One more had joined our little band of misfits.
Prince Liam was now joining the fight against one of the deadliest men I’d ever heard of.
I hoped I wouldn’t be responsible for his death too.
Chapter 19
IT WAS early in the morning, and the sunlight was bouncing off the water. That little blue fish—Elizabeth—watched me. I sighed heavily and reached out, letting my fingers skim across the water.
She rose up to meet my finger, and I felt a bit of panic just before the touch, remembering what happened last time. I closed my eyes and prepared myself for the worst.
IT WAS a little boy on a set of swings and a little girl was being chased by another young boy.
It was unnaturally bright again, a memory. I looked for Elizabeth, but she didn’t seem to be around anywhere.
“Liam!” I heard a deep voice shout. I watched the boy on the swings slow to a stop and hop off. He ran over to a man in royal blue robes with a big grin on his face.
Liam. Little Prince Liam. “Yes, Father?” he asked. Perfect little Prince.
King Maarius looked down at his son, looking younger than he does now. How long ago was this? A hundred years? Two hundred? “You missed your training this morning.”
Liam looking down at his feet and shifted his weight nervously. “Sorry, Father.”
“I know you don’t want to think about it, but you will take my place as king one day, and as king, you will protect your people. If you cannot do even that, you will fail. You must be strong, smart, and caring as a leader. When you miss weapons training, you are failing one of the parts of a strong leader. Now, hurry back and ask your teacher to go over the lesson with you.”
Liam nodded and ran off in another direction.
Maarius watched him go with a disappointed look on his face. Poor Liam. Taught from day one that he’s got to be better than everyone else because he’s got to protect them all. The weight of a world on his shoulders at such a young age.
It faded away and was replaced with Liam, looking a few years older, learning how to shoot an old pistol. It wasn’t like any of the ones we have today, but his aim was spot-on. I wasn’t sure how long he’d been practicing, but he was spectacular.
“You should come back to the house for a while,” an older Elizabeth said as he took another shot at the target.
“Can’t,” he said.
“I’m sure you can take an hour out of your practice today for some you-and-me time at the pond.”
“I can’t,” Liam said, taking another shot.
“You’ll have to learn it all over again in twenty years when something new comes out.”
“Then I’ll learn something new,” he said, not even looking at his sister.
“It’s one day, just take the day off.”
“If something happens tomorrow, I want this day. I want to keep this city safe, with my last breath I’ll keep this city safe. That’s my job, my destiny. I want every second I have to practice and get ready, just in case something happens. I can’t be the one that loses this all. I can’t be the one to lose these people. I will spend every moment I have getting ready for that day, just in case I’m needed to protect them from the world. I hope that day never comes, but I’ll be ready in case it does,” he said, a determined look on his face when he pulled the trigger again.
It went to black, and I saw Elizabeth lying on the bed, black spots coating her arms and a sickly look to her. Liam was on his knees beside the bed, his arms covering the back of his head as he sobbed into the pillow. He looked eighteen, maybe nineteen. Who knew how old he really was. It was only a few months ago, though. This was the Liam I knew.
“Liam,” Elizabeth whispered.
He looked up, his eyes red and his cheeks tearstained. “I’m so sorry,” he whispered. “I spent so much time trying to protect everyone from the world that I missed those moments that we could be together. All those times I was practicing instead of going to that pond with you and Lucas. I’m so sorry. I was so wrapped up in training myself against all of the possible threats in my world that I missed everything else.”
“Lucas? How is he?”
Liam looked away, and Elizabeth nodded, tears in her eyes.
“It’s not your fault, Liam. You can’t stop everything.”
“That’s my job. That’s what I’m supposed to do.”
“Liam—”
“Not as the prince, Liz. As your brother. I’m supposed to protect you. I’m supposed to stop bad things from getting to you. I should have stopped this because I’m your brother, and I was supposed to protect you. And I failed.”
She shook her head. “You didn’t fail, Liam. It wasn’t your fault. I know you think you can do everything, little brother, but you can’t. Not even our father can. This isn’t something you can stop. You don’t know what this is.” She fell silent for a moment. “Liam, this is magic. I can’t explain it to you, but this isn’t normal…. How many are sick?”
“A lot,” he said quietly. “What do you mean magic?”
“I mean that a mage did this. And only a mage can reverse it. Liam, I’m sorry I’m leaving you with so many questions—”
“You’re not leaving,” Liam said, shaking his head vigorously and shaking tears from his face as he did so.
She smiled weakly. “I am, Liam. And I’m sorry, but you have to find someone to help. We can’t do this alone. Your destiny isn’t set in stone. It’s not that you must protect the elves from harm. You aren’t just a prince, Liam. You are a man. A good man. Make your own destiny, do your own things, and protect the people because you want to, not because it’s your job. This is more than a job, Liam. Do this all because you believe in the people. Step away from the target for a day and see the city. You’ve alienated everyone for so long that they see you like Father, not like your own man. They don’t believe in you yet, and you don’t know them right now. Change it. Go and find the mage to help you. You can’t do this alone this time, Liam. I’m sorry I can’t be here to see you grow, but I know you’ll do great things. Visit the pond sometime. And don’t be angry, Liam. You were always so serious. This time, you need to relax. I’ll see you again, I promise.”
