A Hero Forged in Blood by B.H. Preston

Author:B.H. Preston
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Canoe Tree Press
Published: 2022-03-15T00:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 18

Drifting up out of the soft, soothing darkness that cradled Kaden felt like floating in the ocean. He had never sailed on the ocean before, but he remembered Daneyel telling him stories of it, the terrible depths and many creatures, and the simultaneous danger and beauty of it all. “Merfolk are rumored to live there,” he’d said one night, pointing at a spot on the map, “in a great secret underwater city. There are also beasts in the depths who would dwarf even a giant.”

Kaden sighed to himself, remembering how his father had looked as he spoke of such things—a bit distant, a bit longing. Had he ever been to the ocean himself? Was it like this there, cool and dark and comfortable? Was it…

“Mother, I think he’s waking up.”

Wait, who was that? It was the voice of a woman, but not Queen Pepper or Millicent. Perhaps not a woman, but a girl… she sounded young, but her intonation was soft and sincere.

Warm fingertips pressed firmly to his wrist. “His heart rate is increasing a bit,” an older woman said. “He’s starting to come out of the healing sleep. Good.”

“But you said it would take another week!” the young voice exclaimed.

“I said it might take another week.” The warm hand released him, and Kaden fought to blink his eyes, to show some other sign of consciousness. “I also said he might wake up faster, and so he is.” He heard a low chuckle. “Not too surprising, if he really is who his companions say.”

“Do you believe them, Mother?” the girl asked. “Really? Could he actually be King Karatheas’s son?”

The older woman sighed. “I don’t really know what to think of the tales they’re telling. I want to believe them, Ada, but… ah. Look.” He heard the smile in her voice. “He really is waking up.”

How could she tell? It was only then that Kaden realized he was finally getting somewhere with his efforts to blink. The darkness behind his eyelids split in the center, revealing the fuzzy image of a ceiling illuminated by muted candlelight. A face bent over him, and the fuzziness slowly resolved into the most beautiful girl that Kaden had ever seen before. She had light brown skin that practically glowed in the candlelight and long, curling black hair held back from her face by a band of blue cloth.

Her eyes were the most astonishing thing about her, though—they glittered like drops of dew on a fresh spring leaf, like, like… what were the gemstones called, Kaden had never seen one before but… emeralds, that was it. If they were indeed as precious as people said, then they had to be at least as beautiful as her eyes.

The girl rolled her eyes and leaned back. “He’s awake, but he’s obviously not thinking clearly.”

Wait, what? Had Kaden actually said some of that… out loud?

“All of it,” the girl said. “I’ve never been compared to a wet leaf before. Am I meant to be complimented or insulted?”

“He’s just waking up after four days of sleep,” the older woman said from somewhere to the left.

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