by Kristie Cook
“Alexis?”
I came out of my thought-trance at the sound of Rina’s voice. She stood outside the door of the Sacred Archives now, and something about her had changed. Without the Otherworldly glow of the room, I could now see the tightness in her brow, the tug downwards at the corners of her lips, the exhaustion in her eyes. Her skin and hair seemed less bright, the coloring in both more sallow. She held her arms out for me, and when I hugged her, her embrace didn’t feel as strong as it had in the past. I couldn’t help but think the Sacred Archives had given her Otherworldly strength, but the Earthly realm drained her of it.
“Shouldn’t you be in bed?” I asked, the concern obvious in my voice. “Mom said you were up all night.”
Rina tsked. “Your mother exaggerates. I had four hours of regeneration, much of it in the Sacred Archives. That is plenty, considering.”
“Mom worries about you.” Rightly so, it seemed.
Rina let go of me with one arm, holding her other around my waist as she began to walk toward her office. I kept an arm around her, too, and I’d say she pulled me with her, but it was more like I held her up, giving me no choice but to go with her because I was afraid she’d fall.
“A little too much,” Rina said. “There is much else for us to worry about.”
We paused for her to open the door, and although her breaths seemed to come evenly, I could feel the tightness of her muscles under my fingers as she struggled for air.
“Please stop,” she said, her voice sounding firmer than I’d expected with her condition. “Do not worry about me. I am strong enough to do what needs to be done, which is all that matters. When it is my time, it is my time. Only God knows when it will be, and there is no use in wasting our energy worrying about what we cannot change. Your mother is strong, and she will be ready to be matriarch when the time comes. As will you, dear Alexis.”
I stifled a snort, but she must have seen the doubt on my face as I helped her sit in the throne-like chair behind her huge mahogany desk. She smiled.
“I know you do not believe it now, but you will be ready when your time comes, darling. For now, however, you are our warrior.”
I let out a small chuckle. Ten years ago I would have never thought such a thing. Actually, three years ago I wouldn’t have believed it. But now I knew warrior was the right term for me.
“A warrior, like Tristan. And we need that right now.” She motioned for me to sit down in one of the chairs across the desk from her. “Sophia is emotionally and spiritually strong, but not physically. Her blood is too diluted. She has her power of persuasion and can often sense the truth, and that makes her a powerful converter. She is just and fair. But physically, she does not compare. She is faster and stronger than Normans, but we do not fight Normans. She can channel water when a large body is nearby and fight for a while against the Daemoni. But, she is not a warrior. She is not you, Alexis.”
I’d started to wonder where Rina was going with this inventory of Mom’s strengths and weaknesses, but now she made her point: I may have looked like Mom and Rina, and we may have shared a few other similarities, but I was set apart from them. I was different. As always.
“Sophia and I are meant to lead from here.” She lifted her hands and spread them to indicate her surroundings. “From this desk, this office. You, darling, will one day be here, too, but not now. As much as the Council wants to fight me about it and keep you here on the Island to ensure your safety and that of our next daughter, I know this is not where you need to be. You are ready to lead—”
This time I couldn’t hold back the snort.
“You are ready to lead,” she repeated, “but on the battlefield. That is where you belong.”
“I think I would go crazy here on the Island,” I admitted. “Especially right now. Please don’t let them—”
Rina cut me off. “I know, darling. I will not make you stay here, regardless of what the Council thinks. At least, not until you become pregnant, at which time, we re-evaluate. However, we do need to discuss your current directives.”
Here it comes. The lecture I’d been expecting since we left Florida was about to start.
“First, though, I have other business to address. Preparations to make before I send you and your team away.” She glanced at an antique clock sitting on her desk. “Give me a few hours, then I will call for you and Tristan, yes?”
