C. 3 The Selection

Two Days Later

Insistent knocking came from my door. In an effort to muffle and ignore it, I buried my head deep in the pillows. Still, it continued, rhythmic and like an annoying noise at the back of your mind that never wants to stop. It continued like this for at least a minute before the creator finally ceased their attempt. Letting out a breath of air, I relaxed back into my mattress. That was until I heard the door creak open, hurried footfalls, a pause as they launched from the floor and landed hard on the bed on top of me. Shrieking against the roaring laughter, I flipped over, knocking them from my back.

"Oh man, you jumped so much!" Eryn cackled, holding her stomach as she rolled and kicked her legs at her own amusement.

Sitting back on my knees, I threw a pillow at her face, muffling the laughter that still escaped her throat. A mess of brilliant red hair shot out from under the pillow, beautiful silk strands that spilled easily from under the pillow. Smiling at the sight of snow white against flaming red, I ran a hand through my ragged ink black hair, shaking out my own knots.

"What time is it?"

"Nearly ten," Eryn was clear now as she removed the pillow from her face. "Aramis asked me to come and look for you on my way to the library. I can't believe you were still asleep. I thought you were still giving your dad the silent treatment and refused the summons."

'The summons?' Scratching my scalp, I looked at her in confusion. It might have been my just waking up, however, she wasn't making any sense. "What summons?"

"The one for you and your brothers?" She propped herself up on her elbow, hugging the pillow against her chest. Her smoky blue eyes looked up at me through long, dark lashes. "You're supposed to be meeting the additional guards, then seeing about your soon to be husband's arrival. He sent a message while you and Petyr were out exploring. Prince Nicolaus Yarrow would like to accompany you personally to Sobell castle." Eryn paused, looking me over with more than a hint of annoyance. "You really forgot, didn't you?"

"Psh, no." I exaggerated a shrugging eye roll. Her knowing expression, eyebrow rose, accompanied with her chin tilted down, made me dissolve into a sunken nod. "Okay, can you blame me? After Alex disappeared, he just told me to get over it. He had promised me so many things and taken them back, but this was the worst of it."

Eryn put the pillow down, got up from the bed and held her hand out as she walked to toward me. Taking the brush I held, her sympathetic twitch of the lips sent me down into the chair at my vanity. She had known my feelings for Alex, how I had planned to marry him the moment I turned seventeen. He had my father's blessing. We were going to do it properly despite my protests of wanting to elope. I had listened to Alex and waited. We were supposed to be married next month and when I couldn't find him nearly several months ago; I was a wreck. Eryn had always been there for me, the sister I never had, but in that moment she provided a strength that I didn't possess. I watched her now as she brushed my hair and hummed an old lullaby, much like she had until recently. Eryn was understanding, but also began pushing me toward the idea of moving on. Petyr hadn't given me a chance to think twice about getting out of my slump. My birthday celebration had begun, and he shoved me full force into it. I believe she had something to do with this as well, and I silently thanked her for it. A week of decent, heart lifting events wasn't a cure all by a long shot, but it was better than the alternative.

Steeling myself against the growing anxiety in my chest, I walked into my father's meeting with his advisors and generals. The princes' arrival wasn't to be taken lightly and preparations were already well underway to make sure his brief visit went smoothly, just as they had been from the time we had gotten back. To involve the generals, however, seemed odd to me. Fat, lazy old men that had become comfortable in their contract of peace. When they turned to me, general Alton paled and whipped back to my father rather quickly. It wasn't anything new for me to be present during the meetings. My appearance this late, however, was frowned on. However for him to act this way made my brow crease in mixed confusion and aloofness as thoughts filled my mind. Silently going to the side, I waited patiently for them to be finished.

"If there is nothing more to discuss," my fathers voice seemed to make the walls shake. "I will call this meeting to an end."

The council agreed. Standing and facing their chief lord, they all lowered their heads before leaving the room as a unit. The only one left behind was my fathers own personal advisor, Levi who had an amused look on his thin, snake like face as he looked me over.

