The King Trials 2: Beyond.

Primus Kelan P.O.V

Where. Is. She?

Reinsbure marches towards me with that guilt-ridden look on his face like he knows has disappointed me. His eyes bounce from place to place, studiously evading my gaze. We meet in the centre of a stone hallway lined with statuesque guards. More than usual. Increased security.

“No-one has seen her, Primus.”

I cast my gaze away. Something balls inside me fiercely, compressing and expanding with ferocity. Concern that teeters the brink of chaos. My mind replays the petrifying procession of that dagger in her hands. The horror-inducing realisation that she was determined to do it, she was ready to do it, she wanted to die. What if I had not been there? If I was a second too late?

This is all my doing.

“I spoke to the Herems, they are gathered in the western drawing room.”

“And?” I demand.

“They all denied knowledge pertaining to her whereabouts.” He hesitates, his lips twitch as if he is about to divulge something, but he halts himself for a moment like he’s about to recant. “All except Vince. He refused to speak with me, pretended as if I was even there. So I left before I could put a dent in his head.”

Vince. “I would like to see him try do that to me.”

I blaze forward, rapidly and vehemently, almost leaving scorch marks in my wake. An onrush of wind whips through the hallway, its breath rouses the end of my coat to rise.

“Primus—” He jogs briefly to catch up with me. “I do not think that is wise. He will seek to provoke you, goad you into a fight.”

“His mere breathing provokes me. And believe me, he does not need to goad me.”

“Kelan,” he says reproachfully. One of the two beings that can utter my name in that tone and still live. “Your attention should be on aiding Duce Merian to conclude our exodus from Nivalis. With your permission, let me interrogate him again and this time, I will use necessary force. Since violence is the only language Emikrollians understand.”

I streak through the hallways wordlessly, manoeuvring through the labyrinth, hoping my memory will serve me well to recall the western drawing room.

“Where’s Bartholomew then?”

“Sent him to the Gatehouse,” I say curtly. “I wanted him to speak to the gatekeepers and tell me of everyone who has departed in the last few hours. To find out if she is amidst them.”

“Gatehouse?” he repeats dubiously. “You think she left? Why would she go and where?”

“I do not think. I know she left.”

“How?” he questions.

“I simply do.”

We approach the guarded doors of the drawing room, and they are opened immediately on our advent. I sweep inside and stop midway to observe the Herems lounging on the regal furniture, sitting in perceptible forlorn. Less loud. More doleful. An atmosphere shrouded in anguish.

Vince sits with his back towards me, preaching to the Herems and they all listen raptly until my presence disturbs them, their gaze drifting to me. Vince quickly notices the retracted attention and looks off his shoulder to glance at me. He reverts and picks up where he left off nonchalantly.

My head tilts downwards.

“Primus,” Reinsure whispers. “Let me—”

“Herem Vince,” I summon.

Vince pauses. He rises slowly and rounds his seat to meander towards me with his hands clasped behind his back. A provocative smirk plays on his face, something sadistic glints in his eyes. Everything about him radiates perilous enigma, from the way he walks, his expression, and most importantly, those eyes that bear a sinister mystery that even he cannot hide.

“What can I do for you, soldier?”

“Primus,” Reinsbure corrects sharply. “Remember to you whom you speak.”

Vince’s gaze snakes to him with a smug smirk.

“Have you or have not seen, Hera Aurora?”

“Can you postpone your little inquisition? The Herems and I are trying to have a gathering to honour Herem Solaris in our own way, commemorating the lives of our fallen.”

My chest tightens with outrage. “Do not feign remorse. You did not care for the others as much you did not care for Herem Solaris.”

His guise of self-righteousness tears off his face. “The time I spent in Aelvebore’s dungeons would beg to differ. I was only released on Duce Merian’s plead, reassurance that we would be leaving and journeying back to Urium as soon as we can.”

His lips tug to one side. “How goes that? I am eager to return to the Pantheon, and if the King Trials are resumed. I will request for a military replacement, an entirely new escort with a new Primus, one that does not prey on vulnerable Heras like a predator.”

I lurch forward—Reinsbure seizes my arm, reining me back. I wrench my arm from his grip, my eyes remain deadlocked on him, searing through him.

He steps forward. “Do not presume to think you know who I am as I cannot pretend to know who you are. There is more to a being beneath the surface, one that the eye cannot see. I am sure we both hold things we would not want the other knowing.” He advances again until we are nose-to-nose. “I do not know where she is. But feel to check my bedchambers.”

Profuse breaths blasts from my nostrils, my lips peel back into a snarl, seething controllably.

“Oo. Did I strike a nerve?” His gaze asses my eyes meticulously. “What are going to do, Primus? Throttle me? Do what we both know you have been burning to do. Do it so I can remind you who truly holds the authority here.”

I unfasten my boots from the ground. I rotate and swiftly exit the drawing room with Reinsbure at my rear as the doors close behind us. I march to the opposite wall. Unleashing a roar, I pummel it with one blow, causing a crater to form beneath my fist. I drop it and crushed rocks pelt the ground.

This is my doing.

My gaze draws to the posted guards. They rip their gaze away instantly.

I turn and head onwards, aimlessly. Reinsbure follow.

