Allegiance (32 page)

Jack and Ameyah were already at the beach when Leif and I arrived with Lysander and Mona that afternoon. They lay on towels spread on the pale sand and jumped to their feet when they saw us. Lysander was in high spirits, his good mood barely affected by his girlfriend’s bad one.

Jack shook my brother’s hand warmly. ‘Man, it’s good to meet you,’ he said. ‘We spent ages trying to find you!’ His eyes darted to Mona, who was looking everywhere but at Jack. He seemed to be watching for a response when he said, ‘Good to see you too, Mona.’

‘Mmm, yeah, nice to meet you,’ she muttered, finally meeting his eyes.

Jack gave me a so-that’s-how-it-is look and the rest of the introductions were made.

When Ameyah spoke, Lysander’s ears pricked up. ‘You’re not from here,’ he said.

‘I am of the Kingdom of Telophy,’ Ameyah replied, her chin lifting.

‘But you’re human!’

Ameyah inclined her head.

‘You’re the girl who was swapped with Claudette!’ Lysander said, putting the pieces together. ‘Shouldn’t you be in California for Christmas with your family? Claudette is.’

‘I do not know those people.’

‘They’re real nice.’

‘Humans live in Faera?’ Mona asked.

‘It is not usual. The king has made an exception for me and Jack,’ Ameyah told her.

‘You and Jack,’ Mona said, giving me a quizzical look before shifting her attention to Jack. I knew she was recalling a time when the two of us were a pair. It gave me an idea. I sent Leif a silent message that I needed to be alone with Jack and Mona.

‘Who’ll join me for a swim?’ Leif stood to his feet. Lysander and Ameyah got up with him and all three headed down the sand.

When they were out of earshot, I said, ‘Mona, I’m not going to ask why you lied to us; I think it’s pretty obvious.’ Mona’s cheeks tinted pink. ‘And I know you remember me and Jack were together when we met you.’

She nodded.

I caught Jack’s eyes with mine. ‘I love Jack and always will, but… Leif is my betrothed.’

Jack’s eyes remained glued to mine when he said, ‘I don’t think Marla realises how hard it was for me to let her go. But there was no point fighting it. Besides, we’re different.’ He turned to Mona. ‘She’ll never be healthy on Earth.’

Mona scowled. ‘I know what you’re doing and it won’t work. I take good care of Grant and he’d never leave me.’

Gently, Jack said, ‘If you try to make him stay you’ll lose him altogether.’ After a pause he added, ‘There’s a girl in Faera
who has a bigger claim on him than you. Way before you came along, he gave a piece of his soul to her and he won’t be complete without it.’

Mona made a choking sound before she cleared her throat and said, ‘Even if that’s true, I won’t give him up.’

Heat seeped into my body, and it had nothing to do with the hot summer day. This girl didn’t care about my brother. He was just a possession. ‘Maybe he’d give
you
up if he knew what you’ve been keeping from him,’ I told her.

‘You’re threatening me?’

‘Lysander’s my brother and you’ve lied to him—and me. Who
was
the guy you tried to pass off as him that day anyway?’

She narrowed her eyes and made a scoffing noise. ‘Doesn’t matter, but you don’t know Grant if you think he’d dump me because of it.’

What on Earth did she have on him? Had he robbed a bank or something?
I rose to my feet. ‘Either you tell him the truth, or I’ll do it for you.’ I turned and headed for the water, seething. I strode down the sand and into the sea, letting the waves grab me and pull me down.

When I came out with the others, my head was clear and Hilary had arrived. She was sitting on the sand with Jack and Mona, her chestnut hair tied into a ponytail. The sight of her put warm fuzz in my chest and a huge smile on my face. I hadn’t realised how much I’d missed her. I wondered if she felt the same. Hilary always seemed so self-sufficient.

But it didn’t take me long to realise she wasn’t her usual self. She was quieter, her smile not as bright, her eyes not as warm. I found out why when we went for a stroll along the water’s edge together. Kyle’s father had accepted a job in Singapore and he was leaving with his family in the New Year. Hilary had seen no point in prolonging the pain and had ended the relationship a week ago.

‘I thought he was enrolled and ready to go to Sydney University,’ I said, watching the sea slide over my feet.

Hilary looked across the ocean—vast and choppy and wild. She sighed. ‘He was, and his father said he still could—maybe get a place on campus. But his family’s in Singapore—grandparents, cousins, all of them.’

‘He
chose
to go!’ I couldn’t believe he would give her up.
What an idiot!

She nodded.

‘I’m sorry, Hil.’

‘I suppose we weren’t meant to be.’ I could tell by the way her lip wobbled she didn’t mean it.

I put my arm around her shoulder.

She smiled that strong smile of hers. ‘I’ll be fine.’

I guess if you’d lost your whole family, you’d feel like that. Mum always said you only ever had your heart truly broken once. After that, it could bend and twist and get a bit trampled now and then, but it would never completely break. I supposed that’s what it was like for Hilary.

‘What will you do?’ I asked her.

She shrugged. ‘Go to uni, study law.’ There was not one bit of enthusiasm in her voice. A moment later she put her face into her hands. A small choking noise was the only thing that gave her away. When I peeled her hands back, tears were smudged into her cheeks. ‘Everybody leaves,’ she said, her voice breaking on the words.

A kid on a body board just missed ramming us. I pulled her up the beach and flopped on the sand beside her.

‘Even Jo and Mitchell are going away,’ she said when she had her tears under control.

‘What? Where?’ Hilary had lived with her godparents since she was eight.

