Clara and Ezra

by Lindsey Richardson

  I looked up at him in disbelief. Keanu’s confidence in his new position left me uneasy. Why did he make this accusation against a fellow councilor, his own aunt?

  “I was not informed of this. Where’s Claire? Who granted this?” I asked, looking around at the men, seeking someone who would give me a direct answer.

  This time Lukas spoke up.

  “Claire met with Keanu at first light. He offered to give her our first suspect, and she granted it. The others are assisting her with the preparations for the funeral, otherwise they’d be here.”

  Bellona chuckled.

  “The men of this family are imbeciles! You can accuse me all you want, but it seems to me Claire sent her sister because she didn’t have the guts to face me herself.

  “I’ve lost my husband, my daughter, and now I have to lose what little family I have left. I didn’t murder Jhase, but you might make a killer out of me yet. This is an insult!” she yelled, rocking herself back and forth in her chair.

  The men were silent, looking to me as if I had the answers. I had been left in the dark about Keanu’s offer. He had rallied up the men to assist him, but in taking Bellona he had started a fire we might not be able to put out.

  Suspect or not, Bellona was on the Council. Her name was already dirty from Elias and Vanessa’s betrayal, and now we dared to drag her deeper into the mud. Her reputation was ruined, and now it seemed even her golden child had turned against her.

  I pulled Keanu aside, far enough away that Bellona would not hear us.

  “Now I see why you didn’t tell me who your suspect was. If I had known you called out Bellona I wouldn’t have walked into this willingly. She’s right, Claire should be here,” I said.

  He shook his head.

  “Claire knows what’s happening. She and the others chose not to come because an audience of people would have only fueled Bellona’s anger. It might be hard to see, Clara, but Bellona could have easily killed Jhase. Just as easily as Elias kidnapped your sister,” he replied.

  I looked away from him. I wished he had given me fair warning. The others seemed to accept it, and as wrong as it felt, Keanu was right in that Bellona could play victim and actually be the villain. We already knew whoever killed my father wanted to mock us. They gained something from this crime, and if Bellona had done it she would have avenged her husband’s death.

  I took a seat across from Bellona. No one else offered to start, and I sighed at the realization that they would leave me with no choice but to start this interrogation.

  Bellona glared at me. This was different than the last time she and I had sat down together, discussing her whereabouts during a crime. This time she sat with me in a room filled with men who could stop her from leaving, stop her from doing anything foolish. She was surrounded by friends and family, and she had nowhere to hide.

  While Ezra and I had considered my mother a likely suspect, it was time I debated the likelihood of Bellona being capable of such a crime.

  It seemed nothing had gone the way she intended it to for a long time. Ivan had caused Elias to lose his chance as head councilor, Vanessa was imprisoned, and Elias was dead. Everyone in the room knew of Elias’s deceit. His deceit to the Council, to Jhase, and even to his own wife.

  Bellona’s downfall had happened right in front of our eyes. It had started years before she and I met, and now as I sit across from her, it still spiraled downward.

  Folding my hands together, I asked, “Can you account for your whereabouts yesterday morning?”

  “I was at home,” she replied.

  “And can anyone confirm this?”

  She was silent. She glanced back at Lukas, though we both knew he had been with me at the time. If she had been at home there would be no alibi for her whereabouts.

  “Arrest me, kill me, do whatever you feel is necessary. But the time you waste on me is time you lose against the real killer. I will not be threatened by you,” Bellona said firmly.

  I ran my hand through my hair. When I glanced back at the men in the room they remained silent. They had wrongly judged her, but perhaps it was easier to blame the person with the most motive. Perhaps they forgot Bellona had not conspired with Elias. Instead she had been betrayed by her own husband for a younger woman. If she had motive to kill anyone it was Alesia, who was already dead.

  Despite Bellona’s lack of an alibi, I still remembered my mother was not clear of this crime either. She, like Bellona, had no known alibi during the time of the murder. She had fled Rajoor and remained on the loose. In my eyes she, more than Bellona, seemed more guilty. But perhaps Bellona could serve a purpose to our investigation.

  “Did Elias have any other supporters?”

  She chuckled. “Of course he did! But my husband was a private man. He kept business and pleasure separate. Or at least… he kept business and family separate. I took care of the children, and he took care of everything else.”

  “Do you know how we could contact anyone he might have been scheming with?”

  “If I knew we wouldn’t be having this conversation,” she snapped.

  I stood up and folded my arms. Everyone’s eyes rested on me, though I was in no position to make a decision. What did they expect from me? It would have been a miracle if we caught my father’s killer on the same day as his funeral, but I doubted our search was over. Whether they liked it or not, we would have to let Bellona walk until we had more evidence. I would not nearly convicted someone again for a crime they had not committed.

  Bellona’s words filled the silence.

  “Find Nina Nasso. She is your killer,” she said.

  9

  Hard to Love

  “You are free to go,” I said, barely able to look Bellona in the eye.

  She stood up and stomped out of the room, glaring at Lukas and Keanu as she left.

  I remained in the room with the men, waiting for one of them to speak up to what we had just witnessed. Or more importantly explain why they had involved me.

