The Ghost, The Dragon, and The Lost King (Fated Chronicles Book 4)

by Humphrey Quinn

  Tanzea turned around and handed her a bottle. “Here it is.”

  Juliska looked it over. Such a simple looking thing. “This will create my army?”

  “An army fit for a queen. An army bred to spread fear.”

  “I trust no one,” Juliska told Tanzea. “I need to know this will work.”

  “This potion, once drank, will bind whoever takes it, to your life. You live, they live. You die, they die. You don’t want them to live, they die. You want to free them from their servitude, you can. You will have complete control. They cannot disobey you. Trust… in a bottle.”

  Juliska grinned. She liked that.

  “So they drink it, turn into these beasts, and their wills are completely mine?”

  “Yes. It’s a blood spell. Their blood tied to your blood. Your living blood guarantees the spell will work. It cannot be broken unless you yourself give them freedom… or you die…” she laughed knowingly.

  “That is brilliant, considering I cannot die.”

  “I have compiled a potential list of candidates,” offered Tanzea. “Being a member of the Court has provided me certain awareness, over the years. I believe there are a select few who can be recruited.”

  Juliska stared at the potion. Trust in a bottle.

  “Have you decided what your next move will be? Is there anything else you’d ask of me?”

  “Drink this…” Juliska handed her back her potion.

  Tanzea grinned. “I was hoping you’d ask.” She drew a pinprick of blood, and added a few droplets into the potion, downing it in a single drink. “It will take a little time. And then I’ll show you your new army.”

  Juliska was eager to see her beastly creation.

  “I’ve already decided your first target…” she announced.

  Tanzea listened eagerly.

  “Ian Crane…” His son would be an orphan, and the first to know the pain of loss.

  “Very good, Mistress,” replied Tanzea without question or hesitation.

  “As per my other plans… I’m going to call a mandatory gathering. One meant to smooth things over, really bring the island back together. And during this meeting, my new army will attack. We’ll blame it on Amelia… maybe even the Grosvenor,” she laughed as if she were a child playing with a shiny new toy. “They’ll suck it up as truth and run with their tails between their legs.” She shrugged. “I’ve got a few ideas brewing. I found an interesting book in the Banon’s office, called the Book of Doorways. It’s proving inspirational.”

  “Very good, Mistress.”

  Juliska eyed Tanzea. “Contact me the moment I can see your transformation.” She left to plot and scheme, and revel in the suffering of her subjects.

  The vision came to an abrupt end, releasing Juliska Blackwell from its grip.

  She fell backwards.

  Eighteen months' worth of memories in mere minutes.

  Why?

  Why would whoever the hell was in charge of visions finally give hers back, only to relive her past. A perverted version of it, anyway.

  Her gaze rose up to Eddy’s hovering frame.

  “I don’t know what you expect to accomplish by showing me this. It’s just another trick. Even beyond the grave you cannot let me be.”

  “It is no trick, Juliska. It is the truth. As I said, only you can choose to believe it.” He was disappointed but not surprised. He had not expected her to just forgive, forget and see the truth for all it really was, so instantly.

  It would mean admitting her entire life since then had been a lie.

  That she’d been manipulated and used by Fazendiin.

  That Eddy was innocent.

  That Amelia, Arnon and everyone else was innocent.

  That she’d killed and injured and made so many suffer for no valid reason.

  That her son was still alive…

  “Do you not see?” he begged of her anyway. “Can you not see the truth, even now? Our son is alive. You even know him. Despise him simply over his name… my name. The name you gave him.”

  She hissed.

  “Lies. All lies. You think I can’t see what you’re all trying to do. It’s a set up. Send in a magical child whose name just happens to be Colin, and then come to find out he was raised by someone named Arnon Jacoby… I’m not an idiot! I know a lot more than you think. I knew Arnon was in that damn campground with Kanda. And when those two kids showed up with Jae Mochrie… a set up. That boy is not my son. My son is dead. I don’t know what you’re up to, but I’m not falling for it this time.”

