Page 22 of Daughter of the Ninth Line, Part Three

Twenty-One

Hayle

I t had been three days before we’d emerged from Avalon’s dorm rooms. Three days of sweat-soaked skin, of sharing, of pleasure and release. It had been the best three days of my life, and judging by the gooey smile on Vox Vylan’s face, the best three days of his life too.

We’d done our best to ensure that Avalon was boneless with pleasure, or asleep because we’d wrung orgasm after orgasm from her body. But even now, weeks later, she was still smiling like she’d discovered the secret to life.

Fuck, I love her. It had slipped out the first time we’d had sex, but I’d told her over and over again since then.

I never wanted her to doubt my feelings, not even for a moment.

I knew it would be hard for her to say it back, but I could wait.

She had trauma that she needed to work through, and I’d be here for her every step of the way.

The other great thing about our self-inflicted banishment into Avalon’s dorm of ill repute was that no one had seen Vox arrive; most had thought him still in Fortaare.

It had been a blissful escape from duty for the both of us, and by the end of the third day, Vox had seemed so much lighter that he was almost hard to recognize.

Shay had known he was down there, of course—as had Lucio—but she’d kept the news to herself. No one wanted Vox’s happiness more than Shay. Well, except for Avalon and me now.

Which made the fact that this three-way relationship we had was on a countdown clock, endlessly ticking toward its expiration. I fucking hated it.

I didn’t want Vox to return to Fortaare, to that fucking psychopath who’d brutalized him for his own weaknesses. To live a miserable life. There had to be a way to extract him from that life, I knew, but two weeks later, I was no closer to a solution.

Whenever I thought of the Baron of the First Line, I felt a rage so incandescent, it threatened to set me on fire.

Not only had he fucked up his own son so casually, but a shipment of food, sailing from the stores of my home in Hamor to the capital of the Eleventh Barony, Tenby, had sunk in the middle of the Alutian sea last week.

Tons of grain and dried fruit and meat were now at the bottom of the sea, due to “unseasonable” gale-force winds.

Vox had warned me that his father would try and sabotage the boats. I’d tried to warn my father too, in a way that didn’t incriminate Vox as the source of information, and while my father had taken it seriously, there wasn’t much any of us could have done in the face of that power.

Hell, we couldn’t even pin it on the First Line. It could have been storm magic from the Fourth Line. The ambiguity meant no one could point fingers, so the Baron of the First Line got away with it, again.

We could send more grain, the other half of the shipment. But it wouldn’t be enough to last the Eleventh and Twelfth Lines through the rest of the drought season. It was half of what they’d need, and it might keep them from dying, but it wouldn’t keep them from starving.

I attacked a little harder, and the instructor in front of me grunted.

“Easy there, Taeme. I like my head attached to my body,” the older man muttered.

He was another former soldier from the Dawn Army.

A lot of the former soldiers would train with the First and Third Line conscripts.

It kept their own training up, and they could call it “teaching.”

I’d learned the arts of war at the feet of my father and his most trusted seconds; there wasn’t much about fighting that this place could teach me.

“Sorry, Beury. Got caught up in the movements.” I gave the man an affable grin. “Good to keep you on your toes anyway. Don’t want you getting slow in your old age.”

“Old?” Beury rumbled indignantly at my teasing. Honestly, he was probably no more than forty-five, but an assignment at Boellium had probably made him a little more fat and happy than his former comrades still in the Dawn Army. “I’ll show you old, kid.” He raised his sword and shifted his stance.

“If I could have a moment with Heir Taeme before you attack, Instructor Beury?” a soft, yet firm voice asked.

We both dropped our swords as we watched Librarian Enora pick her way across the sand of the training ring. It was weird to see the Librarian out of the library, let alone outside in the training ring.

Beury nodded quickly. “Of course, Librarian.” He moved away, and I stepped hesitantly toward her.

“Can I help you, ma’am?”

She scoffed. “You can start by not calling me ‘ma’am.’ Do I look like I’m a hundred years old?”

Out in the light, away from the shadows of the library, she did look a lot younger than my original estimation, though I still wouldn’t put a number on it out loud. I liked my balls attached.

“I need to see you, Miss Halhed, and Mr. Vylan as soon as possible in the library. It would be… beneficial if you came post-haste.”

She didn’t want to be called old, but she still used terms like post-haste. “Of course, ma—Librarian. I’ll find them and bring them to you as soon as I can.”

