The woman spoke. “Sister? Rise, sister and look upon me.”
Valaine’s gray head poked out from behind the table. She placed her palms flat on the stone and pushed herself into a standing position. “Sister?” she said as if she could not quite believe it. Valaine shuffled around the table. “Is it truly you? How did you get out of the cave? The mage who put you in there swore I would never be able to break the protections. I thought I had lost you forever!”
“Do not think to trick me, Valaine. I know of your treachery. All these years, hundreds of years, you meant to keep me sleeping, but I woke in my mind. And I waited.” Valeria stepped forward, closer to her sister, her face sorrowful. “I allowed you through the protections hoping you would see the folly in your thinking after so many years. You would come to visit me in the guise of someone new and speak to me, but I never answered. And you whispered all your secrets to me. I know what you have done.”
A look of horror crossed Valaine’s face. “I did it for you! For us! William didn’t love you, not truly. He left you and went to fight battles that had nothing to do with him. I stayed with you. I loved you and you would have left me the instant he came back.”
“I had a duty to the crown as a knight. She knew that. I left because I loved her.” The man, William, said. “I needed to be able to provide for her and the family we were going to start.”
“Hush, my love. I never doubted how you felt for me.” Valeria said, taking his hand. She looked at her sister. “And if you still do, he broke the sleeping curse you placed upon me. True love’s kiss is the most powerful magic in the world. After all these years, after death and rebirth as a death muxin at your hand, he still loves me.”
Valaine’s mouth opened and closed, as though she couldn’t believe what she was hearing.
“You’ve wasted so much of your lives being angry and hurt, sister. So much energy put into surviving to live another lonely life.” Valeria looked around unconcerned. “All these souls, you’ve woken them from their rest, pulled them from the other side, so that you could live unnaturally long.” She slowly raised her right hand.
“Please, sister, don’t,” Valaine begged. “I need them. We need them. We can rule the world with them.” Her eyes fell on Serra. “We have a shifter. We can share her power, even split between the two of us, we can rule forever. Please, sister.”
Valeria seemed to be considering and for a moment fear gripped Serra. She had survived the feasting of one sister, but could she survive two? Her fingers tightened around Sylvan’s hand, who squeezed back. She wasn’t sure she would be able to do that.
She need not have worried. Valeria snapped her fingers and the death muxins disappeared, sent back to their resting places.
There came the sound of pounding footsteps behind them, what sounded like hundreds of feet on the stone floor. Fully armored soldiers rushed into the room, a man with a ram’s head on his shield in the forefront. They stopped their headlong rush when they saw only six people in the large room.
The man in the front pushed up his visor and Serra was startled to recognize, Lord Arseno Valin. He looked as though he hadn’t slept in a year, but it was him.
“Where’s Eva?” He asked.
Serra only stared at him.
“Here. I am here!” Came Eva’s voice from the behind his soldiers. The children who had been left in the cave pushed their way to the front of the group, led by Eva, Rian, Reks and Vaughn, who carried Mhairie in his arms.
While Eva rushed to be embraced by Lord Arseno, a sight Serra had never thought to see, Sylvan hurried to her sister’s side. Serra followed, anxious to see if she could help in some way and glad to distance herself from the woman who had almost killed her.
When she reached her friends, Reks wrapped his arms around her, pulled her close and kissed her. “You have got to stop scaring the hell out of me.” She tightened her arms around him in apology, but didn’t speak. “Are you okay?” She could only nod. The truth was she was far from okay, but she couldn’t risk falling apart in his arms, as much as she wanted to. There were more important things happening at this moment.
Serra pulled away from Reks and went to Sylvan and Mhairie. “Is she okay?”
Sylvan shook her head, tears in her eyes as she stroked her sister’s straw-like hair. “I can’t tell. She’s not responding. She needs to be in the wood. She needs the energy.”
Serra considered for a moment, then offered. “If it will help she can have some of mine. I have more then I know what to do with.” Sylvan’s brown eyes focused on Serra’s face.
