by Sweet, Avery
“You don’t have to apologize. There was no way you could have known. I do have a question for you though, if you’d be willing to humor me.”
“By all means, ask away. I will answer any questions that you may have to the best of my ability.” Both he and Dark stood and faced me, mirror looks of curiosity on their faces.
I couldn’t help but smile at the fact that I had been so blind-sided by them being related. I should have seen from the beginning. Especially looking at them side by side. I guess they both took after their father in looks.
“I have to know. If I really am one of you, what, or who would have had my mother leaving with a small child in tow and another on the way, or possibly just born? I’ve been thinking about it and it doesn’t really make any sense unless she had good reason, or someone was forcing her out.”
He nodded as if he had expected this. “Dark and I have been discussing that very same question. I honestly don’t have an answer for you I’m afraid. There has been no one here by the name Maria Masters as far as I know. That and around the time this may have occurred we were in a bit of an uproar. Some very important people, both male and female had gone missing."
I couldn’t help but give a small shake of my head. “That’s because she went by an assumed name. In fact, even my last name is an alias. I told you she had a thing about names. I’m surprised neither of you had thought of that possibility that she might have been one of the ones to go missing. I'm sure I would have jumped to that conclusion, but then again I have a problem with making too many assumptions sometimes.”
Dark furrowed his brow. “If that wasn’t really your mother’s name, then what was? Maybe she was one that went missing.”
I thought about it and shrugged, figuring there was no harm in it now that she had passed. After all it was only two of her five names. Hopefully names have no power over the dead. “Her real first and last names were Alastriona Doneele.”
The twin looks of shock on their faces had me both dreading what was about to be said and wanting to burst out laughing. Dark may be denying his family ties, but he couldn’t deny his family resemblance, even with the vines and wings. Especially with the shirt covering most of them.
They turned to each other then looked back at me. Cillian was the first to speak, “Are you certain that was your mother’s name?”
“With the exception of three others, yes. That was her name.” Suddenly both Dark and Cillian dropped to one knee in front of me, a fist over their hearts, the other leaning across the knee as they slightly bent their heads.
“We swear fealty to you Gray Goddess." The second the words had left both of their mouths I felt a strange buzzing sensation starting at my wrist and going up the entirety of my left arm and spreading to my back. It became more powerful on the way up before settling to a slight humming then fizzling out completely.
“Okay. I don’t really know what’s going on so if you two could stop bowing, I’d appreciate it.” I knew my voice sounded slightly panicked, but they ignored it as they stood.
A look of respect and awe was on Cillian’s face, while Dark seemed to be in disbelief. I guess he expected this about as much as I did. Then again we had both though I was human until a just a little bit ago. I guess some disbelief was to be expected for the both of us.
Still. I had to wonder at how Cillian knew what I was when even I didn't know. Did he have some way to sense things like that? I shook my head clearing my thoughts as Cillian started to speak to me. “Apologies Highness. We mean no disrespect. We just wanted to pledge our loyalty.”
“I understand that much from what you said. What I’d like to know is why? And what the heck just happened to me?” My hand absentmindedly went to rub at my arm where there was still a slight tingle, or it could have been in my mind. At this point I wasn't sure seeing as how I was a revelation away from a meltdown. “What do you mean?”
Before I could answer there was a loud crash from behind them. They both whipped around taking on a strange stance. They turned to each other and it seemed like some silent conversation was taking place. Before I could say anything, Cillian was taking off into the trees while Dark had moved behind me ready to grab me at a moments’ notice I assume.
There was a lot more crashing accompanied by yelling after a few moments and I had to wonder what was going on. This didn’t seem normal. The voices that had been in my head only moments before had gone strangely silent and it was worrying me. Never thought I’d be worried about not hearing voices, but then this hadn’t exactly turned out to be a normal day.
“Dark could you please tell me what’s going on?”
“Not sure. It sounds like… well. I don’t want to freak you out, but it sound like trolls. I don’t think that’s the case though. It wouldn’t make any sense. There haven’t been trolls in this particular forest in over five thousand years.”
I gave him a look of disbelief. If it sounds like a duck it’s usually a duck. The fact that it sound like a troll makes me incline to think that’s more than likely what it is. “Why did they pick now of all times?”
He didn’t answer me, instead posing a question of his own. “What did you feel when you finally stopped running?”
The fact that he was asking that now struck me as suspicious, but I figured any kind of distraction was good at this point. Trolls didn’t sound like something I wanted to see. "When I stopped running it felt like I'd been here before. Like I’d come home.” That made me think of the suddenly absent voices and I felt inclined to make mention of it. “The fact that it felt familiar was the least strange thing about it though."
He moved to my side so that he could see me, giving me a curious look. "What do you mean?"
I shrugged, not seeing the harm in answering. The worst he could do was lock me up, but I'm pretty sure Cillian wouldn't let him. Especially with how he'd reacted to who my mother was. "I kept hearing voices in my head telling me all these different facts about the forest. It's how I found some food and this stream."
