Regius

by Nastasia Peters

  While that was interesting, what had me surprised was the other thing she'd revealed through that. "And Calycanthus is your half-brother."

  Turning her body towards me, she offered me her hand. "I am Mallow O'Malley. It is very nice to meet you at last, Solenum Everhart."

  "Err." I looked at her hand. "I'm not sure I want you to be privy to all I know."

  "Unlike my sister, I haven't deprived myself of my powers. I no longer need skin contact to have visions." So, I guess she knew me inside and out already. "I have been narrating your story." How exactly was I going to tell Cali that not only had I met his sister, but she was entirely whacked out of her right mind as well? "You are right to believe me crazy. Not too long from now, the gift will get the better of me and I will lose the last remaining shred of sanity I have left."

  "You're writing all your visions down." I realized when my eyes landed on the dozens of open notebooks laying on the floor, my name readable several times, from where I stood.

  Making her way over to the distillery, she heightened the fire beneath some beakers and lowered it below others. "The reason Digitalis didn't come for you before is because he never kidnaps. Nevertheless, he is also the person the Steward trusts most. So when Xania decided to use you as bait to lure Galax into closer proximity and out of Pallium territory, he had Digitalis do the job." When I grimaced at her cheerfulness about it all, she shook her head. "I'm not evil at heart, Solenum." I looked at her carefully as her eyes flashed for a moment, glazing over as her lips parted, a soft exhale escaping before she shook herself.

  "Well," I murmured softly. "My vision doesn't see you as dangerous, and I do feel strangely at home when you are near." I really didn't feel out of place at all. "I don't know whether this is because you aren't 'evil at heart' as you state or because you are related to Calycanthus." I missed him so. More than I had in Cobalt City. I was alone here.

  "Don't air quote 'my heart'." Mallow huffed out indignantly.

  "Forgive me for second guessing my instincts. You are part Regius and work for them. My instincts should be screaming at me." She seemed upset at my description for a moment, then she blinked, her eyes glazing over again for a split second before she eyed me strangely again.

  "Contradicting, is it not? To judge me as you do when you clearly do not place the same judgment upon the heir to the throne."

  "Do not speak of Galax." My voice was sharp.

  She raised an eyebrow. "Because I do not know him? You do not know me." Grabbing a pair of scissors, she walked over to a plant growing in a pot a few steps away from us, and cut a flower from it. "Sage has made sure Xania could never use me the way he wishes to."

  I eyed her when she offered me the flower, but took it since I didn't know what else to do. "How?" She gestured for me to stuff the plant in my pocket.

  "The Regius are not as together as they appear to be. The day Xen died and the rest of the royal family that had a chance at bearing the mark vanished, Xania has been forced to cut deals with my mother to make sure the army doesn't revolt."

  "Why doesn't she just let them?" I asked as I pushed the flower she'd given into one of my many pockets.

  Mallow chuckled. "Because in her own twisted way, she cares for me and knows that if she lets Xania near, it'll be the death of me. She needs my visions."

  "That's not caring for you. That's keeping you around for her own beneficial reasons."

  "I did say it was twisted." She sighed then, looking at me with pleading eyes. "She's kept me in the dark for years. I've been my own company for so many hours, I stopped counting. My visions are my friends." She murmured. "When I saw in one of those visions that I have a brother and a sister living somewhere outside of this place, I was jealous at first, but in the end, they became my friends. Their happiness while growing up...It kept me sane." She tapped her temple. "Had I not allowed the gift to start overruling my senses, I would have lost my mind to darkness." Her smile turned sad as I remained silent, letting her do all the talking. "Seeing Cali befriend Datura and then you, it kept me alive." There was that name again. Datura. Isa had mentioned it when I'd first met him. "Aside from those visions I've only spoken to my mother or Robinia."

  "Robinia?" Another name mentioned before.

  "Trust him when you meet."

  "Like how you are using your powers to make me trust you right now?" I accused.

  "I am not doing anything. You, like I, are Seer." She reached over to her desk that held the many pots and beakers, and opened one of the drawers on the side of it. "Here." My eyes widened in surprise when she handed me a gun. "It is loaded and I am now asking you to shoot me."

