Chapter Twelve

Kyven stood watching Mhavrych for several minutes without speaking. The other man was laying weapons out on the floor of the bedroom that he once slept in when he was a child. They had pushed aside all of the furniture, clearing out the center of the room and creating the image that life had moved on. That image of his childhood was broken, moved aside so that the new reality could set in.

Mhavrych had organized the weapons from his father’s war room into different groups, arranging them by style and size, readying for the training that they would begin the next morning. They had only a short time to prepare all of the people who had agreed to go to Penthos by training them to use these weapons and instructing them on how to fight. Having the weapons laid out this way would make it easier to distribute them to the appropriate people and teach them effectively.

Kyven had been stunned to see Mhavrych when she walked up with Athan and his mother. He had seen this man only briefly when he had come to rescue Kyven and Emerie on Penthos, and he had left before Kyven had even been able to thank him for what he did. The last place that he would have expected to encounter him again was on Uoria, walking out in the open with the two people who had been closest to him as he grew up. He didn’t understand how he had gotten there or why, and he knew that he needed to talk to him.

“Standing there longer isn’t going to make it any easier for you.”

Kyven was startled by Mhavrych suddenly talking to him. The man was still arranging the weapons and had not turned to him, but it was obvious he was directing the comment at Kyven. He considered leaving the doorway, but knew that he couldn’t. Instead, he took a few steps into the room.

“I didn’t think that I would see you here,” he said. “I didn’t even know that you had any connections with Uoria.”

“You didn’t even know that I existed,” Mhavrych pointed out.

The man’s harsh demeanor was as off-putting and unexpected as it had been when he heard him speak in the chamber with Creia and Rey. Though he wouldn’t have described the way that he interacted with him and Emerie when he was helping them get away from the Meldor and out of the quarry as kind or friendly, Kyven could reconcile the man who had come down into the ground and risked his own life to save his and the brooding, angry man that was now in front of him.

“You left before I was able to thank you,” Kyven said.

“You didn’t need to thank me.”

“You saved my life and the life of my mate. I think that that more than justifies thanks. You just left too quickly for me to say anything.”

“I needed to get away from there,” Mhavrych said. “I didn’t want to be noticed.”

“Why were you there? You can’t be a part of the hybrids. I know that you saved Nylek as well.”

It was a stream of thoughts, what was bouncing in his mind tumbling out of his mouth without control. Mhavrych stopped and turned toward Kyven. Looking into his face brought back the horrifying memories of being trapped beneath the ground with the hot, heavy breath of the Meldor on his skin. He had been positive that he was going to die that night, that those moments were the last that he was going to have, and all he could do was try to protect Emerie. Mhavrych had been exactly what the meaning of his name stated, a miracle. Now, though, he looked like a storm and Kyven felt the chill of his presence roll down his spine.

“You’re right,” Mhavrych said. “I’m not one of the hybrid army. I had my reasons for being on Penthos. Reasons that mean that I need to get back there again. My reasons are my own, but I also couldn’t just let you die out there without even having a chance.”

Mhavrych started out of the room, but just as he passed Kyven, he turned to him again.

“Your name is Kyven,” he said, not a question but a statement.

Kyven nodded.

“Yes,” he said.

Mhavrych gave a single nod and continued to stare at him for a few seconds before he spoke again.

“That does make the help that I gave you matter more to me,” he said.

Kyven looked back at him quizzically.

“Why?” he asked.

“When I found you in the quarry, I didn’t know that you were Aegeus’s son. Now that I know that, helping you is more meaningful to me. I will always be proud and honored to serve your father.”

Without any further explanation, Mhavrych left the room and Kyven heard him walking toward the back of the house and the war room. He waited until he could no longer hear his footsteps before leaving the room and starting toward the house that he was sharing with Emerie. She was in the kitchen when he entered and he could smell the strong, spicy smell of one of his favorite foods from when was a child. She turned to him and smiled.

“Hi,” she said.

“Hi,” he answered, leaning down to kiss her. “Smells wonderful.”

“Thank you. Your mom gave me the recipe yesterday. She said that you loved it when you were little.”

“She always used to make it for me on special occasions. Or sometimes just because she wanted to make me feel special. That was hard growing up with Maxim.”

Emerie laughed, but then she saw his face fall slightly and she tilted her head to look at him.

“What is it?” she asked. “Did something happen at your mom’s house?”

Kyven drew in a breath and sat down at the table.

“Mhavrych was with Mama and Athan when I found them,” he said.

Emerie looked at him strangely.

“Mhavrych?” she asked. “The man who helped us when we were in the quarry?”

Kyven nodded.

“Yes.”

He accepted the cup of coffee that Emerie held out to him and took a long sip before trying to explain the entire situation to her. He told her what had happened in the room with Creia and Rey, and then about his encounter with Mhavrych in Ellora’s house. When he finished, Emerie was still standing beside the stove, stirring the food almost absently as she thought through what he had said to her.