“You’re not going anywhere. I’m going to find someone to help, I swear, just hang on.”
“Tell Lucas I love him, Mother and Father too. And Liam, I’ve always loved you. I always believed in you. Father may not have seen the potential at the beginning, but I did. You’re going to do great things, so live it up while you can. Take all those opportunities you have to do the right thing, and get out there. Inspire the people and make yourself a great man, not just a good king.” She took his hand and squeezed it.
“Liz, don’t go. I need you here. I haven’t got to say everything I need to yet.”
She shook her head. “You never get to say all that you need to say. The world is cruel like that, so say all you can while you can. Don’t do what I did and waste time doing things that don’t matter. Good-bye, Liam. I hope you do what I know you can do.” And just like that she was gone, leaving Liam shouting for help and crying and muttering how sorry he was.
I WAS back at the edge of the pond, looking at that little blue fish.
“I never knew Liam was like that. I knew he was focused on his people, but I didn’t know it was like that. He loved you, you know. And he misses you now. He’s doing something stupid in coming with me, but I know why he’s doing it. It’s to make you proud. He wants to make sure he lives up to your expectations. He really is on his way to being a great man. I guess we have you to thank.” I smiled and sat back on the grass.
I stayed there for a while, eventually lying down and closing my eyes. I lost track of time, and I wasn’t at all ready to hear a voice.
“You must like it here. One time I see you getting undressed here, the next time I see you almost asleep,” Regan said, the hint of a smile in her voice.
I opened my eyes to see her standing beside me. She sat down beside me
and slid her fingers through mine. “Hey,” I said, smiling up at her.
“Hey.”
“Why’d you come out here?”
“We’re getting ready to have a meeting with Liam, but we’re waiting for you. I don’t want to rush you, though. I’d rather stay here with you.”
“That’s good, because I’d like to stay here with you too.”
“I think I’ll miss being alone with you when we get back on the road. I won’t get to kiss you or say I love you or anything like that.”
“We’ve always got now,” I said, running my thumb along the edge of her hand.
“Yeah.” She didn’t move, though, she just lay there with me for a while, not saying anything.
“This place is sacred,” I said after a few minutes. “The fish are the elven royals who have died. Elizabeth, Liam’s sister, is in here. She’s the blue one with the little white star.”
“How do you know that?” Regan looked over at me curiously.
I thought about it for a moment. “She sends me visions. Memories from her life.”
“Really?”
I nodded. “I think it’s because mages have a closer connection to the spiritual worlds. Like how the Old Ones can communicate with mages and dark elves, but humans and elves are too far away for that.”
Regan looked over at me with a smile and said, “Maybe. I think you think about things too hard. I think the Old Ones can talk to us humans. In fact, I know they can.” She looked back up at the sky. “They’ve talked to me.”
“What?”
She nodded. “I was sleeping one night, maybe a month before we left the Temple. There was a lot of white, and an old man told me that my day to prove myself would come soon. He said not to fear, that I would know what to do when the time came, and that I would be instrumental in stopping a great evil.” She squeezed my hand tightly. “That moment hasn’t come yet, but I’m ready for it.”
“Regan?”
“Yeah?”
“I don’t want you to get hurt.”
“And I don’t want you to get hurt. I’m going to protect you, Casey. You can’t get rid of me again.”
“I know, I’m just saying that I love you, and I’m going to protect you too. I can do more than you think. I can handle myself.”
She laughed quietly. “I know you can handle yourself, I just think that you’re too worried about everyone else to focus on handling yourself. That’s why I’m here. To protect you when you won’t protect yourself.”
I didn’t say anything for a while, but I thought about Regan. The Old Ones almost never went to humans, which meant they thought Regan would play a big enough role in this for it to matter. I didn’t like that. The bigger the role, the more danger she was in.
“We should get going. Liam is probably waiting for us to come up with a plan,” I said.
Regan stood up and held her hand out for me.
She pulled me up and into her. I could feel her heart beating against her chest.
Thump thump.
Thump thump.
Her minty breath washed over me, and those eyes stared intensely into mine.
My skin seemed to be on fire where her hands were. It was driving me insane. I was about to pull away, gain some distance from this intoxicating woman, when she lowered her lips to mine.
I couldn’t help it, I just melted into her. My fingers entangled themselves in her short dark hair, and I felt my knees go weak as she deepened the kiss and gripped my hips tightly.
She was the one who pulled away, leaving me slightly dazed and my legs feeling like jelly.
We were both breathing heavily, and Regan ran a shaky hand through her hair and grinned at me. “We better get going.”
I nodded and followed her down the path and back to Liam’s house.
