Candescent (The Opalescent Collection Book 1)

by Isabelle Gallo

  “Have you seen Raven anywhere?”

  “No, I’m afraid not.”

  “Do you know if he checked into the inn?”

  “I don’t think he did.”

  I thanked Baloo anyway and began to search the ship. I asked a few sailors who didn’t know either. In defeat I returned to Raven’s cabin. I found the door was locked. There were muffled noises coming from behind the door.

  “Raven?”

  There came a groan from behind the door and took it as a response. When I heard glass shatter I struggled with the door and managed to break it open.

  Raven lay on the floor surrounded by empty glass bottles. His body shook, wracked by the horror of complying with the truth. He squinted his eyes from the light that entered the dark room – his room of escape. His breathing was uneasy. His uncontrolled body was unable to suppress the emotion that ran down his face. This emotion filled his lungs and choked him. His dark eyes looked up to me and he parted his lips to speak but they closed and trembled before he could.

  His hands clutched an empty bottle that held his thoughts, once filled with juice he must’ve hoped would make him numb. Instead it caused his mind to spin and explore greater depths that made him think, realize and deny. And he must’ve realized he could deny the truth no more when he found himself drinking away for a purpose.

  He struggled to look at me, for I saw shame in his face. His thoughts were unclear but I could see he sought security. At last he tried again, squinting up at me, his voice breaking, only to manage a mumble I couldn’t understand at first.

  “They were mortals!” he cried, holding his mourning eyes in my direction. He let his neck bend down to the floorboards and discarded the bottle to hold himself up. But his strength was not enough, for his elbows gave out and his forehead rested painfully against the floor in defeat.

  I was shocked to see such a sight. I’d never seen a man cry like this before. Pete’s desperation for me never came to something like this and I couldn’t help but feel his pain. I fell to my knees before him, in that moment forgetting my title and my place. I grabbed his coat in my hands and pulled him from the floor, allowing his limp body to rest against me. He embraced me, wept until my sleeve was soaked through, when my own bare skin beneath was wet and chilled.

  Even when his breakdown was over, he refrained from speaking until he could breathe again. I put my hand on his shoulder and he stared blankly at me. He didn’t answer me when I asked him if he was ok, although I knew he wasn’t.

  He couldn’t look at me when he rose to his feet. His eyes rested on the broken bottles on the floor. He walked behind me, shut the door and lit a candle. With his back to me, he returned to his desk and rested his hands against it. I was still on my knees behind him.

  “I’m sorry you had to see that.” He said softly.

  “Raven,” I shook my head in response to show him my sorrow, but he refused to look at me. “Raven look at me.”

  He was hesitant only for a moment and then turned to face me. When he saw my sorrow he sighed. “I don’t understand. How could they be mortals if you’ve been reincarnated for all these years?”

  “I have an Eternal Mate, one that I must perform a Ceremony with to continue my reincarnation. But now days we don’t feel the same as we had nearly a hundred years ago. We have moved our separate ways and we only see each other if one of us has died. Since it’s not really an issue, we don’t need to be separated by a Trial. My love and loyalty was with Maravelle and Lanna.”

  I got to my feet. “Do you want me to leave?”

  “No, stay.” He got up and attempted to put his arm around me. I stumbled back.

  “I know there’s a void you want to close and that juice is clouding your head. You can’t decipher right from wrong.”

  “But you can.” He smiled slyly.

  “And that’s why I’m leaving. I know you’d be better off if you just sorted this out on your own. I am focused on getting home to find my own Eternal Mate. I know he’s suffering and he needs me, not you.”

  “Have you forgotten that I still sail this boat? I choose where we go.”

  “Yes, and I know you will make the right decision to take me home once your mind is clear.”

  I left him and didn’t see him until our two days at the port were over and we were sailing again. I was asked to meet the Captain once we set sail. When I reached him, he looked well. The heat from the sun helped to set the mood, for he appeared content even though his depression still lingered.

