Daughters of Delirium (Tainted Queens Book 1)

by A. M. Miller

Tiffany watched from the corner of her eye as Drake said goodbye to Mr. Foster. She turned her head away, suddenly interested in the wall, as Drake passed them. When he was gone both Dion and Tiffany turned back around.

  “What was he doing here?” Dion asked.

  Tiffany shook her head. “I don’t know but it doesn’t have anything to do with us.”

  “Can’t be just a coincidence. Mental institutions aren’t exactly popular hangout places for kids our age.”

  “I was just about to say the same thing,” a voice said from behind them.

  Tiffany and Dion turned to see a woman in a white lab coat standing behind them. Their eyes widened as they tried to think up an excuse.

  “You two wouldn’t happen to know anyone by the name of Angelica Donovan, would you?” The woman asked holding up Raven’s fake ID.

  Dion looked at the ID and then back at the woman. His heart dropped as he thought of all the horrible things that could have happened to Raven. It must have been something bad. Why else would the doctor have her ID?

  “We don’t know anything,” Tiffany said.

  “You don’t?” The woman asked with a raised eyebrow.

  Tiffany stared back at the woman with a straight face. Her arms crossed over her chest. “Nope.” Tiffany said popping her ‘p’.

  “What about you?” The woman looked at Dion.

  Tiffany shifted in front of him. “He doesn’t know anything either.”

  The woman’s brown eyes flicked back to Tiffany. Their gazes locked. Tiffany didn’t back down, this wasn’t her first rodeo. It would take a lot more than a look of disapproval to get her to rat out a friend.

  The woman was the first to look away. She put the ID back in her pocket.

  “Fine, if that’s how you want to play it. Raven’s father has been contacted. He will be picking his daughter up from our care unit. You two can return home,” the woman said turning to leave.

  “Wait, what do you mean care unit. Did something happen?” Tiffany asked. Her arms fell to her sides. Her heart pounded in her chest.

  Fear as cold as ice washed over both Tiffany and Dion.

  “I don’t see what that has to do with someone who claims to know nothing,” the woman said.

  Tiffany’s fist balled at her sides. Fear and anger mixed together.

  “Natasha, give these two thirty seconds to evacuate the premises. If they're not gone by then contact security,” the doctor said looking at the woman behind the counter. For the first time since they’d entered the clinic, the woman behind the desk seemed to be showing genuine interest.

  “Yes, ma’am,” the woman said.

  The doctor opened the door.

  “Hey, wait! What about Raven? Is she okay?” Tiffany asked.

  “You can contact her father later if you want to know the answer to that question.“ The woman disappeared behind the door. It hissed as the lock slid into place.

  Tiffany stepped forward, fully intent on following the doctor. Dion gripped her by the arm stopping her pursuit. She pulled against his restraint but Dion was stronger than her.

  “Let me go.” Tiffany snapped.

  “So you can do what? Break down the door and go searching for Raven?”

  “Yes!”

  Tiffany pulled back again. She knew it was stupid. There was no way she’d get through the door, but she felt helpless knowing that her friend was hurt somewhere beyond the door.

  “You heard her, Tiffany. They’re not going to let us through and if we don’t leave now we could be in some serious trouble,” Dion said.

  “She’s hurt, Dion.”

  Tiffany looked back at Dion. His face was stony but in his eyes, Tiffany saw that he was just as worried as she was.

  “I know, but there’s nothing we can do. Come on, Tiffany.” Dion tugged on Tiffany’s arm. Tiffany followed dragging her feet. He led them out of the clinic and to his car.

  Clouds blocked out the sun, making the chilly fall afternoon colder. Dion got into the driver's seat and gripped the steering wheel. His hands tightened, twisting the mesh covering in his grip. Raven would be okay. She had to make it out of this. She just had to.

  51

  The Heart Queensland

  By the time Lu made it back to her chamber the goddess glow had fallen to the east. The white glow of the smiling moon rose to take its place. She closed the door behind her with a sigh. What would happen should she ever try to barricade herself within the room?

  The sad truth was that there wasn’t a lock in this world strong enough to keep all her problems out.

