Technically, I’m not supposed to go anywhere alone. Damon will already be angry and worried about me after I ran off after the duels. I’ve always been a stickler for the rules, but this time, my need to help my sister out of this mess outweighs those rules. After telling Adam where I’ll be, I head towards the castle.
The sun falls below the snow covered mountain peaks just as I reach the winding forest lined path that leads to the castle. Biting my lip and remembering the first time I went through this area, I try to summon the courage to go in the tunnel like area alone.
“You shouldn’t have left without me, Emmy.” Damon appears so suddenly, having approached with complete stealth, that I jump with surprise when I hear his voice. “You know the rules.”
Grabbing onto his hand, I tug at him until he enters the dark and creepy, spider web filled path. “It couldn’t wait.”
“Why are you going to the castle, Emmy?”
I glance at him, being sure to still ensure there’s no spider like things lingering in the trees. “I have to see Maddox. He and Seraphina are going to make Violet fight in this war.”
He chuckles. “Make? It doesn’t work like that in this clan.”
Hearing a hiss, I pull Damon closer, my nails digging into the black leather sleeves of his jacket. “It’s not only Pensatore going to war is it?” I ask while my body gives my fear of wild animals away.
“True,” he says as he loops his arm around my shoulder. “They are elementals. If anyone would know what category of magic your sister has, it’s them.”
“Category?”
“That’s how Pensatore ranks our magic. Here it doesn’t mean much because we aren’t as magically absorbed as they are.” He leans down until his face is as close to mine as it can get without touching. “Rumor has it that the weakest in Rovente are slaves to the strongest.”
Exiting the long creepy path, I sigh in relief and Damon lowers his arm. “A rumor? Really? Rumors are nothing more than stupid gossip, they don’t mean anything.”
I stop the first person I find in the foyer of the castle, asking where to find Maddox. The witch points me in the direction of the stairs, telling me that it’s the second floor meeting room. Luckily Damon knows what that means.
The familiar open hallway leads us to a double set of wood and iron doors. I’ve been here several times before, but never without Violet. All the other times, there have been guards stationed outside the room, but not this time, not tonight. It takes me a moment to toss out the idea that Maddox isn’t here after all. Judging from the loud bellows coming from inside the closed room, he’s in there. And he’s mad.
“You saw her same as I did. You saw what she did,” a woman’s silky voice says.
My fingers trail off the metal handle of the door as I realize who the woman is talking about.
“I don’t care. She lives in my settlement. She is part of my clan. She is not your member to control, Seraphina.”
“She should be. She is an elemental.”
“So are my Commanders,” Maddox hisses back at her. “Violet is an unknown. Lincoln told me she’s not ready. His opinion is one I trust, not yours. If she goes out there and loses control, she’s just as likely to kill friends as she is our foes. I won’t risk it.”
“It’s not your choice to make, Maddox.” Seraphina’s voice is smooth and honeyed, but there’s malice hidden in its depths.
A loud bang echoes through the door, making me take a step back. Damon rolls his eyes at how jumpy I seem to be tonight. We both press our ears back against the door. “It is our decision to make, Seraphina. Ours! You came here and asked for my help because you were not ready to lead through a war. You need to realize that you don’t know everything. If you can’t do that, then you need to get the hell away from my settlement and my people. I will not endanger my clan because you can’t get your head out of your ass and see what’s right in front of you.”
Damon nods repeatedly, giving a thumbs up at Maddox’s rebuttal. I have to agree with him. Maddox struck me as nothing but a mean old man the few times I’ve been around him. I’m at once surprised and relieved to see that he has this kind of love and respect for his people to defend them against Seraphina like this.
“A lightning elemental, Maddox. Imagine what she could do to our enemy. Who would pose a threat to her? Who? She could single-handedly change the outcome of this war and you know that.” Maddox starts to growl, but Seraphina continues her reasoning. “You know she has a telling. You also know that it’s probably about this war. She needs to be there, Maddox. If she’s not ready, get her ready. The Reapers are here, the rest of my Hunters are on their way, any of them would be able to hasten her training. I’m even willing to do it.”
Maddox doesn’t respond and my shoulders start to sag. He’s giving into her. He’s siding with her. Do I barge in? Do I try to give him others reasons to tell her no? What reasons do I even have to give? That Violet isn’t the killing type? That she emotionally won’t be able to handle it? It would be a lie. If she had a good enough reason to hurt someone in such a way, she would be able to forgive herself. Being ordered to go to war isn’t a good enough reason though.
“We need to leave, Emmy,” Damon says quietly. “We don’t want to be caught eavesdropping on two leaders.”
Tears well in my eyes, making it hard to see. “I have to talk to him. I have to get him to change his mind.”
