The Toll (56 page)

That had me stopping dead in my
tracks. “What?”

Nodding slowly, she pulled a small
pouch out of her dress pocket, giving it a quick pat. “You were
having pains, and I was worried you’d deliver before you were
ready.”

Ready?
Somehow the way she said it made me think it didn’t mean what
my initial interpretation had heard it as. “You put things in my
food without my permission?” I couldn’t believe it, I just
couldn’t.
Where were my stupid warning
signs for that?
She’d been dosing me, and
I hadn’t a clue!

“
No, and only a pinch, in
your tea. Tis no different than if I were to give you something for
sickness or nausea.” With a wave of her hand, she gestured to the
cup in mine, my other clenched over my rounded belly. “That one,
though, is stronger.”

I’d been having pains
lately... was it because her herbs had done something to me? Was it
hurting my baby?

“
But you’d asked me prior,
and I’d given consent. Addie... how could you? You could
have...”
Hurt my child!

Addie looked truly perplexed. “Why are
you looking at me like that? You’d think I just stabbed
Brevin.”

“
You tricked me, and you
lied to me!”
Possibly poisoned me, as well
as my babe!
My shout made her jump,
toppling over the small cup filled with flowers in the
middle.

We both stared at one another, in a
bit of a standoff, the steady ‘drip-drip’ of the water trickling
down the side of the table and right onto the worn wooden floor
ticking along with my jaw.

Turning the cup in my hand upside down
as she gaped at me, I watched it splatter all over the floor,
splashing the hem of my dress, mixing with the water rolling
towards me from the flower spill.

“
Petty!”

“
Adamina!”

“
What are... Why... What
did you do that for?”

“
I don’t like liars, and I
don’t trust
this.”
Tossing it, the mug thunked and shattered on the wall just
past Addie’s head.

Ducking, she shrieked, thinking I’d
meant to throw it at her, instead of just beyond.

“
Hey! That was a warming
gift!” She barked, incensed, teeth gnashing as she flew into a
tizzy. “I made that for you!”

“
To poison me!” My voice
was hard and steely, jaw clenched tight, teeth gritted. It fell
over me, my anger, smothering me almost maddeningly.

Addie’s eyes widened, deep amber
irises flashing with green one second, then gone in a
moment.

Shock and recognition hit me at once
and I stumbled back, slamming into the wall behind me. Heart
slamming my chest, throat tight in dawning horror, I whispered,
“Why?”

“
Why what?”

Lifting a fisted hand to my
lips to bite at it, my teeth dug in, hoping to keep myself from
screaming.
How did I not see it
before?

“
See what
before?”

Realizing too late I must have spoken
aloud, I just shook my head, backing towards the door slowly. Words
dried up, on the tip of my tongue, strangling me as they stuck in
my throat.

Uneasiness slid across Addie’s face
and she slowly got to her feet. “Petty...”

“
No use in playing dumb
anymore,” I spluttered, hands shaking, scrambling back. “I-I
know!”

Addie blinked uncertainly and her face
cleared. “Petty, I-”

“
You know that’s not my
name!” Sharp, like the crack of a whip, my voice shot across the
sparsely furnished room. Runes humming across my skin, tingling
across my shoulders, neck and chest, vibrating with the low dipped
hum of unspent power. Loads of it, since I rarely tapped into
it.

Feigning innocence, trying to play the
injured party, she quickly glanced away. “I-I don’t know what
you’re talking about.”

Though she really did sound confused,
I’d already seen the proof.

Stabbing a hand at the dark tea
staining the floor, I demanded, “What was in that
tincture?”

“
Just dried herbs.” Hands
out pleadingly, she took a few small steps towards me. “Why do
you-”

“
No!” My hand shot out and
sparks sizzled from my wrists, eyes blazing blue, warding her
off.

She immediately backed up, eyes wide
and terrified. “Oh! Your eyes! Petty... I don’t understand...
You’re acting stran-” Foot sliding forward, she attempted to edge
closer.

