The Guardian Mist (4 page)

P
resent Day

V
arinia Velt’s
fingers flew over the keyboard in front of her.

She’d found her sister.

Well, half-sister.

Rin had known her entire life that she had a half-sister out there somewhere. From the time she was very young, her mom had told her and Augustina about her. Built her up in their young minds. She was given up for adoption at birth, because of some awful circumstance their mom had never been that clear about. Cassia had told them she’d always regretted giving up her baby and wanted to find her. Was desperate to find her.

Reading the email MacKenzie Reign had sent her had cleared up a lot of things.

A lot.

Like,
a lot
a lot.

Rin had known her entire life that their mom liked her twin sister, Tina, better than her. In some ways, that was an advantage. After all, when they were young, Rin was allowed to stay up later, could play outside in the dirt, could choose her own friends, and was free to major in whatever she wanted when she got to college. In Rin’s mind, Tina had the tougher life. As their mom’s favorite, she had to be perfect and was under scrutiny all the time. Her hair had to be flawless. Clothes pressed and clean. No dirt under her nails, friends chosen carefully. She’d attended the nearby private school, while Rin went to public schools.

Still, Rin had grown up in Tina’s shadow. It had been hard not to be at least a little bitter growing up. There were even years where Rin had hated her mother. But once she’d made friends in middle and high school, and had realized what her sister had to go through, she’d slowly come to terms with their wildly different lives.

They were twins, but even more different now that they were adults. Oh sure, they were both five feet six inches tall. Both had red hair and curves that women all over the world would kill for. Rin and Tina even had the same freckles that would pop out on their bodies wherever the sun kissed their flesh. But they weren’t equals. At least not in Cassia Velt’s eyes.

Tina had long, beautiful auburn hair, but their mom had kept Rin’s short when they were growing up; a pixie cut that curled around her neck and face, especially when it got just a tad too long. Rin had gotten used to it, and now actually preferred the shorter cut, never bothering to grow it out.

Tina wore beautiful dresses and designer clothes. Rin wore clothes from thrift shops.

Tina had pedicures and manicures. Rin wasn’t ever invited to come along.

Tina still got a healthy allowance to do with what she wanted. Rin had gotten her first job at the age of thirteen, bagging food at the local mom-and-pop grocery story, and wasn’t given any money from her mom for extras.

Tina had been the most popular girl in her prestigious high school, even elected prom queen her senior year. Rin had been just one of thousands in her class, and while the other members of the computer club thought she was awesome, no one else had even remembered who she was when asked at their five-year reunion.

And all the twins had heard growing up was how sad their mom was for having to give up their sister. When Juno, their grandmother, was alive, she’d told them a story about a woman who’d tragically had to put her baby girl up for adoption. Mom was young, mom was poor, mom was heartbroken at having to give away her beautiful baby daughter, but she wanted the best for her, wanted her to be able to have food on the table every night. And the only way to accomplish that was to give her to a loving family who could provide everything Cassia Velt could not. The only thing she’d left with the baby was a ring that had been in their family forever, so she’d know she was loved by her biological mother.

But the email Rin was reading from MacKenzie gave lie to her mom and grandmother’s bullshit.

And it was
all
bullshit.

Rin shouldn’t be surprised—she knew her mom, had grown up knowing exactly what her strengths and weaknesses were—but she somehow still was.

She’d used her computer skills and some of her nerdy friends to track down the missing sister. Social media blasts, help from sympathetic county workers who’d dug up ancient paperwork, dogged determination, and some threats from her mother lighting a fire under Rin’s butt had finally coughed up the name, MacKenzie O’Neil Reign née Velt, which had led to the surprising fact that the woman now lived in England with her husband…who just happened to be loaded, friends with
the
Prince William, was a viscount, and went by the name of “Lord Reign.”

Rin hadn’t told her mother yet. She wanted more information on the ring that she’d heard about her entire life before she spilled the beans about the long-lost daughter—and the ring—being found. Both Juno and Cassia had told the twins about the family curse so many times, Rin had it memorized by the time she was three.

