The Arrival (Birthright Trilogy #1) (31 page)

Audi snuggled closer to me and I sat straighter, wrapping my arms around her, my thoughts stuck on the cabin. The chances of us being there again were pretty slim. It was my favorite place on Earth, where I felt safe, at peace, and Audi had so much fun. My parents and I spent lots of time up there together, and it’d haunted my dreams last night. I felt this horrible sense of dread that I’d never see it again.

God I hope I’m wrong.
Sian and Loi came clattering out of the bathroom so I wiped my eyes discretely.

We wait and see I guess.

Sian had just finished tying a belt around her waist when there was a knock on the door. Cat went to answer it as Sian checked her reflection. The light blue dress made her blond hair and blue eyes appear brighter and she smiled at the reflection, pleased.

'We’re to follow this man to the Great Hall,' I said as the others came to stand beside me.

'For breakfast and then to meet with the Lady Elena,' the page explained. 'And you can bring your dog. I will bring some food for your cat to your room.'

Again we passed through a maze of corridors and I marveled at the workmanship of the castle.

I hope we get time to explore it.

We heard voices as we neared the Great Hall and two guards opened the enormous doors for us.

Alek felt oddly nervous at the thought of seeing Cat and he couldn’t understand why. It had only been overnight after all. Elena had arranged for an extra seat next to each of the men. Having the space beside him made him feel lopsided and every courtier in the room had studied the space curiously.

It nearly felt like someone was ringing a bell above it he thought sourly, hurry up girls.

Just then the doors opened and he could hear them. The men sat up and out of the corner of his eye he saw Yakov shoot Elena an amused look. The room fell silent as the four women entered, but all he really noticed was Cat.

As we entered everyone fell silent, turning to observe us. I felt a pang of nerves but stamped on them and held my head high as we followed the page. The tables were set out in a large U shape with Alek, Elena, Yakov, and the others seated at the curve. The U shape meant the servers could walk down the center and serve people without having to navigate seats, it was rather clever.

A huge smile spread on my face when I caught sight of Alek, and I headed straight for him. His blue eyes regarded me warmly, and he stood as we approached. There was a loud screech of chairs as everyone else in the room stood, and the four of us froze, startled by the abrupt movement. Then Alek held his hand out to me. The sense of relief when our hands touched was wonderful, and we stood for a moment, staring at each other with silly grins. Everyone sat. I greeted Elena and Yakov and nodded to the Lieutenants who inclined their heads at me. No one talked over breakfast; all too busy eating.

The food was fantastic.

A proper, cooked breakfast with streaky bacon and eggs, mushrooms, hash-browned potatoes, and more. By the time we finished I was quite full, and relaxed back in the seat. I stuck my tongue out at Alek when he looked at my plate in exaggerated astonishment.

'Did we not feed you enough?'

'You did but after that fantastic sleep I needed this. You can’t compare a sleep on a cot to one in a bed.'

'I take it your room is suitable?' asked Yakov.

'Oh most suitable.' We assured him.

'If you’re all ready, why don’t we head to the library for a chat?' Elena asked. As polite as it sounded it became obvious that it was an order when the men stood immediately and I hastily got up. All those in the room bowed to Alek as he passed by and they didn't sit again till we exited the room.

Sian and I exchanged a confused look.

What the heck was that about?

They followed Elena to the library and paused as Daron and Rumal pushed the huge doors open.

Are they incapable of having normal size doors, Kassie thought in amusement and went to follow the others in. She stopped short.

WHOA. This is the Library?

The room was enormous. Two story's high with a partial mezzanine level in the far right corner. The walls were encased with immense bookcases that ran the full height of the room, and a couple of long ladders leaned up against them. The shelves were stocked, and she almost drooled at the sight of all those books.

I could live here.
Glancing over at Cat, Kassie chuckled when she saw the same expression on her face. The two of them frequented all the libraries in Wellington together.

I wonder if we’ll ever do that again?
A pang of homesickness hit her and she banished it. No point thinking about that at the moment.

Rumal urged her forward and they walked into the room. It opened up to the left after the first enormous bookcase and more bookcases lined the walls. The very back wall was made entirely of glass and the view!

Is that the courtyard?
Kassie stared in amazement. It looked like a proper park.

