Sol Ascension: CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX

ROMANTASY SERIAL | An Adult Sapphic Fantasy Romance about a Huntress with a duty, an Heiress with a calling, and a Kingdom that may not be what it seems. Welcome to the Kingdom of Navia.

Author’s Note: If you’re new to the story, you can start here for TW’s, an in-depth intro, glossary, & complete chapter list. This is 18+ adult fiction.

3 WEEKS UNTIL THE DAY OF FYRE’S LIGHT

The smell of food is the first thing that wrecks my senses. The table and chairs look so odd against this sheer force of nature that I know she had to have placed them there. Water arches in a steady stream of force from the mouth of the stone above the cave, pouring into what seems like an endless chasm below.

”Watch your step—” Her voice reaches me too late. My foot splashes into a shallow crater filled with water wisps. The tiny bugs wink out at the disturbance. The water is surprisingly warm against my skin as I pull it free. It’s as if the stone has its own heat source hidden beneath. I watch the wisps spark back into life. Clusters of them gather in these craters on the ground and in the walls. The cave is cast in a perfect mix of warm and cool light.

The Huntress places her hand on the small of my back, urging me on. The touch is barely there, but my stomach flutters. She takes my hand, gently enough for me to pull it away, but I don’t. She guides me around a few more of those craters, only releasing me once we are close to whatever this elaborate trap is.

The soft crackling of thermite flint hisses under stone slabs covered with simmering meats and other mounds of food. The table is covered in some of the most beautiful fabric I’ve ever seen. It almost looks ceremonial. My stomach grumbles, and I try not to feel too embarrassed as she slides a chair out for me.

“Sit—” she commands when she senses my hesitation. But this is not defiance; I’m just overwhelmed, taking it all in.

The waterfall, the meticulous way the cavern is lit with torches and melting flames, the dinner arrangements… Even the plates in front of me are engraved and colored with intricate art. She didn’t just drag me here to interrogate me. She planned this in detail—for me.

Emotion clogs my throat. I swallow hard as I sit, trying to stifle it. I am no stranger to the performance of grandeur. The balls and festivals of Navia are gorgeous. But this—this is tailored to my tastes. The dark combination of colors speaks to the part of me they trained me to hide. Even the openness of the location calls to me in a way the palace never has.

Ekco doesn’t bother asking what I want as she fills up my plate with more than I think I will be able to stomach. She sits across from me, her plate mirroring mine. She already looks softer in her eyes. I know this look. I learned it during our time training together. Every time she made me stop and rest. Each time she made me stop to eat. It’s the look she gets after doing something for me.

“Eat, Princess.” She digs into her own plate. “I can hear the beast in your belly growling from over here.”

“Don’t you want to—talk first?”

“And ruin our appetites?” I don’t laugh at her attempt to lighten the mood. “It’s not—apart of our deal. Just eat, sweetheart.”

So, she had planned this… I wonder if this was something she intended before our library run in? I save the question for later as I take my first bite.

I moan into it, the perfect blend of spices bursting on my tongue, “Currents, this is good…” The admission is a murmur to myself, but the Ohkena chuckles at the praise.

“Thank you.” She smiles.

“You cooked this?”

“Did you truly think me a Huntress who can’t prepare my own meals?”

“No, I’m just—” I swallow another satisfying bite. “I’m just—” I search for the words, but they never come. Algae blooms are hardly cooking, and I just assumed the lunches she brought to training was prepared in the markets or something. She lets the silence settle between us as we tear into our plates. She finishes before I do. I’m not sure if I can put away much more myself. She stands to remove my plate with hers. The gesture feels so familiar. She’s always anticipating my needs—taking care of me—giving me things I didn’t know I wanted.

I stare at the empty table. This conversation is really happening, and I don’t know if I’m ready. The wave of guilt I feel is involuntary. I don’t know how much truth I plan to tell her. I’m only here because I need something. It would be foolish to pretend it isn’t the same for her. That I’m not just a pawn to her as well.

She rejoins me with a bottle in her hand, placing a glass in front of me. The dark brown of her eyes looks the warmest I’ve seen them tonight. I find something else to look at. With the dense vines, moss, and flowers springing from each crack and crevice, it feels odd to call this place a cave. It sits right beneath the mouth of the largest waterfall. I focus on the never-ending stream and count my breaths. I’ve never been good at lying in conversation. Hard to learn efficiently when I have never had to practice speaking the way I am now. I bring my attention back to the table, and the Huntress is already studying me. But I’ve studied her, too. Everything she’s told me has been a half-truth. Maybe I don’t need to make up any lies. I just need to learn to give away the pieces that don’t tell the entire story. I square my shoulders and start with something small.

