by Megg Jensen
Placing my fingers lightly on her shoulder, I opened my mouth to whisper her name, but she grabbed my hand with hers before I could utter a word.
“Ace,” she murmured. “I knew you’d come back. After tonight, I knew you couldn’t really leave me here alone.”
She stroked my fingers and purred like a kitten. I stood speechless. Now she was really going to be mad when she realized it was me.
“Um, Krissin?” I whispered, pulling my hand from hers. “It’s Reychel.”
Her eyes flashed open and she sprang up in bed. “Did I just say something out loud?”
I shook my head, my eyes wide. She had to know I was lying, but I couldn’t admit I’d heard something so private. I wished I hadn’t heard it. I didn’t want to know anything so private about her and Ace.
“Good. It was just a dream anyway.” Her eyes narrowed, then she gasped and sprang out of bed. “Reychel! Oh Eloh, you’re alive! We all thought you were dead. Mark had us convinced because your bond was broken.”
She ran her hands over my hair and pulled me to her in a tight hug. “I can’t believe you’re alive. And you created a portal which means you can use your gift!”
Then she pushed me out of her arms and flopped back on her bed. “But if you can use your gift, why was your bond with Mark broken? What is going on?”
She reached up and grabbed my hand again, pulling me down to her bed. My rear hit the bed, but I barely felt the mattress underneath. How many blankets did she have stacked on her? It was sweltering. I shrugged, knowing she’d grown up here. I couldn’t stand the heat, not yet. Maybe someday I’d get used to it. For now, I still preferred the cool touch of my home.
“Alia is holding me captive. I escaped. I’ve been out for months and I woke up only a couple days ago. I don’t know what’s happened, but my gift seems to finally be working.” I smiled, holding back the fear I had concerning the visions I’d had of my future. I knew I could find a way to change it. I just had to figure out how.
“That’s terrible news!” Krissin’s smile quickly turned into a pout. Terrible? I knew we weren’t best friends, but I thought she’d be happy to know I found a way to escape my captors. After everything I’d been through and everything I’d done for Krissin and our country, she still didn’t like me.
“Thanks,” I said, ripping my hand out of hers.
“No, you don’t understand,” Krissin said. “I’m happy you’re alive. We thought the worst and we’ve been stalled, trying to figure out a way to eradicate Alia’s army from Serenia for good. But you need to go back!”
“Go back?” I jumped off her bed. “Why on earth would I go back there? They have me locked up in a room with Ivy!”
“Ivy? That stupid girl who tried to marry your father?” Krissin waved a hand in the air. She slipped out from under the mound of blankets, put on her slippers, and began to pace back and forth in her chamber. Her pink gown fluttered in the air behind her as she spun around at each length of the room. She still managed to look every inch the determined princess, even with her hair mussed up from sleeping. “What can she do?”
“She’s supposed to be soothing me,” I said. “They’ve shaved her head and are treating her like a slave. She’s sleeping on the floor in my room.”
“Obviously her soothing isn’t working,” Krissin said.
“I can sense it and she hasn’t used it on me since I woke up.”
“How?”
“I don’t know. I told you, my gift has finally blossomed or something. It’s like I have the power of two gifted people. Anyway, when she’s using her gift on me, I can feel it, like there’s something crawling across my skin.”
“Interesting.” Krissin stopped her pacing and stared at me.
A shiver passed through my body, the same feeling I had with Ivy, but much, much stronger. “Stop it,” I said.
“Stop what?” Krissin asked. Her eyes darkened and filled with blackness. I’d witnessed her nearly kill someone with her gift once before and she’d admitted to using it to kill the former king, the man she’d grown up believing was her father.
“I feel a warm tingling that tells me you’re using your gift.”
Krissin’s eyes went back to their brilliant blue. In the past she hadn’t been able to control herself when she unleashed her gift.
“Interesting. Very interesting.”
