Lies That Bleed (The Ember War Book 1), page 12
‘But every time you bleed you are not pregnant?’
Oh my stars, if we were about to talk about sex I was going to die.
‘Right.’ I wanted to change the subject, but couldn’t think of anything to say.
‘I lay eggs that are not fertilized,’ she confirmed, and I nodded, feeling like an idiot.
She was like the chickens we had in the barn. A giant magical chicken.
‘Sorry, let’s never speak of that again,’ I told her, and her chest rumbled with a laugh again.
‘Hold on,’ she said, as she began to descend.
I dug my fingers into her colorful feathers and then we dropped. My stomach gave out and a thrill ran through me. She shot forward faster than I ever thought possible, and laughter bubbled out of me. I had to squeeze my thighs to stay on her and then she slowed in front of my house.
I scanned our large compound, then the smile was ripped from my face. My father was watching us with crossed arms and a curious expression, Zuri perched next to him and glaring up at me. I sat up straighter and leapt off of Liana the moment she landed.
“Father. I’m sorry if I’m late. There was—”
“Is this her?” He walked towards Liana, cocking his head to the side, making a slow circle around her. I could see the greed in his gaze, the jealousy. No matter how much he tried to hide it, his face dripped with it.
Could I blame him? I’d bonded a Talanagi. He was the emperor. It should have been him.
“Yes, Father, this is Liana. Liana, this is the emperor of Amersea, my father.”
My father bowed slightly to her out of respect, Zuri doing the same beside him. “We are so pleased you have bonded with Aisling. You will make a great addition to my fleet.”
Liana’s nostrils flared slightly. I could tell something was off with her, a stirring within her that I couldn’t explain.
But she bowed her large, feathered head out of respect, saying nothing to me.
“It seems we are all well met,” I told my father, as he and Zuri relaxed after Liana’s head bow, which was not only a sign of respect but submission. Something my father demanded of all of his subjects.
Meeting another person’s creature for the first time was a bit unnerving. There had been attacks in the past if two creatures didn’t get along well.
“I’m going to get her settled in the barn,” I informed my father.
He nodded curtly. “Then right to bed. You start boot camp tomorrow.”
I grinned at that. I never in a million years thought I’d bond a Talanagi and go off to boot camp with her. Every Imperial Fleet officer present would be staring at us no doubt. They’d be staring at Kohen and Onyx too.
I walked Liana across the large garden and to the huge barn my father had built just for this moment. There were four large stalls, enough for me and the triplets’ creatures when they got them. I slid open the large double doors and then walked her into one of the open stalls. Fresh hay had been laid down and there was water and food.
Liana took one look at it and snorted. ‘Oh, my precious child. I am not a pet. I will not be living in here.’
My face fell and I immediately felt guilty. Of course she wasn’t a pet!
‘I’ve offended you? I’m so sorry.’ This was the roommate stuff we needed to work out. I reached for her and she nuzzled my hand.
‘Not offended. Just educating you. I sleep among the trees and the stars. I hunt for my food. I drink from streams. I fly where I want and I will never be caged.’
I understood completely. She wasn’t like other creatures and I needed to remember that. ‘I’m sorry.’
I walked her out of the barn to the back of our yard where the perfectly manicured lawn stopped and the thick wild jungle began.
She looked content. ‘This is better.’
I chewed on my lip, worried now that we might have to work some more things out. ‘I start a month-long boot camp tomorrow. We are at war with Luska and boot camp is where we go to learn—’
She nodded, cutting me off. ‘I know how it works. I live near The Wall, I see the war firsthand every day. I will learn to fight beside you, Aisling, and protect you with my life. I will lead you into battle, and one day, when you are empress, I will carry you across the entire world in a victory parade.’
I grinned. ‘You know about that? The emperor’s parade?’
‘I am well known in The Wilds. Other creatures tell me things and I offer protection or give them ancient knowledge,’ she mused. ‘They told me about your customs and we had a similar parade where I’m from.’
Where she was from? I didn’t think she meant The Wilds… ‘Where are you from?’ I asked, and felt nervousness run through her.
‘Home. Above the fire sky, from before the rock fell and brought us here.’
I was stunned by her answer. Creatures considered The Wilds their home, a home they wanted to leave and explore the outside world. For her to say that above the fire sky was her home… well, she was much older than I had initially thought by thousands of years. The realization was mind-boggling. Incredible.
‘I’m very grateful to have bonded you, Liana,’ I told her.
‘And I you,’ she said, bowing deeply to me, deeper than she did to my father. ‘I will follow every command you give me, and do everything in my power to serve and protect you. I only ask for one favor in return when the time comes.’
A favor? My heart hammered in my chest. ‘What favor?’
‘I will ask when the circumstances are ready, and you can decide if you want to grant my request.’
That felt heavy, an undefined favor. But she wasn’t saying I had to grant it, only that she would ask.
‘Okay, ask when you are ready, and if it’s reasonable I will grant it.’
She opened her beak in what I could only describe as a grin. ‘Goodnight, young one,’ she said.