Sparks danced from my hand again.
“Just... stay away!”

She edged back, crouching down a
little, as if to somehow make herself smaller. “Petty-”

“
I said stop!” I bellowed.
“Stay away from me!
Zeme!”
Slapping my hands at my sides, never taking my
eyes off the Earth Elemental, I snatched the first thing my hand
closed around—the fancy poker for the fire. It was one of the few
things left perfectly intact in the whole place from the previous
owner. It had also been covered in old, dried blood, thus its spot,
even after a good scrubbing, by the door. Swinging it around wildly
in front of me, enough to startle Earth into ramming back into the
table to escape it—me—I shoved the door open wide, slowly edging my
way out. “You can’t have my baby! He’s mine!”

“
I don’t want your child,
I-” With a long sigh, Zeme let out an irritated growl and dropped
her guise.

Gone was the slender, dark skinned
Adamina, in her place was the beautiful, glowing, otherworldly
Gaia, Mother Nature in the flesh.

“
No. No.” My head shook
violently. “I don’t want to know.”

Zeme’s stern expression melted,
weariness seeping through. “They’re coming, and despite what you
must think, we only want to help.”

Oh, that didn’t sound good,
and who the hell is they? Aren’t they the ‘they’?

No. Don’t believe it! It’s
a trick!
I was warring with myself.
But what if it’s not? Gah!

“
Help me? Hah! Did Niniane
tell you to say that?” I spat the words at her, filled with
vitriol.

“
Niniane doesn’t know of
our presence, my dealings have long ended with her.”

“
Our?”

Pleading in her eyes, she entreated
quietly. “Bearers aren’t always involved in their mortal get, not
anymore, or their get’s offspring. It is... too much. It is hard to
explain ourselves to mortals, harder, even then, to grow attached,
only to watch them age and die.” Rubbing a hand along her forehead,
brushing a long, wavy lock away from her face, she closed her eyes,
as if to find the right words, or patience, and continued. “We are
not ones to... we do not let go so easily.” Swirling eyes meeting
mine, filled with some unnamed emotion, she smiled sadly. “I saw no
fault in Fire’s decision. The Fates took away our ability to pass
our immortality on to our children. Punishment for Niniane’s
misdeeds, I assume.” Her head shook, upsetting the perfectly done
wavy lengths filled with leaves and small bits of crisp, green
grass, shimmering with bits of glittering pyrite. “I don’t know.
This was the only way.”

“
Troll has power,” I
argued, snorting in dismissal. “Try again.” Shoulders tense, I
rolled my neck, the slow cracking as I shifted from side to side
taking some of the tension out of my spine.

“
Your Troll is cursed.” A
small smile lifted the corners of her full lips as his name rolled
easily off her tongue, foreign but welcome, as if she thought my
name for him sweet or endearing.

Not so much, but I felt no need to
correct the misconception.

Eyes narrowing to little blue slits,
my hands gripped the fire poker so tight my knuckles ached. “And
what is that supposed to mean to me?”

“
Once Niniane’s meddling
was known, I gave Phaestus my word I’d help. He does not wish to
stand by and idly watch as one of his kin meets a bad end. He...
cares.”

Oh? Where was this supposed
magical kin to me the better part of my life? Or does one only
intervene when it means they might meet a bad end, hmm?
I really wanted to know. “Did he care when I
was-w-w-was-” My voice stuttered to a stop.
Did he care when I was attacked? Where was someone
then?

Zeme’s eyes lit a brilliant green,
vines glowing from her luminous locks, curling up and around her
shapely limbs. “If the Fates had not intervened,” she intoned
darkly, “the spineless fool would have met a far greater
end.”

It was too much. Just... too much. No.
“I want you to leave.”

“
I can’t.”

“
Of course you can.” My arm
swept the entryway, offering her passage. Leave now, and never come
back. My message was quite clear, body language screaming, ‘Get the
hell out, now!’ “I was just about do it myself. Not all that hard,
you see?” Condescending sarcasm was my hooded cloak, scathing
condemnation my scythe, grim as a reaper as I glowered over at her
darkly, pain and anger in my eyes, stiffening my expression,
ordering her, in every way possible, to leave.

