A Darkness Awakens

by Helena Lancaster

  Katie exhaled loudly. She was relieved that only one of them had figured out the truth. Zak was always the more inquisitive one of the two. It shouldn’t be a surprise that he put the pieces together.

  “Please do not tell Addí,” she pleaded.

  “I promise that I won’t,” he reassured her.

  “The truth is we do not know who your real parents are. John Daesyn brought you to us when Addí was a little more than two weeks old with a letter your mother wrote to us.”

  “Does he know?”

  Katie nodded her head in affirmation. Yes their dear friend knew the identity of their biological parents but he had refused to tell them anything. That’s why she had to enlist the help of her Uncle Jíma. Zak’s eyes had widened at the knowledge that someone knew who his birth parents were and Katie knew that with the curious expression on his face that he would be intent on convincing John to tell him the truth.

  “I want to know. I want to talk to John,” Zak insisted.

  “I will talk to your father and have him reach out. But, Zak, I make no guarantees about what John will or will not tell you. He has told your father and me very little.”

  She watched as her son let out a sigh of frustration. He was almost too eager to know the truth.

  “This is for Addí. She’s special and doesn’t comprehend it. I thought maybe our real parents would know why she has the power she does,” He announced.

  She quickly pulled him into a motherly embrace. They had been her children since John placed them in her arms. It never mattered to her that she did not birth them herself. She loved them just as if she had.

  “I have loved you and your sister from the moment you were placed in my arms. You are still my children,” she insisted.

  “I know that, Mom.”

  She pulled back and looked at his face. He had a lean, high cheek boned face and the darkest blue eyes she had ever seen. She knew that Addí favored her mother but it made her wonder if he looked like his father. Whoever their parents were, they were certainly handsome in appearance.

  “Your mother did what she had to do to protect you and your sister, Zak,” she said to him softly.

  “How do you know?”

  “I am going to show you the letter she sent with the two of you. I did not know then that your real father had no idea that she had taken you and your sister away. I only found out on Addí’s birthday when John came.”

  “She took us without telling our father?”

  “Yes. I know precious little about them other than they loved each other very much. They were not free to be together. Yet they had two beautiful children.”

  “Do you think John will tell me?”

  “You are the only one who could possibly convince him to reveal who they are.”

  Katie stood from where she sat and walked over to her desk. She bent down and opened the bottom drawer where she kept every letter John had ever delivered to them from Zak and Addí’s mother. There were even letters for each of them to read when she felt the time was right. For now she was only going to give him the first letter, the one that came with them when they were brought to her and James. She kept it neatly folded on the top of the stack of letters to always be able to quickly see the reason a mother would give up her precious children. She gently took the letter from the stack and shut the drawer. She walked back over to the sofa and took her seat again after placing the letter in her son’s hands.

  She watched him as he quickly unfolded the letter and began to read. She could see faint tears in the corners of his almond shaped eyes as they scanned the paper over and over. He was seeing the tear stained letter in the hand writing of the woman who had given birth to him and given him up to protect him and his sister from the Empress.

  “She did this out of love?” he questioned.

  “To protect you and your sister.”

  “She didn’t want to do this, did she?”

  “No but she felt she had to.”

  “Addí is the reason she gave us up. My sister’s power is why she did this.”

  There was shock in Katie’s expression at her son’s words. He had realized much quicker than Addí that there was something very special about her. He knew her safety was why her mother felt she had to give them both up.

  “She could not bear to separate you, Zak. She wanted you and Addí to have each other,” Katie soothed as she took his hand into her own.

  “Please don’t tell my sister yet. I don’t think she’s ready to know this.”

  “We have no intentions on telling her until we have to.”

  “Good. I would like to meet with John alone as soon as he is willing.”

  “Are you sure you want to meet him alone? I know he will not harm you but would you not want your father or myself with you?”

  “He’s more likely to tell me the truth if it is just me and him. Addí needs them as well as you and Dad to realize that she has a destiny greater than any of us.”

  “You have always had a gift for knowing such things.”

  “And I have to use it to help her. We can’t win the war to rid Ilysia of the darkness that has been trying to swallow it completely whole for nearly a thousand years without my sister’s power. If she doesn’t realize just how special she is and what she is capable of then we are lost.”

  “I will talk to your father as soon as he gets home and not a word of this to anyone, even RJ.”

  Zak let out a slight laugh, “That’s as good as telling Addí because he can’t keep a secret from her to save his life.”

  Katie’s laugh joined her son’s as smiles were able to find them again. She could only pray that John would meet with Zak soon. If there was anyone that could convince John to reveal the truth about their parents, it would be Zak. It was his life that had been changed at a year old by his mother bringing him and baby Addí to her and James. He deserved to know the truth of where he came from no matter what his reasons were. He was a young man eager to know his true origins. For once she hoped John would be put in the right position to tell Zak their true identities. He was doing this more to help Addí come into whatever destiny he knew awaited her with both sets of their parents, as he knew she would need.

