Page 141 of The Chains You Defy

“What’s a Liolog?” Nayana regarded me with her soft cerulean eyes, seeing right through me like every fucking time before.

“Liolog had been a friend of mine since we were faelings,” Antas said. “And he was more than aware of what a plague my brother was for Galanta. One day, he attempted to assassinate Galrach. He was not the first or only one, but Liolog came closer than anyone else before and after him.” Antas’ voice cracked, and the spark of sympathy stirring in my insides irritated me.

Liolog had been Antas’ wife’s brother, and they’d been incredibly close.

My uncle stayed silent, examining his hands, so I decided to take over, even if the story was more his than mine.

“Liolog was a powerful light Wielder with the key facet of mental manipulation. And while Galrach is immune to such powers due to unknown reasons, Liolog had found a genius solution to this problem. He overpowered my mind and forced me to attack the king. His ploy might even have worked if he’d pushed me harder, or if Galrach’s elite guards hadn’t figured out in time what was happening and killed Liolog, which stopped the control instantly. A few more seconds, and my grandfather wouldn’t have ended up severely wounded but dead. From that day on, I’ve known that the magic binding me is about intent and not about action. And of course, that I’m indeed way more powerful than my grandfather.”

Contemplating the situation, I played with Nayana’s soft locks. “And the truth is, I’m not mad he took over and usurped my free will. His ploy had been a good idea, and I wish he would have succeeded.”

“Afterward, my brother exterminated every light Wielder with only an ounce of mind control and came out with a test that every faeling with this elemental predisposition is subjected to.”

The cruelty the High King maintained to secure his rule made even my blood boil. Yes, sometimes I was a hypocrite. So what?

Most light Wielder had mental facets to some capacity, and because Galrach was so fucking paranoid, he’d executed a plethora of capable males and females. But the worst about his purge was how many healers he’d murdered since mending talents could only be found in those who had access to light magic. These days, there were only a handful of them left since Wielder like Ireas, who hadn’t shown a single mind-ability, were rare.

Everyone was silent for a while, and I scanned Nayana once more to be absolutely sure she was unharmed. But although she still seemed fine during this checkup, I wouldn’t risk her any further. I had to act.

Soon.

And so, I cut through the silence, issuing a decree.

“We will leave this place in a quarter of a moon.” Finality ruled my voice.

“That isn’t what we agreed on.”

Of course, Fig challenged my authority without even considering my reasons. One of these days—

“I don’t care. Under these circumstances, seven nights is already a stretch and must suffice.”

“But if you flee from court, won’t that be regarded as treason? Won’t Galrach take hostages once more?”

The worried tone in Nayana’s voice warmed my heart—she was caring for my safety, after all.

Mine, not ours, I decided. Surely, she’d mentioned the others only out of politeness.

“Everything indicates that this will happen anyway,” Antas added. “Finding definite proof is hard, but by now, I have more than just a strong suspicion that Galrach is not innocent concerning the weakening of the fabric of reality. It is only a question of time before he realizes that we are working against him, and the moment he does, Alaiann is the worst place to be.”

“And regarding another potential hostage situation, we did our best to encourage anyone close to us to vanish into hiding.”

“Dion, if we remain for a full moon cycle, as agreed upon, we’ll be able to collect more information. For example, where the chance of Wild Rifts appearing is higher. We discussed this at length only a few hours ago.”

“Fig, I don’t fucking care. My mind is made up, we’ll depart in seven days.” After all, I had a female to protect, and doing so wasn’t possible in this environment—as proven today. Besides, a fucking miracle would have to occur for Galrach to stay out of our way for an entire moon cycle. Even a quarter was a stretch, and my stomach cramped in discomfort. I would have preferred to vacate Alaiann this very instant, but there was a last important matter I had to tend to before we could leave the palace.

By Noelk’s shriveled nut sack, my whole situation was fucked up.

How long could a single person sleep? The sun must have been up for an hour already, and I’d left the bed at least two earlier. After all, everything had to be perfect today. The basket next to the suite door was filled to the brim with all the necessities imaginable. I’d checked the contents five times already—within the last thirty minutes.

The saddlebags were already at the stables, overflowing with everything else we would possibly need.

No one would dare to steal anything. After all, I’d recruited both Fig and Antas to prepare Cath and guard the goods with their lives. I could havegiven them the basket as well, but although I trusted them with the non-perishables, what if they had looked away for a second, and someone would have slipped poison into one of the many food items I’d packed?

Now that I came to think of it, maybe I shouldn’t have relied on anyone else with my logistics because no one would be as thorough as I am in safekeeping my baggage. Fuck.

To distract myself from the dilemma, I returned to the basket I had under my supervision and fidgeted with the lid. “Ouch, fuck this.”

At the last moment, I refrained from kicking the object that had attacked me, and I snarled at the willow splinter in my finger. As much as sucking the bleeding piece of wood from my thumb annoyed me, if all the meticulously prepared food got ruined by a little sting of pain—and my nasty temper—that would be a disaster.