The Song of Eloh Saga (54 page)

I lay back down in bed, pulling the blankets up to my chin. I closed my eyes and wished desperately for sleep. Even the worst nightmare would be better than the visions.

Chapter Sixteen

The smell of cinnamon and hot oatmeal pulled me out of a deep, dreamless sleep. I rubbed my eyes and stretched. Ivy still slept on the floor in the corner, her breath even. I wanted to kick myself because she’d seen my portal, but I hoped against all hope that she believed my story. It could have been a dream. She had no way to prove it wasn’t.

“Breakfast,” a slave said, a smile stretching across her face. She always seemed so cheerful in the morning, just as I had when I was a slave. Well, at least when I wasn’t with another slave. I complained as much as the next girl, but when I was around someone who wasn’t part of my inner circle I was all smiles and polite words.

“Thanks,” I said, slipping out of bed and padding over to the table. The cold floor stung my toes and the bottoms of my feet, sending chills up my spine. I snuggled deeper into the nightgown and pulled a fluffy robe off a rack. Wool scratched at my wrists as I slipped my arms in the sleeves. Warmth was more important than comfort this morning.

I sat down at the table, but before I took one bite of the oatmeal, I looked back at Ivy. She was awake now, staring at the food.

“Get up here,” I said, waving her to the table. “You’re not my slave. You can eat any of this.”

I stirred my oatmeal and watched the cinnamon slowly swirl into the creamy gray soup. I grew up on oatmeal, but cinnamon had always been reserved for nobility. Cinnamon stained the bowls and I used to spend more time scrubbing it off than I would have liked. Luci, the head cook, didn’t like stained bowls, probably because my father didn’t.

I glanced out the window, in the direction of his grave. Thinking about him was still too raw. I never had time to get to know him, or his motives for keeping me as a slave all those years when I could have been recognized as his daughter. Did any part of him ever long for a real relationship with me or was he really only concerned with using my gift? I would never find out.

Ivy sat down, not meeting my eyes until the slave girl left us.

“Are you going to tell me how you did it?” She spooned a tiny bit of oatmeal into her mouth and stared at me.

“What do you think I did?” I knew she meant the portal. She clearly wasn’t going to let it go and my dream explanation had been dismissed.

“Despite anything you might think of me, Reychel, I’m not stupid. I know what I saw last night.”

She paused to take another bite of the oatmeal, but I kept my silence. I didn’t want to encourage her. I wanted her to let it go, but knowing Ivy as well as I did, I knew I’d have to think fast. She’d go at it like a starving bear until she got what she wanted. I just had to figure out what to give her and what to hold back.

“But my biggest question,” she said after swallowing, “is why did you come back?”

Damn, Ivy hadn’t lost her edge. I’d hoped time in the dungeon had cooled her manipulative mind. Obviously not. I scooped another spoonful of oatmeal and shoved it in my mouth.

“You’re stalling.” Ivy glared at me, then slammed her spoon down on the table. “For Eloh’s sake, Reychel. If I was going to turn you in, don’t you think I would have done it already?”

“Maybe you’re just digging for information before you turn me in,” I said. I tried to keep my hand steady as I took another bite of oatmeal. She was getting to me, but I couldn’t let her know.

“All I’d have to do is soothe you.” Ivy held her hands up in front of me. “But I’m not doing that, am I? I’m trying to help you. Why won’t you let me?”

That was it. I slammed my spoon down harder than she’d done. My oatmeal spilled and slowly crept across the table.

“Let’s see,” I said, holding up my hand and counting off my fingers. “Maybe it’s because you blamed me for Mark not being interested in you. Maybe because you ran away like a baby and then soothed my father until he trapped me into returning to this castle. Maybe because you soothed my friend Roc, to the point of nearly breaking him. Maybe because you tried to marry my father even though he’s old and obviously had no real interest in you.”

Ivy giggled and I stopped, my hand still in mid-air.

“What’s so funny?”

“You’re father,” she gasped between snorts, “he was kind of old.”

“Seriously?” I said. “That’s what you’re laughing about? You’re so concerned with trust and you’re laughing about my dead father?”

Ivy grabbed my hands and looked deep into my eyes.

