by Jamie Magee
“All great loves are.”
Reveca leaned forward. “You have your confirmation. It happened. They loved each other, to the depths of their soul. It was innocent but promised to be so much more. Then they were destroyed. Don’t set your bar that high—don’t seek that emotion in its raw form. For when you find it, you will never get over it.”
“I know that,” River said with a ghostly whisper. Somehow the pain in her voice told Reveca she did know. Who she felt it for was still a mystery which Reveca wasn’t sure she wanted to uncover. “How do I get there?”
“Where?”
“The Edge.”
“By dying,” Reveca said a bit too sharply. “Why do you want to go there?”
“I have my reasons. I can get into the Realm, I can get into the Veil, but not the Edge.”
“You’ve been to the Veil and the Realm,” Reveca said nice and slow.
The Veil was layers deep. It could seem nice and safe, might give you a history lesson or two with all the manifestations of the dead, but it was too close, too easy to fall into the depths of it. The idea that this girl was there was sickening to Reveca. The Realm wasn’t much safer. That was where all dreams connected, where it was said that Escorts feed, Escorts that Reveca didn’t want to believe in but was being forced to.
One sharp nod answered Reveca’s question.
“There is nothing in the Edge but nature. It’s a brief passage, nothing more.”
“She’s there.”
“And what do you want with her? She’ll tell you what I just told you about love. I swear that to you and I would bet her memories of what you read are not nearly as sweet.”
River eyed Reveca carefully. “Barter with me again.”
“You haven’t completed your first barter.”
River pursed her lips before she spoke. “All right, listen. Parental figures are aware of my dating choices, but that’s all. I was asked to be…discreet.”
“What, you think I’m going to show up at a gathering and announce who you roll with in the dark?”
“It just needs to stay on the down low.”
Reveca nodded once.
“My friend lost someone…he’s an Escort.”
“Not what I thought you’d say,” Reveca admitted.
“Yeah, well,” River said with a shake of her head. “You already figured out he and I have a special relationship.”
“You’re sleeping with an Escort,” Reveca said.
One nod, and there was no guilt in that nod. If anything she was defensive.
“He lost his best friend. He was more than that, though. He was his brother, his leader, someone that meant a lot to him.”
Reveca felt sick inside. She knew whoever this girl was dating was close to King at one time—had lost King. If anyone knew how bad that sucked it was Reveca.
She wasn’t about to tell River that she knew where King was—no way in hell. King was currently under the protection of the Pentacle Sons—and he had made it very clear he wanted his past to stay in the past.
“How?” Reveca asked, assuming if she didn’t already know that should be her next question.
River eyed her suspiciously before she answered. “The last war the coven was in, maybe four winters ago, Dagen’s Helco Faction defended us. The leader fell into the depths of the Veil where we can’t reach. Dagen said that right now he’s depleted, as blind to us as we are to him.”
“You’re telling me when all the books taken from this coven were returned that a faction of powerful Escorts defended this coven—a coven that prophesied their demise, promised that new sovereigns would rise and slay them?”
“Not all of them,” River muttered.
Which told Reveca this girl knew her history. “No, but it did say it would slay five: the Sovereign, his First in command, and three other points of power. Clearly Dagen’s friend was strong enough to break away from their sovereign and create a faction—must mean he held a point of power, one of the five.”
“Prophecy is not fact. There is always leeway for fate to take place.”
“Not in your aunt Saige’s mindset. Rapture equals new beginning.”
“She knows the disclaimers I have found. We have discussed them.”
“Disclaimers?”
River stared before she spoke. “Saige knows I intend to ensure that Dagen, his fallen leader, and others never perish. She knows I’m too stubborn to think there isn’t a way to stop those that meant no harm from succumbing to destruction.”
Hope. Reveca felt hope right then, for the first time in a long time.
Chapter Two
Now it was abundantly clear that, to get the answers she wanted, Reveca was going to have to consider her sister’s faith to have some truth to it. River just made that far easier on her. River reminded Reveca that there are no absolutes in anything, not really. She made her realize that she could believe in this faith and still call bullshit on it, find loopholes, and at the same time, she could end the Sovereign that took her Kenson so long ago—turned him into King, to the depths of darkness.
“Disclaimers,” Reveca repeated.
One nod. “All prophecies have them. It’s the author’s way of reminding us that the souls behind these predictions have free will, can and will change a course at any time, and when they do so they never destroy what was said to come. Rather they make it better.”
“And what disclaimer have you found that can save the lives of your friend and his fallen leader?”
River let a slow grin come to her as she spoke. “What kills you saves you. That’s the drilled down version of it. It’s written everywhere in our coven’s history. They say it different ways but near Escorts it always says that.”
“What kills you saves you?” Reveca repeated. “You think the new Gods, the ones that will rise, will then save the old?”
“No…who they destroy will never come together the same again. The words…” River looked up as if she were reading them from thin air. “The emotion does not slay but delivers. Its depths must be infinite, have more to do with free will. That’s my theory anyways.”
Reveca furrowed her brow in question.
