Changes in castle life had Olinda on edge. Her father spent more time alone in his study than talking to Barin about war matters. Sometimes she found him meandering in the garden alone and contemplative. She worried for him and wondered why Barin’s soldiers no longer lingered in the courtyard. Nor had she witnessed men sparing in the fields near the castle grounds. It had only been a few days since Barin returned from Kevshire and news of Erika’s disappearance had spread. Did her father and Barin change plans because of Erika? Did the men decide to no longer send soldiers to aid Lord Garion? If Barin were going to return soon, he’d be buying supplies, recruiting, and training, but none of those activities were taking place. With winter coming, the army would have to leave soon, yet there were no preparations being made.

If they didn’t return to the Tellwater Valley, Olinda feared that Lord Garion’s estate might not endure. If Felix had to fight daily to save the valley without her brother there to help, then indeed his days could be numbered. Erika might be right.

Olinda tossed in her bed at night, unable to close her eyes, remembering Barin’s stories about the skura and the mountain giants.

“When are you leaving for Tellwater Valley next, Barin?” she inquired at breakfast one morning, prodding for an answer other than the rumors being spread among the castle domestics.

Barin buttered his toast and poured himself a flask of mulled wine, seemingly unconcerned about the battle, or about anything at all.

“Not anytime soon.”

“Don’t you think that’s a precarious decision? I mean, Lord Garion depends on our help.”

“If you remember, we’re lacking a wizard,” he replied.

“You’ve been there without Kairos. You can’t just leave Felix and his men to fight those skura all by themselves? What about the vineyards?”

Barin set his knife on his plate, his attitude more condescending than compassionate. He had always been a loving brother, but lately he’d been avoiding her and Rhea both. Ever since he came back from this last effort, he’d been irritable and pensive.

“Are you embracing the role of Erika now, nagging me about matters that don’t concern you? Father and I have it under control. Our men-at-arms have more affairs than Tellwater Valley. I know how you feel about Felix, and I also have compassion for the man and his father. However, if you want private counsel on the difficulties of romance, talk to someone who knows more than I. Perhaps Rhea can serve you.”

“That’s a cold thing to say!” Olinda responded. “I care for someone, and you make light of it!”

“War is about survival, not love. If Felix is a concern of yours, perhaps you should ask Father for a quiver of arrows, a bow, some armor, and an escort, and go to him.”

Barin’s answer neither comforted nor informed her. Olinda left the table without further conversation. She found Rhea in the drawing room.

Rhea, despondent over her little sister’s betrayal, and the absence of Kairos, spent her days pining over the loss of the man she loved. She wandered aimlessly in the garden and wrote poetry in her journal to ease her mind. The girl hardly ever had a dry eye anymore. Worse, Father had been sympathetic toward her, but he had voiced no plans on chasing after Erika or Kairos.

Olinda sat on the chaise next to Rhea who once again penned in her journal and, after trying to read over her shoulder with no success, opened the conversation.

“They’re abandoning Felix,” she said.

Rhea looked up. “Who is abandoning Felix?”

“Both Father and Barin. They aren’t going back to the Valley to help Lord Garion.”

“Why?”

“You know how vague and extremely short Barin can be. Something about other concerns. How could they abandon Felix?” She lay her head on the back of the sofa and closed her eyes. “First Kairos and now Felix. Does Father want us to be old maids for the rest of our lives?”

“He can’t want that,” Rhea reminded her. “If neither you nor I marry, there will be no heir to the throne after Barin, unless of course Barin has a son.”

“Barin has no love life.”

“He will someday.”

“Yes, if he ever stops fighting.”

Rhea huffed in her direction.

“Regardless, if anyone is going to plan our role in our kingdom’s future, it’s going to be you and I.”

“Well, here we are. Thinking, moaning, pining. Writing!” she tossed her journal on the cushion. “I’m tired and I’m angry,” Rhea thumped her quill in the ink jar on the side table and stood. “I’m angry at Erika, yet her words are like a blacksmith’s iron pounding against an anvil in my mind.”

“She’s an imp. Why would you listen to anything she says?”

“She might be an imp, but she made sense that day. Maybe the only time I ever heard her make any sense.”

“When she said what?”

“She called us cowards. Look at us! Sitting around bleating like a couple of nanny goats, doing nothing! Which is why nothing is getting done!” Rhea picked up her book. “Olinda, don’t you see. If we want change in our kingdom, we have to make the changes ourselves. I want Kairos here. He will not return as long as Erika commands him to stay with her. I have as much authority in this kingdom as she does. As an elder sibling, I have more. You and I will travel to Cho Nisi to bring him home.”

