Keepers of the Crown

by Lydia Redwine

  Amelia, too, sat upon the bed. “When and where did she meet my father?” Cam asked even as Adria’s mouth opened to query something else.

  Amelia smiled. “We both met him in Gnosi some years before the rebellion. We had traveled to Gnosi with Daniel Adriel and Owen’s father, Mishael. Your parents fought much before they admitted having any feelings towards one another.”

  Cam glanced towards Fiera, who had come to lean against the door frame, with a knowing smile. Fiera avoided Cam’s gaze. “I became but a shadow trailing them. Daniel and Shael were the best of friends until Shael married Asta. And then Daniel met Emma, and Cassia had Cole. So there was just me.”

  Adria tilted her head to one side. “Anyone for you?”

  Amelia’s smile was soft. “I don’t think it wouldhave been possible for me to love anyone I knew then in the way they would have wanted me to.”

  “I see,” Adria replied thoughtfully.

  “Were you born in Cinis Lumen?” Fiera asked as she straightened from her leaning position.

  Amelia nodded. “Cassia and I both were, Cassia mere moments before me.” With this, Amelia issued a small laugh. “And we decided to stay upon our sixteenth birthdays. Cassia stayed because she was a warrior. I stayed because the magic intrigued me and because I enjoyed the strategy we were taught. I spent hours surrounded by maps marking places we would never go, and Cassia spent hours surrounded by trees. As the rebellion began, and we joined the Spirit Followers, Tyron, who was heir to the leadership, warned us and had us flee. Royals came raining down on the south in search for us.”

  “Where did you go?” Adria inquired as she placed her chin upon her knees. Her arms hugged her legs.

  “Medulla. We remained there long enough. Perhaps, too long.”

  “It was Cassia whochasedLilawithmethrough theforest that night solongago,”Fiera murmured. “Terrawas just a baby.”

  Amelia nodded, a smile lighting her expression. “At the time, Silva and Kazbek appeared to be quite delightful people. They were kind and hospitable. And we were not their only guests.”

  “Daniel and Shael were there too,” Cam added. “That is when they hid the Crown.” It made sense now. Daniel and Shael had acquired the Crown from Ilea in Mingroth and had brought it to Mirabelle with Mingroth’s queen on their heels.

  Amelia nodded. “Andhandedthekeytoyour grandfather who then, in turn, presented it to Terra when Immanuel was transported to Gnosi.”

  Silence passed through the room as Amelia reached to remember where she had left off. “Eventually, we traveled to Gnosi, the three of us. Shael remained behind with Asta which was fortunate enough…”

  “Since he would have died,” Fiera muttered.

  Amelia had been staring outside the window absently but was now lifting a glazed gaze. “I left Gnosi for a single day for the most stupid reason. And when I returned…”

  The silence was wobbling. It sank into Cam’s stomach and coiled there. Flashes in her mind’s eyes showed raw flesh sprayed in blood, strips of what was once clothing charred over bones.

  “They hadn't even been buried.”

  So it had been a long time since Amelia had remembered. Amelia had lost a sister too. “She knows the poison we carry,” Cam thought. “She knows how it tastes.”

  Silence passed between the four women until Cam turned once more to organize her clothing. “I am going to see Caleb,” Fiera said at last. And everything sank back to the present. Cam could no longer see shadows. Only the dazzling sunlight that now seemed far too bright.

  “Whatis it?” Fiera asked, her voice low. But she already knew

  the answer. He had been staring at where his hand should have been the entire time they had been walking the wharf. Caleb’s reply was slow, his gaze drifting over the cobblestone beneath them. “It’s just...I’m not used to it yet. And it doesn’t feel...right. I forget about it. I go to do something, anything, and I can’t. It’s a slap to the face. Andit stings.” Fiera’s heart clenched. She didn’t know what to say. She reached for him, a comforting hand to his shoulder. He changed the subject. “Where are we going?”

  “To see Owen, if you don’t mind. It’s been too long since I’ve really talked to him. Even after everything that’s happened in Mingroth, I still grew up with the kid as a younger brother of sorts. I shouldn’t be shutting him out.”

  “Even when he accused you of murder?” Caleb objected, his eyebrows arching.

