Moonshadow (44 page)

Chapter 20

Queen of Dragons and Queen of Blessed Fae,

What unlikely battle allies we make.

Though we began as bitter enemies,

Your king’s fires of pride and vanity

Have forged the iron bonds of sisterhood.

Diana slammed the book shut in frustration and the sound echoed within the silence of her quiet nook of the library. Another failure—in a long line of them
.
She’d been scouring Flinders’ collection for anything that could illuminate whatever message he might have concealed within the words of the poem, but had yet to find anything substantial. With a sigh, Diana stood from the table and walked over to one of the tall viewing windows to gaze out at the snowy campus below.

Where are you Darien? I need you.

Whatever self-imposed frustrations Diana felt, she knew they were just covering her ever-growing anxiety over the fact that Darien still hadn’t come back to her. It had been three weeks now, since their morning together in Glastonbury, and he’d yet to send her any word that he was alright.  Christmas and New Year’s had come and gone, and the next semester’s classes were about to begin. When she’d returned to campus from her holiday visit with her parents, in Indiana, Diana had expected Darien to be waiting for her with some semblance of good news. Instead, she found his Watcher compatriots profoundly ignorant of anything having to do with their absent friend. Since then, Diana had been fearing the worst, and each passing day only served to increase her worry.

Even so, Diana could feel that Darien was alive. Within the core of her heart, flickers of his soulflame still danced in unison alongside her own, and even though she was countless miles away from him, Diana would occasionally feel flickers of his own loneliness and frustrations. Wherever he was, Darien wanted to come home to her.

She needed to know what was going on.

Even though Diana knew it would be fruitless, she instinctively checked her cell phone for any new messages. It wasn’t too far-fetched to think Darien might have someone send her an e-mail so she knew he was alright, was it?

Looking at the clock, Diana realized it was about time for Miri to be done with her classes and considered the notion of asking the Alma if she’d heard anything, yet. After her initial enquiries, Diana had thought it best to avoid the Shepherd house, just in case Terra had gotten wind of the situation. Diana had no doubt in her mind that the retired Shadowstalker would be more than willing to oblige the Lady Raven’s request of termination.

Diana’s heart ached anew as she felt another twinge of longing.
Enough of this.
Her fretting over Darien’s wellbeing having reached its pinnacle, she was more than willing to brave the dangers if it meant some kind of answer. Diana gathered up her things, fully intent on going to talk to Miri.

Stepping onto the spiral staircase, Diana felt weak in the legs and her feet fell out from under her. On reflex, she grabbed ahold of the banister and managed to keep herself from tumbling down the steps. Only then did Diana realize how incredibly weak she felt.

I probably need to eat something.
With her stomach being a knotted mess of anxiety, she hadn’t had much of an appetite as of late.

Latching onto the railing for support, just to be safe, Diana made her way to the ground floor and out of the library.

In her weakened state, the walk to the Shepherd house took much longer than usual, and Diana was more than relieved when she finally stepped onto the front porch and used the gilded doorknocker.

In moments, the large wooden door cracked opened and Marjorie stood in the doorway with a warm and apologetic smile.

“Miss Selene, I suspect you’ve come seeking Master Endymion. He still hasn’t returned.”

Diana frowned; part of her had hoped he’d be here. “Is Miri home?”

“Lady Miraena is indeed home this evening,” the housekeeper replied with caution. “But I don’t think now is the best time—.”

“Show the girl in, Marjorie,” commanded the voice of Terra from beyond the foyer and the housekeeper opened the door wider for Diana to step through. The fire mage stood behind the large marble table, arms crossed over the bodice of her black dress, with her long scarlet locks flowing like a river of fire behind her back. “I have some questions I’d like to ask her.”

As Marjorie closed the door, Diana couldn’t help but feel like a criminal trapped in an interrogation room with no way out. Throwing caution to the wind, she decided to take command of the questioning.

“Where is Darien?” Diana demanded to know, but not as forcefully as she would have liked. She still felt incredibly weak.

“Just the question I was about to ask you, Tanar,” Terra replied with unrestrained anger. “You’re the one he went gallivanting off with to Qir’Aflonas. What trouble have you gotten him into?”

“So you haven’t heard anything?” Diana asked, confused. Her legs felt like they were about to give out again. She must have overdone it with her walk over here. She should have eaten something first. The thought of food brought with it a sudden feeling of nausea and it wasn’t long before she felt the room begin to spin.

As Diana grabbed the side of the marble table for support, her body broke out in shivers just before her abdomen surged with intense pain that felt like thousands of tiny blades cutting at her insides. Grabbing at her middle, Diana fell to the floor, curling into a ball at the blinding pain as the swirling darkness reached out to claim her.

“Wh—what is happening to me?” Diana’s shaking voice pleaded. What was the Veil doing to her? Was Terra behind it?

“Terra!” cried the voice of Miri from down the hallway as she ran towards them. “What’d you do to her?” 

“I did nothing to her,” Terra quickly replied. Though there was resentment in her tone, Terra sounded surprised by Diana’s current state. Whatever was happening to her, Terra wasn’t the cause of it.

Diana was in too much pain to care. She tried to get herself back to her feet, but a powerful need to retch kept her on the ground. She would have likely vomited all over the floor if her stomach hadn’t been empty to begin with. The acidic bile burning her esophagus only added to the torment.

The chills and pain refusing to subside, Diana began to lose all sense of the world around her as she heard Miri pleading with Terra.

“You’re a healer, Terra! You have to help her!”