  It could be worse. She was not as alone as she’d previously thought. With the Ace, Jack, and her brother’s help, they stood a chance of defeating Lecive and stopping his control over the Heart once and for all. When the time came she would be the one to carry out his punishment.

  An image of Lecive’s head on a spike popped into her head, his eyes forever drained of their fiery red. The end he deserved.

  Lu walked farther into her dark bedchamber. Only half the room was lit. The other side was submerged in shadows. She wondered why Eleaa had not finished lighting the candles. It was so unlike her to leave a job half done.

  Lu grabbed one of the candles from the lit side of the room. The wax had only just started to melt. She turned back around, staring into the shadows.

  There was no movement inside of the room, at least none Lu could see. Wind rattled the windowpanes. The light of the smiling moon was blurred by clouds. Another storm was approaching.

  Lu held the candle out in front of her. She walked over to the other side, intent on lighting the remaining candles. Her foot hit something. She took a step back. Holding out her candle, she examined the floor beneath her.

  The candle fell from Lu’s hand. Flame licked at the rug before she stomped it out. Lu stepped back. She stared at the motionless body. In that moment she forgot everything: how to breathe, how to think, even how to move.

  “Eleaa?”

  Eleaa remained motionless on the floor. Her chest absent of breath’s rise and fall. Lu dropped down beside her. She raised a shaking hand to touch Eleaa’s face. Her skin was cold. She brushed Eleaa’s gray hair away from her face. Her fingertips came in contact with a warm wet substance around her temple.

  Fear shot through her like white hot lightning. Lu’s other hand gripped Eleaa’s shoulder. She gave her a hard shake.

  “Eleaa,” Lu called in a louder voice. The woman did not move. Lu’s grip tightened, bruising skin. She shook the woman harder. Tears began to blur her vision.

  “Eleaa. Wake up, Eleaa,” Lu yelled at the woman. Tears fell from Lu’s face and landed on Eleaa, but still she did not wake. Images of her parent’s lifeless bodies flashed inside her head. She’d not been able to save them and now the same thing was happening to Eleaa.

  “Help! I need help in here,” Lu yelled.

  Lu’s door burst open seconds later. Two guards rushed into the room. They stopped a quarter of the way in.

  “Go get help. Bring me, my brother. Bring me Prince Leeano.” Lu cried, not taking her eyes off of Eleaa. Her hands were shaking.

  The guards were unmoving. Their widened eyes merely stared at the scene before them.

  “Go!” Lu screamed, snapping her head in their direction. The thunder in her voice was enough to shock the guards into action. They hurried to leave. The door slammed shut behind them.

  Lu looked down at the bleeding woman. More tears fell from her face as she pulled Eleaa’s body into her arms. This was her fault. The woman in the village had been right. Now, because of her and her failure to handle the attack, Eleaa might die. She’d been so worried about protecting herself from an attack; she hadn’t even considered the harm that might befall the ones closest to her.

  Lu’s hand wrapped around her pendant “Please goddess, save her. She doesn’t deserve this.” She held onto it as though it was her last lifeline. Eleaa was her maid, an elderly woman who’d never hurt anyone. She was not a threat. Most
of her days were spent locked inside of the castle. She was supposed to be safe.

  Lu looked down at Eleaa’s face. She was the one who’d raised Lu. When Lu was hurt or sad Eleaa had always been there. She never expected there come a day when she wasn’t.

  Lu opened her third eye seeking out Eleaa’s mind. There was nothing. She couldn’t feel her. The emptiness was a reflection of the hollowness growing inside Lu.

  “No, goddess. Please, no.” Lu squeezed her eyes shut. Her hands tightened around Eleaa. More tears fell down her face. She didn’t try to hold them back anymore. There was no point. None of it mattered. She could not deny what she knew to be true.

  “The Heart will fall,” a voice said.

  Lu’s eyes snapped open. She searched the room before looking at Eleaa. The maid’s eyes were now opened. They were clouded over in pale green swirls. No whites, no pupils, just clouds of green. Lu had seen eyes like this before in a textbook. She remembered looking at the pictures on the old text and thinking what awful creatures must possess such eyes.

