Page 107 of The Chaosweaver's Daughter
He chuckled and stopped a few paces away.
Ignoring him as best as possible, Nes got to work pulling in chaos from the stream, building up power in her hands.I love you, I love you, I love you.The words floated through her mind on repeat, like lazy summer clouds. Though the emotion didn’t make her nervous, the concept of confessing to him was heart-stoppingly terrifying.
“What are you teaching today?”
Oh, thank the gods.She’d needed a distraction. Nes worked as she chatted. “Yesterday we practiced weaving functional bows and arrows. They were excelling at it by the end of the lesson.” She molded the first of three targets she needed for their lesson. The burlap-covered-hay-stuffed-looking target hovered a few feet offthe ground.
Kas crouched down, looking for its base.
Nesrina set the target to moving, side to side, it hovered above the grassy earth. “Della’s got natural talent. I thought we might try again today, but with a twist.” She grinned at Kas as a second burlap circle popped into existence. This one moved up and down, and she followed it with a third that hovered about four feet off the ground. It rushed Kas before abruptly retreating again. He leapt out of the way of the moving pillow, and she laughed.
The twins turned up soon after, and Nes began her lesson. They were more excited about the activity than their uncle’s presence, so she invited him to stick around, and he agreed.
Nesrina had the twins create their own bows, which they needed to sustain by drawing power from the creek as she was doing for the targets and arrows. It was easier, she’d explained to Kas, who asked more questions than the kids, to create a quiver of arrows for the activity than to make new ones every time they were in need. One day, the young royals would be able to do it all on their own, but like muscles in a body, their magic needed to be exercised and strengthened first.
Everything went swimmingly, for a time. Kas gave tips on their shooting form while she offered pointers pertaining to chaosweaving. At one point, they’d lost so many arrows to the woods that a retrieval mission took priority. The thick underbrush outside of the clearing meant the twins only returned with twenty-eight of the thirty they’d fired off.
In time, they learned the tricks of each of the moving targets. Ataht finally hit the one that went up and down, and he cheered in celebration.
The prince raced forward to grab his stuck arrow, and Nesrina shouted for him to back up. At that moment, Della was taking aim at the side-to-side target. Her shot was on trajectory to cross paths with Ataht, who didn’t see. Kas roared in warning. But it was too late. There was atwang. Aswoosh. And athunk.
Time slowed as Nesrina spun back to face the prince. Ataht’s hand flew up to where an arrow protruded from his chest, its entry point already blooming with blood.
Oh no, no, no, no.Nes rushed forward. He glanceddown at the arrow, his eyes rolled up, and he slumped onto the grass.
Della screamed.
Nesrina reached the prince at the same time as Kas, and they both dropped down beside him.
She reached to stabilize the arrow as Kas shouted, “Don’t take that out!”
Nes yanked her hand back. “I won’t— I wasn’t! It’s not even real.”
“Don’t release it then, make sure it stays in place. It can’t be removed or—”
“He might bleed out. I know, I’m not daft.”
“Military training, sorry,” he offered a snappish apology. “We need to get him inside, let’s go.” Kas moved to scoop up his nephew.
“Wait.” Nes held out a hand. Carefully, she unwove the shaft of the arrow and released the magic, ensuring the projectile remained embedded in Ataht’s chest, preventing additional blood loss. “All right, go.”
The duke lifted the prince and took off toward the house with Adella hot on his heels.
“I’ll follow as soon as I can,” she called, swiping a tear from her cheek.
Nes stayed behind to gather her wits and release the items she’d created. She needed to be cautious, so she didn’t inadvertently release the point lodged inside the prince. Fighting through a barrage of fears, she searched for some semblance of calm, so she might work her magic as comprehensively as the situation required. This was eerily similar to the injury that befell King Ehmet mere weeks ago. She hoped the prince would be all right as she carefully picked apart and released the threads holding the targets in place.
Nes moved her focus to the thirty arrows she’d created. One after the other, she worked her way through the quiver, allowing each one to disperse back into ether. She started with one embedded in the grass.
Kas was terrified for his nephew. And Della, poor Della. And Ataht.Oh, this is all my fault.Tears pricked, blurring her vision as she released another arrow:Thirteen. She was keeping count. The duke had scolded her when he assumed she was going to rip the point out of the boy.Fourteen. If the situation hadn’t been so dire, she would certainly have teased himfor that.“Military training, sorry”...Shenearlylaughed, in spite of the dire situation, but a thought struck.Fifteen.A soldier would know not to remove a projectile from an injured person, fates, she even knew it. But when the king had been hit—sixteen—Rihan was there to help and pulled the spear free. Rihan, the soldier, pulled the spear free.Seventeen.
“Oh my gods.”No, there’s no way.
Eighteen.
She sought out the nineteenth arrow, trying to convince herself she was overthinking things, when a crunching in the brush drew her attention. Nes squinted into the trees. Nothing was there, aside from a swaying branch a dozen feet away. She wanted to wrap things up so she could return to the house and check on the prince.Oh, please, let him be all right.
Acrackandswishmade Nesrina spin and peer in the direction of the manor. Again, trees greeted her. It was most likely animals or a falling branch. No one would be returning with news on Ataht that quickly. Another sound, the whooshing of branches, had her jolting to look at the trees across the stream.