  “Oh, Juliska…” he sighed, feeling helpless.

  “You all conspired against me,” she seethed. “Amelia. Arnon. Kanda. So many of you… I bided my time. Played dumb. But I’m done now. You are a coward, Edward. You took your own life and left me to fend for our child alone.”

  “You gave me no choice,” he stated calmly. “Your actions gave me no choice.”

  “My actions?”

  “Juliska…” his tone pleaded. “I vowed never to forsake you. And I did not. I took my life to protect our child. It was the only way.”

  “To do what?”

  “Become immortal. Like you. Like our son.”

  “He was not immortal. He died! He was murdered!”

  “This is a lie!”

  “A truth you cannot accept, Edward. Even in death you are delusional.”

  “Then how did Colin kill one of your creations? The Scratcher, tied to your blood alone?”

  She said nothing. Just stared furiously.

  She had no answer to that question… it had plagued her. But she’d written it off at this point.

  This was a trick. Just another trick.

  Juliska got up off the floor of her candle room.

  Eddy tried one last time.

  “You trust Fazendiin, even now, after all you’ve just seen. Even with all he’s done to you since. He promised you Amelia’s head.”

  She let out a guttural scream.

  “Will all of you people just stop! Stop trying to tell me how to think, and what to believe. Give up, already. You will never convince me of your lies Edward Gillivray! You and everyone else will pay for your crimes. My life is not a lie,” she stopped and looked directly into his eyes.

  He saw it there. A frail seedling of doubt.

  Eddy felt the pull. His time here was done for now. He hoped it was enough.

  Juliska turned and stormed out of the room shouting orders to anyone within earshot.

  “Gather the Svoda. Now. And bring Jae Mochrie… time’s up and I have a job for the little deceiver. It’s time the Svoda see their Queen in all her glory.”

  Meghan Jacoby’s head snapped back and she inhaled deeply.

  Stunned. Breathless.

  Everything she’d just seen… the longest, most in depth vision she’d ever had.

  Like she was peeking in on memories belonging to Juliska Blackwell. So many blanks filled in. So many new questions… and Eddy. Uncle Eddy… he wasn’t their uncle…

  Meghan let out a shocked breath.

  “Juliska did have a child, only it was definitely not me… Colin is her son, and she thinks he’s dead. She can’t see that it’s really him.”

  Meghan just stared into nothing, in pure shock of it all.

  Nona, her Catawitch, was out hunting for food. Meghan was alone.

  She wasn’t sure how to feel. What to do. Who to tell.

  What her father had done to Juliska was cruel.

  Beyond cruel. A horrific lie told during a new mother’s most vulnerable moment.

  To tell her that her child was dead… murdered.

  Her father was a true monster.

  Tanzea too. Meghan had never liked her, and it made more sense now why Tanzea had taken such a dislike to her brother. She knew, the entire time, and was probably trying to make sure Juliska didn’t find out the truth.

  And Cornell… poor Cornell.

  She’d never given the grizzled old man much thought when he was
alive, living with the Mochries. Perhaps his mind had healed, ever so slightly. He knew too. Maybe not that Colin was Juliska’s son, but that he was special. Unique. Cornell had sensed this in her brother. And even helped him.

  But everything that had been done to Juliska, and all that she’d done… it had broken her. Shattered her completely. Blinded her to the truth. If she’d been even a little open, she’d have seen it. There were so many signs. It was so obvious now… but Meghan understood Juliska’s blindness. The pain was too much.

  And Meghan understood why everything that happened, happened. Why Juliska was evil.

  And it was all based on lies and secrets and some secret plan her father had been piecing together for a very long time.

  Juliska didn’t believe Fazendiin lied and manipulated her.

  But Meghan could see it unfold, the seeds of doubt Eddy had just planted in her mind. But would she be able to face the truth? Accept it? Or was she broken, beyond repair?