“I must do no such thing,” Terra replied. In spite of the protest, Diana could feel the tension warring inside of Terra. Something inside of the fire mage was reaching out to Diana, feeling her pain, and Diana couldn’t help but recognize the familiar experience—Terra had the same peculiar empathy as Diana.

“She’s a living being and she needs you! Remember your vows.”

As she started losing consciousness, Diana felt Terra’s anger dissolve into a determination to do what’s right. Diana felt herself being picked up by her arms and legs by the two Naphalei women. Soon after, she was lying atop a soft surface and she felt warm, soft, hands lightly rubbing her body. Before the darkness completely took her away, Diana’s last thought was of Darien.

—

Within the dark prison of her mind, Diana heard familiar voices. The Veil had released her long ago, but she couldn’t seem to wake up from the shadows. Only now, with a commotion somewhere within her hearing, was she beginning to feel her consciousness rising.

It was a struggle for Diana to make her mind work, feeling as if a portion of herself was still trapped somewhere beyond the barriers of physical reality. She pulled at it, forcing it to come back to her waking body.

Just as when she awoke on the plane, Diana couldn’t remember anything about her time in within the Veil, other than intense flashes of lighting within the swirling ethereal darkness. Though she had no memories of her experiences, Diana felt extremely relieved, and somewhat surprised, to be awake. She sensed the residual fear that she’d never again wake from the realm of magical nightmares—a sensation Diana hadn’t known for many years. It felt like she’d just experienced an eternity.

The battle to open her eyes finally turned into victory as her lids broke the darkness, letting in painful stabs of light. Diana instinctively shut the eyes she had just struggled to open, and after a few moments, she opened them again and allowed her vision to adjust.

Where am I?
Diana wondered as her sight began to focus on the room that wasn’t her own.
And whose nightgown is this?
It was light blue, silky, and quite lovely, but it wasn’t hers.

It only took her hazy mind a moment to recognize the room as one she had slept in once before; she was still at the Shepherds’ house—but why?

Diana’s memory was foggy, but she remembered being in the foyer downstairs sometime before her mind goes blank.

As she struggled to reconstruct her recent history, Diana’s eyes focused on the owners of the voices that had roused her. Two people, one male and one female, were having a heated discussion by the bedroom door. Diana’s immediate recognition of the male empowered her to fully awaken.

“Darien!” she said in excitement, his apparent safety overshadowing all thoughts of her present state.

Diana’s sudden shout of joy ended whatever conversation Darien was having with the female—who Diana now saw to be Marjorie. He was at Diana’s side in seconds and Marjorie left them to be alone, shutting the bedroom door behind her.

“Madaera’s Mercy; you’re finally awake,” Darien said with relief as he took her hand in his, looking Diana over. “I feared the worst.”

“What’s going on?” she pleaded to know. “My mind is still foggy, but I remember coming here to ask about why you hadn’t come back…” Only flashing images and feelings of terror filled Diana’s memories after that.

“I’m sorry for worrying you, my love,” he said, his voice filled with deep remorse. “Negotiations with my sister didn’t go quite as smoothly as I’d hoped.”

“What’s the verdict?” Diana asked, hoping that her head would be allowed to stay atop her neck.

“We can talk about that soon; right now, though, I’d like to know more about what happened to you.”

“I would too,” Diana replied with a weak shrug. “But I can’t remember anything. How long have I been asleep? What time is it?”

“It’s three in the afternoon,” Darien replied. “As for how long you were unconscious, Marjorie says you’ve been out for a little under three days.”

The sudden information made Diana quickly sit up straight.

“Three days!?” she exclaimed. “What was wrong with me?”

“The cause of your sickness still eludes me,” Darien replied with concern. “I only just arrived last night and the others are nowhere to be found. I was hoping you could enlighten me when you awoke.”

“That’s strange,” Diana said, finding the situation much more mysterious. “I remember having an argument with Terra.” As the memories slowly returned, she described them as they came to her. “Then I was hit by an intense pain in my stomach and I felt like I going to shiver to death. After that, everything is black and hazy; I remember Miri pleading with Terra to help me.” Diana shrugged her shoulders. “I assume she did.”

“Yes, she did,” Darien said with a satisfied nod. “And I’m eternally grateful to her for that. According to Marjorie, Terraiyah and Miraena both disappeared shortly after you were put to bed and never returned. Anderon apparently came home at some point, but he has disappeared as well. I thought about searching for them, but I didn’t want to leave you.”

“I hope everything is alright,” Diana said, considering the new information. She was terribly curious to know what was going on, but doubted it had anything to do with her sickness.
The entire Naphalei world doesn’t revolve around Diana Selene and her tummy-aches, after all.

Feeling better, and rested, Diana had Darien helped her out of bed and into a nice hot shower so she could was wash away the three days of sleep. She still felt incredibly weak, but she felt much better just being clean.  Once out of the shower, Diana found her jeans, tank-top, and cardigan, washed, pressed, and neatly folded, waiting on the bed. Marjorie must have washed her clothes while Diana was asleep.

When she was dressed, Diana met Darien in the dining room for an early supper.

The smell of food nauseated her at first, but the rumblings of her ravenous tummy overpowered whatever aversion Diana had to food. Just to be safe, she decided to just eat a bowl of Marjorie’s delicious chicken soup.

“So, are you going to tell me what happened with your sister, now?” Diana asked after she slurped down her first spoon full of broth.

“I convinced Edea to spare your life,” Darien replied from his own bowl of soup, looking troubled by the topic. “That’s most important.”

“There’s obviously more—I want to know what it is,” she demanded.

With a sigh, Darien continued. “In order to convince her that you are not a threat, I had to agree to return Qir’Halzereth and take up my position on the High Council—once my time at Flinders is completed.”