Librarian Enora looked worried, gnawing at her lower lip, but she nodded firmly. “I will see you as soon as possible, Heir Taeme.”

With that, she turned on soft silk slippers that were not made for the training ring and hurried back inside the heavy stone buildings of Boellium. Her midnight-blue skirts flared behind her, barely touching the sand.

I wondered what Line the Librarian was from; much like the instructors here at Boellium, Librarians gave up their allegiance to their Line, to devote themselves to the libraries and knowledge.

But they maintained their powers, and given the way the bottoms of her skirt seemed to stay a mere breath above the sand, my money was that Librarian Enora was from the First Line.

Interesting.

I looked over at Beury. “Raincheck? I have to run an errand for the Librarian.”

He nodded and bowed lightly. I bowed back. It was a gesture of respect at the end of any battle.

“Of course. Between two soldiers, that woman scares the shit out of me.”

Laughing, I slapped him on the back and went in search of Avalon. Then I’d have to find Lucio, who’d have to find Shay, who’d need to get a message to Vox. I hated the need for subterfuge.

I kind of missed the surly fucker, now we couldn’t be seen together.

But every night, we still climbed onto the roof of the atrium so Vox and Avalon could do their star charts and I could nap.

Well, napped until we snuck inside the Dome, then fucked under a cone of silence until the sun lit the horizon.

I was sleep deprived, but I wouldn’t change a single moment.

Avalon was training with her friends from the Twelfth Line, and it was cute. She sucked. She was never going to be a swordsman, but she had pretty good aim, so I thought I might buy her a crossbow. Long-range weapons might be a better fit.

I didn’t interrupt as they worked through the remainder of the battle, Avalon eventually yielding.

Viana was a good swordsman, but even better with daggers.

She’d nearly taken out Ephily’s eye when she was badmouthing one of her friends a few weeks ago, and I doubted that Viana had missed accidentally.

It had been a warning, and Ephily had kept her mouth shut since.

Viana said something to my girl, and Avalon looked over at me, her face lighting up. My heart squeezed in my chest at the joy in her expression. I wouldn’t ever get tired of her looking at me like that. Like I was the best thing she’d seen all day.

She bounded over to me, and I wrapped her up in my arms. I didn’t care who saw; the more people who knew she was mine, the better.

“Well, well. If it isn’t Avalon Halhed, the one and only love of my life.” I kissed her loudly as I spun her around. “Your sword skills are getting so much better,” I said into the curve between her shoulder and neck.

“Liar,” she admonished, but her tone was light and happy.

If I did nothing else but make her this level of happy for the rest of my life, then I’d go into the Great Beyond satisfied. I pressed closer, and she tapped my shoulder.

“Careful, I’m still holding my sword. Though I have to admit, it’s a novelty that I’m poking you with something long and hard for once.”

My laughter echoed around the training ring, though no one really even looked anymore. Sure, there were still some expressions of disbelief, some of outright disgust, and more than a little jealousy, but it was becoming the norm now.

“The Librarian wants to see us. She says it’s of extreme importance. I have to go find Lucio to tell Shay that the other one has been requested also,” I whispered in her ear.

“I think I saw Lucio flirting wi—” She was cut off by Quarry cawing loudly overhead, sending me notes of alarm. I tensed, my mind connecting instantly with my raven.

Boats.

Guns.

Soldiers.

Surrounding Boellium?

That made no sense. Who? I asked, and he sent me images of an army I didn’t recognize. Dark uniforms shot through with amber, an insignia I didn’t know. How could a foreign invading army get so close without anyone sighting them?

“We’re under attack,” I told Avalon quietly. I had to tell the instructors. I had to tell Master Proxius.

Sirens sounded around the training ring, coming from speakers I couldn’t even see. “Boellium is under attack. Please return inside the walls.” More loud whooping.

What the fuck was happening? Gripping Avalon’s hand, I called all my animal companions to me as I pulled her back toward the atrium. Braxus and Alucius came immediately. I looked down at Braxus. “Until we know what’s happening, you stay with her at all times. You understand? She is your priority.”

They both acknowledged my request. Braxus moved to Avalon’s side, and she buried her fingers in his fur.

Fear like I’d never felt gripped me. Not fear for myself, but fear for her. Because if anything happened to Avalon, I knew I wouldn’t be able to live without her.