  I took a large step away from her. "Excuse me?!"

  She shrugged, holding the thing loosely with two fingers, allowing it to dangle in the air. "Don't act as though this is shocking. You have been kidnapped by the Regius and your life is in danger. I am now offering you a way to overpower me and get a chance at escaping." She stepped forward, pushing the gun into my hands. "If you don't want to kill me due to my being unarmed or because I haven't shown any true signs of threat, then wound me, but realize that I won't be letting you out of this conservatory unless you take action."

  "But-" I held the weapon shakily. If I disabled her, I could make a run for it. There was logic in her suggestion all around where it concerned my survival instincts; yet, there was just something that made it impossible for me to wrap my head around the idea of lifting the gun and shooting a bullet at her. I wasn't a killer. I didn't kill unless the person in front of me threatened to kill me in return. But then, she said I didn't need to, that I could wound her and run. "But!" I shouted, my head spinning a mile a minute as I tried to figure out what it was that I had to do.

  "Do it!" She told me frantically. With my eyes wide, I gulped and gripped the gun and tried pointing it at her.

  "I can't!" I shouted in shock. While pulling the trigger was another matter, simply lifting the gun and pointing it at her... "It's impossible, something won't let me!"

  "Exactly." Her voice was gentle again as she carefully took the weapon out of my hands before I could let it clatter to the ground.

  "You, Solenum, can kill when there is no other option. You haven't known me long enough to care more about my wellbeing than your own. Even if I am blood related to Calycanthus, you know that your life trumps that of mine in his eyes. I may not pose an obvious threat, but you are in a dire situation where collateral damage wouldn't be considered wrong on your account. You are surrounded. What if I'd been your only way out and that gun had been your answer to make your way past me?" She took my shaking hands in hers, enclosing them and shushing me softly when I couldn't control my breathing. "As you said, it's impossible. Why?"

  "Because Seers..." She nodded, encouraging me to continue. "Can't harm other Seers." I breathed in awe, looking up into her golden gaze. "We literally can't hurt one another?"

  "There must always be four Seers of the same generation until a new one is created and can take over. Once the new generation is born, the one before it may die." Mallow said. "If it had been possible for a Seer to kill another, my mother would have long since taken my life."

  "Your powers would go to her." I realized. Sage couldn't see. "Why can't I see?"

  "A wrong was committed in the history of the Seers."

  I frowned. "What wrong?"

  Mallow seemed lost all of a sudden. "I do not know. I cannot see that part of Zinc's history. Certain things are locked away, out of my power's reach. The answer to why you and Calycanthus can't see, is one of those things. What I do know is that the gift seems to skip one generation in a bloodline. Your father and Cali's mother both had the gift, but you don't."

  "And Sage can't see. How is it she birthed two children who can see?"

  "My mother is an only child." Before I could point out being an only child meant there had only been three in their generation, Mallow continued. "Linn and Leann had a younger brother whom they fell out of contact with, as they did
with each other, when they were forced to separate for their own protection against Sage's tyranny. Lorne was the first my mother found and the first she had killed. When he died, I had already been born."

  "You were never supposed to have received the gift."

  "If Lorne had not died, he would have fathered a child with the gift as he didn't have the power to see like his brother and sister." Mallow sighed. "Sage created more balance issues. Up until Lorne's death, the two clans in the Seer race, one siding with the Regius and the other siding with the Altors, always had one with the gift on both sides. But by killing Lorne before he could father the child who could see, Sage effectively forced that power into me."

  "Are you saying you weren't an accident? She planned you? Timing it with Lorne's death and making sure you'd receive the gift of foresight?" I asked.

  "Yes. When she lost Vervaine, her only hope was to make another child and make sure it would have the power to see. Kalmia was her target."

  My heart ached for her. "She thought a Seer couldn't kill another only within their generation. It's why she had others kill Linn, Lorne and Leann, because she couldn't do it herself."

