Children of the Lily (Order of the Lily Book 3)

by Cait Ashwood

  Children of the Lily

  Order of the Lily, Book Three

  Cait Ashwood

  Edited by

  Hannah Bauman

  Copyright © 2017 Cait Ashwood

  All rights reserved.

  ASIN: B074FM19NY

  ISBN: 978-1978387546

  Library of Congress Control Number: 2017916157

  Editing by Hannah Bauman of Between the Lines Editing

  Cover Art by Christian Bentulan

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.

  No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

  Created with Vellum

  For friends, the family you choose.

  Map

  Contents

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22

  Chapter 23

  Chapter 24

  Chapter 25

  Chapter 26

  Chapter 27

  Chapter 28

  Chapter 29

  Chapter 30

  Chapter 31

  Chapter 32

  Chapter 33

  Chapter 34

  Chapter 35

  Chapter 36

  Chapter 37

  Also by Cait Ashwood

  Acknowledgments

  About the Author

  Chapter One

  Lily frowned, fighting to keep her concentration. The tree before her wasn’t particularly diseased, nor one that had difficulty bearing fruit. All she needed to do was cleanse it and the soil that fed its roots. Any girl in her class could do this with no problems. Her? She still struggled along at the rank of apprentice. She suspected she’d only passed the initiate exam due to pity.

  Thinking about that isn’t helping. She took a deep breath, maintaining a stronger connection with her physical body than her sisters did. Maybe that’s part of my problem. Again, the distracting thoughts weren’t helping. She had to at least cleanse this tree before she could leave, and she dreaded being the last to finish yet again. The fact that her mother was watching from a hill not far away didn’t alleviate any pressure.

  Lily focused her attention on the soil surrounding the tree’s roots. It was easier for her to find trace amounts of corrupting substances in the soil than the tree itself. The taint, that mutated bacteria that somehow managed to spoil plant life planet-wide, was her foe. It should show up on her sight in purple tones, the exact hue changing with its concentration. Instead, all she saw were blank areas where there should be healthy soil. Still, the absence of feedback told her where she needed to direct her efforts.

  The actual cleansing wasn’t difficult; a simple trick of the mind willed it away. It only required concentration. Soon, all the interference was gone, banished by the power lying mostly dormant in her blood. Now came the hard part. The tree had been absorbing trace amounts of the taint all its life, but trees were unique creatures. While most folks assumed they were made of solid wood, the Order knew that they possessed circulatory systems with flowing sap. The taint mixed equally with the sap, and identifying it at such a minute level was damned near impossible for Lily.

  Can I banish it without having a solid location? This technique hadn’t been taught in class, but that hardly meant it was outside the realm of possibility. She broadened her focus to the entire tree, from the deepest root to the highest branch. Lily imagined her will as a blinding light that would banish all darkness. She swept it over the tree and staggered from the instant drain on her energy. She remained in her trance by sheer force of habit, clinging to it with a thread until she strengthened her connection. Amazingly, all the interference vanished.

  I did it. She took a moment to let her victory sink in. I did it! Empowered by her success, Lily wanted to see how far her luck would go. The Order considered her accomplishment a basic ability at best. If she wanted to join their ranks as a full Lily, she’d also have to be able to encourage plant growth. On this olive tree in early spring, that meant encouraging new buds. Lily swept her sight over the tree, finding a branch with fewer buds than the others. She shaped her energy into a compact force, then focused on the branch, encouraging the bud to break through the bark.

  Lily swayed, her trance broken. She nearly lost her balance, but had to see if she’d managed to do it. In her physical form once more, she pushed a few branches out of the way until her eyes landed on the branch she’d targeted. There, with the bright green hue of new growth, lay the bud she’d created. A huge smile broke out over her face. She’d never successfully directed new growth before, and she’d managed it on a tree, one of the most difficult plants to work on. Lily let the branches slide back into their natural position, proud as a peacock.

  “Well done, Brana!” The voice belonged to Nya, one of their instructors.

  Lily’s face fell and she stiffened, shoulders taut. She forced herself to turn around, not wanting to know what the wonder child had accomplished this time.

  Brana stood before a group of five olive trees, all of which stood in full bloom. These weren’t young trees like the one Lily had been working on, either. These were the larger trees in the vineyard, slower to wake in the spring and nowhere near blooming by the natural cycle of things. Lily’s stomach soured. Brana didn’t even look the least bit taxed by her efforts. The girl was a freak of nature at fifteen, overpowering many of the full-fledged Lilies. Lily turned away from her younger half-sister, walking toward the rest of the girls her age.

  I should be in the stables, working with the horses. That’s where my talents are. I don’t care what my blood says. What do they need me for, when they have her?