  Addí could not have been more frustrated than she was in that moment. She had been solely training with her Dad to work on her ability to shift control between multiple elements all morning. She would have rather it been a school day and she hated going to school. She was an outcast there and the other girls were prone to making her feel the worst feelings about herself. She sighed heavily as she finished getting re-dressed into a simple pair of work out pants and one of her favorite t-shirts. She felt mentally and physically exhausted from all of the extra training she had been doing, though deep down she knew it was for the best. She just could not understand why they all seemed to believe she was something special. She was just Adríenne Jade Moore that everyone knew as Addí. She was just the daughter of James and Katheríne and part of a group of Ilysians living in a land that they did not truly belong in. That is who she was, not some special, extra powerful girl that her family told her she was. What made her special to them was the love they shared. She just wished she could make them all understand that there was nothing extraordinary about her.

  She was quickly torn from her thoughts when she heard someone knocking at her bedroom door. Silently she prayed to the gods that it was someone other than her Dad.

  “Come in!” she quickly shouted.

  She watched as the door opened and smiled when she saw that it was RJ. He smiled widely in response as he entered the room and shut the door behind him.

  “I thought you were staying home today!” she exclaimed as she ran into his arms.

  “Chryssá and Viví asked if I lived here now,” he responded with a laugh.

  “Your sisters love you, RJ, and you don’t spend much time with them these days.”

  “You’re one to talk! How much time have you spent with Anní and Camí lately?”<
br />
  She raised an eyebrow at him. While he had four younger sisters that were much closer to his age, she was the youngest child until Anní was born when she was ten with Camí following about two years after. She wanted to say it was different but it was not. They were still her little sisters that she loved dearly.

  “Touché, love,” she retorted with a smirk.

  “Can you blame me for wanting to spend time with you?” he asked as he wrapped his arms around her and pulled her closer.

  “I can’t and I never will.”

  His silver eyes glistened with happiness as she looked up into them. His presence had always made her feel happy and safe. Then it became feelings of love. It was almost overwhelming the way she felt when her eyes met his. She never expected it to always be in front of her and arrive in her life when she was still young though she would never question it. It was as if RJ completed her in all the ways she did not feel whole. She smiled up at him just as he leaned down and captured her lips in a soft but sweet kiss. Moments like this were her own idea of what heaven must be like.

  “I never thought I would have been able to tell you how much I loved you,” he confessed as their lips parted.

  “I must thank my brother one day for forcing you to tell me,” she remarked with a smile.

  “Would you have ever told me if he hadn’t made me?”

  “I don’t know, RJ. I was so afraid to lose your friendship and that Zak would lose his mind at the thought of how I felt about you.”

  “Zak just wants you to be happy, the same thing I want for my sisters.”

  “And he would murder you in your sleep if you hurt me.”

  He laughed a loud and hearty laugh at her remark. She knew it was exactly what he would do if someone hurt one of his sisters. He and Zak were no different where their sisters were concerned. She knew it was one of the bonds that RJ had with her brother, being the only boys in families full of girls.

  “But if you would rather me not be here,” he began as he took a step back from her. “I can always go home and watch a movie with my sisters.”

  She laughed and playfully slapped him on the arm as he pulled her back into a warm embrace.

  “I could never tell you that I don’t want you here with me,” she spoke softly as their eyes met.

  “Good because there is no place I would rather be,” he proclaimed.

  “Do you ever feel like we’ve done this before?”

  “What do you mean?”

  “Like another life. Our mothers both have told us about how Ilysians reincarnate.”

  RJ looked at her inquisitively and she knew that his curiosity was peaked. She stepped out of his arms and walked over to her desk, opening the drawer where she kept her journal. She had flashes of memories all of her life that she knew were not her own. When she spoke with her Mom she learned that they all were from a previous life, a life that she knew she and RJ had been together in. She pulled out the journal and flipped through the pages until she found the passage she wanted him to read most. It was the one where she remembered their wedding in a former life. Once she found it she carefully handed it to him. He looked at her with curiosity as he took the journal from her hands.

  “What is this, Addí?” he questioned.

  “When I talked to my mom about this, she told me that I was remembering things from a previous lifetime. In this life we were together, RJ,” she answered. “I want you to read it.”

  She watched him as he began to read the passage of a memory from a life lived long ago. She knew she could feel the emotions he was feeling through her own abilities and she was trying not to. Remembering past lives was a gift many Ilysians had and this was the first life she has experienced memories from. She just wished she had seen enough to know who she was, who RJ was. She knew that he would ask. She only hoped that soon she would see and know just whose life they once lived together.

  “We were married?” he queried as he looked up from the journal to her.

  She nodded in affirmation before speaking, “Yes we were and so very much in love.”

  “Do you know who we were?”

  “I haven’t remembered enough to know that yet. I wish I did know.”

