Ethon (The Other Worlds Series Book 2) (34 page)

Will had really only experienced Avyrithe at night, in the dark. To see it now while the sun still shone was new for him. Before he and Dallyn had left Evedon to rescue the princess, he was given a map of Avyrithe and its surrounding regions. The map had turned out to be dated – Avyrithe had grown since its transcription. However, it had still helped to give him a perspective of the city.

The main road sloped down from Avyrithe Castle, through the city center, and on to the fork in the forest that went either to the Fenmark or White Sands. Avyrithe Castle sat at the top of a low rolling hill, on a piece of land that jutted out from the rest, placing its walls directly into the wind. If Will were heading to Avyrithe by ship, the castle would appear to have civilization to the left and daunting vegetation to the right.

From within the fortress’s grounds, several graveled paths traveled downward, over the cliff’s edge. During the years of Dagon’s control, the lanes had been obviously neglected. Weeds filtered up through the gravel. Will assumed the trails once led to the docks for trade, but by the look of things, he doubted those were in any better condition than the castle itself – broken and laced with vines.

Will continued to take in the scenery of Caprith from his perch on the keep’s front steps, where Treveri and Caiden had been a few minutes before. Olinia had since sent them to Evedon. At the moment, Olinia was beside Will with her eyes shut as she communicated with Legann’s mind. Even though she and Will were no longer dripping from their journey out of Sivean, their clothes were still damp. Twilight was nearing, which meant that it would be dark soon. Will didn’t really want to get stuck out in the chilly night air while wet.

He glanced up at the sky to see how much longer the sun would be out. Unfortunately, the sun was closer to the horizon than he would’ve liked. In Caprith, the sun set in the east, right off of Avyrithe’s shores.

Olinia sighed and pushed herself to her feet, brushing off the back of her jeans with one hand. Will watched her without moving. “So, what did Legann say?”

“Lillie’s with him,” she answered. “They’re going to talk to Dagon tonight.”

“Okay.” He nodded once before standing as well. “Where to now?”

Her gaze drifted to the exterior wall of the castle. “I need to walk.”

She took off toward the gate into the city. Will frowned, surprised, but followed after her anyway. He could have easily caught up to her, but decided it best to wait a minute, allowing her to lead him. When she reached the road, she veered toward the forest. Once again Will followed her, the crunch of their shoes on the gravel and the distant roar of the ocean the only sounds.

When Olinia passed the first line of trees, Will began to wonder just how far she intended to go. As if to answer his question, she stopped a few seconds later, her face still away from him. Will hung back behind her, watching.

The wind that snuck into the forest tousled her hair. She wrapped her arms across her chest, hugging herself against the slight chill. The underbrush and fallen twigs hid her feet from view. Even though she was in Ethon attire – dark blue jeans and a long-sleeved gray sweater – she didn’t appear out of place amid the trees. The image he saw was actually a perfect example of what her life had become.

Caprith was her home world, yet she looked like an Ethon. During her time out of the Other Worlds, she’d transformed into a princess of two realities – his modern-day Ethon and her ancient Other Worlds. It suited her. In fact, it seemed like this was how she’d always been.

“Olinia,” he whispered.

She turned, an odd look on her face. “Sorry, I just needed a minute to think.”

“What’s wrong?”

Her hands reached into her hair, pulling at her scalp. “Am I a fool? I just told Legann to get help from the man who sent little children to their deaths, simply because they were Wends. They had no escape from him. Their innocent eyes gave them away to the Dreens, shipping them off to the Dark.”

Will grimaced. “You’re not really aligning with him.”

“No,” she let out a short, bitter laugh, “I’m tricking him into fighting the Velvitors, while presenting him with the opportunity to destroy the Eves at the same time.”

“There’s still time to stop Legann if you want,” he pointed out.

“I know.” She winced. “I’m just afraid that I’ll be trading Zedge’s death by Talik for death by Dagon.”

“I’m not going to lie to you, there is that possibility.” Will closed the gap between them and placed his hands on her hips. “But there’s also the possibility that it won’t happen at all.”

“Right.” She rubbed her eyes. “It doesn’t matter if I want to be queen or not, I’m being forced to act like one.”

“For now,” he agreed. “When this is over, though, you can still choose to leave your throne to one of your brothers.”

“Supposing they’re still alive,” she whispered.

He grunted. “They’ll live. We’ll make sure of that.”

Olinia released a sigh and turned away from him again, gazing out into the forest once more. “Come on, Will, tell me honestly, do you think I should be queen?”

It was the question Will had been waiting for her to ask eventually. He chuckled, delaying his answer a few seconds. “I meant what I said before, I will follow you wherever you go.”

She faced him slowly. “That’s not what I asked.”

“Yes, Olinia,” he replied. “Yes, you should be queen. Despite what you may think at the moment, you already are the future queen you were born to become. Living in Ethon for a while didn’t change that.”

Olinia glanced upward to the tips of the trees with a short groan. “I know you’re right.”

“You have to want it for yourself though,” he told her. “No one can make that decision for you.”

“No,” she shook her head, meeting his eyes again, “that decision was made for me a long time ago.”

“By whom?”

“By me,” she grunted. “When I accepted Denon and Sadree’s tutelage, I also accepted my destiny. I knew then what I was getting myself into, I just wasn’t fully able to comprehend what it entailed.”

“And you do now?” Will let his voice trail off on the last word.

She nodded. “It means I do whatever I can to help my people.” She frowned slightly. “Caprith has suffered greatly in my absence, as has the Other Worlds. I’m High Royalty. I was born to rule the realm.” She bit at her lower lip. “I don’t like suffering. By becoming queen, I can help put a stop to that.”

Will was quiet for a moment. Then, “So, what do you want to do?”

