by Kim Stokely
I examined the brown lump in my hand, sure it had never been sanitized. “I think I’ll pass.”
“But─”
“Just do it.”
Malina muttered what I think was a prayer then set to sewing up my arm. I gritted my teeth as the needle pierced my skin and she tugged the thread through. Beads of sweat formed along my forehead but I didn’t let out more than a few whimpers. We repeated the routine on my other arm.
I laid down on the cot and she took a knife to the bandage around my stomach. Her fingers prodded for a minute. “This one’s not as deep. The wound’s already scabbing over.”
“Open it.”
“What?”
“I want you to clean it out before it heals. I don’t want to get sick like before.” I saw the flash of memory in her face as she recalled how I’d almost died from the infection in my shoulder wound.
She took the edge of the towel and scrubbed at my stomach until the scab came off. Then she poured the witch hazel on another corner of the towel to cleanse the wound. She pressed her hand against it to try and stop the blood faster.
I jumped, not from pain, but from Quinn’s panicked voice in my head. Alystrine?
Malina pulled her hand away. I took the cloth from her, held it against my stomach and sat up. What’s wrong?
Where are you?
Here in Uz.
Praise Ruahk.
What’s happening?
Braedon knows you escaped.
How?
I don’t know, but he’s threatened to torture the boy in the morning if you don’t arrive.
Tell him to open the gates. I’m coming. I turned to the healer. “I need to go. Can you show me the way to the palace?”
“Aye. But you won’t be needing my help unless you want my company. You can see it from here.” She grabbed new bandages. “Let me bind you up first so you don’t bleed through again.”
“Hurry.”
Her wrinkled hands deftly bound up my stomach. I slipped Kyran’s torn and bloody shirt over my head.
“You cannot be presenting yourself to the Lord Regent looking like this.”
“I don’t have a choice.” I picked the leather satchel up and slung it over my shoulder.
Malina scowled. “Come.” She opened the door and pointed. On a hill, about a mile away, sat the palace. “You cannot miss it. The watchtower fires stay lit throughout the night.”
“You’re not coming with me?”
She lowered her gaze. “I will if you ask it of me, but I’d rather not see Geran just now.”
I nodded. “Thanks for everything.”
I thought about walking the couple miles to the palace but the howling wind and snow changed my mind. I looked up at the watchtower and found a passage. The gates stood open. A handful of guards ran forward when I appeared.
One stuck a spear toward my chest. “Who are you?”
“I’m Alystrine.” I repeated my heritage like a meditation mantra. “Daughter of Queen Etain and Geran the Elder.”
“You’ve come alone?”
I looked over one shoulder, then the other. “You don’t see anyone else, do you?”
The men bent their heads down to confer together. Exhaustion pushed my irritability meter off the charts. “I know you expected me to ride in with the Black Guards but it’s really me.” I hugged myself and stamped my bare feet in the snow. “And I’m freezing.”
The ringleader sent men ahead to inform Lord Braedon of my arrival. Two other soldiers escorted me through the courtyard to the entrance.
I followed the guards through the halls, trying to wrap my head around being back in the palace, seeing Braedon again and what I was going to do about Josh. I wondered whether he’d been tortured while I’d been on my quest for Ginessa’s Glade. Even if he hadn’t been tortured, I remembered my own confusion when I first found myself in Ayden and the fear that accompanied it.
We approached a set of double doors and the guards swung them open. My escorts stopped walking, standing to either side of me while I made my way to the threshold.
“The Lady Alystrine, daughter of Queen Etain,” the guard to my right announced.
I entered a large sitting room. Couches and high backed chairs formed a circle around a stone fire pit. My eyes were drawn to the flames roaring in the center of the room but I soon noticed the group of people that stood as I entered. I heard Kennis gasp when she saw me but I searched for only one person.
Josh.
He wasn’t there. I searched the room again but saw only Braedon, Lord Donagh, Quinn and my family. Where’s Josh?
He’s safe. We didn’t expect you tonight. Kennis had a healer put him to bed.