  “I see you’ve made up your mind,” I remarked, pleased.

  Raven stared at me. “I wanted to thank you for the other day. I don’t know what would’ve happened to me if you hadn’t come.”

  “You’re welcome.”

  “I’m sorry for the way I acted-,” he began.

  “It’s all right. You can pretend nothing happened.”

  He was quiet, considering my comment. “And I was thinking that I want to go with you once we reach Inesious. It might be the last time I see Pete and I want to see Sebastian destroyed.”

  I nodded my head and walked to the railing. I held it tightly while I looked out to sea. It glittered from the warm sunlight and appeared inviting enough to swim in. At last, I felt the heat of the sun and I knew spring had finally come. Bordered by water on all sides, I grew anxious to set foot on land again.

  It was several days later that I heard the cry and cheer that land was spotted. When I returned to the railing, I could see it too. I could see the long shore of our continent and I hoped that Rasha and Rallen were there. I hoped they would greet us and take us far away from the sea. I didn’t want to be its prisoner anymore.

  I yelled out, cried the name of my land as tears filled my eyes. I was closer to seeing Pete and destroying Sebastian, but fear crept along my skin once we reached the shore. My fear was not for myself, but for my people. I questioned what was left of our beautiful home and I wondered if anyone still inhabited it.

  “Are you ready, my Queen?”

  I looked at Baloo and Raven who waited patiently, rather surprised that I hadn’t thrown myself onto the land.

  “Yes, I’m ready. Let’s go now.” I tried to hide the fear in my voice as I looked up at them.

  They exchanged glances as though they already knew what I was feeling and prepared to dock. Once the ship was docked, I found myself holding the railing again with anticipation. I didn’t know what to expect once I was on the ground.

  Raven and Baloo returned to me and for a moment watched the crashing waves with me. They knew I was scared, especially Raven. Nonchalantly he reached out, touched my hand that clutched the railing. I looked up to him surprised and he gave me a warm, sincere smile.

  “Well, what are you waiting for?” Baloo asked gruffly, the corners of his mouth turned up as if to give me a playful smile.

  My gaze turned to Raven who took my hand off the railing and he gestured to the land before us with his other hand. “Welcome home, my Queen.”

  Chapter 24 - The Arii Desert

  By the time my feet touched the sand of Inesious I had parted with the sailors, wished the new Captain luck, and had Versailles fetched from the lower deck. I said my goodbyes to Baloo, who was going to stay on board and sail with the rest of the crew. He wished me well and said he would keep an eye out for me in case we ever crossed paths again. Raven left with me and said goodbye to his crew, assuring them that he would see them again. As we left I saw Raven’s sadness grow worse, remarking that his crew was like his family. Together we walked on the deserted beach, watching the ship leave until we were alone. I didn’t know how long we were supposed to wait, but at least I had Raven to keep me company.

  We sat on the beach together in silence. The sun was finally melting over the horizon. I grew anxious, clutched the sand and Raven put a hand to my shoulder.

  “They will come,” he said.

  “What if they don’t? We’ll be in the dark by ourselves.”

  “So what.”


  “By now Sebastian must be on our trail. He must know where I am.”

  “Let him come. We want him to come.” His hand tightened around my arm. “I know you’re scared that he will take you again but he won’t. I will risk my life so he won’t take you again.”

  “Why would you do such a thing?”

  “Well, you are my Queen. And if I stand between the fate of Catastrophe and Sebastian being destroyed, you know I will stand by you.”

  I flashed him a smile, a weak smile, but it was still a smile. We were silent again until we heard voices, soft welcoming voices that we longed for. Rasha and Rallen emerged and walked down the beach, searching for us. I nearly jumped up with relief, but Raven’s steady hand kept me still.

  “Don’t worry, they will see us.” And just as he said it, they spotted us and rushed over.

  “Oh Chenille I’m glad you’re all right.” Rasha said softly, her arms welcoming me in an embrace. They thanked Raven for his service and realized that the boat was gone. He told them that he would be coming with us.

