I watched as Hazen set her gently away, and she turned to us then, masking her surprise with an over-enthusiastic smile, which soon faded as her eyes fell upon me.
“So the rumours are true.” She said dully.
“What are the rumours?” I asked, when nobody else answered.
“You found your real calling and joined the royal harem.”
Cale smirked, though his arm immediately retreated, and I had to reach for the stair railing to steady myself.
“Your own mother tell you that?” he asked Kaylee.
Kaylee frowned, but it was nothing compared to Rose’s outrage. I could see it in her eyes as she glared at Kaylee, but she didn’t say anything, merely turned and stormed back up the stairs. Kaylee looked after her, surprised.
“She seriously still isn’t over it?” She asked, looking to Hazen, whose mouth tightened in response.
Not wanting to get caught in the middle of a lover’s spat, I began to edge up the stairs, using the rail to aid me and ignoring the trembling in my legs.
“Um, I’m going to go.” I said lamely, before turning my back on them all and moving as fast as I could pull myself.
Rose’s room was a fair way away from the entrance chamber, but I made it there in the end, and slumped against the door, breathing hard. It swung inwards almost immediately, and I grabbed a hold of the doorjamb to prevent myself from falling in.
“Oh god! Tell me you didn’t walk all the way up here by yourself!” Rose grabbed my arm and helped me over to her bed, and I slouched down, needing a few moments to slow the pounding of my heart.
“Are… you… okay?” I managed, unable to ignore the telling track of recent tears down her cheeks.
She shook her head, bemused.
“You really are something, Bea, you know that?”
“Is it this thing about the royal harem?”
She nodded, slipping onto the bed beside me and drawing her knees to her chest.
“It’s no secret around here, obviously.”
“Your mother seems like a lovely person.”
“She is, and I hate to see her so hurt.”
At a loss of exactly how to reply to that, I reached out and grasped her hand.
“Every King for as long as anyone can remember has had a harem, but while Father always technically had one, he didn’t always use it. That only started a few years ago.”
“I’m so sorry Rose.”
She gave me a watery smile and squeezed my hand.
“My mother still loves him, but he just hasn’t been the same over the last few years. Maybe all the stress got to him, or I don’t know… maybe it was even the power. But he’s different now.”
That made me think of my own father, who had always been a simple soldier until my mother died, and then, suddenly, he killed people for a living. He disappeared for weeks at a time, and by my sixteenth birthday, he wasn’t even living with me anymore.
“I guess people go through things, and it can change them. They behave differently, care less, maybe even stop caring at all, and we all remain the same, clinging onto what memories we have, hoping that they will come back to us. Maybe they do, and maybe they don’t. I guess only you can decide how long you’re willing to wait for him, or whether you should just move on and accept who he is now, to protect yourself.”
The rest of the week passed quickly, with Kaylee permanently attached to Hazen’s side now that she knew I was staying in the castle. I was getting steadily stronger, but my moods were also growing considerably darker, and since I hadn’t taken any more energy, I knew that I couldn’t chance opening the connection again. So I was glad when the day came to return to Sparrow’s Settlement, and I assured everyone that my father had promised to take me home, so that I could be alone.
I really had no way of knowing how to actively seek out Nareon, who appeared and disappeared at his own will, so I headed to the abandoned garden, and then fought my way through the forest to the game trail. To my relief, he stepped out of the cover of trees almost instantly.
“Why are you so low?” he demanded, his usually soft voice harsh for once.
“It was an accident, I was trying to return life to the garden that I drained, but I guess I gave it a little of my own.”
“Almost all of it.” He amended.
“I’m sorry.” I shrugged.
He sighed, and strode over to me.
“I will give you what you need, but first, you will do something for me.”
“What is that?”
“Follow,” he said, before turning and disappearing into the forest again.
I hurried to catch up with him, and trailed him silently through a short distance of brush, to another trail. After an hour had passed, I tried to question him further, but he ignored me, and soon, one hour melted into many, until finally we broke free into a clearing. It looked like a wasteland, stretching as far as the eye could see, and I was seized by a sudden urge to turn back the way I had come and run from this place.
“It’s an enchantment.” Nareon explained, grabbing my hand and pulling me into the clearing, despite my unwillingness.
I felt the air ripple around me, and something pass across my skin, and then the feeling disappeared, and along with it, my urge to run. I was now in a whole new world entirely. We stood at the top of a mountain, with a whole city stretched below us, and directly beside us stood the most magnificent castle that I had ever seen. Jagged white peaks seemed to touch the sky itself, from several tiered towers branching off from the main castle by glass corridors. I could even see people moving inside them, small specks silhouetted by the sun beating down atop them.
I could have stared at that castle for hours, except we had been spotted, and a group of men were now running toward us. They all wore grey and white uniforms the likes of which I had never seen before, and they were all extraordinarily beautiful. To my surprise, they snapped into a regimented formation, as soon as they reached us, lining up to our left as one of them broke away from the others and approached Nareon.
“Your Highness,” the man gave a short bow, “welcome back.”
