The Chosen

by K. J. Nessly

  Kathryn stared at him in disbelief. “I never told anyone about helping Jenna and Tyler,” she said quietly.

  “Being the family leader has its advantages,” he said with a smile. “There are very few secrets that I don’t know about.”

  “And the capitol? How could you possibly know…?”

  “While you were watching the Dragons, I was watching you.” He held up a hand to forestall her angry reply. “And before you take my head off, it didn’t start out that way. The Dragons are my responsibility and it’s my duty to look after them. When I realized that you already had that corridor covered for me, I decided that while you were watching our family, someone should be watching your back.”

  She stared at him again, a million thoughts flying through her mind. Finally she said, “You’re wrong.”

  “Wrong?”

  “I don’t deserve to have anyone watching my back,” she replied dully. “I don’t even belong in the Guardians.” The memory of being an outcast at school, the other students afraid of her because of the close attention the Council paid her came rushing back. “I don’t know how to live with others. I don’t…I don’t even know who I am.”

  “You’re a Dragon,” he returned firmly.

  “And how can you know that for certain? How do you know that I shouldn’t be an outcast or village beggar? How do you know that the Council didn’t make a mistake?”

  David chose his words carefully, he could see that she was almost at the end of her endurance and didn’t want to say anything that might upset her even more. “Because you’re here with the rest of the Dragons, serving as a Guardian, and not as an outcast struggling for survival in the forests or streets. While it is possible that the Council can make mistakes, they didn’t make one with you.”

  She looked up at him, her eyes deader than he had ever seen before. “Natalie called me a Wanderer.”

  “She what?!” David asked horrified.

  “Months ago, when we were first stationed in Rima, Natalie accused me of being a Wanderer.”

  No wonder Kathryn had identity issues. “How did you handle it?”

  “The accusation stung, but what was far worse is that I couldn’t deny it. I have no proof that what she said is false,” Kathryn admitted slowly.

  “I think I need to have a talk with Natalie,” David muttered angrily. A very long, very overdue talk.

  “No, she’s sorry now. She said it out of anger and frustration. She didn’t truly mean it.” He noticed that she didn’t say it with much conviction…either that or she was too tired to care how anything sounded.

  Perhaps now would be a good time to move her focus to something positive. “Out of curiosity,” David said, “How do Destiny and Claude fit into all this?”

  Kathryn gave a ghost of a smile as Destiny let out a soft call at the sound of her name. “On the day the Lord Jasse rescued me I found an abandoned baby bird in the forest. For some reason I felt a connection with it. I smuggled her into the manor and brought her with me when I left.”

  “Kind of like kindred spirits?” David asked.

  “I guess so. Anyway, for the first couple months I never let her out of my sight. The first time I spoke was when I named Destiny.”

  “That’s a powerful memory.”

  “Yes it is, and Destiny’s been with me ever since.”

  “So in a sense, you both rescued each other.”

  Kathryn paused, considering what he had just said. “I never thought about it like that before,” she admitted. “But you’re right. We did kind of rescue each other.”

  “And Claude?”

  A tiny spark of life appeared in her eyes. “When I first arrived here, I refused to speak. Because of this, and the fact that my uncle and his family never bothered to give me a name, I was nameless in more ways than one. The Blackwoods gave me the name Margit. On the second day, Claude came across me in the hall and told me that I reminded him of his little Caterina.”

  David smiled. “The name you used to introduce yourself to the Blackwoods.”

  “Yes. Lady Blackwood came looking for me and Claude pretended to think that she was looking for him and called me Kathryn.” She paused. “I liked it better than Margit so when Lady Blackwood asked, I confirmed it and I became Kathryn.”

  David couldn’t help but feel admiration for the baker who’d gone out of his way to ease some of the pain a six-year-old Kathryn had been feeling. He guessed that Claude’s small acts of kindness hadn’t stopped with giving Kathryn a beautiful name as well as making her feel like his own child.

