The Black Blossom: A Young Adult Romantic Fantasy (The Healer Series Book 2)

by C. J. Anaya

  I hadn’t realized my finger was still resting lightly against his lips until I felt them, warm and gentle, as he kissed my finger and then the inside of my wrist. He guided my hand, palm open against his cheek and covered it with his own.

  His eyes seemed to devour me with their intensity, and I felt heat suffuse my entire body.

  “I can see there’s no talking you out of this, so I will continue to train you, and I will continue to protect you. But I warn you, Mikomi, the minute I become aware that your life may be in danger, I will take you away from here and never allow you to return.”

  “Ridiculous! You would have to remain with me always in order to make good on that particular threat.”

  His eyes narrowed, but his lips held a hint of a smile. “I can’t think of any better way to pass the time than in your company, Mikomi, especially if it means forever.” He kissed the inside of my wrist again, and then turned around and headed for the bridge.

  My heart soared at his words, but I had to remind myself that he was most likely teasing me again.

  “Where are you going?”

  He turned back. “I’m assuming you would like for me to go warn everyone at the camp before they’re all slaughtered? Otherwise, you’re traveling into the woods and nearly falling through a dilapidated rope bridge to your death will be all for naught, and quite anticlimactic, I might add.”

  I placed my hands on my hips and narrowed my eyes at him. “You had better not take all the credit for this rescue, Musubi. When it comes to glory, men can be quite stingy.”

  He chuckled softly. “I trust you will make it home without incident?”

  “I think I can manage.” By the gods, it wasn’t as if I was completely helpless. I tried to keep the indignation from my voice but knew I had failed when his laughter carried across the distance between us. I couldn’t help but feel fortified by it.

  “Then I will see you tomorrow, little healer, and don’t think for one second I’ll be going easy on you. I don’t care how adorable you look with a fake sword in your hand.”

  I crossed my arms and glared at him, feigning displeasure, when really his delightful teasing warmed me to my very soul. He laughed one more time, gave me a wink and then nimbly crossed the rope bridge within seconds, disappearing around a bend in the river. I felt cold and empty once he was gone.

  Chapter Fifteen

  It had only taken a few hours to return to the palace, and by that time night had fallen. Sneaking into my room proved to be a much easier task. I had just climbed through the window when I heard a loud commotion at the door.

  “The princess wishes to be left alone for the remainder of the evening,” I heard Yao declare.

  “I don’t care what the princess wishes,” Aiko fairly yelled. “You’ll allow me in there this minute before her father comes to summon her himself.”

  Oh, no! What could my father want at such a late hour? Shouldn’t he be sitting in his rooms, waiting for word about the attack on the rebels’ camp? I grabbed a thin robe from my closet and wrapped it around my quaking form, and then ran to my door, opening it before Aiko could cause a scene.

  The minute I did so, both Yao and Chan gave me glances filled with relief. I nodded to them, hoping my look would convey the success of my mission. I then turned my attention to my maid.

  “Aiko, what is going on?”

  “Your father’s guards found me on my way to your rooms and informed me that the emperor needs to see you immediately. It seemed serious, and I don’t want you to suffer another…” she broke off, clearing her throat and then glared at Yao and Chan. “I would not wish your father to become displeased with you.”

  “All right. Allow me to get dressed, and I will be there as quickly as I can.” I was loath to perform another healing for any of his men, and wasn’t sure I would have enough energy to avoid bonding any more kami blood due to my own physical exhaustion. I didn’t want to consider the possibility that I might be summoned for another interrogation, but with Katsu gone, my father was free to do as he pleased again without any interference.

  I only hoped once I arrived at his study, I would be able to do whatever needed doing as quickly as possible.

  * * *

  I bowed from the waist the moment my father entered the room.

  “We’ve no time for that, Daughter. I have an urgent matter that must be attended to immediately.”

  My heart sank so low I thought it might never rise again. I followed my father out of the room, but instead of heading to the lower level of the palace where his interrogations usually took place, he led me up to a higher level and, to my surprise, straight to my mother’s quarters. I followed him through her guarded doors and stopped just inside. I had rarely been allowed to visit my mother’s rooms, and I felt extremely uncomfortable. My father walked over to the bed where my mother lay and knelt down next to her.

  “I told you this cannot be allowed to happen,” my mother said, speaking to my father. She then began to cough roughly and covered her mouth with a white cloth. Her breathing sounded wet, heavy, and labored. I knew she had been suffering with a cough several weeks ago, but this was much more serious. Her condition had gone unchecked.

  My father had never been a very attentive husband, so his concern in this matter was most peculiar.

  “And I told you that this empire cannot function without the symbol of an empress here at my side. We are already experiencing too much trouble with the rebels. If anything untoward should happen to you, I will have a full revolution on my hands. You know the people love you and hate me.”

  “Who do you think is to blame for that?” my mother hissed and then coughed into her cloth again. When she pulled it back, blood was soaking through the cloth. Now I felt concern.

  “You will allow our daughter to heal you. I will broach no argument on the subject.”

