Page 2 of A Kiss of Healing & Honor (Darkstone Academy #4)

“They’re all flying the double mountain flag,” said the guard. “That’s the Duke de Norhas’ standard.” His words hung in the air like an ill omen.

Dread slithered through me like a serpent. The Duke de Norhas already held Mama captive. Now he’d come for me.

At the head table, Lady Margitts gasped and dropped her goblet in shock. “The traitor duke is here?”

Then I remembered I wasn’t the helpless girl who’d arrived on this island as an indentured servant—not anymore.

I looked at my friends and smiled grimly.

The Duke de Norhas was about to find out that I wasn’t going anywhere with him.

But I couldn’t help but feel a growing dread within my chest as I realized Lady Erzabetta must’ve contacted the duke about my true identity before her death.

The memory of our duel this morning made me shudder.

When I challenged Erzabetta after she tried to kill Tama, I knew she’d be a formidable opponent. But I never dreamed that she would recklessly call upon the island’s volcano to fuel her Earth magic.

Ilhan sensed my distress. He reached for my hand and squeezed it gently. His deep blue eyes bore into mine. “I won’t let the duke capture you, Your Highness. I’ll protect you with my life.”

His sincerity, laced with affection and something more, poured through our bond and stole my breath away.

I nodded in gratitude.

“We won’t let that fucking earthworm get his hands on you, Friend Jacinthe,” Boreas assured me, his golden eyes glittering with a fierce expression. “But I’d like to see him try!”

“And I,” Tama said. “I promised to protect you. And I keep my word.” He looked around with a disgusted expression. “Unlike the Drylanders.”

I couldn’t fault him for his bitterness. Lady Erzabetta and Lord Roderigo had singled out my merman lover for harsh treatment during his stay here as a diplomatic hostage.

Erzabetta had even tried to kill Tama on at least two occasions that I knew of. He’d cheated death, unlike his less fortunate fellow merman hostage, Lord Shuji.

Gwydion leaned forward. His intense silver gaze caught mine, as if he could see into my very soul. “After you broke my curse, I realized I’ll never be able to balance the scales between us. But I’ll defend you with every bit of strength and magic I possess.”

My eyes suddenly stung with tears, and my vision blurred. I knew I wasn’t worthy of this kind of loyalty and friendship, but gratitude burned like a warm flame in my chest. “Thank you all. I hope it won’t come to that. There’s already been enough death and injury in this place to last a lifetime.”

I wiped my eyes and looked anxiously over at the head table. How were Lady Margitts and our new castellan, Antoni Guisbald, planning to handle the duke’s invasion?

I spotted them in deep conversation with Captain Ondine, the newly appointed head of the castle guards. The Mage-Instructors seated at the head table were also watching our new leadership with varying expressions of concern and interest. I noted that my mentor, Mage-Healer Armand, looked worried.

What are they talking about? Do they want to hand me over to the Duke de Norhas to avoid further trouble? I wondered.

After all, Ilhan had told me that his aunt had been sent here for conspiring with the duke.

And even if Lady Margitts is loyal to the crown now, what if people are injured or killed because of my presence here?

Ilhan squeezed my hand tighter.

A swell of anxious questions and speculation rose from my fellow mage-students seated at the long rows of crowded banquet tables.

After an eternity of low-voiced, intense conference with Guisbald and Ondine, Lady Margitts rose to her feet. She raised her hands, signaling for silence.

The cacophony of voices gradually quieted, leaving a tense hush.

“Attention, everyone!” she called out, her features set with resolve. “As loyal servants of his Imperial Highness, Dominus Victor Augustus the Eighth, Castellan Guisbald and I have ordered the castle gates closed. We have also recalled all the staff and apprentices living and working outside the walls.”

“Rest assured,” Castellan Guisbald added, his voice clipped and stern, “we will not allow the traitor duke to set foot within this castle.”

He was an older man of medium height, with a barrel chest and gray muttonchop whiskers. Tonight, he looked splendid in imperial sapphire velvet, with a matching velvet beret to hide his bald head.

I released a shuddering breath of relief.

Mage-Instructor Bevitrice beamed at Guisbald from her seat next to Mage Armand. I wasn’t sure exactly how to define her relationship with Guisbald, but I’d seen the deep affection and caring between them when Guisbald lay injured in the castle’s infirmary.