I stood there in relative quiet, the scratching of quill on parchment the only sound between the flapping and organizing of papers. It looked like Eryn had her information twisted. My brothers weren't here. All the more anxiety inducing as I flashed back to when I was in trouble, usually with Petyr, and was waiting for punishment. Other times, however, we were there as witness or to observe how to handle a situation. Either way, the feeling of being treated like a child wasn't ideal to me. Not right now.

After the last paper was signed, he dismissed Levi, the obvious annoyance on his pointed face hard to miss. He also dismissed his personal guard, but his faithful companion remained on his perch by the window. Kizu preened his feathers absently as the smooth breeze from the open window ruffled his head feathers. Kizu straightened his back as my father approached him, lowering his head toward the man's hand.

Kizu was massive next to his handler. He came eye level with him from the perch as the eagle stretched its wings and chirped in a soothed tone. As my father continued to scratch at his neck and back, the eagle leaned in so much that he nearly fell.

"Is there a reason I'm here, or can I go finish packing?" I asked impatiently. I didn't mind the war room, I didn't mind our time together. However, the prolonged silence between us was grating.

"To finish would imply you've started." He answered smoothly in a husky voice I'd come to both enjoy and despise altogether. His back was still to me as he faced the open window. Clearly he was upset about something, that much I could tell even from walking in here. "You've just gotten back. I've given you some time to mull it over. However, it seems you still do not understand your position. Your adventure with Petyr was unwise, this close to your departure. I asked you to stay here at the estate, on the grounds."

Except he didn't ask. He had given me a veiled warning of safety and if I returned injured, he'd kick my ass on principle along with Petyr.

Letting out an annoyed breath, I let my shoulders fall. "We were safe. We stayed on the same path we take every time. It isn't like we went someplace new."

He nodded, taking a deep breath before looking over his shoulder at me. "Petyr also informed me you came face to face with a sow and her cubs. That you encouraged the standoff. So much so that you waded into the Tol up to your knees? It could have swept you away and drug out to the Pollock! Foolish, childish girl."

Mentally, I cursed my brother. I'd have to kick his ass personally and demand why he needed to tell him anything at all. "I'd assume Petyr or Kizu. That blasted bird never gives me a moment's peace."

Kizu screeched, spread his massive wings to show dominance and bobbed his head. His one solid gold-rimmed eye studied me carefully.

"If he told you, it doesn't matter. She was across the Tol. She couldn't get to us unless she swam across. In which time we would be long gone."

He sighed heavily, folding his hands behind his back, and finally turned to face me. His golden gaze studied me carefully, looking me up and down slowly. His thick eyebrows furrowed in frustration. "I feel this is a deeper issue. This is an omen, a warning from the goddess herself."

Scoffing, I rolled my eyes so hard they hurt. "Goddess. It was a cave bear, migrating early, a week early. That isn't a cause for concern."

He sneered at my reaction to hearing her title uttered so scornfully. Rubbing the thick peppered beard along his chin, he returned it to where it had been behind his back. It grazed the robe he wore, exposing the top of his sword. "You know not to speak of her in such a way."

I huffed heavily as I spread my arms and walked over to him. "Our strength, our people, and actions are not governed by a sign here and there. You make them. You, your advisors the lords that live in these lands. The king has an ear only for you. You did that through hard work, loyalty and determination. Through unspoken sacrifices, you know of the ones I speak. You did that, your choices. Not the goddess. Damn her."

He took a deep breath. Striding the short distance between us, I was in his shadow. Standing firmly in front of me now was the lord of Alowez, not my father. His body swelled as he closed the gap between us. Looking down on me as though I were a child, the height difference aside, I had to crane my neck to look up at him fully. It did not grant me his head turning down, instead I had a full view of his nose. His dark beard and flowing peppered hair swept over his fur covered shoulders. I didn't budge an inch as I stood in his shadow.

