Seize the Day

Chapter Twenty-Two

“There are forces at work beyond your understanding, Harbinger,” Mayra said. We were in the city square, seated at a table near the tavern. “You and your daughter are in danger. The Elementals are angry with how their hosts have grown lax.”

“Hosts?” I was appalled. She made it sound as if I had a parasite! Then again, maybe I did. But I didn’t understand how I was linked to this “being” she spoke of.

Her dark hair was just visible beneath the scarlet cowl of her cape. “I have told you before and I will tell you again: be wary. They will come for the spirit’s power—for the Harbinger’s power. You will be in danger if you do not accept your fate.”

“My fate?” I clenched my fists. I was not some tool to be used by this world. I was not a mere object. “I am the only one who decides my fate!”

I saw her frown beneath her cape. She sighed. “Helena, please… I have made a promise that I will watch over the prince. You, as one of the Harbingers, must find the others and stop the catastrophes in Etheia. I cannot keep my promise otherwise. It will only get worse as time goes on.”

“All you care about is yourself!” I cried, standing abruptly from my chair. The surrounding people gave us curious glances. I didn’t care if Mayra promised to watch over Titus. I didn’t care if the Elementals were angry. “I have a child,” I told her. “I will not abandon her to satisfy your wishes—or the Elementals’ wishes, at that!”

“But Helena—”

I didn’t hear what she said next because I turned around and bolted in the other direction.

A deep frown made its way onto my face as the memory faded. I couldn’t accept this fate that had been “assigned” to me. I was a mother. I had burdens of my own to bear. Lannie was still growing, and she needed a mother to guide her. And Nigel… What would he do without me? Lannie would drive him insane if I left to “find the others.”

I sighed, stroking Lannie’s ashen blonde hair. She turned to me with a confused look. “Seriously, Mother. What’s wrong with you?”

Deep down, I was scared. If I lost Lannie because of this curse… If I died and she inherited it… I would never forgive myself.

But there was one thing I was sure of.

I would not be the Harbinger the world wanted me to be.

                                                ————————

I woke abruptly, gasping and clutching at my throat. It was almost as if I could feel the serpent’s coil suffocating my neck. Was I in heaven with Mother? Or was that a dream?

I grasped the satin beneath my fingers. Mother’s pendant was still held firmly in my hand, glowing softly. It had caused another dream, but how had I gripped onto it for so long?

A faint scent of lavender pervaded the room, and I looked to the side to see a batch of lavender fronds in a glass vase. Only the rich would be foolish enough to waste money on flowers like that…

Sunlight filtered in through the velvet drapes to my left, illuminating the large room in a golden light. I sat up in the cushioned bed as it dawned on me. Of course… A place of safety. I was in the castle.

But where in the castle? The lavish surroundings weren’t familiar to me.

And where was Titus?