“I swear it, Reychel. I’ve changed. Something happened to me down in the dungeon.” Her eyes shifted to the side, but she gripped my hands if she was hanging off the side of a mountain and I was her only hope of rescue. As quickly as she’d grabbed my hands, she let go of them.

Ivy stood and turned around, lifting up her dress. I was too curious to avert my eyes, although it wasn’t anything I hadn’t seen before. We’d shared a bunk for most of our lives and shaved each other’s heads. As children, we’d had the ultimate trust in each other.

But as she lifted her dress above her waist, I saw something there I’d never seen before. Dimpled and bumpy scars crisscrossed her body. I gasped and reached out to touch them.

“Who did this to you?”

“Your father,” Ivy whispered. “Kandek whipped me the evening of our ruined wedding. He and his buddy, Blorn, came down into the dungeon. They were both drunk and ordered the guard to leave. Blorn ripped my dress off, from the shoulders down to my waist. I stood naked in front of both them, trembling with fear. Blorn wanted to...”

Ivy’s voice faltered and she struggled to take a breath. I’d seen Ivy’s act. This wasn’t it. In front of me stood the girl who’d defended me when the other slaves teased me. Maybe she wasn’t all gone. I couldn’t see Ivy’s face, but I knew tears flooded from her eyes. I reached up and put my hand on her shoulder. She dropped her dress and turned around.

“Instead of allowing myself to be violated, I used my gift to kill Blorn. It only took moments. I channeled all the power I had into soothing him until his mind snapped and his heart stopped.” Ivy’s voice fell to a whisper. “I didn’t know I had that kind of power.”

I grabbed her hand and led her over to the chair. She sat down and I settled on the floor next to her, her hand still trembling in mine.

“Then your father whipped me until I passed out. When I woke up, I swore I’d never use my gift to kill, or hurt, anyone ever again.”

I laid my head on her knees. Despite everything she’d done to me, Mark, and our people, I couldn’t help but feel sympathy for her. The child I’d known and loved still lived inside her and it took the worst moment in her life to set her free again. My heart ached. I wanted her back so much. I knew I could forgive her, but I didn’t know if I could ever forget.

“When I heard they had you here, I told Alia about our past. I made her believe I could control you until they were ready to execute you. Really, I just wanted to get close to you again so I could help you. Maybe I could make up for everything I’ve done.”

I lifted my head and looked at her. Ivy’s eyes were soaked and tear stains tracked down her red cheeks. Her chest rose and fell quickly. If she was faking it, I’d never seen a better actress.

Then I remembered. I hadn’t felt her gift encroach on me. Not once. Ivy still didn’t know I could sense when she tried to soothe me. This would have been the perfect time for her to try to manipulate me.

But she didn’t.

I looked Ivy deep in the eyes and squeezed her hand.

“I believe you,” I said. “Can you help me?”

Chapter Seventeen

Ivy promised to stand guard in our room while I ported into another part of the castle to try to find the answers to Krissin’s questions. I had only two days to gather all of the information and then it would all be over. We could defeat the gifted Malborn army and free our people from slavery. The reality every Serenian had longed for would finally be here.

Then I would get a chance to live my own life. I’d be free from responsibility and free to be with Mark. A nagging tug pulled at my heart, but I pushed it to the side. There would be plenty of time to figure out how to avoid going mad. It didn’t happen overnight to Zelor and it wouldn’t to me either. My friends would help me figure out how to control my gift and the madness it would cause.

I had to believe in that or I’d have nothing to fight for.

Ivy, with her ear planted firmly on the door, nodded to me. I flicked my fingers and opened a portal into a place I was very familiar with, my father’s bedroom. Ivy had heard Alia was sleeping there and holding her planning meetings in the adjacent room. I’d spent more time than I cared to remember in that room.

Kandek had called me in for tea, then sat me in front of a window, where I had given him prophecy after prophecy. I wanted to smack myself. How could I have ever believed I was just telling him stories? I also wondered now what was in that tea he gave me. I’d almost never been able to reliably bring on a vision on my own. He’d known about my gift for years and he’d obviously found a way to work around my inability to use my gift.

I glanced over to the window again, knowing his grave was out there. I’d never know the answer now. He was my only connection to learning more about my biological mother. Too much information died with him. I didn’t miss Kandek, but I did long for the things he could shed light upon.

