by Tara Brown
“Help me carry her inside,” I muttered. The three of us lifted her and got as far as the base of a large tree before her coughing stopped us from taking her any farther. “Mother, you need to try to stay calm so we can get you inside.”
She grabbed my hands, gripping them. “I loved you always. You must know that. I told myself to keep my distance from you so no one would ever suspect who you really were and try to assassinate you. I let you just be that girl, instead of the girl who would save the world.”
My eyes welled. “Mother, please. It doesn't matter. We need to get you inside.”
She shook her head. ”I've been inside for months. I need to be out in the fresh air.” She kissed my hand and looked at the witches. “Sisters,” she spoke softly.
I glanced at them, surprised when they nodded with faces covered in tears. “They're your sisters?”
She smiled weakly. “They are. I am the eldest.”
“They're my aunts?”
She laughed and coughed again. “Yes, dear. That’s why Artan brought you here to the city—he was looking for them. I told him about them a long time ago. I told him he needed to get you to them if anyone ever came for you.”
I cried into her waist. “You knew about him always?”
“We knew. Your father never did, but my sisters and I knew.” She sniffled and curled into me, patting my back. She was so altered I might not have ever known her.
“Mother, please don’t leave me,” I whispered.
“I won't ever leave you, Millia.” She opened her eyes and smiled.
I looked at the witches—my aunts. “Isn't there anything you can do?”
They shook their heads, both sniffling and swallowing hard. I turned to Artan as he landed with another thud in the yard. “He can save her. His tears.” I pointed.
My mother grabbed my arm and squeezed. “No. Use that only when you must. Dragons only ever cry one special tear.”
I clung to her. “Please don't leave. Please stay with me. There is no one left. Father is dead and Roland is evil, Edward has abandoned us, and Michael is a prisoner. It’s just me and you.”
“I’ll never leave. Look to the stars and call my name, and I will find a way to guide you.” Her eyes cleared for a moment. “You were the only one that ever mattered, and here you are, all grown up and ready to save the world. The guard trainer taught you everything he knew at my behest. I have raised you to be a force to be reckoned with and now you are.” She coughed again and then she relaxed a little, glancing at her sisters. “Thank you, Sisters. Thank you. Help her take it all back.” She smiled weakly, taking their hands in hers and squeezing until suddenly she wasn't there anymore and her hand lost its strength.
“Mother! Mother! Don't leave me!” I shook her but she didn’t move again. I slumped over her and let my heart finish breaking, a feat I didn't think it would ever actually do.
Chapter Twenty-Two
I held the cloak out to him, but Maddox shook his head. “I don’t want it. You keep it.”
“Fine. But you should know that I only took it to remind me of you because you were dead. I needed to remember to stay focused on getting my revenge. But after everything that has happened, I know I will never need to be reminded that there is vengeance to be had in honor of the lives that have been stolen. But you're not dead, you’re not one of them.”
“I might as well be,” he whispered and turned from the cottage.
I looked at Katy with an indifferent expression. “That might have stung.”
Her eyes darted to the necklace. “Have you been taking the necklace off and letting the feelings in?”
I shook my head. “No.” I picked up the huge dish of venison stew and walked out after Maddox. “I need to know what to do about my grandmother and Michael. I need to see Edward again so we can plan to rescue them. I need the truth on what is happening at our castle. I can’t risk something like what happened to my mother happening to them,” I called after him. “You all lied to me and said they were prisoners. You owe me.” My tone didn't suit my words and I knew it.
Maddox chuckled bitterly and gave me a wicked look from over his shoulder. “That sounds like a terrible notion. Your mother just died, begging you to save the seven kingdoms—can you not honor her wishes?”
“I do not understand why you are taking my mother's death so hard. You barely knew her.”
“Since your birth this has been in the plans. Can you not see everyone has died for you and your future? So you may heal the lands and take back what is your land? You have the ability to stop the wars and the poverty and the hardships imposed on your people.” He spun and grabbed my arm, nearly sending the stew flying. His eyes burned with a fire I'd never seen before. He looked down on me and growled like he was going to say something else, but then changed his mind. He dropped my arm and stepped back.
I scowled. “Unlike you, I have learned to keep my temper under control.”
His fiery eyes searched mine. “I've noticed.”
“Can I go see Edward?”
He shook his head.
I walked past him to the spot Artan had turned into his bed. It was under the tree where my mother had died. I smiled when I rounded the corner; seeing him made me happy.
He lifted his head from his slumber but didn't acknowledge me until I set the bowl down. He then groaned and sniffed it, rooting and nudging the meal.
I sat down and watched him eat. “I don’t get it, Artan. The witches are my aunts, but they didn’t want me to go looking for my mom. My mom knew about you, and yet spent my entire life ignoring me so no one would think I was special. And now my grandmother and my brother are captives in our castle and no one wants to help me rescue them. I just don’t understand.” I sighed, completely bored with all the emotions I couldn't feel as I looked down at my ragged boots, noting it was time for a new pair. I picked at a flap of leather hanging off one.
