Ascend (Trylle Trilogy, #3) (3 page)

“It’s not horrible,” I said, but it kind of was. At least to me, and Willa and all the other Trylle.

“I wanted to let you know that I didn’t tell Matt about Loki.” Willa lowered her voice as she carefully put pieces of cake on small paper plates. “He would just worry.”

“Thank you,” I said, and looked back over at Matt, laughing at the ridiculous miming Tove was doing. “I suppose I’ll have to tell him eventually.”

“You think Loki will be around for a while?” Willa asked. She’d gotten some frosting on her finger, and she licked it off, then grimaced.

“Yeah, I think he will be,” I nodded.

“Well, don’t worry about it now,” she said quickly. “This is your last day to be a kid!”

I tried to push all of my fears and concerns I had about the kingdom, and Loki, from my mind. And eventually, when I let myself, I had a really good time with my friends.

3. Scars

My dreams were filled with bad winter storms. Snow blowing so hard I couldn’t see anything. Wind so cold I froze to the bone. But I had to keep going. I had to get through the storms.

Duncan woke me up a little after nine the morning. Usually, I got up at six or seven to get ready for the day, depending on what time my first meetings were. Since it was my birthday, I’d slept in a bit, and it felt nice but strange.

He wouldn’t have woken me at all, except Elora requested to eat breakfast with me today since it was my birthday.  I didn’t mind being woken up, though. Sleeping in that late made me feel surprisingly lazy.

I didn’t even really know what I would do with the day. It’d been so long since I had a full day that was free of plans. Either I was working on things for the kingdom, helping Aurora with the wedding plans, or spending time with Willa and Matt.

I met Elora in her bedroom for breakfast, which was usually where I saw her. She’d been in decline for a while, but even before Christmas, she’d been on bed rest. Aurora had tried healing her a few times, but she was only staving off the inevitable.

On my way to Elora’s chambers in the South Wing, I walked past the room Loki was staying in. His bedroom door was closed, and Thomas stood guard outside. He nodded once as I walked by, so I assumed everything was still going alright.

Elora’s bedroom was massive. The double doors into her room were floor to ceiling, so they were nearly two stories high. The room itself could easily fit two of my bedrooms in it, and my room was quite large. Making the room look even larger was a full wall of windows, although she kept the shades drawn most of the time, preferring the dim light of a bedside lamp.

To fill the space, she had several armoires, a writing desk, the largest bed I’d ever seen, and a sitting area complete with a couch, two chairs, and a coffee table. Today, she’d had a small dining table with two chairs set up near the window. It was all laid out with fruit, yogurt, and oatmeal – my favorite things.

The last few times I’d visited with her, Elora had been in bed, but she sat at the table today. Her long hair had once been jet black, but it was now silver-white. Her dark eyes were clouded with cataracts, and her porcelain skin had wrinkled. She was still elegant and beautiful, and I imagine she always would be, but she’d aged so much.

She was pouring herself tea when I came in, her silk dressing gown flowing behind her.

“Would you like some tea, Wendy?” Elora asked without looking up at me. She’d only recently begun calling me Wendy. For a long time she refused to call me anything but Princess, but our relationship had been changing.

“Yes, please,” I said, sitting across from her at the table. “What kind is it?”

“Blackberry.” She filled the small teacup in front of me, then set the teapot on the table. “I hope you’re hungry this morning. I had the chef whip us up a feast.”

“I’m quite hungry, thank you,” I said, and my stomach rumbled as proof.

“Go ahead.” Elora gestured to the spread. “Take what you’d like.”

“Aren’t you eating?” I asked as I got myself a helping of raspberries.

“I’m eating some,” Elora said, but she made no move to get a plate. “How is your birthday?”

“Good, so far. But I haven’t been awake that long.”

“Is Willa throwing you a party?” Elora asked, picking absently at a plum. “Garrett told me something about it.”

“Yeah, she had a little party for me last night,” I said between bites. “It was really nice.”

“Oh, I assumed she would have it today.”

“Rhys had plans today, and I don’t have that many friends, so she thought it would be better to do it last night.”

“I see.” Elora took a sip of her tea and said nothing more for several minutes. She only watched me as I ate, which would’ve made me self-conscious before, but I was starting to realize that she just enjoyed watching me.

“How are you feeling today?” I asked.

“I’m moving about.” She gave a small shoulder shrug and turned to look out the window.

The shades were open slightly, letting the brilliant light shine in. The tree tops outside were covered in a heavy blanket of snow, and the reflection made the sun twice as bright.

