A Darkness Awakens

by Helena Lancaster

  “He still won’t say a word? Even after he helped RJ and Addí return with Zak’s body?”

  “No,” James responded with a frustrated sigh. “By the look on his face when he showed up with them, there’s a closer connection than he’s willing to share.”

  “Doesn’t he have a daughter? With Queen Résalyn?”

  “Princess Kélinae, she’s been missing since…”

  James could feel the puzzle pieces coming together in his mind, he could see it. He stood from his seat and ran from his office without thinking.

  “James!” Robert called after him as he stood and nearly ran to catch up to him. “Stop!”

  “I’m sorry, Robert, but it just hit me…and it all makes sense!” James nearly shouted.

  “What does?”

  “John Daesyn must think Katie and I would never figure it out on our own…”

  “Figure out what?” Robert interrupted.

  “He’s their grandfather! Princess Kélinae went missing around the time Addí was born and no one has been in contact with her since. No one but John who himself has admitted he has heard nothing from her in nearly two years.”

  Robert stood in the center of the main room of the basement, used for training, in complete silence. Could this be true? Could their friend and contact in Ilysia actually be the biological grandfather of Zak and Addí? Has his closest friend raised Fae royalty as his own children?

  “Are you sure about this?” He asked James. “Wasn’t Katie’s Uncle Jíma going to see what he could find out from the Queen?”

  “Do you honestly believe I would say this out loud if I wasn’t certain?” James questioned in response.

  “Well you know who their mother is but what about their father?”

  “I can’t press John about it. I’m not revealing that I have figured this out to him yet. And as for Jíma, he doesn’t know anything yet but will let us know if he finds anything out.”

  “And Katie? Are you going to tell your wife?”

  “And watch her run off to Ílkésarén to confront the Queen about it?”

  “You really think she would do that right now? With Addí in the condition she’s in?”

  James stopped for a moment. He was going on his wife’s normal instincts, not how things would be right now. Katie was grieving and focused on taking care of Addí. Their daughter was falling apart after holding her brother in her arms as he died. Katie was only focused on being a mother right now. While that would include seeking the truth of the biological parents of the two children they took in as their own seventeen years ago, right now it was not something either of them could worry about it.

  “No, she wouldn’t. While we both desire to know their identities and why they gave their children away to us, we both know that being there for Addí is the most important thing. Yes, Anní and Camí are upset at the loss of their big brother. They’re little girls who have been told the same thing we told everyone else in Corinthia and believe their brother died of a blood clot that came out of nowhere,” James stated.

  “I know you want to know if this hunch of yours is true. What if it is? There’s also the matter of their father,” Robert responded.

  “Do you think I could be wrong?”

  “No, I don’t, but what do any of us know about Princess Kélinae besides when she disappeared?”

  “She was the lover of the King and had been rumored to have birthed him a son a little more than a year before she disappeared. There was a rumor of a second child born right before her and the children both disappeared.”

  “How do you know all this?”

  “Pay attention to your wife more when she’s getting this information and sharing it.”

  “You really know how to make someone feel bad.”

  “Normally I would laugh at a retort like that from you but I just can’t right now.”

  “And if Adelaide’s information is more than rumor?”

  “We need to all pray the King isn’t angry when he sees his daughter but thankful she’s alive instead.”

  “And we need to keep her that way.”

  “Yes, we do, but Robert?”

  “What is it, James?”

  “Let’s keep this between us for now. The information about Shane, Galen, and Vera is going to have to be shared but the rest…”

  “I understand, but one day you’re not going to have a choice but to tell not only Katie but Addí.”

  “Thank you. Keeping my daughter from completely losing her mind with grief is more important right now.”

  “I couldn’t agree more.”

  The two old friends quickly embraced in silence before walking upstairs to the main level of the house where their wives were waiting for them. It was like a cloud of sorrow filled the usually happy home. James had never seen his wife cry as much as she had in the past couple of days. Even though she was the only one of them to be born in Ilysia and truly flee from there, she was always the happiest. Their family was on the verge of falling apart and he was determined to see that not happen.

  Chapter Fourteen

  This was all just a dream. It could not be anything else. The past three days had only been a nightmare because they could not truly be reality. It was not real. These were all of the thoughts filling Addí’s mind as she remained curled up on her bedroom floor, hugging her knees to her chest. Tears were constantly pouring from her eyes that had remained puffy and red ever since RJ held onto her when they came back home from Ilysia three nights ago. Zak could not really be gone. It was not possible for her to have to continue in this world without her brother. She forced her eyes closed tight. Sleep had not come easily for her because every time she fell into a deep sleep she was forced to watch it all happen again when all she wanted to do was forget. She never wanted to have to see the image of the sword plunging into Zak’s stomach again yet her mind would not allow her to escape it. He had been her closest friend and her protector. He was her big brother, her only brother and now he was gone. How was she supposed to become something special that he always insisted she was without him there?

