Deviation: Altera Realm Trilogy Book 2 (59 page)

“Do you want me to bring her to the bed?” Grass’s question pulled her from her thoughts.

She shook her head. “The ritual needs to be voluntary.” She looked at him. “I need her awake.”

Grass nodded and stepped over Reed’s similarly still body to reach Syney. Then he kicked her hard in the gut.

Mellisandrianna smiled. “Be careful! I need that body in working order and I don’t want my new body to be bruised,” she said as Syney coughed and pulled in some jagged breaths.

Syney slowly dragged herself up, shooting a look over at her Protector, who still lay unconscious, before focusing on Mellisandrianna.

The queen smiled at Grass. “Thank you.”

“Anything else?”

“No, that will be all. You can leave us.” She paused. “Although it might be prudent to summon Princess Adanna. Tell her to come in an hour or so.” She forced a smiled at Syney, who was eyeing her, confused. “Just in case.”

Grass bowed to her before running a finger down Syney’s face. She winced and pulled away from him quickly. He gave a low chuckle before leaving the room.

Mellisandrianna and Syney stared at each other for a while, neither speaking nor breaking direct eye contact. Finally Syney sat back on her heels. “So this is it, huh?”

The queen folded her hands in her lap. “This is what exactly?”

“The moment when you justify killing hundreds of people before taking over my body.”

She was smarter than the queen gave had given her credit for, although having a nine-hundred-year-old Vampire whispering in her ear did have its advantages. “You know nothing, little girl.”

“I know enough,” Syney said. “You’re the Ancient One.”

Mellisandrianna made a face. “Such a dreadful name.”

“I could call you Vassalinianna or Randall Givins.”

“It’s true. I have been both and many more. But originally it was Adaeve.”

Syney perked up a little at the new information. “So you really did have a life before you took the lives of others.”

She smiled and stood. “Of course. Everyone starts somewhere. And I am from whence everyone came.”

They lapsed into a silence again—only for a few moments this time—before Syney stood and headed to the large window to her right. She didn’t look nervous, but the purple colors that normally shimmered off her were darker right now, which generally happened when a person was filled with fear.
And she should fear me
, Mellisandrianna thought, turning to face her. “The prophecy was right. You do have a great destiny ahead of you,” the queen said.

Syney turned to look at her and raised her chin. “You mean
you
have a great destiny…inside
me
.”

Mellisandrianna frowned. “You should see this as a joint endeavor to unite the Realm and bring it back to the glory it once was.”

The girl almost did a double take. “Wait, you mean you want to end the war?”

She gave off a shrieking laugh. “Of course I do. But I don’t want to just end it…I want to win it.” She paused as Syney’s colors grew even darker. “You’re still seeing things on such a small scale. This war is a small dot on a map—a very large map.”

Syney rolled her eyes. “I’m getting tired of big pictures. They never seem to work well for me.”

“Ah, there is that human humor of yours. I’m going to have to practice that.”

Syney’s colors went darker yet, almost black, and her violet eyes clouded over with tears. She took a shaky breath and stepped forward, putting a hand to her hip.

Mellisandrianna smiled and pulled the slender knife Syney always wore out of the sleeve of her dress. “Looking for this? It’s a very nice weapon, but it never would truly hurt me.”

Syney bit her lip and shrugged. “A girl’s got to try. You know I’m still going to fight you, right?”

The queen shook her head. “That’s not how this works. For the transfer to be successful, you must be willing to take in my light.”

“That’s
so
not happening,” Syney said with a bitter laugh.

Mellisandrianna shook her head. “This is why I chose the Crystallianna line. The Viloris all have too much pride and never enough ambition.”

The colors around Syney shifted and lightened a little.
Odd
, Mellisandrianna thought.

“So what exactly do you want to achieve once you win the war?” Syney asked.

The queen cocked her head to the side. “I thought you knew enough not to ask that.”

She shrugged. “I don’t know much about you other than you like to switch bodies and eat the life forces of people.”

