Her face becomes a little more sombre. “No, my name is
Adora, and I know right now you want answers, but I’m a bit
busy.”
The cheek of her. “Busy? Linda, I mean Adora, I need some
kind of explanation. You did something to my head. Who the
hell was that man?”
Linda starts walking back towards the room where our yoga
classes are held. I follow her. I’m going to call her Adora again
and then feel silly. “Look, I’m not leaving until you tell me what
the heck happened.”
She continues walking, but calls back to me over her shoulder.
“I know you won’t leave it. You’re just like your mother.”
Her statement stops me in my tracks. “What did you just
say?”
Linda stops and looks at me. I can see by her face that she
wishes she hadn’t said that. “Look, I’m not like normal people
and neither are you.” She enters the hall. There are bags lined
up on the floor.
“Where are you going?” I ask.
She picks up a bag. “To my car.”
I give her the dirtiest look I can muster. “You know what I
mean.”
She lets out a breath of exasperation. “I’m going home,
Sarajane, and what happened in your kitchen was real.” She
walks past me as if the conversation is over. I grab the strap of
her bag to stop her.
“What are you?”
She looks at me with dry amusement. “Not mortal,
anyway. I can communicate with certain members of my
tribe telepathically, but somehow when I meditated with you,
it caused some kind of interruption and I was finding it too
difficult to communicate with them. So that’s why I went to
your house, to see if I tried again with you, maybe I could get
it back. And as you saw, I did. Now I really have to go if that is
all you wanted to ask.”
I let her strap go and stand there dumbfounded. When she’s
out the door, my mother’s face springs into my mind. I chase
her out to the parking lot. I can see Josh ready to intervene, but
I shake my head, letting him know not to move.
“Linda, I have only one more question and then I’ll let you
get on with your packing.”
She throws the bag in the boot. “What, Sarajane?” I can’t get
over her tone of voice.
“Why did you want me to picture my mother?” I can see her
back tense as she closes her boot.
She takes her time facing me. “You’re not the only one
looking for her.”
“What do you mean by that? Do you know where she is?”
Linda walks to me and takes my bewildered face in her hands
and kisses my forehead like a mother would a child. Then she
looks me in the eyes. “I don’t know where she is, and I just want
to help you find her. But in order to do that, I must go. Please
try to understand.”
I can’t answer her. Is she saying she’s helping me find my
mother?
“We will meet again, Sarajane.” She enters the hall again to
retrieve more bags.
Josh is beside me once she’s out of sight. “Well, how did it
go?”
“I’m more confused now than I was before we came here.”
I get Josh to take me home. I should’ve forced Linda to
answer my questions properly, but at that moment, I honestly
wasn’t able. I was confused and too upset to listen to any more
of her weirdness. But for some reason, I felt a lot of truth in
what she said. It made no sense to me, but it felt true.
Chapter Four
Saskia ~ Present Day
(Bellona)
I pace my chambers, waiting on Clive to arrive. He enters
wiping blood off his knuckles. “She knows nothing. No one
could take that pain without talking.” He sits down at the
small table and chairs that I have in my chambers for breakfast.
I sit opposite him.
“If she doesn’t know, maybe she is not the reason the one
exists, but Lucian would not be wrong.” Clive looks at me
in puzzlement, but I don’t explain any further, and he knows
better than to ask. I start to pace again. “We need to find out
why she left. I feel like it is the key to all of this.” I glance over
at Clive from the corner of my eye. “She is still alive?”
He shrugs his shoulders indifferently. “I think so.”
“You can’t do anything right, can you? I told you we must
keep her alive.” My patience is coming to an end. I grab his face.
“She better be alive for your sake.” I let him go forcefully.
“What about her friends? Have you questioned them?” he
asks with annoyance in his voice, rubbing his face.
I stop pacing. Why had I not thought of her friends? Maybe
Clive is useful after all, but I would never tell him that. I wave
my hand in the air. “Maybe. Leave me now. I must think of
how to clean up your mess again.” Clive leaves, his shoulders
hunched. He hates disappointing me. He is like a dog—pet him
too much and it becomes soft.
“Taurus,” I call, and he enters my chambers.
“My lady.”
I approach him with a suggestive smile and run my finger
along his hard, muscular chest. “Remember that silly girl who
was a friend of Marta's? The one who was pregnant.”
“Yes, my lady.” He grabs my buttocks, pulling me into him.
“What was her name?”
“Corrona, my lady.” He starts nibbling my ear.
I swat him away. “Focus, Taurus.” He becomes alert again.
“Bring her to me,” I command.
