“I’d like that.” She smiled back. “Thanks Roan.” She leaped up at him and hugged him furiously.
“You’re welcome baby sister.” He smiled. “Just do me a favour and try not to skewer Endis for being overprotective.”
Silver smiled. “I promise.” She replied, looking out at the dark sky. “I think I’ve done enough skewering for a while.” Her brothers smiled as they always did when she said something like that, and since that was the aim, she smiled too.
“It’s quite late.” Felix pointed out. “I’m sure our mortal sister needs to get her rest.” He placed the swords on the dresser. “We’re trusting you with these, Talia. Prove you’re worthy of it and maybe once you’ve reached your maturity we could consider permitting you outside of this floor.”
She put on her excited face. “I won’t let you down.” She lied as they each hugged her before leaving her room.
The instant they were gone. She strode over to the swords and pulled them out. Still as sharp as the day she’d stabbed them into Kobos’ army.
“Why would they give me these?” She wondered aloud. Surely her acting skills weren’t that great? She ran a finger over one edge, accidentally catching it on the blade. Blood welled, but still she felt nothing. Her ability to remain indifferent to pain had not abandoned her even when her soul switched bodies; she gave the swords an experimental swing, pleased to see that her muscle memory remained the same as her past life as well. She could still fight, though these swords would still be too heavy for prolonged combat while she was mortal.
She moved them around for a few minutes, going through motion after motion, practicing lunges, parries and footwork.
When she had finished she sheathed them, and placed them back on her dresser, returning to her post on the balcony.
Staring out at the view wasn’t what she was interested in, instead she watched for the moment that the guards in the trees changed positions; it would have been far easier with elvensight, but after a month she had finally managed to find them all. But one was missing tonight, and that bugged her.
Why was there a guard missing? He’d been there before she’d become distracted by her brothers.
It was at times like this she wished her body would just grow up already.
Then the guard dropped down onto the balcony in front of her, blood seeping from where he had been impaled on a blade from behind. The sword used to attack him was still skewering him.
Silver crouched down and frantically asked the dying man. “Who did this to you and why?”
“Issart’e betrayed Alda.” Was all he managed to say before his eyelids began to droop.
“Hey.” She slapped him around the face. “Wake up. How do you know this?”
He gave her a chilling look. “I was sent by Alda to kill you, Issart’e stopped me. But Alda will succeed, she’s too powerful not to. You should run little princess.”
The half-ancients had come out of hiding then, Silver thought as she dropped the useless corpse of the traitorous guard to the ground and prepared her distraught face for when her brother’s arrived. This would force her plans forwards but she’d gone through them so many times it didn’t really matter. Besides, this distraction would keep the guards away for now, but Endis would step up the number of guards as a response.
Decision made, she calmly grabbed a cloak and her swords and moved toward the balcony in the room next door. Guards rushed past her to the scene of the elf’s death, but she simply unfurled her wings spreading them wide before jumping into the sky.
She didn’t bother free-falling, as was her preferred style, but instead she executed a vertical take-off, aiming to get as high as possible as soon as she was able.
There were no shouts, nor did any alarms go off. When she burst through the canopy and into the open moonlit sky she knew she was finally free once more.
Nothing could make her go back to that, she hovered for a moment, appreciating the cool breeze and then swooped higher to begin the long flight back to Morendor.
Chapter Three
SEARCH
Romana woke to find the bed next to her empty. She instantly searched for Marten only to see him at the door to their shared rooms, discussing something with a servant. Another glance showed her it was still dark outside.
Marten returned and gave her a small kiss which made her smile.
“What’s wrong?” She asked, yawning as he walked over to the wardrobe and started pulling out clothes.
“Endis has travelled here through the portal and is waiting for us in the drawing room.” Marten told her. “He specifically asked to see both of us so get dressed.”
Romana leaned back against the pillows and stretched. “Or, you could just tell him I’m not here.” She smiled, still drowsy, and curled back into the covers.
“Not a chance wench.” Marten laughed as he jumped onto the bed at elvenspeed and ripped the warm duvet away from her.
“You’re a cruel, cruel man.” She accused, but got up anyway, her nightgown morphing into her wytch queen dress and knee high boots with nothing more than a thought thanks to Joanna’s thread magic.
“Hurry up.” She said to him as he fumbled with the buttons on his shirt.
Since the war Marten had slowly, yet unrelentingly persuaded her into a relationship with him. It had taken him over a year for her to accept anything more than friendship, and another two years to convince her to allow him to share her bed, but she’d never been happier than she was now.
She’d never expected him to forgive her for not telling him about Silver, but when she’d finally broached the subject he had simply informed her that he’d understood it wasn’t her choice to keep it from him and he was merely grateful she hadn’t been killed.
Now they lived together, with Katelyn having moved out after her twentieth birthday to study the nomadic ways of the centaur herds. Her other trainees, the death wytch Averna and the wytch of storms Lynette had remained living in their own homes on the isle of the gifted. Averna had joined the Coven when she had found her vulture familiar and become the wytch queen of death. Lynette had found her owl familiar soon after, but was not powerful enough to join the Coven’s ranks.
