvus’s face stared down at me too, another of his high whines piercing the air. He stuffed his snout under my back, nudging me to rise.

The little boy laughed in the pure delight that children do, and Parvus gave him a lick. I groaned and sat up, seeing that the child must be no more than four or five years old.

The boy reached up to pet Parvus’s head, his hands barely able to graze the top.

“Ashton!” I heard the call again and spied a figure behind us, running closer across the grass.

“Hello,” I greeted the boy and pet Rauca who came up to lick my arm. “Are you Ashton? Is that your father coming now?”

“That’s my father and this is my lumen,” he replied, squeezing Parvus whose enormous tongue continued to loll out of his mouth.

“Oh, really?” I laughed, rising and rubbing my aching back. “And when did you decide that?”

“When he fell out of the sky with you and I came to see who you were.” He pointed to Rauca. “That one is yours. We can each have one or we…we can share them both.”

“That is generous of you,” I chuckled. “His name is Parvus, and I’m not sure your father will think it’s a good idea.”

I bent down to the boy whose nose was graced with freckles. “I’ll put in a good word, though, with your father,” I whispered and winked.

“Ashton!” His father panted behind me, running past and picking him up swiftly as if he were in danger.

I pulled my hair from my face and wiped my filthy hands on my filthy dress, embarrassed.

I caught his stare as he held his son to his chest and gasped.

“Geyrand?”

At the same time, he shook his head and breathed, “Ash?”

He set his son on the ground and rushed forward, pulling me into his arms. I laughed at the warm embrace of the man I once knew very well.

He rocked us back and forth, his relief rumbling in his chest. “We’ve been looking for you for weeks, Ash.” He pulled my face back as I struggled to subside my tears.

Finally, I was embraced by someone who cared about me. Finally, I was cared for. I had not seen this man in over seven years, and yet, he loved me in some way still.

“I’m sorry—I mean, Karus.” He grinned wide, ignoring my dirty face and dress, but eyeing my white-streaked hair. “It’s going to take some time to get used to this new you.”

“Geyrand…how are you here? Where are we?” I stepped back, still holding his arms. Ashton had ignored our reunion and was attempting to climb onto Parvus’s back. The lumen bent his hind legs in an effort to aid the boy, but he slipped off again with giggles and an encouraging nudge from Rauca.

“The outskirts of Hyrithia to the north. I live nearby with my companion and son. Karus,”—he shook his head again in disbelief—“we’ve all been looking for you. What happened? The Baron?—”

I shook his arms. “You’ve seen Revich?” my voice cracked.

“Yes, but he is not here. We have to get you to the castle. It’s a day’s ride from my home. We’ll stop there.” Geyrand’s face held a concerned smile. “It’s good to see you again. Whatever happened to you…you’re safe now.”

He let go of my arms and picked up his son who had managed to get his middle over Parvus’s back. Holding him on his side by the waist, the boy laughed in delight, kicking his legs behind him.

I stroked Parvus and Rauca in reassurance for myself as much as them. Thunder rolled closer and the first drops of the promised storm fell. “We can ride the lumens. I promise they’re safe.”

Geyrand looked them over, one eyebrow raised.

“Please, Pa! That one is mine!” Ashton pointed to Parvus who turned in an offer of his back.

I held Ashton’s hand as his father wearily climbed onto the massive wolf and then handed the boy to him. Both father and son’s face lit up with matching delight and matching features, and I laughed seeing my first lover and his child together.

I climbed onto Rauca, patting her and whispering, “Don’t worry, we’ll see Revich soon.”

“Faster, Pravis!” Ashton shouted, digging into the fur at his neck and leaning forward.

I chuckled at the name and asked, “How far are we from your home, Geyrand?”

The rain began to pick up as lightning flashed across the mountains.

He looked up at the tumultuous sky. Rain fell across his face and down the red curls pulled back from his shoulders. I recognized deep within my memories the young man I had once known intimately.

“It’s a good half-hour walk. We were out this far because I was on patrol for any sign of you.”