  Regardless, Meghan feared what Juliska might do in the meantime.

  It took time for seeds to grow.

  Tears stung at her eyes and she wiped them. She thought back to her time with Juliska. It couldn’t all have been fake, could it? Was she evil, completely? Was there any part of her that was still good? Still that innocent woman that just wanted a happy life? Meghan felt great sympathy for the woman that for a short time, she believed was her mother. A voice startled her.

  “Juliska may have been deceived, more than once, but she chose her retaliation.”

  Meghan recognized the voice and looked up.

  “Juliska chose her future,” Eddy continued. “She could have chosen differently.”

  His ghostly form hovered in a cross-legged seated position just in front of her. His eyes were sad, kind and sympathetic.

  “You’re right,” Meghan agreed weakly. “It’s just… it came from love. It came from pain. The worst kind of pain. It… changes things. I don’t know why. Because you’re right, she chose her path. She could have chosen differently.”

  “And yet with all she’s done I cannot bring myself to stop loving her.”

  “It’s funny, but even now, I see no resemblance to you or Juliska in my brother.”

  “We have the same thick lashes,” Eddy said with a feeble grin. “Hard to tell in my ghostly form. But you’re right. It might have something to do with his conception.”

  “That’s why he’s a Projector, isn’t it?”

  “If that’s what he truly is.”

  Meghan eyed him, many questions racing to the surface.

  “He is completely unique,” said Eddy. “They called him a Projector, believing him to be one. And he may well be. But he’s also… more.”

  “Is he immortal? Is he dangerous?”

  Eddy paused. “I am not sure, on either count. To find out if he is immortal, well, the manner in which Fazendiin explained is actually the only way to truly test that theory.”

  “Oh,” she muttered, horrified. In her next breath, “My father needs to be stopped.”

  “Yes.”

  She swallowed hard. “Why… why didn’t you tell Colin? He wants to know so desperately.”

  “And I wanted to tell him just as desperately. But I could not. Fate dictates…” he was cut off.

  “Screw fate!”

  He smirked. “Regardless of how you feel about it, fate would not allow it to happen. Not until it’s the right time.”

  “I don’t believe in fate any longer. Maybe unfinished business has rules, but fate does not determine my life.”

  “Are you saying this simply because the prophecy isn’t true?” he asked her.

  She gasped. “How do you know that?”

  He gave out a ghostly sigh. “Meghan, it may appear that fate has forsaken you. However, the truth is, I do not think we have reached that pivotal moment where fate, truth and time intersect with the future.”

  “Um… huh?”

  He chuckled. “Sorry. I can’t explain more. Literally I cannot. I feel the tug.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “I have to return to Grimble now. My time in the real world is over, for today. Consider everything you saw carefully, Meghan. There are clues. You’ll discover them when the time is right.”

  “But…”

  His ghostly form dissolved.

  She plunked back against the side of her bed.

  “So what do I do now?”

  She needed time to process.

  Time to think it all through.

  Now was not the time for rash decisions. Or hasty actions.

  She’d been given this vision, and visit from Eddy, for a reason.

  Why?

  Just to see Juliska’s history? To better understand her?

  Eddy had hinted at a clue as to how to end all of this. Something she needed to do. But going over the vision again she had no idea. The only thing she was certain of is that the lives of everyone she cared about depended entirely on her figuring this out.

  “No pressure,” she jested to no one.

  A specific memory came out at her. The one where her mother, Isabella, had been talking to Aloyna. As if she was privy to some long kept secret that had to do with her. Her mother had been rubbing her belly and talking about, she’s in here too… Meghan…

  But what did it mean?

  She got up off her feet, determined.

  First, she realized where Colby had hidden his grandmother.

  With the only person he ever trusted… his mother. Their mother.

  Second… it all came down to Aloyna and Isabella… and it was time to pay them a visit and get answers.

