She shivered. It was colder here than the forest they’d left behind. “Daemon, what is this place?”
His gaze took in their surroundings hungrily. “This is Gyeesta.”
“Gyeesta!”
“Shh.” Daemon put a finger to her lips as the trees increased their strange dance.
A trickle of dread rolled into Areen’s heart as the hypnotic feel of the trees pushed against her character sensing ability, as if seeking to subdue it. She had heard the tales of Gyeesta much of her life. An evil place. A place of murder and death. She had never fully believed the rumors until feeling it for herself. This was not a good place, no matter its strange beauty. The evil here clawed at her heart, her gifts, her sense of reason, tugged at the light that lived within her, seeking it out, trying to twist it. Every negative thought she’d just had as Daemon talked of her people, her kind, rolled and roiled within her mind until it became almost painful. She touched a hand to her temple, calling her gifts, seeking their protection against the darkness.
“Daemon, I want to go home.”
He turned to look at her and for a moment his eyes seemed different, the sparkle in them overtaken by something else, but he smiled crookedly and her heart slowed a tiny bit. He flicked a piece of her hair. “You’re not scared, are you?”
She bit her lip, almost afraid to say it aloud, as if it would know she was weak. “I don’t feel right.”
His eyebrow rose.
“Please Daemon, can we go?” She watched the battle in his eyes. The desire to do what she wished, fighting the desire to stay in this place that held some power over him.
“Five more minutes?” He looked up under his lashes and her stomach did a little dance. He was so handsome!
Ignoring the growing dread, she nodded. She could fight the darkness that long. Long enough to discover what it was about this place Daemon found so good, or convince him to never come back.
He pulled her down to the ground next to the flowers. She reached a hand out to touch the petals and he grabbed her hand. “Don’t.”
“Why?”
He pulled a piece of fabric from his shirt and moved it toward the flower. Smoke began to rise from the material, an inch away and it dissolved into ash. She scooted closer to Daemon. “Incredible isn’t it? Every plant in this place has a defense mechanism. The flowers burn without fire, the trees can shoot poisonous barbs out of their bark more than a hundred yards, and even the sky here can rain down in torrents of boiling water if it chooses.”
Confusion welled within her. “No Daemon, it isn’t incredible. Everything about this place is terrible. It has some power over you. This place is evil. We shouldn’t be here.”
The trees started to sway faster and Daemon put a finger to her lips. “Areen, you don’t understand. This place is everything we need. I’ve spoken to the plants here. They have promised to help me. I can use the power here against the humans. I can destroy the Darkened. I can make everyone safe.”
A memory surfaced. A tale she’d overheard before her banishment. A tale of a group of boys who’d gone to Gyeesta and meddled with the powers there. Three barely made it back alive, covered in burns and odd wounds. The most powerful healer of her village had been summoned when one boy’s wounds would not heal. He had to have his arm removed when even the healer could not stop the poison in his veins. Only one boy had walked away unharmed. One.
Areen looked at Daemon’s shining face, the hunger in his eyes as he stared around them. She felt a shift taking place in his character as they sat, a slow-moving ocean of darkness pushing its way through and over his life force, drowning the light within his body. Her stomach pitched and she forced her trembling legs to push her up. “Take me home Daemon. Now.”
Chapter 11
Autumn, 103LR
My father always said the mind can be a dangerous place. I have learned the heart is far, far more dangerous.
The sky outside the bedroom window looked as blue as Areen had ever seen it. The sun’s rays danced off the motes swirling above the blanket covering her. The smell of ReShya’s roses still managed to drift inside despite the nonexistent breeze.
A stark contrast to Gyeesta.
She’d hardly slept a wink after rushing back inside the safety of the house without even a goodbye to Daemon. Dark dreams plagued her all night long. Images of her trying to dodge poisonous darts and burning flowers while Daemon’s laughter filled the darkness.
She could hear ReShya moving about the kitchen preparing breakfast. She needed to get up, go help, but the pain of regret, the fear of the horrible truth, the feeling of loss, kept her still, the blanket pulled up to her chin.
Her stomach rolled when she remembered whose bed she was using. It even smelled of him. She kicked the blanket off, stood up and wrapped her arms around her chest, feeling dirty, tainted somehow. Her eye caught the red of the bracelet on her wrist. She clawed at it, ignoring the pain of her fingernails across her skin as she wrenched it off and threw it on the floor. She dressed quickly and rushed to the kitchen to the smell of fresh eggs and warm bread that did little to settle her stomach.
“Good morning, Areen.” ReShya spoke without turning from her cooking. “Hungry?”
It felt like she had a throat full of sand. She had to swallow twice before she could answer. “Not really.”
ReShya turned around, the spoon tight in her fist. She took one look at Areen and the spoon dropped to the floor. “Ibi’ta! You went with Daemon last night, didn’t you?”
“You know where he was?”
ReShya fell into the chair across from Areen and covered her face with her hands. “I have trees in the forest watching him. He goes nearly every night. I have tried to speak with him, but he will not listen. I had hoped his feelings for you would curb his desire for revenge...”