If Tina, as the oldest twin, didn’t find her one true love by the time she was twenty-five, they’d
all
end up miserable and unhappy the rest of their lives.

Tina had bought into it, and had gotten more and more desperate as the years creeped closer to their magical twenty-fifth birthday. Rin, frankly, couldn’t drum up the angst about the legend or the ring that her sister had. She was perfectly happy without a man in her life, thank you very much, and didn’t much care about the ring business one way or the other.

As differently as they were raised, it was no wonder she and Tina had such different thoughts about the curse. Men were
meh
in Rin’s mind. She’d had boyfriends and male friends, she certainly wasn’t a virgin, but because of the way she was raised, in a matriarchal family with a lack of males, she’d learned to do almost everything she needed done by herself. When she’d gone away to college, she’d learned even more about unclogging toilets, resetting circuits, changing tires, and basic plumbing the hard way.

However, D-day was almost here, their twenty-fifth birthday. Thirty-one days and counting, to be exact, before they were cursed for all eternity, yet Rin didn’t feel any sense of pressure about their situation.

But Rin
did
feel the want to find her half-sister and it wasn’t just because her mom had become increasingly desperate in the last year. It was probably too late in life for her and the unknown half-sister to ever be close, but this MacKenzie person was someone who had the same blood flowing in her veins.

The second she’d read the email from her half-sister, Rin had known everything was different. The reunion she might’ve had in her mind—where MacKenzie would be overjoyed to find her mom and the sisters she hadn’t known existed—wouldn’t ever happen. Her life had spun on its axis and Rin was still reeling from the information MacKenzie had shared.

D
ear Varinia
,

I
have
no idea how you found me, but I’m mostly pleased you have. I’ve thought I was alone my entire life, an orphan, and I am cautiously pleased that I have not only one, but two sisters.

With that being said, as much as I once dreamed my mother and father would realize the mistake they made and come back and find me and love me, I’ve learned what true love is, and have no desire to ever set foot in my birth mother’s presence. I’m sorry to be so blunt, you must love her, but it’s true.

I can only imagine that she told you a fairytale of how she had to give me up and a nice family adopted me. The truth is that I was abandoned outside a fire station, because she knew they’d have to take me in and do something with me. I was in foster homes until I was six years old and was finally adopted by a wonderful woman named Isobel, who was my mother in every sense of the word.

My husband scoffed at your letter, thinking you were just after our money, or maybe even wanted to meet up with me to get to the Royal Family, but when we read about the description of the ring your mother implored you to find, he relented and agreed that I should write you back.

I
do
have the ring. I haven’t ever told anyone about it, but Isobel gave it to me when I was eighteen and said it was in the box that I was found in when I was a baby. I can only assume that part of the story your mother told you was true, but for one detail.

It is no longer dark, it’s a brilliant crimson color, and I believe it’s found its true home here in England. It’s a long story involving swords and ancient legends, and I truly hope you’ll hear it someday, but the truth is stranger than fiction.

I’m rambling now, but I still, at that point, wasn’t going to email you back, or at the very most was going to tell you that you had the wrong person.

But you said you’ve always had dreams.

There is an inscription on the ring that, translated from Latin, says:
With Dreams Only of You
.
Did you know that? Odd dreams are what led me to England and to my husband. I don’t know what kind of dreams you’re having, or if you’re really having them at all, that could be a lie, but if you are, and they are anything like mine were, I imagine you aren’t sleeping well.

The bottom line is that my husband investigated you and your family. Thoroughly. Enough for him to know you live in a not-so-nice part of Columbus and that you should probably move to a safer place. Enough to know that your mother and sister are living in a nice house on the other side of the city. Enough to know that I think I’d like you a lot more than your twin. Enough to know how desperately your mother and sister are searching for Tina’s one true love.

The party being planned for your twenty-fifth birthday is Tina’s last chance; we both know that. I’m going to do you a favor, because I had a dream about you and that party last night. I’ve never really understood my dreams, but this one, with dragons, fog and a cityscape, I couldn’t even begin to understand.