  CHAPTER 30

  Colin Jacoby awoke to the sounds of a long, airy sigh. He lifted upward, leaving his weight on his elbows, the memory of where he was, returning. He was in the banished Svoda safe house in the city of Boston, Massachusetts. And by some luck, he’d actually fallen asleep. Unlike Catrina, from the looks of it.

  She was stationed on a pillow-lined window bench, staring longingly through the thin lace curtain covering the glass. Watching the busy city move about its morning, oblivious to the occupants of the Boston apartment being used as a hideaway, for two people on the run.

  He wiped his eyes, shifted a hand through his untidy hair, yawned, and got to his feet, stretching his way over to her.

  She looked his way and smiled when he sat down on the bench with her.

  “What time is it?”

  “Almost noon.”

  “Seriously? Wow.”

  “I couldn’t sleep,” she confirmed his suspicions. “Tried, just wouldn’t come.”

  “I kind of can’t believe I did.”

  “Exhaustion will do that. And I’m glad you did. You were seriously overdue.”

  “I’m not sure I’ve ever been so tired as when I put my head on that pillow last night. I had so many thoughts scouring my brain, but then, nothing. Just amazingly, wonderful nothing.”

  “Until I just woke you,” she apologized.

  “That was a pretty loud sigh.” He wasn’t angry, only concerned.

  “Sorry. It came out without me even thinking about it.”

  He reached over and slipped his hand into hers. “What’s bothering you? Stupid question,” he chastised outwardly. “How can you not be bothered by everything? You were kidnapped and left in a coffin in Eidolon’s Valley to sleep away your life, most likely by Juliska Blackwell. For reasons yet unknown. You’re hanging out with a guy who might lose it at any moment, and go magically insane if he can’t handle the pressure.”

  “A guy I love, don’t forget.” And that stopped him in his tracks for a few seconds. Made his heart stutter across a few beats. Even in the cloudy winter gloom coming through the window, she reminded him of wildflowers blooming on a spring morning.

  They were months from spring. The winter winds rattled against the glass.

  “It’s trying to snow, I think,” she whispered. “Funny how you can just tell. That first
heavy snow of the year trying to fall. Like it’s trying to break through the last season and take over.”

  Colin pulled her across the bench and she laid her head against his chest, their gazes wandering outside again. “Please tell me what’s keeping you up.”

  She let out another forlorn breath. “I miss my family. I was thinking about them.”

  Colin cringed a little. Not because she missed them, but because he suddenly felt like a dope for not realizing that, of course, she would. But things had been so chaotic he hadn’t had the time to think about Catrina’s family.

  “They are on the island, with Juliska. Aren’t they?”

  “I think they are.”

  Which meant they were in danger, like all the Svoda on the island. Including Jae, who’d been forced to return there in service to Juliska.

  “I’m sorry, Catrina. It’s my fault you’re not with them.”

  “How do you figure that?” she tossed back at him. “Did you stuff me in a coffin and leave me with the Goblins?”

  “No. But after I freed you, I should have tried to get you back to your family. I didn’t.” Because I was selfish and wanted you all for myself, he left off.

  “And when would you have tried? After we had to flee when Juliska found out I was not only alive, but in her camp, and we were not sure who to trust? Or when we were with Jasper, after he saved us? Or when I was taken by Freyne Rothrock?”

  “I still should have tried,” he replied guiltily.

  Catrina caught his gaze, in a purposeful motion.

  “Don’t forget that I chose to stay, Colin. And if I had somehow reunited with my family, I’d be on the island right now too. A prisoner. Unable to help them. In the clutches of Juliska. I do miss my family something fierce. But I would not change where I am, out here, free, with you. Out here, we can do something about it.”

  “We’re in hiding,” he reminded somberly.

  “Yes, but you are Colin Jacoby. Immortal. Powerful. I’d wager nearly unstoppable.” She left off that he was potentially dangerous levels of unstoppable.

  “Ah,” he teased, with a smile. “So that’s why you’re sticking with me then, is it? My wicked awesome magical skills.”