“Please join us,” he said. “You know I like it when the three of us spend time together as a family.”
He turned away and she poked out her tongue at his back.
They weren’t a family. They never would be, no matter how long they kept her prisoner. It saddened her that she’d lived in this lighthouse longer than she’d lived with her real parents in Forte Cadence.
She scrubbed at another fluorite stone, delaying having to go to the kitchen.
The stone shone brightly, reminding her of the light that’d caught her attention at the royal wedding in the desert. She’d wandered away and the closer she got, the more the light had pulled her. She could hear people calling her name but somehow her feet couldn’t stop moving. She’d kept walking toward the light, drawn to it like it was the only thing that mattered.
Her parents had called her name over and over, yet she never turned around. It wasn’t until she’d walked into a man dressed in black that she’d realized her mistake. She’d tried to scream, but he’d held a hand over her mouth. She’d tried to struggle but he’d pinned her tightly to his chest.
It’d been so hot and she was so thirsty and tired that in the end, she’d just collapsed against the vile man’s body and allowed him to carry her far from her family, far from the desert and far from any place she’d ever called home. She should’ve fought harder. Maybe if she’d know what was to become of her, she would have. But it was too late for regrets now.
She’d never found out what the light was, despite the other Fossickers telling her similar stories of being lured away from their families by a light that seemed to call their name.
“Angel!” called Mother. “Where are you?”
“I’m cleaning the staircase,” she replied, unsure if she should be happy that her silent treatment seemed to have ended.
Mother appeared at the top of the stairs. “Your father is here!”
“I know, Mother,” said Lily. “We spoke already.”
“Don’t be so rude. You can finish cleaning later. You might do a better job of it after a rest. Look at all those spots you missed!”
Lily tucked her cleaning cloth into her pocket and went to the kitchen. Father was sitting at the table with Mother standing beside him, waiting for her to make them some tea. This was the real reason they’d wanted her to join them. They might burn their royal fingers making it themselves.
But instead of going to the stove, Lily pulled out a chair and sat down, smiling at them from across the table.
“Tea, Angel,” said Mother, although Lily wasn’t sure why she bothered. She never drank her tea anyway.
“Oh, no, thank you, Mother,” said Lily, deliberately misunderstanding. “I had one earlier.”
“This is what I mean,” screeched Mother, pacing across the room. “You’re out of control. More like a devil than an angel.”
Lily noticed that Father didn’t seem at all surprised by this outburst. Had Mother already told him about her apparently bad behavior?
“It’s his fault.” Mother pointed at Father. “He’s never here.”
Suppressing a laugh, Lily looked at Father.
“What are you laughing at?” Father flushed such a deep shade of pink that she almost felt sorry for him.
“Nothing,” said Lily, turning back to Mother. “It’s not his fault I’m like this. I’ll try harder to be the daughter you ordered.”
“Oh, my darling Queen.” Father hung his head in his hands. “How can I give you peace?”
Lily shook her head at this poor man who was the leader of his kingdom and a slave to his heart. His love for his wife was a driving force that he had no control over. And in her strange way, she loved him in return. They were the two broken parts of a misshapen whole.
“You can’t bring Mother any peace,” said Lily.
“See!” Mother strode back to the table. “See!”
“You must look after your mother.” Father scowled at Lily. “She needs you.”
“True. My mother does need me,” said Lily, thinking of her beautiful mother with hair of spun silk.
“That’s better,” said Father, blind to what she meant by her words. Had he forgotten that she’d had a mother before he’d brought her here? Did the life he’d severed her from mean so little to him that he thought it no longer existed?
“And you still haven’t found my amethyst!” Mother wept, yet Father remained in his chair, her hatred for anyone touching her extending even to her husband. It was no wonder they hadn’t been successful at having children of their own.
“I might go and look for your amethyst now.” Lily stood up.
“But the weather,” said Father. “It’s so wild out there.”
“Don’t let him stop you.” Mother’s head snapped up. “I need my amethyst.”
“She’s right,” said Lily. “Let me look. Finding that amethyst is her greatest wish.”
“Mine too,” said Father with a sigh.
Lily slipped from the room before they could see the smile on her face. She could grant both of them their greatest wish if she wanted to. Then she thought of her greatest wish that they were quite happy to deny her.
She wanted to go home.
Let the amethyst stay on the bottom of the ocean. They didn’t deserve their greatest wish. And they sure as hell didn’t deserve her.
RAPHAEL
THE BEFORE
Raphael picked up the bottle and threw it against the wall, watching the elixir splatter and drip down the wall as shards of glass showered his workshop.
Throwing the bottle hadn’t made him feel any better. Disappointment was still gripping him around the stomach. It was just so frustrating! He was close. So close. He could feel it. Or rather, he could smell it. His homing elixir was almost right, but almost wasn’t good enough. The children of Wintergreen didn’t need to almost find their way home. They needed to be able to march all the way back to the safety of their families.
