“Why would I rule something I cannot control?” I asked, mystified. It was spoken so solemnly that it almost sounded like a prayer.
A gentle, tepid wind picked up and wrapped itself around me. I wouldn’t have thought anything of it if the leaves had moved on the branches just above us, if Justus’ dark, sandy curls swayed, but this wind was for me. An embrace. One just like what I had sent to the ones I loved time and time again. A humble feeling grew in me, as well as a sense of abandonment. I didn’t understand either emotion.
If I weren’t sitting within the Radiance right now, if I did not feel an awesome supernatural power all around me, if I had not seen the things I have seen or experienced the unexplainable over and over, I would never believe that there were kings somewhere in the heavens meant to do such a thing as relieving emotions.
“Escorts…they are who the kings rule, right? They are the ones no longer doing their job?”
One nod.
Great. Even though I had come to the reasoning that not all Escorts were bad, I knew that Landen had disdain for them. I was starting to think that this void between us was because he knew of this course. I knew without a doubt he was not a fan of the malicious darkness Escorts were known to have.
“That’s why Phoenix said I had dark energy. I’m darkness meant to rule darkness...and I’m loved by a radiant light.”
“That’s not entirely true. You are meant to rule power, power that can tame the darkness.”
“And far off my course, apparently.”
Justus lowered his head before he glanced to his side at me. “Anger drove your ego.” He clenched his jaw before he spoke again. “I told you that Donalt would not trust one way to bring you down. He knew that the more he terrified you, the more you would call on anger—the emotion you found comfort in—and by doing that, you would never understand what you were supposed to conquer. It’s hard to let go of what brings you comfort as a young soul, but once you do, you will find peace, something more than comfort.” He smiled as his gray eyes flicked up to meet my stare. “You’ve come remarkably far in a short time.”
I shrugged. “I went cliff diving.”
He laughed at that.
“Is adrenaline an emotion?” I asked as I furrowed my brow. That would be a cool emotion to rule; guess that slot is for someone else.
He raised his brow as a sweet smile absorbed him.
“It is what is released in response to the emotion of fear. It gives you the power to push through the emotion you’re facing.”
I sat there in silence for a moment, doing my best to stare down the flashbacks in my mind and tell fear to go to hell, searching for the rush of adrenaline I had felt at the time. In some way, that helped.
“I have to destroy Donalt. He is the center of everything I fight—at least I think he is. I still don’t know why Landen kept this place from me, why everyone did.”
His stare studied every inch of my face. I could almost feel his inner turmoil, him not wanting to overstep what he thought was Landen’s place, but I also felt his loyalty to me.
He took in a deep breath before he spoke. “It’s complicated, yet simple. This is your Earthly kingdom; a heavenly one awaits. No one—not you, not Landen, not this dimension—can fathom what lies before you. You were created to succeed Donalt. The course you have taken to do so created this world, the curse of the eight beyond, endless lore, whispers in the Veil, and The Realm. You and Landen have engaged in an epic war against Donalt, and this day it has come to a head. A victory is needed now more than ever.”
Justus glanced to the barrier I had seen Landen vanish into.
“If you don’t find a balance within yourself, within your love affair with Landen, then Donalt will breach this dimension and every other one, and finally he will breach The Fall, take over the light reality.”
Over my dead body. “We destroyed the looking glass.”
“In this life, yes. In a past life, you bound him to Esterious with a spell. You made it so that he could only take human form in one dimension—that is, until another dimension bowed to him. If these borders are breached, the trap you have him in is null and void. Because whether we fight or flee, he will still seize this world, he will still be free from that one chain you put around him.”
Great. I had managed to put Donalt in Earthly jail. The only issue was that I forgot to remove the defenseless souls in that dimension, and now he was set to bring hell to everywhere he roamed.
Before I could figure out how to move these people, protect that border, Olivia came out of nowhere with a sketch pad in hand and tears streaming down her face. I couldn’t feel it, but I could see the guilt, grief, and honor in her eyes.
All my chaotic thoughts ceased as I stared at her. I knew that look in her eye; she knew something I didn’t. I may not be able to get Justus to tell me what Landen was afraid to tell me, but I knew for sure I could get my best friend to talk.
Chapter Thirteen
~ Landen ~
The last thing I wanted to do was walk Willow through the gates of the Radiance then rush from her side, but I knew if Phoenix and Marc were side by side, it could not be good. They barely knew each other, but that wasn’t the point; the point was that they chose not to come through the string or for Phoenix to just bring Marc to me. They were using the passage between the Veil and the Radiance, one that would mask their path. The energy there was so thick that no one, not even an evil Master Escort such as Donalt, could track them easily.
I sensed the intent a few steps into the Veil. Marc had uncovered a plot Donalt had against us, one that I already knew about: the explosions. Only he now knew where they were going to take place.
Phoenix was already at the palace, readying for the meeting we had tonight. They decided to figure out how close that impact of energy would come to Chara and ended up right at our borders. Awesome.