  “She is not supposed to use her powers to heal anyone but herself. Don’t think I am not aware of your abuse where her gift is concerned. You use her to carry out your dirty work while I have done nothing but sacrifice to make certain she fulfills her destiny. I will not allow her to waste her talent on me, simply because my healing will benefit your position as emperor.”

  Her coughing began again and became so severe I was sure her lungs would expire. I wanted to help her. Of course I did, she was my mother, but I had no wish to sit next to her and feel her hateful eyes upon me, knowing that every moment I healed her was a moment she would spend despising me with all her heart.

  “You will allow this, Chinatsu. I command it. She is in no danger of losing her ability to fulfill her destiny.”

  I remained where I was as I listened to my parents argue back and forth. The only thing interrupting them was my mother’s terrible coughing fits. They were people I had spent my life obeying without question. To have them contradicting one another’s orders left me feeling torn and somewhat indecisive, but in the end I would do exactly as my father requested, for I knew what the consequences would be if I didn’t.

  “This is ridiculous. We are wasting time.” My father beckoned me forward. “Mikomi, you will heal your mother, and you will disregard any comments she might make to the contrary,” he bellowed.

  My mother glared at him. I had to admire her bravery. I was so frightened of him when his anger reached this level, but she sat there sick and weak, fighting him with what little energy she had left.

  “Perhaps once I have healed her, you might consider allowing her ascension to take place in order to avoid any more of these illnesses?” My suggestion was soft and tentative, but one hopeful look from my mother made me realize how long she had been waiting for such an event to take place.

  I was suddenly enraged that my father had never made good on his promise. This whole situation never would have occurred in the first place if he had been willing to help her ascend as a full kami immediately after giving birth to me, instead of using that promise as leverage to keep her in line.

  “Fine,” he said
in a gruff voice.

  My eyebrows rose at that, surprised that he wouldn’t even argue the point or berate me for speaking without permission. The severity of my mother’s condition must have escalated to a dangerous level indeed.

  “Mother, if you would permit,” I said, tentatively reaching out toward her head. She slapped my hands away.

  “Don’t you dare touch me,” she hissed.

  “You will allow this, Chinatsu, or so help me I will beat you unconscious with my bare hands,” he threatened.

  The anger my mother felt was beginning to overwhelm me. I needed some distance from her to avoid absorbing any more of her emotions, but I didn’t dare move from my spot, knowing full well my father’s anger would be waiting for me.

  When she stayed silent, I raised my hands again and placed them on either side of her head. I couldn’t connect to her at first. She desperately fought me, despite my father’s threats—threats I knew he would make good on. I continued to push through whatever block she had placed in front of me, and eventually I connected with her ki, but by the time I did so, I was fairly worn out. I had never endured such a difficult connection with anyone else. Moving aside my mother’s icy will was as insurmountable as moving a boulder with my mind.

  There was something about my connection with her that felt wrong. I realized I’d only managed to penetrate part of her ki; her own mind had closed up completely. I let it go for now but knew once I ascertained what was happening within her body, I would need to push through whatever mental walls she had put up against me.

  I could feel most of her pain, but her anger was terribly distracting. I knew how little she cared for me, but I didn’t want to feel it, not like this. Not ever. Forcing myself to focus, I searched for the source of her illness. Her lungs were filled with some kind of infection, but I had never healed anyone with an infection like this and couldn’t identify it. All I really knew was the pain I felt in her chest, and her temperature was dangerously high. The infection was the cause and needed to be dealt with, but without full access to her ki, her indomitable spirit wouldn’t allow it.

  I suddenly heard a loud hacking sound and realized my mother was having another coughing fit, forcing her to let down her guard. I seized my moment and connected to her fully. I wasn’t prepared for the next wall I encountered once I started giving instructions. My mind beat soundly against a door of impenetrable, cold glass.

  The veil! I found myself struggling against the veil. I was so shocked by this that I lost my connection and opened my eyes.

  “Well? How soon can we expect a full recovery?” my father asked.

  I stared at my mother. Her eyes were shooting daggers at me, and I could only stare. She was going to die. My mother couldn’t recover from this.

  “Mikomi, you will answer me or—”

  “She won’t recover,” I said softly.

  “What was that?”

  “I can’t heal her. The veil won’t permit it. She’s meant to die.”

  The silence that came after felt heavy, dark, and threatening. I’d never witnessed my mother show any fear, and even now, this news did nothing to change her demeanor or her attitude toward me, but I could sense real fear emanating from my father. Without my mother to keep his subjects at bay, there was nothing to prevent them from joining the rebels.

  “I gave you an order, child, and you will obey me.”

  “I wish I could, but I can’t. The veil is present when I connect with her ki. She is not meant to survive this disease.”

  I felt a kind of numbness engulf me as I said it. I loved my mother, or at least the idea of her. She’d given birth to me, but that was all I could give her credit for. In the end, we were perfect strangers, and I think I hated her for that. I didn’t want her to die, but even if I could have saved her, she would have resented me for it.

