“You look wonderful, mother.” Cala said, trying to get some emotion into her voice but failing. This was the twenty-second dress that she’d tried on and they all looked fabulous on her. There was only so much enthusiasm that Cala could fake.
In her mind, she always called her Cassandra. It made more sense seeing as she didn’t feel the family bond between them. It wasn’t like she was a daughter, she was more of a hindrance. Cassandra didn’t know how to be a mother. She was closer to Rhian, but that was because her sister was as emotionally shallow as their mother. Not that she’d ever dare say that to their faces.
“Thank you.” Cassandra twirled, admiring herself in the mirror and preening like a peacock. She turned back to Cala and gasped. “What on earth is that?” She stepped forward, peering into Cala’s face, her scrutiny so intense that Cala instantly felt herself blushing.
“What do you mean?” she replied, confused.
Cassandra roughly grabbed her by the shoulders, hauling her up and shoving her in front of the mirror. At first Cala couldn’t understand what she was referring to, until Cassandra roughly pulled the hair back from her face, showing a strange mark on her temple that hadn’t been there this morning.
“What’s that?” Cala peered into the mirror.
A peeling scream came from the other dressing room and Cassandra shoved her out of the way to get to Rhian, who by the sounds of it was having a complete meltdown.
After a few minutes of peering at the strange marking in the mirror, Cassandra came out of the dressing room, cradling a sobbing Rhian in her arms.
Strangely enough, there was a smile on Cassandra’s face. Cala couldn’t understand what was going on and looked at her questioningly.
“Mother, what are we going to do?” Rhian sobbed, clearly seeing this as the end of the world. She’d traded on her good looks all her life, just like her mother, and this blemish was going to have a major impact on her. Cala wasn’t as bothered. She thought it was interesting and had never been very hung up on her looks.
“I know exactly what we’re going to do. This is better than I could have expected.” Cassandra was positively beaming now.
“What do you mean?”
“Don’t question your mother!” Cassandra stepped forward and Cala shrunk back.
“What? How the hell am I supposed to cover this?” Rhian scrubbed at her face, as if trying to get it off.
“We’re going to take you to your father.”
“Our father?” Cala looked over, shocked. Cassandra had never even mentioned their father before. Growing up, it was almost as if they had been conceived in an immaculate conception.
“Yes. This proves it.” She said triumphantly. “Girls, come and sit down. I need to speak with you.” Cassandra waved her hands to indicate the small seating area in the dressing room. Obviously, Rhian and Cassandra took the only two seats, leaving Cala standing awkwardly next to them.
“Your father is a warrior with the Sons of Satrina. They are the protectors of the Lamia Matris.”
Rhian barked out a laugh. “Are you kidding me? Our father’s a vampire? Seriously, mother. That’s terribly uncouth.” She chuckled like Cassandra had made the world’s best joke.
“Rhian! Enough.” Cassandra said sternly, probably the first time she had ever snapped at Rhian.
Cala was shocked into silence by the whole thing. Not only had her mother spoken harshly to Rhian, which was a first, but their father was part of the Lamia Matris? And a warrior, no less! This shopping trip was suddenly looking up.
“I shall make the call now and will arrange for you to be taken to him. The mark that has appeared on the pair of you is the mark of the warrior.”
“What the hell does that mean?” Rhian said testily, clearly not appreciating being on the hard end of her mother’s tongue.
“It means that you will have to go and live with him.”
Rhian looked panicked. “What? You’re sending us away? Why?”
“Because you know I have been looking for your father for years. This is our way back in. Kelton is a wonderful man. One that I should never have let go.” Cassandra’s eyes darkened as she thought back to the man she had wanted, the one that got away. “This is our chance.”
“Can’t you just send Cala?” Rhian whinged.
“You will do as you’re told! Get your things together. We must leave now. There are many arrangements to be made.” And Cassandra swept back into the changing room.
“What? What about the dresses?” Rhian shouted, stamping her foot like a toddler.
