by Ella Frank
Bastian shrugged as if he didn’t care. “You’re the one who said Li’Am is scared. Is that any way to talk about your Commander? Your leader? You’re just a pawn in his game. I wonder what it will take to make you see that?”
If his father wanted to play games and had sent Ry’Ker as his keeper, he’d have to do better than that.
Games, after all, were his kind’s specialty.
Wilmington, NC
Two days earlier…
Maeve looked at the clock hanging on her dining room wall and watched as the second hand made its way around the face.
Time.
That was a new concept she’d had to grow accustomed to when she and Rhiannon had awoken in this new world. It was something that she found passed by excruciatingly slowly when one was keeping track of it.
Her girls were late. Really late. As in five hours after the time they’d agreed to meet for dinner. That put it close to one in the morning, which was completely unlike them.
Rhiannon was standing by the window quietly looking out at the running river. She hadn’t said anything since they’d made the last call to Naeve and gotten her voicemail. All four of her girls weren’t answering their phones, and none had called to say that they wouldn’t be by. That could only mean one thing—nothing good.
For the last several hours, she’d been racking her brain, trying to come up with logical explanations as to where they were and why they hadn’t called, but nothing was making any sense.
The roast she’d cooked was now cold on the center of the table, and the wax of the candles had dripped down and collected at the base of her favorite silver holders. The flickering flame started to blur, and her vision became clouded as an intense sense of panic welled inside her.
She hadn’t felt this way since the day she’d had to leave Arcania, and as the feeling rose inside her chest, she placed a hand between her breasts as if she could squash it back down.
“What about the police?”
The soft whisper delivered by Rhiannon barely made it through her agitation as she gazed across at her sister.
“The police?”
“Yes. That’s who we need to speak to. I see it all the time on the TV at the café.”
Maeve thought about the little place they both worked in and frowned. “But what if they just decided to go out? You know, party for their twenty-fifth year.”
Rhiannon let out a sigh and shrugged. “I don’t know, Maeve. This just isn’t like them. Not to call.” She paused and then smiled. “I mean, Fiona would call for sure. That girl has a backup plan for everything.”
“Well, there’s nothing wrong with that.”
“True, but I’m just remembering how Siobhan called her anal retentive just the other day.”
Maeve smiled then, thinking of each of her girls. “I don’t know what to do. Do I wait until morning or…”
“Let’s go with or for now. If they were in trouble, don’t you think one of them would’ve called? You can make them feel terrible in the morning, and I’ll be more than happy to help.”
A slight chill swept over her body, and Maeve rubbed her arms up and down, trying to find some sort of comfort. She could wait until the morning. No big deal, right?
But as she looked at the clock again and saw that time had barely moved at all, she wondered if the wait itself would kill her.
Arcania
Two days earlier…
Seraphine collapsed onto the table before her and felt the residual energy inside her seep from her pores. She’d done it. She’d found them.
As she rested with her cheek against the hard marble, she felt a cruel curve morph the corner of her mouth. It had taken her years to work out where the Hierophant had suggested her aggravatingly perfect sister go, but she’d done it. With the circlet she’d given Maeve on the day of Ascension, she’d tracked down a summoneer. They were the only beings who could locate another in a different realm, and he’d found where Maeve was hiding—and Rhiannon.
She’d been shocked to discover both women together.
The old Hierophant had thought he’d been really clever before he’d disappeared to whatever plane of existence he’d gone to. Not only had he locked Lach’Lan from her, but he’d also sent Maeve away with a companion.
It infuriated her that even the small victory of thinking Maeve was miserable and isolated hadn’t been a true victory. No, he’d given her a friend for all these years.
Well, how nice for her.
Twenty-five years she’d been waiting.
Twenty-five years of plotting, scheming, and looking for what she needed.
And now that she had it, she would not fail.
It delighted her to no end that, in those twenty-five years, her sisters had aged considerably, unlike herself. They looked older from what she’d been shown by the summoneer, and her vanity reveled in that. While they each had lines around their eyes and a definite aged feel to their skin, she remained as youthful as she had years ago—but she was now twice as powerful.
Right this second, however, she could hardly move as she lay there in the center of her chambers, recuperating after exhausting her strength. She barely had enough stamina to lift her arms as one of her guards dragged a chained man into her room.
Excitement grew in her as he was shoved to the ground, and when the guard looked her way, she dismissed him with a flick of her hand. She then returned her gaze to the man lying at her feet.
Oh, yes. He will do just fine.
He was scared enough that his heightened emotions would feed her energy level, and she would have the power she needed by the time the link was forged to do what needed to be done. All she had to do was touch him.
Seraphine licked her lower lip and leaned down to drag one of her metallic nails down the man’s cheek. She watched him take a shaky breath, and then she gripped both of his cheeks and shut her eyes.
As the room lit with a bright, luminous glow, Seraphine absorbed the energy thrumming off of him as it tingled through her fingertips and up into her veins.
She would stay like this until she was done—until she’d fully regenerated.
