“So far as I know, it doesn’t mean that where we come from,” said Summer, skeptically.
So, these two weren’t a couple and any love between them was unconfessed. Quite intriguing.
“And summer is such a glorious season. So full of life and warmth,” Amber continued. “In fact, it’s summer now here in Rizkaland.”
It had been summer for fifty years, and right now it ought to be deep in the heart of autumn, but Amber saw no need to admit that.
“And Amber is a rock,” said Summer.
“Indeed,” Amber agreed, smiling. Summer missed little. “Amber is a beautiful gem formed by the sap of a tree. It’s a gorgeous color and the color of my eyes. That is why my mother gave that name to me. In fact, children in my family were always named after stones.”
“Petra means rock,” said Tyler.
Amber stopped short, surprised by that revelation. “Does it? Well then, there must be great importance in that. It can be no coincidence that we share a face or that our names are so closely tied.” No, it was no coincidence at all if Petra was the Tela Du.
“It is interesting,” Tyler admitted. “You know, Petra had an identical twin sister who disappeared about two years ago. Her name was Sarah.”
“Indeed?”
The elf woman had said nothing of a second girl who might share Amber’s face. Had she not known? Or had the woman hesitated to let Amber know about this “Sarah” because she would be a secret weapon who would come from nowhere? The woman had clearly known much more than Amber had been able to extract from her.
Perhaps, Petra wasn’t the Tela Du at all. Perhaps it was this Sarah instead. Much had to be reconsidered with this new piece of information. Especially since this Sarah supposedly disappeared.
“She did, didn’t she?” said Summer. “Funny, but until you mentioned her, Tyler, I’d completely forgotten Sarah. Utterly and completely … and she was my best friend.”
“Everyone forgot her,” Tyler agreed. “That is rather weird, except … Petra could remember. Petra was right.”
They couldn’t remember her? Well, that might have had something to do with the woman’s lack of mention. Or – she’d been the wife of the Bookholder. The Bookholder’s gift was forgetting. He had warned Amber once that he could make people forget whatever he wanted them to forget. Might it be a power potent enough to reach even into other worlds?
“Ah, here’s my dining room,” she said aloud, pushing the thought aside for private consideration. Amber opened the door to reveal the long, magical table. She stepped up to it, laid a hand on its surface, and muttered the necessary words. Immediately, a spread of all of her favorite foods appeared.
“These are foods gathered from three different worlds,” she explained, turning back to her guests, “for I have lived in three worlds, including this one. Come, sit, and enjoy yourselves. I’m sure you’ve never had such a dining experience in your lives.”
“How did you do that?” breathed Summer, taking a step towards the table. Tyler held back, clearly hesitant.
“Magic. And, Tyler dear, the food is perfectly safe,” said Amber, stepping forward and picking up a seed roll. She bit into it, relishing the nostalgia from the Lunar spices. “Now, unfortunately, I have duties as queen that I must attend to, so I’m afraid I must leave you here. I shall have servants prepare rooms for the two of you, and send for you when they are ready. Does that sound satisfactory to you?”
“Well, if it isn’t any trouble,” said Tyler, stepping forward to examine a lika fruit from Lintooalintae. “We by no means intend to impose upon your hospitality.”
“Oh, you aren’t imposing at all,” Amber answered. Especially if they provided her with precious information about the Tela Du. “Don’t worry a bit. Enjoy yourselves.”
With that, Amber left the room and shut the door behind her. Laura stood at the end of the hallway, leaning against the wall, her arms folded over her chest.
Amber drew up short, narrowing her eyes. She hadn’t seen Laura since the incident with the Bookholder’s wife.
“Do you have any questions for me?” Laura asked, staring at Amber with a calm that belied the fury that Amber had seen in her eye that day. “I am, for the moment, willing to share my knowledge of the Tela Du. I can’t promise that this moment will ever come again, nor can I say how long it will last. So, speak quickly, and ask your questions.”
Laura willing to speak of the Tela Du? In more than just veiled threats? Amber suspected a trick or trap, but this was a rare enough chance that she was willing to risk it.
