The Knight Read online

  “I love you, Analiea.” I looked back and forth between her and myself, and then at Lamont. “What now?” I whispered, not sure how marriage ceremonies were performed outside of the ancient heir lands. I heard her giggle, and I looked at her mouth.

  “Now, Lamont will do what I asked him to.” She nodded in his direction. I stood and watched Lamont come between us.

  “Rykerian Dallard, do you vow before the ancients and Analiea Natiel to be hers?”

  “Yes, of course,” I said with a smile. The rest of the ceremony had always been a blur in my mind until the part where Lamont smiled widely, and his melody sang out to me with the same joy I was feeling.

  “You may claim your vowed!” he said, and I leaned in and kissed her. The electric flow between us was so strong and so powerful that she melted into my arms. She was mine, and I was hers; forever, she would be with me forever. It was a first kiss—the promise of beginnings and of possibilities. As I deepened the kiss, and her lips matched and moved with mine with just as much passion, I knew what true happiness really was. I wanted to keep it forever—keep her forever.

  Soon after the little ceremony, we entered the door of my home. It then became our home with Analiea cradled in my arms. She touched my cheek.

  “Kerian, I am so sorry that I do not have a melody.” She called me by that name, too: Kerian. I knew suddenly that I never was concerned with her lack of melody. I knew that she was worried about it. She had mentioned it more than a dozen times after I asked her to be my companion, my wife, my everything.

  “I do not care about that, Analeia. Please stop feeling bad for that.”

  “It's just that you are blessed by the ancients, and you have powers and are basically like—” I put my hand over her mouth to stop the craziness spilling from her lips.

  “I will tell you every day for the rest of my life if I have to, but you, Ana, are everything to me; nothing else matters.” I kissed her lips, and she leaned into my mouth. Her hands held the back of my neck. I made our way to the main room, and she slid from my arms. I still kissed her, leaning over to capture our lips together again and again, I knew I would never get enough kisses from that girl. No other thoughts other than of Ana flitted through my head, and my melody swirled around us like a fire.

  I WOKE TO BLACKNESS, and for a few moments, I wondered if I was still inside the cave. Something was beeping, and there were voices talking. The pain in my side and head was too much to bear awake. Analeia called to me, and I wanted to be back with her, back in my memories of her—the memories that for so long I had kept hidden away, kept tightly tucked inside a box. I had found her again, and I smiled, letting the memories free.

  “YOU ARE HOME!” HER smile lit up her face in a way that I had never seen before. She pulled me from the doorway and laughed, her feet were barefoot as they always were.

  “What is happening? Are we under attack?” I laughed at her urgency. I leaned down to kiss her, and my lips found her neck, and I quickly traveled to her throat. She leaned into me, her hands in my hair. I lifted my head and rubbed my chin on her soft cheek, which she hated when I hadn't shaved. She laughed and tugged at a few strands of my hair so I would stop. I looked into her eyes, pulling away from her. Her smile was so bright. I wanted nothing more than to take her and hold her in my arms for the rest of the afternoon and evening. She leaned closer to me and kissed my lips softly. My lips reacted like they always did when hers touched mine, electric fire flamed inside of me. She pulled away abruptly as I tried to deepen the kiss, and I pouted at her.

  “There will be plenty of time for that, Kerian,” she whispered, moving herself even farther away from me. I frowned, and she smiled.

  “Hurry, it's been a long day, and I need you.” I winked, and she ran.

  “Come catch me, knight!” she called over her shoulder as she ran. I laughed, chasing after her. I would always catch her, always find her, and always follow wherever she went.

  She reached the back door to the small estate home I had received after being given the guardian knightship over Lamont of the first kingdom and didn’t stop as she opened it to the outside. She smiled so wide, looking back at me, and I watched the sunlight glistening off of her hair. Her hair was hanging down about her face, and her breath was a bit labored. We ran, and finally, when we reached a small grove of trees, she stopped, and I wrapped my arms around her waist as she giggled.

