Sovereign Hope (16 page)

In the middle
of the clearing, surrounded by four intricate wrought iron benches,
was the largest oak tree I had ever seen. Its branches were bare
and spiny, naked against the foreboding sky. The woman hung from
one of the higher boughs. She lilted in the breeze, and her
tangled, dark hair fluttered around her face. But this wasn’t
Daniel’s mother. It was mine.

Moira Hope’s
open eyes were unseeing as she gazed off into eternity, and I
choked back the scream already forming in my throat. Dried blood
caked my mom’s deathly pale skin. It was everywhere. She wore a
simple white dress that was torn at the shoulder and filthy, and
her bare feet dangled a foot from the floor. She looked so
vulnerable, like a broken china doll.

The flash of
light glinting off the polished golden tip of a cane brought my
attention to the figure sitting on the farthest bench. He twisted
the cane in his lap as he sat there contemplating my mother. His
posture was stiff. He was a stranger, and I instinctively knew I
wanted to keep it that way.

I rose to my
feet, praying that he hadn’t noticed me dash into the clearing. I
managed to take a few cautious steps back the way I’d come before
his sharp, eloquent voice broke the silence.

“
Don’t you think she looks sad, Farley?”

Crap!
He didn’t turn to face me, but
his voice pinned me to the spot. There was no creeping away to be
done now. In fact, there was no moving to be done at all. My mind
went numb as I looked around for a way out, like a cornered wild
animal.

“
I know she used to be very sad because of the way her life
turned out. But I mean, right now, in this instant…she looks
particularly depressed, don’t you think?”

He sounded so
thoughtful that I wasn’t sure whether he expected me to respond or
not. A strangled gurgle bubbled in my throat in place of the scream
that I tried to voice. The wind whipped up and my mom swung,
causing the bough to creak and complain under her weight.

“
Tell me, why is it, do you think, that women are so fragile,
so easily broken? I mean in their minds and their hearts, of
course. When it comes to your bodies, men and women are equally as
weak,” the man said. He turned just enough to lock me in his
sights.

My paralysis
tightened under his gaze, threatening to choke the life out of me,
to crush my ribs under the pressure that tightened like a vice
around my lungs. It was useless. All I could do was stare back at
him with wide, fearful eyes.

At ease, the
stranger purveyed the scene at hand with regal, cold eyes. They
flashed dangerously from me to my mother. He smiled with apparent
curiosity as he studied the two of us. He was handsome in a
familiar kind of way, and the eerie sense of recognition multiplied
as he stood to approach me. It was something about his eyes. The
well-tailored dark suit he wore over a crisp white shirt probably
cost more than my whole wardrobe combined, and he carried himself
with an air of nobility and confidence. His black cane clicked
sharply as the golden end made contact with the paving.

“
Now, I can understand your shyness. I won’t hold it against
you. But in a moment, I’m going to ask you a few questions, Farley,
and I really hope that you see it’s in your best interests to be as
candid and frank as possible.”

I squirmed
inside my own skin, trying to slip out of the mental grasp he held
over me, but every effort to break free from the bands around my
chest resulted in failure.

“
I’ve got to say, when I decided to come visit you I thought
our stage would be a little more flowers and butter cups, you
know?” He gestured with the handle of his cane while smiling
conspiratorially. “Someone goes to pretty dark places.” He looked
around as if seeing our surroundings for the first time. “There’s
not a single rainbow or fluffy bunny rabbit anywhere.” He lowered
his voice, leaning forward and looking over his shoulder, giving
the impression he thought Moira might somehow overhear
him.

“
Whatever the décor, I
am
pleased to be here. It’s good that we finally
meet. And I am more than curious to know your thoughts on the
little question of feminine frailty that I posed a moment ago.
Especially considering your new, much heralded role in our grand
demise. A tale of intrepid heroism beyond all comprehension, no
doubt. Do you think you’ve got it in you?” He raised an eyebrow at
me while he waited for a response.

