Deviation: Altera Realm Trilogy Book 2

by Jennifer Collins

  “What do you mean?” Gabe asked innocently. It was scary how well he could do that.

  “You brought him here for me. Why? So I’d get over Hunter?”

  He smiled. “He was coming whether the wolf was here or not.”

  Syney slapped him. “I’m sick and tired of this crap! You want me to do something, just ask!”

  Gabe put a hand to his cheek. “And have the chance that you’ll say no? You’re too important!”

  Syney stomped her feet. “I’m not! There’s nothing special about me at all!”

  “Yes, there is.”

  “Because I’m the Chosen One?”

  “Because you’re half Daemon!”

  Noelle was pretty sure Syney stopped breathing as she stared at Gabe. Finally Syney shook her head. “You’re lying.”

  “You know I’m not,” Gabe said, stepping closer to her. “There’s always been something inside that told you you were different, and it had nothing to do with your not having been raised here. You have power. You can do spells without any help and always on the first shot.”

  Syney cast a look at Adam. “Good to have spies, huh?”

  “Syney,” Adam started.

  “I’m a Vilori. The whole line was powerful,” Syney said, looking back at Gabe, her eyes hard.

  “Not as powerful as you,” Gabe said softly.

  “Daemons and Magic Users are the closest of the great races,” Adam said quietly. “They both use magic, just different types. And they’re both born with magic inside them. You have a combination of the two magics.”

  “I still don’t believe you. How would you even know?” Syney spat at Gabe.

  Gabe laughed. “I know everything.”

  Noelle rolled her eyes. “Oh, just stop being an ass, and tell her!”

  Syney looked at Noelle with hurt and betrayal in her eyes. “Did you know about this? All of this?”

  Noelle shook her head. “Not this, I swear.” She looked at Gabe. “How do you know for sure?”

  Gabe glanced at her for a moment before looking back at Syney. He took Syney’s hands, holding them still as she tried to pull away, and whispered something under his breath. Syney finally pulled her hands away and backed up.

  “What are you doing?” she yelled.

  Gabe held his hand up. “Nothing.” He walked a few feet away from her before turning around and hurling a knife at Syney.

  Noelle screamed then stared wide-eyed at what happened.

  Seconds before the knife hit Syney, she lifted her hands, and purple energy shot out of them, sending the knife back at Gabe, who caught it.

  “Are you crazy?” Syney screamed. “You just threw a knife at me!”

  With a stupid smile on his face, Gabe stared at the knife. “Yes, I did.”

  “And that was to prove what? That I have a lost Vilori power?”

  “That wasn’t a Vilori power,” Adam said.

  “Hunter told me that it was and that I shouldn’t tell anyone.”

  Adam flinched, as he did whenever Syney said Hunter’s name. “It’s a Daemon power. They can manipulate energy like Magic Users conjure the elements.”

  “I bound that ability in you once you told me about it last year. It would have been bad if that had gotten out,” Gabe said.

  Syney took a jagged breath and glanced at her hands. She shook them and looked at Gabe. “What else you got? ‘Cause I need more than that.”

  Noelle saw Gabe’s face soften. She knew what other proof he had. It was obvious. She walked over to him and took his hand. “Now’s the time to let it all go.”

  He squeezed her hand as he nodded. Then he looked at Syney. “I know what you are because I was there when you were born.”

  Syney’s anger fell from her face. Noelle had only seen her like this once before, when Hunter had left. “What?”

  “You weren’t born here. No one even knew Amelia was pregnant. She spent the whole pregnancy in my castle in the Vampire kingdom with Faye, me, and your father.”

  Syney wandered to one of the couches in the room. She plopped onto it and wiped some tears from her eyes. “Who was he?”

  Noelle pushed Gabe forward and motioned for him to sit down with her. He took the seat across from her, and Noelle sat next to her. Adam remained standing by the bed. He looked tired and miserable. Noelle couldn’t blame him; this had been a tough night.