  “Here we are,” she smiled. We had been married for six months. I had never known a more blissful time in my entire existence. I looked at a blanket and some juice drink that she had no doubt bought from the market in the village.

  “What is all this?”

  She pulled me down, and I sat. She was across from me, but I reached over and pulled her onto my lap.

  “Kerian, you are—” She didn't finish as I began to kiss the back of her neck. “Let me down, for only just a moment.” She was laughing, and I moved away as she poured the drink into two glasses and handed me one. She still sat on my lap because I insisted, but I didn't tickle her or kiss her like I wanted to.

  “We have been together for six months, Kerian.”

  I was worried that I had forgotten something important, so I started to apologize. She put her hand over my mouth.

  “Stop it. You haven't forgotten anything.” I kissed her hand, and she smiled, moving it away.

  “Are you sure you don't have a melody? You always know what I am thinking,” I teased. She rolled her eyes.

  “There are many ways to tell what you are thinking, Kerian. You are not that difficult to read.” She looked at the glass in her hand and then back at me.

  She seemed nervous? I didn't understand it. What was she so nervous about? “Are you okay, Analeia?” I asked, gazing into her storm grey eyes. She had seemed tired for the previous few weeks. I wondered if she missed her home across the seas.

  “I am wonderful, Kerian,” she smiled, and it eased some of my worries. “I am more than wonderful, actually, because I honestly think you are already the best future father ever.” She smiled at me, and I shrugged, taking another sip from my glass, letting her words sink in.

  “What? A father?” I asked, nearly spitting juice all over her. I held my hand to my throat as I attempted not to choke.

  “We are going to have a baby!” she squealed and jumped into my arms. I fell onto my back, my cup spilling into the grass.

  “You mean? You are? We are?” I gulped, looking at her. She nodded with a huge grin and kissed my mouth. I wrapped my arms around her and kissed her again and again so she would know exactly how I felt about it.

  “A father,” I whispered in astonishment—later, back at home—that same night. I played with her hair as she lay on my chest in our bed.

  “A father,” she whispered back into the night. It echoed around me, again and again, and she slipped from my arms, and there was darkness, cold, sorrow, and no more grey eyes, no more warm smile, no more Analiea.

  The hurt built up in my chest as I remembered her. Images of her and our short life together flashed before me. The memories of Analiea slowly faded. It hurt. What we had was precious; what we lost was precious. I knew that, and forever I would mourn it. But as the memories spun and swirled inside my consciousness, I realized something—I realized that I didn't need to hide the box with her memory inside of it. I could remember her with a smile on my lips, her love in my heart. I could remember her storm grey eyes and beautiful brown hair, her laughter and her smile, and it was possible to not hate my existence without her. I wanted to live for her.

  I could remember her with fondness. That realization shocked me. We would reunite someday; I knew it. Lamont had been right. I would always love Analiea. While my heart would always have a special place just for her, and for what we could have been together, and for the family we missed out on having, I also knew that I could love again, that I could find happiness again. Lamont had given me that understanding, that second chance.

  “RYKER,” I OPENED MY eye
s to find that Keil was still beside me. I shook my head, trying to rid myself of my memories. The pain of waking up was more acute than it would have been simply from my injuries, because I woke up without Analiea, without my child—and for a moment—I forgot what had caused me to wake up in that terrible place—I was disoriented and in pain.

  “Ryker,” he called again to me. I turned my face towards the call of his voice.

  “Keil?” I mumbled.

  “Yes, Ryker, I am here,” he answered, and then, as my eyes rested on his, I felt blackness overwhelm me yet again. Would I ever stay conscious? Was I doomed to play through memories of my life for all eternity? I faded, I must have been in the corruptor’s grasp, I was being tortured for my dishonor.

  “I WANT YOU TO KNOW, Rykerian, that you are a brother to me.” Lamont was walking back and forth in the living room. His wife, Ara, was in the bedroom, resting near Emma, who was in the cradle beside her bed.

