Before she could determine how to save any of them, the shadows moved from the trees and a large black creature stood before them. Ana could feel the trees holding it back, but she didn’t know how she might use that. A wide grin split its face in half, and a dark tongue licked over it. Red-rimmed eyes stared at her as the hunched figure took a step forward. It was at least seven feet tall, slender, and as the cloak fell from its shoulders—no, their shoulders—the creature stood taller and almost feminine in shape.
She closed her eyes as Belle started to whimper behind her. Reaching out, she could feel the two souls intertwined, becoming one within the creature. One she knew; the other knew her.
She pushed Ed around behind her, or at least tried as he was determined to stand beside her. “She is after you,” Ana hissed. “Allow me to protect you.”
“She?” he asked.
“They. There are two within.”
“How do you know?” he asked as the creature remained focused on Ed, staring and flicking the long tongue.
“She is the same,” the chief whispered behind her. Then the creature pounced, moving forward incredibly quickly, sharp claws outstretched.
Ana closed her eyes again, stretched out her hand and hoped she had something of the magic within her to stop it. As another hand rested on her shoulder, an ear-splitting scream filled their world. And the hold squeezed tighter.
The creature was on its knees. Long fingers covered its face; the claws scratched at its eyes.
“Stop,” Ana said. And it did, dropping its hands to the ground and bowing its head.
“Forgive us,” it hissed.
“Who sent you?” she asked, although she knew the answer.
It looked up, an unnatural grin spreading across its face. But when Ana scowled, it looked down again. “We did not know you were here, Majesty.”
“But I thought…” Belle said behind her.
“I only want the boy,” it hissed.
“He is mine,” Ana said. She felt Dray’s hand lighten its hold, and the creature flicked its dark eyes to him. “They are both mine,” she added.
“The child wants your blood,” the creature said, twitching and crying out again, as though in a battle with itself.
“She is yours,” Ana continued. “Do not make me take her.”
The creature pulled back, hissing again, and then it was gone.
Ana sighed, putting her hands to her face. “What are you?” she asked.
I am you.
“Ana?” Ed asked, pulling her towards him, and Dray’s hand slipped away.
“Where did you come from?” Belle asked, and turning to Ana. “Where did that come from?” She held out her arm towards the trees.
Ana shook her head. “I don’t think it will return, not yet. The trees help keep you safe.” She glanced at the chief then, his face unreadable. He nodded once. “I can’t stay,” she said to him.
“The trees struggle with your kind.”
“I understand,” she said as Ed gripped her tighter, pulling her back into his arms.
“You can’t leave us.”
“I must. I can’t keep you safe in the trees. They have a magic of their own.”
“Do you want to be Queen?” Ed asked, his low voice whispered in her ear.
She pulled out of his arms, confused by the question. Then she glanced at Belle, standing back. “No,” she said too quickly.
“She already is,” the chief said, bowing his head once more.
“That is not what I want,” she said. “That is not who I am.”
“You are as you are. She and you are one.”
She spun on Dray, still at her back, still silent. She looked at him, willing him to say something that would help, but he only shook his head.
“What is she?” Belle asked.
Ana closed her eyes. “It no longer matters,” she whispered. And when she opened her eyes, she was too close to the mage and too far from those she only wanted to help.
Chapter 17
“What is she?” the king asked the chief as Dray stared at the space Ana had filled not so long before.
He had known something was coming, something dark. Then she had appeared and his first thought, other than to throw his arms around her and drag her to his chest, was that she was the darkness.
Then the king had done just that, holding her tight, and although she had returned the hold, she’d looked at Dray. Willing him to do the same, and yet he couldn’t.
“What is wrong with you?” Belle asked, tapping his arm.
“What?” He shook Ana from his mind and stared down at the blonde girl.
She stared up at him, her hands finding her hips. “What is wrong with you?”
“Nothing,” he said quickly. But Ana hadn’t looked like the girl he remembered, and she felt different beneath his hold. As she did in his dreams. Although he couldn’t understand such dreams, he wondered if she had shared them.
“You hesitated. You never hesitate when it comes to Ana,” Belle said, her voice accusing him, of what he wasn’t sure.
“Belle?” the king asked. “He stepped up when he needed to, as he does. Did he hesitate?” Now he was watching Dray closely as well.
“I was surprised,” Dray said. The girl nodded as though agreeing with him. He had hesitated. He had not wanted them to know what he felt. He didn’t want her to be confused. He was confused.
“She is like that creature,” he said, making eye contact with the chief of the Near Folk. “Yet you allowed her access to the trees.”
“She is alike and yet very different.”
“She is two souls, joined as one.”
The chief sighed. “It is not something I can explain. I know of it, but not what it is. Her magic has come from… beyond,” he added as though searching for a word. “They work together, for a common goal.”
“The crown,” Dray said. “That creature called her Majesty.”