  Fiera shrugged. “I don’t blame him.”

  Caleb sighed and shook his head. “I don’t know about him, not that I’ve ever really made the effort to know him. He’s just kind of...been there without really doing anything that made me notice.”

  “But that’s just it,” Fiera said with a smile. Sheloopedher arm through Caleb’s. “He’s been there forever, for Cam and for me and for our sisters. AndIshouldbetherefor him.” Caleb only nodded, showing that he understood.

  Presently, they slowed before a cottage at the end of the row the queen had appointed them. The cottage was still. Quiet. The door was slightly ajar. Fiera and Caleb were also quiet as they approached. Swinging the door open on creaking hinges, Fiera peered into the shadowed room. A startled sound followed. Andthenafumbling.Andthena smallcrash.Shelaughed. “Okay there?” Even Caleb was smiling.

  Owen appeared a moment later from a darker room, a smile on his face and his clothing disheveled. “I was just waking up.” Fiera rose a brow as she swept an examining eye over him. “Caleb,” Owen said with a nod in the young man’s direction. Caleb nodded back. “Well, uh, what can I do for you? I haven't had guests in...well and it’s not like this is mine and that I can have guests or anything but…” Owen raked a hand through his hair.

  Fiera laughed. “Stop babbling. What do you have to drink?” She plopped down on a wide, cushioned seat. A bellow of dust rose at the impact. She coughed. Caleb sat beside her slowly. Owen mumbled something and disappeared into a smaller room that must have served as a kitchen. He returned moments later with chipped cups containing tea. Fiera frowned as the liquid sloshed in her cup. Caleb drank politely even as his face scrunched up in distaste.

  Owen sat across from them and thrummed his fingers on his knee. He looked around absently. The tension stretched. He was never like this. “So…” Fiera began, “How are things with you? Cam and I feel as though we need to be speaking to you. Talking about...things.” Caleb was eyeing Owen over the rim of his cup. Waiting.

  Owen’s replying laugh was shaky. “I’m just glad to be here.”

  “Yes…” Caleb said slowly. “Because here you don’t have a realm to run and all.”

  Fierajabbedhimin theribsas Owen’s face slackenedand flickered in hurt. “Owen,” she said gently, “you’ve been here before, right? Is it the same?”

  Owen’s smile returned, tentative and gentle. He scratched his head. “Exactly the same actually. Beautiful. I should have moved here ages ago.”

  Fiera shared his smile and leaned back. “No, Mirabelle was always your home. I couldn’t see you leaving it unless...well…”

  Owen nodded. “And still...Medulla would have been safer. Even now. Since the Crown is still there and all. Though thequeen, I am gladshe’s bought what LordCaddell has toldher because otherwise...”

  His words blurred in Fiera’s mind.

  She had frozen.

  “Since the Crown is still there and all.”

  So he knew.

  Caleb, too, had stilled into a motionless posture.

  Owen was still smiling. He hadn’t an inkling as to what he had just said.

  Fiera set the cup down, the sound of china clinking against wood. “We have to go,” she said shortly.

  “Huh?” Caleb queried. “I was just beginning to actually tolerate this tea”

  “Yes, we have to go. Now.”

  She did not look at Owen. She did not want to look into the eyes of a traitor. Not now. Not ever.

  It was not until three hours past dark when Fiera returned,

&nbs
p; looking harried, cold, and grim. Cam heard her burst into the cottage and emerged from her room. Amelia and Adria were fast asleep down the hall.

  “What was at first a pleasant walk by the sea turned into a revealing visit and then a spy venture after a certain someone who hasn’t told us everything,” Fiera said breathlessly. Cam’s brows furrowed. “Owen.”

  Fiera disposed of her cloak and hung it on a hook beside the door. She settled beside the fire as Cam hurried to bring her a hot cup of tea. “We knew him once, Cam. But not anymore.”

  Fiera tipped the cup of tea to her lips. “You’re killing me, Fiera. What did you see?” Cam urged. Fiera went to take another drink. Cam jerked the cup from her grasp, spilling the scalding liquid on Fiera’s lap. Fiera hissed. “I haven't spoken to him all day,” Cam said. “I spent the day with the others and never saw him once.”

