Kastali Dun, Celenore, and Somewhere Unexpected

Claire was shaken awake. It took long moments for the haze of exhaustion to clear. Longer still for the memories of what had happened to surface. One moment, she'd been destroying the Oshean fleet, the next, she was here. Her magic had been depleted. She'd lost consciousness and fallen from Talon's back.

She groped for Talon's presence in her mind and found it. He was there. Steady, but preoccupied. A quick glance through his consciousness told her enough. The battle was nearing its end, the Oshean troops nearly defeated. His confidence over their assured win was the only thing that kept her from panicking on his behalf. She knew better than to distract him at a time like this.

When she blinked again, it was to find Jocelyn's frantic expression. "Joce?" She frowned.

The woman took that as her cue, spilling a series of incoherent statements. "They're gone! He took them. I'm to deliver a message, but I don't believe him—he'll just kill them. What are we going to do, Claire? You cannot do what he says! It's a trick. He's going to hurt you. They're gone. I don't..."

"Wait, wait. Slow down, Jocelyn." A prickle of dread started at the base of her spine. She hauled herself up, pushing aside the blankets. Someone had settled her into bed.

"I came straight here, to find you."

"All right. Here, sit beside me." She placed her hand on Jocelyn's arm, then bid the woman to explain everything. The longer Jocelyn talked, the sicker she felt. "And you're sure he will kill them if I bring anyone with me?"

"That is what he said." Jocelyn swallowed, her gaze distant.

"Then I will go. Hand me that bottle."

"What?!" Jocelyn cried, jumping to her feet and backing away, holding the bottle tight to her chest. "No. No, you can't. That is what he wants."

"If I do not go, he will kill them, Joce. I know Kane well enough to know it's the truth."

"But...but if you go, he will surely kill you."

Claire sighed, thinking through her options. She had the staff, when before she did not. Perhaps she was finally ready to take him on. She blinked, then remembered that the staff was tied to Talon's harness. Her king was still on the battlefield. Unless she waited for him to return with it, the staff wasn't a viable option.

She swore under her breath.

If Talon got wind of this, he'd never let her go. She had to act—fast. With Talon distracted, she had to slip away now or risk losing her dearest friends. She knew her mate too well. Talon's love was fierce and possessive and it warred with his upbringing as a king. To him, the lives of Desaree, Saffra, and her Spriten handmaidens would not mean as much to him as Claire's life. As a king, he'd made many sacrifices. Their lives would be another he'd make—in a heartbeat—if it meant keeping his queen safe. It was the logical choice. Even she could understand that.

Her stomach turned rock hard. "I cannot begin my rule with their deaths on my conscience," she mused aloud, looking at Jocelyn. But it was more than that. Her ladies had become her home. Her life in Dragonwall would never been the same without them. She could not lose them.

"No matter what happens, Jocelyn, if I leave them to their fate, I will regret it until the day I die. I will always wonder if I couldn't have done more. If I chose the safe path, the guilt I live with will turn to poison and it will eat away at me until I go mad and succumb."

"But...he could kill you."

"We do not know that with certainty. But if I do not go, he will surely kill them."

Jocelyn's eyes were wild with fear. "I..." Her throat bobbed.

"Kane has done enough damage, don't you think?" Jocelyn nodded. She glanced around and found her armor. Someone had removed it, along with her weapons, when they'd put her into bed. Jocelyn helped her reattach everything with trembling fingers.

"Do you have a plan?" she whispered, sounding hopeful.

"Yes. When I arrive, Kane will be focused on keeping four women under his thrall. I can imagine that will be difficult. I'm going to focus on protective magic, and use that to my advantage. Now is not the time to kill him, not without my staff." She sighed, coming to a distasteful realization. "I'll probably need to bargain with him. Carefully. But bargain nonetheless."

"Desaree and Saffra will never forgive you if you traded away our kingdom or your life."

"This, I know. They'd hate me for it. They will probably hate me for coming after them anyway. But..." Her throat began to ache. She swallowed down the ball of emotion rising. There had to be a way around this. She refused to accept this as the end. Refused to abandon the most important women in her life. "Tell me more about the place you saw through the portal."

