“She reminds me of the other one,” A male voice suddenly broke in. “Stronger than most.”
I had no idea who the other one was, but I didn’t care.
“Also here because she is tangled up with a boy. Funny how often that happens.”
“I am not here because of a boy!” The very idea annoyed me. I was here for something bigger than myself.
“Then a man?” The girl laughed. “Is that how you view him?”
“I am here to stop the darkness, and I need something from you.”
“You are here because of a man.” The male voice answered. “For the darkness has only returned because of him.”
“It isn’t James’ fault.” Rage filled me. How dare they blame him for the evil of his father? I was sick and tired of people viewing James that way.
“Who said anything about James?” Another voice answered. This one was also male, but sounded younger somehow.
“Then who do you mean?” I waited a beat, and when no one said anything I rephrased my question. There was only one other man they could be referring to. “Do you mean Gregor?”
“Very good. I feel like we should reward you somehow.” The female laughed, and it sounded closer.
I heard the clicking of heels. A moment later a knock-out blonde appeared directly in front of me. With the bright light I hadn’t seen her coming closer.
I was sure my jaw dropped as I took her in. With her short, tight, glitzy silver dress and three inch heels she wasn’t exactly what I expected an Elder to look like.
“Are you done staring?” She smiled, not appearing particularly concerned with my staring.
“Yes.” I tried to downplay my surprise.
“Am I not what you expected?” Her eyes twinkled. She loved my reaction, and that made me want to change it.
“Not exactly.” Letting her know that her appearance had thrown me off wasn’t going to help me.
“I may be persuaded to take that as a compliment.”
“Thank you.” I tried to stay polite. My mother had taught me that the words please and thank you could get you a long way in life.
“What are you thanking me for?”
“Showing yourself.”
“Do not let my appearance fool you.” Her expression darkened. “I am dangerous.”
“I know you are. More than I thought.”
Her face relaxed. “Why?”
“Because I do.”
“That is not an answer.”
“You don’t need to look frightening because you are dangerous. If you looked scary I might think it was mostly for looks.”
“Interesting way to view it.” She brushed some of her long hair off her shoulder.
“I know you’re dangerous. There’s no need to remind me of it. I’m here because I need your help, which you very well know.”
“Fair enough.” She nodded. “I like your honesty.”
“Then please explain something to me. Why is all of this about Gregor?” That was the first question I needed answered since they seemed so sure about it.
“Think about it.”
“I am thinking. He’s crazy. He tried to kill me, or at least he threw me in a frozen lake. I don’t really get things.”
“You understand more than that. Do not lie to me, child. There will be a price to pay the next time you do.”
Child? I hated being called that, but there were more important things to worry about. “I’m not lying. I know he is power hungry.”
“Good. You are getting somewhere.”
“And I know he is Blake’s son.” James’ half-brother. It was the relation to James that was hard to believe. James had such a pure heart under all that darkness, while it was impossible to imagine Gregor as anything else.
“Yes, of course he is. But we are all created for a reason, Ainsley.”
I startled at the sound of my name.
She laughed. It was light this time. “You are surprised I know your name? I know everything about you.”
I shuddered at the thought. I didn’t even know everything about me, which was evidenced by the fact it had taken more than twenty years for me to meet my father—and when I did he was already dead.
“But you have surprised me. I thought you were weaker.”
“Oh.” I assumed that was a good thing. I had impressed her somehow, but I didn’t know why she had such a low opinion of me to begin with.
“So ask the right question now.”
“What is the right question?”
“I cannot tell you that.” Her eyes gleamed.
“Should I ask you the question I really came here to ask?”
“Is that still your question after what you have learned?”
“What have I learned?” My head spun with questions. Not so many answers.
She sighed. “Ainsley, Ainsley, Ainsley. Will you stop disappointing me?”
“I thought you said I surprised you by not being as weak as you expected?” Was she reneging on that already?
“You did, but I did think you would be smarter.”
“This has nothing to do with intelligence. I am new to this world.” Was I expected to have figured out everything already?
“But you are the daughter of Belgard. That means you should know all the truths.”
“Just because I am Monty’s daughter doesn’t mean—”
“Oh, there is so much for you to learn. Maybe I can keep you for a while.” Her eyes gleamed.
“Keep me?” I coughed. Was she serious? My confusion moved back to anger. This was all too much.
“Yes. You would help pass the time.”
“I’m not interested in being a pet.” Not hers, not anyone’s. I wasn’t interested in being a toy either, and that’s exactly how I felt. All I was doing was following the instructions other people gave me. Maybe that was my problem. I was listening to others instead of myself. And by others I also meant my father. I didn’t know the man. He wasn’t even alive, yet here I was in a crazy dangerous position because he had advised me. I was stupid, but even as I started to regret my decision I knew it was the right one. The poison swam around my system. Even if most of what I was doing was for the greater good, part of it was for my own survival.
