Arrows Of Change (Book 1) (15 page)

Riana had to admit that both of them made valid arguments.
The only question that stood was, “So which of us needs to go?”

The twins looked at each other as if neither of them had
thought to ask that question.

“You’re building a wall around the city,” Ashlynn told Ash.

“Yes, well, you’re the Sheriff of Estole. Can you really
afford to go away for weeks?” Ash riposted.

“I’m better at dismantling wards than you are,” Ashlynn
argued.

“And I’ve got faster attack spells than you do.”

“And I be thinking, it be no’ yer decision to make, either
of ye,” Broden interrupted them. “Edvard, it be yer choice.”

Edvard’s eyes darted between the two of them, obviously at a
loss. “You’re both talented. I know that I could leave this in either one of
your hands and you’ll succeed. I don’t know how to choose between you.”

“Edvard, I can always get a substitute for a few weeks,”
Ashlynn said in a persuasive tone. “Bragdon is basically my left hand out there
in the city. He knows it as well as I do. I trust him to run things while I’m
gone.”

“Bragdon’s a good man,” Edvard allowed. “He’s been one of my
captains for years. But still…”

“The wall doesn’t have to come up right now either,” Ash
added. “It can be delayed a week or so while I go get them.”

“I’m not sure I agree on that.” Ashlynn shook her head
slowly. “How do we know that Zelman isn’t doing this on purpose? Think about
it. He knows that Edvard won’t sit still. He’ll either go himself or send one
of us. Either way, it weakens Estole’s fighting force and leaves it more
vulnerable to attack. Zelman might be waiting for just such a chance before
sending a third army to us. I think we need that wall up, the sooner the
better.”

Riana studied Edvard’s expression. It was clear to her that
he agreed with Ashlynn’s point. But he also didn’t like the idea of Ashlynn
being absent for any time either. His nation was not peaceful enough yet to
handle a substitute sheriff well.

Trapped between his two siblings, unsure of what to do, he
instead focused on Broden. “Why did you say it’s my choice?”

“Because ye be the king,” Broden answered simply.

“Is that really all there is to it?”

Broden’s tone gentled as he counseled, “It be a hard thing,
knowing that ye can no’ go and help those in trouble. Harder still to decide
who to send in yer stead. But Edvard, yer people need ye to think as a king
when ye make that decision. As king, who can ye ill afford to send?”

Edvard sat there without speaking for several minutes, his
hands covering the lower half of his face as he stared straight ahead, blind to
those around him. The clock on the wall ticked out the seconds, sounding loud
in the silence. No one dared to even breathe loudly as he thought it through.

Finally he blew out a low breath and straightened. “Ash. I
feel that Ashlynn is right. This could very well be a double-pronged attack,
meant to cripple me if I take the bait. I’m inclined to send Ashlynn.”

Ash, somewhat disappointed, nevertheless nodded agreement.
“I understand.”

“My decision might well change,” Edvard soothed him. “Right
now, we’re not even sure where the girls are. It might take me a few weeks of
searching to figure out where he’s hidden them. If you can get the wall
finished before I find them, I’ll send you instead.”

Ash shot Riana a look that she well understood. They’d be
getting up earlier and working far later in the day to make sure he was ready
to go. She gave him a slight inclination of her head, agreeing to it. She had
no siblings, so couldn’t quite understand the panic these four felt. But if her
da was trapped somewhere far away, some place she had no knowledge about, she
would be just as desperate to get to him.

“In the meantime, I’ll send word to our own spies to figure
out where he’s put them.” Edvard sat back, weariness in every line of his body.
“Ashlynn, Ash, it’ll speed things along if you send messages to them for me.”

“Of course,” the twins agreed in unison.

Riana blinked. She’d heard stories of how twins could be so
in tune with the other that they would speak at the same time, or finish each
other’s sentences. But this was the first time she had seen such from the wizards.
Most days, they seemed to be at opposites with each other, if not at
loggerheads.

Apparently it took a crisis to get them to see eye to eye on
matters.

Edvard forced a smile. “Well. Nothing more we can do about
this tonight. Let us dine.”

It wasn’t as simple as that, of course. Emotions hardly ever
were. After dinner was picked at and shoved about on their plates, they
unanimously broke apart and went their own ways.

