Clara and Ezra

by Lindsey Richardson

  Sighing, I joined Claire. The group turned around, and Lukas’s arm pushed me gently ahead of everyone else. I led us, though I had no idea where we were going.

  ‘They don’t know you like I do, Clara! They will never know you!” Nina shouted.

  I hesitated, noticing the stairs in front of me. Once again Lukas’s warm arm nudged me, reming me that I did not have a choice. If I ever wanted to interrogate Nina again it would have to be while the others remained preoccupied.

  I ascended the stairs and stepped out into the foyer again. Clair immediately stepped out in front of me, crossing her arms and offering me a frown. I imagined this interfered with the trial we had yet to continue in regards to Nina’s innocence.

  “Nina may be your mother, but she is under investigation. You cannot demand answers from her while she is locked away. You should know better, Clara,” she said.

  I placed my hand on my hip. “They attacked Ezra! There have been too many attacks within the palace. I won’t let what happened to Father happen to anyone else I love!”

  The front doors swung open, and Claire stepped back, allowing me to see who entered.

  A young woman walked in with a Watcher trailing close behind her. He grabbed for her arm as she tried to push him away, but another Watcher at the door assisted him.

  My jaw dropped, and I blinked to be certain my eyes did not deceive me.

  “She was too quick, my lady. I’m sorry, I told her we weren’t accepting visitors at this time,” he said, panting.

  “I know her…” I murmured still staring in disbelief.

  Daphne…

  I looked more closely at her, and sure enough it was Daphne, the woman I had seen Keanu with. The one who had returned once before to the palace to speak with him. This was her third visit that I knew of. Despite Keanu’s previous claim, it seemed this time he had found a woman who would return until she got what she desired.

  Claire glanced back at me. “Who is she?”

  I opened up my mouth to say something, but footsteps descended the staircase. It was Keanu, and judging from his stern expression, Daphne’s visit was unwelcome.

  The guards continued to hold onto Daphne’s arms as if she was a prisoner. I could not help but feel pity for the woman. I had seen her before and she had never done any harm. Keanu was the one who brought her into the palace. He had started something with a woman who shared different thoughts on intimacy than him. Perhaps she wanted more out of the relationship, and I could not blame her for trying to win Keanu’s affection.

  Keanu reached the bottom of the staircase, looking as though he may burst into a thousand pieces. His face was heated.

  “Get out of here!” Keanu yelled.

  I stepped forward, my hands trembling.

  “Let her speak, Keanu. She’s done no harm. Please,” I said, and then looking to the guards, I added, “Release her.”

  They glanced at Claire, who after a mount of hesitation nodded.

  They let Daphne go, and she took several steps to distance herself from the guards. She looked as innocent as she had the last time she sought Keanu’s company, but I wanted her to have a fair chance to prove her innocence. I wanted her to prove that Keanu’s affairs had not placed the palace in great harm.

  “This is none of your business, Clara!” Keanu shouted, glaring at me.

  I stared at his neck where the necklace with the ring dangled against his chest. I remembered Lukas’s warning. A tragedy had struck Keanu’s life before. Was this why he aimed to have meaningless relationships with women?

  “She is not her, the one whose ring you still carry with you,” I said, pointing to his necklace.

  He glanced down, wrapping his hand around the ring as if to conceal it.

  I stepped closer to Daphne and said softly, “Go ahead, you need not be afraid.”

  She opened her mouth, but Keanu darted in front of her, standing between the two of us.

  Through gritted teeth, he said, “This need not concern you. Let it go.”

  I stepped closer again, determined to cease the distance between us. I did not easily forget we had taken on Keanu because of Lukas’s recommendation. He was here, despite countless others who would have died to have his position. But a darkness from his past still haunted his eyes. It affected his relationships, and if he continued at this pace it would soon affect his work and wellbeing.

  In a whisper I asked, “What happened to her?”

  He shook his head, though his eyes filled with tears.

  “Let it go!” he yelled again, pushing me back.

  I stumbled backwards and fell on the floor. He had pushed me harder than I realized. Claire and Declan ran to me, with Lukas following close behind. The men helped me stand again. All the while Keanu watched with his mouth hanging open as if he had not controlled his body int hat moment. As if he had not been the one to push me.

  Lukas approached him and smacked his face.

  “Never touch her like that again or you answer to me,” he said firmly.

  Lukas turned and looked at me. “Come on, sweetheart. Leave him and his ghosts.”

  I shook my head, pushing away Claire and Declan’s hands. I was determined to find Keanu’s breaking point, and I knew I had found what mattered most to him. Maybe it mattered to me because I had lost the argument with my mother. Or simply because Daphne was in our home and he had made a fool out of himself.

  Keanu’s eyes lowered to the floor.

  “I’m sorry… I lost my temper,” he said.

  I thought back to the times Isaak had struck me down. I thought about the numerous objects he had destroyed in our home. The nights he had left my mother and I crying in our rooms. The final night he lost complete control and sought to kill my mother. He had almost gone far enough to kill us both. Despite the scars and the bruises we had endured, we were still alive. Both of us. We had lived despite what we had surely believed to be our end.