  She wanted to scream. She wanted to throw things until they shattered into the same amount of pieces that she was in now. She wanted to do anything but admit the truth. She knew she probably should not be alone but looking at anyone right now was difficult. RJ did not like to leave her nor did her mom. As for her younger sisters, they were much too young to understand why it hurt her so much. They were five and seven years old. All they knew was their big brother that never failed to make them laugh was gone. She was just grateful that they did not witness the horror that took his life as she did. It is something she will never be able to forget, just as she would always remember the feeling of holding him in her arms as the life left his body. She felt his body turn cold with death as she had laid over his lifeless body in tears until RJ came to them. Zak was gone and she had failed. She was unable to save him. If she was as special as he always tried to convince her, why could she not save him? She would never hear his voice again or hear any of his stupid jokes. She would never be infected with laughter because of his hearty laugh. Her life was never going to be as it had been again. This was never a change she would have ever wanted in her life.

  She wondered if she even deserved to live because she failed to save her brother from death. She had the ability to tap into the gifts that others had, yet she was unable to use Zak’s healing powers to help him. How could she be anything that he tried to convince her she was? She could not stop him from dying or use her power to remove the shield from his killer’s face. Now she was hopeless in even helping to find the person that did this, that took Zak from all of them. She was no one of any importance. She was just Addí, a girl grieving the loss of her brother and wishing she could bring him back from the dead. It was an impossible thought but it did not stop her wishing or hoping. She would give anything to have him there to make her laugh all of her tears away. But, since she could not have her brother back, she would be
determined to discover who did this. She would find herself again once she was finally able to see some light in the world again. Then she would look for his killer and make them pay for taking her brother’s life. But, now was not the time to think about getting revenge. Now all she could think of was how overwhelming the pain she of her grief was and that it felt like the sun would never truly rise again.

  RJ felt like he had been pacing for days. He was confused and hurting at the loss of his best friend but knew that his pain was nothing compared to what Addí was feeling. The three of them had always been close so it had not been a surprise to any of them when he and Addí fell in love with each other. Zak had encouraged him to be in a relationship with Addí because he cared about the happiness of his sister and best friend. Now he was gone and much around him felt like it was incomplete or missing something. Life was never going to be the same again without Zak there to lead some kind of prank or tell a joke just so everyone found a way to laugh in the most serious moments.

  He did not want to believe that the events in Tordéalín three days ago had been real but he knew he had no choice. He grieved and felt the loss of his friend quite deeply, yet his worry and focus kept bringing him back to Addí. She had witnessed what he had not. She had seen the murderer plunge Zak’s own sword into his torso. She was the one who was likely reliving the horror of the moment her brother had been mortally wounded by a foe whose face none of them could see. She was the one that held him as he died. He could not imagine her pain. She was morning the loss of not only her closest friend but her older brother. He did not know what it felt like to lose a sibling, as all of his younger sisters were alive and well. What he did know was how it felt to lose his closest friend and that was the loss the two of them shared.

  He hated it when he left Addí alone. Katie had told him that she felt it was best that they all give Addí some time to herself to try to sort out all of the emotions that she was feeling. He had not gone to check on her in hours and he felt the need to now. It had not been that long ago that Katie left him alone after revealing that she and James had adopted both Zak and Addí when Addí was only three weeks old. John Daesyn, the very man who was fighting with them against the Vampires attacking the village of Tordéalín, had brought the two siblings to them with only a note from their biological mother asking them to love and protect her children. RJ would have told Katie that what she said could not possibly be true if he had not noticed how different Addí and Zak always looked compared to their parents and younger sisters. Katie wanted him to know that Zak had gone there to learn about his biological parents from John and died knowing the truth of his heritage, but Addí knew nothing of their adoption or why Zak was even in that village. RJ had been asked to keep this from her. It felt wrong to him to keep such a secret but he understood why the parents that raised her did not want her to know. She did not need news that would devastate her more while she was trying to mourn the loss of her brother.

  He had cried and fought his own emotions. He was grieving but kept his focus on Addí because he knew she was going to need him to get through this loss. He had been debating over and over in his mind on if he should go back to her yet. He found that contemplating the thought was a waste of his time and began to walk down the hallway to her room. Quietly, he opened the door and stepped inside, closing the door behind him. He saw that she was not in her bed, prompting him to look around her room because he knew she had not left. When he spotted her in the corner hugging her knees to her chest, he practically ran to her side and carefully sat down next to her. She did not turn to look at him but he could hear her sobbing quietly. She had spoken very little since they returned from Ilysia that fateful night and almost all she had done was cry. He was not even sure if she was sleeping as she needed to be. He put a protective arm around her and pulled her close to him, causing her to lower her knees and start to nestle her head into his chest. She did not speak but she put her arms around his body and tried to get as close to him as she possibly could. He leaned down and kissed her forehead as he started to gently rub her back. She knew he was there and he would not be going anywhere again unless she asked him to. He was exactly where he needed to be.

