Bastial Energy (49 page)

He could see it in the rest of her now, her creamy skin, her big almond eyes, her soft features, even the shine in her hair.
That’s why Rek looked so familiar.

It was the kind of revelation that sent a chill down his back and arms, that gave answers to questions he hadn’t thought of until now.

A silence followed that tried to tug words out of him.
“They’re beautiful,”
he kept wanting to say.
“Your ears are beautiful.”
He could think of nothing else but managed to refrain from speaking it. Finally, she pinned her ear back and let her hair return to rest over it.

“He likes them,” Rek said with a happy laugh.

“I can tell,” Reela said and smiled, her head bowed as if she was flattered.

He felt a dry gulp down his choking throat and didn’t know what to say.

Luckily, Reela wasn’t waiting for him to come up with something. “After what happened to Rek, there’s too much of a risk in letting people know what I am. But Rek…” She moved back to his cell. “I don’t think the King would find out if I just talked to him once. I could convince him with psyche to keep you both here.”

“No, he’s been training against it,” Rek replied with a peremptory tone. “And King Welson is smart. Even if you did, he’ll figure out later that you used psyche. Then he’ll change his mind back and have you investigated to see why you’re so interested in helping. He’ll find the connection through Airy—you did say she was upstairs with him right now. It’s sure to put you at risk. You’re not going to do it.”

“What am I supposed to do, then?” Reela said, desperation thick in her voice again. “You expect me to let you go without a fight? We need you both here.” Her hand struck the top of her chest. “I need you both here.”

“You’ll fight, but not for us.” Cleve answered. “Fight for Kyrro and all the people in it. The first chance I get, I’ll come back. I don’t care what it takes. If I have to steal a ship, sail it across the ocean myself, and sneak back into the Academy to fight, I’ll do it.”

“What he says,” Rek agreed, with a spirit behind his words that Cleve hadn’t heard in far too long. “You do what you can, Reela. So will we.”

“I understand,” she spoke regretfully. “There’s something else, Rek, before the jailer returns. Vithos is here.” She pointed toward the ceiling. “He and a Krepp came through the Academy and I met him. I touched him. I know it’s him. Even though we’ve never met before, I can tell we share blood. He could feel it too. I could tell.”

“He’s here now?” Rek whispered incredulously. Cleve had never heard Rek sound surprised before. He would’ve guessed the Elf was incapable of it.

“Yes, which is why I brought Airy. She’ll tell me what they say when she’s done translating.”

“Make sure you speak to her in private, not in the castle.” Rek added. “There are ears everywhere in here.”

Reela nodded. “The Krepp he was with spoke common tongue. He said they’re on our side.”

“Can someone help me understand if I got this?” Cleve couldn’t hold his tongue any longer. There was too much he didn’t know, and he was barely keeping up. “Another relative of yours came into Kyrro, with a Krepp who speaks our language?”

“Yes, his name is Vithos,” Rek answered hastily. “He’s an Elf, my full brother, Reela’s half-brother through our father.”

“So Vithos and the Krepp are speaking with the King right now but through a translator? Didn’t you say the Krepp can speak our language?” Cleve had never heard of Krepps speaking common tongue, so he wanted to make sure he’d understood Reela correctly.

“Yes, but the King would want to speak to the Krepp and Vithos directly with his own trusted translator,” Rek answered. “Airy is that. She knows Elvish and Kreppen. She was the castle’s translator for many years, but she was never needed except to transcribe Elvish and Kreppen books.”

“Vithos and the Krepp also had some sort of Kreppen scroll with them,” Reela added. “I’m sure the King wanted his own translator to read it. Airy is my biological mother but also stepmother to Rek. He lived with her for many years. She’ll tell us what she learns from the translation. She retired from the castle many years ago, but the only other person who knows both Elvish and Kreppen is in Trentyre. So I was certain the King would gladly accept her help rather than wait to retrieve the translator from Trentyre.”