Zeme shook her head, and again, “I
can’t.”

“
Fine!” I refused to stand
here a moment longer. “Then I will!” Whirling around, eyes still
blazing, I marched into the yard.

“
They are coming for you!”
She shouted from inside.

Who?
I had no idea. But, one thing I knew for sure, I’d had no
more need of her honeyed lies.
She’d say
just about anything, wouldn’t she?
The
offspring of the offspring of an Elemental?
Pfft! And who was his get? Papa? Mamma? Grandad? Hah! I think
not.

“
You are not ready! The
curse! Think on it, Phedaenya! You cannot forsake a bond, there is
always a toll!”

“
I forsook nothing,” I
whispered, swiping angry tears from my eyes. “And that’s not my
name!” My voice lifted to a shout. “Now, be gone! I wish to be rid
of you!”

“
You can’t mean that! Think
of the babe!” Her voice was growing desperate, pleading.

I kept walking. It didn’t
affect me in the least. I’d hardened towards her. She’s one
of
them.

That’s exactly who I was thinking
of—my babe—she could have harmed him with her trickery.

A low, pained sound uttered from
inside the house, as if the house itself was groaning, and the
earth rocked hard enough I barely kept my footing, a surge of power
following the tremor. Reaching out, I grasped the side and held on.
Gritting my teeth, my grip tightened as small cracks and furrows
sprouted up everywhere under the ground’s fierce rumble, shuddering
beneath my feet.

Once all was settled, there was a
stillness in the air, pricking my skin. A thin layer of grey, misty
dust floated all around, the smell of wet earth and dried leaves
tickling my nose. Thicker than fog, soup-like and swirling, magic
hummed all around me. Creeping up to the window I’d opened earlier,
I carefully, cautiously peeked inside.

Zeme had opened a giant hole in the
middle of my little house, eyes blazing as she glared down into it.
“I will leave if you wish,” her eyes wouldn’t meet mine, “but you
will be vulnerable.” She never once looked up as she spoke, but I
could see the effort that cost her, casting her face into the
shadows.

Despite my heart dipping slightly,
unconsciously softening towards her, I wouldn’t be played again.
Never again. “I’ve made it this far without you.”

Gaze finally lifting, liquid pools of
gold, simmering with emerald flecks, slowly met mine. “Did you?”
she murmured, a hard edge seeping in, the corners of her mouth
tightening perceptibly.

“
Before you go,” I
hesitated, but only for a moment, “did the tincture hurt my baby?
Will... will he be alright?”

“
Yes.”

Eyeing her evenly, I hoped she spoke
true.

“
Are you so certain,” she
murmured quietly, “that the child is his?”

I didn’t bother to play stupid. What
would be the point? “I don’t.”

Taking a deep breath, she twisted at
the waist, flowing skirts following in her wake, gold eyes melting
to warm, glowing green. “I will go, as you’ve dismissed me and I
must follow the rules, but you mustn’t stay here. Leave now. It
isn’t safe. That babe isn’t safe.”

A long moment passed between us as we
stared each other down. Keeping a straight face that gave nothing
away, my head dipped towards hers slightly. “Thank you for your
warning, but I think I’ll be the judge of that.”

“
You’ll be the judge of his
end.” Face darkening, a flash of pain shot across her lovely face
before she dropped into the small crater, disappearing as it closed
over her, swallowing her whole.

Which he?
I thought, in a panic. Dizziness slapping me,
cold dread suffused me. The thought of the loss of either, Troll or
my babe, had me sick to my stomach.

Blanching, I fell to my
knees, moaning quietly as another pain wracked me. Leaves crumpled
and rocks and mud dug into my knees, a sharp pain striking my
middle.
No. No. No. Not now! This can’t be
it.
Contrary to my wishes, I knew what was
happening, whether I wanted to admit it or not.