Her da signaled to her with a jerk of the chin to go after
Ash, a pointless gesture on his part, as she’d planned to do that already. It
didn’t take a magical bond to know that the two wizards shouldn’t be left alone
to stew in their own thoughts right now. She shooed him off in Ashlynn’s
direction before quietly following her own wizard.

Ash had explained to her, after the bonding was done, what
the magic was really meant to do. Oh, aye, it let each partner be aware of each
other on a basic level so that one could tell if the other was hurt or lost.
And of course it allowed the archer to share the wizard’s shields so that most
magical attacks couldn’t get through. But the spell actually allowed the
partnership to grow, if the two involved willed it so. Ash said that if they
wanted it to just be an awareness of each other, then it would always be just
that, and that would be fine. If, at some point, they wanted more, then the
spell would become nearly empathic, so that they would know what the other was
feeling. He’d seen that come about, and it was between partners that were also
husband and wife. Legend told that one partnership became so intertwined that
the two became telepathic as well, but he’d never heard of a pair living that
could do that.

Her da was barely comfortable with the basic level of the
partnership, she knew. But Riana secretly wished for that level where she and
Ash could feel each other. Ash was a wonderful man, and she could admit, to her
own self, that she was more than a little besotted with him. So in the past
three days since their bonding, she’d done all she could to will their bonding
spell to let them be closer.

Of course, in just three days, her efforts wouldn’t bear
much fruit. So as she followed Ash up the stairs and to a part of the castle
she didn’t know, it wasn’t their bond that told her how he felt. It was her own
eyes. He walked like a man with glass in his shoes, as if he had so much pain
that he could barely cart it around.

Ash finally fetched up against a stone rail outside, in a
little, out-of-the-way balcony that didn’t look to have much use. He stopped
there, looking out, but Riana didn’t think he saw the view of the moonlit
garden. At this moment, he probably couldn’t see much of anything.

From time to time in her life, her da had been like that. So
burdened by pain and guilt that he could barely breathe. She had one sure-fire
technique to pull him out him out of it, but Riana wasn’t sure if it would work
as well on Ash. On the other hand, she had nothing else to try either.

More than a little hesitant, she came in behind him and
slipped her arms around his waist, head resting on his back. “Ash.”

He let out a shaky breath, body trembling a moment under her
hands as if he had just choked back a sob.

Feeling that, she tightened her hold on him. “Ash,” she
rebuked gently, “do no’ fret so. Ye act as if ye stand over their graves, man,
and that no’ be the case. They be alive and well.”

Ash’s head shook violently from side to side. “We don’t
know—”

“Hush,” she rebuked. “We
do
know that. What good be
hostages if they be dead? Of course Zelman has them alive and squirreled away
somewhere. It would no’ be much of a threat if he had stuck them in their
graves already.”

Stilling under her hands, he mulled this over and thought
about it for several long moments. “You really think so?”

“I be from Cloud’s Rest, infamous for its bandits and
criminals,” she pointed out in amusement. “Ye think I do no’ know how bad men
work? Oh aye, those three be alive and well. Likely mad at being taken from
their families, aye, and worried about what Zelman plans to do to them. But I
lay odds he has no’ harmed a hair on their pretty heads.”

“Riana,” he took a breath before turning in her arms to face
her directly, forcing her to drop her hands and take a half-step back. She
almost wished he hadn’t. There was too much pain clouding those pretty blue
eyes. “I know you’re trying to reassure me, but your words are rather
groundless.”

“No, no’ so much,” she denied grimly. “Ye see, if that old
fart of a king were the type to be a true villain, then his tactics would be
different. He would have sent the body of one sister with his message, to prove
that he would no’ spare the others.”

Ash flinched at her words. “Body?” he whispered hoarsely.

“Aye. Me da and me saw that happen once. But that king, he
only sent a note and lock of hair, to hear Edvard tell it. Proof enough of evil
doings, aye, but reassuring all the same. He does no’ plan to harm them. They
simply be leverage to make Edvard dance.”

“Yes. Yes, I see your point.” Ash rubbed a hand over his
face and when he did so, some of the pain and despair drained away. “Then maybe
there’s hope for us getting them back after all.”

“Oh aye, plenty of it,” she assured him with a feral smile.
“We just need to find them quick-like.”