“Leave them. This is much more important.”
Rhian turned and stabbed a finger in Cala’s direction, “I don’t know how you did it, but this is all your fault.”
Life had been the same since they were young children. If anything went wrong with their lives, it was always Cala’s fault. No matter what it was, or even if she wasn’t there, it was still her fault. Cala still held the hope that things would change for them. It was coming to the point in her life when she was going to have to accept that she was never going to be accepted by them and that they didn’t give a toss one way or another if she was part of their lives.
It was crushing. She and Rhian were identical twins, but they couldn’t have been more different. Cala had to spend her life in her sisters shadow, keeping quiet and doing all she could not to rock the boat. That wasn’t going to change. She’d hoped that this change in their lives would be for the better, bringing them closer together so that they’d finally have the sibling bond that Cala had always craved, but if anything, it was pushing them further apart.
Right now, Rhian was trying to get Cala in on a plan to make Aisline’s life a living hell. Cala didn’t want any part of it. She liked Aisline. She was one of the very few that actually noticed she was alive and tried to talk to her. There was no way she was going to have any part of Rhian’s plan.
“Stop being such a baby.” Rhian snapped.
“I’m not. I’m just not going to do this.”
“You’ll do what I tell you to do.” Rhian stepped forward, looking menacing. She’d always had the upper hand in their relationship and would bully Cala into doing what she wanted.
This was when it stopped. They were here at the academy, and away from their mother’s influence. Cassandra always took Rhian’s side and refused to see that she could do any wrong. It was time to see if she could stand on her own two feet.
“I will not do it. And I won’t let you do it.”
Rhian rose her eyebrows. “And how do you think you’re going to stop me? Give me a break, you are nothing.” Rhian burst out laughing, mocking her.
Usually, Cala would have broken down and done anything Rhian asked of her, just to get her acceptance. Not this time. Cala didn’t give her a chance to say anything else, running out of the room while she still had the courage to get away from her.
This was going to be the start of something. Cala had never stood up to her sister before and it felt good.
Aisline jogged up the stairs, grinning to herself. Things were generally starting to feel a bit better. Her relationship with Jackson was going well and they’d had more time to spend together over the last couple of days, and Rhian had stayed out of her way, which made everything else feel better.
Training was still an ongoing battle for her. She still loved it all as much as she had before the incident with the Mortuorum, but there was now an underlying nervousness that she had to constantly fight against. Most of the time, she was able to bury it in the back of her mind and get on with her life, however, there were occasions when one of the other guys would unknowing make a move or make a grab for her in a way that triggered a memory and it was all she could do not to freeze.
She didn’t want what had happened to her to taint her training, or the rest of her life for that matter. She had got out of there and she was beating it. But, sometimes, the memories of what they had done to her get the better of her. Even the strongest person couldn’t h
ave gone through what she had and come out the other side unaffected. No matter how much she wanted to forget what they’d done and move on with her life, it would always be with her. She had to find a way to cope with it always being there, and not to let it win. Not to let them win.
Talking about it had helped a little. Actually, it helped more than Aisline would have ever thought possible. She wasn’t one for sharing her feeling, but in this case, she was learning the benefits of not bottling everything up inside.
Jackson never judged her or commented on the things that she told him. In all honesty, he was probably the last person she had ever expected to open up to, but they had got so close that it only seemed natural for her to want to share her fears with him. At first, she held back from telling him because she knew how he felt about her training to go out there and how scared he was for her during the abduction, but once they’d started talking, she couldn’t seem to hold it all in. Ash respected Jackson even more for the way he’d handled it. He hadn’t turned round to her and told her to quit her training, just to keep her safe. He hadn’t judged her rational or irrational fears. He’d just been there for her. Jackson gave her strength.
Damn, that boy was just about perfect, at least in Aisline’s eyes.