  My father didn’t hesitate to handle the situation the way he handled everything else. I felt his hand clamp down upon the back of my neck while his fingers dug into my skin. My back and neck stiffened automatically, but I knew better than to try and fight him off.

  “The veil is not my problem, it is yours, and if you don’t find a way to get around it, I will have your tutor, Kenji, executed right before your eyes.”

  He shoved my head forward and stepped back. My father always followed through with his threats. If I didn’t find a way to save my mother, then Kenji would be dead within minutes.

  I quickly grabbed my mother’s head despite her weak protests and forced a connection. My panic must have been all consuming because my mother’s resistance was batted away within seconds. I hit the veil again and mentally searched for a way around it. I could find no weaknesses, no holes or thin spots that might break under the mental tension I threw at it. My efforts became less controlled and more frantic when I thought about what the result would be if I failed.

  I shoved my mother’s ki to the foreground and communicated with the veil directly. My father got whatever he wanted through brute force and intimidation. I didn’t like his methods, but I was willing to give anything a try. Instead of finding a way around the veil, I was going to have to push through it. I started by pressing my mind against the glass wall, and then I continued to add more pressure. I wasn’t going to stop pushing or shoving until I broke through, no matter the outcome.

  I wasn’t sure how long I was at it before I felt a small give in the glass wall, but I took advantage, even though sweat trickled down my face and my body shook uncontrollably. The wall became more pliable as if it were melting under the force of my determination. I gave one more desperate push and exploded through. I felt my body jolt at the pressure being released, but I didn’t have time to analyze it. Instead, I immediately began instructing the tiny intelligences that made up her lungs to fight the infection and eliminate it completely.

  I watched as the infection in her lungs began to die off and disappear, slowly at first and then more rapidly as more of the intelligences within her lungs responded to my instructions. The scarring on her lungs began to heal, and any residual blood was absorbed and restored to its rightful place within the body.

  My mother’s body temperature dropped to its normal level, and her chest pain vanished. I wanted to disconnect and pull away from her, but I no longer had control over my own body due to how badly it was shaking.

  I thought I heard yelling and a loud scream, but anything happening outside was muffled and too distant for me to follow. Suddenly, my connection with my mother was severed, and someone roughly jerked me backward.

  I opened my eyes and saw Katsu’s stormy face staring back at me. I wondered why he had returned when he wasn’t due back for a few more days.

  “You cannot stop this, Katsu. I forbid it,” my father yelled.

  Katsu stood to his full height, towering over my father in the process.

  “You have to be the most ignorant kami our First Parents ever created. Have you learned nothing about the veil and the consequences for breaching it? Do you truly value power over your own daughter’s life? Do you have any idea what you could have done?” Katsu was yelling. I had never before seen him so angry. “You cannot ask this of Mikomi. If someone is meant to die then that is final. Forcing a healing like that is dangerous and could have caused serious damage. Her body was already rejecting the process when I arrived.”

  I felt something wet dripping on my hand. I glanced down. Red drops of blood smacked my skin and spread on contact. I lifted a hand to my nose and felt warm liquid dripping down my fingers. Then the warm liquid began to drip from my eyes and my world turned red. I could hardly find my voice to bring it to the attention of those present, but I didn’t feel the need to panic either.

  “Katsu,” I whispered, but he didn’t hear me.

  “If she had managed to break through the veil, if she had even managed to get close to weakening it, the damage to her brain would have been immeasurable.”

  Interesting. Maybe that was why droplets of blood from my nose and eyes
had turned into a slow, steady stream.

  “Fortunately for all of us, it is virtually impossible to break through the veil.”

  I had to laugh at that, although I wasn’t sure why I found it so funny.

  “I’m afraid that’s not entirely true,” I stated in a loud voice. “Not only was I able to break through the veil, but mother’s illness has healed completely.”

  I heard Katsu gasp and my mother scream.

  Chaos ensued, with my father barking orders about finding a physician. I thought that amusing since the only competent physician in the palace was me. My mother’s screams were frantic, begging for my father to heal me, something I found to be equally humorous. I couldn’t think of a being less qualified to mend or heal anyone.

  It was impossible to see what was happening due to the blood seeping out of my eyes, but my hearing wasn’t affected at all, which made all of the yelling and screaming amplify the pounding pain within my skull.

  I felt feminine arms wrap around me, and my mother whispered something unintelligible as she rocked me in her arms. All this time I wanted her to show me some kind of affection, and it took my imminent death to achieve that kind of milestone.

  “Quiet,” Katsu roared.

  I felt him place hands on either side of my head and then sensed his presence within my mind, but the pain didn’t allow me to focus for much longer, and a strange, insistent blackness began pulling me away from him.

  I fought it at first. The darkness scared me, and I wanted to take advantage of the nurturing contact I was receiving from my mother. I wasn’t able to put up much of a fight, and once the darkness touched me, I felt peaceful and weightless. The pain existed, but felt deadened somehow, and I found myself wanting to accept the darkness.