by Megg Jensen
“Here’s some water too.” She shoved it into my hand and bit sloshed on my covers. “Oh, I’m sorry Reychel. I didn’t mean to do that.”
Ivy ran to the other side of the room and grabbed a striped hand woven towel. She raced back and dabbed my covers. I put my hand on hers and gently pulled it off. She was too close to touching me. I wouldn’t let her, not even with a blanket between her hand and my knee.
She looked up at me, a question in her eyes, then looked back at the wet spot. “I was almost touching you.”
I nodded, taking a bite of the bread. “You promised you wouldn’t. Remember? If you want me to trust you, then you have to be more aware. You have to think about how your every move will affect me.”
“I’m so sorry Reychel. Really, I didn’t mean to do it.”
I didn’t like the Ivy who stood before me, her eyes wide with innocence. I didn’t believe it for a moment. Even before I knew she’d been lying to me, she’d never behaved this way. I had to figure out what her game was before she set a plan into motion. If I wasn’t a step ahead of her, then I might not win. Losing wasn’t an option.
I thought of Mark and our bond. I’d fight every day for the rest of my life to get it back. Once I had it, I couldn’t imagine going on without it. And then there was Krissin, one of the greatest annoyances in my life. She meant well, she just had a terrible way of showing it. She was the closest I’d come to a true friend since leaving behind Ella, the only other slave who’d shown me kindness at my father’s castle.
I had too much to live for now, too many people who wanted me in their lives.
“It’s okay.” The lie slipped off my tongue so easily that even I was shocked. It wasn’t even close to okay, but what else could I say?
“Zuri said they’re going to kill me. What was she talking about?” I asked, changing the subject.
Ivy grabbed the chair next to the window and set it down next to my bed. She sat down, crossing her arms over her chest.
“They are going to use you as an example to break up the war.”
“So she’s going to counter what my people did to me? They asked me to go along with their scheme to rally more support. Now Zuri and her people are going to do the opposite to crush them.”
“At least your people only pretended you were dead. I doubt Alia will be so kind.”
“Alia?” I asked, suddenly very curious what Ivy knew. “She’s here?”
Ivy shoved a chunk of bread into her mouth and nodded. I waited for her to finish chewing and swallow a gulp of water. “Alia’s running this whole thing. Zuri’s just one of the people she controls. Everything Zuri says and does comes directly from Alia.”
“So Alia’s the one who ordered me to be severed?” I motioned toward the window.
Ivy set her food down and stood up. “I can tell you don’t fully believe it.” She walked over to the dresser and picked up a hand mirror. She held it out to me, her slim fingers encircling the handle. I grabbed it by the mirror, still refusing to make any physical contact with her.
Holding it in my palms, I took a deep breath and turned the mirror over. My dark hair had grown longer, giving more credence to their claim that I’d been out for months. It cascaded over my shoulders and stuck out in wild tufts on the side of my head. I ran my free hand down the sides, trying to pat my hair into a presentable state.
My lips were fuller, my cheeks a bit thinner than before. No doubt I was changing from the scared slave child I had been into a free woman. I glanced at my amber eyes and held myself in a staring contest. My heart pounded and hand shook, causing my visage to tremor in the reflection.
Even though I didn’t have a visceral feeling that my gift was gone, and even though I couldn’t reach Mark through our bond, the mirror told me something that I couldn’t refute. The sparkle in my eyes had left. The mirror didn’t lie and apparently Ivy hadn’t either.
The one tangible part of my gift was gone. Yet the visions remained.
My fingers tightened around the mirror’s handle as I pulled back my arm and threw the mirror against the wall. A shower of glass erupted from the impact and landed on the floor in a barrage of sharpness. I spun around on one foot and faced Ivy. Krissin had often used the same move on me and now I knew why.
Ivy’s eyes flickered away from mine, just momentarily. Enough to let me know I’d scared her. She’d never seen me this confident before. When we were kids, I was always the meek one who did everything she said. It was time for her to see that I’d grown up in the last year, grown beyond the petty differences between us.