“It may be that the other is just that, but whether that is what your Ana wants is unknown.”
He wanted to say that she wasn’t his, that he claimed no ownership, and yet they were connected. He looked back at the man and then his hand.
“You are connected, and she draws from you. Although, which one draws that power we may never know.”
“Until the king is handing him her crown and we are all lost.”
Dray glanced at Belle. Did she really think that Ana would betray them in such a way?
“I don’t…” the king started, but Belle turned an angry glare on him, and he stopped.
“You don’t know her. She suddenly appeared in our midst when we thought she couldn’t return to us, and then she was gone again. She could have taken you with her. She could have taken you to the capital and magicked you onto the throne.”
“She may think us safer away from the capital,” Dray offered. Ana would have had a reason. She had come to save them, after all, sensing the creature. But he had hardly understood what she had said to it, other than that he was hers as well. He pushed out a breath. He would be sleeping in his armour tonight. If she did visit him in his dreams, rather than an idea of her, that might slow things down enough for them to talk.
“What do we do now then?” Belle asked with a strength he hadn’t seen in her since they had entered the forest. “Do we wait for that creature to return? Do we try for the capital?”
Dray sighed. He had no idea what to do. He looked to the king, who was studying her.
“What will you do?” the king asked.
“I don’t know,” she snapped, and he grinned at her. She wasn’t quite sure how to respond and looked down. “I’m sorry,” she murmured.
“Don’t be,” the king said quickly, stepping forward. “It is nice to see some spirit. I wish I had the same passion.”
“Do you think Ende has gone to the capital? Did Ana know where he was?”
Dray nodded. “She knows, although she didn’t say where or why.” Dray turned back to the chief. “Wha
t do you say?”
“You are to follow your king, not I.”
“I know what is to be done,” the king said, his voice calm. Dray wondered when he had finally determined what he was to do, or if it had only happened when Ana had appeared before them. “I am unsure how to achieve it. And I don’t want to bring death to the kingdom in my attempt to retake it.”
“It may not be avoidable,” Dray said.
“We can’t hide here forever,” the king said. “Can you help me?” he asked the chief.
“We can guide you, help in some ways, but it is you who must find a way to defeat your uncle and reclaim your throne.”
“I have some allies within the capital.”
“Enough?” the chief asked.
“I hope so,” the king said, turning to Dray, who hoped the look he was trying to give was confidence.
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Ende watched the girl by the window, her hands fidgeting, and he wondered how safe they really were in this room. He glanced around. It had a familiar feel to it, and he wondered if it was just the castle. Being back stirred more in him than he’d expected.
She glanced at him and then back to the view beyond. She looked so like her mother, and yet there was something very different. Her hair was more red than blonde, but its wayward nature caused his breath to catch. He looked over at the sword master watching him closely. He knew the truth, it seemed by the way he watched Ende, as though he might take the child and run.
Ende had no idea why he needed to be here, why he had to come and see the child for himself. But that was the reason—not Ana, not a need to help the king, but to see that the child he was so sure had killed Essa had lived.
“When will she return?” she asked, a longing in her voice he did not expect. Too much was not as he had thought.
“It is hard to know how far she has gone,” Ende said, trying to keep his voice soft. Forest feared they would be discovered. Even with Ana gone, the regent would make them pay for taking residence in his tower.
“She went for Ed,” the child said, as though it were obvious to all. “Will she bring him back?”
“Is it safe to return him?”
“That is what Ana says.”
“What is she to you?” Ende asked.
She shrugged then, one shoulder lifting higher than the other, and he wondered at the wings hidden within her. Would he need to help her find them, or did she already know they were there?
“She is trouble,” Forest murmured.
“Really Papa,” the girl said, turning a smile on him that lit up the room. “She needed us, and she will help Ed.”
“That is why you help her,” Ende said aloud, “because she is the way to help the king.”
“That is not the only reason,” she said quickly, a flush rising to her cheeks.
“Then explain it.”
“I can’t…” she stammered. “I need her.”
The sword master sighed. “Whatever she is, she feared something.”
“We are hiding.”
“The threat is not what it was, at least for now,” Ana said calmly, appearing in the middle of the room. Ende flinched despite himself. She locked her gaze on him. “I still scare you, at least,” she said, then slumped to the floor.
“Where is Ed?” Salima asked, rushing forward and throwing her arms around the woman.
She sighed and leaned into the girl. “Safe,” she murmured.
“What did you do?” Ende asked, squatting before her.
“Not as much as I could have. The mage has sent something after Ed; I think they mean to kill him.”
“Why did you scream?” Forest asked, standing back from the group.
“I wasn’t sure what it was. Dark, hateful. There is a lust for power hidden within the compliant servant.”
The man looked at the girl, who was too busy holding on to Ana to fully understand what was being said.
“I don’t have anything they would want,” she said, and Ende realised she was listening very closely.
Ana ran a hand over her hair. “You have a fire that could destroy them all.”
