“Are these real?” Zwaantie asked.
“Yes, a mage managed to grow them. We had no idea if they were natural or anything though. This island was always bright.” He pointed to an orb in the sky. “You’ll find those all over the island. The trees grew from the bright heated lights. It’s why I picked this island. The castle is hard to find.”
Zwaantie had to admit that growing trees in that way was pretty ingenious. “I bet it’s amazing in there.”
“It is. Maybe we’ll have some time to explore later. Let’s get to the castle now and check in with everyone and see if there are any new developments.”
Zwaantie followed Leo down a well-hidden path. Water from leaves dripped on them, and birds twittered in the trees. The path was smooth and unnatural, but everything else was so alive.
They walked for around ten minutes before a small castle appeared. It was circular, like the main castle, but it only had one level.
Leo pushed open the door and waited for her to enter. She stopped dead in the entryway, feeling like she was out in the jungle once again with bright birds and green trees painted on the walls.
“It’s beautiful,” Zwaantie said.
Leo placed his hand on her back and led her in a few more steps. “It is. The whole castle is painted. It will smell like the outside as well.”
“Why doesn’t the mage who created it still live here?”
“She died before I was born. This was her home. She never married, so she gifted it to the royal family when she died. She was very reclusive. Few even know this island exists.”
“Sounds safe.” She gave him a tentative smile, and he smiled back. She was so grateful he rescued her. She appreciated his comfort as well. He made her feel safe. There were fleeting moments where she could see their future. A future where the pain of Ari’s death wasn’t so fresh.
“Let me show you to your room. Mine will be next door, so if you need anything, I’ll be there. The bedroom doors have multiple locks, so no one can get in.”
Zwaantie cocked her head. “Why?”
“I’m not sure. I would assume the vipers. Maybe they were worse out here.”
At least she’d be safe. Leo stopped in front of a door with a bright red flower painted on it.
“If the smell is too much, we can put you on the other side, but I thought you’d like this one best.”
He pushed the door open, and Zwaantie gasped. Paintings of different flowers covered every inch of the walls. The floor appeared to be strewn with rose petals. A soft pink blanket covered the bed. She stepped in and inhaled. Rose, lily, and wisteria. For some it would be too much, but for her it was perfect.
She grasped Leo’s hand. “Thank you. It’s beautiful.” She leaned up and placed a kiss on his cheek. “You know me better than I thought.”
He blushed. “Well, it was this or the fish room.”
Leo had trouble getting Zwaantie to come out of her room over the next several days.
They were always on the discs with someone, from the moment they got up until they went to sleep. They barely had time to eat.
Ajax returned to Stella after Zwaantie’s mother ordered him to. She was in charge again. The Voice commanded it. At least she hadn’t tried to kill his father. In fact, no one tried to kill anyone. Everyone was safe at the moment, but the Voice controlled both kingdoms. Leo wondered how Zwaantie’s parents ever thought they had any control. Obviously the Voice had been in charge.
Sage and Lyra had a new necklace created that contained both a simple protection spell and the spell that turned off the Voice. It worked on the few people they tested it on. Today was the day they would try to mass distribute them.
They were more cautious this time though, as the Voice would probably expect a trick like this and fight aggressively the second he figured out what they were doing.
Leo knocked on Zwaantie’s door. They were going to watch on the Ticker as the necklaces went out. She didn’t respond. He waited for another few seconds and then pushed the door open a little.
“Zwaantie,” he called, stepping carefully into the room.
“Back here,” she yelled. He crossed the room, inhaling the various floral scents. It was a little overwhelming for him, but she liked it.
He turned the corner and stopped dead. Zwaantie was in the bathtub, purple water up to her neck, her leg flung casually over the side. She turned her head and beamed at him. “This is heaven.”
He wiped his palms on his pants and cautiously made his way over to her. He didn’t want to make her feel uncomfortable.
He sat on the vanity chair next to the tub, grateful he couldn’t see into the water. She’d leave him speechless, and avoiding awkwardness would be out of the question.
He picked up her hairbrush and fiddled with it.
“Can you brush my hair?” she asked. Her long blonde hair flowed over the back of the tub, and he moved around, not quite sure what to do.
“I’ve never done this before.”
She chuckled. “Just run it over my hair.”
He brushed down along her hair, and she sighed. “It’s been so long since someone has done that for me. Luna used to do it all the time, but once we got to Stella, the mages always did my hair, and they don’t use brushes.”
He wasn’t sure if he was doing it right, but a smile crept across her face. The motion was relaxing for him as well. There was something methodical in brushing.
His disc buzzed, jarring him. He put the brush down and picked up the disc.
You ready? It was from Sage.
“Sage says it’s time.”
“I guess. It’s easy to pretend nothing bad is going on when I’m in the tub. Just me and you and nothing else exists.”
Leo tried not to read too much into her words even though they made his stomach flip-flop.
“I’ll let you get dressed, and I’ll meet you in the dining room.” He didn’t wait around for her response because if she stood up before he left the room, they’d never make it out.
