Chapter 11
The tension growing within the library was immediately cut with the doors opening as Laurel and Michel walked in. Laurel had been smiling, complaining about how Archer needed to stop growing so fast, but it immediately dropped whenever they realized something was wrong.
"Are we missing something?" she asked. "What...?"
But Gideon quickly cut in, adding a little more color to the question she was about to ask. "What the hell is going on?" he demanded, trying to look at all of them at once before finally settling on Lyv. "What's that book?"
"It from Corliss...addressed directly to me," Lyv explained. "Someone gave it to me just a few hours ago...someone I didn't know about but who was brought by two others I'd met before."
Mik was the first one to smile as he glanced down at Elys before back to her. "Dessa and the older Elys, huh?"
The only ones who were completely confused now were Gideon, Thia, Laurel, and Michel. With Michel being a susurrate spy who hear whispers everywhere, he couldn't even hear those that came from the future...or, in this case, the past. Even Eamon apparently knew what was going on. Of course, he would. He was Elys's best friend. He would have told him about their future since he would be there, too.
"I'm going to ask the same question as Gideon – what the hell is going on?" Thia asked, putting a hand to her forehead. "How could an older Elys and Dessa..." The latter of the names seemingly rang a bell in both her and Gideon as soon as she said it. She'd only heard the name a few times, but instantly knew who they were talking about. "Hold on. Dessa, as in..."
"As in mine and Jai's daughter," Lyv nodded. She looked up at Jai then. "I will say again, I wish you'd been there with me just to see them."
Gideon copied Thia's hand placement on his own forehead. "Again?"
Before Lyv could even get a word out, Elys was the one who began to explain. "Dessa's able to create portals. Her magic...well, she really doesn't come into it until she's eighteen and even then it's hard for her to control. I don't understand why she has so much trouble, though. That's something I'm not able to see. The first portal she makes is actually by accident and she ends up in the middle of the forest where Gideon and Jai had their cottage in Escarral." A slight blush colored his cheeks. "We might have had a fight, which is what made her pretty much explode. After training, she gets the hang of it, though. When it's just her, she can jump from place to place within our own world and others. But together, we're able to do that, plus pick a certain time and place."
Not knowing much about how their magic worked together and separately, this was news to Lyv as well.
"When Mik and I were still in the Keep, Dessa and Elys were the ones who told me how to get out," she admitted then. "It was only a few minutes they were there, and I've only told Jai about what happened. And Elys, of course, but he already knew. Apparently, whenever I would tell Dessa the story of everything that has and will happen, I would tell her about someone coming to tell me how to get out of the dungeon, though I never named them. She realized then she was the one who did."
Just talking about those few fleeting moments made the fury and anger Lyv had felt just a few minutes earlier lessen enough for her to be able to think straight. Her eyes fell back on the book as Allel flipped through its pages, tears welling up in her eyes as she recognized the handwriting, remembering back to the time it described in Corliss's prospective.
"Gods, I miss her like this. Not how and what she is now," she whispered, swiping the backs of her hands beneath both eyes. It only smeared her tears more, which Mik then reached up to wipe away for her. "When she and Meron first got to Palrion, they stayed in one of Mik's parents' inns. That's how we met. Mik and Kalla were causing a stir after drinking a little too much, just like they always did, and Meron joined in. Me, Corliss, and Faraine just stood back and watched the chaos unfold."
"We did not," Kalla and Mik said at the same time...then gave each other conspiring smiles to completely contradict it.
Allel rolled her eyes. "Whatever. You know it's only a matter of time now that the two of you are back together that it happens yet again."
Another look...before they gave each other a high-five.
At that point, everyone had settled back down where they had been. Lyv still held tight to Jai's hand as Laurel sat down besind her with Michel perched on the sofa's armrest. Gideon and Thia's confusion were slowly turning into realization that Kalla, Allel, and Mik's past was so Elys and more than likely Eamon's futures. Truth be told, even Lyv was having trouble with it.
Still, they listened as Allel continued.
"They were with us in Palrion for...oh, maybe a month before Corliss told us what they were in search of. By that time, they'd become a part of our makeshift family. Then we met the others." She smiled at Elys then. "Who included Elys and Dessa. The others who were with them wore glamours and gave false names. We never questioned it, though we knew they weren't telling us the whole truth. Even said it to them. They would tell us in time and when they thought it was needed, though our time ran out."
"That's why you three...well, seemingly recognized him whenever you met him. By his scars," Lyv stated.
"And just like you said when I met you, kid, it was nice to see you again," Kalla grinned at Elys before winking at him.