Jocelyn continued to work on the buckles and clasps, securing each plate of armor as she prattled on about the rocky landscape Claire was soon to confront. Her magic wasn't at its fullest, which put her at a disadvantage, but what other choice did she have? Something about this situation gnawed at her gut. She knew with certainty—she had to do this. Perhaps it was intuition, or Dragonwall's gods spurring her on, or even the King Tree nudging her, though she couldn't speak with it without the staff.

"If the king returns while you are gone?" Jocelyn asked.

"He will, and soon. We must hurry. When he does, you may tell him everything. I would never ask you to lie to the king, Joce. And he's not to get angry at you—I will be cross with him if he does. This is my decision, after all." Jocelyn nodded, her eyes glittering with unshed tears. "Come here." She folded Joce into her arms, squeezing her tight.

"Please don't die," Jocelyn murmured.

At this, Claire barked a laugh. "He's tried so many times to kill me, you'd think he would give up already. No. I don't intend to die."

Jocelyn stepped away, drying her eyes. She handed Claire the bottle. It was cold and heavy in her hands. The cork came free and she splashed it against a nearby wall. "You're not to follow me through," Claire warned, seeing the fierce determination giving Jocelyn away. The handmaiden's expression immediately fell. "Saffra would never forgive me if I allowed it," she added. They shared one long look before Claire turned towards the wall. A shimmering portal had appeared. This was not like the Gate she'd once traveled through. She could see out to the other side, see the rocky landscape Jocelyn had described.

Taking a deep breath, she stepped through. The king's tower disappeared behind her, replaced with the landscape she had spied through the portal. The moon was not fully risen, and the air held the chill of night. Her magic was already standing at the ready. Her feet moved, silently pulling her towards the shadows cast by rocky formations scattered over the landscape—

"So wonderful of you to join us, Your Majesty." A voice stopped her in her tracks. Kane's voice. Shivers raced across her skin.

The enormity of what was happening finally sank in, followed by Talon's angry roar as it filled her mind. Despair, shock, confusion, even a touch of betrayal flooded her senses. Talon had discovered her disappearance. "Claire?!" His voice pressed into her mind.

She had no choice but to push him aside with a whispered "I'm sorry, Talon, but I had to."

His distraction could cost lives. It pained her to tamp down on the part of their minds that they shared, but she had no choice. She needed to focus.

He raged against the press of her, as if beating invisible fists against her constructed barrier. It would not completely separate them. That would never happen—was impossible. But it kept the bulk of him suppressed.

She hated it—the feel of suppressing her mate. It felt wrong and awful. The pain of it brought tears to her eyes. But it was only for a little bit, until she could free her friends. Talon would forgive her, eventually.

She looked at Kane. She noticed the haunting flash of his red eyes against the dark night while taking in the scene around her. The sight of her ladies made her stomach drop. Kane had Saffra by the hair, her head wrenched back, a blade at her throat. Even in the darkness, Saffra's expression was a mix of anger and confidence. The seer had courage and she displayed it now.

Desaree was another matter. She wept in the arms of Meira and Selphie. A quick assessment showed blood dripping down her neck. As if Kane's blade had also kissed her skin, perhaps before finding a home against Saffra's. Meira and Selphie looked at Claire with unreadable expressions, but she caught enough to know they disapproved of her coming here.

She didn't care. No one would die for her today. "Let them go," she told Kane, steeling her nerves. "Your fight is with me, not with them."

"My fight is with Dragonwall. But as you say, perhaps a trade?"

"No, Claire!" all four women cried at once.

Selphie detangled herself from Desaree and stepped forward, turning her piercing eyes on Kane. "We will gladly die for our queen." Then she turned to Claire. "Haan nih haan etah, Ayas Drollaya."

"But I must," Claire answered, without explaining why. She had nothing more to go on than a gut feeling. She had to do this, even if it seemed reckless. Whatever forces spurred her on wanted her here, in this very moment in time.

Selphie's face shuttered but she gave a nod and turned back towards Kane.

"I will trade my place for theirs, for their freedom," Claire told Kane. "But my offer is not without its conditions."

Kane looked as if he expected this. A flash of something crossed his gaze, making her second guess his words. As if she were playing into some master plan of his. "Very well. I will hear your conditions."