Please know, I’m not doing this out of the goodness of my heart. If it was up to me, I’d never let the ring out of my sight. Ever.

But I will send it via courier. On one condition.

That
you
wear it. Not your sister. You.

You can let your mother and sister know you have it, but it stays on your finger. As soon as the party is over and your sister finds, or doesn’t find, her true love, the ring comes back to England. If I understand the legend, it won’t matter after that point. The stone in the ring will either be gray or crimson and location won’t make a difference. Yes?

I’m doing this for you, Varinia. I’ve never had a sister and I think I just might like you. Maybe after your birthday and whatever’s happened has happened, you might take a trip to England.

I look forward to hearing your reply.

Please let me know if you have any questions,

S
incerely
, MacKenzie Reign

R
in had read
the email so many times she’d almost memorized it, but couldn’t resist glancing at it again. Not only had she finally found her half-sister, but she’d found the ring too.

Cassia couldn’t be trusted. Rin knew that, knew her mom was unstable when it came to the family curse and the damn ring. She’d want to keep the ring, or at the very least have Tina wear it, but MacKenzie had demanded that
Rin
wear it, and she knew she’d do whatever her half-sister wanted, just to have a shot at seeing the infamous poesy ring she’d heard about her entire life.

Rin and Tina
were
having a joint birthday party. Rin knew her mom was only holding it as a hail-Mary hope that Tina would find her true love. And Rin was only invited because it would look bad if one of the twins was left out of the celebration. She should’ve been weirded out that MacKenzie knew about the party, but it wasn’t any stranger than family curses. Besides, she couldn’t get the line, “I’ve never had a sister and I think I just might like you” out of her head. She’d love to get to know MacKenzie better and maybe even have the kind of relationship with her that she’d never had with Tina.

In a dream just last night, Rin had walked up to a stranger on the street, and the other woman had said those exact words to her, smiled and walked away.

Right after she’d left, Rin had found herself suddenly in a dark room. It was pitch black and silent as death. She had panicked, started walking with her hands out in front of her, taking baby steps so she wouldn’t run into anything. Then, all of a sudden, she found herself engulfed in the scent of fall.

It was the only way to describe the smell she’d been dreaming about her entire life. It smelled like fireplace smoke, cold air, leaves…and peppermint.

It was the oddest thing, but almost every nightmare she’d had in her twenty-four years had abruptly ended with a fog rolling in and that smell. It was as if, instead of a guardian angel, she had this guardian…mist. She didn’t know how else to describe it. But whenever that scent came to her, whatever was worrying, frightening, or freaking her out just stopped, and she felt safe once more.

Rin had no idea what the dreams meant, but she didn’t have time to figure it out at the moment. She had way too much to do, including emailing her half-sister back to reassure her she wasn’t going to lose the ring. She also had to decide what she was going to wear for her birthday party…and think about when she could fit in a trip to England to meet her long-lost sister.

Weirdness, family curses, a lying mother, and the chance that she might die an old maid notwithstanding, today was a good day. She had found her sister. That meant the world to Rin.

“
G
ive me the ring
,” Cassia demanded, holding out her hand impatiently.

Rin shook her head and put her hand in her pocket, protecting the amazing piece of jewelry. “No. I told you that as part of the agreement—that I signed and had to get
notarized
—I’m the only one who can wear it and I agreed that it would be sent back to England by next week.”

“That’s utterly ridiculous! It’s
my
ring, I gave it to her in the first place, and that woman has no right to dictate who will wear it and where it will be stored,” her mom said petulantly.

Rin gazed at her sadly. She’d held a glimmer of hope that when her mom realized she’d found MacKenzie, she’d be overjoyed that her child was alive and well. Rin had prayed that her half-sister might have been somehow…misinformed about what happened to her when she’d been an infant. But when Cassia had told Rin some convoluted story about how her first baby had ended up in a box outside of a fire station, which was obviously a ridiculous attempt at a lie, the fantasy died fairly quickly.

Her mom really
had
thrown away her daughter as if she were trash and had tried to get rid of the ring as well. Now it was back and Tina had to find her true love in less than a month.