“It might help.”
Serra took a deep breath and picked up Mhairie’s hand. This time her energy flowed, eager to leave and to help. It felt nothing like when Valaine was tearing it away. As she watched Mhairie’s coloring went from yellowish to green and her hair began to change from straw to fresh grass. She stirred in Vaughn’s arms and opened her gold eyes. “Sylvan?”
Joyfully, Sylvan took Mhairie from the guard and held her close, whispering how they would soon return to Sidonia Wood and how happy their mother would be to see them.
“Such a happy reunion of sisters.” Valeria said, watching the interaction and drawing everyone’s attention back to the situation at hand. “I wish we could have one such as that.”
Valaine nodded eagerly. “I wish it too. With all my heart.”
Valeria held out her arms to her sister. “Then embrace me, my sister and we shall forget all that has occurred before this.”
William was shaking his head. “My love, all the children she’s killed. All the lives she’s ruined. Mine and yours! She made me watch every time she feasted on them.” His voice was harsh as he remembered. Serra shuddered. Five hundred years of watching children die, no one could feel okay with that.
“Hush, my love, hush. This is between sisters. This is between twins.”
Valaine hurried down the stairs and across the stone floor. She rushed into the waiting arms of Valeria. “I have been so lonely without you. Seven different lives and all of them lonely.”
Valeria stroked her sister’s grey hair. “I know. I know.” Serra couldn’t quite believe what was happening. They had expected Valeria to wish revenge on her sister, not to forgive her. They could not allow Valaine to go on unpunished, to let her live out the rest of her days.
As if reading her thoughts, Valeria’s green eyes rose to Serra’s face. She continued to stroke her sister’s hair and whispered. “You have lived so long and have been so lonely. All that energy used up. All the planning. You must be tired. Are you tired, sister?”
Valaine nodded and nestled closer to her sister. “Wouldn’t you like to rest, sister? Wouldn’t you like to give up fighting for this lonely life?” Valaine seemed to sense that something wasn’t right. She tried to pull back, but Valeria wouldn’t let her. Valaine’s old bones and muscles were of no match for Valeria’s. The red haired girl’s hands began to glow. “You have lived for too long, sister. It is time. Time to die.”
Valaine was fighting with all her feeble strength now, as Valeria began to glow with a green light, softly at first then with greater intensity. Valaine whimpered and pleaded, but Valeria held on. The glow was so bright it hurt Serra’s eyes. She turned her head away, buried her face in Reks' shoulder. He wrapped his arms around her, turned his head into her hair as he too tried to shield his eyes from the light.
The sounds from Valaine grew almost animalistic, and then she was screaming. Serra pressed her face into Reks' leather vest trying to block out the cries.
And suddenly there was silence. Serra peaked out from Reks' arms and saw Valeria holding a statue of ash. Her eyes were still focused on Serra as she lifted her hand one last time and stroked her sister’s hair. The ash statue of Valaine began to crumble, falling to the floor in a fine dust.
Valeria brushed out her skirts and retreated to the arms of her lover, who held her close. After a moment, Valeria turned to the group that surrounded her. “I loved my siste
r, but she did not deserve to live. Five hundred years, is too long to linger on this earth, for anyone.” She approached Serra and touched her face. “I met your father once.”
Serra was bewildered. “My father? How? When?”
“He came to our village one spring, just as the flowers were blooming. You have his eyes, blue-green like the sea. He asked that I give you a message. Your journey does not end here. You will not be allowed to simply return to your quiet life in Malvern’s Ward. The world is hurting, and you must heal it.”
Serra shook her head. “I don’t understand.”
“Nor do I. I am simply the messenger. Your father foresaw these events.” She dropped her hand from Serra’s face. “And now I have fulfilled my mission.” She nodded in a tired way. “Five hundred years is too long for anyone to linger on this earth,” she repeated. “Even me in my sleeping state.”
