“We’ll bring Grandma too,” I said, for good measure.
She smiled at me.
“I’d like that, a lot. I can’t let you go to war, and lead an entire Kingdom, by yourself. You are only nineteen after all. You need your momma there, I’ve already missed so much...” My wedding.
Nineteen, I am nineteen.
Somewhere along the way I had forgotten my birthday. I wasn’t even sure what I was doing in the Morthlands that day.
Axel didn’t miss the comment either...
“Nineteen? When was your birthday, we missed it!”
“What is today?” I asked Mom
“Today is July 10th.”
“My birthday was last month,” I told him.
He looked more upset about missing the day than I felt about it. But to be fair, it wasn’t very high on my priorities list. Staying alive to make it to another year was.
“So what are we going to do about this guy?” I asked Axel, referring to mom’s ex.
“Well you told me it is illegal to just go and seek him out and kill him. Maybe we need to wait for him to come to us, like you suggested before, self-defense?”
“What do you mean like you suggested before?” Mom asked.
“Well right after I first met him here, I brought Axel back with me the next day. He was just ready to hunt him down and kill him. I told him we couldn’t do that, and it would have to be in self-defense. If he comes here though, we will take him down.”
“How can I help?” she asked me, with fierce determination in her eyes.
“There is a chance he could find us. We will need you to stay here, and stand guard. If he comes banging we need to know, so we can come back and defend ourselves,” I told her.
“How will I wake you?” she asked.
“Good question. We haven’t had to test this before. I’m always undisturbed in my sleep. I used magic here and it almost killed me in Morthshadow. My other body could sense something was wrong. Maybe, if you slapped us as hard as you could and shook us, we would feel it,” I offered. It was the only solution I could think of.
“Ok, hopefully it doesn’t come to that.”
“Agreed,” I answered.
“Oh my God,” my Mom said, looking straight at me. Her eyebrows kissed her hairline.
“What?” I asked her. Wondering what her epiphany was about.
“You mentioned a bonding ceremony, you two are married!” she announced loudly with a squeal.
Axel and I snuck a guilty peek at each other and nodded our heads.
My mom started crying.
“I’m so happy for you,” she said. “I’m so sorry I missed it, but I understand. Maybe one day after this is all over, your father and I will be able to give you a wedding here too?” she asked hopefully.
She mentioned my dad, which surprised me. She never used to talk about him. Now that I brought him up first and explained why he left, maybe she was willing to test the waters.
I looked at Axel again. He had been quiet during most of Mom’s time here. He would throw in bits here and there to the story, but he was quiet and reserved. Now he was smiling ear to ear at her offer, an offer to repeat the best day of our lives all over again.
“We would like that very much,” I told her.
“Will that bother you? Seeing Dad again?” I asked her. I felt concerned about her feelings.
“I’m sure it’s going to feel like a punch to the stomach. I’m probably going to hate him at first. Seventeen years of hating someone doesn’t go away overnight. But from what you said, he didn’t leave me for another woman, he thought he was doing something noble. So I will do my best to be noble, to be nice.”
“When did you grow up?” I asked her, teasingly.
“When I realized my baby grew up right before my eyes, and I was too self-absorbed to realize it.”
She wrapped me in a hug and I sighed in contentment.
I needed this, I needed my mom. It was so hard to go through all of this, and leave her in the dark.
“Come over here, my son,” she said, referring to Axel.
He wore a large grin as he strolled over to us and put his arms around us both.
For once, I felt positive about what would come next.
Chapter Eight
Violet
“Do well, and be safe,” I told Trin as I hugged her goodbye.
Separating from her again hurt. I was going to worry about her the whole time she was gone. The Siren Queen was not known to be friendly. It felt a lot like sending her into a lion’s den while she wore a meat suit.
“I will. You better be safe too. I don’t want to have to bring you back a second time,” she joked. Just under the surface of her words was the meaning, don’t put us through that again.
“I apparently have more lives than a cat, I will be ok,” I assured her with a joke of my own. If we didn’t crack jokes and smile, I was sure the two of us would start to cry.
I looked at Thomas.
“You take care of her. You protect her with your life, and that is an order from your Queen,” I said, with a wink.
I hate adding the Queen order, but in this case, it would ease a few of my worries about her.
“You don’t need to put any weight behind that request. Trin is special, and even more so now. I will always protect her with my life,” he said, looking directly at her.
Chills.
“I’m right here, you know?” she asked, her cheeks were pink.
“I’m always aware of where you are,” he said.
His voice was intense and almost seductive. Lucky Trin.
I still hadn’t gotten her to confess what had happened between those two, but it would have to wait until we all returned. Trin looked like she was about to jump him, knock him to the ground and never let him go.
“Save this for when we aren’t around,” Axel teased. Then he shook Thomas’ hand.
I started a trend. Now people were shaking each other’s hands in this realm. Yay!