  He looked over at Kathryn. She was silent now, her eyes staring out the window, her body trembled with exhaustion. Standing, he moved to the doorway and called for a servant. One quickly appeared.

  “Lady Caterina requests a sleeping draught for tonight, please see that one is delivered immediately.

  The servant hurried away.

  “I don’t need a sleeping draught, David,” Kathryn protested as he closed the door.

  “I disagree,” he replied quietly. “You’ve been through a lot in the last day and while you’re exhausted now the dreams will come again, and you won’t sleep.”

  She turned her head away. “They make the nightmares worse,” she told him quietly.

  He was startled that she actually admitted to the dreams since she hadn’t spoken of them while telling her story and even more surprised that she’d admitted to what she could only consider a weakness with the sleeping draught. With a shake of his head he said, “Not this time. If you take the draught while you’re still physically and emotionally as tired as you are now, the draught will calm your mind enough to bypass the dreams and give you peaceful sleep.”

  She eyed him doubtfully. “If you say so.”

  The next few minutes passed in silence, Kathryn continued to watch the rain fall against the window pane, although not as forcefully as the night before. David processed everything she had told him. His own body was simmering with rage, but instinct told him if he let her see any of his fury, it would chase her away. She needed someone to act as a pillar for her to lean on, a root to keep her from blowing away in the wind…not the fiery whirlwind of an avenging spirit

  A knock sounded on the door and David retrieved the sleeping draught from the servant. He held it out to his second-in-command. She eyed it suspiciously.

  “I’m not leaving until you drink it,” he told her.

  Grimacing she took it and held gamely onto it.

  Amused, David crossed his arms over his chest. “It won’t explode.”

  She shot him a look that told him she was not finding the situation as amusing as he was, but drank the draught.

  Satisfied, David nodded and turned to leave. “I’ll leave you to get some sleep. If the weather is clear, we’ll leave as soon as everyone’s awake.”

  He’d barely taken a step before she reached out and grabbed his wrist. Amazed at the swiftness of her reflexes in her exhausted state he turned to face her.

  “Please,” she begged. “Don’t tell anyone what I just told you.”

  David looked into her eyes. “They’re going to have to learn eventually.”

  She bit her lip. “I know, but I’m not ready to tell them yet. You’re the first person I’ve ever told and I need time to get used to the idea of someone else knowing.”

  “You’re going to need to learn to trust them one of these days.”

  “I trusted you, didn’t I?”

  David stepped out into the hall and closed the door behind him. The anger he had felt as Kathryn had told her story finally got the better of him and he slammed the butt of his fist against the stone.

  A voice came out of the darkness to his right. “If you want to go after our hosts, I’ll join you.”

  Startled, David peered into the gloom. Daniel stepped out of the shadows and into the light of a low burning torch. The look on his face was probably identical to the one on David’s. “I’m tempted,” David admitted.

  Dani
el grimaced. “I never thought it could have been that bad.”

  David motioned for Daniel to follow him and quickly returned to his own room. Closing the door he asked. “How much did you learn?”

  The younger boy glanced down at the floor. “Most of it. Probably all of it.”

  “Eavesdropping?”

  Daniel looked up hurriedly. “Not on purpose!” he said earnestly. “I was trying to gauge the mood of the manor, you know, reach out and see if they suspected who we really are.”

  Impressed with Daniel’s initiative, David asked, “Do they?”

  “I don’t think so,” Daniel said slowly. “But before I could do a more thorough investigation…I kind of got hit.”

  David raised an eyebrow. “Hit?”

  Daniel nodded. “I don’t really know how else to describe it. One minute I was working through the threads that make up Lady Blackwood’s tangled mind and the next it felt like I’d been broadsided by a siege ram.”

  “Kathryn?” David guessed.