I nudged Rauca’s side, signaling for her to pick up the pace and Parvus matched her. “Why did Revich think I’d be out here? Did he find the rhyzolm?”

“I don’t understand how the stone works, but he has felt you all over the isle these past weeks.”

“I don’t understand. How could I have been all over the isle?”

Geyrand grunted in a unified agreement that he did not know. I remembered well this part of him, never saying more than what he deemed necessary.

Gritting my teeth, I swallowed my need for answers. They would come in time. What mattered now was that I was headed toward safety. I was headed toward clean clothes and a warm bath.

I was one step closer to reuniting with my love.

We reached a small stable next to a modest house with a generous garden. Rows of fruit trees grew with an abundance of apples and pears and my mouth watered.

“The lumens can sleep here for the night. It’s not a lot, but it’s warm and dry.” Geyrand grabbed a pitchfork and pulled fresh hay from a nearby stall, tossing it to the open walkway. The occupants of two stalls huffed and neighed at the sight of the massive wolves, but neither Parvus nor Rauca paid them any mind. At their fresh bed, they settled down and began grooming their matted fur.

“Do you have something they could eat?” I asked, patting them both while Ashton tried to nestle down with them too.

Geyrand picked him up again, holding him to one side. “I’ll ask Viv if we have something.” He turned to the door and nodded toward the house.

Whispering to the lumens that I’d be back with food soon, I followed. Before Geyrand could even open the door, I heard singing.

Though it wasn’t a song I knew, it filtered through the house like a welcoming beckon into a warm home with the promise of good food and good sleep.

“Vivianna? There’s someone here I’d like you to meet.”

Geyrand entered the doorway just as Ashton ran inside yelling, “Mama!” and tracking a good amount of mud through the stone hallway.

I pulled my dripping hair behind my neck and followed. The beautiful voice stopped and giggles erupted from the expansive kitchen I stepped into.

Vivianna held her son, her belly round with growing another child. She stopped her tickling and gasped, “Karus? It’s you, isn’t it?”

I grinned and nodded, dripping rainwater onto the stone floor. “I’m so sorry about the mess. Can I help clean this up?” I looked around for something to use when I found her in front of me.

She took my filthy hands in hers and shook her head. “I don’t care a bit for it, love.” She wiped a tear from her face and laughed. “Karus. It’s good to meet you.”

Her embrace was unexpected, but I leaned into it, bending down to meet her with my own. She smelled of flour and flaky pastries and all things kneaded and baked. I smiled and whispered, “It’s good to meet you, too.”

“Ashton, help me feed the lumens.”

I heard Geyrand rustling around the kitchen before heading out the way we came.

“I have so many things to ask you.” Vivianna pulled back and squeezed my hands. “I will not utter a single one until you are yourself again. And you will take your time doing it. Come, I’ll show you where you can bathe and find something for you to wear. Then we’ll fill your belly and you can talk. If you’d like.”

She held one of my hands and I blindly followed her through the living room, past the roaring fire and into a modest washing room with a bath. It was nowhere near the size of mine and Revich’s and I didn’t care in the least.

She took a bucket and headed to the door. “Please. Let me,” I interrupted. I took the standing water from the basin by the mirror and splashed its contents into the tub. “ Compleren .” I gripped the side of the wooden tub and we watched as magic spun from the tips of my caked fingernails, the water expanding upon itself and filling almost to the edge.

She clapped her hands saying, “Lovely! I could put you to good use around here!” Helping me out of what was left of my dress, she busied herself with adding drops of oils to the water that smelled of lavender and rose.

“I use these on the days my back is aching and my legs are the most swollen. They’ll perk you right up and you’ll be feeling yourself again in no time.” Her small face lit up as I stepped into the water and sunk under the surface, nodding, but assured that I would not feel myself again for a little while yet.

“ Caloren, ” I mumbled, the wisps of my green magic swirling around me to heat the water.

She handed me a worn bar of soap and left the room, taking my embarrassing clothing with her.

I was numb in the quiet stillness of the steaming water. It felt as if I had left for the field of clover in Felgren less than a day before, but somehow, weeks had passed. I filled my lungs and sank under the surface.