“In the meantime, everyone, please finish eating. Head Chef Vollkorn and her staff put in a lot of hard work on short notice to prepare this feast for us,” Lady Margitts said. “No one needs to worry. Castellan Guisbald and I shall defend Darkstone Academy against any threat, be it from within or without.”

She resumed her seat in a billow of dark blue silk skirts.

A moment later, a chatter of reactions and speculation rose from the tables all around us.

My friend and classmate, Lady Karminn de Monopia, who sat across from me and next to Alondra, raised her finely shaped brows. “I can’t believe Lady Margitts actually denied Duke Beltràn entry to the castle! I thought she was going to throw the gates wide open for him.”

“Me, too.” Alondra grimaced and added in a bitter tone, “My aunt was absolutely infatuated with that man two years ago. If it hadn’t been for her, Father wouldn’t be locked up and we’d still be home in Parrish!”

Ilhan sighed. “Aunt Amella seems sincere in wanting to do a good job as chatelaine. I’m willing to give her the benefit of the doubt.”

I wasn’t so sure.

In my experience, the academy’s new chatelaine was a petty tyrant with a mean streak.

I hadn’t forgotten our first encounter, back when I was an indentured apprentice fresh off the boat from the Western Islands. Lady Margitts had enjoyed my distress when she confiscated all my meager possessions, including an herbal reference book that Tama had given me, and ordered them destroyed.

“Maybe our aunt has had time to reflect on her actions. And changed her mind about what kind of person the duke is,” Ilhan offered. He released my hand at last. “Whatever her reasons, I’m relieved she made the right choice.”

I nodded cautiously.

Ilhan’s mouth twitched into a wry smile as he sensed my continuing doubts. “Also, the Duke de Norhas only has six ships. Even if he wants to lay siege to this castle, standard ship-mounted cannons aren’t powerful enough to destroy basalt walls.”

“Not to mention,” Alondra chimed in, her eyes glittering with defiance, “the academy has ample supplies of food and water, a well-armed force of castle guards, and a dozen—well, eleven now—certified mages to help in its defense. All the fields and orchards are harvested. The duke won’t find much on this island to feed his men. And I doubt he’s brought enough supplies to starve us out in a siege.”

“And don’t forget, Friend Jacinthe,” Boreas interjected, draping one heavy arm possessively around my shoulders. “You also have an actual Dragon to defend you!”

The heat of his touch seeped through the heavy velvet of the gown he’d gifted me. It was a reminder of the fire running through his veins… and mine.

I was still coming to grips with the recent revelation that I was the child of a forbidden union between a human princess-royal and a Wind-Walker, which was what Dragons called themselves.

And not just any Wind-Walker, either. If I could believe the things that Roderigo and Erzabetta had told me before their deaths, my father was King Menelaus of the Dragon Kingdom of Kappadokia.

To most people, Dragons were nightmarish creatures who had burned villages and preyed on innocent farmers until the human duchies unified under the leadership of a pair of powerful generals two centuries ago.

In my wildest dreams, I’d never imagined sharing a Wind-Walker’s bed. Or that I was half-Dragon myself. But the proof of my heritage lay in my ability to wield Fire magic without burning myself to a crisp.

I had a brief but sickeningly vivid flash of Lady Erzabetta exploding into flames this morning. I shuddered at the recollection of her flaring like an oil-soaked torch before lava poured up out of the ground and devoured her charred remains.

Gwydion’s cool, musical voice broke into my thoughts, banishing the horrible images crowding my mind. “Since the late Lady Erzabetta and Lord Roderigo indisputably violated the terms of the peace treaty by attacking imperial hostages under their care, Boreas is now free to resume his true shape as a Wind-Walker.”

I hadn’t stopped to consider the implications of Erzabetta and Roderigo’s illegal attacks. Both Tama and Boreas had been mage-bound to human shape when they arrived in imperial territory as diplomatic hostages.

“And you know I can’t wait!” Boreas exclaimed, his golden eyes blazing with bloodthirsty enthusiasm. “I’ll fucking burn the duke’s ships to the waterline if that asshole tries anything!”

Tama’s silver hair shimmered in the flickering candlelight as he leaned towards me, his sharp teeth bared in a fierce smile.