I stared
defiantly back at him, unable to make a sound, and he laughed out
loud, enjoying his little game. In a flash he fell sober again,
pushing the end of his cane up under my chin so the cold metal
forced my head up.

He scrutinized
my face as if trying to figure out what kind of creature I was, and
then swiftly turned and stepped away. As he did, the pressure
boring down on me suddenly evaporated, and I managed to haul a
deep, gasping breath into my lungs. Sinking to my knees, I choked
on the freezing cold air as it burned and stabbed through me. The
stranger paced back and forth, looking up at the grumbling, roiling
sky, as quiet thunder echoed in the distance.

“
Who are you? What do you want?” I croaked.

The dry snap
of the man’s laughter cracked the air like a whip. “You mean to say
you don’t know who I am?” He sounded almost hurt. When I managed to
lift my head to look up, I saw that he had returned to sit on the
bench and was smiling scornfully.

“
Come and join me if you will. We are family, after
all.”

Instinct had
whispered this dangerous and unwanted suspicion into my ear, but
hearing him say it out loud was different. “Let’s have a
father-daughter moment,” he said, patting the bench beside him.

So this was
Elliot.

He wore a cold
expression that made my skin crawl. There was no way I was going to
sit with him. Even walking over to him felt unnatural, like
swimming towards a shark. He growled with impatience and flicked
his wrist ever so slightly. Before I knew what had happened, I was
pulled towards him, the tips of my toes dragging on the paving.
When I reached him, I paused, still frozen an inch off the ground.
The vice flexed around my ribs again, pinching, making it hard to
breathe.

“
Candid. Frank. And
compliant
,” my father
hissed.

With that I
spun round in the air, slamming down to sit on the bench so hard
the force of it winded me. I hunched over and squeezed my eyes shut
tight, trying to formulate a way to escape this whole nightmare.
Elliot watched intently, apparently enjoying my discomfort.

“
So tell me, Farley. What
do
you know about me?”

“
Nothing.” I winced through the aftershocks of pain jangling
through my nerve endings. It was true. My mom had told me almost
nothing about him.

“
Oh, come now! That really hurts my feelings. Here…” he held
his hand out to me in greeting, “I’m Elliot. Your proud Papa.” My
hand reached out and shook his before I could even attempt to stop
it. He was playing me like a puppet on a string. “There. Wasn’t
that civilized? Although, I must tell you, I did lie a little just
now. I can’t really claim to be
that
proud. I mean, I’m sure you can
imagine the hard luck it would be for the person that sired the
beginning of the end? People can be very judgmental. I truly
couldn’t believe it myself when they told me I was your father. My
humiliation was sizeable. That’s why I’m dealing with this myself.
It’s a matter of honor, you see.”

Honor?
I didn’t dare tell him how
honorable I thought it was to go around murdering people. I
searched to see if I could locate an escape route. If the
opportunity arose, bolting seemed like a sensible option. Elliot
seemed to sense my thoughts. He cleared his throat and two faceless
men dressed in black stepped out of the shadows. They blocked the
exits back into the maze at both sides of the clearing. There was
no way past them.

“
Now that the introductions are out of the way, perhaps we
should move onto those questions I mentioned. Tell me, is the old
man still alive?”

Was I going to
be able to lie to him? The answer to that question was
instantaneous. My head nodded, making me choke out a frustrated
gasp.

“
I see. And do your friends have the talisman?” He took hold
of my chin with his fingers this time and forced me to look at him.
I struggled against his gaze but his eyes bored deep into me. I
couldn’t move.

“
No.” My voice was flat and lifeless.

This
information seemed to relieve him. He released my chin, allowing me
to jerk my head free. Smirking at my revulsion, he took a moment to
look back up at my mother.

“
Moira served as a wonderful distraction. She was very
beautiful in some ways but so corrupted in every other. You remind
me of her.” He ran his tongue over his teeth under his lips, as
though trying to rid himself of a particularly unpleasant taste.
“Do they have any leads about the talisman? Do they know where to
find it?”