"I want your word that if I trade my place for theirs, you will release them, send them home. Furthermore, you—nor anyone or anything under your control—will cause me harm of any kind."

"My, my, you are careful with your words." She simply stared at him. "And if I agree, you will submit yourself to my mercy? Content to be my...prisoner?"

"Yes. But I want your assurances set in stone. You will make an Unbreakable Promise to me, and I will pay close attention to how you word it. If it is not to my liking, if I have any reason to suspect your intention to kill me, the deal is off."

Kane looked thoughtful, intrigued even. She tried to pick at his expression, his body language, to see if he intended to double-cross her. All she saw was his growing eagerness. Maybe this had been his plan all along. If so, she needed a way to work around it.

"Hmm..." He pretended to think over her conditions.

Surely he knew about her mate bond with Talon. As his prisoner, it was only a matter of time before Talon came to her rescue, assuming she didn't find a way to free herself before that. Was that what Kane wanted—to capture her, in hopes of luring Dragonwall's ruler to him?

Within the recesses of her mind, Talon had gone quiet. She could feel him there, observing their stand-off. He knew her mind—saw the reasons why she'd done this.

"Very well," Kane agreed at last, though he did not release his hold of Saffra. He looked at Selphie. "There is a glass bottle behind that rock there. Go and get it. Yes, good." Selphie held it with both hands, her fingers squeezing the life out of it. "Once I have made my promise, you may splash it on the rocks and depart. It will deposit you just outside the capital."

Selphie quickly disguised her surprise, glancing down at the water stoppered within the glass.

"Just...outside?" Claire asked.

Kane chuckled. "Yes, Your Majesty. I'm not stupid. I wouldn't portal them right back into your precious keep. By the time they reach the city, you and I will be long gone from here, and the portal will have dried up. Your beloved king will be unable to follow you—us."

The slip of that single word 'you' in place of 'us' had Claire frowning—

"How do we know you aren't lying?" Meira lifted her chin. She held Desaree in her arms. Desaree looked defeated, as if this entire situation was her fault, but it wasn't anyone's fault.

Kane sighed. "Very well, splash the water against that rock and see for yourself."

Selphie did as he said. The magical water coated the giant rock, turning to a shimmery doorway. Despite the darkness, she caught sight of a beautiful city glittering with orange light in the distance. Kastali Dun. He was telling the truth, then. The portal must led to a hill a few miles from the capital. Just close enough that her ladies could make it home on two feet.

Selphie nodded, as if the portal passed her judgement.

"Your Promise, Kane," Claire prompted, turning her attention back to him. The sooner she got this over with, the better.

"Are you sure about this, my love?" Talon's voice was distant in her mind, but he'd moved from anger to resignation. She felt his trust, burning bright. If this was her choice, then he would stand behind it. Especially now that she'd made clear she had no desire to die today.

"I am sure."

Kane inhaled, looking right at her. His next words held power. She felt the magic hum around her, skittering over her skin. "I, Kane, the greatest Asarlaí to have ever lived, make the Unbreakable Promise that I will release your friends and allow them to return home in exchange for you, as a willing prisoner. In return, I promise that I will cause you no harm, nor will anyone, or anything at my disposal. This, I vow."

The air shivered, then fell still.

"Does that pass your inspection, Majesty?"

In her peripherals, she noticed that the portal was beginning to shrink, the water drying up. Time was ticking. "Yes. It is done. Release them."

"As you wish." Kane moved and Claire screamed. In a single blink, he dragged his blade across Saffra's throat, blood spraying, before throwing her into Selphie's arms. Saffra made a strangled choking sound, her eyes wide with shock, as her hands went to the gaping wound at her neck, trying to stop the blood. A series of shocked cries muddled together—Desaree's, Meira's, Selphie's.

"No!" Claire lunged for Saffra, readying her magic to knit her skin back together. Only, her feet didn't move, stuck to the ground. A gale rushed past her, sending all four women tumbling through the portal.

She screamed again, reaching out as it closed. The last thing she saw was Selphie and Meira lowering Saffra's limp body onto the ground. Darkness replaced the harrowing sight, until she was staring at nothing but rock.

She blinked rapidly. Hot tears streaked down her face. Somewhere in the back of her mind, she heard a Drengr's anguished bellow. Talon's? Bedelth's? Oh gods! Bedelth!