  “Who is he,” Gabe corrected. “His name is Hadrian. He’s the Daemon king. Which is why you’re so important. You’re the daughter of two royal houses of two of the great races.”

  “But you married Faye. Nothing big came from that.”

  “Faye only became head of the house after we were joined. Even then, we were barely here. She gave up her seat on the council. That wasn’t the best thing to do, but twenty-twenty hindsight…”Gabe said bitterly.

  Syney sat forward and stared at Gabe, straight in the eyes. “I need everything. Stop the manipulation and just tell me.”

  “I need something from you first.”

  “What?”

  “Assurances. I lost everything in this war. I need to make things right, and you’re the only way to do that.” Gabe’s voice cracked, shocking Noelle.

  After a moment Syney nodded. “I’ll help you, but only if you’re honest with me from now on.”

  “The war is one-sided. The queen is fighting with a loaded deck.”

  “OK, uncryptify that for me, please.”

  “You’ve been trying to find out why the war started,” he said. “Mellisandrianna started it.”

  “That’s impossible. She’s not that old.”

  “I don’t know everything. Amelia and Hadrian were the ones who knew it all. But I do know the Village has been under the same rule for years. I don’t know how she does it, but she switches bodies somehow. She’s been going down the line of succession.”

  “That’s crazy talk! No one can do that.”

  Gabe rolled his eyes. “You need to talk to Hadrian. He’ll explain it.”

  “Fine. How do we meet him?”

  “I can arrange it, but it’ll be a little more difficult without Hunter. You’ll have to work on Leaf and Reed. There’s no way he can come here.”

  Syney nodded. “I’ll see what I can do. What else is there? What was your plan?”

  “The plan was to get you to the throne then call a summit.”

  “What kind of summit?”

  “A meeting of the great races,” Gabe said. “There’s an old meeting house in neutral territory. If everyone came together, we could broker a peace treaty. In the meantime I had to keep you alive, safe, and on track.”

  Syney looked at Adam.

  Gabe glanced behind him. “Adam was supposed to be a buffer.”

  “Why? How?”

  “Part of the summit is to unify the races. You and Adam are products of that. You’re half Daemon, and he’s half Vampire. The races need to see there’s nothing to fear from joining together. You’re both living proof of that. Plus, he’s someone who is, for lack of a better phrase, the same as you,” Gabe said.

  “So we’re, like, unique?”

  Gabe glanced at Noelle before looking down. Noelle nodded. This was her secret to tell. “No and yes,” Noelle said.

  Syney looked at her.

  “There are some mixed races in the neutral territories,” Noelle said. “Most are holdovers from before the war. They can’t be in their lands, so they hide out there. Some are able to rejoin their societies after a generation or two.” She paused. “Like me. I’m part Shifter, on my mother’s side.”

  A feeling of betrayal was clearly written across Syney’s face. “No more secrets, huh?”

  “Syney—”

  She shook her head and turned away from Noelle. “I’ll talk to Reed and Leaf. Where do you want to meet Hadrian?”

  “Becca’s? It’ll be neutral enough, and we’ll be safe there,” Gabe said glancing at Noelle.

  Syney nodded and stood up but sat down again. She stared
at Gabe for a moment before speaking. “You’d do anything to keep me alive, safe, and most importantly, on track, wouldn’t you?”

  Noelle sat forward. What’s she getting at? she wondered.

  “Anything,” Gabe replied.

  “Did you know I was leaving?” Noelle heard the tears in Syney’s words.

  No, please, no, Noelle thought.

  Gabe didn’t say anything at first.

  “More lies, and you can forget about your half-breed queen,” Syney said, barely moving an inch.

  “Yes.”

  “You got it from Cass.”

  “Yes.”

  “And then you told her to go tell her mother.”

  “Yes,” Gabe said.

  “You almost got him killed!” Syney jumped up and jabbed a finger at him. “You could have gotten me killed!”

  “Mellisandrianna wouldn’t have touched you, and he didn’t die, now did he?”

  “That doesn’t matter. She gave him a choice of being executed or leaving. You can’t play with people’s lives like that.”

