A Gathering of Souls

by Dianne Keep

  Tosha and Ehre came out of the dressing room. Bayan bowed “Goodnight, Tosha. I’ll see you at dinner, Superior Ehre.” He left and closed the door behind him.

  Tosha tsked as she straightened the covers on the bed. “What does that scourge of a man mean to do? Cause riots in all of Rysa and its provinces? A Seyh can’t wed a non-possessor.”

  Bree tended to her feelings, forcing every stray thought and emotion deep inside. Bayan didn’t care if she didn’t want him. He wanted her. The Resh had approved. Her opinion didn’t matter. “Never mind him. I’m starving.”

  Tosha brought the tray to the side table.

  The day wasn’t completely ruined. There was custard. Be thankful for the little things. Bree scooped a heaping spoonful of it into her mouth.

  Ehre sat next to her. “It’s in Rysa’s best interest to keep you close to the ruling family. Resh Osling made the exception for his own sake not Bayan’s. Seyhs and non-possessors can mix, but the baby doesn’t always have blood magic. There have been allowances before and in the time before the Changing the races mixed well enough.”

  “Perfect. Thank you for that illuminating explanation of why Bayan wants to marry me. Did you notice the alarm going off when he kissed me? Am I supposed to suffer like that until my talents are restored?” She didn’t want to think about her wedding night. “Because we don’t know when that will happen, or if it ever will.”

  “He kissed you?” Tosha whispered. Her fingers touched her lips.

  Bree nodded, and then gulped the room temperature vegetable soup. “It doesn’t make sense.” She devoured two fluffy rolls that melted like heaven in her mouth. “And it wasn’t the memory I wanted for my first kiss.” Bree stabbed the slab of brown meat covered in gravy. Her stomach was getting happier even if the rest of her drowned in misery.

  The amber necklace was supposed to be temporary. Her memories would never be restored if she married Bayan. The Resh couldn’t risk her relapsing into a brainwashed instrument of destruction for the Anthean army once she became a Karra of Rysa, then the Rishi. Bree set her fork down. She swallowed hard.

  Ehre sighed. “You can’t get out of it. I better go tell Gallie you’re going to bed early.”

  “Good,” said Bree. But it wasn’t good. Nothing about her day had been good. Even knowing she’d see Khrisk tomorrow wasn’t good because now she was marrying Bayan.

  Her stomach rumbled. No matter, she needed sustenance. She stuffed the meat and gravy into her mouth, barely chewing it, and finished the custard without tasting it, which was a shame. Cook worked her own kind of magic with food.

  After Tosha helped her get ready for bed, Bree went to the balcony. She stared at the turrets and towers across the courtyard and rooftops of the buildings beyond. The sun glowed, a sliver of ochre on the horizon. The sky bled red and purple.

  At least twenty pairs of eyes watched her from the walkways. The necklace sent a wave of heat through her body. I’m just standing here. Her alhor seemed as peeved as she was as it pulsed and flashed. The charm’s heat funneled back inside the jewel. She wanted the necklace off. She was done with it.

  The itch to run returned. She desperately wanted to jump off the balcony and fly over the walls, escaping Rysa altogether, Khrisk included. Who cares if the sentries shot her down? She pictured Bayan’s sad face and Osling’s cold anger.

  Tosha touched her shoulder. “Gallie’s here.”

  Good thing Gallie knew how to knock her unconscious for exactly twelve hours straight. A dreamless slumber was the one thing Bree liked about her predicament. The old woman hunched over the side table stirring the nightly concoction.

  Bree retrieved the vase of spark lilies from the nightstand that Tosha had set out earlier and inhaled their soothing scent. No matter who sent them, she loved spark lilies. She would find something to enjoy. Gallie’s wrinkled hand held the black cup out to her. The spinning brown liquid marred the floral fragrance inches from her nose with its sickening stench.

  “Quickly now, my lovely.” Gallie’s voice creaked.

  Bree glanced at the woman’s lined face. “My stomach is a bit upset. I have a few hours before the sun sets completely.”

  “No, no. I put in extra. The Resh ordered you to bed at once.” Gallie pushed the cup closer to Bree’s lips. “Drink.”

