by Emery Belle
“Yes,” she said, arranging her shimmering pink robes around her limbs and adjusting her matching headscarf. “My father didn’t really approve, but who am I to ignore my gifts? Besides, it brings me a lot of pleasure to help people.” She gave me a tired smile. “Thank you for coming. My mother never visits me at the office, so we can speak freely here.”
“Then let’s get to it.” I pulled out my notebook and pen and flipped to a fresh page. “What did you want to tell me that you couldn’t say in front of your mother?”
Lyra suddenly looked exhausted, and the worry lines around her eyes deepened. “As we told you at the house, my father had disagreements with Finn—”
“Yes, I’ve already spoken to him,” I interjected. “Your neighbor Barak, too.”
“Barak?” Lyra looked taken aback. “The man who runs the unicorn track? He’s always been nothing short of kind to my family.”
“Until your father threatened his business by planting skunk cabbage along the border of your properties to drive away his customers,” I pointed out.
“That was for his hoof sores!” Lyra cried, outraged. Then she shook her head and glanced at the clock hanging on the wall. “But let’s not get sidetracked, because I have another client scheduled to arrive in ten minutes for a reading and there’s something I need to tell you.”
“Okay, shoot.” I poised my pen over the notebook. “I assume this something might be related to your father’s death.”
“I don’t know.” Lyra lowered her gaze, suddenly becoming very interested in the hem of her robes. When she raised her eyes to mine a few moments later, I saw that they were shining with tears. “This is very difficult for me, because… well, because it involves my brother.”
Brother? I had no idea Vega and Orion had another child—no one had mentioned him until now. My confusion must have shown on my face, for Lyra nodded and dabbed at her eyes with her sleeve. “Archer. He’s more than just my brother… he’s my twin. And no one in my family has seen him for nearly a decade, because my father disowned and disinherited him. We were always so close, and losing him was devastating to me. It nearly killed my mother, too. She and my father used to have screaming matches about Archer all the time… she would beg him to reconsider, to let him back into our lives, but my father flat-out refused.” She paused. “I don’t think she’s ever forgiven him.”
“But why?” I said, my heart aching with sadness for her. “What did your brother do to make your father turn his back on him?”
Lyra let out a mirthless laugh. “He committed, in my father’s eyes, a grave sin. An unforgiveable sin.” She paused dramatically. “He married a human.”
If she expected me to gasp, she would have been sorely disappointed. I scratched my chin with the end of my pen and said, “So?”
“So?” Lyra gaped at me. “So? Have you been living under a dragon egg, Wren? It’s illegal for any magical creature to marry a human. Do you know what the punishment for such a transgression is?” I shook my head. “Death,” she said. “By a hundred swords.”
I winced. That sounded incredibly barbaric. I wondered if Lord Macon had any role in coming up with that particular punishment—it seemed right up his alley in terms of level of unreasonableness.
“How did your brother even meet a human woman?” I asked. “Wouldn’t…” I trailed off, wondering how I could put this delicately. “Wouldn’t his four legs have been somewhat of a turnoff for someone who had no idea that centaurs really existed?”
“He was wearing his glamour at the time,” Lyra said, shifting on her pillow. Then, seeing my blank expression, she stood and trotted over to her desk in the far corner of the room. After rummaging through the top drawer for a few moments, she produced a long gold necklace with an emerald pendant hanging over it. When she slipped it over her head, arranging the necklace under her robes so the pendant settled against her bare chest, the bottom half of her body—the horse half—melted away, replaced by two very human-looking legs.
“My mother had these commissioned for us years ago, in case we ever wanted to travel to the human world—she’s done so extensively, always preferring Europe and the British Isles over our quaint little island, which she doesn’t consider cosmopolitan enough.” She snorted in irritation. “Whatever that means. Anyway, the pendant contains a glamour spell that, when worn, changes our appearance to the naked eye.”
