Bonus Short Story

His Perspective

At the Battle of Liadna, I—Isaac—had every intention of taking Kiara captive. It would have been good to take a spellcaster out of the running, naturally, and Salekhard having no mage to its name was making it hard for us to put our foot down against Llewyne.

And, well... frankly, I was worried about her.

Ever since we first put our battle plan together, I’d found that frog-faced viscount an unsavory fellow. Whenever Kiara came up in conversation, he would insist on capturing her himself, and there wasn’t a soul in the world who could talk him down. I was certain she would be better off in my hands. See what a generous man I am?

I was lucky enough to track her down, but spellcaster that she was, she of course had a bodyguard by her side. That knight of hers was pretty strong. If it weren’t for his injuries, he very well may have bested me. I must admit he had me sweating there.

In any case, Kiara certainly seemed to care for him. Her face was deathly pale, her breathing was heavy—why, she could barely stand on her own two feet—yet she pleaded with me to spare his life. It was enough to make me think, Hold on now, are you in love with him or something?

Based on their exchange, however, they were more like brother and sister. Though, the knight seemed rather smitten with Kiara... and, well, I got the sense he was just playing along with what she wanted, but they appeared to be quite close.

He was on death’s door, and it was no skin off my back to let a dying enemy go free. I stuck him on a horse and sent him off, granting Kiara her request. Of course, given his wounds, he was liable to kick the bucket before he even made it back to his allies.

I knew that if he died, there was a good chance Kiara would come to despise me for real, but it was too late to do anything about that now.

However, the minute I thought I’d gotten my hands on Kiara, she started dying, too. The bizarre doll she was always carrying around started raising a fuss, so I went to work tending to her wounds as per his directions. Eventually, she recovered enough to wake up. It was in times like this I couldn’t help but wonder if spellcasters were more trouble than they were worth.

What happened next was even more of a hassle. That viscount came along and abducted Kiara. I hadn’t expected him to bring out defective spellcasters to snatch her up while she was bedridden and powerless. To top it all off, that lady of a spellcaster tried to put Kiara out of her misery when she couldn’t think up a way to save her. It left me thinking, Come on, I know some women would rather take that way out, but you already called for my help, so just hold your horses!

It was her fault I had to douse myself in water and rush into a burning building. It certainly felt like I’d gotten the short end of the stick there.

When I managed to get her out safely, I had thought—surprisingly calmly, I might add—that it was strange to see the burnt remains of thorns lying around the shed. But given how much nonstop trouble I’d been dragged into, and how many times I’d had to rush to her rescue over the past few days, I’d simply set it aside, assuming that one or two bizarre things were bound to occur whenever a spellcaster was involved.

Meanwhile, given what she’d just gone through, I figured that even a girl like Kiara would start crying and begging to be kept off the battlefield. Though she did appear to have developed a fear of men, she went in the other direction entirely, more insistent on fighting than ever.

I knew there had to be a good reason the war always came first for her. Perhaps there was someone she wanted to protect at all costs.

Kiara, of course, was completely oblivious to her own feelings. I worried that if anything like this ever happened to her again and she lost her chance to tell this mystery man how she felt, she would surely come to regret it.

If I had to guess... the reason I cared about it so much was because I was planning to leave this world behind in the not-too-distant future. I wanted to protect Salekhard. Given that I had fought all this way prepared to lay down my own life the moment it became necessary, the two of us were kindred spirits.

I didn’t hate Kiara, however. I’d only taken her captive because she was an obstacle to my goal. In fact, I’d say I was quite taken with this girl who claimed to be suffering, yet fought on through her tears. If we’d met under different circumstances, perhaps we would have become real friends. Oh, if only Llewyne hadn’t invaded Farzia, and, to keep Salekhard from meeting the same fate, we were left with no choice but to join in the assault.

There was nothing more to be done on that front.

For the time being, I was going to open her eyes to who it was she loved and make sure she didn’t die without saying her piece to him.

Honestly, I probably could have just told her all that straight out. No matter how stubborn she was, if she had something explained to her enough times, the lesson was bound to stick eventually. The next time she saw him, having that conversation fresh in her mind ought to clue her in to her feelings.

That kiss was nothing more than my service fee, really. Surely I’m allowed to ask for that much, no? I could never be the one to bring her happiness, so that would just have to do. As for the rest? Considering that the prince had come all this way to rescue her, I assumed he could handle it.

I had only one regret: I really wanted to get in one good punch on that prince. Of course, that would only serve to make Kiara cry, so I let that dream die quietly. Besides, the look on his face when I told him about my meddling was priceless.