“Escorts, depending on the line they come from, only focus on one emotion. No matter what they think about or do, that emotion is in their mindset. It unifies them, strengthens them—they think it raises them above the masses, allows them to take power from the emotion and there is some truth to that. Hell, that’s the reason Rapture was promised. They took too much power, became greedy—gave birth to darkness.
“But what if they felt another emotion as deeply as the one that bore them? And if they did, would that not sever them from the darkness they served?”
“You got me,” Reveca said and meant it. She was hoping this girl was going to spit out some spell, some way to break the chain, but no spell could make someone feel something that wasn’t already there. It could grow it, like the lust one Zale used on her. Back then she wanted him and Zale amplified that emotion with his words. If the desire was never there to begin with, nothing would have happened. There was no way in hell a spell could make you feel anything to the depths of your soul.
“I think it’s love, passion.”
“Do what?”
River shrugged. “That’s how my friends broke away in the first place. Not the love part, the passion part. They had a passion for change, wanted it to be different. I don’t think they would have gotten as far away from their Sovereign without that.”
“What does your friend, Dagen, say?”
“Dagen?” She shrugged. “I talked to him about the love part first. You know, they think they can’t feel that, right? Even say it.”
Reveca gave her one nod. She did, but that was one of the facts that she ignored because up until she walked into this library it was all fiction to her. “You wanted him to love you,” Reveca said.
River blushed. “What we have is hot, I’m not going to lie. We got that and a tight friendship, but I kno
w it’s not love. I asked him about it because I saw him grieve for his fallen friend.”
Reveca furrowed her brow.
“If you’re feeling grief then you know you loved. I asked Dagen if he was sure that emotion was not in him, that after all the time in his existence—if he just forgot to recognize it.” River sighed. “He doesn’t know but my gut is telling me I’m right. Dagen is only one of millions that grieved when their leader took this fight into the depths of death, one of millions waiting on him to return. I think when that leader comes back he’s the answer.”
“What answer?”
“This faction, the Helco faction, they’re good souls but they need their leader, and when they have him again I think they will continue their course—figure out they can feel more than one emotion dominantly. They will feel the bonds we do as a coven, everything from strife to love. They can figure out everything they were dealing with before our war landed in their laps. They were already aiming to kill their Sovereign before this prophecy had any weight at all to it, they just had to get around a few things first, figure out how to feed safely and such.”
King had been trying to kill his sovereign…the very idea of that nearly turned Reveca on, made her think that her Kenson still existed in him, was still fighting for survival.
It was all that she could do to remain calm, to not ask a million questions.
“And why are you so certain this leader will do that when he returns from where this war has taken him?”
“Because if there is one thing that Dagen has told me about his leader over and over it is that once his mind was made it was not swayed, no matter how painful the path may be…their leader defended this coven, went against his nature, had everyone do so. He’s already made up his mind to change.”
Deliver from destruction—that’s what Reveca’s gut was screaming at her. She was to deliver King from death and into the hands of his people if he were to have any hope of survival—of fending off this Rapture which promised his demise.
She felt sick, mad, and used again. King had not returned to her life, he was only passing through. So be it, she screamed in her thoughts. All that mattered was that he survives this. She was sure she would pay any price for that to occur, even renewing the ache in her soul which she had found a way to live with over time.
“And what does Aunt Saige say about this?” Reveca asked, wondering why Saige did not just deal with this and leave her out of it—why her sister wanted her to feel this ache all over again. Saige knew this Rapture inside and out—she could have found a way to get King to his people without Reveca. The fact that she set the barter up with Crass in the first place stated as much.
“No comment,” River said, eyeing Reveca closely, clearly noticing how tense she had become.
“I need to see the text on the Escorts.”
“Is this another barter?”
“You learn fast,” Reveca said with a slight lift of her brow.
“The book’s at my dorm. You want to look at it, fine. But then you take me to the Edge.”
“This again.”
“I just want to meet her.”
“Why? She’s going to tell you exactly what I told you about this bar you set for love. I assure you.”
River lifted her chin. “Maybe I’m just a fan.”
“A fan?”
River winked dismissively, a knowing glint still lingering in her stare.
Reveca had felt Saige lingering near for a while, but she hadn’t started to approach the library until then. “You bring that book to the Beauregard Boneyard and you shall meet the Queen of the Edge.”
“Why do you want it?”
“I want to see your disclaimer, read the text near it…perhaps my original coven status will allow me to see something your youthful eyes have overlooked.”
River nodded once to agree.
“You may want to head on back to your dorm now.”
“You want me to bring it over there now? It’s late.”
Reveca smiled slightly, hesitated, and waited until she felt Saige move down the stairs. Reveca moved her head side to side. “Aunt Saige and I just want to have a quiet chat. I have some family issues I need her to help me sort out.”
Right then River’s eyes moved above Reveca. She knew Saige was no doubt behind her, had passed the energy seal the room was encased in.
“River,” Saige said in a kind voice that Reveca hadn’t heard in ages. “I know that you love your studies, but it’s late. It might be best for you to head back, unless you’re staying with your mom tonight.”
River stood. “No, I got an eight AM class.”
