by Megg Jensen
If she’d never spoken to anyone and she talked about destruction, then it had to mean something. Something bad.
Chapter Five
Chase and I knocked on Johna’s chamber door. I felt my breath catch in my chest. It wasn’t Johna I was afraid of seeing. It was my mother, Kiran. I’d overheard two maids talking about how she was Johna’s new apprentice.
After we defeated Kiran, Chase’s contact, Xaxier, took her away. I hadn’t seen her since. Chase assured me she’d been taken care of and couldn’t use her magic anymore. I wasn’t sure what that meant.
How could I face Bryden’s murderer? Not to mention, the woman who’d siphoned my twin sister’s magic into me, given me up for adoption, and then expected me to join her in conquering both societies once my magic had awakened?
I’d refused to see her because I knew if I did, I’d probably kill her. Whether it was by accident or because I couldn’t control myself, I knew that she didn’t deserve to live if Bryden was dead.
Chase slung his arm around my shoulder and he pushed the door open. We walked through the double doors into an enormous room filled with herbs of every size and shape. The scent of lavender wafted into my nose, immediately calming my nerves.
“Well, hello, child.” Johna stood at a table, grinding herbs with her mortar and pestle. “I’m pleased you’ve finally decided to join the land of the living again. I was worried I was going to have to barge into your room and force you out.”
“I’m glad you didn’t. I probably would have singed your hair with my magic or something.” I strode over and fell into Johna’s outstretched arms. She smelled of spearmint and thyme, an odd combination that fit her perfectly.
“I’m sure you didn’t come for a simple visit. Nothing’s ever easy with you. What’s happened?”
Johna knew me too well. If I ever had to hide something from her, I wasn’t sure how I would do it.
“Wren spoke to Lianne.” Chase didn’t take the time to give an explanation.
Johna’s eyes widened and her lips pursed together. Her tools clattered on the table, the heavy ivory leaving multiple dents in the soft wood.
“No.” It came out no louder than a whisper. I squeezed Johna’s empty hands. Her face lost its color as she slowly sank to her chair.
“What?” I didn’t let go of Johna’s hands, but I still managed to crane my neck toward Chase. “What?” I asked him, hoping he’d have an answer, but the vacant expression in his eyes told me he knew nothing. His only concern was for Johna.
He shook his head, then joined us at the table. Placing a hand under her elbow, he stroked Johna’s hair back from her sweaty face. “Are you okay?”
She didn’t move, but in the faintest voice I could hear her muttering under her breath.
“I can’t understand her, can you?” I asked Chase.
He leaned in closer, resting his ear near her rapidly moving lips. Moving back, he lifted his fingers in front of her face and snapped. She didn’t come back to us. Her lips continued to move in the same pattern over and over again, lost to us.
“I think I know what she’s saying,” Chase said.
“What?”
“Reychel. That’s my mother’s name.”
Chapter Six
Chase hadn’t spoken much about his mother in the time I’d known him. Their relationship was strained, but I wasn’t quite sure why. He’d never elaborated and I was too buried in my grief to push much further. I stuck my head out the door and begged one of the slaves to find his mother.
I closed the door. His eyes focused on mine. I couldn’t make out his thoughts. Was he nervous or angry? “I guess you’re about to meet my mother.” He rubbed Johna’s back lightly, stroking his palm in long swipes. She lay silent in his arms, unmoving. Her heart was still beating, though. She hadn’t left us.
“I hope the slaves are able to find your mother quickly.”
“They aren’t slaves. Those people choose to work here and my parents pay them for their work.”
My eyes grew wide. Slavery was a common way for any kingdom to run their day-to-day operations. I’d never heard of paying people to work in a castle.
“My mother was a slave here as a child.”
“Wait,” I held up my hand, “I thought your mother and father ruled Serenia.”
“They don’t. Not really. She was a slave and also happened to be the daughter of the previous Malborn ruler, Kandek.” He sighed. “Now she and my father act as figureheads for the queen. It’s a long story.”