“Star and Luna, where are you?” I asked the crowd of family that had gathered behind us.
“Here, here!” they called as they pushed through our relatives.
“Good. Remember, I need you to protect them all. Can you do that?”
“Of course,” they said. Their tone suggested I was dense for even questioning their ability. To demonstrate Star lifted a large rock from the ground into the air, and Luna shoved it so hard that it exploded into tiny bits of rock and dust.
What a show for two small girls.
“Right,” I said, with a large smile.
I wrapped them both in a hug.
Great Aunt Beetie and Wisdom were both difficult to say good-bye to, but I left them in charge of the family. We all had communication charms to keep touch in an extreme emergency, but we hoped we wouldn’t need that. More than anything else, it would let us know if someone in our group perished. In four days, I hoped to be back here, with Trin, Thomas, and our armies, sailing for Tate.
☼
Axel and I moved west to Morthshadow by foot. An hour had passed before I thought about my new ability, and I could have kicked myself. It dawned on me, we didn’t have to walk. We needed to be quick to make our timeline and my wings would help speed that up. That was assuming they didn't drain my magic too quickly.
“So do you want to see my fiery wings? I’m thinking that flying will get us to the bridge much sooner,” I told Axel.
“You know, I had already forgotten about that. So much has happened, it's hard to think straight now.”
His golden eyes look tired. He was tired of the odds being stacked against us. I could feel that though coming from him through the bond. I was tired of it too. I hoped that in five days from now we would walk across the battlefield victorious. Then we could put all of this behind us, and focus on making the Kingdoms a better place, and peaceful. I wanted the Red River to turn clear. I wanted to see all the precious items the femen had thrown into its depths. I wanted
the bloodshed to stop.
“I know what you mean. I’m always making plans and back up plans, in my head. It’s hard to do anything else but that.”
He nodded his agreement.
We stopped walking and I closed my eyes. I focused on that tingly spot in my spine that my wings had grown from. Just like in the trial, I sent my magic there. With a loud ripping sound, the wings sprung from my back.
Now that I wasn’t in the trials, I could feel the heat from my wings. It didn’t hurt, but I definitely felt warm. The fire that made up the wings was crackling like the sound of a campfire. Axel stared at the flames in amazement. He reached out a hand to them, and I quickly grabbed it.
“They are real fire, remember?”
He shook his head, and the action broke his trance.
“That’s right. They are just so beautiful. I could look at the fire dance on them, forever,” he said. His eyes left my wings and moved to my eyes.
I felt my face turn pink.
“I got these wings for returning the magic-worker’s magic down in that fiery hell hole.”
“How ironic?” he asked.
“Tell me about it.”
I closed my eyes and started to flap my wings. It took more concentration than the last time I used them. It took a lot of effort just to get my feet off the ground. After a moment, I was finally airborne.
I grabbed Axel under his arms, and wrapped my arms around his ribcage. His feet were dangling above the ground.
I flapped my wings harder and faster to bring our combined weight higher. I didn’t want to be low enough to the ground that I was recognizable. The less people who knew where we were or what we were up to, the better.
I could not stop sweating as we made our way across Morthsoul. The view and the time we gained were completely worth the water weight lost.
From our height, I saw villages dotted across the landscape, and even the mountains we had climbed back when Eduard was still King.
“I never thought something like this was possible,” Axel said, tilting his head up to look at me.
“I never thought I’d come back from the dead either,” I said, sensing where his thoughts were. None of this seemed real sometimes.
“The face in the wall in the cave told me the Goddess was doing what she could for you and to have faith. I guess next time I need to listen.”
“Don’t worry, I wouldn’t have believed it either. Bringing someone back from the dead shouldn’t be possible.”
I felt terrible at the realization, and also a burst of anger. If Great Aunt Bertie had told Trin about her gifts sooner, maybe she could have saved Thanian and Clarissa. Their deaths had haunted me before. Now that I had escaped my own another time now, it really weighed on me. I wondered where their spirits were. Did they move into the light, or did they still wander this realm as spirits like I had.
After a two hour flight we were nearing the bridge. I told Axel it was better to approach the femen on foot, and he agreed. While we wanted their help, I wasn’t stupid enough to think that they truly cared about us and our mission. They were very selfish creatures. I needed to keep my abilities close to my chest to continue to outwit them.
I set us down behind some cover and created a flashy bracelet to put on my wrist. Hopefully they would accept this as payment for their help.
I tucked my emerald necklace under my shirt, and turned my ring around so that the emerald and diamonds faced my palm. Hopefully they wouldn’t be interested in a plain looking gold band.
I took a deep breath and then looked at Axel. He appeared light on his feet and ready. He was alert and ready to get a move on. I could feel him slip into a sense of purpose at our task.
It must be nice to be flown around for two hours, while I did all the hard work.
We approached the bridge and the femen approached us from their spot in the middle of the bridge.
The same creature from last time approached me.
