Redeem (The Mage Mirrors, The Fallen Queen, and The Forgotten Child) (A Fated Fantasy Quest Adventure Book 10)

by Humphrey Quinn

  She was right though, in that sitting on the precipice of a war about to break out, was possibly the hardest task ever. Perhaps he needed to have Maria slip him another of those sleeping potions.

  Meghan made to ask Colin something when she caught his gaze narrowed into nothing particular at all, and felt a push in her mind. She attempted to ignore him, hoping he'd give up.

  Before he pushed the boundaries and tried to break into the thoughts his sister was trying to hide from him, a wisp of silver caught his eye.

  "Catrina." She'd swept through the door looking like an angel come to save the day. He got up to meet her part way, already consumed by the smile widening on her face. Even her presence did not hide the relief on his sister's face, however. She was hiding something.

  "Hi," Catrina greeted Colin. They embraced, and for a moment Colin was at ease, complete again. "I guess you missed me," she teased softly.

  His face grew hot.

  "I snuck away after my family was asleep. I can't, um, I can't stay long."

  "That's okay." It wasn't. Not really. But he'd take every minute he could get.

  "I promised I'd still be there in the morning," she told him.

  "Yeah. Of course."

  Catrina saw right through him. "If you need me—"

  "No. Really. I'm doing good. I had a long day training with Jasper. And I've been catching up." He nodded back at Meghan and Sebastien.

  Catrina shot them an eager smile. She exchanged greetings, before settling in at the table next to Colin.

  "It must be incredible to see your family again," Sebastien aimed at her.

  "It is…" she let out an uncertain sigh. "It's also—overwhelming. It's easy to forget we've all been living very different lives."

  Meghan puffed out her cheeks. "Let me guess, everyone's having a hard time adjusting to all the crazy?" Catrina's mouth turned up in a knowing smile. "Story of my life," Meghan finished. "I'm stuck in a vortex of waiting for people to catch up, catch on, and deal."

  "And she's as patient as ever about it," Ivan teased.

  That got a laugh from everyone.

  Catrina got quiet, fast, however. "It is nice to see them. A relief really. And I know it is for them too. But there is something about being out in the world on your own, living your own life, following your own path, and then—"

  "All of a sudden, you've moved back home with the parents," Sebastien surmised. "With rules, and expectations?"

  "Yeah, I guess you'd get that, huh."

  "I'm a few months from eighteen, and it's still not easy. It's like my parents have reverted me back to being a ten-year-old."

  "Yeah, it's been an—adjustment." But it was Meghan who'd said it, not Catrina.

  "Thought you were elated to have your mother with you?" Ivan smirked, rather teasingly.

  "Oh, yeah. Totally am. Would not give it up for the world. I'm just not used to it. Or—rules." Her face got hot.

  Ivan chuckled. "She told me she only set one rule." He laughed. Far too amused for Meghan's liking.

  "No boys"—meaning Sebastien—"in my room without the door open. Can you believe that!"

  They all got a roar out of that one.

  It was Sebastien's turn to get red. "And my parents agreed to it."

  Ivan let out a deep, humored sigh. "They just don't want you to grow up too fast."

  "Too late for that," Meghan chortled with an eye roll.

  The laughs subsided.

  Ivan rephrased. "They're having a difficult time acknowledging that you are. Even with all you've been through, all that's been forced on you, or me, or any of us—they just want you to stay young, a little longer."

  "I think they just—feel guilty," Sebastien said. "I know my parents do. They wish, every day, that they hadn't agreed to let Amelia use me as her—spy." He shrugged. "Lackey. Whatever you want to call it."

  "There's always going to be regrets." Ivan scrubbed his face. "But, having my mother back—she can set whatever rules she wants, I'll gladly abide."

  "Says the guy who's already shacked up with his girlfriend," Meghan retorted.

  "Says the guy who's a legal adult." Ivan struck right back.

  "You are no help." Meghan stuck out her tongue.

  "Just proving my case," Ivan sang back in a tease.

