Nectar of War: The Song of Verity and Serenity (The Nectar of War Series Book 1)

LAVEN HEPHAESTUS ARVENALDI, II

W E DID NOT SPEAK after she left the chamber last night. At morning meal, it was as if I never existed. If we did speak, it was brief, scarcely extending more than a minute.

I can understand her reasoning behind staying true to the original ways of Intimacy Arrangements, but not to speak to me at all seems as if there is more she is hiding.

Every moment I reached for her, she simply evaded it, brushing me over as if she did not apprehend that I was endeavoring for her.

Instead of challenging her, I let it be until we can have a moment alone again.

“What are the provisions for today?” Amias asks. He is approaching the kitchen carrying a vessel steaming with hot tea. He is only attired in bedwear, and his upper body is fully revealed, showing the sun and moon tattoo along the left side of his shoulder and chest. The same tattoo we share with Morano and Roaner.

“Morano is going home. He will be meeting with my mother and Axynth to enlist the new training for all of our Warriors.”

He nods, adding. “Hua is on her way home as well; she will learn the new practices and go to Terseius to present them.”

“You will stay here,” I continue. “And Roaner will go to Wanora. Esme is coming with Maivena and me to Nadrexi, she was insistent on coming, and I will not be refusing her. I would prefer to keep my sight.”

Amias chortles, sipping his tea. “I think she can do more than just purloin someone’s vision.”

“I deem so as well.” I shift to the window, surveying Maivena and Esme as they talk amongst one another. “I am certain Roaner will be arriving in Nadrexi not long after we reach the destination.”

“Yes, I will be,” Roaner says while appearing from his ascension. Morano is next to him.

“Just how precisely is it that you met Esme?” Amias wonders while Morano sits down at the table with a mug of tea as well.

“She tried to kill me.” He calmly states, glancing out the window.

Amias laughs. “When was this?”

“The last war between Old Quamfasi and us, she drove a spear through my chest and tried to drive an arrow into my head.”

“Then?” Morano pushes for him to proceed.

“The spear drew from my shoulder, it went back to her, and I was left to bleed out until Hua found me on the battlefield.”

“That is who did that to you?” Amias’s laughter remains. “I recollect that moment of Hua locating you grappling on the field.”

Roaner continues to focus on Esme and Maivena through the window.

“Maivena asked that we no longer sleep in the same bed.” I belatedly recognize out loud not only to them but to myself as well.

They slowly turn to me.

“Why?” Amias asks. “The affinity she has for you is vociferous. This does not make sense.”

“She thinks that I should be lying in a bed with someone I am in love with.”

Morano laughs and smacks his knee. “Stop deceiving this poor woman and just tell her already.”

Amias chimes in, in agreement. “You should, Laven.”

“I do not want to. I want Maivena to find out on her own.” My tone hardens. I glance at Roaner. “What do you say I should do?”

“I cannot tell you what to do.”

I roll my eyes. “What do you suggest?”

He lifts a shoulder. “I suggest you do not say a word.”

I hold my hand out as he validates my position. “Letting her determine this on her own is my most immeasurable decision. If I tell her, she could consider I am forcing it on her or perhaps lying. She needs to feel it herself, not be told it is there.”

Roaner nods before he angles toward Maivena and Esme outside.

“What are they doing today?” I ask.

Roaner looks back at me with furrowed eyebrows. As if to ask, ‘you do not know?’

“They are trying to see if she can shift.”

I look toward Morano, and he is now standing to leave. “She cannot shift yet; she will injure herself,” Morano growls. He is briskly walking in the direction of the doors, and I promptly follow.

When he lands outside, Esme holds her hand up. “I am only getting her to find the essence of her Wolf, not to shift.”

Morano’s eyes flare then fade to orange, I step forward as he speaks, prepping to end any rising catastrophe. “I still do not advise it.”

“I was not asking for your advice, was I?” Esme retorts.

Maivena seizes Esme, seeking to restrain her increasing furor.

“We can remain with strength exercises,” Maivena meets Esme’s eyes, inaudibly muttering to her in Quamfasian.

“We will train together.”

Maivena swiftly turns her head toward me. Then, just as her lips part to declaim, Roaner speaks first. “Esme,” he nods toward the house. Surprisingly, she follows, and so do Morano and Amias.