EVERYONE WAS in the War Room, standing over a large map while they waited. When Regan and I arrived, Liam cast a glance at us before saying, “Glad you could make it.”
“Sorry,” I mumbled as I walked over to see the map.
“Haven is here.” Liam pointed to the city with its high walls.
I studied the map while I spoke. “Jaysun has been traveling, but I don’t think he went far. He wouldn’t have to. He wants a showdown between us, he wants to prove how powerful he is, but I think he wants to be close to Haven too, to keep an ear out for news of its demise.” I pointed to another city, the one we had stayed at. “We were here, and he was there for a short time too, but I doubt he’s still there.”
“He might be here.” He pointed to the next closest city. “It’s close, and it’s big. Bigger than the last city you were at. It’s newer, bigger, more dark elves, more everything. If he’s looking to prove just how powerful he is, then he’ll probably go somewhere like that.”
I nodded. “As we get closer, we’ll hear more about if he’s been there. Green fire, the dead rising, that sort of thing. He didn’t do a lot earlier, but he was busy trying to find a better source of power. He said he’s almost finished with it, and he’ll want to test it out. A lot. We’ll see signs before we get there.”
Everyone agreed, and when I turned to Regan I saw that she was deathly pale.
“What’s wrong?”
“My parents. My parents live there. He killed my brother already. What if he’s got the rest of my family?”
I touched her arm. “We’ll get there before anything happens to them, I swear. And we’ll keep them safe and get rid of this guy right away. Regan, don’t worry. We’ll get there in time. Nothing will happen to your family.”
She nodded, but I don’t think she believed me.
“We better get going,” Liam said. “We’ve got a long way to go.”
Chapter 20
“NO, NO, no, relax. Let it flow. Water is easy, it flows. It’s powerful beneath, just like you are, but it’s easy on the surface,” I said, watching Cam’s chopping, shaking, whirlwind of a sphere of water in her palm.
“It’s hard,” she said, frowning.
“I know, but you’ve got to work with it. You’re pushing too hard against it.” I should have known water would be hard for Cam. She’s too headstrong for it. She’s one of those people who doesn’t see how things can be flowing and powerful at the same time. Beautiful and terrifying.
“Work with what?”
“The energy.”
“It’s water.” She frowned. “Why does it need to flow? Why can’t it just do what I need it to do?”
“Have you seen the ocean?”
“Yeah, once. My father took me once.”
“And it’s got waves, right?”
“Exactly, waves! So why can’t—”
“Because the waves don’t show almost any of the power the water has. The currents are powerful, enough to drag you under the water and hold you there for as long as it deems necessary. Water is more than a tool. It’s a force to be reckoned with. You can’t control it if you don’t understand how it works. You have to see everything, look for the Whole, not the pieces.”
“The whole?”
“My teachers used to say it. ‘See the Whole.’ ‘You must search for the Whole.’ ‘Is that the Whole?’ ‘You’re missing something, refer to the Whole.’ It means everything. Every piece of the puzzle. It was terribly annoying, but it works. You have to think about ‘the Whole’ in order to understand something as complex as water.”
She sighed and nodded. “I get it. The Whole. The flow and the power.”
I smiled and touched her shoulder before catching up with Regan and Liam, Cinder close behind. “Hey.”
“How’s Cam doing?” Liam asked.
“Miserable. She can’t wrap her head around some of the things I’m trying to teach her. She spent too long on the streets instead of at the Temple. She doesn’t understand why things have to work the way they do. She’s got enormous potential, a powerful mage really, but she wastes so much energy doing things the hard way. She loses control of the power, and she doesn’t know how to safely and eff
ectively move Life Force to where it needs to be. She’s lucky she hasn’t damaged her pathways by now.”
“How do you know she hasn’t?” Ston asked. “Have you checked her out yet?”
“Not yet, but the fact she can do what she does now is amazing if she has broken a pathway. That would mean she’s got a Life Force leak somewhere, and she’s more powerful than she is now.”
“We’ll have to do one tonight.”
“See if we can patch it up if there is one.”
“Get her on a strict training schedule.”
“One with rigorous control training.”
“And efficiency,” he added.
“And then we might be able to gauge her true power,” I finished.
“We can find her natural element too, when we go over her.”
“That would help with figuring out the training course we need to follow,” I said, thinking about it.
“The easiest things to teach her, ones to use while we build control so that, if she keeps doing what she’s doing now, it won’t damage her as much.”
“Right, and then we can build onto her natural element with easy spells, then move to the next easiest element, and go from there.”
“Gradually increasing difficulty.”
“Do they always do this?” Liam whispered to Regan, as if we couldn’t hear.
“Not normally. This is actually really weird. They almost never do this,” she whispered back.
I looked back at Cinder, who had stopped and was looking off into the distance. Damn, he was big now. His shoulder was at my elbow now.
What’s up?
No answer.
Cinder?
Nothing.
I was about to say something aloud when he took off, running into the thick forest.
“Cinder!” I shouted, taking off after him.
Life Beyond the Temple Page 20