From the corner of my eye I see Elaine’s smile nearly split her face. Tentatively, a small smile tugs at my lips too. “Besides, I could use a girlfriend around here. Far too many men giving me commands for my liking.” I look back and find Elaine’s eyes wide and her mouth parted slightly. Doubt starts to roar its ugly head. Did I say something wrong? What that not the right thing to say?
After a beat Elaine says, “You smiled.” A warm smile stretches across her face in wonder.
Oh. So that’s what had her so surprised. Thank gods it was only that. Embarrassment heats my face and sharpens my words. “So? That’s not something you just point out like that.” I fiddle with hands briefly before I begin shoveling food in my mouth.
“Do it again.” Elaine shifts forward, eagerness written across her face.
I huff. “No.”
With a small grumble, Elaine leans back in her chair. “Fine.” She pouts and crosses her arms.
“Seriously?” No response. “It’s too weird to ask someone that.” This time I cross my arms, meal forgotten.
At that she laughs and the fake pout vanishes. Her eyes sparkle with mischief. “It’s not weird at all. What’s wrong with wanting to see a smile rather than a scowl?”
That thoughts stops me up short. She’s right. Who would want to see a person who scowls all the time? I’m not intentionally trying to be gloomy, but it’s hard to find an occasion to smile after watching your entire village get annihilated. This trail of thoughts sobers me and I glance down. “Did Abel tell you what happened?”
The atmosphere in the room seems to darken. Voice somber, “Yes. He told me what they did to you.” From the corner of my eye I see her lean forward slightly. “I am so sorry for what happened to you Alanna. And I’m sorry if Abel telling me went against your wishes.” Her eyes shine with understanding, almost like she truly gets it. I sense no pity in her gaze and that causes my heart to clench painfully.
Sorry doesn’t bring them back.
I slowly shake my head and gloss over the apology. It doesn’t surprise or bother me that Abel told her. “It’s honestly better that he told you. I don’t think I could muster the strength to tell it again.” I glance up, eyes burning, only to find her eyes misty. “Besides, you knowing the truth and still wanting to be my friend afterword is nice.” My word choice is awkward, but I’m unsure how to properly articulate just want I mean. I try again, voice dark. “Knowing you still want to be friends with a monster like me is reassuring.”
Tears slowly trek down Elaine’s face and her eyes are pinched like she’s in pain. “You’re not a monster. Not at all.” Her face grows hard and unyielding. “No. The monster is the one who did this to you, Alanna. Never mistake that.”
I swallow thickly, tears threatening to spill. Elaine’s voice loses her edge. “Besides, your past doesn’t define you unless you let it.” She smiles softly. “Let’s eat.”
Chapter 11
After the depressing conversation, we resumed our meal and made small talk to pass the time. Questions about trivial things, like our favorite season, color, and so on distracted me from the dark place my head had gone to during our conversation.
A short time later, I excused myself.
I hurried to the library to meet Benjamin and Kelog.
So here I am now, sitting in the lavish library filled to the brim with books. It feels almost magical. Some combination of the sun shining through the windows, the rich colors of the room, and the extraordinarily high ceilings add to the mystique.
Across from me sits Benjamin and Kelog. The talnarin guard with the hazelnut hair cut close to his head and orange eyes. Only Benjamin greets me with a smile, the other looking solemn. I nob my head regally to both before leaning back in my chair, legs stretched.
“Hey Alanna. Welcome back.” Benjamin pushes the blonde hair from his eyes and smiles at me.
“What are we learning today?” I’m excited to hear what the lesson plan will be today. I’ve always enjoyed learning from Benjamin, his quirky behavior is endearing.
His eyes light up with excitement. “Humans. We’re going to be learning about humans.”
My excitement dies. “I see.” I look around and find the library empty besides the three of us.
Benjamin deflates. “Well, I know you used to be human.” I flinch and look back to him. “But, there is still so much that even humans aren’t aware of.” His eagerness surges back as he leans closer and talks faster. “You’ll also be sharing some stories with us of your time as a human.”
