The Huntsman of Adamos (Quartet)- draft

CH NOTHING WITHHELD

Fleur woke an hour before sunset. She could feel the energy of the two stars on either side of her, balanced like the scales of fate. She stood on the flagstones of the courtyard, holding her hands out in the directions of the stars, she could feel them pulling on her like a bead on a string stretched taut. She wished more than anything she could see it. He was watching her.

“What does it look like, Yuri?”

Yurieth steeled himself against the painful longing in her voice. As an oracle, Fleur had been a visual person before being blinded by the Shadows. He had seen her love of visiting beautiful places with her children in her memories.

“Aetheria Prime is golden orange as she sets. There are lavender, magenta, orange, and slate colored thunderstorms on the horizon, they will pass over the city after midnight. On the other horizon, the full moon and Xelusia Prime are rising together, one slightly higher than the other. The planet of Xelusia is glowing coral orange just above them with her diamond of a moon, like a bright star. The Northwestern mountains are still glowing at their peaks with the sunlight. There is snow on the highest three. Winter will be late this year, unlike last year.”

His chest was tight with the thought that would not be another mid-winter Day of Light returning celebrated for a long time, and that it would be longer until Fleur sang on that eve again.

“It sounds lovely,” she whispered as a single tear traveled to the corner of her lips.

He wanted to kiss her in that moment more than he ever had, but she turned away and held out her hand to the another coming out into the evening air. “Pha, we need to make the Water of Light. The enchantment is going to take most of the night.”

Serapha took her hand, her concerned frown sounding in her voice. “Are you sure you have rested enough, Fleur?”

“I’m fine.” Fleur answered quietly. “Where are Cinna and Oren?”

“They are with the Queen. Abe and I need to leave soon, we are to stand with her when she addresses the people about King Xerxes’ death. Karstien is going to stand in for Yurieth, they look enough alike, that at a distance and wearing a huntsman’s coat and hood no one will realize he isn’t Yurieth,” Serapha explained softly.

“What else?” Fleur asked.

“Demona is slaughtering our people, she declared war on Aetheria and I think she is going to open the Gate and try to force the Devourer to feed on Aetheria from Xelusia,” Serapha revealed. “She doesn’t remember that it can’t reach between the stars without the secondary gate they opened over the Towers last time. She’s gone mad.”

“That might be a problem,” Fleur frowned. “I set the Against Hope device to detonate if she does. The three of you need to go to Xelusia as soon as possible.”

“The arrangements are already made, Fleur,” Abrieth assured her. “But what if the Xelusians come here?”

Fleur inhaled slowly, exhaling as her mind thought about the mathematical mechanics of war. “Then we fight until we can get the children away.” She squeezed Serapha’s hand, “Let’s begin.”

An hour later, Fleur and Yurieth were alone, next to a glowing pool of water in Yurieth’s room. The others gone to the public announcement of war by Queen Eonae.

“Strip and get in,” she ordered, turning her blind eyes in his direction. She walked to the edge of the pool and dropped her simple gray shift on the floor.

“What are you doing?” he demanded in surprise.

“It is called the Veil of Hope. Because I am doing the soul shield enchantment and not you mother, it is going to require a more...” Her lips pursed seeking words. “A more intimate contact than you might be comfortable with, intimacy that would not be unusual for a normal sealed couple. I understand if you don’t want to go that far, but we must be connected on a deeper level if I am going to seal the protection of an oracle to your soul with mine and make your light strong enough.”

Her eyes shined with humiliated tears, she swallowed hard before she whispered, “I understand how I must look now, scarred and repulsive, but I...”

She had never thought about how she looked physically, never cared how others saw her, until now. Part of her wished she had never packed up Kaleth’s library, never found Mina’s note, never left her children to die here in the past. She had been happy to do her duty, before overhearing Adamos had destroyed everything she ever believed.

“It has to be this way. Everything I have left is going into completing the Soul Shield and Veil of Hope enchantments alone.”

He crossed the room to pull her against his chest. “Fleur, you are so beautiful, and your scars make you more beautiful to me. I just don’t want to force something between us.”

“Yuri, I love you. I have loved you for a very long time. You’re not making me do anything I don’t want to. I... I wish it could be... nevermind.” She didn’t finish her thought, her soul was reveling in his closeness, and weeping at the same time. “Just promise me when this is over, when your duty is done, that you will seek for your own happiness and hope.”

She tipped her face toward him and traced his beard-line with her fingertips, she could see his face in her mind so like Kaleth’s before he was scarred by lava. “We need to begin...”