I battled,
fought with every ounce of strength I possessed not to reveal their
hand, to let him know my new friends had absolutely nothing, but in
the end it did me no good. Again I told him the truth: they had no
idea where to find it.

He nodded, satisfied with my response. His next question was
poised, seconds from his lips, and I knew what it would be. He
would want to know where we were, and I wouldn’t be able to lie to
him. Before the words came, however, both of the featureless
bodyguards stepped forward, drawing Elliot’s attention. Anger
distorted his face, and he growled, something wild boiling just
beneath the surface of his cool
demeanor
. I
flinched away from him.

“
Well,” he said stiffly, brushing his hands down the front of
his suit to iron out the imaginary wrinkles. “It appears I have
to—” He stopped short. Blue flames flickered into life, cuffing his
wrists. They looked cold and frozen despite their shifting
appearance, and they licked up his frame to engulf him in a
glorious cobalt pyre. His mouth opened in angry surprise, and
then…

I snapped awake, soaked in sweat and twisted so tightly in my
bed sheets I could hardly move.
What the…?
Oh, come on? A dream? Seriously?
That was
the most vivid dream I’d ever had. The solid force I’d felt over
me, reaching inside to move my body or to pluck information out of
my head, seemed so real. I wrapped my arms around myself despite
the heat of the room, my body shivering, stiff with fear and
confusion. The image of my mom burned into my mind.

I needed
water. I swung out of bed and made my way slowly down the corridor.
At the junction of the corridor I turned left towards the bathroom
but stopped in my tracks when I noticed the door was open. The
light was on, illuminating a shaft of bright yellow light on the
other side of the wall. I edged a little closer.

“
Farley?”

The unexpected
sound had my heart instantly in my throat, pounding. I steadied
myself against the wall until I was sure I wasn’t going to have a
heart attack. “Daniel?” I tucked my ruffled hair behind my ears and
straightened out my twisted t-shirt. I found him sitting on the
tiled floor with his legs crossed, an iPod resting on his knee. I
could hear the soft strains of music playing—Bon Iver. Daniel
didn’t strike me as a Bon Iver kind of guy.

“
What are you
doing
?”

He took the
earphones out of his ears and cocked his head at me curiously.
“Waiting for you.”

CHAPTER SIXTEEN

No Apparent Danger

I’d never
understood how consuming the depths of rage could be before
now.

“
What is she talking about, Daniel?” Agatha asked, as I
trembled in a quivering wreck outside her bedroom door.

He scowled.
“We had to do it. We knew he couldn’t hurt her.”

“
How? How did you
know
he couldn’t?”

“
Because they never have before!”

“
That’s
crazy!”
she cried. “I know there’s a lot riding on this, but you
can’t be so cavalier with Farley’s safety.”

At this point Daniel’s eyes bugged out. “Cavalier?
Cavalier!
You of all
people should know I would
never
endanger her. Don’t freak out, Agatha. You won’t
need to worry about me and my irresponsible attitude for much
longer. Aldan will be fighting fit soon enough, and then it’ll all
be out of my hands.”

Something in
the look of horror on his face shook me. I couldn’t remember ever
seeing anyone so upset, let alone him. Unshakeable, unfathomable
Daniel. I reached out for him, and he leapt back in surprise at the
unexpected gesture. I was possibly more shocked by my own actions
than he was. He looked horrified.

I turned to
Agatha, equally appalled that I had tried to reach out to him and
that he’d reacted so badly to it, but my wounded feelings were
replaced by concern when I saw the tears trickling down the small
woman’s cheeks. Agatha stared wide-eyed after Daniel in the
darkness as his fading footsteps echoed angrily off the walls, with
her hand covering her mouth. Was she fighting the urge to sob?

“
Agatha? What is it? What’s the matter?”