A Broken Contract

KAEL

Kael could see the confusion in Andra’s eyes, and he had to slow down. He gulped, forcing down his excitement…

And his fear.

“Do you remember what I asked you before I left?” he asked.

She nodded. “You asked if I would stay, if I had the chance to leave.”

“Yes, well… I know you said you didn’t know what your choice would be, but—” he stopped. His brain felt scrambled. He was getting ahead of himself again.

~“Relax, Rider,”~ Eithne said gently. ~“She isn’t going anywhere—not yet.”~

Kael knelt down on the grass, gently pulling Andra with him. She allowed Kael to guide her, a look of bewilderment on her face.

“Andra, how much do you know about your contract collar?”

She touched the small lock on her neck, her confusion only deepening at the sudden change of subject. “I know it’s bound by magic to my labor contract. When it’s fulfilled, the lock is opened.”

“And you know it’s very difficult to remove the collar in any other way?”

She nodded.

Kael was all too familiar with the insidious magic that bound these servants. The Judges used it to keep them indentured forever, enchanting them so that they could not be cut off or removed by any kind of magic.

That is, until he had freed Adelbrand.

“Well, I believe I found a way.” He brought Andra’s attention to the small scroll he held in his hands again.

Andra looked at it, a veiled hope blossoming in her pale green eyes.

“This,” he went on, “is a spell. One that might be able to free you of your contract.”

“How…?” Andra said, her voice barely above a whisper. She raised her hands slowly to touch the scroll, but hesitated. It was as if she was afraid it would crumble to dust if she touched it.

Kael shook his head. “A friend of mine is a spell-breaker. I asked him to make this as a favor to me.” There was no need to worry her with the details.

“Andra,” Kael whispered, his voice wrought with a fragile hope. “If this works, you’ll finally be free.”

ANDRA

Andra stared down at the little paper held between Kael’s thumb and forefinger.

Could the one thing that had been beyond her reach for nearly her entire life really be held between Kael’s fingertips?

She opened her mouth, searching for words to say, but no sound escaped her. It was as if her voice were gone again.

But now hope, not fear, was what held it at bay.

Kael spoke again, his eyes soft. “You’ll be able to go wherever you like. I know Tiri will take you there. You’d have no collar marking you as a contract breaker.”

He covered her hands with his, and the world around them faded away.

“You’d be free to start any life you wished for, wherever you wished…with whomever you wished.”

Andra met his gaze and saw the hesitancy in his eyes. He offered her freedom—and a way to choose her own path. But, looking at his expression, she felt certain that he did not want her to go.

“Please,” she whispered. She shifted forward in the grass. Their knees were touching, their hands entwined. “Please.” It was the only word she could say.

Kael nodded, unrolling the paper in his fingers. She thought she saw his hands shake ever so slightly. He scanned the page once, memorizing the spell written there.

Andra could hear the blood rushing in her ears, her heartbeat a deafening drum that she was sure Kael could hear.

He reached out with one hand and took the lock between two fingers. His hand grazed the skin of her neck, and he stared into her eyes steadily as he spoke, his voice clear and sure in the falling night.

~“Casseram in serinno. Vintre ad linem. Liberse eius arint.”~

Andra closed her eyes, her heart about to burst. A moment went by, and nothing happened.

~Did it fail?~

In the heavy silence, Andra heard the sound of a tiny, metallic click.

Her breath caught, and Kael’s hand pulled back, his warmth leaving her skin. There was a small, sad smile on his lips as he held his palm out to her.

Resting in the center of his hand was the tiny silver lock.

Andra grabbed at the leather around her neck.

The small latch flipped open easily, and the band fell away from her neck. She dropped it to the grass as she felt her bare skin—skin that had been bound in leather for nearly all of her life.

A sharp laugh escaped her.

Or perhaps it was more of a sob.

She felt suddenly exposed.

Like the sun had somehow reversed its course just to shine directly on her.

But it was liberating.

Freeing.

She looked at Kael and saw that he was smiling— a full, true smile that she had never seen on his face before. It softened the harsh lines and curved the scar above his lip into a tiny crescent.

It made the gray in his eyes dance with life.

It made him beautiful.

“Congratulations, Andra,” he said in a gentle tone. “You’re free.”

The words sent Andra’s skin racing with goosebumps. She grabbed Kael’s hands and squeezed them, seeing the leather bracelet still around her wrist.