“You are not clothed to train,” Maivena states, looking over my attire, or lack thereof.

I am only covered in my leather trousers and boots.

“Try.”

“Try?” She edges for clarification.

“Try to find her, just a bit of her,” I say, referring to her Wolf.

Her cheeks blaze in crimson. “I do not know how to.”

“Close your eyes.” I remember to keep my tone tranquil. If I learned anything through the help I was seeking years ago for mental clarity, it was to stay calm so others felt at ease in their difficult situations. Most moments I remember this, not always.

She regards me as I step forward. I reach out, lining from the heart of her eyebrows and to the round point of her nose.

Lastly, I receive a dainty smile. “Close them,” I tap her nose.

Once her eyes shut, I round her and stop to stand behind her.

I move her braid to rest over her shoulder and I trail a finger from the bottom of her neck, over the leather armor, and down her back.

“Whenever you shift, you feel it here first.” I press the base of her spine and there is a tremble that moves over her shoulders. “Your spine stretches, lengthening your upper body to create capacity for your organs to enlarge.” I trail a finger back up. Tenderly I press against the most delicate part of her neck, and I rest my hand along the side. I curl my fingers, and I feel her growing pulse.

“After your spine, your neck and skull reform, so your brain has room for germination. The first time you shift may overwhelm you, but as the contraception leaves, your body will convert just fine.”

She turns, and my hand eases around her neck.

I figure she will ask questions, but her eyebrows furrow, and she leans, observing the expansive land behind me.

Everything is unexpected after she grips my arm.

We ascend at her doing, not far but various feet from where we were. Her stability cripples and as we fall to the ground I do not know where to look for her first, when I do not see her, the panic settles in. She could still be ascending and get lost in the process and possibly end up anywhere.

“Maivena!” I shout, and I hear the doors to the house burst open.

I do not need to look to see that everyone is rushing outside.

An arrow soars over my head and finally, I perceive the three rogues assailing at us at full velocity and another arrow is shot.

“Maivena!” I scream again and I see her scrambling from mid air as she reappears from ascension and collapses to the ground, the fall does not affect her as she hurriedly crawls toward me.

Ferocious growling echoes around me and the sound of paws thumping into the ground follows the velocity.

Just as I see Amias in his brown Wolf form, I see Roaner in all black fur with the singular white stripe over one eye and then Morano. Esme is at the door of the house, her eyes are fully white and soon enough, the rogues are scattering due to going blind at her doing.

Before my brothers can get past us, Maivena grasps beneath my arms and hauls me toward her; the back of my head collides with her chest, and her arms barricade around me.

The rogues do not make it halfway across the depth of the trees before an excruciating scream belts over. As I look up to Maivena, her eyes are permeated in a gloom of orange and red as she bellows beyond the length between the rogues and us. The longer I stare at her, strikes of lines that mimic lightning move through her eyes and across her skin.

The sky eclipses above us; the currents of waves grow taller before crashing powerfully to the shore. All of the trees splinter in half; the fissuring sounds cut through her cry as she does not contain a measure of herself back.

The rogues disintegrate in their wake, descending to the ground in black ash and bones. In a trice, she falls quiet. The sea calms, the sky clears to blue, and the trees stand in ruin.

I turn to Maivena, and she is falling to the ground in a faint.

I catch her head before it strikes the ground. “Maivena, look at me. Open your eyes, love.”

Everyone is gathered around us within no time, but Roaner still stands at a distance as he is now examining the burnt bodies on the ground.

“Morano!” I holler.

“She is fine. Everything that I mentioned yesterday that could happen is happening now that her powers have come through.” His fingers press against her neck. “She still has a pulse but her body has gone into shock.” He calmly explains. “Esme,” he urgently motions her over. “Get her to a room, get these leathers off of her before she overheats. A fever is breaking all over her body and the last thing we want is her brain to burn.”

“She just fucking burned those men alive; I doubt a fever will harm her.” Amias says in a sharp tone.

“Who is more experienced in anatomy here?” Morano challenges.

“We do not have time for this bickering!” I shut both of them up.

I lift Maivena from the ground and Esme walks with me to the house. “I will change her, and you can gather cold cloths, it will help her cool down as much as possible. But we will need to replace them frequently.”

I nod and we both ascend to my chamber where Esme begins to undress Maivena, and I gather as many cold cloths as I can.