by Tarisa Marie
“Yes.” He replies without expanding.
“He stole my memory of you?” I ask him.
“Not directly. He hired the King of the Emerald, David Barthelow to do it.”
“How did you find out?” I ask.
“I went to David Barthelow’s on other business, to get back an item he stole from me, one of my servants, a Brownie. While I was there my Brownie told me that he’d accidently stumbled onto a contract made between Damon and David. The contract explained that in exchange for taking your memories of me as well as the bad memories of Damon, Damon would make David his right hand man when he took over the Kingdoms. His contract also said that David was to ward you from Jadorn and condemned him to silence about the matter, he wasn’t to tell a soul.” Damon explains. “I later found this contract myself in Barthelow’s home and killed him after I got him to tell me where your memories were. He admitted that he’d made a necklace full of only the memories that Damon wanted you to have and gave it to Damon to give you when you got your magic back.”
My heart shatters. So he was lying then? The whole time I’d believed his lies.
“How did you know that I was alive? Surely you thought I was dead after my parents were killed,” I ask him next.
“You and I, are souls are bound by marriage. I felt it every time you died and every time you were born but I couldn’t find you. Damon warded you from me. Plus, until I broke into David’s house a week ago, I thought that you left me willingly all those years ago and went back to Damon. I didn’t understand why, but I had no reason to believe that the king of the Emerald Court snuck into my Kingdom unnoticed and stole your memories of me.” He admits. “From the beginning I made sure you understood that you were free to leave me if you wished. I knew how much work I caused, how much pain I caused you, even if you loved me, I couldn’t understand how you could love a man like me. I’ve done terrible things. But you always saw through that. Saw the good in me, no one has ever seen the good in me.”
“Lenaya told me that you and Damon used to be close friends, is that true?” I ask him.
“Yes. We were friends before Damon tasted power. When he was promoted to prince I first saw that he was turning into a different man but it wasn’t until he was crowned king that I truly understood how bad the power was affecting him. It was never enough, he always needed more. That’s when you started pull away from him. You and I talked about it many times while he was on business. You worried about him. You and I were always friends even though I was always getting myself in trouble and you never approved. Then one day I kissed you and you, you kissed me back. I’d always had a bit of a crush on you but it wasn’t until you started coming to me to talk about Damon that I fell in love with you. A couple days later, you went down into the Kingdom’s dungeon to fetch weapon for one of the guards while Damon was out and found your aunt and three year old nephew dead down there. At first I don’t know if you believed that he did it. It wasn’t until you later when you watched him hold down your grandfather, who’d come to visit you, while Jadorn stabbed him. You watched through a window as Jadorn cut off his head with a sword in the courtyard as Damon held him up. Then you came to terms, you told me what happened and I didn’t question what you saw. That’s when you discovered that Jadorn was staying at the Sapphire Court right under your nose conspiring with Damon. How he never killed you while he was there is a mystery to me. Damon must’ve made a deal with him not to kill you although he very well knew that you were a spirit user and would come back. We were going to leave before Damon found you and go to your parents’ Kingdom but one of the Brownies heard us talking and told Damon. He exiled me before we could leave. You came with me to the Opal Court much to his surprise. Between you and me, both being royalty we managed to take the reins of the Opal Court and get it up off its feet again. It took nearly a year and by that time we were ready to be married. After our wedding you disappeared. I thought that the wedding had given you doubts about Damon and you had went back to him. A bit later I heard that the Ruby Court had been invaded and that you, your mother, and father were missing. I knew then that Jadorn planned to kill you so he’d have no threats against him and assumed that you went into hiding, like you did. I had my thoughts about Damon. I’d heard that Damon was this big hero and had helped your family escape. I thought that maybe we missed something. Maybe there was a reason he’d helped kill your grandfather. The first time you died I went nuts thinking you were gone. Knowing you were a spirit fae I knew you’d come back but also knew that it depended on your parents’ lives being intact. When you came back I was incredibly happy, but then you died again, and again and again and so forth. And I couldn’t ever find you to see what was going on. Exiled, I couldn’t just trot into the Sapphire Court and ask Damon what the hell was going on. I never stopped looking for you. I just wanted to know what was going on and whether or not your family needed help. Then the news came that your parents were gone and they’d had no child with them. But I was sure I’d felt you reborn and was sure that I hadn’t felt you die. I waited for something to happen but it was quiet for a while. Then I went to David’s and you know the rest.” He finishes and removes the necklace, shoving it in his pocket once again.
So that was it? The truth? I sigh and I’m not sure if it’s with relief or frustration. Now we are standing on the front porch of a cabin much like Lenaya’s only smaller. Blahyne opens the door and motions for me to go inside.
“What is this place?” I ask him. I wonder how the hell he knew how to find it. How do you navigate through forest that all looks the same?
“This house is a friend of mine’s she’s letting us stay here tonight although she’s not home. What is this?” He asks quickly while bringing my right hand up to his face and examining the ring Damon gave me.
“Oh, Damon said that it’s so he knows where I am and he can find me if I need help.” I tell him.
“Hmm.” He murmurs. “Interesting. This is not a locator charm. In fact it’s not a charm at all. It’s a diffuser.”