A smile broke out on my face. That was the closest to praise I’d ever gotten from her. I tried not to let her opinion matter, but it did. I’d never admit it out loud, but I liked Krissin. A lot. If she was nicer, we’d probably be really good friends.
“Do you know where they were holding you?” she asked.
I nodded. “In the castle I grew up in. They took it over. That’s where they found Ivy too. They’re using her to keep track of me.”
“We have to use this information to attack them, just like they did to us. We can take them by surprise and end this war once and for all. Do you know if they have troops stationed anywhere else? Is the whole of their gifted army there?”
“I don’t know. I’ve been stuck in a room for a few days. I don’t have any of the information you want.”
“Then you have to go back and get it.”
“Isn’t there another way?” I shuddered. The thought of voluntarily going back there made me sick to my stomach.
“I don’t know,” Krissin said, rolling her eyes. “Do you know anyone else who can get in there? Anyone else who can port into any place in that castle? Is there any nook or cranny in there that you don’t know?”
I shook my head. It was true. Growing up there as a slave, I’d been in nearly every part of the castle. There wasn’t one corner I didn’t know well. Then it dawned on me. I could finally be helpful in this war.
For the last year, I’d gone along with every plan thrust at me. I’d escaped my father and the branding ceremony because someone told me to. I went back to my father’s castle because Ivy forced me. I fled to the Southern Kingdom to save my life. I gave the prophecy that spurred everyone to fight back against slavery, but the vision had been granted by Eloh.
For the first time in this war and the first time in my life, I finally had the chance to make a difference. Using the full power of my gift, I could help put an end to war and bloodshed. Finally, I could make a difference.
“You tell me what you need to know and I’ll find it out,” I said. This was one promise I was thrilled to make. Forget my freedom. I knew now I could have it at any moment. If I needed to get out, I was no longer dependent on someone else to save me. I could finally save myself.
Krissin looked at me, her eyes soft and eager. We were allies now. She wasn’t using me to get an outcome she wanted. We were working together for the same result.
“Okay,” she said. ”Here’s what I need. Headcount. Find out if the whole gifted army is there. If they aren’t, I need to know where they are. See if you can find the Malborn emperor too. No one has seen him in months. I’ve been reporting to him for a couple years, since the former king’s death, but lately no one has arrived to take a report.”
“We can finally win this war, can’t we?” I asked. My heart pounded in my chest, threatening to break through. I ran my fingers through my hair, trying to calm some of the adrenaline racing through my veins.
Krissin nodded. “We can Reychel. Oh, and I’m glad I didn’t have to force you to help this time. Manipulating people isn’t fun.”
“It isn’t? I thought you enjoyed flexing your power.”
She sighed and flopped down on her bed. “Do you have any idea how tiring it is to be a princess?” She glanced up at me. “Of course you don’t. Everything rests on my shoulders, Reychel. Success or failure. It doesn’t matter. Both are my responsibility. I hate failure and if I have to force someone to do things my way, the winning way, then I will. I’m glad you’re cooperating.”
“I’m glad I can finally use my gift. Otherwise what good would I be?”
Krissin laughed. “Well, at least you’d
know how to bring me my breakfast.”
“Hey!” I shouted. Then I clamped my hands over my mouth. Krissin smothered her face into her blankets, her shoulders shaking as she muffled her laughter.
She sat up again, composed.
“You should get back before anyone realizes you’re missing. I expect to see you back here in two nights for a full report.”
“One thing first,” I said, holding up a finger. “Mark. I need to see him before I go.”
Krissin’s eyes fell. “You can’t. He and Ace are back with the Sons. He couldn’t stand to be around here without you and went back to his brothers. They’re awaiting my orders. It’s doubtful he’s sleeping alone.”
My eyebrows rose as Krissin quickly waved her hands in the air. “The men share tents to conserve space. It’s not what you thought.”
I breathed out and felt my racing heart calm. Of course, he hadn’t forgotten about me yet. I wanted to kick myself for even assuming it.
