Page 40 of Wrath Of Suns And Shadows (The Osparia #2)

Chapter Twenty-Seven

Emelyn

I was going crazy.

Tomorrow, we would be docking at Iron Isle Harbor and traveling to the Imperial District to the Royal Palace of Ember, where my fate awaited me.

The trip would take a few days on foot. I tossed and turned as the ship gently swayed and slowly kept creeping closer to a place I desperately wanted to stay away from.

“What troubles you, Bunny?” Kade asked as he lay sprawled out on the floor a few feet from the bed. I rolled over, facing him. His eyes stayed fixed on the ceiling.

“I do not like not knowing what awaits me tomorrow,” I said, and he glanced over at me.

“Is that fear I smell coming from the great Peacebringer herself?” he asked, and I blew out a breath in frustration.

“I still have much to learn about the beast inside of me. I feel I’ll never stop learning about it,” I admitted, and the power that lingered in my chest stirred, letting me know it was still there.

If only it would come out when I commanded it to.

It was still something I’d have to gain better control of.

It wasn’t conjured at my fingertips like the elements were.

The Peacebringer that lived in me was almost like another being of power that only awoke when it knew it needed to.

I had read that the one before me had controlled the power and awoken the beast at will, but I still didn’t fully understand how.

It seemed to only come out when my emotions were high and everything seemed harder to control.

“I’m sure you’ll master it with time. Now get some rest, Bunny.

We have a long day tomorrow.” He closed his eyes, letting out a light grunt as he shifted to his side, trying to get more comfortable on the hard floor.

We had spent almost a week together on this ship, and since being here, the only things that had brought me even the slightest bit of comfort were Pojo and the scent of him on these sheets every night when I went to sleep.

It was almost gone by now since he had given me the bed and taken to the floor, and with all the uncertainty that awaited us, I wanted to smother myself in comfort.

I paused for a long moment before I finally spoke up.

“Would you . . . like to sleep in the bed?” I asked rather than letting him know I wanted him too. He shifted to face me.

“An invitation to sleep in my own bed? Bunny, you’re too kind,” he quipped, and I rolled my eyes.

“Never mind,” I said as I turned away from him.

I pulled the covers up to my chin and tried to get comfortable and clamped my eyes shut, hoping sleep would take me, but it never came.

Suddenly, I felt the weight of the bed shift behind me, and Kade let out a soft groan as he shifted onto the mattress, the sound similar to the one I’d made the first night I’d slept here.

When I glanced over my shoulder, he was lying there, facing me. His amber eyes practically glowed in the dim light from the fireplace. Darkness shadowed half of the planes of his face. But the man was the most beautiful with his unkept hair and the sleepy grin he gave me right before he spoke.

“You must be genuinely terrified if you’re going to rest beside the enemy,” he probed, and I didn’t respond, only turned away from him and desperately tried to go to sleep.

His scent lingered more around me, though, and I let out a sigh as I closed my eyes again and focused on the contentment of it.

Rest, mei wynsoara.

My eyes went wide as I heard Crow’s voice faintly in my mind.

He was with me, maybe not in this room, but he was in my mind.

His shadows were here. He hadn’t forgotten me, and I suddenly felt bad for thinking that he would have.

Emotion festered behind my eyes. A single tear slipped as I tried to speak to him through his shadows.

I did not know what I was doing or if trying to communicate through his shadows was even possible with only my mind alone.

But I focused as best I could on every place his shadows were inside of my head as I called to him.

Where are you?

Are you safe?

They’re taking me to Ember.

I’m scared.

Please . . .

I begged and begged, not knowing if the words running through my head were making it to him, before the sudden exhaustion clouded my mind from his shadows, forcing my sleep.

I felt the whisper of the smallest caress of his darkness against my soul before it claimed me, and I chased after the shadows, hoping to see the man I loved within the hollow of my dreams.

As I woke up, I discovered that my head was against a hard chest and the Prince of Ember had wrapped his arms around me. One of his hands rested on my lower hip while the other lay on the small of my back.

Everything in me told me to push away, but I didn’t want to wake him. He looked the most peaceful I had seen him since this trip had begun, but then he spoke and I changed my mind about every thought I had just had.

“Dream of me, Bunny?” he asked as one of his eyes squinted open, and I scoffed, shifting away from him, and he released me with a chuckle.

I rolled out from my side of the bed and went to the bathroom to relieve myself and to get ready for the day, not giving a second thought to the prince as I tried to focus on that part of my mind that Crow had spoken through to me.

I looked in the mirror and tried to communicate with him again, and silence was my only response.

Fuck.

I could only hope that he’d heard me last night. I assumed the only way he could communicate was through his shadows in my mind, similar to the orb he had sent to the island. His words always came to me, but I never knew if mine connected to him when I would try to talk back.

Kade knocked on the door as I finished getting ready, and I felt the slight pause from the ship and heard men shouting from outside.

We were about to dock. Fear slithered down my spine, and I suddenly felt cold.

I opened the door, and Kade was standing there, leaning against the doorframe with a worried look on his face that told me maybe he didn’t know what would be waiting for us back in Ember either.

