“Why am I even playing against you when you’re not even trying?” Zak asked.
“I am. It’s just you’re a crappy dealer,” RJ answered.
“And you’ve always been a bad liar.”
RJ looked a little dumbfounded at Zak’s words. He was right though.
“I’m sorry. I’m spoiling the fun we could be having,” RJ said.
“Why don’t you just go talk to my sister?” Zak asked in response.
“Not this again!”
“Yes this again because I’m tired of watching the two of you constantly in denial!”
“We’re training for war, Zak!”
“All the more reason to tell her about your feelings. Now get out of my room, hers is down the hall.”
“Zak…”
“I’m serious, RJ. Go talk to her…now.”
“Fine, you win. I’m sure she’ll kick me out in a few minutes and when she does I’m blaming you.”
Zak fought off laughing as RJ quickly got up from the floor and nearly stomped from his room. It was about time someone finally get those two to talk. As awkward as it was sure to be that his best friend and sister were in love with each other, he only wished for them to be happy. Now if only he could meet a nice girl, perhaps in Ilysia, the perfect one is training to fight alongside them in the coming war.
Addí was happy to be in fresh, dry clothes after what Zak had pulled on her in training. She would get him back if it took years just so he could feel just how uncomfortable it truly is to be soaking wet wearing all leather. The soft cotton of her pajama set was like heaven to her after enduring that. She paced around her room trying to decide just what to do with the free time she had been given. She was contemplating reading. She loved to read and did not have much time for it between her school work and training. Standing in front of her bookshelf, she began to scan the different titles on there but nothing was catching her eye. She stood back for a moment and even contemplated going to Zak’s room to see what he and RJ were doing. After a moment of thought she huffed loudly and walked over to her bed, halfway falling back into it. Boredom was taking her over and she hated it.
She had been laying there daydreaming when she heard a knock sound at the door. She sat up, confused but curious about someone being at her door.
“Just a moment,” she called out in response to the knock.
She stood up from the bed and quickly stretched before walking to the door. She turned the knob slowly and opened the door wide to find RJ standing on the other side. Her expression immediately read shock as she looked at him silently. He smiled at her and his eyes sparkled like silver stars in the sky. She could not control that her instant reaction was to smile back. She felt that seventeen was too young to be falling in love with someone but her mom was encouraging about it. She was still confused as to why he was standing outside of her bedroom door.
“RJ, I thought you were hanging out with Zak,” she spoke, slightly confused at his presence.
“Can I come in?” he asked in response.
“Of course!”
She stepped back away from the door so that he could enter the room. He quickly walked inside towards the center of her room as she shut the door. She looked over at him, eager to learn why he was there. She had wanted to talk to him more but she was always so nervous. Now here he was standing in her bedroom, making her insides quiver like butterflies flying within her.
RJ looked at Addí and the nervous smile that was painted on her lips. Her curly hair was hanging around her face, colored like leaves of autumn and making her honey colored eyes sparkle bright. She was the most beautiful girl he had ever seen, inside and out. The problem was he had not told her that or that he was finding himself to be in love with her. He was not falling anymore, he had more than fallen. He had known her his entire life and he never wanted to imagine his life with anyone else.
“I’m honestly confused as to why you’re here,” Addí stated, breaking the silence between them.
“I can’t start this with a lie,” RJ began. “Zak kicked me out of his room and made me come talk to you. But, the truth is that I’ve needed to for a while now.”
She looked at him, confused, “What do you need to talk to me about?”
“I don’t want to scare you.”
“Now you’re starting to, RJ.”
“I’m in love with you,” he blurted as her eyes grew wide.
He was in love with her? Was this really happening? She knew she had feelings but she was not sure if it was love yet. She had been hesitant to say anything to explore those feelings. RJ was her brother’s best friend, but he was also her friend. Their parents were best friends and they had known each other their entire lives. She confidently could say she knew him almost as well as her brother did. Was this love already or did she need to let herself speak so she could find out?
She was in shock, and he could see that. Her hesitation was filling him with fear that she could not reciprocate any feelings for him at all. No, he knew better than that. She had feelings for him, too. Everyone could see it from both of them. If they had not, then Zak would not have forced him to finally talk to her.
“I’m not sure if what I feel is love…yet, RJ, but I know I feel for you more than a friend. I don’t understand it or know how to explain it,” Addí finally confessed.
He gently took her hands into his own as he stepped closer to her, “It doesn’t have to be love at all now.”
“I think it could become love.”
He smiled at her as their eyes met. Her smile had become real, full of pure happiness. This all felt right. The sparkle in her eyes was enough to make him melt to his knees.
“That’s the best thing you could have said to me,” he declared with an even bigger smile.
“What does this mean for us?” she questioned.
“I’m your boyfriend now, if you’ll have me.”
