Soulbound

As we got ready for the day, we were interrupted by a heavy pounding on our door. With a curious look, Annalyse opened the door--then stepped back, shoulders straight. “Commander! What do we owe the surprise?”

The Commander welcomed herself in, getting comfortable on the couch. Her hair wasn’t pulled back into a tight braid today and was allowed to cascade down her back, almost to her waist. She peered around the room, as if every piece of furniture was foreign to her. It made me wonder how often she visited her daughter, if at all.

When she reached for her breast pocket in her dragon scale jacket, the reason for her visit became clear: she pulled out a slender envelope.

My stomach roiled. Guess having an intimidating woman holding a secret envelope will do that to a person.

I sat next to Annalyse, who was suddenly tense now that her mother was here. I didn’t blame her. I could feel the power coming from the woman sitting across from us. From those sharp eyebrows to her pointed boots, she demanded respect--and possibly fear.

“What can we do for you, Commander?” The silence was freaking me out. She made me feel like I’d done something very wrong, even though I was a hundred percent sure I hadn’t done anything to piss her off. I hadn’t been here long enough to do anything stupid.

Her brown eyes moved to Annalyse then to me. She tossed the envelope onto the table; it slid across the polished surface, landing perfectly in front of me. “You’ve been invited to dinner.”

Dinner? Who would invite me to dinner? I didn’t know anyone fancy enough to send me an invitation.

Curious, I opened the envelope.

Eva Greene,

It is our pleasure to invite you to Kain Castle this weekend for dinner with our family. Your circumstances have not gone unnoticed. We are looking forward to meeting with you.

Pleasant regards,

King Renkon Kain

I stared at the letter, dumbfounded. “This is a joke, right?”

The Commander shook her head. “King Renkon wants to meet you. He’s been waiting for a storm dragon to show themselves as long as King Sylus has been. He’s not going to let you slip through his fingers.”

Annalyse squealed in excitement. “We’re going to a royal dinner! Right? I can go too? I’ll be a protection detail if I have to. Please, Mom? I haven’t been to the castle in so long.”

She nodded thoughtfully. “Yes. You and Smith will be back up while the Greenes attend the dinner.”

Annalyse whooped in her excitement. “Yes! Thank you!”

Hargin glared at her daughter, sobering her up instantly. “I did not give you this task out of favouritism. You three are the best candidates for this mission. And you,” she looked at me like she was expecting me to say anything out of turn--joke’s on her, I’m not that stupid-- “don’t fuck it up. I have a feeling you will be making many trips to the castle, so you make sure the royal family likes it when you visit.”

With that, she stood up. “I’ll send you the details for this weekend later tonight. I’ll leave the rest of the day up to you, Annalyse.”

As soon as the door closed behind her, Annalyse jumped in joy. “Yes! I love diplomatic missions. Mom always buys me the most gorgeous gowns whenever we go. . . though, I suppose I’ll be wearing a uniform, but you’ll surely be wearing one! Oh, we’ll have some great fun, Eva!”

An image of my hair curled up like a poodle’s and pinned above my head with a massive poofy dress hiding my body flashed before my eyes. It looked horrendous. “I don’t have to go, do I?”

She rolled her eyes. “Silly. What’s the matter? You’ve never gotten dolled up before?” As soon as she said it, she seemed to remember that I was from a small farming village with no reason for me to ever get dolled up. “Oh, right. This is all very new to you. That’ll make this even more exciting! Come on, let’s see if the boys are free today. I know Jacob would love to see his little sister dressed for a queen.” She obviously didn’t know my brother as well as I did. I was pretty sure the thought of seeing me in a dress was as horrifying to him as it was to me. “We’ll definitely need Grayson’s opinion on your dress. He’s an expert on these sorts of things.”

Sighing, I followed her down the hall to my brother’s room. This time they were more prepared for our visit. Jacob was just slipping a jacket on and Grayson was already at the door. He gave me a warm, lopsided smile, which was shortly ruined after Annalyse stuffed the letter in his face. His frown deepened into a glare by the time he’d finished reading it. He shook his head with an incredulous eye roll. “Let me guess. . .”