  "And then she found out that rule applied on all Seers. She could not kill me, as she wasn't able to kill them. But like I said, in her own twisted way she cares for me. Otherwise she would have had someone kill me for her."

  "You need to get out of here." I implored. This place was terrible. She needed to leave and understand life wasn't cruel. Mallow didn't deserve any of this.

  "Maybe one day. But today is not that day. For now, I am an ally you can trust and count on." She touched my cheek, giving me a watery smile. "Do as they say, and they won't kill you." She gently turned me around and then guided me back to the door I'd come through. "Hold on for as long as you can, Solenum. I will make sure someone will find you." Although she didn't spell it out, it was implied something bad was about to happen, and it is also now that my Seer side awoke and the gut feeling that warned me I was in big trouble assaulted me hard enough to make me want to puke.

  "I-" She cut me off by shaking her head, grasping my hands in hers.

  "You can do this. I have seen it. Just hold on and be as brave as I know you to be." Before I could protest or second guess her words or ask her all the other questions I wanted to, she pulled the door open and nudged me out. The sound of a lock turning reached mine and Maya's ears not a second later.

  "We must go to the Steward now." The Regius woman said softly, her hand touching my arm. "Come." Gulping, I mutely allowed her to guide me down the stairs and back into the long hallway.

  Nothing was as I thought it would be amongst the Regius. Nothing made sense. If I thought to have experienced confusion before, I was sorely mistaken.

  * * * *

  Chapter 8

  Solenum Everhart

  My heart skipped a beat when a swarm of Regius soldiers appeared in the never-ending hallway. But where I thought Maya and I would have to step aside for them, when they saw us, they quickly moved their line to our left, casting their eyes down and keeping silent. Watching their faces in question, none of them tried to make eye contact with me and when I looked at Maya, I saw that she'd pulled the translucent wrap up to hide the lower part of her face.

  Frowning, I picked up my pace so I was walking beside her instead of behind and waited for us to have passed the soldiers before asking.

  "Who are you?" I knew her name, I knew she was Regius and I knew that she obeyed Xania. But I didn't know who she was to this entire hierarchy.

  "The Steward doesn't allow the men to look upon the faces of his women." Women. As in plural. "But maybe they acted as such because your reputation precedes you."

  "I didn't know I had a reputation amongst you people." I wondered when the end of the hallway would come upon us. "I didn't even know you people were aware of my existence in the first place."

  "Not until recently. But when we heard whose daughter you are and what bloodline you come from, your reputation was born without much help." Maya let the veil fall back on her shoulders, the lower part of her face visible to me again. "Your mother wounded the assassin that is feared even amongst his own kind and your aunt killed the King. You cannot blame them for feeling a tad skittish."

  I let out a short chuckle. "I don't blame them; I think them foolish."

  Maya smiled. "Of course you do. Why would a group of Regius fear one lone Altor." She stopped walking and made sure I did too before reaching out and grabbing onto something. My eyebrows rose when she moved a curtain that had been painted to make it look as though the hallway continued. Behind it was a staircase that went down into darkness. I couldn't help but wince. People who didn't know it was there could seriously hurt themselves if they kept on walking.

  "They know they could overpower you. They do not fear that," Maya murmured as she started making her way down, clearly expecting me to follow. I did only because I couldn't do anything else. She'd just pointed out the reason. If I tried to run away, I’d surely be tackled down before I could really do any damage. "But the women in your family are known to leave scars in the Regius' history. They fear that cycle won't end with you, but rather, worsen due to your strong ties with the Royals."

  "Galax." I whispered. "But he's no longer one of you." Maya grabbed my arm all of a sudden, stopping us in our tracks again. Looking up, I stared at an unfamiliar woman making her way up the stairs. Her cold blue eyes scanned me sharply, but she didn't slow in her steps to take a better look. Her azure hair was cut neatly along her jaw line and her uniform told me she was a high ranked soldier.

  "Sage." Maya said softly, bowing her head in respect even if the woman had already passed us, her footsteps fading as the distance between us lengthened. We came to the end of the stairs abruptly. "We are here." She told me, pointing to the left where I saw a door.

