“You’ll be fine. Besides, does her approval really matter? You just need to lay low for a few months, and Marcus will send for you in no time at all.” Evelyn smiled at her. She waved at the guard standing by the gate. “Ho, there! Open up!”
After a brief but thorough inspection of their wagon, the guard whistled, and the gates creaked open.
The sight of the enormous wooden lodge that sat in the center of Mordryl brought back fond memories of snuggling together like burrowing rabbits. Hundreds of small houses surrounded the large building, but once the snows came, everyone would move into the lodge to conserve heat. She’d missed the close feeling of community.
Evelyn held out her arm, helping Ruby climb down from her seat. A foul smell carried on the breeze. Was that manure? She retched, certain that her lunch would soon decorate the street. Pulling her knitted cloak up to her nose, Ruby turned towards the lodge.
An older man with a full beard approached them. “Greetings, m’lady! Can I be of assis—"
“Take me to my sister,” Ruby said curtly, trying her best not to breathe. She leaned over to retrieve her satchel from the back of the wagon, and her cloak slipped back down.
Getting a good look at her face, the man paled. “Umm . . .”
“Opal. Take me to Opal! Or is my face confusing you somehow?”
“No, Ma’am. Right away.”
As Evelyn tended to the horses, Ruby followed the man to the lodge. He kept sneaking covert peeks at her from the corner of his eye, but kept his mouth closed. She sighed. The fact that she and Opal were identical was one of the reasons why she’d left Tregydar in the first place. She’d wanted to feel like her own person, and not just a copy of her twin. Thankfully, the similarities between them were limited to physical appearance.
Ruby pulled back the furs that covered the door of the lodge and ducked inside. Wooden rafters lined the ceiling that stood ten feet above her head. A modest kitchen, where a few Pistors baked bread, sat at the far end, while long tables and benches filled the other. The man’s heavy bootsteps echoed on the wood floor as he led her to a private room and gestured for her to enter.
She wandered around the small room, taking in the meager comforts—a cot, a wardrobe, and a desk with a bowl and pitcher of water. It wasn’t much, but it would suit her needs just fine. Evelyn was right. This was a temporary stop in her journey, and she would make the most of it while she could.
“Uh, I’ll go find the Seer for you.”
Ruby thanked him and set her satchel on the cot before removing her cloak and hanging it in the wardrobe. She ran her fingers over the soft fabric. Marcus had given it to her the night she left for Tregydar, promising that they would be a family soon. Together, they would change the world. She could see it.
The door burst open and Opal stormed in, her eyes darting to Ruby’s abdomen. She groaned, shaking her head in a disappointed way that reminded Ruby of their mother. “Oh Ruby, what have you done?”
“Well, hello to you, too, Opal. How have you been?”
“I don’t have time for your foolishness. If you haven’t noticed, I’ve been busy leading our people while you were off doing gods only know what. How could you do this?” Opal thrust a finger at her abdomen.
“Do you have a grasp of the basic mechanics, or would you like me to go into detail?” Ruby asked with a wry grin.
“Don’t play stupid with me.” She stiffened, and her eyes rolled back into her head for a brief moment. She whirled around and screeched, “A Magi? You were bedded by a Magi!”
“He has a name, you know.”
“His name is irrelevant. You slept with the enemy, or have you forgotten how his kind has hunted us for hundreds of years?”
“He’s not the enemy!”
Opal scoffed and threw her an incredulous look. “Anyone who belongs to the Order is the enemy.”
“That’s not true! There’s talk of a coup— “
“Did he force you?” Opal demanded.
Ruby blushed and looked down at her feet. “What? No! Marcus is a perfect gentleman. He would never do that to a woman!”
Opal paused, eyeing her speculatively. “How far along are you?”
“Just past the quickening.”
“Good, there’s still time to fix this. Yes, we need to fix this.” She stormed from the room without a backward glance. Moments later, she returned, holding out a glass bottle filled with a deep blue liquid. “This potion will make you feel as though you’re being torn in two, but it will clear the spawn out of you.”
“No, I’m keeping the baby.” Ruby crossed her arms over her chest and glared at her twin.