“It’s too late for that.” He pulls at my arm until I finally give in and follow him
The only thing I can think about as we walk back through the castle and past the forest path is that I needed to go home and talk to her, to tell her what I heard. Doing so would be stupid. She said she wanted to be alone and I have to respect that. Plus, piling more on her right now is a really bad idea. Damon doesn’t argue when I tell him I want to go to Ollie’s for a few hours.
I saw a different side to him the other day when the kids came to the Lab, a softer and kinder side. When he asked me out to dinner after they left, I couldn’t say no. The only downside that I could come up with is that he is technically my mentor and I work with him daily. It was almost as though he planned it. The restaurant wasn’t in the Market like the others. This one was on the outskirts of the settlement, in a quiet little field. The stars were out and twinkling and there was music that couples of all ages danced to. It was romantic and sweet.
Ollie is a different man outside of the Lab. I think he lets his role affect him more than he should and it stresses him. He releases that stress with little outbursts every now and then, but overall he is a good man. I went grocery shopping with an elderly woman last night and he joined me. He seemed to genuinely have fun as they told us stories from their youth while we waited for them to find the perfectly ripe fruit piled in dozens of baskets. He laughed when he thought he should, always responded, and never spaced out like most people would.
I wouldn’t go as far as to say that he will be my happily ever after, but I think my happily now is adequate. I think he’s good for me and I’m good for him, that’s all that matters.
When he opens his front door and sees me he looks almost relieved. “How is she?” he asks as he lets me in. Damon stays outside, giving us our space.
Lifting up on my toes, I give him a soft kiss. I’ve never been much for physical romance. Kissing is one thing, but the rest I don’t mess around with because it only leads to one place. I’m not against sex because of religion or being raised that way. I’ve just always pictured it a certain way with a certain type of person. I refuse to settle for less than what I feel I deserve no matter how often I am criticized for it. “She’ll be okay,” I finally answer.
Ollie’s house is clean but cluttered. The layout is almost identical to the building that’s been given to Violet and me, except that his only has two floors and one bedroom while ours has three and two. I’ve only been here once and that was only last night. It has a masculine feel to it despite the furniture having a floral print. The entire f
irst floor smells like sandalwood and a hint of shine – the Strega version of alcohol. It’s not unpleasant but it does burn my eyes just a little.
“That was some show today,” he says while sitting down on the well-worn couch.
I stay there with him for nearly two hours, forcing myself to make small talk with him despite my desperation to check on Violet. Once the long day hits me, I give him a kiss and call it a night, knowing that the evening isn’t yet over.
Damon walks beside me, staying silent, letting me stew over my thoughts as we head back to my house. Normally talking to Violet is easy. Talking her out of her current funk is harder, but not normally an issue. Tonight, though, I have no idea what I’m going to say to her. I don’t know enough about magic and wars to be any help to her. A part of me wants to find Lincoln, knows that he will be better suited to assist her tonight than I am. She doesn’t talk about him outside of ranting about her training every day. I know she’s interested in him though. And considering he even beat me back to the house to find her, I’m fairly sure there’s interest on his side as well. I rarely see the two of them together, but I normally have a good sense for these things. She wanted to tell him what happened tonight, she wanted to tell him even after I told her not to. That has to mean something; that they are closer than she’s led me to believe.
Damon reaches across me, stopping me from continuing forward. The act reminds me of a mother reaching her arm out to whoever is in the passenger seat of the car when she has to break quickly. It’s a protective instinct and it immediately draws me out of my thoughts. A mass of people stand in the pathway of the residential area. None of them are talking, they simply stare. Following their gaze, I gasp. “Damon, that’s … that’s,” I can’t even form his name. “Who would do this?” I tug on his sleeve. “Violet. Damon, we have to get to Violet. Now, Damon.”
17
I shuffle through the cabinets as soon as Em leaves searching for some shine. Feeling eyes on me, I turn, nearly dropping the ceramic jug. A familiar face watches me from the living room. The Watcher. The God of Strega who was ultimately responsible for bringing Emmy and I to this realm. I haven’t seen the man since that day, but I’ve heard from him. He has a knack for sending messages into my head anytime he wants. They are normally useless things, variations on trying to motivate me to learn my powers and make friends in this settlement.
He meanders over, his hand resting at the small of his back as though randomly showing up in my house is no big deal. He’s a God, there’s no telling what type of powers he is capable of. If I can teleport, why wouldn’t he be able to? His expression and body language give nothing away as to what he’s feeling. I have a sinking feeling that the reason for his presence – instead of a short and sweet message that makes my head swim – isn’t a good one. I fill my glass with shine, choosing to ignore him.
“Quite a show you put on tonight,” he says. Just like the night he saved me from the Aetheries witch in the parking lot, he wears a long black robe that covers his feet. His dark silver eyes shine bright like his pure white hair.
“Saw that, huh?” I down half the glass in one large gulp.
“Everyone did. It’s not every day you watch an adult witch accepting her powers.”
I savor the burn as I take another sip. “Pretty sure I did that a while ago.”
