“Agreed.” The hall echoed.
“Council is adjourned then, with this task to be carried out by Kate and Gaillean.” Harmony declared.
Some teleported away instantly, mainly those with worlds still in their early infancy. Gaillean did not leave, but rather waited for everyone else to, and Kate waited as well, because she knew this conversation had to happen.
When the room was empty of people, Gaillean moved down to sit on the bottom step of his throne and beckoned her over.
She moved closer but stood rather than sitting next to him, the proximity would only remind her of what she was doing, sending him to another woman when he was still secretly her everything.
“You were upset.” He began.
“Gee, I wonder why.” Kate retorted. “Gaillean, this is the first time we have spoken in around two decades, and now you’re off to have another child with a different woman; excuse me if it hurts.”
He became silent, his gaze assessing her standing there with her arms crossing her chest and her eyes boring into his, daring him to make something of her defensive posture.
“I apologise if my actions appeared harsh. The others were somewhat unwelcoming of news of a possible partnership between us, our child made them anxious. You remember what happened when Marta and Isaac declared themselves together.”
Of course she did, complete and utter anarchy within the Council.
“I had to keep my distance to keep the Council strong.”
“And when your absence meant that after Romana’s birth I was so defenceless she was taken from me? Was the strength of the Council worth it? Was it worth your daughter suffering through the world the way she has had to?” Kate demanded.
“Of course not.” Gaillean tried to explain, but she’d had enough.
“Just go Gaillean.” She said, “We don’t have time to talk about this if we are to prevent Marta’s vision.”
He was awkwardly silent for a moment, before he did as she asked. When she was sure he was gone, Kate sat down and hung her head in her hands, feeling moisture pool in her eyes. What a mess she had created for them all.
Chapter Two
BY DECREE
Nine months had passed since that evening, and the pain which had dulled a little since the Council’s decree came back in full force as Kate watched the infant lay squirming on the dais of the magician’s ritual chamber.
Silver’s soul, which she herself had reincarnated at the end of the battle of Elvardis, resided within the child that lay wriggling so violently Kate thought it likely she would fall off of the pedestal soon. Silver was mentally still the age she was when she had died and Kate could feel the irritation at being stuck in such a fragile shell. Before she turned sixteen, Silver would remain pitifully mortal, unable to use her superior strength or magic. Something that would irritate her no end, but Kate hoped would give her time to sort things out in her head.
Yet again, confining her for eighteen years the last time had made Silver worse, not better.
At least this time she’d have the ability to interact with the world, she just wouldn’t be able to do evil under the supervision of her family. Or at least, Kate expected the family to keep her; she would be their flesh and blood after all.
Queen Hira swept into the room, silver eyes glinting in the soft candlelight. The magicians, who had been busying themselves with scrolls and books stood instantly at elvenspeed and bowed.
“My Lady, we are ready to begin at your command.” Aaron, the youngest of the four magicians informed her.
“Good, the gift from the Ancients came at an excellent time. My hair was beginning to grey once again.”
Gaillean appeared next to her, both of them invisible to the other people in the room.
“Curious how the child’s ancient genetics do not overpower the mother’s eye colour.” He said upon examining her. “Although, I find I quite like the colour.”
“They are the same colour as Romana’s.” Kate informed him.
“I know.” Kate almost tensed at unexpected reply. “I have been watching her. She grew well; I see your morals and fiery attitude in her.”
“She has your wildness.” Kate added, wondering at how after nine months of ignoring each other they could be having such a normal sounding conversation. “Plus she has your hair.” The coppery tones were a distinctive part of both their appearances, though Gaillean cut his shorter.
“So the soul of the child determines the appearance? How interesting, I would have thought the parent’s characteristics would shine through, but no matter.”
Queen Hira, who had been conversing with the magicians, moved over to the child and placed her hands on either side of Silver’s head. Kate was startled that she hadn’t noticed the magicians moving into place around them but she didn’t have time to concentrate on that as Gaillean continued.
“I think now would be a good time to strip them of their powers, don’t you?” He smiled a sad smile.
Kate nodded and they both stepped around the dais to position themselves within the circle of the magicians, a brief contact was all that would be needed then the elves would be powerless, there was a good chance that they may lose consciousness but with what they had been doing to children for centuries, Kate didn’t really care if they fell and got a concussion.
Too late did she realise that while she’d been musing Hira’s soul was already lifting from her body, quickly she gave the signal to Gaillean to materialise and they grabbed the magicians’ hands.
Hira fell limp before they’d even touched her. Her soul had left her body and not had any way to return without the magicians. Kate didn’t have to look to know the truth; Hira was dead because of her.
Funny how that affected her more than the scores she had killed on the battlefields did.
Silver was silent, and looking at her with eyes too young to be accusing, but yet Kate knew if she could talk, there would be a barrage of questions headed her way, and she had the answers to all of them.
The magicians were unconscious, as she’d suspected, so Kate nodded to Gaillean, who teleported away without a word.