The kleptors had shown her a quick glimpse before fading from her lack of power, so she knew the women were exactly where she’d left them in the Taise Forest.
For now, that will have to do.
When Maeve found what she’d left for her, Seraphine would need all of her powers to tell her exactly what it was she wanted.
Which was everything.
Wilmington, NC
Maeve pulled her car to the curb in front of Naeve and Siobhan’s apartment. Then she turned to her sister, who was seated beside her, and said for the second time that morning, “Maybe they just forgot.”
The first time she’d said it, Rhiannon hadn’t replied, but this time, it seemed as if she couldn’t keep her thoughts to herself. She reached across the center console and took her hand.
“Maybe, but I’m starting to think you’re right, Maeve. I’m getting a really weird feeling about this.”
No more was said as they pushed open the car doors, made their way up to the apartment, and knocked several times. Nothing.
Maeve opened her purse, found the spare key Naeve had given her, and slid it into the lock. Then she pushed the door open.
As it swung wide, the first thing she noticed was how still everything was. There was no fan and no window open. No movement of any kind—especially of the human variety.
“Are you going to go in?” Rhiannon asked, placing a hand on her arm.
Maeve turned to her and felt her breathing becoming erratic. “I don’t know if I can.”
“Okay,” Rhiannon told her. “I’ll go and check.” She stepped inside the apartment while Maeve remained standing outside the door.
Please let them be in there.
She pushed her hands into her pockets and tried not to think the worst as she waited on her much calmer sibling. It reminded her of the first few hours they’d arrived
in Wilmington. They hadn’t known where they’d been sent, just that they were on the bank of a river and, as far as they’d been able to tell, maybe just a different part of Arcania.
After deciding that they needed to explore beyond where they’d woken, it was more than obvious they were definitely not in Arcania. They’d stepped out of the woods and into...downtown suburbia—a term they discovered much later on.
The cars, buildings, and even the clothing had all been foreign to them. But not quite as foreign as how she had looked to the locals.
Thank the Gods for Rhiannon, who apparently resembled a ‘flower child,’ because she’d managed to get them into a store, the café they ended up working at, and into the good graces of the owner. Little old Betsy Hartfield—
“They’re not here,” Rhiannon announced, breaking Maeve from her thoughts.
Deep in her gut, she’d already known that.
“But I did find this.” Rhiannon held out a piece of paper that looked like she’d ripped it from a calendar.
At the top, it read: Birthday tarot reading...Tales of Futures Past, 4573 Grace Rd. Then, directly under it, was: Audra is lucky I love her.
No, no, no.
Maeve’s heart picked up pace as she stared at what she hoped was a joke.
Her girls knew better than to go to a tarot reading. She’d told them more than once that she forbade those kinds of places. She’d been telling them their entire life. It was the one place she knew could, if she could manage it, be a portal for Seraphine.
She and Rhiannon had discovered early on that this culture, this world they now inhabited, called upon their Guardians for their future fortunes by way of tarot readings.
It had become obvious exactly why the Hierophant had been able to send them there. The people here knew of Arcania, they just weren’t aware that those they looked to in tarot existed in a wholly different realm.
That night, in a small little bookstore, they’d learned a lot.
“Why would they go there?” she thought out loud, raising her eyes to Rhiannon’s.
“Curiosity of the forbidden?”
Scrunching up the paper, Maeve pulled the door to the apartment shut and stuffed it in her purse. “We need to go.”
Rhiannon frowned and put a hand out to halt her. “Wait a minute. You don’t think this is some kind of trap? If it is Sera, maybe this is exactly what she wants you to believe. That the girls are missing and you need to go to this...Tales of Futures Past to find them.” She stroked her fingers down Maeve’s arm in a comforting gesture. “We both know what a master manipulator she was all those years ago. I can’t even imagine what she’s like now.”
Maeve was scared to imagine the kind of person—no, sensualeer—Sera had become. If this was in fact their sister, then they knew that whatever awaited them when they reached the shop wouldn’t be good. But not going after her daughters wasn’t even an option.
“I’m going, Rhiannon.”
“I know.”
And that, Maeve thought, is what Seraphine is counting on.
* * *
When they reached the front door of the shop fifteen minutes later, Maeve wasn’t surprised to find it ajar. She knew deep in her heart that her girls’ disappearance, the store, and the fact that this was their twenty-fifth birthday were all too much to be a coincidence. It had to have the involvement of someone from their past.
She pushed inside the store, Rhiannon close on her heels, and knew that she should slow down and try to assess the situation. However, common sense had left somewhere around the point of realization back at Naeve and Siobhan’s apartment.
All that remained now was the need to find them.
If, somehow, Seraphine had reached her girls, they would be helpless. Defenseless against her. They knew nothing of Arcania, nothing of their heritage—and that was all her fault.
With complete disregard to proprietry, Maeve walked straight through the front entrance, down a narrow hall, and into a large, square room at the back. She came to an abrupt halt when she saw what was hanging on the walls and felt Rhiannon stop directly behind her.
