by Casey Odell
“I don’t know what you are talking about,” Claire lied.
“Do you really think I am that dense? Why else would you walk so foolishly into such an obvious trap?”
Claire shrugged. “I did it to find my mother. But I suppose you really wouldn’t know anything about love, would you?”
Deliah chuckled, deep and throaty and full of disbelief. “I am not foolish enough to believe that the king would send one of his most valuable assets out into the world with such a measly guard just so she could find her so called mother.”
Claire was silent and wondered if she should just tell the truth. She had a strange compulsion to tell the woman everything. Her head swam again, and the smell of the incense grew stronger. It was then that she knew what was happening to her. She eyed the smoke drifting out of the small, unassuming holder across the room.
“Moon Grass,” Deliah said calmly as if her secret hadn’t just been revealed. “It makes subjects a little more… responsive. Words a little easier to slip off your tongue.”
Claire made a move to stand but froze when Deliah produced a short sword from under the table.
“Sit,” she commanded softly.
Claire sunk back down onto the cushion. She narrowed her eyes at the woman. She guessed she shouldn’t have been surprised that the Syndicate would stoop to such tricks to get what they wanted. “Why aren’t you affected?”
“I have been inhaling Moon Grass since I took my first breath. I have been struck with more poisons than you know exist, breathed in smoke more potent than this. A snake must be resistant to its own venom.”
Claire dug her nails into her palms, hoping the pain would help her get a hold of herself.
“I will get the truth from you, my dear sweet Claire, all of it— maybe not today, but I will. I do not know why you wish to protect a man who values you so little, that is using you to get what he wants. Of course, he wants to restore the magic. He is an elf— it’s what they all want. It’s why the forest elves were trying to use you. They are desperate to return to power. Is that what you want? Do you hate humans so much?”
“I don’t.”
“Or is it for more selfish reasons? Do you believe restoring magic will save you from your fate?” Deliah looked at Claire’s right arm.
Claire followed the woman’s gaze, down to the dark mark growing wild across her hand and up her arm, disappearing under her sleeve. Would that even be possible?
“Perhaps it could save you. It stands to reason that if the magic is returned, there is no need for it to still reside within you. But I would rather see you succumb to the madness your mark brings before letting those monsters rule again and afflict such atrocities upon humans once more. So should you, Claire.”
“I hope you understand that I don’t exactly share your enthusiasm of my… unfortunate demise.”
“You will when you realize what is at stake. Look at what is already happening because of the barest hint of magic. And I ask you, is whatever the king promised you worth the price?”
“Yes,” she blurted it out before she could stop herself. She held a hand up to her forehead. She needed to stop talking, but the compulsion to answer Deliah was too strong. Before long she would be laying out floor plans of the palace and the names of all the servants, the color of her sheets...
Deliah raised her eyebrows. “Go on, my dear, you want to tell me, don’t you?”
She glared at Deliah, clenching her teeth hard.
Deliah stroked the short sword laying on the table.
Claire gulped and let the truth spill. She had been through too much of the ‘hard way’ in the past. “He and the Council promised to end the very thing that was the cause of my misery.”
“And what would that be?”
“The centaur attacks.”
Deliah smiled knowingly. “So they were the ones behind them.” She reached for Claire’s hand, clasping it down on the table in a comforting manner. “And is that any less insidious than what we have done?”
Claire was quiet. The woman was right on that, at least.
“And as terrible as that may seem, let me assure you that you have certainly been taken for a fool.”
“What do you mean?”
“The king and his little Council may have given those beasts the initial order, but they control them as much as they control the weather.”
Ice ran through her veins as confusion wracked her head. Was it true? Had she been fooled to undertake such a dangerous mission for a promise that couldn’t even be fulfilled? Deliah could be trying to turn her against the king and Council, her mission…
“Why should I believe you?”
“Perhaps you shouldn’t. I would not blame you. But deep down you know it’s true. You’ve seen what those beasts are, their wildness— you’ve experienced their cruelty. Do you really think they can be controlled?”
Claire let that sink in. She’d had an up-close-and-personal experience of their brutality. Had somehow even managed to survive it.
“You’ve been taken for a fool, my dear. Used as a means to an end.”
The full weight of it hit her like a brick wall crumbling on top of her. She found it hard to breathe suddenly. She had let her trusting nature get the better of her. The king and Council were no better than the Syndicate. They just had a fancier snake pit.
“What were they having you do? Did they send you to try to infiltrate us? To find the Star Children we have in our possession?”
“Something like that,” she said softly, feeling defeated. The sting of the potential truth hadn’t worn off. It was close enough to the truth of Claire’s mission to bother trying to correct her.
“Now, let me ask you: do you still wish to deliver your kind to people that would use such tactics in the first place to get what they want?”
Guilt swept through her. She had been desperate enough to make a deal with them without even thinking of the repercussions. Why was she willing to do the same thing the Syndicate had been doing to the Star Children for years, entrap them in a life they never asked for, to serve people that were willing to torture them to get what they wanted? She felt sick to her stomach.