“Uh—Thanks. For this.” My voice doesn’t even sound convincing to myself, and I know she has to hear it. “I can’t believe you put this all together.” The half-truth comes out easier this time. I know this has to be some evolved tactic to get whatever she wants from me, but I will get nowhere by saying so.

“You know Princess, just because you’re angry with me doesn’t mean everything about me has changed.”

“I’m not angry.” Another half truth.

“You are. You should be. But I’d like a chance to change that.”

“You can always—I don’t know, let me go—help me leave?” I only ask to gage her response.

“I can’t.” There is so much pain in those words that I almost believe her.

“You mean you won’t.”

“I won’t.” Possession. I feel it in her stare. It churns something deep inside me. Something I’m too afraid to name.

I can’t tell who’s stalling more. Me or her. She fidgets with the bottle without actually opening it and it annoys the abyss out of me. I steal a couple of glances at her when she’s not looking. The bottle looks luxurious. The romantic charade feels so real. The way she’s dressed. We match—complimenting each other. She is pure seduction in all black. Even after her fight with Finiq, she’s rolled up the torn sleeve over the bold Ina markings on her arm. It reminds me of the first time I laid my eyes on her—well, the second time. She wore her hair up then. But now… This half-up, half-down style pulled away from her face makes her features even more beautifully striking. Her roots are freshly twisted—the parts waving into shapes similar to—coral staghorns? My heart stutters. Why must she torture me like this? Has she always looked this way?

“You look beautiful Naru. You are beautiful…” She nearly startles me out of my seat. I don’t know how long I’ve been staring.

“I know what you’re doing.” I cross my arms, sitting up taller.

“Then you understand that you’ve already lost.” The bottle finally hisses and pops open. “Would you like to surrender now? Or do you enjoy making me fight for it—for you?” The question almost sounds sincere. Is there a world where I would let her fight for me—or whatever this is?

You broke her so well...

I can’t let her do that to me again. I can’t let anyone ever do that to me again.

“You had your fun Huntress, I don’t understand the unnecessary cruelty of carrying on like this.” I gesture around at the intimate setting.

“I had my fun? You were the one who wanted one night—” The amber liquid sloshes into her glass. “One night with the Ohkena to curb that curiosity of yours.” She stands to pour my share. “Tell me Princess, was I everything you wanted?” Memories of the cove overlay her imposing figure towering over me. My breath catches as my body fights to remember her mouth parting my lips, tasting and sucking me until I—my leg twitches and jumps, rattling the table.

“Still feeling me in your blood?” She steadies everything at the table but my heartbeat. The motion pulls my attention to her bracelet. The one just like the other Huntress.

Xarlora…

I won’t be weak for her.

I slide the glass away from me.

“I can’t do this—I’m leaving.” I scoot the chair back. My glass shatters across the cave floor. Amber liquid splashes everywhere. I don’t stop to apologize. I turn and make for the exit as fast as I can without running. I take several steps—too many steps. Why hasn’t she stopped me?

Don’t look back

Don’t look back

Do I wan’t her to stop me?

“You walk out of here, and I’ll have you thrown right back in that cell Princess.” Her voice is so even, it’s terrifying. I don’t dare turn around. Afraid of which version of her I will face when I do.

“We had a deal. Dishonor it, and you’ll leave me with no other options to keep you safe.” Her footsteps stop just behind me. She waits for me to face her but I don’t. My breathing quickens as she steps into view in front of me.

“Sit down Naru.” She doesn’t look like any of the faces she’s worn for me. This is not the Huntress, the Drifter, not even the Oye they all call her. This posture is new. Possessive. This one is mine—only for me. But I can’t let myself have it. Not without getting hurt.

“Get out of my way.” Everything in me knows I shouldn’t push her like this, but I can’t do this. Not here, not with her looking like this. Smelling this good… gazing at me with those eyes.

“I will not ask you again.”

Would she really make me stay? My core clenches at the thought of her dragging back the table and making me sit for her—demanding my attention. She leans into me as if she can sense what her command is doing to me. We’ve never been this close and alone beyond the surface. I don’t know if she can scent me.

