Regius (31 page)

Groaning, I ran my fingers
through my hair. "We're fucking eighteen years old. Bit old for
that kinda crap, yeah?"

"Kids." Aron Peterman,
Helix’s dad, butted in, leading all of us to stare as he rarely
participated in arguments. "We haven’t assembled today to discuss
why Brass and Delph are friends. We’re here to get clarification on
why Delph seems to be pulling away from us, Helix in particular.”
His wife, Helen, patted his hand and nodded at him. “Delph, you’re
not making any effort to make Helix comfortable with the new
situation. In fact, you’ve been ignoring him on numerous occasions
so you could go out and about with Brass.”

This entire lot was staring
me down hard. They had to be kidding! This whole ‘We need to sit
down and talk’ was because Helix threw a hissy fit since he didn’t
get to spend as much time with me as he wanted? Brat.

"Look," I started, trying
to tone down the anger. "I'm sorry my friendship with Brass is
pissing you people off, but there's something he and I share that
none of you understand."

"I told you he was gay."
Holly offered me a raised eyebrow, daring me to tell her she was
wrong.

She
was
wrong. "Idiot.” My turn to stare
Holly down, hard. “Have you forgotten Acacia and Lupinus? They were
your guardians, too."

This is why whatever
friendship I'd once shared with her had vanished. She purposely
didn’t want to remember that she’d once been a 'lost kid', and
while I’m sure she had her reasons, I just didn’t
understand.

"Delph." Helen reached out
with one of her hands and the look on her face told me she was
about to explain for the millionth time that what’s done is done
and that while what happened to the Jacoby's was tragic, I had to
move on.

"No. I need some air."
Stuffing my hands into my pockets, I walked to the front door,
telling them I’d be back whenever before slamming it on my way
out.

The boarding house had been
a broken family, but a family nonetheless. I couldn't just forget
and ignore that part of my life like Holly seemed to be able to do.
Then again, she was content with the lifestyle everyone seemed to
be leading in LV, whereas I longed for more.

I stepped onto LV's train,
not bothering to sit down as I'd be getting off in less than two
minutes anyway. Once it stopped, I jumped out and started making my
way in direction of the college dorms. I'm sure Brass still had
some of his funny cake left that would help me get my mind off of
all this.

Knocking on Brass' dorm
door once I was there, I didn't wait for him to open or answer
before making my way in, sighing as I did so, letting him know that
things had whacked out again at the Peterman household. Instead of
hearing the 'What's happened now?', I didn't get an acknowledgment
to my presence whatsoever, a frown appearing on my forehead as I
finally located him by his couch, packing up a suitcase.

"You going somewhere?" I
asked curiously, plopping down beside it.

Grinning, he nodded his
head. "Yeah, I'm getting out of this hell hole."

I raised my eyebrows in
surprise, remembering how often we'd talked about getting out of
Lithium Village over these last couple of months. It was a dream
that most though was unattainable.

"You coming with me, or you
still too stubborn to realize you've got no reason to stay here?"
Opening my mouth to protest out of pure habit, I faltered, giving
him a confused look. Brass offered me a kind smile, one I'd come to
know only when we started to try and understand each
other.

"I know it's scary, dude,
but let’s face this logically, kay?" Nodding, I gave him permission
to make sense of the mud that was currently occupying the space
where my brain was supposed to be. "The only true parents we ever
had were Acacia and Lupinus, and-"

Sighing, I nodded and
finished his sentence. "And even they abandoned us."

"Yeah." Brass agreed,
zipping his suitcase shut.

"So, where are we going?" I
asked, wondering if I should go back to Helix's place and pack a
suitcase or say goodbye. I didn't have anything all that important
though. Except maybe clothes, but Brass and I were about the same
size, and I'd rather borrow his than have to explain to the
Peterman's my need to get away. It was so overwhelming; it had been
eating at me for a while now. But coming to terms with it and
allowing for it to happen was something altogether different than
just letting myself dream. Yet here I was, taking that
step.

"Cobalt City." Brass butted
into my thoughts, waving boat tickets before my face.

Frowning, I took one of
them. "How did you know I was going to come?"

Brass chuckled, lifting the
suitcase and settling it onto his shoulder. "This was the
twenty-seventh argument you had with them. I knew you'd come to
your senses and realize that you can't change for their benefit.
You're smart like that.” He clapped my back. "And unlike some
people, I have no intention of either changing you or abandoning
you."

* * * *

Pieris, like his son Reed,
had more Regius traits than Altor, making it hard to tell which
they were. Cypress was more like his mother, Rose. Although the
Elder was bald now, he used to have very blue hair and the grey of
his eyes was very light which was rare to find in a soldier. You
could see the years of training in the man's physique; he looked
much more fit and young than many men in their late fifties. His
attire was very fitting for an Elder, a simple soldier uniform that
was decorated with a side cloak covering his left shoulder,
everything in shades of blacks and greys.

The wrinkles engraved on
his face were particularly visible now as he stared.

"Pieris." Sage's fingers
around the hilt of her short knife tightened in surprise before the
blade slipped, falling to the ground. Her yellow eyes were emptying
while her light blue hair, so much like Vervaine's, faded to
ivory.

Pieris knelt down, holding
her now fragile body carefully against his as he rested her down on
the earth and placed his hand over her bleeding heart.

"Let Mallow free. I
promise you that the Altors will not harm her."

"Aram." Sage whispered
bitterly, yet her love for him was still ever-present.