“Apparently. Will you tell me someday?” Not because I felt the need to dig into their personal business. I just wanted to know Chase better. He knew everything about me. It was time I learned more about him.
A knock fell on the door. It slowly opened. A beautiful, dark haired woman stepped through the doorway. I immediately saw Chase in her features.
She swept past me, with only a fleeting glance, and sank to the floor in front of Johna. She took Johna’s hands in hers, kissing the tops of them.
“Johna, it’s Reychel. Come back, dear friend.” Reychel massaged Johna’s cheeks. She looked up at Chase, her eyes narrowed. “What caused this? Did you do something?”
Chase backed up, holding his hands in the air. “I didn’t do anything. We just told her something and then she reacted this way. I’ve never seen her do anything like this before, have you?”
“Yes, I have,” Reychel admitted. She put her ear up to Johna’s lips. “She hasn’t been well lately. Johna was an old lady when I met her twenty years ago. She’s never confessed her true age to me. None of us live forever.”
I kept off to the side, silent and worried. In the short time I’d known her, Johna had wormed her way into my heart. I hated seeing her age rear its ugly face in the form of seizures.
“She keeps whispering that the end of times is here,” Reychel said, pulling back from Johna. “What did you tell her?”
I put my hand on Chase’s chest. “I’ll handle this.” I faced Reychel. “We were outside the stables when Wren peeked at me around a corner. She said I was the one who would destroy everything. Wren is the stable master’s daughter.”
“I know who she is, Lianne.” Reychel stood up, leaving Johna still lying in Chase’s arms. She put her hands on my shoulders. I flinched under her strong gaze, but stood firm.
“Don’t worry,” she said. “I’m not gifted. I’m not going to reach into your mind.” I thought her eyes flicked momentarily toward Chase when she said she wasn’t gifted. Was she jealous of his magic? Is that why their relationship was strained? “Do you know why she said that to you? Did you do something to make Wren speak? Who spoke first?”
“I rode up on Aphotica, got off the horse, then she said those words to me.”
Reychel removed her hands, then stepped backward.
“Maybe Wren was just scared,” Chase offered.
Reychel’s head snapped toward him. “Do you really think a girl who hasn’t spoken her whole life is going to say something like that to a stranger as her first words? No, I think Johna’s right.”
“Right about what?” Chase and I asked in unison. I was relieved I wasn’t the only one who didn’t understand what was happening.
Reychel spoke, her voice heavy with sadness. “It has begun. You are the one who will tear our world asunder.”
Chapter Seven
Chase and I left, giving Johna time to recover. We walked back to our chambers. I wanted to reach out to Chase, to tell him I was sorry. I just didn’t know how to say it right. If he hadn’t met me, then maybe neither of our worlds would have been turned upside down. If his visions and drawings had just stayed locked up in their crate we’d be on different paths.
Chase stopped suddenly. I stumbled over my boots in an effort to stop too. Unfortunately I tripped over my toes and fell forward. Before my hands could hit the hard stone floor, I felt Chase’s arms wrap around my waist. He held me steady until I could straighten up.
“I’m sorry,”
I said.
“Sorry? I’m the one who stopped and caused you to stumble.”
“No, not that. I meant about whatever just happened back there with your mother and Johna. I guess I cause upset and destruction wherever I go.”
Chase surprised me. A big smile spread across his face, followed by a loud laugh. “I was stopping to apologize to you for my mother. She couldn’t even be bothered to introduce herself properly or treat you with respect. We don’t have a great relationship. I’m sorry that spilled over into your first meeting with her.”
“It’s okay, really. It’s not like I’ve got anything to worry about anyway. I only have to find a way to destroy the Malborn and stop all of the fighting. What’s a little more prophetic drama?”
Chase’s eyes squinted, I winked at him, and then he laughed again. “I wasn’t sure if you were joking at first. You’ve been, um, distracted lately.”
“Distracted is a good word for it,” I said. “I haven’t been in the present since Bryden’s death.”
