Breath of Air (20 page)

Her chest felt heavy, so much so that breathing was becoming increasingly difficult. Knowing his story, sharing his pain, humbled her more than she could have ever imagined. And knowing that he was willing to share that dark part of himself with her, that he trusted her with his feelings, shook her to the core.

“I’m so sorry.” She said softly as she stepped forward, wrapping her arms around him without hesitation, her chin resting on his shoulder as silent tears streamed down her cheeks. He seemed taken aback at first, but within seconds his arms came around her and held on tightly. For a brief moment, she felt like they were children again, and she regretted that she hadn’t been there to comfort him when it had happened all those years ago. Would it have made a difference to him if she had been?

“I’m ready to go now.” She pulled away from him, her eyes clear and steady.

“Then let’s go.” He looked calm on the surface, but she could tell more was going on inside of him. Pulling her with him, he led the way towards the Muse’s tower.

“Can you tell me why this is so urgent?” She asked as he held open the door for her, following her in and leading the way towards the staircase that led up to the tower.

When they stopped just outside the Muse’s door, he turned to her, his face strained.

“My father and Balgaire left for Richmond this morning and refused to take Brogan and I with them. I don’t think this is a coincidence. I think the demon that possessed you is the same demon who murdered your mother and kidnapped you, and I’m sure they know it. I need to know everything you see in your dream, and then I’m going after them.”

Capri looked worried, but didn’t have a chance to comment since Rian pushed open the door and ushered her inside. To her surprise, the Muses were already expecting them. Apparently Rian had not intended on anything other than Capri’s full cooperation.

Once again, she had to lie back in the leather recliner. Only this time, Rian sat beside her in a wooden chair, holding her hand in his. If the Muses noticed the intimacy of the touch, they didn’t say anything. Instead they proceeded to guide Capri into a deep sleep, and slowly but surely she fell into the darkness.

The Muses had been instructed to speed her through the beginning of the dream, and to focus on the last part. Because of this, Capri experienced only a clipped version of what she had experienced before.

When her vision cleared and the blurry images became solid, she realized she was in her mother’s arms, being carried through the courtyard. Only this time, the world around her slid into darkness, only to reappear again, and without warning she was several steps further than before, as if time had been sped up. Again, the world went dark, and now when it reappeared, her mother was sliding her into the jasmine, telling her to be quiet. Before Capri could do more than register the worry on her mother’s face, the world went dark again. When it rematerialized, she heard her mother’s scream, saw the flash of fire, and felt the rough hands lift her from the safety of the jasmine.

She fought to look at the man who held her, who began to run with her, but all she could see was fire. Again darkness swallowed her surroundings, and when it appeared again, the demon was running through the meadow towards the tree, his pace swift and direct as he carried her. Now the dream slowed, and she managed to focus on what was around her.

The moonlight glinted on the grasses in the meadow, highlighting them with its pale blue glow. She could see the wall surrounding Euphora, and the wrought iron gate that had reformed as they had run through it. She could see the castle looming in the distance, glowing orange with the fires raging below it. The trees captured the eerie glow as well, and seemed to pulse with the brutal heat.

The man who held her was breathing quickly and efficiently, as though no stranger to physical exertion. She turned her head and saw his hair was long and black, pulled back into a tail at the nape of his neck. His skin was tanned, but youthful and wrinkle free.

Before she could catch a glimpse of his face, he slapped his hand on the trunk of the tree and muttered words she could barely hear over the sudden shouts and screams coming from beyond the courtyard walls.

And, within seconds, the meadow and trees around her melted away in a ghostly haze, and the tree glowed with vivid gold light. She had to close her eyes against the brightness of it, but she could see it glowing beyond her closed lids.

When it faded to black, the darkness gave her an odd sense of relief. Until she opened her eyes, and the fear set in once again.

Where was she? Where was her mother? Her father? The others? Were they looking for her?

Her heart began to beat frantically in her tiny chest, and even though the grown woman behind the dream knew the horrifying answers to all of her questions, the doubting child refused to believe the reality of them. To her, the fear was real and gripping in its stranglehold on her heart.

