The Guardian King

Chapter Twenty-two

~ Ember

*

More days passed by without the presence of the guardian king. My companion never bothered to check in with me directly, but sent brief messages through his advisor instead. I wish I could pinpoint why his prolonged absence got under my skin. My lessons dominated the majority of my time, but in the rare instances I allowed my mind to wander, it always landed on Phoenix and the one lesson he’d given me before disappearing again. I couldn’t bring myself to practice telekineses, because it only led to thinking of him.

*

My aversion to romantic entanglements had less to do with my distrust in men and more to do with distrust in myself. I’d proven time and again what poor judgment I possessed when it came to members of the opposite s*x. More than once I thought I had a ‘good guy’ only end up being entirely wrong. My last experience haunted my dreams and served as the much needed reminder not to so easily trust my feelings towards men.

*

Everything about Phoenix should have been a deterrent. Not only was he massive in stature and could easily overpower me if he wished. But his entire lifestyle and demeanor as king screamed that he was a man of entitlement. I could not permit myself to trust him and I intended to avoid a romantic relationship at all costs. I needed to focus on my training and think nothing of the guardian king.

*

Yet my heart was either slow to get the message or enjoyed the suffering of lusting after men who were no good for me. When I closed my eyes, I could still vividly see the way he looked when I’d ran into him in the hallway after his swim. Every groove of his muscled chest was etched into my mind’s eye. And I’ll never forget the trance I’d been in when we parted ways and I stupidly turned to watch him walk away. My jaw had dropped and my heart quickened at the sight of a phoenix, of all things, with outstretched wings. The tattoo encompassed the entirety of his lean back, and I thanked God the guardian king had no knowledge of mine.

*

Another thing the guardian king had no knowledge of was the slip of paper tucked away inside a book within the bottom drawer of my nightstand. For days after I’d received the mysterious note telling me to leave, I dwelled over who could’ve been responsible. Magnolia had been the first person to come to mind. I also considered the possibility the note hadn’t been intended as a threat, but a warning. Perhaps it had been left for me by one of the castle staff in an effort to protect me from a hidden danger in being too close to the king. But after considering all possibilities, logic told me the most likely culprit was Magnolia Rainier.

*

Once I felt sure of my deduction, the note ceased holding any power over me. Magnolia was simply a woman throwing a tantrum over not getting her way. She had no sway over her son and the threat had been a poor attempt to feel in control. It wasn’t even worth mentioning to Phoenix as I’m sure she expected me to do. I tucked it away out of sight and out of mind, effectively disarming its power.

***

I returned to my suite after a morning walk to find my lady’s maids busily getting my clothes ready for the day. It took some time getting used to people serving me, but eventually I came to wonder how I ever got by without them. “Wait, what is that?” I asked when I saw the active wear they’d laid out for me. “Lady Gemma has informed us that you’ll spend the day, sparring in the gym.”

“Really?” I responded in surprise. “Actual sparring?”

“Yes, my lady.”

“Finally.” The past ten days had been dedicated solely to deep breathing exercises, stretching, and weight lifting. The monotony had gotten old fast.

*

After I quickly washed my face and changed clothes, I exited the bathroom saying to my ladies, “I gotta admit, I kinda miss the tunic.”

“Guardian clothes suit you, my lady.” When I first moved into the palace, and accepted my role as the king’s companion, I made the decision to really lean in to guardian culture. Freya and Winnie were a major asset in helping me to dress the part. I soon grew accustomed to the normal guardian attire of long embroidered tunic wraps, fastened with a belt at the waist, fitted pants, and boots of some kind.

***

When I arrived in the gym I found my instructors waiting for me. “Am I sparring with all of you?” I asked looking at Gemma, Phyneas, Knox, and even Sadie. “We are all here to aid the king’s companion,” replied Sadie apathetically.

“What Tick-tock means to say is, it’s helpful to get different perspectives to find the fighting style that best suits you.”

“Sadie, as the closest to you in size and build, will be a tremendous asset in your training,” Knox informed me.

“What about Gemma?” I questioned.

“With my strength ability,” Gemma answered, “I have a major advantage.”

“I forgot about that.”

“You wouldn’t if you’ve ever been at the receiving end of her fist,” muttered Phyneas.

“And you’ve since learned to dodge faster, haven’t you?” she replied rhetorically.

*

Sadie stepped into the center of the room, and with a hand on her hip said, “Can we get started?”

“You have somewhere you need to be, Blondie?” Phyneas asked in annoyance.