“What do you think that he meant by he had his own reasons for being on Penthos? What could he be doing there that would also bring him here?”

“I don’t know,” Kyven said. “I wish that Maxim was here and that I could talk to him about all of this. He would understand.”

“Would he?” Emerie asked. “Why do you think that Maxim would automatically know something that you didn’t?”

“Maxim is older than me. When our father died, he was all that was left for me to look up to other than Athan. It was easier for me to transfer my trust and reliance over to Maxim rather than Athan, because he already reminded me so much of Papa. Well, they both did, but in different ways. Athan reminded me of him as a soldier and brought back memories of when he left. He was a reminder that Papa was gone and that he wasn’t going to come back. Maxim reminded me of the times that we used to spend together as a family. He was a reminder of Papa’s strength and how much I adored him. Even now that we are adults, I look at Maxim and I see the replacement for my father. I always assume that he knows things that I don’t and that he can do things that I would never be able to do.”

“That’s not true, Kyven,” Emerie said. “Yes, Maxim is an extraordinary leader and has proven himself to be invaluable to everything that’s been happening, but I think that you are capable of so much more than you give yourself credit for.”

“What do you mean?”

“Don’t forget that I saw you every day that you were trapped in that meeting hall. I saw everything that you went through and the strength that you showed. Maxim wasn’t there. He didn’t go through that. He had his own struggles, yes, but that shouldn’t discount what you went through. You were able to overcome that and move forward. Not everyone could do that. How many of those men who were there with you refused to stay with the rest of the group? How many refuse to fight alongside Pyra even though he apologized for what he did and has proven that he is devoted to all of Uoria, and not just the Denynso?”

“I just wish that I could do more. I hate that I am here and not there with him facing whatever it is that he is facing.”

“There’s so much that you can do here, Kyven. Soon enough we’ll be back there. For now, concentrate on what you can do to make sure that everyone here is as prepared as possible for when we arrive. That is the most important thing that you can do.”

“What Mhavrych said is still bothering me,” he said. “Why would he mention my father? How does he know him? He looks far too young to have had any kind of relationship with Papa before he died. It just doesn’t make any sense.”

Emerie shook her head at him. She rested the spoon to the top of the pot and came to kneel down in front of him.

“Kyven,” she said. “Don’t you remember? Your father isn’t dead.”

The words sounded like they were coming both through her voice and through his memories, reminding him of the moment when he saw Ryan’s face appear in the ship and heard that Aegeus had not died in that final battle the way that they all assumed he had. It had been such an incredible revelation, something that he never could have imagined, and it was still difficult for him to truly accept. Hearing it, though, seemed to reinforce him, strengthening him as he felt the boost of his father’s presence and the hope that he would soon see him again, but also with the fire in his belly that came from knowing all of the pain that his family had gone through since he was a child was falsified, crafted by Ryan while his father suffered.

“I need to find Mhavrych,” he said.

“Why?” Emerie asked.

“My father knows and trusts him. I’m going to have to do the same if I’m going to have the best chances of helping bring all of this to a resolution.”

“Do you really think that there is a resolution waiting on Penthos?” Emerie asked.

“What do you mean?” Kyven asked.

“This all seems so big, so much more than just Nyx 23 and the Order. Do you really think that this war will end it?”

“I don’t know,” Kyven admitted. “I don’t know what’s going to happen. All I do know is that I have to try. All of us have to try. We lost so much and there is so much more that we could lose. I can’t let that happen.”

Kyven stood and walked over to Emerie, opening his arms to her. She stepped into them and he wrapped his arms tightly around her, leaning down to rest his chin on the top of her head so that he could envelope her in him as much as possible.

“I love you,” he said. “I would go through all of this again if I knew that it would bring me back to you. There’s nothing that I wouldn’t do, nothing that I wouldn’t try, if it meant protecting you and ensuring that we will be together.”

He felt her arms tighten around his waist and she nuzzled her face into his chest.

“I love you, too,” she said. “I never believed that I would be able to find someone to love again. When we crashed, I thought that any joy that I might have ever had in my life was gone. I was going to live the rest of my life alone and just live out my days in the settlement, waiting for them to be over. Then I found you.” She leaned back so that she could look up at him. “I believe that there is a part of my heart that was always waiting for you and no matter what I had to go through to get here, I will be forever grateful that the suffering that I endured brought me to your arms. Whatever else we have to face, we are going to face it together, and I know that we will have a beautiful life together when this is all through.”

Their mouths met and Kyven let his eyes close, giving himself over to the kiss so that he could pretend, if only for those few moments, that it was already finished and they were living the beautiful life that existed in Emerie’s mind.