If Kayleigh had been around, she would have spoken to her. But she wasn’t. Ash missed her a lot. Kayleigh wasn’t just her mentor, she had become a good friend to her. It hurt that she’d run off without a single word as to why or where she was going.
Running around the corner, Aisline ran headfirst straight into Cala, sending her sprawling to the floor.
“Oh my God! I’m so sorry. Are you alright?” Ash asked, immediately bending to help the girl back to her feet.
“I’m okay, nothing broken.” Cala said with a nervous smile.
Aisline helped her back up, covertly checking to make sure she wasn’t hurt. It had been entirely Ash’s fault. She’d been lost in her own blissful world and hadn’t been looking where she was going.
“Are you sure you’re alright? You went down with quite a thud.” Ash frowned.
“Honestly, I’m fine.” Cala blushed, brushing off her trousers self-consciously. She was royally intimidated by Aisline. The girl managed to fit in at the academy, not sticking out like a sore thumb, like she did. Cala was nothing like Aisline. It was like Ash had been born for this life. The training didn’t seem to be a struggle for her. Cala envied her for that. None of this came easily for her and she wasn’t quite sure how much more she could take.
“How are you finding things here?” Ash asked her. She’d tried her best with the two girls when they’d first come to the academy, but Rhian was so hostile and up-herself that it made talking to either of them virtually impossible. Cala seemed quieter and less self-assured than her sister, and possibly would be easier to speak to. Not that Ash had much of a chance of that with Rhian around. She’d tried to make the effort, but Rhian always caused troubled. Plus, she and Cala were in different training classes and outside of training, her ice queen of a sister shadowed her closely, keeping everyone else at a distance. Come to think of it, this was probably the first time in weeks that Ash had encountered Cala alone.
She didn’t know how to speak to Aisline. She’d never had a friend before. Sure, she knew it sounded pathetic, but Rhian and her mother made sure that she never had any time to herself and that she was always at their beck and call.
Cala wanted more than that. She wanted Aisline to like her and maybe forge a friendship. Hopefully, this move to the academy could be the best thing that had ever happened to her.
And, if she got friendly with Aisline, she might be able to stop some of the evil pranks her sister was planning to pull…
Cala shuffled her feet nervously, her eyes glued to the floor. “It’s different.”
“That’s one way to put it. It takes a while to get used to it, but its great here when you do.” Aisline laughed. “Do you fancy going downstairs to grab a coffee or something?”
“Really?”
“Why not? Let me grab a quick shower and I’ll come and knock on your door in five minutes.”
“Great!”
Cala’s sudden grin brightened her face and Ash realised how much the girl must have been struggling. She instantly felt bad and was glad that they’d had this chance encounter. Cala seemed sweet and maybe they could be friends, if her sister backed off. It was worth a try, anyway.
Walking down the grand staircase together, there was a stiff nervous tension between them. That was hardly surprising, though. Even though they’d been living in the same mansion for the last couple of months, it was a damn big place and Ash hadn’t exactly gone out of her way to form a welcoming committee. She now realised how unfair she had been. Rhian may be a stone cold bitch but Cala seemed ready and willing to make friends here, even though she was painfully shy.
With a sigh, Ash thought to herself, ‘better late than never’. It was a lonely place to be if you didn’t have friends to help you through it. She knew that and was damn lucky that she had Kayleigh and the rest of the guys when she first started. Who knew how she would have handled all of this if she’d had been on her own.
“What do you fancy?” Ash asked as they walked into one of the rec rooms. Luckily, the room was relatively quiet as most of the other trainees were working out or busy elsewhere. Now that she had Cala on her own, she was looking forward to getting to know her and that would be so much easier without a bunch of rowdy boys shouting over them. “There’s tea, coffee or hot chocolate.”
“A hot chocolate would be great, thank you.”
Ash nodded for Cala to go ahead and sit down and she set about making the drinks. It was a chilly night and hot chocolate would hit the spot nicely.
“So, what are you doing for Christmas?”
