A fact that enraged Ana yet didn’t seem to bother either of his parents.
She was older than him, taller than him and arguably smarter than him. But this was of no consequence because she was also angrier than him. She was angry at his parents, angry at their ancestors, angry at their servants and their soldiers. Most of all, she was angry at Ari. For something that wasn’t even his fault.
But still, he loved her. She was his sister and it was her approval that he sought throughout his life.
Ari felt under his nightshirt for his pendant and pulled it out to look at it, wondering if he’d receive more gifts made from gold this year. His mother had given him this pendant the year before. She’d given one to Ana too, telling them that when they held their pendants together they would join up perfectly to form not only the shape of a tree, but also the shape of her heart. She said the pendant represented her heart split into two equal parts, one for each of her children, never complete without both its halves. The tree was a wintergreen and represented how important they both were to the kingdom.
Ari had put the chain around his neck immediately, not expecting Ana to do the same. To his surprise, she did, barely looking at it as she slipped it under the neckline of her dress. To the best of his knowledge, she never took it off and he’d catch glimpses of it sometimes, which told him that despite the way she pretended not to care for her family, she cared an awful lot.
He knew how hard it must be for her to be overlooked for the position of power that she yearned for, simply because she was a girl.
Would he make a good king? What qualities even made a good king? Was his father a good king? The type of king Ari aspired to be? The truth was that he wasn’t sure. And this bothered Ari.
Good kings were supposed to be brave and fair. They faced danger and protected their kingdom. They were in touch with their people and knew about their hardships and triumphs. Ari’s father rarely left the palace. Was this smart or foolish?
He got out of bed and dressed himself, refusing to let a servant help him with such a simple task. He left the palace by the door that led to the kitchen garden, wanting to see Ana. Perhaps she’d treat him differently now that he was a man. Maybe she’d let him see what secrets she was working on in the palace perfumery.
This was Ana’s favorite place, which was another reason Ari believed she must have goodness inside her heart. Originally set up by the King to please his wife, the perfumer had shown the King how the oils he produced had other benefits and could help with complaints like soothing nerves, curing insomnia and invigorating the spirit. The King had once said that he was far more of an alchemist than a perfumer, as he could work miracles with his oils. Ana had taken to calling him by that new title ever since.
Ari thought that Ana must be a good person to want to work on cures for the people. It couldn’t possibly be the appeal of the perfumer that drew her to his workshop. He was an odd man who was obsessed with his work and had definite ideas about what needed to be done. His passion for alchemy set Ari’s nerves on edge, rather than calmed them. However, Ari was smart enough to realize that if he were to win his sister’s favor, he needed to tolerate this strange man whose spell she’d fallen under. Not that the perfumer seemed to do a very good job of tolerating him. He knew the man thought he was a pest and was always chasing him out of the perfumery.
Ari’s determination to win his sister and the perfumer over was the reason he headed directly for the perfumery and not the kitchens where the cooks were sure to be baking trays of sweets to celebrate his birth.
He brushed past rows of raised vegetable patches in the kitchen garden, all bursting with herbs. His cloak made a breeze as he swept past them and the parsley, basil, and thyme sparked to life and danced in the current. It made him feel like he was the one filled with magic, not the perfumer.
The garden bed closest to the perfumery had recently been dug over and new seedings of coriander planted. Ari ran his hand over the green plants, imagining how they’d look when they’d grown tall and strong.
“Ana!” he called, pushing open the door to the perfumery.
It was obvious immediately that something was very wrong. Instead of finding beakers bubbling over flames and bottles of oils lining the benches, the workshop was bare apart from a small collection of bottles, bowls, and beakers left piled up on one of the workbenches.
He went further inside, the soles of his leather boots crunching on broken glass as he walked. Whoever had packed up the perfumery had taken no care. Clearly, it hadn’t been anyone who’d intended to return. Had it been Ana or the Alchemist? Or both?
“Ana?” he called again, not sure he really expected his sister to jump out from one of the cupboards.
A small noise caught his attention at the rear of the room and he went in further, heading to the cages where Ana kept various animals that she used to test her oils. Ari had always hated that she did that, thinking it was cruel and she’d laughed at him, making him feel small and stupid.
“Oh!” Ari’s hand flew to his mouth and he gagged when he glimpsed the cages and saw the animals. There was a cat with its neck twisted so that its lifeless eyes seemed to be looking over the protruding bones of its spine, several birds with missing wings and their beaks crushed to dust, a pile of rats with no heads at all and a fox with its tail cut off and shoved down its mouth.
Who could do such a thing? Surely not Ana? He’d seen her with a slingshot in the gardens, shooting rabbits and squirrels. She once even shot an eagle from the sky, laughing in triumph as it fell to the ground. He’d put it down to hunting, never for a moment thinking she was capable of torturing an animal like this.
He heard the small noise again and realized one of the birds was still alive, its mangled body twitching as a helpless chirp found its way out of what used to be its beak.
With a shaking hand, he reached inside the cage, scooped up the bird and placed it on the floor. This poor animal had no chance of survival. He couldn’t let it suffer like this.