‘Goodnight, Liana,’ I told her, and moved to leave when she stopped me with a feeling. It was like a pull on my chest, and then an uneasiness ran through my stomach.
I turned around to face her.
‘Do you love him?’ she asked.
I stood there in shock at her question for a wild second thinking she meant Kohen. ‘Who?’
‘Your father.’
I sagged in relief, laughing. Did I love my father? What kind of question was that?
‘I mean, yeah. He’s my father,’ I answered, unsure. I’d never said it to him, not even as a child. My mother said it all the time, too much probably, but my father never uttered the words and so we didn’t either.
‘Then I won’t tell you what I think of him. Goodnight, Aisling.’
Her words carved their way through my heart as I wished her goodnight and walked back to my house in stunned silence.
She mentioned she was a good judge of character just by smelling someone. Was that what she meant? She smelled my father and she didn’t like him?
I lay awake for an hour thinking about it before finally drifting off to sleep.
Chapter
Thirteen
My first day of boot camp would not be fun. I had heard and seen firsthand how cadets were treated like the scum of the earth.
“You will not be given special treatment just because you are my successor,” my father said at breakfast.
He normally poured a cup of black coffee and went to his office, but this morning he was sitting in front of me and the triplets with a muffin.
“I know,” I told him.
He appraised me solidly for a few seconds and my heart picked up speed. Did he know Liana didn’t like him? Could Zuri smell it?
I peered at my father’s creature. She stood like a sentinel beside him, ready to devour any foe.
Finally a smile broke onto my father’s face and he shook his head. “My daughter bonded a Talanagi. I can’t wait to see the drill instructors’ faces when you walk in with her.”
I sat up straighter, smiling a little myself. “You’re coming to drop me off?”
I’d assumed he’d be too busy.
My father nodded. “I cleared my morning. But I need to be at Sky Reach by the afternoon. We’ve had a fresh attack there.”
I grinned the entire way through my breakfast. My father, the emperor, was dropping me off at boot camp?
On the one hand, he never took time out to do that stuff. It was always Elaine, and so I was excited. But on the other hand, having your father, the leader of the free nation, drop you off at what was literally referred to as hell month, was bound to make a bigger target on my back. But I didn’t care. If my father wanted to be a parent today instead of a leader, I was going to enjoy it.
I’d waited my entire life to make him proud, to do something that would make him notice me. But when I glanced at Elaine, she was giving me one of her warning looks. A look that said, Be careful. I frowned, unsure what to make of that, so I decided to ask her when we had some alone time.
But before I knew it, my father had packed all of my things into his car and I was saying goodbye to Elaine and the triplets on the front porch.
“Give them hell, big sis,” Virtue told me, and reached out to fist bump me. I swatted her hand away and pulled her in for a hug.
“Mind Elaine. Pay attention in training,” I advised her.
She pulled away, rolling her eyes, and nodded.
Valor, the eldest by three minutes, was next: “If anyone messes with you, remember a well-timed throat punch is effective,” she informed me as she peered at Elaine, who smiled at the advice.
I hugged her and then went to Victory, who was already waiting with arms open. I pulled her in and just held her, the youngest of the three but with a mighty heart. She was submissive in nature, companionate, and my favorite. She would probably bond with a less-than-desirable creature and have a lame job in the Imperial Fleet, but she’d be the most well-adjusted and happiest of the Everhart clan.
“I love you, Aisling,” she whispered in my ear and I froze, shocked by the three words. My brain short-circuited as if it didn’t know what to do. She never said it—no one in this family did, and that was normal.
Did she think I was going to die or something?
“You too,” I mumbled, as she pulled away from me and reached out to touch my now half-black, half-red hair.
“So cool,” she muttered.
My father stepped up next to me and Elaine caught my eye, giving me a salute. “Remember what I taught you. Be respectful to your drill instructors and your fellow cadets. Head down. Follow orders.”
“Yes, ma’am.” I saluted her back but there was so much more I wanted to say. This woman had raised me for this moment. All the training and advice she’d given me was so that I would bond with a creature and make it to boot camp.
My father tugged my arm and I followed him, hoping that Elaine knew me well enough to know the unspoken words that were lodged in my throat.
I love you.
When we got to my father’s car, something caught my eye in the garden. I turned to the source and saw Liana, with her vibrant purple, red and orange feathers.
‘Let’s make an entrance,’ Liana told me.
I grinned. “Dad, I’ll follow you there?”
My father raised one eyebrow but I didn’t wait for him to comment. I was totally flying to my first day.
My father’s car pulled in the parking lot and already I could see hundreds of cadets gathered around the huge gates of the Imperial Fleet Training Center. The gates of the training center had a giant puma on the front standing in a ring of fire, my father’s creature, in a portal. An homage to him.
When my father stepped out of the car, the crowd gasped. Parents, students, creatures, they all formed a circle around him until each and every one pulled up their right hand and saluted him.
Liana began her descent, and one by one the crowd turned from my father and looked up at the sky. Whispers became shouts, then there was pointing and gasping until Liana landed right in front of the closed school gates.
“That’s my bestie!” Tetra stepped out from the crowd, her black wolf creature trailing behind her as she limped her way over to me.