“Have you lost your mind? You do realize that it’s a boy, right? Or has the pregnancy completely scrambled your Gift as well as your mind?”
Ruby lifted her chin. “I know it’s a boy. Marcus will raise him, and train him to be a Magi.”
Opal threw the bottle against the wall and it shattered, raining shards of glass and potion, making Ruby flinch. “You’re making a mistake. Even if you believe Marcus is different, his father certainly isn’t. And now you’re breeding another one! Unbelievable. You’ve always been reckless and hard headed, but never once did I think you could be this stupid!”
“I . . . I had hoped that he would inherit a different Gift.” Ruby winced at how pitiful that sounded, even to her ears.
“Yes, and I’m going to breed two wolves and hope the baby is a hawk. Why did you come here?”
“The disciples got wind of me and I had to run. I swear, I had nowhere else to go.” Ruby closed her eyes to stop her tears from overflowing. Her voice lowered to a hoarse whisper. “Are you going to turn me away?”
Opal sighed, rubbing her temples. Her face softened, and she crossed the room, pulling Ruby into a tight embrace. “Of course not. I just wish you would see reason. But, no matter how much I want to strangle you at the moment, you’re still my sister. I will care for you until the babe is born.”
“Thank you.”
The months passed, bringing with it the change of seasons. A thick layer of snow blanketed the ground, coating the world with crystalline glamour. The lodge filled with the beautiful chaos that comes from hundreds of people living together in close quarters.
And in the center of Mordryl, a baby cried for the first time.
Ruby cradled her squalling newborn in her arms. He was perfect. She ran a hand across the soft black hair on his head before leaning down and pressing a kiss to his head. His tiny hands balled into fists and he turned his head, rooting for milk.
Opal wiped her hands on a cloth and perched on the edge of the bed. She reached up, pulling a sweaty strand of hair back from Ruby’s face, before smiling at them. “He’s beautiful.”
“He really is,” Evelyn added, offering a mug of water for her to drink.
“I’ll have a Healer stop by later and check you out, but you did well.”
“Will we have to leave so soon?” Ruby had hoped to have a few weeks to rest. But she was resigned to leaving if Opal insisted. It was her duty to protect the people of Mordryl, and she wouldn’t risk their safety, not even for her own sister.
“I think you’ll be fine for a few weeks. Not even I’m cruel enough to send a newborn out into the snow. No, you can stay as long as you need to recover.”
“Thank you,” Ruby said, relief bleeding into her voice.
Evelyn tucked a blanket around her shoulders. “So, what will you call him?”
Ruby smiled as her baby wrapped his tiny hand around her finger.
“His name is Cadmus.”
GIFTED
THE DREG TRILOGY BOOK TWO
BETHANY HOEFLICH
Dedicated to my father
who has always
encouraged me to
pursue my dreams.
Prologue
The survivors’ terrified cries echoed across the empty land as the hoard of disciples surrounded them, cutting off their chances of escape. A sea of blood painted T
regydar a violent red. Generous clumps of snow tumbled from a chalky sky, swallowing the bodies that littered the icy landscape like weeds.
An inky blackness coiled across the tundra, infecting all it touched. The shadow spared no one, wrapping around them in a deadly lover’s embrace. As if driven by conscious thought, it dug into the snow and spread its poisonous threads like roots through the frozen ground. In a fluid motion, the blackness condensed and swung in a menacing arc to face her. There you are.
Opal’s eyes snapped open. She sagged back into her cushioned chair, staring into the flames as though they held the answers to all her problems. Trying to steady her trembling hands, Opal gripped the armrests of her chair and took a long, shaking breath. The future was in a constant flux, and one decision could alter the outcome. Though she had witnessed thousands of visions in her lifetime, this one… this one was different. It felt too certain. Inevitable. No matter how hard she fought against it, it would all end one way— in blood and destruction. The Order was coming for her, and this time, she wouldn’t avoid it.