“I see,” Cleve answered. “Airy is full Human. It’s your father who’s the Elf?”

“Yes,” Reela answered. “He was also the father of Rek and Vithos, who are twins. He died before he even knew that Airy was pregnant with me.”

“I’m sorry,” Cleve responded. He wasn’t sure what else to say. He was still in too much shock to really feel anything else.
Reela is half-Elf. Rek has a twin brother and shares a father with Reela. A Krepp speaks common tongue and traveled here with Rek’s brother, Vithos, and they’re all here in this castle right now.
It was a bit much all at once.

“Our father died by the fire from Doe and Haemon’s magic while trying to get Vithos out of their camp.” Rek’s tone had turned sour. “Doe and Haemon are two giant Slugari, tall as Krepps and long like, well, slugs. But that’s a story for another time. Reela, make sure you don’t speak about Doe and Haemon. Let Kyrro’s scouts find out about them. Otherwise, Welson might discover I told you and connect you back to me.”

The sound of voices down the hall interrupted them.

“Don’t speak of any of this to anyone, Cleve,” Rek whispered quickly.

The jailer approached. At the sight of Reela, he stopped a moment. “Oh, you’re still here!” His voice was unusually loud, though he didn’t sound upset. “Somehow, I’d forgotten, which is strange as we don’t see many women down here! Rek, the King wishes to speak to you soon! I’m to bring you to him! I do apologize, but I’ll need to put the gag in!” He held out two thick ropes. “And bind your hands as well! Go ahead and put them behind you and stick them through the food hole! And don’t bother trying to say anything; my ears have been plugged!” He pointed to the side of his head where long plugs were sticking from his ears.

“Reela, if I don’t see you again, know that I’ll always love you. Tell Airy the same.” Rek put his hands behind him and pushed them through the wide slot in the middle of the door to his cell.

“I love you, too,” she replied. “I’ll tell her.”

When Rek’s hands were tied and his mouth gagged, the jailer removed his earplugs and turned to Reela. “I’m sorry, young lady, but I’ll need you out of here before I transport Rek. I’m sure you wouldn’t try anything funny, but procedure needs to be followed. I’ll walk you out.”

“Give me one minute, if you wouldn’t mind?” She set a hand on his shoulder and smiled sweetly.

“Sure,” he smiled back genuinely. “I’ll be waiting by the door. You have one minute to meet me there.” He walked away, putting in his earplugs as he went.

Reela would get away with so little if people knew what she was capable of,
Cleve thought.

Reela went back to Rek’s cell. Cleve watched as she pushed her face and arms through the gaps in the bars for what looked like a one-way hug. “Until next time, brother,” she said.

Then she came over to Cleve. Her eyes were glistening. “Cleve, I want to tell you something before I must go.”

Chapter 50: Coming Loose

CLEVE

His stomach tightened. He realized what he wanted to hear, and it scared him.
Don’t say it
, he thought. A shiver went through him. He backed a step away from the bars.
Don’t tell me you have feelings for me. I don’t have the strength for it
.

She grabbed on to two of his cell bars, leaning her brilliant green eyes closer. “I’m frightened, Cleve.”

Relieved, he took a calming breath. But then she leaned even closer, and the serious look on her face let him know it was too early to relax. “I know you are, too.” Her tone was sweet, matching her fragrance. Her light-brown hair was close enough to touch. The thought of her ears beneath it caused a chill to course through him. “But I don’t know if it’s for the same reason as me. Will you tell me what you’re scared of?”

He took another step back as fright started growing within him. “I’m scared of losing myself, losing who I am. You make me weak, Reela.” He hated admitting it. It made him feel like his heart was being pried open, but he wanted her to know. He always did, and if not now, then it might be never. “I’m supposed to be strong. If I’m not strong, I’m nothing. I don’t expect you to understand.” Reela was the strongest person he’d ever met, besides his father. He couldn’t imagine her ever feeling weak.