The dining room was a perfect circle in the middle of the castle. A table for twelve sat in the center. Pictures of exotic animals covered the walls, which Leo always found creepy. The best thing about the room was that more than one disc could connect to the screens on the walls.
Leo covered the walls with video feeds of various parts of Stella. He called his sister and connected Zwaantie’s disc with Lyra. They were ready to take their country back. With any luck, he and Zwaantie would be on a boat to the City of Stars by morning.
Several hours later Leo, cracked open a new bottle of wine and lifted his glass to his queen. They’d succeeded in getting the necklaces distributed. They’d done it once, so they were more efficient this time around.
Zwaantie leaned into him. “No more Voice, at least for now.”
He put his arm around her and rested his hand on her hip. Everything about this felt natural and comfortable. Maybe life was finally looking up. People all over Stella were celebrating. They remembered everything they’d done under the influence of the Voice, and they were now free from his tyranny. Leo and Zwaantie watched the scene play out across the screens. Sage had finally signed off and went to get dinner. Mother was still connected, and they watched the people celebrating on the Ticker over several screens.
Suddenly everyone on the streets stilled. Stopped dead in their tracks. Zwaantie stiffened next him. Every person reached up and ripped off their necklaces.
“No,” Leo muttered. “No.” This couldn’t be happening. They hadn’t won at all. They’d lost.
“Lyra, what’s going on?” Zwaantie asked.
Lyra dropped her head into her hands. “We failed. My guess is as soon as the Voice figured out what was occurring, he found a way to turn off the new necklaces.”
“I’m coming home. We’re fighting this,” Leo said. He wasn’t letting this Voice rule. He was king. Stars, this was awful.
“Calm down. Let us take stock of the situation. Once we know where thi
ngs stand, then we’ll discuss whether or not you can return.”
Leo kicked the table. He’d been hopeful. He hadn’t been king more than a week, and already his kingdom was under another’s rule.
The next few weeks were difficult for Zwaantie. She watched Leo sink into a depression that she would’ve never thought possible for him.
Once the Voice came back, it ordered not only her death but Leo’s as well. He was stuck on this island with her. He spent hours on the disc with Lyra and Ajax discussing the fate of his people.
Zwaantie tried to comfort him, but she didn’t know how. Ari flooded her thoughts. She felt so lost and isolated. Leo often made dinner but then ate in his own room, leaving her in the dining room alone.
The books made things easier. She read so much about the history of Stella and Sol before the wall was created. Magic had been around from the beginning in both kingdoms.
But so far, she couldn’t find anything about the time when the wall went up. It was as if they went from together and happy to separate with no memory of what it was like before. There were over a hundred books though, and she was determined to find something in one of them. But she was tired of working alone.
She waited until Leo was busy in the kitchen. He wouldn’t abandon the food.
He glanced up when she walked in. His face was unreadable.
“Are you looking for something?” Leo asked.
She stood closer to him than she should’ve, given his avoidance, and peered into the pot he was stirring.
“What are you making?” Zwaantie asked.
“Spaghetti.”
“Yum.” She didn’t move, craving his closeness.
“Zwaantie, what do you want?”
“Company, I’m lonely. Why are you avoiding me?”
He took a step back and ran his hand through his hair. “Because I don’t deserve your company.”
“What are you talking about?”
“I have completely and utterly failed at being king and your husband.”
She climbed onto the counter next to the stove. “I don’t understand. You’ve only been my husband and king for a few weeks. Little early to call it a failure.”
He stirred the noodles in tight, fast circles. The muscles in his arm tense. “My kingdom is under the influence of a being we can’t find or even identify, and my wife is in love with my brother.”
“We will find a way to take our kingdoms back. I don’t know how, and I don’t know when, but we will. As far as me, of course I love Ari, but that does not mean I cannot love you as well.”
He jerked his head up. “Do you?”
“What?”
“Love me?”
“In a romantic way, no, not yet. It will come with time. But I do like and respect you.” She hopped off the counter and dipped her finger in the sauce. She sucked it off her finger. “Needs more salt.” She leaned into him, placing her hands on his stomach. “But there is no way I’m going to fall in love with you if you keep avoiding me.”
She withdrew, because she couldn’t go any further than that. Not yet.
Leo stared at her for a long moment. “I’m sorry.”
“Will you eat with me tonight?”
“Yes, of course.”
“Very well. I’ll set the table.”
Zwaantie set the plates next to each other, and Leo came out a few minutes later, spaghetti in hand. He dished the food up for her. She barely had the food to her mouth, and he spoke.
“I really am sorry. This has all been too much for me, and I needed time to process. In some ways I needed to grieve Ari as well, and I haven’t had time to do that. I’ll be better. I promise.”
“I could use some help reading those books,” Zwaantie said.
“Have you found anything?”
“Other than that life before the wall was amazing. No, I haven’t found anything.”
He raised his eyebrows. “Sounds interesting.”
“It is.”
