Page 43 of Legacy of the Heirs (The Lost Kingdom Saga #2)
Elisara
“ W hat about this one?” Elisara asked.
“When I was seventeen, I tried to steal liquor from Razik’s personal stash. I summoned vines for the first time to lift it from the shelves.” Kazaar lazily traced circles on Elisara’s shoulder while she examined the vines inked on the inside of his left bicep.
“This one?” she asked, pointing to a sail in the crook of his elbow, hidden among small symbols. She frowned.
“Razik wanted me to commandeer a ship he believed was stealing gold from him. I accidentally sunk it instead of setting it on fire,” he murmured, turning his head to face her. She smiled.
“And they just appeared?” He nodded while she grazed her finger over them, wishing she had all the time in the world to count them and inspect every inch of him.
She could not begin to guess how many markings there were, which left her wondering about his many stories.
The corner of her lips tugged upward as her finger trailed back to his collarbone.
There was no inking yet on her favourite mark—their mark—but the feeling of it under her thumb felt the same as the other inkings and scars.
“Each time I used a new power or used it differently, the scarred marks would appear. I felt nothing when they appeared, but I inked over them so they would appear superficial.” Elisara frowned as her pinkie grazed a familiar small symbol, a memory tugging in the back of her mind.
“Are these small ones the same as those on the floor of the throne room on the Unsanctioned Isle? ”
“I was so worried you’d notice when we were there,” Kazaar murmured.
“Did you ever figure out why they appeared?”
“I have no answer to that except for the celestial tie keeping your freezing body glued to mine.” She smacked his chest, and he chuckled.
Elisara had awakened to Kazaar, gently stroking her back to gently wake her.
That had been an hour ago, but they would need to rise soon.
Instead, she spent the hour examining the many inkings across his upper body as he held her close in the bed designed for one.
The inkings were a welcome distraction from her insistent thoughts that coaxed her into a spiral of overthinking about everything that transpired the evening before.
She wondered if he meant his words before she kissed her, or when he promised there would be a ‘next time.’ Elisara focused on each mark on his skin to distract from the feeling in her heart that was so intent on carving itself into her permanently.
“What about this one?” Elisara pointed to a flaming dagger hidden beneath the vines on his forearm.
Kazaar pulled his arm out from under her and rose from the bed, inviting the breeze of the early morning air to rush under the blanket, which she pulled close to her body as she sat up, spilling her dark waves over her shoulder.
“What’s wrong?” she asked as Kazaar hastily pulled on his leathers. She was very conscious then of her naked body underneath the blanket.
“We need to get moving. That talisman won’t collect itself.” His lip lifted, though it lacked the sincerity she expected. Elisara tried to push into his mind, but dark walls shot from the ground within and blocked her instantly. She narrowed her eyes.
“Do not,” he said, his voice clipped. She wrapped the blanket around her and shifted to the edge of the bed, where he had undressed and done so much more to her last night. The memory must have flashed in his mind, too, exposed by the look in his eye.
“You are keeping something from me.” She frowned, trying to keep the accusatory tone from her lips. Kazaar avoided her gaze as he buckled the straps on his leathers and adjusted the fit of the Sword of Sonos on his back. “You said I could trust you, Kazaar.”
Sighing, he closed his eyes and crossed over to her, gently tilting her chin.
“You can trust me, angel, but there are some things I am not ready to face myself yet, let alone share with someone who has only just begun to look at me with such endearment.” Elisara’s heart softened, though the wish to know the meaning behind the inking remained.
He traced his thumb over her lip, reminding her of where those hands had been.
“At least bathe before we leave.” She rolled her eyes and made to stand, but he pushed her shoulder gently, forcing her to sit. Leaning down, Kazaar kissed her cheek before whispering, “I think I would rather have the reminder on my skin that you are mine .”
***
“That’s not eerie at all,” Kazaar muttered to Vlad as Elisara approached the shore.
A soft fog drifted in the frigid morning air as the sunrise peeked over the tree line, highlighting the distant watchtowers on both Vala and Nerida’s borders.
The black of Kazaar’s leathers was stark against the frost, while the pale Vala blue of Vlad’s uniform seemed at home amongst the frozen colours.