“Is she this Petra, by whose name I’ve now twice been called?”
“Yes, and guard yourself, Amber. Petra may be young, but she has a mind to rival yours. She has already set foot in Rizkaland and begun her own plots and plans.”
“Petra has a sister, this Sarah, an identical twin. What role does she play and should I fear her?”
“Fear her. She is your downfall,” Laura answered. “You might have won the war had you not killed her.”
“So, I’ll kill her?” Amber chose to focus on the positive. “She is a sure victory?”
“Killed her,” Laura corrected. For a moment, her eyes flashed with that fury, and Amber shrunk back. “And that was anything but a sure victory. Yes, you triumphed, but you only won the distrust of Rizkaland and Petra’s fury. Remember the Bookholder’s wife? I call her Austila, but it’s not her true name. Her real name is Sarah – or it was before you killed her.”
“So, I’ve already killed her?” asked Amber. “She was easy enough. Indeed, easier than I had hoped she’d be. How much more of a challenge will her sister provide?”
“You caught Sarah unprepared and neutralized her gifts before she could use them against you,” Laura answered. “You won’t have the same opportunity with Petra. Now, one more question before the moment is over? Perhaps a question about her other sibling, who is eating at your own table as we speak?”
Amber hesitated. There were other, better questions she wanted to ask, but she’d learned that when Laura suggested a question, that was the one she was willing to answer. She tilted her head to the side. “What is his role in these events?”
“For now, he and Summer are placed in your hands, Amber,” Laura answered. “I have a warning for you, though – harm either one of them, and you will seal your doom. Tread carefully. Gather what information you can from them, but don’t let your rage overcome you.”
“You speak as though I have a choice,” said Amber. “Yet you already know what will happen.”
“You have choices,” said Laura. “You’re free to make whatever choice you wish. That’s what sets us apart from common beasts. My foreknowledge does not limit your freedom the slightest bit.”
“It still limits the outcome.”
“Does it?” Laura tilted her head to the side and knit her brows. “Alphego wrote our stories long before time even began. I’ve received many glimpses ahead, and yet even I still have choices, so don’t pretend that you have none. It’s a complicated matter that I usually prefer to leave alone, but it boils down to this: you always have a choice, yet Alphego knows and has prepared for the sum of your decisions.”
“And if I make the wrong choices?”
“You are free to make choices. You are not free from the consequences,” Laura answered. She yawned and shook her head. “Now, if you would excuse me, I’ve opened two doors today, and one was particularly difficult. I’m quite famished. I’m going to take advantage of your table, and leave you to your choices. Please make sure my room is prepared. I will want it shortly.”
With that, Laura skirted around Amber and ducked into the dining room, leaving Amber alone in the hall.
No matter. Laura could be confusing and high-minded at times, and this was definitely one of those times. Right now, Amber had things to do, and she needed to process the information she had just gained.
So, she was here and had a mind to rival Amber’s? Very well. She was also youn
g, and no amount of ingenuity could make up for lack of experience.
And yet a shudder ran through Amber as she stepped back into the Hall of Blood. Six thousand years ago, she had been young and ingenious, and she had stood up to and won against a woman who’d been much older and more experienced than she. Her mother. But, Jade and Jasper had only been four hundred years old. No queen and king of Luna had come even close to Amber and Granite’sage.
None had survived the Room of the Knife, however, and Amber’s turn in that room was rapidly approaching.
Chapter 4
Petra dodged bookshelves until she burst through a door and found herself in Loray’s halls again. Heart pounding painfully in her ears, she ducked into the first bedroom that she found, threw herself into a corner, and buried her head in her hands.
She didn’t typically indulge in emotional outbursts – they wasted time and were usually rather ridiculous in hindsight. Discovering what had actually happened to Sarah, to the sister whom she had dreamed of finding and reuniting with, learning that she was dead, called for special circumstances.
Sarah was dead.
The words felt hollow. They couldn’t be true, couldn’t be real. Petra squeezed her eyes shut as she called to mind everything she could remember from the books Reuben read. People didn’t die when they visited other worlds. They saved the day, returned home, and no one was any the wiser. That was how it should work, how it ought to work.