They continued to eat and talk, and for the first time since the wall fell, Zwaantie felt hopeful that life might actually be taking a turn for the better.
The next couple of weeks Leo and Zwaantie spent every waking moment with those books. Every once in a while they would find something that was close to the time the wall was created and get excited, but it always concluded with a dead end.
One night, Leo was exhausted, and the words on the page blended together. “I can’t read another thing. You wanna go watch a movie?”
Zwaantie looked up at him, her eyes sparkling. “No.”
He rubbed his forehead. “No? Come on, we’ve been reading for hours.”
“I found it,” she said with a grin.
“You what?” Leo rushed to her side.
“Look.” She held out the book, and they read together.
Physical magic was created first—the magic that controlled and manipulated the physical environments, but as the years waned, a new magic emerged—magic that controlled the mind. Soon a division formed among the people. Those who were drawn to the mental magics worshiped the sun, and those drawn to the physical magics worshiped the stars.
As new stars were discovered, along with the powers that came from them, those who worshiped the sun found themselves in the minority. As rulers came into power, the sun magicians felt abandoned and unheard. They withdrew from the main cities and built small villages where they would be left alone. There, they were able to focus on their own magics and learn the nuances of the magic of the sun.
One day a mage discovered that he had the ability to control another’s actions. After much discussion among their Solite elders, they determined that they could finally have a voice in the government of earth. The Stellan elders had cut them out, but they could control the actions of the elders.
At first they only did it occasionally, when a law or rule would unfairly affect them, but as time went on, they felt they deserved more, and within a few years one of the Solite mages made himself King of Earth and called himself the Voice. A few of the Solite mages were uncomfortable with the way he gained his power, feeling that he had violated the Solite code of honor. They approached the Stellan elders and explained what the king had done.
The Stellan elders were angry with the king, but found themselves unable to defy him due to his ability to control their actions. For ten years they worked with the Solite elders who disagreed with the Voice and researched and experimented until they found a spell that would protect them from the Solite king. It was risky, and they did not know the effect the spell would have, but they did know they had to be free of his power.
Together the mages erected a barrier, one that would separate the Stellans and Solites forever.
“That’s it. What’s next?” Leo asked.
“Nothing. The book is finished.”
“Well, it did tell us something incredibly important.”
“What’s that?” Zwaantie asked.
“The Voice is human. It’s just a spell. He can be killed.”
Zwaantie sank into her chair. “Do you think it’s the same person from years ago?”
Leo shook his head. “That would make him immortal, and this says nothing about that. No, I’m guessing he simply passed on his skills to someone new when he was close to death.”
“What are these Solite elders the book speaks of? I know nothing about them.” Zwaantie let out a breath of frustration.
“I suppose it is possible they still exist, but it sounds like they were unhappy with the king. See, this makes it seem like the Voice would carry on with each king, and therefore it would be your father, but he died,” Leo said.
“Maybe my father trained someone else, but the threat on my life was personal. No, my father was not the Voice. Maybe the Voice went underground over the years,” Zwaantie said.
“If we found this, I bet there’s more somewhere else.” Leo thumped the book.
“I bet there is.”
They both turned and stared at the st
ack of books that looked no smaller than it had on day one. He took Zwaantie’s hand and drew her near to him. “Why don’t we worry about that tomorrow? I can’t read another thing. We deserve to relax a little.”
Zwaantie smiled up at him. “At least we found something.”
He ran a thumb across her cheek. “You look beautiful when you’re excited.” He was being bold, bolder than he’d been since they arrived on the island, but he was tired of holding back.
She didn’t respond, but she didn’t pull away either. He dipped his head toward her and let his eyelids flutter shut, and he inhaled her floral scent. Then she was gone.
He opened his eyes and found her standing a few feet from him.
“I’m sorry. I couldn’t. I’m not ready.” She wrung her hands and wouldn’t meet his eyes.
He closed the distance, grabbed her hand, and pulled her into him again. She had a hint of fear in her eyes. He’d never been aggressive with her before. He lifted her chin so she was looking him right in the eyes. “I’ll wait as long as you need.”
She gave a tiny nod and rested her cheek on his chest. He wasn’t sure how long they stood there like that, but he wanted that moment to last forever.
Zwaantie and Leo spent three months on the island. In some ways it was a relief to Zwaantie. She didn’t constantly worry someone was about to kill her.
Every few days an unmanned boat would come from Deep Sky with food and more books. They kept up with Sage, Lyra, and Ajax via their discs. Sage got different necklaces on the spies and the guards. They had to be very careful because they didn’t want to bring the necklaces to the attention of the Voice. Lyra said nearly every necklace was unique in some way. The theory was that if the Voice discovered if the necklaces all had to be the exact same spell, then the Voice could turn them off.
King Ajax and Zwaantie’s mother ran the day-to-day operations of the kingdoms. Ajax called Leo nearly every day. Zwaantie’s blood boiled every time she thought of her mother ruling over her kingdom.
Stella and Sol Box Set Page 61