He smiled. “I just assumed that—”
“You assumed wrong.” I took hold of the guard’s hand and he helped me into the coach. I sat beside my mother so that I didn’t have to be next to Noah. When he crawled in and sat across from me, he winked and blew me a kiss. I shook my head and mouthed, ‘I hate you’.
“Sit straight, Echo,” Mother barked.
“Yes, Mother.”
The rest of the ride was spent in silence. I tuned her out after awhile and thought about Ayden. I would see him tomorrow, I was sure. If I could get away, I was going to spend the whole day with him at the river. I absentmindedly touched my lips and smiled. I would see him soon and he’d make me forget about Shadow and Noah, Everlae and Silas. The world would slip away, time would cease to exist, and there’d only be him and me.
My thoughts slowed as the coach pulled to a stop and we climbed out one by one. Noah grabbed my hand again, but my focus was on the massive building before me. It stood taller than the border, than the palace. Shaped like a dome with no roofing, it appeared like a prison in every way. Some pillars had been broken down from the looks of it and as we stepped closer, I could actually smell the iron taste of blood. Loud cheering and screaming erupted from the inside and caused my eardrums to ring. Noah smiled giddily and led me in.
I stopped him. “No, I can’t.” I looked back at my mother and the Queen of Delentia.
Mother looked disgusted with me and said, “Echo, walk.”
I swallowed any arguments I’d had and gripped Noah’s hand harder. My heart had never felt so heavy in my chest. How the hell could they possibly sit and watch?
I was led through a large corridor flooded with people. Some parted way for Noah and I and they clapped merrily as they gazed at us. I cringed and turned away, feeling shameful once more. I didn’t deserve their acclaim, nor did I want it. Noah escorted me up the steps to the second level where a small doorway was sectioned off by a thin, blood red curtain. I laughed at the irony.
“For you, Princess,” a thin woman said as she handed me a goblet of wine. I shook my head at her and she turned to Noah. He stared at her body appreciatively and she coward away from him. “Must you be so obvious?” I asked him. The same woman showed us to our seats as we emerged through the curtains and I was met with open skies and hot, arid air.
“If you won’t put out, what is a man to do?” Noah whispered. I glowered at him, but he merely shrugged. I sat in the chair the woman directed me to and noticed that Noah and I were the only ones on the terrace. But when I glanced to my left, Mother and Father, along with the King and Queen of Delentia, sat on the other terrace just a few feet away. Father nodded at me and I smiled a smile that barely touched my eyes.
“So when does this thing start?” I asked nervously.
Noah smiled and pointed to the ground below us. “Now.” In the middle of the dome was a playground of sand stained with what was evidently blood. Two gates stood on either side and guards rounded the whole perimeter of the arena.
“My gods,” I breathed. I sat back in my seat and refused to look down again.
“This is your first time?” he asked me.
I laughed. “You ask as if this is a deflowering, Noah. This is death!” I gripped the cushion of my chair and tried not to raise my voice above a whisper.
“Death is beautiful, Echo,” the blonde-headed moron dared say. “Watch.”
Unwillingly, my eyes moved to the sight before me and I froze. The crowd screamed in excitement as a young girl probably the age of ten stepped out onto the arena. She held a sword twice as big as her in her hand and struggled to keep it up. My heart wept for her. The clothes on her back were filthy and did nothing to hide the evidence of malnutrition. Were they feeding her? What could she have possibly done to deserve a death such as this? As if she could hear me, her eyes shot to me and watched me in a silent plea. I struggled to swallow the saliva in my mouth and closed my eyes against the pain.
“Fighting Hazel will be Loretta James!” the Announcer screamed into an amplifier. My heart dropped to the ground as a big woman holding an axe stepped out and growled at the crowd. She was huge. My eyes shot to the girl and she stumbled away from the woman, pressing herself against the wall. A tear fell from my eyes and I hadn’t even noticed I’d been crying until then. I shook my head at the little girl and she nodded, mouthing, ‘help me’.
