The room cleared in seconds. Lord Zhane looked at the mess and sighed. “This way, Princess.”
We walked through the arched doorway and into what appeared to be a gaming room. It had a poker and roulette table, and a long bar with stools. Lord Gavyn leaned against a stool, a drink in his hands. He’d changed out of his black outfit and was back into his trademark white suit. Today, he wore a black shirt.
He started to bow, saw Katia, and froze. He put down his drink and hurried to her side. He glared at me briefly. “She shouldn’t have brought you here, Katia.”
He led Katia out of the room, leaving me with Lord Zhane and the guards.
“Would you like a drink, Princess?” Lord Zhane asked, waving toward the bar.
“No, thank you.”
“A seat, perhaps?” He pointed at a stool, then a chair.
He was charming, but that didn’t mean jack. After the reaction from his friends, I was treating him like a viper. “I’ll take the chair.”
He took the seat across from mine. “I heard about the High Council meeting. In fact, that’s all everyone is talking about now. I was impressed.”
I frowned, surprised by his comment. “You approve?”
“Absolutely. I don’t have the stamina to go against the system, so kudos to you for taking this on. We could use more people like you and less like me.” He leaned forward. “What made you think I wouldn’t approve?”
“When I arrived, I…” Was he the right person to tell about the hatred I’d felt from his friends? Lady Nemea’s teachings flashed in my head. “I wasn’t sure what to expect.”
“Nice comeback,” Lord Gavyn said, entering the room. His two guards flanked him. “There’s only so much you tell someone you just met, and my friend here”—he slapped Lord Zhane’s back—“happens to be in the business of selling information to the highest bidder.”
A weird expression crossed Lord Zhane’s before he glanced up at Lord Gavyn and smiled. “How well you know me, Gavyn. I think I’ll leave you with your guest.” He stood. “If you need anything else, I’ll be at the club.” Lord Zhane gave a stiff bow. “Your humble servant, Princess.”
Lord Gavyn walked behind the bar counter and started mixing a drink. He glanced at his guards. “Leave us. You, too,” he added, inclining his head toward Callum and Ruby.
My guards didn’t move.
He glared at them. “She’s not in any danger here.” The guards gave no indication they’d heard him. “Princess, send these two goons away or this meeting is over.”
“Are you always this rude or is it just with me?” I asked. He smiled and something about it reminded me of Green…Bran.
“If I’ve been rude, I apologize,” he said, bowing, and I couldn’t help feeling that he was mocking me. “I am your humble servant, Princess.”
Definitely mocking. “It’s okay, guys,” I told Ruby and Callum. “Wait for me in the other room.” They were reluctant to leave. “Go.”
Lord Gavyn watched them leave. “Idiots. If I wanted to kidnap you, they wouldn’t stop me.”
I ignored his bragging and waited until the guards were gone. “You go out of your way to make people dislike you, don’t you?”
He chuckled and leaned back in his chair. “It’s more like I don’t care whether they like me or not. Did you really expect me to meet you on the castle’s balcony? Is that what you’ve been doing with Bran? Sneaking around? How typical of you.”
His arrogance was starting to tick me off. “Did you know me when I lived with the Guardians?”
He sneered. “Let’s do away with the pretense, shall we? I don’t buy your lost memories story. I’m not judging, mind you. Whatever makes the year go faster, right?”
I shook my head. “You think I’m faking my memory loss? Why would I do that?”
He sipped his drink and took his time swallowing. “You defeated Raphael, just like they reenacted during your lavish party, but he never erased your memories. You know it. I know it. And everyone who was conscious when the Tribunal handed down their sentence knows it. You recognized me the night of your party, so I knew you were faking.”
What the heck was the Tribunal? “You looked familiar, so I asked my father who you are.”
“Bull. I can spot a fake a mile away. Your sister tried and I saw through her act the second she opened her mouth.”
“Are you saying Solange remembers what happened before the Great Battle?”