She still wore one thing that bound her.

Andra froze, looking at the bracelet. She once again took in the intricate leather wraps, noting how much time and care would have gone into creating such a thing.

Slowly— but surely— she unclasped it from her wrist.

She held it in her hands, a limp leather cord that seemed to lose its meaning now that it wasn’t tied around her.

She rubbed at the exposed skin of her wrist, wondering at how similar it felt to the skin on her neck.

But she couldn’t bring herself to throw this one away.

She slipped it into her pocket and looked up at Kael. There was a veiled hope in his eyes. A hope that sent blood rushing to her face.

“You told me once that my old life was behind me, that I have a new life, one where I can fight back.” Andra’s conviction grew as she continued. “You were right. But I’ve also been fighting to hold on to something, fighting to keep a part of that old life with me.”

“Andra, I—”

She placed a finger to his lips, feeling suddenly bold.

“I don’t want to hold on to it anymore,” she said. “I want to leave my old life behind me, because I want every part of this new life. No matter how uncertain it may be.”

Kael’s smile was sweet and soft on his face. “Every part of it is yours to claim, Andra.”

Andra smiled, and without hesitation, threw her arms around his neck.

The force of her embrace knocked him onto his back in the grass, but she did not let go. She lay there in his arms, holding him tightly, her face pressed against the warm skin of his neck.

And she laughed.

She laughed in wonder and disbelief and joy.

She laughed as she had not laughed in all her life.

And after a moment, she heard Kael laughing as well.

The sound carried in the night around them, and she could feel the vibrations of his laughter against her chest.

He smelled of trees and rain.

His laughter sounded of home.

Andra drew back from his neck and smiled down at him. She felt tears stinging at her eyes.

“Thank you,” she said.

The words could never be enough, but she resolved to say them again and again.

“Thank you, thank you, thank you.”

Kael lifted his hand to her face, his fingers grazing her skin. They left a tingling trail of nerves in their wake.

“You deserve freedom, Andra,” he said.

There was a deep sincerity in his voice, a tender passion she’d never heard before.

Andra realized that she was truly seeing him for the first time.

Up until then, she’d seen many sides of Kael.

The nameless assassin.

The renegade Rider.

The leader of the Freemen.

Kael had always been so careful. Only showing a small part of who he was, what he thought, and how he felt.

But now, as she lay with him in the grass, she saw all of that fall away. All of the Rider’s soul seemed to be laid bare before her as he spoke.

“You deserve freedom and happiness, and so much more.”

Andra felt his fingers slide softly into her hair, his hand cradling her face as he gazed up at her with those eyes that were somehow both soft as rain and penetrating as steel.

She could feel his heart beneath her palm and was surprised to find that it was beating nearly as quickly as her own.

She felt the gentle pressure of his hand, not demanding, but carefully guiding her face closer to his.

And she found herself surrendering to it.

~What would it be like to be kissed without anger, or hatred, or fear?~

~What would it be like to be kissed by him?~

A breath hung in between them as his forehead touched hers.

“Kael! Commander Kael!”

Andra jumped, scrambling away from Kael as she got to her feet. Her face felt like the victim of a fiery dragon’s breath.

Kael sat up, instantly alert, his eyes on the soldier approaching them. He quickly got to his feet and reached a hand out to help Andra to hers.

“What’s happened?” Kael asked him.

“The Kingsmen’s soldiers,” he said, out of breath. “They’re preparing to attack.”

Kael’s eyes narrowed. “Gathering in Vereor? Or are they already on the approach?”

“No,” the elf said urgently. “They’re ~here~! To the north!”

“Near the fall back point…” Kael’s face hardened, his voice sharp. “How?”

“They used the dwarf tunnels, sir,” the soldier said. “We couldn’t see them coming.”

Andra stared at him for a moment, watching those gray eyes plan, analyze, react. Then he nodded sharply.

“Gather our men,” he said. “Get those who cannot fight on horseback and wagon and send them east. We make our stand now.”

The soldier nodded, rushing off to Bellris. Kael immediately followed.

Andra ran after him, her heart pounding in her chest, her legs turning to jelly.

The Kingsmen were here.

They hurried away from the moonlit meadow, their dragons at their heels, leaving a length of brown leather and a tiny silver lock shining upon the grass.