  His companion nodded. “I was so focused on getting into the intricacies of our hosts minds, looking for the smallest of suspicions, then Kathryn’s emotions overwhelmed me and it was like getting sat on by a horse.”

  “It got your attention,” David said dryly.

  “It didn’t just get my attention, it took over.” Daniel paused, trying to collect his thoughts. “It was weird,” he said finally. “I’ve been trying for almost a year now to get a glimpse into Kathryn’s mind, to understand her or help her. But the amount of emotion she just let loose was paralyzing. I literally couldn’t move and I couldn’t block it out.”

  Curious, David asked. “Were you privy to her words or just her emotions?”

  “A little of both. They melded together, sometimes the images would drown out her voice, muting it like it was coming from behind a stone wall or under water, other times the images would fade and her voice would come through clearly against a black backdrop.” Daniel shuddered. “Some of those images…I’m going to have nightmares for weeks.”

  “Do I want to ask?”

  Daniel shook his head. “Two words: Vespine Fever.”

  Now David suppressed an involuntarily shudder. He’d seen paintings in classes of what happened to the victims who had fallen to the deadly plague and if that had been what Kathryn had survived, he would have nightmares too.

  “There’s something else, David,” Daniel said slowly.

  Alerted by the wariness in the other’s tone, David motioned for him to go ahead.

  “Kathryn…lied. Not about her past,” he added quickly. “Well, only about a small part.”

  “Go on.”

  “Lord Jasse wasn’t the one who found her.”

  David nodded. He’d already figured that much out by himself. “Let me guess. Dowager Princess Jasmine?”

  Daniel nodded. “Yeah. I can understand why she might lie, but I figured you should probably know, the Dowager Princess being your aunt and all.”

  It was said so matter-of-factly that for a brief moment, David didn’t process what Daniel had just told him. When his overwhelmed brain finally made the connection he struggled to find a way to refute it. Finally he managed, “I think your head is still rattled from your experience.”

  “Can’t lie to a mind reader,” Daniel replied simply.

  If David’s interactions with Lord Jasse were any indication, Daniel was probably right. Sighing, he leaned against the stone wall. “I thought you were able to sense emotions, not thoughts.”

  Daniel scratched his head. “It used to be just a sense, but lately it’s been developing into actual thoughts. I’m not entirely sure what’s happening. Maybe all mind readers start out sensing thoughts?”

  “We could always ask the Council,” David suggested.

  Daniel shrugged. “Why bother? They have more important things to be doing. In any case, you don’t have to worry. Your secret’s safe with me.”

  “Thanks…I think.” David sighed and ran a hand through his hair. “I remember an episode six years ago at school that had the Council and my family in an uproar. I pieced together some of it at dinner tonight when Lady Blackwood mentioned angering the Dowager Princess. But I didn’t even begin to imagine…”

  Daniel nodded. “Well, with any luck by tomorrow we can leave this place and be done with them.”

  “Hopefully. I don’t think Kathryn could handle another day here.”

  Daniel chuckled softly. “At least no one would ever have to worry about the Blackwood’s again.”

  “Don’t give her any ideas.”

  “Oh, she already has them,” Daniel told him. “But her desire to remain out of their presence trumps her desire to kill them at the moment.”

  “Pray it stays that way. I don’t want to have to explain a double murder by my second-in-command to the Council. No matter how justified it may have been.”

  “Now that you mention it, I am severely tempted to go downstairs and remove the heads of the Lord and Lady myself.”

  “Well said,” David responded. “Let’s get out of here as soon as possible before things get out of hand.”

  Chapter 31

  The next morning dawned clear and bright. There would be nothing to keep the Guardians from leaving Blackwood Manor. When Kathryn opened the window for Destiny the bird simply ruffled her feathers and refused to leave. You are a strange bird, Kathryn thought as she dressed and carefully packed up the rest of her possessions. It was strange, Kathryn mused, to be leaving Blackwood Manor a second time. However this time there was a difference. The first time she had left she had been facing the unknown with only Destiny to love. This time she knew exactly where she was going and felt a confidence she normally only experienced in the midst of a fight.