  Rallen took Versailles from me, packed the food and supplies in bags on her back, preparing to leave. Together we made our way off the beach to find that I had no clue of where we were.

  “Where are we going?”

  Rasha turned her head and smiled. “We are further south now. To find Pete and the wolves we must go to the Arii Desert. They are there waiting for us. Also, since you need to cross the desert to get to the City of Lights, it will be easy for you to get home.” Satisfied with her answer, I pushed on.

  “How long will it take to get there?” Raven asked.

  “It shouldn’t take long at all, maybe a day or two at most. We aren’t crossing the entire desert. We are just meeting them half way.”

  Content, we all pushed to go on. I couldn’t believe how well Rasha and Rallen knew this land, even in the dark. They walked together as though they could read each other’s mind and they didn’t even have to say a single word to each other.

  I was so grateful that we traveled at night in the cool darkness. If only I knew what the heat would be the following day, I would be moving even faster. I never asked when we should rest, even when the heat felt unbearable and the musty hot air dried my throat. That morning I saw the vast sea of sand and I was mortified by its size; the dark sand stretched for miles.

  I never saw a desert before. I never felt its heat. The only sand my feet ever touched was the sandy shore. I stayed with the others even though the sight intimidated me. There was sand, sand, and more sand and was all that could be seen. Even when I saw the massive dunes, the mountains made of sand, I wanted to leave. I questioned why the wolves would choose such a place to hide and I felt even more sympathetic for Pete who was suffering from the heat too. Then I realized how hard this journey was and if it hadn’t been an option, I wouldn’t have made it one.

  It was that afternoon when Rasha told us to stop and rest. We took shelter in the shadow of a giant dune to find it was barely any cooler. We ate and drank, talked until there was nothing left to say. Each of us slept except Rasha who kept guard. In this light, anyone could see us.

  When I woke up it was dark and surprisingly cool. Everyone was asleep and I remained where I was. I wasn’t too quick to wake anyone. I didn’t want to be the one to tell them how much time we lost. I was still tired and there was a painful ache in my bones from sleeping on the sand.

  I realized how close Raven was next to me when my hand touched his back as I stretched. I felt a pain in my wrist as I rested my arms back on the sand. Touching it, I felt liquid. It was bleeding. I heard Raven shift in the sand as he woke up and I hid my wrist under my sleeve even though I knew he wouldn’t be able to see it anyway.

  He woke everyone up and we were moving again within a couple of minutes. I could still feel the pulsing pain in my wrist and I wondered if I was bit by some strange animal that Rasha and Rallen failed to warn us about.

  “Rasha, are there any animals we should be cautious of?”

  “Well,” she began, “the Arii Desert is home to many different species. There are scorpions, like on Earth, and there are many different snakes you should be cautious of. But strangely enough the poisons are only detrimental to immortals and mortals. They don’t have an effect on vampires probably since they have their own poison and vampresses are immune to some poisons.”

  “Would a vampire or vampress feel the sting of the poison?”

  “No, probably not. They probably wouldn’t even know that they got bit or stung.”

  “Why? Do you think something bit you?” Rallen asked curiously.

  “No,” I said quickly. “I just wanted to know if there were any animals we should look out for.”

  I didn’t want them to stop to look at my bleeding wrist when I knew they wouldn’t be able to see it in the dark anyway. I knew I could wait another day when we were with the wolves. It wasn’t long until I anxiously questioned how much longer we had to travel.

  “We’ll be there in another day or so. I can’t be sure now since we lost so much time resting.”

  “You must be anxious to see Pete.” Rallen said.

  I remained silent and in the pause Rasha spoke up again. “I must warn you about what you will see when you get there. You know Pete will be in a lot of pain. He might be delusional and he might not know who you are. Like I told you before, there is no knowing what Lucian’s heart could do to him so we must expect the worst.”

  “How would we destroy Sebastian if Pete died?”

