Shield of Sparrows

“Now are we more or less than halfway?” Evie asked for the third time in as many minutes.

She was riding with the Guardian, sitting in front of him on the saddle, while her attention floated in all different directions like dandelion wisps on the wind.

“More,” he said.

“Finally.” She stared up at the sky and sighed.

We’d been riding all day, following the scouting party that had left Ellder ahead of us this morning, ensuring the journey to Treow was safe. The Guardian had, as expected, roused us at dawn so that we’d make it to the encampment by evening. We’d kept to the trees to avoid the scorching summer sun, and though the pace hadn’t been grueling, we hadn’t dawdled, either.

Given Evie’s restlessness, she was more than ready to get out of the saddle.

She exhaled, leaning over the side of the horse, inspecting his legs and tail. “Can I give him a name?”

“Who says I haven’t named him already?”

“Did you?” She twisted to stare up at the Guardian, poking a finger in his cheek. “What is it?”

“He’s not one for sharing names,” I said from my spot beside them atop a brown gelding.

“Maybe I just don’t share names with you.” He smirked, then cupped a hand over Evie’s ear, whispering something that made her gray eyes pop.

“Aurinda? That’s a girl’s name.” She dissolved into a fit of laughter and would have fallen to the ground if not for the arm he kept banded around her waist.

He chuckled, tapping her nose. The tenderness he had with her might be my undoing.

“Aurinda,” I said. “After one of the twin moons?”

Aurinda and Aurrellia. They were nearly identical, except for the massive gray crater that marred Aurinda’s surface.

He nodded to his stallion. “He was a twin, born prematurely on the winter solstice. His sister did not survive. No one expected him to, either, but against all odds, he thrived. A Voster priest said it was because she gave her spirit to him, like the way Aurinda gave part of herself to keep Aurrellia.”

I’d just read the legend of the twin moons in one of the books Cathlin had given me. Though I’d known the story ever since I was a child.

According to legend, Ama and Oda had crafted the sky for a single moon. Two would be too heavy and pull at the Six’s shades.

But as with all of their creations, everything born from Ama and Oda was a twin.

Not wanting to lose her sister, Aurinda cut away her own flesh, a crater in her heart. She sent the crater away from the stars and shades. Not so far that it vanished, but far enough that Aurrellia could remain at her side for all eternity.

The crater was Calandra.

We were born of Aurinda’s heart.

And the Guardian had given his horse her name.

It wasn’t a name I ever would have guessed, but now that I knew the story, it was exactly what I would have chosen, too.

“Have you ever seen a Voster priest, Dess?” Evie asked.

The topics on today’s ride had ranged from horse names to favorite colors to guesses at how far she could throw a pine cone. For as quiet as Zavier was, Evangeline was the opposite. As with most four-year-olds, lulls in conversation made her squirm.

“Yes,” I said. “The brotherhood often sent an emissary to my home in Quentis.”

“What’s an emzery?”

“Em-is-sar-y. It means a contact or representative. The Voster assigned a priest to aid my father.”

“Oh.” Evie cocked her head to the side. “Why?”

“My father is an important man.”

The Guardian scoffed.noveldrama

I rolled my eyes. He might not like my father, but a king was a king, and even the great and powerful Guardian had to admit Father was important.

“Who is he?” Evie asked.

“He’s the Gold King of Quentis.”

If Zavier didn’t want me sharing my heritage with his daughter, he should have left behind instructions. But I wasn’t going to hide who I was, not from her. I’d let him go through the details of our marriage, but I was proud to be a Quentin.

“What?” Her mouth fell open. “He’s a king? Does that mean you’re a princess?”

“Yes.”

She blinked, letting that sink in. Then her forehead furrowed. “Is that why you don’t live in Quentis anymore? Because you got sent away? I get sent away a lot, too, because I’m a princess—”

She gasped, realizing her mistake. Her panicked gaze lifted to the Guardian’s. “I didn’t mean to.”

“It’s all right.” He tucked a lock of hair behind her ear. “You can tell her. But no one else, okay?”

Evie nodded, her shoulders sagging. “I’m not supposed to tell anyone that,” she mumbled.

My heart lurched.

She was so young but older than her years. She’d learned lessons she shouldn’t have had to yet. To hide. To pretend. To lie. Those were lessons for adults, not children.

“Your secret is safe with me.” I gave her a soft smile. “And someday, I’ll tell you all about why I left Quentis.”

About the Shield of Sparrows. About the Chain of Sevens. About anything she wanted to know. I hated how so many of my own questions went unanswered. I didn’t want that for Evie.

“Papa says that, too. That he’ll tell me someday. Someday, I’m gonna know lots.”

The Guardian chuckled and bent to kiss her hair. “You’ll be the smartest princess in all of Calandra.”

Evie smiled up at him, then rested her head on his chest as she yawned. “What’s your necklace?”

The pendant had come loose from my tunic. I picked it up, letting the red metal catch the light before I ran my thumb over the silver wing. “I don’t know.”

“Why not?”

“I found it a long time ago. I’m not sure what it means. But I wear it because it’s pretty.” Because of foolish hope. Because it may or may not have belonged to my mother.

“Oh.” She yawned again.

“You can take a nap.” The Guardian shifted his hold so she could rest against his arm while he kept Aurinda’s reins in his other hand. “Luella said you didn’t get a very good night’s rest.”

Probably because she’d been too excited to sleep.

Evie shook her head and yawned again. “I’m not tired.”

Ten minutes later, she was asleep.

Which meant it was time for me to ask the questions.

“How do you know where to go?” There was no road or trail through the forest, but I was certain he knew the path. “The trees all look identical. Is there a map or something you’ve memorized?”

“Once you know the way, it’s not hard to find.”

