Deviation: Altera Realm Trilogy Book 2

by Jennifer Collins

  When they reached her door, Leaf held up his hand. “We should knock.”

  Adam sighed, not looking happy about it but doing it anyway. After a moment Reed opened the door and let them in. Syney was sitting up in bed under the covers, her injured leg the only thing not covered, with Helen sitting next to her but not really touching her. Her jaw looked swollen and bruised, as her wrists.

  Leaf slowly walked to the bed. “Syney, I’d like to talk with you about what happened, but I think Adam should take a look at your injuries first.”

  She looked up at him for a moment before nodding.

  He looked at Adam, who was staring at Syney, his eyes filling with anger. “Adam,” he prompted.

  He nodded and grabbed the bag and book from the couch. Then he placed them on the bed and flipped through the book until he found what he wanted. He mixed a few things together in a bowl to create a light-brown paste. “I’m going to need some cloths I can use to wrap her face,” he said.

  “I can get some from the infirmary,” Helen told him.

  “No, stay. I’ll go,” Reed said, heading toward the door.

  Adam stirred the mixture a few more times before taking a deep breath and holding his hands over it. “Sana vulnera. Ligatis cute. Curarent quid est aegritudo,” he recited from the book. He sighed and lowered his hands.

  “Something wrong?” Helen asked.

  “It’s just…I’m…I may need your help.”

  Helen’s mouth opened, and she glanced at Leaf. “I don’t…I can’t do magic.”

  “Everyone can do magic,” Adam said, holding out his hand.

  She reached out hesitantly and took his hand. He placed her hand over the bowl and his over the top. He repeated the spell, and this time the bowl lit up for a moment.

  Helen cried out softly. “That was amazing. Was that the magic I felt?”

  Adam nodded. “Mostly. Magic is connected to life forces, so it was a little bit of both.” He picked up the bowl and walked over to Syney. “I think you should lie down.”

  Without looking at him, she shifted down and settled into the pillows behind her.

  “This won’t hurt, but it’ll take about an hour to work, so you might want to try to sleep,” he said, picking up some of the mixture with his fingers. She flinched as he spread it onto her chin and wrist, but Leaf was pretty sure it wasn’t because of pain. He pulled the makeshift bandages from Syney’s leg and applied the mixture there as well. By the time he had finished, Reed had returned with more cloths than they’d ever need. Adam took a few and placed them on top of the mixture, which glowed like little red jewels. He stepped back and gave Leaf a nod. “About an hour.”

  Leaf placed a hand on his back and led him to the couch, where he sat down next to him. Helen and Reed sat across from them, both looking just as grave. “I know you’ve been running around, but I think I know someone Syney might benefit from talking to. Would you mind going to one of the wall towns, Reed?”

  The young wolf shook his head. “Anything that will help.”

  Leaf nodded and grabbed a piece of paper from the table in front of him. He wrote out the directions and the name of a woman, one of the many his mother had helped over the years and who had become almost part of the family. Reed left right away as the remaining three tried as much as they could to relax into the couches.

  “Do you think she’s sleeping?” Helen asked, just above a whisper.

  Adam shook his head. “She’s a little more relaxed, though.”

  “How do you know?”

  He looked at her. “I can hear her heartbeat and breathing.”

  Leaf watched as Helen’s eyes grew a little wide for a moment before she looked at Leaf. He knew she had a host of questions to ask, but in true Helen style, she remained silent. He loved the fact that she just knew when to talk and when to stay silent. He could almost hear the gears in her head turning, however.

  They all remained silent for a while as they waited for the spells to take hold. Leaf took the time to contemplate his next move. If he found the Lycins who had done this, he wasn’t sure he could keep his calm composure. His men were responsible for this, which meant something else entirely for him. There were wolves under him who didn’t follow his rules, including Poppy and possibly Birch and Posey. He couldn’t be sure if Birch or Posey played a part in anything that had happened but they spent enough time together for him to suspect them and that was enough to relieve them of their duties. That was a blow. He didn’t take assigning Protectors to Syney lightly. Birch, Posey, and Poppy all had been chosen because they were loyal and the strongest candidates out of all of the guards. He didn’t like the fact that his judgment had been off. There was also a fissure in his guards. They were listening to another voice of authority, and he had a bad feeling regarding who it was. It could only be another Lycin, and there was only one who had any kind of authority beyond him.