Mark chose me, not her. I was the Prophet, she wasn’t. I used to need to have someone hold my hand before doing anything new or different. Not anymore. I’d been pushed far enough.
“I’m sorry, Reychel,” Ivy said. She trembled in her chair, but didn’t reach out for me. If she had tried to touch me, I might have exploded again. My blood boiled and anger coursed through me.
“They can’t do this,” I said, more to myself than to Ivy. They’d done something. There was no mistaking that.
“They already have,” Ivy whispered. I glared at her, not appreciating the obvious comment.
“I need to get out of here. Are you going to help me?”
I eyed Ivy, knowing I couldn’t trust her. But if she was telling the truth, she was as much of a prisoner here as I was. It was a possibility she was lying to me, but I didn’t have any other choice. Any help, even if a trap waited at the end, was better than sitting in this room helpless and despondent.
I didn’t want to be rescued. I didn’t want to wait around. I’d been here months and no one had shown up to rescue me. Then I wondered, for the first time, if any of them survived the attack. None of them would have given my body up easily. Maybe that’s why I was still here. Maybe they weren’t alive to find me.
“Tell me what happened when Alia’s people stole my body.”
Ivy took a deep breath and looked away.
“Tell me,” I demanded.
“I wasn’t there.” She still refused to look up at me. I was infuriated. Was this how I used to appear? Meek, humble, scared? It was annoying and I wanted her to stop.
“Tell me what you know.” I breathed out slowly through my mouth. “Please.”
Ivy’s eyes returned to mine and she relaxed in her chair. “They knew the ruler of the Southern Kingdom was going to parade your body out to rally her troops. So they ported into town, set off a couple bombs, and took your body.”
“Was there a fight? Was anyone hurt?”
“There were casualties. I don’t know how many, and even if I did, I don’t know what that meant to the ruler’s army. But she wasn’t happy, I do know that. Alia likes to laugh about the ruler’s meltdown. I guess they have a past.”
So Ivy didn’t know Alia and Krissin had known each other for a few years and that Alia had worked as a slave.
“Did you hear anything about Johna?” Ivy didn’t know Nemison, at least not the way I did. She’d only met him the day of her wedding, when he’d helped me bring her down. But maybe bringing up Johna would coax her into telling me the one thing I didn’t want to ask about.
I didn’t know how much she knew about my relationship with Mark. Alia could have told her we were working together, but she didn’t know how far things had progressed between us.
“No, nothing about Johna. I didn’t hear too many names brought up, but I definitely would have paid attention if I’d heard hers.” Ivy sighed and rubbed her head, reminding me again that she was now a slave and not privy to all the conversations. But I also knew that Ivy had plenty of practice at spying on people. We’d done it all the time as kids. I had a feeling she knew more than she was willing to tell me.
Even though I was dying to know about Mark, I didn’t ask. I needed Ivy to cooperate. If Mark drove another wedge between us, I might lose my only chance to escape.
Chapter Thirteen
Later that night, Zuri threw the door open. Ivy and I had just
finished our supper of crusty bread and apples. I hoped Zuri was finally ready to share some details with me.
Zuri swept through the doorway and then stood to the side. Alia sauntered in behind her. I wanted to jump out of bed and hit her for everything she’d done to me, but I held back. If I wanted answers, I’d have to pretend I was the same meek girl she’d left behind at Krissin’s castle, one who didn’t remember much of anything after being severed.
She smiled, but I didn’t return it, which caused her smile to spread even further. She reminded me of a cat about to eat a mouse. Let her believe it all she wanted.
“Reychel,” she purred. Flashes of our past sped through my mind. I had once thought Alia was a trusted confident, someone who needed to be saved. Until she let me know she was gifted, but without the spark. That was the moment I knew something was different about her - and the moment I stopped trusting her. “Are you comfortable here?”
“Fine, thanks.”
Her lips pursed together and she tilted her head. She knew I didn’t mean it. “Is there something you want to ask me? Maybe you want to know about someone?”