“You look good today,” I commented.

“You look nice today, too,” Elora said without turning back to me. “That’s a lovely color on you.”

I glanced down at my dress. It was dark blue with black lace designs over it. Willa had picked it out for me, and I did think it was really beautiful. But I still hadn’t gotten used to Elora complimenting me.

“Thank you,” I said.

“Did I ever tell you about the day you were born?” Elora asked.

“No.” I’d been eating vanilla yogurt, but I set the spoon down on the plate. “You only told me that it was hasty.”

“You were early,” she said, her voice low, as if she were lost in thought. “My mother did that. She used her persuasion, and convinced my body to go into labor. It was the only way we could protect you, but you were two weeks early.”

“Was I born in a hospital?” I asked, realizing I knew so little about my own birth.

“No.” She shook her head. “We went to the city your host family lived in. Oren thought I was interested in a family that lived in Atlanta, but I’d chosen the Everlys, who lived in northern New York.

“My mother and I stayed in a hotel nearby, hiding out in case Oren came after us,” Elora went on. “Thomas stayed on the Everlys, watching them until he saw the mother go into labor.”

“Thomas?” I asked.

“Yes, Thomas went with us,” Elora said. “That’s how I met him, actually, when we were on the run from my husband. Thomas was a new tracker, but he’d already proven to be very resourceful, so my mother chose him to help us.”

“So he was there when I was born?” I asked.

“Yes, he was.” She smiled at the thought. “I gave birth to you on the floor of a hotel bathroom. Mother used her powers on me, induced labor, and made it so I wouldn’t scream or feel pain. And Thomas sat at my side, holding my hand, and telling me it would all be fine.”

“Were you scared?” I asked. “Giving birth like that?”

“I was terrified,” she admitted. “But I had no choice. I needed to hide you and protect you. It had to be done.”

“I know,” I said. “You did the right thing. I understand that now.”

“You were so small.” Her smile changed, and she tilted her head. “I didn’t know you would be so tiny, and you were so beautiful. You were born with a dark shock of hair, and these big, dark eyes. You were beautiful and you were perfect and you were mine.”

She paused, thinking, and a lump grew in my throat. It felt so strange to hear my mother talking about me the way a mother talks about her children.

“I wanted to hold you,” Elora said at length. “I begged my mother to let me hold you, and she said it would only make it worse. She held you, though, wrapping you in a bed sheet, and staring down at you with tears in her eyes.

“Then she left,” she continued. “She took you to the hospital to leave you with the Everlys, and brought home another baby that wasn’t mine. She wanted me to hold him, to care for Rhys. She said that it would make it easier. But I didn’t want him.
You
were my child, and I wanted you.”

Elora turned to look at me then, her eyes looking clearer than they had in a while. “I did want you, Wendy. Despite everything that happened between your father and I, I wanted you. More than anything in the world.”

I didn’t say anything to that. I couldn’t. If I did, I would cry, and I didn’t want her to see that. Even as open as she was being, I didn’t know how she would react to me weeping outright.

“But I couldn’t have you.” Elora turned back to the window. “Sometimes it seems to me that that’s all my life has been, a series of things that I loved deeply that I could never have.”

“I’m sorry,” I said in a small voice.

“Don’t be.” She waved it off. “I made my choices, and I did the best I could.” She forced a smile at me. “And look at me. This is your birthday. I shouldn’t be whining to you.”

“You’re not whining.” I wiped at my eyes as discreetly as I could and took another sip of my tea. “And I’m glad you told me.”

“Anyway, we need to talk about switching the rooms around,” Elora said, brushing her hair back from her face. “I plan to leave most of my furniture in here, unless you’d like to change it, which is your prerogative, of course.”

“Switching what rooms?” I asked, confused.

“You’re taking my room after you get married.” She motioned around us. “This is the wedding chamber.”

“Oh, right. Of course.” I shook my head to clear the confusion. “I’ve been so busy with everything else that I’d forgotten.” 

“It’s no matter,” she said. “It shouldn’t be much work to move things around, since it will be only personal items we’re moving in and out. I’ll have some of the trackers move my things out Friday, and I’ll be staying in the room down the hall.”

“They can move my things in then,” I said. “And Tove’s things too, since he’ll be sharing the room with me.”

“How is that going?” Elora leaned back in her chair, studying me. “Are you prepared for the wedding?”