  “That is becausehewas sendinga messageto somerogue ship off an excluded port in need of a password. The port was completely vacant save for Owen and that one ship. And you will never guess what the ship was named.”

  Cam’s expression held expectan cy.

  “Leviathan.”

  Cam’s mouth dropped open, the name clanging in her

  skull, and she had to grip the edge of the sofa to keep from toppling off in her astonishment. “What sort of message?” Her voice quavered.

  Fiera shrugged. The...creature at the gate wouldn't answer us. Actually, he remained entirely silent. We left before Owen knew we had followed him.”

  Cam leaned back, her eyes wide. “What does Caleb make of it?”

  “The same as I do,” Fiera replied. “That Owen isn’t entirely loyal to us and that he is certainly hiding something.” Fiera bent, burying her head in her hands. Cam couldn't move. Everything inside her was growing numb. As numb as she felt after she would down a whole bottle.

  Her nerves began to tingle.

  “There’s onemorething,” Fiera said slowly. Cam was still gazing at her in shock. “He knows we left the Crown in Medulla. He knows that we didn’t bring it here.”

  “But…” Cam started. Her words were numb.

  “But wenever toldhim. Andyet...heknows.Hefoundout somehow.”

  “I must speak to him,” Cam said at once, bounding up from her seat. She grasped the cloak Fiera had worn and disappeared into the snowy streets. Fiera was calling after her, but Cam could hardly hear her above the thundering of her own heart. The night was bruised a deep purple and masked in the cold light of the sliver of moon. The sea was a calm, navy color upon which docked ships were bobbing lazily. No soul was to be seen.

  Cam clenched the cloak around her as she darted to the far end of the street in which the line of cottages ended, and she knew Owen to be dwelling in. Alone.

  She banged a fist on the wooden door once before opening it hastily. Owen appeared a second later in the dim interior, looking as though he had just awoken.

  “What has Leviathan promised you that you would grant him your allegiance? What have you told him?” she demanded. Owen looked wholly surprised and stuttered. What have you told him?” she cried out. She grasped the front of his vest. “I cannot believe you!”

  Owen’s expression slackenedinto a look of utter grief. He raked a hand through his hair and down his face as he released a shaky sigh. Cam released him, her own hands going to her face. Tears had pressed into her eyes as she reached one shaking hand to brush his arm.

  “What did he promise you?” she repeated in a whisper.

  The silence was screaming for a moment that stretched long enough for Cam to remember everything. To remember every moment she had ever known Owen. It was a desperate deed, attempting to right him in her mind.

  “Terra,” he murmured softly. “He promised he would bring Terra back if I…” The tears were spilling down his cheeks now as well.

  Cam’s hand stung. “I just...slapped him,” she thought with alarm.Owen, too, lookedalarmed. But notangry. Shedidn’t spend much more time dwelling on it. Fury escalated in her chest. Words burst forth. “Back from the dead? You are trying to bring my sister back from the dead? Do you not know how stupid that is,Owen? Itisn’t natural.Shedoesn't belonghereanymore!”

  The words stung both of them, leaving her breathless and the tears streaming from her eyes burning her cheeks. When she spokenext, her voicewas a chokedwhisper. “Shewouldnot want that, and you know it's true! Much less being brought back by someone like him!”

  Cam stepped back so as to refrained from striking him again.

  Owen’s eyes were wild, his own voice rising. “I want to bring her back because I cannot live another second without her! Without a purpose in my damned life! And yes, now I’ve thrown it all away and hers too! But I have to finish…” he burst out, throwing his arms out.

  Cam nearly screamed. Her throat burned, as did her fists. Her words were choked as she asked, “What are you giving him in exchange?”

  Owen took a long moment to answer. The time between was filled with his silent sobbing and Cam’s pacing. “Everything I know about…” He stuttered.

  “About what?”

  “The Crown. The Savior. All of it.”

  Cam’s face fell with open astonishment. Her features contorted into utter disgust. “You would risk the rescue of every human being to ever exist in exchange to have my sister raised from the dead so you can feel happy until you die in your mortal body? And what happens after that?”