Areen reached across the small table to touch ReShya’s arm. “The story—those boys, the one who lost his arm, it was Daemon who led them there, wasn’t it?”
She didn’t need to see ReShya’s nod to know. He’d used his friends as test subjects to see what Gyeesta would do.
“For a moment,” Areen swallowed against the sick rising in her throat, “I agreed with him. I hate the Darkened and what they did to my village, what they have done to your family. I am not sure how I feel about the traditions of my people, or the Eche-mah, but in that place, in Gyeesta, I learned for myself the difference between Light and Dark, and why the darkness must be stopped. My character sensing ability—I’ve never felt anything like it...”
ReShya met her eyes with desperation and longing. Areen didn’t want to say her next thought aloud, but she cared too much for this kind woman not to be honest with her from this moment forward. “It has taken his heart. I felt the change taking place right in front of me. I don’t know why I could not feel it before, but there in Gyeesta, he could not hide it from me. He will not stop going to that place and it will soon have all of him. I do not think there is anything out there that can shift him from his goal. Not even me.”
ReShya grabbed her hand. “Do you love him?”
It felt as if someone had stabbed her in the heart. “I love the man I thought he was.”
Tears filled ReShya’s eyes and she nodded. “That man you love is the boy I once knew.” She glanced out the window and swallowed back a sob. “But we mustn’t give up hope. Nor should you give up on the Light. Many traditions in many tribes have been twisted and changed from the way it was in the beginning, even within your own tribe.” She touched Areen’s wrist and she knew Daemon had told ReShya of Kym’s abuse.
“Your bruises could not be healed by Sphere ability because it was your mother who put them there. It was a testament of her abuse and should have been a signal to your elders of her wickedness. I am a descendant of the Firstborn, Areen, and I speak knowledge from experience. The Light is perfect, even if some of its creations are
not. Do not lose faith. Seek truth, do not let doubt and fear rule you, and you will be all right.”
“I thought... I don’t... What am I going to do?” Areen’s voice hitched and tears fell from her eyes.
ReShya reached over and brushed away Areen’s tears while her own fell steadily down her cheeks. “Whatever you must. As shall I.”
Chapter 12
Autumn, 103LR
My heart is like a broken mirror scattered across the forest floor. Some of the pieces reflect beauty and light, while others reflect twisted darkness and sorrow...
Areen sat beside the open window, the sun’s rays warming the two pieces of parchment on her lap. One a letter from her father, the other from Daemon. ReShya had left to the market, kindly giving Areen space to mourn. For two days she’d ignored Daemon’s attempts to see her. It was childish and selfish to hide in ReShya’s room and allow her, a suffering mother, tell Daemon to leave Areen be while she made her decision to stay with him or not. Childish. Selfish. Only two of the horrible words Areen could describe herself as. Her mother would add, filthy, disloyal, and evil. But it was the word her father used that hurt the most, that cut deep through her flesh and bones and sliced her heart in half. A wound that would never, ever heal.
Byee’ta. In the language of the Eche-mah, it was a term that spoke of the ultimate betrayal, it spoke of the broken hearted and the person, or persons responsible. Broken.
Her mother’s banishment and cruelty had not hurt as much as her father’s pain. He said he still loved her, would always love her, but between the attack on his village and her banishment, he was in the place of byee’ta and could not bear to see her. And even though he had not blamed her, or even written a single cruel word, knowing she was the main reason he was in such a dark place had forced her to see herself for what she truly was. An ungrateful, selfish child. Much the person her mother had always accused her of being. She had sought love and acceptance in the wrong place, from the wrong person, and in her betrayal, she’d broken her father’s heart.
In two days she would transcend. In two days she would put her plan into action. But first she had to do what she’d been avoiding. She traced Daemon’s words with her fingers.
I love you.
I’m sorry. You have no idea how sorry.
Please meet me this afternoon by the river where we first spoke. Please.
The river that joined their villages. It would be the closest to home she’d been in weeks. It felt right somehow to end it where it all began.
***
“Don’t go.” ReShya held tightly to Areen’s hand.
“I must.” Areen squeezed ReShya’s fingers. “I must end it.”
Moisture pooled in ReShya’s eyes. “And then what will you do?”
Areen tugged her hand free and turned to the window. “I have heard of a place, a quiet beautiful place where many of the old ones go to die. They don’t ask questions there. It is a place of solitude. I think I will go there.” She turned back and gave ReShya a small smile which ReShya returned with a hug.
“You are a good girl Areen,” She pulled away and raised her hand to tug a piece of Areen’s hair behind her ear. “Don’t be so hard on yourself. You have been dealt a difficult life and your recent choices only reflect a girl desperately seeking love and acceptance. It is not your fault Daemon deceived you. You must forgive yourself and you must forget the things your parents have said about you. You are loved, truly loved, by me.”
