Page 29 of Reign of Stars and Fire

Hand in hand, band by band, they join a fated fight.

The boy shrunk back closer to the captain. “That’s all I thought. I . . . I don’t want fights or battles, but everyone knows the princess, she . . . she was joinin’ with the battle lord, so fighting might be what comes. But he’s not a peasant or a king.”

Riot stood, a bit of unease in his eyes, but he covered it with a grin at the boy. “You have a remarkable gift. No need to be afraid of it, nor is there reason to think battles and horrid things are coming. Fate magic, or seidr, can be difficult to master. The voice, the song, it can get away from us if we are not schooled on how to use it properly.”

With his hands on his hips, Riot considered the boy for a few moments. “Where are your folk?”

“Got taken by the frost coughs.”

“I’m sorry. My mother and father are gone too.” Riot clapped a hand on the boy’s shoulder. “One final question, do you swear not to speak of what we’ve discussed in here today? Not to anyone.”

The boy blinked. “Swear.”

“Good. I’d like you to stay here, study under Captain Annon to serve your king, and in turn, I shall teach you how to hone your seidr.”

The boy’s eyes widened. “I’m . . . I’m not heading for the rack?”

Both the captain and the king chuckled.

“No,” said Riot. “Not today.”

Shadows spilled from the corners of the throne room. The walls turned from mighty beams of thick wood to grainy mist until nothing remained. No boy, no king, only my phantom guide and me.

“You were always in her path, even before you existed, Ari.”

“Why did you show me this? Why did her brother not stop it after the child sang a new fate for her?”

He faced me, eyes narrowed. “Fate writes our paths. At times we are given many ways to walk them, but other times choice must be considered. You saw for yourself, the princess was enraptured by her heart’s desire.”

“But that bastardbrokeher.” The words slid from my throat like pebbles underfoot.

“Bruised her. Like you are bruised. Together you form two wounded pieces, but the cracks in your soul fill hers. The way hers do the same for you. Her song wasyou. It is time to look forward, let the past leave its scars, but now you must stand together and whole.”

A burn of emotion tangled in my chest—love for a woman who’d unraveled every facet of my existence, only to piece it together again into a life I’d never dreamed for myself. One I hadn’t dared imagine, and now that I had it, down to my soul, I feared I would lose it.

“I did not realize the fate king had an heir.” I waved a hand to the shadows. “Saga never mentioned her brother had a child.”

Wraith held my stare until my skin prickled under his watch. “Your wife was not wiped from existence as was the direct bloodline of Riot Ode.”

“You know, I think you fate folk think your words are simple to follow. Often you give pieces and expect those of us who do not know any context of your tales to simply understand.”

Wraith sighed. “Your wife recalls her brother existed because of their shared connection through their mother, but how long did it take for her to remember he was even vowed?”

Saga hadn’t recalled her brother’s wife, not even Davorin’s name, for a time. Fate was a magic of tricks and manipulation, and the more I learned of it, the more I feared it and despised the way it meddled in lives.

“To protect the throne the king made a sacrifice.” Wraith paused, as though words failed him. “Too great a sacrifice. The outcome? Any remnant of his direct bloodline was wiped from the threads of life and fate. Your wife does not remember his heir for by all accounts an heir never existed.”

“Never existed?” My insides swirled in a new kind of turmoil. What bits and pieces of life were still lost to Saga? Moments of joy? Of laughter? What more had been stolen from her because of Davorin?

“You’ve been given a great deal to think about.” Wraith tilted his head, a faint grin on his lips. “There is more to the tale, so when you are finished, find me and we will continue.”

“Find you? What—”

There wasn’t time to answer before the phantom faded, along with the ground beneath my feet.

Chapter11

The Golden King