  "I beg of you," My head snapped sharply at her pleading voice. "Don't anger him too much; otherwise I will pay the price." Before I could respond, she knocked, then pulled the door open, gesturing for me to go inside.

  I did, but when I heard the door close, I realized she wasn't coming with me. I wanted to contemplate her words a while longer, but the luxury of the room was so overwhelming, I was distracted. It was a ballroom, really. The floor looked like glass, much like the platform in the Pallium castle. Only this platform was placed on top of beige wood from the trees in Immortalis Silva and carved with intricate patterns.

  The chandelier hanging in the middle from the ceiling was the biggest I'd ever seen and the outer circle of candles lit up each portrait. That wasn’t the only light though, hundreds of candles on their respective holders were planted around the platform. Frowning as I slowed my steps to look at patterns properly, I realized they were portraits.

  I didn't recognize any of the men engraved onto the wood, but I could guess who they were. Former kings of Zinc. They had to be because each portrait had a blue diamond pressed into the wood where their foreheads were, the same spot where Galax had his dot. Turning my attention away from the floor I looked up, noticing two enormous stair cases rounding around the circular platform upwards, leading to an inside balcony looking out over the ballroom. Large windows were at the back of this inside balcony, illuminating the forest where I could see flowers growing on the trees.

  "Solenum Everhart." I tensed, looking around the area carefully as I couldn't seem to locate where the unfamiliar voice was coming from

  "Daughter to Aster and Leann Everhart." He continued. "Altor and Seer. Niece to the honorable Jacoby warriors, Acacia and Lupinus. Protégé of Flux Kaminski, Pallium leader. Friend to Calycanthus Esquivel, hunted by the Regius." He paused for a beat, his voice turning darker, heavier as he said the following. "Lover to the Regius prince." The smirk, or grin, was very clear in his tone. "Or so rumor has it." I turned my eyes skywards when that last had been clear enough for me to locate the source.

  "Xania Reinhardt." I stated, my upper lip curling in disgust as I saw the man sm
irking down at me, his hands planted on the railing of the balcony.

  "Please." Straightening, he pointed at the right stairs. "Join me." I had to remain steady and not show him I was afraid. As I slowly made my way up the steps, I never allowed my eyes to leave his figure. He was so tall. His hair was blue and of course his skin was pale. Naturally, all Blue Bloods carried this trait as I carried the Altor and Seer traits. But while Galax had a gentle air about him and Digitalis a very sharp and dangerous demeanor, Xania looked royal. His blues were brighter than that of Galax and he wore his hair in a low pony tail, two short bangs ending right above his eyebrows. He wore beautiful azure clothing, worthy of a king. A large silk belt was tied around his waist, decorated with golden cords, knee high boots made of black leather. It was clear he overcompensated with accessories and expensive fabrics to hide the fact that the royal mark was absent from his forehead. Although it might work at first glance, looking at him a second longer, you were instantly reminded that he was only the Steward.

  A smile was playing on his lips as he stepped closer to me once I reached the last step. He had a goatee and surprisingly, he didn’t look really evil. Had he approached me in less extravagant clothing back when I’d still been living in LV, I most likely wouldn’t have realized he was a danger. Unlike Sage, he didn’t have that coldness about him, he actually seemed to be a very warm, almost cheerful person. Which made him all the more terrifying. If Xen had looked anything like his elder brother, Xania, then Galax had to take after his mother.

  He leaned in, scanning me over curiously using his hand to grip my chin tightly between his fingers so he could turn my head.

  "Pretty." He whispered, his index finger caressing my jaw line, forcing me to remember I had a gag reflex. "Not at first glance. But looking closer..." I pulled my chin free from his grasp, and he smirked. “Though you lack a certain feminine aspect both mind and body, I can see that you are a strong woman. This in turn makes me understand why my nephew is so taken with you." As he said this, his tone sounded curious. "An heir subconsciously seeks for the mate that carries the traits necessary for a Queen. It is not surprising he should have fallen for a girl descending from the Greenwich bloodline. Fine women in your family."