Deviation: Altera Realm Trilogy Book 2 (31 page)

Helen looked at her, surprised yet excited. A lot of her religious beliefs had been called into question over the past few weeks and she wondered, for the first time, what Vasclineda really believed herself. She then looked across the table at Leaf, who stared back at her. She was very surprised that Syney had brought up the idea of other races and did worry, considering what Leaf had mentioned to her about council support. But she couldn’t help feel a little thrill.

After a silence fell over the table, Mellisandrianna looked at Syney. “Do you have an actual motion?”

Syney nodded. “I motion…” She paused for a moment with her mouth open. “I motion to abolish the law that prevents different races from joining.”

No one at the table moved an inch. Finally Cass cleared her throat. “I second.”

Syney and Helen looked at her. Helen assumed this was coming from some sort of guilt Cass might be feeling regarding what had happened between Syney and Hunter, but she couldn’t be sure. There was an odd look on her younger sister’s face—one Helen wanted to know more about.

Mellisandrianna sat back in her chair. “Call the roll.”

Justice looked at her then at the long parchment used for voting. “Princess Adandrianna of House Crystallianna.”

“Nay.”

“Princess Cassandrianna of House Crystallianna.”

“Yea.”

“Queen Lilith, head of House Grendalin.”

“Nay.”

“Leaf of House Fall, head of the Royal Guard.”

Leaf looked at Helen for a moment. “Nay.” She could see the sadness in his eyes but understood what he had to do. There would be hell to pay from Mellisandrianna if he voted any other way.

“Elder Thomas of House Crystallianna.”

“Nay.”

“Elder Lawrence of House Crystallianna.”

“Nay.”

“Elder Warren of House Grendalin.”

“Nay.”

“Elder Josephina of House Grendalin.”

“Nay.”

“Seated Queen Syney of House Vilori.”

“Yea.”

“Queen Mellisandrianna of House Crystallianna, head of house and ruler of the Village.”

“Nay,” she said with a smile.

Justice made a notation on the parchment. “Motion rejected with eight nays and two yeas.”

Syney stared at the queen for another moment before sitting back down. She dropped her head. Helen wanted to reach over and take her hand—tell her everything was going to be OK—but she knew she couldn’t.

“I do believe, Your Majesty, that you had another motion,” Elder Thomas said,

Syney looked up at him and slowly nodded. “I motion to allow royal and nonroyal pairings.”

“I second,” Queen Lilith said quickly.

Helen’s mouth dropped open. Lilith never seconded anything. She was the one person on the council from whom no one ever knew they had support until the actual vote.

“Shall I call roll?” Justice asked.

Mellisandrianna narrowed her eyes at the Grendalin head of house and nodded.

“Princess Adandrianna of House Crystallianna.”

“Nay.”

“Princess Cassandrianna of House Crystallianna.”

Cass smiled sadly. “Yea.”

“Queen Lilith, head of House Grendalin.”

“Yea.”

“Leaf of House Fall, head of the Royal Guard.”

“Yea.

“Elder Thomas of House Crystallianna.”

“Yea.”

“Elder Lawrence of House Crystallianna.”

“Yea.”

“Elder Warren of House Grendalin.”

“Yea.”

“Elder Josephina of House Grendalin.”

“Yea.”

“Seated Queen Syney of House Vilori.”

“Yea,” she said quietly.

“Queen Mellisandrianna of House Crystallianna, head of house and ruler of the Village.”

A distinct redness blotched her face as she looked around the table at all the faces. “Nay.”

Justice made a notation on the parchment. “Motion passed with eight yeas and two nays.” He had a very rare smile on his face as he handed the paper to Mellisandrianna to sign.

She almost ripped the paper to shreds as she signed her name, and then she stood. “Is there anything else?” Silence. “Good,” she said, before sweeping out of the room, a little slower than usual but still with her signature arrogance.

Helen looked at Syney, whose face was still filled with sadness. She grabbed her hand. “This was a good day for you.”

Syney nodded. “I know.”

Leaf leaned forward. “The other motion is never going to pass while we’re still fighting the war.”

“I know. I just…needed to try.”

Helen sighed. “And thank you for that.”

Syney gave her a sad smile and stood. Vasclineda had moved to stand next to her. The old woman smiled at her. “That was a brave thing you did, one the goddesses greatly admire.”

Syney glanced at Helen then back at the high priestess. “Thank you.”

She nodded. “This
is
a good day for you. I recommend you make an appearance at dinner tonight. Big announcement,” Vasclineda said, before slowly heading out of the room.

Helen stood up. “Are you ready for this?”

Syney looked at her and slowly nodded. “Yeah. I’ll see you later.”

Helen watched her go before looking back at Leaf. “I don’t think the motion she really wanted to pass did.”

He shook his head. “No. Did you bring the paper for today?”

Helen took a small piece of paper out of her pocket and handed it to him. She watched him read it. At the top were the names Syney and Adam, followed by Helen and Leaf. Two other pairings were there; both were one Lycin and one Magic User. He sighed and handed it back to her. He didn’t say anything, but his eyes appeared sad.

“What should we do?” she asked.

He shook his head. “Nothing. For now.”

She nodded and gave him a small smile before taking a few steps away.

“Helen?”

She turned back to him, and he closed the gap. “I…I want to see you. I really enjoyed what we did yesterday, and I think we can talk more and not…”He left the last part unspoken.