“Ah, to be young and curious again,” Reveca said as she stood in one fluid motion.
River placed the book she was reading before Reveca showed up carefully back in its home then gathered her things. As she went to pass Reveca, Reveca spoke. “River, I’m not clear on what you were taught about the Veil or the Realm but when you go there, ensure your stay is brief. The Lords of Death are never too far away and they’re nasty souls, ones that your innocents should stay clear of. I for one would never send anyone I cared about near them.”
“She is well versed, Reveca,” Saige said, doing her best to hold a tender tone.
River’s eyes went wide. “Reveca,” she repeated.
“It’s been a pleasure,” Reveca said with a weak smile.
River stood speechless for a second, then Saige spoke. “Call when you get in so I know you’re safe.”
River went to pass them by then looked over her shoulder at Reveca and went to say something but couldn’t find the words.
“Balance, my little witchling,” Reveca said. “This existence is all about giving and receiving. I look forward to meeting you again.” That was Reveca’s way of telling her that she had completed her part of the second barter they made: River had met the Queen of the Edge, now Reveca wanted to look at that book.
Saige and Reveca stared at each other wordlessly until they were sure River was long gone.
Then Saige spoke. “She idolizes you. Choose your words carefully when in her company. I trust you did just that this night.”
“She idolizes a false version of my past.”
Saige nearly smiled. “That child is gifted. She sees more than words. She sees truth that is hidden.” Saige sighed. “However, your past is not entirely why she idolizes you. She has been told as her craft grows that her vigor and skill mimic one of the great originals—Reveca.”
“One of the great. I assume you were not teaching those lessons.”
Saige made no effort to agree or disagree.
“Thanks for answering your phone when I called, sis. I just wanted to catch up. I found Kenson, I mean King. Thanks for that heads up. It’s not like my current lover is a jealous son of a bitch or anything.” Reveca hesitated, looking for a reaction, got nothing. “The witchling rose, but no worries. You and Jamison erased her memories, at least five years of them. And I will be damned if I didn’t almost lose her again. Turns out I was starving her.” Reveca winked. “King helped out with that, let me know she was an Escort.”
“Did he,” Saige said as a satisfied grin dared to surface. “Tell me, how did he convince you to believe in the faith that bore you once again?”
Even though Reveca’s mind flashed back to how King touched her in that closet, she managed not to show an expression.
“I didn’t say I believed anything.”
“What is it going to take, sister?”
Reveca glared. “If I believe in your faith then that must mean I believe my sister placed my first love and his assassin at my feet and dared me to watch him be destroyed once again.” Reveca paused to ensure no emotion would show in her words. “Talon doesn’t think you’re that cold of a bitch.” She paused. “Are you? Is that it, is this how you chose to encourage my belief—make me suffer all over again?”
“I didn’t make you suffer the first time, and if you suffer now it is your choice to do so.
”
Reveca eyed Saige coldly. “I don’t want to burst your bubble. But Cashton, he’s one of us now. He knows honor and brotherhood—he became a Son. We don’t kill those under our watch, our protection. We don’t turn on each other.” Reveca lifted her chin. “Even if Cashton wasn’t one of us now, he has no desire to kill King. Killer is the last word I would use to describe him.” Reveca stepped up to Saige. “Destroy or deliver from destruction. Those were the choices laid at my feet. What choice do you think I will make, sister?”
“The right one.”
Frustration. That was the constant emotion that Saige caused in Reveca.
“You’re aware that Evanthe was taken?” Reveca said after tense movement.
“I am.”
“I found her.”
Saige seemed shocked to hear that.
“Well, I know where she is. Daughter like father, she went into the pages. I need her out.”
Saige closed her eyes slowly, as if she felt the grief of that news.
There was not a doubt in Reveca’s mind that Evanthe being taken was hard on Saige. At one time Saige and Evanthe were close.
Evanthe had the gift of sight, and Saige was always looking forward. The friendship made sense. Evanthe’s gift was hard to tame and even harder to explain. She could see the future, but could not be classified as a prophet as she never saw further than a few hundred years, at best. And what she saw was mere flashes, more emotion—that’s how she described it.
Her gift never saw Saige’s Rapture, but it sure as hell helped Reveca with the wars she fought with Zale.
“Did you know about the boy?” Reveca asked.
“He surfaced in her predictions.”
“He is not a prediction—he is a soul. One that’s been through hell.”
Saige walked over to a far shelf, retrieved a book, then cruised down another aisle and grabbed another before making her way back to Reveca. “The story of her father, our history.” She gave her the other book. “The spells to locate.”
“All business with you, no heart.”
“If you need power behind those spells we are here to aid.”
“What I need is a fucking break. Our friend is missing, and a drug is on the streets because this coven lost a sacred book. I have souls that I have to take to Crass to fulfill the barter you asked me to make. I have a witchling who can’t figure out if she wants to live or die—too much shit to deal with on top of being hauled in for murder. You tell whoever killed Newberry to take a fucking chill pill and stop murdering other people. I’ve hit my limits, sis. Lawmen are threatening my Club, my family, and that’s a line you do not cross with me.”
