Secret Worlds (330 page)

I stifled a chuckle in response to the wide eyes the guards gave at my words. I walked back to Marren, hidden in the shadows with Lernn.

“Hey, woman, wait!” called the squeaky-voiced guard as both of them ran past us and up the stairs.

I ran to Naloud as soon as their footsteps were far enough in the distance. The floor lay hidden under a thick layer of hay. Naloud slept on top of that with a blanket barely covering her body. Her back faced me with her hair stretching like thin rivers of brown water from her head, over the hay, and to the dirt floor.

“Naloud, are you all right?” My heart drummed frantically against my chest.

No response.

“Naloud?” Marren’s voice echoed off the walls in the same tone he would use when she was younger and had done something incredibly naughty.

She didn’t even shift.

I pulled hard on the door. With a loud clank and crack, it opened. I rushed to her side and took her head into my hands. “She’s so cold!”

I lowered my cheek to her nose to feel her breath.

“She’s barely breathing!”

Tears filled my eyes as I searched for her heartbeat. Only the faintest thump responded to my finger’s pressure.

“They knew!” Lernn said. “We must leave at once!”

“What’s the hurry?” A voice that had once given me nightmares pierced the air. A figure stood in the shadows and approached slowly. He dressed as the king but kept his own voice.

“Jiren, you sorry excuse for a life, I will see you destroyed!” I said through clenched teeth. I teetered dangerously close to losing all control and falling into a dark place of sadness.

His laugh came out dark and sinister. “I have the upper hand against you. Your daughter is dying. Your folly will be paid for, and you will be forced to go back to the immortal realm and remain there peacefully…or die here painfully and slowly.”

“Mighty words for a man too cowardly to face me in his true form,” I said as I stood from my dying daughter’s side. “You have to hide behind a mask. A falsehood.”

A smile played on Jiren’s face. A threatening “come and get me” smile. I growled and started to run for him.

“No, Relena!” Marren’s voice echoed around me as a pair of arms stopped me from seeing Jiren bleed.

“Smart man,” Jiren said after a quick victorious chuckle.

“Am I?” Marren retorted then cocked his head to the side as if he listened to something. “Do you hear that?”

Vibrations surged through the walls, faint shouts and echoes made their way down the stairs. The sound of battle.

Jiren heard it as well. His expression changed from victorious to fierce. His image shifted, faltering, letting a bright purple hew line his appearance. He turned quickly and ran, like the coward he is, up the stairs.

Lernn didn’t wait to run after him.

“Marren, what about Naloud?” I asked before he ran off as well.

“We will come back for her,” his response was soft and soothing, but his eyes held so much more. A need for revenge.

I nodded, running after him up the long winding stairs to the courtyard where battle raged. A battle that quickly became an image of chaos burned into my mind as we pushed through the door. Humans and immoral races fought, swords clanking, voices shouting. Things of nightmares filled my eyes. Bodies were torn and ripped apart. Fire consumed the lush gardens. Screams of terror, pain, and war filled the air mingling with the scent of blood and steel. The fray was disorienting.

But I had a job to do.

It would be too easy to join the fight and help rid the world of those who sought to destroy what the world needed and the humans understood so little of. And fight I did, only with those who got in my way. Many of the men that fell at my hands were taken off guard by my mere appearance. A vicious animal is what their eyes said to me. Not in a hateful way, but fearful. They feared me.

I searched the chaos for signs of Jiren, finding instead, Serid. His eyes met mine. An emotion too much for me to control took over. I realized, if what Marren said was right, I would kill Naloud for sure if I harmed Serid. But he didn’t deserve to live after what he did to my daughter. He killed himself along with her. A fact he would become aware of when she took her final breath.

I approached him slowly. He didn’t back down. When I was inches from his face, he still didn’t flinch. I kicked him to the ground and held my sword to his throat.

“I don’t suppose you want to hear my side of the story, do you?” Serid asked with his hands in the air.

“No excuse is going to save my daughter.” I lunged at him. He swung his leg behind me, hitting me square behind my knees. I fell to the ground. He scurried to his feet then kicked my sword from my hand.

