Discovery: Altera Realm Trilogy (24 page)

"Hey. Are you OK?" Noelle asked.

Syney looked up at her and could do nothing but shake her head.

Noelle glanced around the room, obviously hearing the talking that was getting louder, and pulled Syney into the hallway. "What's going on?"

"It's just...horrible. I can't...eat in there," Syney said between a few sobs.

"You don't have to. I'll get us some food and bring it to your room. Go. I'll only be a few minutes."

Syney nodded and headed to her room. Eating in there wouldn't do much good to put an end to the whispering, but at least she wouldn't have to hear it, and maybe she even could pretend that it wasn't really there.

Noelle

There was no need for Syney to tell Noelle what was wrong. There was obviously some kind of rumor going around about her. She wasn't unfamiliar with the palace rumor mill. She hated spreading gossip herself, and most of those she was acquainted with knew that and didn't key her in on anything. She always hated how they latched on to whatever anyone told them and treated it as if it were law. She wasn't sure what exactly the rumor was, but it probably had to do with Brian. She had tried to warn Syney, but she didn't want to really push her. It wasn't her place, and as much as Syney wanted a different type of relationship with her, Noelle still felt like the handmaiden to a princess and doubted she ever would feel any differently—especially not since Syney had started hanging out with the royals. She liked Syney and didn't feel she was like the other royals, but Noelle couldn't tell her who to hang out with, even though it bothered her. It bothered Hunter as well, but it wasn't likely he would say anything to Syney. But now—now she would do whatever Syney needed her to do.

Noelle grabbed two trays and plates and piled food onto each of them.

"Hey, have you seen Syney? I was going to pick her up from her class, but Helen said she left early," Hunter asked, coming up next to Noelle.

"Yeah, she was in here, but she wanted to eat in her room, so I'm grabbing some food."

"Is everything OK?" he asked, concern in his voice.

Noelle sighed and gestured to the talking crowd around them.

He turned and faced the people. "What?"

"Can't you hear the whispering? It's all about Syney."

"Oh, yes, it is," Gabe said, appearing on the other side of Noelle. "It's all in their heads too. Not too nice either."

"How can you tell the difference between this talking and the usual?" Hunter asked, looked at Noelle.

"It's all in the hushness of it. They're usually talking about Syney, but now it's quieter—as if they shouldn't be talking about it. That means it's gossip," she said, placing lids on the plates.

"What's the gossip?" Hunter asked.

"I'm not sure. She didn't say, but she was shaken up about it."

Hunter looked at Gabe, who shrugged. "I don't spread gossip."

Noelle rolled her eyes and turned. She saw a few familiar people, most of whom had stopped talking to her once she had become Syney's handmaiden. She wasn't sure why they had, but she wasn't too concerned. She was used to being on her own. She saw Lacey, a handmaiden for a Crystallianna royal, and smiled and waved.

Lacey slowly walked over. "Hey, Noelle. How have you been?" she asked, eyeing the two men flanking Noelle.

"Good, good. Listen—I really don't like the gossip thing, but this seems big. What happened?"

"It's...your princess actually." Lacey got closer to Noelle and relaxed a little. "She totally laid out for Prince Brian, and out in the garden no less. Didn't take her for an exhibitionist. I also heard she tried to get it on with a few more royals. It's like she's auditioning royals for her pairing. Then I heard she's already going to the monthly service with Prince Brian. She's shaping up to be the palace slut."

Hunter gave a low growl and stood at attention.

Lacey cowered back. "It's just what everyone is saying," she said, before quickly scurrying away.

"This is bad," Noelle said with a sigh.

"Not the reputation she wanted," Hunter said softly. "Damn, I should have steered her away from the royals."

"You forget she
is
a royal." Gabe swiped a small piece of fruit off a shelf and popped it into his mouth.

"Not their kind," Noelle said, shaking her head. "Help me carry these?"

Hunter nodded and picked up one of the trays.

They all headed toward Syney's room in silence. A few doors away, Noelle stopped and sighed. "She needs to get out of the palace, if only for a night. She needs the time away."

Both men turned to her.

"I agree," Gabe said. "But where?"

Noelle shrugged. "I don't know. I just know that I would want to get out of here, at least for a little bit."

Hunter nodded. "Maybe tomorrow. Out to the Great Lake."

Noelle sighed and nodded. "Yeah, maybe." She walked forward and knocked on Syney's door. She pushed it open once she heard a "Come in" from the other side.

Syney was sitting low on one of the couches, her feet up on the table in front of her. She smiled when she saw Noelle, but it fell once Hunter and Gabe came in. "Oh, yay. The gang's all here."

Gabe hopped onto the couch and put an arm around Syney. "I heard a nasty rumor about you—a few actually."

Syney groaned, and Hunter slapped him on the back of the head. "What? It's not like she doesn't know," Gabe said, throwing Syney a smile.

Gabe still made Noelle nervous, if only for his unique abilities, but she was really getting used to having him around. He and Syney had a weird relationship, almost like brother and sister. But Noelle felt an odd attraction to Gabe. He was like the bad boy you couldn't help want to reform.

Noelle sat down across from the two while Hunter stalked over to the doorway to the balcony.

"How much did you hear?" Syney grumbled.

"Enough," Noelle said, patting Syney's knee.

"All sorts of slutty stuff. Did you do all of the royals at the same time?" Gabe asked.

"Eww, no. I did not!"

