Read Cora's Kismet (The Twin Destinies Saga Book 1) Online
Authors: Cheryl Davis
Cora entered Thomas’ study with a ball of nerves tightening
her stomach. She had no idea how any of this worked and how she’d be able to
handle her powers. She worried she would be a danger to those she loved, Liam
being at the very top of that list, even though he had his own powers to
protect himself with.
Viola was already sitting there with Thomas and Angelica.
Cora was amazed at how much Viola had calmed down in the last day or so, with
the exception of her outburst at breakfast. Where she’d started out hostile and
angry, she was now relaxed and easy-going. It warmed her heart to see Viola
coming around.
She walked over to the couch she’d sat on before, with
Liam’s arms wrapped tightly around her, and felt so very alone. A pang of
sadness stabbed her heart when she thought of him stuck in that hospital bed.
She wanted him to be there for the ceremony so much, but didn’t dare say
anything, because she knew it would only make him feel bad, so she’d kept her
mouth shut.
Saying hello to her parents and Viola, she locked her
thoughts and emotions away, like she’d taught herself to do the many years
she’d lived with Patrick and Anna and endured their constant abuse.
“I’m sorry it took me so long, I’d fallen asleep and Sage
let me sleep for a few extra minutes, then I waited while the doctor examined
Liam to be sure he’s doing well before I came over here,” Cora said and got
comfortable.
“How is Liam doing?” Thomas asked, concerned. “And where is
Sage?”
“He is doing as good as can be expected. He’s still in a lot
of pain, and rest is the best thing for him right now. Sage stayed behind
because Liam needed to talk to him about something,” Cora said, even though she
still blamed herself for his condition and his pain.
Thomas nodded seeming satisfied, but Angelica noticed the
look on Cora’s face and asked, “What’s wrong, Dear?”
Cora shook her head, “Nothing, why?”
“Stop blaming yourself Cora. You didn’t cause this to happen
to him,” Viola said in a huff, recognizing Cora’s mood for what it was.
“Shut up Viola,” Cora snapped and flopped back against the
couch cushions.
“Not until you get it through your thick skull that you are
not responsible for this! Liam doesn’t blame you, and neither do any of the
rest of us. You are being stupid,” Viola fired back, irritated.
“She’s right Cora. Nothing that happened was your fault, and
you cannot go back and change a thing, so I suggest you put it out of your mind
and concentrate on the here and now, because I can guarantee carrying that
guilt around will make things much more difficult when you’re learning how to
use the powers we are about to unlock. If you don’t have yourself in check, you
will be putting us all in danger, Liam included. Is that something you can live
with?” Thomas told her. She could see Thomas didn’t want to be hard on her, but
was doing it because he was right and knew she needed to hear it. She nodded
her head at him and worked on strengthening the internal walls she stuffed the
excess baggage she carried behind.
“No, I could never live with that,” Cora said. “I will pull
it together, I promise.”
“Good, now that we have that straightened out, we need to
tell you what to expect during the ceremony, because going into this unprepared
is dangerous, and we’ll need you to help by trying to control the power you are
receiving. It won’t be easy because your bodies are not used to having the
power flowing freely through them. Your training will begin tomorrow morning at
dawn.” Thomas went into leader mode and began their meeting.
Cora and Viola stayed quiet and nodded, somehow sensing they
were not meant to talk at that time.
“I know you both have to be nervous and that’s
understandable, but you have nothing to worry about. There are more than enough
powerful people who will be here to help, should anything get out of control.
The two of you will be fine,” Angelica reassured them, but Cora heard the worry
her mother tried to hide from her voice.
“It is a rather short ceremony, but when your powers are
unbound, it will be a feeling the likes of which you have never experienced.
You will feel as if your entire body is engulfed in flames and, at the same
time, a block of ice, because you are dealing with the powers from both sides
of your natures. It will be overwhelming, but you need to find that place
inside of yourself where your powers stem from and use that part to control
them. When you reach that control center inside of yourself, pull the power
inside of it. The power will resist you at first, so you will have to have a
stronger will than it does to control it. We will be there to help you as much
as we can but, in the end, it has to be the two of you who rein it in,
otherwise it will release from you and attack anyone within reach who has
powers,” Thomas said in a grave voice.
“Wow. That sounds intense,” Viola said, trying to picture
and absorb everything she’d just heard.
“Yeah. I sure hope we’re up for this,” Cora responded,
releasing a pent up breath.
“Do either of you have any questions?” Thomas asked, rather
impatient to get everything started.
Cora and Viola looked at each other trying, to search their
brains for something they needed to ask and seemed to come up empty.
Cora shook her head, “Not that I can think of at the moment,
but my head is kind of reeling from all of the information that it just
absorbed.”
“Once you leave this study to go get dressed, you will not
have any time to ask questions again before the ceremony. So make sure there
isn’t anything you need to ask, now,” Thomas reinforced his earlier statement.
“How do we look inside to find the part of us that controls
our powers?” Viola asked out of nowhere, as if the thought had just occurred to
her.
“The easiest way is to close your eyes and concentrate on
the different parts of your body until you feel it,” Angelica responded.
“How will we know when we’ve found it?” Cora asked.
“There’s no way to describe that with words. You will know,
without a doubt, that you’ve found it when you do,” she answered back, being
very cryptic, and irritating Cora even more.
“So if we find that, how do we use it to pull in the powers
and control them?” Viola asked.