He reached for his broom, scolding himself for losing his temper. This workshop was usually his sanctuary. A peaceful place connected to the main apothecary where women sorted the bounty picked from the garden, distilling the oils into bottles, just like the one he’d thrown at the wall. It was in here that he experimented with his healing elixirs. A job he normally enjoyed.
He swept the glass into a neat pile and dabbed at the wall with a cloth.
A noise at the door startled him and he turned to see a thin woman with a dirty face and bright red hair worn in a messy braid that hung over her shoulder. She was dressed in trousers and a long shirt, like a man might wear. Most unusual. He’d never seen a woman dress like that before. There was a determination in her eyes that made him think he’d also never met a woman quite like this before.
“How long have you been standing there?” he asked, wondering how much she’d seen.
“Only a moment.” She strode toward him and put out her hand, again, just as a man might do. “I’m Micah. Are you the Alchemist?”
He nodded as he took her hand and shook it. “I am. But you may call me Raphael.”
“I’ve come a long way to see you.” She pulled up a chair at his workbench without asking. “I thought my feet might fall off. Walked all the way from Forte Cadence, crossed the river and everything.”
“All by yourself?”
“Well, I wanted to, but I’m afraid Tallis came with me. He’s my husband. I told him I’d be all right on my own but he’s very persistent.”
“And where’s your husband now?” he asked.
“Sipping tea in your gazebo with three women waiting on him. Your workers are very hospitable.”
“Did they tell you where to find me?” It was unusual for anyone to be allowed this far into the apothecary, although the women who worked for him were intuitive. They’d be able to tell if this strange woman posed a threat.
“They did. Not until I explained who I was, of course. They’re quite protective of their Alchemist.” She tugged at the lapel
on her shirt and he noticed how filthy her fingernails were. This was a woman who liked to dive into life headfirst. He couldn’t help but like her. Whoever she was, he knew she’d tell him before long. She didn’t seem the sort to favor small talk.
“Would you like to tell me who you are over a cup of tea?” he asked.
“Had a tea already, thanks. I’m here to talk to you about something, if you don’t mind.” She leaned forward and he noticed something very familiar about her. He tried to figure it out, without staring.
“What would you like to talk about?” he asked.
“I probably should’ve introduced myself properly.” She clasped her hands together on the workbench. “Let me start again. My name’s Micah and I’m the sister of Prince Jeremiah, who’s married to Queen Rose of Wintergreen. I believe you met them both at your sister Jasmine’s wedding to King Ari?”
“Oh!” She didn’t look much like her brother at all, let alone someone who was related to royalty. But then again, he supposed neither did he. “I’ve heard about you.”
Now it was her turn to look surprised. Or perhaps curious. “What have you heard?”
“Just that Prince Jeremiah has a sister who’s as feisty as she is brave.” He crossed his arms and grinned at Micah who shrugged off the description, seeming to neither accept it nor dispute it.
“I’m here to talk about my missing niece, Princess Lily,” she said, getting back to business.
Raphael found himself reaching for the nearest stool to steady his legs. Of course! That was why she looked familiar. She was like an older version of the girl in his vision. Which made sense now that he knew she was Lily’s aunt.
“Lily,” he said, his mind swirling with the coincidence of the timing of Micah’s visit. No sooner as he’d had the vision of Lily, her aunt had turned up wanting to talk about her. But there was one thing he’d learned for certain in his life, and that was that there was no such thing as a coincidence.
“You’ve had the vision too, haven’t you?” She put her palms on the workbench and looked at him with wide eyes.
“Too?” he asked, feeling his heart pick up a beat. “Have you seen her?”
She nodded slowly, drinking in his reaction. “The first time was in a dream. But then… well, now I’m seeing her when I’m awake. She comes to me at odd moments, always in the same way. I keep seeing her, over and over and I’m sure she’s calling to me.”
“Tell me what you see.” He leaned forward now, seeking more details. “What’s she doing in the vision?”
“She’s underneath the water. She’s reaching out to me, seeming to want me to help. She has a purple stone held in her hands and she looks so sad.”
Raphael drew in a deep breath, trying to absorb the shock of Micah’s words. This was the same vision. There was no doubt about it. It was hard to decide if he was relieved or disappointed that it’d been shared by someone else. It’d felt like a private moment between them, but apparently, it wasn’t. Had he read too much into the way it’d made him feel?
“You’ve seen her too,” said Micah. This time it wasn’t a question. It must be obvious by the look on his face.
But what did this mean? He’d had many visions over the years but none of them had ever been shared by anyone before, except his mother, but she’d been dead since he was a young boy.
“The same vision,” he said. “All of it, just as you described.”
“We need to help her.” Micah stood, wringing her hands and pacing. “I’m going to Feldspar and I want you to come with me.”
His stomach clenched at the mention of Feldspar, having become more and more certain that this was where Lily was being held captive. It was the only place that made sense with both his head and his gut.
“I can’t,” he said. “I wish I could, but I can’t.”
“But you have to!” Micah’s pacing stopped and she went to him. “She’s asking for our help.”
He hated to disappoint her like this, but there was no other way. He’d thought of little else in the past days and had come to this same conclusion every time.