“Primus, I am sure she is well. But she is in grief, perhaps she is touring one of the gardens. Aelvebore complex is the size of half a city. She can be anywhere.

“Except within its wall.”

“How could you possibly know that?”

“Because I do not feel her!” My voice rises to occupy the hallway, it brims with my words. “She is not here, and it is not safe for her to be on her own!”

“Kelan.”

I yank myself to a standstill.

“I agree, but not for the reason you think. She should not be on her own for the danger she posses not only to herself but to others.” He looks around us furtively and decreases his volume. “It was recommended that she be reported to the Avangard bureau.”

Anger chars my inside. “And who recommended this, and why was I not told?”

“I am telling you now,” he dismisses it as inconsequential. “Bartholomew and all the others suggested it, and frankly. I agree with them. Respectfully, you were unconscious, you did not see what we saw. The magnitude of her destructive power… it surpasses one of a Hische, greater than those Ulris proxies, something I have never seen.”

I begin pacing feverishly. I wipe my mouth with my hand.

“She is danger. Not because she is dangerous, but because whatever power she bears is. Unintentionally, she killed Solaris with a raise of her hand. What if next time she is intentional about it… the catastrophe she can cause? You cannot let your feelings for her overshadow your judgment. The Primus I know would not waver to do what needs to be done for the welfare of all.”

I slow to a stop. “You speak of imprisoning her, throwing her down the abyss for a possible tragedy that she may cause.”

“She already caused it!” His volume spikes. He struggles to assimilate a calm tenor. “Herem Solaris is dead, and how many more must perish before you see that she is a threat. When word catches, you know we will be sent to capture her and if you fail, someone else will not. Better be with you so then some leeway of mercy can be shown.”

I fix my glare on him, my head tilting downwards. “No-one will touch her.”

Reinsbure stares back at me defiantly. “And what if an Avangard troop is sent after her? Will you kill your own, for her? Do not forget your duty.”

“I never have!”

Ready to retort, but something ensnares his gaze, it lingers behind me. His lips seal.

I swivel around to see Aurora’s attendant nearby. She spots me and frantically waves her arm to the roof before she scampers towards us. I move to meet her halfway.

“Primus Kelan—”

“I told you to watch her. Where has she gone?”

“You were not the only one who wanted her confined.” She fiddles with her fingers nervously. “Commander Cergey wanted her restrained to her room during the remainder of her stay in Aelvebore. He believed she was too dangerous to be let free to wander.”

I sneak a glimpse at Reinsbure who he prods me with a pointed look.

“That’s not all.” She runs a flattened hand on top of her tightly tied hair. “She told me she wanted tea. I left and reunited with her in the hallway. She was different, but she had been off since the death of that Herem. I tried to have the guards escort her back to her bedchambers, but she lashed out, broke one of their wrists, and left.”

Anger fades into alarm, panic frothing within.

I need to focus. Focus. Where would she go? But she did not plan for this, she was not planning to leave. She lashed out at the guards that try to stop her. She is unhinged, hurting. She was looking to not only flee from Aelvebore but escape to her pain, her guilt. She too does not know where she’s going.

“Do you have an inking to where she might have gone?”

She shakes her head anxiously. “But I heard murmurs that Commander Cergey dispatched a squadron, I think to—”

“What are the nearest settlements in the vicinity of the castle complex?”

“Three villages, the closest one is southwest.”

“Too predictable. Tell me about the other two.”

She gives me brief directions for all three villages, but I only have one in mind.

I dash forward with Reinsbure in tow.

“Where are you going?” He asks, exasperation saturates his voice.

“Is it not obvious? I am going to find her.” I am going to remedy my wrongs.

“You stay here, aid Duce Merian with the final preparations. If I meet up with Bartho on the way, I will send him to you. How are the ones in the infirmary?”

“They took a severe beat, but they will live.”

“As will you. Now go.”

He continues to pursue me.

I spare an off-shoulder glance. “Why are you still following me?”

“Do not flatter yourself. I am merely walking in this direction, the shortcut to his quarters is up ahead. I suppose I should have gone the opposite route to avoid this awkward scenario.”

Shortly, Reinsbure breaks off, dunking down to the right.

I continue onwards, making my way to the stables. Then to her.

This is all my doing.

I wish I did not have to push her away. She cannot fathom how that nearly broke me, and how it almost sundered my world to see that dagger in her grasp. I might as well had been the one to give it to her. I will do anything to make it right, but I cannot have the one thing I desire, the only thing I need most. Her.

Reinsbure speaks of the duty to the Avangard, to the Crown, and all who live under it. I have always shown deference to my High King and shielded the realm from horrors it will soon come to know. For the entirety of my life, I have always followed orders. My allegiance is to the Crown and it always will be. But my duty is to her. And if I must fight the First Legion itself to defend her from those who merely fear her power. I shall.

The Sagetai cannot remain a myth forever.

Aurora can no longer hide.

She thinks I have given up on her, sacrificed her to uphold an oath of secrecy. She has no idea. Solaris’s death and her unintended role in it has wrecked her in a gut-wrenching way. She is strong, this too she will overcome as I have seen her do many times over, yet still it has not stained her heart of gold. That is true strength, not only conquering pain but not being altered by it, corrupted by torment. But If she were to learn the truth of what I keep, it would engulf her.

She may never recover, and she will loathe me.