Back in the comfort of her own home and the gym she shared with her friends and Liam’s family, Allie’s temper shifted into high gear. At a time when she should be looking forward to the next chapter of her life—after finally finding happiness within herself—everything was changing. Again. It was the story of her life. Allie’s fist landed with a loud thud, reverberating across the renovated barn that was their gym. She sent the punching bag swinging from the old hayloft and tossed her thin gloves aside. She never used traditional padded boxing gloves or shoes. Ming Lao had taught her to fight with the barest protection, so in a real fight, she would be saved from broken fingers or toes.
Allie gave the bag one last kick as it arched back toward her. The memory of Ming Lao was still a painful one, even after all this time. And with thoughts of Ming Lao, came thoughts of Chloe and Jin Jing. She missed them both so much, but Chloe still hadn’t faced the death of her mother. She’d set off on her own after she graduated Cliffton Academy. Jin Jing followed her from place to place, trying to catch up with his daughter, but she continually evaded him.
“Come on, Parker. Come on.” Emma’s soft, patient voice pulled Allie from her reverie and sent all her anger and frustrations to the back of her mind. She broke into a huge smile at the sight of her godson, Alex Parker Loukas. Emma’s surprise natural born son was two years old now, and he looked just like his mom with dark hair and crystal clear eyes, but sporting Daniel’s Mediterranean coloring and Greek nose.
“Parker!” Allie leaned over as he wobbled across the barn wood floor on unsteady feet. Allie swept him up over her head, spinning him around.
The boy squealed in delight. “Again, Allie.”
She twirled him around once more and set him back on his feet, and he darted across the room like a shot.
“Parker, no,” Emma groaned, throwing her head back in frustration. “I’m way too old to be chasing a toddler.”
“I got him, Emma.” Lennox steered him away from the heavy weights and back onto the padded tumbling mats. Seamas and George’s seventeen-year-old daughter always watched Parker while Allie and Emma trained together.
“So, on a scale of one to Allie, how much are you freaking out?” Emma let out a frazzled breath.
“Aw, look who thinks they’re funny.” Allie gave her mentor a hug.
“Seriously, are you okay? I just talked to Alísun and came right here.” Emma shrugged out of her coat, keeping one eye on her son and the other on Allie.
“Grandma made the announcement already?” Allie folded her arms across her chest. She kind of felt like this whole heir business was her news to tell when she was ready to deal with it.
“Just to me and Gregg.” She wrapped her arm around Allie’s shoulders as they headed up to the old hayloft upstairs for their weekly session. Liam and Darius refinished the cozy little room, so Allie would have a private place to discuss the more terrifying aspects of her gifts, the prophecy, and her uncertain future. No need to give Lennox and Kahlynn nightmares overhearing things they never needed to know.
Emma came into the city once a week to train with Allie, and Allie went home to Kelley's Island frequently. Emma was a stickler for their schedule. It was too easy to get lazy and not put in the work. Allie’s training had changed since her days as a high school student. She trained with Darius and Livia daily, focusing on her gifts and the physical aspects of her progression. Her time with her mentor was dedicated to examining her progress and planning for the future as her gifts continued to evolve and become more complex.
“Honestly, I’m trying not to think about it right now,” Allie said. “I just can’t. Maybe after I graduate, we can have a real conversation about this heir thing, but it’s just too much to process.”
“No one expects anything you’re not willing to give, Allie.” Emma settled into the sleek, white leather Barcelona chair Livia insisted was a practical choice for the gym.
“The queen does.”
“She doesn’t expect anything you’re not capable of, and she has no intention of taking this further anytime soon.”
“That’s something, I guess.” Allie took the twin chair opposite her mentor. The black and white cow-hide rug beneath them tickled her bare feet.
“How does it make you feel, the naming?”
“Emma, you know I hate that psychological 'I feel' babble. It makes me feel like my dear, frosty grandmother is off her rocker. That’s how it makes me feel.”
Allie stared through the floor to ceiling glass wall into the gym below. Lennox and her father, Seamas, were chasing Parker across the tumbling matt. Lennox’s other father, George, was putting Darius through some level of hell Allie hadn’t quite reached yet in her own training. But the quiet little room where she sat with Emma was silent, thanks to Darius and his soundproofing gift. She could feel the evidence of his gift in the room like a part of him was always present with her, even in here.
“Just for fun, what would you see yourself doing as first princess?” Emma asked.
“I don’t even know what that means, Emma. Indriell is dead; why do they need a new princess when there hasn’t been one in thousands of years?” Logically, Allie understood her grandmother’s motivations. Something needed to change. She just didn’t see why it needed to be her responsibility.
“The physical nation of Indriell is gone, but its people still thrive. There are many who are unsatisfied with the way the Senate chooses to govern. Many who would remain loyal to the queens if a true heir should make herself known. Myself included.”
“So I would be some kind of figurehead? Something to slap a crown on and cut ribbons at ceremonies? That's never going to be me.”
“As the named heir, what you do with your birthright would be entirely up to you, Allie.”
“If that's really how it works, then let's just let this whole naming business die right here.”
“Someday, you may find your title and the authority it commands a useful tool.”