  “Sebastian will be destroyed once you are safe with the wolves. We haven’t traveled this far for nothing.”

  “How does Pete expect to destroy him?”

  “Pete claims to know how to destroy him but he refuses to tell us.”

  I shook my head and pushed on. “Why would he be keeping something like that from us?”

  “Whatever it is, it must be dangerous or maybe it’s too complicated and involved since he must know something about Sebastian that we don’t.” Raven stated.

  “What will we do when Sebastian is destroyed…if he’s destroyed?”

  “You will go home, probably to Pete’s house or wherever he chooses to take you while the City is rebuilt.”

  “And what about Sebastian’s army?”

  “We will take care of them. You don’t need to worry about them.”

  For a few minutes we were all quiet, thinking. Rasha and Rallen looked at each other. I knew once they weren’t needed anymore they would have to go back to Alfur and would be separated again.

  “So have you thought about having an heir to the throne just in case something like this happens again?”

  I could feel Raven’s glance though I couldn’t see him and turned my face. I tried to hide my sadness as I told them that I was supposed to have a child but it was killed during Sebastian’s riot.

  “Was it the King’s child?”

  “Yes, but I know we will have another child.” I said quietly, almost as a whisper. “And that is assuming that Pete will be alive…if Lucian’s heart doesn’t kill him first.”

  “Have you considered what you would do if he died?”

  “No,” I breathed. “I can’t imagine that happening…I guess I just can’t imagine myself ruling alone.”

  “You never have to rule alone. You will have people to help you. I helped Pete when he ruled, so he wasn’t ruling alone.” Raven said.

  “Would you help me if I asked you?”

  “Yes, I would.”

  “You would give up sailing? You would give up your crew…just to help me?”

  “I’ve done it before. I can do it again.”

  “We would help you too, even if we were ruling on Alfur. You can send for us and we will come to help you as your Allies and as your friends.”

  “Thank you.”

  I fell silent and with the only sound of the gentle wind to muffle the sounds of my sadness, I knew it wouldn’t be long until they realized I was weeping.
Raven stopped and embraced me before I fell in the sand. Rasha and Rallen set up camp and didn’t say a word. We were all tired and our minds were thinking of the worst, drawing up pictures of what we would see, and what we thought we would see.

  Later that night the silence fell upon us again, but instead of being thoughtful, we were peaceful. Raven continued to hold me since I told him to. My friends all looked at me concerned until I closed my eyes and rested. I pretended to be asleep and they spoke to each other by the fire. I remained in Raven’s arms with them.

  I could still hear their low mumbling. They spoke about me and of their concern for me. They spoke about Pete and his condition. They knew he was suffering and in one day I would see him and his pain.

  “She will be overwhelmed by such a sight. She has to trust him and his decision,” Rasha said quietly.

  “What will we do if we’re too late?”

  “It doesn’t matter. We will have Sebastian destroyed. This massacre of innocent people must stop now.”

  “Yes. I’m sure the wolves have a backup plan.”

  There was then a sudden stillness and I knew that everyone must’ve gone to sleep. I felt myself doze into sleep, the warm fire slowly died and the chill of the desert air settled around us.

  Hours later I was woken up, not by the others, but from a pain. I was up gasping for breath, panicked, as if some horrendous nightmare tortured me as I slept. My body was held upright, into a sitting position. There was a grip on my wrist where I detected the pain.

  In the growing light I could see the figure that held me. When my mind was in its haze from waking I suspected it was Sebastian who had come to take me back. I quickly doubted it to find it was not him.

  I looked at my wrist, clutched by a strong menacing hand, but was held as gently as though it was fragile. My free hand flew to this hand and I struggled with it, attempting to free it from my wrist. I managed to pry the large fingers loose and I saw blood run down my arm, from a sight the hand was trying to hide. The hand hung in midair and grabbed the hand that freed my wrist. It pulled my hand up and my body turned to face the figure that was sitting behind me the whole time. My hand was held gently and then lightly caressed by warm, dry lips.