  Meghan caught Colin's delighted smile.

  "I miss this," he couldn't help but say.

  "Yeah, this is nice."

  Catrina sighed. "It is, but I'm going to have to get home soon. My parents, stuck me with a curfew. Which I'm currently breaking." Her gaze landed on Colin. "But it's nothing at all to do with you."

  He lifted a beguiled eyebrow meaning, liar. Because, of course, some of it had to do with him. How could it not?

  "They don't know you're here," she explained. "I haven't told them. But—they are aware we were traveling together, and conversations got a little heated—"

  Colin stopped her. "You don't have to explain." He didn't need to hear about their doubts and misgivings. And all he really cared about was if they were going to permit her to leave with him, or whether he'd be forced to steal her away.

  Or… he cringed at the idea she'd opt to stay. She should want to. And he should want her to. It was safer. But it was a choice that leveled him back to the frightening reality of their lives.

  The soft skin of her hand wound into his and the look she cast squelched those fears. She was still with him, whatever that meant for their future.

  "I should, um, probably go. Before they see I've snuck out and freak out." She shook her head. "They just need a bit of time to let it all sink in. That I'm still alive. And alive because of you," she aimed at Colin.

  "Somehow, I don't think there are enough lives I can save for people to come around and trust me."

  "It doesn't matter in the end, what any of them think. I trust you."

  Colin walked her out. He put the protective magical cloak over them so no one else could see them. Letting Catrina go was possibly the hardest thing ever. She didn't seem too keen on it either and was gripping her hands, anxiously.

  "Catrina—" he began timidly. "If you changed your mind—decided to stay—"

  "Shh," she put her fingers to his lips to stop him. "No mind changing going on here. It's just—harder than I thought. And in some ways, not hard at all. It's family. Not always easy or all drawn out for you. But if you told me we needed to leave right this second, I'd go with you without a moment's hesitation. They might get mad, but, it's my choice."

  "Isn't it technically theirs, until you're eighteen?"

  She chuckled. "I suppose I'm not giving them the option. But I will give them as long as I can."

  Colin nodded. Tugged her into himself and gave her a kiss. Then another. And another, until he'd stalled as long as possible and needed to let her go home. He didn't need her family freaking out and going on a search for her.

  He released her from the magical cloak and watched her silver hair sway under the moonlight as she traipsed homeward. His second soul hummed, soaking up the extra worry he was layering on himself. She was safe here. And he wasn't far from her.

  CHAPTER 15

  Katana Jade stepped back through the doorway in the cellar of the fortress on the Svoda island, back to Grimble, only to gasp and clutch her chest upon her return to the ghost world.

  "Duppy! What the heck! You scared me."

  "Sorry," he returned in a not sorry drawl.

  When her heart slowed a few beats, she put her hands on her hips and waited impatiently for the ghost to explain his presence. They were not to be caught together.

  "You've got a problem," the ghost explained.

  "I've got a few, but which one are you speaking of?"

  "They suspect you. Or at the least, do not trust you."

  "They shouldn’t if they're smart."

  "And they are, even if a bit slow to get there."

  "Look, it's all under control. Okay? I had to see my father. You were supposed to stall them i
f they got too nosy."

  "And I did."

  "So what's the problem?"

  "They are going to want to know where you were? You need to lie, and do it right."

  "Yeah, um, pretty sure I've got the hang of it." She stalked toward the wagons.

  "I've got a better idea," the ghost sniveled out.

  She huffed, but stopped. She wasn't so naïve as to not take her ancestor's advice. He'd been here a good long while. Turns out, he was a distant relative. Extremely distant—from before her people had even become Stripers.

  She'd been shocked when he'd approached her on the island with an offer of help. Because apparently, she was his unfinished business—his chance to earn his freedom to move on from Grimble. Something he'd refused to do all this time, but had finally given into. He needed to assist a descendant to win his afterlife—whatever awaited him.

  "I'm listening. Impatiently," she muttered under her breath.

