and try to leave again, but she grabs my wrist roughly. The
kitchen staff has gone silent. My anger flares. I grab her arm.
“Get off me,” I say.
She starts to scream, startling me. I wasn’t hurting her. Then
the smell of burnt flesh makes its way through the cooking
aroma to my nose. I pull my hand off her arm; a handprint is
burnt into her flesh. She’s hysterical, jumping from foot to foot.
She makes a dash for a sink of water and sticks her arm in. I can
hear the sizzling of her flesh.
I look at my hands. What am I?
“You!” The stout man is back. No time. I need to get out, so I
run. “Stop her!” he roars, but nobody tries. Instead, they stand
out of my way.
I push through the door. The fresh air brushes my skin. I
gulp it down, erasing the stench of burning skin. I keep going,
not even sure where I am, but I can’t afford to move slowly.
The man will more than likely pursue me. Nobody pays any
attention as I make my way through the halls. I keep my head
down and stay close to the wall without getting in anyone’s way.
I look over my shoulder, but the man never follows me.
“Watch where you are going.” I smack into a young girl. She’s
walking beside a beautiful blond lady that’s dressed differently.
Wealth radiates from her. Another simply dressed girl stands on
the opposite side, staring at me with disgust.
“Sorry,” I mumble and try to pass. Outrage passes over the
blond woman’s face.
The girl I smacked into looks at me with disbelief. “You bow
to Princess Luna, you stupid girl.” Princess Luna? Oh God, this
must be Clive’s sister, my half-sister.
I push that complication aside and bow. “I apologise, Princess
Luna.”
“Servant, what are you doing walking down the corridors
without looking?” Oh Christ, this couldn’t get worse.
“Sorry, but my boss asked me to get clean cloths for the
kitchen, Princess Luna.” I bow again, hoping I’m not overdoing
it.
“I hope you were not preparing my food in that array?”
I look up at her as she takes in my appearance with distaste.
“No, I just wash pots, Princess Luna.” I try to pass again, still
bowing, but she just stands there.
“Wait.” I freeze. I am sprung. “Tie your lace before you fall.”
She flips her blond hair over her shoulder and walks off. “She
smells like rat poop.” The two girls on either side of her laugh,
but it is forced.
Rats’ poop, bitch. I think.
When she moves around a bend, I get up and move faster
through the halls, this time looking where I’m going. I don’t
know what to look for along the way. There are several doors
on either side of me so I start peeking in as I pass, making sure
no one sees me, but they are all bedrooms. I come to a stairway
and climb. I end up on the main floor. There are no servants
around and the corridor is wide and quiet. I can hear voices
coming from a room farther down, but they’re muffled through
the heavy wooden door. I press my ear against the door and fall
flat on my face onto a marble floor. I look up and smile at two
guards.
One grabs me and drags me off the floor. “What were you
doing, listening for information?”
I shake my head. He drags me into the room. I dig my heels
into the marble floor, but they just squeak the whole way until
he throws me back onto the floor. “It seems we have found a
traitor, my lady.” I look up and into the hard white face of the
queen. She sits upon a large gold throne at the top of the room.
She wears a blood-red dress that flows all over the marble floor.
Her hair is pinned back severely, making her face look stretched.
“Are you a traitor?” she asks, tilting her head to the side.
“No, my lady.”
“Of course not.” She gives me a frightening grin and then
flicks her hand towards me. My breath catches. It feels like my
soul is being touched. It’s the most unnatural feeling I’ve ever
felt. I push it away with all my strength and it stops. The queen
stands up, her pale blue eyes fixated on me. She walks towards
me. Her dress is like a pool of blood flowing after her. “What
did you just do?” She seems horrified yet excited at the same
“Nothing.” I lower my eyes to the floor. She slides a dagger
out from her sleeve. My hand rests on my boot, not that I’ll get
away if I harm her.
“Tell me now and I will not hurt you.” Her voice is like a
thousand snakes squirming around me.
“I did nothing.”
She gives me a pleasurable look. “We will see.” She stretches
out the knife towards my neck. “Are you sure?”
I swallow; panic and fear start to rise. I really don’t know
what happened. “I pushed you away.”
She looks at me, studying my features.
“Do I know you?” I drop my head.
“No, my lady.” I say. “
Look at me while I speak to you.”
I look at her ice-cold eyes and recognition flashes across
her face. She strikes out with the dagger but freezes just as it
is a hair’s breadth away from my neck. Sweat drips from my
forehead onto my cheek. She pushes the dagger with all her
force, but it won’t move. The dagger goes sliding across the
floor and she starts laughing.
“Sarajane, welcome,” she says with a psychotic smile on her
face. “I should have known it was you.” Her face turns into a
snarl and then she returns to her throne. “I have been waiting
for you,” she says.