  After a while Adam abruptly walked over to the bed and gently pulled off the cloths from Syney’s wounds. Helen joined him while Leaf stood back but kept an eye on them. Her skin looked unscathed. It was the first time Leaf had seen real magic, and it truly amazed him.

  “How do you feel?” Helen asked, as Syney sat up in bed.

  “Fine,” she said, flexing her jaw down and around.

  “Good,” Adam said as he walked back toward the couch and sat down.

  Leaf watched him, happy that he chose to keep a distance. The questions he needed to ask weren’t things he needed Adam hearing. He looked back at Syney and sat on the edge of the bed so he could face her. “Can you tell me what happened?”

  Syney picked at her fingernails and bit her lip. “I went with Poppy down to the small meeting room where Mellisandrianna had told me to meet her.”

  “Was it a verbal request?”

  She shook her head. “It was written. Delivered through Birch.”

  Leaf nodded. “When you got there, Poppy stayed outside?”

  “Yeah. The door…it shut behind me, and the room was black. I couldn’t see a thing.” She stopped with a hitch in her breath. She still had yet to cry. She took a deep breath and continued. “Someone grabbed me from behind and threw me across the room. And then he grabbed my arms and legs.”

  “How many?”

  “Just one. He grabbed me and—”

  “You don’t have to tell me everything.”

  Syney let out a breath. “Thank you.”

  “I just need to know if anything happened that might help me identify him. A smell or a voice.”

  She swallowed. “I recognized his voice, but I can’t place it.”

  “But if you heard him again?”

  She nodded. “Probably.”

  “Is there anything else?” Leaf asked calmly.

  Syney picked at her thumbnail to the point where it started to bleed and shook her head.

  “OK.”

  “Wait. I bit his hand. He had it over my mouth,” she said, gesturing with her hand. “His grip loosened, and I bit him.”

  “Here?” Leaf asked, pointing to the area between his thumb and index finger. “How hard?”

  “Hard. I tasted blood.”

  “That’s good. That had to have left a mark,” Leaf said. He stood up just as a knock came at the door. “That’s probably Reed. I sent him to get someone for you to talk to. I’ll be outside with him and Adam.”

  “OK.”

  Leaf motioned for Adam to follow him out. He complied with less hesitation than he’d anticipated. Leaf nodded a hello to Clover, the woman Leaf had sent for, and held Reed outside the room. Once the door shut, he looked at the younger wolf. “Go get some sleep now while you can.”

  “No, I’m fine.”

  He put a hand on Reed’s arm. “Take the sleep. Adam and I will be here all night.”

  Reed finally nodded and walked away, his shoulders visibly relaxing as he walked away.

  “How are you doing?” Leaf asked Adam.

  He shook his head. “I want to hold her and
tell her everything will be OK, but she didn’t even look at me.”

  Leaf stretched before sitting on the floor. “Let her talk to Clover.”

  Adam sighed and took a seat next to him. He leaned his head against the wall and closed his eyes. Leaf felt for him. He had meant it when he’d said he wasn’t sure what he would have done if it had been Helen. The physical and emotional pain of the victim was unimaginable. And her partner wasn’t spared some of the pain. Adam felt helpless and carried some of her pain with him. Leaf shook his head. This was the one thing he wished no one had to deal with.

  After a while, Clover and Helen appeared in the hallway. Both men jumped to their feet. “Syney’s trying to process everything that happened right now,” Clover said. “She’s not blaming herself, which is good. But the feeling of being violated is going to stick around for a while.”

  “Thank you for coming,” Leaf said, taking her hand.

  She smiled up at him. “Of course. Let me know if there’s anything else I can do.” She squeezed his hand.

  “I’ll walk you out,” Helen told her.

