by M. Dalto
He was having none of it.
It wasn’t that he didn’t care for his people.
He just needed to figure out things with his family first.
That primarily included the relationship between his brother and his wife.
They each sat on different sides of the library’s main study area, Reylor leaning against a desk while Alex sat in the opposite chair, perhaps out of respect for the difficult situation. Treyan had to commend them both for that, though he would never admit it to either of them. Not now. Not when they had betrayed him in the worst possible ways.
He meant what he had said to Alex the night before—he had done nothing wrong.
The most he was at fault for was protecting his family, and his Empire, with his life.
And his daughter...
She and her Emperor sat away from Alex and Reylor, next to each other and whispering low so no one else could hear them.
Sarayna brought him back, but Alex still seemed surprised when he arrived.
Had she not told her he was alive? Did Sara somehow orchestrate all of this, and want Treyan to return home to a life in shambles?
Next to them was his mother. Saratanya.
The former Queen Empress had been quite subdued since her return to the Empire and continued to be so as she sat in a chair across from Treyan. Even after their unwelcome homecoming, Treyan had hoped she would have stayed with him, at least for the night. Regardless of where they could have stayed, he wanted to ensure his mother was properly cared for after all she had done to help him. Having been estranged from the palace for some time, he was uncertain about the current available rooms. Even knowing his old room remained unoccupied, it still seemed livable and he was more than willing to give it to his mother.
She declined his offer, saying she needed time to re-familiarize herself. He later found out she had spent the night at Jamison’s when the Captain had found her wandering the village in the middle of the night as though disoriented. Treyan made a mental note to keep an eye on her.
Soon after they had all arrived and situated themselves, he stood, knowing they were all watching him. None spoke. Again, he commended them for their restraint. This was his meeting, after all—he needed to know what had happened, and what was happening. The only way he was going to get those answers would be to start asking questions.
His fists were clenched at his sides and he turned to see each of them, this warped family he had acquired.
“Treyan, let me explain...” his brother began.
“Oh, you’re beyond explanation,” Sara snapped, cutting Reylor off.
“Sarayna, enough,” Alex interjected, but her gaze watched on Treyan as though she expected him to step in.
Jared was the only one with the sense to keep quiet.
Perhaps there would be hope yet.
Treyan cleared his throat, crossed his arms over his chest, and leaned against a nearby desk. He looked at each and every one of them before he spoke.
“I asked you all here,” he began, as calmly as he could, “because there are many, many questions that need to be answered.”
He cut a glance towards his brother before he continued. “As you can see, I am very much alive.”
“Yes, but how?” Alex pleaded.
“How, indeed,” Sara murmured, but Alex gave her a glare that kept her quiet, stopping her from saying anything further.
His wife turned to him, her hands spread before her in question. “Treyan—I held you while you died. I watched you die, I...” She trailed off, and he could hear the sadness in her voice.
It took every ounce of willpower he possessed to keep from running to her, from holding her in his arms.
But he refrained, clearing his parched throat as he turned to his brother.
Reylor’s red eyes were already on him, blazing into his.
“Perhaps you’d care to enlighten us?” Treyan asked with bitterness in his voice.
His brother held his gaze for a moment longer before he turned to the rest of the room. They were all watching him, but it was Alex who kept her eyes locked on Reylor’s. Treyan felt his blood boil with rage as he watched their silent conversation, and he wondered what had transpired between them in his absence.
Reylor ran his hands through his hair, breaking his eye contact with the Queen Empress to stand and face the rest of the room. If Treyan didn’t know any better, he would guess his brother was nervous, but Reylor began speaking before he could analyze him further.
“There is some truth in what happened,” his brother began. “Treyan did die. We saw it—when the Councillor stabbed him, with a dagger laced with dark magic. It coursed through him like a poison, quick and lethal. Even when Alex unleashed the power sleeping within her, it wasn’t enough—he was dead. As his brother, I took it upon myself to see to his burial. He deserved to be entombed with the rest of the royal family, so I made the arrangements, regardless of whether I was Lord Steward of the Empire or the Betrayer. No one questioned me—in fact, they avoided me at all costs, and with Alex out of commission...”
Treyan stood straighter at the reminder—she had mentioned losing the child the previous night, but it never occurred to him the effects it had on her. The effects that still may have remained.
His concern for the Empress washed away, however, when he noticed how Reylor looked at her as he talked, how she looked back at him. He cleared his throat harshly as he glared at his brother.
Reylor got the hint. Clearing his own throat, he continued.
“When Treyan had told me that our mother was still alive, my mind started racing.” He looked to Saratanya, the color in his face fading slightly. “We both saw our mother die, just as we knew for certain Treyan had passed. Yet here they both are. I knew why—the magics to do such an act were dark, but I knew them. I... I had read the book. It was only once Treyan died that it occurred to me that what had been done to our mother could possibly be done again...to Treyan.”
“So you, what, took it upon yourself to test fate?” Sarayna inquired harshly.
“I only wanted to save my brother’s life—Treyan’s life, but those magics...they don’t work in the Empire. Whatever separated the world all those centuries ago, it affected which magic could be used. It could also explain why Alex wasn’t able to heal Treyan while we were within the Borderlands.”