Helen looked away. She wasn’t so sure about what he said. She had nearly thrown herself on his bed the day before; she had longed so much for his touch. “OK,” she said.

He sighed. “After dinner?”

She nodded and continued out of the room. She couldn’t wait until after dinner. She’d had very good reasons for not being with Leaf after she had taken her vows, but now…Everything she had believed in was crumbling around her, and she couldn’t justify not being with the man she loved in order to support a crooked religion and broken traditions. Helen was going to take back something she had missed so dearly, and she couldn’t wait.

He really was going to kill her one day. Reed sighed and picked up speed as he searched the palace for Syney. He told her to wait for him outside the council room. He even said he might be late. Every week, while Syney was in the council meetings, he took the time to meet with her other Protectors and review the week and prepare for the next. And of course this time she wasn’t there at all. He had looked everywhere he assumed she might go and had made three circles around the whole damn palace. Hunter had been right: She didn’t listen very well. Before leaving on the mission, Hunter had sat him down and given him some advice regarding protecting Syney.

“She’s always going to think she knows better, so just let her do what she wants, and when it backfires, tell her that’s why she shouldn’t do it. And get used to the fact that she isn’t going to listen to you,” Hunter had said.

Reed almost had resigned right then. Sure, he had protected Syney for almost a year, but he’d always had Hunter to tell him what to do and to help keep Syney in check. It was much different without him, and man, did Reed miss Hunter.

Finally, as Reed stalked across the open walkway, he spotted Syney sitting on a bench in the gardens. He took off at a run and nearly yelled at her as he approached, but then he saw the look on her face. He hadn’t seen that face in a while, and it scared him a little. She sat on a stone bench, staring off at
nothing in front of her, her hand on the necklace she had started to wear after her birthday, a brown-and-purple stone on a silver chain. He slowly walked up to her and sat next to her.

After a while she looked at him. “You told me to meet you outside the council room, didn’t you?”

He nodded. Using words might lead to yelling, he reasoned.

“I’m sorry. I got distracted.”

He nodded again.

She gave him a sad smile. “I’m getting paired.”

“With Adam?”

She looked away as tears welled in her eyes. “Yup.”

“I thought you liked Adam?” he asked slowly.

Syney took a deep breath. “I do.” She looked back to him. “How did you know?”

Reed opened his mouth to answer but stopped. He had a feeling she wasn’t asking about Adam. “You were the only one who could make him really, really mad.”

Syney laughed. “I really could.”

“Plus he looked at you as if you were the only person in the world.”

She looked away and bit her lip. “I thought all Protectors felt that way.”

“No, they protect and put their lives on the line, but most see it as a job. Hunter was only happy when he was with you—even when you two were fighting.” Reed sighed. He shouldn’t be talking about this, he knew, but that was another thing Hunter had told him: Syney wasn’t like normal Magic Users. She wanted to be personally connected to people, even her Protectors.

“Don’t be afraid to care about her, because she’ll care about you,” Hunter had told him with a sad smile. That was the best advice he could have gotten.

She wiped some tears from her eyes. “But he’s not here, and it wouldn’t matter if he were.”

Reed looked at her oddly. Something must have happened at the council meeting. “Can I be honest with you?”

She nodded. “Always.”

“Adam looks at you the same way,” Reed said. “But you don’t look at him that way.”

A few tears fell from her eyes. “I do love him.”

“I know. My mom told me a story about two Lycins who were paired. They were really in love. One of them died soon after they were paired, though, and a year later the other was paired again. He loved his new partner but not as much as he loved the first one. They lived long and happy lives together, though.
Like you said, Hunter isn’t here, but Adam is, and he loves you. You two can be happy together.”

After a moment she smiled at him. “Did your mother really tell you that story?”

Reed slowly smiled. “No, but it serves its purpose.”

She laughed and shook her head. “Thank you.”

“Not a problem.”

Syney looped her arm though his, and the two stood. “There’s going to be an announcement about my pairing tonight. What should I wear?”

He rolled his eyes. “I don’t know.”

“Ugh! You’re so good with some things but so not good with others! What am I going to do with you?” Syney exclaimed.

“Just let me protect you.”

She laughed. “Sounds good.”

Reed started to walk her back to her room, but she stopped him.

“Do you think we could go to the market or something? I want to get out for a bit.”

He nodded, and they headed out of the palace. Hunter had been right about a lot of things, especially the last thing he had said. “Cherish this assignment, Reed. She’s going to be the biggest pain in the ass, but it’ll be worth it. I promise.” Reed looked at Syney. He had been totally right, about everything.

“So you were right about the connection thing. It says here that while the healing gift is a rare Vilori power, it’s also the most powerful. It connects the healer and the healed because the Vilori uses a combination of personal life force and the life force of the individual he or she is healing,” Adam said, placing a finger in the old leather-bound book in his hands.

“It sounds more like what happens when a Vampire uses a lot of his or her blood to heal someone,” Gabe said.

Adam nodded and looked around the packed dining hall. He hadn’t seen Syney the whole day and wanted to share this new information with her. He also had found out a few more things about the Viloris that she might find interesting.

“How did you get that book out of the library?” Noelle asked.

“I just asked,” Adam replied. “The girl behind the counter told me I could take more if I wanted.”