Kalie Rana

What felt like an eternity of turbulent dreams and nightmares later, I finally opened my eyes again, finding Maria’s staring back at me.

“You’re awake! Leona above thank you!” she didn’t miss a moment, scooping my head into her chest and squeezing it until I felt like I was about to pop.

“Maria,” was all I managed to squeak out.

“Oh! I’m so sorry.” She released her grip from my head, and gently laid me back down in my bed. Getting a better look at the cabin I was happy to see that the table and chairs which had been knocked over during the fight were righted, and other than a patchwork addition to the door, there was next to nothing that would betray that a fight had even occurred.

“Where’s Lux? Is he alright?”

“Gods help you.” I couldn’t see him, but Lux’s voice was clear and present. “Despite falling under a spell and passing out, the first thing you worry about isn’t yourself, but a lowly secretary? You really do have so much to learn.” Lux finally showed himself, appearing from the shadows at the furthest corners of the room. My eyes struggled to even focus on him before he finally reached the head of my bed.

“Forgive me for my concern. I’ll make a point of forgetting it next time you get into a fight with a majin,” I said, pulling my eyes away from his. They were hungry to meet his dark pupils, to scour his face for any sign of injury or anything really, but my pride overpowered them.

“I don’t wish for that M’lady. All I’m saying is that you are an odd one, to worry for someone so much a lesser to oneself, especially when you were the one in a coma for three days.”

“Three days?” I said, looking to Maria to confirm the ludicrousness of the claim. She nodded, before running her hand over my hair. “You’re joking.” I finally turned my gaze back to Lux.

“Of course we aren’t M’lady.” Lux stood on like a guard at the head of the bed. “Not about something as serious as this. You are alright now, aren’t you?” He shifted his weight, and ran his fingers through his already messy hair. It was odd, so different from the immaculate sheen that he kept it in before.

There was a world of difference between the man that I had met back in the moonlight pavilion and the man standing before me at that moment. In the pavilion, he was cold, and small, and barely more than an intense but forgettable fixture in the room that he was in. But now, I knew that I was finally seeing him for the man he truly was. Strong, and bold. Quick both of wit and body. He was so much more than he initially let on.

“I think I’m alright. I can’t be sure,” I said through a fuzzy mouth. Just looking at him, I felt my heart begin to quicken.

“Is anything in particular hurting you M’lady? You were screaming so much that first night, we didn’t know what was wrong.”

“It hurt everywhere all at once. Like my body was being pressed beneath a large rock.”

“I’m so sorry M’lady.” I could feel Lux’s gaze as he barred down on me.

“What are you apologizing for? You are the reason that that torment ended before something worse could come to pass.” It was an attempt to dispel the expression on his face, but it did little to help.

“But I still allowed for you to be injured through my hesitation.”

“What are you talking about?”

“I found Mr. Anipinna pacing about the main deck,” Maria said, with a very slight smile. “Seems that he was less than keen to take up your request for his presence. Once we heard the music within your cabin though, the both of us were concerned.” Maria leaned toward me whispering as she continued to maintain eye contact with Lux. “He was quite the hero. Never hesitating for a moment once we heard your call for help.”

“I see.” My response caused Lux’s eyes to flick between the two of us

“If there’s nothing else M’lady, I do have some business to attend to.”

“Business that’s more important than the woman you rescued waking up after three days? How is that possible?” Again, my pressing bore fruit, and Lux stopped and stared, his smoldering gaze finally undercut by a smirk.

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“I guess that you are correct.”

“I on the other hand do have other business to attend to. Mr. Anipinna, I’m sure that you will take good care of my Mistress, correct?” Maria stood sharply as she spoke, somehow managing to bear down on the man who towered over her.

“Of course.”

“Then, I will see you soon. M’lady, I am very happy that you are feeling better. I shall return with your dinner, and hopefully by then, your business will be sorted here.”

“For some reason, I have a feeling that it won’t be.” Maria scowled at me from her perch beside the door forcing me to continue, “but, I think I’m alright with that.” After a moment’s contemplation, her scowl broke into a smile.