  It took four gulps instead of the usual three. The taste of mud mixed with rotten grass and possibly a corpse coated her tongue and throat. Not that she knew what a dead person tasted like. Tosha handed her a cool glass of water and a sweet mint leaf. She chugged the water and chewed the leaf to chase away the potion’s putrid taste.

  Woozy, Bree sat on the bed as the room spun. She hated the minutes of blur before she fell asleep.

  No infernal fire rushing under her skin.

  No corset to keep her from breathing normally.

  No Bayan.

  No Osling.

  No strange voice.

  She smiled in anticipation. The yellow walls dripped onto the stone flooring and faded rug, making a multi-textured mush.

  Tosha’s blob of a face appeared. “Let me help you.” Her voice sounded like a cave frog croaking. She pulled the covers up to Bree’s chin and stroked her forehead. “Rest well. I’ll see you in the morning.”

  Bree believed she nodded. Any control she possessed over her body disappeared with the melting room.

  A flash of silver shot through the oozing mess. Her vision cleared, but she wasn’t in her room.

  She stood in a forest.

  Majestic mountains rose beyond tawny foothills.

  Pine-scented air dispelled all the agitation of her insane day.

  Her heart swelled.

  She was home.

  Home.

  White flames inched up the pines, engulfing her, ripping her apart.

  Her screams made no sound.

  She became a pile of ashes.

  CHAPTER TWELVE

  Bree’s screams jolted her from the nightmare of burning to death. She didn’t move. Didn’t speak. The raw pain in her throat scratched like needles.

  Early morning sunlight dappled her domed ceiling, and for a time, she stared at the cracks in the plaster. This was real. Her room. Peeling yellow paint on the walls. The fluffy bed and her sweat-soaked clothes. The dream was just a dream.

  Not once had she dreamed since Ehre placed the charm on her neck. Not once. Did this have something to do with all the malfunctions yesterday? Or was it normal to have nightmares of burning alive after healing a fever?

  In the dressing room, Tosha yawned loud enough to wake the dead. Bree sat up. Tosha was picking lint off a hideous gray gown.

  You’re alive. Get up. Bree threw aside her covers.

  Sitting on the stool in front of the vanity, she rested her forehead against the cool wood. “How bad was it?” Bree croaked. She poured a glass of water and drank.

  “I thought you were dying. I knew the old hag had finally decided to kill you.”

  “Gallie wants to kill me?”

  Tosha raised an eyebrow. “Of course she does. Just because you have blood magic doesn’t mean you can’t be poisoned or drugged like any other person. Your body is essentially human. Gallie is the one of the smartest herbalists I’ve met.” Tosha pointed to a tiny glass filled with red gunk. “She left you that potion to soothe your throat.”

  It wasn’t surprising. Most of Rysa probably wanted her dead after she murdered all those men. The fire from her dreams lingered. Bree sniffed her hands. Ashes. Her hair stank too. A trail of flames spread across her body from the amber necklace. She wouldn’t survive another day of constant pain.

  “Will it keep me from throwing myself off the balcony?” Bree eyed the bubbling ruby goo.

  Bree heard a rustle and suddenly she was drenched. “Hey!”

  Tosha stood behind her with the water pitcher. “That’s for saying something so awful that I might not ever forgive you.”

  “You didn’t have to dump the entire contents of the pitcher
on me.” Bree turned to face Tosha. “I’m sorry I said it. As a Seyh, I think I would have figured out a way to catch myself.”

  “Not without your talents.” Tears pooled in Tosha’s eyes, and Bree wished she had the talent to reverse time. Tosha had always been kind to her and tried to smooth her transition into palace life.

  “I’m sorry. I was burned to ashes all night in my dream and now I must entertain Bayan all morning. I have to marry him, and no one will do anything about it.” Bree’s stomach gurgled and she threw up in the washing bowl. A film of soot lined her mouth.

  “There, there. All will be well. You feel lost, but you’ll find yourself again.” Tosha took the bowl out of the dressing room and handed it to a guard outside the bedroom door.

  The guard happened to be Shane. He had said something about being lost yesterday.

  Tosha came back into the room with a smile on her face. A mischievous sparkle lit her blue eyes. Tiny rainbows pulsed in her irises. “Drink that before you lose your ability to speak.”