I covered my mouth to hold back a sob the same moment the announcer let go of a flag and a horn went off. Things happened too fast and I couldn’t make anything out but the girl walking around the arena, crying and trying to stay away from a beast that stalked her every move. She yelled at the woman to stop and to look at what she was doing, but the woman was void of all feeling. The girl glanced up at me with bloodshot eyes and I saw the fight leave her. She was reaching for a lifeline I couldn’t give her, and as she noticed this—that no one would come to her rescue—she dropped the sword to the ground and faced the woman. This little girl was somebody’s daughter, someone’s sister. The pain they must’ve been going through I could only imagine.
“This is cruel,” I murmured.
“The best part has yet to come,” Noah said, smiling at me. I shrugged away from him and turned to Mother. She, too, was captivated by this little girl being slaughtered. I’d never felt so alone in that moment.
“Kill! Kill! Kill!” the crowd screamed. I shook my head, thinking no, no, no. The big woman smiled maliciously as the little girl screamed stop over and over again. Every move the woman made, the girl countered, but she was too small. She knew that. The little girl screamed stop the last moment the woman charged forward with her axe and slammed it into the girl’s chest. I’d never seen death so close, and seeing it this way for the first time, I knew it was a hideous thing.
I gasped silently as the little girl’s blood sprayed against her face and the wall behind her. My hands trembled and my heart beat slowed to an erratic pulse. Hazel’s eyes still watched me and her mouth hung agape in a silent, everlasting cry to stop. Blood spilled over her lips and her voice still echoed around the arena as all fell silent. I leaned forward in my seat and gripped the edge of the balcony.
“Please,” she mouthed. The woman pulled back her axe and the girl slumped to the floor in a pool of her own blood. As she dropped, something rolled out of her hand and I fought to see it from so far away. It’s a picture, I thought with a grimace. I shook my head in defeat and backed away from the balcony, rising to my feet. The crowd cheered on around me, happy and oblivious to their own sins. They should’ve been the ones in the arena being slaughtered mercilessly.
“I think I’m going to be sick!” I yelled. I turned and stared at Noah, disgusted that he even thought this to be exciting. I pushed at him and he almost fell out of his chair. The woman with the wine gawked at me in fear, but I easily shoved passed her and found myself wandering the long corridor. I paced until the colors in the room merged into one and felt myself losing consciousness.
WHEN I awoke, I lay on the bed in my chambers wrapped in thin blankets and duvets. I quickly pushed them off and sat up. Outside my window the sun was setting and the nightingales still sung their tunes.
There was a knock on the door and I whispered for them to come in. Mother, smiling and in her finest gown, walked in with three maids. “I figured we could try on the dress today, darling,” Mother called.
I stared out the window with a vacant stare. “Not today, Mother. Can I have a moment, please.”
“No,” she answered succinctly. “You’ve already wasted enough time, I think. Besides, you ruined my mood with that stupid act at the chambers today, I could use some cheering up.”
I scowled. “Act? Your mood, Mother? Look at me! I’ve never felt this low, ever. I’m miserable and you do not even see it.” I thought back to the little girl in the arena and cold tears rolled down my cheeks. “I’m not trying on the dress because I am not getting married.”
“You have no say,” she said, laughing. She snap
ped at the maids and they came to her quickly. One lifted a red looking dress and the other a blue. “Which one for the reception, honey?”
“How about the black one?”
She frowned. “There is no black one. There is to be no black in this wedding, Echo.”
“I like black; my hair is black,” I said hysterically through the tears. “If I wear black it will only add to the oddity that is me. My skin is even darker than everyone else’s. I’m ridiculous because I want a life and crazy because I dare speak out about it!” I stood and shook my head at her. I threw my hands in the air and screamed. “I’m so damn tired of being so damn different!”
She was taken aback and she quickly reached for me. I moved away and watched her how one would look at a stranger. “This is crazy, Echo! Who told you that you are different?” Her eyes glowered with that hidden secret again, and this time I was going to delve deeper for the truth.
“I am not who you say I am, am I?” I snarled. “You called me Aleksandria, Mother! Who is this person? And I don’t even look anything like my own siblings, my father! What are you not telling me?”