  “There’s enough of a hint in what you did remember,” he observed as he stepped closer to her and laid the journal down on her desk.

  “What do you mean?”

  “That was a royal wedding, my love.”

  “Yes it was and it seems to be all I know.”

  “Perhaps given your gifts we were legendary lovers, King Henry and Queen Anna.”

  “If we were then I don’t want their ending, RJ.”

  “We won’t have their ending, Addí,” he spoke as he pulled her back into his arms. “This time we will give these souls a better ending.”

  “You promise?”

  “With everything in me.”

  She looked up into his eyes, a world of sterling silver that always entranced her, as their lips met in a more passionate kiss than before. This time when her eyes closed she saw confirmation in a flash that they once had been the very King and Queen that ruled when the darkness took over. Now they would work together to end it all and this time they would have a much better ending. This time they would both survive to spend the rest of their lives together.

  Chapter Nine

  James sat in his office with Robert, awaiting John Daesyn’s arrival. He had been quite shocked when Katie came to him about Zak. He should not have been surprised that his only son figured out the truth on his own. Perhaps his wife was right and this would be exactly what it would take for John to finally reveal the truth. Zak deserved to know the identity of his birth parents. Addí deserved the same.

  “Did you arrange the meeting with John to be during their history lessons with Katie and Adelaide on purpose?” Robert asked him.

  “I can’t believe you just asked me that,” James responded. “Of course I did.”

  “You really need John to listen.”

  “Yes because it is about time that he does. Katie and I have raised those children as our own for seventeen years now. They have a right to know their true heritage.”

  “Did you get anything from Katie’s uncle?”

  “Just that he believes they were born somewhere near Ílkésarén and he is going to personally speak with Queen Résalyn to see what she knows.”

  “I hope he is a good enough friend to her that she will. She’s been known to be distant since her heir all but disappeared.”

  “Princess Kélinae who is also John’s only child.”

  Robert looked at him with a raised eyebrow. James was curious as to what his friend was thinking.

  “What are you thinking now, Robert?” James queried.

  “You don’t think…” Robert began to say. “Could she be their mother?”

  “It would make sense but I don’t know.”

  “Didn’t you say that John told you that it was their father’s family that would never accept the relationship of their parents?”

  “That he did, yes.”

  “Perhaps one of us should go visit the King.”

  “His former lover is not someone William likes to talk about.”

  “We need to establish an alliance with him. I could go.”

  “No it would need to be Katie or myself considering the sensitive questions that will be asked.”

  “You can’t afford to be missing long enough to go.”

  “But Katie could. I will talk with her about going. She was born in Ilysia to a prominent Elven family. That’s enough to get her an audience.”

  “Prominent Elven family? James your wife is practically Elven royalty!”

  “Say that to Katie and she would be quite angry with you,” the voice of John Daesyn spoke. “Thinking of sending your wife to speak with the King about the things to come, James?”

  James and his close friend both looked at the Ilysian born Witch that had appeared without warning. He knew that his friend was po
werful but did not expect him to show up this way. He just hoped he had not heard much of the conversation that had been happening regarding his adopted children.

  “She seems to be the best candidate as his grace does not like to speak to you,” James replied quickly.

  “He is holding an unnecessary grudge and made me unwelcome at court,” John remarked.

  “And he is the King you answer to.”

  “I have been serving the Queen of the Fae for a long time. I’m not even considered under William’s jurisdiction anymore. His father cast me out when I fathered Résalyn’s heir.”

  “How is your daughter?” Robert inquired.

  “I am not sure, which is worrisome. I usually am the only one that sees her but it has been close to a year since I have heard a word from her.”

  “You do not think the worst do you?”

  “She is not dead, that I know. I am just not sure what has happened. It is not like her to stay out of touch with me.”

  “Has her mother, the queen heard anything?”

  “Résalyn has not seen or heard from Kélinae in seventeen years. Needless to say that Janélyn has already pressed her mother to remove her elder, half-sister from the line of succession.”

  “I recently received a letter from Princess Janélyn myself, requesting permission to bring an envoy here to meet the members of our resistance group,” James chimed in.

  “Janélyn has always been quite the diplomat. She was supportive of her sister’s relationship with William. She believed that she could convince William’s council that if Kélinae relinquished her rights to the throne that the two should be free to marry.”

  “But was that for her sister or herself?”

  “She is not that selfish. She deeply loves her sister.”

  James looked over at his friend and worked hard to hide what he was thinking from showing on his face. John’s candid words about his daughter might have given them a hint about Zak and Addí’s heritage. He silently prayed to all of the gods that his friend would not realize just the extent of the words he had spoken to them. It was now highly possible that John was so protective over the children he and Katie had raised as their own is due to the fact that he is their biological grandfather. James did not want to assume that to be the truth but now he knew that it could be a possibility. He watched as John took a seat across the table from him. As always, they had much to discuss.