…
“So are you going to tell me what’s been going on with you lately?” Brom loaded an arrow he’d just sharpened for the tenth time into his crossbow and lifted it to rest on top of the boulder we hid behind.
“I’m not sure where to start,” I said, twirling an arrow’s feathers between my fingers. We’d been sitting behind the boulder for the better part of an hour, waiting for a herd of small mountain elk to pass through. We’d found their droppings this morning, and Zach and I both agreed that a little hunting would be a good idea, considering we didn’t know exactly how long we’d be stuck in these mountains where game was scarce. So we’d paired off, Brom and I following fresh tracks that led to a grazing area on the side of the mountain, while Zach and Millennia investigated another set of tracks.
“There’s just…so much,” I said finally.
Brom just shrugged and peeked over the boulder again.
I searched for the right words to continue our conversation. Until just a moment ago, Brom had been silent as we’d waited for the elk. At first I thought his silence was because he was being moody—upset that I hadn’t confided in him yet. Brom was like my brother. He was always there for me, as I was for him. He was probably hurt that I’d left him in the dark since the cursed village. In truth, it wasn’t because I didn’t want to talk to him. It was more because I was ashamed to put these conflicting—heretical—thoughts into spoken words.
“Does it have anything to do with Zach’s fuss about us splitting up?” Brom said.
“No. Well, maybe a little.”
My palms suddenly felt clammy, as if the very mention of Zach set my entire body on edge. Zach had wanted to stay with me, but I told him that out of all of us, I’d have the most warning thanks to my Sense. It was logical for a powerful mage and swordsman stuck together to watch each other’s backs. With a frustrated groan, he’d reluctantly agreed.
I chewed on my lip, not sure how much I wanted to keep secret. Though Zach hadn’t come right out and “declared his love” for me in front of Millennia and Brom, I wondered how much Brom had figured out for himself.
“Can we just not talk about him?” I said.
Brom raised his eyebrows. “Okay…then how about this: why did you let Millennia join us?”
I hadn’t expected that. “She’s proven to be a powerful mage. If Zach still refuses to use the Kiss, then we might need her.”
“Does that mean you’re giving up? Trying to use the Kiss, I mean?”
I sighed. “I don’t know, Brom. I’ve been studying the spell you copied for me, almost every night, so I still have to hope, but honestly? After what happened with the amulet, I don’t see Zach giving in. Everything is… It’s so confusing. I mean, the Royal’s Kiss has worked for five hundred years, why should I doubt it?”
He frowned. “What do you mean?”
I relayed to him what Zach had told me about the Golden Effect.
Brom stared at me with wide eyes. “That’s amazing,” he whispered.
I shot him a look. “Amazing?”
He turned back to look over the boulder. The herd was still nowhere in sight. “I’m sorry, Ivy. I know it goes against everything you were taught but…”
“But what?”
“Even though this could change everything, and it would mean that all this time Royals have been wrong, wouldn’t it also mean that Love really exists? It’s just a nice thought, that’s all. That an emotion, a force, could be so powerful as to stop all the evil in the world. Any normal person could use it. They wouldn’t have to be… I mean anyone could protect whoever they…”
He kept his gaze focused on the tall rippling grass.
I understood what he was saying. It was the same issue as the night of the storm in the forest, when he’d wanted Zach to stay and protect me because he knew he couldn’t.
In his eyes, Zach was a powerful swordsman, I was a powerful princess, and Millennia was a powerful mage. And he was just…well, Brom wasn’t just anything. Not to me.
What he didn’t understand was how much he really did protect me. Every day.
I wrapped an arm around his shoulders and tugged him close. “Bromley, I owe you my life, you know.”
He let out a snort of disbelief, his crossbow sliding down the rock as he surrendered to my hold.
“Down in the well, one of the enchantments we had to overcome was loneliness. I saw my childhood—my childhood before you. You saved me back then, Brom. When I was shipped from Freida to Myria to start my training, I had been suffering from loneliness for a long time. I barely knew my sisters. And my mother…well, you know my mother. Then later you were assigned to me. I’d never have admitted it then, but I relished your company. You were always with me, and I never felt lonely again.”
Bromley stared at the mountains, his eyes narrowed as the breeze blew his hair back.
“I wish you wouldn’t say you can’t protect me. Because you do. You always have. I wouldn’t know what to do with myself if you weren’t here with me.”
“Well, of course I’d be here,” Bromley said. “You’re my sister.”
At this I threw my other arm around his shoulders and hugged him tightly. My chest glowed with warmth. I felt safe, just like I had when Zach had taken my hand down in the well, when he broke the enchantment. If Zach claimed Love had been the force that broke through the amulet’s curse, then was what I felt for Brom…also love?
It wasn’t the same kind of Love that Zach felt for me. According to the Romantica, there were two different types of Love: Romantic Love and Familial Love. I knew what I felt for Brom wasn’t Romantic. I’d always thought this feeling was just the family bond that united all Royal lines. But what if it wasn’t just a bond, but a force? An all-powerful force that could move mountains?
Again, more heretical thoughts. I almost laughed. What would my mother say?
Squeezing him tight, I breathed in his scent of home—of brucel wood and shassa root—and wished I was back in Myria where things were simpler, where I knew what was up and what was down.
“Please, Ivy, you’re choking me.”
I relinquished my hold and turned to the meadow. “Do you think the elk will come back before dusk?”
“I think they will eventually. There’s not a lot of grass on these mountains.”
I rubbed my eyes and leaned against the rock, staring up at the passing clouds. “I’m sorry for all this, Brom. I know I need to be sure of myself. Especially right now. Maybe my mother was right. I’m too weak to—”
Brom bumped my shoulder. “Forgive me for saying this, milady, but your mother is an old crone.”
I choked on a laugh. Maybe Zach was rubbing off on him.
My page flushed. “Sorry, that was out of line. But it takes a strong person to admit when they’re confused, especially if it means questioning everything you’ve ever known.”
Smiling broadly, I bumped his shoulder back. “You’re right. She is an old crone. But she’s still my mother, and I want to please her. Even after everything.”
Brom said nothing for a while, then, “But why?”
“I don’t think I ever told you this, but when I first arrived at the Legion in Myria, at six years old, a dragon attacked the outer wall. It was unlike anything I’d ever seen, Brom. It was pure bronze, with scales that gleamed like topaz. My mother was bringing me to Myria from Freida to officially crown me. When the dragon attacked, she shoved me into the arms of one of her attendants and placed a Kiss on my forehead. It was a Kiss of protection. She’d never done anything like that before. Then she raced off with her partner. I watched under the cover of a wagon, encased in a glowing red protective shield, as she performed the most powerful Kiss I’d ever seen. Her partner sliced off the dragon’s head in one blow. And I thought then, I want to be her. Powerful enough to take down an entire dragon.
“Even as mean as she is to me, as cold as she is, how can you not admire someone so strong? So noble? Especially when that someone is your own mother.”