“You sent me to the Otherrealm?” Treyan asked incredulously.
“It was the only option I had,” he snapped in response.
“Why not just let him rest in peace?”
All eyes turned to Alex as she spoke, her voice soft as though she was trying to control herself from allowing her emotions from getting the best of her. Treyan couldn’t keep his eyes off her, and neither could Reylor. It was his brother who took a step closer to her as he spoke.
“Because of you, Alex. I knew what it would do to you—what it already had done to you. I knew when you awoke and the realization that he was no longer here hit, especially after the loss you had already suffered—I didn’t want to see you live like that.” Reylor looked up, realizing only then there were other sets of eyes on him, that he and the Empress weren’t the only two in the room.
“I had memorized that book inside and out. Anyone with that power, that magic—it’s what you’re supposed to do. The book was created by the mages to be passed along, and...” He shook his head. “While I was responsible for Treyan’s burial, tending to the tasks to ready his body for the tombs, I acted. I gathered the items it required and did the spell, and I waited.”
He glanced to Treyan as he spoke next. “That’s why we never knew there was anything astray with Mother. She was dead, we saw her buried in the tomb. We had no reason to doubt there was anything else going on.”
“You’re no better than Razen,” Sarayna hissed.
“No,” Reylor replied, turning to face her. “The difference between us is that I didn’t know it worked.”
Saratanya took a step forward. “He told me it was
to save me,” she said quietly, and all turned to face her. “He said the Empire would never survive with its Crown Prince and Queen Empress dead, and he sent me away while the twins grew so that I could one day return and...” She trailed off, avoiding their curious glances. Treyan could see it was as hard on her to be back as it was for him—maybe even harder. He knew it was only going to get worse.
“Let me see if I understand this.”
It was Sarayna’s Emperor, Jared, who spoke this time. Of all of them there, he was the most neutral party, thrown into this twisted family almost unwillingly, as the Prophecy chose him to continue their line.
The young Emperor stood slowly, looking at them all yet avoiding eye contact at the same time. Treyan wondered how he would fare with the eyes of the Empire upon him, but that would not be his problem to solve when the time came. If it came at all.
“Treyan died during that last battle in the Borderlands, but Reylor wanted to save him, for Alex’s sake...and undoubtedly Sarayna’s.” He glanced to his intended. “For some reason, the magic required doesn’t work within the Empire, and there was no returning to the Borderlands so this Otherrealm—my world—was the next best solution.”
Reylor nodded—Treyan saw it from the corner of his eye, but Jared continued.
“When we went to Boston and found him at the apartment, we didn’t know—”
“You knew he was alive?” Alex chimed in accusingly, looking to Sara.
“She didn’t tell you?” Treyan asked his wife.
“No, she did not.”
“Reylor knew.” Sara smirked. “I told him when I first arrived. When I figured out what he had done.”
All eyes were on Reylor now, and he held Alex’s gaze. She looked stricken, and Treyan couldn’t help the internal joy he felt. Whatever plan his brother had concocted, it was failing slowly and surely.
“Why didn’t you tell your mother?” Saratanya pressed.
Sarayna had the decency to look ashamed. “I felt it was Reylor’s place to tell her, but it seemed he had other things on his mind.”
Reylor was about to interject when the doors to the library flew open, and Jamison stood there, panting as if he had run throughout the palace to find them. His eyes were wide as he scanned the room, looking from Alex and then to Treyan as he tried to regain his breath.
“What is it, Jamison?” Treyan asked, outwardly bothered by being interrupted, even by his captain.
He stepped deeper into the room, but his attention rested on Alex when he spoke. “Empress...there is someone here to see you.”
“Who, Jamison?” Alex asked carefully.
He shook his head. “She asked for you specifically—she’s in pretty rough shape. She was brought down to the infirmary, she’s with child..."
Alex’s eyes widened, and she flew from the room despite the calls for her to stay. Sarayna and Jared soon followed, with Saratanya in tow. Only Treyan and Reylor remained in the library with the flustered Captain of the Guard.
“Did she give a name, Jamison?” Reylor asked quietly.
The captain nodded as he swallowed, coughing before he answered.
“She said her name was Crystal.”
Chapter Thirty-One
Alex’s mind was a maelstrom of thoughts and fears as she ran through the palace down towards the infirmary. She knew she was being followed, that they were calling after her to slow down, to stop, but she couldn’t. Not when Crystal was here.
Crystal...
The last time she had seen her, they were in the Borderlands and she...
She was with Lexan.
Crystal had been refusing to leave with them. She had wanted to stay there. With him.
Now she was here. In the Empire.
Something must have happened. Crystal wouldn’t have dared coming to the palace were it not for some truly horrible reason. Maybe she finally came to understand Alex’s position after all—maybe she saw Razen for the monster he was and was finally ready to go home to the Otherrealm where she belonged.