Claire looked at Deliah and said, “No.”
Claire stood alone on the rampart, or as alone as she could be in a place like this, and looked out into the trees. Far into the valley stood a small town, not unlike her home, Stockton, only this one had erected a sort of makeshift wooden wall around the small inner section. A meager defense for an inevitable attack, if what Deliah had said was true. Claire had thought she’d stopped them, or at least delayed them. She felt used in one of the worst ways possible. No wonder even Farron had tried so hard to escape the Council and his brother’s clutches.
There was still, however, a chance that Deliah could be the one that was lying. She was trying to break Claire, her will to fight and be free. Disillusion her of her mother. Make her more… compliant.
Sadly, there was only one way to find out the truth of the matter. She didn’t look forward to the day if Deliah was right.
She wrapped her cloak around her tighter to fight the sudden chill.
“You hope I am wrong,” Deliah’s voice said softly beside her.
Claire fought the urge to jump. She hadn’t heard the woman, though she was certain that Deliah had plenty of experience sneaking up on people.
“I’m sure everyone in that town hopes you are wrong,” Claire said, staring down into the valley.
“Some of my scouts haven’t returned yet,” Deliah said, stepping up to the edge of the wall, her arms crossed. She wore the simple pants and shirt outfit Claire had first seen her in. “Not the most promising sign. Let’s just hope they have only been delayed.”
Another chill raced across her skin. “What if…” she started, her mouth suddenly dry, “what if you are right?”
Deliah turned to look at her, eyebrow raised, an arrogant look on her face that suggested she felt a sort of victory.
Clai
re tried to ignore it. It wouldn’t matter who was right if the centaurs decided to attack them. “If they— we— are attacked, what then?”
“We’ll know before that,” she said, full of confidence. “We will be long gone.”
“What about them?” Claire nodded to the town.
“There’s nothing I can do for them.”
“You wouldn’t even send them a warning?” Claire asked, incredulous. “I thought you wanted to protect innocent lives? Isn’t that the whole reason you are keeping me locked up here?”
A wry smile twisted her lips. “I will send a messenger,” she said, as if she was doing Claire a favor. “If I have any spare men. Your safety is my top priority. If we lose you, we will have to start the hunt all over again.”
Claire brushed aside the woman’s blithe attitude about her life and gave the woman a curious look. “Do you know how we are made?”
“You are born just like everyone else, if that’s what you mean.”
Claire wasn’t amused at her little attempt at a joke. Ever since the woman had poisoned her, she’d been trying to get on Claire’s good side. A week had passed since then, and Claire had trouble trusting any food or drink that had been sent to her room. Her hunger had finally gotten the best of her a few days ago, however. She’d rather risk it than be weak and dizzy from starvation. She needed to keep her strength up.
Deliah shrugged when she noticed Claire’s lack of humor. “It’s not hereditary,” she said, leaning back on the low wall. “It’s random in the most frustrating of ways. There is no telling who will be born with it. But I suppose that was how it was designed.”
“Do you know who did it?” Claire looked down at her right hand. It had to be created by someone. By a group of people, or elves, or something else altogether. Whoever, or whatever, had done it had to have been extremely powerful, and desperate for the War to end to resort to such measures.
“We have ideas,” Deliah said, her tone growing serious. “A group of rebels, perhaps, from both sides of the war. Humans couldn’t have done it by themselves. They wouldn’t have had the power. If elves did have a hand in it, then it was sort of a cruel joke to hide magic in those that they had despised, don’t you think?” She smirked at Claire. “It is said that one of the founding members of the Syndicate was there, had been one of those behind the ritual, and had started us to keep the Star Children hidden. But that was a long time ago and no documents of such a thing exist. Not that we keep such records, especially about something so important.”
“And so you have been hunting and hiding us ever since.”
“Indeed. Along with other endeavors, which I’m sure you’ve heard about.”
Claire nodded. Unscrupulous business dealings were more like it.
“We need some way to make money.” Deliah shrugged again. “To keep everything running smoothly. To keep you fed and safe.”
“Is this where I’m supposed to thank you?”
“If you would like.” Deliah smiled. “A little gratitude never hurt anybody, Claire.”
Claire wasn’t even about to consider thanking the woman for capturing her and holding her prisoner. The woman was seriously delusional if she thought she would.
Deliah pushed away from the wall and approached Claire. She towered over Claire by almost half a foot. “I’ve been wondering, my dear little Claire.”
“About what?” Claire raised her chin, refusing to let the woman intimidate her. Or at least tried not to let it show.
“What will you do if I am right?” She reached out and touched the end of Claire’s braid hanging over her shoulder. “Will you still try to complete your mission? I am smart enough to realize that just because you are in my possession doesn’t mean that you won’t at least try. But will you? Even if I am not right, do you really want to deliver innocent people like you, that didn’t deserve any of this as you have said, into the hands of such people?”