  Ezra sighed.

  “Clara, I’m sorry. I wish I could have warned you, but it all happened so fast,” he said.

  Perhaps out of everyone in the room he had disappointed me the most. I had confided in him about my mother, we had shared a bed together last night, but in one way or another he had helped the men lure Bellona here. I wondered if they had tricked her or told her exactly what to expect, forcing her here against her will.

  “I don’t know what to say to any of you,” I said, crossing my arms.

  “Keanu made a mistake. A messy ones perhaps, but searching for a killer leaves people uneasy. Imagine how much easier it’d be if we could say we caught the killer, hmm?” Alec said.

  “Bellona is an easy target. Too easy. We need to build up a better case otherwise you risk pushing her off the edge,” I replied.

  He nodded, and I turned my attention to Lukas. I had waited for him to say something in defense of his mother, but he had remained silent. When Vanessa had been arrested he fought for her innocence. With Bellona he did nothing except encourage it.

  “And what do you have to say for yourself?” I asked.

  Lukas shrugged.

  “Elias kidnapped Claire in front of my very eyes, and I was none the wiser. Who’s to say Bellona has not deceived me this time? I will not let my parents harm anyone else I love. I’m done protecting them,” he said firmly.

  At my silence he added, “You know, she is so ashamed Vanessa was arrested that she denies it altogether. She’s convinced herself that my sister, her daughter, is dead when in fact she’s in Shadowland, behind bars and very much alive.”

  I winced. Bellona had never made loving Vanessa easy, but it seemed harsh to consider her daughter dead rather than imprisoned for a crime. I had seen Bellona’s grief after Elias’s death. Had his betrayal and lies been enough to set her off on a quest for revenge? Could she have done this in spite of Elias’s failed plans?

  Alec cleared his throat and all eyes turned to him. We were li
ke sheep without direction. With what Lukas had told me, I was no longer certain who was more guilty: Bellona or my own mother?

  “I’d advise we tread lightly these next few days. Bellona won’t stand for another ‘interview.’ Clara is right. Next time we dare to accuse her we need evidence, and we’ll need to make an arrest. Whoever killed Jhase will not go down easily,” Alec said.

  I nodded, and the other men in the room seemed to agree. He was the only one with the clear logic we needed at a time like this. His way was the only way we would be able to survive without imploding the Council.

  “I think that’s enough for today. I need some air…” I said, forcing a smile at the men.

  No one stopped me, and I walked out of the meeting room as a free woman. More free than either Bellona or Mother could be feeling at a time like this.

  Claire had said we would need to strengthen the islands, give people the unity and consistency they were familiar with, but we had started out on the wrong foot. With my mother’s absence we had started working from the inside of our own dearly beloved Council. Only time would tell what this interview had done to the integrity of the councilors. To the integrity of our trust in each other.

  I walked down the hallway, down the stairs, and as far away from the meeting room as possible. That room held so many memories for me, and slowly those memories became more painful than pleasant.

  I need air…

  I stepped outside, inhaling like it was my first breath of fresh air in years. The meeting room, the kind of interview I had done with Bellona, had a way of consuming the air. It made me want to choke.

  I sought out silence in the garden. I knew it to be a place Claire had been keen of prior to her kidnapping. It still seemed like a place where I could be close with her, even though she was nowhere in sight. It was also a place that had been untouched by the chaos of the murder. I hoped it would remain that way.

  I stared down at a red rose, touching the soft petals, and remembering the Petals Festival.

  A stick snapped nearby, and I instantly turned around. I was no longer alone with my thoughts.

  It was Lukas. He had followed me, despite what I had thought I had given as a clear indication of alone time. Perhaps he had me confused with Claire, but he had never been one to mix us up for one another. Or maybe Claire had ordered him to stay near me, follow me for my own protection. Either way I did not need someone following me around like a dog.

  “Will you not leave me?” I asked.

  I winced as I felt the sting from the rose’s thorn.

  “Careful, sweetheart. Roses are as beautiful as they are dangerous,” he said softly.

  I held my finger to my lips, tasting the blood as it dripped into my mouth.

  “Why are you here?” I asked, pulling my finger away from my mouth.

  “I was harsh on you. I knew you had interviewed my mother once before, and I made you do it again, this time against your better judgment. I came to make amends with you,” he said.

  “Amends? But what about your mother? What of the amends you should be making with her?”

  “And what of your mother?” he asked, frowning.

  I took a step back. He had realized it too. We were both placed in strange positions, debating whether our mother had killed Jhase or not. He had been lucky enough to know exactly where his mother would be while I had no further leads on my own. He had perhaps received the answers he was looking for today, and I again came up empty.

  “I never thought this… tragedy would bring us closer. I look at you, and I see a reflection of me. The same horrors I’ve endured reflect in your eyes,” I said, holding back tears.

  Lukas advanced slowly, and I stayed still, aware of the rose bush behind me.

  At his silence, I added, “Your mother may look guilty, but since Claire’s return Nina has seemed darker, more twisted to me. I fear she could have gone as far as killing my own father, and she might have done it because I abandoned her.”