Mother gasped and tears fell to the ground where she stood. She shooed away the maids and we stood alone. Silence conquered all and I grew restless. “Your name,” she sobbed. She glanced up at me from her hands. “Your name is not Echo.”
My breath left me in a rush. It was like someone telling you that you didn’t exist. “W-what do you mean?”
“You know what it means! Your name is Aleksandria; it is what he named you.”
“Who named me, Mother! Who are you always talking about?”
“Your father, Aly!” Mother suddenly screamed. Her eyes had grown dark and a new woman stood in front of me then. “Your real father! He named you Aleksandria.”
I took a step away from her as I cocked my head and tried to digest her words. They weren’t sitting well and I felt consciousness fighting for control again. “No,” I whispered breathlessly. I glanced around the room and wanted to scream. Mother only wept. None of this—the palace, the money, the life—wasn’t even mine. Who was I? “No!” I screamed louder. “Who is he?”
She shook her head and wiped the tears from her eyes. “Please, do not be mad, Aly.”
“My name is Echo!” I took another step further away from her and I hit the wall. I didn’t belong here. My hair, my skin, and everything about me was different because I truly did not belong. My whole life had been a lie and I was rapidly losing my grip of reality.
I ran for the door and looked back at my cowering mother. “Tell Everlae and Shadow I couldn’t do it.”
“Where are you going?” Mother cried out.
“I don’t know! You did this!”
“Echo—”
I walked out the door and closed it shut. “Goodbye, Mother.” I told the maids to ignore everything they’d heard and ran down the stairs in a rush. I hadn’t even gotten a chance to talk to Isobeli since she returned. She was always so busy and never had time for me. Now would have been the perfect time, because as I pushed past the screaming guards and into the pouring rain, I could have used a friend.
Reality failed me as I ran blindly through the night. Escape was impossible, but I ran anyway. I wandered aimlessly, crying until I couldn’t see and my muscles grew sore. I had no destination in mind, but I guess in some way I already knew where to go.
I found myself standing in front of the border and a guard quickly came to me, asking for a name. I barely registered what he said after that, but I screamed the one thing I was sure of, “I need Ayden Grey! I need him, can you help me find him?” I shivered as I glared up at him and cold rain ran into my eyes.
He sighed and yelled over the storm, “Are you Echo?” I nodded. “You’ve come a long way from home, Princess. Tell Ayden…tell him I said he’s fighting a brave battle. Go on.” He motioned to the guards hidden in the shadows and they raised the drawbridge.
“Thank you,” I whispered. I wrapped my arms around my body and sprinted through the dusty pathways. Coldness bit into my skin and my feet threatened to collapse underneath me, but I ran until I found the house I’d only seen once but had quickly deemed a true haven. Hope flickered within my chest at the sight of a light in a window and I stared for a long time.
This is love. This is your life, Echo. Own it. Start over.
T W E N T Y-
T H R E E
Ayden
She’s talking again, I thought with a relieved sigh. Since giving her the medication, Mother was now able to do things on her own again. Though moving was difficult, with help she could make it around the house and back. Her green eyes blossomed from the stark imprisonment her ailment had locked them in and she smiled as if nothing had ever happened. That was my mother, the lioness that she was. For the briefest moments, I could have sworn that time had failed me, but as I watched her singing to the twins by the doorway, I felt assured that I had managed to at least fulfill one of my promises.
I was slowly picking up the broken pieces to my family and putting them back together again.
In the kitchen, Father sat at the table with a plate of food before him. He stared at it long and hard before finally pushing it away. I sighed and said, “She’s doing a lot better. You should be thankful.”
“I am.” He looked up at me with tears in his eyes. I would have presumed him drunk, but his eyes said he’d been sober for a while. “I’m very thankful. Giovanni stopped by today and made me realize what an idiot I’ve been, Ayden.”
“Why does it take him telling you? I’ve been trying to get you to understand since I was eleven.” I took the seat across from him, but kept my expression cold. I respected his weird way of apologizing for his own stupidity, but I wasn’t going to warm back up to him so easily.
