Unless you were Spector, who liked to bathe under the blue sky.
“Just as well Spector found them this morning,” said Aarow, stretching his aching arms. The combined weight of the girl and her child hadn’t been much, however, after such a long walk, he’d felt it. “They wouldn’t have survived another day out there.”
“Let’s just hope they survive now,” said Jinn.
“They will.” Aarow nodded as if his words could make this a certainty.
They got to the pools, not bothering to strip off their filthy clothes, and waded in. The cool water worked its magic on their sore bodies.
“Hope Spector doesn’t take any more trips to the river any time soon,” said Jinn, splashing Aarow as he came up for air. “I’m exhausted.”
Aarow turned to his back and stretched out his legs. “There are other rescue teams.”
He had no intention of going out again. Not until he figured out who it was they’d just retrieved and why a baby was with them. He knew his father was just as desperate to know. But they’d have to wait until the women were well enough to talk. There’d be no getting any sense out of them right now. They’d be nursed back to health all in good time.
“Check them out,” said Jinn, pointing to the other end of the pool where Toran and Kara were locked in an embrace.
Aarow laughed, aware of a strange emotion seeping through to his gut. He flicked the water from his hair as he stepped to dry land and tried to identify what he was feeling, blanching as he realized what it was.
Envy.
He was envious of Toran and Kara and what they had together. His parents had a close relationship like that and it’d never affected him. Was that because they were his parents and Toran was his friend?
Or was it because for the first time, he’d finally laid eyes on a girl who’d sparked his interest? Because as he’d carried her through the desert with her baby on her chest, he’d felt an uncontrollable urge to take care of her. He’d also felt rage. If she was running from the Capital with a baby in her arms, then she must’ve been violated in the way he knew happened there. He wanted to kill anyone who thought it was acceptable to steal someone’s innocence like that.
He squeezed the bulk of the water from his clothes and shook his hair, watching the water droplets fly into the air. He felt better than he had all day, despite his aching muscles. If his mother had any time later, he’d ask her to do a healing on him. Something told him he was going to need to be in top form in the coming days.
“See ya,” he called over his shoulder to Jinn, who raised a hand in the air, seeming in no hurry to leave the pool.
He went back to his family’s quarters, hoping his father would be there. He really needed to talk to him about getting assigned his own quarters. He wasn’t a child anymore and if the community was going to start to see him as a leader, it was important he show them how independent he was. But that discussion wouldn’t happen tonight. They had far more serious issues to address.
“Aarow.” His father was pacing the room. Bindi was asleep in her crib nearby.
Aarow didn’t have to ask where his mother was. She’d be in the Healing Room for most of the night. She had important work to do. The women they’d rescued didn’t just have broken bodies. Their spirits had been crushed as well. Healing them would be quite a task.
“Father.” He slumped into a seat and propped his feet on the table. All their furniture was molded out of the compacted sand as each room was dug out. There weren’t enough resources in the desert to build furniture and it saved hauling extra sand up to the surface. He’d been told the Capital had acquired furniture from other kingdoms many generations ago, but he found chairs and tables made from trees hard to imagine. Did they still have the leaves attached?
“Tell me more about the new reborns.” His father sat beside him. “Was there anything else unusual? Did any of them speak to you?”
Aarow nodded, intending to tell him everything, apart from his confusion of feelings toward the girl he’d carried.
“Well, as you saw there were three of them. That for a start was different. And a baby. That’s never happened before. And the girl I carried. Well, I could be entirely wrong about this but… I suspect she comes from wealth.”
“How could you tell?” His father leaned forward, keen for his response.
“It was her hands. They were… perfect. Unscathed by work. Like they’d never been used. And her hair had a fragrance that’d been so ingrained I doubt she could ever wash it out. Like she’d been bathing in some kind of perfume. And her clothes were made from fabric like none I’ve ever seen before. They had a richness about them. Nobody in the Capital wears clothes like that. Or here.”
“Shall we put a pea under her mattress?” his father joked, having heard his wife tell this story countless times.
“Maybe.” Aarow refused to laugh. “I mean it, Father. If it weren’t so impossible, I’d really think she could be a princess.”
“Why’s it impossible?” his father asked.
“Because a princess would have no need to run. And surely, they wouldn’t release an heir to the throne. Let alone an heir with a baby.”
His father let out a slow breath. “I’m not as sure as you about that. We don’t know if she was released. Maybe she ran. Did they have any belongings with them?”
“They did!” Aarow slapped his forehead, feeling foolish for having overlooked this detail. When people were released, they walked into the desert with nothing except the clothes on their back. “They had a torn animal hide and a bag with a few empty waterskins and other useless belongings. Toran carried them back. He can show them to you.”
His father nodded. “From what you’ve just told me, we likely have someone very important in our Healing Room tonight.”
“What would it mean if she’s a princess?” Aarow asked. “Especially if she’s a princess who ran away.”
