by Rye Brewer
When she laughed—a light, tinkling laugh—the crushing disappointment only grew worse. She must have noticed the look on my face and drawn the correct conclusion, as her eyes widened in panic.
“No, no, please! I’m not laughing at you! It’s only that I hadn’t heard that expression in many, many… many years. People don’t court anymore, you see. But I think it’s so sweet that you would ask.” Her hand covered mine. “Everything about you is so sweet.”
“I thought for a moment that you were appalled that I’d asked,” I admitted with a shaky chuckle.
“Does this answer your question?” She leaned in and kissed me again, harder than before.
I sank my hands into her hair and marveled at the feel of it, the feel of her, and she sighed. Something deep inside my soul sprang to life at the sound, and the knowing that her feelings ran along the same route as mine. We wanted the same thing. There was nothing in the world as right as that.
We continued looking out over the land, with her head against my shoulder, content to sit in silence for a while. Only there was so much I wanted to know about her. Everything, in fact. All she could share.
“Who are you?” I murmured, unaware that I’d even spoken the question aloud until a soft giggle filled the air.
“I’m me. Just me.”
“But who is that?” I pressed. “I want to know you.”
“I wish I could tell you there was anything worth knowing.”
“We all feel that way about ourselves, don’t we?”
“I suppose. My life has never felt very interesting to me. I’m an advisor to Gregor. I serve as his mage-fae.”
“How does one train for such a position?” I asked. “I mean, how was it decided you would be the one to serve? Were you born with abilities?”
She shook her head. “It’s a matter of bloodline. My abilities hadn’t presented themselves when my mother died.”
She seemed to stumble over the words, and my heart clenched for her.
“I’m sorry.”
She nodded. “I was very young. Too young to understand many things. I didn’t understand why I’d just lost her. I didn’t understand that I had to take her place. It was something to do, I suppose—my training, I mean. I went to Hallowthorn Landing and trained with a witch there. I had little time to ponder my mother’s loss. A blessing.”
“Were you very lonely there?”
“A striking understatement. I was miserable, confused, angry most of the time. It was too early for me to train, you see. I never would have if Mother had survived her illness. I might have gone in a very different direction, too, if it hadn’t been for the patience of the witch consigned with my training. She could’ve been hard on me. She could’ve punished me for my insolence. Instead, she was nothing but patient. Endlessly patient. And she taught me how to exhibit that same level of understanding. I owe her everything, I suppose. My life would’ve turned out far differently if it hadn’t been for her.”
“Then, you came back to serve Gregor.”
“That’s right. He had only just come into power after his father’s passing. We had that in common. But he was older, more like a father figure than anything else. He had already learned everything he needed to know in order to lead our kingdom. But there was no way to teach him patience. I’ve been trying to do that for years, against his stubbornness.”
I chuckled. “My sister inherited that trait.” We shared a laugh.
“That was rough going at first, too. I went back to my old, angry ways when I first arrived. I had powers Gregor could never hope to attain, yet he was the one bossing me around in that callous nature of his. I wanted, more than once, to show him who was really in charge. It would’ve been a terrible mistake, of course. We said—and screamed— more than a few choice words at each other back in those days.”
“But you both came around. You seem quite close now,” I pointed out.
“I wouldn’t call us close, exactly. Friendly? Maybe. Stuck with each other? Yes.” She laughed, shaking her head. “Things could be much worse, I suppose. Now that he’s happy, he’ll be easier to deal with.”
I didn’t know what that meant, exactly. What did he have to be happy about?
She continued before I had the chance to voice my question. “Since then, my entire life has been devoted to my duty, you could say. I’ve been happy enough in that role—but I suppose that was only because I didn’t know anything else existed.”
She glanced shyly up at me, and I smiled in understanding of what she was trying to say.
I knew how she felt, since I’d been wrestling with the same revelations. I hadn’t known anything like her existed.
“Speaking of Gregor, why were you waiting outside Avellane with him? Were you waiting for me, and he was your chaperone?” I teased.
She laughed. “Yes, because this is the early twentieth century. Of course not. I wasn’t waiting for you—I’m glad you came, I had hoped you’d come, but I didn’t expect you so soon. We were waiting for your mother, in fact.”
“My mother?” That was unexpected.
“Yes. She’ll be staying in Avellane for a while.”
“When did all of this happen?”
“Just today—at least, I believe so. Traveling between dimensions can confuse my sense of time. At any rate, they met up in Hallowthorn Landing when Gregor found out she was still alive, and they both seem very happy. I’ve never seen him like this, to be honest.”
So that was why he was so welcoming toward me. It explained his shift in attitude. If they were happy, I was happy for them. Amazing, really, how my own attitude had shifted. I wanted my mother to experience the same deep, boundless joy as me.
“Just think,” Felicity continued with a saucy grin, “you’ll have even more of a reason to visit me now, with your mother staying there. It could be a long-term situation. As far as Gregor’s concerned, she never needs to leave.”