Artan made a noise and I nodded along. “I know. I don't understand that either. Max loves me but won't be with me, and Grayson loves me but he—eats people. Nothing is simple. This locket can’t exactly show me a face out here, so I’ve had no news on my path since Mr. D. Also I heard in the city that the girls have started their own brothel now. They actually want to be whores? I, apparently, don't understand anything.”
He raised his bright-green eyes up at me as he finished his meal.
I rubbed my eyes, excited that he had finished. I only slept in his embrace. I spent my nights alone with him. So when he finished eating, he curled into a ball, making a spot for me. I got up and climbed into the hole he always made for me. I nestled into the warmth and closed my eyes. My skin buzzed, like it always did. I relaxed and let the dreams come. It didn't matter how bad they were; I could sleep with the familiar buzz of his skin next to mine.
Dreams took me instantly.
I woke to the tickle of soft rain on my cheeks. I glanced around, but even though I couldn't see him, I could feel him and see the steam in the air from the rain evaporating as it landed on his scales. I snuggled and looked up. The night sky was filled with clouds. I wished there were stars so I could whisper her name to them.
“Can we talk?”
I jumped, making Artan growl.
Grayson stood beneath a branch.
“How long have you been there?” I asked.
I could see the blue slits in the dim light of the overcast sky.
“A while.”
I scowled. “Do you often watch me sleep?”
He nodded.
“What do you want?”
“I need to talk to you. It’s important.” He sounded sincere so I climbed out of Artan's embrace and stretched. The rain made me shiver.
Grayson stepped forward and pulled me into him, kissing the top of my head.
I closed my eyes and imagined how amazing it would feel if I weren't wearing my necklace.
He pulled back and put his hands on my cheeks and tilted my face. “What is wrong with you?” he ask
ed, leaning his lips against my cheek.
“What do you mean?”
“This. There is no passion. There is no sadness or anger. You are lifeless.”
I knew both guys could sense it. I had picked up on their comments about my attitude. “I have to protect myself from the entirety of this.” I fingered the necklace, not realizing I was until I noticed his eyes had landed on my hand.
He smiled, leaning in like he might kiss me, but his hand came up fast. The ripping of the necklace was the same as ripping my heart from my chest.
My breath sucked from my chest with a wheezing sound as I heaved and struggled to breathe while choking and sputtering. I dropped to my knees, instantly clutching my heart.
Snarls filled the air as Artan sniffed and nudged me. I reached back, gripping to him, though he was still invisible.
“Thank you,” Mani's voice came from behind us. I looked up into her onyx-colored eyes to find warmth. Grayson gave me a heartbroken look as he turned and walked away from me. Mani knelt beside me, reaching out and stroking my hair like my mother would have. She spoke softly, “Once upon a time, in a kingdom very much like this one, a young woman was promised to a king. She already loved a man, but knew her duty. She was broken inside, but she married the king against her heart’s desire. Her husband, the king, had already been in love many times over. He had loved one woman in particular, but the match between the king and his bride had been planned, and so he married the girl and she became queen of the most important land in the seven kingdoms. The queen cried every day for a long time until finally one day she couldn't take it any longer, and she came to her sisters and begged them to help her.” Mani’s black eyes glistened. “And so we did. We made our sister, your mother, a necklace and it took away the pain. It was meant to help her through the bad days. We didn’t know she would wear it every day.”
I gulped. “My mother did wear that necklace every day. I remember it.”
“We didn't know she would wear it instead of feeling everything.” She nodded and stroked my cheek. “She chose her fate. She chose to allow the betrothal. She gave up her magic for marriage and children. To save the kingdom.”
I frowned. “You knew it would be me?”
She nodded. “We did. I can only see glimpses. The gods do not allow me to see the whole picture. But I knew she would birth you and that you would be important. That’s all I saw.”
I shivered.
“When she discovered your father was infertile, she was crushed. She didn't know how to get pregnant by your father without using magic, and the rumors had started that she was unable to bear children. It was then that she was raped by the Grand Duke Barrel MacDonald.” Her voice cracked, “Herrick’s father.”
I grimaced.
“She gave birth to Roland and prayed your father would never know, and he didn't. He believed Roland to be his son and heir. When she didn’t get pregnant again, the rumors started up. Roland didn’t look like the king; he didn't look like the queen. He looked like Herrick and his father, but they never visited and so the comparison wasn't made. It was always just comments that Prince Roland didn't resemble his parents and that the child wasn't really theirs. So the queen made the ultimate sacrifice. She went to her lover, the one she had left behind when she married the king, and asked him to impregnate her. It was something queens long before her had done with the Vulkodlak. Only those queens hadn’t been in love with one. Your mother had been, for a very long time. It would have broken her heart beyond repair, had she not worn the necklace.”
I closed my eyes, imagining it all. “So she wore the necklace but what about him?”
“Distraught, I’m afraid. He was devastated, but he knew what he had to do to ensure her survival as queen. And thus, your brothers were born. The queen was the only one at court who knew none of them would ever be the true heir, but she didn’t care. She had done her duty in the king’s eyes.”