  “She does.”

  “And that makes her the bad guy! So what are you?”

  Gabe stood. “Someone who wants to make things right! And doesn’t care much about ruining some stupid little relationship if it has to be done!”

  Syney looked up at the ceiling and wiped her wet face. Then she returned her gaze to Gabe. “Do you even care about me at all?” she whispered. “He loved me, and I loved him. It was more than some stupid little relationship.”

  “Does it really even matter?” Adam yelled.

  They all looked at him.

  “To me, it does,” Syney snapped.

  “He still left, so what does it matter? And for the record, I would have chosen death if it meant leaving you,” Adam said.

  Syney looked away from him with a shake of her head.

  Noelle didn’t know who looked the most miserable, Syney or Adam. Their faces were wet with tears, and they looked as if they’d been through the ringer. Adam finally shook his head and stalked out of the room, slamming the door behind him. Syney just doesn’t understand, Noelle thought. She’s angry and needs time. Noelle decided against going after Adam and telling him that very thing. She needed to be here for Syney and Gabe right now. She just wasn’t sure who needed her more.

  “From now on, you tell me what you want me to do, and I’ll decide if it’s the right thing,” Syney said. “You OK with that?”

  “No,” Gabe said.

  “Good.” Syney walked out of the room without looking at Noelle at all.

  This wasn’t good. Noelle knew she had to go talk to her but hesitated. Gabe went to the bed and sat down heavily. She walked over and sat next to him, taking his hand in hers.

  “More than a hundred years of planning, and everything is in the hands of an emotionally driven, majorly pissed-off nineteen-year-old,” he said.

  Noelle squeezed his hand and put her chin on his shoulder. “She’ll calm down. And she isn’t as dumb or blind as you think she is. She’ll see the big picture if you show it to her.”

  “Maybe, but I don’t like things I can’t control, not when it comes to this.”

  “Let me talk to her and see what I can do.”

  Gabe kissed her softly. “I’m glad that you’re here and that I met you.”

  She smiled at him. “Me too.” She gave him a quick kiss before leaving the room.

  Noelle figured Syney would go to her room; she probably was out on the balcony. It was her preferred place for sulking. Sure enough, Syney was sitting on the bench on the balcony, staring out at the Village. She didn’t acknowledge Noelle as she walked over to the railing, leaned against it, and looked at Syney.

  “You can hate me and Adam, but I need you to listen to one thing,” Noelle said.

  Syney glanced at her but looked away quickly.

  “When what you are is a death sentence in every territory in the Realm, you get really good at lying. And there may be times when you find someone you fall in love with or befriend, and there’s this little voice in your head that tells you that you can finally come clean with someone, tell him or her your secret. But your voice of reason, the one that keeps you alive, gets much louder than that little voice and wins out. It’s horrible when you lie to stay alive, but it’s what you have to do. I’m sorry I didn’t trust you enough to tell you. But for me it’s been a way of life.” Noelle felt the tears fall down her cheeks and wiped them away. She didn’t expect Syney to say anything in response and left soon after saying her piece. Noelle knew Syney needed time to think things through. She hadn’t only found out Noelle and Adam’s secrets but one of her own, which changed everything. At least Noelle had known what she was her entire life. Syney just found out that she was part of the race that had tried to kill her less than a year ago. Everything she knew was gone and replaced with something that was much more painful to understand.

  Noelle went back to Gabe’s room. She knew going to him would help her at least forget about some of the night. At least she hoped it would.

  Syney leaned forward on the couch and smiled at Reed, who frowned back at her. “How are you today?” she asked him.

  “Fine.”

  “That’s good. How’s Hyacinth?”

  “Fine.”

  Syney kept the smile pasted on her lips. She had been forcing a smile the whole morning, and her cheeks were finally starting to hurt. She hoped her face wouldn’t stay this way permanently. It wouldn’t only be embarrassing but also a total lie. She was no longer a happy person. Her whole life had been turned upside down, and she felt as though her best friend and boyfriend had betrayed her. In short, life sucked.