  I took another step and then another until my heels touched the end of Keanu’s boots. Keanu was not another Isaak. I had seen enough death and violence to last me a lifetime. Perhaps it made Keanu’s attack on me seem less threatening. But it was also his eyes, filled with so much pain, that reminded me he did not do this out of pleasure.

  In a whisper, I said, “My step-father was a monster. He beat me. He scarred my body so badly I’ll likely never be free of him. It took me a long time to come to terms with what he did to me and my mother.

  “Some days are better, some days are worse. But standing here, breathing, being able to talk to you, that has to mean something. It means we’re alive, Keanu, and alive is better than dead.”

  He shuddered and tears leaked down his face. I raised my hand and gently wiped them away. Though I was aware others in the room surrounded us, I focused solely on Keanu. I could not look to my sister or the men. I knew they watched without fully understanding. I could not worry about Daphne. She too would be holding her breath, waiting to find out his secret.

  “You are much stronger than I am,” he replied.

  I lifted up his chin and looked into his eyes.

  “I see both of us standing here despite our past,” I said.

  “Perhaps I am also a monster…” he said, pushing away my hand.

  He paced back and forth in front of me.

  “My gambling debts were too high. Jessamine warned me we didn’t have the money, but I told her I could win it all back. I made so many promises to her… And then I gambled it all away, and I lost more money that night than we owed. I lost the kind of money we could never pay back. They warned me if I couldn’t pay I would suffer the consequences,” he said.

  He stopped and stood in front of me again, blocking Daphne’s view.

  “T-they… They killed her. They came into my home and killed the love of my life. My wife, my world, my everything… And that was it. Her blood was enough to pay off the debt,” he whispered, lowering his head again.

  I stared at the ring again, realizing it was
all he had left of her.

  Sniffing, he said, “I immediately went for help. By the time I had returned with Watchers the house had been set on fire. We managed to put it out, but there wasn’t much left of her…”

  Without knowing what to say, I wrapped my arms around Keanu and squeezed tight. I closed my eyes, though the imagery of an innocent woman burning filled the darkness. Keanu paid the ultimate price for his addition.

  28

  Family Reunion

  Someone clapped, and Keanu and I split apart. He stood beside me, and we both stared at Daphne. She gained everyone’s attention, and she stopped clapping and instead offered a wild smile.

  I grabbed hold of Keanu’s arm. Who had he brought into our home?

  “I think it’s time you know my identity, Clara,” she said, looking directly at me.

  I glanced at Keanu, confused at how she knew my name and why her identity would matter to me. Besides her interactions with Keanu I had never seen this woman before in my life. Judging from her clothes, I assumed her to be a Ninomay local, in which case I would have never known her in years past.

  “Perhaps you’ve mistaken me for—”

  She cut me off. “Clara Kanelos, daughter of Jhase and Nina, sister to Claire.”

  “Who are you?” Claire asked, raising her voice.

  Out of the corner of my eye I noticed Lukas’s hand descending to the hilt of his sword.

  “My name is Daphne Barlow. I know everyone in this room, and thanks to Keanu he gave me an excuse to return time and time again,” she explained.

  Though I stood beside Keanu, I felt more distant from him than ever. Was this our killer? Had he allowed a killer into our home?

  The remainder of the councilors were still preoccupied upstairs. Memories of Elias stomping into the foyer and demanding Jhase’s audience flooded my head. This could not be happening again. In a room filled with friends, family, and even Watchers we were completely unprepared.

  Daphne folded her hands together and continued to smile.

  “Perhaps you would know me better had my father given me the name I deserved. Daphne Parlous.”

  I looked to Keanu and then to Lukas. Lukas’s hand slipped from his sword, and he shook his head.

  I had only ever known Bellona and Elias to have two children, Vanessa and Lukas. Was Daphne another child Elias had outside of his marriage?

  “Yes, that’s right. Elias was not the man you thought him to be. Then again, neither was Nina. I suppose you could say Nina abandoned me like she did to Claire. She and my father ensured I lived out my life in Shadowland with a false name and parents to hide their ‘mistake.’ I’d say ask them yourself, but from what I hear Nina has been arrested and Elias… well, a dead man’s word is meaningless,” she explained.

  I stared at Lukas, waiting for him to explain this madness. There had to be some kind of mistake. Nina and Elias? I knew my mother and Elias to be ‘adventurous’ when it came to their romantic relationships, but I never imagined them being involved with one another. Had she done this while married to my father? How far did Nina’s path of betrayal extend?

  I did not want to believe Daphne, but liar or not, she was well informed. She had been in Ninomay long enough to know about Nina’s arrest. She knew Elias was dead and did not seem to share any grief for his passing. She seemed to have an idea of who her alleged parents were, and if she was telling the truth, she had motivation to kill.

  “My father never laid with Nina. He had one mistress, and she too is now dead,” Lukas said firmly.

  “But my dear brother, you are gravely mistaken. I was conceived before Nina’s marriage to Jhase. I came before Clara and Claire. Elias was married at the time, and you were but a baby. They both had their reputations on the line. They could not afford to keep me close. If anyone had found out it would have destroyed them,” she said.