I slid an arm around her shoulders and pulled her a bit closer. Not close enough as far as I was concerned, but closer. “You’re all the reason I need to visit Avellane.” Her satisfied sigh was enough for me.
Even so, something she’d said didn’t sit well with me. It teased at the corners of my mind until I gave voice to it. “So, you were waiting at the entrance to Avellane for her to come?”
“That’s right.”
“But… you found her in Hallowthorn Landing.”
“Also correct.”
“She didn’t come back with you?”
Felicity shook her head. “No. She had to go back to ShadesRealm to collect her things before joining us.”
Cold panic gripped me. “She what?”
She frowned, searching my face.
My expression must have changed, and drastically.
“She went back to her home in ShadesRealm to collect a few things. That was her plan.”
I couldn’t breathe. I jumped to my feet, pulling her up with me. “We have to go.”
“What?”
“I need to take you home, then go check on her.” All I could see was Vance’s body in that cell in her room. Why did she have to go back there? The one thing I had been certain she wouldn’t do.
Was I too late? I wouldn’t know until I got there.
I didn’t give Felicity the chance to ask any further questions. There was no time.
I coursed back to the Avellane entrance. She was breathless when we arrived, her face full of concern and confusion. I had no way of explaining my sudden change in demeanor.
“I’m sorry. I’ll explain this all later.”
Gregor was still waiting in the distance, and my heart sank.
She hadn’t come yet. Something must’ve happened. I created a portal before Felicity had a chance to catch her breath and went straight to ShadesRealm.
It only took moments to course to the tower, but they were the longest moments of my life. What happened up there? Would she be waiting? Horrified by what I had done? Angry with me? If anything, tha
t would be the preferable outcome. I wouldn’t allow myself to consider the alternative.
No, Valerius couldn’t have escaped, not with the cell lined in silver. Mother would never interfere. She was intelligent enough to know when a situation was beyond her understanding. She knew when to step aside and allow things to continue as they were. That small shred of hope was all I had to cling to as I coursed, my eyes on the tower, focused on the little window at the very top.
I coursed up the stairs.
The door was open.
My heart clenched.
I didn’t have to step through to see what I’d done. What I’d allowed to happen.
“Mother!” I fell to my knees next to her broken, drained body.
My beautiful mother. Her eyes were closed—anyone might think she was sleeping. But I knew better. She was limp in my arms as I lifted her. Cold. So cold. I held her to my chest, rocking back and forth in front of the open, empty cell.
Everything came back to me in a rush.
Her loving smile, her understanding nature. Everything she had done to keep me safe over the years, the sacrifices she had made to ensure that I would never be alone.
The way Gregor’s face glowed with joy when he mentioned her name. The chance she would’ve had a future with him, a happy future full of love.
And all because I wanted power.
Because I’d made the mistake of thinking I could control one of the Ancients.
I threw my head back and roared in unimaginable, endless grief as I rocked my mother’s lifeless body.
38
Anissa
“Shadowsbane Island.” I wrapped my arms around myself and wished I were wearing heavier clothes. Or a raincoat. Something to protect me from the cold mist which seemed to sink into my bones. What a depressing place.
Fane nodded, a grim expression on his face, like he’d been reading my thoughts. Scott was utterly out of his depth, and I remembered again that he wasn’t used to traveling between worlds the way I’d grown accustomed to. I tried to smile, to buck him up a little, but it didn’t work. He wasn’t in the mood to be cheered.
“We want to go up to the castle. That’s the prison.” Fane took off at a quick stride, and I hurried to keep up with him.
Was he in such a hurry because he wanted to find Elena, or because he wanted to get out of the nasty weather? Maybe both. I jumped when thunder seemed to split the sky open and shake the ground under my feet. We couldn’t get there fast enough for me.
Granted, the castle looked like something out of a scary story, the sort of place where screams would fill the halls, but it was better than listening to the sky falling around my head. I focused on keeping up with Fane instead of dwelling on our horrible surroundings.
“Have you ever met this Elazar person?” I asked, nearly screaming to be heard over the almost constant thunder.
“No,” he called back over his shoulder, never slowing his pace. “Nor have I met his consort. Samara. The spell caster.” He left it at that, as though his reply explained anything.
I supposed Samara was our witch, then, and the pair of them were who Fane needed.
Once we were inside—where it was roughly as cheerless as I had imagined from outside—I shook the moisture from my hair and looked at Scott again. He hated being here roughly as much as I did. I was sure he regretted demanding he come—after all, he’d only joined us because he wanted to see Sara, which he hadn’t managed to do. It didn’t matter that his father wanted to bring his mother back, and for his sake, at that. I never knew he could be so selfish. It occurred to me that I hadn’t thought much about him at all, outside of his interest in my sister.
“Where to?” I asked Fane, determined to ignore Scott’s attitude.
“I’m not exactly sure,” he admitted. “We have to find Elazar, but I don’t know where to start.”
There were two options: upstairs or down. Both meant walking over crumbling stone staircases, the corners thick with webs and who knew what else. I shivered, and not because of my damp clothes. “I feel as though going up to the next level would be a good place to start,” I suggested.