His smile turned into a smirk, causing her to laugh loudly. She pulled her hands from his gently and caressed his face. He had a small amount of stubble forming around his chin that felt prickly to the touch. Perhaps what she felt was love but she did not want to declare that until she was completely sure.
“Then I’m your girlfriend now,” she whispered as he wrapped his arms around her and pulled her close.
“Now I wish I hadn’t waited so long to talk to you,” he observed as she wrapped her arms around his neck.
“Don’t, because now was the perfect time. I might have told you that you were out of your mind if you had confessed your feelings any earlier.”
He laughed a hearty, full laugh that brought laughter from her lips as well. Nothing felt more perfect in life than now. They were still young and had a lot to learn yet he felt the future was bright despite the war to come because he had her in his arms. He looked deep into her sepia eyes and slowly lowered his lips to hers, capturing them in a kiss.
As their lips met, she felt an electric pulse run through her body. This was meant to be, she knew that. She could feel it as she let him pull her deeper into the kiss. Perhaps everything she felt was truly love and this was her ultimate confirmation. Her fingers tangled in his hair as he pulled her closer to him. It felt as if there was a fire raging between them, uncontrollable yet needing to be tamed.
The day had been filled with unexpected events for Adelaide. Her husband had returned home early from training the young adults with James. While they were only training their own children, both Robert and his closest friend were strict in long training hours to help them perfect their skills. He had come home to tell her that their eldest daughter, Guinevére, would be joining tomorrow to start learning more advanced defensive skills. They had decided when RJ was just a baby and still their only child that all of their children would learn not only how to control their abilities, but how to defend themselves should it ever come to war in Ilysia. Four daughters later and they had not changed their minds.
“My dear, our firstborn daughter is angry with me,
” her husband stated as he entered their bedroom, closing the door behind himself.
“She wants to be a teenage girl not learn how to be an adult,” she quickly responded.
“I know that but even Zoé has begun basic training.”
“Zoé is ten, Robert. Guinevére is sixteen. There is a bigger difference than you realize in those ages.”
He sat down on the bed with a heavy sigh. The future was becoming more and more uncertain now that they knew war was about to begin. They did not belong in this world, though it is where his children were born. Living here was always supposed to be temporary when his family came here, though families had been fleeing Ilysia for Corinthia for more than five hundred years. How many others even felt as he did? How many had just settled for this as home or forgot the truth of who they were and where they came from? His mind was filled with hundreds of questions he could not possibly answer right now.
“Your mind is running away with you again, isn’t it, dear?” Adelaide asked him.
“It always seems to be lately,” he complained aloud to her.
“We are all afraid of the things to come, but we can’t let that fear drive us. You’re a strong man. It should be your strength and passion for this that is leading you, never your fear.”
He looked at her shining, sterling eyes and smiled. He always wondered how he managed such a strong and beautiful wife. Adelaide was perfect to him and he knew that he would not make it through any of this without her. Their lives were about to change in a big way with this war. Their five children were at risk of losing things they held dear. He only prayed to the gods that they all came out of this war alive.
“What did I ever do to deserve you, Adelaide?” he questioned.
“Give yourself some credit for being an amazing man, wonderful father, and brilliant leader,” she stated firmly. “All of those made me love you more and more each day.”
“I want us all to go to our homeland. I just hate that it’s going to take a war. War brings death and heartache.”
“And we will survive all of it, together.”
She met his sapphire eyes and smiled as she took one of his hands into her own. This would be the biggest challenge any of them would face and she knew that they had to stick together through it. Together they would survive anything, divided they were sure to fail. It may be war that was coming for them to return to Ilysia for good but it was a fight they were more than willing to enter into. They had taught their children to always defend what they felt was right. Now they would be showing them exactly what they meant each time they spoke those words to all five of them.
To say their week had been eventful would be an understatement. Addí had celebrated her seventeenth birthday to mark her entrance into adulthood. It was bittersweet for Katie as she could still remember the six week old babe that had been placed in her arms needing to be protected. Addí may not have come from her womb but she loved her as if she had. She had figured out just as her husband had, that the reason their eldest two children were given to them for their protection was all because of Addí. Katie, unlike the rest of their close knit group, was born in Ilysia to an Elven father and a mother that is a hybrid of Witch and Fae. There was no human blood in her veins, and she knew well how rare her daughter’s gifts were. Her parents had seen it when Addí had been really small, conveying to her the need for precaution when it came to other Ilysians knowing Addí. Careful is exactly what they had been, keeping the number of people that trained with her and saw her train to a very small number. The identity of Addí and Zak’s birth parents being such a mystery only made Katie more cautious.
“What’s on your mind, my love?” James asked as he took a seat on the sofa beside her.