Soft snores filled the tent, and Opal scanned the piles of sleeping bodies with a heavy heart. They had no idea that they would soon be overrun. It was Mordryl all over again. Would any of them survive? Her gaze focused on a newborn baby, snuggled into its mother’s breast, peacefully unaware that a monster crawled north. No, she wouldn’t allow this to happen again. Opal’s eyes landed on Halder, buried in a nest of blankets and furs like some hibernating chipmunk.
Pushing herself up from her chair, Opal hobbled over to where Halder slept. “Halder. Halder!” Gods help them all… It was a miracle this child survived so long. The Order could bring the tent down on their heads, and Halder would still be snoring away, oblivious. With no time to waste, she drew her foot back, and kicked him sharply in the ribs.
Startled, he jolted upright, hands igniting with glowing orbs of energy that he promptly extinguished at the sight of her. He rubbed his eyes and yawned, trying to shake the sleep from them. “Opal? What’s wrong?”
“They’re coming. Wake everyone and get them ready as quickly as possible.”
“What? Who’s coming?”
“The Order.” Opal turned to go. There was too much to do and too little time. Halder’s confused voice stopped her.
“The caverns, then?”
“Yes, the caverns. Now hurry! Every second we delay could mean another life lost.” She froze, her eyes rolling back into her head as another vision flitted through her mind. Opal picked through the images while they flashed by, and she smiled. So that was what he wanted, hmm? She could still put a snag in Cadmus’s plan yet. She turned back to Halder, who watched her with concern. “When you find Crystal, send her to me.”
Without wasting any more time, she hurried over to where Wynn and Steel slept. Her heart softened at the sight of the pair. They had come a long way since they’d first arrived in Tregydar. Opal had hoped that they would one day join their community, but it seemed as though the gods had different plans for them. Wynn clutched a strange, two-bladed knife in her hand, and it didn’t take a Seer to know what would happen if she were startled. Instead, Opal gripped Steel’s arm and shook him awake.
Steel blinked and sat up slowly. “What is it, Seer?”
“The Order is coming. Pack your things, then come see me for instructions.” She turned on her heel, heading back to her chair by the fire. The weight of her future, however short that would be, settled on her shoulders, weighing them down like they were made of rocks. She blinked back tears, watching the tent come alive as her people prepared without question. The Tregydarians had been through worse, and they would make it through this. They would survive long after she was gone, and now she had to do the unthinkable, just to give them that chance. She reached into her basket on the floor by her chair and pulled out a sheaf of paper and a bottle of ink.
As she finished scrawling her message, Crystal knelt by her side and knuckled her forehead. Blight, her snow eagle, perched on her other arm, eyeing Opal with an intelligence that belied its avian nature. “You sent for me?”
“Yes,” Opal said, rolling up the scroll. “I need you and Blight to take this message to Emperor Edgard in Merrowhaven as quickly as possible. No reply will be necessary.”
Crystal paled noticeably, but nodded, and took the scroll from her hand.
Wynn and Steel, with their packs slung over their shoulders, walked up, both wearing curious expressions.
Tapping on the arms of her chair, Opal closed her eyes, allowing a vision to play through her mind. Wynn’s loyalty was unquestioned, but Steel’s place in this was unknown, murky. Once she set him in motion, he wouldn’t be stopped. She could only hope that he would follow her instructions to the letter, otherwise… “Steel, you must journey to Crystalmoor. It is time for you to reclaim your birthright. Shed the guise of Steel and become Crown Prince Silvano Miore’ once again.”
“Forgive me, Seer, but I don’t see how that is possible. I have no army. No shield. I am alone.”
Opal sighed. “This is true for the moment, but it will not be the case for long. In two months’ time, you will go to Orgate and request the help of the Warlord. She will not deny you. Until then, you must bide your time. Observe the people and stir unrest where possible. And most importantly, you must remove your father from power.”
Steel paled. “Remove him how? Are you suggesting that I kill him?”
“The octopus overreaches, grabbing for which is not meant for him. In his greed, he strangles himself with his own tentacles, allowing the kraken to rise.”
The prince’s face scrunched up in confusion, but she didn’t wait for him to reply. They were almost out of time. Any more delays would be paid for in blood. “Wynn, go to Merrowhaven and wait. You will find old allies as well as new ones.”