“I don’t enjoy standing around engaging in idle chit-chat.” Sadie took off her athletic jacket and the others followed suit, removing their own outer coverings. I immediately felt the odd one out after laying eyes on their many tattoos. Sadie had some kind of intricate design at the back of her neck, a sun and moon on her shoulder, and her arm reveled the same Latin phrase I originally saw etched in stone above The King’s Gate. Phyneas’ skin showed at least half a dozen tattoos. In addition to the Cheshire Cat quote on his forearm, he had a phrase of some kind on his bicep. Gemma had the same phrase as Phyneas, but smaller and on her wrist. She also had a dandelion on her calf and a collection of feathers across her lower back, revealed by the fact she wore only a sports bra for a top. Knox’s skin held the most ink of all, spanning all over his arms and legs, and likely under his clothes too.

*

“Are tattoos a typical thing for guardians?” I asked inquisitively. They all looked at each other and laughed. Even Sadie was smiling at some inside joke.

“Guardians practically invented tattooing,” Gemma explained. Knox added, “You’d be hard pressed to find a guardian in the entire city who doesn’t have ink of some kind.”

“Really?”

“If you’re serious about submerging yourself in our culture,” Phyneas told me, “getting a tat would be a good place to start.”

“He’s right, Em,” Gemma agreed. “And it would go a long way in helping the public see your commitment to our way of life.”

*

“What makes you think I don’t already have a tattoo?” I asked.

“Pfft,” Sadie made a doubtful sound. “With the way you reacted during your abilities test, I highly doubt you’d voluntarily let anyone near you with a needle.”

“I have a strong aversion to blood… not needles. And I’ll have you know I do have a tattoo, just not in a location anyone can see with my shirt on.”

“What is it?” Phyneas wanted to know. Let that be a lesson to me on the value of keeping my mouth shut. “It’s… a bird,” I answered vaguely. I didn’t need anyone reading too much into the image permanently imprinted on my skin.

“Care to elaborate?” Phyn urged.

“Nope. Are we sparring or not?”

*

Knox, as the head instructor, stood front and center as he spoke only to me. “This is where all the exercises you’ve been learning come into practice.”

“Those were all defensive tactics,” I pointed out. “When am I going to learn offensive tactics.”

“You gotta walk before you can run, Emmie,” Phyneas answered.

“Can’t I learn both at the same time?”

“Not yet,” Knox said, “Defense takes priority.”

*

They each took turns attacking me, expecting me to fend off their advances with what Knox had been teaching me since my arrival. Gem and Phyn came at me with kid gloves, and I managed to defend myself against both of them. Things got a bit sticky when it was Sadie’s turn. She came at me with a fierceness I was unprepared for. “Protect your center,” Phyneas called from the sidelines. “Core injuries are the hardest to heal.”

“Is this a healing lesson or a combat lesson?”

“It’s both, Em.”

*

Clearly Sadie intended to make her point that I made a pitiful guardian. She came at me again and again. It was all I could do to dodge and evade. Though quick on my feet, I tired fast, having already went through the paces with two others before her. “Move your feet, Ember,” Knox instructed.

“I’m trying.” The brief distraction allowed Sadie to land a blow to my side, knocking the air out of me.

*

“Damn it, Lamond!” Phyneas exclaimed, coming to my side. “That was completely unnecessary.”

“Just because you two want to treat her like she is a child doesn’t mean I must. Each mistake she makes is a learning experience.”

“One I’m sure you are only too happy to provide,” I said after I had caught my breath.

“I can’t deny it was a little bit satisfying.”

*

“Come here, Emmie,” Phyneas said. “Let me heal your bruises.”

“No.” I pushed him away.

“Why not?”

“Because I can either do it myself or deal with the pain as a reminder to work harder.”

“She’s got a point,” Sadie admitted.

“Look, we all get that you are sadistic. You don’t need to encourage her desire for pain.”

“I’m not. I’m doing her more good than you are by supporting her. Ember understands she needs to learn and sometimes it has to be the hard way.” Phyneas turned his back on her, refocusing his attention on me and said, “Nic wouldn’t want you to continue without healing.”

“Well, he’s not here, is he?” I walked around him and addressed Sadie, “Let’s go again.”

“I may have underestimated you,” she admitted.

“I know you did.”

*

Five minutes later, I could barely catch my breath as I attempted to defend myself against Sadie’s attacks. She soon had me in a hold I couldn’t get out of without submitting. Reluctantly, I tapped her arm and she released me. I clutched my side, breathing heavily. “I think that is enough for today,” Knox announced.