She brushed her fingers along the edge of the pendant, which pulsated against her skin. “I’ve never had much use for mine, but my brother Archer regularly conducted business in the human world, so he wore his quite often. On one of those trips, he met Kelly, and by the time he confessed his true identity to her, she was too in love with him to care.” Lyra removed the pendant from her neck and stored it carefully back in the drawer before arranging herself on the pillow once more.
“They were married not long after that in a secret ceremony, and when our father heard what had happened, he swore that he would never see Archer again. My mother and I were not even permitted to whisper his name in the house, or else Father would fly into a rage. When Archer was disinherited, he lost his access to our family’s fortune and was forced to remain in the human world.” She swallowed hard. “Permanently.”
“So where is he living now?” I asked, scribbling furiously in my notebook. This was good. A more promising lead than any others. I could feel my pulse skittering with excitement as I set down my pen and looked at Lyra eagerly. When I met her eyes, though, I saw that something looked… wrong… about them. Then I realized what it was—they were no longer brown, but silver.
“Wren Winters,” she said, her voice soft and deep as she gazed at me, her pupils unfocused. “The revelation of your true identity is drawing near, faster than the dragon flies. Some would call you an abomination, a monstrosity, an… imposter.” Her lashes fluttered rapidly as her eyes darted back and forth, though they never seemed to focus on anything. “There are those who work deep within the shadows to keep it a secret, but they will… they will… they will…”
Her head slumped forward and her limbs shuddered. She took several gasping breaths and then raised her eyes to mine, her pupils darkening from silver to brown once more. “What was I saying? Sorry, I haven’t had much to eat today, so I’m feeling a little under the weather.”
Her voice had returned to normal, and she screwed up her mouth in thought. “Ah, yes. Archer is living in a small community in California, deep within the redwood forest. I have never been there, and I do not have the address—the moon has risen countless times since I last saw or spoke to my twin.” Then, catching sight of my expression, she frowned. “What?”
I stared at her for a few beats, my heart pounding so hard I could hear it in my ears. What had just happened? A shudder ran through my body, and I crossed my arms over my chest, trying to ward off the sudden chill that had settled over me. Lyra had gone into a trance, that much I could tell… and her words had been eerily similar to Orion’s, but far, far worse. I was an abomination? A monstrosity? I had no idea what she meant by that, but I did know one thing… those words would never leave this room. Ever.
“Wren?” Lyra was starting to look concerned, so I gave a false start and smiled at her.
“Sorry, my mind must have wandered for a few seconds there.” I shuffled through the pages of my notebook as a way to occupy my trembling hands, then capped my pen, with some difficulty, before slipping it into my bag. “Thank you for this information on your brother, Lyra. I think I’ll pay him a visit… even if our conversation doesn’t lead anywhere, it’ll give me a good excuse to see the redwoods. I’ve heard they’re magical.”
And, I thought as I slung my bag over my shoulder and said a hasty goodbye to the centaur before hurrying from the room, a trip to the mainland would give me some much-needed distance from the island and a chance to clear my head… while trying to scrub from my mind everything I’d just heard.
Chapter 15
My chest felt a little less constric
ted as I stepped off the ferry and back into the human world, then caught a cab from Oregon to the redwood forests of Northern California—luckily I’d found my credit card tucked away at the very bottom of my bag, because I had a feeling the cabbie wouldn’t be too thrilled when I tried paying him in island currency. I pressed my nose against the cab window as we drove through winding roads rimmed by the magnificent redwood trees, whose trunks stretched so high into the sky they seemed to disappear amongst the clouds.
Not many people lived near the forest, and Archer wasn’t exactly a common name in the human world, so a quick trip to the local grocery store and a friendly chat with the bored cashier was enough to lead me straight to the centaur’s doorstep. Archer and Kelly lived in an enviable location—a cozy little cabin tucked away in a pocket of redwood trees, their nearest neighbor several miles to the east. Laundry fluttered on the line outside the door, and I could hear several hens clucking in a fenced enclosure on the side of the house. A woman who looked to be in her mid-forties was on her knees in the front yard, a trowel and a potted plant beside her.