I understood the dismissal and nodded before I stood and headed for the door. After leaving Rina’s office, I returned to the Sacred Archives. The door still stood open, as though waiting for me, and I basked for a moment in the change in the air, how it smelled and tasted like sunshine, how it felt thicker but somehow cleaner against my skin—the air of the Otherworld, I was sure. But once inside, I found nothing useful. I still couldn’t decipher the swirly lines and images that covered the pages in the majority of the books—symbols I thought the Angels might have made. I called for the Book of Prophecies & Curses, and once again, it floated through the air to me. Although I could read the Latin now, nothing in its pages helped.
I studied the curse about the brothers more closely, but there was no new information to gain. No clear-cut answer on how to break it. An Amadis person must sacrifice themselves to the Daemoni to benefit the greater good, but nothing stated who or when or how. Tristan apparently hadn’t broken the curse when he’d gone to the Daemoni to protect all of us, so it couldn’t be just anyone in the Amadis. It had to be someone specific. A daughter? A son? The matriarch? Or perhaps a certain situation. Lucas had said if he kept me against my will and Dorian tried to save me, the curse would be broken. But I didn’t know if that meant Dorian could break it, or if the fact that he was saving an Amadis daughter would break it, or if Lucas had any clue at all what he was talking about. He could have been bullshitting me, and probably was. He probably planned to lead me down a false bunny trail with such a lie.
I studied the prophecies again, too, and found the one Vanessa had been told belonged to her. But I found no prediction that any of us would break Eris’s curse. No foretelling of Dorian being kidnapped or anything indicating he would ever return to us. The Angels were not being very helpful.
Or maybe I wasn’t ready to understand their messages.
The hours dragged by as I waited for our turn to speak with Rina. I felt as though she was putting all the pieces into place before talking to Tristan and me, and once we did receive her lecture, we could finally be on our way. Until then, I was like a horse in a starting gate, my competitors already halfway around the track while I still pawed at the ground waiting for release.
Blossom and I spent some time in Dorian’s room, and her spell gave us a big push west, but my mind couldn’t reach beyond the Aegean Sea to the mainland of Greece. If the strength of the shove to go west was any indication, Dorian remained much farther away than I could ever reach. Blossom, however, couldn’t make the spell focus beyond that general direction, and Rina interrupted us to request Blossom’s audience. After a lengthy meeting with the matriarch and her second, the witch immediately went to the village on an errand she couldn’t tell me about.
And still Tristan and I waited. Until, finally, Rina silently called out for us.
As we approached her office, I couldn’t believe whom we found coming out of Rina’s door, closing it behind him.
“Jax?” I asked, my eyes popping at the site of the big, bald were-croc who should have been in the Outback of Australia.
“G’day, princess,” he said with a grin.
“What the hell are you doing here?”
He pushed his hands into the pockets of his faded jeans and shrugged nonchalantly, but a frown tugged the scar over his brown eye, betraying his true feelings.
“Kuckaroo never fully recovered,” he said, and I knew he spoke of the Daemoni attack when we were there two years ago. “We lost too many mages. Now that hell’s breakin’ loose, those who can’t fight came here for safety.”
I tilted my head as I studied his fac
e and considered this. Jax was mighty and powerful and not someone who’d hide instead of fight . . . unless he worried about being around Normans too much, which had been the whole reason he’d isolated himself to the wilderness.
“I’m here for a diffr’nt reason,” he said. His eyes slid over to Rina’s office door and back to me. “Ms. Katerina just gave me her blessin’.”
“Speaking of,” Tristan murmured next to me.
Right. Rina. I didn’t need to delay any longer.
“I wish we had time to talk, but, well, our son—”
“I know, princess. No worries. We’ll have time to catch up later.” He gave me a wink, then strode off toward the main entrance of the mansion. Nothing against Jax, but I hoped there wouldn’t be a later—that we’d be in the air shortly after this meeting.
“Come in, darling,” Rina called out before I could knock.
As soon as I saw her form, sagging as though the weight of the world physically rested on her shoulders, worry crept into my heart.