Allel's eyes turned to Jai then as a small, pained smile lifted the corners of his lips. "Destan was there, too, Jai. That's how we knew him then. He was the only other one we knew who he really was."
Mik continued where she left off. "It was about three days before we reached the border of the Wilds. I was the one who actually found out first. He was talking with Dessa outside our tent in the moonlight, glamour gone. Even though we faintly recognized him, he couldn't really hide who he was once she said his name."
For the first time since she walked into the tension, Laurel spoke, though her voice came out as barely a whisper. "Destan was there...and I remember him leaving Ayveri for a time, but he never told me where he was going or how long he would be gone for. When he got back, he just said he had been traveling, though he could barely remember anything. I just teased him about having too much to drink. I never would have thought he got to be with Eamon, Elys, and..." Realization once again flashed in her eyes. She reached over and grabbed onto Lyv's other hand. "Dessa. You're naming her Dessa. What did I tell you when I told you how Archer got his name? Destan said there was a little girl who was to be his namesake. Mother above, he got to spend time with them!" Her smile lifted to Jai. "Jai, he got spend time with them!"
When Lyv looked up at him, though, his face was blank, like he was having trouble processing everything being said about his brother. About the past he was completely oblivious to up until then.
But it was Eamon who raised his hand then, shattering the silence. "I can at least tell you now...I was one of them, too."
Allel sighed, closing Corliss's journal and handing it to Kalla. "We figured that out, especially knowing how you two are attached at the hip now. Why would that change when you're older? And your mate..."
"Milena," Elys teased, poking Eamon's side as a blush crawled up his neck. "Who's also Des's best friend. Gideon and Thia's..."
"Oh, hell no!" Gideon cried out just as Thia whispered, "Milena...my mother's name..."
Seems like it took no time for those two to put two and two together.
"I told you not to say anything around them!" Eamon complained. "Now, Gideon's gonna hate me."
"No, but I'm going to watch your every move around my daughter, kid," Gideon growled. "And here I thought having to deal with Jai and Lyv was annoying!"
While the male in question was glaring and his mate beside him was stunned into silence, everyone else laughed.
"Moving on for now," Allel continued, though she was still smiling brightly. Her gaze lifted to Lyv's as she sighed. "We thought having a big party crossing the Ethran desert and then again in another world would do us some good. We'd only known them for a few days, but there's something about traveling together that builds friendships. We all got to know one another over those next few weeks we slowly traveled through Ethran, learn more from Corliss about what she'd translated from the grimoire. She brought that thing with her everywhere..."
"And the one Jai and I saw in Madame Dewridge's office here at the university was a fake. The real one is in the archive of Palrion," Lyv said.
"Exactly," she nodded. "She kept it with her, though, because it contained a crudely drawn map of Laria and where the natural portal was located between it and our own world. Dessa was the one to guide us directly to it, being on the same...frequency, I guess you could call it. She was able to stabilize it...which is why it's probably still until this day."
Kalla looked as if she wanted to say something, biting the inside of her lip as she looked toward the fire. She must have felt Lyv's scrutinizing gaze on her for the next few minutes because she finally met her eyes. A silent question passed between them, one Kalla answered with a nod. Yes, the portal between the two worlds was still stable...because she used it more often than she'd ever told anyone.
Allel and Mik continued to describe the world of Laria they came to during this silent exchange, those few weeks they spent in the ruins of Arloerin with the few people who called it home. Just like Lyv had, Jai and Gideon recognized the kingdom name by the drink they'd had in Solandis's tavern in Filwey and cursed themselves for not realizing there was a more detailed explanation to it.
Lyv's attention was brought back to the conversion as soon they started on the night they found Corliss had disappeared...and an earthquake rumbled through Arloerin, coming in waves from the directions of a set of ruins in the mountains.
Allel had been the one speaking before she paused, allowing for Mik to continue on. "As soon as we all got to the outer gates, the leader and a band of his guardsmen met us. He was cursing us from the start, even more so when the second shockwave knocked us all to the ground. The horses got us there as fast as they could, but we could already see the shadows enveloping the ruins...before Corliss appeared."
"The guardsmen were the first to charge for her, swords raised," Kalla whispered, his eyes distant. "It only took her a second to kill them all. She saved the torture for the leader – slicing her finger up along his torso, spilling his gut out across the ruins. The darkness couldn't get enough of it...before she turned to us. Something stopped her, though. She never could tell us what. But it was light Corliss herself was fighting from the inside and made it back off before she killed us all, too."