“What’s the report Grenlow?” Nareon answered, even as my mouth fell open.
The man slid a look to me then, and Nareon cleared his throat, drawing the soldier’s attention immediately back to him.
“The situation is becoming unmanageable Sire. Something must be done soon.”
Nareon nodded, and began pulling me past the other soldiers as Grenlow followed behind us.
“We were not expecting a visitor, Sire. Shall I make preparations?”
“No preparations. Beatrice is under my protection Grenlow, make sure everybody knows that.”
The other man hurried off after another short bow, and Nareon led me past another number of curious faces and finally, into the beautiful castle. The room I found myself in had no roof, and the walls were overgrown with vines. A sandstone fountain bubbled in the centre, seemingly set right into the tiles of the floor, and Nareon removed his coat, handing it to a nearby servant.
“Welcome to my home,” he said, almost self-mockingly.
“Are these people all—”
“Synfees? Yes. But they won’t harm you, though you do smell delicious today. It must be the desperation of your state.”
I didn’t know how to reply to that, so I let him lead me into a connecting room, and through a maze of corridors, until we broke out into the sunshine again. We went down a set of stairs, and he pulled me over to a stable, yelling for someone to bring him his horse. Only a few minutes later, a nervous boy led out a beautiful brown stallion, and Nareon jumped easily into the saddle, reaching down and lifting me as though I weighed nothing. He set me on the saddle before him, and grabbed the reins with one hand, securing me with his free arm as he kicked the mount into action.
When we broke free of the castle walls, I could once again see the city sprawled below, and he began to point things out to me, different stores and buildings, and the
further we rode, even different factions and townships. Eventually, though, I began to notice something else. The further from the castle we got, the more the vegetation seemed to be dying off, and the less happy the people seemed to be, as they stared out at us riding past. Some even came running to the road, and dropped to their knees, yelling pleads to Nareon.
I wanted to stop and help them, but he kept riding, until finally, we hit the worst of it. This town was completely abandoned, and the ground had blackened. Everything looked dead, and if I had dared to open my connection, I had the sickening feeling that the connection would buzz with nothing. It would be flat, and dead, just like the town before us.
After that, we rode back in silence, this time going around the towns instead of through them, and when we reached the kingdom, I was beginning to understand Nareon’s sudden appearance in my life. He led me up to one of the highest points of his beautiful castle, and into a sitting room that looked over what could be seen of his kingdom below.
“So,” I said, hesitant, as he moved to a side table and poured two glasses of wine from a crystal decanter, “you want me to heal your land?”
“Not exactly.” He said, moving back to me and handing me one of the glasses, “I want you to find who’s poisoning them, preferably without getting yourself killed.”
I watched him calmly lower himself into an armchair, and I sank onto the couch beside it, blinking at the floor.
“How would I get killed?”
“I searched far and wide to find someone with the Force inheritance, and while it is rare, I still should have found someone in my own kingdom. Unfortunately, they all seem to have disappeared.”
“You think they are doing this?”
“Yes, or someone is forcing them to.”
“So how will that get me killed?”
“If they find you, they will not try to recruit you as they have the others, they will suck out your life-force, in the hopes of gaining your power.”
“Is that possible?”
“For us? Yes.”
A shudder raced through me, and I recoiled a little, shrinking back against the couch.
“So what makes you think that I would help you?”
“Two reasons, little spitfire,” he said, setting his cup aside and moving to where I sat, his hands appearing either side of my head on the couch, his face looming suddenly close.
“You’ll do it because you can’t stand to see all that land, all those people suffer. And you’ll do it because I am the only think keeping you from killing your friends. Now that you’ve come into your power, you won’t be able to go much longer than a week without losing control and draining the nearest person. And that time shortens the more you use your powers. I am the only person you can safely take energy from. Anyone else here would kill you for your power.”
“Why haven’t you killed me for my power?”
His mouth quirked into a wolfish grin, and I could feel the heat emanating from his body as he loomed closer.
“Are you trying to give me ideas?”
“No!” I almost shouted, though from his laugh, I gathered that he had only been baiting me.
“I told you not to believe all the fairytales,” he said, backing away and raising my own cup to my mouth.
I drank reflexively, and he moved away, drinking his own wine down all at once before walking over to the window. I pushed up from the couch and trailed him, following his eyes as he stared blankly beyond the glass to a kingdom full of people who needed my help, whether they were synfee or not.
“I’ll do it.” I whispered, “I’ll help you.”
He turned and nodded, his eyes darkening with some emotion.
“Now drop your glamor.” He said, “and take what you need.”
It was easy to drop the glamor again, but I didn’t have time to marvel over my newfound ability, as the sudden wave of distracting hunger that swept over me tore a sudden groan from my throat and every nerve ending that I had, centred suddenly on the man beside me. Those usually light grey eyes darkened further, and found myself moving quicker than I thought myself able, turning his body as I went, and pushing him back against the glass. His hands cradled my hips automatically, and I reached for his head, pulling his mouth down to my own. The kiss started slowly, as it had the first time, and I didn’t know why I was trying so hard to control myself… perhaps because I now realised the real danger that I was in. If Nareon felt the way I did, whenever we kissed, then it must take a herculaneum effort for him to end the transfer of energy in the first place. Yet now I was aware of the added incentive of my own powers, which could aid him in the resurrection of his kingdom, and would be much easier to control, if he had them himself.