After he had been
triggered, he’d found out about the Blue Bloods, found out that she
was his enemy. He had left her as though their love for one another
had meant nothing.

"Is suffering as much as
you." Pieris told her honestly. Aram had once been cheerful and
full of life. After the secrets of the Altors, Regius and Palliums
had been revealed to him, he’d never been the same.

"You lie!" Although her
voice was fierce, it was soon cut off by a cough, blood leaking
down the right side of her lips.

Pieris carefully placed
his hand on Sage's forehead. "If it were a lie, Aram would be the
one killing you right now."

"I still love him." Sage
said, her voice like that of when she had been a little girl, back
when she had known happiness.

"As he loves you." Pieris
assured. "Let Mallow go, Sage."

Sage smiled. "I am about
to die, the only one who can stop her, is herself."

~~~~~~~~

There were several steps to
madness when it came to a Seer. One, unleashing the power. Two,
using the power. Three, letting the power rule you. Four, living
only for the power. Five, letting the power consume all that is
human within. Then lastly, death. It would not do the future much
good if I let my emotions overthrow the stability of my
visions.

Opening Calycanthus' car
door, I took Rose's port phone off the passenger seat and answered
when it started to ring.

"Elder."

"Mallow." In a vision, I
could see him watching Sage's body turn to dust. "We thought
Calycanthus was the child we had to fear."

"My mo-" I stuttered,
looking down to the ground and trying to swallow my feelings. "My
mother made use of his existence to cloud mine."

"I made sure she did not
suffer."

"Is that supposed to make
me feel better?" I asked.

"I am generally not one for
vengeance. I believe the motive of it is born out of darkness and
so I try to contain it before it can burst free. Yet, you cannot
expect me to have a lot of forgiveness for Sage when she had the
blood of my third child on her hands. My daughter was but a baby,
yet to try and get to me, Sage killed her." He didn't need to
detail it, I had seen that happen. "She made Solenum and
Calycanthus orphans and has terrorized the mind of your half-sister
for as long as I can remember."

"Every deed has a
consequence." I murmured. "I know this and I cannot blame you for
taking her life when you could. Like she believed she had the right
to take yours and your wife's, you believe it was in your right to
take hers. But as you expect me to understand your grief, I am
asking you to understand mine."

"But I am sorry I took her
from you and I do understand you feel her loss." The Elder said
gently. "I would never take that away from you."

"Then I will thank you for
that. I need you to inform your people that Solenum and Calycanthus
have died."

"Have they?" He asked,
surprised.

I shook my head, even
though he could not see. "They are lost in the forest."

He sighed. "So they may as
well be dead."

"If you wish the Heir and
the Keeper of the Dead to move on, you must tell them the cousins
have died. If you tell them they are lost in the forest, they will
cling to the slight chance as Iris and Rose do for Jan. It is very
destructive and unfortunately, we cannot spare Galax and Datura.
They are both very important to Zinc's future. It is imperative you
tell them they have died." I paused. "You are in need of a
king."

"He is not ready." Pieris
said.

"He never will be." I
assured. "Nobody can possibly be ready for that much
responsibility. But if you wish to move forward in this war, you
will need to start using the pawn you and Flux took from the
Regius."

"Where does your loyalty
lie, Mallow?"

"That is simple." I
started. "I do not place it in Xania. He is not the rightful heir
to the Regius crown and the reason he does not have the mark is
that he simply isn't king material. My loyalty lies with
Galax."

"So it is with the Regius."
That seemed to make the Elder unhappy.

I chuckled softly. "I did
not say that. I said that it lies with Galax, the person. How he
wishes to rule Zinc is the way I will trust to be the right one. If
his purpose is to unite all the races and bring peace to Zinc, then
I will play my part to help him achieve this. It is what I have
been doing for as long as I can remember. Had I not, Zinc would be
a land without people." The image of the empty world showing the
alternate future appeared in my mind, leading me to shiver. "I must
urge you to keep the Regius base's location between you and your
wife. You must pick the right time to tell your people where the
enemy hides."

"And when will that time
be?"

"Trust me, Elder. You will
know when."

* * * *

While the Prince's cerulean
eyes were rimmed with tears as his body sagged against the bars of
the Coliseum cells, the Keeper remained standing. The news Pieris
had delivered was of a kind that could scar someone for life. It
left traces that would never vanish. The Keeper knew all too well,
what this emotion was; he'd seen others suffer because of this on a
daily basis

"No."

Datura's voice was one that
many viewed as haunting, but just as often it was seen as
beautiful. He had the gift to speak the tongue of death and he was
the guide of the ghosts. All Altors on Zinc respected him as
everyone knew that one day Datura would guide them into peace. If
not them, someone they loved. When he uttered that two-letter word,
even if you didn't know why the Keeper was in the state he was in,
the sound broke your heart.

"It’s true, Datura." The
Elder spoke. "I saw it with my own eyes."

Galax looked up at Pieris
with fear in his eyes. Datura knew that when they'd heard
Calycanthus and Solenum had perished, neither he nor the Prince had
believed it. Yes, it hurt, but it couldn't become a reality in
their minds. Now though, as the Elder said he'd seen them himself,
Datura knew that Galax would doubt what he believed true in his
head.

"Galax."

The Keeper clipped out,
looking over his shoulder to stare at the Prince, goosebumps
breaking out over his skin as he saw tears seeping from Galax's
eyes. Strangely enough, the Altors were better at
compartmentalizing than the Regius were, yet Datura didn't feel
shame when his own eyes became moist, vision blurring as they
welled up.