"We had to chain her to the bed whenever we got back to Arloerin, just in case. We used iron, hoping it would hold her," Mik said. "She was out cold, but we all could feel it. The dark magic that was now living inside her. That was when we noticed the obsidian stone in her arm, though we had no idea how it got there. With Corliss still out, Meron tried to cut it, but his blade wouldn't even puncture her skin."
Kalla ran her hands through her hair, twining her fingers together against her chin. "Whenever she came to, she couldn't really describe what compelled her to go." She looked up at Lyv. "It's kind of like what you said happened in Asturia whenever you went down to see her and Guinevere in the dungeon right before they captured you. Something drew you down there, something much more powerful than any of us can ever realize. Those next few months, we tried everything to get the darkness out of her, but eventually that magic integrated with hers just as it has with you now. Actually, all of this now...well, it's reminding me a lot of what happened then."
Lyv opened her mouth, but it was Jai who growled out the exact words she was thinking. "What happened in the past...it sure as hell isn't going to happen again."
Lyv squeezed his hand gently. "Jai, it's going to be all right..."
"You're right. It is going to be all right. Because we're going to fight harder than Corliss and Meron did. We're going to figure out what they did wrong and correct it. Because I won't lose you, Lyv. We can't lose you."
Lifting his hand, she kissed his knuckles. "I know. And you won't."
"Yeah, Corliss and Meron promised each other that, too," Kalla snorted without an ounce of humor. "Look how well that turned out."
"Kalla," Allel warned.
"What?" she shrugged, unfazed. "Meron and Jai are a lot more alike than you've made yourself believe, Allel. Meron did whatever it took to help Corliss, even after the dark magic was fully integrated. Who knew using one of the spells they found in the grimoire that allowed them to share the darkness via their mating bond would actually work? Ultimately, that's what got him killed. Meron tried to take all of it from her when we got back to Palrion. What do you think caused her to go full on Dark Mage?"
"Kalla," Allel snapped even more fiercely. "Stop it. Now."
But Lyv wasn't going to have that. "No, what happened? Tell us."
Kalla glared at Allel, who was still shaking her head. "They didn't tell us they were going to try doing a partial transfer in the first place, right there in the Ethran desert with no one else around. When they succeeded, we noticed an immediate difference in them both. But that wasn't enough. Meron wanted to save Corliss and take on the darkness himself. Honestly, I think her absolutely refusing to allow it was what made it all happen. How do you think the Arcane Blood Plague began? It wasn't supposed to be like that! We were just supposed to go out for the night for my birthday, celebrate finally being home. It wasn't...she didn't..."
She had to pause, closer her eyes, and breathe before continuing a few seconds later.
"When Meron attempted to take on the darkness, it took only a second for it to suck every bit of magic it could from his blood before snapping back into Corliss. It wasn't him it wanted and it retaliated. He was killed instantly. The death of a mate is always what causes the host to go fully dark. That was the same in Corliss and Meron's case. You...you know what happens then. That's what we were able to tell you all. Once Corliss was no more and the Dark Mage reigned, our promise ended there. We couldn't tell a soul the story of the time leading up to that until we broke the magic that held our promise together."
"After Meron, Faraine was the next the Dark Mage took," Mik said, his voice gravelly. "She was already tired from all the traveling and..."
"And she was an easy target. She got sick easily and caught something in Arloerin. She was getting better, but still week," Kalla finished for him. "Not an ounce of magic in her human blood, but it was still fun, still a glaring warning of what was to come to all of Palrion."
Allel grasped Kalla's hand with both of hers. Though she tried her hardest to pull away, she wasn't allowing it.
"It wasn't just Meron and Faraine we lost, though," Allel whispered, looking around at all of them then. "Meron's parents had just come to Palrion to visit after Corliss sent a letter to them in Eld. They were...they were going to meet two little ones who had come along on our journey, though none of us had anticipated their arrival. There was a reason we were in Arloerin for as long as we were. Corliss and Meron, when they were both under the influence of the dark magic...well, they had twin girls named Cleo and Adeena."
Once again, Lyv met Kalla's gaze. She still didn't say a word as Allel continued.
"The girls and Meron's parents, Renna and Evander, were the next Corliss killed. I...I don't remember much. By then, Corliss had already given me the spelled tattoo that made me immortal and a shapeshifter. Kalla had the same mark and was struggling to get away. Mik...well, he was the conduit by then, too. All I remember was the pain as my body tried to shift for the first time into a form Corliss wanted, but I tried everything I could to make it stop. In the few moments I was actually able to open my eyes and see...Dessa and Elys were trying to get Destan and the others through a portal. Renna and Evander were running in the opposite direction, each of them carrying one of the girls. I was losing consciousness, but I saw Dessa run after them, pulling Kalla to her feet and dragging her along. Elys screamed for her...but the shadows devoured them before either could reach them in time."