Wynn’s expression turned thunderous, and her hands twitched for her dirks. “Yer going back on yer word then? Is that it? I thought ya were gonna send help for Mara. Or are ya forgetting how she saved us?”
Opal didn’t miss how Steel’s face turned ashen, and a muscle twitched in his jaw, but she let it go. His feelings about Mara were irrelevant as far as Opal was concerned. “There is nothing you can do for her, child. Mara is exactly where she needs to be, and I promise she isn’t in any immediate danger. Cadmus needs her too much, unlike the rest of us.”
Wynn looked like she wanted to argue, but Steel cut her off with a hand on her arm. “What about you? It wouldn’t be right to leave your people to fend for themselves, not after all you’ve done to help us.”
“That won’t be necessary,” Opal said, closing her eyes, growing frustrated as the seconds ticked by. “By the time the Order gets here, the tent will be empty, and its people long gone. We won’t meet again in this lifetime, but it has been a pleasure watching you both grow with your Gifts. Now, go before it’s too late!”
When she opened her eyes again, they were gone, and Halder had taken their place. Behind him, her people lined up silently, each clutching a single pack in their arms. Not even the children fidgeted, obeying without question. Opal felt a flash of pride as she looked over them for the last time. She had taught them well.
“Everyone is ready to go. Would you like me to fetch your sled?”
She gave him a sad smile that didn’t reach her eyes. “That won’t be necessary.”
Halder’s lips quirked up in a baffled smile, and he watched her without understanding. “Forgive me, Opal, but we need to hurry, and the sled is the quickest way to get you to the caverns.”
“I will not be going with you.”
“W-what . . .” Halder stuttered, his face paling. “What do you mean? I can’t leave you behind to be slaughtered by those pigs!”
“That’s exactly what you will do, child. Cadmus is after me, and he won’t stop coming until I am dead. He has no qualms about slaughtering hundreds of innocent people to get to me. You must go, or no one will be safe.”
“Please don’t ask me to
do this to you.”
“You must. Protect our people, Halder. Take them to the caverns. Lead them. And protect Tracy, as she is carrying your next Seer.” Opal’s eyes rolled back in her head, and she placed a steadying hand on Halder’s shoulder as the vision assaulted her mind. “She will be born within two weeks, the night before the full moon. Healthy with a head of raven-black hair. You will name her Micah. Take the elixirs with you when you leave… I’m afraid there will be no time to wait for her Gift to appear naturally.”
Halder flinched, looking like he was going to argue. Finally, he knuckled his forehead, giving her a small bow. “Yes, Seer. Thank you for your wisdom.”
Opal blinked as tears burned her eyes, threatening to spill over. She turned so he wouldn’t see her face, forcing her voice to sound gruff. “Now go. Save our people.”
One by one, they filed out of the warm tent and into the frozen tundra. Opal followed, looking back into the tent for the last time. After the destruction of Mordryl, they had built a home here. A thriving community. And she would never have it again. She stood with her heart in her throat, watching as they disappeared into the horizon. Those in the back had carefully covered their tracks, ensuring that the Order wouldn’t be able to follow. Not that it mattered. Not once they had her.
She hobbled over to the log by their fire pit, the same one where she had taught Mara how to control her powers. She fought down a flash of guilt, picturing her as a captive of the Order. If the gods were just, the girl would never learn of her deception. No, Mara would never forgive her if she learned the truth, even if her actions were necessary. Lowering herself onto the log, Opal turned her head south. Waiting.
It didn’t take long. The distant figures marching north grew near, closing in on the last settlement in Tregydar. Her home, no longer. Too soon, the first man entered the camp, followed by over one hundred disciples. A stocky man with auburn hair and gray robes stalked over to her, grabbing the front of her coat with his left hand. He reached his right hand out and manifested a long, glowing sword. He pressed the edge to her neck, no doubt trying to intimidate her into spilling her secrets. Pathetic child. “Where are the others?”
The Dreg Trilogy Omnibus Page 32