Areen swallowed against the pain in her throat. How much she loved this woman who had become more of a mother to her in these short weeks than her own ever had ever been. She wished she could stay and try to save Daemon, just for ReShya’s sake, but the only way she could even attempt to do that would be to join him, and that was something she knew she was not strong enough to do. She touched ReShya’s cheek and rushed from the house before she could change her mind.
Chapter 13
Autumn, 103LR
I have felt loss and grief when someone I cared for passed through Light’s door, but that pain did not last for I knew peace in where they had gone. The grief I feel now, I shall never escape. It will never truly leave me...
Areen could see the contours of his broad shoulders through a break in the trees. He was sitting on the same boulder where they’d first spoken, his bare feet dangling in the water. The trees would have told him she was there, but he stayed focused on the water, allowing her to choose to come forward without his encouragement. Her heart flipped at the sight of him and she realized despite everything, she missed him. And when he finally turned to look at her as she came up beside him, she could not deny that she loved him. Very much. This was going to break her heart.
He jumped from the rock and moved to her side, his eyes regretful, pleading. “Areen, I—” She placed a finger over his lips, her skin warming at the touch.
“Please Daemon, don’t. There is nothing you can say that will change my resolve. I cannot condone what you are doing, and I cannot be a part of it. I know you will not change. It is in your heart. I can sense it.” She put her hand to her forehead, signaling to him that it wasn’t just an idea, but her Sphere gift that allowed her to know the true intents of his heart. He could not hide it, no matter how many words he used to try and deny it.
He grabbed her hand and placed it on his cheek. “I love you. Can’t you feel that?” She could, and she could also feel how much her leaving would hurt him.
She couldn’t stop herself from caressing his cheek, his morning stubble scratching her fingers. “I love you too, Daemon, more than you can ever know, but I also know that my love is not enough to save you from yourself. You have made your decision. You plan to ally yourself with Gyeesta. You have intent of genocide in your heart. You may not see that plan for the evil that it is, as consumed with vengeance as you are, but it is evil Daemon.”
A shadow crossed his eyes, swallowing the warmth that had been there only moments ago. “Your gifts may allow you sense my character, Areen, but it is you who are misguided. I have shown you the inconsistencies in the Light’s teachings, the evils in your people’s traditions, and still you follow like a faithful dog to its abusive master.”
Areen pulled her hand away and slapped him across the face. “There is inconsistency in men, but there is no inconsistency in the Light.” As the words left her mouth she knew she believed them. ReShya was right. People had let her down, not the Light.
Daemon opened his mouth to retort but then turned his head swiftly to the east. Areen followed his gaze to see someone coming out of the forest toward them. He was taller than Daemon, but by his features she knew she was looking at his older brother. He was just as handsome as Daemon, but the light that had been leaving Daemon’s eyes, the light she feared would soon be gone forever, shone bright and warm from his brother’s eyes. There was a kindness there, a goodness that went soul deep, that he carried with him. When he stopped beside them she could feel it radiating from him.
“Daedal, what are you doing here?” Daemon’s tone hid the tenor of their argument. He sounded perfectly happy, a show of acting that made her stomach clench.
Daedal’s eyes kept flicking to Areen. She could feel his gaze, but kept her eyes on the forest. As twisted as her life had become, it felt wrong to be standing beside someone so good. She loved the Light, and she’d felt Their love as she’d defended Them to Daemon, but she doubted she would ever feel worthy to stand beside someone such as Daedal.
“I came to see you, little brother.”
Areen saw him tousle Daemon’s hair from the corner of her eye.
“I must go.” Areen turned to leave and Daemon grabbed her arm.
“Wait.”
She chanced a glance over at Daedal, the kindness and understanding in his eyes was more than she could bear. “Daemon, please. Let me go.” He knew what she really meant. She could see it in his eyes. Hi
s jaw hardened and he dropped her arm.
“Go.” The dismissal hurt more than she thought it should. She turned from the brothers and ran.
Chapter 14
Autumn, 103LR
Under a starlit sky, a person can almost understand the insignificance of their meager trials in comparison to the whole. But in the light of day your own pain is all you can see...
“Daemon, what are you doing?” Daedal put a hand on his brother’s arm.
“Mother contacted you.” Daemon clenched his fists as the anger threatened to consume him.
“Of course she did. She loves you. We both love you. And of what I felt as that girl left, she also loves you. Love is truth, brother. If those who love you do not agree with what you are doing, you should pay attention.”
Daemon pulled his arm away and stomped to the edge of the river. “You all think you know everything about the Light. You trust so blindly, stupidly. I have learned the truth about your precious Light.” He turned to his brother and Daedal took a step back at the look in his eyes, a look that darkened his countenance and shadowed his features until he looked like the creatures Daedal had only seen in the darkest places of the world.
“Do you know the truth of the Dark? It is a weapon to be used for our benefit. The Firstborn knew of its power and they could have used it. It could have saved our village. Father need not have died. This world could have been cleansed of those primitive humans before the rest of our kind even arrived. Those creatures do not deserve this place.”
“You speak as a deluded child! You understand nothing of history!”
A Twisted Path ebook Page 3