  Lukas pulled me in, holding my close to his chest. I breathed against his cloak, feeling as though I might be nauseous if I spoke of this in greater detail. Now he and Ezra knew. They knew that my mother was just as likely to have killed Jhase as Bellona was.

  “Clara!”

  Someone called for me nearby, and Lukas and I pulled away from each other. I looked back to see Claire, signaling us to return to the palace.

  The commotion from this morning had almost caused me to forget. Tonight we would bury my father’s body.

  10

  Beneath the Dirt

  Lukas left me, and Claire led me to Father’s room, a room I had not visited since his death. The place where he had spoken his last words to me.

  I expected to feel a wave of pain as I entered into his room. Instead I was greeted by the familiarness of his lifestyle. I had forgotten, the killer had struck while my father was asleep. There would be no evidence to suggest someone else had stepped into this room, but even so I looked for clues.

  I examined the room in detail, and Claire remained in a corner, watching me silently.

  Father’s bed appeared the only item that had been touched. The sheets and mattress had been removed from the room, presumably from the blood that had consumed them. Everything else remained as I remembered.

  I walked over to his bookshelf, running my hand along the spines of the books. I turned and stared at the mirror, imagining all the times my father must have done the same thing.

  I advanced to the window, the one near Claire, and looked outside, seeing a clear view of the forest. I wondered if this view was the last thing Father had seen before going to sleep? A view he would never see again?

  Claire cleared her throat, and I jumped at the sound.

  “It’s time, sister,” she said gravely.

  I grimaced.

  “Do you still blame me for what happened to our father?”

  She walked forward and held my hand.

  Softly she said, “You could not have stopped this from happening, none of us could. I… I don’t know who to blame. But rest assured, after tonight we will spend every resource searching for the killer. Bellona, Nina… whoever it may be, we will find them, and there will be justice.”

  With that she released me, and we exited the room together. Claire’s statement confirmed she too had considered the possibility of Nina being responsible for this heinous crime. I doubted Ezra had given her the idea, and Lukas did not have time to confide in her. She had thought of it herself, just as I did, and now we were both left to wonder what terrible deeds my mother was capable of.

  The deed is done… I thought, wincing at the memory of Stefan’s words. I did not know what his voice sounded like, but “deed” in this case was too awful to describe. Perhaps a deed like killing someone.

  Claire looked back at me, and I rushed ahead, realizing I had fallen back while consumed by my thoughts. I joined her, and together we watched as the other councilors reunited together at the staircase. They descended the staircase, and we followed after them.

  I was not familiar with the burial traditions for councilors and more specifically a head councilor. This was all new to me and it was not something I wanted to become familiar with.

  An older woman joined our group as well. I had never seen her before, but she offered a faint smile to Claire and I. She wore a dark green cape over her black dress. Her long red hair was in a braid that flowed over her shoulder, and a thick strand of her hair in the front was white. White markings detailed around her forehead and her hands.

  Leaning toward Claire, I whispered, “who is she?”

  “Oriana, our druid. She will speak the final words for our father,” Claire replied.

  Everyone walked outside in an orderly fashion. The Watchers remained at their post, unaffected by our presence, and life itself seemed to continue on like normal. The birds flew in the sky, the trees rustled with the wind, and my heart still beat despite what awaited me.

  Everything was almost like n
ormal.

  We entered the forest and continued walking until the group came to a stop.

  Ezra advanced to the front and waved his hands in front of him. The trees slowly disappeared and large gravestones replaced were they had once stood. The most recent one, being closest to us, read “Jhase Kanelos. Beloved leader and father.”

  The group spread out into a circle, surrounding the gravestone, so everyone could see. A hole had already been dug, and the casket remained above the ground.

  I stared at the black casket, realizing Father’s body was inside. These were our final moments with him before he belonged to nature. This was where we would part ways.

  Oriana stepped forward next, clearing her throat.

  “Today we lay Jhase Kanelos to rest, to move on to a better place. But before we are able to do that, we must appease the goddess. Circe demands a blood sacrifice. Drips of blood must be spilled onto the casket.”

  Claire advanced to where Oriana stood and offered her hand. She withdrew a dagger and cut Claire’s palm, holding it over the casket, and allowing the blood to drip down on it.

  I bowed my head as tears leaked down my face. I did not want anyone else to see me like this.

  Claire returned to me and Oriana continued on, explaining the sacrifices we had to make to Circe in order for Jhase to move on from this life.

  Everyone remained huddled close to one another. I had no room to breathe. No air to grasp the words Oriana said out loud.

  “Am I your daughter, Jhase?”

  “Yes.”

  I held on tightly to what littles memories I had of Father. I gripped Claire’s hand, the one that had not been cut, and squeezed it so tight I thought I might hurt her. She remained quiet, seemingly unaffected by my actions.

  Meanwhile I held onto her like she was the fire, she was my strength, she was the very reason I was able to stand.

  How much more painful was this for her? She had known him her whole life. The twenty years I lived without him, she had spent every day in his presence. How would this change her world now that he was no longer a part of it?