“I can go another round,” I claimed, though my lack of breath said otherwise.

“You’ve pushed yourself far enough.”

“But-”

“Lady Ember, His Majesty put me in charge and I say we are done.”

“Fine.” I grabbed a towel on my way out of the room and dabbed the sweat from my face as I took the stairs to the main floor two at a time.

*

When I reached the first floor, my friends called out from behind me. “Ember, wait!”

“Emmie!” I turned to face Gemma and Phyneas as I said, “I’m really not in the mood for company right now, guys.”

“You’re too hard on yourself,” Gemma claimed.

“Or maybe you don’t understand,” I muttered. Phyneas stepped closer and asked, “What don’t we understand?” I sighed and answered, “Why this is so important.”

“Then tell us,” Gemma urged. I managed to meet her eyes as I reiterated, “I told you, I am not in the mood for company.”

“What can we do to help if you won’t let us?”

“You want to help? Get the king to stop controlling every aspect of my training from a distance. I can’t even give him a piece of my mind, because he’s never here.”

“He wants to be,” Phyneas claimed, causing me to look up into his face as I replied, “Does he? I wouldn’t know. He plucked me at random to appease the court while promising me something in return he obviously had no interest in giving. Is that why he chose me? Because I am so naive about the guardian world he thought I wouldn’t care.”

“Ember-”

“It doesn’t matter. I don’t want to be his companion anyway. I just want to focus on learning how to be a guardian. That’s the only reason I’m here.”

*

Gemma closed the gap between us, took my hands in hers, and calmly said, “No, it’s not.”

“What do you mean?” I asked.

“I mean, you are also here because you wanted to learn about your parents, remember?”

“Of course I do, but between combat training, my abilities lessons, and reading every book Sadie can throw at me, I don’t have time for parental research.”

“Then it’s a good thing you have me. Come on, I have a feeling this is exactly what you need. If you can read about your parents and see for yourself that no guardian learns how to be one within the span of a couple weeks, then maybe you’ll finally cut yourself an ounce of slack.” Her words did have a ring of truth to them, nudging me to say, “Okay.”

*

Phyneas left me in Gemma’s hands, claiming he was useless compared to her when it came to research. Still in our athletic clothes, she led me through the castle to a wing I’d yet to venture. “Where are you taking me?” I asked.

“To the only computer in this entire castle that has unlimited clearance.”

“Do you mean-”

“Nic’s office.”

“Wait, Gem, is that even allowed?”

“He agreed to help you learn about your parents, didn’t he?”

“But going into his territory without his permission…”

“Trust me, cuz. You have his permission for this.”

*

Gemma pushed open an ornately carved ebony door and gestured for me to enter first. I cautiously stepped through the doorframe, half-expecting someone to stop me. Daylight spilled in through the windows on the far side beyond the enormous desk, but Gemma still flipped on the light switch as she came in behind me. “Are you sure we’re allowed to be in here?” I asked while my eyes scanned every detail of the guardian king’s inner domain. “We have a mission he would approve of. Just don’t rifle through his stuff.”

*

Gemma went straight to the desk while I took in the sight of Phoenix’s office. It was smaller than I’d expected a king’s office would be, but I appreciated the cozy feel. The rock framed fireplace dominated the focal point of the room. The bookshelves on either side were heavily laden with books of all sizes, shapes, and colors. Leather club chairs sat opposite one another near the hearth. There was room for additional seating, but the absence of more furniture showed it was not a space the king cared to entertain in. The room was for him alone, and only offered seats for one or two advisors. I could picture him in that room, in conference with Phyneas and Gemma.

*

“Have a seat,” Gemma said, gesturing to the masculine desk chair. “Um, no thanks,” I replied, hesitant to occupy the throne-like seat.

“Come on,” Gemma said as she came back to me, took me by the hand, pulled me around behind the desk, and all but shoved me into the seat. I ignored the feeling of trespassing and attempted to focus on the matter at hand.

*

“Okay,” Gemma said as she leaned over and ran her nimble fingers across the keyboard. She brought up a search program and rapidly typed in a username and password. “You have his login information?” I inquired as I watched her make herself at home on the king’s computer.

“Not for everything,” she replied, “but I do for this program. There isn’t much Phoenix doesn’t trust me with.”