Nope. Not revisiting that part of my past anytime soon. “Do I get a choice in any of this?”
Benjamin looks confused, as if he couldn’t fathom why someone wouldn’t share his enthusiasm. “You don’t want to learn more about your species?” An odd look crosses his face. “Or at least, your previous species.”
Ouch.
That statement hurts more than I’ll admit. I look at Kelog and find him eyeing me carefully. He’s remained carefully silent and watchful. His deep voice echoes through the library. “Malik instructed me to enforce his orders. So, no, you don’t get a choice.”
I nod, my lips turning down in a frown. Why did I expect anything different?
Benjamin whips his head back and forth between the two us currently having a stare down. Kelog leans back in his chair and folds his arms behind his head, an almost imperceptible smirk playing on his lips.
“Ready to begin. Alanna?” I turn my attention back to Benjamin and give him a slight nod, shifting my weight. A dull ache between my shoulder blade has persisted all morning, and I thought it would fade with time, as my other aches did. But this one refuses to abate. It almost feels as if it’s getting worse.
I force my attention back to Benjamin. “Sure.”
His face brightens. “We’ll start with the history between humans and talnarins, alright?” He doesn’t wait for an answer as he continues. “Do you know the history between our species?”
I shake my head. “The Elders never even taught us our own history. No one knows where we came from or why seclude ourselves.”
Benjamin nods, smiling softly. “I figured as much from our previous talks. To say you were surprised to learn about other species would be an understatement.”
He pulls a book from the stack on the desk. This book is so old it’s falling apart. The edges of the cover are peeling and the pages are yellow. There’s no title to depict what it is I’m looking at. “This is one of a kind book. It’s the only book still in existence that tells the story between our species as it happened nearly two hundred years ago. Of course, that’s not to say that the humans don’t have their own books.”
He opens the pages carefully, flipping to an old map of Bylir centered on our small corner of the world. He pushes it closer and I examine the fragile and fading page.
My brows furrow. “Nothing’s changed.” I glance up and meet Benjamin’s eyes. “The map Malik showed me depicts the same locations and towns. My town has been around for two hundred years.”
Gently, he pulls the book back and closes it. “Things would have been so different had history not bowed the way it did. In the year 1835, the first human encountered the talnarins. Right here at Craforian, to be exact.” My eyes are drawn to Benjamin folding his hands on the desk. “Things went well for some time. The human visited the talnarin village many times, learning all he could about our species. But one day, he never showed.”
What? “Why didn’t he return?”
Benjamin shrugs his shoulder nonchalantly. “No one knows. But as a few days went past and he never returned, our ancestors got suspicious. Rightfully so, too. While that human never surfaced again, others did. They attacked at first light and managed to kill nearly twenty-three talnarins.” My mouth drops. “The humans not killed in retaliation, retreated to their king. They-”
“Whoa.” I hold my hands up and take a deep breath. I attempt to pull my thoughts together and form a coherent sentence. “So, humans attacke
d first? Why?”
“There are theories, but there’s not a definite answer to that question. Some say they attacked out of fear. Others say it was out of arrogance.” He runs a hand through his hair and sighs heavily.
Disappointment rushes through me at the lack of answers this lesson is providing. “Fine. So, humans have a King? You told me last time that humans are the only ones without a King line or whatever you want to call it.”
He smiles sheepishly. “It’s called a monarch, a hereditary ruling family. As for humans, well… they don’t have a King anymore. We’ll explain why that changed too. It ties in with the history between our species.” Benjamin glances at Kelog who still sits with his hand behind his head.
Kelog’s eyes slowly slide from me to Benjamin. With a curt nod, he lowers his arms and says, “The humans tucked their tails between their legs and tattled to their monarch, King Zurav.”