“Everything but Addí most of all, James,” she revealed in a quiet voice.
“This has been a long week for us both. Her birthday, the meeting, and training…”
His words trailed off as he looked at her. Katie’s eyes were normally shining and happy but in that moment the emeralds were faded, almost dull. He knew she was worried about more than she would ever let on. They were about to prepare for war which could tear everything they held dear into tiny pieces.
“Have you sent word to your Uncle Jíma yet?” he inquired, breaking the silence between them.
“Not yet,” she revealed. “Why do you ask?”
“I wanted to ask if he could get any information that might lead us to the identity of Zak and Addí’s real parents.”
“Ever since John said what he did, you’ve become determined to discover who they are.”
“And you don’t wish to know?”
“I do, if only to ask their mother her reasons for giving them to us.”
“You and I both know without anyone telling us that reason has everything to do with Addí.”
She looked at him, meeting his eyes that were the same blue of the waters of the Caréstyl Sea. He knew her thoughts without her ever having to express them. Their connection was deeper than telepathy, it was the deepest love in existence.
“I will inquire about our eldest children’s birth parents in my letter to my uncle, James,” she stated. “Maybe he can find out something that John is trying to hide.”
“We have the names they were given at birth, perhaps it could help,” he observed.
“He will be given those. He has friends within both King William’s and Queen Resalyn’s courts. That can help us a lot when it comes to getting the information we seek.”
“I just hope he’s able to sway his King to join the fray when the war begins.”
“If anyone can do that, it’s Jíma. The elves have hidden away as if nothing has happened for far too long.”
“We need them to have any hope of winning this.”
“I know. I just hope my faith in my uncle isn’t misplaced.”
“I don’t believe it is. Now enough talk of war, let’s forget it for the rest of the night. I would quite enjoy some alone time with my wife.”
He stood up and offered her his hand. She took it without hesitation and allowed him to help her to her feet. He pulled her close and smiled. He was right, they needed time together to forget the rest of the world around them. She knew that this would be exactly what helped them keep their strength. Times were about to become more difficult and much darker for the two of them and everyone they loved. Holding together in each moment they could cherish the love that brought them together was just as important as the coming fight.
Chapter Six
It had been two years since the Empress first gained a foothold in Corinthia, and Ísábella was certain to have her family be as devoted to the cause as she was. The first order, even before the birth of her child, was to have Dalía and Julíus begin to recruit from their schoolmates that they discovered to be Ilysian. Within a year, Nóra Pálko had joined their group. She had proven to not be the one they were seeking but was still another soldier for the Empress. Ísábella and Rafe were also recruiting as many adult Ilysians as they could to join what they knew would come to war against the resistance. However, in the time it had been since Ísábella promised allegiance to the Empress, she had yet to succeed in her most important mission. They had been unable to locate the girl from the prophecy and the Empress was beginning to lose patience with them. It had become evident that this girl was not in Moserovo and possibly not even in Rutania. They were going to have to reach out beyond their borders, which would be quite the challenge given the current political situation. But nevertheless, Ísábella was determined to succeed.
Three teenagers walked through the dark, dingy alley streets of the poorest sector of Moserovo on what had been a normal afternoon for them. They had bonded as outsiders, different from everyone around them because in truth they really were. They were not actually Corinthian but descendants of people from a completely different world. They were Ilysian and held gifts the people of this world would not completely understand. Magic flowed in their veins from the blood of Witche
s, elves, and Fae. This magic gave them many gifts and the power to manipulate one of the five elements. But, they were not alone. They had been connecting with other Ilysians and even seeking them out among their peers at school. They had little luck finding who one of their guardians had them searching for, someone unlike all of them with the power to manipulate all five of the elements. In the two years they had been trying to find others like them at school, they only found Nóra. She, like the others, could only hold sway over a single element and it took them a year to find her.
In the year that had passed since Nóra had discovered the truth about her ancestry after meeting Dalía Ortíz and Julíus Lucíano at school, she had discovered that her parents had been lying to not only her but her twin sister Olívia. They had known all along about their ancestry and magical abilities. She had lived a lie until that fateful day a year ago. The truth had given her wings to pack her bags and move in with her friends and fellow Ilysians. It just made her miss her sister more. Olívia was away in Gemaronica at a special arts school and she missed her more than anything.
“What are you thinking about, Nóra?” Dalía inquired to break the silence.
“My sister,” Nóra answered. “I really miss her. It’s so hard to be in touch with her being where she is.”
“It does really suck that our governments make it almost impossible for the two of you to communicate at all,” Julíus added.
“We’re twins. That’s what makes it even worse. We may not look a lot alike but we still shared a womb.”
“I wish I was close with my sister like that. I couldn’t get Níkolína to visit if her life depended on it. She left and refuses to come back.”
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