  “You are my brother, Lamont,” I returned, placing a hand over my heart. It was true. Lamont and I had a friendship that tested the very limits of the guardian knighthood and the ancient heirs. We had become closer than friends; we had become brothers. I would lay down my life for him, and as wrong as it was for an ancient heir to do it for a guardian knight, I knew he would do the same for me. I, however, made him swear that he never would, because that was my duty.

  “I am so sorry about Analiea,” he gulped, looking at me. “This must be incredibly difficult for you.” His melody was swirling with so many thoughts, and I knew that he worried for his little girl, and at the same time, he was concerned about my pain and what I had lost.

  “I am nothing but so happy for you, Lamont. You have to know that.” I watched as he nodded at me, folding his arms across his chest.

  “I loved her, too, Ryker,” he added, and I knew that he meant Analiea.

  “I am thankful for that,” I whispered. I didn't want to think about Analiea. My melody swarmed with emotions, and I knew that Lamont had heard them. I didn't want to dwell on the pain of losing her.

  “I want your happiness above all else in this world. I want you to be an equal; you are my equal.”

  I knew these words of his. He had offered them before. I knew Earth was different than Terra, but no matter how many years I would be on Earth, I would always hold firm to my duty as a guardian knight to him. My soul sang this to him, and he nodded, his melody answering back with understanding.

  “I ask this, because of what you have lost. I ask because you are the most noble and brave Terran that I have ever met. You are free to decline. I only ask it of you because I hold you in such high esteem.” His melody was shielded. He obviously wanted me to hear his voice first, along with what he had to say, before I heard it in his melody.

  “Anything you ask, my prince, I will do.” I bowed.

  “Please, Kerian. None of that,” he said, motioning for me not to bow.

  “What do you ask of me?” I said from one knee, looking up to him.

  “I do not order you to do anything. I am giving you an option, a choice.” He walked closer to me and turned to look out the window. “You heard her melody. You know what my daughter, Emma—what she is. You know that her powerful melody—makes her a beacon. Who knows who has already heard her when she was born—and from what worlds. Her melody was so loud at her birth that I wouldn't be surprised if all of Terra heard it—and even beyond.”

  “Her soul is remarkable,” I said with a smile, looking down the hall to the closed door where the little baby slept along with her mother.

  “I am asking, Ryker, if you would mark her.”

  “Mark her?” I questioned. My body was frozen, and I wasn't sure if I had heard him correctly. His melody was unshielded, and I could hear that he was in earnest.

  “Yes, then no one will be able to claim her and make her theirs.”

  “You want me to mark your daughter?”

  “You have the choice. I would never take that away from you. I would never ask it of you if I didn't believe that someday it could also benefit you just as much as it would keep her safe. I need her safe, Ryker. Tarick is still alive, and if he ever finds me, if he ever kills me, I need to know that Emma will be safe, that she will be taken care of.”

  “I will do anything and everything for Emma. You have to know that,” I said, standing up and moving around in the dark living room.

  “I do. Of course, I do, Ryker,” Lamont added, walking over to the couch and sitting down. “Still, you do understand that a marking would completely protect her.”

  “I understand,” I nodded. Of course, I understood that markings were completed often on Terra, but they weren’t ever done between a guardian knight and an ancient heir. We were never to cross that line, that boundary. I knew that my relationship with Lamont had already crossed the line. We were brothers, not servant and master. Although I tried to be his servant, he wouldn't let me.

  “I will not force you, Ryker. I am merely asking. I know how Analiea’s death broke you; I know she took a piece of you with her when she moved on to the ancients. I feel the hurt in your soul. I would do anything to help heal that for you, for you to know happiness again. Being here on Earth, this is your second chance. It is a new life, a new chance for you, just as much as it is for me. I also know that you would be good to her. You would be devoted.”

  “I am not worthy of your daughter, Lamont. It is that simple,” I said, turning to him and pausing in my pacing.

  “You know, you are the only one who thinks that.”

