Daylight, a Timeless Series Novel (15 page)

“It’s the Quaysaar clan ring,” Dex said. He slipped through the gathering, his hands clasped.

“Quaysaar?”
I repeated.

“The cursed clan
.” Dex added.

“My clan,” Maes broke in.

I frowned. “But I thought you were a Tresez?”

“Yes, but
they weren’t always trapped in that form, Cheyenne. The Quaysaar clan were amongst the most powerful of the Timeless,” Dex replied. “And that ring is their long lost clan ring.”

Callon grasped my fingers.

“Why don’t you rest. We can talk about this later, Cheyenne.”

“No
!” I snapped. “I need to know this.”

“But your head is clouded right now
. You’re hallucinating and…”

“I feel fine at the moment.”

Callon sighed and nodded at Dex. I wasn’t going to let this chance for information slip by.

“The Quaysaar
were the first clan willing to serve the Sarac,” Dex said. Maes listened, not daring to interrupt. “Your grandfather cursed them for this. Since they were considered cowards who ran away like dogs, he made them the Sarac’s servants. Serving them on all fours.”

“But the curse is weakenin
g,” I said. “Maes wouldn’t be able to turn human otherwise.”

“Yes
, but unless the curse is lifted, they can never reclaim their place among the Timeless clans,” Dex said. “Perhaps at one time they didn’t want to. But the fact Maes is here with us, helping us protect you from Marcus, tells me that they don’t want to be mere lapdogs anymore.”

“So how do we break the curse?
” I asked. I’d been stupid not to ask Dex about this before. Maybe now Maes would quit pestering me about it. “Does it have something to do with the ring?”

“I don’t know, Cheyenne
,” Dex sighed. “I—I don’t think your grandfather wanted it broken.” Maes looked away. I couldn’t read his expression. “I’ve pored over the old manuscripts for years now, studying for ways to defeat Marcus, and in all these years I’ve never come across anything related to the Quaysaar’s curse. Except…”

“Except what?”

“That we are to be forgotten,” Maes answered coldly.

Forgotten…

I stared at the ring again. The missing stone stuck out to me. Though it had given off some kind of light in the lake, now it felt ordinary. Not at all like my Kvech or Servak rings, or Callon or Marcus’s rings, either. The lost piece must have something to do with the curse. Or was it really useless, and had no meaning at all? I had no idea. Then again, couldn’t Maes use a ruby stone from the necklace and repair it? Would that give him the deliverance he was searching for?

Sighing,
I stretched out my hand with the ring between my fingers. Whatever the answer, this ring wasn’t mine. I’d find the solution later.

“Maes, take it
. It’s yours.”

Maes frowned, though he couldn’t hide the hope in his jade-rimmed eyes
.

“It found you,
mon espoir
,” he replied.

“And I’m giving it back to its rightful owner.”

Maes hesitated. Then he stepped forward and knelt beside the bed. His hands swallowed my fingers as he squeezed. He’d come to a decision.

“
This has been too long in coming,” he said. “Unbroken curse or not,
mon espoir
, I pledge my life for yours. As fallen leader of the Quaysaar, I pledge my undying loyalty to the Servak and Kvech clans from which you descend, and to your family, all generations yet to come, from now and until I take my last breath.”

H
e bowed over my hand, and I dropped the ring into his palm. A bright, blinding light flashed and suddenly I was thrown across the room. My back hit the wall and I slumped to the floor. Voices cried out, and I heard someone—Callon?—rushing to my side. He called my name, but everything was muffled by pain. Suddenly a jolt ran through my leg, and I arched my head back. The last thing I saw was Callon’s worried look, before a black veil rolled over my eyes, and I passed out.

I sat
on the soft chair in the sitting room, watching the gloomy skies drop their moisture from the clouds. I was growing tired of the Irish weather, and longed for the brilliant sunshine of home again. The wind began to howl, and the raindrops pattered against the terrace doors. I pulled my blanket closer and shivered. Fall was definitely here.

“Here, maybe this will help,” Daniel said
. He offered another chair and helped me sit in it, before pushing me closer to the fire. “You’ve had a rough few days.”

I smiled
faintly as he tucked the fleece around my legs.

“Thanks,” I replied.

He wasn’t wrong. Not only had the creature done a number on me, but something with Maes’s ring had compounded it. The wound on my leg still hadn’t healed, and I was full of new questions. I didn’t know what had triggered the light, and I didn’t know if anything had come of it. Callon had made it clear that no one was to talk about what happened. Once again, he was trying to protect me from something I needed to know. I needed to know if I’d broken the curse. I’d caught Maes a few times over the last couple of days, yet nothing seemed to have changed.

There was also the issue
of
seeing
Colt. Callon had told me I’d been hallucinating, that the venom from the creature was doing this, but that wasn’t it. If I was just hallucinating, then why did I
feel
Colt? I’d only ever felt like this when he was alive…

The clanking of a tray caught my attention
. Lilly and Andre had appeared with mugs of steaming drinks. Andre moved the small table closer and Lilly placed the tray at my side.

“I’ve made you some of Layla’s herbal tea,” Lilly said
. She smiled, carefully placing the mug in my hands. “Callon and Dex think they’re closer to a solution for your wound, too.” She sat in the chair beside me and grabbed a drink. “Layla and Nakari are working with them. They’re both very good at herbal remedies.” Her smiled broadened. “I’ve often told the two of them they could start their own beauty product line with their creations.”