“Good morning,” I said, approaching her tentatively. As I expected, given the lack of people anywhere nearby, the woman startled at the sound of my voice and accidentally knocked the plant onto its side. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to scare you.”
I knelt beside her and scooped some of the spilled dirt back into the pot. “My name is Wren Winters, and I came from…” I pursed my lips, unsure how to continue. How much did Archer’s wife know about the magical community? “I’m here to see Archer,” I settled on, adding a smile for good measure.
The woman sat back on her heels and pushed up her wide-brimmed hat to get a better look at me, her nervous eyes raking me over from head to toe. At one point they lingered on my pocket, where I was still holding my duct-taped wand hostage, as if she could see right through the fabric of my jeans. “You’re one of them,” she said eventually, and her expression hardened.
My smile wavered at the hostile note in her voice. “Well, I’m not exactly like Orion,” I said in a low voice, shooting a nervous glance around me. Then, edging closer, I whispered, “But I am from the island.” There. That should have been vague enough not to give away too much while still making it clear that I was here on important centaur-related business. I glanced toward the house. “Is he around?”
The woman rose from her knees without looking at me and stormed into the house. “Archer!” I heard her shouting. “There’s someone here to see you. One of them. Get down here so I don’t have to deal with her.” I winced, feeling my cheeks flush with embarrassment as she stepped outside again, slamming the door behind her, and shot me a nasty look before stomping toward the chicken coop with a basket tucked under her arm.
I watched her collecting fresh eggs for a few moments, my stomach growling as I tried to remember the last time I’d eaten—the unicorn jerky display at the ferry’s snack stand had dampened my appetite on the ride over. Somehow, though, I didn’t think Archer’s wife was going to be offering me scrambled eggs anytime soon. Although she looked very much like she wanted to crack a few of them over my head.
Footsteps on the front porch drew my attention back to the house, and when I saw the man standing there, arms crossed, I headed toward him with my hand outstretched. “What do you want?” he said, glancing down at my hand but completely ignoring it. His rich chestnut hair was reminiscent of his father, and he had the same broad chest and pale blue eyes, but that was where the similarities ended. If I hadn’t known otherwise, nothing about the man standing before me hinted at his true identity—he looked like a perfectly normal, albeit exceedingly handsome, middle-aged man.
My eyes latched onto the emerald pendant tucked inside his shirt, and he cupped his fingers around it possessively. “So I see you know about my glamour,” he said. “That must mean you’ve been talking to my family… well, my mother or my sister, I should say. My father would rather die than let my name cross his lips again.” A very appropriate choice of words, but I didn’t want to point that out. Did Archer even know that his father had been murdered?
“Look,” I said, shifting uncomfortably, “I’m sorry to intrude on your life like this, but I really need to talk to you. Would it be okay if we went inside?” Especially since his wife was now tossing eggs into her basket at a rapid-fire pace all the while keeping her gaze locked on my face. “Please,” I added when he narrowed his eyes at me. “I promise I won’t take up much of your time.”
“Oh, all right,” he relented, stepping aside and gesturing me through the front door. “I haven’t had news of the island for many years now… it’s been so long since I’ve been home that I’ve forgotten what my mother’s face looks like.” His powerful shoulders drooped as a look of sorrow flashed through his eyes, and despite the less-than-warm welcome, I felt sorry for the man. And the centaur hidden underneath.
He led me into the spacious living room, decorated with brown leather couches and a roaring fireplace. I noticed several long pillows on the floor, and what looked like an enormous dog bed in the corner of the room. “Sometimes I still like to be free,” he said with a hint of sadness as he noticed me looking at the pillows. “In the privacy of my own home, it’s nice to stretch out my limbs once in a while.” He sank into one of the couches, then gave me an appraising look. “I apologize for being short with you. Being reminded of the life I left behind… it’s a painful thing. I try not to think too much about it. When I do, I just get angry.”
