Deviation: Altera Realm Trilogy Book 2 (41 page)

Helen shrugged and pushed the thoughts away. She didn’t want to think of her mother having changed or doing anything deceitful, but lately she couldn’t help it. The way Mellisandrianna pushed against Syney was unmistakable for anger and aggression. That alone made Helen nervous. She got on her knees and moved some things around, making sure to put them all back where she’d found them. Her mother had an eye for perfection and would notice if anything were out of place. After pushing aside some dusty shoes and bags, she finally pulled out the leather-bound journal from beneath a stack of novels. She blew some dust off it and opened the cover.
Journal of Queen Lassandrianna, Head of House Crystallianna
. Helen smiled at her triumph and backed out of the closet.

After making sure she had put anything she had touched back into place and closing the closet door, Helen slowly left the room, checking the hallway for any people, just to be on the safe side. The book in her hand felt heavy. She wasn’t sure if it was her own desire to rummage through its pages or the rush of having stolen it from her mother. She wanted to hide it, but the urge to read it was too great. She walked straight to the chapel and into the room in the back, the sanctuary. She was the only one allowed back there, which gave her ultimate privacy. The room was sparsely decorated with only the four Magic User house banners on the walls and a single table in the middle, which Helen promptly sat at before examining the book in her hands. She had seen a few journals from before the war but hadn’t ever held one. Although the book was a little dusty, it was in good condition considering it was from more than a hundred years ago. If Helen wasn’t mistaken, Lassandrianna was her great-great grandmother, the first Crystallianna ruler of the Village. She easily could reason away why her mother had it in her room. All queens could learn from previous ones, and the journals were the best way to do that, but deep down Helen knew that wasn’t the reason it was there.

She flipped through the pages and a letter fell out. It was addressed to Amelia, the last Vilori queen. She frowned and opened the journal to the first entry.
Maybe reading it will help
, she thought hopefully. It couldn’t hurt at this point.

Entry One

I turned eighteen today and received my first journal. I would say that I’m excited, but that wouldn’t be the half of it. Not only am I now seen as an adult, but I also can officially start planning my coronation as head of house, a position my father has held since my mother’s death two years ago. They were going to give me the position early, but Queen Aaliyah thought it was best for me to finish my studies before taking the position. Her reasoning made sense at the time, but now all I can think about is finally taking my seat on the council and having a say in what’s going on. Amelia told me that having those things isn’t all that important. And maybe she’s right, but I’d like to find out on my own—although Amelia tends to be right about most things.

Writing things down in these journals is meant to be a way for future generations to learn not only
about
those who came before but also to learn
from
them. And here is the first lesson I will give my descendants. Find someone you can truly trust and be yourself around, and hold that person as close to you as you can. Being a royal can be lonely at times—OK, most of the time. But having someone there with you makes it worth it. Amelia is that person for me. She’s exactly seventeen days older than me, a fact that she holds over my head
a lot. But I love her like a sister, which is a big deal for me considering I don’t have any real sisters. I used to, but they both died from the same sickness that killed my mother. The Village lost many in that epidemic of Gravedo. It swept in, killed, and left so quickly that no one knew what was going on. Amelia took it really hard. She inherited the Vilori healing power, the greatest power to be bestowed upon Magic Users, but it’s useless against the disease. She tried to heal my mother, though. For hours Amelia stood over her pale, wet body and cried her eyes out as she tried to make it work. But it didn’t, and she died. It was a horrible time not only for my family but also the whole Village.

Those are the lengths that Amelia would go to for me. And maybe not only me, to be honest. She’s the kindest person I’ve ever met, and I love her for that and much more. Amelia is set to be our next queen, a title she dreads, truth be told, but will perform masterfully. That’s what she does: complains for hours and then is the best at whatever she takes on. I’m excited to see her on the throne, and I know she’ll always do right by my line, because that’s who she is.

Lesson two for my future descendants: Always support your queen. No matter what’s going on, make sure you have the people’s best interests in mind, because your queen always will. This is something my father told me one day after a council meeting. He was disgusted by how some of the elders argued with the queen. He said they were self-centered and didn’t understand there were people outside of the palace walls who needed help. I wasn’t quiet sure what he was talking about, but I heard the passion in his voice and agreed with him right away. Now that I think about it, it makes a lot of sense. And I plan to implement his ideals when I take my council seat. My father is a wise man, one I will listen to for as long as he gives advice.

I hope to write in my journal at least once a week so I can document as much as possible. I hope this book one day finds its way to those who can use it.

—Lass

Entry Sixty-One

My mother once told me that everything happens for a reason. I didn’t know how much I believed that after she and my sisters died, but I kept it in the back of my mind. Yesterday that sentiment was expressed to me again.

Amelia had insisted I attend a Race Council meeting. She said they were so much more fun than they seemed to be. She was wrong of course. The entire meeting was one of the most boring things I’d ever attended. No one got along, and yelling was the only form of communication practiced. It was Amelia’s first meeting as ruler of the Village, but amazingly she fit in almost perfectly, even sharing some kind of inside joke with the Daemon king, Hadrian. I must
remember to speak with her about appropriateness when dealing with the other races.

