Regius (38 page)

There was a reason why
these people rarely gathered in the same place. If word got out,
the Regius would take advantage and try to wipe out the entire
hierarchy of Altor’s. Now though, they were in a dire situation and
Pieris had been informed by none other than myself that changes
needed to be made.

Had they known what would
soon happen, their certainty of believing things would turn out
alright may not have been that certain. Their Keeper of the Dead
was currently reaching a state of instability. What none of the
people in the Coliseum knew, including Datura himself, was that
when a Keeper of the Dead loses what makes their life worth living,
the task of the Death Tongue becomes a burden too heavy to
carry.

While Calycanthus and
Datura had once been separated before, the situation now wasn't the
same. The key difference is that in their first separation was that
Calycanthus had been in Lithium Village, which our Keeper had been
very much aware of. The luxury of knowing his best friend and lover
was safe, wasn’t something that was granted today. Without this
knowledge, Datura would lose his focus, using whatever energy he
had to seek an answer to his question. When the ghosts couldn’t
help him, he would push himself towards the edge, and that was just
another way of saying that our Keeper of the Dead was very likely
to lose his mind. How does a Keeper control souls filled with greed
for a harbor, when they don't know how to take care of
themselves?

And if that wasn't bad
enough, things were worse for the heir.

* * * *

Datura watched as the
Elders locked the door behind them, leaving him and the prince in
their respective cells.

"You knew they would expect
me to become king one day."

Turning his ruby gaze to
Galax, he let out a weak sigh and then nodded. He had known because
just as Vervaine had told Galax he would one day find his light,
she'd seen in that same vision he'd wear the crown. Datura hadn't
known the exact circumstances though, and now that that factor had
been revealed by the Elders, the Keeper wasn't sure it was such a
good thing after all.

"But never would I have
guessed them to be capable of using you as they intend
to."

Galax looked away, his
sapphire eyes still as empty as they had become when he'd been
jolted with the news of Solenum's death.

"Honestly, I'm not
surprised." The prince murmured. "My question is how they expect me
to rule over a kingdom when I can no longer feel
myself."

"They're asking you to
become their puppet!" The Keeper growled, wishing he could get out
of here and do something about everything. Feeling weak all of a
sudden, Datura let himself lean back against the bars, sliding down
until he sat on the ground. Calycanthus could never leave his mind.
"They didn't speak of a kingdom where the King was someone they
bowed down to, they spoke of a person who was fit to wear the crown
and could be their face."

"I'm very well aware I was
taken and put in the Palliums care so they could groom me to become
their perfect tool, one they could use when the war reached a point
of desperation. Xania is forcing their hands, Datura."

How could he sound so calm?
Datura knew that when a Regius lost his light, serious damage was
done to the Blue Blood, but it had never been revealed to him the
extent. While Galax didn't exactly give him a clear answer to the
question, it was obvious to the Keeper that the prince no longer
cared about what happened to him.

"You cannot accept this!"
He shouted, jumping back up onto his feet as the sudden rage
flashed through him. "And there was once a time I wondered how it
is Altor ghosts and souls could be as evil as they are!" Screaming
at the door now and no longer Galax, he hoped the people upstairs
could hear and feel his anger. "They have no idea how terrible they
become once they die. And they can never find out because they are
not me. They aren't the Keeper of the Dead!"

Datura grabbed his heart,
overwhelmed. "When I say someone is alive, my word is supposed to
be law. I am in control of ghosts and souls. If only they would let
me go to the Valley, I could confirm my belief. I can prove that
they are still alive!" He looked at the prince. "How is it that
without my voice, they cannot pass on to peace, but here, alive, my
voice is of no matter?"

"If it weren't true, my
system wouldn't be shutting down on me." Galax whispered. "I won't
stop you from believing Calycanthus may still be alive, but Solenum
isn't." Although he could hear what the prince told him, other
voices were trying to get his attention at the same time. "If you
were so sure they were alive yourself, you wouldn't be losing
control over what you are, Datura. The ghosts are eating you alive.
Though the others can't see it as they are too preoccupied worrying
over the future of Zinc, I'm as much in this numb point as you are.
I can see what the Death Tongue is doing to you, Datura. The souls
are getting stronger as you let yourself become weaker. And it
won't be long until they break free from their realm."

"Why are you so sure she is
dead? What is it about the light system that overrules my
certainty?"

Galax smiled weakly. "They
are surrounding you."

Datura frowned, looking
around him, his vision filled with the translucent figures. It was
a sight he had become accustomed to these last few days.

Surprise washed over him
nonetheless. "You can see them?" The Keeper breathed.

"They're calling for
you."

Datura's entire being was
filled with dread when the prince spoke. Feeling his throat turn
dry and goosebumps spring alive on his skin, Datura stared at Galax
in fear.

"You're dying."

"When the light dies, so
does the Regius."

* * * *

"Status?" Aram asked as
Iris returned to the stone table in the Coliseum conference room,
Anemone no longer in her arms. As the Elder spoke, those who'd been
asked to be present sat down with Aram at one end and Pieris on the
other. Ilex, Caltha and Iris were seated on the left while Cypress
had come to sit beside myself on the other. I couldn't even
remember the last time we'd all been in the same room together. The
war didn't allow it, each of us was needed in our respective
districts, but although skeptic when Aram had approached me, I
could see it was a relatively serious matter that did indeed need
all of our voices.

"Your daughter is on watch
along with Ivy and Dandelion at the front of the Coliseum." Iris
informed.

For as long as I could
remember, Aram had tried to match me up with Vervaine. She was
about as reluctant as I was. Not that she wasn't a pleasant person,
but I needed a bit more than conversation in a marriage. Her Seer
side couldn't allow that.