I sent a mental command to the warriors that had followed me here, telling them there was no alarm. Each of them took a stance near the barrier as they were trained to do, and I pushed on. Now that I thought about it, it was almost time for me to meet Drake anyway.
I could not ignore the call Brady sent to me, him asking to walk with me. With very little hesitation, I granted that request.
I didn’t like how I’d left things with him the other day. I didn’t like how I was losing my brother in all of this. He didn’t deserve for me to push him away any more than I deserved him cramming Dad’s words down my throat.
As soon as Phoenix felt me moving closer, he and Marc turned back for the palace. Brady emerged at my side and gave me a solemn nod. That’s how we always apologize to each other. There was no use in rehashing the argument—we both were there.
“How are you feeling?” he asked, with a glance to my chest.
“Heavy.”
“Is that normal?”
I cursed under my breath. “How would I know?”
“Landen, I trust your instinct. You know I do. But this is huge. I would have never pushed this unless the marks came to be. I thought you had time, too, at least a few years. But war is imminent, even if you and Drake are on good terms—it’s going to happen, just as legend said it would. You will defend us, just as it was written.”
“And what if everything else lore states is not in place?” I said before I thought better of it. I trusted him, I really did, but I didn’t want to broadcast my relationship issues for the world to see.
“As in?” he asked with a lifted brow.
“As in the fact that lore makes out like Willow and I are some kind of gods, how it states how pure we are, the example to follow. That we are coming into this uncorrupted.”
“How is that not in line?”
I threw a harsh glance at him, not sure why he needed me to spell this out for him. He was never comfortable with my growing insights, and he definitely was not happy to meet Phoenix or learn about that past.
“Oh, you mean how you and her are human? How you reacted to what was in
front of you with what you had at that time? You mean that you have made mistakes and have regrets?” His tone was dripping with sarcasm.
“Someone get this man a prize,” I darkly quipped.
“Landen, no one follows perfect souls. People follow broken souls that are seeking perfection. You’re on point with where you need to be.”
“This is all happening a little too fast for me right now, Brady.”
“As written, this new moon will be what you need to end this strife, to save this dimension from a predicted war and free the doomed souls of Esterious. I can’t understand why you have fought this, why you have neglected to pick up the one weapon that will bring you victory: this title.”
I stopped, only to glare at him. I didn’t have time to fight with him. I didn’t want to. Now was not the time to open old wounds.
“I want her, Brady. Yes. I want her more than my own life. More than our world. More than air. I want her. She completes me. I understand her. She understands me. I don’t doubt that.”
“Then what is it?” he asked as his stare raced over me.
I wanted to confess how distant Willow and I were, that we lacked the basic sign of connection that Chara all but worshiped, but like I said, I wasn’t one to air my relationship issues, not raw secrets.
“All Willow wants is bliss and solitude—I can’t give her that. Not with this role you think I’m ready to fill.” Especially not if we both have to witness the darkest corners of each other to find the bliss this title promises.
“You’re not saying something.”
“I’m not saying a lot of things. I told you there is more going on than I can or will explain. Bottom line, I wouldn’t get your hopes up when it comes to this ceremony. Not yet. We are broken people who are exhausted by this curse. I can’t see how that notion can be shed just like that. I can’t see how I can forgive myself, how she can forgive herself and we can just rise and become the people you and I studied side by side. Simple as that.”
My cold glance told him exactly what I feared on top of that, that Chara would crumble. That the knowledge that the first lovers were not as revered as they had always believed would be enough to end Chara—or rather what was left of us once Donalt had his way.
“You think she’s too deep? That this will not work because of it?”
I wasn’t quite sure how he reasoned that Willow was deep in her vessel. I supposed everyone knew she was having trouble controlling her insights, but Brady hit it on the mark with that statement.
Instead of confirming his words, I pushed my argument forward. “You know when she understands this, when I finally get five minutes to explain it, she’s going to be worried about you, about all of you. She will base her choice on that. So, I’m asking you again, Brady. How sure are you? Do you really feel a burn when you look into your soul mate’s eyes? Do you think Mom and Dad do? Any of the people we know? Do you think Chrispin or Marc have had a chance to build that connection? If I prevail, what promise do I have that I will not be standing alone with Willow, that we will watch the couples we call family fall apart? Lore says all flames will rise, clear as day.”
Brady’s eyes were humble, calm. They usually held an edge, one that said he meant business, that he didn’t have time for games.
“You do not build that burn, Landen; you feel it with the first touch. On sight. I have no doubt. If I ever did, I would have never brought her home. I would have never started a family with her. None of us would. Our bloodline is not bewitched by lust; we are bound by souls, and we are waiting on you. I can’t speak for your path. I don’t know what’s going on in that head of yours, but as your brother and your friend, I’m telling you to stop looking for excuses. You were not chosen lightly for this task. Stop fearing this.”
“The fear of losing her is the only fear I care to entertain.”
He clenched his jaw and angled his eyes to the side, then back at me.
