Page 43 of The Storm of the Empire (Flyers Of The First Kingdom #3)

FORTY-TWO

HAZEL

“ H as he tried it?” Kiera asked, waiting like I was to see if the storm opal worked.

“He hasn’t been pulled back into a vision like that one.”

We were waiting for Luka and Jaxus to join us so we could go over something the King brought to Nyx this morning.

“What’s going on?” Jaxus asked when he strolled into the room. “I was called out of the war council.”

“I don’t know,” Zaria said, walking in at the same time. “Are we all here?”

“No, Luka is coming. He was held up,” I said since Luka had told me mind to mind he was on his way a few minutes ago.

We waited.

“Luka?” I reached out to him. Maybe he’d gotten distracted. He’d told me about the little things he did, about the conversation with Faolan. I wasn’t exactly happy he hadn’t told me right away, but now that he wore the opal, I felt a little better about everything.

Gran burst in. “You’re going to want to come see this.”

She ran, and all of us followed. She charged through the wide-open door to Kol’s room.

Luka stood over Kol, speaking in that hollow voice. It echoed around us, hauntingly.

I’d heard the words before. They were similar if not the same to what he’d said outside the tavern:

“ The face with two souls ushers in the night.

“ And the son must claim their place or all will perish under the tyranny and greed of those who wish to keep magic for themselves while all others starve.

“ The drought is upon us.

“ The Key to survival is and always will be shared.

Salvation comes with two lights.

The son and the night are upon us.”

Luka blinked, looking around. His hand was on the opal, and when he saw me, he smiled.

“It worked?” I asked.

He nodded, but before he could say anything, the King brushed past, and we all bowed our heads getting out of the way.

How much of that had he heard?

“What is this?”

Nyx stood, looking more commanding than he’d looked since we brought Kol back. “Your guess is as good as mine, but I think who we thought to be our ‘magicless’ new ryder might have the gift of foresight.” He acted astonished.

“Is this new?” The King’s gaze swept the room.

“I’ve noticed some weird feelings, but nothing specific,” Luka said, following Nyx’s lead.

“We thought he was ill. We couldn’t figure out what was wrong with him. We even had Gran look at him,” Kiera said, inching closer to her Gran to elbow her.

Gran glanced between us. “They thought he needed a mind healer.”

“Won’t he?” The King narrowed his eyes. “Koen the Great lost himself to madness. Have we had another fae with foresight since his time?”

Everyone shook their heads, muttering that they didn’t believe so.

“What did he say? I only caught a few lines.” the King demanded.

“I didn’t quite hear him. I was too astonished,” Nyx said, lifting his shoulders. His face gave no hint of deception.

“Anyone else?” The King glared at all of us, and the meaning was clear. We had better speak up.

“We barely caught the end. Gran came to get us because she didn’t know what was going on.” Kiera said with such innocence even I almost believed her, and I had seen what happened with my own eyes.

“He looked a little like he was throwing a fit, so I went to fetch my granddaughter to help me,” Gran said indignantly. “His body contorted, and he was unintelligible.”

The King studied each of us individually and everyone held their tongues. It was clear he was not satisfied but he didn’t press. Instead, turning in a flourish and stalking from the healers’ wing.

Once the King departed we all took a stunned breath, but as two healers entered Kol’s room to perform their hourly checks everyone wordlessly departed to go about their day. We would need to discuss this further, but now was not the time. I waited until the healers left, to speak with Nyx privately.

“Why are we lying to the king?” I asked Nyx when I had him alone.

“I don’t know. He’s been taking everything so strongly I didn’t want to bring it to him before we knew what we were dealing with.” Nyx didn’t meet my eyes, but I couldn’t imagine what would trouble him this much him after many years working closely with the King.

“What did you want to meet about?” Jaxus asked.

“The high priest came to speak with the King this morning with very alarming news.” Nyx clipped his words, clearly being very careful about what he was saying. “One of their nurseries has been raided.”

We all exchanged looks.

“Which one?” Luka asked, flexing his jaw.