“Do you need to rest?” I asked, feeling guilty as I secretly hoped she’d say no.
She gave me a soft smile from her seat in one of the wingback chairs by the fireplace. “I can regenerate anytime, but this is an urgent matter. I have someone I would like to join your team, and some things must be said by the matriarch. Your mother may be my second and doing much of my work, but people accept some messages more powerfully when delivered by me personally.”
Tristan and I sat on the leather sofa next to her, and we both leaned forward on the edge of the seat. The hairs on the nape of my neck prickled with curiosity. Not about the new addition to my team. I knew she’d send Julia to watch over us and ensure we followed the Amadis rules and stuck to the mission. Charlotte had prepared me for this possibility during our flight over. I didn’t like it—I didn’t like Julia—but arguing about her would be futile, and we had more important things to discuss. Especially now that Rina had mentioned messages.
“Like what things? What kinds of messages?” From the Angels, maybe? Were they going to help us get Dorian?
Rina’s mahogany brown eyes scanned my face with consideration. “You, for example, need to believe Vanessa is trustworthy.”
My shoulders deflated, and I sunk back against the sofa. “Do you believe she is?”
“I have assessed her. We spent much time together. Yes, I believe she is.” She flattened her hands against her thighs and tilted her head. “No, I do not only believe. I know she is.”
“A message from the Angels?” Tristan asked. “Because they might be the only ones who will convince your granddaughter here.”
Not the message I’d hoped for, but Tristan was right—their confirmation about Vanessa would have been comforting.
“No, not from the Angels. A message is not necessary. Vanessa is fully converted. You have done a very fine job, Alexis.”
With all of my prior insecurities, Rina must have thought I doubted my own conversion abilities. She didn’t know how complicated Vanessa’s situation was, with her involvement with Owen, the traitor, and all.
“I know it all, dear, but I also know what is in her heart and in her soul. I feel it so completely, I have sent her into the village for enhancements—her own leather gear, enchanted weapons, and a supply of mage blood suited to her particular needs.”
“And you think that’s a good idea?” I asked, pretty skeptical myself. If Vanessa was pulling one over on us, the last thing I needed was her powered up with mage blood.
“I do. If she is to guard you, she will have every advantage we can possibly give her. I also have spent time with Blossom, and now she is with your mother and Charlotte, taking a—what do you call it? A crash course?—heavy training in conversions.”
“That’s great, but it’s not Blossom I’m worried about,” I muttered.
“You do not need to worry about Vanessa, either. Just as you accept Tristan for the man he is now, you must accept Vanessa for who she is now, not then.”
Of course she was right, and I really wanted to. Life would be a bit easier if I knew Vanessa was definitely on our side. But there were still too many questions in my mind, regardless of what Rina said.
“Your family has grown again,” Rina said. “Embrace it, darling. Family is very special.”
I twisted in my seat to face her more fully and leaned toward her. “It is special. All family is. Including our sons.”
Rina’s mouth formed a scowl as she looked away from me and to the flames dancing in the hearth. Did she really think we could avoid the subject? Or maybe she’d only been waiting for me to bring it up. A moment passed before her gaze returned to me.
“The Amadis is our family, Alexis,” she said. “We are called a matriarchal society because I—like my predecessors—am a mother to our people. They are all my children, and I love them as though they are. I must care for all of them. As will you some day.”
So I’d been summoned here for a lecture after all. I’d hoped I might be able to convince her to let me look for Dorian while we built our army so we wouldn’t have to be secretive about it, but she had nothing more to say than what Mom had already told me. I had a duty. A purpose. Blah blah blah. There would be no changing her mind. I had to go with Tristan’s scheme and say what needed to be said so we could be on our way.
I reached for Tristan’s hand and squeezed it. I pulled on his strength, needing it to give me the composure I required.
“I know. I already do love them like family.” Which wasn’t a lie. I did love the Amadis people. “I will do what it takes to protect them.”