“I just want to live my life, Emma. I want to finish school, get a job, and hang out with Darius.” And maybe see Aidan again someday.
“You want things to keep going the way they have been. You’ve gotten comfortable in your years at school. Many Immortals your age do. You’re young but still not ready to set out on your own. Life at university is better than high school, but it’s not quite the real world yet. Don’t get too comfortable, Allie. The world is constantly changing, and you’ve got to change with it. We live forever, but the compromise for that incredible gift is never being able to truly settle down. Nothing ever stays the same. The sooner you learn that lesson the better. Look at me, a natural mom at eight hundred. You know exactly how unprepared I was for Parker. I never wanted or expected to give birth to a child, and here I am chasing a two year old around and loving every minute of it. Change is a natural part of life, Allie.”
“I've never liked change." Allie sighed, thinking her clairvoyance wasn’t good for much if she was always caught off guard about the big things.
"Tell me something I don't know." A smile tugged at her lips. “How have your visions been?”
Allie sighed again. “Mostly the same. More of a nuisance than anything remotely useful.”
“We’ve been focusing on getting you where you can function for a long time now. You have a certain level of control that is working. But it’s never been a permanent solution. I can’t pretend to understand this kind of clairvoyance. I fear I am not helping enough.”
“You’re doing great, Emma.” Allie understood her frustration. The way her clairvoyance was evolving just wasn’t in the history books. Even her ancient grandparents didn’t have a clue. Allie’s gift had merged with what Darius called his “CSI gift;” a clairvoyant ability that allowed him to see the reanimation of a crime. The Syntrophos bond had modernized Allie’s gift in a way her mentor hadn’t expected and still struggled to comprehend. “Can we at least get through my graduation before trying to jump the next hurdle?” Allie knew better th
an anyone that ignoring her visions was a very bad idea. For so long, the indistinct shapes that followed her everywhere were too nondescript to mean anything, but she was pretty sure they were beginning to evolve again. “I think I’m starting to see faces now.” Allie leaned her head back to look at the high wooden beams of the ceiling.
“Then it’s time to start discussing a better solution. We need someone who can help you better than I can.”
“I don’t want someone else, Emma. I just need time to really dig into these visions now that I’ve finally learned to function with them. I’ve been so focused on that I haven’t had the time to analyze what I’m seeing yet. That needs to come next. Silencing them is still an absolute must. I’m not ready to unlock that closet of horrors again any time soon, but I don’t think we need to look for another teacher yet.”
“All right, after your graduation, we will tackle this. We simply must find a way for you to process the information your visions are bringing to your attention. And then in six months, we’ll revisit the idea of bringing in another teacher, deal?”
“Deal.” After graduation, she would work her butt off conquering this gift. She couldn’t bear the thought of working with anyone other than Emma.
Chapter Six
Allie’s arms fell like dead weights at her sides, exhausted from the long day in the gym with her sister. Livia was a brutal trainer, but over the years, she had whipped Allie into prime fighting shape.
Allie lifted her lead sai blade a moment too late. The bite of steel against flesh wasn’t a new sensation, but it still hurt like a son of a bitch. “Ow, Livia, that was a cheap shot.” She clutched her bleeding forearm against her chest.
“Come on, sister, you can’t let a little scratch stop you.” Livia raised her dagger, smeared with Allie’s blood, as she continued her aggressive attack. “We have to make you into a warrior queen, not a pageant queen.”
“You take that back, Liv.” Allie sank into a defensive crouch, all exhaustion leaving her at the insult. “You make it sound like I’m not kicking your ass.”
“If I really brought it, you’d be on the ground covered in blood,” Livia said.
Most of the time, Allie couldn’t see the woman her sister used to be. But every now and then, she got a peek of the scary, jaded woman still simmering beneath the surface. It worried her to think of how easy it would be for Livia to fall back into old habits.
“I have never been, nor will I ever be, a pageant queen.” Allie and her sister circled the mat, each trying to find an opening for an attack.
“So says the prom queen.” Livia’s smile held a touch of mockery.
“High school doesn’t count. I didn’t even know I was up for it.” Allie stood from her crouch. “Can we please just strike the word ‘queen’ from the gym vocabulary?” She slumped her shoulders in defeat.
“You’ve got to accept this, Allie.” Livia stood, pointing her dagger at Allie’s chest. “You hear ‘queen,’ and you think of it in terms of mortal royalty. This isn’t Windsor Palace and you are no Kate or Meghan. You will be a ruler, yes, but you will also be a warrior. You have to harden yourself, and at the same time, you must learn to project a queenly persona.”
“This is all such crap, Liv.”
“Allie, this is going to happen.” Livia lowered her weapon, standing with one hand behind her back and her sword arm resting at her side. It was as relaxed as Livia would get with a weapon in her hand. “It might not happen for a hundred years or more, but you have been named. That is not going to go away.”
“You take it. You’re the epitome of a warrior queen. Not me.” She stepped back, as if she could so easily escape the mantle that had been thrust upon her.
“You are too soft, little sister.” Livia sighed.
“Soft?” Allie raised her chin in defiance.