I thought of Rev. I thought of screaming to him across the land that I was alright—that I would be with him again soon. I thought of all I had learned and all I had seen.

I didn’t want to think about any of it. I didn’t want to start processing the secrets that were plain in the Blightress’s words as she spoke of my parents…as she spoke of the Queen.

Rising to the surface, I inhaled sharply, refusing to cry any more tears at the choices I had made. Instead, I focused on what I could do.

I had water. I had soap. And I could scrub.

I took my time scouring and scrubbing away any remnants of the places I had been, and though it was too short and large on my frame, I was thankful for the clean, dry dress Vivianna had brought me. It was a rosy pink with long sleeves and a frilly collar. Brass buttons traveled up the front with a rose imprinted on each one. I was sure it complimented her pale complexion and strawberry ringlets well. I laughed at my reflection in the mirror and wondered what Revich would say when he saw me.

I padded back through the house to voices that drifted through the rooms. Curled up on a chair next to the fire was Ashton holding a carved wooden sword in his chubby fingers. His head lay against the armrest and his legs were tucked up to his chest as if he had been planning a battle and passed out before it could begin. I took the frayed blanket from the back of the chair and laid it across his small body smoothing his precious curls back from his face.

I loved him already, this child of the man I had grown up with. He looked so much like Geyrand. My heart filled with happiness knowing that the first man I had ever been intimate with had found love and companionship and made this beautiful little boy.

I wanted to introduce Revich to him. I wanted Rev to meet the people I had known as Ash’Arah. The people I had loved and lived with every day. The people who made me who I was. And though they had not given me in return what I needed to thrive, they were a part of my history and that was not something I was willing to forget.

I made my way back to the kitchen, which was warm and smelled of a rich broth. Candles were lit along a wide table as the storm raged outside.

The companions who made this dwelling a home leaned into each other, speaking low as Geyrand wrote in a book and Vivianna strung a bit of thread through a needle. She looked up to me as I silently wandered in, not wanting to disturb their time together, but urged forward by my rumbling stomach.

“Karus! Please, come sit with us. I’ll get you some food, love. You must be starving.” She began to rise when Geyrand gently pushed her back down to her seat, planting a kiss on top of her head. He headed to the pot nestled into the brick stove.

I smiled at his gesture and sat across from her, hugging my arms, thankful I had found a safe place to land, but wishing I was somewhere else.

Vivianna pulled on her needle and began to sew. She hummed in the quiet, and I watched as silver thread nestled its way into a long strip of blush fabric. She pulled underneath before the needle poked back onto the other side once again. The movements were calming in some way. I had not picked up a needle and thread since I had left Hyrithia years ago, and realized then, I missed it.

“Is that your growth band?” I asked, thanking Geyrand for the bowl of stew and water he placed in front of me.

“Yes, it is. I admit I am a little behind, but I’ve found that with one child already, I am often behind on things.” She continued her work, her needle threading in and out of the fabric with craft as the outline of a full moon took its shape.

“How far have you come?” I blew on a spoonful of brown broth and soft potatoes before eagerly shoving it into my mouth, chewing as slowly as I could convince myself to.

“This is my seventh moon, though I am actually already half-way to my eighth!” She chuckled and shook her head. “Time breezes by in the blink of an eye these days. We still keep Ashton’s growth band woven through his bed even though his year of uncertainty is well past him.”

Vivianna laid her work down on the table and I saw where six full moons were sewn into the fabric. She would continue to wear it around her waist until her birthing day came. Then, they would weave the band through the crib of the babe in hope that it would protect the child in its first and most dangerous year of life.

I nodded, taking another bite. “I am happy for you.” I looked up to meet Geyrand’s sharp amber gaze. “For both of you. If I could have wished anything for you, Geyrand, it would have been exactly this.”

Something crossed his face and I tilted mine with a silent gesture to tell me what he was thinking.

“Ash—Karus,” he corrected, taking a deep breath. “There are things you need to know. Things about your time away.”

Vivianna smoothed her hand across his own and looked to him, nodding.

“I suppose I should start at the beginning.”