“What do you mean save her?”

For a moment, confusion gnawed at me with the amount of questioning in his voice. He seemed lost and confused, as if he wasn’t sure of what he had done.

I climbed to my feet, determined to rip him to pieces if need be. “She barely clings to life because of you! She loved you! You were supposed to be her heart song!”

I swung at him with so much force that I continued spinning as he rolled to avoid my attack.

“Wait, that wasn’t the plan,” he said then stopped my next swing by catching my hand. “Jiren tricked us all,” he continued.

“Ha! And how can I trust you are not him?” I retorted.

He moved my hand to his chest where pounding drummed beneath his ribs. “I have a heart.”

His words were even, but the look in his eyes held terrible sadness. I realized he loved her too. If he was Naloud’s heart song, they were both going to die because of Jiren. Not him.

I pulled my hand away. “Go to her. See what you can do to bring her back.”

He didn’t hesitate in running to her. I wanted to glance behind me to make sure he made it okay, but a strange flapping filled my ears. Like a flag in a raging wind. I shifted my gaze around and then up in time to see a figure in a red cloak fall to the ground in front of me.

“You should have left well enough alone, girl,” Jiren said as he stepped toward me with a sword in hand. I eyed mine lying on the ground still. Behind him.

“It won’t be so easy to defeat me this time!” I dodged around him, rolling on the ground to pick up my sword, and then shifted to my feet as my sword clanked against his.

He spoke no retorts, choosing instead to attack me with all his strength.

Marren. I’m fighting Jiren. Now! We need to do it now!

Jiren’s hood to his cloak fell back, revealing his ethereal form.

“I’m glad you decided to face me yourself. Makes defeating you all the sweeter!” I said and attacked harder.

He swung his sword hard enough to disarm me then held the point of his blade to my throat, nicking the skin with a piercing kiss. A smile formed on Jiren’s face. He opened his mouth to say something, but before he spat his words Marren showed up, knocking him to the ground. Marren took Jiren’s sword and threw it across the courtyard.

Lernn appeared behind Jiren. “Do it now, Relena!”

I quickly ran up to Jiren and shoved my hand deep into his chest. A shocking pain surged up my arm. I shoved harder until I went through Jiren and into Lernn’s chest, grabbing ahold of his heart. I pulled it back through, leaving it inside Jiren.

“I bind you to this heart, Jiren,” I said as his eyes grew wide with alarm and changed into, not the green he had in the human form I met him in, but the soft jade green of Lernn’s. Slowly, Jiren’s form faltered and flickered as he became absorbed by the heart. A sizzling sound came from his body as it dissipated. Soon, all that remained was a slowly dying heart and a pile of robes and cloak once belonging to Jiren.

Lernn’s body laid on the ground with a peacefulness in his eyes I’d never known anyone to have in death. I bent down and lowered his lids. “Goodbye, dear friend.”

I started to cry. I thought revenge would feel good. Instead, I was filled with emptiness and loneliness. Marren picked the heart up from the ground, using a cloth to wrap it in. His eyes met mine and held them for a moment. No words were exchanged, just a long silence that fell upon the world that night.

“Mom?”

My head snapped to the side. Naloud stood behind me, staring at me sitting on my knees. Beside her stood Serid, holding her hand.

“Naloud,” my voice cracked as more tears stung my eyes, and my throat swelled. I removed myself from the ground and took my daughter into my arms.

“Mom, you have to let me go. I can’t breathe!”

I pulled away and examined her. Not a mark was on her. I turned to Serid, “How did you—”

“I was fed belladonna,” Naloud offered.

“I told Jiren I wouldn’t help him unless he promised no harm would come to Naloud. He needed me, so a compromise was reached. She would be given a small dose of belladonna to make her seem like she was dying to cause you to rush into battle,” Serid explained. “But he gave her too much, nearly killing her. He wasn’t aware of us and our shared heart song. I doubt he would’ve cared if he did. He never cared.”

His voice trailed off as his eyes fixed on a spot on the ground.

“How did you reverse it?” Marren asked with awe.

“Opium,” Serid stated matter-of-fact.