“Where is my sister?”
She ignores my question. The guards around the room are
closing in on me slowly, but Bellona holds up her hand and they
stop. “Life is full of hard decisions. Sometimes they are made
for us.” She shrugs her shoulders slightly. If I’d blinked, I would
have missed the motion. “And sometimes we must make them
ourselves. Would you not agree, Sarajane?”
I don’t know where she’s going with this so I just remain
silent. She takes my silence as whatever answer she wanted.
“My son was struck down too young.” Her eyes grow colder,
which I didn’t think was possible. “A life, what is it worth?”
I squirm under her stare but straighten my shoulders. I can’t
show fear or she will eat me up.
“Bellona, your son tried to kill me,” I say in the strongest
voice I can muster.
Her roar silences the room. “Enough. I will not listen to
your lies.” She composes herself into a statue-like stance while
wiping spit from her chin. “It does not matter. He is dead. I
would kill you if I could, but I gave an oath not to harm you.”
Relief fills me. “So you are free to go.”
My muscles tense. She will kill Jessica.
Her lip rises ever so slightly and then falls back into its hard,
straight line. Fear rushes through me. “Do you like games,
Sarajane?”
I answer with an a
brupt no. The queen moves towards me.
“Pity, because I have one for you, but you don’t have to play
it.” She circles me, making the tension in my body increase.
My palms are slick with sweat. “In the forest of Eden, south
of the Amour Caves, there is a small hut where two guards
hold a young lady.” My heart rate quickens. “You have two
days and then your time is up. The thread of life shall be
cut.”
I want to kill her and my voice makes it clear how I feel. “If
you harm my sister…”
Bellona stares at me and her guards move closer. “What will
you do, Sarajane? Your time has started; you have two days to
rescue her, so I suggest you leave.” I don’t understand why she
is giving me time.
I tell my feet to move and they obeyed.
“But you also have another choice.” I turn back to her. “It
will take two days to leave Saskia and cross to the mortal world
where your father John is being held by guards. So you choose
who lives and who dies.”
Angry tears leave my eyes. “Why? They’ve done nothing
wrong.” My nails dig into my palms as I try and control my
anger. “
Life is not fair. I realised that when you took my innocent
son’s life. So I am being rather kind telling you in advance. You
must show up to the forest or the mortal realm. No one else can
stop this. The guards must see you.” This time the queen leaves
with her guards trailing behind her.
I stand frozen only for a second and then my limbs catch up
with my brain and I run from the room out the main doors of
the castle. Nobody stops me as I run back through the village.
Just on the outskirts beside what looks like a memorial garden
stands a man with a horse. I slow down as I pass him.
“Sarajane,” he whispers. I stop. “I am Dominic, a friend
of your mother. The horse has water and food in the side
packs.” This seems a little too convenient. “Corrona, my wife,
works in the castle and she overhead you and the queen.” He
stretches out the reins towards me. I take them and he helps
me up. “Tell Marta that we said hi.” Then he lowers his head.
“And sorry.”
I don’t ask why. “Thank you, Dominic.” I kick the horse and
make my way towards the mountains. I stop before entering,
retrieving my cloak that still lays under the rock and tying it
around my neck. My body shakes with adrenaline. I have no
idea how to get to Eden Forest, but I have to try.
I take a steady breath and make my way through the passage
in the mountain. I’m not far in when I can hear the hooves
of horses coming in my direction. I pull on the horse’s reins,
directing him into an indent in the mountainside, hoping the
shadows will give me enough cover.
As the voices get closer, they become clearer. A smile breaks
across my face at Neve’s and Kiar’s voices. It isn’t their usual
banter; if anything, they sound worried. I pull the reins,
gesturing for the horse to move out. Mirium, Morrick, Tristan,
Liber, Neve and Kiar stare back at me. Big, relieved grins appear
on Neve’s and Kiar’s faces.
“Did you miss me?” I can’t help but ask.
Tristan rides up alongside my horse. He is livid and trying
hard to control his face, but his eyes tell the truth. “You.” He
clenches his jaw, unable to find any words that can match how
outraged he his.
“She has my sister,” I tell him, my own anger rising. He knew
this but didn’t care.
“Then where is she?” Tristan questions, but his words are
uncaring, his annoyance still too high.
I turn from him and face Morrick. “She has her in the forest
of Eden, held by two guards. I have two days to rescue her.”
Morrick tuts. “Her stupid games.” He lets out a heavy breath.
“Fine. Liber, escort Sarajane back to Aquaterra.” Morrick cuts
off my protests. “We will get her.” As if he cares, but I rein in
my anger.
“You can’t. I have to show my face to the guards or they kill
her.”
