Nyte Guard: Chapter 2 - Bed and Breakfast

As with many of my dreams as of late, I’m plagued by hateful shadows. They chase me through the streets of the Lifespring Oasis, always just behind each of my fleeing steps. They call to me, and I’m overcome by fear.

The street starts to melt like taffy, and my boots sink into the cobblestones. I manage to wrench them free and keep stumbling forward, but ever step is harder than the last, and I can feel my frustration and anger starting to bubble up, no matter how hard I try to keep it down. 

Do I need blood? the Crimson Aegis asks. It can get me more blood. 

No, I think in a panic. I grab for the Aegis at my back, trying to pull it off. Instead, my hands grasp something soft and warm. I don’t have to see what it is I’m holding to know that it’s someone’s neck. One of the shadows who were chasing me. 

“Why?” the shadow chokes out. 

I try to let go, but the Aegis won’t let me. “I’m sorry,” I tell them. “I don’t want to hurt you.” 

“But you did,” it says, even as my fingers squeeze tighter. “You did.”

I try to let go. I try so hard to stop. But I can’t. I’m not in control. I plead with the Aegis to stop, but the shield is just confused. It doesn’t understand. It’s not doing anything. But it could help, if I wanted it to. It could squeeze so much tighter—

“No!” I cry, jolting upright in bed. Panic is still crashing through me, like a tidal wave breaking on the beach. 

“What is it?” Quell sits up, his voice tense with worry. “What’s going on?”

The Crimson Aegis is also confused. It didn’t notice any enemies. Are these more of the not real enemies that live in my mind?

The fear begins to recede as I focus on my surroundings and force my beating heart to slow. With a Blood affinity, I’m all too aware of my increased blood pressure and constricted vessels. I coax my body toward returning to its normal state as my eyes adjust to the dark. 

The Crimson Aegis is propped against the wall next to our bed, the large red stone in its center glowing faintly as the shield stirs. 

“Sorry,” I say, letting out a breath. “Just a bad dream.”

Yeah, I think to the Aegis. It’s more of the not real enemies. Sorry to scare you.

The great and powerful Aegis is never scared!

Quell sighs, flopping back down onto the mattress. “Nye…”

“It’s fine,” I say, laying back down as well. I roll onto my side so I’m facing him. The room’s curtains are drawn shut to keep out the searing daylight heat. Even so, my lowlight vision allows me to make out his frown of concern as he stares up at the ceiling. I’ve become fond of his oversized, gold-rimmed glasses, but I like the way he looks without them, too. More exposed, somehow. 

Not that Quell is the type to hold back from telling you what he’s thinking. 

“It’s not fine,” he says. Yep, there it is. “That’s the fifth time these nightmares have woken you up like this.”

The number is far higher, actually, but it is the fifth time that I’ve accidentally woken Quell with them. 

“Sorry,” I say again. “I’ll try to be more quiet.”

Quell lets out a frustrated noise, rolling onto his side as well. His gaze doesn’t meet mine—I’m little more than a shadow to his human eyes—but he still manages to glare in my general direction. I know better than to tell him his angry face makes him look cute. 

“I don’t want you to be more quiet, I want you to get help,” he says. “I know we don’t have any Duneshade court physicians here who could take a look at you, but you could at least speak with Xamireb.”

“Their affinity is animals,” I object. 

“Which includes people,” Quell says. “And their calming spell helped you before.”

“I don’t need a calming spell.”

“No,” Quell agrees. “You need to talk about what’s bothering you.”

That is exactly the last thing I’d like to do. But my nightmares are causing trouble for Quell, and I want to put a stop to that, if nothing else. 

“Look,” I say slowly, chewing on my words. “When we get back to Duneshade, I’ll talk to your dumb court physicians.”

Quell’s eyebrows raise hopefully. “Really? You mean it?”

“No,” I say. “They’re probably not dumb.”

He huffs out a laugh, reaching over to jostle my shoulder. He manages to sort of swat at my collarbone instead. 

“I’ll talk to them,” I promise. I grab his hand and squeeze it, and he squeezes back. “Honestly, I’m looking forward to getting out of here and seeing Duneshade. The sooner this tournament is over and we can leave Moonfall, the better.”