He nodded in her hand.

Her fingers began to work the knots that held his wristguards in place. She undressed him slowly, letting her love for him shine through her aura and wrap around his soul. She bathed him in the Water of Light, washing and rinsing every finger-space of his skin, using the healing liquid and her power to remove any wound and taint from his flesh. Cleansing movements turned into passionate caresses. As their souls merged together, her soul magic drew his darkness away from his soul, drawing it into hers the way she would draw the dark magic. Oracle light flashed brilliantly and fused itself into his flesh and searing his soul with love.

By morning, his grief from the past pressed down like stones in her soul, combined with her own suffering and not having her light to buoy the weight, Fleur felt like she was being crushed, or drowned, or both. She was grateful for the memory obscuring spell Orion had told her about and that she figured out how to do it, so Yurieth wouldn’t see the truth she had discovered. The glow of the water faded as the first rays of light came, leaving only the glow of Yurieth’s skin in the moonlight.

“I... I have never... It feels...” He breathed out. He couldn’t find the words to express how he felt.

“I know, I have felt it every day since I became an oracle.” Fleur smiled at him, climbing out of the water. “Come on, I’ll help you get ready to return to Xelusia, and teach you how to pull in your light.” She bent to pick up her gown and was surprised when Yurieth picked her up.

“Not yet,” he murmured against her lips, “I need more. I need you just once more.”

He laid her down on his bed, kissing her with all his love. He had seen bits and pieces of their happiness and friendship in her memories, and sadly of their passion resisted. There was a deep pain she had kept from him, he knew it was there but couldn’t see it. He would find its source and he would replace it with love and devotion. He vowed he would overcome it the moment she returned from this time, they would be sealed and happy for all time. She was worth the wait, worth any sacrifice. As they made love, the intensity eclipsed every experience he had before. He told her he loved her over and over, willing her to believe as he passed out holding her. He didn’t feel her tears because they fell onto her hand over his heart. She buried her pain, so he wouldn’t sense it through the part of her soul he now carried. She had withheld nothing that would help him.

“Try again, Yuri, inhale and imaging the light sinking deeper into your skin.” She advised as she tightened and tied his wrist guard with practiced ease, almost as if she had been doing it forever.

“You’re good at that.” He realized from their shared memories that she had, as he flexed his wrists.

“The Light, pull it in, or you’re going to walk around glowing like a firefly.”

He laughed at her teasing tone, then closed his eyes and did a drawing in meditation he had learned as a novice. His aura retreated beneath his skin. “Better?” He held up his hand, it looked normal.

She smiled at him, “Much. Serapha said it took hours to get Abrieth to stop glowing.”

“Well, my baby brother is a slow learner.” Yurieth taunted.

Fleur giggled but it was a sad sound. She defended Abrieth. “Abe learns just fine, he just hates math.” She finished setting his armor and fastened his huntsman’s coat over it. “Take care of them, Yurieth. Don’t lose hope.”

Yurieth bent to kiss her. “I lov...”

Her fingertip pressed over his lip. “Don’t... Don’t say it.”

“What else can I say?”

“Just... I’ll see you soon.”

He nodded solemnly. “I will see you soon, my lady.”

Walking out to the courtyard, Abrieth and Serapha waited. They went through the portal, and Fleur pulled the crystal controller. The portal blinked closed with a pop before she turned back to the house. She stopped to touch the Relic of Time, it’s clockface turned in her direction. “Tomorrow, you’ll make one last set of trips, old friend. Then we will both get to rest.”

“Fleur?”

“There’s nothing to say, Karstien,” Fleur snapped, even without her power she could feel his concern. “I have increased the spread of the of the time field, and set the Relic so it will be a double trip. It might burn out the Relic, it was never designed to carry this many and make a double trip on the same stream, but the math says it’s possible... You’ll only have thirteen minutes, between firings in the future, just like the time I took you to see your grandfather on his last day.”

“You have to come with us,” Karstien insisted. “Think about Asha, and Jenna, and Kalen...”

“Don’t,” her tone had a viciousness he had only heard once before, “The future doesn’t need me anymore. I have withheld nothing from the House of Adamos, I have nothing left to give you. I sacrificed my power, my body, and my soul to save it. This is what I was made for.”

“You keep saying that. What do you mean?” Karstien demanded.

“I know the truth, Karstien. I heard Adamos himself say it the night you came with the House of Odini to the Tear.” Fleur revealed coolly.

“Truth?” Karstien’s question had a note of fear.