When he spoke again, his voice commanded respect and held the highest authority. "You are upset. That is understandable. However, you need-"

"Need to what? Have faith?" I had to beat down the wicked laughter, wanting to escape my throat. "I'll keep my eyes on things I can hold and feel and interact with. The goddess has told you that our marriages are just? Mikal is an ocean away. Aramis is happy on the surface, bouncing between our home and his new one. Petyr can't stand his paring and I am about to marry someone I don't even know. All because the goddess said so? Is it her intention to guide your hand and drive us away?"

We stood there in silence, so quiet you could hear a pin drop. My outburst was out of place, and I didn't mean for it to boil to the surface. I had much more to say but chose not to, though my lip twitched on the edge of the words. I could hear the rushing of wind just behind my father. Kizu had left the room as the tension was so thick now it could be cut with a knife.

Clearing his throat, he finally looked down at me. "I know this last year has been difficult. But please, trust me and what there is planned. Hate me now if you must, but know I did this out of love. For you, for your brothers. For the future of Procyon."

"Well, that's it then?" I shrugged, trying to hold in my anger as I looked up at him. "We won't even try to search for him anymore? Alex is just lost, and I am to deal with it."

The lord was still standing in front of me, no matter how much the eyes softened he was still present. "It has been months. Your mooning about is growing dull and your future husband will be a fine replacement." Smoothing his clothing, he blinked and my father cleared his throat. Turning back to the window. "You will marry him in a month's time. You will learn to love him. If not, then you will tolerate him, produce an heir, and secure your position." As though solidifying his plan of action, he closed the window with a firmness that was unnecessary. The glass rattled, daring me to argue with him.

Letting out a disgusted breath through my nose, I shook my head and turned to the doors. They were closed tight. We were not done, but I didn't care to acknowledge any more of his words just now. Squaring my shoulders, I lowered my chin and walked to the doors. Slowly, and with the accompaniment of his amused chuckle, they opened.

"You will come with me to greet the new soldiers." My father sounded close, much closer than I had left him. His husky tone sending an icy chill down my back as my foot faltered. "That is not a request. We can speak further, if you would like. However, I would not speak of your old lover. The very thought-"

"Tell me this prince Nicolaus hasn't bedded any other women." I whipped around to face him once again. "I have laid with one person I am fond of. Just one and it is the worst possible thing to happen."

"That boy could have ruined you."

"That boy was one of your elite guards and you cast him to the side so easily, with no concern for his safety."

The lord of Alowez breathed heavily now, his shoulders rising and falling as his own anger threatened to break free. That he did so as one of my trusted and most loyal makes the sting of his betrayal even harder to bear."

We could say nothing more about the situation. I would be married to a prince I didn't know and a responsibility I didn't want or ask for. My brothers had been married off to other wealthy daughters of the region's lords. This also scattered them across the world. Reaching two of them would take at least a day or longer at full gallop on a well-rested horse. I couldn't run to Aramis or be scolded for my childish view of the situation by Mikal. The only one that seemed to not have a care after their marriage was Petyr. He was never one to sit still for long and his view on anything other than combat and game hunting escaped him. He was like most of the men in our family in that aspect. Especially my uncle, who had refused to settle down and would laugh at anyone that asked him about it.

Still, I wasn't able to turn to any of them. Not now, at least. I needed to figure things out on my own, despite hating that very fact. None of us seemed to have a say on any of it. Still, my brothers obeyed our father like obedient children should and married. It was foolish of me to think that I had any freedom in the decision if they hadn't. The king and my father had come to an agreement, what that agreement was sat high above my position in either household. I was never allowed in on those meetings. Only Levi was ever constantly there when important matters were discussed. That man was the last that I wanted to ask for help from. He made me cringe just from the image that tried to creep forth in my mind. Trying to disguise the groan deep in my throat, I cleared it instead, knowing that there was nothing else that I could do to change my father's mind. If my brothers and I couldn't do that, I sure as hell couldn't change the mind of a king.

As much as I despised doing this, it was a relief to see and smell the familiar smell of trekka. The red smoke was hard to miss, and the source was undoubtably coming from retired general Deacon Pyke. An old man, getting on in years, though one would not know it based on a look alone. When he saw me, he raised his pipe in acknowledgement, winking with his one good eye. I always assumed he was winking. An eyepatch of deep black material that he never removed had covered his left eye. At least when I was around or when he was in good company. I hated to admit it, but I often wondered what it looked like. Either an empty socket, scarred and unsightly, or was there a crisp eye beneath it? Something he hid from others like a curse? The old retired general could also be blind and simply wanted to hide it. This thought distracted me just long enough for me to lose step with my father.