  "Follow me, if you want to gain their trust."

  Her eyes pinched together in only momentary question, but Duppy had not steered her wrong yet. So she obeyed and followed the ghost into the woods.

  CHAPTER 16

  Jae was getting distressed when Colby went silent—like, is he even breathing, silent. He had the urge to make sure the guy was still breathing. Jae saw his eyes blinking now and then, from the corner of his own eye. But it was like the guy had put himself into some sort of trance or something.

  Jae drew his legs up, bending his knees to stretch a bit, and create an excuse to move around. He took a chance and twisted his head to Colby.

  "Hungry?" he asked him. He figured it was a simple, safe topic.

  "I told my sister everything I know," he blurted out in flat admittance, like he'd just been waiting for the courage to say it. And somehow Jae's silly question about food had given him that final push to get the words out.

  "What do you mean?"

  Colby repositioned himself to see Jae better. "I told her everything my father has ever taught me, told me, showed me. I don’t even know why I did it. I just… did. I had to."

  Jae nodded. He understood sibling relationships. "She's your sister." He shrugged like, family, they have a way of crawling under your skin whether you want them to or not.

  "Meghan drives me crazy, but I… like her." He wasn't ready to admit to caring about her, or loving her.

  "Sisters are like that."

  "Yeah, you'd know." Colby got quiet again, but he didn't return to his trance-like state or turn away. "My father intends to use her in his plan to return magic, to make his new Stone. She won't—she won't—survive it." Her body might, but that did not count as living. "That's why I had to tell her. She needed to know. I couldn't—" Colby held the rest in with a clipped sigh.

  The reveal sucked Jae's breath out of his lungs. It didn't surprise him, but it was a chilling burden of information to carry around. And he was guessing, only the tip of the chilling information iceberg that was dragging Colby down into its murky depths.

  Colby made to turn away, but fought the urge. There was a hesitant shiver riding his breath. His eyes grew damp and he blinked hard a few times.

  "My father—he's never going to love me—is he?"

  And they were at it, at last.

  They'd landed in the muck.

  Rock bottom was lurking close by like a pool of sludge threatening to suck him under and drown him.

  Jae wished he could lie. Wished he could make Colby’s father change on the young man's behalf. But the truth is all he could offer.

  "No. He’s not. He’s not capable of loving anyone."

  "Am I?"

  Jae hadn't expected that question but found himself smiling, though wearily so. If he had to tell the truth, this was one he could handle. He’d inched closer and opened his mouth to respond when Colby kept talking. He didn’t want to stop him, not now that he was saying something.

  "When you asked me to make it so you didn’t have to kill your sister," he got quiet for a second. "I couldn’t live with that. With you having to do that. It was wrong. I know it was wrong. It goes against everything I’m supposed to care about. Everything my father taught me. But I couldn’t let you do that. So what is that? I know in my heart, what was happening was wrong. But it was… more than that. I don’t have words to describe it."

  He let out a ragged breath and twisted himself to stare straight ahead again.

  "I know my mother loved me," he rambled on. "But I don’t think I realized what it was. Or I forgot, what it was. And I'm—so angry at her. I don't want to be. I—I miss her. I miss her so much. But—she didn't have me because she wanted me. She had to have to me because of some prophecy. It wasn't her choice."

  "How old were you when your father took you from your mother?"

  "I was six."

  Jae released another shocked exhale—so much burden the guy was carrying around. Colby's gaze slid over to Jae who looked so injured on his behalf, it was hard to keep his eyes on him.

  "It’s hard to imagine what you must have gone through when that happened," Jae expressed. "I can't even fathom someone taking me from my mother. Especially, when I was only six."

  "I don’t think about it. I can’t think about it."

  "Because you love her." Jae's meaning, yes, you are capable. "And you have Elisha," he pointed out. "You care about her, and she clearly cares about you. That's love too."