“Why do you think so?”
“Because it can only get worse down below, don’t you think?” I imagined dungeons, rodents, all sort of nasty things.
Fane chuckled. “You’re more than likely correct.”
He didn’t check in with his son before moving in the direction of the staircase leading up to the second floor, and Scott didn’t offer an opinion. He could’ve been too busy trying to maintain his footing in the near-dark.
The sound of footsteps coming down the hall surprised me. I touched Fane’s arm, just in front of my face, and he stopped.
We waited there, halfway up the stairs, until a figure emerged from the darkness. A woman. Tall, lithe, beautiful, with dark brown hair which tumbled over her shoulders. Her nearly black eyes seemed to jump from her pale face as she observed our trio.
Fane found his voice first. “We’re looking for Elazar. Do you know where we can find him?”
The witch—how I knew she was one, I couldn’t explain, but it was something I was sure of—gave us a slow smile. “My, my. Looking for Elazar. My brother is popular today.”
“Your brother?” Fane asked, a cross between surprise and disbelief. “I was unaware that he had a sister.”
“Yes, well, I’ve made it a point to keep from becoming as… famous as my twin.”
Her smile was anything but warm or humorous. I told myself to keep my distance.
“My name is Elewyn.”
“I’m Fane.”
Her eyebrows shot up until I was sure they’d leave her forehead. “Fane. There’s a name I’ve heard before.”
He chose not to pursue this, maybe because he knew without asking how she’d know his name. Or because he was in a hurry.
“You said your brother is popular today. Was someone else looking for him? A woman, maybe? A beautiful vampire with dark red hair? She could’ve gone by the name Elena, or Nivia.” Fane’s desperation for this to be true was clear.
Elewyn shook her head. “I’ve never heard of an Elena, though I’m familiar with Nivia—even so, I haven’t heard that name in ages.”
“So, it wasn’t she who was looking for your brother?”
“No. I’m sorry to disappoint you.” She looked us over. “My brother’s cell is on the second floor. You were on the right path. At the end of the corridor.”
“Thank you.” Fane started up the stairs again—but a familiar voice stopped me before I could follow.
It stopped Scott, too. “Sara?”
We both turned in the direction of the open door which led to the courtyard outside the castle. The thunder must’ve let up for a while, otherwise we never would’ve heard her. What was she doing here?
Scott took off at a run, not bothering to listen to Fane as he warned him to slow down.
I ran after him, across the entryway and out the door, right on his heels.
We saw them at the same time. My sister, holding hands with a tall, dark, handsome stranger who I assumed was Stark.
39
Jonah
Anissa and I would have a lot of talking to do when she got back. I reminded myself that I couldn’t tell her what to do—and if I tried, she’d be even more determined to have her way. Just as things had played out earlier, before she left with Fane.
Even so, we had to be on the same team. We were planning on getting married. There had to be a little bit of consultation before making major decisions, on both our parts.
She had spent so much time on her own, making decisions for herself. Sometimes very big ones, momentous decisions on which rode the weight of her life and her sister’s.
My life had gone down a similar path. I had to make decisions on behalf of the clan after my parents were gone. I hadn’t been prepared to step into power so soon. I wasn’t used to consulting others on important matters any more than Anissa was. It would take time for t
wo stubborn people like us to learn to work together, but we would get there. I believed we could do anything.
This was all I had to console myself with as I waited at the high-rise, feeling useless and impatient for her to get back. There were many things for me to focus attention on, but none of it seemed to matter much right then. Not as much as she did. When my phone rang, I grumbled at the distraction.
Until I saw that it was the front desk calling.
“Yes?” I answered, all business. They rarely called. They rarely had reason to call.
“There’s someone here in the lobby who wishes to see you, sir.”
“Thank you.” I couldn’t imagine who, but I wasn’t about to invite them up until I knew who they were. And I wouldn’t ask the front desk to find out, since that could mean learning things they didn’t need to know. I hung up and took the elevator down to the lobby to see for myself.
She wore robes which could easily be mistaken for a cape. Something to help her blend in with the humans she expected to encounter. But there was no missing the air of extreme grace, calm, and serenity about her, even when her back was turned.
“Sirene,” I murmured, and she turned to face me with a tentative smile. Unsure what she would find.
I almost felt guilty—she was worried that I would turn her away, though she’d done nothing to make me treat her so poorly. She’d never been anything but helpful.
I was keenly aware of the gaze from the front desk attendant, though he did his best to hide his interest.
“Come with me.”
She followed me to the stairwell and down to the large basement room which we used for clan meetings. Except for the penthouse, where I wasn’t ready to take her to yet, in case any of my siblings shows up, it was the safest and most secluded spot in the building.
Once we were alone, I invited her to sit at a small table in the far corner of the room. I couldn’t help but think about the baby she carried and assumed she would want to sit. Her robes hid the evidence of her pregnancy, but even they wouldn’t be able to do so for much longer.