"Hmmm, but there's an unspoken question coming from the bruting side of the room." Gabe gestured toward Hunter, who turned to stare outside as he shook his head. "Is any of it true?"

Syney rolled her eyes. "No. I did not sleep with
any
royal or
anyone
in this godforsaken place! And I'm not going to any religious thing with anyone. I don't want to get paired with any of these assholes. I don't even want to be in this damn Village anymore. There is..." She paused to wipe some tears from her eyes. "There is no good in this place. It's all lies and secrets and gossip. You three—and maybe Helen and Cass and Leaf—are the only people worth my damn time."

Noelle sat back and let Syney finish her tirade. She was upset and didn't really mean it. Although maybe she did. Noelle wasn't a huge fan of the palace either, but this was the only good place for a young woman her age to be.

"Can I leave?" Syney asked, looking up at Hunter's back.

He turned around and shook his head.

"Why not? It's my own free will to want to leave."

"But you can't," Noelle said, leaning forward. The Village and everyone needed Syney. "I know you've probably heard this a dozen times, but you're the best thing that has happened to this place. Did you notice those purple flowers over by the biggest fountain in the garden?"

Syney nodded.

"Those are Clematis. They haven't bloomed in the Village, or in the whole Realm, for generations. They started again the day you came to the palace." Noelle paused. "Your being here is already making a difference. Princess Helen and Cass—they never talked to anyone. They sat with their mother at dinner and kept to themselves. Now they're always around—in the library, out in the garden, in the lower dining hall. And Commander Leaf never spoke to any Magic User, and now he says hi to me every time I see him. You're changing things; you just don't know it."

Silence filled the room as both Syney and Gabe stared at Noelle.

Finally Syney sat up. "I get it. I do. But I have to think about
me
. And I can't stay here. For my own mental health. I can't spend every day playing mental chess with Mellisandrianna and putting up with people—my own people—who talk to me just to get something from me. I'm tired of it."

Noelle sighed and leaned back into her chair. It was no use. Syney had made up her mind, and as Noelle was figuring out, once her mind was made up, it took a lot more than talk to change it.

"Do you have a skirt or something?" Hunter asked Syney.

They all turned to him with questioning looks.

He turned pink a little but rolled his eyes. "I'm taking you out of the palace for a while. But you can't...wear pants."

"Outside of the walls?" Syney asked.

"No, just out of the palace."

"You should go," Noelle said. "Out of these walls for a bit. It might do you good."

Syney sighed. "Why bother?"

Hunter moved to squat down in front of her. "You want to see the good in this place, right? Then let me show you."

Syney looked at him for a moment before getting up and pulling a long brown leather skirt out of a drawer and heading into the bathroom.

"Where are you going?" Gabe asked, as he pulled the lid off one of the plates of food and shoved some into his mouth.

"I thought Vampires drank blood," Hunter said, eyeing him.

Gabe smiled. "We do. But we eat food as well. It's more of an indulgence. Where are you going?"

Hunter ignored the question a second time as Syney came out wearing the skirt. "You'll need a cloak as well," he said.

Syney nodded and pulled one out of the closet. "OK, let's go see the good in this place."

Hunter nodded and led the way out of the room.

Gabe turned his attention back to Noelle. "Guess it's just us for dinner."

"Guess so," Noelle said, biting into her food.

"That was a nice speech you made. Do you really believe it?" he asked.

Noelle glanced up at him then back at her food. "Can't you just read my mind and find out?" she asked nervously. This is what she wanted to know. She wanted to know since they had met, but she was too scared to know the answer, or to pique his interest in why she wanted to know. She dared a look up at him.

He was staring at her, his golden eyes narrowed. A smile snaked its way onto his lips, but he stayed silent and continued to eat.

That wasn't the way she wanted this conversation to go, but she needed to know what he could actually sense or read off her. And now she would have to ask again. Not that she minded spending time with him—but on the other hand, she almost feared it. She glanced at the door and wondered whether she should have gone with Hunter and Syney. Maybe she needed some time away from the palace and Gabe.

Rose

It was a good night for the Cucurbita Festival. It wasn't a festival that was still widely celebrated, but on the outskirts of the Village—the wall towns, as they were called—farming was still the main source of food and money, which made festivals still the main form of social gathering for the Lycin living there. There weren't many Magic Users out in the wall towns, and those that were there tended to keep to themselves. Rose had lived there for many years since her mate had died and had raised her only son. She kept to herself once there but soon found that family really was where your home was and discovered all of the amazing people in Ragin, her wall town. She had been worried about raising her son alone but didn't have to worry once she settled down. Now, for the Cucurbita Festival, her small three-roomed house was filled with adoptive sons and daughters, friends who were as close as brothers and sisters, and elders who slowly had taken the place of her fallen parents. There were around thirty of them, setting up a few long tables and preparing food. These were the days she loved during the year, the ones that made her life a little less lonely and painful. Here she didn't have a dead husband or a son away from home. On these days she had a house full of family.

Rose surveyed everything in her kitchen. All the food was cooking—almost done actually. Several young girls were running from pot to pot, checking on the stove and cauldron, and chatting loudly with one another. It was nice to have the young blood running the kitchen. Rose was getting old. Even though
only a few gray hairs had weaved their way into her red hair and she could still chase a loose pullum down the dirt roads, she felt the years finally bearing down on her joints and muscles. But she couldn't slow down yet; she still had a lot of years to live.