She laughed. “I never said you would be a pet.”
“Ok, then a jester or whatever. I need the plant Charlotte wants. Nothing has changed.”
“You really fail to get it?”
“Get what?” I sighed. “I already told you I don’t know more than I’m telling.”
“Nothing matters if you forget about Gregor.”
“I wasn’t planning on forgetting about him.” In fact I had just reminded James about him. Was that random? I was starting to believe nothing was random.
“Monty’s plan does.”
“What is Monty’s plan even? All he told me was to come here.” And that was incredibly frustrating.
She groaned. “Ok, come with me.”
“Come with you where?” I narrowed my eyes.
“Stop asking questions.” She turned and started to walk away as the bright light returned.
Once again I had a choice. Follow or wait. Waiting wasn’t going to help me. I hurried after her with absolutely no idea where I was going.
17
Elron
“Why did she bring up Gregor?” James stared at the place Ainsley had disappeared through. “Of all things to bring up before she disappeared?”
I was not entirely sure whether he was talking to me or himself. He was speaking out loud, but the faraway look in his eyes suggested something different.
I understood why he was upset, but we were too short on time for me to placate him. He was going to have to handle that part on his own. I only hoped it would not set off the darkness in him any further. “You know why she brought it up.” This was not the appropriate time for him to feel sorry for himself. He could do that later when our work was done.
I had no interest in thinking about Gregor eith
er. I was unconvinced that Gregor was as human as he appeared on the outside. I was unsure of what he was, but something about him was off.
“I know he is dangerous and must be stopped. I will take care of it, but not until we found out what the Elders have to say. That is the plan, and we need to stick with it.” James paced back and forth.
“What if we lack that kind of time? What if it is impossible to do it later?” I needed to get through to him. We did have a plan, but we could not stick to it if doing so meant we failed at our end goals. It was time to deviate from the plan. “We may be so short on time that we need to do it now.”
“I will not leave her.” James’ eyes darkened. “I cannot leave her.” There was something menacing about his expression that made me doubt his hold on the darkness. He needed to be strong.
“I know you cannot leave. I understand you two cannot be apart for long.” And because of that I knew what I had to do. “But Gregor must be stopped.”
“Are you suggesting that you leave to find him?” James rubbed the back of his neck. “You plan to leave us here?”
“Have you listened to a word I said?” I gritted my teeth. “We have no choice.” I had no interest in leaving Ainsley with James now that he was clearly changing, but I saw no other options. Time was running out.
“If finding Gregor is of the upmost importance, then why is this the first time you are mentioning it? Why wait for her to bring it up first? You expect me to believe you were just waiting for the right time?”
“I understand your skepticism, but it doesn’t really matter why I am telling you now. We have to destroy the darkness. Completely. Forever.” My hesitation had been out of reluctance. I wanted someone else to take care of the Gregor problem, but there was no one else we could rely on.
“You think I do not know that?” James’ eyes blazed. “You doubt I understand what is at stake?”
“I know you are blinded by your feelings for Ainsley. It is through no fault of your own, and I only wish I had understood the intensity before I returned in time. I should have been more prepared.”
“It is strong enough to transcend time…” James got the faraway look in his eyes.” And I am sure it can do a whole lot more.”
“I agree. There is more to the bond than any of could have imagined.”
“I will resist the darkness for as long as it takes.” He straightened up and met my eyes.
“I know you will.” I was not as confident as my words made it sound, but we had no other choice. He needed to be strong, and hopefully his love for Ainsley would be enough to keep the true James here. The problem was it might be his intense feelings for her that pushed him over the edge.
“But how do we find our way back to the true time? Or the other time?” James’ forehead furrowed.
“You know how. You said it yourself. Your bond can transcend time. You need to return to the same spot, and everything should work. I will try to meet you, but if something stops me you need to do it.”
“How long do we wait?” James was not one to turn to others for help or advice. His doing so gave me hope that he still had enough rationale thought. He turned back to the direction from which Ainsley left. He was worried, and I felt the same way. But Monty had sent her here for a reason. He had to have had faith it would work out. “Where will you go to find Gregor?”
“The lake. That is where he called Ainsley to in the beginning. It is where he is building his army. It is my best guess of where I will find him.”
“I agree.” He tensed. “This is really my fight.”
“No, it is all of our fights. One of us has to go, but you need to stay. Ainsley needs you.”
“She will be upset when she returns to find you missing.”
I shook my head. “No. She will be fine when she sees you. She needs only you.” And my words were true if he managed to contain the darkness. Still, the sad truth was if the darkness consumed him completely, my presence would do nothing to protect her. So much depended on James fighting the darkness.
“But she trusts your judgment. She no longer trusts mine now that the darkness—”
I interrupted before he could go any further with those thoughts. “She may worry about the darkness, but do not confuse that with her no longer trusting you. She will still follow you anywhere. We both know that.”