  “And I am to believe you waited over twenty years to confront us? If you came in search of money, you will receive none. I think you’re a liar and a coward,” he said.

  “Let me put it in simpler terms for you. I was an unwanted child. I was given to the Barlow family and led to believe I was their blood until… recently.

  “It took Claire’s kidnapping for me to finally discover my true heritage. I never met Elias or Nina. But I did found out Elias had children and a wife. He even had a mistress! And Nina had daughter, one of whom she left behind to once again run away from her problems. Am I forgetting anything?”

  I stepped out from behind Keanu. I was not certain of the purpose for Daphne’s visit, but she hadn’t made any threats yet. If anything she seemed as angry as I had been with my mother as of late.

  On the other hand, she had to realize this was too much to swallow. Elias and Nina never led perfect lives, but how much trouble had they gotten involved in? How could my other have slept with someone who my father thought to be his closest ally? How could she have done this to yet another child?

  I stepped forward again, though Keanu grabbed my arm and tugged me back. I glanced back, seeing the fear in his eyes matching those of the others in the room. They were afraid of this woman, regardless of whether they believed her story or not.

  “How can we help?” I asked softly.

  “I want justice! My father is dead, but my mother is still alive. I want her held responsible for abandoning me,” she replied.

  My eyes narrowed down on her. “If Elias ad Nina wanted nothing to do with you, who told you about your heritage?”

  “Stefan,” she said.

  I looked back at Lukas with wide eyes. Now not only had my mother been involved with Elias, but Stefan’s role in this was greater than we had assumed. If Stefan had worked underneath of Elias he could be finishing what his boss started. Ahna’s information had been right.

  Lukas grimaced, and I wondered if he too thought about his dead father, the one he had killed to save me. I doubted either Stefan or Daphne were aware of this fact. Knowledge like that could be deadly.

  “Everyone to Ezra’s room now!” Claire shouted.

  The Watchers advanced toward Daphne.

  “Guards, take her to one of the guest bedrooms and watch her until further notice,” Claire said.

  The Watchers grabbed Daphne, who squirmed in their arms. One of them pulled out a pair of cuffs and placed them on her wrists.

  “You will regret this, Claire Kanelos! You’re already too late!” Daphne screamed.

  “The deed is done…”

  The words Stefan had wrote to my mother echoed in my head as I followed Claire and the others. We rushed upstairs while Daphne continued to shout from a distance. It was no coincidence she and my mother had a relationship with Stefan. Was Stefan the one behind the murders? Had he been the one to kill my mother?

  We reached the top of the stairs and walked toward Ezra’s room. All the while I thought about Daphne’s words. For a woman who seemed to skillfully select her words, what had she meant? Were we too late? What madness had she unleashed?

  29

  The Price You Pay

  We entered Ezra’s room and was immediately greeted by unfamiliar faces. In the center of the room a man stood holding Gemma with his hand over her neck. A woman stood to her side, holding a dagger close enough to pierce into her skin. The room was now full of strangers, each of them standing dangerously close to our friends.

  Daphne had warned us.

  We’re too late… I thought, wincing at the idea of losing my friends and what little remained of my family.

  I glanced back, looking for Lukas who had been behind me on the staircase. He was nowhere to be seen. It was happening it again. They would pick us off one by one, narrowing down our chances of survival.

  “What is the meaning of this?” Claire asked, raising her voice.

  I held my breath. Perhaps I was mistaken. Lukas had been the last one in, he had to be somewhere amongst the faces in the room. However, the room filled with strangers suggested otherwise. Everyone was accounted for b
ut Lukas.

  Somehow, someway these imposters had managed to infiltrate the palace. Had Daphne been a distraction? How many Watchers were injured or killed for this group to make its way inside the palace?

  The man holding Gemma spoke up.

  “No one leaves the room until I give the order. A single word, a single movement, and this woman dies,” he said.

  I clenched my fists. Our magic was useless unless we were able to coordinate something together. Ezra was too ill to defend himself, so even if we could evacuate the room, someone would need to aid him. These men and woman had been trained to kill for much less. This was more than a hobby for them. It was their lifestyle, a profession. They would not hesitate to kill Gemma, of that much I was certain.

  I analyzed the man who had spoken, looking for the smallest clue to indicate who he was. His blonde, curly hair and oval face was unfamiliar to me. His muscles shown through his tunic, but he otherwise looked as ordinary as the others in the room. If this man was Stefan he had managed to blend in amongst his allies.

  We stood in silence, barely breathing and no one moving. I refocused my attention on Gemma, whose eyes filled with tears. She stood as still as a statue, though occasionally her body trembled.

  I looked around at the other faces in the room, trying to match faces with names. I had not spent enough time in Ninomay amongst the locals to know one face from another. Even if any of the councilors knew them that knowledge was useless to us now.

  What are they waiting for? I thought, wondering why they waited for permission to move. If they wanted to kill us they would have done so already.

  The man holding Gemma seemed to be in charge, but like us, he waited for something, or rather someone higher above him to give orders.

  I thought about Daphne, and I wondered what role she played in all of this. Did they wait for her? Did she need to escape form the Watchers before they could leave?