“Alystrine,” Lord Braedon’s voice grated down my back like the sound of ice cracking. “I’m so glad you made it. Although I must say, I am surprised. I didn’t think to see you until the morning.”
My father crossed the room and took my hands. “What happened to you?”
“I’m fine.”
“You’re sure?”
I squeezed his hands. “I’m sure. Just cold.”
Lord Donagh took a sip from the wine goblet he held. “That is good news indeed. I am pleased to see you again, Alystrine.”
I stared at him, trying to read his mind to see if he knew what his son had planned to have done to me. I couldn’t see through his veneer, but I suspected he knew. Lord Donagh wanted to control me just as much as his son.
I pulled my hands from my father and strode over to Braedon. I surprised us both when my palm cracked across his cheek, leaving a bright red handprint. His father grabbed my wrist before I could strike his son again. I wrenched my hand away and glared at Braedon. “You keep your filthy, evil Black Guards away from me. If I ever see one again, so help me, I will kill it.”
Lord Donagh sneered. “You cannot kill one of the demon born.”
I looked down at my shirt, still streaked with black goo. I rubbed it until some came off on my hand then I held my fingers in front of Donagh’s face. “I already have.” I wiped the demon’s blood across his blue velvet tunic, enjoying the look of disgust and worry that flickered in his eyes. I turned back to Braedon. “And while your attempts to break me haven’t worked, they have been unpleasant. I’m warning you now to stop.”
His eyes filled with contempt. “Or what?”
I stepped closer to him, keeping my voice low so I knew only he could hear me. “Don’t be so sure you won’t die before I ever have your child.” I smiled as the blood ran from his face.
“Alystrine,” my father called. “What happened in the Fey?”
I refused to let what the Black Guards did make me a victim. It happened and, if I was going to get over it, I would have to tell the others about it. I just hadn’t realized how difficult it would be. My throat constricted. I couldn’t find my voice. The fact that Braedon stood there, looking so smug, knowing he could never be blamed for what he’d ordered his beasts to do to me. I wanted to kill him.
Alystrine?
I tore my eyes from Braedon. I scanned the faces of everyone in the room before I found Quinn. I didn’t want to describe the horror of what I’d been through. Not to my father, who I barely knew. Not to Kennis, who already blamed herself for not telling me about Ayden in the first place. Maybe it was better to stay quiet about the worst of it.
“Alystrine?” Geran spoke again. “What happened?”
I studied his face and tried to read his mind. What kind of man was he? What would he think if he knew what that beast had almost succeeded in doing to me?
Alystrine?
I turned back to Quinn. Instead of words, I sent him pictures, just as I had tried to do from the Fey. This time no barrier prevented my thoughts from coming through. Quinn went rigid as I pushed the images into his thoughts. Mahon ripping my clothes, licking my blood, laying on top of me.
Quinn let out a moan like a wounded animal. He clutched at the arms to the chair behind him and struggled to sit before he fell.<
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Kennis ran to his side. “What happened?”
He waved her off then used the back of his hand to wipe the sweat from his pale brow. “Nothing . . . I’ll be fine.”
Geran stalked up between us. “What did you tell him? Why won’t you say it aloud?”
Digging my fingernails into the fleshy part of my palm, I fought back tears. I refused to show Braedon how close he’d come this time to breaking me.
Quinn groaned. “Words cannot describe it.”
“What are you talking about?” Braedon asked.
For a moment I couldn’t say anything, in total shock that he would deny knowing what the Black Guards had done. Then I snorted a laugh. “I’m sorry.” The wound in my stomach twinged as I laughed harder. “It’s just that you’re so pathetic.” I took a step toward him. “Everything you’ve tried. Everything you’ve done to break me? It’s failed. It’s only made me stronger.”
I could feel the rage Braedon struggled to keep inside. “I don’t know what you mean, Alystrine. I have done nothing–”
“Don’t lie. I don’t believe anything you say anymore.”
My father’s eyes burned with rage. “What did he do to you, Alystrine?”
I folded my arms across my chest and looked to Quinn. Tell them, I pleaded. I can’t.
