21
Myra
I needed to see the destruction for myself. Without someone trying to make thing seem better than they were, Nyght didn’t have to tell me that my home was gone. Even though the fire was magical in nature I knew it still damaged what it touched.
The smell of smoke lingered in the air reminding me of a different time, a different place. It was three years ago, before magic had been banded. Uncle Rowan had come to visit; he had been traveling in some far away land. He was always traveling, looking for something to stop the Dusk.
There is a place not far from the Hideaway, ruins of stone and glass. Rowan liked to take us there, Luka and I, when he would visit. Sometimes Brooke and Rykar would come, but most often it had been Luka and me. We would sit around a fire and Rowan would tell us stories of the things he saw and the people he had met.
The low pop and crackle of fire brought me back to the present. I could hear it even at the edge of the woods. There was nothing left. Smoke rose from the stone rubble of what was once the Great Hall. Had anyone else in the castle made it out? I kicked a stone that had once been a piece of my home.
“Princess Myra?”
I turned to find one of the maids that I had heard gossiping about me in the unfinished wing so long ago.
“Bridge?”
“Praise be.” She fell to her feet. “We thought you had perished in the fire.”
Was it better that people thought all had perished in the fire, or that they knew the royal family was alive? I was doing what I got after Luka for, acting without thinking of the consequence.
I helped Bridge back to her feet. “I am the only one you have seen?”
“Yes, your highness.” She bowed.
“Then it is as I feared. No one else made it out,” I lied. It would better that the people thought no one else had survived. It was the best thing I could do to protect my brothers, Drake and his Dusk would be looking for me and they would be safe.
“Miss, are you sure there was no one with you when you escaped.”
I glared at her.
Bridge stammered, “It’s just that…. See Laura she thought she saw that prince… you know the crazy… take you into the woods... the princes might have been with him.”
I could hear the click of my teeth grinding as she spoke. Bridge never could keep her mouth shut. “Understand me. I was the only to leave that castle alive”
“Wwwhat about Princess BrookeRyn… she was taken… left the castle before the fire?”
“Not your concern.” I turned my back to her and head back in the direction I came.
She called out to me “What am I to tell the others.”
“That I have gone to find my sister.”
I felt bad about being so short with Bridge. It was important that no one knew that my brothers survived. Why had Luka thought it was a good idea to leave now? Why hadn’t Nyght stopped them?
“At bit heartless what you did to that boy.” A woman with scarlet hair leaned against a tree no more than three feet in front of me. “At least you had the smarts to take my sword with you”
I touched the pendant around my neck before I spoke. “Hello, Fallon.”
It had been years since I had seen her, the last time being days shy of my fourteenth birthday. I had seen her a few times before, but never on her own, her sister Mikka had always been with her. That day she had appeared in the woods, came to see the girl who had compared to her in beauty. She was the last person I wanted to see right then.
A small jade dagger danced across her fingers. “So you remember me.”
“How could I forget?” I hissed. It’s hard to forget someone who tried to kill you.
The dagger stopped is dance. “My, my child such anger.” She studied me her emerald eyes watching my every move. “I thought we had become such great friends.”
The dagger moved through the air towards me, a shimmer of light settled on my skin. I stared into Fallons eyes only flinching when the dagger landed between my feet with a loud thunk.
“I’m glad to see you have gotten a backbone, you're going to need that.” She nodded at the sword that hung on my hip. “Do you know the history of that sword you are carrying?”
The sword she said was hers. I shrugged. I had heard the stories, but they weren’t always true. History always been a little skewed, rarely written by the ones who lived it.
She moved closer to me, grabbing the dagger at lay in the dirt between us. “You know the legend of my sisters and me.”
I took a step back, my hand on the hilt of the sword. “Yes, I remember.” I felt the ruff trunk of a tree on my back and with a calm I didn’t feel leaned back. “You killed Hel because she was prettier than you and threatened to do the same to me.”
Fire burned in her eyes for a moment. “I let you live.”
I crossed my arms. Let me live. Ha. Her sister Mikka stopped her and gave me the pendent to protect me from danger. It had done its job it saved me.
“During the time that my sisters and I were having ours,” she cleared her throat “conflict, your kingdom was having one of its own.”
“There was a war our kingdoms were bitter enemies.” I sighed. “They made peace and learned to live together. I know the history.” What was she getting at?
“Do you know why they made peace? Of course not. It was because of my niece. The only mortal I truly cared for.” She looked up. “Oleta was special, gifted with magic and skilled in battle. A real warrior, yet soft, she even cared for her half god aunt. Rare gem that one.” She smiled with the memory of her niece. “A marriage was arranged it would join the two kingdoms and stop the war. Oleta agreed to this marriage even though she was in love with someone else. That sword you carry was my wedding gift to her.”
I looked down at the sword that had always hung at my mother’s side, the sword that had been passed down to each ruler of Evigheden. Had she known?
Fallon grabbed my wrist turning the mark of the red dragon towards her. “The man she was supposed to marry, like so many others, craved power. With the help of a woman he was able to change the hearts of the gifted people in both kingdoms.”
White light crackled across my arm were Fallon held it. “What does this have to do with me?”
“Oleta found a way to stop him.” I tried to pull free. “To bind his powers you will need nine, nine marked with the power of the gods.”
“To bind who?”
“Drake.” She stepped back, letting my go, her hand had turned back where it had touched my skin. “If finds the books before you learn what is in them all will be lost.”
“What books?” I said
“I only know the location of one.” The book my mother had given to me appeared in Fallon’s hands. She smiled at me, “you need to be more careful.” She dropped the book into my hand.
“I thought it was lost in the fire.” I traced the gold embossed cover with my fingers.
She turned towards the woods “One last thing, be good to that young man. His soul was lost without you”