Heirs of War (27 page)

Zelene
’s heart broke for Varrick. She had never seen him this upset before, and his vulnerability shook her to her core. He had always been a rock in her life, and now he looked so helpless. She threw her arms around his waist, burying her face in his chest. She could feel his heart racing against her cheek and squeezed him tighter. "We'll find her, Varrick."

Varrick hugged her back and gave the top of her head a light kiss. "You shouldn't be here, kiddo."

"You can't protect me from this, Varrick." Zelene pulled away and looked at her Cyneward with determination. She knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that she had to do something to help Ariana. For all his flaws, Kyle had been right about one thing. She might not be able to do any magic, but magic was not necessarily her strength. She could see that now. For the first time since her arrival, Zelene felt like she might have a purpose. "None of you can. If we're meant to save the worlds and end this war, then we need to be out there doing something. And we should start with rescuing my sister."

Liam eased
himself onto the edge of the bed, exchanging a weary look with Varrick that spoke volumes. "If you were to go after her, then all you would be doing is giving Kellen another opportunity to strike. The Duillaine are doing everything they can, I’m sure."

"
They aren't doing enough," Zelene shot back. "If they’re too busy planning festivals to do the heavy lifting, then they should move out of the way and let us do it," she argued and then pointing at her older sister, she continued. "We can use what she sees to help Ariana. She can guide us to where they are, and then we can bring her back."

Before the argument could continue, Bianca shot up in the bed, re
leasing her hand from Isauria's like the seer’s hand was on fire. The paion’s forehead was beaded with sweat as she looked around at the people surrounding her. She flew out of the bed, rushed to the basin on the other side of the room, and vomited.

"They tried to escape," she said between ragged breaths as
she clung to the basin. "And were caught. Kellen’s punishing them."

"Them?" Zelene asked.

"Ariana and the boy she is with," Bianca explained, then splashed her face with water from a nearby pale. She lowered herself into the seat next to the basin and looked to Varrick as if she were answering a question. "His name is Alec. He's been a prisoner for some time now. He seems to care for Ariana. He knows who she truly is and is trying to help her."

"What happened to Ariana?" Varrick demanded.

Bianca wiped her face off with a towel and stood up. "Kellen was torturing her. She was punishing them for trying to escape, but more than that. She was trying to use Ariana's pain to hurt the boy. He managed to get free and attack Kellen, but I don't know any more. I managed to calm Isauria down and take her to another memory that seemed to bring her comfort."

"Is Ariana okay?" Zelene asked in a small voice. She knew what it was like to have a psycho 'punishing' you for supposed transgressions, and she wouldn't wish that kind of pain on anyone.

Bianca gave a stiff nod. "I think so. Kellen doesn't want her dead, so we might still have some time yet." She looked down to her patient with worry. "Though I'm not sure I can say the same for Isauria."

CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO

There was hardly a sound coming from their room, the silence so intense their very breath seemed to echo off the stone walls surrounding them. They hadn't moved nor said a word since Alec had carried her back into the room they shared. He sat in the middle of the bed, Ariana still in his arms and her broken body draped across his lap. Her head rested in the crook of his elbow, slow tears leaking down her face and across his arm. He stared forward despondently, and Ariana knew he must be thinking the same thing as her: They had crossed a line with Kellen there would be no coming back from. When she came at them again, her vengeance would be like nothing they had ever experienced before.

"I wanted her to kill me," Ariana said, her voice soft and somewhat flat. She felt as though she wasn't here, wasn't speaking these words. "I've never wanted to die before," she continued, "but I did today." Her pained gaze flicked up to his. "Part of me still does."

He lifted her with the arm she rested against so her head slipped onto his shoulder and wrapped his free hand around her, careful to avoid her blistered arms. "Don't say that. I promised you I would get you out of here, and I will. Just give me the chance."

"What if you were right before?" she whispered into his chest. She could see everything so clearly now. She had felt the power within her awaken as Kellen had tried to weaken her. The elements had washed over her and through her like nothing before. She had known in that moment with a certainty she would never be able to explain that she held the power within her to destroy everything. She was more afraid that everyone would be much safer if she were dead than of what Kellen might do to her. "You told them I was better off dead than being used by Kellen,” she reminded his as she lifted her face to meet his eyes. “What if you were right?"

Alec shook his head, his dark curls clinging to his cheek from where his own tears had stained them and turned his skin sticky. "I wasn't. You're the only hope we have, Ariana. Without you, our worlds are doomed to be at war with each other, destroying everything until there's nothing left to fight over. You must stay strong. We will get through this. Together."

Ariana wasn’t convinced. Kellen had pushed her to the very edge of herself, to a dark side she had been hiding within. She couldn't help but feel this darkness had swallowed her whole, taking everything she was and leaving nothing in return. She could tell Alec was trying to pull her from the shadows of herself, but she wasn't sure it would be worth the fight. She turned to the side and stared at the door as a knock sounded against the wood.