  “Who says my body is mortal?” Owen whispered.

  Cam stumbled back, crashing into the wall and mantle behind her. Something crashed to the floor. She did not look to see what it was. Her hand flew to her mouth as Owen rushed to her. “You’re not… you can’t be...you…” Cam didn’t compel her tears away. “And would you have her become one too? Would you have Terra become a Shadow Bearer with you?”

  Cam was suddenly quite sick. Her stomach churned and twisted. Owen attempted to reach out to her, his own face streaked with tears. She backed away. “Don’t touch me.”

  She saw the mark then. The swirling black ink on his neck just below where his collar normally was. “When?” When had he decided to turn against her in the first place? Cam would not ask. Not now. And perhaps not ever. Knowing would never fix this.

  She rushed from the cottage.

  Owen was calling after her, his voice broken and hoarse.

  Cam only saw blurs as she entered into the street again. The tears blocked a clear vision through her eyes.

  She crashed into a warm figure. “Cam…” Her father wrapped her in his arms. “Whatever is the matter? We heard commotion…” Cam saw that Saffira had rushed up behind him with Peter moving more slowly after her. Fiera was down the street by their own cottage door with Amelia and Adria at her side. The rest of the company was emerging from their cottages. “I need to speak with the queen,” Cam forced out. “She needs to know…”

  “Not now,” Cole said soothingly. “In the morning. She is no doubt asleep now. Tell us what has happened…”

  “Then contain Owen until the morning. And you can ask him why the hell he needs to be banished.” She could not say killed. No, she had lost too much. Another corpse could not be added. Cam tore herself from her father’s grip and rushed down the street towards empty inns and taverns. Where she was running, she did not know.

  She only knew the sinking feeling of utter betrayal. Of course, Cam had felt betrayal before in both a young woman who didn't seem at all as if she could be a Shadow Bearer herself and in the two people who had raised her. But Cam would have never imagined even after all of that...that Owen...would join their ranks.

  She knew only the bitter cold of the night and the constant chatter of the company behind her as she left them far behind.

  Then she heard the footfalls of boots on stone and an echoing voice calling after her. She could not distinguish the words. Her heart was slamming far too loudly against her chest.

  Warm arms enveloped her. Surrounded in his scent, Cam did not thrash against P
eter but buried her face in his neck.

  “Owen will get what he deserves,” he murmured.

  “Do not let him…” Cam broke out another sob. “Do not let him raise Terra...she has to stay where she is....” Peter had no inkling as to what Cam was referring to, but he had the sinking feeling that Owen had just dug his own grave and then shoveled the dirt down upon himself.

  Cam was not present the next morning when her father went

  before the queen with the first sign of bad news that the Spirit Followers had brought into Nazeria. Peter knocked on the door midday. It opened, and he found Fiera standing just beyond. “Is she here?” he asked without stepping in even as Fiera opened the door wider.

  “She hasn’t left bed all day.”

  “She should come to the castle. There is a matter concerning Owen’s punishment that has brought about....complications. A difficult choice has to be made. She should be there.”

  Fiera’s eyes narrowed as they swept over Peter from his snowflake dusted hair to the bottom of his scuffed boots. Finally, she said, “I should too.”

  Cam barely looked at him and never spoke once as they made their way to the castle in a carriage that made for a bumpy road up the path into the mountain. Elizabeth was seated in an elaborate chair much like her throne in the meeting room that they had occupied upon their arrival. Cole, Amelia, Adria, Caleb, and Simeon were already present as well as some of the other Spirit Followers from Mirabelle. But not all of them. Neither Joel nor Ilea were present. And Peter knew that this was due to the fact that they had already found one person they trusted to be a traitor.

  They had known Owen more than they knew Joel and Ilea. Trust...it didn’t taste sweet right now. It tasted bitter. Owen was nowhere to be seen. Peter did not know where Cole had taken him the night before. All he had known was that Owen had gone without a struggle.

  “Owen Edrun has put us in a difficult position. Though it appears he has not said anything to anyone about the whereabouts of the Crown, and hardly anything has been disclosed to him, the mere fact that he carries this knowledge makes him is a liability. To all of us present and to my people.” Elizabeth sighed after these words.