“Uh what?” I ask him, lost.
“It sucks up your power into this little gem so that you cannot access it very well. You aren’t able to control any of your magic are you? Have you been getting headaches?” He wonders.
“Yeah a few.” I say thinking back to a couple bad migraines I’d had the last while.
“I’m going to release your magic, this may sting a little.” He says and murmurs something in another language, presumably whatever language the fae speak. The ring disappears and my body feels like its being electrocuted for a moment. Then the pain disappears and all that’s left is a slight tingle across my skin.
“How do you feel?” He asks urgently still clutching my hand.
“Tingly…” I say slowly while blinking rapidly trying to make the world stop spinning.
He releases a breath he must’ve been holding in. “Good, that’s good. That means I did it right.” He laughs and releases my hand.
“So I suppose the whole world knows I’m alive now.” I state suddenly and think I surprise Blahyne.
“Why?” He wonders, confused.
“Because Damon he said was warding my magic so no one could sense me. Surely he released that glamour and surely removing that ring only made it worse.” I describe to him.
“You don’t think that I’d let you walk round with your power unshielded do you? Because I wouldn’t. It’s blocked.” He assures me. “Has been since nearly a minute after Damon stopped blocking it.”
“Oh.” I say, surprised.
He walks over to a drawer in a tiny white cabinet about the size of a bed side table and pulls it open. He carefully removes a set of three large emeralds.
“These are full of your memories. If you touch these you’ll get them back.” He instructs and hands them to me. “All of them. Even the ones Damon wanted you to have.”
I hesitate.
“You do want them don’t you? You want to remember who you are, who I am, find out the whole story, rememb
er why you have to kill your uncle, and whatever else there is to know?” He asks skeptically as I stare at the sparkling jewels.
“If I touch them, I won’t be me anymore.” I explain. “I don’t want to be a part of this world.”
“It’s too late, you’re already a part of it, and you have been for a long long time. I think you know what you have to do. And yes, you will be you because even though you don’t remember your past, you are still you. I would know.” He insists.
I take a deep breath and say goodbye to me. If I am going to stop my uncle from starting a war against the other Kingdom and killing tons of people then I have to have my memories back. Not only so that I know what’s going on but so that I can control my power. The sooner I get my uncle out of the picture the sooner I get back to my old life. One question sits in my mind though, if I take my memories back, will I want to return to my old life? Will I want to go back? It comes down to what is most important. What I want and what is most important. It’s really no choice at all. Millions of lives or my selfish happiness? He’s right about one thing for sure, I will always put others before myself.
I take a deep breath and touch the first Emerald. The familiar headache that overtook me earlier overtakes me again and I fall to floor in pain, and overrun with images, memories.
Chapter 9
I wake up writhing in pain, Blahyne at my side, making me drink something warm and smelly, its irlate tea. How do I know that? The memories, it worked.
“Two more, Laytah.” He says gruffly and poses the box of emeralds back in front of me. I touch the second one mechanically and grunt in pain as my head feel like it’s getting cut open by a serrated saw.
It’s a long time before I wake up from the second blast of memories. This time when I wake up its dark, pitch black. “Blahyne?” I ask through a raspy throat. A light turns on across the large open room and he walks over to me, a book in his hand.
“One more.” He promises. “Drink some of this before you’re out for another day.” He shoves a cup to my face and I drink it down quickly, thirsty. I’m so exhausted that I can barely think. “You should eat this.” He says grabbing a plate from the floor beside the couch I’m lying on. I shake my head. I just want to get this pain over with. I reach over to the box of emeralds and touch the last one.
When I wake up it seems like it’s been years since I was last awake.
I take in my surroundings, it’s dark but somehow I can see through the darkness. Blahyne is nowhere to be seen.
I sit up with aching muscles and wince brushing the pain off. I can’t think about anything besides the utter rage that is built up inside of me. Rage towards my uncle and towards Damon Kingsley.
I get up off of the couch in which I am laying and storm out of the small cabin I am in. I’m sure it’s Lenora’s cabin, the woman who turned Blahyne and his daughter.
I fix myself on Blahyne’s essence, his power, and I follow it. He has it warded but I can still slightly feel it since I know it so well. I follow it through the forest to a small river where I see him sitting on the bank, a fishing rod in his hand. I walk up to him silently, holding back my excitement.
When I come up behind him I wrap him in a headlock and send him rolling backwards onto the grass. I land a kiss on his lips. A kiss that I’d been unknowingly craving for far too long. He kisses me back just as urgently as I kiss him, as if we’re going to be separated again.
“It’s you.” He murmurs through kisses. “God I missed you.” He says biting my lip.
I pull away and stare at him. I’m straddling him, holding him down.
“I’m kind of mad at you.” I tell him seriously.
He smirks. “You’re cute when you’re mad.”
“I go missing after our wedding and you don’t come looking for me?” I demand looking for answers.
“I thought you finally got sick of me and left.” He admits sheepishly.
I scowl at him and pinch his nipple playfully. He pushes himself up and on top of me suffocating I in more kisses and I immediately forget that I am mad at him. I will be mad later. Right now, I just need him.