“Are you ready now? To come back, I mean?” Chase shuffled his feet and looked at the floor. He ran his fingers through his hair. His bangs flopped over his eyes. He needed a haircut, but had probably been too busy taking care of me to think about it.
“I’m getting there,” I said. “Bryden would want me to move on and live life.” I looked through a keyhole window to the courtyard below. Only a small part of the stable roof was visible, but knowing Aphotica was in there pushed a smile into the place of my frown. “I know he would have approved of my ride on Aphotica today.”
“He probably would have told you to slow down like I did,” Chase said.
“No, he would have let me do as I wished. Bryden never told me what to do, even if he thought he knew better. He always left it to me to find my own path.”
Chase’s smile fell off his face. “You must think I’m too overprotective.”
“If you think I’m expecting you to be Bryden, I don’t want that. I want you to be you, Chase. Whether or not I like it is up to me. Don’t be something you’re not just to make me happy.”
He reached out, taking one of my silver curls in his hand. He twirled it between his fingers. “I want to make you happy, Lianne.”
I wrapped my hand around his. Gently, I pulled his fingers from my hair. “I know, Chase. I’m not ready yet.”
He stepped backward. “I’m sorry. Of course you’re not. I just thought that after today...”
I glanced down at my boots. Sunlight bounced off the toes, illuminating the usually invisible dust motes floating in the air. “I don’t want to give you false hope. I don’t know when I’ll be ready, or if I ever will be. One thing I don’t want you to do is waste your time on me. If there’s anyone else out there, someone you could care about, give that a chance. I can’t promise you anything.”
“Lianne,” Chase’s voice fell to a whisper, “there will never be anyone but you.”
I didn’t know what to say next. I wouldn’t make a promise I couldn’t keep. I gripped my hands behind my back, the sweat pooling in my palms. Chase rocked from one foot to the other, shifting his weight uncomfortably.
“Why don’t you go back to our chambers and rest? You’ve had a big day,” he said.
I nodded, not sure how to speak in the awkwardness. Chase smiled, then turned on his heel and left me standing in the hall alone. He was right. I did need a break. I ambled back to our chamber, ready for a nap. But Reychel and Wren’s words wouldn’t leave me.
I was going to bring about destruction. Not just to the Malborn, but to everyone? My blood boiled, my magic crackled deep in my gut. Tired of walking into events without much knowledge, I decided to take matters into my own hands.
Bryden was dead, but I was still alive. If I went down without a fight, it would negate everything we’d done together. Hope swelled in my chest. I could fight. I just needed to know what I was up against first.
I flicked my fingers and opened a portal, hoping answers lay on the opposite end.
Chapter Eight
Light burst in the room as the portal opened. I stepped through, my heart threatening to beat a hole in my chest. I emerged in Johna’s room. Chase’s mother was still there with her.
They both stared at me as I walked through the portal. Johna lounged on a tufted chair and Reychel stood next to her, her hands on Johna’s shoulders. Neither of them seemed surprised to see me.
“I told you she’d be back,” Johna said. She held her palm out toward Reychel and motioned with her fingers. Reychel pulled a coin out of the purse cinched to her waist. She dropped it in Johna’s hand.
“You were betting on me?” I was incredulous. Only minutes before Johna had been experiencing some kind of attack. When did they have time to talk about me?
Reychel shrugged. “It’s something we do from time to time to amuse ourselves.”
“You’re feeling better, then?” I asked Johna.
She nodded. “I am, child. Thank you for worrying about me. I’m an old lady, prone to fits. But that’s not why you’re here, is it? You want to know more about what Wren said to you.” Johna stood up carefully, making her way back to her herb table.
I hesitated. I’d hoped to come back, make sure Johna was okay, then maybe finesse some information out of her. Johna’s penetrating gaze told me my plan didn’t have a chance before I even put it into motion.
I flopped down on the nearest chair. “Yes, that’s why I’m here. I want to know more.” I crossed my arms across my chest. “I was concerned about you, though.”