I nodded slowly. “My father always believed Roland to be his son.”
She sighed. “And all was peaceful until Roland's real father began threatening her that he was going to kill her husband and take her as his second wife. He wanted his recognition as the king to be’s father. The king who was going to be the rightful heir to two realms. He wanted to use the armies from the two kingdoms to destroy the others and reunite the seven kingdoms under Roland’s rule, but he wanted to control Roland first.”
“Well, he’s half way there now.”
Mani smiled wide but that didn't take from the devastated glisten in her eyes. “Ahh, but you forget the prophecy. She came to us, desperate to know what to do. I looked—scribed the future—and saw that she would birth a true heir to the throne who would be stronger than anyone else. But that it would be a girl—a girl with her mother’s magic and something else very special. Your mother knew then she would need to use the tears and blood of the last dragon to heal your father’s seed and give birth to the child with the fire in her veins.”
“I don't have fire in my veins, Mani.” I frowned.
“You do. You have the magic from your mother’s side, the royal blood from your father’s, and the little dose of Artan’s mother’s blood and tears. You are the most powerful leader the realms have seen in ages. You are the one to heal the seven scars on the land.”
I scowled as pieces of the story stopped making sense. “But you said my mother had no magic at all?”
Mani shook her head. “No, my love—just that what was in her blood was of no use, other than to be passed forward and then only to a girl. No witch can marry or give birth and keep her magic. It’s the cost of having love. You either love the magic or the man but not both. Your mother chose duty and honor over magic.”
“I have magic?”
“You do but you have never been schooled in it.”
It was too much to take in. “So I will lose my magic, which I have never used, if I marry?”
“Unless you learn to use the dark magic. That is what broke the seven kingdoms in the first place. The queen, who was quite infertile, used dark magic to give the king seven sons. Each son that was born possessed more strength and fire than the son before as she had to use more magic each time. So the weakest of the sons was the eldest. The heir. It splintered the kingdom into seven, each ruled by a brother. The only way to save the kingdom was to create a child stronger than the blood that ran through the other six families. The child had to come from the original heir's family.”
“My family.”
She nodded.
“I don’t have any inkling as to what I'm meant to do. You keep too much from me.”
“We give you the answers when it feels right to give them to you. I couldn’t let you go getting killed or worse, just trying to free your mother, a person who had no impact on the success of your path. As of now, all you need to know is that Herrick's father is coming back for you. He is building an army to crush you, the one true ruler of the lands, with his false king, Roland. He is trying to unite the lands again so he may rule them all with Roland under his thumb. And to make matters worse, he has the dark magic helping him. We aren’t certain yet how, but we know he has it.”
I sat there, very still and unsure of everything. “He is the one who murdered Artan’s mother?”
She nodded. “The dark magic he controls is, yes. The prophecy states that one true ruler with the fire in their veins will come and heal the scars of the seven kingdoms, again making the lands one. Everyone knows the only way to get fire in your veins is to have dragon’s blood flowing in them. And each dragon may make only one person have fire in their veins. Herrick’s father knew Artan’s mother was the last of the dragons and tried to kill her before the prophecy could come to life. He didn't know the queen had made you long before he killed Artan’s mother. Everyone who knew King Henry Morgentstein couldn’t father a single child of his own, believed you to be another bastard like your brothers. No one knew you were the superior one. Your mother never let it be known you were specia
l. She hardly acknowledged you as her child, but it was an act.”
I couldn’t take anymore. I needed to be free of it all.
I pulled away from her and walked to Artan, climbing on his invisible back. He shot up into the sky with great force, soaring well above the clouds and instantly becoming visible.
“Take me home.”
He turned his wings and headed to the right of us. I closed my eyes and let the wind rush past me, thrilling me as I clung to him.
He landed with a thud, much sooner than I expected and dropped me behind the inn and then flew off. I looked around in the dark and nodded. “Damned dragon.” His version of home and mine were very different.
I turned and tucked my head, walking to the door Grayson had led me to for his fight. When I reached it, my fingers dragged along the slivered wood of the handle as I contemplated not opening it.
But I took a breath and pulled it open, desperately needing a release. I took a step inside, and when it closed I let my emotions stay outside.
The sounds of the men and the rush of the crowd started to fill me as I saw the light of the room. I poked my head around the corner and noticed Tom. He arched an eyebrow at me. I shrugged but he shook his head.
I nodded.
He walked to me, putting a meaty finger in my face. “Yer going to be the death of me. Grayse told me no more for ya. Not to mention, men have been looking for ya.”
I grinned bitterly. “Well, Grayson isn’t here and neither are the men looking for me, but I am here and I am needy for a fight.” A wicked gleam filled my eyes. “You into making some money?”
He chuckled and shook his head. “I know I'm gonna regret this. Get loosened up. Ya can have the next fight.”
“Whatever I make goes on Grayson's debt.”
He gave me a strange look and went back to the ring. A few men started glancing back in my direction, elbowing each other and pointing. The desperation and hope was rolling up and down their faces in waves. Each daydreaming of the riches they would make on me—again.