“By all the holy Guardians, did you ever expect this?” she whispered, voicing Maeve’s exact thought.
Maeve made her way over to the left hand side. There, all around them, were images of their past. Images no one but a fellow Arcanian would know to replicate.
The first was an exact recreation of Castle L’Mere, their childhood home, and immediately, Maeve felt an ache inside her heart. It felt like hundreds of years since their exile, not the mere twenty-five it had truly been.
“This has to be the hand of Sera,” Rhiannon stated.
Maeve remained silent as she took in the image and remembered the last time she’d seen Li’Am and Sera…
“It’s coming. The baby. They say they can see the head.”
Lach’Lan stepped over to Li’Am and clasped his hand, patting him on the back. “Good for you. Are you overjoyed?”
Li’Am stepped aside and told him, “I will be once Sinead’s part is through and she stops threatening me with death.”
Lach’Lan looked back to where she stood and raised his brows. “Is this what I have to look forward to, then?”
“Death would be much easier, I presume, than pushing a—”
“Cease,” Lach’Lan chuckled. “I believe you. I believe you.”
“Come on. I want to be in there when it’s born,” Li’Am announced.
Her brother walked inside, and she heard Lach’Lan say as he followed, “Okay. But I am standing by Sinead’s head.”
Maeve was about to follow when she felt the temperature take on a frigid chill. The same it had that day at the ceremony, when the Hierophant had approached her sister Sera, and automatically, Maeve placed her hands over her rounded stomach.
All of the commotion she’d been able to hear moments before had now vanished, and in its place was an eerie silence.
Sera? she thought and waited for an answer.
So happy you have not forgotten me, big sister.
Maeve could feel her breathing hasten as she remembered the pain from that night many months ago. Her eyes darted around, frantically trying to spot her estranged sister, but she could see nothing.
I could never forget you, Sera.
My name is Seraphine, Empress. You’d do well to remember it.
Where have you been?
A jarring cackle filtered through the air, and then Seraphine appeared before her.
Maeve was shocked by the clarity in which she could see her. She’d only been learning this piece of magic months before, but as Maeve faced her now, it was as if Seraphine were in the room with her. It was more than apparent that this was one power her sister now had a firm understanding of.
Maeve stood as still as she possibly could with her back to the wall, stunned by the transformation in her sister. Standing before her was a stranger, and when she took a step forward, Maeve could tell she was a dangerous one at that.
I was banished, dear sister. Did he not tell you? Seraphine’s tone was cold, her black eyes frightening as they pinned her where she stood.
Did who not tell me? Maeve thought. Who knew?
The Hierophant. She spat the word into Maeve’s mind as if it were a disgusting taste in her mouth. He wasn’t strong enough to kill me, but he got inside my mind, saw what he saw, and then he banished me with no reason as to why.
Maeve blinked several times, trying to understand, and then Seraphine reached forward and placed a hand on her belly, making her flinch. A sneer curled the side of her sister’s mouth as her coal-like eyes met her own.
Didn’t think I could touch you, did you?
No, she had not. Never before had Seraphine been able to touch or talk in this form. She would merely appear as a vision and have to communicate through the mind.
Well, when one has nothing to do but hone their magic, one soon learns a few tricks.
Maeve could feel her heart hammering inside he
r chest at the angry determination she could see on her sister’s face. Her dark hair now had a red hue to it, and when she reached out and gripped the back of Maeve’s neck, a cry of shock left her mouth.
Did you think I would forget, sister? Seraphine thought. Happy with how it turned out, you say. Well, I for one am not.
Sera, Maeve thought, wondering if any part of her sister was still in there. I never meant to hurt you. You know that. I had no control over who was called. I didn’t know.
Seraphine’s eyes turned to slits, and Maeve felt a sting of pain against the back of her neck. Something had pierced her skin.
You are going to leave…
Leave? Maeve thought, panicked as Seraphine’s grip tightened and the pain increased.
Yes, leave. Go far, far away, and leave your Emperor behind.
Maeve felt her heart ache as the words were hissed inside her mind. You know I cannot. We are ayon. If I leave…no one knows what would happen. We could both end up like mother—mad.
Seraphine ran her eyes down to the belly Maeve was protecting with both hands. That may be so. But it’s not written anywhere that you have to be near one another, and I am quite content to have a slightly mad Emperor sitting beside me on his throne. Especially one such as Lach’Lan.
Maeve stared in disbelief of the cruelty of Sera’s words.
Oh, it hurts to be betrayed. Doesn’t it Maeve? To know that what you expected would happen—the happy little life—instead has changed course.
The biting sting at the back of her neck intensified as Seraphine brought her hand, and that once golden index finger, to the base of her throat. The markings that used to be hidden away, the ones that adorned Seraphine’s arm so beautifully, were now a twisted map of black up the length of her arm. Like a diseased river.
A river, you think? Perhaps. You will leave tonight, or come tomorrow eve, you will wish you had.