  “Shouldn’t you stay?” Leaf asked.

  “Syney wants to talk to you actually,” Helen said, giving him a small smile.

  Leaf nodded and shot Adam one more look before heading into the bedroom. Syney looked up at him as he came in. He wasn’t sure exactly what she wanted to talk about, but he sat in the same spot as before and gave her as much of a smile as he could muster.

  “Thank you for getting Clover,” she said. “She said your mother helped with women this has happened to.”

  He nodded.

  “I like your mother even more now, if that’s possible.” She rubbed her wrists, and he noticed thick bruising in the shape of fingers.

  Leaf swallowed back his rage. “Adam can look at those for you.”

  She looked at the bruises and shook her head. “I want them.”

  “You won’t need them to remember.”

  “I know.” She looked back up at him. “I’m scared,” she said softly.

  “He won’t come near you again. I promise you that,” he said sternly.

  “Not about that,” she said as she took some uneven breaths but still no tears.

  “What then?”

  She bit her lip. “About Adam.”

  He frowned at her. “He’s outside.”

  She looked toward the door.

  “What are you scared of, Syney?”

  She continued to stare at the door for a moment. “He’s not going to want me anymore.”

  He bit back his immediate thought. Telling her that she was crazy wasn’t the best thing to say right now. “He’s been beating himself up because he can’t help you. I promise you don’t have anything to be scared about.”

  “But I’m used now,” she said. “Broken. Dirty.”

  He shook his head. “No, you’re not.”

  “You can say it, but it doesn’t help the way I feel.”

  Leaf sighed and looked at his hands for a moment. “Right now he’s as scared as you are, thinking you won’t want him anymore.”

  “Really?” she asked, her voice cracking.

  He nodded. “Let me get him. And then you can try to get some sleep.”

  Syney stared off into space for a moment before taking a deep breath and nodding.

  Leaf stood and walked to the door, silently thanking the gods she’d agreed. He hadn’t been sure if he could tell Adam that she didn’t want to see him. He opened the door and motioned with his head for Adam to enter the room.

  He hesitated for a moment before walking through the doorway.

  Leaf went to stand across the room, not wanting to interfere, but he had no thoughts on actually leaving the room. He was on Syney duty now. He stayed back but watched as Adam slowly walked over to the bed, spinning a solid silver ring he was wearing on his finger. When he got close, Syney finally looked at him, her face crumbling and sobs breaking free from her mouth as tears poured out of her eyes. Adam quickly got onto the bed as she reached out to grab hold of him. She cried into his chest as he rested his cheek on top of her head. After a moment he looked at Leaf and gave him a sad smile. This is only the beginning, Leaf thought. But it was a good beginning. He turned and sat on one of the couches, letting out a breath he hadn’t realized he’d been holding.

  Grass played with the bandage in the crook of his hand as he walked with Mellisandrianna to the council meeting. Even after three days, the bite hurt like hell, but it was a price he’d been willing to pay. He smiled at his own accomplishments.

  “What are you smiling about?” the queen demanded in her usual tired tone. It had gotten only more so over the last few weeks.

  “Nothing, Your Majesty,” he said.

  “Fine. Whatever. This meeting shouldn’t be too long,” she said, stopping in front of the council room. “Then we need to have a talk. It’s time, I fear.”

  Grass nodded, and she disappeared into the room. He’d been preparing for this moment. He had turned a few guards to his cause; unfortunately Syney’s first Protector wasn’t one of them. But that didn’t matter much in the long run. Reed was young, which was something he could take advantage of. All he needed to do was take Reed and Syney at the same time. He looked around the Great Hall and spotted Leaf walking stoically toward the council room. Talk about weak, he thought. The man didn’t deserve the title of head guard. Farmers from wall towns shouldn’t be serving on the council or training actual warriors. He was making the whole institution one big joke.

  Leaf glanced at him as he approached and was about to walk into the room when he stopped and looked at Grass’s hand.

  Grass eyed him. “You have a problem?”

  “Your hand hurt?” Leaf asked.