He chuckled. “Of course. Why do you think she’s busy doing what she does best, scheming? I don’t know or care what you did or who decided you should be in a coma for more than half the year. My concern is Bran. I know you love him, but you have to let him go. In three months, you’ll be together, so what’s the point of keeping him here?”
Why would Solange fake memory loss? And why did anger course through me at the mention of the Tribunal? “What’s happening in three months? What is the Tribunal?”
“Quit playing games, Lilith,” he snarled.
“I’m not, Gavyn,” I snapped.
He went silent and frowned as though taking a mental step back. A calculating gleam entered his eyes. “Do you recall our first meeting?”
“No, but from the look in your eyes, I’m sure it was memorable.” Lord Gavyn chuckled. The chuckle became a laugh. His reaction was annoying and puzzling. “What’s funny?” I asked.
“Our first meeting was memorable, all right. Bran had decided to join the Guardians just so he could be with you. He barely knew you, but was willing to give up everything for you. Ring a bell?”
“No.”
He made a face as though to say liar. “We tracked him down to the Guardian community. The two of you were together when my guards saw your psi energy and went a little crazy. The idiots lacked discipline.” He smirked. “That’s why they’re gone and I’m here.”
Did he have to brag about everything? “What has my psi energy got to do with them going crazy?”
“You have a limitless source of pure psi energy and they wanted it. Bran decided to be your protector.” Lord Gavyn shook his head. “The fool. He was willing to fight two P1 Energy Hermonites lobbing omni balls with his water powers. No one in their right minds takes on P1 Energy. Not even the Guardians.”
The more I heard about Bran, the more I knew he was Green Eyes. Water powers. Cocky. Stubborn. Noble. No wonder I fell in love with him. “Omni balls?”
He gave me another look that said he still didn’t believe I’d lost my memories. “The most powerful energy balls. They are usually unstoppable, but you, a sixteen-year-old, stopped them like they were Ping-Pong balls. That was when I knew you were different.”
Floating red fireballs and water rising from a swimming pool flashed through my head. I tried to hold on to the memory, but it disappeared. “What would anyone want with someone else’s energy?”
He shrugged indifferently. “To enhance theirs. Yours is pure and regenerates fast. You can enhance and replenish the energies of hundreds and still survive, and that’s without the Kris Dagger. At the same time, you can bend anyone to your will, render them powerless, freeze and destroy thousands like that.” He snapped his fingers.
I frowned, remembering my premonition on the training field. “There’s no way I’d knowingly hurt anyone.”
Lord Gavyn drained his drink and pushed his glass aside. “That’s where you are wrong, Princess.” He smirked. “You have hurt people. Surely even you can’t have forgotten that victorious raid on Coronis Isle.”
I stood. “If you’re done telling me about Bran—”
“Scared of the truth? You? Now that’s a side of you I’ve never seen before.”
I wanted to slap his smug face. “I’m not scared. But I will not sit here and listen to your lies.” The problem was that I had a feeling he wasn’t lying.
“Lies? How do you think the Guardians destroyed Coronis Isle and killed so many of our people? You used the Kris Dagger to freeze every Hermonite on the ground and in the air, and
the rest of your Guardian pals finished them off. Why do you think Zhane’s friends weren’t too happy to see you tonight? They didn’t fight the Archangels, so they remember that raid. You killed their parents, Princess. Their uncles and aunts, their older brothers and sisters. You even killed my mother, mine and Bran’s.”
My stomach roiled as the conversations I’d had with my friends zipped through my head—the Guardians attacking Coronis Isle and killing so many of their parents, taking Katia’s sister and the Specials, raiding their businesses.
I shook my head. “No. I went to the island with my father to retrieve the dagger. I could not have hurt my people.” I fought queasiness. “If I did anything, it was by accident or the Guardians made me do it. I’d never knowingly hurt anyone. I would never do something that…”
“Whoa. Okay.” He raised his hands. He studied me, eyes narrowing as though he was strategizing. “Forget the part about the raid. I was only playing with you.”