“Landen, I have no idea how you have survived the last few months, and I’m not talking about the trials. I’m talking about this triangle. This awakening you’ve had. No man would let their soul mate walk away with another man. No man would know that another man had pushed his energy into something that was his, kissed her lips, and still be sane, calm. I know it’s not because of a few lost years of friendship between you and Drake; in fact, that should have made it worse. I know it’s not because of your dreams with her, or that you could feel her emotions and intent—all of that would have made it crueler. It’s because you mastered fear. You mastered doubt. You know she completes you. You know you are one with her. You have always known.”
I gave him a stiff nod before this conversation went wickedly sappy. Not my and Brady’s style at all.
We had reached the edge of the Veil. In the halo, I could clearly see the palace. I searched the rooms, looking for an aura of energy, one that I knew Phoenix and Marc must be hiding behind. I found them in a wing that was Drake’s and Drake’s alone. One part of it looked like a library.
“Hold on,” I said to Brady as I grabbed his arm and moved us there, pushing through the barriers of the Veil and into reality.
There were flames all around this sphere, ones that I only managed to pass through because Phoenix opened the way. Chrispin, Marc and Draven were there, in full form, but no Drake.
Marc was by the fireplace. His shirt was off, and he was holding it before the flames, trying to dry it out along with his damp pants.
I glanced around this room. I gathered it was a bottom floor to a library in this wing, a wing that was built for the sole reason of protection. The walls were ingrained with salt and herbs; I could smell them in the air. I couldn’t figure out why we had not used this place for all of the meetings we’d had in Esterious. That was when I noticed the family crest on the back of one of the doors. It was an outline of a universe. Rings were circling the C that stood for Chambers, and each zodiac symbol was imprinted in those rings.
I didn’t even have to ask. I knew Livingston had helped Drake build this wing, this safe haven. The first thing the males in our family are taught is to protect our soul mates, to give them shelter and warmth. It was clear to see that Livingston had not let that tradition fade out with Drake. The tradition was also not to open the home to visitors until the soul mate was found.
I could only assume why it was now opened.
I admit, I was worried about knowing Madison was now staying in the palace, because she looked so much like Willow, but I suppose I didn’t give Drake enough credit. It was still hard to see him as part of my bloodline. Maybe it was because he’d adopted the name of Blakeshire.
Brady silently moved from my side to take a seat next to Chrispin in the tall imperial chairs before the fireplace. Chrispin slid what looked like a short glass of whisky to him, and Brady swallowed it whole without hesitation. That was out of character for both of them, but I suppose they were both looking for a way to take the edge off.
“What happened? Where’s Drake?” I asked as I moved to the table in the center of the room. Phoenix was at the head of it, and Draven was to the side; they were both poring over a book that looked older than time itself. It was my book of shadows, spells I had gathered, along with lost prophecies. One glance told me that Phoenix had added to it; it was three times the size it was when I’d last seen it.
Chrispin nodded up to Marc, who offered a glare over his shoulder before he said, “Apparently, Madison likes to go on late night swims. She came across Donalt, and he warned her of a plot.”
“So you called me here to tell you that whatever he said was B.S.?”
I didn’t want to give them any reason to believe that indeed the war that was predicted so long ago, the hostile takeover of Donalt that the Flames must stop, was just as real as the mark on my chest.
Draven glanced up at me, just to see if that bite in my tone was directed at Madison. Obviously, he saw where my anger was fixed because he went back to reading the book.
“Explosions,
mate,” Phoenix said to me. “I think Xavier has his hand in this—they are going to blow up the cathedral, and I would suspect two other locations that make a triangle,” he said, glancing at me with a knowing glint in his eye. Last I saw him, he was hoping this energy would help him with the spell he was working on; it looked as if there were going to be more power than anyone needed to contend with.
He pushed an aged map that was under his book toward me. He had outlined three points around the palace. The palace itself was almost as large as the entire city of Delen, so the points were outside the borders in neighboring cities.
They would work like dominos, each making the next stronger. The last mark was at my borders, right in the path of the part of the Veil Phoenix had planned for his little spell to go down.
“So much for fighting from our own corners,” I said so quietly that only Phoenix and Draven heard me. Draven glanced at my family, then back to the book. The room was heavy with anger and frustration. Donalt and Xavier always seemed to be one step ahead.
“Yeah, they’re crossing us,” Draven said, or at least I think he did; I never really saw his lips move, but I heard his agreement. I felt his anger ripple the air. He was gaining power. When I first met him, he was barely aware of the energy he possessed. In fact, he gave all the credit of the energy he created to the music he played. He was talented. Very talented. But that power came from within, and he had somehow tapped into that.
I came to the side of the table and stood opposite him. I’d made a promise to Willow not to let Draven and the others get hurt in this chaotic mess. She felt responsible for them even being here, and honestly I was the one to blame. I was the one that needed Draven to save me from The Realm.
Draven nodded to the book. “These explosions are going to happen right when Phoenix and I need to be in the Veil, fighting our own wars. The influx of dead are going to weaken the Reaper, weaken a lot of things we’re working to balance.”
I glanced at Phoenix. “The Reaper. You’ve made new friends.”