“Not if Dear, when you find it, because you will. It’s a
part of who you are and who you were meant to be. To control the powers and
pull them in, you must will them there. They are strong but they are an
extension of yourself, therefore you will be able to force them to bend to your
will. It seems like a lot, but really it’s not. We both have the utmost
confidence that you will succeed at this far better than anyone else has in the
past. Look at how Cora controlled her bound powers, she already has some
connection with that part of herself,” Angelica said, smiling at Cora. “To be
honest, I believe both of you have accessed this part of yourselves in the
past, without ever realizing what you were doing at the time, during your
childhoods.”
Cora and Viola looked at each other with wide eyes, not sure
what to make of their mother’s words. Neither remembered doing such a thing before
a few days ago, when their world had been turned upside down.
“What do you mean?” Viola broke the silence and asked.
“The other morning, when you told us everything Patrick and
Anna had put you both through while you were growing up, something you said
Viola struck me as odd. I hate to even bring this up, because I know the
memories hurt you girls, but when you said Patrick
tried
to pimp you out,
something clicked. Tried means he was unsuccessful, which then means somehow
you prevented it from happening, even if you didn’t realize you were doing it
at the time,” Angelica said, keeping her voice as even as she could, but pride
welled up in her voice toward the end of her statement.
Again Cora and Viola looked at each other, but this time
their eyes widened in understanding instead of confusion.
“So, what you’re saying is, that we were controlling our
powers even when they were bound, and we couldn’t access them, well the
Lunarian ones anyway, when we shouldn’t have been able to access them at all?”
Cora asked, slowing her words to make sure she understood each one, as
everything was beginning to unravel in her mind and started clicking into
perfect place.
“Yes, that is what your mother is telling you. I agree with
her, this is the only reasonable explanation, otherwise Patrick would have
succeeded in what he was trying to do, because you were just defenseless
children,” Thomas said, pride and fury conflicting in his voice.
“So, does that mean we locked away the Solarian powers we
possess on our own, without knowing what we were doing, because we didn’t know
we had them to begin with?” Viola asked, catching on.
Thomas nodded once, “That is the theory we are working off
of at the moment.”
“Theory? You mean you don’t know?” Cora asked, shocked.
“There has never been a situation like this before. None of
our ancestors, that possessed the powers of both Solarian and Lunarian, have
been bound, therefore we have to work from theories to figure out how you’ve
been capable of doing the things you have done,” Angelica explained in a gentle
tone of voice and the girls nodded their heads in understanding. Everyone was
winging it with them, the freaks who were destined to save their world. Not
exactly comforting, but understandable.
Cora stood up and straightened her back with a confidence
she didn’t feel. “I think I’m going to go get dressed now. I am tired of
theories, I am ready to take action. That bitch hurt my mate, and she will pay
for her actions.”
Angelica gasped at Cora’s language, but Viola laughed under
her breath. She’d never seen her more passive sister ready to do battle like
she was now and was bursting with pride for her. She would back her sister up
in every way, because she was beginning to understand just how intense the
feelings between mates were. Not that she’d be admitting that anytime soon,
there were other matters to take care of first.
She stood as well, and together they left the study, and
started towards their room, eager to begin the new chapter in their lives,
before Cora stopped dead in her tracks in the hall.
“What’s wrong?” Viola asked.
“There is something I have to do, and I have to do it before
the ceremony,” Cora exclaimed, her loud voice echoing in the empty hall. “I
can’t believe I forgot about him, yet again.”
“Oh, yeah, that would be good idea,” Viola said catching
onto her sister’s train of thought. “Well, let’s go handle that then shall we?”
“You know where he’s at?” Cora asked, shocked.
“Yep, heard him throwing a fit earlier and followed the
commotion right to him. I didn’t let him see me though, so as far as I know, he
doesn’t know why he’s here,” Viola responded, walking down the hall in a
different direction than their room.
As they got closer to where Charlie was, Cora became more
and more nervous. She didn’t know how to tell him there was nothing between
them. Before she figured anything out though, they were there.
There were two guards standing outside of the room, who
looked very irritated with their job assignment.
“Hey, we’re gonna go in and talk to him for just a minute,
and then you can take him back to the dumpster you found him under and leave
him there, sound good?” Viola said, with a cheerful voice and a bright smile on
her face.
Both guards nodded, a bit too enthusiastic at Viola’s
statement. “Please, get us off of this duty. This guy has made me want to defy
orders and beat him since he got here,” one of them said.
“I’m sorry about that. It’ll all be over for you very soon,”
Cora apologized, sympathizing with them.
The guards moved to the sides as the girls stepped up to the
door. Before they could enter though, one of the guards placed his hand on
Cora’s shoulder. “If you need any back up in there, don’t hesitate to shout. We
will be there in an instant.”
Cora nodded, grateful for their presence, but hoping it
wouldn’t come to that. “Thank you,” she said and opened the door before she
changed her mind.
Charlie looked up from where he was sprawled out on the huge
bed in the room. “Cora?” he asked in astonishment, then jumped up off the bed
and rushed toward her.
“Yeah Charlie, it’s me,” she said and stepped forward.
“I am so glad you’re alright. I have been so worried since
you were kidnapped from your foster parents. Are they treating you good? What
do they want with all of us?” Charlie was so full of questions, Cora almost
lost her nerve. He almost seemed like he did care. She saw Viola roll her eyes
out of the corner of hers and realized it was all just an act.
“Look, I’m going to make this quick and easy. I asked them
to bring you here because I have to tell you something,” Cora began and licked
her lips with a nervous energy.
“What’s wrong? You know you can tell me anything,” Charlie
said, taking her hands into his.
“Charlie, it’s over between us. To be honest, it never
started. I just want to be fair to you and tell you that straight to your
face,” she said, and felt instant relief flood through her.
“Cora, Honey, I know you better than this. What are they
using to force you to say these things? We’ve been together for so long I know
you can’t mean that,” Charlie said, reaching up and touching her face.