“It means…everything, my son. It means the Capital is ready to fall. It means it might be time to seize it and set the people free.”
This thought made Aarow nervous. Their life was so perfect in the Colony. Risking it to topple a kingdom that was slowly destroying itself seemed unnecessary. Then he thought of his mother and the way she yearned for the child she’d lost. Life wasn’t so perfect for her. And what about the fragile girl he’d just carried from the desert? Clearly her life wasn’t perfect either. There’d been enough suffering already. Maybe his father was right. Maybe it was time to set the people free.
FREYA
THE NOW
Freya was relieved her son was home safely but glad of an excuse not to go back to her family’s quarters just yet. Miro and Aarow needed some time to talk and she wasn’t sure she wanted to listen in. More and more lately, their talk had been of a revolution and overthrowing the Capital. Which frightened Freya in ways she found hard to explain.
Because as much as she’d hated growing up in the Capital and wanted to see it brought down, it was filled with people she cared about.
The carer in the Growing Center who’d risked her life to pull her free when she had her arm stuck in a wheelbarrow and was screaming as it pinched her skin.
The woman at the Supply Center who always gave her double rations, pretending not to have noticed she made a mistake.
The boy she’d sat beside in her lessons, who later grew into a man who refused to touch her when he was assigned her number in the Conception Center.
But most of all, her child. The one stolen from her before she was released into the desert. The child Miro was determined to get back for her.
Her beautiful daughter who she’d glimpsed only once, burning the memory of her deep into her soul. A daughter who’d be grown now and probably had a child of her own stolen from her by now. Repeating the pattern of evil. A pattern that had to be broken.
She looked down at the girl Aarow had carried from the desert, running her hands across her depleted energy field. There was so much healing to be done
, as well as the more primary needs to take care of. This girl needed fluids, she needed the sand cleaned from her eyes, she needed aloe rubbed into the blisters on her feet.
As she tended to her needs, she wondered what this girl would have to say when she woke. Would her words spark the revolution that seemed so close? As much as she wanted her daughter back, she was aware that revolutions took their toll on the innocent as well as the guilty. What if breaking the pattern of evil, also broke her daughter? Then she wasn’t sure it’d be worth the price. Not for her anyway. She needed her daughter back. A younger sister for Aarow, an older sister for Bindi.
For Aarow may not be the child of her blood, but he was still her son. She was the mother to him that he’d lost. He was the child to her that’d been stolen, each one filling a part of their hearts that’d been ripped from them without their consent.
She glanced across at the other two healers she’d trained, who were tending to the other two females. The baby was still feeding from his mother’s breast, although Freya doubted there was much milk in there. It seemed to be comforting the baby to try. Or perhaps he lacked the energy to complain. With time, she was confident they’d restore these reborns to good health. They’d need to be patient.
Miro had been the one to teach her patience. He’d been far more patient with her over the years than she was sure most men would’ve been.
When he’d plucked her from the desert, her body and spirit broken by the Capital, he claimed to have fallen irrevocably in love with her. She’d tried to dissuade him, telling him that she never wanted to be touched by another man. She could never be a real wife to him. He said that didn’t matter. He could wait forever if he needed to.
She’d thought his heart was just broken after the tragic death of his wife and he was looking to replace her, but it soon became clear that wasn’t the case. He could have any woman in the Colony, however, he seemed to only want her.
But it was Aarow who won her heart before Miro. He took an instant liking to Freya and would latch onto her with his chubby toddler arms and hold his face to hers in a way that made her both deeply uncomfortable and deeply comforted at the same time. Before long, it was her reaching for him and pressing his little body to her own, drawing comfort from the love he had to give. She’d close her eyes and breathe in the baby smell of him and pretend he was her own until he really did become hers. Their bond was as close as any mother and son. It didn’t matter that they weren’t related by blood, they were related by their hearts.
And when Bindi was born, she knew for certain it made no difference if she’d birthed Aarow or not. Bindi and Aarow owned an equal third of her heart, together with the child she’d been forced to leave behind.
She dipped a soft cloth into some clean water and gently wiped the sand from the girl’s sleeping face. She was a lovely looking girl who exuded strength despite her frail state. It was no wonder Aarow had seemed so taken with her. Even he’d been able to sense she was someone special. Or had he fallen in love with this girl in the same way Miro had with her? It was more than possible, she supposed. If that were the case, she hoped Aarow had his father’s patience.
Miro had earned her trust slowly and waited for her to come to him. Slowly, she’d started to feel comfortable placing a hand on his shoulder or brushing knuckles as she passed him something. It wasn’t until Aarow grew older that she began to crave something more from Miro. She’d come to depend on human touch and wondered what it might be like to embark on a more intimate relationship.
This hadn’t been easy either and it’d taken many years until she’d allow Miro to be with her in the way a husband yearns to be with his wife. It never stopped triggering memories she was trying to suppress, but she found that slowly they dulled, and she began to think of being touched in this way as an expression of love rather than power.