Valeria went to William, reached up and kissed him. “Are you ready, my love? Are you ready to rest?”
William nodded. “Yes.” Their lips met in a final kiss, there was a blaze of green light and with a loud pop they were gone.
Chapter 43
SERRA
The capital city of Carpius was loud. She stared out the window of her room in the palace, wondering how so many people could stand to live in such a noisy place. The sounds of the city reached her even here, behind twenty foot high walls and separated by hundreds of feet of gardens and grass.
She fingered the silk of the green dress she wore. Eva said the green made her eyes stand out, and that the cut was very fashionable. Serra assumed it was. The sleeves were short, revealing her new Caste Mark, and Eva said that was the most important thing about it.
After the encounter with Valaine and the realization that she was indeed the daughter of a god, Serra had discovered her Mark had formed of its own volition. She didn’t recognize any of the symbols in it, most likely they pertained to Malvern and her abilities as a shifter in designs lost to humans long ago. It stretched from the back of her hand up to her shoulder and even spread across part of her chest and back. And where all other Caste Marks were black, Serra’s was dark purple and shimmery, the same color as the vapor that Valaine had tried unsuccessfully to swallow.
Eva had tried to get Serra to agree to wear dresses with only one strap over her right shoulder, to better show off her Mark, but after years of hiding her unmarked skin, a dress like that would make her feel naked. To be honest she didn’t feel comfortable wearing silk dresses at all. She wished she could go back to wearing breeches and boots, her hair in a simple braid and riding horses. But that was not to be.
The king had proclaimed her a hero and heroes had responsibilities.
“I think I’ll go with the lilies for the flower. Arseno says there are beautiful lilies in the spring in Thorndike.” Serra nodded and made a noncommittal sound. Eva had been talking of nothing but her wedding preparations for the last two weeks. Almost as soon as she’d arrived in Carpius, she’d dragged Serra across the city trying food and cake, looking at wedding dresses, deciding on flower arrangements. Serra loved Eva, but she was sick of her wedding.
Eva giggled girlishly. “Can you believe I’m about to be married? Well, it’s a few months away, but still.” Her friend placed her hands on Serra’s shoulder. “Are you alright, Serra?”
She sighed and turned away from the window, bringing Eva’s radiant face into view. “I’m fine. Just tired.”
Eva slid her hands down Serra’s arms to entwine their fingers together. “I received a letter from Mother this morning. She and Father are coming to Carpius to see you. Won’t it be something after all these years to have them bow and scrape to you?” She grinned.
Serra returned her smile though with less enthusiasm. The truth was that the idea of it just made her tired. She had been to so many court functions in the last month that she’d lost count. She was at the whim of the king who liked to parade her around in front of dignitaries and nobles alike.
Sylvan had left Port Luna shortly after they returned from the Isle of Eyes, eager to return Mharie to the Sidonia Wood and help her get back to health. Serra accompanied Vaughn, Rian and Reks to Carpius but almost as soon as they’d arrived all three of them were gone again. Rian and Vaughn to help with getting the children back to their families. Reks to check on the state of his court. And Serra had been left at the palace on her own with only Eva for company.
She felt the familiar ache building in her chest whenever she thought about her friends… about Reks.
A timid knock sounded at the bedchamber door.
“Come in.” Serra called.
Her lady’s maid, Shelda, stepped into the room and gave a quick curtsey. “My Lady, Lady Evalyne. The seamstress is waiting for you in Lady Evalyne’s solar for your fittings. She asked that Lady Evalyne come right away and that Lady Serra come in an hour or so.”
Eva squealed and clapped her hands together. “I had better go!”
Serra watched her friend leave then turned toward the window, fingering the fabric of her dress again.
Shelda hovered near the door. “Is the dress to your liking, m’lady?”
“Yes, it’s fine. Thank you, Shelda.” The girl was so timid, Serra was sure she thought that Serra would shift into some beast and devour her, no matter how gently she talked to her. “I have no more need of you, you may go.” It still felt odd dismissing a servant, rather than being dismissed.