  Lily pushed away the bitter thoughts, forcing a smile as she approached her friends.

  “I don’t know; I think he’s handsome.” Leigha had to be talking about her latest crush, Jasper. He was Lily’s half-brother, and she didn’t get the appeal.

  “He’s also two years younger than you.” Lily rolled her eyes, smiling instead at Elsie.

  Elsie was the daughter of Josie, one of the half-breeds rescued from Zaddicus’ compound some sixteen years ago. The evil mastermind had forcibly tainted Seekers, males of the same bloodline that birthed members of the Order, and bred them to pure females. It was the only way to get around the Order’s natural resistance to the taint. The resulting children were capable of not only healing but intentionally tainting things, further spreading the disease. Josie, a half-breed herself, was then bred to yet another tainted Seeker. With up to three-quarters of her blood controlled by the taint, Elsie had a hard time bringing her natural healing powers to the forefront. At least she had an excuse. Lily’s blood was as pure as it came.

  “Finished up okay?” Elsie’s smile was genuine and not pitying like a lot of the other girls. It was the main reason the two were best friend
s.

  “Yup. Even managed to get new growth on it.” Lily tried not to let the pride come through in her voice, but as usual with most things she attempted, she failed miserably.

  Leigha squinted past Lily at the tree she’d been working on. “Really? It doesn’t look any different to me.”

  Elsie snorted. “Lily works on the branches closest to the center of the tree. You wouldn’t be able to see it from here.”

  Lily shot her friend a relieved smile. The two always looked out for each other, and she had no clue what she’d do without the girl. “Anyway, we were talking about boys, yes?” At seventeen, boys were certainly a popular topic, although somewhat less so for Lily.

  Members of the Order were fertile more often than the rest of the human population, but their fertility remained diminished from the pre-nuclear catastrophe. With the power to rid the world of the taint in their blood, a lot of ceremony was placed on these fertile days, which coincided with the solstices and equinoxes. Without the Order to cleanse the fields for crops, humanity would slowly starve their way into extinction. Thus, it was an expected duty for every member of the bloodline to produce offspring. Girls could participate as early as their sixteenth birthday. Lily was approaching her eighteenth and had yet to join them. Her mother, Audrey, seemed to be putting her foot down this year. Lily was required to join in this time, like it or not. There would be no herbs provided for her to drug herself through the moon stricken state this time.

  Leigha prattled on without missing a beat. “I’m just saying. He’s got this dark, bronze skin and heavy, brooding eyebrows. And his eyes!” She sighed dramatically, placing the back of her hand against her forehead.

  Lily stomach took a sickening lurch. “And he’s my brother, so, gross. Besides, he spends too much time lugging after Brana. Why would you want a talent chaser like that?”

  Elsie looked nervous, chipping in with her thoughts before Leigha had a chance to act offended. “I’ve had my eye on Connor. He’s only a few months younger than me, and seems nice enough.”

  The distraction worked, and Leigha seemed to digest this new information. “He’s a bit, how should I say this, plain.” Looks were all that mattered to Leigha.

  She deserves someone just as shallow as she is.

  “What about you, Lily? Who are you going to pick for your first time?” Leigha’s smile was friendly, but her eyes carried daggers in their gaze. Leigha had participated in the fertile days since last year. The insinuation that Lily was using her rank to avoid her duties stung.

  “I, uh, haven’t decided yet. Bastien’s quiet, and not hard on the eyes.” She threw the boy out there simply because she knew his name and he happened to be single. He was also three years older than her and had hardly even glanced at her, but that was irrelevant. This kind of talk sickened her, but she’d found it easier to play along than be the outcast.

  Leigha narrowed her gaze. “You think you can land him?”

  “At least Lily has standards.” Elsie clicked her tongue.

  “Speaking of standards,” Lily trailed off, eyes on Brana as she walked over to join them.

  “Hey, guys.” Brana tucked a piece of her raven black hair behind her ear, head tilted toward the ground with her eyes resting on them only briefly.

  “Yeah, I think I see what you mean. Come on, girls. Some of us have work to do.”

  Lily found herself laughing with the others as they left Brana standing awkwardly by herself. They may not agree on a lot of things, but having a common enemy did a lot to solidify their team.

  Audrey slipped out of her trance, frowning as she peered down into the valley. The vineyards were doing well. This visit was more of a training exercise for the initiates than anything. Her purpose for coming had been more selfish, and she glanced at the woman standing at her side.