“How I was bred to be what I am. I was made for Yurieth, but was accidentally given to Kaleth. I was created to birth healers and a guardian to your people. Tell me, Karstien, do you know if I had parents before I was sent to live with the Cullen family, or did Adamos’ followers just hatch me out of a test tube?” Her venomous tone burned his heart like acid. “I even figured out how both Kaleth and Yurieth hid the truth from me. How you hid the truth from me. Orion told me about memory obscuring magic. I know now that they never loved me, I was just the duty their father demanded. I heard Adamos order Yurieth to love me. That I must believe he loved me so I could do the enchantment. I also heard him assure Odini that Kaleth would do his duty too.”

“It wasn’t like that, Daisy, I mean... I don’t know what happened or how it was accomplished but... but it was wrong. Please… I know my father loved you,” Karstien declared desperately.

“Liar!” She spat the word at him with all the hate she could muster. “Adamos said Kaleth would do his duty, I was his duty, Yuri’s duty. Am I your duty too? How long have you known that’s all I was?”

“Please Daisy, you’re my best friend, I love you like a...” Karstien begged for her to believe him, but she interrupted him with brutal, self-degrading words.

“Like what? A pet, my king? I am the property of the House of Adamos, a tool, a weapon, breeding stock... and now that my usefulness is at an end so am I. The only thing I haven’t done is give Yuri a child, and I won’t do it!” She couldn’t feel him and was glad. She felt human again, just her and her math in her mind with her pain like when her first family had died. One last war to fight, just waiting to make sure the Against Hope fired properly and then she could die and be done with her wretched existence. “Damien was right... all those years ago when he called me the concubine of the House of Adamos, he was right.”

“Fleur... Daisy... I’m so sorry...” Karstien couldn’t find a single thing to convince her otherwise as he watched her brokenness pouring out.

“Don’t be. I am glad that I know the truth now, so I can die without the façade my entire existence was.”

A gasp had them turning. Cinna, Oren, and Regis stood in the archway with the queen. Queen Eonae glared at Karstien before turning to Fleur, her words were bitter and harsh. “You have a place by my side, Oracle Fleur, until the end of our world. Come, the last of the children are gathered.”

Eonae stormed away and Fleur followed, but Fleur stopped and glanced over her shoulder at him, “Go home, my king, and please don’t tell my children that their mother was nothing more than the whore of the House of Adamos. I couldn’t bear it if they knew your brother spoke the truth of what I am.”

Tears soaked Karstien’s beard as he struggled with the agony he felt. He had feared he had lost her forever when his father had forced him to keep the secret of his upcoming death, but this... this was so much worse.

“Is it true?” Regis demanded hotly as his father came out.

“Not in the way she thinks,” Karstien admitted. “I... I warned them, if she found out...” He couldn’t finish, he had come back when Shadz had shared how much she was suffering. He had hoped to convince her to come home, and now she was determined to stay and die. He knew that once she made up her mind to do something, she was almost impossible to sway.

“Then why would she believe it. The Blind Oracle is not given to flights of fancy,” Regulus retorted calmly.

“Dai... Fleur has a very analytical but suspicious nature, sometimes she gets all the facts and jumps to the wrong conclusion. I know my grandfather never meant to hurt her but the way he used her...” Karstien tried to defend Adamos. "You were there, you heard what he said."

“You cannot know that for certain, young king. High Lord Adamos was a master at playing the game of fates.” Regulus responded with arms folding across his chest, he stood in a deceptively relaxed looking pose, but it was one Karstien had seen his warrior father take many times. Standing relaxed and unconcerned before he suddenly attacked someone.

“Guardian Regulus, I know that my father truly loved her and so does my Uncle Yuri. She is a light of hope and strength to our people, without her... without her, we never would have won the war. She has given us everything, I never would have become prince, let alone king, without her aid, but I love her for more than that. She has been my best friend for a very long time. She is the mother of my siblings.” Karstien breathed deeply, then looked at them with pleading eyes, and begged, “Please, help me save her. I have to take her home, so she can see that what she believes isn’t true. She wasn't just their duty, she isn't a concubine or breeder. She was and is loved.”

They all looked at him, one by one they gave a nod and turned to walk away until only Regis was left. Karstien could feel the power radiating off him, easily equal to his uncle’s. “My father has agreed to help you, Lord Karstien, so I will help you, but if you betray her or if when we arrive in the future and Yurieth has betrayed her in the manner she fears, I will kill you both and go to my execution knowing I avenged a friend.”

“I understand,” Karstien said slowly. “I would do the same for her... I just hope she isn’t too far gone to save.”