“Ah.” His expression softens. He probably thinks it’s the tournament that’s bothering me—and he’s not entirely wrong about that. But this palace is eating at me. The pleasantries, the customs I don’t understand, always feeling on guard and watching Quell’s back. 

Always feeling like they’re watching me.

It will be a relief to leave all this behind. 

“Well, it won’t be long, now,” he says, snuggling closer. I shift over as well, until our foreheads are close enough to touch. “But you know, that means you’ll be meeting my parents, soon enough.”

I jokingly groan, and he smiles into the dark. “Don’t remind me. I still haven’t even figured out half the table-manner customs I’m supposed to use.” 

“And most of those are Moonfall customs,” Quell happily informs me. “There are subtle differences between Moonfall and Duneshade niceties.” 

I groan again, and he laughs. “At least I’ve still got a few weeks to practice,” I say with a sigh. And most of their ire should be focused on Liz, anyway.”

Quell winces. “True enough.”

With Constance’s removal, she’s now the very reluctant heir to Duneshade. And her relationship with Darian, Captain of the Guard and a mere commoner, is a bit more of a problem for her than it is for Quell, as the second-in-line to the throne. Though, I’m sure, Quell and I won’t be getting away scott-free, either. 

“Three weeks,” I repeat to reassure him. It’s odd to both wish for more time, and to skip ahead to get something over with. It gives me the same sort of anxious flutters I’d had when studying for a final. I can only imagine what Liz and Quell are feeling. 

Quell sighs, closing his eyes. “Three weeks,” he wearily repeats. 

I lean in to kiss him, then snuggle back into the covers as well. The wait won’t be all bad, at least. 

#

Quell gapes at his sister. “What do you mean they’ll be here tomorrow?”

Liz holds out a scroll with a grimace, and Quell snatches it from her hands, quickly unfurling the parchment. 

“It seems they want to meet with the kings for diplomatic talks first, before the tournament commences,” Liz says, massaging a temple. “Among… other things.” 

Like her brothers, Liz has warm, dark brown skin and curly black hair, though unlike Quell, she wears hers in a loose cloud, accented with gold clips in the shape of crescent moons and butterflies. In contrast, Captain Darian keeps her hair in a short and practical military style. She also has the lightest complexion among us, which is made all the more stark by her red eyes and black hair contrasting with her damphyr-grey skin tone. 

Quell frowns as he skims the letter. “They probably want to talk to you about your relationship with the Captain.”

Darian keeps her scowl carefully trained on her sausage and eggs as she mechanically consumes her breakfast.

Liz makes a face, but Quell isn’t paying attention. “And your relationship with Nye, I suspect.”

Now it’s my turn to squirm in discomfort. I skewer a piece of steak and shove it in my mouth, swallowing before I’ve fully chewed it. It sinks down my throat in a painful knot. The Aegis, propped against the wall behind me, perks up in alarm. What is attacking my throat?!

“What?” Quell looks up, glancing between Liz and myself. “Why would they care about Nye? You’re first in line.” 

Liz rolls her eyes. “Darian and I didn’t hide our relationship all those years just for the fun of it.”

Darian snorts. 

“Not just for the fun of it,” Liz amends with a mischievous grin. “Mother and Father have been trying to set me up with Redstone royalty for years. Hoping to secure a slice of the wealth they’ve gained from their mines, I suspect. But now they’ll probably be trying to set me up with someone from Moonfall to strengthen our diplomatic ties, and you’ll get the Redstone treatment.”

Quell sets the scroll down, deflating back into his chair. He looks at me helplessly. “They can’t do that, can they?”

“Don’t ask me,” I say. “I don’t know anything about your politics.”

Somehow, that makes him look wounded. 

“I knew this was a bad idea,” Darian grumbles. “I knew it would have to end like this.”

“Well,” Quell says hesitantly. “A marriage won’t really end things. They’ll likely allow you to remain as a concubine.”

Liz and Darian glare at Quell so fiercely that he begins to sink even further into his seat. 

I snort at him. “And what, the same would happen to me?” Quell grimaces as he meets my gaze. I blink. “Wait, you’re serious?”

Liz sighs. “Duneshade only recognizes marriages within royal lineages. All other partners are allowed to remain as concubines, however they don’t wield the power or… respect than royal consorts are allowed.”

Try as I might, I can’t contain my look of disgust. “I’m not going to be your concubine. We’re equals, or we’re nothing. You know that, right?”