Hope returned as a small light in his eyes, expression
determined, which was so much better than the agony and despair from before.
“You’re right. Of course, you’re right. We need to get that wall built quickly
so that when Edvard’s spies do find them, we’re ready to go.”

“Aye.”

He caught her face with his hands, and gently pulled her
toward him so that he could put a warm, chaste kiss on her forehead. Against
her skin he whispered huskily, “Thank you.”

Beyond startled, she blinked and felt a vivid blush heat up
her face. “Ah, eh, ah—welcome.”

Chuckling, he grabbed her hand and towed her back down the
stairs. “Come on. We need to sleep. I’m waking you up early tomorrow, and we’ll
be working as soon as there is a hint of light.”

She followed him down, his warm hand encompassing hers, and
tried her best to get the blush to go away. For if her da saw it, well, he was
just as like to shoot Ash first and ask questions later, which would not do at
all. She fervently wanted to keep her handsome blond intact.

They parted at the main door and went to their separate
bedrooms. She had a loose shirt and pants on for sleeping, her hair brushed
out, and even had her covers warmed up before Ashlynn made it into the room. By
the light of the single candle flicking on the nightstand, she could not see
much of the other girl’s expression. But her posture was better, not slumped
like before. Whatever Broden had said to her, had obviously done some good.

Ashlynn paused just inside the doorway, closing the door
behind her with a soft click. “You’re still up.”

“Aye.”

“Ash?”

“Determined to finish a wall afore we go hunting down your
sisters.” Riana grinned at her. “If a man could will a job done, we’d have
three walls to show for it.”

Ashlynn snorted in wry amusement. “Yes, that doesn’t
surprise me. I’m amazed he let you near him in that mood, though. Ash has
always had the habit of going into some out-of-the-way corner to grieve when
things are going wrong. He rarely lets people comfort him.”

Did he now. Well, he wouldn’t be able to do that around her.
She would follow him, every time. “And ye, Ashlynn? How fare ye?”

“I’ll survive. I’ve had worse days than this. Not by much, I
grant you.” Ashlynn sank onto the edge of her bed, making the wooden frame
squeak a bit. Arms braced against her knees, she looked Riana dead in the eyes.
“Riana. Don’t discourage Ash, as building the wall will help him pass the time
and keep him from worrying himself to death. But I don’t think he should go.
Even if he completes the wall.”

“Oh? Why?”

“He’s too kind by nature,” Ashlynn admitted with a long
sigh. “Ash has a gentle soul. He only hurts people when he’s truly angry, or
when he knows that he has to do so to protect someone else. You should have
seen him after the first battle. It…damaged his soul, I think. He handled the
second one better, but I didn’t like to see him fight either time.”

Ah-ha. That was why Ashlynn had volunteered so quickly at
the dinner table.

“I’m different,” Ashlynn admitted, sitting up properly. “I’m
more hot blooded than he is. I have no problem hurting people. That’s why
Edvard delegated the jobs to us that he did, even though our skill levels are
very similar. He let Ash create, as that is where his heart is happiest. He let
me beat up on evil criminals, as that’s what I find satisfaction in.”

“And that be why ye feel it best ye go.” Riana felt like a
final piece of the puzzle had just slotted into place. “I ken.”

“Do you? Then watch over him. Let him work, distract him
with other things to build and do to protect people, but try to avoid fighting.
He’s good at it, but not suited to it.”

Riana had no doubt that Ashlynn spoke truth, but she also
had a clear moment of insight. Ashlynn Fallbright was the type of woman to take
all the burdens and place them onto her own shoulders rather than let a loved
one suffer in any way. She recognized it easily, as her da was the same. Oh, a
fine pair these two be. Kindred souls, in a way. No wonder they took to each
other so readily.

Putting that aside for now, she promised, “I will do what I
can.”

“Thank you.” Ashlynn ran a hand roughly through her hair,
wincing when her fingers found a knot. “I sent the message a moment ago to our
spies. With the mood Edvard’s in, if we don’t get an answer within a day, he’ll
likely go out and search for answers himself. Regardless, I’ll spend tomorrow
prepping for our departure.”

Riana snuggled back into her covers as Ashlynn prepared for
bed. As she did, Riana sent a silent prayer to Regina, Macha, Lugh, and any
other god listening that they be able to find the missing sisters and rescue
them safely. She did not want these new, precious friends hurt and grieving
from loss of family.