  I thought about it all, thought about everything that he was saying. I knew he was thinking of me. I was sure that I couldn't ever love anyone again like I loved Analiea. I also knew that I was broken a bit from it all, but here he was trying to heal me. I also knew that it was true: if we marked, and if we both kept our souls properly shielded, it would keep Emma safe. That was my job—to keep the ancient heirs safe. I would do whatever it took to do that. If that meant to mark her, I would.

  “It would be an honor to protect another ancient heir, even in this way, Lamont.” I bowed, and he pushed me in the shoulder.

  “Stop bowing. It’s exhausting,” he smirked at me, and I read his soul. He was beyond happy, beyond grateful that I would do it. He hoped for my happiness just as he hoped for his daughter’s. I couldn't promise love, but I would keep her safe. I would make sure of it.

  “I am more indebted to you than ever before. How will I ever be able to repay you?” he asked with tears in his eyes. “She is more precious to me than anything.”

  “You have repaid me. Your friendship is more than enough.” We walked into the bedroom, and he cradled Emma in his arms. I leaned down and marked Emma. Her soul and my soul combined for just a moment, and then as I moved away from her, I could hear my melody inside of hers, right before Lamont shielded her soul once again.

  “It is done,” he said with a smile. He turned to Ara and held her hand. She was beaming.

  “We know you will keep her safe, and we thank you, Ryker. You are the noblest of knights, and the dearest of friends—our family,” Ara added.

  “My brother,” Lamont smiled, his eyes watering as he placed a hand on my shoulder. I looked at Lamont and then down at Emma, at her sleeping form. Her melody and mine were combined. She was my mission, the most important one I would ever have near me. I would do anything and everything to keep her safe.

  “Until my last breath, I will keep her safe,” I vowed.

  THE FOG OF MEMORIES mingled with the familiar beeping sounds. I tried to divide the two—tried to be free of the memories, to stay awake, to find out if, indeed, Emma was safe. I needed her to be safe. I cursed myself for being weak and falling at the hand of the corruptor's blade, for being so wounded that I couldn't pull her from that cave to safety. I cursed at myself because she had come to that place, looking for me. She was too much like her father. She cared about me too much. I couldn't survive if I lost her. I could not live, could not accept more air
into my lungs if Emma were to no longer exist.

  Then I heard it, a faint familiar sound, taking away the darkness, the thoughts of worry, and the despair that unfurled around me. The melody was the most beautiful thing that I had ever heard. It mourned; it was tortured, but it was still beautiful and strong and the most wonderful sound in all the worlds. I felt a warmth on my palm and a piercing in my soul and heart—a happiness, only given to me by her.

  I opened my eyes, blinking once, twice, three times—faster and faster as the room came into focus. I looked to my side and saw her there, whole and safe. Tears were on her cheeks, and her face looked pained, but she was alive. She was there, and most importantly, she was safe. She turned to me, and her vibrant green eyes seemed to glow even in that darkened room. Those beautiful eyes landed on me. Her melody swirled around me, and I felt her every feeling for me. It was peace, joy, heaven, but mostly, it was all her—all Emma, and I repeated her name over and over again until my voice echoed my thoughts:

  “Emma, you are safe,” I whispered.

  “Of course, I’m here, Ry.” Her voice was the most breathtaking sound in the universe. I smiled, or attempted to, at least. “I‘m so glad you’re safe.”

  She wiped her tears.

  Chapter 21

  "RY," SHE WHISPERED again. I squeezed her hand, and she smiled, her brilliant green eyes anchoring me. I sat up as best I could. It hurt, but I needed her nearer, closer. I pulled her to me. She was against my chest and crying. "I thought I lost you," she sobbed.

  "Never," I smiled. She sat up in my arms, moving the tears from her eyes, confusion in them as she saw me. I smiled. "You could never lose me," I said, wanting so desperately to kiss her to make her mine.

  "Ryker," she said, and I felt it in her melody, through her feelings—feelings of love. Her love swarmed me through her melody. It covered my entire body and made me feel like I could fly. I had never felt that before, a love so consuming, a melody so beautiful.