Salima sat back, looking at the sword master nervously. Then she looked over her own hands.
“Have you seen it?” Ende asked.
She nodded, her gaze still down.
“Can you direct it?”
“Not always. I haven’t really tried.” She looked back to the man she saw as her father, and something sharp pierced Ende’s heart. Would he have had any more time with this child if he had remained in the capital, if his queen had not died? He should have taken them both away, far away, and yet he would have lost her still.
“I could teach you,” he said softly, holding his breath in fear of her response.
But instead of looking up at him, she looked to Ana, who nodded once. Then she closed her eyes and sighed.
“Did you find the Near Folk with them?” Ende asked.
Ana nodded again. Whatever she had done had taken more from her than she’d been prepared for. When she had first disappeared, Forest had claimed that her magic hadn’t returned, that she had been too damaged by her time with the mage in his cells. She must have kept it hidden from them, but was that because she didn’t trust them or because she worried they wouldn’t trust her?
“Who else knows you are here?” Ende asked, focused on Ana.
“A cleric,” she murmured. “The Near Folk?”
“The trees,” he answered.
“They shared the magic.”
“They wish to protect the king as well.”
“Do you think he should come?” she asked.
“He needs to make a stand of some kind if he wishes to be seen as the true king, if for no other reason but to be seen. Does she want you to help the boy?” he asked, reaching out a hand and placing it on Ana’s knee.
She nodded again, leaning more on the child than the child was on her. He left his hand where it was, closed his eyes and blew out a soft breath. Large green eyes stared back at him from the darkness. Strange images flashed through his mind, but he couldn’t grasp on to any of them.
He removed his hand, opened his eyes and found Ana and the child both staring at him. “I needed to be sure of what you are,” he said, trying to smile.
“And?”
He shook his head. “I think you should rest. Whatever you have done has drained more than your energy. I have some old friends to reacquaint myself with.”
“I can show you the way,” the girl said, jumping to her feet. The man behind her took a step forward.
Ende smiled, wanting desperately to run his hand through her hair. “I thank you for your kindness,” he said. “I know my way around the castle, and I’ll be sure to only let those I want to know that I am here see me.”
Ende didn’t know who he wanted to see. It had been so long since he had been in the capital, he didn’t even know if those he’d known then were still around. But then, Forest had been Barric’s closest friend. More dear to the king than his own brother. Ende stopped in the middle of the courtyard and looked up.
Thom had been a boy himself when they were all together, when Barric had become king. And there’d been no real friendship there. Was that why he’d stolen the crown and locked the boy away?
He wasn’t a man on the inner circle, and he barely knew what was going on in the kingdom, let alone amongst the friends. So much had happened in that time. Long before he and Essa…
But that was a whole lifetime ago, and much more had changed in that time. If it had been any other king asking for his help, Ende would have turned them away. And despite the boy’s uncertainty, he was the king. Ana was certain he was to be on the throne, wearing the crown his father had worn before him.
Ende headed towards the main rooms, hoping he could find the throne room as easily as he used to. As he stood in the doorway, taking in the people, bowing and talking with the man who sat solidly within the wooden frame, Ende knew it would not be as easy as Ana had first thoug
ht. Ed could not simply stand before the people, thank his uncle for his help and have him step aside.
The King’s Regent was very comfortable and didn’t appear to consider the boy a threat at all, although Ende was sure the man had asked for the mage’s help and wouldn’t shy away from some beast being sent to kill him. The regent locked eyes with him across the room, and a confused look crossed his face.
Thom had been interested in Mariela, Ende remembered. But she only ever had eyes for her soldier.
“Endeavour,” the man said loudly, pushing up from the throne. The people around him stepped back. “It has been an age.”
Ende bowed his head in the respect the man expected and smiled. “That it has.”
“You don’t appear to have suffered from the time as I have,” Thom said, looking Ende up and down.
“I am surprised to see you here,” Ende said.
“You have been gone so long.” The man stepped forward and reached out a hand to him as though they were long-lost friends. “You left before our dear Ter-essa’s illness, and I’m afraid Barric died a few short years later.”
Ende nodded slowly, wondering what excuse this man would give for their deaths, particularly that of his brother. The friendly approach stopped, and although he held his hands out, he didn’t try to touch Ende. An idea flashed through Ende’s mind, that he could burn the man where he stood and fix all their problems.
“I had travelled far,” Ende said, “but news still travels.”
Thom nodded slowly, as though understanding his grief.
“Edwin?” Ende asked, and there was the smallest flinch from the man.
“Missing.” He waved his hand. “It has all been too much for the boy; it appears he has run away from his responsibilities.”
“Truly? I would have thought you would have guided him in his understanding of what was required of him, and that he would already sit upon the throne.”
Thom cleared his throat. “I tried very hard,” he said. “The boy is not what his father would have hoped,” he added in a loud whisper.
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