“How long was I asleep?” I ask him after a minute.
“Three days or so,” he mumbles, obviously not wanting to talk. “I’m just glad you’re not such a child anymore. I thought I was going to have to shove those emeralds down your throat if you refused to touch them.” He laughs,
“I was practically a 22 year old human, Blahyne, and it wasn’t my fault.”
“It was kind of hot…I could see it being a good time.” He halfheartedly jokes and I slap him playfully.
“Are you thinking what I’m thinking?” I ask him.
“That we should go into the cabin and take each other’s clothes off?” he asks his voice full of hope.
“No. I was thinking more like, we should go to the Ruby Court and kick my uncle’s ass.” I smile.
“I’m always up for some killing.” He mutters.
“Still a big scary Dark King, are you?” I tease and plant another kiss on his lips. Then I remember something and pull away. “Oh my god.”
“What?” he asks suddenly worried.
“I-I had sex with Damon. Twice.” I confess, utterly annoyed.
“You only knew him for like a week.” Blahyne says appalled. “You whore!” He teases hotly and goes back to planting kisses on my lips. Human me would wonder why this man wasn’t mad that I cheated on him but new me knows that it’s because I wasn’t me.
“After we’re done with Jadorn, he’s next. He knows it too.” I say angrily sliding out from under Blahyne. “I can’t believe that man. Taking advantage of me like that.”
“You’re the one who married him.” He says with a smirk.
“What was I thinking?” I wonder out loud and his smirk gets bigger.
A picture of a young man crosses my mind. Geoff. My cousin. A human boy that was probably worried sick about me. I’d probably been gone nearly two months already in the human world.
“I have something I have to do before we go on and kill my uncle.” I sigh.
“What?” Blahyne asks as if he’s not sure what could be more important. Then he smiles, “Did you rethink about my idea? Are we going back to the cabin to remove each other’s clothes?”
I shake my head and scowl at him.
“My cousin, Geoff, from the human world, he’s probably worried about me. I should go and-“
“And what? Tell him everything? Explain you will always be going missing for months or years at a time?” Blahyne cuts me off.
“I don’t know. I’ll have to tell him something.”
“It’s against the law to tell humans about us, you can’t.” Blahyne mutters while throwing his fishing line in the water.
“Just trust me. I’ll leave a note saying that I’m running away to Scotland or something.” I throw out there. “Are you fishing?” I ask him surprised.
“There’s nothing to do out here. I have no minions to boss around, no one to execute, no one to torture, I’m bored. So yes, I’m fishing.” He admits and casts again.
“I can tell you right now that there are no fish in this river. It’s completely empty.” I tell him using my Spirit magic to sense life in the small body of water.
“You’re joking right? I’ve spent hours out here.” He scoffs.
“Seriously.” I shake my head at him.
I concentrate on my dorm room in the human world and then Blahyne and I are standing there looking at an empty room. Apparently the campus finally decided to empty it out. That, or Geoff did it. I was just going to leave it for them to clean out anyways if they hadn’t yet. There is nothing that I need from it.
I concentrate again and find myself standing outside of Geoff’s apartment.
I knock.
No answer.
I use magic to unlock the door and open it. His room is just as bare as mine. Which makes no sense at all. He was supposed to come back for school.
Blahyne loo
ks at me like I’m nuts. Revelation hits me then. Not a good one either. The last time I’d seen Geoff had been when Damon had drove him back from Philly to Michigan after he’d been bitten by a vampire and nearly died, or had he really actually died and already begun turning when we found him? Surely Damon would find that sick, adding my cousin to his pool of servants.
I take us to my Aunt Carol’s front door. It’s covered in yellow police tape.
I take in a deep breath.
“What is it?” Blahyne asks.
“I think… I think he’s a vampire.” I assume, running my fingers through my hair. Where the hell do I even begin looking for him? Blahyne looks at me like I’m nuts again. I take a minute to explain the situation to him. When I’m done he sighs.
“I don’t suppose you have anything of his, do you? I can give his scent to some Dalyas. They will be able to find him.” He offers. Dalyas are like blood hounds, only not. They much larger, and far nastier. They’re usually used as bounty hunters.
“I guess that’s the only thing we can do.” I sigh, only hoping that my aunt is okay and he didn’t hurt her, but by looking at the police tape, I can’t say that my hopes are very high.
I quickly go up to his room, grab his pillow, and give it to Blahyne. We then head back to Andaglon and to the Opal Court.
Once we’re back home, at the Opal Court Blahyne orders his minions to find ten Dalyas. It’s only minutes later, to my relief, when they return. Blahyne gives them the pillow and they disappear to the human world with they’re owners. They’re owned like pets in Andaglon. Nothing is better security than a huge dog.
I have to admit that I’m ecstatic to be home. I rush up to my room and grab one of my dresses to wear, getting myself out of the nasty human dress that I’m wearing although I have to admit that human clothing has grown on me after wearing it for over 20 human years.
The dress I pick is a black get up with ruffle sleeves and a sweetheart neckline. Not long after I slip it on there is a knock at the door.
“Come in!” I call brightly and the door slowly opens.