“We’ve got a mission this weekend, boys! Eva’s first mission!” Annalyse interrupted him before he could rain on her parade. She’d be damned if she was going to let anyone take this away from her. From what I could tell, missions weren’t always as exciting--if you could call it that--as this one.

“She’s not even trained!” Jacob exclaimed, ripping the envelope out of Grayson’s hands, eager to know what they were throwing at me so early. He relaxed. A bit. “What the hell does Renkon want with Eva?”

“In case you haven’t noticed,” Annalyse said, arm over my shoulders, “your sister is very special. She shares a Bond with Arkon.”

He gave her a blank look. “You’re Bonded to Aster and there’s nothing special about you.”

There was visible pain in her eyes. All forms of excitement died.

I glared at Jacob. What an idiot.

Grayson, either as blind as my brother or didn’t care, groaned again. “Did you try to talk Hargin out of sending me?”

Annalyse beamed, seeming to like watch Grayson squirm. “Nope! I need you to help me get Eva ready. Now let’s go! We have places to go, things to discuss--a mission to prepare for!”

Then we were off, Annalyse dragging me to the dining hall for breakfast first, the men in tow. She purposely sat as far away from Jacob, leaving me sitting in between Jacob and Grayson. They all hunched over the table discussing the game plan for the event this weekend while I tried to wrap my head around the situation.

It wasn’t everyday one was asked to have dinner with the royal family; I hadn’t decided if it was a good or bad thing I’d been invited.

Obviously, like everyone else, they were more interested in Arkon than myself. Who knows what they wanted us to do for them? At least here, I knew the intentions were for the good of people everywhere. The king’s intentions would be for him, not necessarily his people, and if that was the case, how did I decline without making an enemy of the royal family? I had no experience with being diplomatic. What if I screwed up and they took Jacob from me?

Grayson bumped my leg with his and smiled at me. “You doing okay? You haven’t touched your food.”

It surprised me that he’d noticed; last I checked he was engrossed with Jacob and Annalyse’s plans.

I shrugged, unsure I even knew the answer to his question. “This is all so new to me and now I have to prance around in front of royals. What if they don’t like me? Will they throw me in jail?”

He bit his lip to hide a laugh, which gave me some hope that I might be overthinking things. “They won’t throw you in jail. What’s not to like? You have a good head on your shoulders, which is more than I can say for most people here.”

It was my turn to hide a laugh.

“Trust me,” he continued, voice soft yet confident, “you’ll be fine. I will personally make sure you don’t get thrown in jail,” he added with a wink.

I smiled at him in thanks. I didn’t meet new people often, but I didn’t think it’d be this easy to trust in someone. Those eyes of his held an assertiveness not seen in many and they made me feel like everything was going to be okay.

“Jacob has good taste in partners.”

He grinned. “He didn’t choose me, but thank you. I lucked out with partners, for sure. He’s a good man, your brother. I see it runs in the family.” As soon as he said it, something seemed to upset him--his eyes hardened--and he looked away. “You should probably eat something while you still can; it seems Annalyse and Jacob have a plan.”

And that they did. As they told me about the small town called Lensonten nearby, I shovelled the last of my food down. It was one of the cities along the Aborian River, so it was full of traded goods--the perfect place to find everything we needed to get ready for the weekend. Instead of taking separate dragons--since I couldn’t fly yet--we partnered up. I joined Annalyse on Aster and Grayson rode with Jacob on Aries.

My partner made very sure I was holding her tight, as I sat behind her. I then proudly informed her that this wasn’t the first time I’d ridden a dragon. I instantly regretted saying anything because she was suddenly very nonchalant and told Aster to take off without any warning. Gasping, I struggled to hold on to her waist as we blasted into the sky. Thankfully, I found the strength in me to stay on Aster’s back and relaxed as she leveled out.

“What’s the matter?” she shouted over her shoulder. “You said you’ve done this before.”

I eased my grip a little to talk in her ear. “I might have exaggerated how well it went the first time.”