"If I hadn't believed you before about your mother, that right there would have done it. Only members of the Doneele Sept have that ability. Something to do with how the land here responds to you."
I looked around me. "Where is here anyway? I thought the fae all lived in Ireland."
He smiled, "That's funny. No, they live wherever they feel the veil between the two worlds is thinnest. There are quite a few who live in Ireland because the gateway to the underworld is there, but they have made their way to little spots all over the world. "
I nodded, chewing my lip in thought. "You're not going to tell me where we are, are you?"
"Not a chance."
"I figured as much, but I had to try." I narrowed my eyes, an idea popping in my head. "What if I guess?"
He raised a brow. "Do you really think that's possible? Not one state looks the same as it did three days ago, let alone five thousand years ago, back when the book maps you like to study were accurate."
I smiled, "So bet me. I get three tries. If I guess it right, you tell me."
He smirked, "And if you guess wrong?" That wiped the smile right off my face. I'd done it again without meaning to. I was getting comfortable with Dark again, letting my guard down.
I gave him a wary look. "What would you want?"
He put his hand to his chin looking up to the left like he was thinking about it, but I knew better. That was the same pose he used to pretend he wasn't sure he had a good hand, only to take everyone to the cleaners at the weekly poker game. Everyone would usually fold when he made that face.
He seemed like he was about to answer, when he suddenly stood a bit straighter. His face became a blank mask as his eyes fell behind me. "How about I think on it. Right now we have more important things to attend to."
Confused, I turned around to see what brought about such a drastic change. Moving toward us at a clipped pace were ten men. Each were similarly dressed in leather boots, cloth pants, and bare chests. They all had
different length hair, but it was similar in color to Cillian, who was leading them.
They came to a stop about three feet from me, dropping to one knee. The same position Cillian and Dark had taken earlier. "We swear fealty to you Gray Goddess." The second the words left their lips I had a similar feeling as before in my arm, only more intense.
Instead of freaking out over the fact that ten men I didn't know just pledged their loyalty to me, I lifted up what little sleeve I had to see what was going on.
On my arm, slowly winding its way around were the same black vines with metallic undertones as Dark's with two exceptions. One was that it was nowhere near as big and the other was that I had eleven small silver roses randomly sprouting out of the vines. I stared at it in disbelief.
Rather than run screaming, I took a deep breath and covered them again. Regardless of the fact that I had what I was always told were the markings of demons, these men were probably here to help protect me from what ever had been in the forest. I could ask Cillian, or Dark what they really meant later when I felt it wasn’t going to cause me to run away screaming.
If I hadn’t been wary of the council before, these markings sealed it for me. No one likes being lied to and to lie about something so simple made me wonder just how much of what I had been taught was lies. Rather than give in to the feeling of hysteria I felt building, I shook it off.
Cillian moved toward me while the rest of the men began to move deeper into the forest. I forced a half smile wondering what exactly was going on.
As the last of the men left, Cillian turned to Dark. "They will await their commands at the edge of the forest. We need a plan. Not only have the trolls return, but the sprites have taken up in the trees and the gnomes are underground. A few of my men say they’ve also spotted giants moving in from the horizon. It seems as if they are searching for something and I think she just may be that something."
They suddenly switched to another language and I had no idea what was being said, but it didn’t sound good. Not even a little bit. I decided now was as good a time as any to interrupt and find out what the markings meant. At this point I had no idea when I’d get another opportunity and I now know that any knowledge I may have had was a lie. It was time to start relearning, or at least figuring out what I needed to know to survive. Giants didn’t exactly give me a warm fuzzy feeling inside. Avoidance while gaining knowledge seemed like a good plan of action.
That and I hated when I wasn’t in the loop.
“Before all of you start a war of epic proportions, can someone please tell me what this means before I start freakin’ out about it?” I pulled up my shirt sleeve so they could see the roses and vines.
By the twin intakes of a quick breath, I'm guessing this isn't normal. "If I had doubts as to who you are, that marking would have erased it. The vines are a normal part of swearing fealty, but the roses..." He trailed off so I turned to Dark.
"They're a symbol of your ranking in the court. You... there is only three who are of a higher standing that I know of."
I looked down at them not feeling so upset now that I knew it wasn't anything bad. "Oh good. For minute there I thought they might be a representation of all your souls, or something along those lines." I looked up at them and felt my eyebrows furrow at the frowns they both wore. "What?"
They shared a look. "The thing is, they kind of do. Candy, if any of us should betray you after swearing fealty we forfeit our souls."
I thought about it, but pushed it to the back of my mind as something suddenly stood out like blood on a white shirt. "How come there are only eleven?" Cillian studied my arm for a moment. If possible his frown grew more pronounced as he turned to Dark.
"What exactly is your relationship with her?"
If possible I think Dark just blushed. I don’t think I’ve ever seen him blush before. "It's not really any of your business."
Cillian looked back at me, "I thought I had been blocking her, but it's you shielding her, isn't it?" He moved toward Dark so fast he wasn't even a blur and pulled down the collar of his shirt. There in the vines that covered his chest right above his heart was a blood red rose with black around the edges.