“I know you were.” Johna motioned to Reychel. “Tell her what you know.”
Reychel looked at me, her eyes searching for something in mine. Maybe she wanted to know more about my relationship with her son. Or maybe she wanted to know if she could trust the strange girl with the silver hair sitting in front of her.
“If there’s some terrible prophecy involving me, I need to know. I didn’t take Chase’s visions seriously and Bryden died because of it. I thought I could change things, instead I just made them happen.” I choked back tears. My throat swelled with guilt and anger directed only at myself. “If there’s something coming, I want to know.”
Reychel sighed and sat down in the chair across from me. Johna’s elbow rotated in circles as she went back to grinding up herbs. I focused on Reychel, knowing she had the answers. Based off Chase’s grumblings, I wasn’t sure if she’d share them with me.
“Do you still have that dagger Johna gave you?” Reychel asked.
I nodded, patting the drawstring bag on my hip.
“You’re going to use it to sacrifice ten girls. Then our world will be sundered.”
I held my hands up in the air. “No way. I’ve seen that picture. I won’t do it.”
“If you know the power of Chase’s drawings based on the death of your love, Bryden, then you know how accurate they are. You will do it, Lianne. And you will do it soon. It doesn’t matter how you try to avoid it. It will come to pass.”
I squirmed in my chair. I couldn’t hurt innocent girls.
“What happens?” I needed an answer to that question. So far, it seemed the most important. No one could force me to ritually sacrifice ten girls, but whatever this impending thing was I needed to know.
“I don’t know. Eloh never revealed it to me. Sometimes she comes to my dreams and tells me things. Ever since Chase -” she paused – “ever since I lost my gift and no longer received prophecies, Eloh has still whispered them into my mind in my sleep. She told me you would come and would bring it to us.”
“But she never told you what it is?” I scoffed and rolled my eyes. “That’s not helpful.”
Reychel’s eyes narrowed. “She is a goddess and owes us nothing. It’s not her job to be helpful, Lianne. We are tasked with trusting her and following her gentle guidance. It’s called faith.”
“I don’t have faith in her.” I rubbed my moist palms on my pants, forgetting I was wearing leather. Instead of
wicking away the moisture, I only covered my pants in sweat.
Reychel’s head snapped to Johna, who continued to grind her herbs as if I hadn’t just said something blasphemous.
“You didn’t tell me she was a non-believer, Johna.”
“I didn’t think it was necessary. Her upbringing was in a godless nation. What did you expect?”
I waved my hand in the air. “Um, hello, I’m still here. Do either of you want to discuss this directly with me?”
Reychel looked at me again. Her amber eyes focused on mine, as if she were trying to bore into my soul. I sat back against the chair sure she wouldn’t discover anything interesting in my eyes. She wasn’t gifted. She couldn’t read me. I wasn’t sure what she was expecting to find.
“You must believe if you are to do this.”
“Do what?” I asked, sure I wouldn’t like the answer.
“Sacrifice those young girls.”
I stood up. The back of my legs knocked the chair backward onto the floor, but I didn’t bother to pick it up. “I won’t do that!”
Reychel sat calmly in her chair. “You will. Chase foresaw it.”
“Chase? You mean the son you ignore? Do you care for him at all or are you just using him because he has a gift you lost?” My blood boiled and I felt my magic rising up into my chest. I turned my back on her, forcing my lungs to regulate my breath. I didn’t want to lose control in front of her.
“My relationship with my son is none of your concern. I haven’t asked you why you are sleeping in the same bed with him, starting the day your other lover died saving you, have I?”
I heard a gasp, but it wasn’t mine. I spun around, seeing the pestle teetering on the edge of the table. Johna’s hands covered her mouth, her eyes were wide with surprise. She slowly lowered them. “Reychel,” she placed a hand on Chase’s mother’s shoulder, “that was crossing a line.”
Reychel shrugged her hand off and stood up. “I didn’t cross a line. I simply met her at the line she drew. If you’ll excuse me.”