“I wouldn’t have understood weeks ago, but I do now. I’m the same way, Cleve. You’re the source of my fear.”

He was so shocked that he spoke before a single thought crossed his mind. “How could I frighten you?”

“I’m not scared of you. I’m scared of losing you. I want you here with me. From the moment we met, I could feel something between us. Couldn’t you?”

He understood now. Every look, every touch she’d given him he’d taken to mean nothing, but some part of him always argued back. Cleve found himself nodding, but then stopping as soon as he noticed it.

“I did feel something, but it was mostly fear.”
Mostly
, he repeated to himself, remembering the lust.

“What if you took away all the fear, what would be left? Think about how you would feel about me without it.”

He didn’t wish to think about that. “I can’t disconnect you from the fear.” He tapped his temple. “You are fear. You are weakness. If the fear was gone, I don’t know…you would just be another beautiful woman,” he lied.

“That’s not true, Cleve, and you know it. I’m not just another woman, and you’re not just another man. There’s a connection between us, one you don’t need psyche to feel. You’re not letting go of the fear. Let it go. Truly see what’s behind it. Come here, take my hand.” She reached into his cell.

Effie had told Cleve that Reela never dated, that she was far too straightforward with men, usually about their lies or poor qualities. However, that didn’t seem true. In all his time with Reela she didn’t seem that way. It was always as if there was something behind her eyes she wouldn’t say, a secret too powerful to divulge.

But as he looked at her now, her eyes were wide open with everything behind them ready to come out. Her hand stretched to him, and she was ready to show him what it was. But he stayed back, unsure he wanted to see.
What psyche does she have planned?

As with many of their conversations, she answered his pause as if his thoughts had been spoken. “No psyche, just my hand.” She gave it a small shake and he could feel the terror deepening into his bones. “Hold it and look at me. Let the fear go. Embrace the feeling that I know is in you somewhere. My touch will help it come loose.”

No. Nothing’s coming loose. No good ever came from anything coming loose.
At just the thought of touching her, he could already feel the hairs on his arms beginning to stand. He never wished to think about Reela without the fear, for it was the fear that had kept him strong. Without the fear, he’d think about her every second of every minute. He’d do anything to see her, to be with her. Without the fear, he was obsessed with her. What kind of warrior would that make him?
A weak warrior. A woman-chasing warrior who has no dedication to his class.
The kind of warrior he’d seen every day growing up in Trentyre. A warrior he’d promised himself he wouldn’t be.

But her eyes were so beautiful it hurt him to see sadness forming there as she waited. His glance went down to her mouth. Never had he seen such inviting lips that called so loudly to be kissed.

“Cleve,” she whispered. “What could I possibly do to you?” She kept her hand steady, waiting for him to touch it.

Everything,
he thought.
Everything and anything you wanted.
He kept himself away from her hand but decided to let out the truth. Half of him was relieved, the other half screamed for him not to speak.

“You make my heart jump into my throat whenever I think of you. You keep me up at night when I try to sleep. You make me think you’re more important than anything else. You make me into someone I’m not, someone weak again, like I was after my parents died. And that makes me hate myself. I’ve worked so hard to get control of myself after my parents died. But in a blink, all that becomes undone when I see you.”

Cleve could feel the pain in her burning eyes. “Don’t you see it?” she said imploringly. “That’s what love is. That multiplied by a thousand.”

“No, love is something else.” He shook his head but couldn’t take his eyes off her. “It’s when you care about someone so much they become more important than anything else.” That’s what he’d heard, at least.

“Didn’t you just say you felt that way about me?”

“That’s different. That’s not genuine.”

“How is it not genuine?”

“Because I don’t know
why
I feel that way. I can’t understand how you have this effect on me. It feels like a psychic spell. When someone is in love, don’t they know why?” He hoped she had a rebuttal he could believe.
I want her to convince me I’m wrong
, he realized, and found himself taking a step closer.