The silence was deafening then.
Finally, Lyv turned her full attention to Kalla, knowing the Pirate Queen of Blackloch had much more to add to the story. "Do you want to tell them...or do you want me, too? Because Corliss put it all down in that journal."
"Lyv..."
"That's where you had to go a few weeks ago. You had to go see them. Because you made another promise to Corliss that only the two of you and Meron knew about. And from what I'm guessing, Dessa knew about it, too, but not Elys."
"Don't."
"Then tell them yourself."
"What is she talking about, Kalla?" Mik demanded.
Kalla swallowed hard, holding her breath in before slowly letting it out. "The girls, Renna, and Evander...they didn't die that day. I made a promise, another promise bound by magic, to keep the secret of their survival a secret. And Lyv's right. Dessa did know, because she was the one who created the portal that brought the six of us back to one that went to Laria. Corliss sent the dragons Ollyn and Odanth with us, too. The reason everyone thought I was dead for decades after the events in Palrion? Because I wasn't here in this world. I was in Arloerin keeping my promise." Her tear-filled eyes glanced between Allel and Mik, both of whom shared her expression. "The girls lived. I was charged with protecting them, Renna, and Evander. Corliss wanted them there because she knew they would be safe from her."
"They're...they're still alive?" Allel choked out, wiping away her tears as she began to smile, to laugh. "Gods, they've got to be so big! What are they like? Have you told them about their parents, about us? Have you...what? What's that look, Kalla?"
The look she was referring to was one of pain, one of heartbreak.
"Corliss thought having them be in Arloerin would keep them safe from her, but that didn't keep them safe from others in Laria," she said, then turned to the rest of them to explain, not being able to face Allel and Mik. "The girls...they were conceived while both Corliss and Meron had dark magic residing in them. A small amount of that magic was then planted in Cleo and Adeena, manifesting itself differently in each of them. I kept them as close as possible those first few years, but their magic grew stronger.
"Cleo had the physical manifestations with one of her eyes being completely onyx and having control over her own shadows, while Adeena had the magical manifestations. Hers were more concerning. When she was four, Renna, Evander, and I began to realize just how dangerous she would be. Unchecked anger in a child caused for chaos. If someone made her mad, she would latch onto their minds, make them see whatever she wanted them to, do whatever she wanted. Then one day she took it too far and...and basically shredded another boy's mind to bits when he wouldn't stop kicking rocks at her. We didn't know what happened until after he fell, blood leaking out of his eyes, nose, and ears.
"Of course, word had gotten around to the other kingdoms within Laria. There are three others – Searis, Krahzara, and Rezuvell. Someone sent assassins to kill both of the girls before either could grow more into their magic...and they managed to get both Adeena and Evander whenever he tried to save her. Gods, all the blood..." She squeezed her eyes shut, trying her hardest not to think back to that night. "Cleo wasn't completely unharmed. They tried to gouge her onyx eye out, but they only managed to leave scars. Renna was unconscious, but otherwise fine...until she learned of Evander and Adeena's deaths. But they've both had over a hundred years to cope. They're both fine. Even Ollyn and Odanth are. They're all perfectly fine...and they both know I was going to tell you all about them. I had to get Cleo's blessing."
Allel couldn't hold in her silence anymore. A sob broke out of her chest as she pulled Kalla into her arms. Mik joined in a few moments later, but only because Kalla yanked him in.
Three friends with a history they all finally knew.
Lyv hated to, but she still had to ask one final question. "So, you do know you're going to take us to Arloerin, right?"
At that, Kalla's tearstained face broke out into one of her signature grins they all knew and loved. "Oh, I do. So, when do you want to leave?"
***I will say again, I'm so excited not to have to keep this whole past with Corliss and everyone a secret any longer and I can't wait to introduce you guys to a completely different world. This chapter seemed fitting to put the new map of Laria up in, too, but we'll get to know it soon enough!
And I absolutely can't wait to introduce you to Cleo, as well. I've had so much fun hashing out the details of her character...but you'll definitely be able to tell she was raised by Kalla, if you get my meaning! And Adeena...well, that's another story, one I will touch on in this book and more in the spinoff!
What did you guys think of the chapter? Comment and vote!
Happy reading!
- Ansley***