  “The Heart will fall,” Eleaa said again.

  Lu knew then what was happening even if she did not want to believe it.

  “The sister’s blood lives. Daughter of Catani, she who walks through worlds will arrive. Madness will reign supreme and he will have what he has waited for. Fire to scorch the earth and vengeance to satisfy the hunger. From the ashes, he rises again. Only then, once it is too late, will he leave this world the way she came.”

  Lu didn’t want to hear anything Eleaa was saying. She would have covered her ears were she not frozen in place. It wouldn’t have helped. Some truths cannot be unheard. Some truths broke you apart, leaving only shattered remains.

  Madness Madness

  Infects them all

  Eleaa’s hands reached up to touch Lu’s face. Lu tried to move away but was too slow. Eleaa’s finger grazed across Lu’s cheek. Images of her queensland burning flooded Lu’s mind. She could feel the heat of flames against her skin. Smoke filled her lungs, choking off her air. People were screaming. Their cries rang inside her head. They were tearing each other apart. She watched as the queensland’s flag fell to the ground.

  Oh goddess no.

  At the last minute the image change to a girl sitting under a tree. The goddess glow was bright and the air warm. Lu stared at the young girl. She wore a blue dress with a white apron. Her face was covered in shadows. When Lu tried to get a closer look the image disappeared.

  Lu’s vision cleared. She coughed, sucking in deep gulps of air. The images would not leave her memory.

  “Remember her name, for she is the start of the end. Remember Alice,” Eleaa said.

  Lu looked back into Eleaa’s cloudy green eyes. There was no denying what she was now.

  Eleaa dropped her hand away from Lu’s face before slumping back down on the ground. The pale green clouds over her eyes faded. She closed her eyes and her breath returned to normal.

  Lu opened her third eye again. She could sense Eleaa’s mind reaching out toward her. Panicked, Lu slammed her third eye close. Fear of touching the tainted mind left her shaken. She stared down at her maid. Eleaa, one of the few people who’d cared for Lu, was an oracle.

  It had been centuries since anyone had seen an oracle north of the wall. Everyone assumed they were dead. The church had been thorough in their extermination of the creatures. The ones who survived were chased deep into the orcestral forest.

  Oracles were bad omens. Wherever they went death followed close behind. The churches preached that they were evil spirits sent to spy on the goddess. Even listening to a prophecy was forbidden. The future was something only the goddess was supposed to know.

  Lu stared at Eleaa. She knew what their laws required her to do next. Eleaa had betrayed them. The fact that she’d lived this close to the royal court and concealed her identity had endangered them all. To let her live would be an affront to the goddess. The survival of the Heart depended on it.

  “My queen!”

  Lu turned to see the door swing open. Domicin, Ramor, and Leeano stepped into the room. Light from the hall glowed behind them, stretching their shadows against Lu’s floor. They paused to stare at her. Leo was the first to spring into action. He raced over to Eleaa. Crouching down next to her, he began to pull herbs out of his bag.

  “What happened to her?” Leo asked, looking back up at his sister.

  Lu didn’t answer. Her eyes remained locked on the woman who’d taken care of her all her life. The woman who’d kept secrets.

  Born an abomination.

  “I need to know what happened in order to treat her,” Leo said.

  Lu’s eyes shifted back toward Leo. She had to tell him. If she protected the oracle the goddess would punish the queensland for her actions. Without the goddess’s blessing, her queensland would not survive. Famine, drought, infection, anything could happen.

  “She…” Lu’s throat went dry. Her words stuck inside her like glue. She thought of Eleaa’s smiling face and her warm hugs. She’d felt safe inside her arms. She’d felt love, but now a rot had set inside of her heart, decaying everything until there was nothing.

  How could you?

  Lu placed her hand over her chest. There was actual physical pain there.

  “My queen,” Leo said again, his voice urgent.

  Lu closed her eyes. There was no other way around it. The same hopelessness Lu felt during the village woman’s execution returned. The knife Eleaa had placed in her heart dug in deeper.