“You’re an innocent girl. You see a basket of kittens and you smile, eager to play with them. A queen sees a basket of kittens, knowing she must be the one to drown them for the good of her people.”
“That is the most screwed up analogy I’ve ever heard.”
“The point is that a royal must make the difficult choices. She must learn to make sacrifices for her people. And the first thing she must sacrifice is herself. Her future doesn’t belong to her. It belongs to her people.”
“See, you’re so much better at this.”
“I will be your second and your champion. I will be the brute force behind you. I will always give you honesty and the kick in the ass you need when you need it. But I do not have the natural, effortless quality that will make people want to follow me.”
“But you ruled Soma for years.”
“I ruled with fear and I inspired hate. That isn’t a leader who earns loyalty. People will want to follow you.”
“Have any of you met me? My people skills suck. Who’s going to want to follow an introvert?”
"Allie." Livia's tone softened. "You still don't see it, do you? There are two Alísuns. You call her the ice queen, and you call her Grandma. She is both. When she projects her queenly mantle, no one questions her. No one ever doubts who she is. And when she drops that harder edge, she is just our grandmother, Alísun. You will need to learn to do the same. The facade you will present to the world doesn’t have to be the real you. And we have plenty of time to work on that. Plenty of time for you to decide what kind of queen you want to be. You just need to be damned sure you make the right decisions now while you have the luxury of planning your next move.”
“That is not the comforting thought you seem to think it is,” Allie muttered.
“You just have to accept it in here.” Livia placed a hand over her own heart. “And Grandmother has met you, you know.” Her lips curved with amusement. “My guess is she brought this all up years before she normally would have because she knows you need time.”
“Now, that is a comforting thought.” Allie raised her sai, eager for the distraction of physical activity to put an end to this discussion.
“We’re done for the day. Let’s go have a chat.” Livia sheathed her dagger at her hip.
“That’s what we were doing, and I didn’t care for the subject.”
“I have just the distraction you need.” Livia headed for the door. “Come on, we’re going to need a drink for this.”
Allie followed her sister through the wide barn doors, back to the cottage across the snow swept lawn. But instead of entering the house, she kept going across the street to the home she shared with her husband and daughter.
“Sit.” Livia commanded, opening the door to her office.
“Where are Liam and Kahlynn?”
“At some father-daughter dinner thing at her school.”
“Aw, that’s adorable.”
“Yeah, that’s all she’s been talking about since we got back.” Livia cracked a smile as she poured them each a very large glass of red wine. “Drink up, sis. I’ve been putting this off long enough. You’re not going to like what I have to tell you. I’m breaking all the McBrien rules tonight.”
Allie almost choked on her wine, watching her sister pace across her office in the dim light of the early evening.
“You have to understand why I’m telling you this.”
“Telling me what?” Allie took a larger gulp, bracing herself for something awful.
“I am your sister. I’m not an emotional, hugs and kisses kind of woman, but you mean more to me than you will ever know.”
From Livia, it was enough to make Allie tear up. “I love you, too, Liv, but you’re scaring me.”
“The McBriens are wonderful people. They are my family now, and they’ve welcomed me with open arms when they probably should have just kept me down in the crypt for the rest of my life.”
“But?” Allie leaned forward.
“But my loyalty is to you, and there is something you should know.”
Allie held up her finger and drained her glass, sliding it across the ebony desk for a refill.
&n
bsp; “Okay, go.” Her stomach clenched in anticipation.
“When we were in Europe on our honeymoon, I met Scott McBrien,” Livia said softly.
Allie’s body tensed. Scott was Aidan’s brother everyone affectionately referred to as Fitzy. He was Aidan’s guardian while he was in school. If she met Scott, she had to have met Aidan as well. So much of his absence never made sense to Allie, but she’d promised Aidan she would respect his decision to part ways.
“And Aidan?” she whispered. The warmth of her power stirred in her chest as she gripped the edge of Livia’s desk. She couldn’t remember the last time she’d spoken his name out loud. It sounded strange on her lips.
“I did not meet Aidan. The McBriens have been lying to you, Allie. He hasn’t been in school these past four years. Aidan is missing.”
Chapter Seven
Allie shot to her feet. “Missing?” All the color drained from her face, leaving her dizzy and unable to speak.
“Aidan was drafted into the Senate more than three years ago.” Livia sipped her wine, like they were just talking about the weather.
Allie sank back down into the chair behind her. “Drafted?” Her mind couldn’t make sense of the word. “The Senate? I don’t understand. Aidan is an unknown, like me. As far as they know, neither of us exists. They can’t ever know we exist.”
“I don’t know nearly enough to answer your questions, Allie, but this was something you should have known long before now. I’ve paid attention over the years. I know how you feel about Aidan and how much his bullshit excuses torment you.”
For a moment, Allie couldn’t find her voice. Her lungs seized, and she trembled with anger. “They’ve been lying to me,” she said in a low voice. “What do you know, Liv? Is he safe?” Allie leaned over Livia’s desk, her eyes blazing with fury as the strength of her power flooded her body.
“I don’t know, but we will find out.” Livia reached for her hand at the same moment something inside Allie snapped.
Emerge- The Heir Page 4