“Then you know why he’s not here?” I asked. “I know he’s a busy king and all, but I get the feeling he’s avoiding me.” Gemma ceased her movements on the computer and looked at me as she said, “Why would you think that?”

“Because if he puts off my telekinesis training he gets to keep me here longer.”

“Ember, trust me, Phoenix wants nothing more than to help you with your abilities. He’s nowhere near as self-serving as you make him out to be.”

“I wish I could believe that, but I gotta go off of what I see. And so far he hasn’t given me any reason to believe he wants me here for any benefit but his own image.”

“Then you need to open your eyes,” Gemma replied with a defensive edge to her voice that caught me off guard. She didn’t want to start an argument with me, that much was clear, but it was also clear she would readily jump to the guardian king’s defense whenever necessary.

*

Gemma dropped the topic when I didn’t reply and went back to working on the computer. “Alright, what is your mother’s birthday?” I gave her the information and when she typed it in and pressed enter, a new page loaded with all the information on my mother stored in the royal archives. “Wow,” I said, staring at an I.D. photo of her when she was younger than me.

*

Gemma pointed out the column on the right side of the screen. “Says here, your mother’s abilities were cloaking, air manipulation, and wow… she was a portalist.”

“It’s hard to believe, after all the mornings we were late to school, she had the power to simply open a portal.”

“That most definitely would have drawn the kind of attention she wanted to avoid.”

*

I read over the information on the screen, half of which I couldn’t make sense of. “What does this mean?” I asked Gemma, pointing to a collection of letters and a date.

“LR stands for lapsed registration. Looks like the last year your mother renewed her registration was the year before you were born.”

“Okay, so what does PD mean?” Gemma sighed regretfully and answered, “It stands for presumed dead. I’m sorry, Ember.”

“It’s alright. I’ve made peace with her passing. What I’m not at peace with is her choice to keep our guardian roots a secret.”

“This may cheer you up,” she said as she scrolled down a page and pointed to the screen.”

“Living relatives?”

“Mmhmm,” she confirmed. “It looks like you have a grandfather and great-grandparents still alive and well in Eden.”

“Oh wow,” I breathed out in shock. I didn’t know why it never occurred to me, since learning a guardian’s life span was twice as long as a human’s, that I might have grandparents in the world somewhere who had no idea of my existence.

*

A soft hand on my shoulder caught my attention. “Thanks, Gemma,” I whispered.

“Anytime.” After a gentle squeeze her hand fell away and she asked, “Ready to learn about your father?”

“Um… yeah, I think so.”

*

With the clickity-clack of Gemma’s fingers running across the keyboard once again, I shifted to the edge of the seat in eager anticipation. Dread began to form when Gemma’s face scrunched in confusion as she said, “That’s weird.”

“What is it?”

“There are no results for Jonas Ellison. Did I spell his name correctly?”

“Unless my mother lied to me about our last name all these years… yeah, that’s it.”

“Do you know his birthday? I can search that way.”

“I only know December tenth. I don’t know the year.”

“That’s enough to narrow it down.”

*

Once again Gemma typed on the keyboard, smacking the enter button with resounding force. After what seemed like minutes worth of scrolling, the curious expression appeared on her face again, causing my dread to intensify.

*

“There is not a single Jonas with that birthday in the entire system,” she stated in confusion.

“My mom may have kept a lot of things from me, but I know she didn’t lie about that. That was the only day a year she spoke with Aunt Beth.”

“Maybe it was the anniversary of his passing?”

“No, she specifically told me it was his birthday.” Gemma began typing rapidly in determination. “What are you doing?” I wanted to know.

“Uncle Isaac mentioned your father worked for the previous royal court. If he did, there’s a separate program that should have information on him and that pool of guardians is much smaller.”

“I am thankful for your resourcefulness.”

“Thank me when I provide results.”

*

“Here!” Gemma suddenly exclaimed. “There’s his name. The dates indicate he was employed for five years, up until the time of his death.”

“Can you click on that?” I asked. Gemma quickly moved the mouse cursor over my father’s name and clicked. An error message appeared on the screen: BLANK FILE

“Blank?” I questioned.

“That doesn’t make any sense,” she said. “There’s absolutely no reason the file would be blank.”

“Would Phoenix be able to get access to it?”

“This is his computer, if I can’t access the file here, then there is no way to retrieve it.”

“What does that mean?”

“I’m sorry, Em. The information on your father… is gone.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Author’s Note:

Thanks so much for reading!

Chapter 23 coming Wednesday, March 15th.

~E. K.