‘They’re moving the girls to Rockhampton. Jo’s mother’s sick.’

‘Couldn’t you go with them?’

She shook her head. ‘What would I do there? Besides … it’s a family thing.’

I wanted to take her pain away, tell her they
were
her family. But it would have been presumptuous. Only Hilary could decide that. Anyway my head was filling up with a new idea. I gripped her hand in mine, ‘Come to Faera with me and Jack.’ I prayed it was an option, that King Telophy could be convinced.

She turned to me. ‘Really?’

I nodded. ‘You’ve got two whole months till uni starts.’

Hilary smiled her first real smile of the day. ‘You don’t know how much I’ve missed you two.’

‘Same,’ I said.

I put the idea to Leif as we made our way back to Faera. He agreed to ask his father. If the king agreed, Hilary could come next week when the guard returned to pick up Jack and Ameyah.

‘And what about Lysander?’ I asked. ‘Do you think your father will ever accept him in Telophy?’ It had been hard to say goodbye to my brother when Leif had taken him and Mona back to Seattle earlier.

‘I don’t think it likely, Marla. Not in the near future at least.’

I looked at my betrothed. ‘So, how come he accepted me?’

‘I have told you this already.’

‘Not really. You said he’d forgiven you and something about making yourself invaluable to him. But the way he works you into the ground makes me think there’s a lot more to it. Plus, I didn’t think about it at the time, but when he brought me here, he said something about you keeping me for a promise.’

Leif sighed.

‘Just tell me, Leif.’

‘There were three caveats to my father allowing you to make his kingdom your home. The first is that you be obedient to him.’

King Telophy had told me that much himself. ‘I can do obedience.’

Leif nodded and continued. ‘The second is that I do all he asks of me until I inherit my own kingdom.’

‘That could be hundreds of years!’

‘Possibly more.’

‘He’s made you his slave? His own son!’

‘I suppose in effect… The work I don’t mind. The worst is that I am not free to come and go as I please. This should be a learning time for me. Usually after the prince reaches immortality, he is free to travel from one kingdom to the next learning the ways of each and meeting the subjects. When he marries, his princess travels with him and in this way they both become familiar with every kingdom. So, when he eventually inherits his, the new king and his queen know it well. More importantly, the subjects of that kingdom know them.’ He sighed. ‘I don’t know how I’ll be ready to inherit my kingdom when my time comes, Marla.’

I frowned. ‘Leif, you should have told me this before you agreed to it.’

‘It would have changed nothing. I will not have you separated from your family after all you’ve endured because of my father.’

‘What’s the third thing?’ I asked. But I already knew. King Telophy had made
that
clear enough when he’d brought me to Faera.

After a moment’s hesitation, Leif put it into words anyway. ‘That your twin pay the price for your mother’s betrayal. But believe me, Marla, if your brother chooses immortality, I
will
find a home for him in Faera. You have my vow on that.’

‘I trust you, Leif, I don’t need your vow.’

‘But still, you have it and next week when we return for Jack and Ameyah…’

‘And Hilary.’

‘
And
Hilary. I will bring Lysander to your parents’ home
without
Mona and ask him to make his choice.’

‘That’s pretty huge, Leif, especially considering how devoted he seems to be to her.’

‘Yes, but the decision needs to be made and he has only until his birthday to make it.’

Less than two months to convince my brother to choose Faera—I prayed we could do it.

The following morning Leif called me to his father’s receiving room where the king informed me he
would
allow Hilary a stay in Faera—
provided
she not make an irritant of herself. They were his words, and a requirement of her coming was that I repeat them to her. I was torn between wanting to please him by assuring him my friend would be absolutely no trouble at all and a desire to tell him to get over himself. I pinched my tongue between my teeth—as if I would dare do either. Glancing at Leif I said,
Why did your dad agree if he was going to be so mean about it?

Leif kept his eyes on his father as he assured him it would be so, before silently telling me,
I convinced him Hilary would be of service to Jack.

King Telophy inclined his head to his son then laced his fingers across his chest as he said, ‘Did I inform you I spoke with our many times great grandfather Denar a few weeks ago?’

Denar is Mirren’s son,
Leif told me before I had a chance to ask. To his father he said, ‘You mentioned it was your intention. Did you go to his kingdom to do so?’

King Telophy shook his head, ‘I only spoke with him telepathically. I told him of our suspicions in regards to his father—my desire to speak with him. He told me there was only one person with knowledge of Mirren. He promised to make contact with her on my behalf and explain my dilemma. This morning he finally got back to me about it.’

‘What did he say? Does he know Mirren’s location?’

‘He says not. The person he’d been referring to was in fact his mother, Ayana. Apparently she arrived in her son’s kingdom soon after Mirren abandoned this one, alone and unwilling to speak of her husband.’

‘But Ayana and Mirren are betrothed, are they not?’

King Telophy nodded.

Leif leaned forward in his seat. ‘Why would they not be together?’

‘An excellent question,’ King Telophy said, ‘And if Denar had not been so convincing in his assurances that he knows nothing of his father, I might have been tempted to believe they were both protecting Mirren. For he must know I would drag his father before the royal assembly the moment he showed his face.’

‘But what would keep Mirren and his betrothed apart?’ Leif asked, eyebrows drawn close. ‘Do you believe him passed?’

‘This is what you are to discover when you meet with Ayana in my name.’

‘She is agreed to the meeting?’

‘She is,’ the king confirmed.

Leif glanced sideways to catch my eyes,
Come with me?

I smiled, wondering what use I could be, but happy to be asked, I agreed.