  Bree chugged the red liquid. It tasted like dirt. Why couldn’t Gallie make potions that tasted better? Maybe she did for everyone else, but not for a defected Seyh.

  Bree peeled off her nightgown and stepped into the bathtub. The soap in the tray smelled of rain. She rubbed her scrubbing brush with it until it was frothy and started scouring the scent of ash from her body.

  When she was done, Tosha handed her a towel. Bree dried off and grabbed a sweet mint leaf from the blue jar on her vanity to destroy the lingering stomach acid and dirt taste in her mouth.

  Tosha hummed a happy song while she helped Bree into underclothes and dressed her. The gown was simpler than her other dresses with a deep neckline and alternating panels of monochromatic shades of gray.

  “When did Bayan send this over? I don’t remember it being here last night.” The stays of the blasted corset pinched her bruises. She sucked in as best she could, but her dresses were getting smaller and smaller at the waist. She knew she didn’t eat enough sweets to change her measurements.

  “Bayan sent it over in the early hours. Not that I was sleeping.” Tosha glared at her in the mirror. “You should have seen the look on his man’s face. I bet the Resh heard your screams from the other side of the palace.”

  Bree envisioned Gallie huddled in the corner of her bedroom cackling. “Great. Now he’ll be grumpy and blame me.”

  “Ehre came with some other Seyhs.” Tosha picked up a bundle of pins from the green dish and put them in them in her apron pocket. “They paced around the room with their hands over their ears. That necklace of yours scorched a Seyh with a blue alhor. Do you know him?”

  “I haven’t met the other Seyhs. You know that.” Bree handed the brush to Tosha.

  “I don’t know everything,” said Tosha. “I thought you might have been introduced at some point.”

  “I would have told you.”

  Tosha shrugged. “You might keep secrets.”

  “How could I with all the guards and watchers?”

  “In your head.” Tosha winked.

  The voice. She told Ehre about the voice, but she hadn’t told Tosha. Another voice seemed too cracked to share with her maid.

  Tosha continued to hum her song as she brushed Bree’s hair. Bree breathed in the scent of spark lilies, still fresh by the wardrobe. They didn’t make her queasy today. Clear your head. Don’t think about the stupid voice. Maybe it was just from healing Fara.

  That had to be it. The voice was a side effect of some kind from using her talents. Bree picked up a jar of cream and rubbed some of the smooth lotion on her dark circles, but there was no visible improvement. Everyone will know anyway. The courtiers were probably discussing it with their maids.

  The best she could do was act like it hadn’t happened and offer an apology if someone brought it up. All the people in the palace were going to stare at her for the rest of day anyway, and every day after today once Bayan announced their engagement. If they didn’t already know.

  She sighed and peeked in the mirror again. No silver-haired woman. No visions. Today might be different. Ehre might have fixed the charm last night while she slept.

  Tosha’s gentle hands rhythmically tugged and smoothed Bree’s hair, and her muscles relaxed. Tosha’s tongue stuck out as she focused on whatever outrageous hairdo she was creating. Bayan was sure to admire the fancy style, but Khrisk…he might prefer her hair down like the first time they met.

  Bayan’s Honor chain pressed into her skin. She belonged to him now and would for the rest of her life. Her stomach heaved but had nothing in it.

  “I don’t know how I’m going to explain myself to Khrisk,” said Bree. Why am I thinking about Khrisk? Before yesterday, she hardly ever thought about him. Bayan told her she had feelings for him, but Khrisk had only been friendly.

  “Why do you have to explain anything to Khrisk?” Tosha yanked on a section of Bree’s hair. “He’s a Zeir of Rysa just like Bayan and will understand why his cousin chose you. Even if the rest of the country doesn’t.”

  “Somehow I don’t think Khrisk will understand it either,” Bree said. A pang throbbed in her chest. Nothing’s there. She tucked the pang away. “I can’t remember him from before, but we talked a great deal in Anthea.” He’s coming home. That’s why you’re thinking of him. And how many people do you know? You’re just excited. That’s all.

  “It’s not like you hunted down Bayan every day to spend time with him. And why would Khrisk care who you marry?”