“Always focusing on the negative. There’s so much more to me than just that. I am the parent of this Realm. Everything that is here is because of me, but it was all taken away because of peasants like yourself. When are you going to learn that I hear everything? I see everything? I know everything!” Mellisandrianna yelled the last part as she turned and tossed Syney’s knife at the door. It implanted itself in the solid wood only inches from Reed’s face as he started to open the door.

Reed took a deep breath and slowly turned toward them as Mellisandrianna sped over to him in less than a second. She stopped in front of him and easily
pulled the knife out of the door. “Going somewhere?” she asked, as she placed the tip of the blade to his chest.

“Stop!”

Mellisandrianna felt the air in the room change as she looked at Syney. The girl was channeling some of the energy in the room through her outstretched hands. It glowed purple as it sparked and sizzled. Now that was very interesting. “And how did you get that?”

“I thought you knew all,” Syney spat at her.

“I am all,” she said, raising her other hand and pulling all the energy out of the room, including what Syney had conjured. A bright ball of blue energy formed in her palm. “And I’m pretty sure I have much more experience with this magic.”

Stunned, the girl stared down at her hands. She swallowed audibly as she looked back at Mellisandrianna, finally realizing she had been outplayed.

Good
, Mellisandrianna thought, closing her hand and letting the energy disperse back into the air. She looked back to the wolf in front of her. “You know, I lived in the Human Realm for a while. Didn’t like it very much. They don’t worship like Altera does. Humans have too much independent thought which leads to multiple gods and religions, too many to keep track of. But the one thing I learned was the power of human emotions.” She looked back at Syney. “You’re still so very much human.” Sticking the knife deep into the young wolf’s chest took very little force, and she had to give him credit for not even crying out in pain.

Syney did, however, yell out. “Stop! Stop! I’ll do it.”

Mellisandrianna cocked her head to the side. “Sorry?”

Syney stepped forward. “I’ll let you do whatever you want. Just let him go.”

“Finally you’re seeing things my way.” The queen smiled at her before pushing the knife farther into Reed’s chest, dragging it quickly upward and finally turning it before letting go. He fell within seconds.

Syney quickly scrambled over to him. She planted her hands on his bloody chest as he struggled to breathe, blood trickling out the side of his mouth. “Why did you do that? I already agreed to let you take my body!” she shrieked, a flood of tears pouring out of her eyes.

Mellisandrianna squatted next to her. “There’s still time to help him. Out of every power in the Realm, the power to heal was one I was never able to do. Now that I’ll be you, I’m going to have to master it. Watching is step one.”

“You’ll never be able to do it.”

“And why is that?”

“Because it’s all about love, and you have none of that!” Syney screamed, lunging at Mellisandrianna.

She wasn’t prepared for that, of course. The logical response for a human would be to save a loved one in need.
Never underestimate your opponent
, Mellisandrianna thought as Syney slammed her palm against the queen’s chest. The queen couldn’t help laugh. “And what are you hoping to achieve now?”

Syney looked down at her. “I’m going to kill you.”

The second her life force began to drag out of her body, Mellisandrianna was stunned into silence. It couldn’t be. There was no way this girl was capable of this. Only she, Adaeve, was powerful enough! She tried to fight back mentally and even went as far as to try to physically move her off, but her already waning energy level dropped with every second.
This can’t be the end
, she thought.
Not this girl, this human-raised girl!
That was her last thought as Mellisandrianna, Queen of the Village.

“Where would she take her?” Adam asked.

“Somewhere out of sight.”

“The queen’s chambers?”

Gabe nodded to Adam as they rushed out of his room. “That’s where I would go.”

Adam’s jaw muscles flexed as he sped up. Gabe mentally berated himself as they nearly ran down the halls of the palace. This is what happened when he paid more attention to his personal life than the plan. He should have been on Syney every second of the day. He trusted Adam, but he was wrapped around Syney’s little finger. If she wanted to get away from him, she would, just as she had today. And now they might be too late.