I tried to attribute this to looking for the arriving general, turning my head slowly as I peered into the distance. My father didn't wait, his guards didn't wait either. I walked next to Anthony and Reinhold for a moment before taking up my pace. I could hear Reinhold chuckle deeply in his chest, a rumble that made me uneasy. He was a large man, nearly as large as my father, and could easily overpower me if he wanted to. This was part of the reason I hated coming to these things. I looked like a child in any of their shadows, and they looked at me as such.

Squaring my shoulders, I tried to keep a dignified look while also trying to keep my father from correcting me. In the days leading up to my departure, he had been silent and rather distant. Our minor dispute not helping matters as I stood next to him now. I felt small, like I always had, and despite this, I had also always felt safe next to him. For some time now, everything had been peaceful and manageable. There had been no unrest since long before I had been born. And any history had been tamed down or shoved away, though there were still healing scars around the land. My brothers had been taking care of their duties around the kingdom and surrounding territories, marrying to grow our lands and form alliances. They had burned the history we had once coveted to make way for an alternative history, free of flaws or any kind of mistake. This new alliance was leaving me to be the last one placed in a new home and gain the trust of their residence. A residence I hadn't been to in quite some time. I was a child and with a nanny had been made to be proper. While I was still looking the part, corset dress and nice shoes, my dark hair pulled back neatly. The urge to ride off with Wraith beckoned. However, the promise of even a scrap of history from half a century ago would be better than what I had now. This kept me rooted to the spot as I took in a deep lungful of air, held it and released after a count.

I could hear the carriage now, smell and hear the horses that the new soldiers were made to ride. At least, that was the hope. The alternative would be that they made the new recruits to jog along behind the carriage and the offering of horses to the lord of Alowez. This man- this sneaky, slimy prick rather- could make good company with the population of rats that scurried in the old passageways. I couldn't stand the new general, the way he had gained his men, his lands and his position was on the broken and mutilated corpses and what little remained of his men. Those that swore their allegiance to him, no matter the cost. I doubted they expected the horrors I had described to me from my uncle in his stories in his letters.

"There is one other thing." My father spoke low as the carriage pulled in under the archway to the courtyard. "The man you choose will accompany you to Sobell and will remain there for your protection. What you do with them in actuality from there is up to you. Nicolaus will be here tonight to greet you and accompany you on your journey tomorrow morning."

Before I could process anything, General Viktor climbed out of the carriage. His thin form, thin in ways of comparison to the hulking figures surrounding me, gracefully stepped onto the dirt and spit something dark onto the ground. I grimaced as he stood at attention when he saw us and gestured for the ten men with him to dismount. He had at least granted them their own horses. At what price I didn't want to know the answer to. Bowing low, his words were slurred at the ends as he spoke.

"My lord, and the lovely lady Nyx. It is wonderful to see you again and in such good health. I bring with me my finest men. I hope you will find them to your liking."

As they climbed down from the horses they rode, they all looked half rummy themselves as glazed over expressions sat on some of their faces. They were rounded up and ordered to stand in front of the carriage as their horses were taken to the guest stables. Some looked like they didn't belong in this region. Their features were far too soft. Others looked as though they had begged to be here, their bodies scarred and battered as they stood in a rather crude line staring straight forward, unmoving. The longer I looked, I noticed some didn't even blink. Standing at attention, they stood still as statues for whatever awaited them.

My father hadn't moved. He seemed to wait for something, anything. I had never fully understood him, but he had his ways of doing this selection process. As he stared at them, his shadow fell over each of them individually. They were all right to stay perfectly still as he leered down at them, almost daring them for a challenge. It was rare, Viktor trained them well, but there had been a few that had met this decisive glare. Opening a door to whatever it was, my father seemed to put them through once he had them alone. Rhinard and Anthony had been the only two I had seen who had made this challenge. It helped that both had an air about them that reeked of blood and carnage, especially Rhinard. Even as they stood just to the side, I stood stiff as Rhinard's eyes were glued to my back.