Unfortunately, despite my best intentions, it wasn’t long until my control started to slip, and the more of his desire I felt, the hotter my own burned, until I was just a mess of feeling, and there wasn’t a single coherent thought left in my head. His hands moved from my hips sliding lower and dragging me firmly against him so that I could physically feel how much I was affecting him, on top of the mental desire that already swamped me. I groaned, my teeth dragging across his bottom lip, and suddenly our positions shifted, and I found my back pressed to the window. Nareon swore softly, and then he was kissing me again, rough and insistent. He drew me higher, and I lifted my legs in reaction, locking them around his waist.
I don’t remember moving to the bed, only remember Nareon ordering me to raise my glamor, even as he reached for the dress that Rose had lent me, and ripped it clean down the middle. He stared down at me, and despite the fact that my body was now arching desperately toward him, begging for him to come back to me, I managed to gather enough strength to slam the glamor back into place.
“Get out now, little spitfire. While you still can.” He whispered, his body shaking with the barley-restrained violence of his passion.
Feeling newly invigorated from his energy, it was hard to pay attention to the fear that was trying to break through the haze in my mind, almost as if I were drunkenly impaired, or half asleep. But when I saw his hands tightening into fists, I wriggled out from beneath him and clutched my dress closed, backing away from him slowly.
He watched me, unmoving, until I cleared my throat, and then he jolted to his feet and strode into a connecting room, vanishing from my sight for a moment until he came back and handed me a cloak, which I gratefully tugged around my shoulders and buttoned up at the front.
“You can borrow a horse, that way it won’t take you hours to get back.”
“Thank you Nareon.”
He walked me back to the stables, and then, much to my surprise, he ordered two of his guards to accompany me back, barely glancing at me as he strode back inside. I wasn’t even sure if he was angry with me, or himself.
Despite our deal, my inability to control myself during the last encounter with Nareon, had me pushing the limits of my own restraint, and during the next week, I threw myself back into Academy work and my afternoon sessions with Hazen and Cale. I was determined to find out all that I could about my own powers, as well as anything that might help me with the situation in Nareon’s kingdom, while unsuccessfully dodging Hazen, Cale, and even Rose’s questions. It was unsuccessful, because despite my refusal to involve them, Hazen found out my secret the very next day, and the others managed to get it out of him in turn.
None of them liked the idea of me helping Nareon, but with the deal I got in return, they were all at a loss for better suggestions. Every one of them knew how important it was for me to keep myself from hurting anyone, and as the dark moods steady increased day by day, even they were urging me to go back to Nareon.
On the eighth day, after a sleepless night of looming nightmares that I was sure the darkness was to blame for, I trudged to the Academy in one of my plain, shapeless dresses, with my hair pulled into a severe braid behind my head—thought none of it really did anything to make me look any less appealing. I had even taken to avoiding the forest pat
h, at the risk of running into Nareon accidentally, and by the time I arrived at the Academy and sat down to listen to Carron lecture on the drawbacks of the water elemental, I was ready to burst.
“You can’t go on any longer.” Hazen whispered.
I turned to him to where he sat in the auditorium seat beside me, and was compelled by a sudden urge to throttle him. He quirked one of his eyebrows and I scowled, shouting in my mind for him to get the fuck out. Just then, however, the bell rang and everyone surged from their seats, eager to escape Carron’s monotone monologue. I didn’t budge, and neither did Hazen. As the last person walked out, and the door fell closed behind them, I suddenly rounded on him.
“Haven’t you ever heard of a thing called privacy?”
“It’s been too long, Bea. You need to go back to Nareon.”
“I don’t want to!” I yelled, throwing up my hands.
Unbidden, the memory flashed through my mind, and I saw him looming over me, such vicious heat in his eyes as he rendered my dress clean down the middle. Hazen blinked, his eyes widening, because so far, I had very carefully guarded this memory.
“I see.” He muttered.
I tried to punch him then, but he caught my hand almost lazily, his eyes suddenly pinning me to the seat, warning me not to flip out. But flip out is exactly what I wanted to do, and with a growl of frustration, I lashed out with my other hand. He caught that one too, and abruptly stood, wrenching me to my feet.
“Bea, cut it out, you’re acting like a child.”
I realised that he was right, and I felt a frustrated, embarrassed flush spread over my face.
“I’m sorry.” I muttered, “Everything is just such a mess. Nareon is right, I might be considered powerful in this world, but in his world, I’m just a bug, a bug that any one of them could squash if they wanted to. And I’m supposed to be taking on a group of them? A group of people with my inheritance power, except that they all know how to use it, and I don’t!”
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