I grinned, jumping off of Liana and hugging Tetra.
“Dude, what happened last night?” she started.
“My dad is here to see me off, did you see him?” I asked her with a warning tone in my voice.
I did not want my father finding out about last night and the three men I’d killed.
Tetra nodded in understanding and she spun. The crowd parted and my father walked right up to her, with three of his personal guard on either side of him.
She bowed her head. “Mr. Everhart.”
His mouth ticked. He hated when she called him that and not emperor, but she’d been doing it since she was seven so there was no changing her ways.
“I’m pleased to see you survived The Wilds,” my father told her, and then peered at her creature. “And made a decent bonding.”
Decent. She was a wolf! That was more than decent. My father and Tetra always found ways to subtly insult each other.
“Oh yes, sir. Thank you. All I can hope for now is to serve the Imperial Fleet as best I can.” She was laying it on thick and my father knew it.
He rolled his eyes, about to retort, when the puma-adorned gates opened. People stepped back, no one wanting to be in the front as the half-dozen drill instructors, equally male and female, walked out to greet us, marching in lockstep.
They stood erect but I noticed one of their gazes flick to my father. It was one of the females. She had a blonde pixie cut that was slicked back, and a hawk tattoo on her neck. I noticed six creatures waiting just inside the gates, one of them a hawk. Oftentimes humans got a tattoo of their creature to display for all to see. I was betting that hawk was hers.
“Emperor Everhart on deck!” the hawk drill instructor screamed and they all dropped to one knee and bowed their heads.
My father smiled, clearly loving the attention.
“Dismissed,” my father said, and they stood as one.
I released the nervous breath I had been holding and the drill instructors went at ease, breaking apart their little display of unity and standing three on each side of the entrance to the school.
“Please say goodbye to the cadets,” a drill instructor with a black buzzcut said. “After they cross this threshold, they are no longer your children. They are mine.” The others grinned.
My father was smiling too. Elaine told me that most of the drill instructors were a fan of theatrics, but a few were serious and would push you to the limit, inflicting pain both physical and emotional to see how well you could submit to orders.
Everyone turned to their parents then and I moved to say goodbye to my father, but he was talking to the lieutenants.
“Aisling, honey,” a familiar female voice called over my shoulder.
I spun and Tetra’s mom pulled me in for a bone-crushing hug. “Thank you for protecting her,” she said into my ear.
I relished Bethel’s mama hugs. They were the kind I imagined my own mother would give me if she were still alive—all-encompassing, vulnerable, and filled with unspoken love. I pulled back and her eyes were wet.
“Of course,” I told her. “And I will continue to.”
Not that Tetra needed it much, she had a creature now. A powerful one.
Bethel nodded, holding out something wrapped in cloth. “My banana bread. I know it’s your favorite.”
It was.
I took it, sure it would be confiscated but unable to tell her no.
Tetra was beside her mother, looking like she was on the verge of tears. I worried for my friend when the drill instructors would start screaming in her face. I hadn’t prepared her for any of this.
Her mother waved goodbye to us one last time and then moved to the street to wait with the other parents.
I turned to my bestie. “Hey, T, you gotta do what they say. No sass. No jokes. No rolling eyes. Don’t even think it. They will know.”
She rolled her eyes in response. “They can read minds?”
My eyes widened. “T, no eye rolling. I’m serious. You have to show that you can be respectful and take orders without any questions.”
Her brow furrowed. She was the queen of questions. “What if—?”
“T, I’m warning you. They will shave your head and parade you around in your underwear at 2 a.m. in the freezing cold if you cause problems. Do as I say,” I snapped.
She swallowed hard, looking scared for the first time. “Okay, jeez.”
She reached up to touch her long blonde hair as if horrified by the thought of it being shaved off. Maybe I was being a touch overdramatic, but I’d heard of it happening.
A shadow fell overhead and I looked up, instinctively knowing who it would be.
When I saw the black dragon, I sighed.
Onyx landed right next to Liana and Kohen dismounted, carrying a backpack filled with his things.
My gaze flicked to my father. I could practically see the hatred fuming off of him as he stared at Kohen. My father leaned into one of the lieutenants, the oldest one, with silver hair and a take-no-prisoners look on his face. My father said a few things into the lieutenant’s ear and then walked away. I followed after him, his guards allowing me through as he reached his car.
“Thanks for coming to see me off!” I told him.
He spun, like he’d forgotten I was here. “Oh yes. Be good, Aisling. Don’t embarrass me.”
Ahh, there was the warm and cuddly man I knew.
“Yes, sir,” I saluted him, and he mirrored the move back to me and then he drove off. One of his guards handed me my duffle bag and I ran to meet up with the others, who were now going through the open gates with their creatures. Ours were too big to fit side by side, so Kohen and I waited until the last cadet had entered the gate.
“You first, princess,” Kohen said, but the words held no harsh tone. They even sounded respectful. If that were possible. Had he given me a pet name?
I peered at Liana, who nodded and stepped up beside me. Swallowing hard, I walked through the gates, watching as every eye at boot camp turned to look my way, even the drill instructors.