“I will try to let him know you’re alive, though. It’s just too risky for you to go in there right now. All I’m asking is two days. Get the answers to my questions and we can end all of this, Reychel. We can all have that happy ending.”
I followed her gaze out the window. The men we loved were camped out there and our happiness depended on the information I could gather. I steeled myself and stood up even straighter.
“There’s something else I need to know. Is Johna dead?” I asked.
“Dead? No, of course not. Who told you that?”
“Alia.”
“She’ll pay for everything she’s done to you, Reychel.” Krissin placed her hand on my arm and squeezed. “I promise you that.”
Chapter Fifteen
The portal shimmered and I slid back into my room. I pinched my fingers together, quickly closing it behind me. As I climbed back into bed, I glanced over at Ivy. The moonlight had shifted, now illuminating a patch of floor between my bed and her bedroll on the floor. I sat still, listening for her breathing and found it. Light, soft, and even. I let out the breath I hadn’t realized I’d been holding and snuggled back under the covers.
I shivered. It was much cooler here than in the Southern Kingdom. If Krissin ever had to visit, she’d probably freeze to death. I glanced out the window. A cloud passed over the moon and I seized, dissolving into a vision.
Mark laid next to me, his dark hair, now streaked with gray, fell across his closed eyes. I reached over and pushed it out of the way, taking him in one last time. My hands trembled and my heart raced as I fought against the desire that overtook me.
I had to kill him. He’d been gone the day before. He said it was a hunting trip with Ace, but my visions showed me differently. I knew where he was. He was in the arms of another woman. A younger, more beautiful woman. I heard the things he whispered to her, so similar to the sweet nothings he’d whispered in my ear on our wedding night. Lies. All of it.
I reached across him to the knife he kept at his bedside. ‘A good soldier never sleeps unguarded,’ he once told me. Trying not to laugh, because his military ways would now mean his undoing, I grasped the knife in my fist.
His eyelids flew open and he grabbed my wrist with his hand.
“What are you doing?”
“Ridding myself of you for good, you cheating, lying bastard.”
“Reychel, it’s the madness. Don’t give in! Think of our children!”
I paused for a moment, looking at the door to our chamber. Our children slept in the next room, dreaming the night away. He relaxed his grip on my wrist and I looked back at him, tears in my eyes.
“See, everything’s fine.” Mark reached his hand up to my face and cradled my cheek. Tears spilled from my eyes.
“I can’t do this anymore.” I sobbed, soaking his hand with my tears.
Then I reached back and plunged the knife into my breast.
I sat up, gasping for air. It wasn’t real. It was just a vision.
The tears I’d seen in the vision flowed from my eyes too. The madness would take hold eventually; Eloh promised me as much. Were these visions of my future, or could I change the outcome?
“Reychel, are you okay?” Ivy asked, her hand stroking my shoulder.
I hadn’t even noticed her arrival at my bedside. I’d been so consumed with the vision. I nodded and pushed her hand off of me. I didn’t want her comfort. I couldn’t trust her.
“I’m fine. Go back to the corner.”
“Was it another vision?”
Another? How many had she witnessed me having?
“I’m not stupid Reychel. I know they tried to sever you and I know it didn’t work. You still have your gift,” she paused, “and it seems you’re able to use it in its full capacity.”
“What do you mean by that?” I asked.
“You left through a portal and came back within a few minutes. The flash of light woke me up and a few minutes later it happened again. Then you crawled back into bed.”
“Nonsense,” I said. “We were both asleep and I simply woke up from a bad dream. You were obviously dreaming too. Nothing like that happened. Go back to sleep.”
“Reychel, please. Confide in me. I can help you.”
A sliver of moonlight passed across Ivy’s hands, the same hands she’d used to soothe me and countless others over many years. Those hands did everything they could to lead me to my downfall, but I’d always managed to come out on top. I wouldn’t let the sorrow in her eyes fool me. Ivy was the supreme actress and I was tired of believing in anyone who hadn’t proved themselves.
“Go to sleep Ivy.”