“Yes, my lady.” He turns to leave.
“Oh, Taurus, don’t forget I want you here tonight.”
“Of course, my lady.” He gives me a sensual smile and leaves.
I sit down on an armchair beside the fire with my back to the
door. A knock sounds. “Come in.”
Corrona appears in front of me and bows. I know it isn’t out
of respect, more like fear. “My lady.” She is frail looking with
dark circles surrounding her eyes.
I smile at her. I could make all her worries go away. “Please,
sit.” I gesture to the armchair across from me. She sits, nervously
fumbling with her hands. “How are you, Corrona?”
She looks up at me, startled. “I am fine. Thank you, my lady.”
“Corrona, I know losing your baby caused you a lot of pain.”
I pause and let the sorrow cross my face. “But it causes me great
pain, too, to upset such a valuable member of the castle.”
She doesn’t look at me and when she speaks, her words are
clipped. “I am sorry to hear you are in pain, my lady.” So she is
still upset, stupid girl. She is already getting on my nerves, but I
don’t let my irritation show.
“Well, I would say you are wondering why you are here, so I
will get to it. Why did your friend Marta leave Saskia?” Before
she answers, I raise a single finger. “And more important, who
helped her? Because we all know she did not get across by
herself.”
Corrona looks down at her lap. I can see the tension in her
paling face. “I don’t know, my l
ady.”
“Corrona, look at me.” She does with pure fear in her eyes.
“I know whoever helped her would be banished, but I am
considering to overlooking that. If you answer just one question.
And also I will give you something in return. I will give you
your baby boy back.”
Tears run down her face. She whispers, “What is the
question?”
Good, now we are getting somewhere. “Why did Marta
leave Saskia?” Corrona starts crying. I look in the fire and
inhale a breath, letting her know that my patience has run out.
I am not one to bargain, so she knows this is not an offer I
shall make twice. “You can leave now. You must not want your
son back.” She stands up, still crying. “And if guardians come
to your door and take Dominic, don’t be surprised, since you
helped a criminal.”
She is nearly at the door, but her footing falters. She pauses.
I smile. I will get my answer after all.
“I will tell you.”
I stand and face her. “Go ahead. I am listening.”
She wipes away her tears. “You must give me your word first,
that I will get my baby back.”
Clever girl. In Saskia, if we give our word, we must stick by
it, so it is never given lightly. I don’t need the child for anything.
There are plenty more. “You have your queen’s word.”
Corrona’s eyes fill with tears again. “She was pregnant.”
It all makes sense now. I knew she was secretly meeting
Morrick. I could see it from the day of the festival, the way
he looked at her, so I spoke to Javan to make sure Marta was
matched with Taurus so I could keep an eye on them. But since
Taurus told me she didn’t want him and Morrick’s disappearing
acts, I knew they were meeting. So Morrick was the father.
Was this why the child was so powerful? Clive or Luna are
not powerful. Yes, they have an affinity each, but only one,
nothing like what Lucian is looking for. It doesn’t matter. At
least I know now what I am looking for.
I look up at Corrona. She is still standing there. “Taurus.”
He enters. “Could you bring Corrona to the maidens’ quarters?
I have given her permission to take her baby back.” He bows
and leaves with a guilty-looking Corrona.
I pace my chambers, thinking of how best to deal with this.
Taurus re-enters. “It is done, my lady.”
“Taurus, can you arrange for Clive, Felix, and yourself to go
to the library? I will meet you there shortly.”
We gather around the library table and I tell all three of them
of their tasks. Clive is getting upset again. “He has another
child?”
“Clive, not now. Look at the overall picture.”
He stalks towards me, his anger nearly visible around him.
“Mother, he should be exiled to the mountains for his crimes,
like all the other criminals over time.”
He is lucky he is my son or I would have silenced him already.
“Son, we will deal with that later, but first we need to retrieve
the child.” Clive knows not to push me any further, so he sits
down with an angry thud. I ignore him and turn my attention
to Felix. Part of Felix’s job is to study the mortal realm and all
the differences between both. “Felix.”
“Yes, my lady.”
“What is the time difference in the mortal world to here?”
“One day here is equivalent to one month in the mortal
world, my lady.”
“So Marta was gone for… nine months. What is the age of
the child we are looking for?”
“Twenty-one years of age, my lady.”
“Very good, Felix.” He smiles in self-satisfaction. “So I need
that child, or should I say woman, and please…”—I look at
Clive when I say the next part—“without as much as a scratch
on her.”
Clive rises then, visibly irritated. “What do you want the girl
for, anyway?” His tone is high pitched and too questioning.