Meanwhile Grayson was laughing at the look of horror on Jacob’s face as he watched me almost fall off a dragon. His poor face was pale, almost green.

Grayson was far more relaxed riding behind my brother, only using one hand to hold on, and even then his hand was on the saddle, not on Jacob’s solid form. Following suit--relaxing, not using one hand, that was madness--I sat more comfortably and enjoyed the view.

We’d taken the western route out of the canyon; it was much shorter than coming from the east, and before I got used to weaving through the narrow walls, they fell behind us. The world opened up before us. A thick forest below, divided by the river, with trees so high Aster had to adjust altitude. On the right side of the river, the city Lensonten sat comfortably at the edge of the forest. It was a fairly large city. Big enough to have tall buildings in the center that slowly expanded outward into farmland. One of the most noticeable buildings had a garden--a garden!--growing on the walls and a glass ceiling, unveiling a tropical wonderland inside.

We landed on a paved area just outside of town, obviously used for dragons, then the two took flight again. Annalyse threw me a wicked smile; she’d regained her hype for the royal visit. We followed a gravel road to the city, which turned to cobblestone as we got closer to the heart.

It was so beautiful. The homes were made of stone with cute little yards and fences dividing the lots. We walked past a park where several children were chasing each other around. Parents were watching and drinking tea from the café beside the park.

Annalyse squealed and ran into the café, forgetting the rest of us. Jacob rolled his eyes. “We’re going to be here awhile. Do you want something, Eva?” he offered. “I think you’ll like their green tea.”

“Sure.” I waited outside with Grayson, leaning on the wall and watching the people of this town go about their everyday lives. It wasn’t too different from Brar; sure, the town was more modern, the people had better attire and definitely talked more sophisticatedly, but they had the same life: wake up, go to work, come home to their family, eat, sleep, repeat. People were the same everywhere in the end.

Suddenly feeling homesick, I sat at a table and kept my eyes away from all the lively people.

“So. . .,” Grayson began, sitting in the chair beside me, “I have a confession to make.”

I raised my eyebrows at him. Half of me was curious, while the other half welcomed the distraction and was thankful he filled the silence.

“The main reason we’re here is to find you a dress. Yeah, I thought you’d make that face. It’s why they didn’t tell you what exactly we were getting here. Anyway, that’s why Annalyse is so excited.”

I grumbled. “At least someone is excited.”

I peered at them through the window as they waited in line--in a line that shouldn’t be that long for tea--and they were smiling and laughing together. It was nice to see my brother smile. Whenever he visited, he didn’t talk much of what life as a Knight was like, and sometimes it seemed like more of a curse than him fulfilling our dream. I’d always hoped he surrounded himself with good people who would look after him. It looked like he had.

“Tell me,” I said, still watching them as they crept ever so slowly forward in the line, “what’s their deal?”

“Their deal?” Grayson looked at them curiously. “Um, well, it was before I knew him. They met during orientation. I believe he was assigned Karson as his orientation coach, but. . . Your brother is a talented bowman and fantastic flyer, but he can be. . . clumsy sometimes. Karson is not a patient man. Annalyse noticed. She trained him on the side, beat the klutz out of him the best she could. Then within the year, he was given permission to leave the base for missions.” It wasn’t entirely the answer I was looking for, but I guess that confirmed that Jacob was blind.

“What about you?” I asked, turning my attention to the handsome Knight not even two feet away. He had his feet kicked back casually on the chair opposite him, hands laced behind his head; the sword at his hip glistened in the sunlight, offhandedly reminding onlookers he was armed and not afraid of what they thought of that. “How’d you become partners? How long have you been a Knight?” He couldn’t have been too much older than myself, yet he seemed like such an experienced Knight.

He lifted his feet off the chair and laid them flat on the ground, averting his gaze from me. “I’ve been a Knight for three years now. We became partners because we couldn’t get along with the other Knights. No one wanted to work with a clumsy farm boy and I. . . well, people just avoid me. I’m scary.” His voice was entirely teasing, but there was a sadness in his eyes when he said it; he watched as the kids played in the fountain and the parents rushed to pull them out. “My family. . . it’s not well-liked in these parts. No one knows where I’m from, but it feels like they do--or they know enough to keep their distance.”