I tried to keep my eyes open as they all barked about borders and armies. It all seemed so tedious, and I couldn’t understand why it’s so hard for all of us to live with one another. Why do we need borders? Not that I could bring that up. My own idealistic views would have to wait. Once the meeting was over, I waited for Amelia to tell her exactly what I thought of the meeting. That was when I met the man who said the words my dead mother had spoken. He was standing on the fringes, outside of the council meeting spot, watching everyone around him with a look of pure disdain. I’d never seen anyone look so disgusted before. He was tall and very thin, with dirty-blond wavy hair cut to just above his ears. His eyes were blue but more of a dull blue than mine. I’ve always been very good at being able to tell the races apart; my father says it’s because I’m more observant than most people. Vampires move like liquid, almost as if they have no bones in their body to keep them rigid. Shifters are much stiffer. They always seem poised for a fight, always predatory. Daemons are somewhere between them. He wasn’t any of them, though. He held all his emotions on his face, with his thin arms crossed. He was definitely a Magic User, just not one I knew. Of course I don’t know everyone in the Realm.

He saw me looking at him and came over to me, introducing himself as Randall Givins. He spoke with an accent, not something widely heard in the Village. He explained it away quickly as something he picked up in the Human Realm, where he was raised. This happens, although rarely; most of these people are nonroyals who didn’t want to live on Magic User land for whatever reason. Never backing down from a question, I asked him why he had been raised there. He stared at me for a long time before finally telling a story about his parents wanting to escape poverty. He said he only recently came back after traveling with a Vampire friend he had met there. I’m usually a pretty good judge of character and can tell when people are lying, but I couldn’t get a read from him at all. That alone was intriguing and a little scary.

We talked for a little while. It was after I told him about my mother and sisters dying that he said, “Sometimes things happen for a reason.” I suppressed the urge to slap him. It wouldn’t be appropriate to do so considering we had just met and I’m not that kind of girl, but I was thinking it very loudly in my head. Who was he to say anything like that to me? I excused myself and went in search of Amelia around the great meeting hall after that.

Unfortunately I found her, and she wasn’t alone. I’m not sure I should write about what I saw yesterday, but I can’t keep it to myself. It was the person I found Amelia with that’s making me so upset. She didn’t notice me, so I quietly walked away and found my way back to the Village. Once I got
back here, I tried to bury the whole day, but I don’t think I can. I can’t stop thinking about Amelia being with a man that she shouldn’t be with. And possibly more annoyingly, I can’t stop thinking about that rude man, Randall. Something about him didn’t seem right. Hopefully that will be the last I’ll ever see of him.

—Lass

Entry Eighty-Six

I’ve been trying to avoid Randall as much as I can, which is difficult when all he wants to do is corner me with some inane conversation. I’m debating telling Amelia to ban him from the palace, but I don’t think that would happen considering he’s an honored guest. I’m still amazed that anyone can stand him, yet he was invited to stay in the palace by Queen Linala, head of house for the Grendalin line. I suspect he might be sharing her bed at night—not that I’m going to ask. Linala never has been one of my favorite people, and Randall is one of those itches that won’t go away.

He cornered me again this morning, wanting to talk about women’s fashion in the Village. I told him, as kindly as I could, that I don’t pay much attention to things like that and headed away from him as fast as I could. He asks the oddest questions: What are my views on laws in the Village? Which foods do I like best? Who are my closest advisors? I wanted to ask him why he’s so interested, but that would require talking to him, and he gives me the oddest feeling. He genuinely scares me, which not many people do.

I told Amelia about it, but she’s been in her own world lately. I’m a little disappointed that she hasn’t been confiding in me. I know she’s still in the relationship she shouldn’t be in, but she still hasn’t told me about it. I thought about bringing it up, but it isn’t my place to do so, and I don’t want to cross a line that might make her hate me in the long run. I’m going to leave it alone for now, but I am worried about her. Tensions are getting a little high in the Village now that almost the whole Blocadrian line has been killed. Their murders are being blamed on the Shifters, which I’m not so sure about. I can’t say exactly why, but it doesn’t sit right with me. I’ve been to many of the Great Race Council meetings, which have been suspended for now, and I’ve never felt any animosity coming from the Shifters. It doesn’t help matters that Faye has given up her council seat since she now lives in the Vampire City. Having one of their own heads of house joined with a member of another race has made the general population more than a little uneasy.

I wish I could talk to Amelia. I wish I could talk to someone other than this damn journal.

—Lass

Dear Amelia,

I’m scared. I wish you were here. You know how serious I am. I hate dramatics! It’s this man who’s been in the palace for the past few months. I think he’s trying to kill me. Either that, or he’s trying to seduce me. I’m not OK with either! He’s been following me around, and I thought it was just a harmless obsession but then…I saw him doing magic today. And not just magic but magic no one should be doing. I decided I should follow him, since he’d been following me, and I saw him curse his door. I’m not sure why he did it or even which curse it was, but it scared me, Mia. He seems to want me for something and I…I just don’t know what it is.

Mia, I know all about you and your suitor. I saw you together after a council meeting. I know you don’t need a lecture on dating a Daemon, and I’m not going to give you one. I just want you to come home. I know you’re with him somewhere, and I need you to come back and help me. I’m begging (and you know that never happens). I’m so very afraid.

If anything happens, please know there was something foul going on. His name is Randall Givins, if that’s even his real name. Ask around, and you’ll find out about him right away, if you don’t know of him already. I hope this finds you in time.

Love,

Lass