“I’ll talk to anyone but you—if you want information or something from me. Send someone else up here.” She flinches at my words. I wait for her anger. Demands. I get something much worse. She measures me with silence before her lips part around my name.

“Naru…” Suddenly, I don’t know if I want to run or fall to my knees.

I’m not sure I can speak above a whisper right now. So, I don’t.

“Come sit with me Sweetheart...” The darkness shrouding her face dissolves into something that fractures my resolve. She doesn’t wait for my response as she tugs on the charm of her bracelet before walking away.

I want her to push me—to take away the decision to stay.

I need it to be her fault that I feel this way even after everything she’s done.

The truth is often never a loud thing. Sometimes it’s the sound of a chair scraping against a cavern floor telling me I chose to be there.

She’s filled her glass and placed it on my side of the table. I cross my arms, waiting for her to gloat. To celebrate her success hunt. But her eyes haven’t changed. I don’t know what just shifted back there, but I add it to the list of answers I plan on getting tonight.

“Cara Boshae.” She lifts the bottle.

“Yeah, well—you too.” I snip at her. Maybe I spoke too soon.

“No, Sweetheart, the mead, it’s called Cara Boshae. It’s like wine, but made from honey.”

“Honey?” The word sounds just as made up as mead or Oranges that are orange. I bring the glass to my nose to smell it.

She drinks straight from the bottle. I watch her throat work as she takes a pull from the bottle. I want to put my mouth there.

Fuck, I’m in trouble.

She drags her tongue across her bottom lip and must mistake my expression for mistrust.

“You don’t have to drink it. With the way our bodies heal, it’s not strong enough for either of us to get drunk.” I set the cup down, storing that information for later. “But like any good bottle, you might find yourself more inclined to tell the truth. So, sip carefully.”

“You just downed at least half a glass.”

“I have nothing to hide Princess.” She’s so damn annoying.

“Let’s just get this over with.” I swallow.

“Princesses first.” Every question eddies out of my head. Desperate not to look unprepared, I just blurt out the first one that surfaces.

“Who’s Kaely?”

The Huntress coughs, choking on the mead stuff. I stare her down, waiting for her to clear her throat enough to speak again. “Kaely?—That’s your—question?” She clears her throat one last time.

“Well, you said you had nothing to hide…”

“Kaely is no one—someone I used to fuck.” Her statement is dry enough. She might as well be telling me water is wet. Yet, I can’t stop myself.

“How long were you two together? When was the last time—” I try to smother the thrashing feeling in my gut. She had a relationship with someone here? A drifter.

“You had your turn. I answered. It’s my turn Princess.”

“The darkness—the one in your mind. What is it?”

“I don’t know…” A half lie. “It’s always been there. Was she the other horny crasher on the balcony at my coronation?”

“Your questions are—unproductive. You’re a Princess. Aren’t you supposed to be good at this?”

“I deserve to know Ekco!” My voice bounces off the walls barely muted by the waterfalls.

She leans forward, “I’m going to answer these inane questions so we can get to the real one, Okay?” I nod in agreement knowing I won’t be able to move on until I know.

“Kaely is not the female from the balcony. She’s Baharian. Born here. She’s never even been to Navia. I met her after my mother passed and—well, grief makes you do and say stupid things. She and I have never been together. We haven’t hooked up in months.”

“Who was that girl on the balcony?”

“Naru—”

“Tell me.”

“I didn’t know her. We met outside, snuck in palace, and found a dark quiet place for a quick meaningless tryst. It meant nothing. She meant nothing to me.”

“A habit for you I guess.” I roll my eyes.

“Like your preference for guards. Why are you so friendly with him?”

“We are betrothed Huntress, we must keep up appearances for the good of our Kingdom.”

“I’m not talking about that guard and you know it.”

“Choose your words more wisely next time and maybe you can get the answers you’re looking for.” I take a sip of the amber liquid in my glass as she stands up—pacing and looking like she’s restraining herself from tearing into something. At least I’m as far beneath her skin as she is mine. I smile and lift my glass in a mock toast to her. Her smile is fanged and I’d bare my own if I could. The smooth sweetness of the mead tingles my tongue. Warmth blooms in my belly as it settles in my stomach. She stops her silent pacing to top me off after I’ve emptied half the glass. Look up into her eyes. Ready to get the answers I need.

“Why am I here Ekco? Why me?”

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