I was surprised. “Well, who cares about your family? It’s you who matters. It’s not fair to judge you on your family’s actions. And if your family is like you, then there’s something wrong with the rest of the world.”

He snorted and shook his head. “Oh, trust me, I’m nothing like my family. But people have every right to hate me.”

Before I could argue, Jacob and Annalyse came back with our drinks. Annalyse grinned like a giddy schoolgirl. “Who’s ready to go shopping!?”

I glared and took my drink without a word. It was warm in my hands--almost too warm--and smelt amazing. As we walked through the town I blew on it, eager to see if it tasted as good as it smelt. Of course the walk through town was very slow, since we had to go inside every shop we passed. After the third stop, I waited outside. Since Annalyse didn’t want to go in alone, she recruited (threatened) Jacob to join her.

I took my first sip of tea and moaned. It was the tastiest drink I have ever had. Now the long line up made sense.

“Do you want a room for that tea?” Grayson teased, leaning on the wall beside me with his hands in his pockets.

I stuck my tongue out. “So far this is the only thing I’ve enjoyed from this trip.”

This trip was so different from anything I was used to. In Brar, I didn’t wander from shop to shop just to take a look at their inventory; I knew what I wanted, bought it, then went home. I certainly didn’t spend money frivolously. If I came home with half the stuff Annalyse had bought, my mother would have killed me.

Grayson sighed, wiping a hand through his dark hair. “Yeah. We’re going to be here all day at this rate. Do you want to leave them to shop?”

Surprised it was even an option, I peered back to Jacob then to Grayson. I’d feel bad for leaving Jacob with Annalyse when she’s like this, but at the same time. . . we had a job to do. Even if it was a stupid job.

“Um, sure. . . . Do you know where to go?”

He waved off my doubts and pulled me along. “You’re in good hands. We’ll get the job done before they know we’re gone.”

Instead of being pulled around, I looped my arm through his, staying close and possibly enjoying the girth of his bicep. And maybe I didn’t want to get lost in this town.

After turning down several streets, I was already lost, but thankfully we appeared to have arrived at our first stop, as we stopped in front of a boutique. In the window, was a very fluffy gown drowning in feathers. It looked like a nightmare come to life.

Grayson shook his head reproachfully at me. “Don’t make that face, Eva. I’m going to teach you how to be a lady.”

“Are you sure there’s no other way?”

He glared softly. “Yes.”

Before I could protest further, he grabbed my arm and dragged me into the store. The ladies behind the counter were alarmed by the manner in which he brought me here, but as soon as he dumped me on the nearest chair and smiled at them, all their worries disappeared. “Ladies, I need your help. I’m on a mission to turn this farm girl into a woman of the court.”

The blonde girl twirled her hair, eyeing Grayson up and down, enjoying the leather jacket flattering his shoulders and cargo pants hugging his rear. Since this wasn’t an official mission, we didn’t have to wear our uniform, but his choice of attire might as well be a casual version of it. I, however, was excited to wear my new cozy sweater and airy cotton pants. Neither options were great at keeping the wind off of me in the sky, but the materials were soft on my skin and it wasn’t too cold on the ground to wear them.

“Is that all we can help you with?” the young seamstresses offered in a seductive purr. “I am a woman of many talents.”

I snorted, eyes rolling.

Ignoring me, Grayson leant on the counter toward her, giving her the same look she gave him. “We can discuss what you can do for me later, but I do need Eva in a dress by the end of the day.”

Oh. It disappointed me that he reciprocated the girl’s banter. For some reason I’d thought he wouldn’t be so easily wiled by womanly charms. But what did I know? I wasn’t even sure what I expected from him. Honestly, I didn’t think I had any expectations for him.

“All right,” the girl agreed, eyeing him hungrily. “My name is Beverly, by the way. Your companion is Eva. . . and you are?”

“Grayson Smith,” he obliged all too eagerly.

I groaned. This long day just got longer.