Pushing these thoughts from her mind, she concentrated on the girl who lay before her, placing the palms of her hands on her energy centers as she swept away the bad and revitalized the good.
This poor girl’s spirit was broken. But by the time she was finished with her, she was going to be ready to take on the world. Perhaps Aarow wouldn’t need as much patience as his father had displayed. Respect and understanding may be enough.
RANI
THE NOW
Rani’s eyes opened and she blinked, adjusting to the light in the room. She felt so much better for having had rest and water in the cool of this underground haven.
She turned her head to see Azrael in the bed adjacent to hers, sitting up and grinning.
“It’s about time,” she said. “I thought you were never going to wake up.”
“You’re obviously feeling better,” said Rani, noticing her voice was croaky.
“There’s water on the shelf next to you.” Azrael pointed.
Rani reached for the cup and drank deeply, certain that never again would she quench her thirst from the desert.
“Go slowly,” warned Azrael. “You don’t want to be sick.”
Rani sat back in bed. “Where’s Sharma?”
“She’s gone to wash,” said Azrael. “And before you ask, her baby’s fine. He’s gone, too. I don’t think Sharma will be letting him out of her arms for a long time yet. Maybe ever, which might be interesting as he gets older…”
Rani smiled to see her friend full of so much chatter. It seemed they’d all made a miraculous recovery. How was that even possible? They’d all been so unwell when they’d arrived here.
“I told you that you’d save my life one day,” Azrael said, not seeming to be bothered by Rani’s lack of words.
Rani cleared her throat. “I didn’t save your life. I almost killed you.”
Azrael wouldn’t hear of that and shook her head. “You almost killed yourself, planning to jump out that window. Bet you’re glad I stopped you.”
Rani didn’t know how to reply to this. She was glad to have a second chance at life. Although, she still wasn’t certain what that second chance entailed. And what about all those people back in the Capital? She was supposed to grow up to be their Empress, and instead she’d chosen to abandon them, leaving them to fight their own battles for themselves.
“Rani,” said Azrael, leaving her own bed to stand beside her own. “You look upset. Why? It’s okay. We’ve been saved. Everything’s going to be fine.”
Rani forced a smile and nodded.
“Remember when I told you I didn’t believe in the Evernow?” asked Azrael, not pausing for an answer. “One of the older girls in the Growing Center told me it was the time when you don’t wish for your past or future, and instead live for what’s happening right now. And I didn’t think that was possible. But now I know it is and I think that’s where we are. I don’t really care what’s in my future for it can’t be worse than my past, but I’m excited to find out. I’m excited about today. I’m excited about right now. We did it, Rani. You came and got me. You saved me when you said you couldn’t, but I knew you could. You’re the bravest, most wonderful friend in all the world.”
Rani choked on more tears that wanted to escape, trying to hold them back, and failing wildly.
“I need to apologize to you, Rani.”
She shook her head, not believing for a moment that Azrael had anything to apologize for.
“You touched me on the arm the day we met, and I leaped back as if you’d caused me physical harm. The women who’ve been caring for us have been putting their hands on us and look what’s happened. We’ve gotten stronger, not weaker. You were right about that too and I’m sorry I reacted in the way I did.”
Azrael sat on the edge of Rani’s bed with only the fabric of the blanket separating them. She reached for Rani’s hand and held it. Now it was Rani’s turn to feel strange and she resisted the urge to pull away. Not because she didn’t want this hand of friendship, but because it was so foreign to her.
“And by the way,” said Azrael. “I think the man who carried you here has fallen madly in l
ove with you.”
Rani laughed, breaking her silence at last. “What would make you say that?”
Azrael giggled with her. “He’s been in here twice, staring at you like the world will end if your eyes didn’t open. I tried to tell him I was perfectly fine, and he was polite about it, although, honestly I’m not sure he really cared.”
Rani remembered what’d passed between them as he’d carried her from the desert. It was the opposite to interactions she’d had with people in the Round, which were filled with plenty of words and no touching. With the man in the desert, she’d been pressed against his chest with barely a word spoken.
“He asked me a lot of questions about you, but don’t worry, I didn’t tell him anything. If you want to tell him who you are, then that’s up to you. I pretended to fall asleep in case I said too much.”
“Where do you think we are?” Rani asked, taking another gulp of her water, noticing there was a plate of flatbread beside it. She tore off a small piece and nibbled on it.
“It’s called the Colony,” said Azrael. “There are thousands of people living here under the ground. The tunnels go forever in twists and turns and there’s a spring with fresh water and—”
“Hold on!” Rani held up her hand. “How much longer than me have you been awake?”
“I woke at sun-up, not that we can see the sun from here. And I think it’s nearly sundown now.”
“And you’ve had the strength to explore all of that?”
“I needed a wash. If you don’t mind me saying it, you do too.”
Rani laughed, and her tears of moments before dried on her face. “Maybe you should keep your distance then.”
The Kingdoms of Evernow Box Set Page 53