I set my spoon down in my bowl and placed my hands in my lap, suddenly cold at the thought of what could disturb him so.

“When you were…taken seven years ago, Prince Philius and I did not sit idly by.”

I took a deep breath and clenched my jaw, unsure if I was ready for this. I had just escaped news of my past and did not want to hear more of it.

“It took weeks for the Prince to recover fully from the Black Fever. When he had come to understand what the Queen had agreed to…he did not take it well. It didn’t help that I urged him to do something. I was not like myself, Karus. I loved you, and I wanted you back home. It was easy enough to convince the Prince of the same.”

I swallowed, hating hearing his words. I did not want to listen to this. I didn’t know if I could get through more blows without Revich by my side.

“The Queen was resolute. The city was healing. But they didn’t know you. They didn’t know how much you’d resist your fate like we did. So, we traveled to Felgren.”

“You came to find me in Felgren?” I had never heard about this. But knowing who was Baron at the time, it did not surprise me I had not been told.

“We left by night without telling anyone and traveled for two days to the edge of the forest. When we arrived at the border, we could not get in. A shield of magic protected it all the way around. We spent days traveling the outskirts trying to find a weakness and push our way inside.”

Tears welled in my eyes and I shivered.

“Finally, the Queen found us. She sent half her guards to bring us back. I was reassigned to patrol the north and the Prince was followed at all times at the castle. We could not try again.”

He looked down and shook his head in shame. “I’m so sorry. I thought that was it. I thought I’d never see you again and that it was time to let go. I put everything I had into building a life here, and a year later, I met Viv. She helped me heal.”

Vivianna cupped his face and pressed her forehead to his.

“By then, we had received word that you were dead. The Queen was told that you had emitted a power so forceful, you could not control it and it killed you. We were all devastated. Myself, the Queen, but the Prince…”

He trailed off and placed his elbows on the table, covering his mouth with his sun-kissed hands. “Prince Philius is not the same. He is a different man now, Karus.”

I took a shaky breath and pushed my bowl forward. “Thank you, Geyrand. For trying to fight for me. I don’t know if Revich told you?—”

“He did. He explained why he lied.” Geyrand chuckled, a light settling back into his eyes. “He’s a good man. And he loves you better than I ever could.”

I could not bear to hear his words. The tears fell and I needed to sleep. I needed to fall into a place of dark where I could move closer to Revich’s embrace.

“I am tired. I don’t doubt that Revich will be here soon once he realizes I’m not far.” I stood to find a place of rest, wherever that may be.

“There’s one more thing, Karus.” Geyrand rose with me, moving around the table. “Baron Revich has been arrested by the Queen.”

I scoffed. “How? She has no authority over the Baron of Felgren. Besides, no cell could hold him. He is too powerful.”

“She does not hold him in a cell. She keeps him under guard with her, and he wears a silver band of amethyst across his arm which holds his power within. He is to stand trial for crimes against Hyrithia and lying to Her Majesty. The Lady of the Spire and the Madame of the Mountains will arrive to weigh in on the trial in three days’ time.”

I shook my head profusely. “Crimes?” I huffed. “That’s not possible. Revich didn’t do anything wrong. He protected me when my mind was lost, and he protected all of you by lying.” A silent rage stormed in my chest and my gaze darted to the window to observe the night.

If Revich was in danger, I would not stay here a moment longer, storm or no.

Vivianna rose as well. “Karus, you cannot leave now. The storm is strong and our old horses could not make the journey to the castle. Your lumens need rest. You need rest, love.”

“I’m not going to just sit here and?—"

“He is safe for now.” Geyrand grasped my shoulders. “The Queen needs him to find you. I have already sent word across the plains and news of your safety will make its way to Hyrithia before dawn. He will know we are coming. He made me promise on your life that I would bring you to him if I found you out here.”

Sobs shuddered through me and I slid to the floor on my knees, my hands over my face. I did this to him. Whatever he had faced since I had left with the Blightress, I was the reason. Geyrand sat in front of me and pulled me to his chest where he rocked me back and forth, saying nothing in the cries of a defeated woman.