Romana’s own familiars, Ash and Icarus, had become kings of the dragon race – much to their disgust – and set up a government to rule the dragons while they spend most of their time with her, wherever she went.
Marten finished dressing and slipped his arm around her waist, pulling her close to him as she teleported them both to the room where her sort-of brother was pacing in front of the roaring fire, his face pinched with worry.
He looked up at their arrival. “Thank the Ancients you’re here!” He sighed with relief as they approached but did not stop his pacing. “She’s escaped.”
What was he talking about? “Who’s escaped?” Romana asked, completely clueless.
“Talia, well, Silver, my sister.” Endis looked distraught.
Marten grabbed his cousin by the shoulders and stopped his pacing before guiding him down into a blue armchair by the fire.
“Endis, Silver is dead.” He explained patiently while Romana wondered if Endis had finally lost his mind.
“She was dead.” Endis admitted, “About nine months after the battle, do you remember my mother dying?”
“How could we forget?” Romana asked. The elves had been in mourning for five years. “But that was an accident, the magicians miscalculated something and the magic harmed her.”
“She was soul swapping.” Endis said and then he must have seen the rage on Romana’s face because he quickly added. “One of the Ancients came to her a few days after the battle. He said in reward for the part the elves had played in defeating Kobos the Council of the Ancients had decided to reward her with eternal life in the form of a half-ancient’s body. She conceived the child without telling anybody, but when she attempted to soul swap the Ancient’s must have changed their minds or something because they stole the magician’s powers, lock
ing my mother’s soul outside of her body and leaving her unable to enter the infant’s. She died instantly. They told us that the child was the reincarnation of Talia, and all of her memories were intact. They said at sixteen she would mature and gain her full powers.”
Marten was clearly shocked. “Silver, the biggest mass murderer we’ve ever had is alive, has been for fifteen years, and you didn’t think to tell us!” He roared, looking as outraged as Romana felt. “What reason could you possibly have for lying to us like this? And what else have you been hiding?” His eyes flashed and Romana quickly inserted herself between him and Endis, putting her hand against Marten’s chest.
“Let’s hear him out before we tear him to shreds, shall we?” She suggested, pushing Marten down onto the loveseat opposite Endis’ armchair and following him down onto the plush cushions. “Why did you not tell anyone about this?” She asked Endis as Marten pulled her close to him.
“Because she needed help. We were convinced that we could help her get through her insanity and it worked!” He seemed so excited. “She was back to normal until one of the guards was killed in front of her. She must have snapped because of the violence or something. It’s been six years since she last attempted to escape.”
“How did she escape?” Romana asked.
“She used the distraction as a way to fly from the balcony of the room next door using her wings.” Endis replied. “Romana, she’s not mature yet, she could so easily die again. I’m begging you to help us before someone finds out who she is and tries to hurt her.”
He still loved his sister, Romana realised. After everything Silver had done, Endis and his brothers would still do anything for her.
“I’ll do a search when you tell me everything you know.” At Endis’ questioning look she added. “There’s more to it that just her being a half-ancient. If the Ancients tricked your mother into having Silver as a child, there must have been other things, conditions maybe?”
Endis sighed and shot a glance towards Marten. “She kept her wings, and her life is bound to yours because of the soul swap in your infancy. If one of you dies, so does the other. What’s more, she’s your half-sister, you share a father.”
Marten tensed, but Romana was intrigued. “Did you hear a name?” She asked, sitting forwards. Kate, her mother, had never disclosed her father’s name, her excuse being it was not something she could talk about without his permission.
“Talia wouldn’t tell us, she would only say that he had changed her name to Silver, something we ignored when we only ever called her by her original name. We didn’t even acknowledge she was half-ancient.”
“You’re kidding me.” Romana wanted to throttle him. “You just ignored everything that happened to her and went back to treating her the way you did before, didn’t you? For a millennia-old being you can be incredibly dense Endis!”
Romana would bet Silver had just played along all these years, waiting for her maturity and the perfect moment to arise before she could get free. It was startlingly similar to when Silver had been locked in the back of her mind as a child, working to undo the shields that held her back, yet unable to emerge until Romana’s mind was strong enough to cope with the pressure of sharing.
“You’re telling me that if that girl dies, so does Romana?” Marten’s growl echoed over her musing and she turned to see that he looked like he was about to throttle Endis.
“That had nothing to do with me.” Endis retorted. “It was the damned Ancient’s fault!”
“She’s too smart to get caught so soon after being freed.” Romana informed the bickering men. “She will have planned this out.”
Both of them fell silent.
“Are you suggesting she never recovered?” Marten asked.
“Think about it. She waited till she was close to her maturity and chose a moment when the guard on her was weakest. She’d planned this from the beginning. Your guard on her was merely a convenient protection while she waited to grow enough so she could continue with whatever she wanted.”
“She was sane!” Endis insisted.