I lay back down in bed, pulling the blankets up to my chin. I closed my eyes and wished desperately for sleep. Even the worst nightmare would be better than the visions.
Chapter Sixteen
The smell of cinnamon and hot oatmeal pulled me out of a deep, dreamless sleep. I rubbed my eyes and stretched. Ivy still slept on the floor in the corner, her breath even. I wanted to kick myself because she’d seen my portal, but I hoped against all hope that she believed my story. It could have been a dream. She had no way to prove it wasn’t.
“Breakfast,” a slave said, a smile stretching across her face. She always seemed so cheerful in the morning, just as I had when I was a slave. Well, at least when I wasn’t with another slave. I complained as much as the next girl, but when I was around someone who wasn’t part of my inner circle I was all smiles and polite words.
“Thanks,” I said, slipping out of bed and padding over to the table. The cold floor stung my toes and the bottoms of my feet, sending chills up my spine. I snuggled deeper into the nightgown and pulled a fluffy robe off a rack. Wool scratched at my wrists as I slipped my arms in the sleeves. Warmth was more important than comfort this morning.
I sat down at the table, but before I took one bite of the oatmeal, I looked back at Ivy. She was awake now, staring at the food.
“Get up here,” I said, waving her to the table. “You’re not my slave. You can eat any of this.”
I stirred my oatmeal and watched the cinnamon slowly swirl into the creamy gray soup. I grew up on oatmeal, but cinnamon had always been reserved for nobility. Cinnamon stained the bowls and I used to spend more time scrubbing it off than I would have liked. Luci, the head cook, didn’t like stained bowls, probably because my father didn’t.
I glanced out the window, in the direction of his grave. Thinking about him was still too raw. I never had time to get to know him, or his motives for keeping me as a slave all those years when I could have been recognized as his daughter. Did any part of him ever long for a real relationship with me or was he really only concerned with using my gift? I would never find out.
Ivy sat down, not meeting my eyes until the slave girl left us.
“Are you going to tell me how you did it?” She spooned a tiny bit of oatmeal into her mouth and stared at me.
“What do you think I did?” I knew she meant the portal. She clearly wasn’t going to let it go and
my dream explanation had been dismissed.
“Despite anything you might think of me, Reychel, I’m not stupid. I know what I saw last night.”
She paused to take another bite of the oatmeal, but I kept my silence. I didn’t want to encourage her. I wanted her to let it go, but knowing Ivy as well as I did, I knew I’d have to think fast. She’d go at it like a starving bear until she got what she wanted. I just had to figure out what to give her and what to hold back.
“But my biggest question,” she said after swallowing, “is why did you come back?”
Damn, Ivy hadn’t lost her edge. I’d hoped time in the dungeon had cooled her manipulative mind. Obviously not. I scooped another spoonful of oatmeal and shoved it in my mouth.
“You’re stalling.” Ivy glared at me, then slammed her spoon down on the table. “For Eloh’s sake, Reychel. If I was going to turn you in, don’t you think I would have done it already?”
“Maybe you’re just digging for information before you turn me in,” I said. I tried to keep my hand steady as I took another bite of oatmeal. She was getting to me, but I couldn’t let her know.
“All I’d have to do is soothe you.” Ivy held her hands up in front of me. “But I’m not doing that, am I? I’m trying to help you. Why won’t you let me?”
That was it. I slammed my spoon down harder than she’d done. My oatmeal spilled and slowly crept across the table.
“Let’s see,” I said, holding up my hand and counting off my fingers. “Maybe it’s because you blamed me for Mark not being interested in you. Maybe because you ran away like a baby and then soothed my father until he trapped me into returning to this castle. Maybe because you soothed my friend Roc, to the point of nearly breaking him. Maybe because you tried to marry my father even though he’s old and obviously had no real interest in you.”
Ivy giggled and I stopped, my hand still in mid-air.
“What’s so funny?”
“You’re father,” she gasped between snorts, “he was kind of old.”