She pulled at the bonds holding her in place, looking at Kane with more fury than she'd ever felt. Disbelief was a cold wave that crashed against her skin, dragging her under until she couldn't breathe. She felt her magic rising, readying to meet Kane in open battle. "You!" she hissed. But still, she couldn't move. "You broke the terms—"

"I said I'd release them. I never said I'd spare them. The seer has been problematic since the beginning. After she so graciously agreed to trade places with sweet Desaree, how could I resist? Anyway, I left the other three unharmed. I thought that was rather generous of me, don't you?" A thousand awful things were on the tip of her tongue, ready to burst free. Kane clicked his tongue. "Ah, ah, ah. Don't try anything careless—no magic. Remember, my promise binds you as much as it binds me, and if you break it, you will die."

What?!

That stopped her dead in her tracks; her magic fell silent. Her chest rose and fell, trying to take in air between her sobbing gasps. What had she done?!

"Breathe, love. Deep breaths." Talon's words were a balm to her breaking heart, but they weren't enough. He should have been raging at her. Furious. Filled with blame. Instead, he was merely a steady press of comfort. Comfort she no longer deserved after what she'd just done.

"Come, let us go."

"I'm not going anywhere with you," she spat. "Not after what you did."

"But you will, because my Promise said willing prisoner. Therefore, you must be willing. Use of magic, any act against me while you are my prisoner, makes you unwilling. You do know how the Promise works, don't you?" His grin made her stomach drop. Even in the darkness, the chilling expression turned her bowels watery. She took a deep breath, as Talon had bade her to do.

"You are Dragonwall's queen," he reminded her. She wanted him to yell at her. She wanted his anger, not his encouragement. Why wasn't he cursing her for doing this? For putting herself in this situation—

"Shall we?" Kane asked, motioning her forward.

She lifted her chin and took a single step. Then another. And another. Each one got easier. Kane led her through the rocky formation as she tried to calculate his next move. Tried to make sense of what had happened. Tried to anticipate a way to free herself. To find a way around the Promise. She didn't want to unknowingly kill herself by defying the terms.

"The terms spoke nothing of me," Talon whispered in her mind. "I can free you without violating them."

But wasn't that what Kane wanted? To lure Talon to him? To pit them against each other.

She clenched her teeth, keeping her chin held high.

"Keep moving, Your Majesty," Kane sneered, falling into pace beside her. The proximity of him made her sick. She wanted distance between them, but the path they took didn't allow it.

"You're taking me back to Shadowkeep," she said at last. It's where he'd tried to take her that day in the forest. To the farthest reaches of Dragonwall. Though, she wondered why he hadn't simply summoned another portal to do so. Instead, he led her onward.

She glanced around at the rocky formations, trying to find—

Two pillars came into view. She stopped short, lips parted. The realization had a split second to form, setting the hairs at the back of her neck on end. She recognized the glyphs on the pillars. She opened her mouth—

The sound of crushed glass breaking just above her head was immediately followed by the wet feeling of liquid sloshing into her hair, dripping down her scalp. She spun to face Kane as he dropped his arm, flinging away the remnants of glass fragments.

"Claire, no!" An anguished voice cried out in her mind.

She blinked. A cold, clawing feeling spread through her mind, throwing her into a confused haze. Her blinking turned more rapid, as if trying to clear away a confusing image. Her brain faltered. She attempted to piece the next several moments together. "What did you—?"

"Consider your time as my prisoner fulfilled, Your Majesty."

Before she could process his words, he placed his palms against her back and gave a huge shove. She stumbled forwards, tripping over a lose rock, flying face first, falling...

The last thing she caught sight of were the pillars at her sides before everything went black. Her stomach lurched, lifting nausea into her throat. Acid burned the back of her tongue—

There was nothing.

Then ground came up to meet her, blackness replaced with glaring sunlight. Her face planted in a bed of soft grass. She groaned then flopped over, as if waking from a deep and strange dream. She blinked up at the crystalline blue sky, wincing at the brightness. An airplane passed high overhead, its faint contrails lining the path behind it. Her brows pulled together into a scowl.