The Portal stood up and turned his back on Kennis. He couldn’t face her any more than I could. “The Black Guards attacked her.”
Geran kept his eyes on me. “You mean with this mind thing you told us about. The dreams?”
Quinn gave his head a quick shake. “No Geran . . . they tried . . . to violate her.”
Various groans rose around the room. My father swallowed. He lowered his head. His voice sounded choked. “Did they succeed?”
Now that it had been spoken, I took ownership of it. “No. They didn’t get a chance to finish before I escaped.”
I saw the anger that flashed behind Lord Braedon’s eyes before he put on a mask of concern. “By the gods, Alystrine, I swear I never ordered such a thing to be done.” He took a step back as Geran turned on him. “I swear it!”
My father stood as tall as Braedon. He took hold of the Lord Regent’s tunic and shook him. “You had better start praying to those filthy, evil gods you serve because I swear to you, I will kill you for what you have done to my wife and my daughter.”
Braedon pried Geran away. “Do not threaten me. You have no idea what power my gods have secured for me in the future.”
My father’s arms trembled. I could feel the rage pulsating off his body. “Ruahk has a plan. I believe he will allow me to see you die a very slow and painful death. Preferably at my hands.”
“Enough.” My grandmother, who had remained quiet through this whole ordeal, was at my side. “Geran!” Maris reached over and took her son’s arm. “Leave him. See to your daughter.”
My father couldn’t even look me in the eyes. Maris glared at Lord Braedon. “I think Kennis and I should see to Alystrine’s physical needs. I’m sure you have made rooms available for her since you anticipated her return?”
He gave her a curt nod. “Guards!” The doors opened and the troop of soldiers stepped inside. “Show Lady Alystrine to her rooms. Make sure a healer is called to see to her.”
“I’ve already seen a healer. I just need some rest.”
Kennis tried to take my arm but I wouldn’t let her. I didn’t want to show any weakness to Braedon. With my head high and my shoulders straight I followed the guards in silence to my new rooms. The first was a sitting room with several settees and chairs arranged in almost a circle in the center. Thick embroidered rugs warmed the floor. A desk sat in the corner and a fire burned in the fireplace along one of the walls. Torches blazed, lighting up the opulent splendor. Blue velvet curtains hung over the windows.
Maris closed the door on the guards. Another door opened to our left by the desk and Rhoswen hurried out.
The red-haired girl curtsied. “It’s good to have you back, my lady. What can I do for you?”
“Give us a moment.” Kennis led me to the couch. “Let me see your wounds.”
I placed the satchel on the floor next to me then sat down, wincing as I peeled off my shirt. My mother unwound the bandages on my arms. Rhoswen gasped at the ragged scars that ran from my shoulders to my elbows.
My mother called to her. “Go to my rooms. Fetch the black leather bag under the bed. The one with the handles.”
The maid curtsied and fled out the door.
Kennis went to the fireplace to put some water in a pot to boil. “I have some antibiotic cream from home. We’ll have to watch the wounds closely to make sure they don’t become infected.” She came back to my side and traced Malina’s threads. “This is some fine needlework.”
“You make me sound like a counted cross-stitch.”
She ran her hand down the back of my head. “You still have your sense of humor, I see.”
I groaned as she pushed me to lie down on the couch so she could see the gash in my stomach. “I had Malina clean them with witch hazel before she sewed them.”
My mother smiled. “Good girl. I guess all those nights you helped me study for my tests were useful for you as well.”
Maris pulled her chair closer to us. “Can you tell us what happened?”
Kennis found a blanket and covered me with it before lowering herself to the couch by my feet. I shut my eyes but opened them quickly when Mahon’s face appeared. I gave them a brief summary of Mahon’s attack. It was easier to tell them what had happened without Geran there. I knew they wouldn’t judge me. And the more I thought of it, the more empowered I felt. I’d bested a beast three times my weight by using my mind and my powers. Then I told them about killing Sigal in the temple. I sat up when Rhoswen entered the room.
“Is this what you wanted?”