Closing his eyes, he lifted his boot and took in a breath, urging himself to do what needed to be done.
“One, two, three.” He slammed his boot to the floor, wincing as he felt the crush of the bird’s bones. Why could doing the right thing sometimes feel like the worst possible option?
He lifted his boot. “Sorry, little guy.”
It was then that he heard a desperate wail come from inside the palace and he left the bird on the floor to run toward the horrible noise that was unmistakably coming from his mother.
He wound his way through the passageways to the Queen’s quarters to find her standing at her bureau clutching a piece of parchment. His father was pacing the room beside her.
“What is it?” Ari asked. “Where’s Ana?”
His parents stole a glance at each other and nodded as his mother’s shaking hands passed him the parchment.
It was a note, written in his sister’s distinctive handwriting.
Dear Father and Mother,
You have made it clear my whole life that I’m not good enough for you. I wish to tell you that you are not good enough for me either. The Alchemist is the only person who has ever treated me as his equal. I am more than enough for him. We have run away so that we can be together as husband and wife, a union that I know would not be deemed good enough by you either. Please don’t look for me. Accept me as dead, for you killed me long ago.
Ana
Ari couldn’t believe what he was reading. It was bad enough that Ana had left. There was no need to say such hurtful things on her way out. He tried not to focus on the feeling of resentment that he hadn’t so much as rated a mention in her letter. Did he really mean so little to her? Maybe he did.
“My daughter,” sobbed his mother.
“The scandal,” said his father.
“We must look for her.” The Queen clutched at her husband’s arm, as he shook his head.
Ari’s father broke free and paced the room with his fists clenched
, as he tried to think this through.
“Let me read the note again,” he said.
Ari’s mother passed him the note. “Please, husband. I know she’s… difficult. But, she’s our daughter.”
Ari remained quiet, knowing that whatever decision his father came to, it would be final. He wasn’t just the head of this family, he was the head of the whole kingdom.
He watched his father read the note, then tear it up and throw the pieces in the small fire that burned in the room to stave off the morning chill.
“We’ll tell everyone that she died and has been placed in the family crypt,” he said. “It’s the only way to keep the hysteria down. Nobody can know the truth.”
“No!” Ari’s mother cried. “I don’t care about the scandal. How can you be so cold?”
Ari had to agree, then he noticed tears pooling in his father’s eyes. He wasn’t being cold. He was a man in pain. But he was also a king, and a king must have respect. Having your daughter run away with an older man, who was a mere worker in the palace, wasn’t the way to earn respect. It would be a humiliation hard to ever come back from with your head held high.
“I’m protecting Ana’s reputation, as much as our own,” he said. “I won’t have her remembered as the kind of woman she turned out to be. Our people expect more than that of their Princess. She’s a role model. If the truth gets out, the whole moral compass of Wintergreen will spin off its axis.”
Ari’s parents didn’t even know the half of it. They thought the worst their daughter had done was run away with an older man. How would they feel if they saw the mess she’d left behind? He knew for certain now that he meant nothing to Ana and after what he’d found in the perfumery, he questioned if she meant anything to him either. Perhaps he liked the idea of a sister far more than the reality of it.
Ari’s mother collapsed on the floor and curled herself into a ball, her body shaking. Ari decided there was nothing sweet about his birthday at all. It was most definitely bitter. He also decided that if his father wouldn’t look for Ana, then one day he’d find her himself.
She needed to understand that their father didn’t want him to be the next ruler of Wintergreen because he was a male. It was because he was a better person for the job.
JASMINE
THE BEFORE
Jasmine opened her eyes on her sixteenth birthday deciding that the only word to describe how she felt was happy. Her family didn’t usually celebrate special occasions, but her birthday was still Jasmine’s favorite day of the year. Especially this year. She almost felt like a proper woman now. Almost.
Her blankets felt heavier than usual and she reached out her hands and patted the top of her bed to find that someone had covered it in a layer of rose petals while she’d slept. Not just a few, but masses of them. It was like waking up in a sweet-smelling cloud.
“Happy birthday, darling.” Her mother stood in her doorway, smiling.
Jasmine sat up and collected a handful of petals and threw them in her mother’s direction, watching them float to the floor like snowdrops.
Her mother laughed and came forward to scoop up more petals and let them fall over Jasmine’s head.
Not needing any more encouragement, Jasmine gathered another handful and soon there were petals flying all over the room.
Raph heard their laughter and came racing into the room to join in the fun. He was a little rougher with the game as a young boy was bound to be, dumping fistfuls of petals in the back of Jasmine’s nightgown and sending them tickling down her spine.
“Stop it!” she screeched, her cheeks stained with tears as laughter pulled painfully at her sides. “Raph!”
When their energy was spent, the three of them lay down on Jasmine’s bedroom floor and tried to catch their breath. Their mother was in the middle with Raph’s head tucked in the crook of her arm.
“Where’s Father?” asked Jasmine, never feeling like their family was complete unless the four of them were there. Her mother and Raph were so close they sometimes felt like the same person. When her father was around things seemed to balance out.
“He’s in the gazebo,” her mother said.