There were several things Gabe was prepared to see when they barged through the door to Mellisandrianna’s chambers, but what was actually there wasn’t one of them. Syney was kneeling not far from the door, sobbing, her hands pressing on Reed’s chest. The smell of the young wolf’s blood filled Gabe’s nostrils the second he stepped into the room. There was a lot of it. Too much for him to still be alive.

Adam grabbed hold of Syney’s shoulders. “Syney.”

She looked at him with desperate eyes. “It won’t work! I’ve been trying and trying, but it’s not working!” She turned to Gabe. “Make it work!”

Gabe looked away. He knew there was nothing she could do. There wasn’t even anything he could do. His eyes caught Mellisandrianna’s body lying not far away, and his heart nearly stopped. She wasn’t breathing, and there definitely was no heartbeat. He looked quickly back at Adam and motioned with his head.

Adam looked over, following his motion. After a few moments, he looked back at Syney and pulled her away from Reed. She stumbled back and leaned against the bed. “Syney, honey, look at me.”

She shook her head as her body convulsed in sobs.

He put his hands on either side of her face and forced her to look at him. “What’s the weather like, Syney?”

She stared at him, her sobs slowing only a little.

Adam repeated his question while Gabe looked on curiously. He wasn’t quite sure what the question meant, but by Adam’s tone, he assumed it was some kind of code.

Syney’s sobs slowed a little as she bit her lip. “Blue skies ahead,” she managed to get out between sobs.

Adam visibly relaxed as he pulled her to him. “It’s going to be OK, honey. Just calm down and take some deep breaths.”

She leaned into him, her sobs picking up speed. Gabe noticed her hands, covered in blood, as they hovered above Adam’s shoulders. The room was too messy. Not to mention there was a dead wolf on the floor, and Mellisandrianna’s dress was drenched in blood. His mind ran in circles, trying to come up with a plan of action, but all he could think about was Reed lying dead on the floor and Syney crying, her hands covered in blood. He had seen death in spades since the war had started, but for some reason, this all made him stop, his mind blank.

The second the door opened, it was his instinct to grab whomever it was and break his neck the second he walked in. Gabe didn’t even realize it was Grass until he hit the floor with a thud. He closed the door quickly and looked down at him. There wasn’t a heartbeat or any breathing. Now there were three dead bodies in the room, and this combination sent Gabe’s mind running.

“I got it,” he said, finally looking at Adam and Syney. The two were staring at him with expressions of bewilderment and horror. “What?”

“You just…you just killed him,” Adam stammered.

“It’s what had to be done,” Gabe said, looking away.

“You didn’t even know who it was.”

“Would it have mattered?” Gabe said, gesturing to the bodies on the floor. “How exactly were we going to explain this without getting tossed in jail and sentenced to death?”

“That doesn’t make it right,” Adam said.

Syney placed a firm hand on Adam’s arm. Her sobs and even her tears had ceased. “Stop. He’s right.”

Adam shook his head and stared at her. Gabe watched as Adam moved slightly away from her.

“Thank you,” Syney told Gabe.

He nodded in understanding. It wasn’t just that he had saved her yet again, but the fact that it was Grass at the receiving end made it more than a little deserved. “What happened?” he asked, realizing Syney might be calm enough to answer.

“Grass got us here. He knocked us both out. When I woke up, Mellisandrianna wanted to take over my body, but she said it had to be voluntary. That’s when she went after Reed,” she said, a hitch in her breath at the end.

The three lapsed into silence. Syney sat against the bed, staring at her hands as Adam stood and walked to the window. They weren’t focusing, Gabe thought. All they needed to do was look at the big picture. Mellisandrianna was dead. That was all that mattered. Gabe looked at Reed and felt something ache deep down inside. He hadn’t felt like this since Raine had been executed.
Too many are dying. But it’s over now
, he thought, walking over to Syney. He crouched in front of her. “I have a plan, but I need to know…”He paused to lift her chin so she was looking straight at him. “How did you kill her?”