“Like any great monarch, he declared war on our ancestors. He claimed that our species was a cruel and malicious people who slaughtered innocent humans.” Kelog huffs a breath and stretches his legs. “Well, that was just the thing needed to gather the forces. They marched to slaughter the rest of the villagers.”
I gasp. “And did they?”
“No. Our King, King Olec, had already evacuated the rest of villagers once he heard about the attack.” A small smile tugs at his lip. “No, instead a village full of warriors were standing at the ready. The humans were the ones who were slaughtered that day.”
My eyes widen.
A sardonic grin stretches across Kelog’s face while Benjamin looks solemn. “Then the humans retreated to their tiny little villages where they’ve remained isolated since.”
“And that’s it? That’s the history between our two species?”
Kelog goes still and his face wipes of emotion. It’s scary how Malik and Zeke do that, now Kelog? It’s like they all took lessons on how to be tough shit. “No. That was just the beginning.” He leans forward, voice going low. “The talnarin king, Kind Olec couldn’t take the slight the humans caused, so he retaliated. He sent assassins into the human villages to kill all those in charge.”
My mouth drops open.
“It didn’t matter if they had a hand in the war or not. They were killed anyway, including the King himself.” He leans back in his chair, eyes one me. “The assassins killed any of the King’s blood they could find.”
Kelog pauses and glances over at Benjamin, who’s looking down with a dark look on his face. “That’s why there is no human monarch today. Our ancestors slaughtered them.”
Kelog looks back to me and I can’t help the shudder that passes through me. What a dark history between our species. It makes me wonder why our species never taught us this. Shouldn’t we know of what’s out there so we have a better chance of facing it if we must?
“So, in fear, the humans hid in their small villages and never ventured far. They feared their own deaths, I’m sure. But as time passed, they slowly forgot what happened and what they were hiding from. They forgot who they were and what they were capable of.”
My brows furrow. What they were capable of? What is Kelog talking about?
“The reason twenty-three talnarins were killed that day was because the humans possessed abilities our ancestors were unaware of.”
Holy shit.
“We were at a disadvantage because that human rat exposed our abilities to the rest of the humans. They knew what we were capable of, to an extent, while we walked in blind.” He stretches his arms behind his neck, face blank. “We were able to annihilate them the second time because they had lost their element of surprise.”
I stare in wonder. “What were humans capable of though?”
This time it’s Benjamin who says, “Humans can manipulate time.”
I gape.
Chapter 12
Since I woke this morning, I’ve been queasy and lightheaded. The pain in my shoulders blades is more pronounced today, and my limbs are heavy with an ache that settles deep within my bones. My head throbs in tandem with my heart. I wipe my forehead once more, sweat coating my skin and saturating my leathers.
A visit to Freya after practice will probably be best.
And the information dumped on me yesterday constantly repeats in my head—it’s probably not helping the headache.
Who would’ve known that humans used to be able to manipulate time? The idea still boggles me. How my village kept that from us, I have no idea. Why wouldn’t the Elders tell their villagers of their powers?
Yesterday, I pressed Benjamin and Kelog for more information, but they had refused. Instead we had moved on to more boring topics, like my life as a human. They dragged story after story out of me. I told them about basic village life and what rules the Elders had enforced. They asked what stories my Elders used to tell, too. It was tiring recounting it all.
At the end of the day, I tried my luck one more time, but the men still refused to answer my questions about my species’ history. I’ll need to do some research of my own to dig up more details of the whole ‘humans can manipulate time’ thing.
Will I be able to manipulate time?
I snap back to the present and focus. “I need a break.” I might fall over if I try to use my powers.
Zeke looks at me in amused disbelief. “You’re kidding, right? We are doing the easy stuff today. You even had a break yesterday, Red.”
True. Today is supposed to be easy. We resumed the training we started two days ago. We’ve been sitting in the sand all morning working on calling up my Elestal affinity. Anytime I fail, I’m zapped. Even still, it’s not a draining training regiment, not really. I shouldn’t be feeling this weak and weary. But I do.