“I don’t know yet.” Cala replied. “I think that Rhian wants to go home, but I’m not sure my mother will let her.”
“And you don’t? And why wouldn’t your mother let her if she wanted to go home?” Ash quirked an eyebrow at her.
“It’s complicated. My mother, well... I don’t know.” Cala muttered.
Ash didn’t push it. There was obviously something there, but it was a little too soon to start probing so personally like that. Perhaps when they got closer, Cala would find that she could confide in her and maybe some of that burden that was clearly weighing down her shoulders could be lessened. Ash had never seen a girl looking so forlorn and beaten. She couldn’t help but wonder what her home life had been like, especially seeing as her sister was the complete opposite.
“I’ll be staying here at the academy.” Ash offered.
“You will?” Cala looked a little surprised.
“Sure. I don’t get on so well with my family. Especially since all of this warrior business has come about.”
“Don’t they want you to be a warrior?”
“Well, it’s not really as simple as all that. They didn’t at first, because being the first female warrior of our kind was a bit of a shock. They would rather marry me off and pop out a dozen babies. But, I love it here. If I had to choose, I’d stay. Plus, I don’t think that I could stay away from the rest of the guys for too long.”
“How do you do it?” Cala blurted, blushing instantly.
“Do what?”
Cala spread her arms self-consciously. “How do you do all this? You seem to find it so effortless.”
Aisline set the drinks down on the coffee table and sat on the battered old sofa opposite Cala. The poor girl looked lost. It was clear how difficult she was finding things at the academy and Ash hoped that she would be able to help her in some way.
“It wasn’t easy to start with. Hell, it isn’t always easy now. The schedule is tough and the training is gruelling. The guys often struggle with what’s thrown at them and they’ve been working towards this point their whole lives.”
“But, you make it all seem so easy.”
“Believe me, it’s not. I’ve had
my fair share of trouble since I’ve got here, but you have to just keep on going. When things get too much, you can’t give up. You’ve just gotta keep going. That’s what being a warriors all about.”
“I don’t think I can do it.” Cala admitted, looking miserable again as she stared into her mug.
Aisline knew that she needed to sound enthusiastic and encouraging without sounding patronising, which wasn’t an easy thing to do. It was a fine line to walk and she didn’t want to say anything that she couldn’t take back, anything that could knock the girl’s confidence any further.
“The call of the warrior mark will spur you on when you think things are impossible. Those times when you think you are at your lowest, I don’t know whether it’s a physical thing or if it’s a psychological thing, but there’s this kind of tingling sensation that reminds you why you’re doing this, what you’re fighting for. We’re doing something purposeful here and that feeling reminds us of that.”
“But, I’m not Lamia. Does that mean it’s not the same for me?”
Ash shook her head. “I’m not entirely sure. I can’t explain it. I don’t have all the answers. But, Caleb and Rees aren’t Lamia and they seem to find the same pull and lure as the rest of us. I think they would have quite happily stayed away from this place and lived with their pack if they had any choice in the matter, but they didn’t. I guess it will be the same for you.”
Cala ran a hand through her long blonde hair. “I don’t understand what you mean by that. I don’t feel anything.”
“It’s the warrior mark that gives you that restless feeling, you know what I mean? When you’re sitting around doing nothing and you get this burning sensation to get off your butt and get working?” Ash found it hard to put the sensation into words.
Cala shook her head sadly. “That’s the thing, though. I don’t feel anything. I see the rest of you pushing yourselves to the limits, working harder than I’ve ever seen before. But, I don’t have that kind of urge. I’m trying my best with the training because I’m here and that’s the right thing to do, it’s what’s expected of me. But, I don’t feel that drive that spurs the rest of you on. I could quit all this tomorrow. I could give it all up and not feel anything.” Cala’s bottom lip wobbled like she was going to burst into tears.
Changing Fates: A Sons of Satrina Novel (The Sons of Satrina Book 3) Page 7