“We still have to make the trip to the Imperial District, Emelyn. No need to panic.”

“I’m not panicking,”

“Your heart tells me otherwise.”

“What would you know about my heart?” I snapped back.

“I’ve spent years learning everything there is to know about you, Peacebringer. Besides, it’s easy to detect fear.”

“I thought Ember thought the Peacebringer died years ago, when the war started?” I asked, and he cocked his head to the side.

“It was never certain, but I wanted to learn all I could about it anyway.”

“Did you always know it was me?”

“What do you mean? Of course not.”

“Then why did you mark every place I had traveled to over the years on your maps?” I asked, and the corner of his lip curled to the side.

“The last anyone knew of a Peacebringer was that it was a Sky Elf. Of course, I was tracking you. Your best friend was exactly what we were keeping an eye out for,” he said, and I looked back at the mirror.

It made sense, but something still seemed off about it.

Why hadn’t he ever attacked us? When had the emperor reconsidered wanting the Peacebringer alive?

What was he hiding that even a man that could sift through the darkness of anyone’s mind like Crow couldn’t find the answers to?

It made me uncomfortable to know that he could keep such secrets.

“There it is again. What’s wrong?” he asked softly.

“Everything . . . ,” I whispered, and I let the unsettled silence stretch between us before I continued.

“I don’t want to die knowing I failed this world.

” I let the truth slip past my lips, and he walked over to me and gripped my chin between his fingers and shifted my gaze so that I couldn’t look away from the intensity of his stare.

“I will let nothing happen to you . . . . I don’t know what torment awaits you in Ember, but you will not die, Emelyn. I can promise you that.” He was so sure of himself, but I scoffed and tugged my chin away.

“Real compelling coming from the man delivering me there,” I quipped, and he lowered his head as I pushed past him. I walked across the room and sat in the chair in front of the fireplace to shove on my boots when Evereht walked into the room.

“We’re docked and ready whenever you are, brother,” he announced as he walked in before seeing me. “And how are you on this fine morning, Emelyn?” He sounded more cheery than usual. What had he been up to yesterday? Or was he really just this excited to deliver me to his father?

Assholes. Both of them.

“Fine,” I spat.

“We’ll have to put on another show, Emelyn,” Kade warned.

“Why not just leave me in irons? Why play nice at all?” I seethed. I was tired of my emotions warring with one another. Tired of my heart and mind trying to figure out what Kade could get out of being nice to me.

“Because I’m not like them .” He grabbed my wrists and held me firmly, looking deep into my eyes. His were pleading with mine. He wanted to convince me he was good, but after everything we had been through . . . all the things he had done, I still held up my guard.

Swiftly, he turned away and walked behind his desk. He grabbed the iron cuffs from a drawer. He didn’t wear gloves or anything to protect himself from the pain I knew the irons were causing him as he walked back over to me. I held up my wrists. There was no point in fighting against it.

“I’m not like them,” he whispered again as he wrapped his arm around my waist and clamped the irons around my wrists.

My strength and power left me. My knees buckled beneath me, but Kade clasped me against him.

I gasped for breath from the sudden loss of something so dear to me.

Being cut off from my bending was like losing a limb.

The constant feeling of it thrumming through my veins and then it suddenly being ripped from my body was never a pleasant experience.

Kade held me against him. “Let’s go. The sooner we get there, the sooner I can take these fucking things off her,” he said to his brother before turning his head toward me.

“Can you walk?” he asked, and I nodded. We headed to the door, and as soon as Evereht opened it for us, Kade stepped away from me and walked close behind me.

Soldiers lined the sides of the deck of the ship, some minding their own business while others gave me ugly looks.

Evereht and Kade flanked me as they escorted me off the ship.

My footsteps clanked against the metal with every step as I walked down the narrow ramp.

All eyes were on me, the soldiers’ and the patrons’ in the markets.

Whispers were already spreading . . .. I looked down, avoiding the unwanted attention.

Once my feet were on solid ground again, I felt that constant center me without my strength running through my veins like it normally did.

As we got farther from the docks and that ship, I was a little relieved.

Saddled creatures called Musonus that had the body of a horse, but the legs and horns of a stag waited for us at the edges of the docks. Their tails and manes were more feathers than hair. They were beautiful and elegant, and I didn’t see them very often.

Some of Kade’s soldiers dispersed into the market along Iron Isle Harbor, dismissed from their duties, while a smaller group moved toward the Musonus.

I assumed they were the ones that would be traveling with us the rest of the trip while the others returned home to whatever families waited for them.

“You’re with me, Emelyn,” Kade called as he walked over to one of the saddled creatures.

“I can ride alone,” I stated.

“I know you can, but you’re not going to,” he returned confidently, getting on the animal in one fluid motion. He held out his arm to help me. I blew out a breath and gripped his forearm as he pulled me up. There was no sense in arguing anymore.

“We will ride as far as we can, and by nightfall, we will make camp,” Kade announced to everyone before leaning over my shoulder to whisper in my ear.

“Get comfortable, Bunny.”