“Many people need my help, not just one.”
“Who?” Micah’s face was like thunder now and he found himself taking a step back. “Name me one person who needs you more than Lily right now.”
“My nephews. My sister worries they’ll be taken. I’m working on an elixir to keep them safe. And all the other children of the kingdom.”
“Your sister worries they’ll be taken?” Her jaw had fallen open now. “What about my brother? His daughter actually was taken. Aren’t we better off helping those who need our help right now than those who might need our help one day, or they might not? And besides… Wouldn’t your nephews be safer if we were able to work out exactly who was behind this and put a stop to them?”
Micah’s words hit him in the chest and stung. He hadn’t thought of it like that.
“But I’m so close with this elixir. With just a little more work I think I can get it right.”
“You didn’t look like you were very close when you threw it against the wall.” Micah stared at him intently, tapping a foot on the floor as she waited for him to react.
He felt the blood rush to his face, realizing she’d been watching him longer than she’d led him to believe.
“My brother told me you’re a good man.” Micah’s voice softened as if she realized she’d been pushing too hard. “That’s why I came here. I thought you’d agree to come with me, but if you refuse then I’ll go alone.”
Raphael suspected her husband might have something to say about that, but he held his tongue. It must be nice to love someone so much you’d follow them from kingdom to kingdom just to keep them safe.
A strange feeling pulled at his gut and an image of Lily filled his mind. He pushed it away reminding himself that this vision was nothing special to him. Micah had had it too. It didn’t mean he had any special connection to that beautiful girl under the water. He was as alone now as he’d ever been.
“I had a friend called Gabrielle.” Micah’s voice wavered with emotion. “She was old and wise. She knew things nobody else knew. I told her about my dream and she was the one who suggested I come here to talk to you. Telling me that was the last thing she ever did.”
“I’m sorry for your loss,” he said. “But I can’t abandon my elixir because of the last words of a woman who didn’t know me.”
“Ever since she died, my visions have been stronger,” said Micah. “This will sound crazy, but it’s almost like she passed them on to me. That was when the dream I’d had while I was asleep started to come to me during the day. Have you ever heard of anything like that happening?”
“My mother.” Raphael’s voice dropped to a whisper. “It happened when my mother died. The visions I’d been having grew and multiplied and became more real. I thought it was connected to my grief but since then I’ve wondered if maybe she passed them on to me somehow.”
“Raphael, I don’t know why I was sent to talk to you, but I can feel it’s the right path. You have to come with me to find Lily. You’ve seen her, too. There’s nobody else in the world who’ll know where to look like you can. We’ve got a better chance of finding her together than we do alone.”
Raphael looked at the shattered glass on the floor in the corner of the room. Could he really leave now when he was so close to finding the right balance of ingredients for his elixir?
But wasn’t that what Micah was suggesting? That the combination of their skills would be a better balance than one of them going alone? But was the two of them the right balance or were they still missing an ingredient?
“Have you heard of the Evernow?” asked Micah.
He nodded. “The feeling of being happy right now where you are, not wishing for the past or the future.”
“That’s right,” she said. “And do you have your Evernow?”
Raphael let out a slow breath as he shook his head. There was no way he could call the way he’
d been living his Evernow. Even before his vision of Lily, he’d be yearning for something more, as if he knew he was missing something but didn’t know what. Would finding her be the thing that filled that empty space in his heart?
“Come with me,” urged Micah. “We’re meant to find her, I know we are. Why else would we be having these visions?”
She made an excellent point. His life had changed the moment he’d had that vision. But could he really abandon his work here in the apothecary to chase after a dream?
“How are you going to feel if you don’t at least try?” she asked, clearly not prepared to give up until she had the answer she’d come here for. “Please Raphael, you’re meant to come with me. I know it.”
“Okay.” His brows shot up, almost as if he’d surprised himself with his answer. But how could he say no when she’d put it like that? She was right. He had to at least try to find Lily. She was clearly crying out to him for help.
“Okay, as in you’ll come with me?” A twitch of excitement flittered across her face.
“I’ll come with you, but not to Feldspar,” he said, as a different plan formed in his mind.
Micah tiled her head, clearly confused.
“We’ll go to The Sands of Naar,” he said. “To the very place Lily disappeared to see if we can follow her trail.”
Micah was hopping from foot to foot now. “I like that! Yes, it’s a deal. I agree. Although, I’m sure the trail will take us to Feldspar.”
Raphael tried to smile but his lips wouldn’t cooperate. He had too many worries right now for something as frivolous as a smile. He’d just made one of the biggest decisions of his life with absolutely no idea if it would lead him to his Evernow or his death. This journey was going to be extremely dangerous. Whoever had Lily was unlikely to release her without a fight.
Micah went to Raphael and gripped both of his arms so tightly he was sure he’d be left with bruises. “I knew you’d help me. Gabrielle was right. You’re a good man. We’re going to get Lily back!”
Raphael nodded, still coming to terms with what he’d just agreed to.
The Kingdoms of Evernow Box Set Page 93