“Talia, by decree of the Council of Ancients you have been brought back to this world. It was the view of the Council you should be given the body of a half-ancient, and share lineage with Romana as a child of Gaillean. Your wings – given to you originally by the Council – and your powers as a half-ancient are the only ones you now own, the latter of which shall only appear on your sixteenth birthday when you reach your maturity. Any additional powers you receive will be bestowed upon you only if a two third majority vote from the Council supports it. As per your father’s request, henceforth your name shall be Silver.”
The baby didn’t make a sound, but Kate knew she was listening intently, now came the tricky bit.
“In addition, it is my duty as Ancient of this world to inform you that it was an unforeseen consequence of your past bond with Romana that your lives are now bound, and the death of one of you will lead to the death of the other.”
The baby frowned and displeasure rolled off of her in waves. Her mouth opened and closed, but it was clear Silver was still developing the ability to speak.
“It was also the view of the Council that the best place for you to be raised would be with your original family. Unfortunately, your mother died while attempting to sacrifice you for her own gain, so I believe you will most likely be raised by your brothers. Your family magicians were sentenced to lose their powers for the unlawful practice of soul swapping, and any additional powers your brothers may have gained from this practice are henceforth removed as well. And I am sorry, but they are to be made aware of who you are.”
Silver wriggled, and Kate knew that if she could have then by now Silver would have demanded her brothers be made ignorant.
“I had no control over this. The other half-ancients will advance soon and the worlds may fall to them if this was not done, trust me, if there were any other way…” She trailed off a
s Gaillean reappeared. “Farewell.” She told the infant, before turning to the man who was more confusing than any other being on the twenty one worlds. “Have they been informed?”
“Their powers were stolen; I awaited their return to consciousness and told them of the Council’s edicts. Needless to say, they were not pleased.”
“It will be worse when they come in here to find their mother dead. I suggest we leave. The brothers are good men, but losing family members makes male elves revert to their animal traits.”
“I may stay and observe, I find myself interested in this world. Seeing as my own is still developing rather slowly, I would ask permission to remain.”
“For how long?” Kate asked.
“I would meet with you in perhaps a year to discuss whether I renew or terminate my stay here.” He replied.
Kate nodded her approval and left.
Chapter Three
WEAK LITTLE MORTAL
Silver looked out across Elvardis from her bedroom in the trunk of the palace tree, the past fifteen years had not made it anymore her home than the centuries she’d lived here before. She stayed, at her brothers’ insistence in the same rooms of the palace tree that had been hers before. There was no way for her to escape, since the moment she had relearned the motor skills necessary to walk guards had been assigned to her every step.
Her brothers were adamant they would not lose her again.
Every meal was eaten as a family, every day spent in one of their company. She had spent so much time sat in Felix’s apartments with his wife attempting to raise an already mature child that it sickened her. Endis sat her down for compulsory talks every week, Lorcan and Wynn had tried to fill her head with science and paintings even Roan constantly hung around, still trying to make her laugh. The most annoying thing of all was that to the rest of the world, she didn’t exist.
Her mother’s death had been portrayed as a tragic accident caused by the experiments of the magicians who had publically admitted to the crime. Nathan, Sebastian, Aaron and Warren had then been sentenced to never again practice magic by her brother, King Endis of Elvenkind and now they spent their days in seclusion studying.
But even though there had been rumours of her mother’s pregnancy, Silver was never mentioned to the outside world, she never left the palace tree and the servants and guards were paid handsomely not to speak or breathe about her.
She looked down at the stupid clothes she now wore, cursing their very existence. The styles had not changed since Romana had been at that stupid ball and the flimsy fabric made her want to scream. Her hair was made up differently for her every day, though her brothers refused to allow her to wear make-up or obscure her face in any way shape or form. They hated anything that reminded them of the mask she used to wear. The time when she’d asked for a sword to practice with had led to them removing every single one from her floor of the palace, even the blunt decorative ones.
They still called her Talia and insisted she was their full sister, no matter what she or the Ancients themselves said. The wings that pressed warm and heavy against her back said otherwise. She was half their sister and half Romana’s. And her life was bound to Romana, something that had led Endis to become slightly paranoid about Romana’s visits, convinced that if the queen of all wytchdom ever came to Elvardis she would instantly know about Silver’s existence.
If Romana knew, it would be because Kate told her. Then she would have come for Silver no matter what, fuelled on in her belief that Silver was responsible for saving her life. Everyone believed that Silver had gone to that battle knowing Romana would live.
But the truth was she hadn’t known how much Kate would break the rules for her only daughter, bringing Romana back to life even as Silver’s soul was sent forwards to her reincarnation. Silver humoured her brothers, making herself seem so insane at first that they had had to chain her up to keep her from hurting them, then gradually decreasing it over the years until she appeared now to be almost the same as who she had pretended to be back then. Her brothers didn’t need to know that she’d always been like this; they merely believed she had snapped when the soul swap occurred.