  Gwyn was the first other Lily she’d met, back when they’d still been the old Order of the Leaf. Audrey had been alone, an anomaly that shouldn’t have existed. The world had believed the Order extinct for over sixty years. In desperation, the Seekers had jumped back in time, attempting to find ancestors of the Order to rekindle the bloodline. The women they brought back, the Chosen, had been infertile. Audrey was the only one to buck that trend-- not that it was something she was particularly proud of. Every child that left her womb had no choice in its destiny, being born into an ever-consuming system that gave them no voice or free will. She’d stopped after three, not able to take the heartache anymore.

  While Amelina was technically her right hand, Gwyn was the one Audrey went to for more personal matters. When it came to her daughter, there was nothing more personal than what she’d come to find out today. A slew of troubling reports from Lily’s instructors could no longer be ignored. Audrey had brushed off the warning signs, wary of Ellen’s warnings. The old leader of the Order had passed before Lily was of an age to be inspected, and Audrey had been avoiding having this conversation for years. Cowardly on her part, perhaps, but the thought that she’d cursed her daughter with something more than her birthright was hard to bear.

  “Is it true?” Audrey didn’t trust herself to be impartial, and Gwyn had the best eyes aside from herself.

  Gwyn was normally hard to read, but as the woman turned with perfect poise, Audrey saw straight through her. “I’m afraid so. Even the young trees in the vineyard reach out for her. If she steps foot in a Grove, it’ll be a death sentence.”

  Audrey swore the world spun around her, and Gwyn reached out to steady her.

  No. It can’t be.

  There was a lot about the Groves they still didn’t understand. Audrey’s pregnancy with Lily and her twin brother Rowan hadn’t been easy. She’d spent part of the first trimester locked in a dungeon underground and tortured for information she didn’t have. When her interrogator finally determined she was of no more worth, he forced a lethal dose of the taint down her throat.

  She’d been rescued soon after, but no amount of expertise from the healers--not even pure energy from the empowerers--was able to cleanse her. They’d taken her to a Grove and awoken a Guardian, one of the legendary ancestors of the Order.

  A Guardian arose when a woman, instead of allowing her physical form to decay, chose to merge her essence with the Grove, that her wisdom might live on. Much lore had been lost over the years, however, and the guardian of that particular Grove hadn’t joined of her own will, but as a punishment.

  While the Guardian saved Audrey’s life and that of her unborn children, that gift apparently had a price Audrey never suspected: if Lily set foot in a Grove, any Grove, the mark she carried on her spirit would demand the repayment of that gift of life.

  The Groves gave, and they it would seem they also took away.

  Yet another way I’ve failed her.

  Audrey didn’t have it in her to say anything else, or even to deal with Gwyn’s pity. She should be used to failing as a mother by now, but it seemed that was a pain that would never dull. Never mind that she’d lost Rowan shortly after he turned a year old. He’d been claimed as payment for services rendered, services that had changed the course of history and enabled the return of the Order. No price was worth her son’s life, and yet she had paid it. He still lived, but she was forbidden to see him. He was as dead to her as if he’d never been born in the first place.

  Even Brana suffered from having Audrey as her mother. The girl’s blood was pure, and without the Grove’s mark on her, her talents knew no bounds. She was growing plants before she could walk, often amusing herself with brightly colored flowers. Her abilities had soared once she could talk and understand lessons. Her gifts came with a sacrifice: Lily hated her with a jealous passion and had turned the other girls against her. Brana spent most of her days alone, spurned by the very women she would someday lead.

  The hollow where Audrey’s heart used to dwell panged with something akin to loneliness as she made her way slowly across the grassy hill to the man silhouetted against the setting sun. With Deuce, she didn’t hav
e to explain herself. He’d been her confidant since her earliest days in this odd time, her guide to understanding how the world around her worked.

  He read her without her having to say anything and offered her his hand. Without looking, she accepted it. He was her ride home, and she had to get her emotions in line before she saw Hound again. The mark she had placed in his skin meant that she couldn’t keep anything from him. Hound would feel her pain just as keenly as she did.

  Deuce squeezed her hand and she took a deep breath, closing her eyes. All light and sound vanished, and there was a pressure around her chest. The squeeze lasted for less than two seconds before they rematerialized on the wall surrounding the Order’s tower. Deuce released her hand and dipped his head at her in goodbye, leaving her there with the wind blowing through her hair.

  He always did understand me. She held back a sob, wishing she couldn’t see him telling the guards to give her some space. Why do I always have to be so weak?

  Chapter Two

  Rowan grunted, his instructor’s cloth-wrapped blade stabbing him hard enough in the stomach to knock the wind out of him. He withdrew, spinning his blade back into a guard position as he caught his breath.

  “Left yourself open.” The man chiding him wore all black, his outfit free of any identifying insignia.