  Perhaps Lord Jasse, Jasmine, and David had been right all along. She’d refused to talk about her past because of the intense pain that came with the memories. And yes, when she had told her story last night, the emotional pain had been severe—however now it was as if talking about it had smoothed a salve over all her wounds. A salve that had burned as it destroyed infection, but was now cool and soothing.

  For the first time in her life, Kathryn felt free—as if it was only just now that she was leaving Blackwood Manor for the first time.

  She was glad David had decided not to remain for the morning meal. Despite the fact that she felt free, she still couldn’t stand to stay another morning in this place. As she shouldered her pack she remembered David’s words from the night before. “They’re going to have to learn eventually.”

  That was something she didn’t look forward to. David would never react out of pity for her, but there was a strong chance the others would. Kathryn hated pity. She would rather be scorned than pitied.

  Perhaps the rest of the Dragons didn’t need to hear the full story? Maybe she could just give them small glimpses into her past? David probably wouldn’t approve, but really—did the rest of the family have to know the whole story?

  As she descended the stairs with Destiny perched on her shoulder she discovered the rest of the family gathered in the foyer. That was odd. She would have thought that David would have had them leaving at separate times. Of course, after what she’d told him last night, maybe he just wanted to make sure that they all got out of the Manor at once. He could easily have them all riding in different directions to hide their familiarity. Blast, she thought, spotting her hosts at the door, of course they have to play the perfect host. As she drew closer she overheard something that put a chill through her veins.

  Natalie was promising to put in a good word for them at court, perhaps even send a letter to the king. Lady Blackwood was oozing polite gratefulness.

  The thought of meeting Lord and Lady Blackwood at court after what they had done to her snapped something inside of Kathryn. As she joined the group she spoke loudly, “No, Lady Natalia, you will not.”

  Everyone turned to look at her in astonishment. Lady Blackwood struggled to keep t
he air of gentility on her face. “Is there a problem Lady Caterina?”

  Kathryn didn’t stop moving until she stood before her old mistress. Lady Blackwood was taller than her by several inches, but for once, Kathryn didn’t feel intimidated. “Under no circumstances will anyone ever speak well of you at court.” On her shoulder, Destiny let out a cat-like hiss. Kathryn wasn’t sure if the appalled look on Lady Blackwood’s face stemmed from her words or Destiny’s presence on her shoulder.

  “But, Lady Caterina!” Natalie protested.

  Kathryn held up a hand for silence. “No, Lady Natalia!” she snapped, her voice filled with cold anger. Natalie flinched, but relaxed slightly when she realized that Kathryn wasn’t angry at her. “Do not promise them anything until you know the truth of their accidental oversight.”

  Lady Blackwood was struggling to keep her temper, Kathryn recognized the signs—stiff jaw, the clenching and unclenching of her hands, her bone-breaking rigidness. “And just how would you know—

  The question died on her lips as she spied the golden pendant hanging around Kathryn’s neck. An expression of disbelief and horror flickered across her face. “Impossible!” she whispered hoarsely. “You can’t be her. She was mute.”

  “Impossible?” Kathryn asked in a dangerously calm voice. “I was never mute, Lady Blackwood, I just never learned to speak up. But now I will and I will tell everyone the truth about this horrid place.”

  Lady Blackwood laughed nervously. “You were too young to remember everything.”

  Kathryn narrowed her eyes at the woman before her. “Too young to remember every day I spent wallowing in your dungeon?” she asked icily. “Too young to remember every crack of the whip before it ripped into my flesh?” She stepped closer. Intimidated, Lady Blackwood took a step back. “Too young to still feel every slap of your hand against my face and body?” Kathryn continued, keeping her voice calm and controlled. Her words were not loud with anger, but they held the entire room as captive as she had once been.