Onyx Blood [True North series book 2/3]

I told Morai what had happened, and she and Warrian immediately sprung to action. I stood in the corner and watched them discuss things, and give out orders, feeling more useless than even before.

I turned to Maista. “What does ‘closing off the lake’ mean?” I asked.

Maista rolled her narrow eyes. “Close off the tunnel that connects us to the sky,” she said, gesturing upwards, “hide us from plain sight, and aerial attacks.”

“Who is even attacking us?!” I asked, just now realizing I had no idea.

“The Kinians,” Maista replied stiffly.

“Can they fly?” I asked nervously, “or swim?”

Maista shook her head.

“No,” she said, “So Aerial and Aquatic Ardanis are likely safe. But their strength is in numbers — their Kingdom is three times the size of ours, and so is their army. They could wipe out Terrestrial Ardanis in no time.”

I gasped at the thought. “Are we evacuating Terrestrial Ardanis?” I asked, “get them down here, and up to Aerial Ardanis?”

Maista sighed again, looking very unpleased to be the one on question-answering duty, which was basically just babysitting the human while the others focussed on things of actual importance.

“We can’t house the Terrestrials here,” she sneered, “after closing off the lake, there’s a limited amount of oxygen. I think the Aerials will come take the Terrestrial younglings. Everyone else will either fight or perish.”

I dropped my jaw in shock.

“Will you go fight?” I pressed, looking around the throne room. The casualty in her words astonished me — it was almost as if she had said there would not be any vegetables with dinner tonight.

“I’m a healer,” Maista scoffed, “my duties lay elsewhere.”

“How about you?” I asked, looking at Morai and Warrian.

“She can’t,” Warrian answered for Morai, “she’s next in line, if Thor—”

“He won’t,” I cut him off, trying to ignore the waves of nausea washing over me.

“Of course not,” Warrian said, clearly trying to ease my mind, “but it’s a rule. There must not be more than one Royal from each generation fighting in the same battle. The blood line needs to be ensured.”

“How about you?” I asked him, “are you going out there?” Warrian shook his head, his face ridden with guilt.

“I’m the main Royal Guard,” he said, “I’m assigned to Morai — and now you, too. I have two princesses to guard.” He said those last words quietly.

Princess. I scrunched my nose displeasedly. Just my luck that I would get a Crown Prince for a mate.

“Please give me something to do,” I begged, “I can’t sit around in the palace all day doing nothing while there’s half a nation being wiped out above the water.”

Maista got up. “Sire, if I may, I think I should be getting to the Terrestrial Palace, to tend to the wounded,” she asked.

Morai nodded stiffly. “Of course,” she said, “go ahead, before the tunnel closes.”

Maista swiftly left the room. “I could go heal too,” I begged, “imagine how helpful my wielding could be, if only just to stop the wounds from bleeding.”

“It doesn’t matter,” Warrian said dismissively, “it doesn’t matter wether you’re fighting or healing. You’d still be out there smelling like an easy victory, Serin.”

I let my shoulders slump forward in defeat. “Alright,” I whispered, “if there’s anything, absolutely anything I can do, I’ll just be around here somewhere I guess.”

“We’ll think of something,” Warrian called after me, and I could tell he was trying to make me feel better. I half-smiled at him over my shoulder, and left the room.

I began walking down the hall mindlessly, and without a specific destination. I eventually stopped, and leaned my forehead against a large stone pillar. I looked around, and found myself staring into the courtyard I had trained in with Aricor.

I flung another thought Thor’s way, but he was still blocking me out. I tried not to let it affect me too much, and strolled into the courtyard. I sat down on the edge of the fountain, and let my fingers dip into the water, sending ripples across the surface. I stayed there for a while, just staring at the fountain. I snapped out of my daze when a figure sat down beside me.

I looked up, and was met with a beautiful female’s kind eyes. “Hello,” she simply said, smiling at me.

She had brown hair, and mesmerizing dark grey-blue eyes. They were slightly slanted, and she had full, rosy lips. She seemed oddly familiar to me —as if I had met her before— but I was sure I hadn’t.

“Hi,” I replied, after I had looked around to make sure she was indeed addressing me.

“I came out here to watch the tunnel close,” the female said, gesturing upwards.

I tilted my head up, and looked at the curved ceiling of water above us. Part of the tunnel was visible from where we were standing, and it looked the same as it had before.

“Have you ever seen it close before?” I asked the female.

She nodded. “Just once,” she said, “but never from below.”

I frowned. “From above, then?” I asked, studying her features. She was stunning, but now that I was really paying attention, she didn’t seem like the other Aquatic Ardanians. She looked like the Ardanians I knew well — and they were all of either Aerial or Terrestrial descent.

“Yes,” the female replied plainly. She looked at me, and slid her hand onto mine, before squeezing it encouragingly.

“They’re doing fine,” she assured me, “and they’ll come back to us. I don’t know anyone stronger and more capable than our mates.”

I tilted my head to the side as I tried to figure out who she might be — we hadn’t met before, had we?

“I’m Ilowyn,” the female clarified, as if she had heard my thoughts.

“Aricor’s mate!” I sighed, relieved to finally know who I was talking to. Ilowyn nodded, and smiled at me.

“He’s told me about you,” she said, and looked up at the tunnel, “he likes you.”

I smiled back. “I like him too,” I said, “he’s very skilled. And he’s absolutely smitten with you.”

Ilowyn nodded. “I’m very lucky to have him as my mate.”

We both sat in silence for a while, staring at the tunnel, which now that I was paying attention, seemed to be getting more and more narrow.

“Have you talked to Aricor since he’s been gone?” I asked, and I hated how small and worried I sounded.

Ilowyn nodded, not taking her eyes off the tunnel. “Briefly,” she said, “he’s fine. They’re just saving their energy to focus on battling right now.”

The tunnel had almost closed completely now — it was just about wide enough to fit maybe one particularly slender Aquatic Ardanian.

“I feel trapped,” I mumbled, and a heavy feeling settled into the pit of my stomach. “And useless. I wish I could do something to help.”

“Me too,” Ilowyn agreed, and then got up, pulling me with her. “Come,” she said, “I have something to show you.”