A War for Love

Chapter 2

Chapter 2

From inside the palace, it seemed to Rissa as if nothing had changed at all. Servants continued to do their duties. Guards stood stone-faced at intervals throughout the hall. None of them had forgotten Drake Renauld and his coup. That rebellion would forever mar the air of comradery that once filled the palace.

Dreach-Sciene castle had always been a busy place. Many people took up residence within those walls alongside the royal family.

And each one of them knew the princess on sight. The villages of Aldorwood, Isenore, and Sona had been different. She’d walked through the streets as anyone else did. Inconsequential. Unknown. Just a girl.

“I can feel you following me, Cor.” She stopped moving but didn’t turn. It might have been her imagination, but she sensed her father’s steward grinning at her back.

A smiled touched her lips. The man had been with her family since he was a young boy running messages for the king.

When he didn’t speak, she blew out a breath and turned. His eyes twinkled as he watched her.

“What?” she demanded, crossing her arms over her chest.

He shook his head. “I still can’t quite believe you’re home.”

“Is that why the staff has been avoiding me?” She quirked a brow. “They think my brother and I are some vision brought on by magic?”

“Magic is why they avoid Davion, but not you. Never you, Princess. We’re all kind of worried if we blink, you’ll disappear again.”

She let her arms fall down to her sides. “Not this time, Cor.”

He nodded.

“Trystan is ready to earn his throne and I’m…” What was she now that her brother was king? Now that they’d recovered the magic. Redundant? She didn’t fit the mold of just a princess any longer.

Cor’s eyes scanned the length of her. “Well, it’s nice to see you looking like a princess again rather than a vagabond.”

She flattened her palms against the sky-blue lace bodice of her dress. It flared out at the waist elegantly. As much as she’d rather don her travel trousers and tunic, her closet was full of clothes more fit for a princess.

Cor had always chastised her when she’d looked anything less than the perfect image of Marcus Renauld’s daughter.

She shot him a scowl, but before any words left her mouth, Davi appeared at the other end of the hall. Rissa’s eyes latched onto him, but he hadn’t noticed her yet. Cor followed her line of sight and let out a low chuckle.

“Some things never change.” His eyes held neither approval or disapproval, only a fond remembrance. He was so very different from the stern, quiet steward who’d always been at her father’s side.

Davi lifted his head and his steps slowed. A maid gawked at him, but didn’t near. He met Rissa’s gaze and scrunched his brow.

Rissa tore her eyes away from him to face Cor once more. “And some things will never be the same.” She brushed past him.

Davi had been avoiding her all day. In fact, he hadn’t come near Trystan either. Solitude wasn’t like him. The man she’d always known had enjoyed being the center of attention. He reveled in it. He still was, she guessed as she scowled at the servants who’d stopped to watch him, but it wasn’t the kind of attention anyone wanted.

“Davion.” She reached him and stopped. “You’ve been ducking me all day, and I don’t appreciate it.”

“I haven’t—”

“Don’t bother with your lies.” She leaned in. “I know you too well for that.” She turned toward their audience with ice in her eyes. “Don’t you have duties to attend to? The crown doesn’t pay you good gold to stand around gawking.” When they didn’t move, she went on. “You’ve all heard who Davion truly is. Leave us alone this minute or he’ll use his ancestral magic on you.”

That set them into motion and before long, the hallway had cleared.

Davi’s jaw hung open. “I thought the aim was to let the people of Dreach-Sciene know they didn’t have to fear me.”

Rissa shrugged. “At least now they won’t bother you.”

“You know that magic doesn’t run in families, right? Just because my father’s is dark doesn’t mean mine is.”

“I know that, and they will too… once they stop wetting their trousers.”

His eyes shone with amusement. “Come with me.”

“Is that an order or a request?”

“Stop arguing with me for one second.” He reached down to take her hand, his palm warm against hers. “It’s worth it. I promise.”

He tugged her forward, and she allowed him to lead her on a familiar route. It didn’t take much for her to realize where they were going.

Davi pushed open the door Rissa used to escape regularly. The garden she’d known as dead and broken stretched out before them, unrecognizable in its beauty. Breath rushed into her lungs as she stepped out onto the stone path that meandered between blooming bushes and healthy trees.

“Davi,” she whispered. Life zipped along her skin, the earth’s call. She’d felt it in that garden before, but where it had been weak then, it now overwhelmed her.

The earth’s song filled her mind and tears stung her eyes.

Davi pulled her toward the center. As a girl, she’d spent much of her time sitting beneath the bare branches of the tree that now stood before her. Instead of dry, cracked bark spanning its limbs, a new smooth, brown skin stretched toward the sky. Green vines wound up the trunk, ending where bunches of white flowers began.

“The magic.” Her voice held reverence. “It’s beautiful.”

“Dreach-Sciene is alive again.” Davi released her and stepped forward to set a hand on the base of the tree. He bowed his head and bright yellow flowers shot up the vines.

“You did that?” Rissa’s eyes widened.

“No, the earth did it through me.” He turned back to face her. “You saved your garden.”

“I like to think we saved a lot more than one simple garden.” She laughed.

“This garden represents everything you were able to do. Of course, you also brought magic back to the rest of Dreach-Sciene, but the evidence is right here, in this place.”

“You speak as if you weren’t with us. As if you didn’t have a hand in what we accomplished.” She bit her lip.

He averted his eyes, raising them toward the crystal blue sky instead. “I didn’t.” Sadness coated every word. “Unless you count almost destroying everything.”

“Look at me, Davion.”