She let out a frightened cry, finding no other solution to her panic. The man who held her shifted her roughly.

“Shut up.” He scolded, his voice mercilessly cold as he began to walk away from what looked like a small park. He stalked through the shadows, the streets around them lit dimly by streetlights and the buildings dark and empty.

The sidewalk beneath them was broken and cracked with age and neglect, with weeds sprouting up for desperate release from their cement prison. There were few cars along the nearly empty street, and the ones that were looked as decrepit as the sidewalk.

Suddenly, he made a quick turn down a narrow alleyway, lit from above by hazy moonlight alone. Clothes lines were strung from one building to the next, the garments hanging from them still as the quiet night. She could see the brick of the walls, worn and blackened with time, anciently urban. It was a vivid contrast to the elegant stone castle she called home, and this fact had her clenching her tiny hands on her captor’s shirt, sorrow rapidly mixing with the fear she felt. All she wanted was to go home…

Tears began to spill from her eyes and fall down her cheeks, but she kept silent. Her parents would want her to be strong and not cry. She wouldn’t be a little baby…she would be tough.

When the man stopped, Capri shifted to look up at him, hoping to see his face. Who was he?

His eyes were set ahead, but she studied his profile. He had an angular face with high cheekbones and firm mouth. His nose was hooked and slanted, as though it had been broken more than once in his lifetime. The eyes housed beneath dark brows were sharp and focused, and were the color of molten amber.

“It’s done.” He spoke, his mouth shifting and forming the words delicately, as if to a lover.

Capri twisted in his arms, searching for who he had spoken to. She saw her, a short, shifty woman of about fifty years of age with fiery red hair in wild spirals circling a sharp and bitter looking face.

“What have you done? Who is this?” The woman looked irritated and flustered, her eyes darting from the man to Capri in rapid succession.

“This is Clynn’s daughter. Her mother made the unfortunate mistake of getting in the way of our plan. I’ve been instructed to dispose of her.”

“Why the hell did you bring her here? To me? Did you think about how this would affect me?” The woman spat, her eyes flaring up viciously. “But no, you don’t think, do you?”

“Damnit, I didn’t have any other choice! I had to get the hell out of there!” The man retorted. He set Capri on the ground then, and with the skill and speed of a man accustomed to doing such things, he pulled out his pistol and aimed.

“WAIT!” The woman screamed, and Capri looked up from the polished barrel of the gun to see the woman’s anguished face. “Let’s just leave her here. They’ll never find her anyways; she’ll be as good as dead to them. Just don’t make me watch you kill her, not when my own flesh and blood is her age. I can’t bear it! I just can’t bear it!”

“Fine.” The man muttered through gritted teeth as he sheathed his weapon. “Let’s go.”

With one last disdainful look at Capri, in which she could see his face fully, he took off down the alleyway towards the street. The woman knelt down beside Capri, her hand resting on Capri’s head briefly, before she suddenly took off after him, the skirts of her plain cotton dress billowing behind her.

The world around her shuddered into darkness, and Capri felt herself rising out of the dream. Her eyes flew open and she exhaled shakily, her heart pounding in her chest. She tried to continue to breathe, but her throat felt blocked, and it was then that she realized her face was wet with tears. Closing her eyes again, she tried to quiet her racing heart. She felt a gentle squeeze on her right hand, and when she opened her eyes and turned her head to the side, she met Rian’s gaze.

He was pale, but he was steady. “Are you okay?”

She nodded slowly, and as she did so another tear slid down her cheek. Without saying a word, she sat up and reached out to him, needing the comfort more than she could say. He held her, stroking her hair in an instinctual act to soothe as she fought for some kind of calm after the storm.

When she pulled away from him, she remembered the Muses, who were standing around them, looking both concerned and amused.

Capri looked up at Serendipity, and she managed a weak smile. “Thank you, I think I’ve seen enough for today.”