“More testing would need to be done
first,” Andre chuckled as she moved to the floor beside Lilly. “Remember when they turned my skin green?”

Daniel
laughed, and Lilly waved her hand. “Oh, Andre, that was years ago.”

“I still remember it.” She
grinned. “It took weeks before Koda stopped calling me Mrs. Frankenstein.”

A soft laugh escaped me.

“I’m sure it would have been fun to see you like that,” I said.

“Yeah, perfect for Halloween, Andre,” Daniel chimed in.

Andre rolled her eyes. “I supposed I can’t complain too much. It wasn’t half as bad as what they did to Bree,” she snorted.

“I heard that!” Bree whisked in from the hallway. “No more beauty products for me!”

I lifted a brow, now curious. “What’d they do to you, Bree?”

“She looked like a pumpkin!” Daniel chortled.

“It was artificial tan for carrots, alright!” Andre laughed.

“Worse,” Bree giggled.

“Hey, what’s with all the laughing?” Koda boomed. He entered the room, sitting on a footstool. His blue eyes had a twinkle to them. I looked down at my mug. He wasn’t Colt.

“Just
remembering the beauty trials of Layla and Nakari,” Daniel replied. “I think Bailee was their last victim.”

Koda’s eyes dimmed, and
Daniel suddenly stiffened.

“
Oh, I—I’m sorry, Koda, Bree, I—I didn’t mean…”

It grew quiet
. Finally Koda sighed heavily.

“I know, Daniel
. It’s okay to have memories.”

I sipped more of my tea
, my heart burning. Memories, all the memories in the world couldn’t replace the real thing…

“You feeling better, Cheyenne?” Koda broke my thoughts.

“I’ll be fine. I just can’t seem to get warm.”

“I’m sure it’ll get better soon.”

I nodded, my thoughts drifting to Maes.

“So has Maes changed, Andre?”
She glanced at Koda, unsure. “You can’t hide this from me forever, and since he won’t talk to me right now, I’d really like to know if giving him the ring made a difference.”

“Nothing
’s changed, Cheyenne,” Koda answered.

“Ah,
” I sighed. “I was hoping otherwise.”

“We all were,” Andre
said.

“Is that why he’s been avoiding me?”

“No, he’s out on a mission,” Koda replied.

“
On a mission?”

Koda nodded, but didn’t answer.
My eyes narrowed.

“Seriously
, we’re going to play the game of keeping Cheyenne in the dark again?” I snapped.

“Callon doesn’t want anything to upset you right now
,” Daniel chimed in.

“What’s upsetting is that you all think I’m incapable of handling any situation!
” I growled. “I’m the leader of the clans. I have the right to know what’s going on.”

“He’s out looking for some plants for me,” Callon answered. He and Dex entered the sitting room
, Layla, Brogan and Nakari behind him.

“You sent him out alone?”

Callon shook his head, resting his hand on my blanketed shoulder.

“No, Skylar, Clayton and Quinn are with him. They’ve gone
to find the last part of a remedy for your leg wound.” I glanced at him, and the stress he’d been under flashed briefly, before he pushed it away. “I was the one who asked that nothing be said. You haven’t been yourself. I’m sorry.”

“Don’t hide things from me, Callon.”

“I’m just doing what I think is best.”

“I know what’s best for me, trust me.”

“Of course you do,” a low voice added.

I jumped; I hadn’t expected Brogan to butt in. He stepped in front of the fire, forcing me to look up at him.

“You might have fought a decent battle, Cheyenne,” he said, though his eyes told me otherwise. “But what you did was completely out of order. Stealing another’s power and leaving them defenseless on the front line is selfish and unacceptable!”

My fingers grew tight around the mug’s handle.

“I did what I needed to do to kill the creature.” I exhaled slowly. The beast within stirred.

Brogan snarled.

“Acting like a spoiled child isn’t doing what you need to do!” he roared. “If that had been an army of Trackers, or Marcus himself, would you have seized your comrades’ power and leave them to be slaughtered for the sake of your revenge?”

“You weren’t exactly putting th
at power to good use!” I shot back. “Someone had to.”

Brogan clenched his fists, his veins bulging.

“Cheyenne, stop it,” Callon said. “What Brogan’s saying is that we needed to work together as a team…”

“
The creature would have killed me if I hadn’t found something else,” I cut him off.

“We
were right there with you!” Brogan boomed. “We told you to leave it to us.”

I snorted.

“Oh yeah, so you can blame me for failing again? How can I prove myself and my power if you never let me be a part of anything?”

“We work together, not alone,” Brogan growled.

Daniel grabbed my forearm. He could sense the beast waking up.

“We wouldn’t have let you die, Cheyenne
,” he said.

My jaw tightened.

“Colt didn’t get that chance,” I said quietly. “I failed him. There has to be one stronger than the others to succeed.”

“No, Cheyenne.” Callon
stepped closer. “Our strength becomes greater as we come together as one.”

I blinked. Those words…I stared down at my mug. My dad had said those exact words to me many times
, and only now did I realize what he’d been trying to teach me.