Niala 97

I could beat the boy, Kiel. He was too easy, too focused on his brawn, and not enough on balance. But I couldn’t hit hard enough to break someone his size, though I could outpace him, for certain.

He was like the wildlings, but he didn’t know all my tricks yet, and while they took more effort to work with my friends, who knew me, Kiel didn’t see what was coming.

I leaped, disabled, choked, and waited for Kiel to proclaim himself the loser. To my satisfaction, his face shifted into a canvas of humiliation and shock.

Maybe they don’t play this game here?

Kiel clawed at me and grabbed for my hair. All is fair in war, I guess. But pull all he liked, my knee still dug into his wingbase… bases…

Seriously, what the fuck?

I jabbed my knee in harder, locking my legs in. Between my arm and knees, Kiel’s eyes rolled back as I prepared to release him. Kael, the larger of the two Acir men, raised his brows in surprise and admiration of the move.

The more I caught glimpses of Kael, though, the more I knew he wasn’t my father, but he looked so damned familiar. Despite that, I needed his approval.

“Girl?” Revik called out, and I made a noise of acknowledgment, focused on keeping the boy down. If he got up, his strength alone would have me at a disadvantage.

“Mind telling Kael here what your name is?” Revik flinched, stepping back from Kael, his aura of peace spiking. But I focused on the task at hand.

“Niala Samia sima tam tie,” I said with cocky pride before rolling off the twitching boy, feeling his strength finally give out. Then, barely on my feet, I looked up as Kael’s fist blacked with fire and drove down into Revik’s face.

I screamed for him, and every instinct in my body hackled and set off. My wings lashed out, snapping. My tail had whipped free, cracking at the ground as my feathers twitched. I screamed, the power of it tearing through me with visceral, raw emotion, sending my lashing tail into a roil. With both tail and wings reacting, my instincts rose with one word on my mind, challenge.

Kael ceased his attack on Revik as his wings lashed in response to mine, stumbling. He looked up, wild panic in his eyes.

“Niala. Samia. Afryth.” Revik said hoarsely, his face too bloody to look at. Kael had gotten him from the side of his cheek back. His face oozed blood from torn skin at his mouth, only so much meat below. He spat, and I saw a tooth. I had no idea how Revik stood after such a blow. Shaking, he raised a hand full of green fire, pressed it into his face with a harsh cry of anguish, and spat more blood from his mouth.

With the damage stabilized, not yet healed, Revik glared at me, then Kael.

“Ni, -is gonna be yer job to—” Revik spoke English, stopping to suck blood from his mouth and spat again. “Make sure we don’t end up in war. Do Kiromir proud because you’ll give Seraph’s blood to the wildlings. We better fucking hope they deserve it.”

Revik left in a flash of light, and Kael stared at me with open-mouthed horror. Kiel looked at me with shock.

“I will not call you that name, girl child, little enshuva.”

“Syrenshuva? Pfft! Myr Syrentonshuel.” The boy behind me groaned as he sat up, words too foreign to me.

“I don’t know what some of those words mean.” I shifted to English, my default, praying they understood.

“Speak to me in your language, then,” Kael said in English, relaxing his tense posture. I saw he could change in a flash, but Kiel’s aura didn’t spike, so Kael didn’t scare him. My gut said that things smelled right, so trust, I did.

He looked over my tail and wings curiously. Every muscle in my body tensed, and self-consciously my tail twitched.

“En kira sennal dir Acir.” I told him that I spoke little Acerrai. His lips twisted with sourness as he closed the gap between us with barely a few steps.

His arms shot to wrap around me, lifting me tight as he brought my face to his chest. He smelled like home and warmth—soft things and spices. I hugged him back to bury my face in for more of his scent. We both started crying, his grip tightening. “I do not know this garbage language you speak, my granddaughter, my mockingbird….”

“Altatta,” A quiet whisper like a secret escaped me. ‘Grandfather’

The hug lasted too long and warmed me in ways that nothing else had.

Mana surrounded me like his grip, suffused me, and I felt stronger here than I ever had.

Releasing me, Kael grabbed a few things from a nearby pile and fitted dark robes over his sparring clothes, buttoning a sharp collar up to his neck. Kiel followed suit, eyes still trained on me with awe, and upon each of their heads, they adorned a circlet that crowned their temples. I remember my father wearing something similar.

Kael grabbed me and slung me up on his shoulder as easily one might a sack of flour. Balancing myself there, I stiffened instinctually with my tail wrapped around his torso, drawing laughter from his broad chest.

“You are so small! You understand simple, yes?” His steel-blue eyes glinted up to me with joy and delight sparkling up in them.

I nodded as a hard knot formed in my throat.

Kiel scampered behind us as the dawn’s light broke brighter over the lands, waking the world around us.

More people milled about than before, and Kael carried me through many halls before shouting as loud as his great lungs would carry. “BRING ME THE ELDERS OR THEIR HEADS. I HAVE FOUND SAEL’S YATKAHT!”

I knew that last word, had been called it so many times by so many others, a nickname, YatKaht. The man with the star called me that.

Yatkaht… Yatkaht…

“What is yatkaht?” I whispered.

Kael flicked an amused eye up to me as frightened people all around scurried and gave them a wide berth.

“Princess.” The word hissed from his lips with a grin teasing the corners of his mouth.