His words slowly sank in. “You mean what you just said—”
“Was a lie,” he finished, and grinned.
I slapped him hard. “You are the most despicable, arrogant, self-centered… Why would you say something like that to me?”
He rubbed the cheek I’d slapped. “Because I’m a jackass. You were on the island to retrieve the dagger and you helped Bran rescue our sister Celeste. It just so happened that the Guardians were attacking at the same time. You were not involved.”
I wanted to hurt him, really hurt him, until he begged for mercy, but it wouldn’t make a difference. I was an empath. I could tell when someone was feeling sorry for me and he was. Why would he pity me unless everything he’d said was the truth? Could I have really killed my own people with the Guardians? I was only sixteen when Coronis Isle was destroyed.
“You’re not going to start crying, are you?” he asked.
My tears were threatening to fall, but to cry in front of him would be beyond humiliating. “Of course not.”
“Good. One, you are not the crying type. And two, I’m not the consoling-females type.” He reached for the decanter with whatever alcoholic mixture he’d made, poured it into his glass, and took a sip. He glanced at me from the corner of his eye. “Want some?”
“I don’t drink alcohol, you jerk.”
He grinned. “Who said I was offering alcohol?” He reached for a bottle under the counter, splashed some of the contents into a glass, and shoved it at me. “Don’t sip it. Throw it in the back of your throat. It’s the best remedy for weeping females.”
“I’m not crying,” I snapped.” I studied the clear liquid. “Are you sure this isn’t alcohol?”
“Coward.”
I tilted my head and threw the drink into my mouth. I sputtered and coughed as the liquid burned its way down my throat. My eyes watered. “What in Tartarus was that?”
“It doesn’t matter. Still feel like crying?”
No. In fact, I felt warm. I glared.
He laughed.
Hating him was a waste of energy. “What kind of a person was I before the Great Battle?” Other than the kind who could kill her own people.
“Annoying. Arrogant.” He gave me a look that said he was remembering our past encounters. “You had and have a right to be, I guess. You are powerful and can manipulate most elements. You are the Chosen One, after all, the one destined to wield the most powerful Nephilimic weapon.”
The weapon was useless now, but I decided not to tell him that bit of information. I didn’t trust him. He liked to play games, and I refused to give him more ammunition.
“You care about the people here?” he asked.
“Of course I do. Why do you think I’ve taken up the Subsixers’ cause? They are just as important as everyone else.”
His expression grew thoughtful. “And you’d never hurt them?”
I shot him a glare. “What do you think?”
“I think your heart is in the right place, so I’m going to be honest with you.”
“Why? You’ve been lying all this time.”
Annoyance crossed his face. “Just shut up and listen. You cannot afford to be ignorant like most knuckleheads around here. Information is power, and as your future brother-in-law, it’s only right I watch out for you while you’re here.”
Somehow, I doubted he cared one way or another if anything happened to me. “What information?”
“Do you know why your hand glows green before you heal someone?”
“That’s my body protecting itself.”
“No, that’s the power of the Kris Dagger protecting you. For whatever reason, the powers shifted from the dagger to you. Celeste let that detail slip by accident. You are now the most powerful weapon, not the dagger. No need to look horrified. Your secret is safe with me. But if you continue to heal people around the island, everyone will know and that will tilt the power struggle in their favor, so no more healing minions.”
“In whose favor?”
“Your enemies’. Those who hate what you plan to do, and I’m not talking about taking up the minions’ cause. You are the Chosen One and they have no interest in uniting with the Guardians. Oh, and don’t forget those whose brains you fried while you were in a coma. Some are still not fully recovered and they’re pissed.” He drained the rest of his second drink. “Back to why we’re having this meeting. I want Bran off the island.”
Those I’d hurt… How could I have forgotten about them? As for Bran, I wasn’t his keeper. Besides, I liked having him around. But I decided to play along. “Okay. Can you describe him?”
