by Cege Smith
“I am as real as you need me to be. The Immortal Ones bring forward a face that you know and will accept.” Her mother’s form now fully appeared beside her.
Angeline took a step back. Too many things had happened to her in too short a span of time for her to accept anything readily. It could be a trick or worse.
“Why should I trust you?”
“I am part of you. I am in your blood,” Melinda said. “The Immortal Ones bridge the gap between life and death. I am only here because they thought that you would be more comfortable with me as your guide.”
“Those that hide behind others are never to be trusted,” Angeline said.
A wry smile crossed her mother’s face, and she shook her head. “You sound just like your father.”
Angeline stood straighter. “I’ll take that as a compliment. He taught me everything I know.”
“Not everything,” her mother said. “Your compassion, and the ability to feel deeply about those you care for, and your ability to love. That is your mother’s influence whether you recognize it or not.”
“You were Clan.” Angeline did not try to hide the anger in her voice.
Her mother dipped her head. “As was every queen before me. It was another way to continue the close ties behind the humans and the Clan. Why do you think that Alron demanded a Robart bride as part of the peace treaty? It completed the circle. Clan, human and vampire. The three sides are all bound together by blood.”
“So what of me? I have been reborn with a wraith in my head. What does that mean for my destiny?” It was the root of all of Angeline’s angst. Dealing with her grief over her father’s death, having to take the throne in the midst of political anarchy, or marrying a man she didn’t love were all things that she could deal with. Becoming a person unrecognizable to herself was something that she could not, and the fact that she had killed another human to get to where she was would haunt her the rest of her life.
“Please, sit,” Melinda said, pointing at a small outcropping next to the water. “I understand that you are angry.”
“I don’t know what to believe!” Angeline shouted. A queen never shouted, but Angeline had reached her breaking point. “I feel like every person in my life has been lying to me for as long as I can remember. Nothing is as it seems. There are nuances and secrets that have existed for a thousand years that I am just stumbling into now. Who was supposed to tell me all of this? What am I supposed to trust?”
Her mother stepped forward and put her hand on Angeline’s arm. Her face was serious. “You trust no one but yourself, Angeline.”
“I can’t even do that,” Angeline whispered. “Because something else scurries about inside my mind that is evil. To let it do as it wants would mean that I would lose my kingdom forever.”
“What do you want?”
“Why do you mean?” Angeline said, shaking Melinda’s hand away.
“I mean, if you could have anything that you want, what would you ask for?”
“This is a trick question.”
“No,” her mother’s voice was calm and serene. “Just as you ask for the truth, so the truth is asked of you. What do you want, Angeline? What life do you wish for yourself?”
Angeline considered the question. It was a question that she had never been asked before, although she thought about the answer often. There was a part of her that wanted nothing more than to be a normal woman and for Connor to be a normal man and to meet, fall in love, have a family, and live happily ever after. That was a life that would forever be unattainable to her.
There was a part of her though that said that even if she could be granted that life, it would not be a life that would please her forever. She had been raised with certain expectations about where her life would take her. She was prepared to rule a legion of people. It was what she knew how to do, and she had plans to make her mark in history. That thought was exhilarating. Could she ever truly be happy being ordinary?
“I wish to serve my people for as long as I am able,” Angeline replied. “That is my wish. I am not naïve to think it will be easy, and if anything, that is my weakness, but I live for them. I work for their well-being. I will do what I can to protect them because they have put their faith in me and me alone. I do not want to let them down.”
As she spoke, she watched her mother’s eyes narrow. Then Melinda shuddered, and lines appeared across her face. It was as if her mother aged a hundred years in front of her eyes. Then Melinda pointed downstream.
“You will go that way. For your sake, child, I do hope you find your destiny.” Then her mother vanished in front of her eyes.
Angeline was stunned. Then it struck her. The Trials of Truth. She had to pass the tests that the Immortal Ones put before her to prove her worth. She could only hope that she had passed the first one.
It bothered her that she couldn’t know for sure if the woman who had appeared to her was her mother’s spirit, or a figment created to interfere with her mind. The Immortal Ones seemed to enjoy manipulating from the shadows. She would have to be on her guard.
Angeline knew that it was pointless to wait and ponder her predicament. The sooner she got on with it the better. She carefully made her way over the slippery rocks and started on her way along the riverbed. She just rounded the corner when she spied someone sitting on a large rock.
She had been expecting a familiar face, but was still surprised to see Clarissa, her personal attendant, sitting there swinging her legs and looking as if she didn’t have a care in the world. When Clarissa saw her, she started to wave enthusiastically and then slipped down to the ground as Angeline grew closer.
“Majesty! Isn’t it fantastic here? It’s so quiet and peaceful. I don’t think I’d want to be anywhere else,” Clarissa said.