Morrick looks to Mirium for inspiration. “I do not know the
outcome, but I feel the truth in her words.”
Morrick’s face darkens. “It is too dangerous.”
“She’s my sister; I will save her. I’m not asking for your
permission, Morrick”
Neve and Kiar look alarmed at my tone toward their king.
I know I’ve maybe gone too far, so I soften my voice. “I need
your help, please.”
Morrick doesn’t reply. I look at Tristan now. He hasn’t moved
a muscle. “And if we do not help, Sarajane, will you come back
to Aquaterra with us?” he asks.
“No, I will get her myself.”
He looks back at Morrick and then returns his hard gaze to
me. “I thought as much. Okay, we will help.” Relief courses
through my body. I knew I couldn’t do this alone. But Tristan
isn’t finished. “If you disobey me again, I promise you will
regret it. Understand?”
I still have to tell them about John. I can’t save both. My
voice sounds drained when I speak. “She has my father too.” I
direct this to Morrick, praying to God my words hurt him. “He
is being held in the mortal world so I have to choose between
my sister and my father.” Morrick stares at me with icy eyes,
picking up on the emphasis I put on the word father, but it isn’t
a lie. He reared me as his own, loved me. He was everything a
father should be.
Mirium has a faraway look on his face and then he snaps out
of it. “Morrick, you must go with Sarajane and help her sister. I
will go to the mortal world for her father.” He hesitates on the
last word.
“Mirium, it is only my face that can save him.”
Mirium moves to the opposite side of me, his grey eyes full
of wisdom and kindness. “Do you trust me?” I haven’t known
Mirium long, but I do trust him.
“Yes.”
He smiles gently. “I will go to the mortal and do my best to
save him.”
I just nod. It seems impossible if I’m not with him, but I focus
my mind on Jessica.
Before leaving, Mirium turns to Tristan. “Aim high.”
Tristan nods as if he understands what Mirium means.
Maybe he does.
Liber leaves with Mirium and the rest of us take off with
Tristan leading in silence. After an hour’s riding, Tristan speaks.
“What is the exact location?”
I meet Tristan’s unattached gaze. “South of the Amour Caves.
There’s a hut in Eden Forest.”
Tristan gives me a curt nod and we start moving again.
“Will it take two days to reach Eden Forest?” I ask Neve as
he rides just a little up ahead of me.
“A day, but it is a forest and we are looking for a hut so that
will take time”
“Not if we split up,” I say.
Tristan stops abruptly and turns his horse to face me.
“For once, do as you are told. No one is splitting up.” My
cheeks ligh
t up with rage. How dare he! “I am future king
and you will obey me, Sarajane Anderson.” At that he whips
the horse back around and continues riding, his back stiff
with anger. We follow. I am breathing heavy with anger.
Neve chuckles beside me. It is quiet enough so that only I
can hear.
“What’s so funny?” I don’t like being laughed at.
He clears his throat. “Nothing is funny.” He moves a little
ahead, out of my line of vision. I could bet my life a grin is still
plastered on his skinny face.
After a few hours of travelling, I start to feel exhausted. It has
been a day and a half since I’ve slept or eaten and it’s catching
up on me.
“We will stop here for a rest,” Tristan announces to us all.
We’re still in the mountains. They seem unending. But I don’t
want to waste any time.
“No, we need to find my sister.”
Tristan climbs off his horse and the rest follow suit. Morrick
seems no longer to be in charge. I wonder what happened last
night. They’ve reversed roles. Kiar comes over to help me down,
but I sit stubbornly on the horse.
“Bellona said two days.” I can hear the panic in my own
voice.
“Today is the first day,” Tristan says. Then his eyes study
my face. “And you can’t defend yourself in this state. You need
rest.”
Kiar reaches out his hand to me once again, only this time
I take it. I know Tristan is right, not that I would ever tell
him.
Kiar pulls out a bedroll and lays it down behind a large
boulder that is only a few feet away from the mountain’s edge.
I sit down on the bedroll with my knees tucked up to my chin.
Kiar sits on his haunches so we’re at eye level “How are you
holding up?” His kindness and brown eyes remind me so much
of Josh I feel I can talk to him.
“Not good, Kiar. These things keep happening that I can’t
explain, and no matter how much I push them to the back of my
mind, they always manage to push themselves forward.” I know
I’m not making much sense, but Kiar sits there patiently. “I see
colours around people. I think I made that water pour into the
caves the time Neve set it on fire. I burned a woman with my
hand, and I pushed Bellona away from me using my mind.”
That’s it. I blurt everything out.
Kiar sits for a second, staring at me. Then he smiles. “Maybe
you have lots of affinities.” His eyebrows furrow. “But we