I wouldn’t bite. I couldn’t stand to give her the satisfaction. Instead, I shrugged. “No.”
But it wasn’t Alia’s taunting that concerned me. Ivy’s stare burned into the side of my face. Out of the corner of my eye, I could see her body, taut and facing me. She wanted the answer too. I knew she did. Mark drove a wedge into an already fractured relationship. In the end, he was mine, but I wondered if she still cared for him.
Even though our lives had changed so much over the last few months, I had no idea what Ivy had gone through. While she sat in the dark dungeon, had she thought about Mark? What had he become in her mind? Over the years I’d seen how different fellow slaves were after a stint in the dungeon, which is why I was so afraid when my father sent me there the morning of my fifteenth birthday. People who went to the dungeon never came out the same person.
My gaze wandered to Ivy, but she couldn’t hide her interest fast enough. Her eyelids fluttered and she pulled in a sharp breath as our eyes met. She wanted to know about Mark too. Alia watched us with too much interest. I looked back at her, my gaze slack.
“Don’t you remember the great love of your life?” Alia asked. “The man who helped you discover your true purpose and protected you from me. Don’t you want to know his fate as well?”
“No. I don’t remember him.” I hoped my voice sounded flat, uninterested. I wouldn’t give any of them the satisfaction of taunting me.
Alia’s head tilted to the side. “I’m not sure I believe you. Do you care if he’s dead or alive?”
I held steady, but Ivy sucked in a poorly concealed gasp and my suspicions were confirmed. She did still have feelings for him. I hadn’t planned on sharing anything about our relationship with her, but from that moment on I couldn’t even show any emotion concerning Mark. I needed her help and if I had to deny my feelings for Mark to get out of here, then I would.
“Interesting.” Alia tapped a fingernail on her cheek. She wore a long wig, the hair cascading past her shoulders in dark ringlets. While she posed as a slave, she had been as bald as Ivy was now, as I once was. Even though I’d been out a few months, there was no possible way Alia’s hair grew that fast. “No matter, the plan will go as follows. Mark is of no concern to me if the two of you are broken up.”
“Pardon me, mistress.” I’d forgotten Zuri stood in the center of the room, silent until now. “Even if she doesn’t love him anymore, it doesn’t mean he won’t fight for her. Love is like that.”
Alia’s eyes narrowed and her hand flicked out to the side toward Zuri, who doubled over grunting. “No one asked you to speak. You know your place Zuri.”
The large woman gasped in pain, her throat rasping as her hands clutched her stomach.
“Aren’t you going to apologize to me?” Alia asked, her evil voice dripping with honey. Even though Zuri hadn’t been nice to me, I still couldn’t stand to see her in so much pain for such a small offense. I fought the urge to rush over and help her. Had the tables been turned, I know she wouldn’t have lifted a finger for me.
“Sorry, mistress. A thousand apologies and I beg your forgiveness. You know how I feel. Love breaks all boundaries.” Her voice strained to escape her throat as she fell to her knees. Zuri looked at Alia, her eyes pleading and filled with a longing I couldn’t quite place. She’d apologized, but Alia wouldn’t let up. Zuri collapsed, her face hitting the floor before the rest of her body.
Alia relaxed her hand and turned back to me. Zuri took in a deep breath, reaching out to Alia, who ignored her gesture.
“Now, Reychel,” Alia said, “I believe my dear Zuri told you that we’d be disposing of you. Dying twice, it’s something most people don’t get to experience.”
My hands curled into fists, but I fought back against my instinct and relaxed them. I’d seen Alia’s strange gift, the gift that existed without the spark in her eyes, and I knew she could easily overpower me. I hadn’t figured out what my gift was capable of, if anything.
“You’ve never had much of a life of your own, have you Reychel? Always been the pawn of one person or another. Now you’re my pawn to use as I please. You may find that I’m not as kind as some of the others. Like Johna, who you probably thought loved you like a mother.” Alia snickered and ran one finger across my cheek. “If she truly loved you, then she would have shielded you from the council. Instead she chose to use you, because of your status as the Prophet.”