  That was true. Colby had never really thought about his Catawitch in such a way. Elisha was his constant companion. A trusted and loyal friend. She'd come to him when he was ten, and he'd accepted her friendship as loyalty, but never thought of it as some form of love. It was a Catawitch's nature to be loyal. But it was also more than that—they had an innate sense of who they'd be a good match for.

  His father acted the part of Dad, acted the part of parent and teacher. He’d played the part well—not in any good sense. He wouldn't be winning any father of the year awards—unless they had one for evil father's trying to take over the world and corrupting their sons.

  But that’s just it in the end—his father was playing a role. A role he expected a specific outcome to. A role he designed a specific outcome for. There was only one question his father had never honestly answered, one he'd asked, but not gotten an answer to. And that was, why him? Why had his father chosen him? And not Meghan, or even Colin.

  His father was so many steps ahead of everyone else, there had to be a reason why he'd chosen him above the others. Perhaps it had been as simple as just pick one. Who knew?

  Only his father. That's who.

  And it wouldn't have made any real difference if he and Meghan had somehow been switched—grown up on the other side. Their roles would simply have been switched, too. She was just as much a pawn as he was. Only better at accepting it, he guessed. Probably easier to do in her case. She didn't grow up knowing who her father was. She wasn't raised by him. She wasn't subjected to the sick, suppressed deep down knowledge that he was never going to love or care about his child—or children—an intimate knowledge eating away at Colby's own soul.

  He'd always known this about his father, but accepting it was proving a much harder task than Colby thought it should. His father would see it as weakness. Even this—accepting his father was a terrible man, he'd see as weakness. Any moment of doubt, or hesitation equaled weakness.

  His father had tried to stamp the weakness out of him.

  He'd failed.

  Colby always assumed he'd loved his father. And maybe he did, and that's why this was so hard. Love was—complicated. And came in many forms, and had many different ways of manifesting itself.

  And only now, after seeing what real love actually looked like, did Colby realize this was not true. Not even close to true. Probably the exact opposite of true. He didn't love his father and his father did not love him. It was a relationship of—necessity. At least on his father's part. Colby had no choice, he'd never been given any other choice.

  This love th
ing was messing with his head. Why was it even important? Why did he even crave it so badly? And this specific kind of love he was trying to understand, tonight, it was… different. New. Something he had not experienced before, and was unlike what he had with Elisha. Or his grandmother. Or even, he realized, with Meghan.

  "Love—hurts," Jae continued, somewhat absentmindedly. "I wish it didn’t. I wish caring about someone, or something, didn’t hurt so much. But I think it’s the hurt and the pain that lets you know you do love something."

  "Or someone?"

  Jae nodded. Nervously so.

  Colby’s gaze deepened into an intent, raw, curiosity.

  "Is love what I’m feeling right now? Because I don’t know. I’ve never hurt like this. Why would anyone want to hurt like this? I never knew it was possible to hurt like this." He crunched his eyes together. "No, that’s not… when my father took my mother away…"

  This overwhelming desire to take away this pain had Jae swimming in a hundred thoughts, but the only one that surfaced scared him near to death. Despite that fear, he'd sworn to live a life of truth—so before he lost his nerve, he closed the distance, and kissed Colby.

  And as instantly, doubted the move and yanked himself back with a twist of his body that put more distance between them. If he'd had the courage, he would have just fled the wagon and slapped himself for doing such a stupid thing.

  He heard nothing from Colby, except even breaths.

  Jae shook his head and lowered it, humiliated. "Sorry. I um—" guess you’re not the only one confused about some things. He let out a punishing sigh. "I’ve never done that before. I don’t know why I—"

  "Would you—do that—again?"

  Jae swung his head to see Colby in the same position he’d been in, with a stupefied look in his blue eyes—an intense need to understand.

  Jae repositioned himself, still holding onto the apprehension. Kissing someone on the fly was hard enough, but premeditated kissing, that was much, much scarier. Colby hadn't shunned him, so that was something. His gut had told him he wasn't reading things wrong, but this was the scariest theory he'd ever tested.