“Clearly!” Romana agreed, able to see why Silver hadn’t recovered as she could have just from Endis’ description of her time in Elvardis. “No woman wants to be kept captive by her brothers for the rest of her life, especially if her brothers pretend she’s someone she’s not. I probably would have run away as well! She was a warrior through and through and you were treating her like a child and like a princess! What were you thinking? Oh wait! Clearly you weren’t!” She ranted.
Endis dropped his head into his hands.
“So you won’t find her?” He confirmed.
“I’ll try.” Romana began, “But she’s not stupid and I’m betting she will have counted on this.”
With that she took a deep breath and joined with the wind, much in the same way that she did when she teleported, except she didn’t choose to re-form in any specific place. Instead she spread across the world, looking for signs of Silver.
She wasn’t surprised when her search turned up nothing.
Romana returned to the room and shook her head. “Wherever she is, it’s no place I can get to.”
“You’re telling me she’s managed to hide from the air?” Endis asked
“It definitely looks like she planned this all along.” Marten commented.
“Thank-you for trying,” Endis said, rising. “I am going to search for myself. There are only so many places she could go.”
“Endis, with those wings, she could be anywhere in the world by now.” Romana informed him. “I have a feeling she won’t go into hiding for long. When she shows up we’ll help you to get her back.”
“And do what with her?” Endis asked. “If fifteen years haven’t helped her, what can?”
“She’s a wytch by birth now.” Romana replied, standing and coming over to stand next to him, she enveloped him in a hug. “Between the common sense of women and the powers of our healers we can help her. Don’t give up too soon.”
“Do you want to stay tonight?” Marten asked. “We can begin to search for her together in the morning.”
Endis shook his head. “I will return to Elvardis and inform my siblings of the situation then return here in the morning. I apologise for waking you so early.”
“You had every right to.” Marten said. “Romana is in danger now and I needed to know that.”
“Hello? Living breathing object of discussion present.” Romana gave Marten her best annoyed face. “Don’t panic Endis, we’ll find her.”
Chapter Four
DIFFICULT BUT NOT IMPOSSIBLE
Ha! They wished they could find her!
Silver sat inside the passageways that wound through the palace of Morendor and listened as she heard her brother leave the room through the fireplace.
Nearly every fireplace in the palace was hooked up to the same network of secret passageways that led to her caves, but not many people knew about them. From the layer of dust covering them, she had gotten lucky in that they seemed to have remained relatively untraveled in her absence. Now as she sat and watched the kingling hug Romana against him through the enchanted wall at the back of the chimney, she waited for them to leave so she could move.
She had barely breathed when Romana had disappeared to search for her on the air currents. Thankfully she had been correct in thinking that the passageways had very little ventilation to the outside world and that Romana would not be searching them.
Of course, she’d barely been breathing before that anyway, everyone in that room had hearing that was amplified to a ridiculous degree and she hadn’t even moved for the duration of their conversation.
But the slight cramp in her muscles had been worth it; she knew several key facts now that she could never have known if she’d followed her original plan and merely slept in the passageways before beginning the long walk to her caves. They planned to search for her tomorrow, and she would bet that the first place they would look would be in her caves. Go
od luck to them if she managed to reach them in time as she could use one of the many hidey-holes that were scattered throughout.
When Romana and Marten teleported away – presumably to get some sleep – she unfolded herself from the crouched position she’d taken before and began to walk away from the warmth of the palace passages. The air grew colder the further away from the palace she went, but she kept her pace fast, the rising dawn spurring her faster.
When at last, some hours later, she reached the fireplace of her bedroom, she opened it cautiously, unsure of what she would find.
A small blade at her neck was unexpected.
“Leave.” A voice that unmistakably belonged to Acis commanded. He was one of the two brownies who worked for her in maintaining her caves.
“Acis, at ease, it’s me, Silver.”
“Don’t take me for a fool!” He sounded upset. “The Silver Eyed Wytch is dead.”
“My name was originally Talia. I rescued you and your wife Lena from an abusive human household around two hundred years ago and in return you insisted on building and maintaining a hidden base for me to stay in should I ever become wounded or need a place to hide in my time as the Night Angel.”
The blade clattered to the floor and a tiny stick thin man barrelled into her, his spectacles going flying in his enthusiasm.
“Mistress,” The word was a whisper and a prayer.
“We do not have much time.” Silver informed him, striding into the room as Acis unattached himself from her cloak and followed along after her. “You must send for Leigh and Miria, and prepare one of the secret rooms for me to stay in. Romana and Marten along with my brothers are likely to be here at any moment and I cannot be found.”
“Yes mistress.” Acis replied, as he sped off to do as she asked.
Lena appeared seconds later, tears brimming in her eyes. “Did you need anything else mistress?”
“Food and fresh clothes would be appreciated, neither of you both can be here when they show up and I will need to be able to remain undetected. Also, cover everything with a layer of dust, they cannot suspect this place is still in use.”
Silver's Redemption (Soul Merge Saga Book 3) Page 3