No, she was sounding like Reuben. Of course, things wouldn’t actually work the way they did in books. This was real life, and in real life, people died no matter what world they happened to be in.
But it was still too painful to accept.
Petra focused on breathing deeply, getting ahold of her thoughts, and wiping away the few tears that had escaped. Just hours ago, she and Reuben had joked about what she’d do if Amber banished tea, but this … this was serious. The Lady Dragon was a monster. Petra no longer needed any proof of that.
“P-Petra?”
Petra opened her eyes to see Ashley standing in the hall doorway. She was the last person Petra wanted to see at that particular moment. Ashley was the girl who had barged in and played the role that should have been Sarah’s. Who knew, maybe if Ashley hadn’t come, then Sarah wouldn’t have left and wouldn’t have died?
“Petra, I … I know you’ve never liked me very much. I honestly don’t blame you, especially now that we know that Sarah actually was real.” Ashley refused to make eye contact as she fidgeted with the hem of her shirt, an annoying habit of hers. “But Reuben said that I should come talk to you instead of him.”
Petra closed her eyes again and chose not to answer. She didn’t want to talk to anyone right now, least of all Ashley. Reuben, of all people, ought to know that.
“Petra, she was my mother!”
Petra’s heart skipped a beat, and the world spun as that fact crushed upon her. Yes, Ritis had said it in so many words, but she’d been too caught up in the fact that Sarah was dead to consider the implications of her life here.
Ashley was Sarah’s daughter? That … that was even harder for Petra to believe. Sarah and Ashley were nothing alike. They…
Petra was startled out of the thought when Ashley threw her arms around her neck. Petra took a deep breath and shoved the girl away.
“I don’t want to talk to anyone right now,” she growled, scrambling to her feet and taking a step away. “Especially not to you. My life is spinning wildly out of control, and I need to figure out how I’m going to move forward from here.”
“Petra, I feel the exact same way!” Ashley nearly shouted, jumping up. Considering that her normal voice was scarcely more than a whisper, perhaps this was shouting for her. “Petra, I get that everything is weird and strange for you, but you’re not the only one! I’ve come home to a stepmother, two full-grown half-brothers, a father who’s frail and … old.” She paused to catch her breath. “And I just found out that I’m half-human. There’s never been a half-human before! I didn’t know it was possible.”
“They happen all the time in the books Reuben reads,” Petra pointed out, scowling.
“But not in Rizkaland!” Ashley drew back and leaned against the bedpost. “Rizkan elves are different from the elves in your books. We don’t intermarry with humans! It’s never been done before, and it will probably never happen again. The only reason my parents did is because they were told to by the Book.”
Petra stared at the girl, searching for the slightest resemblance to Sarah, to Tyler or their parents, to anyone in her family. Ashley had blue eyes, as did Petra’s dad – but so did Ritis. Given brown’s dominance, and the fact that Sarah would have a recessive blue gene, it would not be improbable for Ritis and Sarah to have had a blue-eyed daughter, just as it wouldn’t be improbable for any of Reuben and Petra’s future kids to inherit blue eyes, given blue’s dominance over gray.
Her ears were definitely elfin, as were her more angular features. Her hair? Well, it was a thick, straight blonde. Not like anyone’s in Petra’s family.
Petra couldn’t see the resemblance, but who was she to rule out the dominance of elven genes over anything human? Ashley was apparently without precedent.
Petra took a deep breath. Maybe talking would make Ashley go away. “Amber killed her.”
Ashley nodded, gripping the wooden post harder. “It happened so quickly. One moment Father and I were discussing prophecy – we had just received a new one about you – and then the next Mother teleported in with Laura, and she was dying, and they had to send me away to your world, and Father had to forget everything about me and her. Neither of us had time to properly mourn her. The pain is as raw for us as it is to you.”
“Two years ago, Sarah was fourteen.”
“Two years ago, my father was a young man. Well, compared to how old he is now.”