  “My que-“

  “She fell down.” Lu opened her eyes again to see Leo staring at her. Their gazes locked, seconds passing like hours. Lu pointed to the bedpost. “She hit her head over there during the fall. I came in and I found her unconscious. I moved her to see if she was alright…She didn’t wake up…She hasn’t woken up.” Her words were flat on her tongue.

  “Is that so?” Leo turned his attention back to Eleaa. He lifted her head up. When his hand came back his fingertips were covered in blood.

  “The cut doesn’t seem to be too deep. I should be able to fix it. Jack, order one of your men to take Eleaa to the infirmary,” Leo said.

  Domicin nodded before stepping out of the room. When he returned two men followed behind him. They picked Eleaa from Lu’s arms and carried her out of the room.

  Leo turned to leave with them but stopped when he saw the look on Lu’s face. He squatted back down and rested a hand on his sister’s arm.

  Lu flinched back. Her heart was still racing inside of her chest. It was almost impossible to breathe.

  “Eleaa will recover. She hasn’t lost too much blood. You saved her, my queen. You saved her.” Leo placed a kiss against Lu’s temple before leaving out of the room.

  Lu did not move. She stared at the closed door. Leo’s last words hung heavy in the air. Her fist clenched the fabric of her skirt.

  What have I done?

  She’d saved a maid at the cost of an entire queensland.

  You weak little girl, the voice hissed inside her mind.

  Lu bowed her head, hiding the tears that rolled down her cheeks. She barely noticed them. Her thoughts focused on Eleaa’s cloudy green eyes. She couldn’t do it. She couldn’t kill Eleaa. All her training, every broken bone, every lesson-- all for nothing.

  “My queen, are you alright?” Ramor asked.

  Lu had forgotten that he was still in the room. She closed her eyes forcing the tears to stop. Her hands released the fabric and she stood. When she looked back up at Ramor her gaze was colder. She turned from him.

  “You may leave, Ace.”

  “My queen, perhaps-“

  “Leave.” There was a clear warning in her tone. She turned to meet his gaze full on. Ramor looked as though he was about to say something else but stopped when he saw the look in Lu’s eyes. He nodded, then turned to leave.

  “Should I send someone to clean up the mess?” Ramor asked at the door.

  “No, no one comes near this room
. Not a soul.”

  Ramor hesitated for a moment but nodded as he closed the door behind him.

  Lu stood alone in her chamber. As she stared at the pool of blood on the floor hurt and anger mixed inside of her.

  The Heart will fall, Eleaa’s words repeated inside Lu’s head. Her fist struck out, hitting the bedpost. Wood splintered from the force of her hit. She placed her other hand over her face. Her parents’ death, the bloody flower, the tainted roses. Not an enemy from afar but a loved one hidden inside of her chamber walls.

  Stupid, stupid girl.

  It was all Lu’s fault. Now she’d turned Eleaa’s words into a self-fulfilling prophecy. Her weakness would be the destruction of her people. Even if Eleaa was not directly behind the attacks this was the goddess’s punishment. Doubt begets death. All her life she’d been trained not to hesitate.

  Remember Alice.

  Lu raised her head. Her hand fell from the bedpost. Blood dripped from her knuckles, the skin already beginning to stitch itself together. She was still queen. A truth stolen from the goddess was still the truth. As long as Lu breathed she would do everything to protect her people.

  Lu repeated the name over in her head. Eleaa said Alice was the one to start the end; maybe she’d be the key to stopping it. The image of the girl in the blue dress returned to her. She prayed this Alice never found her way into the Heart but if she did…

  Destroy the girl, The Red Queen’s words echoed in her mind. Lu would see the end to them both before she let her queensland fall.

  52

  Raven woke to the sound of voices. Muddled, she couldn’t make out what was being said. She tried to open her eyes but her lids were too heavy. She shifted her body. A mistake. The slight movement caused a jolt of pain to shoot up from her toes to her skull. She cried out and bit her lip. Everything ached.

  “Ma’am, I think she’s waking up.”

  Again Raven tried to open her eyes. Her eyelids began to slowly pill back. The light of the room was too bright. She shut her eyes again, wincing in pain.

  What the hell happened?

  “Miss, can you hear me? I need you to nod if you can hear me?” Another voice asked. This one sounded closer than the one before.