“Because your father disinherited you?” I said quietly. “That must have been terrible for you.”
Archer gave me a strange look. “Disinherited? I’m afraid you’ve got your facts wrong. When my father found out about my marriage to Kelly, he sent me away from the island for my own protection. He knew that if the High Court caught wind of what I’d done, of all the laws I’d broken, then I would have been executed.” By now, Kelly had slipped into the living room, setting her basket of eggs on the table before seating herself beside her husband and resting a hand on his arm.
“Oh.” I frowned at him, then slipped my notebook from my bag and reread the notes I’d taken during my meeting with Lyra. “Your sister told me that your father disinherited and disowned you, and that she and your mother were forbidden from mentioning your name.”
“For my protection,” Archer repeated, crossing one long leg over the other and patting his wife’s hand. “If word got out about what I’d done—my terrible, unforgiveable crime of falling in love—then the High Court would have made sure I was hunted down and returned to the island. And then…”
He sliced his hand across his neck and gave me a knowing look. “My father covered for me. He told anyone who asked that I had died in a plane crash—everyone on the island knew I had a fondness for flying. Only my mother and sister were privy to the truth. Or… as close to the truth as my father was willing to share with them. He knew that if either of them tried to find me, it would end in all of our deaths. The High Court was suspicious of his story but had no proof. If Lyra or our mother traveled to the mainland to track me down, he feared the court would send one of its minions to follow them straight to my doorstep.”
He bowed his head. “So he forbade them from ever seeing me or mentioning my name again on the pretense that I was no longer his son. And, at this point, I might as well not be. I truly am as good as dead, in the eyes of all who ever knew me.” His voice cracked, and his wife shook her head. I wasn’t surprised to see that she looked angry, though this time it didn’t appear to be directed at me.
“Orion could have at least sent your rightful share of the family’s gold. You may not have been formally disinherited, but he forced you away from your home with nothing but the clothes on your back.” The resentment in her voice was clear, and my ears perked up as I swung my head back and forth between husband and wife.
“How many times do I have to tell you,” Archer gritted out, shaking off his wife’s hand, “that he couldn’t give me my
share of the gold. Do you have any idea how suspicious that would have looked?” He gave me an imploring look. “Sending me away was the hardest thing he’s ever done. I know it. The look in his eyes when we said goodbye… I do hope that someday, somewhere, we will meet again. If not in this lifetime, then maybe…” He pressed his lips together and shook his head, unwilling to say any more.
My heart sank. It was becoming more and more obvious that Archer had no idea his father had died, let alone the circumstances surrounding his death. I had just opened my mouth to break the news—someone had to—when Kelly smacked her fist against the coffee table.
“He left you nearly destitute!” she cried. “We had to go into hiding for years, with barely enough money for food. We couldn’t even afford to have children, and we… I…” She cleared her throat and whispered, “I so desperately wanted them, and now it’s too late.”
“We all paid a price,” Archer said quietly, attempting to wrap his arm around his wife’s shoulders, but she ducked away from him. He let his arm fall limply to his side, then gave me a small, sad smile. “So what is it you’ve come to speak with me about?” He and Kelly were both staring at me now, their eyes shining with unshed tears.
“I, uh…” I cleared my throat, wishing I could disappear right through the floor. My mind scrambled to find the words the old centaur I’d met on my way to Orion’s house had used to describe the concept of death.
“Your father has ended his journey on this plane of existence.” The sentence sounded ridiculous coming out of my mouth, but I pressed on anyway. “He passed away several days ago under mysterious circumstances, and I’m part of the team investigating what happened.” A team of one, but that was just a minor detail.
Archer’s jaw dropped and he reared back in his seat. “Are you telling me my father was murdered?” He clutched at the pendant on his chest as though it were a lifeline, and when it broke away from his skin, his powerful hind legs and gleaming chestnut coat flickered into view. Seeing this, Kelly lunged forward and pressed it against his chest again, her eyes darting toward the window. But other than the chickens still squawking outside, we were completely alone.