Elisara smiled at her commander and her captain, appearing to share a friendly moment.
“Try it,” Vlad said. Elisara’s feet crunched on the frost before she jostled the pebbles that lined the shore. Kazaar’s head tilted at the sound before he offered Vlad his hand. Vlad’s pale, gloveless hands dropped a smooth, flat stone into his palm. “You need to get a low angle on it.”
“I have skipped stones before,” Kazaar grunted as he twisted his body. “Water does exist in Keres.” As Kazaar turned, Elisara caught the glint in his eye as the sunrise bathed him: playful, relaxed, and comfortable.
“Yes, but Vlad has always been the best stone skipper,” Elisara emphasised, laughing at their childish behaviour.
Kazaar smirked, and she rolled her eyes, knowing this had quickly become some kind of competition between them.
Crossing her arms, she inclined her head as he watched her from the corner of his eye, silently telling him to throw the stone.
He leaned back and, in one fluid moment, propelled the flat stone across the sparkling ice that trapped the waters below on Vala’s side of the Vellius sea.
An eerie, high-pitched frequency echoed across the surface, a sound that mesmerised Elisara. It was an unexplained spectacle to watch a stone skip across ice and hear the haunting echo that followed, as though it called out to someone—somewhere—waiting for an answer.
“I’m certain I sent that all the way to Nerida’s border,” Kazaar said, and Vlad scoffed. Halfway across the glistening lake, the ice thinned where it met Nerida’s dark waters, forming its border. The high-pitched sound skated across the lake again as Vlad threw a stone towards it.
“Perhaps those are the odd sounds the guards in the towers have heard,” said one of Vlad’s men, leaving the tents. “Children from Vojta skipping stones.” Elisara held in a laugh at the embarrassed look shared between Kazaar and Vlad.
“Perhaps.” Kazaar crossed his arms and stared at the border with narrowed eyes. Elisara followed his eyeline to the water, appearing to ripple more than usual.
“Do you think the water senses their queen is missing?” Elisara whispered.
“Can nature sense such things?” Kazaar asked, and she shrugged.
“Larelle is always so calm and collected, like the water is an extension of her. I do not think it absurd that the element understands her in return.” She smiled when Kazaar looked down at her, the warmth brightening in his eyes .
“We should get going,” Vlad said. He took a step onto the ice to test it before allowing his queen to cross. Elisara nodded and waited until Vlad was several steps ahead. He paused and inspected the frozen lake below him before jumping.
“Vlad!” Elisara hissed, who flashed her a boyish grin.
“Just checking!” He motioned for them to follow.
Elisara sighed and followed Kazaar’s lead. The lake groaned beneath his dark boots, but he continued slowly and intently forward. Elisara’s breathing halted with her feet as she stood to listen, certain the lake could crack at any moment. When he was several steps ahead, Kazaar turned back.
“It is merely the sound of the water and ice shifting beneath the surface,” he said, and Elisara nodded, convincing herself he was right.
Yet she trained her eyes on the ice as she continued behind him, with the two guards following at the rear.
Reaching for her power, she waved her hand, though she could barely see through the ice to discern whether she solidified it.
The glistening white surface changed to light blue the further they walked, growing shinier and more slippery with every step.
“Shit!” A guard swore, and Elisara spun to watch him fall on the ice with a thud. The lake appeared to vibrate below her feet, stretching out to Nerida’s border. Everyone paused, listening for any sign the surface would crack. His partner helped the guard to stand.
“It was nothing!” he called, yet a chill settled in Elisara’s bones, suddenly overcome by a sense of urgency to reach the island.
Glancing up from her feet, she breathed a sigh of relief when Vlad reached it, his body small but safe on the distant snowy island.
They would make it. In the distance, Kazaar waited midway between her and Vlad.
“You’ve got this, angel,” he called in her mind. Her lips twitched at his nickname as she steadied her breathing.
Waving her hands, Elisara pulled on her power to fortify the frost against the surface for extra purchase, which worked, though only for a moment. But with every step on the frozen path, the ice melted away and left a sheen in its place. Elisara frowned but continued walking.