The light from the portal caught my eye again. Ivy waved at me, urging me to step through. Ivy and I had seen Alia outside moments earlier, so we hoped her room was empty and no one would know I’d encroached on her personal space.

Kandek had been the ruler here and he was my father. Technically, this entire castle should be mine. I squared my shoulders and stepped into his chamber. I flicked my fingers and closed the portal, making sure not to leave a string out. I didn’t need anyone detecting it and guessing that I’d been here.

I heard the door click behind me. Sure that my work was clean, I hitched up my skirt and ran into the wardrobe. I sat on the floor, behind a line of fancy dresses. I covered my nose and held back the sneeze that threatened to give me away. My heart pounded as I heard Alia enter the room.

I didn’t have to see her to know her voice. She’d fooled me once, convincing me she was a simple slave like I had once been. I’d taken pity on her, even tried confiding in her once. It wasn’t until she’d used her gift and I realized she didn’t have the spark like the rest of us that I knew something was off. It wasn’t long before she revealed her true self to us. I hated violence, but a small part of me wished Krissin had killed her when she had the chance. It wouldn’t have solved all of our problems, but it would have solved some.

Instead, I hid in a wardrobe, among the taffeta and wool dresses threatening to suffocate me with years of dust they obviously hadn’t cleaned out when Alia’s wardrobe displaced my father’s. From the sound of the feet tromping around the room, she wasn’t the only one who’d come. Perfect.

“He’s not cooperating,” someone said. I hadn’t heard this woman before. I listened closely, trying to pin down the inflection in her words. If I could find some identifying tic, maybe I could recognize her if I ever ran into her in person. I didn’t risk moving any of the dresses aside for fear they’d discover me.

“I’m going to execute him at the same time I execute Reychel. I need to make an example of both of them if I’m going to convince everyone that I’m the new overlord,” Alia said. I’d recognize her voice anywhere.

Someone cleared their throat. “Overlady. Not overlord.” Zuri was here too. Her deep tenor stood out.

“How dare you?” A slap rang out in the room, followed by a quiet whimper. I wasn’t sure if the whimper came from the person who’d been hit or a witness to the brutality. “If I call myself an overlord, then I’m an overlord. Does overlady sound scary? No! I’m going to be the new leader here and everyone will fear me. Do you understand?”

“Yes, m’lady,” Zuri answered. “I’m so sorry. I didn’t mean it.”

“Three days from now we’re going to set this in motion. All of our agents have scouted out their positions. They will open portals across Serenia, step through, hold the town in thrall, and then broadcast my speech to everyone. There will be no rumors. They will see Reychel lives. They will learn she lied and manipulated them to follow Krissin into battle. The people loyal to her will fall. The people loyal to him will fall. Then we’ll kill them both.”

Alia paused and I heard papers shuffling. No one else dared to speak.

“They will have nowhere to turn but to me.”

I imagined the smug smile on her face and forced myself to sit still instead of jumping out of the wardrobe and punching her.

“Not to put a damper on your plan, sister, but how will you hold up this dynasty? People have fought before, they will fight again. Just because Reychel is gone doesn’t mean they won’t stand up against you. If you dispose of the emperor as well, who’s to say they won’t join together?”

Jada. She was here and wasn’t afraid to dissent with her younger sister, Alia. I imagined her in my mind, tall, dark, and beautiful. I thought she’d been my ally too, but she had only been breeding for Alia’s army. The last time I saw Jada, she was pregnant and I wondered if she’d had the baby yet.

I shook my head lightly, not enough to ruffle any of the gowns. I was too trusting. I flashed back to Ivy, who was standing guard in our room. Supposedly, at least. Within two days I’d know whether or not I made the right decision in trusting her.

“It doesn’t really matter to me what they all think,” Alia answered. As always, her voice warmed when she was engaged with Jada. Despite all of her problems, I believed she loved her sister. “Our army has grown in the last ten years. None of them are detectable, thanks to our selective breeding program.”

“But all of you without the spark are infertile,” Jada insisted. “You won’t maintain control for long.”

An uncomfortable silence flew through the room. I waited, holding my breath, for fear even one small sound would alert them to my presence.