With that, she stood up, fighting against the impulse to crumble to pieces. Rian followed her as she led the way out of the tower. When they emerged out into the corridor, she instinctually went straight for the library. Rian didn’t object, instead he simply followed her, knowing that the library was where she would feel most comfortable.

When they reached it, she walked right in and settled none too steadily upon one of the many sofas, her hands clasped together and her eyes brightly clear.

“Now that we’re alone.” Capri began, watching him as he took a seat beside her on the sofa. “Let me tell you what I saw.”

She launched into a full description of her dream, sparing no details as she relived it once more in her mind. Rian let her speak, studying her silently as he mentally filed away everything she said. When she was finished, he nodded and stood up to pace.

“It’s going to be hard for us to determine who the demon is based upon a physical description alone, seeing as he was possessing a human and could have upgraded since then, but at least we have something. Tell me more about the woman.”

“She had curly red hair, and she was small, petite, but older, maybe fifty or so…she looked worn out, stressed, bitter.” Capri paused, trying to hone in on the image of the woman in her mind. “I’ve never seen her before, but something about her was familiar. And she saved my life. She stopped him from killing me right then and there. Whoever she is, I owe her my life.”

“I think I know who she is.” Rian stopped pacing and faced her, his eyes sharpening with focus and understanding.

“You do?” Capri looked at him with wide eyes.

“Yes, and it only confirms everything I’ve already assumed.” He looked nervous now, anxious almost, as he started pacing again. “I think that the woman you saw was Brock’s mother, Blythe’s grandmother.”

Capri couldn’t hide the shock and disbelief that she felt at his words. “You’re sure?”

“It makes sense. We know Brock was working with the demon, and Brock’s mother was banished from Euphora years before either you or I were born, though they’ve never told me why. Maybe she was involved in the raid, and she was the demon’s contact in Richmond. And if Brock’s mother was living in Richmond at the time, then it’s possible that when Brock himself was banished, he might very well have gone to Richmond as well.”

“And you think he may still be there?”

“If he is, then my father and Balgaire are most certainly heading into a trap.”

Capri stared at him with sudden and brutal comprehension, fear skittering down her spine.

“I have to go, I have to help them.” He clutched his head with his hands in anguish as he continued to pace, and Capri watched with anxiety as he stopped and faced her, his hands dropping to his sides. “I can’t waste any more time. I appreciate your help, but I have to go.”

“I understand.” She managed, unable to do more than watch as he suddenly took off out of the library. Within moments the library was silent, and Capri was left with nothing except fear and a deep regret that she was unable to do more.

♦ ♦ ♦

She returned to continue work with her father, and while she explained to him that she had been to see the Muses, she refused to elaborate on what she had seen, claiming it wasn’t anything important. Again, she didn’t want to trouble him with discussions of the past any longer…he had already made it quietly clear to her that he preferred to leave the past in the past, and she had no problem honoring his request.

Around one o’clock in the afternoon, Capri headed to the dining hall for lunch, only to run into Rhiannon in the corridor.

“Capri, I’m glad I caught you.” Rhiannon smiled warmly, a large wicker basket cradled in her arms. “I was hoping we could have that picnic today.”

“Oh.” Capri paused, her mind focusing away from the earlier events and on the present. “Yeah, sure, that sounds wonderful.” She felt her lips curve in a smile, but she couldn’t muster up the heart to make it mean anything more than just a smoke signal. Inside, she was nothing but a riot of nerves and emotions.

“Great! I think you’ll enjoy what I packed for us.” Rhiannon winked as she led the way out into the courtyard, where the sun was, as always, shining mistily through a soft morning haze. Capri tried to keep pace with Rhiannon’s efficient walk, amazed that the basket didn’t seem to hinder the other girl at all. She still walked with elegance and poise, like she was on a runway versus outside in a garden. Even the clothes she wore were classy and stylish, from her suede pumps the color of ripe plums to her soft flowery skirt and matching plum blouse, Rhiannon was like a picture out of a high end fashion magazine. Capri wondered briefly if it took her any effort at all to look that way, or if it just came by her naturally.