  “Don’t ever leave me in here alone again,” she whispered.

  “I promise that I won’t go anywhere again unless you ask me too,” he responded quietly.

  “I can’t do this alone, RJ.”

  “You don’t have to, Addí.”

  “Please tell me it was a bad dream.”

  “I wish I could, love. I really do.”

  “It’s not right that he’s gone. I would die if I lost you too.”

  “I’m not going to let you lose me.”

  “I love you.”

  “I love you, too.”

  RJ wrapped his other arm around her with those words. He had pulled her into as tight of a hold as he could. If she never asked him to leave this room, then he was never going to leave it again. He loved her so much and her suffering only increased his anger at the one that killed Zak. One day they would know exactly who did this and he knew there would be vengeance as well as justice for his best friend’s murder.

  Katie needed to connect with nature. She was too much like her Elven father to be able to deal with her grief indoors. It had been three days since her only son had been cruelly murdered and witnessed by her sister. She had always loved Zak as if he was her own and she felt the same about Addí. Now one day she knew she would face their birth mother as a failure. She failed to protect one of the children she promised to love as her own and keep safe for their terrified mother. Her adopted daughter was crushed by the loss and she was lost at how to help her. She could do nothing to return her son’s life. All she could do was hold Addí and attempt to soothe her but nothing seemed to be helping. RJ had become her only hope as a mother to help her eldest daughter. She had shared with him what truth she knew about her adopted children’s heritage but swore him to secrecy. She knew all too well that this was not something Addí was ready to learn.

  It had been maybe an hour since she last spoke with RJ and she was certain it would not be long before he would return to Addí’s side. She had already told James that she was going outside alone. He knew her well enough to know that this was exactly what she had to do. There was a large park a few blocks from their home that was on the banks of the Danisan River. It was perhaps the largest and nicest park in Berdenheim as well as one of her favorite places. Nature was where she found serenity. It was the Elf in her that made her long to be surrounded by trees and her mother’s Fae and Witch blood that made her even more dependent on nature as her solace. James always told her that it made her seem ethereal and other worldly because it could bring her so much peace.

  The walk in the fresh but chilling air was already helping her find clarity through her muddled mind. It was warmer than normal for November and it made her feel like the warmth of Zak’s spirit was surrounding her. He had always been happy with a smile that lit up the darkest room and a laugh that could even infect someone who was angry with him. She knew it would take a long time for the world to ever feel as bright as it did when he was around. Zak radiated warmth. She could feel the tears start to escape her eyes as she turned onto the pathway in the park that would lead her to the river. Her heart was broken by the grief of a loss that she never expected, a parent should never have to experience losing their child.

  When she reached the area by the river bank, she stepped off the path to find a place to sit on the grass. The colors of autumn had started to fade as the leaves were already falling from the trees, scattering themselves everywhere with the wind. She found a tree close to the river, vacant of over half of its leaves, and took a seat at the base of it. It felt like the best place for her to do what she needed. Nature would always be the best medicine for her in times of great sadness. Her grief was devastating but she knew that she could not allow it to dominate her life, not with knowing that a war certainly would be starting sooner than
anticipated. An agent of the Empress had ended her son’s life and effectively committed an act of war as far as she was concerned. They would one day have retribution.

  She sat with her back against the tree and placed her hands on the earth on either side of her. This was her power, her element, which made its ability to heal her even more fitting. She closed her eyes as she felt the power of the earth around her start to flow through her body. She would not use it here, as it was far from the proper place, but she would use it to help alleviate some of her pain and recharge her energy. After a few moments she opened her eyes and started to clear her mind. Her eyes quickly focused on a young girl that appeared to be around Addí’s age. The girl was tall with porcelain toned skin and long, slightly wavy blonde hair. Katie watched intently as the she stood on the bank of the river and held her hands out before her. The water rose from the river towards the girl’s hands as if it had been willed to, causing Katie to quickly stand to her feet. This girl was Ilysian and shared the same gift Zak had! With all their contacts in Berdenheim, she knew with confidence that none of them had met her. She suddenly felt as if it was the will of the gods that she had come here at the right time to witness this.

  Olívia needed fresh air. She had been grateful for the opportunity to attend an elite boarding school like the Berdenheim Arts Academy but ached to see her sister. Nóra was her twin and though they were far from identical in looks, they shared a bond that others could not understand. She may have never missed Moserovo but she always missed her sister. The difficult relationship the governments of Gemaronica and Rutania had always made it difficult to be in contact with Nóra, with letters and phone calls both being very seldom. They had gotten to speak on the phone for the first time in nearly in year just days ago and she knew that something was wrong. Nóra would not admit that anything was bothering her because they both knew that the Rutanian government recorded all phone calls, but she knew with every fiber of her being that something was amiss with her sister. It was part of their bond as twins, they could never truly hide anything from each other.