“I remember you, feisty one. Do you wish to cross the bridge?” it asked me.
“No, as Queen of the Morthlands, I have come to form an alliance and ask for assistance from you.”
The half cat, half man’s eyes widened.
“You are what now?” It asked me in a purr.
“I became the Queen of the Morthlands since we last met.”
I stood tall and proud.
“I have heard rumors about you,” the creature purred again. “Rumor has it you have great power, and great magic.”
“The creators of that rumor are too kind, and exaggerate much,” I countered.
Lower their expectations, Violet.
“What could make the Queen of the Morthland’s approach us for help?”
“There is an approaching battle. In less than a weeks’ time, we hope to be on a boat sailing to Tate to end the attacks on our people. I was hopeful that you could provide some help.”
“What makes you think we would be willing to help?” the cat man asked in an almost growl.
Why the hostility?
“Well, we are trying to build numbers. Tate has convinced the werewolves to help him...”
The femen let out a loud growl.
“We hate the werewolves. We want them all wiped off this land,” it almost spat.
I already knew that thanks to Victoria’s diary. They were playing right into my hands.
“Well the enemy of my enemy is my friend,” I told him.
“We can be indeed, for a price.”
I almost rolled my eyes, he was so predictable.
“What is the price?”
“For starters, that pretty bracelet on your wrist,” it purred as it demanded.
I unclasped the bracelet and took it off my wrist. I held it in the air between us, not yet giving it to the man. They were tricksters.
“That necklace on your neck will also do,” it said.
I had to hold back a gasp. I couldn’t give him this necklace. Not only was it a family heirloom, it was my only way to transport between the two worlds. All of my emeralds were back in the castle, in my hiding place in my room. I wouldn’t be able to travel back home without it. Just another reason I couldn’t bring mom with me until after this war had ended.
“Are you sure there isn’t anything else you want aside from this simple necklace?” I asked.
My shirt still covered the pendant and I hoped to distract him with the promise of something else.
“Stupid Queen, we don’t care about the extravagance of the item, we care about the importance of the item to its owner. That is our job, to separate important items from their owners. We give them to the Red River in hopes that it one day will turn clear, and we can return to our home.”
“Where is your home?” I asked.
“It is at the end of the Red River. It was taken over by the Children of the Willows. Those ignorant brats, ignoring the balance of life and kicking us from our home,” the creature spat.
Interesting.
“Why did they take your home?” I asked.
“They wanted our help, and of course we demanded payment. Their coven leader gave my ancestors her prized pendulum. Naturally, she was upset we took something so important to her. After we helped them, they threatened to kill our kind , raise us up from the dead as puppets to do their dirty work. After my ancestors refused to return the pendant they became even more angry. Our other option was to allow them to take something important to us, our home. They said we could return when the red water turned clear. So we sacrifice other people's important items, hoping that one day it will be enough to return us home.”
That made sense. I almost felt bad for them, almost. The Children of the Willow’s reputation preceded them. I hoped Trin would be safe when she visited them.
“I know someone who may be able to help you with that, and I will see what I can do. In the meantime, name another price.”
“No, you have our price. The bracelet and the necklace.”
Shit, shit, shit.
Could I be clever enough to trick these guys again? They haven’t seen the necklace yet. Maybe I can craft a look alike and swap it with the real one to give to them. Hopefully by the time they discover it was a fake, it would be after the war and Trin could convince the necromancers to let the femen have their home back.
“Ok,” I finally relented.
Axel gasped.
“Violet, you can’t do that. You will be stuck here.”
“It will be ok, Axel. I will give you the necklace and ask that you not throw it in the water. If I fail to get you your home back, it is yours to keep. If I get you your home, I want the necklace returned to me, exactly as I gave it to you. No damage, no changes, nothing.”
While the fake meant absolutely nothing to me, I couldn’t let them know that. They’d be suspicious if I was suddenly ok with being parted from it. This would keep them distracted.
“You have some nerve negotiating with us,” the feman challenged.
“You forget, I am a powerful Queen,” I retorted.
The cat man stared at me for a long minute, unblinking, before he finally agreed.
I wrapped my hand around the pendant while reaching behind me to unclasp the necklace. I focused my magic into my hand and made a duplicate necklace.
I closed both of my hands around the necklaces and they swapped places. Using the same hand I had my original necklace in, I handed the fake off. Then I handed off the bracelet.
“Fantastic,” the creature purred.
It tossed the bracelet into the water, and then pocketed the replica necklace.
“Meet us at the southern shores docks in four days, with all your fighting equipment. Be prepared to take out as many werewolves as you can,” I commanded.
“It will be our pleasure,” he said, with a sadistic smile.
A shiver ran up my spine.
I’m glad I’m not on their bad side.
“Will you allow us across without charge?” I asked.
“Of course not,” it said.
“But our agreement is firm, with no ability to be broken?” I asked.
Emerald Wars (The Dream Traveler Book 3) Page 5