But she’d never changed, she’d never stopped planning. Every time she was sat down with a book or some needlework she reviewed her plans. Each night when she was supposed to be sleeping she worked her way through dozens of battle stances and countless training routines.
It was just like before she’d become the Night Angel in the war of her first life, when she had trained to help the people of her race during the war.
Her old race, she corrected herself. Now she was part of a race that seemed to have a tendency to turn into power-hungry maniacs.
Not something to aspire to really.
There was only one month till her maturity, and though she was certain her brothers saw her as almost completely recovered, Endis’ paranoia would have him stepping up the guard on her the moment she displayed the first signs of her powers maturing.
He would be right to, but she planned to be gone way before then.
The wings would be her key, which was why she let them out at regular intervals to get herself used to the emotional burden they became. Once she was above the treetops, no elf would be able to touch her.
Her brothers had allowed her short, tethered flights so far, enough for her to gauge how far she could go before exhaustion caught up with her new fragile body.
She might make it to Morendor, but she would never make it to the caves. She would have to hide in the new capital of the human realms for a night and regain her strength. Then if she could slip into the passageways that ran throughout Morendor, extending to her caves and even as far as Elvardis – though she knew Endis had had the entrance to them from the palace tree blocked.
It was a risky plan, but she could do it if she could just keep flying long enough.
Of course she admitted a lot of things could go wrong. The caves could have been destroyed by King Marten after her death, the passageways could be used by the spies or traps could have been set in them to catch intruders to the palace.
“Talia?” Roan’s voice came from the next room.
Hastily she pulled her jet black wings close to her back and felt them weave back into the skin there until all that was left was her shoulder blades.
“There’s my beautiful baby sister.” He said as he walked into the room and spotted her. He scooped her up in one of his bone crushing hugs and spun her around. “I missed you.”
Unfortunately, since he was the most laid back of all her brothers, Roan had been gone all week at one of the many healing centres set up by the wytches in the human world. In his absence, she’d been bored stiff.
“Did you bring me anything back with you?” Silver asked, pasting a smile on her face which felt a little bit genuine.
He pulled her back so she was at arm’s length and fixed her with an excited and mischievous grin. “Of course, it’s with Endis while he decides if it’s suitable. But even if he says yes, you can only have it if you can guess what it is.”
Not more of his ridiculous games, she groaned, but a small part of her was still delighted at being able to be with the brother she’d always adored through her madness. Her brain worked through the past presents that her brothers had brought her back from their many trips.
“Is it one of Joanna’s dresses again?” She preferred the wytch garments of all the ones her brothers got for her, if only because of the way they were always made to be combat ready but with style. She could have fought off an army in one of those short and sassy dresses and then gone out dancing.
“Nope, you have two guesses left.” Roan winked as he took a seat on the balcony she had been standing on not moments ago.
“Three is hardly a reasonable number of guesses.” Silver complained. “Give me a clue at least.”
“They’re sharp.” Roan gave her an expectant look, as if something so ambiguous as sharp was going to make her suddenly able to guess what
he’d gotten her.
Yet again, she hadn’t seen anything sharper than a butter knife in fifteen years.
“Enchanted knitting needles?” She guessed, only to see Roan shaking his head. “Dragon scales from one of Romana’s familiars.”
“Wrong twice.” Endis flitted into the room at elvenspeed followed by her other brothers. “We’ve discussed it Roan, and the others agree with you. I will add one condition however; she must be accompanied by one of us.”
“I don’t know if she deserves them.” Roan joked. “She’s so lousy at guessing.”
She mock shoved him. “Give me whatever it is already.” Silver groaned.
Wynn smiled as he handed over something wrapped in velvet cloth. She unwrapped it, dropping the wrappings as a very heavy and very familiar black scabbard fell into her arms.
“Are these?” Her eyes went wide without any acting on her part.
“The Silver Eyed Wytch’s very own double broadswords.” Roan informed her. “Don’t say we never give you anything.”
“We think you’ve shown a lot of progress and so occasionally –” Felix began only to be cut off.
“Very occasionally.” Endis interjected, earning him an eye roll from Roan and an elbow in the ribs from Wynn.
“Very occasionally,” Roan winked as he stressed the word ‘very’ just like Endis had. “You could practice with one of us.”
“You have a lot of skill.” Lorcan admitted. “It would be a shame to waste it.”
Silver’s mind grasped for the sentence that they wanted to hear. Right now she was shocked they were even considering letting her near a blade. “I don’t know if I remember it all.” She lied, pretending to be embarrassed at Lorcan’s praise. “I’m so shocked you’re all considering this right now that all I can think is these are a lot heavier than I remember them.” She gave a sheepish smile.
Felix took them off her straight away. “It’s so easy to forget you’re still a weak little mortal for the time being.” He flashed her a quick guilty smile. “Maybe we’ll wait till you reach your maturity.”
Silver's Redemption (Soul Merge Saga Book 3) Page 2