Sheridan came in, carrying fresh water and what Ariana assumed to be an ointment. She felt genuine relief at seeing the young girl she had been so keen to take under her wing. She wanted to resent her, but she had seen that Alec had been right in his assessment of Sheridan: she was just as much a victim as they were, maybe more.

"I brought this to...I thought you might need to clean up. See to your wounds before they get infected," Sheridan said as she slammed the basin onto the table.

Ariana wondered if that would really be such a bad thing. Would she rather die peacefully from a sickness, or in terror from being tortured? She choked back a laugh, thinking about how just weeks ago the biggest decision she had to make was which college to go to. "Is Kellen dead?"

"No," Sheridan answered, her jaw tight. "My mother will recover." She turned to Alec, looking at him as though he had betrayed her. "What were you thinking, attacking her like that? You could have killed her, Alec!"

He breathed in deep, his nostrils flaring. "That was the point, Sheridan. With Kellen dead, the three of us would finally be free."

She waved her hands frantically. "No! Do not even
think
that. Without my mother, our hope is lost. She has united our people. She has done more for the worlds than the Duillaine have in almost a century. She is the one who tends to the sick and the poor who are shunned from Estridia. She is the one who seeks equality for the downtrodden races like yours."

"She is also the one who tortures and kills t
hose who don't bend to her will," he fired back.

"This is
war
, Alec. And it isn't going to be won by hugging your enemies," Sheridan argued fervently. "There is suffering and pain with any war, and my mother inflicts no more than any other great leader would. She will lead us to victory. And together, she and my father will make our worlds better than you can imagine."

"When should we be expecting her?" he asked as he shifted Ariana off him and laid her gently across the bed. He padded over to retrieve the salve and the water from the table.

Ariana tried to fight the tears of sympathy forming as she watched them. Alec stood before the person he had described as his childhood friend, the one he told Ariana he used to chase around as they played war with their wooden swords. Now, the war seemed to be a thick wall standing firmly between the two of them. Ariana understood the subtext of his question and knew Sheridan did as well. He wanted to know how much time he had to escape with Ariana before Kellen came back for them.

"She'll need some time before she is back to her old self again. Maybe a few days." She
ridan shifted uncomfortably. "I should go. Do you have everything you need to tend to Ariana?"

"No," Ariana heard herself saying to both their surprises. Even as she lay there feeling closer to death than she ever had before, a plan started to formulate through the fog of her mind, and Ariana realized with an invigorating jolt she wanted to live.

Sheridan stepped around Alec. "What do you need?"

Ariana reached a weak hand out. "I need you. Please."

Sheridan’s thin lips parted, and she let out a quavering breath. She walked forward and took Ariana’s blistered hand gingerly in her own as if she were afraid of causing her further damage. "What can I do?"

Ariana’s lavender eyes turned vulnerably up to her companion. "We were friends before, right?" she paused as Sheridan nodded. "Then will you help me?"

Sheridan started to step away, but Ariana squeezed her hand. "I can't, Ariana. You don't understand...I know you don't understand her ways, but you have to look at the big picture—"

Ariana used her grip on her friend to pull herself into seating position stiffly. "No, I don't mean I want you to help me escape. I just...." she flushed, slightly embarrassed. "Kellen did the thing where the heat crawls up your body, you know what I'm talking about?" She tried to hide her pity and disgust as Kellen's daughter nodded, paling. "Well, I think my chest got the brunt of the damage. I need a girl friend to help me get the salve on."

Sheridan covered Ariana's hand with her own. "I understand. And that I can help with." She turned to Alec. "Could you give us some privacy?"

He nodded and turned his back. Sheridan scoffed and walked around him, taking the mortar from him before walking over to the door and opening it.

"What are you doing?" he asked.

"Something I probably shouldn't," she answered sardonically. "I'm trusting you to stand out here and behave." She addressed the guards now. "Alec is to remain out here with you while I tend to the Ainnir Ariana in private. Do not let him leave, and if he tries, alert me immediately."

"So much for trust," he muttered as he walked past her and greeted the guards with a bow. "Gentlemen."

Sheridan
stuck her tongue out at Alec's back. “Sometimes I think he manages to annoy me more than my own brother,” she said before turning back to Ariana. "There. Just us girls now."

Ariana tried to muster up a weak smile in return. "Thank you," she said, her voice croaking. She hadn't noticed how sore her throat was from screaming and crying for hours on end. She felt like she had swallowed gravel and every inch of her body ached with pain and exhaustion, but she knew this would be her best opportunity to lay the groundwork for the plan forming in her mind.