“Clarissa, I’ve always told you to call me Angeline. We grew up together,” Angeline said cautiously. Still she was happy to see her friend. “Where is here?”
Clarissa looked at her strangely. “It’s the other side, Majesty.”
“The other side?” Angeline was stunned. Surely what Clarissa said couldn’t be true.
“The Immortal Ones sit between life and death. That’s why I can be here with you. Isn’t it wonderful?” Clarissa practically bounced on her heels.
“It is a lovely place,” Angeline admitted. “It reminds me of the hunting trips that my father used to take me on when I was younger.”
“I remember those,” Clarissa said. “You always got so mad because the King wouldn’t let you go hunting with him and Malin. You’d always tell me how badly you wished you were a boy. Malin made you so furious because your father doted on him.”
Angeline felt a flush rise in her cheeks. Her tongue was looser as a youngster, and she shared things more freely than she should have. “I still am better with a knife than he is. I have been for years.”
“Of course, Majesty,” Clarissa said with a side wink. “Malin was better with the sword and the bow though, and since he was a man he was always bigger and stronger. That’s why people trusted him when the King fell ill, especially since you had been gone from court so long. He made people feel safe.”
Angeline bristled. “Malin is an excellent Advisor as his father was before him and his father before him. The Bafords advise, but the Robarts rule.”
Clarissa stared at her feet and began to pick at her skirt. “Yes, but let’s be honest, it’s always been Robart men who have ruled.”
Anger and frustration bubbled up inside of her. Angeline had always hated that she was constantly compared to her male ancestors. She firmly believed that just because a Robart woman had not ruled before did not mean that a Robart woman could not rule.
“Bow down before me,” Angeline said. “I am your Queen.” She held her head high.
Clarissa fell to her knees. “I am sorry, Majesty. I did not mean to offend.”
Angeline knew then that it was time to put childish things away. While she could still be friendly, she could no longer be f
riends with those who had comforted her so much when she was young. It wasn’t done. Her father did not keep company with those who he grew up with that lived outside of the noble houses. It wasn’t because he didn’t want to; it was because to do so drew the wrong kind of speculation.
Angeline had railed against this idea, but she saw now that it made sense. Perhaps one day she could, but in the meantime, she was undermining her own authority. Her people needed to see a ruler, not an eighteen-year-old woman who was indecisive and informal. It chafed, but it was her reality.
“I was wrong before. You will address me formally whenever we meet, in life and the afterlife. Forever.”
Clarissa’s head came up, and her dark eyes twinkled at Angeline. Then she dipped her head and vanished.
“Finally, you listen and believe what I have taught you.”
Instantly tears welled in Angeline’s eyes. She felt her breath catch in her throat. In a place that spanned life and death, it seemed inevitable that she would find him here. She slowly turned, and found her father standing there behind her. She wanted to run to him and throw her arms around his neck just like she was still five years old. But she didn’t. Queens did not show an overabundance of emotions.
She lowered her head an inch as deference to his age, but other than that, they now stood on equal footing. “Father.”
“Daughter,” he said. His voice was even, but she could tell there was a strong undercurrent of something else there. He did not approve. She could only guess what those things would be. The list was lengthy. “I have been in this place a short time, but it seems it didn’t take you long to make a mess of things.”
She almost started to apologize, but as her mouth opened, no words came out. Accusations bubbled in her mind. “I have done the best I can considering I was left with the kingdom in peril, and you did not trust me enough to tell me anything of the truth. Whatever is happening is because you did not prepare me properly.”
“Queens do not blame others or make excuses,” Eric said.
“Kings do not trick their daughters into thinking that they will be queen while preparing a substitute under her nose,” Angeline said harshly.
Eric’s eyebrows rose so high that they disappeared into his hair. “You dare question my motives?”
Her heart beat wildly against her chest, but Angeline did not back down. “I do.”
“My daughter, the wraith, in love with a vampire, is taking me to task? This is rich,” Eric said.
“I am done with this,” Angeline said. “I wish to speak to with the Immortal Ones.”
“What?” Eric’s voice rumbled across the wide expanse of space.
“I am through with these supposed trials,” Angeline said, raising her voice. “I am here to speak to the Immortal Ones. I am the One. I have no further needed to prove it. Be gone. You are not my father.”
Angeline was tired of being a puppet on someone else’s string. She decided if they were going to hurt her, they would have done so by now. She had some kind of value to the Immortal Ones. She was ready to push the limits of that assumption.
Eric’s head dropped into his chest. It was as if he had gone to sleep. Melinda and Clarissa appeared by his side. They all stood there before her, but they did not raise their chins from their chests.
A choir of voices burst into Angeline’s head, and she cried out in pain.
“What is it you seek?”
“The cure,” she sputtered. She couldn’t even think.
“The cure for what?”
“Remove the wraith,” Angeline said. Her legs felt weak.
“Impossible,” the voices said.