“I know, Ayden, I do. It was just so tough after your mother fell ill. I couldn’t pay off debts. In order to bring in some kind of money, the twins had to stop schooling. I’ve regretted that decision for years.”
I narrowed my eyes at him. “And what about me? Forcing me to work for you, even going out of your way to teach me the necessary skills so that you can stay home and drink your problems away? When you had beer and alcohol to soothe your worries, we had nothing. I worked and worked until it was all I knew, Father. I had no childhood; you took that from me.”
Father shook with every sob he released. I wanted to feel sorry for him, but I just couldn’t; I didn’t have it in me to let the past go. The past was all we had to go on after all, all we had to remember. There was no future to look forward to.
“You must hate me,” he finally murmured.
“No,” I answered, meaning it. “I hate what you’ve done to yourself and this family. I hate New Haven for the position they’ve put our people in, but I don’t hate you.”
“You’ve gained some wisdom, son. I wish I could have been as strong as you.”
I shook my head and stood to my feet. “It’s not about strength. It’s about the motivation that carries you. You lack self-will, not power. You are weak only because you allow your weakness to consume you.” I went for the door and pushed it open, saying nothing more to him as I left. There was nothing left to say, I had said my part and he had forgiven himself for deserting us. Whether he meant it or not was far beyond me, but Mother, the twins, and I wouldn’t be around to watch his relapse. That time, he’d know how it feels to truly be alone.
A watering can sat in the garden and I glanced over at the weeping bleeding hearts. Since Mother had been ill the garden had gone unattended and I’d been too occupied to consider watching them. I carried the can to the hose and filled it with water to the brim. It was raining pretty hard, but the roof of the house just above the garden forbade the flowers from what it needed, even sunlight.
I was only a gardener by nature, something Mother didn’t need to teach but simply showed me. Carpentry was only a skill I had obtained through my father and I didn’t do much of it unless it was necessary for a job. Fightin
g was only mandatory growing up in Shadow Hills. I knew nothing about swords and daggers, but fighting with my hands was of no difference to me.
Survival was a skill I had only begun to learn. It wasn’t an easy one, but I had help. It took patience and a lot of strategizing. You had to know your destination before you even began; you had to be willing to lose and gain a lot. Overall, failure just wasn’t an option.
I sat the watering can off to the side and watched as the flowers regained most of its color. I smiled at them thoughtfully, thinking of one girl in particular. I left the garden behind and walked through the backyard to the cabin, deciding I’d wait until morning to groom them better. But I barely took five steps before I spotted her standing in the rain outside of the cabin door. Her blue eyes shone like kaleidoscopes, and even from where I stood I could see the tears rolling down her cheeks.
“Echo? Echo!” I ran to her and wrapped my arms around her shivering body, soothing her with the first words that came to mind. She shook violently as I held her and my heart ached is if it knew the measure of pain she must’ve endured. Why was she here? I thought. What had happened? My jaw clenched and I had to bite back a growl. I grew furious a lot faster than I had expected, and I held her closer. Whoever had hurt her was going to suffer, I was sure.
“My father…” she mumbled. “Ayden… My father…not real.” I kissed her lips just to quiet her and lifted her off her feet and into the cabin. She clung to me as I made my way through the living room and the kitchen.
Glancing down at her, I realized that I would have done anything for her. Jumping blindly off a bridge was only the beginning. I couldn’t explain the feeling that stormed through me, they were only feelings Echo could evoke. She’d become a part who I was, stitched perfectly into the fabric of my soul. There wasn’t a doubt about her anymore—she’d become my reason to fight for survival, to strive.
Five weeks. Five weeks and I’d fallen in love with a Warrior.
I pushed through my bedroom door and I sat her on my bed. She cried so much I wondered if she even knew where she was. How’d she even remember the way here? I pulled her out of her shawl and left her gown on. She was still wet from the rain, but I had no clothing to give her. I sat next to her and pulled her close, kissing every tear away that spilled from her yes.
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