For long moments, she lay there sprawled in the grass. Her mind tripped and stumbled. Try as she might, she couldn't seem to piece tighter her thoughts. Perhaps only a few moments passed, or perhaps it was several minutes.

Her ears began to ring as a harsh voice shouted something in the distance. She remained motionless. The voice spoke again, growing closer.

She moved to sit on her heels. A rolling green landscape greeted her. Beautiful pastoral hills spread out around her, overlooking a small town. In the far distance she could just make out the outline of a large city. Her frown deepened.

More shouting. She turned. The person coming towards her was a middle aged man in a floppy hat holding a staff. She blinked at the sight of the staff. Something tugged at her mind, but the thought was there and gone. He marched up the hill towards her.

How...strange.

He was dressed in coveralls and looked irritated. She shook her head, attempting to straighten her thoughts, listening to his question again. The words meant nothing to her, were unintelligible. Then she realized why. He was speaking French. That's why she hadn't understood him initially.

"I'm sorry, but I...I can't understand you," she managed, scowling.

Where...was she?

He came to a stop, looming over her, this time repeating his question in heavily accented English. It took a moment for her to sift through the words.

"Oh. You want to know what I'm doing here?" she repeated, only just now glancing down at herself. Her lips parted. "What the...?" She ran a hand over the metal on her arms. Metal...like armor.

"Oui," the man said in response to her question.

"I'm sorry, but, where is here, exactly?"

His head titled, like the question was preposterous. And in a way, it was. She, too, didn't really know why she was asking it.

"Ten kilometers outside of Rennes," he answered in his accented English.

Her eyes darted over the landscape again. He continued speaking. This was his property, he explained. A private property. Trespassers weren't permitted. She would need to leave, he said, or he would be forced to report her to the authorities.

She heard his words but hardly processed them.

Rennes was in France. Hence, the French accent, and the fact he'd been speaking French. But...was this some sort of dream?

She glanced down at herself again, and noticed a tiny bit of blue on her skin, peeping from beneath the sleeves of her shirt. She pulled her sleeves back as far as the metal plated armor permitted, and rubbed at the marking. It didn't disappear.

Had she been drugged? Gotten a tattoo while she was under the influence? Passed out somewhere only to awake without memory of it? Some drugs did that, didn't they? Had someone slipped something into her drink?

"I don't..." She trailed off. Quickly, she catalogued everything she knew here in this moment. She was dressed like she'd dropped right out of a book. There were strange blue markings on her skin. She was sitting in a field in rural France, just outside one of its biggest cities.

But...none of this made any sense.

She wracked her brain, clawing at her memory. Something at the corner of her mind flickered, there and gone as she tried to make sense of this bizarre situation. Why wasn't she at home, watching over the farm for her parents? What would they do when they realized she was not there?

She didn't remember leaving her house. Didn't remember getting on a plane to France. Didn't even remember traipsing out into the the middle of this field.

That was the problem. When she dug deep enough, her last memories were of her parents leaving to Florida and her agreement to watch the farm in their absence. Instead, she was here, and the life of her, she couldn't explain why. 

⭐🌟 DON'T FORGET TO VOTE!!🌟⭐

Happy Friday, Bookdragons!

Are you freaking out?! Of course you are. Did I shock you? Of course I did! 

Dedicated to all the readers who bellyached about Claire not saying goodbye to her family, and wanting Talon to meet Claire's parents...I blame YOU for this. BAHAHAHAHA.

*insert evil face here*

But really. This was NEVER part of the initial plan. Long, long ago, a reader (Maddy AKA Books_4Ever) wrote a fan fiction scene that she shared with me with me of Talon and Kane and Claire battling it out in front of a gate, and Claire getting sent back home. It was years ago and I can't quite remember the details of it, only that Claire got sent home. That idea stuck with me. At first, I told myself nothing like that would EVER happen. But...once that seed was planted, I realized that it was the direction the story NEEDED to go. 

So here, you have it. 

As we come to to the close of book 5, this will be Claire's final chapter in the book. A bit of a cliff hanger, I know (I gotta give you a reason to pick up book 6 don't I??) But our next chapter will be from Reyr's POV and we'll get to see how the whole gang reacts in Kastali Dun. As you can imagine, Talon is NOT OKAY with letting his mate go.

See you next week!

-Mel