  Grass smiled. Figured. He was the lapdog of the seated queen. “Like hell. Some cow bit me. You should know about that. Right, farmer boy?”

  Leaf stared at him through eyes like slits. After a moment he took a step closer to him so he was only about a foot away. “I need you to know that I know exactly what I’m going to do right now and what it will mean. But it’s going to be absolutely worth it.”

  “What are you gonna—” Grass stopped as Leaf’s fist struck his face hard. Before he could react, he felt Leaf’s knee in his chest and his feet fall from under him. He looked up from the floor and stared at him. Leaf was still looking for a fight; he could tell. Grass snickered and spat some blood out of his mouth as he got to his feet. “You’ll regret that,” he said, just before lunging at the other wolf.

  It was a pretty even fight, with no one really having the upper hand. Grass kicked Leaf off him sometime into the fight and realized that a crowd had gathered around them. He smiled. It’s always better with a crowd, he thought, as he countered a few punches and landed some of his own. At one point Leaf grabbed his arm and bent it backward. Grass howled out in pain as his arm snapped and threw a punch with his other arm, hitting Leaf square in the jaw. The two grabbed at each other again, but something, some unseen force, sent them both flying backward. Grass cradled his broken arm as he looked up at Mellisandrianna who held her arms out toward both men.

  “What is the meaning of this?” she demanded.

  “He attacked me,” Grass said, spitting out more blood.

  She looked at Leaf. “Is this true?”

  He stood and put his arms behind his back. “It is, Your Majesty.”

  She shook her head and turned to a group of guards standing close to her. “Get Grass to the infirmary, and take Leaf into custody.”

  “No!”

  Everyone looked at Syney, who now stood at the front of the crowd with her social-climbing partner next to her.

  “Do you have a problem?” Mellisandrianna demanded.

  “It’s just…”She looked at Leaf, who shook his head. She sighed. “We should discuss this at the council meeting.”

  The queen nodded. “Agreed. It’s best to deal with this as soon as possible. Take him to the council room
.”

  Two guards grabbed Leaf’s arms and escorted him to the council room. Grass stood and grimaced through the pain. Another guard came to his side, but he refused the help. Pain was nothing to him. He looked at Syney and found her staring at him. He smiled and licked his lips as he passed her. That bitch had nothing on him. And now he had the upper hand with the guards. It was a good day.

  “This isn’t fair,” Syney whispered, eyeing everyone at the table. Most of the council members were shifting uncomfortably. She wasn’t sure whether they were conflicted about what was about to occur or if they just didn’t like unpleasant things. Unfortunately she assumed it was the second scenario. Mellisandrianna seemed the calmest, seated at the head of the table, looking almost bored as they waited for the Lycin council to arrive. Leaf stood a few feet from the queen in his usual stoic manner, his hands behind his back as he looked at the ground. Although one of the elders, seeing how visibly upset Syney was, had told her violence against others wasn’t punishable by death, Syney was still overly anxious to see what the actual punishment was. It was because of her that Leaf was in this mess. She had seen the bandage on Grass’s hand once they’d stopped fighting, and his voice triggered images she prayed she wouldn’t have to live through again.

  “It’s OK,” Adam whispered as he squeezed her hand.

  “It’s not. It’s all my fault.”

  He looked at her for a moment, blinking a few times then looking away. Syney watched as the muscles in his jaw flexed. “I forgot something in our room. I’ll be right back,” he said, standing up.

  Syney grabbed his arm and pulled him back down. “Don’t you dare, Adam Blaine. I don’t need you also getting into trouble because of me.”

  Adam sighed and leaned into her. “Grass deserves more than just a broken arm.”

  “And he’ll get it one day. But not at your expense.” Syney kissed him on the cheek. “But thank you.”

  He gave her a small smile as the five elder Lycins entered the room. They took seats around the council table, and Mellisandrianna sat forward. “Finally. Let’s get this over with,” she said. “Let the record show that all five members of the Lycin Council are present and will be assisting in the sentencing of Commander Leaf of House Fall.”