“At this early hour?” Jasmine asked. Normally he’d be busy in his workshop by now.
“Shall we see what he’s doing?” There was a twinkle in her mother’s eyes that filled Jasmine with excitement. Something was up. Something good.
Raph jumped to his feet. “Let’s go! Let’s go! Let’s go!”
Jasmine hauled herself to a stand and held out her hands to help her mother up.
“You have petals in your hair,” her mother laughed, pulling out one from her tangled curls.
“I like them there,” said Jasmine, glancing in the mirror on her wall. “Leave them. Although, I’d better get dressed.”
“Hurry up!” said Raph, already at the door.
“You meet us there,” said their mother. “I’ll wait for Jazz.”
Raph disappeared, petals flying off his clothes as he ran.
Jasmine went to her wardrobe and found her favorite dress. It was the color of lavender and it always made her feel special. It seemed like the right day to wear it. She pulled off her nightgown and her mother held out her dress for her to slip over her head.
“That’s my favorite dress on you,” her mother said.
“Me too,” she said, smiling at her beautiful mother. With her blonde hair and pale blue eyes, they didn’t look related at first glance. The clue was in their bone structure. The high cheekbones and defined curve of their brows gave them away. As did the love in her mother’s eyes. Nobody else in the world looked at her like that.
Her mother looped her hand in Jasmine’s arm and they made their way into the garden.
“I love where we live,” her mother said. “Your father gave us a beautiful gift planting this garden.”
Jasmine nodded her agreement. “The Garden of Evernow… I can see why you call it that.”
Her mother stopped at the bottom of the stairs, her face falling into seriousness. “Listen to me for a moment, Jazz. Even if you think I’m crazy. Pay attention to what I have to say. Never give this house away. Do you hear me? Never.”
Jasmine nodded slowly. Why would she give their home away? It wasn’t even hers to give. Her parents were young and this was their house, not hers.
“I want you to know that life isn’t always easy,” her mother continued, reaching out to touch her cheek. “But you’re strong and you’re smart. You have every chance of reaching your Evernow one day.”
“I’m in Evernow right now.” Jasmine was confused, although not for a moment did she think her mother was crazy.
“Not the garden, but the place I named it after. The time in your life where you’re happy being exactly where you are.”
“But I am happy right now exactly where I am.” Jasmine smiled at her mother, as if that would help convince her. Sometimes she went off on tangents like this and it was hard for Jasmine to understand. It was like her mother knew things that most people didn’t.
“I’m glad you’re happy. And one day you can find this happiness again. Remember that.” Her mother’s eyes filled with tears.
Raph ran up to them, his face lit like it was his own birthday. “Hurry up, you two! You’re walking like a couple of snails in the strawberry patch.”
“All right, all right.” Their mother laughed. “Although snails don’t walk. They slither!” She dashed ahead with her arms held out front, wiggling her bottom as she pretended to slither with speed.
“Come on, Jazz!” called Raph.
Jasmine followed Raph down the path to the gazebo, to find their father behind a table set for four. He was wearing his best suit and bowed at the sight of them.
“Good morning. Welcome to your birthday breakfast.”
“All this is for me?” asked Jasmine, scarcely daring to believe it.
“It’s not every day you turn sixteen,” her mother said. “We just want you to know how much
we love you and how proud we are of you.”
“What about me?” asked Raph, hugging his mother’s legs.
“And you!” she laughed. “We’re so proud of you, too.”
Jasmine’s father pulled out a chair for her and she took a seat. The table was laden with fresh bread and jam, made from fruit from their orchard. There were strawberries dipped in chocolate and jugs of fresh orange juice.
“You’ve gone to so much trouble,” said Jasmine, her eyes wide as she smiled at her father.
“Thank your mother,” he said. “This was her idea. I was merely her humble servant, setting it all up.”
“I wanted this to be something you’ll always remember.” Her mother picked up a blueberry and popped it into her mouth. “Life just doesn’t have enough of these moments.”
Jasmine wondered what was wrong with her mother. She was being awfully cryptic and serious for someone who also seemed to be in such a good mood.
“Who’s that?” asked Raph, pointing to the path that led to the perfumery.
Their gaze followed where he was pointing and Jasmine saw a man walking toward them. He was older than her and fairly plain looking. Perhaps he was a friend of her father? Or a customer who’d lost his way trying to find the emporium.
He reached the gazebo and smiled widely.
“Sorry to interrupt,” he said, directing his words at Jasmine’s father. “I’m the new apprentice. I was told I could find you here.”
Her father stood and shook his hand. “Excellent. Nice to meet you. This is my family. We’re celebrating my daughter’s birthday this morning.”
Jasmine stood and nodded at the man, thinking that there was something very odd about him. He was a lot older than the usual apprentices her father had hired and dressed in a dark suit with a vest and a long jacket that reached his knees. His hair was dark with flecks of gray and his nose was twitching in a very unusual way that almost made Jasmine laugh.
The man stepped toward Jasmine and held out a bouquet that he’d been holding behind his back. “Well then, it’s lucky I brought this with me.”
The Kingdoms of Evernow Box Set Page 29