“Including those who are not part of us yet. Those taken by the enemy.”
“Yes,” I agreed sincerely. After all, I did want to help the innocents. “And I’ll build our army. My team and I will.”
Rina nodded with approval. “Very good, darling. Doing so is as paramount to our survival as is your having a daughter.”
“Tristan and I will work on that as well,” I said automatically. If we have the time . . . Of course, we’d make time. We had to, not only for the Amadis, but also for our own relationship.
“Oh, I am sure you will,” my grandmother said with a small smile.
“So, see? You had nothing to worry about.” I bit my tongue about what a waste of time this trip had been. Although, Vanessa and Blossom were benefitting, so maybe it wasn’t a complete waste.
“Alexis,” she said, her voice quieter than before, “I do understand where your heart is. I understand the conflict you feel.”
Now it was my turn to look away and study the flames. Did she understand? Did she really have any idea? At least when she lost Noah, she’d thought him dead. His soul safe. She didn’t have to worry about what evil things were being done to her son, what kind of beast they were turning him into, because she had no idea the Daemoni even existed. She didn’t have a clue what I was going through right now.
“I would have done anything for my son, Noah, if I had known he was still alive,” she continued. “However, I had not known. I thought he had passed with his father in the bakery fire. I had already mourned his loss decades before I learned he still lived.”
“And when you found out?” My eyes swung to her to study her face.
“Of course, I wanted to save him right away. As soon as I learned the truth about the Amadis and the Daemoni, about us, I thought he could be the first soul I saved.” She let out a sigh pregnant with grief. “But I realized quickly the cause was already lost.”
I gasped. “He’s lost his soul? Given it over to the Daemoni?”
Rina’s eyes moistened, and her gaze dropped to her hands as she folded them in her lap. “I do not know for sure. He has kept himself secluded for nearly a century now. But I know the Otherworld requires balance. I know now—and I knew then—my Noah was no longer my son. I had and still have Sophia. The Daemoni have Noah. And there is absolutely nothing we can do to change that.”
I wanted to argue the point, and feeli
ng me tense against him, Tristan squeezed my hand, warning me not to. But it took all of my control to hold back. Not only could we change things if we discovered how to break the curse, but more urgently, my son’s situation was completely different. Besides the fact that he’d been stolen, not summoned, his being taken didn’t do anything for balance, especially since we didn’t have a daughter. And there was something we could do about Dorian. Maybe we couldn’t rescue Noah or the other sons—not yet anyway—but there was still hope for our son.
Saying any of this remained pointless, though, and I had to keep my promise to Tristan. We’d obviously never convince her to allow us to search for Dorian. She probably brought up the subject of Noah as a way for me to see we had such a tragedy in common and I needed to suck it up like my ancestors did and move on. If she and the Council believed I’d actually give in so easily, though, they were sadly mistaken. Because something in my heart told me not to—not to give up on Dorian, not to let him go. Not yet. It wasn’t his time.
“I had believed there was nothing we can do for all of these years,” Rina continued. “But I believe it no longer. Something can be done. We have our duty, and we cannot stray from it, but I believe there is some way we can serve our sons. There is something happening to them. I do not know the specifics, but I believe we must act. And we start with Dorian.”
My gaze shot to her eyes as my pulse sped with surprise. “Are you saying . . . ?”
I couldn’t finish the thought, scared I’d misinterpreted her meaning. Trying not to let my hope soar too high that she was actually giving her blessing to our plan, I braced myself. Tristan’s hand squeezed my thigh in anticipation as we both leaned forward, hanging on her every word.
Her lips danced, and the smile showed in her eyes, piercing through the cloud of sadness. “It would be a lovely miracle if you could save all the sons. Including my Noah.”
Chapter 9
Whoa. My hand flew to my mouth. I hadn’t been expecting that kind of a blessing.
“You think we can break the curse?” I asked, my voice full of both confusion and disbelief.