Looking back at him only invited Rhinard to come to my side. I clearly didn't call him. He wasn't mine to order around when the lord of Alowez needed protection. This need, however, wasn't met, as there was no reason to worry about the new recruits. They had no weapons, and they looked drugged or drunk so their reflexes would be near to nonexistent.

"My lady." He spoke low, his voice barely a whisper over my shoulder as we watched the events unfold. "You look so amazing. It is hard to focus."

Ignoring him, I watched as my father made his way back up the line and to where I stood. Holding his hand out for me to take, his eyes shifted to Rhinard with a glare so damaging Rhinard bowed his head and shuffled backward. As he removed himself from my side, I easily put my hand in my fathers. He led me, hand only, to the beginning of the line and had me give my assessment. It never sat right with me. It felt like comparing animals before deciding what they would be best for. Slaughter or a war that may never happen. Here, however, protecting the lord of the region or be turned to fodder. Meaning they were going back with the general and some added shame from the rejection. They would help general Viktor to gain more land in my father's name, rather. There were none that I could see that would be turned away, but I also had to think of who I would choose. All of them looked intimidating, but knowing nothing of their abilities was useless.

Intimidation meant nothing if the muscle behind it was stiff and stale. All had been trained in weaponry and stealth, but stealth with this lot didn't look to be much of an option. More than half looked like they would fight a bear if the situation ever arose and, though the outcome would be in the animal's favor, they might have a fair time.

When I came to the end of the line, the general gave a satisfied nod. His hopeful expression waiting for my father's approval.

"Nyx will make the first decision. As a parting gift, general." My father turned to the man who said nothing, only bowed slightly before turning his head to expel more of the dark spit.

I had only noticed a couple that looked easy enough to avoid or dismiss if need be. The looks on their faces were clear. The last thing they wanted to be doing was playing babysitter to a brat when they were told of their chances to protect the lord of Alowez. Still, as I made my way along the line, a shadow fell over the man just ahead of me. I stopped in front of him and looked to the sky as the shadow circled before coming to a rest just behind the man.

The man stood there, unmoving, as we both studied one another. His expression was hard under light blonde eyebrows. His face was nearly expressionless as he mused over me and I over him. He was impressive despite being one of the smaller of the group in terms of size. Stature he was rather large, his chest was wide and his arms clearly worked. His blond hair and bright green eyes helped him to stand out, along with his patch of facial hair on his chin. The others were clean shaven and looked to average just over six feet tall.

"My lady?" His words triggered a shrill cry from Kizu just behind him. The man didn't flinch. He was imposing and didn't appear one to scare easily, at least.

"What is your name?"

"Lynx, my lady." Lynx bowed and stepped forward. "It would be an honor to serve you, my lady."

Letting out a slow breath, I looked him over once more. He was intimidating, or at least on the outside, he looked that way. There was something behind his gaze that I hadn't seen in the others, some soft spot that the general's training hadn't penetrated. "Very well, Lynx, if that is your given name, your service is recognized."

Gratefully, it looked like father approved of my choice. He had nine more to do what he wanted with now. Gesturing with my chin, Lynx followed me back to where my father stood. His approving gaze had it easier to fall back in line next to him. The others stood there, unmoving, as they waited for their next set of orders. With a flick of his wrist, the stationed guards led the men away. Four guards who led them to end of the training grounds took all of them out of sight. They were his to do with what he wished now. I didn't want to know what that was, nor did I care to find out. None of them seemed to have the bloodlust and loyalty that Anthony and Rhinard had, but that could be fixed.

Glancing back over my shoulder at Lynx, I wondered how much I could expect from him and how much he would influence. If he could be made to bend to my own rules, I could have my puppet and finally gain an upper hand against those I didn't know. Should Lynx be of use, if not, I had made a mistake and the result would be known soon enough.