“Alright then,” she said, before opening the patch work cabin door. To my surprise and delight, the air that flowed in was actually calm, and somewhat warm.

“Everyone’s got business, huh?” Lux said, as he watched the door close behind Maria.

“I’m glad she does.”

“I think I am as well.”

“Why? Are you planning on doing something uncouth? Maybe taking me for a dock-wife now that I’m in a weakened state?” My barbed words met their mark, as Lux’s sharp gaze slipped back to me.

“Is this what you wanted to speak with me about? You wanted to fight?”

“No. Far from it. I wanted to talk, and for you to listen for a moment. However, I couldn’t let a chance pass me by. I understand that on your mainland, and in your kingdom things may be quite different. But on the Shattered Isles of Cerith, when I wish to speak, you will listen.” Although I delivered my proclamation from bed, dressed in not much more than a nightgown, I knew that my words reached him.

“As you wish Princess.” There was a certain level of fun that came from flexing my privilege every once in a while. However, that privilege came with a distance that I didn’t particularly like. Not with Lux.

“Firstly, you are to do away with all notions of over-sensitive propriety around me. Except for when we are in the presence of your tyrant king, you will address me as Kalie. Is that clear?”

“I understand M’lady, but as I said on our first night—”

“I remember what you said. Every word of it.” Lux averted his gaze in shame. “I realize that while this order may only be able to be effective in the short term, you will heed it.”

“Yes M’—I mean, yes, Kalie. I will.”

“Secondly, from now on, I will require your full honesty. Will you do that?”

“To the best of my abilities. Yes.”

“Then tell me, why exactly did you decide to avoid me since the first night we left port?” Lux mulled the question over. Chewing the words, as his eyes wandered the room, searching for the answers that I was so sure he already knew.

“Because I didn’t want any of the crew getting the wrong idea about the kind of woman that you are. I may be of noble birth, but in this position, I’m not someone who you should be seen with so freely.”

“Were you okay with leaving me alone then? Were you fine, just allowing another man to speak with me freely? Remember, you promised to answer honestly.”

“Of course I wasn’t! How could I have been! He was nothing but scum. And obviously something even worse than that!”

“And yet, you still allowed it to happen.”

“What else was I supposed to do?”

“If it was up to me, I would’ve had you by my side. I don’t blame you for even a moment for what happened with Valier—in fact, I am eternally grateful to you—but had you just listened to me, and been with me when I asked you to be, then none of this would’ve happened.”

“I can’t be! Do you forget why you are here? Did the fact that you are on your way to be presented to my king play into your thoughts at all?”

“They have, and I’ve already made a decision.”

“And what would that be?”

“Tell me this first, how long until I am presented in front of your tyrant king?”

“We will arrive at Castle Corvus in about twenty days. Barring foul weather, or any other issues.”

“Then, for the next twenty-five days, you will stay by my side. Once we reach Corvus and your king, I will release you. But until then, you must promise me.” After a moment of contemplation, Lux’s bottom lip slipped ever so slightly into his mouth. “Will you grant me this one last chance to live before I’m caged within the Ravencourt?”

My request was simple, but difficult, I knew. I honestly had little hope that he would accept—even I knew the power of my request was severely limited—but, if what little hope I held onto was able to get its way, then maybe he would just say yes. In the end, it was probably hopeless. The possibility that following my dismissal by the White-Raven, I would be able to follow my desires was extremely low. Father made his position clear, I was to find a suitable husband amongst the nobles of Corvus, to return prosperity to my home. But despite everything that was standing in my way—in our way—I knew that there was a value to even the little time that we would be able to spend together.

Hopefully, Lux knew it too. But moment after moment of his silence my hope waivered. “Are you still willing to be honest with me?”

“I am.”

“Then tell me. Would you enjoy spending that time by my side? Would it make you happy too?”

“I think it would.” Finally, after a moment that felt like an eternity, he opened his mouth, and spoke two words. “I will.”

And with those two words, a font of warmth and excitement bloomed in my chest.

“Thank you.”