"The Palliums and their
guards are in their respective rooms. I placed Jatrop and Iso as
guards in front of the cell entrance." Iris added, clearly not
pleased with having to put the Keeper and prince through these
circumstances. "Angi will be right with us, she's finishing up
Anemone's bedtime story."

Turning to look at myself
and Cypress, Pieris wrinkled his nose. "Rose will join us when she
feels like it. Your mother is still rather upset that I stopped her
from completing her suicide mission." Grinning at my father, I
could hear my little brother grunt, telling me that he too was
rather amused with our parents situation. Apparently, our dear mom
had decided to go and find the Ghost Assassin. He was the one that
knew the answer to the location of Jan Jansen. Of course good old
dad made sure she didn't so much as breathe the same air as
Digitalis.

Leaning back, I blew a lock
of blue hair out of my face. "You could have just called me. I'd
have intercepted her once she entered Iodin City."

"Or," Angi butted in,
sitting down beside Cypress as she joined in on the conversation,
having changed out of her evening dress. "Me. I know I don't watch
over big ass cities such as yourself and Cypress, but my island
controls the ferry lines. Had your dad called me, I'd have snapped
my fingers and made it so the ferries wouldn't have shipped
out."

"Did Anemone go down okay?"
Iris asked Angi, who nodded with a smile.

"You seem to forget how
conniving mom is." Cypress muttered, pulling us back into the
previous topic. "The moment she heard the report of Calycanthus'
growing powers and his disappearance, she made use of the
situation. She slipped through all the security thanks to the kid's
invisibility barrier."

"Can we get back to the
matter at hand?" Ilex asked somewhat stiffly. "I got two dead
students, which results to a tense Keeper of the Dead and a Regius
who just lost his light. He clearly won't do any harm right now
considering the state he's in, but I want to point out that we
don't know how the whole light system works. For all we know our
future king may just burst and worsen the war by running back to
his original birth right."

"And," Caltha continued,
showing me that those two were still as tight as they ever were.
"Neither do we have that much info on Keepers. What we know we
learned through Datura. He's never been in a situation such as he's
in right now, so consequences are unknown to us."

Aram grunted.
"Iris?"

She shook her head. "I've
looked, honest. I can't find anything that could help us with
Datura or Galax."

Jan's library. Iris had
been asked to unlock the door and enter it, which she'd been
avoiding ever since her husband left to find an answer to a
question and dying in the process.

"If you allowed the
students to participate." She aimed the following at both Elders.
"Then I could have Jatrop help me. He's his brother. They're very
much alike. Jaja would know what book to look for."

"And risk having our not
yet fully trained soldiers pick up their weapons and try and kick
some Regius ass?" I offered. "I don't know all of them personally,
but I can see current matters pressing down on them. They're
itching for a fight. Give them your finger and they'll rip off your
entire arm."

"You make them sound like
Rangers." Ilex answered. "Granted, they haven't completed their
training yet, but they're not stupid enough to disobey an order or
ignore the dangers placed right before them."

"Oh really?" Letting
sarcasm drip through my tone, I reminded him. "From what I heard,
you made the clear order that this Calycanthus kid was to stay on
Coliseum grounds, yet somehow he ended up on Regius territory and
is now dead."

"Reed." Caltha clipped out.
"Mind your words, would you?"

"He is right though."
Cypress responded. "First Aster's offspring disobeys Lupinus'
orders, creating great discomfort for Flux. While it's agreed it
wasn't her fault she got kidnapped and eventually killed, if it
weren't for the lack of attention, we might have been able to keep
a better eye on Soldiers and Students.”

I nodded at my brother.
"True. Had that not happened, Kalmia's offspring wouldn't have run
after her. Which is another thing. We had absolutely no idea
Aster's child was part Seer, neither did we know Kalmia had had two
children,
both
part Seer.
Both
wielding immense power. Imagine those two had still been
alive, how would we have contained that power?" I looked over at
Aram. "Would we have deprived them of human contact like Vervaine?
I understand that this is the only way to keep her safe, but where
many don't dare say it aloud, I will. The tactics used on that girl
remind me a lot of the Regius cruelty." When silence reigned across
the room, I huffed. "And that's not even mentioning the issues that
concern the Keeper and the Heir."

"Boys." Our father warned,
leading myself and Cypress to shut up. "We're not here to point
fingers at one another. Calycanthus and Solenum are dead. I saw it,
I reported it, and that's that. Loss isn't irregular in our
world."

"Sage has perished as
well." Aram announced, only confirming Pieris' statement on loss. I
knew the tale between Aram and Sage. It was clear the Elder was a
master at concealing his pain. "This should have given us Mallow,
Kalmia's first child and whom we mistook for Calycanthus, as an
asset, but as Vervaine has seen it in a past vision, she is to be a
traitor."

"She
has
had visions?!" I interrupted.
"Breaking down Esquivel's memory block wasn't the first order she
disobeyed?"

"Certain things are kept
secret." My father clipped out, making it more than clear he wasn't
happy with my current behavior. "Some visions slipped through the
cracks, they were so powerful, Vervaine wasn't able to stop the
assault. It gave us misguided answers on Esquivel's origin and that
Galax was to become our answer in desperate times."

"Seers share a connection
that nobody but a Seer can understand." Aram continued in Pieris'
stead. "Vervaine didn't disobey the order to spite us, or rebel
against the Altor system. She broke down Calycanthus' barrier
because the Seer inside of her couldn't be stopped." The Elder
sighed heavily. "I believe this is also the reason that explains
why the Esquivel boy ran off to help Solenum even though he knew of
the dangers."