“Obviously you didn’t,” he states as he takes the glass away from me. I simply replace it with a new one. “You’ve met Tessa, correct? Has she told you about her power?”
I shake my head and roll my eyes. I have my own power issues, I don’t care about someone else’s. “Met her once and no she didn’t.”
“Seers’ abilities are not limited to the people of Pensatore but extend over the entire realm. A telling can be of anyone for any point in their lifetime; they are vague and often misunderstood.”
I shrug, not really caring. “So? Is this your way of telling me not to forget about mine?”
He waves his hand over the jug of shine, making it disappear. I shrug that off as well. I’m sure I’ll soon be feeling the few glasses I was able to get down first soon anyway. “Evie was the previous seer, she was also Tessa’s mother. She had a telling about a child nearly twenty-five years ago, a child born of Rovente. The seer has a responsibility to see that each and every telling goes to who it belongs to but their job ends there. Evie notified the family of the child then went back to Pensatore.
“The mother considered her options, ultimately bringing the child to me. I am the Creator of Strega, I’m immortal and possess every ability in this realm, but I am not a seer. I am, however, able to sense certain events before they come to fruition. When your pregnant mother handed you to me, that feeling was unmistakable. She told me of the telling which further confirmed my thoughts. If the child remained in Strega she would be betrayed by those she loved the most. But even a God has rules, Violet. I couldn’t allow three magical beings to leave my realm and remain in the human realm indefinitely. I told her that you would have to take this journey alone. She begged me to not take her child. I explained that there would be but one way. Her powers would have to be removed, stripped from her entirely.
“Without hesitation she agreed, claiming she needed to protect you at all costs … even if the cost was the eradication of her powers. As a baby, your power was present but hadn’t begun to manifest. Your inability to believe – due to growing up in the human realm – would keep them from doing so. Your mother was sworn to silence; to not tell you of your heritage or of the realm. It was a vital promise; one that would keep you from coming into your powers. It’d be perilous for everyone if Earth learned of our existence.
“A few months after moving to the human realm, your mother gave birth to a child; a baby girl named Emmy. Your mother died in childbirth. Emmy was born to a powerless witch and because of this she will never hold powers herself. The two of you were put into foster care when no other family could be located. Emmy was adopted within days because she was a newborn, you weren’t.
“When they started hunting you, Violet, you began to believe. You knew those events were beyond a simple explanation. That there was something happening you didn’t understand. You were right. The moment you started allowing yourself to believe is when your magic began to surface. Now you are experiencing a surge of energy all at once, rather than the steady drip you should have received throughout your childhood.”
The wobbly, poorly built chair creaks and slides against the stone floor as I sit in it. I stopped caring about my parents long ago. I stopped wondering why my father never came to collect me after I was put into the system. I knew she was dead but I never knew why. When I was a child I wanted to believe that it was a noble death, like saving a child from drowning or something. By the time I was ten, I knew that wasn’t true. I convinced myself time and time again that she was some kind of druggie who probably didn’t even know who my father was and that she died from an overdose.
Both were wrong. I was wrong.
I stare off, not seeing anything, zoned out in my own thoughts. I was wrong. Does it really matter, though? The way she died or that she left her home to protect me doesn’t truly change anything. My childhood is still my childhood. She may have died having Emmy, but that doesn’t mean that I wasn’t still emotionally abused by the handful of foster families I was sent to before I was old enough to defend myself.
Blinking myself back into reality, I stare him down. “Did you know?” My voice comes out more raspy and broken than it should have. “Did you know she would die and leave us all alone?”
“No,” he says softly as though the thought hurts him.
“But you knew when she died. Why? Why did you leave us there? Why not bring us back then?”
His adam’s apple bobs. “It wasn’t time yet.”
I’m on my feet, staring up at him. “So what? You just waited until the perfect time to bring us back? You knew what we were going through and you left us there.”
“Yes. I
did.”
I poke him hard in the sternum. “What kind of God are you then? You’re willing to let two of your people suffer just so that some stupid telling comes true.”
“Yes.” His calmness does nothing but irritate me further, but there’s a subtle hurt in his eyes that makes me feel as though he wasn’t happy with the decision he had to make over all these years. Good. He should feel bad about it.
Pacing the small kitchen, I try to get control of myself. What he did doesn’t change anything either. What’s done is done and there’s no going back to change it. I need to focus on now, on how to deal with now. “Where’s our father?” The question comes out before I realize I’m even thinking it.
“He’s gone. He’s been gone for many years now.”
Two dead parents and a screwed up childhood. I crouch down, tugging at the roots of my hair. It doesn’t change anything. Nothing. “How … how many more surges will there be? It’s trying to force its way out of me already. I feel like I’ll explode.” After I woke up in the arena is when I felt it. The power boiling up inside of me, looking for any reason to be released.
Enemy Of My Enemy (Price Of Power Book 1) Page 19