I didn’t flinch or respond. I wouldn’t give her the satisfaction. Johna had only been doing what she felt was right for the jarring visions and the sickness. Hiding the truth from me, and everyone else, wouldn’t have helped anyone. I still would have experienced the same things.
Alia removed her fingernail from my cheek, scratching it. Blood welled and dripped down my cheek. I didn’t brush it away. Instead I allowed it to inch down my cheek like a tear. Let Alia see how strong I’d become since she turned my life upside-down.
“And Mark, your dear lover Mark. Let’s not forget him. Why did he leave you behind after your confrontation with Ivy?”
Alia’s gaze flicked over to Ivy and mine instinctually followed. Ivy shrank further into her chair and refused to look at either of us. For a moment I felt bad for her. Her torture wasn’t just from Alia, it was internal too. Ivy had never been close to anyone other than me and she’d never had a real friend. I’d known love and friendship since then, both helped to fortify me for anything Alia could throw my way.
My eyes drilled into Ivy, past her head and into her soul. Was there anything left in there worth redeeming? I wasn’t even sure there was anything redeeming in there to start. My entire childhood was a series of lies from nearly everyone around me. It was a wonder I’d managed to learn to trust anyone, particularly Johna.
No other woman had ever gotten close to me and I’d often wondered in the months I lived with her what it would have been like to have a mother. Johna was the closest I’d ever known. My heart ached as I thought of her. She’d been charged not only with putting me into the deep sleep, but also bringing me out of it. I could only imagine the agony she’d experienced when they stole my body.
“Johna was supposed to wake you, wasn’t she?”
I didn’t nod. I still refused to respond to Alia.
“Too bad she died. Honestly, Reychel. I could show you her decayed body. It has been four months, remember? But then I’d have to pay someone to dig her up and I have better uses for my time than that.”
She’d nearly done it, but I held firm. Inside, my armor cracked, even if for a moment and I allowed her verbal nails to scratch at my soul. If she wanted to use my death to further her political ambitions, that was her problem. Torturing me ahead of time was cruel.
Inside, my resolve to fight only strengthened. A year ago, Alia’s attentions might have broken me beyond repair. But not now. I’d seen too much and experienced too much. I’
d had the world handed to me on a platter in the form of my Prophet status, then ripped away by a dead madman, and then restored by communing with a goddess. I could handle Alia. In fact, I thought perhaps I could destroy her.
“Your time is limited, Prophet. Use it wisely.” Alia looked at me over her shoulder. “Or not. It really means little to me.”
Chapter Fourteen
Darkness poured into my room and Ivy lay curled up in the corner sleeping. Moonlight bounced off her shaved head, showing me her chest moving softly up and down. I slid off my bed onto the floor, on the opposite side of the room. She wouldn’t be able to see anything I was doing. I had to find out if my gift worked beyond prophecy.
I flicked my fingers and a portal opened. I resisted the urge to clap and giggle like a child, but I really wanted to. I’d spent ages trying to make portals and could never do it. Without waiting to see what else I could do, I crawled into it, knowing exactly where I was going. I wished with all my heart that it would take me directly to Mark, but I didn’t know where he was. Portals, even to the most powerful gifted person, could only be opened to a place I’d already been. Maybe this wasn’t the sweetest choice, but it was the smartest.
I emerged on the other side into a room filled with ribbons, pillows, and the color pink. Krissin’s bedroom. I’d only been in it once before, but in the middle of the night it was the only place I could guarantee finding anyone while still remaining hidden. If word got out that I’d been seen, Alia would know immediately that I was able to use my gift.
I sat up and saw Krissin sleeping in her bed, her chest rising and falling just like Ivy’s had. My hand reached out, but hovered just short of her shoulder. Knowing Krissin’s temper, she’d probably tear me to pieces for waking her up. I hoped that by the time she realized it was me, and that I had escaped captivity, she wouldn’t be too angry.