“The important thing is, I’m alive, and he tried everything in his power to protect me. Don’t be mad at him,” Naloud said as she stepped in front of Serid. I smiled.

Although I hated how grown-up she was, I remembered what it was like for me and Marren not so long ago. Marren’s fingers folded around mine. I experienced his love, joy, and relief.

“I thought I told ya I wanted to fight, too?” Raden’s voice echoed through the air.

We all shifted our gaze to see him and Enid standing in front of a large courtyard riddled with bodies and crowds of people behind them, the sea of faces with expressions full of fear. Daylight had lightened the sky along the horizon. I shifted back into my human form. All four of us did. The sound of shock in the crowd confirmed it.

Marren stepped forward, “Let it be known that Lernn, an elf, saved us all tonight from a man pretending to be your king. He was a Denai, made of energy, an immortal race. Lernn gave his life to protect all of you from a fate that would eventually claim the entire world.

“Many years ago our worlds were separated. But that doesn’t need to be any longer. We can live in harmony. Side by side. We can live amongst one another in peace. Our worlds can no longer afford to be separated. Our worlds are meant to be one. The immortal races are only asking to rejoin this world so that our worlds can continue on.”

The immortal races stepped through the crowd and stopped before us. One by one, each one bowed. A murmur rushed through the crowd as some decided to join in the bow and others turned their backs and walked away.

“Why are they bowing to us?” I asked, feeling unworthy of such a show of respect.

“Because we just became their new leaders,” Marren replied.

“Marren, I don’t think I can rule a country.”

“You don’t have to do it alone. We can work together. It’s not as bad as you think.”

Fear froze me in place.

With a sigh, he said, “If it will make you happy, we will only rule until someone comes to us who proves themselves to be worthy of the position.”

“That may take forever.”

“Have faith, mom,” Naloud interjected. “Humans aren’t so bad, are they?”

“You never were one,” I retorted. Marren’s emotions flowed through me, filling me with his desire and hope to bring our worlds together. Finally, I sighed and nodded. “Alright, just until we find suitable replacements.”

***

I was surprised that it didn’t take as long as I thought. The real princess stepped forth and took her claim on her own throne. She vowed to show mercy to the immortal races and pardoned all crimes brought against us in the past. We were given the same respects as humans and even called upon in times of war.

Many years have come and gone. The world changed in ways I only dreamed about when I was human. Advances in magic became science and the knowledge of our world became hidden and shrouded in stories. Myths and legends, they called it. We now live outside of human knowledge, in places hard to reach.

But one thing remains. Our imprint on the world—our story. The thing about happily ever after is it never is an ending but a beginning of another chapter in another story.

The End

Want more from Samantha? Check out Made to Forget: “Elsabetha Ellery wants to get her memory back, even if it kills her.”

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00E70CTP8/

Kansas native, Samantha LaFantasie spends her free time with her spouse and three kids. Writing has always been a passion of hers, forgoing all other desires to devote to this one obsession, even though she often finds herself arguing with her characters through much of the process. She’s primarily a fantasy writer but often feels pulled to genres such as sci-fi, romance, and others. Samantha became a bestselling author with the Pandora Boxed Set (which includes Made to Forget: Nepherium Novella series—Part One) on both Amazon and USA Today.

Website:
http:/samanthalafantasie.com

Sunshine.

I rolled onto the floor with my heart in my throat and panic gripping my muscles. It wasn’t until I was on my hands and knees that I realized I had done it again. Naomi’s chuckle from the bed immediately set the irritation switch in my head, and I glared over the edge of the mattress at her amused smile.

“That’s never going to get old,” she said and rolled on her side, propping her cheek in her palm.

I could have said something crude, but the humor in her eyes soothed the nasty comments right out of my vocabulary. Being human sucked much more than I remembered. The only thing that remained the same was the burn of a shot of whiskey and the way Naomi felt when we made love.

Everything else was a constant challenge, including taming my conditioned response to sunlight. You’d think after a little over a month, I wouldn’t be throwing myself for cover when the sun hit the bed, but apparently, twenty-five-hundred years of fearing the fiery orb really did a job on my head.