The Aegis fidgets in the back of my mind, still very confused as to where this source of irritation is coming from. It can’t find any enemies nearby to fight!

“I know!” Quell cries, hunching over his breakfast. He dejectedly nudges a piece of fruit around his plate. “I know. I’ll—I’ll figure something out.”

Liz laughs ruefully. “Good luck with that. I suppose you’ve got the next twenty-four hours to dig up some obscure marriage loophole from centuries past.”

Quell perks up. “You think? Actually, that’s not a bad—”

“Doesn’t matter,” Liz interrupts, gesturing to the scroll. “You didn’t finish reading the letter.”

“Forgive me for being a bit distracted by the current conversation.” Quell takes the scroll and begins to unfurl it once more. 

“I’ll save you the trouble,” Liz says. Darian lets out a weary sigh. “They’re bringing Constance.”

“What?” Quell and I say at the same time. 

The Aegis also desperately wants to know what is so worrying!

“That sounds like a terrible idea,” I remark. To the Aegis, I add, Don’t worry about it. It’s nothing you can fight. 

Mostly, though, I don’t want it thinking about the Scimitar.

“Whatever in world for?” Quell asks, going back to the letter. He scrolls quickly through it, before stopping abruptly. “They can’t be serious.” 

“Deadly,” Darian says flatly. From her disposition, it’s clear she’s already had this conversation with Liz and has resigned herself to the situation. “They think the Scimitar might hold a solution to Prince Constance’s… state.”

“Why?” I ask, baffled.

The royals exchange a look. “It’s the Scimitar’s roots,” Quell reluctantly admits. 

Liz nods. “Since there are still pieces embedded in his arm, they think close proximity with the Scimitar could be used to extract them.”

“Or it will just recombine with Constance and take him over again,” I say. 

Quell winces. 

“Sorry.” I grimace. It’s hard not to get worked up over this with Álvaro also in the tournament to wield the Scimitar, but I can’t let myself forget that the sword has done far more damage to Quell and Liz than myself. 

Guilt pulls at my gut. If I’d severed his arm a bit higher, if I’d gotten to him faster, would Constance have been okay? I might have stopped the fight, but it’s my actions that resulted in Constance still hosting pieces of the Crimson Scimitar. From what Quell has told me from the letters he’s received from his parents, all attempts to remove the Scimitar’s roots, both surgical and magical, have failed. 

“No, you’re right,” Quell says. “That absolutely remains a possibility. Which is why I am opposed to this course of action.”

“I’ll let you be the one to tell Mother and Father that,” Liz huffs. “It will take a lot more than our opinions to get them to give up on their little prodigy.” 

The table goes quiet after that. Not even the scrape of utensils over plates to break the silence; I suspect we’ve all just lost our appetites. Suddenly the difference between concubines and consorts seems a lot more trivial. 

A door opens at the end of the dining hall, and Álvaro stops in the doorway, observing the scene. His gaze passes over the royals and lands on me. 

The Crimson Aegis recognizes him, and happily wonders if we’d have time for another sparring match. This time, with the shield! It still can’t believe I didn’t use it, yesterday. No wonder I lost!

My brother frowns. I sit up, opening my mouth the say—honestly, I don’t even know. But before I can think of the words, Álvaro turns around and leaves, the door clunking loudly into place behind him. 

I groan, thunking my head down on the table and burying my face in my arms. 

“Siblings,” Quell says, as if in response to a questioning look from the others.

Darian laughs. “Thank the gods I dodged that arrow. Sucks for you guys.” Something clangs off the table, and Darian says, “Ow.” She sounds more amused than hurt, however. 

“Well, come on,” Quell says after a minute, forced levity infecting his tone. “We’ve got a lot to do before our parents’ arrival. Like go over titles! And greeting customs. And perhaps tailor something sufficiently appropriate for the meeting. Should be fun, right?”

I can’t even begin to express how little fun all of that sounds. 

Darian pokes me in the side. “Cheer up. If you finish early, we can sneak some practice in tonight and work on that new ability of yours. Probably won’t get much time after the King and Queen arrive.”

This does cheer the Aegis up, that’s for sure. I prop my head up on my fist and look at her. “You’re just trying to make me feel better, aren’t you?”

She grins, revealing her fangs. “Is it working?”

Dammit. Yes it is.