“If Boreas returns to Dragon shape, then I will resume my true shape as well,” he said, his voice low and intense. “I’ll smash their hulls and rudders, and kill anyone who tries to escape the burning ships by jumping in the water. There will be no escape for my prey.”

The image of Tama mercilessly hunting panicked human sailors chilled me to the bone. My two lovers’ boasts reminded me of just how ruthless they could be.

Before I could dwell on it further, Lady Margitts pushed back her chair and rose from her seat. Her chilly gaze swept over the assembled students and staff until it landed on me. Castellan Guisbald scrambled to his feet as well.

The conversation died down once more when she stepped down from the dais. Flanked by Guisbald and Captain Ondine, she swept toward my table.

“Your Highness,” she said, pausing at the foot of the long table to sink into a curtsy. The two men behind her bowed. “We wish to move you to a more secure location within the castle while Castellan Guisbald and I deal with this… situation. I offer you an apartment in the donjon, which is more secure than your present room in the infirmary.” She paused and gave me a stiff little smile. “It’s also more fitting to your rank than that apprentice’s dormitory where you are now.”

I wanted to protest. As the only infirmary apprentice currently living in the dormitory, I loved the privacy of my simple room.

But Lady Margitts was right. Better to be safe than sorry.

I sighed, feeling a mixture of disappointment and resignation. “I understand, my lady.”

“Good,” Lady Margitts replied, her eyes full of concern. “We’ll have a guard escort you to your new quarters after the banquet ends. And I’ll post guards at your door and at the entrance to the donjon.”

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Ilhan’s thick golden brows pull down in a scowl. Disappointment and frustration flashed briefly through our soul-bond, and I remembered he’d asked to talk to me after the banquet.

Lady Margitts curtsied again. “Enjoy the rest of your meal, Highness,” she said.

Then she turned on her heel and strode back to the dais, tailed by Guisbald and Captain Ondine.

As soon as they were out of earshot, Gwydion leaned around Tama to talk to me. “Curse our cruel luck, Jacinthe!” he murmured. “I was just talking to Tama and Boreas about holding a very special victory celebration tonight. How dare the duke ruin our fun!”

Heat washed over my face at his words… and his knowing smile. My heart raced at the thought of bedding all three of my lovers at the same time.

But I couldn’t picture how such a scene would play out in reality.

“Perhaps another time,” I murmured, avoiding his silver gaze.

Boreas guffawed.

“You’re relieved!” he accused loudly. “Didn’t take you for a coward, Friend Jacinthe!”

“I’m not!” I protested, but our bond made it impossible to lie to him.

“What in the world are you talking about?” Alondra asked with a puzzled glance.

Next to her, Ilhan’s face flushed dark red. I felt bad for discomfiting him yet again.

His passionate kiss that morning flashed through my mind.

After months of mixed signals, Ilhan seemed ready at last to deepen our relationship. But clearly, the thought of sharing me with Tama, Boreas, and Gwydion still made him hesitate.

“Con—Conquest of the Continent, of course!” he spluttered. “Her Highness is just happy we won’t have to face all of you tonight. Not that we’d lose or anything.”

“How many games have we won so far, partner?” I asked, grateful for Ilhan’s lie.

Gwydion was watching us with a mischievous glint in his light eyes.

I wondered if my Fae lover had made any progress in figuring out how to teach Ilhan to close the soul-bond with me. It would help Ilhan feel more at ease with all of us, knowing he could have moments to himself when needed.

“Too many,” Gwydion declared, playing along with the fiction. “Your winning streak must end, my friends. And I believe Alondra and I can beat you with everything we’ve learned so far about your strategy.”

“Big words, Forest Brother,” Tama scoffed. “And yet, Boreas and I are close on your heels.”

As the banter continued, I looked around at my friends and smiled at them, grateful for their support.

Tama, Boreas, Gwydion, and Ilhan. Each of them was so different. My connection to them defied convention and transcended the boundaries of race and culture.

Even Alondra, hostile at first, had come around. Boreas’ gaming nights had broken the ice between us.

Over the past few months, she’d gone from wary disdain to friendly and relaxed. She’d even risked punishment to defy Erzabetta on my behalf.

Everything is going to be all right, I told myself. The Duke de Norhas can’t reach me in this castle.

The weeks since Remembrance Day had been filled with danger, death, injury, and upsetting revelations.

Is the worst finally behind us? I fervently hoped so.