My mother took the bag from her. “Thank you.”
“Will you be wanting your nightgown now, Your Majesty?”
“Soon.”
“I’ll set it out for you in the bedchamber, shall I?”
“That would be perfect.”
Kennis waited until the maid had left before she slipped the blanket off me and applied the antibiotic cream. “You were very brave, Alystrine. Stupid, but brave.”
“I had to go with the Black Guards. I didn’t want them to hurt anyone else.”
“The Elders could have helped you.” The ointment chilled my skin as she rubbed it in.
“We’ll need them later, when the real war begins.”
Her hands stopped for a moment. “Is that what you saw? In the Glade?”
“No, but I know it’s coming.”
We didn’t speak anymore as she finished applying the cream and rewrapping my wounds.
My grandmother stood up. “I’m very proud of you.” Her eyes filled with tears but she smiled down at me. “Truly, you are gifted beyond any Elder in many years.” Maris kissed my cheek. “Goodnight.”
“Goodnight.” I stood and picked up the leather bag with the Chrysaline.
My grandmother watched me. “What do you have?”
“Nothing important.”
She raised her eyebrow, but didn’t ask anything more before leaving.
Kennis led me to the bedchamber where she left Rhoswen to help me put on the nightgown while she went back to the water she’d put on the fireplace. I pushed the satchel under the huge canopied bed before giving my attention to the maid.
Rhoswen waited for me to put on my nightgown before she asked, “Shall I take off your wig, my lady?”
“What?”
“Your wig.” She nodded toward my head. “I could brush it out for you.”
“It’s not a wig.” It felt good to laugh. “It’s my own hair.” My fingers got caught in a tangle. “The miracle of the growing hair.”
Rhoswen’s green eyes sparkled with a happiness I’d never seen before. “May I brush it?”
“I guess so.” I sat on the edge of the bed. The maid sat be
hind me and pulled the bristles through my hair. Even when she hit a snarl she worked gently so I wouldn’t feel any pain. By the time my mother came in with a cup of tea for me, I was as relaxed as I’d ever been in Ayden, despite all that had happened.
Kennis smiled at Rhoswen. “You may go now. Thank you for your care of my daugh–my niece.”
The red-haired girl curtsied and left.
My mother helped me get under the covers then handed me the tea. I took a sip. “Did you put something in this?”
“A mild sedative to help you sleep.”
“I want to see Josh.”
Kennis frowned. “Tomorrow.”
I lowered the cup from my mouth. “Please . . . I have to see him.” I needed to see for myself he was safe. I wouldn’t rest until I did.
My mother sighed. “After you drink your tea.”
I sucked it down then got out of bed and put the robe on that Rhoswen had left out for me. I followed Kennis through the dark halls and down a staircase. She whispered something to the guards outside Josh’s door and they let us in. His room was much smaller than mine, holding only a full-sized bed, a desk, and a winged back chair. Embers glowed orange in the fireplace.
I crept over to his side. He had a serious case of bed head. His black hair stuck out at all angles. I leaned closer. It was difficult to see in the room’s dim light, but he looked unharmed.
Kennis stood in the doorway. “I convinced Braedon to let him out of the dungeon. He must remain within the castle walls, but he at least he’ll have some freedom.”
I rested my hand on his chest, relieved when it rose and fell in the steady rhythm of sleep.
“Satisfied?” My mother asked.
I nodded.
She led me back to my room and tucked me in. “How do you feel?”
My eyelids felt like someone had taped quarters to them. I couldn’t keep them open. My muscles were like sandbags. “Tired.”
She ran her hand across my forehead. “Do you want me to stay?”
“No,” I mumbled. “I’ll be fine.”
She leaned down to kiss me before leaving. I waited until she’d shut the door then sat up. I struggled to keep the drugs she’d had given me out of my head so I could think about the Chrysaline. That stupid orb gave far too much power to the person who held it. I didn’t know if anyone but an Elder could use it, but I wasn’t about to find out. I had to find someplace safe to hide it, and under my bed wasn’t it.