“I want to be queen,” she replied simply. “Like you said, it is who I am. I can’t desert my people, my duties, or my destiny. I will become queen.”

He wrapped his arms around her again, pulling her head against his chest, and kissed her forehead. “I think you made the right choice. You would’ve regretted giving it up.”

“Thanks, Will.” She offered him a small smile. “You do realize this means you’ll be king, right?”

“I’ll cross that bridge when we get there,” he shrugged. “Now, where are we going next, your highness?”

:  :  :  :  :

Porter shouldn’t be this stressed. The ordeal with Olinia at school and then with her brother at the plantation had really messed with his head. His gut told him he should’ve reported the incident with Legann to the director but some small portion of him couldn’t bring himself to do it. The guilt from hiding the truth, though, was making him sick, like back when he was a kid who wanted to share his gifts with the world. Each time he’d think of telling someone not from DS about the black hole gobbling Legann up, his heart would race, and his lungs would feel as if they were collapsing – slowly suffocating him from the inside.

It was because of this overwhelming guilt that Porter had decided to go for a ride – in an attempt to try to clear his mind. Being home at his apartment had made him too restless. Fresh air welcomed him outside, so he’d hopped on his bike and taken off through the town, not bothering to pay attention to the names of the streets he took.

He’d been out for over an hour, but didn’t feel any better than when he’d left. His thoughts were still a jumble of twisted images, and hidden secrets he’d never been meant to discover. That was what ate at him the most – the fact that he no longer trusted DS. Kidnapping Olinia had been hard enough to swallow, but her brother disappearing into a wall was just absurd. As much as Porter hated to admit, he was hurt by the secrecy of DS. Seekers were supposedly a part of the inner-workings – presumed to know everything there was to know about the organization. The past day, though, had proven to Porter that he didn’t know squat.

Releasing a deep breath, Porter turned onto a quiet residential road and realized with a start where he was. He’d unconsciously driven to Olinia’s neighborhood. Now, as he neared the lengthy driveway up to her house, he slowed to a near crawl. Even though he knew the dark-eyed mystery wasn’t home, he couldn’t stop himself from riding up to her front door. A sensation of shame filled his insides while he curved up the drive, surprising him. Never had he felt anything but pride toward his actions for DS. Yet, Olinia’s capture had been partially his fault, and he regretted his hand in it.

Porter tossed a glance at Olinia’s house once it came in sight. The setting sun, dimmed even further by the thick array of trees, allowed him to see that a light had been left on inside. He winced. Without questioning why he felt the need to, he parked his bike and stepped up to the front door with the intention of shutting off the light.

As expected, the door was unlocked. Even if it wasn’t though, he could’ve slipped through one of the many shattered windows. Inside the foyer, his feet crunched over the broken shards. At the sight of all the damage, Porter experienced his shame anew. This wasn’t right. The director shouldn’t have barged into Olinia’s home like that with all her hired guns.

“What are you doing here?”

He turned. “Hillary?”

She was standing at the end of the entryway – arms folded and her face in shadow. The light Porter had spotted outside was on behind her, making it difficult for him to get a good view of her expression. He frowned. “Why are you here?”

As a DS student, Hillary – from what the instructors had told Porter – lacked focus with her gift. She had the potential to be great but settled for mere popularity among her peers, rarely driven to accomplish even the simplest tasks. Porter knew she had the capacity to be so much more. She’d been his very first recruit as a Seeker. He’d seen the way her hair would constantly stand on end as a child. Electricity flowed through her, and yet all she’d ever managed to do was throw out a few sparks from her fingers.

“You’ve got about five seconds to answer my question, Seeker,” she spat out at him, her already husky voice going a touch deeper.

He blinked. “Since when do you call me Seeker?”

“Time’s up.”

For the second time in twenty-four hours, Porter was flung backwards. Unlike his encounter with Olinia, Hillary employed a lightning bolt from her hand to cause him to fly off his feet. Intense pain paralyzed him as his muscles contracted. It was as if his body was knotting up in a thousand different places. He didn’t even notice landing on the hardwood floor. When did Hillary learn how to shock someone? She was supposed to be an underachiever!

Hillary appeared, crouching over him. Her fingertips sizzled with sparks. “I’ll ask you one more time. What are you doing here?”

He was alarmed at how much effort it took to find his voice. “I saw a light on,” he croaked out. “Why’d you try to kill me?”

“Oh, please. I knew that wouldn’t kill you,” she retorted, somewhat smugly.

Porter swore, struggling to push himself up onto his hands. “Great way to treat your cousin.”

Their relationship had definitely changed in the past couple years. They used to be close, not practically strangers. Hillary had been Porter’s closest relative. When she joined DS, instead of becoming better friends who shared secret abilities, they’d slowly drifted apart. In fact, he hadn’t really talked to her in months. Whenever they’d pass each other in the halls of DS, he’d offer a brief greeting, but nothing more. He knew the rift between them was in part his doing, yet he didn’t believe it merited her inflicting pain on him.

“When did you discover how to become a human thunderstorm?” He asked, staring down at his feet as he wiggled his toes. He wanted to make sure he still had movement in all his appendages.

“I only do lightning,” she corrected.

“And when did you start doing that?”

She grunted. “I’ve been playing with lightning since I was ten.”

He gawked. “Why did you hide your capabilities from DS?”

“Not all of us want to be their slaves, Porter.” The sparks in her hands died down as she sat across from him on the floor.

“Slave? What are you talking about?”

“DS
uses
you,” she replied. “You may be blind to it, but I’m not.”

The events of his day flashed through his mind again. She’d hit a soft spot. It was the simple truth he’d been mulling over for hours, but never came outright and said. His younger cousin voiced his fear perfectly. After what had happened, Porter
did
feel used. It wasn’t a feeling he enjoyed. DS had betrayed him.