“I am the One! You will do what I ask,” she said. She had no idea if that was a valid reason or not, but she had to push forward and try.
“You do not understand the truth. That is why you will fail.”
“Take it out. Take it away. Make me whole again!” Angeline said.
The voices were silent. Angeline was able to open her eyes and then wished that she hadn’t. The three silent people across from her stood there staring at her with blazing red eyes.
“You do not know what you ask.” This time it was the image of her mother that spoke alone. “To make you whole breaks the bond that brings you strength. You have the ability to control your demons because of your sire.”
“Connor? What does that mean?”
“As you have a destiny, so does your sire.”
“I don’t understand,” Angeline said.
“You will. One day,” Clarissa said.
“Until that day, you cannot be cured. You are here too early. That may mean your end,” Eric said.
“Wait,” Angeline said, feeling the finality of their words. “What do I need to do? I cannot continue on like this. You need to help me.”
“We are helping you,” the voices said in unison. “You have awakened us too soon. You will have to live with the consequences of that.”
Their hands raised, and Angeline knew that she was about to be banished. “You can’t leave me with nothing! I need help.”
“Help you shall have.” The voices whispered in her mind.
Angeline screamed as the light ripped away. Her mind whirled with the words of the Immortal Ones. She was missing something vital and critical, something that had to do with Connor. Her eyes readjusted and she found herself looking into the face of a scowling crone.
Then she realized that she was back inside the Clan’s Council chamber, and a ring of slouched, haggard looking men and women surrounded her. Shaken, she realized in amazement that they were the Council members. The images of their youthful faces had been removed.
“I see you,” she said, stunned and shaken. “I see who you really are.”
The crone in front of her, in Theodora’s robes, screeched. “Impossible!”
The doors at the back of the hall burst open. Angeline’s heart leapt into her chest. Connor stormed into the room. Then her eyes took in his bloodstained clothes and the look of murder on his face.
“I am free of you, witch!” he yelled, pointing at Theodora.
He waved to a young man behind him in a guard’s uniform. “Marcus, I always keep my promises. It’s time to feed.”
Angeline had been returned to a world that she no longer recognized. It settled on her in that moment. She had survived her first meeting with the Immortal Ones, but she was left with more questions. Worse yet, she had no idea who she was any longer.
In that sense, she was whole again. She no longer heard voices in her head. She didn’t sense a presence inside her mind that didn’t belong there. Her mind was completely her own. Somehow, the Immortal Ones had banished the wraith, but she was afraid that it had only been absorbed into her consciousness. The thoughts and desires of the wraith now were one with her. She knew it was true because there was only one horrifying thought that threatened to overwhelm her in that moment.
There was nothing she wanted to do more than to join Connor, and wipe the Clan off the face of Altera forever. She couldn’t think of a single reason why that might be a bad thing.
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A Heart’s Deceit (Bloodtruth #4)
By Cege Smith
Copyright 2014 Cege Smith
Kindle Edition
Visit Cege's website and blog at http://www.cegesmith.com
eBook Edition, License Notes
This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to the retailer of your choice and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.
CHAPTER ONE
A raging desire for vengeance threatened to swallow her. Angeline wasn’t sure if the sensation emanated from within her o
wn body, or something she could practically taste in the air. She didn’t move from the platform as Connor and his henchman, the man he called Marcus, stalked across the chamber toward the Clan council members. Having declared himself free of Theodora’s magical binding, Connor was intent on doing harm. With Theodora’s attention focused on the vampire threat, Angeline had a few moments to readjust to her surroundings. Part of her still lingered with the Immortal Ones.
The fire that licked the ceiling of the great hall appearing to burn in mid-air went out just as Theodora’s face tightened into a scowl. Angeline realized that the woman was gathering all of her magic to her for protection. The other twelve council members clustered around her, and Angeline watched as they clasped their hands together.
Theodora might not have the magical strength on her own to face down the threat, but Angeline felt a sense of dread sweep over her as she heard the hum of unknown words escaping thirteen pairs of lips. It appeared she wasn’t the only one concerned as Connor and Marcus slowed their approach toward the platform.
It finally crossed Angeline’s mind that she should try to stop Connor from imparting violence on the Clan council. While they were manipulative and devious, there was still much that Angeline didn’t know about them or their history. They were also the only link she had to the Immortal Ones, and as much as she didn’t want to admit it, she needed them.
“Connor, stop!” she called to him.
She felt the heat of his gaze as his eyes rose from the semi-circle of bodies that stood between them. The chanting stopped, and everyone in the room went still as they all waited for Connor’s response.
Angeline shivered, but it wasn’t from a cool breeze in the room. She wasn’t sure who was more dangerous, the thirteen council members standing in front of her, or the tall vampire who seemed intent on killing them. Still, he had sworn fealty to her. He wouldn’t be able to go against her wishes without outright betraying her.