She was never supposed to have come here, Alex thought as she took the steps down to the infirmary two at a time, running past servants and guards alike. If not for Lexan, Crystal never would have been pulled into this twisted mess, but if the Empress was going down that path, could she not begin to blame Reylor for taking Lexan from them in the first place, thus beginning this cycle? These were questions for another time as she pushed open the door, pausing her rapid approach when she saw the scene in front of her.
One of the palace’s healers was beside the bed where Crystal lay. They had recently employed quite a few new healers in addition to the few that remained in their service in preparation for the upcoming battle against the Borderlands. With the inevitable war nearing closer, it was better to be adequately staffed should they need them.
Before her was the very same friend who had chosen the other side—she had chosen to fight against them.
And now she was here.
It was then that she pushed her thoughts aside and focused on Crystal’s current physical state, and saw that Jamison was right—she was in rough condition.
One side of her face was bruised and battered so much she could barely open her right eye from the swelling. One of her arms was clutching her chest while wrapped in a sling, while an ankle was wrapped in a bandage as though broken or sprained. She was most definitely pregnant.
She sensed Sarayna and Jared approach behind as they, too, took in the scene, and Alex heard her daughter’s breath catch in her throat at the sight. As did the healer and Crystal both, for they immediately turned to where the duo stood in the doorway.
“Alex,” Crystal cried, tears falling down her cheeks. “I’m so sorry, I had nowhere else to go—”
“Shh,” Alex assured her as she entered the room, taking up the chair next to the bed. “Crystal, what happened?”
“Oh, Alex,” she started. “He’s absolutely lost it.”
“Who, Crystal?” the Empress asked carefully.
“Lexan.”
Alex’s heart stopped in her chest.
“What about my brother?” Sara asked, joining her mother by the bedside.
Crystal looked up to her as though seeing her for the first time. “He’s losing his mind. This war, the Councillor—he’s drinking every night and...” Her voice cracked.
“Crystal, it’s okay,” Alex said gently, trying to ease her out of her hysteria, but Crystal shook her head.
“There’s a spy here, Alex—the Councillor discovered Lexan’s plans and he was absolutely furious when he found out I told him, and—”
“There is a spy here?” Sarayna asked incredulously.
Alex tried her best to keep calm, even as her brain was running a mile a minute. Of course there was a spy. She and Reylor both knew he existed, but she wasn’t ready to let everyone else in on that knowledge.
Crystal continued. “They’re on the move. They’re coming. The Annals—”
“What else has Lexan told you?” Reylor asked, suddenly appearing on Alex’s other side.
Crystal visibly shrank back from the Lord Steward as he approached the end of the bed. “You! He did this to me because of you! Because of what you did to him, how you raised him!”
If Reylor was bothered by her accusations, he did not show it. Instead the intensity behind his red eyes grew as he watched the woman lying in the bed.
“Alex, we have to go,” she pleaded, turning back to the Empress. “You and me, we need to go home. That book—there’s a magic to it that’s more powerful than either of us ever realized. We need to leave.”
“She’s not going anywhere.”
Treyan stepped into the room with Jamison by his side and Alex felt the air rush out of her lungs and suddenly the infirmary room seemed extremely small. Crystal’s eyes widened, and her face paled like a ghost’s the moment she saw the Crown Prince.
“Treyan...you died.”
“I did.” He nodded, but his features were set.
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“Alex, please,” Crystal continued, gripping her arm, returning her pleading gaze to Alex. “We have to leave, we have to go, before anything else happens to us, before they can—”
Crystal’s eyes suddenly closed, and she relaxed her grip against Alex’s arms. Concerned, she looked up to see Treyan on the opposite side of the bed, his hand at the back of the injured woman’s neck.
“It seemed better than kissing her,” he mused with a sly smile on his face as he met Alex’s questioning gaze. She could only stare, but Treyan quickly moved to action.
“Jamison,” he summoned the Captain, and he was by his side in a moment. “I want guards on this room at all hours.”
Treyan turned to the healer, who looked stricken. “The moment she wakes up, I want you to send someone to find me, do you understand?”
The healer nodded her head silently.
“What will we do?” Sara asked as though ready for a fight. Treyan looked her over, and then passed a glance over to Jared.
“Has he been coronated yet? Have you married?”
“I don’t see what that has to—” Sara stated.
Jared interjected, “Not yet.”
“We best get working on that before we move on to the Borderlands.” He cast a glance at Alex. “I’m sure you can manage those arrangements.”
Alex didn’t have the time to be shocked, or challenge him, before he turned to Saratanya. “The Councillor—Razen—you know what he’s capable of?”
Tanya pursed her lips as she looked at her son and nodded. “It seems worse than I feared.”
“He will be taken aback when he sees you. You,” he turned to Reylor. “Your son should answer to you, should he not?”
Reylor glared at his brother. “Lexan would never—”
“Yet it seems he has, and we’re going to put an end to this once and for all.”
Treyan moved to leave, but Alex had the sense to stop him. Leaping from the chair, she put a hand on his arm, her fingers gripping the muscle, strong beneath the linen of his shirt.
The first time she had touched him since his return.
He stopped and looked down to her. There was hurt and fury and vengeance in those blue eyes as she met them.