I manage a whisper as pain radiates through my shoulder blades. “Something’s wrong.”
Alarm flashes through Zeke’s eyes as I sway. He reaches out and grips me by the shoulders, holding me steady. His sharp voice echoes through my aching head as he calls for Malik.
Blood rushes through my ears, drowning out all sound. My vision blurs and I blink rapidly, trying to clear it. I whimper and clench my eyes closed, fighting the rising nausea.
It does no good.
I empty the contents of my stomach on the sandy ground.
I have no idea if I managed to avoid getting Zeke; I can only hope so. I heave until there’s nothing left but bile. Vaguely, I note that tears trail down my face. Somehow, I manage to peel my eyes open but darkness creeps around the edges of my vision. All too soon, the darkness expands and overtakes me.
**
Malik
Shit.
I manage to sweep her into my arms before her body connects with the ground. My eyes snap to Zeke. “Get Freya. I want a bed ready.”
My first-in-command is moving before I even finish my sentence. He dashes from the arena as Adrian and Mikhail enter. Both have guarded expressions, always ready for anything. Their eyes connect with the small body in my arms and widen.
“Mikhail.” Eyes connect with mine. “Get Abel. We’ll be in the infirmary.” I’ve already started moving in that direction, both of my Elites trailing closely behind me. Mikhail rushes out ahead of me and I turn to address Adrian. “Get the rest and meet me there.” He too rushes past me.
I move into the infirmary quickly, occasionally glancing down at the fragile girl in my hands. Her eyes flicker back and forth restlessly under her lids. As I cross the threshold of the infirmary, I find Freya and Zeke already waiting.
No words are spoken. None are needed.
I carefully place the girl onto the bed Freya indicates and take a step back. Freya checks her vitals and assesses her condition. Gently, she turns the girl over and inhales sharply. Her head whips around and her panic filled eyes met mine. Moving closer, I peer down at the immobile girl.
“Fuck!”
Underneath the leathers by her shoulder blades is movement. It ripples as if something moves just beneath the surface.
It looks a
live.
From the corner of my eye I see Zeke move in from the other side. A soft curse rings out in the heavy silence. Voice strained I say, “Get me a blade.” Without looking up, I accept the blade Zeke hands me.
I grip the edge of the leathers and angle my blade. In a quick movement, I pull the blade through. The leathers split easily and I toss the blade back to Zeke when I’m finished. Careful not to jar the girl’s body, I rip the leathers all the way free. Swiftly, Freya covers the exposed girl with a white sheet, leaving her back exposed.
The skin ripples and moves near the shoulder blades. I rub a weary hand down my face and exhale roughly.
“Freya, there’s nothing we can do but wait it out.” I look to her and find her soft face crestfallen. I place a gentle hand on her shoulder, causing her to meet my eyes. “We can make her more comfortable.” At this small admission, the despair lessons and faint hope returns. “Bring me a bowl and cloth for the sweat. Find some loose clothes for her to wear too.” She swiftly turns to leave but I clasp her wrist gently. She peers back over her shoulder.
“Don’t tell anyone what you saw here.” She nods before leaving gracefully. I pull up a chair next to the girl and softy call my men. Kelog and Adrian enter. They stand at attention, their eyes briefly moving to Alanna’s still form.
Just as quietly I say, “Freya will be returning with supplies. Bring them in and send her off to ready Alanna’s room.” I watch them nod sharply. “I want you two at the door at all times. No one enters without my permission. When Mikhail returns, send him to check on the tests. Go.” In seconds they disperse, leaving Zeke and I alone with the girl.
We exchange a brief look. I hear muffled footsteps outside the room and look towards the door. Abel enters, concern etched across his face. He moves stiffly to her bedside and looks down at her. His wide eyes flick to mine almost instantly.
“This cannot be, brother.”
I sigh deeply. “But it is. Whatever they did to her, whatever she is, it’s more than we predicted.”
Spilt Secrets (A Talnarin Novel Book 2) Page 7