I didn’t realize just how big this place is
.

Rumal grinned at Alek, Sabyn and Daron when the women gasped at the window. It was a point of pride for the castle and had taken six fire dragons a month to create it. It was the largest single pane of glass in the land, and had tiny gemstones lodged within so it glittered no matter where the sun hit it.

It had to be the most beautiful window I’d ever seen. My fingers itched to touch it.

Look how it sparkles, I thought. Ooo, feeling my magpie tendencies right now. With the shelves of books and the pretty window, this room had to be my favorite. So far at least. I couldn’t believe how many books they’d crammed in this place. You could only see glimpses of the white stone on the walls.

I must come back to look at this room properly, if we get time.
Elena sat on a large ornate chair and indicated we should sit. We sat on two couches that ran parallel and looked to the Sorceress, waiting.

Elena smiled at the curious faces before her.

'I suppose you are wondering why I sent the Griffon Guard to bring you to me?'

The women nodded earnestly.

'I believe I will have this conversation with the women only,' she spoke to Alek who glanced at Catherine.

'Why don’t you men head to the Solar as you usually do. I will send them that way when we are done.'

The men stood and bowed to the Sorceress then left the room.

The four of us switched seats so we sat on the couch opposite Elena and waited for her story.

'When you four arrived in our world,' Elena arched an eyebrow at us. 'You each threw off a massive power surge. Something I haven’t seen in quite a while. As you might have noticed there are people in this world who are "gifted". They have special abilities and anyone with these abilities will have sensed your arrival too. Even more so after the incident on the griffons.'

Abilities? And what did she mean by power surge?
All we’d done was freak out when we thought Sian was in serious danger. I interrupted her.

'Elena, I’m sorry but I don’t think we understand what you’re talking about.'

The Sorceress looked surprised.

'Are you saying we have abilities?'

'Yes. You must have. To give off such an energy wave is absolute proof.'

'But we didn’t do anything,' Sian said looking, like the rest of us, very confused.

'Yeah, all we did was wake up. And on the griffons just before we got here, we passed out.' Kassie said, 'That doesn’t sound like an impressive gift to me. Passing out when something scary happens.'

I agreed.

'Totally useless.'

Elena shook her head.

'No. What I’m trying to say is I believe you girls are gifted. From the elements.'

Nope. Still no clue what she was babbling about, I thought, then remembered something.

'Sian, our weapons we found when we arrived, they’re all engraved right? With designs that could represent the elements.'

Sian stared at me as she thought about it.

'Actually yes, I think they are.'

'Well there you go then.' Loi said to Elena. 'We have been gifted but in a more literal sense.'

There was silence as we waited for her response. She’d shut her eyes and had a hand to her head. We glanced at each other and Loi shrugged, settling back in her seat.

Elena let out a sigh.

'Let me start again. In Gar'nyse—the world you’re now on, beings can be born with special abilities. These are known as gifts. For example, some are born with the gift to foresee events. Others can change form and some can create illusions. Every time a gifted being uses their gift, consciously or not, it throws off an energy wave. When you four arrived you threw off a very remarkable wave.'

She paused, allowing us to digest this.

Before we could ask questions she continued, 'What you will not know, is that a person’s abilities can be drawn from them and absorbed by creatures whose abilities are very strong. This process kills you. Hence the need to get you under our protection quickly.'

We all sat up a little straighter at that.

Loi, a frown on her face, questioned Elena, 'Why do you think we’ll be of interest to such a person?'

'And how do we know you aren’t such a person?' Kassie demanded.

We looked at her in surprise then back at Elena.

'Yes,' Sian gave Elena a straight forward look.

'We’ve been informed that you have abilities and you do carry the title of Sorceress.'

It was Elena’s turn to look surprised.

'Oh. Well, I guess you wouldn’t know. Yes, I do have abilities. They are hereditary in my family and no, I have no desire to rob you of yours. I have all the powers I need.' She gave a light laugh, 'And I have no desire for world domination.'

World domination.
My brain froze at that. What did that mean? We had powers strong enough to do such a thing? Surely not.

'Elena, we thought a love spell we cast brought us here,' Sian confessed blushing. 'Was it you who brought us?'