Premonition
Page 21
“No one is around here to hear my words.” I said pulling away from Sebastian and looking at my desecrated shop. The shop my mother and I built from nothing, now ransacked and destroyed. My sister ordered for all of our work to be ceased. She took my mother’s life and all of her work and left me with nothing. My sister would have been happy to take my life as well, but I knew my father would not be as willing. I pleaded my innocence of my mother’s ways and forced myself to sob like a helpless girl. My sister wasn’t fooled but she would not act forcefully on my account while our father lived. “Everyone is at court hearing what my sister’s reward will be for her lover.”
“They are not lovers—”
“And does it bother you if they are?” Sebastian said he was for me, but the man wanted my sister. Perhaps it wasn’t real love but just a lust for power, one that became more desperate as my sister became less likely to choose a husband. I had noticed how he seethed in jealousy every time her slave received attention from my sister and he did not.
“Your sister choosing me as her husband would only benefit our cause. I would convince her to legitimize you and then when the appropriate time passed—”
“The appropriate time? When will that be? When you have a litter of children? Then suddenly my sister will fall ill and somehow you would pass over your own blood for me to take rule? No. If you had your own children, and you saw to it that Kiatra died while they were young, then you would truly be ruler until they came of age. I do not think we have the same cause at all.”
“You are becoming hysterical.” He said stoically. “I am not the enemy here. It’s your sister’s slave. Do you see the way he’s grabbed for power these last years? And your sister is foolish enough to give it to him. It is being said that he is a soothsayer. Just like her mother was.”
I had little memory of my sister’s mother. I was a child when she passed, and the woman had little interest in seeing the daughter of her husband’s mistress when she was alive. I was told stories of her visions and I regretted I never bore witness to one. It was such a fascinating power to see the future. I would have reveled with such a gift and certainly would not have wasted it at court by a man’s side. I would have used it to punish those who served me injustice.
Though in the end her abilities could not save her. My mother saw to that. Kiatra’s mother, Celine, was my mother’s master. My mother was given into slavery to pay off her parents’ debts at the age of fifteen. She had decided then that she would never allow another to command her fate. For five years she served under Kiatra’s mother. The woman took pity on the young girl who claimed to have the ambition to heal. She allowed my mother the freedom to spend time learning about the different medicinal properties of plants and discovering herbal remedies for healing. Yet, my mother was more interested in the arts that could gain her power.
My father was a weak man and she needed no assistance to get him to fall for her. After I was discovered in my mother’s womb, my mother was banned from Celine’s presence. She knew she had to dispose of the woman to be given the chance to replace her as wife of the Chief. When Celine was not in her chambers, my mother planted hallucinogenic oils around her bed and ground berries that caused psychosis into her cosmetics. She used the ashen flower to persuade her maidservants to drop herbs in her tea and bits of bark in her wine that caused the woman to turn to delusions. So subtle was my mother’s approach to drive Celine to madness. Since, no one within the Fortress had studied these practices or the properties of such things in decades, it was not easily detected by those without any knowledge. Though the process was slow. It took years before the woman finally submitted to the madness. My mother took a great risk in executing such a thing. Celine’s abilities could have exposed my mother’s deceit. The woman did indeed have a vision of my mother polluting her chambers, but by then it was too late. Who would believe the woman’s jealous ramblings against her husband’s mistress? As Celine was seen as unstable, her accusations against my mother were considered no more than a part of her erratic behavior.
Yet, after the woman passed, my mother did not get what she rightfully deserved. My father did not take her as his wife but continued to treat her as his mistress, keeping me as his illegitimate daughter.
When my mother shared with me all she had done to secure my reign, I had tried to dispose of Kiatra in the same way my mother disposed of Celine. Yet, after her mother’s death, my sister was heavily protected. Mara and Titus had become her faithful watchdogs. As my sister grew into a woman, she was filled with suspicions of my mother and me. All those in her service had been warned about us. I tried to get nearer to them and gain their trust, but they kept their distance. Her chambers were rarely unguarded. Kiatra even had me watched, though she thought I was ignorant to it. I was no fool. The man never saw more than I wished for him to see. Yet, I couldn’t deny my sister had chosen faithful servants. Now, if her slave truly held the abilities she claims he does, it made things more difficult for me.
Isaac was a hindrance. When I first caught sight of the man, I thought he would be easy enough to manipulate. His people were stupid enough to come to us armed, thinking they could steal grain and supplies to survive the drought. Yet, this man was not dim witted. He wasn’t the first man to try to resist me, but the fact that he seemed to be making great efforts to discover my ways was reason for concern. He accused me of practicing dark arts and said I was not as powerful as I wished I was. He was right on that account. I had not studied enough of the dark arts to protect my mother from her fate. I had not done enough to turn the people completely against Kiatra.
“And you believe it?” I asked Sebastian. “That this man has visions like Kiatra’s mother? It seems like a convenient story.”
“I don’t know what to believe, but he seems to have gained more favor in Kiatra’s eyes than either of us. So, whether it be visions or not, he certainly has influence.”
“He certainly does have influence.” I said slowly, studying the man. “She will marry him.”
“What? Have you heard something?” Sebastian poorly hid his hurt as he spoke the words.
I suppressed the urge to roll my eyes. “It is clear she’s in love with the man. Why else would she keep him so close to her? She has too much pride to marry a slave, but in a few years when his sentence is served, she will take him as her husband. If he has the abilities that she claims he does and he proves to serve her faithfully, she will choose him as her husband.”
“He is easy enough to dispose of.”
“Truly? What if he sees your plotting just as he did with my mother? Will you risk your life to take the man out? No. We don’t want to make him a martyr. I want our people to remember what he truly is. A criminal. An enemy to the Fortress.”
“And how will we do that?” It wasn’t an easy question. Especially if any overt plotting risked being seen by this man. Things would have to be planned in secret like spiders on a wall. I wrapped my arms around Sebastian and kissed his lips, mostly wishing for him not to speak anymore.
“Be patient. We will take what we deserve and dispose of those who’ve tried to keep us in our place. The time will come.” I needed to learn about Isaac’s abilities. What were his limitations? Once I understood that I could find where his weaknesses lied. I would expose the man in a way that my sister could not forgive. Though she wouldn’t be able to execute the man she loved. It would lead to both of their descents. I would ensure it. I would get justice for my mother and rid the Fortress of all those who tried to oppose me. I would take my rightful place as Chieftess and sole ruler of the Fortress. The time would come soon enough.
NOTE FROM THE AUTHOR
I hope you enjoyed, Premonition. Look out for Book 2 of The Fortress Duology, Awakening. Keep up to date with my new releases, free giveaways and blogs by following my Amazon Author Page.
Other Releases by Lisa M. James:
The Fifth Kingdom Series:
The Whispers of Shadows
A Castle of As
hes
A Realm Forgotten
The One True Queen