“No, Mother. The ring is safe on my finger. Nothing is going to happen to it. When Tina finds her true love, it’ll change colors no matter whose finger it’s on. Now, talk to me about this party. What still needs to be done?”

Cassia huffed and Rin knew her mom was still pissed, but, thankfully, she let it go for now.

The ring was warm against Rin’s finger, but even though it had a slight red glow when it had arrived (a residual glow from MacKenzie’s love?), it was now back to the gray color Cassia said it had been when she’d seen it last.

“Fine. I don’t understand why you’re being difficult about it, but if Tina doesn’t find her true love tomorrow night, I’m holding you responsible. And don’t think you’ll be able to avoid suffering right along with all of us. You’re a part of this family. If the curse isn’t broken, you’ll be affected just as much as we are.”

Rin ignored the threat, having heard it before and honestly not caring anymore. It usually seemed to be her fault Tina couldn’t find the man meant to be hers, for one reason or another. “The party, Mom?”

“Nothing. I don’t need you to do anything. I’ve taken care of it all. Invitations went out on social media, I’ve personally talked to every influential man I can think of in the city with a son. Hell, I even went to the community college and put fliers up. Tomorrow night should be hopping with single, eligible men. Tina will find the man meant to be hers. I just know it.”

Rin stopped the eye roll that threatened to escape just in time. How in the world her mom could even know Tina’s true love would be living in Columbus, let alone show up at the party, was beyond her, but she knew better than to ask. Cassia had always been like this. Hard and tough, but ultimately still holding out hope that somehow Tina’s one true love would materialize out of thin air.

“What time do you want me there?”

“You?”

“Yeah, Mom,
me
. For my birthday party?”

“Hmmm, yeah, well, it’s mostly for Tina. You know, all the single guys and all. You can come and say hello, but since it’s her party, you should probably just plan on being there for a short time. It wouldn’t be good if you managed to catch the attention of a man who should be with Tina. I’ll take some pictures of the two of you so people don’t talk, but then you make yourself scarce.”

“Mom,” Rin complained in exasperation. “We’re twins. I know Tina’s your favorite, but it’s ridiculous to not expect me to attend the entire night. You know people will be suspicious if I don’t.” Her mother’s barbs didn’t hurt anymore; she was too used to them.

“
Fine
. We’ll mingle and chat at six then sit down to dinner at seven. Lights go down and the music starts at eight-thirty.”

“Do you need anything beforehand? Help setting up?’

“No.”

It was always like this. Rin was a part of the family, but only peripherally. “I’ll be there around five, just in case.”

“Varinia?”

“Yeah, Mom?”

“Thank you for finding the ring. I just want you to be happy, you know that, right? Tina is the key to making us
all
happy. That’s all I’m trying to do here. That’s all I’ve wanted for you both.”

It was these small glimpses of love that her mom let slip through that made Rin not give up on the woman once and for all. “I know, Mom. I know.” And Rin
did
know. She’d heard it enough over the years to understand that
everything
Cassia had done her entire life had been done to chase the elusive fairytale that was finding one’s true love. Even favoring one twin over the other.

“See you tomorrow, Mom.”

Cassia nodded absently, already back to thinking about the party the next day, and Rin headed out the door of her mom’s house and to her car. She hadn’t seen Tina; she was most likely at the spa being pampered before her big night.

Rin had worked eight hours that day and had another full day tomorrow. She was going in early to make sure she could finish the project she was working on before her party. Typically, Friday’s were slow, so that would make getting the work done easier.

She was proud of how far she’d come since graduating high school. She’d earned her undergraduate degree in computer science and had lucked into a job at the same firm she’d interned with. She now worked in the IT department, improving the company’s software and trying to come up with new and better reports for the employees. It wasn’t glamorous, but Rin herself was anything but glamorous. The job fit her perfectly.

Whatever the outcome of the ring, whether by some miracle Tina met her true love tomorrow, or in the next couple of weeks before the actual date of their twenty-fifth birthday, Rin would soon be taking the first step toward the rest of her life…and she couldn’t wait.