“Aurora is certainly prepared for it,” I sighed. “But if you’re asking if I’m prepared to be married, I’m not sure. But I guess I’ll wing it.”

“You and Tove will be alright,” she smiled at me. “I’m certain of it.”

“You’re certain?” I raised an eyebrow. “Did you paint it?” Elora had the ability of precognition, but she could only paint her visions of the future in static images.

“No,” she laughed, shaking her head. “It’s mother’s intuition.”

I ate a little more, but she only picked at the food. We talked, and it was strange to think that I’d miss her when she was gone. I hadn’t actually known her for that long, and most of that time our relationship had been cold.

When I left, she was climbing back in bed and asked me to send someone up to clean the mess from breakfast. Duncan was waiting outside the door for me, and he went in to take care of the plates.

While Duncan was with busy with Elora, I stopped at Loki’s room to see how he was feeling. If he was better, I wanted to find out what was going on.

Thomas was still outside, so I knocked once and opened the door without waiting for a response. Loki was in the middle of changing clothes as I came in. He’d already traded his worn slacks for a pair of pajama pants, and he was holding a white tee shirt, preparing to put it on.

He had his back to me, and it was even worse than I’d thought.

“Oh my god, Loki,” I gasped.

“I didn’t know you were coming.” He turned around to face me, smirking. “Shall I leave the shirt off then?”

“No, put the shirt on,” I said, and I closed the door behind me, so nobody could see or overhear us talking.

“You’re no fun.” He wrinkled his nose and pulled the shirt over his head.

“Your back is horrific,” I said.

“And I was just going to tell you how beautiful you look today, but I’m not going to bother now if you’re going to talk that way.” Loki sat back down on his bed, more lying than sitting.

“I’m being serious. What happened to you?”

“I already told you.” He stared down at his legs and picked at lint on his pants. “The King hates me.”

“Why?” I asked, already feeling  indignation at my father for doing this to him. “Why in god’s name would he do something so brutal to you?”

“You clearly don’t know your father,” Loki said. “This isn’t that brutal for him.”

“How is it not brutal?” I sat down on the bed next to him. “And you’re nearly a Prince! How can he treat you this way?”

“He’s the King,” he shrugged. “He does what he wants.”

“But what about the Queen?” I asked. “Didn’t she try to stop him?”

“She tried to heal me at first, but eventually that became too much for her. And there’s only so much Sara can do to counter Oren.”

Sara, the Queen of the Vittra, was my stepmother, but she’d once been betrothed to Loki. She was over ten years older than him, and it was an arranged engagement that ended when he was nine. They were never romantic, and she had always considered Loki more of a little brother and protected him as such.

“Did he personally do that to you?” I asked quietly.

“What?” Loki looked up at me, his golden eyes meeting mine.

He had a scar on his chin, and I’m certain he didn’t have that before. His skin had been flawless and perfect, not that the scar detracted in any way from how handsome he was.

“That.” I touched the mark on his chin. “Did he do that to you?”

“Yes,” he answered thickly.

“How?” I moved my hand, touched a mark he had on his temple. “How did he do this to you?”

“Sometimes he’d hit me.” Loki kept his eyes on me, letting me trace my fingers on his scars. “Or he’d kick me. But usually, he used a cat.”

“You mean like a living cat?” I gave him an odd expression, and he smiled.

“No, it’s actually called a cat o’ nine tails,” he said. “It’s like a whip, but instead of one tail, it has nine. It inflicts more damage than a regular whip.”

“Loki!” I dropped my hand, totally appalled. “He would do that to you? Why didn’t you leave? Did you fight back?”

“Fighting back wouldn’t do any good, and I left as soon as I was able,” Loki said. “That’s why I’m here now.”

“He held you prisoner?” I asked.

“I was locked up in the dungeon.” He shifted and turned away from me. “Princess, I’m glad to see you, but I’d really rather not talk about this anymore.”

“You want me to grant you amnesty,” I said. “I need to know why.”

“Why?” Loki laughed darkly. “Why do you think, Princess?”

“I don’t know!”

“Because of you.” He looked back at me, a strange, crooked smile on his face. “I didn’t bring you back.”

“But…” I furrowed my brow. “You asked to go back to the Vittra. We bartered with the King so he could have you.”

“Yes, well, he still thought you would come around.” He ran a hand through his hair and sat up straighter. “And you didn’t. It was my fault for letting you go in the first place, and then for not bringing you back.” He bit his lip and shook his head. “He’s determined to get you, Princess.”