“Because the bond blinds her, it would push her to head directly toward danger if it means staying with me. The poison takes precedence over everything else, and it means we cannot separate even if it is the right thing to do.”
“You must stay together. It was a mistake when she ran from you last time.”
“You mean when you took her to North Lauriet?” James frowned.
“I did not take her from you. She was already lost in the woods fleeing.” Something suddenly occurred to me. “She fled because of a warning from Monty…” I let my words trail off.
James nodded. “It is obvious. She needed to meet you. Monty needed us to back in time. That is the clearest possibility.”
“Would he do that only to meet her? Or was there more?” I did not know Monty, but I wanted to believe he only did things for the right reason. It would not have been out of the realm of possibilities for a father to go to great lengths to meet his daughter. Would I ever do something like that?”
“Monty would never put Ainsley in danger unless he had to.” James spoke with a seriousness that was unusual for him. “I can promise you that. So whatever he told her in the realm of the dead had to have been important.”
“Funny that you are the one doing the convincing when earlier I was the one convincing you to let her see the Elders alone.”
“Allowing her to face a grave danger without me goes against everything I know and care about.” He turned once more toward where she left.
“Can you see anything beyond the bond? Is it possible?” How all encompassing with the connection? Did the blinding natural of it lessen at all when they were physically apart?
He nodded, and a deep sadness seeped into his eyes. “I can see the darkness. I can feel the darkness. It is everywhere inside me spreading throughout my body, and it is outside almost everywhere I look.”
“Yet here you are doing the right thing.” It was my turn to decide what the right thing was. Did I leave James here, and effectively leave Ainsley in his care? That is not to say she was incapable of caring for herself, but the darkness was a grave danger. But staying meant I gave Gregor a chance to build the army. The real question was where Blake was in all this. He was somewhere in the darkness. Either decision was dangerous and could be the wrong one, but a decision had to be made.
“Meet me back where we met the army.” I nodded to James. “Stay strong for Ainsley. You can fight off the darkness.”
I turned before I could doubt my decision again. Seeing James’ condition, I knew further time travel was out of the question. I had to use every moment of this time well.
I headed toward the nearest forest, bound and determined to find Gregor at the lake before it was too late.
18
Ainsley
I still couldn’t see much thanks to the crazy bright light. Between the clouds outside and the bright light inside, using my sense of sight didn’t get me very far on Mount Majest.
I continued to follow the Elder until the light faded, and I found myself in a beautiful courtyard full of bright colored flowers.
“Now, isn’t that better?” The Elder spread her arms out wide.
“It’s beautiful out here, but I don’t see how this—”
“Stop. Relax for a moment.” She sat down on the bench that circled a stone fountain.
“Relaxing isn’t on my to-do list.” It was nowhere near it. I wondered when I would ever relax again.
“Sometimes you have to relax to prepare yourself for what is to come.” She closed her eyes and leaned back as if to soak in the sun on her face.
I gazed up at the sky, trying to determine if it was real or an
illusion. With all the bright light I hadn’t noticed us move outside. “There is nothing I can do to adequately prepare myself for what’s coming.” My life as I knew it was over. Somehow accepting that reality made things easier. Slightly easier that is.
I tried to focus on the sound of the running water coming from all four of the sprayers in the fountain. The problem was although soothing, the sound reminded me of the water that transported us from the realm of the dead. I rubbed my throat, remembering that not-so pleasant experience.
The Elder kept her eyes closed. “There is always a way to prepare yourself.”
“Could you just tell me what it is you want me to know?” I sat down beside her, finally giving in to the exhaustion I knew would only get worse. “Then I can stop wasting your time.”
She opened her eyes and turned toward me. “You are not wasting my time. I am enjoying this. By the way, my name is Arabella.” She held out her hand in an informal way that seemed at odds with who she supposedly was.
I accepted her hand, noting her perfectly manicured pale pink nails. “Nice to meet you.” I wasn’t sure it was nice to meet her, maybe it would be if she told me something instead of continuously confusing me. Every time I thought I had a better idea of what was going on, I learned something else that confused me further. The sensation was the mental equivalent of what I imagined quicksand would be. Even if you thought you were escaping somehow, you would get sucked in deeper each time.
There had to be a reason she brought me out to the courtyard. She didn’t care about me or my problems, which meant the move was to put me at ease, a false sense of ease, and that wouldn’t be good. I needed to stay alert and remember that this creature, beautiful or not, had the power to destroy me and any hope I had left.
“You met your father.” She leaned forward, her elbow resting on her knee. “That must have been a memorable occasion.”
Memorable was one way to describe it. “I did. Although It was a weird version of him since he is dead and all.” Considering she claimed to know everything about me, I assumed she knew my father’s fate.
Forged in Light (The Forged Chronicles Book 4) Page 12