  “Is something wrong?” Reed asked.

  “Nope.”

  “You sure? Because you’re creeping me out.”

  Syney sighed and let the fake smile fall. “All right, I have to level with you. I need your help, and you’re not going to like it.”

  “What do you need?” Reed asked, leaning forward.

  “Some things have happened, and I need to leave the Village for a bit. I know this isn’t the ideal thing to do, and I’ll work on Leaf to get permission. But I…need you. And I can’t tell you much; in fact I don’t want to. You really don’t need to be pulled into this whole mess. But I need a Protector to come with me, no questions asked,” Syney said.

  Reed nodded. “I’ve been waiting for this actually.”

  “You have?”

  “Yeah. And I know the most direct route. I don’t even think we’ll have to tell Commander Leaf. We can get out to the front lines and back in maybe a day. But we could stay longer if you want,” Reed said quickly.

  “The front lines?” Syney asked.

  “To see Hunter.”

  Syney stopped and genuinely smiled. This kid was good. She really thought he didn’t know about her and Hunter. She clearly didn’t have to worry about him telling her secret. But she still didn’t feel comfortable saying anything more about Hunter. “That’s not what this is about.”

  “Oh. Then where do you want to go?”

  “To the Human Realm. And I’m going to be meeting with a Daemon.”

  Reed sat back and stared at her with wide eyes. “Are you nuts?”

  “No, I’m not. This is…important, and I have to do it. I want to end the war, and this might be the only way to do that.”

  Reed sat quietly, looking at her for a moment, before finally nodding. “OK. But you’re going to Commander Leaf and getting permission.”

  Syney nodded. “I’ll go right now. Thank you.”

  “Thank me after you get permission.”

  Syney chuckled as she stood. “You know, you’re starting to sound like Hunter.”

  Reed stood and looked at her. “I learned from the best.”

  She sighed and nodded. “Yes, you did.”

  The two walked to the Lycin gym, where daily training was underway. Syney noticed how much smaller the group was now that extra Prot
ectors had been called up and a good number of guards were out on missions. A cold chill ran up her spine. She didn’t like the idea of so many guards being out of the palace. It would be a good time for someone to attack, in her opinion. She waved at Leaf, who moved across the gym to join her and Reed near the door.

  “Your Majesty,” Leaf said with a bow. “What can I do for you?”

  “I was hoping for a word in private,” Syney said.

  Leaf frowned in concern. “Is something wrong?”

  “No. I just need a favor.”

  He nodded. “Reed, could you lead the next drills?”

  The younger wolf smiled at the opportunity and nodded. He headed into the gym as Leaf led Syney to a small room across from the gym. It looked like a small meeting room and had only a table and couple of chairs. Leaf leaned against the table and crossed his arms, waiting for her to ask her favor.

  Syney smiled at him nervously. This was harder than she thought it would be. She needed to figure out how much she actually wanted to tell him. She settled on the bare minimum. “I’d like permission to take Reed and leave the Village for a few days.”

  He stared at her but didn’t say anything.

  “Um, I need to…go to the Human Realm. I have some unfinished business to take care of.”

  Leaf remained silent but cocked his head to the side.

  “It’s an emergency. Needs to be done.”

  He looked away from her and at his feet.

  Syney frowned at his silence, unsure what else to say. “So can I go?”

  He looked back up at her. “Yes. Take your other Protectors with you.”

  “No, I won’t need them. I’ll have Reed and Gabe. As well as Adam and Noelle. Trust me, I’ll be fine.”

  Leaf nodded. “OK.”

  Syney was about to leave, but she just had to ask. “Why are you letting me go?”

  “Do you not want me to?”

  “No, I do. It’s just odd.”

  He sighed. “You wouldn’t have asked if it weren’t important. And I like the fact that you did ask instead of just going.”

  She smiled. “OK. And thank you.”

  “You’re welcome. Is there anything else?”

  Syney bit her lip. There was one thing that had been on her mind, and Leaf was the only one she could ask. She looked up at him. “Is he ever coming back?”