Even if he is my son, it is not something I will tolerate. I think
the words in my head, but I can see from Clive’s frozen face he
knows he has overstepped the line.
Spirit, come to me. I can feel it dance around me. Brush his
heart; make it skip a good few beats, I whisper in my mind. I let
the thought skitter over to Clive. He grabs his chest. His face is
nothing more than a mask of shock that I would hurt him. Pain
runs across his expression at having his heart stopped. He falls
to his knees and then gasps for air once I release him.
My guardians stand perfectly still. Taurus has a little smirk
on his face that he is trying to contain. I know he is glad Clive
is suffering. It makes me feel angry towards him, but I can’t
hurt Taurus. There is too much at risk. “Get up and do not ever
question me again.”
Clive gets off his shaky knees while nodding his head. The
smell of urine hits me then. I look at his trousers. They are
stained all down his leg. When he follows where I am looking,
his face turns red with embarrassment and anger.
“Now saddle up the horses and go get me that girl.” Taurus
and Felix move to the door. Clive is frozen, looking at his
trousers. “Clive, clean yourself up.” He walks past me with
angry tears in his eyes, ones I hope he will not shed and make a
bigger fool of himself.
“Taurus.” He pauses before closing the door.
“How long will it take to cross over?”
“One full day.”
“Well, then, I expect you back here in three days.” They leave
and I pour myself a goblet of wine, feeling satisfied with myself .
Marta -Saskia, Present day-
I open my eyes. I am back in the cell. Tears break through the
crusted blood around my eyes, making my tears flow red.
I think I am back in the cell a day. I try to move, but the
pain shoots through my body. A choked sound escapes my lips.
I can hear the rattle of my cell door. Then footsteps approach
me. I close my eyes tight and pray it will be over quickly. I know
I will not live through another beating. I am not afraid of dying;
I am afraid of not living.
I can hear the shuffle of clothes as someone kneels down
beside me. “Drink some water.” I open my eyes and look up at
a guardian with a pitcher of water in his hands. I don’t answer,
just nod my head. He lifts me up and brings the pitcher to my
lips. It could be poisoned, but I don’t care. It will make my
death come faster. I take a deep gulp of water. It tastes so good.
When I have my fill, I look up at the guardian, who is studying
me. He has piercing green eyes that really stand out against his
tanned skin.
“What is your name, guardian?” I ask through cracked and
dry lips.
“Tristan, my lady.” I recognise his name. He is Morrick’s
head guardian. “Can you stand?” he asks while scanning my
battered body.
“No, I don’t think so.” I try to move, but he stops me.
“I will carry you.”
&n
bsp; “Carry me where?”
“I am under orders from King Morrick not to say.”
I feel sick. Morrick knows I am here. “How did the king find
out I was here?” I ask in a whisper.
“I don’t know, my lady.” I don’t get to ask any more. He
lifts me effortlessly. Then he looks down at me in his arms.
“We must be quiet, but darkness has fallen so we should pass
unseen.” I just nod my head. He carries me up the stone steps
and pauses at the door, listening. “What about the queen’s
guardians?” I ask, feeling afraid now that I might be saved. The
fight to survive comes surging back.
He gives me a small smile; the corner of his lip turns up
slightly. “I have them kept busy with a fire in the stables.” All l
can say to this is, “Oh”.
Listening at the door, he moves when he thinks it is safe.
He carries me through the village. I can see the red glow in the
night sky from the fire. We keep to the shadows in the village,
moving slowly. It feels at times like we are waiting forever
while villagers get water from the well and run towards the
stables. I can hear the panic of the horses. I hope they all get
out unharmed.
As if he can read my mind, Tristan answers my unspoken
question. “Don’t worry. The horses are safe. They are just
playing up, creating a lot of noise.”
As we move through the village and onto the outskirts, I black
out a few times with exhaustion. Soon I can feel the movement
of a horse underneath us. I didn’t even remember saddling a
horse. Tristan must have saddled one while I was out. I try to
open my eyes, but they are too heavy to open. After a while, the
horse slows down.
When I open my eyes again, we are at the Amour Caves. We
enter the mouth of the cave, Tristan still carrying me. Five men
could stand on each other’s shoulders it is that high, though it
reduces in size to about nine feet the farther in you go, so it is
comfortable at all times to stand in. The torches are lit along
the cave walls.
Tristan walks down the hall of the cave until it branches off
to the left. I know the room he is taking me to. It is the room
where Morrick and I used to meet in secret. Now it feels such a
long time ago.
We enter the large room. Flames from the small fire dance