Shelda curtsied quickly. “Yes, m’lady. There’s a gentleman in the sitting room waiting for you.”
“How long has he been waiting?”
“Not long, m’lady.”
“Thank you.” Serra waiting until she heard the door to the hall close before making her way into the sitting room. Reks stood gazing out a window at the city that spread before them, looking as uncomfortable as she felt usually felt. Her heart gave a thrill at seeing him and it took all of her self control not to run to him. He smiled when she entered the room, stretching the scar that she knew so well, and opened his arms to her.
She went to him, allowed herself to be folded into his embrace, turning her face to his to receive his kiss. It felt like the most natural thing in the world, when so much of her life recently had felt unnatural.
Sometime later they pulled away from each other, breathing heavy and somewhat more disheveled than they had been.
Reks smoothed her hair back from her face. “So, this is what you’ve been up to? The Hero of Iperia sits in her tower and looks out at the world she saved.”
Serra snorted, and flopped onto the couch, stretching her feet in front of her. “I didn’t do anything, other than not get killed. You know that as well as I do. Sylvan’s the one who saved us.”
His face sobered as he came to sit next to her. “How are you doing?”
“I’m fine.” Serra said, more from habit than anything else.
Reks shook his head slowly, reaching out to take her hand. “No, you’re not fine. You’ve gone from being a servant to being the hero of a country, a symbol for the time to come.”
“I know.”
“Gods, Serra,” he said, his voice tight. “A month ago you almost died.”
“I know.”
“I’m not fine. You can’t possibly be.”
Serra sighed, and rubbed her free hand over her face, no doubt smudging the makeup Shelda had painstakingly applied that morning. “You’re right, I’m not fine. I feel out of place all the time. I have all this magic and this energy and I can’t do anything with it other than light a candle, if it hasn’t already been lit for me. I don’t like sitting around waiting for when the king needs me. And you all left to do things. I haven’t seen or heard from any of you for over three weeks. And what was with the message from my Father, sent five hundred years ago, ‘the world is hurting, and you must heal it’? What does that mean?” Serra threw up her hand in frustration. “And, yes, I almost died. And no, I haven’t quite come to terms with that yet. It’s just a lot to take in, you kn
ow?” She stopped talking, waited for him to say something.
Reks considered her for a moment, his eyes roving over her. “Silk suits you.” And just like that all of the fight went out of her. She blushed and leaned into him, rested her head on his shoulder, unable to meet his silver gaze. He adjusted his grip on her hand so their fingers entwined. “Though not as well as breeches and a leather vest.”
“I was thinking the same thing.” She leaned her head back and closed her eyes. “The king has me at so many functions and balls and meetings. I am sick to death of them and dresses and just everything. All I want to do is climb on Shadowdancer and disappear.”
“That is excellent news, as that is exactly what I have in mind.” Serra opened her eyes to look at him, but didn’t raise her head. “Well, maybe not exactly. Sylvan has been given care of the Isle of Eyes. She intends to start a school there for all the mage born children. She asked me to join them, not that I can teach magic, but I have other useful skills.”
Serra raised an eyebrow. “And you mean to go? To give up your life as the Thief Lord and teach children to throw knives and pick locks?”
He gave a graceful shrug of his shoulders. “I might. The Court doesn’t trust me much now. I have befriended a prince, a member of the Kingsguard and the great Hero of Iperia. I have a feeling it won’t be long before someone tries to take my throne from me. I would rather bequeath it to someone, and live to a ripe old age. Besides, I’m not in hiding anymore. General Latimer knows I’m alive and I’m pretty sure he knows where to find me.”
She looked at their entwined hands, Reks' thumb was making small circles on the back of hers sending tiny thrills through her. “What about your sister?” Serra knew how much it killed him to have left her in Brencis.
“Ah, yes. That is the thing about befriending princes. They talk their fathers into demanding things, like the release of the mage Alida Kiritan.”
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