“I don’t know,” Claire said, looking past her to the town below. She wasn’t even sure she wanted to go back. But it was a little too late for that. Farron and her mother were out there, searching for the others. She had no doubt that they had managed to escape from Bertrand’s men. Deliah wouldn’t tell her if they had, though. They wanted her to believe that they had Farron and her mother, for leverage, to keep her in line. But Claire knew Marion and the elf better. They would escape. And they would want revenge. Her mother probably knew locations they’d kept the other Star Children, or had her suspicions. What she didn’t know was what they would do with them if they did find any. She had no way of contacting them. She just had to trust in them.
“Marion’s stubbornness has worn off on you.” Deliah dropped her braid. “Even though you are not her flesh and blood, I do see a lot of her in you. The fire in your eyes, the mannerisms, the kindness deep in your heart.”
Claire shifted her gaze up to the woman and saw a softness to Deliah’s face that she took on whenever she thought of her old friend. “Not everything was a lie,” she said softly. “Not like you said. She loved me, I know she did.”
Deliah sighed. “I know. She wasn’t supposed to, but she did. With all her heart. I can understand why she did it. Why she wanted you to be safe. She had done everything in her power to give you a normal life. She would have it no other way. She was adamant in the way she raised you. Let you have friends, and she even wanted to let you get married.”
Claire’s eyes widened in shock. “What?” she said, her voice breathy. She had thought her mother was the one behind Jerrod’s disappearance.
Deliah raised an amused eyebrow. “We couldn’t have you getting married, now could we?”
“How could you!” Her anger was renewed. So they were the ones behind that. She’d cried for weeks after he had left. The wound from her heartbreak still hurt. Still damaged her.
“You know why.” There was no sympathy in Deliah’s voice. “She either got rid of him, or we would have taken you in. Marion made the final decision. Don’t think her hands are entirely clean. So, we made him… disappear.”
“You didn’t…” Claire struggled to get the words past her lips. “…you didn’t, kill him, did you?” She had never found out what had happened to him. And although the thought hadn’t occurred to her before, she wouldn’t put it past them to do such a thing.
“Oh, no. Marion forbade it, unfortunately. I assure you he is still alive out there. Living a simple, carefree life. Unharmed— physically that is.”
Claire breathed a sigh of relief, the tension easing out of her. “Do… do you watch him?” He may have broken her heart, however unintentionally, but she found she was still curious about him. He was living, but where? Doing what? Did he still think of her? Too many questions entered her mind all at once.
“Occasionally,” she said, as if the matter were trivial. To her, it would be. “He is a loose end. We have to make sure he wouldn’t try to seek you out. But we think he knows better. He may be a simple farm boy, but he at least has a head on his shoulders.”
“So, you kidnapped him and threatened his life.” Claire shook her head in disbelief. Her first casualty. That she knew of…
“Something like that.” Deliah almost looked proud.
“And what about my friends?” Claire asked. Hannah and Lauren had left Stockton to get married, but who knew how much the Syndicate may have influenced their lives as well?
“The girls?” Deliah thought on it for a moment. “I do not think we did anything about them. Unless your mother did without our knowledge. They were no threat and left of their own accord anyway.”
Relief swept through her again. At least they hadn’t been victims of the Syndicate. Even though she hadn’t heard from them in over a year, she figured it was due to distance. They were bound to drift apart, lose themselves in their marriages, their children, their new and exciting lives. The thought made her kind of sad, but at least she would always have those memories. She hoped they lived the rest of their lives in peace and happin
ess, far away from the Syndicate’s schemes, away from the Centaurs, and the General and his army. Away from her. Claire would never see them again, she knew. She could only hope they were safe.
“The old man,” Deliah said, looking up in thought. “Mr. Farthis, I think he went by…”
“He was one of yours as well,” Claire finished. She should have been surprised, but she wasn’t at this point. The only thing that would shock her now was if she learned the whole town of Stockton had been a front for the Syndicate.
“Well, yes,” Deliah said with a frown. “He was a kind old man. He passed away last year.”
Her breath left her in a long sigh. That was a shock. He may have been a Syndicate agent, but he had always been kind to her and her mother. She closed her eyes for a moment, then opened them again, blinking away tears that had started to gather. “Oh,” was all she could think to say.
“He went peacefully, if that is any consolation,” Deliah said. “I had sent him home after the attack on your town.”
Claire nodded. At least he hadn’t been a victim of her or the centaurs.
“I will leave you to your thoughts, then,” Deliah said, stepping away from her. “I’m sure you have plenty of them to ruminate over now.”
That was certainly true. Her head swam with them. Claire watched the woman leave, but just as Deliah was at the top of the stairs, her eye caught movement across the inner courtyard. The woman from when Claire had first woken up in the fortress walked slowly with an attendant along the open hallway edging the gardens. Claire narrowed her eyes as she examined the woman. There was something about her…
“Wait,” she called after Deliah.
The woman stopped on the first step and looked back at Claire, eyebrow raised expectantly.
“Who is that?” Claire nodded in the direction of the peculiar woman.
Deliah grinned. “You mean you haven’t figured it out yet?”
Claire scrunched her eyebrows together, frowning, confused.