Olinda studied Rhea as her twin paced across the room. “Me? Why do I have to go with you?” A fair plan—for Rhea. Olinda had no desire to embark on a sea voyage south while Felix is many miles to the northeast.

“If we bring Kairos back and then travel to Tellwater Valley with him, he can protect us, and you will be with Felix.”

“I don’t know, Rhea. That sounds dangerous. Tellwater Valley is a long ride away and from what Barin says, those skura are vicious.” Olinda frowned at her sister.

“Kairos has the secret to fighting those skura. Barin wants Kairos to go with him to Tellwater Valley.”

Olinda bit her fingernail and stared out the window. Could they bring Kairos to Felix?

“You love him. You would die for him. Am I correct in saying so? Or at least you would fight at his side. If Erika can put on armor and ride horses and carry the king’s banner, why can’t we?”

Stunned by Rhea’s suggestion, Olinda stared at her twin. “Have you gone daft?”

“Erika has gotten under my skin. I’m so angry at her I swear if I ever see her again, I’ll challenge her to a duel.”

Olinda laughed. “You couldn’t win a duel against Erika.”

“I could take lessons. There are plenty of men here who would teach me the sword. In due time I will, mark my words. But for now, I’ve been conspiring with the Constable. He’s securing a ship for us. We’ll sail to Cho Nisi and fetch Kairos forthwith.”

Olinda’s mouth hung open. “You have gone daft.”

Rhea did not apologize, nor did she deny her plans. Olinda stood and strolled to the window. “I get seasick.”

“A little wine and wormwood will cure your seasickness. Olinda, please? I need you.”

“Oh!” Olinda eyed Barin at the drawing room entrance, leaning against the wall, arms crossed. He wore a twisted smile and bore a haughty stance. How much of their conversation had he heard?

“And what is this?” he asked. “What sort of collusion are my two lovely siblings going on about?”

“What did you hear” Rhea asked him.

Olinda flushed at his criticism but wondered why she worried about what Barin thought. Habit, perhaps. He walked with authority in the family, as if he were king. Someday he would be, but he didn’t have to flaunt it now. Not around her, anyway.

“I don’t want either of you near the battle in Tellwater Valley. You have no understanding of the peril there.”

“Why would you stop us?” Olinda challenged. “You didn’t stop Erika.”

“I wish I had. If I could go back in time, I would have never let her come. I made a mistake and I’m not planning on repeating it. I will not let either of you go.”

“We’ll do what we want!” Olinda said.

“Do you know what you’re asking, Olinda? Have you seen a mountain giant crush through steel armor and squash a human body?”

Olinda turned her head. “Must you be so vulgar?”

“Vulgar? Have you felt the heavy hands of an invisible ogre smash you against a rock and grind your face into gravel until all you can taste is blood?”

Olinda covered her mouth when bile rose from her stomach.

“Stop,” Rhea insisted. “You don’t have to be loutish!”

He moved into the room, walking closer and closer to Olinda as he talked. “Oh, but the enemy is vulgar, Olinda. You’ll find out when you feel talons sharper than the point of a sword dig into you and tear your flesh apart, blood will drip from your body and stain your clothes, and then the beast will lift you into the air and drop you onto the corpse of your best friend! Perhaps Felix.”

“Stop it, Barin!” Olinda shrieked.

“And then it will dive at you with its grotesque mouth open wide, pointed teeth and face of a wild man, the flap of its scaly wings will beat against your head as it devours you one bite at a time?”

“Stop it, Barin,” Rhea demanded.

“Pretty repulsive isn’t it.”

“Why are you doing this?”

“Because if you go to Tellwater Valley, I can assure you those are the horrors you will experience, and more. Every time we cross into that region, there is another adversary attacking us. The phantom himself has been sojourning the battle fields, sucking souls out of living bodies. You are fools to consider going there. My men have been training rigorously for years and it still challenges them. What makes you think you’re better than they? And what makes you think Felix would be happy to see you, Olinda? He’s told me more than once how glad he is that you are safe in Prasa Potama. Someday the two of you will be together, but not now. Not until we have victory. So, do not think on such things further. Either of you.”

He pivoted like a knight, his face red with anger, and walked toward the door.

“We’re still going to Cho Nisi to get Kairos,” Rhea announced.

He turned and regarded them both. After a moment, he nodded.

“Good,” he said.