“One here, right in the First Kingdom.”

We all stared at Nyx.

“Who would want to do that?” I barely kept the tremble out of my voice.

“I don’t know, but the King wants me to quietly assemble a team to help locate the eggs. They don’t want to draw a lot of attention to it yet because they don’t want to create panic.” Nyx exhaled slowly. “So we will have to talk more about that.”

Faolan leaned over and whispered to Jaxus.

“Don’t keep secrets,” Gran said. “Share with the class.”

“Faolan was merely bringing up something from his childhood. A strange story told as an anecdote about the types of people who would steal eggs. I can tell the story later. It doesn’t matter. This is a very grave matter.”

Gran glanced around then pulled something out of her belt and threw it into the air. “Speak plainly. This shields us from prying ears for a few minutes.”

Kiera moved behind her to lock the door.

“Finally, someone with some sense. I need someone to tell me where we can set up blind spots to have these conversations and not here. Not with the King coming over here on every whim.”

“I agree.” Nyx looked at Kol, nostrils flaring.

“Especially if you think the king has been odd,” Gran said to Nyx. “And I want to hear more about that.”

“Later. We only have a few minutes, so we need to talk fast.” Nyx finally seemed at least partly himself again. “First, if the priests are on to us, we are going to have to play this very carefully.”

“I can’t believe they said the eggs were stolen from here.” Faolan scoffed.

“It’s not like they could be honest without raising more questions,” Kiera said.

“We’ll work on a team to help them, and I want everything brought to me in a report before it’s written down. Nothing on paper.”

We all nodded.

“What was that Luka was saying?”

“It’s the same thing he said the night I told you about. I didn’t catch it all that time, but I’m sure it’s the same.”

“Luka, do you know what it means?”

He shook his head. “No. It was told to me by two fae draped in light. I didn’t remember that the last time or even that I’d said anything, but this time, I was able to keep one foot in each world.”

“Really?” I gasped, grabbing him.

He pressed his forehead to mine. “Yes.”

“With the stone?”

“I’m sure of it. I could feel it like a tether to you and this world.”

I kissed him hard, so relieved. I felt it wash through him, too.

“Well, that pauses that issue at least for now. Keep me updated if he gets worse, both of you,” Nyx said.

“Of course.” I slid my hand into Luka’s, squeezing it.

“Do you know why you burst in here?” Nyx asked after a moment.

“I was on my way to Kiera’s office to meet the rest of them, and I don’t know—” He stopped, tilting his head as if he was listening to a far-off voice. “Can I look at Kol?”

Nyx gestured for me to go ahead.

Luka approached him in his bed and gently turned Kol’s head to one side, combing his fingers through the tangled mess of hair to find a patch that was shorter than the rest. He pulled the strands aside and saw it. My heart missed a beat.

“Gran, come look at this,” he barely managed to get out.

Everyone crowded around behind Gran as she bent over Kol.

“There’s something under there.” She put her hand over it and muttered some words. Kiera stepped closer to assist her, and together, they worked to extract the thing out of his skin with magic. Finally, she stepped back. “Got it!” A shard of what looked like the Draco Fulgurite that blocked both Zaria and Luka, floating above her palm.

Luka blinked, not used to seeing such magic.

Kiera went to a cabinet and fetched a jar, then transferred it safely and sealed it in.

“They like to use this stuff, don’t they?” Gran mused, shaking the jar before bringing it to her nose to smell. “It smells like it’s laced in poison. It might have been keeping him sicker as well. I’ll have it tested.”

My stomach clenched. Could it have to do with the book Luka was carrying around?

“What will happen now that it’s gone from his body?” Nyx pushed.

“It’s hard to say. Maybe it will allow his mind to accept our healing better now,” Gran speculated, but it was clear that no one really knew.

“How long will that take to work?” Nyx asked, not willing to settle for anything other than positive news.

Gran turned to him, taking his hand. “He will heal as the Goddess wishes?—”

A gurgling scream cut her off. We all turned towards the sound.

Kol sat straight up in bed and gasped, eyes wild with fear.