Chapter
Four
CRYSTALLO
T he farm girl threw herself through my newly created portal like a Thutar rolling for the kill.
I would have laughed if I hadn’t been so relieved I didn’t have to waste any time myself as I launched in after her.
The moment my feet touched down on the wooden surface of my home, I cut the portal, snapping it shut.
“The seals!” I laughed. I threw my hands up in the air, joy ricocheting through me like a fledgling with too much yavarin sap in their system. “THE SEALS ARE brEAKING!”
The farm girl was sprawled out on the floor of my throne room at my feet, the crimson dress she had worn to dinner riding up around her hips. The sight of her exposed like that nearly killed me.
Instead of dying, or staring despite my deep appreciation of the view, I leaned down and grabbed the bottom edge of it, pulling it down over her rump as people rushed into the throne room, summoned by my shout.
I resisted the urge to grab her by the waist to lift her up.
She had rejected my hand when I held it out to her earlier; she must not want to be touched.
I didn’t blame her with what I had threatened back at dinner.
Still, the sight of that dress of her thick, muscular curves, a body strong with the intimate knowledge of hard labor, sent a heat burning down into my loins with a sudden flash of desire.
She was strong, she was smart, and the moment there was action to take, she took it.
If she hadn’t been there, I would have been caught in the trap they set in the guest room.
I had planned to sleep and visit with my brother the next morning, as was customary for my visits, but the seals were breaking.
Of course, they wanted to trap me.
Capturing me right before the final battle was the best move they could make.
“My people!” I called out, lifting both my arms as more of my subjects, courtiers, and officials alike flooded the throne room, filling the air with chirping cries of greeting.
“We will have an official welcome soon, but there is urgent business. War council, with me! Heralds, call in those who are not here.”
I leaned down next to the farm girl who had just risen to her feet.
“I must see to my people first,” I told her. “Then I will ensure you are taken home.”
“Wait,” she said. “Home?”
I didn’t have time to answer that as I was already in motion.
I strode from the room, leaving the young heralds to fly off and search for the few of the war council who hadn’t yet made it to the throne room.
The few that were there included General Vetharim, my head of intelligence, Orisanti, and my lead steward, Solarion.
They followed after me as I led the way into the side room I used for smaller meetings.
I moved to the head of the table, which was covered in a large map of the school.
“The seals are breaking. I can confirm the seal located here has shattered.” I placed my finger down on the map where the fort was.
It was the only way those Orcs would have made it into the fort like that.
The seal down in the cells had to have been broken.
“That makes two,” Orisanti, my head of intelligence, said, tapping the part of the map we had already marked off based on the reports from his spies.
“The Chaos God has returned and is shattering the seals,” General Vetharim agreed. “Though why he is taking so much time between them is strange.”
“It is odd,” I agreed with her.
There was the small sound of a scoffing snort behind me.
I glanced back to see that the farm girl had followed me into the war room and was standing behind me, just out of sight of my peripheral vision.
“Sire, who is this?” Solarion asked.
I felt a brief moment of shame that I hadn’t learned her name yet, but I let that pass through me, letting it go just as quickly as it came. I didn’t have time for shame. “Introduce yourself,” I commanded.
“Honored Aetheriani,” the farm girl said, bowing deeply from the waist. “I am Nora, an Agronomist trained in Sustainable Agriculture with practical work experience at the Order Academy in Operations and Implementation.”
My lips twitched at her sudden title. They didn't give mundanes titles like that. She was again displaying her intelligence, labeling herself as something more than what others would call her, trying to make an impression of importance when faced with a new social situation.
“A mundane,” Solarion said. He lifted an eyebrow as he inspected her. “Rather sturdy, aren’t you?”
He saw what I saw in her square jaw and broad shoulders, but had the good manners not to say it.
“Yes, honored Aetheriani,” Nora said, bowing again. “I am a humble mundane with very useful skills; I look forward to utilizing them in the service of Rí Túath Crystallo.”
“She is to be portaled back to the mundane at a location of her choosing as soon as we are done with this meeting,” I told Solarion, not a little bit of regret flickering through me.
The heat that rose in me every time I looked at her urged that I keep her by my side, but that wasn’t right.
Nora deserved to be able to go back to her home.
She deserved her freedom.
“No!” Nora gasped.