Sheridan shrugged as if to say it was nothing. "I'm happy to help. And...I feel like I owe you."

Ariana lifted her brows, sarcasm painted across her face as she responded. "Because you got me kidnapped and dragged me to the seventh circle of hell?"

"No," Sheridan answered, drawing out the word before turning serious. She blended the concoction in the mortar, twirling the mixture around with her fingers. Her eyes grew reflective as she stirred, not actually focusing on what she was doing. "Because of Emma. If I had better control of my men, she would still be alive. I really didn't mean for any of this to happen," she said with the heavy weight of guilt in her words.

"I don't blame you," Ariana said. She closed her mouth after the words escaped, and then realized she truly did mean them. She couldn't imagine the suffering Sheridan had endured and wondered if she would be as strong if the roles were reversed. "I wish I could say I’m sorry your mother is hurt...I am sorry for how you must feel though."

Sheridan continued inspecting Ariana's arms as she responded. "My mother will recover. It's you and Alec I'm worried about." She let out a ragged breath. "He shouldn't have attacked her. I don't know what she'll do when she's better."

Ariana turned face away, a few tears escaping as she felt the overwhelming finality of her role in Kellen's plan. "She'll kill me. And she'll make him watch."

"She won't kill you," Sheridan said though her words weren't meant to be comforting. She said them as if living were a worse fate than death. "She needs you. At least until the others are...gone."

Ariana felt no comfort at the light terms Sheridan used to paint a still grim picture. She squinted at the edge of the bed she sat on as if the blankets might somehow answer her questions. "I don't understand. If you guys don't want my people to have all the power, meaning me, why not just kill me? Why is she keeping me alive?"

Sheridan's eyes locked onto hers with intensity. "Because with your power on our side, we would be able to win this war once and for all. Then things will be better. The Duillaine have had their chance to make things better, and they haven't. They have the power to change things, but they won't. Now you have the power to change things. We need you."

Ariana could see she really believed that and wanted to press her, get her to see the light, but she knew this was her opening to get the information she needed. Kellen had been trying to weaken her, but the opposite had happened. Though the act had been incredibly painful, she felt the power within her unlock, and now she knew beyond a shadow of a doubt magic was there, waiting to be used. Now she just needed to figure out how.

"I don't have any power," Ariana said, using the guilty tears trying to spill as an effect to add to the confusion she hoped to convey. "I mean, I've seen what you guys can do. I've felt it," she added as an aside. "I can't do anything like that. I wouldn't even know where to start."

"It's not about where to start,” Sheridan explained as she applied the salve to Ariana's arms. “Your power is always there."

"What do you mean?" Ariana asked, trying her best to sound as if she had simply a casual interest in the subject.

"Well, there's this connection you feel to everything around you. The heat from the sun feels different, like there's this thread between you and the element, and you can pull on the thread, pulling some of the heat to you and using it." Sheridan started chewing on her bottom lip. "Does that make sense?"

"A little bit. I just wish I could feel what you’re talking about," Ariana added wistfully though she was starting to think she might be experiencing it now.

At first, it started off as a tingling sensation in her fingertips spreading up the arm resting at her side. There was a faint vibration dancing across her skin, just like she had felt when Kellen had called the power through her, but she couldn't be sure if the sensation was real or imagined.

Ignoring the questions in her mind, she forged ahead. "I feel like if I could, if I knew there really was this great power in me, then all this might be a little bit easier to deal with. I just can't help but think they're wrong about me. That it isn't me they want, but some other Ariana somewhere else."

"Oh no, you are definitely one of the Duillaine Ainnir,” Sheridan said with certainty. “You might not feel your power, but I felt it. When you helped me use my gift," she elaborated at the look of question on Ariana’s face. "You were focusing just as hard as I was, and it was like you let me borrow some of your power. Or maybe you can tap into the gift of seeing too since it's usually an elemental gift, and as Spirit you sort of represent a piece of them all," she speculated. "Either way, I felt you use your power when you helped me."

"I still don't understand, though," Ariana said, frustration mounting at unwittingly using the power she had been desperately seeking within herself pretty much since her arrival here. "So, what, you just close your eyes and will fire into your hand or something? No chants, no Latin words? No wands even?"

Sheridan frowned. "Why would we need all that? Besides, it’s much more complicated than repeating some words or waving a stick. You have to be careful how much of the element you call to you. Keeping Alec pinned against the wall was hard because it takes so much out of you. The link you have to the elements goes both ways. You use some of them, but they pull back on you too."

"Balance in all things," Ariana muttered, somewhat annoyed by the idea of there being boundaries to magic. She had been hoping to be able to open up the magical can of whoop-ass she now sensed within herself so she could break herself and Alec out of here. Knowing she had been able to tap into her power before and learning more about how to use her magic would definitely help in any escape plans.