"I'd known that you had been keeping secrets of your time among the humans, but I was not aware just how much you hid. We all thought you'd been pining away for a human girl, not a potential mate. We're you aware of who she is when you bedded her like a common whore?"
This was making me uncomfortable and I wasn't even the one being yelled at. Then again, he did just insult me. "Okay, I'm standing right next to you and I do not appreciate being referred to as a whore."
Cillian took step back, releasing Dark's shirt and taking a deep breath as he did. "I apologize. It was not my intention to call you a whore, however indirectly it was."
"Yeah, I'll just bet. So you know, they say the truth always comes out in the heat of anger. If I were you, I would keep my temper in check." That said, I turned to Dark. "As for you, I may not have been around you for the last two years, but I'm not so stupid as to think this wasn't a calculated move on your part. Why did you do it?"
"It wasn't intentional."
Disbelief didn’t even begin to cover how I was feeling. "Really? I may not know all that goes along with these marks yet, but I'm not going to stand here and let you insult my intelligence any more than I let Cillian call me a whore. I don’t have time for this BS.” I started off in the direction I’d seen the Fae Warriors guys go. At least I assumed that's what they were. I may as well see what havoc my being here has caused.
Chapter Ten
I was almost to the outskirts of the forest according to the voices in my head that had returned after I left Dark’s side, when Cillian and Dark finally caught up and started to walk alongside me. In all honesty it felt more like they were escorting me, but I shook it off.
I decided to put the last ten minutes behind me for the moment and move on to the here and now. “So no one told me exactly what the plan is, or what’s going on. Does this have to do with me, or is it just a coincidence?”
Dark looked uncomfortable with my question. Cillian scoffed at him, “These creatures have been asleep for the last 500 years, Highness. While I do not know for certain that you are the cause of their sudden awakening, it would be foolish to think you have nothing to do with it.”
I shrugged, “Point taken. So what’s the plan then? Am I just going to let those creatures find me? Do we know what they want?” I had no idea why I wasn’t freaking out and running away. Any other circumstances and I probably would have been, but for some reason I felt like this wasn’t real. Like it was happening to someone else.
“Well, we plan-” I didn’t hear him.
The forest around me had suddenly faded out and I was standing in my house at the compound. Instinct took over and I immediately started looking around trying to figure out what it was I was supposed to be seeing, or interpreting as the case may sometimes be.
All thought about what was going on with the forest and the creatures that had awakened faded as I made my way over to where Ryan’s room was in the vision, ignoring the confused looks I was getting from Cillian and Dark. They could wait. There was something I needed to see and I usually had a limited time to see it.
I opened Ryan's door stepping inside to check it out. It looked the same as it always did. Clothes thrown haphazardly around the hamper with a few hanging off it, a guitar propped up in the corner, a few posters he'd drawn up of his favorite manga characters, and a small stack of said manga on the floor near the bed. Seeing nothing out of place I made my way over to Tristan’s room.
I was about to step in when something stopped me. It took me a moment to realize I was hearing whispers of conversation from the kitchen. I made my way over hoping that was where I was supposed to be. As I started moving in that direction the voices started to become louder and more familiar to me.
Tristan, Ryan, and if I wasn't mistaken, Brett, the head of the council were in there. I wa
sn’t quite close enough to make out what was being said, but from how angry Ryan sounded it couldn’t have been anything good. Especially since a council member was involved.
The fact that Dark was hinting at the council being corrupt earlier and my own first-hand account that they’d been lying wasn't giving me any warm fuzzy feelings either. This could go in two different directions and I didn't think either of them were good. Especially since I was in the middle of a vision.
I rounded the corner and walked in. Suddenly everything became brighter and I had to blink at the effect. On occasion my visions were weird like that. The things you need to see always tended to be a bit brighter if not blinding, so at least I knew I was in the right spot.
“Ryan, I understand that you want to get your sister back. We all do, but we can’t just go charging out into demon territory without a clue as to where we’re going. We need to plan. We need to let the guardians heal up a bit after the attack today. We'll wait a few days and then we can send them out to scout for answers as to what the hell happened. In the meantime, let’s try to stay positive. We at least know they wanted her alive.”
Brett sounded like he was trying to calm him down, but anyone who knew Ryan would have understood that what he’d just said was only going to rile him up all the more.
I couldn’t understand why Tristan wasn’t trying to diffuse the situation. Instead he stood in the corner leaning against the counter, a dark look like I’d never seen on his face.
It brought to mind the fear I’d felt as I faced him in my earlier vision when we’d gone to get Ryan from the makeshift jail. Something tells me that wasn't all that I was meant to see either. The fact that I hadn't been able to move around probably hindered me.
Then again with as much blood as was on those walls, I don't think I want to know what was going on there.
While I couldn’t feel his magic and I didn’t see any blood coating the walls here, I sensed that familiar fear all the same. It wasn't making me feel any better about this vision either.