So no, there wasn’t a map. Drat.

“Why didn’t Luella come with us?” Or Evie’s nanny. Maybe there was someone already in Treow who’d care for her?

“No need. I’ll watch Evie.”

Was he sworn to protect her, too? Was he her Guardian as well as mine? Well, she’d have two. I’d made no vow to protect that girl, but I would with my life.

“Where is Zavier?”

“Hunting.”

“Monsters?”

He nodded. “Yes.”

“Is that because of Lyssa?”

His gaze shot to mine. “Who told you that?”

“Uh, you did. In Ashmore. When you were drunk. Right before you passed out on my floor with my pillow.”

“Oh.” He scowled.

Apparently, Evie wasn’t the only one who slipped from time to time. “So are you going to tell me about it, or am I going to have to guess?”

Lyssa had to be linked to that putrid green blood and the monster attacks, but confirmation would be nice.

He stayed quiet, facing forward.

“Please don’t leave me in the dark. I have been pushed to the side, dismissed, and overlooked my entire life.”

This time when he glanced at me, it was with pity.

I didn’t want his pity, but if I had to strip myself bare to get answers, then I’d tell him my entire life’s story. I’d explain just how useless I’d been as a princess in Quentis.

“It’s an infection,” he said, the words hoarse, like he’d never had to explain it before.

“That’s why Evie thinks they’re sick.”

“That’s what she said?” He shook his head. “She picks up on more than we realize.”

“Yes, she does.”

He held her closer, like he was trying to shield her from the terrors in this realm. From this conversation. “We don’t know much about Lyssa. We don’t know how it started. We’re just trying to stop it from spreading.”

“Is it the reason Zavier is gone so often?”

“He’s leading one of the hunting parties. There are three. Halston, Tillia’s husband, commands the second. The captain of the Cutter commands the third. He patrols the Krisenth and the shoreline.”

It seemed strange to send the crown prince on a hunting party, but he had killed seven marroweels to claim me as his bride. So maybe he was needed. Maybe he’d rather risk himself and leave the Guardian behind to watch over his daughter.

And his wife.

“What does it do? This infection?”

“A monster is deadly without the infection. They kill for nourishment. To protect their young. To defend a territory. But at their core, a monster is no different than a bear or lion or other predator. The Six simply made their beasts better killing machines.”

What would this realm be like if there were no monsters? If the only beasts that roamed the five kingdoms were animals created by Ama and Oda? Was Lyssa just another curse from the Six?

“When a monster gets Lyssa, they’re even more savage and vicious, aren’t they?” I asked, though I already knew the answer.

“Yes. They kill because they can, slaughtering everything in their wake.”

“Like the bariwolves in Ashmore.”

“Yes. It’s not unheard of for a pack to attack a town, especially after a long, hard winter. But Ashmore wasn’t about food.”

It had been bloodlust. It was exactly what I’d heard about the migration. “Like the crux.”

“Yes.”

My head began to spin. The migration was horrific enough. Older generations, those who’d survived the last, were terrified of the monsters. But at least we had a reprieve. Years to rebuild, to plan for another attack.

What happened when that was gone? How could we survive monsters who never let us find peace because they carried some magical infection?

“Do you think that the crux brought it with them?” I asked.

He shook his head. “It’s unlikely. The last migration was nearly thirty years ago. We’ve only learned about Lyssa within the past four. I doubt it’s been spreading for an entire generation. We would have seen signs long ago.”

The steady clop of our horses’ hooves filled the silence as my mind raced. “But you don’t know when or how it started. It could have existed before then. Maybe it was lying dormant.”

“It’s possible. But the Voster have spent years learning everything they can about the infection. They’ve ruled out the crux.”

Of course the Voster were in the middle of this. And he’d taken them at their word.

Did my father know? Or had the brotherhood kept this Lyssa a secret?

What happened when it crossed borders? What happened when more innocent people were slaughtered because the Voster and Turans had decided to keep this infection to themselves?

“How does it spread? Is it from the green blood?” Because I was fairly certain a few drops from that bariwolf in Ashmore had come damn close to getting into my mouth.

“By bite.”

“Not blood?”

He shook his head. “Only by bite.”

There’d been a bite on the tail of that marroweel.

“Does it infect other animals? Like dogs or cats?”

“I don’t know. As far as we can tell, no animal that’s been bitten by an infected monster has survived.”

“And people? What happens to people if they’re bitten?”

I asked the question but realized as the words tumbled off my tongue that I already had the answer.

The Guardian.

There was a vulnerability in his green eyes when he looked at me again.

“You have Lyssa,” I whispered.

Keeping Evie tucked against his chest, he worked free the cuff on his forearm. The cuff that he’d engraved and carved to mark the lives he’d taken so he wouldn’t forget.

The cuff that concealed a scar.

His skin was perfect save a crescent-shaped series of white dots. A row of jagged teeth.

“What bit you?”

“Bariwolf.” He refastened the cuff, hiding that scar. “Four years ago. I was wearing a similar cuff. If not, it would have taken my arm off.”

A knot formed in my stomach. “Has anyone else been bitten?”

“Not that I know of. Anyone bitten was likely also slaughtered. Few survive an attack when the monster isn’t infected.”

“You’re really the only one?”

“As far as I know.”

I rubbed my temples, my mind swirling. This was so much more than I’d expected. More than I could immediately comprehend. “What do we do?”

“We?”

“Yes.” I was part of this now. This country.

I glanced at Evie. This family.

Whether they wanted me or not.

“We kill the monsters. We kill them all. Every last one.”

Him. He meant to kill the monsters.

Then himself.

He smirked, his arrogant mask falling into place. “Just think of how happy your father will be when I’m dead. You can even tell him you killed me, just like he asked. My queen the assassin.”