Gavyn frowned. “I gave you his description in my first message when I thought you’d lost your memories.”
I made a face. “I didn’t watch it.”
“Why not?”
“I hid it and went to watch the fireworks, but when I went back for it, it was gone. When we finally found it, someone had erased it.”
“Damn it. Someone knows Bran is on the island.” He teleported from the other side of the counter to my side. “Find out who took it. I don’t care how you do it. Read their thoughts. Mind blend with them. Get the names of everyone they’ve told and erase all their memories. If your father learns that Bran is on the island…”
My jaw dropped. “My father would never hurt anyone unless they deserved it. And I’m not erasing anyone’s memories.”
He leaned closer and snarled, “Bran joined the Guardians to be with you, Lilith. According to your father, Bran is a Guardian and therefore, an enemy. If they catch him within a foot of you, they’ll give him the same treatment they gave the two traitors you fingered a few weeks ago.”
I started to worry. Gavyn was right. If Father believed Bran was a Guardian, he would throw him in the dungeon and drain his psi energy. “What do you want me to do? And please don’t say erase memories.”
He glanced over his shoulder before whispering. “Do everything in your power to find him and tell him to leave. Don’t trust anyone with this except Katia. I wasn’t lying when I said you defeated Raphael during the Great Battle, and he didn’t erase your memories. Something or someone erased them here on the island. You should be asking yourself who and why.”
He was a raving lunatic, making up stories and filling my head with ugly suggestions. My memories were erased during the Great Battle. “Are you implying—”
“I’m not implying anything. I’m telling you the truth. Don’t trust anyone except Katia. Find Bran. He’ll confirm everything I just told you. Black wavy hair, green eyes, and dimples, he’s hard to miss. After you find him, have Katia contact me.”
Green Eyes was definitely Bran. The guy who loved me. The guy who came to the island to be with me. The guy who might be in trouble if anyone knew he was around. “I’ve seen him.”
“When and where?” he barked.
“Everywhere. He appears when I least expect him and disappears again. It started after I regained consciousness. He refused to tell me his name, but insisted I would know it when my memori
es returned.”
“So, he’s okay,” Gavyn mumbled.
“Yeah. He even telepathed me when I came here and told me to leave. He doesn’t like the company you keep.”
Gavyn shrugged as if he didn’t care what his brother thought. “Somehow, I knew he’d find a way to get your attention. And he knows better than to come to Zhane’s house. The dark lords meet here all the time and they would have recognized him.” His expression became serious. “What I said is true, Lilith. It’s too dangerous for Bran to be on the island. Convince him to go home. If that fails, contact me through Katia. I’ll come and get him out. Maybe keep him chained up for the next three months.”
I frowned. “You never explained the three months.”
“That’s when you’ll decide whether you want to live with the Guardians or here with your father. The Tribunal said the choice would be yours.”
Lady Nemea’s words came back to haunt me. She’d meant choose. My father wanted me to choose him. “Why would I want to live with the Guardians? This is my home.”
Gavyn smiled. “I hope that’s true, Lilith, because the people here need you. Whether you realize it or not, they really need you. Remember everything I told you,” he said, then started for the arched doorway.
I stared after him, more confused than before, unanswered questions burning my tongue. Who the heck was the Tribunal?
-15-
An hour before, I had been euphoric. I had an objective. Now, I couldn’t think past the things Gavyn had told me. Should I ask my father about my memory loss? Or ask Lady Nemea? Solange? No, my sister was faking amnesia. Or maybe Gavyn was lying about that, too. But would he lie when he wanted me to help Bran?
Ruby and Callum entered the room and I studied them, wondering how much they’d heard. I hated doubting them. Their loyalty was the one thing I’d taken for granted the last couple of months.
“Let’s go home,” I said.
We teleported back to the family room. Katia and the others were still there. From the looks of things, they’d ordered more food. How would they treat me once they learned I’d participated in raids that had destroyed their homes and killed their families?
Forgotten (Guardian Legacy Book 3) Page 21