“But at least you knew that world traveling was a thing and that it made time strange.” Petra folded her arms over her chest and turned away. “You knew that my parents were legendary kings and queens in this world. You knew that I was this Tela Du and thus destined to be killed by a dragon.”
“Amber can’t kill you. You’ll win. You have to.” Ashley was clearly growing desperate.
“Quit the sentiment and face facts, Ash.” Petra rolled her eyes. “She killed my sister and she’ll come for me, too. I’m not your Water Princess. I haven’t been training for war my whole life. How can I possibly face a dragon and live?”
Ashley didn’t seem to have any answer for that, as she didn’t say anything for the longest time. Petra was just beginning to hope that the girl would give up and go away when Ashley made a loud gasp. Petra spun around automatically to watch the girl step away from the bed post, looking her in the eye with a boldness that Petra had never seen in Ashley before.
Ashley began to speak in Rizkan, her voice stronger and deeper than Petra had ever heard from her before. As with the Tying Ceremony, Petra understood the Rizkan words perfectly.
“Petra, why do you doubt the path I have prepared for you and the skills I have given you? Go to Klarand and ask the young Queen Jillina to train you for your battle.”
Then Ashley staggered back, her eyes widening with horror. “What … what was that? What just happened?”
“I was actually about to ask you the same thing,” said Petra, blinking. “You were the one doing the talking, not I.”
“But I … what did I even say?”
“Don’t you know?”
“No, I don’t know!” Ashley was rapidly descending into a full-fledged panic attack. Petra had seen her have them before, so she knew the signs “I – it felt like this pressure in my head and then – no, that’s impossible! I shouldn’t be able to Speak until I’ve had my actual twentieth birthday when I’ll be Tied!”
“Hang on, back up just a moment,” said Petra, stepping forward to put a hand on the girl’s shoulder. “Speaking as in the whole Bookdaughter thing?”
Ashley looked up at
her and nodded. “That’s what I think it felt like – but it shouldn’t be possible!”
“Neither is me defeating a dragon, but you guys still seem to think that I can do it,” Petra pointed out. “Calm down, and we’ll look at the matter rationally. You just gave a speech, and you can’t remember it?”
“Yes! And I’m not twenty yet. I’m not Tied yet. I – I’m not even sure to whom I’ll be Tied!”
“I said calm down.” Petra rolled her eyes. “You said that elves age slower than humans and that you’re almost twenty, didn’t you?”
Ashley bit her lip and nodded.
“You’re not purely elf, though – you’re half-human. Maybe, by some weird formula, you’ve already passed the age that’s equivalent to twenty?”
Ashley opened her mouth to say something, but she rocked back onto her heels. Petra dropped her hand.
“Perhaps so,” Ashley frowned thoughtfully, “and, truth be told, the Tying isn’t actually required. It’s just preferred so Bookdaughters can be balanced in their duties as advisors. Just like you had to be Tied to Reuben to be balanced in your duties as Queen.”
Petra managed a smile as she gave an inward sigh of relief at the averted crisis. “See, it’s nothing to get worked up over. You’re just getting your weird abilities a bit early, that’s all. It’s just all a part of you being … Sarah’s daughter.”
The world swirled around Petra as she admitted that fact. The next moment she had pulled the girl back into a hug, and the tears she’d successfully held back earlier finally escaped. “Oh Ashes,” she said in a choked whisper. “I’m so sorry. I hated you for replacing Sarah and maybe you did but…”
“You didn’t know,” Ashley whispered back, returning the hug tightly.
“Oh Ashes, you were still a part of her, the only part I have left! And how I treated you. I – oh, Sarah would kill me if she knew.”
“I forgive you,” Ashley pulled back and stared Petra straight in the eye. Petra saw that she wasn’t dry-eyed either. “You didn’t know, Petra. I forgive you.”
“Thank you.” Petra withdrew, closing her eyes as she tried to catch her breath again. “Look, I’d still prefer to have Sarah back, and I’m still resentful that I have you instead, but I’m telling you right now, things are going to change between us. I can’t throw away a part of Sarah just because it isn’t the whole thing – especially not when that part is a sweet girl and the only half-elf in existence.”
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