  Why would Khrisk care? He probably wouldn’t. Her emotions begged for release from their prison. Something wanted her attention. I won’t look at you. I can’t. Those feelings held pieces of her that didn’t belong in Stav.

  “I don’t want to be stuck here forever,” Bree said.

  Logically, she hated the idea of being married to Bayan. People would always gawk at her. Her days would most likely involve dress fittings, teas, and balls. Any outings she took would be approved by Bayan or with Bayan. She’d be lucky to get a moment alone.

  Her maid’s hands stilled. “You aren’t stuck. You’re lost.”

  The words pecked at Bree, chipping at a thought that fled when she tried to grab hold of it. “I don’t feel lost when I’m with Second Zeir Khrisk.” Her heart pounded. A trickle of happiness snuck out, and she found herself smiling in the mirror. Oh, no. She plugged the seeping hole. You will not feel this way about Khrisk.

  “That surprises me. You knew him for what? A day or so?” Tosha was halfway finished with a very uncharacteristic hairstyle. Twists and braids coiled around pinned curls, the complete opposite of the drab gray gown.

  “One day.” Bree’s clothes had been covered in forest debris and soot. Her hair was tied in a knot, and Khrisk had smiled at her like she was the missing treasure he’d finally found.

  Her smile broadened, and Tosha’s mouth hung open. “One day what?”

  “I was with him one day and I’ve been a disaster since.”

  “Please.” Tosha huffed. “The Second Zeir can’t steal hearts that easily.”

  I think he can.

  Bree shuddered. The voice wasn’t gone after all. Stop talking to me. She picked up a tin of powder and patted her nose and cheeks, hoping Tosha wouldn’t see her trembling hands.

  Tosha rolled her eyes and handed her a looking glass. “You need to appreciate the wonderfulness in the back.”

  Bree held the mirror up and sucked in a quick breath. “It’s marvelous. Bayan will adore it.” She set the mirror down and slipped on a pair of silver satin shoes.

  Tosha handed her a dark blue box.

  Black snake eyes winked at Bree when she opened the lid. “Wonderful. You’ll have to help me put these on.”

  The pair of silver snake earrings pointed to her cleavage. The two snake bracelets went up to her elbows with their fangs in the direction of her wrist. If only she could bring them to life, so they could bite Bayan if he touched her.

  “I look ridiculo
us.”

  “But very royal.” Tosha winked. “Which I think is the point since you’re wearing Zeir Bayan’s Honor chain.”

  Bree had just stepped toward the balcony to smell the blooming flowers from the garden terrace below when Bayan arrived.

  And it begins. She plastered a smile on her face and curtsied. “Good morning, Zeir Bayan.”

  “I’m sorry you were kept from resting last night. Half the palace heard your screams.” He walked over and slid his hand around her waist, pulling her close, totally ignoring Tosha. “How are you feeling this morning?”

  Snakes alive. Bite. Bite. “Fine. Gallie sent up a potion for my throat.” She wiggled against his embrace, which only made him hold her tighter.

  He lifted her chin and examined her face closely. “Still beautiful.” He kissed her, a quick peck on the lips, and let her go. “Your hair looks energetic this morning.”

  “Thank you. Tosha tried something new.” The charm didn’t object. Was it used to Bayan now? Part of her was thankful.

  “We can’t be late for breakfast.” Taking her hand, Bayan led her to the door.

  Bree glanced over her shoulder. Instead of a smug grin on her maid’s face, there was wrath. Bree opened her mouth to ask what had upset Tosha, but she was already out the door and surrounded by her quad.

  “Soon there will be no need for them.” Bayan waved toward the fence of men. “Father insists that you need the protection, but I don’t want to share you with four men forever.”

  Liar. As soon as they were married, she had the inkling he’d be worse than the Resh when it came to spying on her every move.

  “I’ve stopped noticing them.” If Ehre had taught her better, she’d know a good repellent spell by now and her body would be left alone.

  Bayan traced her jaw with his fingers as they descended the stairs. “Do you like the jewelry? I think the serpents complement the dress. And see? We match.” He puffed out his chest. A gray vest with silver thread sparkled from under the lapels of his black jacket. Snakes slithered through the material.