When he didn’t respond, she lunged forward and punched him in the arm. “Dammit, I said look at me.”

He finally obeyed, and it was as if his eyes tore through her instead of seeing her.

“What happened to you?”

He shook his head, unwilling to answer.

“Davi, I get it, I do. I can’t imagine everything you’ve gone through. Everything that’s been done to you—”

“You’re right. You can’t imagine. It’s not what’s been done, it’s what’s still…” He stared down at his shaking hands.

Rissa took both of his hands between hers to still them. “I know you think we haven’t gone through anything nearly as bad as you, but we lost you. Do you have any idea what…” She released him and spun so he wouldn’t see the tears in her eyes. “I thought getting you back would fix it, would fix me.”

A gentle hand touched her shoulder, and she covered it with her own.

“We’re all so broken, Dav, don’t you see that? You aren’t alone.” She turned, her chest bumping into his as she did. “Let me be there for you. Please. We aren’t the same people who last stood beneath this tree. The kids who couldn’t say how they felt. Something changed between us before…” She breathed in. “Just before.”

He kept one hand on her shoulder while the other played with a curl that had fallen loose from the tail she’d tied her hair in.

“Do you know why my—Calis had to take every memory of you instead of twisting them?” His voice was only a whisper. “I remember it so clearly.” He closed his eyes and leaned his forehead against hers. “You were coming back to me. The real you. They couldn’t change how I felt about you.”

“How you felt about me?”

“Not even Ramsey Kane and his crystal were powerful enough to steal how much I loved you.”

His eyes snapped open, and she lost herself in their intensity, drowning in their depths. His hands moved to her cheeks, and she sucked in a breath moments before his lips cut off all oxygen.

Loving Davi was like walking straight through the heart of a battle. You were going to have to fight your way in and might not make it out, but in between, it was exhilarating. And if you won, there was nothing in the world you couldn’t have.

As his mouth moved over hers, his words ran through her mind, bringing her back to the present. “Davi,” she said against his lips.

“Mm?” He leaned in for another kiss, but she held him back.

“What did you mean?”

“What are you talking about?”

Her hands clasped his upper arms. “You said ‘what was still—’” Her eyes widened. “What’s going on? What’s being done to you?”

Every ounce of heat retreated from his eyes. He dropped his hands and stepped back. “You don’t… no, Rissa. I can’t talk about this. Not with the princess of Dreach-Sciene.”

“Oh.” She crossed her arms. “It’s okay for you to kiss the enemy princess but not talk to her?”

“You aren’t…” He shook his head. “God, Ri. Do you really think I consider you an enemy?”

“Of course not, you dolt. But, come on. You have some big secret. Even I can tell there’s something actually happening in that head of yours for once. Trust me, it rocked me quite a bit to find out who your father was too, so I know it’s still on your mind. Is that why you’re being weird?”

“Yes… no.” He put his hands on his head. “Kind of.”

“Well, that clears things up.”

“I’m sorry. Being back here is messing with my head.”

She studied the high walls around them. “Okay. Why?” When he didn’t answer, she dropped to the grass and folded her dress around her legs. Patting the spot beside her, she glanced up.

He took her invitation.

Magic flooded into Rissa’s body from the earth and she wanted to sink into its warmth, but she had to focus.

“I still have them,” Davi finally said. “The memories Calis twisted.”

“You mean—”

“I still see flashes of Trystan and Marcus holding me prisoner? Yeah. Every time Trystan touches me, I have to throw all my power into not flinching. I have the good memories too and I can usually tell which ones are false, but…” He bowed his head. “I’m sorry. I wish I could be the Davion you remember. The one who liked nothing more than annoying you and was quick to smile. You deserve better than the version who can barely stand to be in your home. You said I’ve been avoiding you, Ri, but I haven’t. You haven’t seen me because I haven’t left my room since we arrived.”

“Dav.” She closed her eyes briefly, letting the magic calm her. “How can you let me touch you then? If we kept you prisoner.”

A tiny smile graced his lips. “It seems my father actually did a good thing when he erased you. My memories of you were never altered because they were gone. So, when I came back to myself, I only remembered you as you truly are.”

“Do I have to thank him?” She smirked. “Maybe I’ll send him one of my arrows as a thank you gift.”

He froze at her joke.

He had to know they were going to kill his father, right? Did he want that? It occurred to her she didn’t know how Davi felt about Calis after everything. The man was his father. She imagined her own becoming evil. Would it have made her love him any less?

She didn’t have to guess for long because the scene during the Tri-Gard ceremony entered her mind. Both she and Trystan almost killed Davi, yet they’d still loved him.

She reached out and took his hand. “I’m sorry. I’m here, okay? I will always be here for you. Every time you get flashes of your twisted memories, come to me. But, Dav, your father is an evil man and we will stop him. Whatever it takes. If I have to kill him myself, I will. You’ve known him for less than a year. He is not your family. I am. Trystan is. You’re more Renauld than Bearne. I need to know that you see that. Are you with us? No doubts. No second guesses.”

A beat of silence passed before Davi rose to his feet and brushed off his pants. He didn’t look at Rissa as he turned away. His voice carried down to her on the breeze as if the earth was aiding in Davi’s decision. “I’m with you, Ri. I am always with you.”

He walked away without another word.

Rissa laid back against the soft grass, the hum growing louder in her mind. As if the conversation with Davi completely drained her, she let the earth fill her up, controlling her, molding her. Strengthening each bone within her body.

When she finally went inside, magic followed her, clinging to every cell. And just like the garden she left behind, she finally knew what it felt like to be alive.