The Fourteenth Key (The Chronicles of Terah Book 3) (59 page)

He hadn’t been there five minutes when there was a knock on his door and Cryslyn leaned in. “If you have a minute, I have someone here who’d like to speak with you.”

Kevin sat up and motioned them in. After Cryslyn introduced Debra, she said, “I’m going to my office to see if there’s anything I need to take care of.”

“Before you go, would you ask Ariel to step in here for a moment, please?” Kevin motioned for Debra to have a seat. “I haven’t had anything to eat since this morning and I’m going to send for some food. Would you like something?”

“No, thank you,” Debra said quietly.

“How about something to drink? Some tea? Coffee? Scog?”

Debra shook her head.

After Ariel left, Kevin asked, “You wanted to see me?”

Debra nodded. “It’s about Serra. I understand someone who was here this weekend thinks Serra might be her niece. Is that right?”

Kevin nodded. “Yani. She’s Thanzer’s wife, the minister from Lochland.”

“I don’t know much about Serra’s parents, but I do know her mother’s name was Elayne, if that helps.”

“It does. How did she come to live with you?”

“I was visiting a friend who lived in the same village as Serra’s parents. I’d only been there for two days when we were attacked. Elayne and Serra had dropped by my friend’s house that afternoon, just hours before the raid. That’s the only reason I knew their names.” Debra shook her head. “I hate even thinking about that night. It was such a nightmare. Elayne’s husband was one of the first men killed, and when she saw him go down, she took up the fight. In a matter of moments, she’d been killed, too. I was standing close by when it happened, so I grabbed Serra and pressed her face against my shoulder so she wouldn’t see her parents lying in all that blood. The slavers assumed she was mine and I didn’t tell them any different. Maybe it was wrong of me not to say anything, but I was afraid they’d kill her if they found out her parents were dead. No slaver wants to deal with orphans, especially one so young.”

Kevin waited to see if she was going to say anything else. When she didn’t, he said, “You saved Serra’s life, in more ways than one. You protected her that night, and you raised her as your own. You didn’t have to do that.”

“After that night, I thought of her as my child. I wouldn’t have given her up even if I’d had the chance.”

“Does Serra know?”

“That she’s not my child?”

Kevin nodded.

Debra shook her head. “When she was younger, I planned to tell her about her parents one day, but by the time she was old enough to understand, it didn’t seem important anymore. She was my daughter, same as Janine, and that was all there was to it.”

“Does Korman know?”

Debra nodded. “I told him before we were married, while memories of that night still haunted me. But after we were married, those memories started to fade.”

“I’m sorry to dredge it all up again, but you know we have to tell Serra, right?”

Again, Debra nodded. “I need to be the one to tell her though. Not Yani.”

“I agree, but you have to tell her soon. Yani and Thanzer are staying in town until they get a chance to talk with her. And from what I heard this morning, quite a few people already know Yani’s asking questions. I don’t think Serra needs to hear about this through gossip.”

“No, I’ll find her and talk to her this afternoon.”

“Let me know how it goes.”

~ ~ ~ ~

Debra found Serra in the playground, watching the children of some staff members who had come in to help with cleanup.

“I need to talk to you,” Debra said. “Is there someone who can watch the children?”

“Is something wrong?”

“No. We just need to talk.”

“Can it wait? I don’t have anything to do this evening. I could come by the house.”

Debra shook her head. “We need to talk now. Can you find someone to take over?”

“I guess so.” Serra looked around. The only person who wasn’t busy with some aspect of cleaning up was Darrell, and he was sparring with one of his guards. “You stay with the children and I’ll see if I can get someone.”

Serra walked over towards Darrell and waited several feet away.

After a couple of minutes, Darrell ended the match, thanked the guard for the workout, wiped the sweat off his face, and walked over to Serra. “Did you need to see me?”

“I hate to ask, but could you watch the playground for a while? My mother says she needs to talk to me, and she says it can’t wait. I can’t imagine what it is, but she’s upset about something.”

“Can you give me a minute to run by my office? I’d like to change tunics and let them know where I am.”

Serra nodded. “I really appreciate this.”

“It’s not a problem. I don’t have anything else I need to do right now.”

“Thank you.”

As Serra started back towards the playground, Darrell touched her arm. “Let me know if there’s anything else I can do.”

Serra nodded.

Fifteen minutes later, Debra and Serra left the playground and walked towards the gardens. Debra led Serra down the path until they came to the center section. She sat down on one of the benches and patted a spot beside her for Serra.

“Mother, what’s going on?” Serra asked.

Debra told Serra about the night the raiders struck the village where Serra had lived with her parents. She painted a picture of courage and sacrifice as she explained how Serra’s mother and father fought the slavers, never giving up, never surrendering. She explained why she had pretended to be Serra’s mother and taken her on board the slavers’ boat with her, and how by the time they reached shore again, she considered Serra her own.

A tear slipped out of Serra’s eye and crept down her cheek. “We were slaves?”

Debra nodded. “Well, I was. You were only a year and a half old when we were offered at auction. We were lucky. Gov. Wrenn bought us and brought us here.”

“What happened then?”

“We met Badec, and the first thing he did was free us. He told me we were welcome to stay as long as we liked, but it was our choice. I didn’t have any money, and no way of making any, so we stayed. I worked here, in the castle, until I married Korman.”

“I have a few vague memories of a small room with two beds.”

Debra nodded again. “That was our room in the basement. We lived there close to two years. When I married Korman, we moved in with him.”

“I remember moving into his house. It seemed so big,” Serra said with a grin. “Of course after Janine was born, it wasn’t quite so big anymore, and once Randyl came along …” Serra stopped and frowned. “My sister’s not my sister, is she? And Randyl’s not my brother.”

“They are in all the ways that matter,” Debra said, fighting tears of her own. “You’ve always been their older sister. You always will be.”

“Except I’m not.” Serra’s shoulders sank. “Why didn’t you ever tell me?”

“I thought about telling you a hundred times. I wanted you to be proud of how hard your parents fought, of their sacrifice. But that’s not a story for young ears. And later, when you were old enough to understand, I didn’t see much point in stirring it all back up.” Debra looked at the ground for a moment. “For a while after the raid, you’d wake up in the middle of the night shaking with fear and calling for your mother. I held you close and comforted you, but you knew I wasn’t your mother. Then, after a few months, you stopped looking for her and turned to me when the nightmares began. The nightmares came less often after we came to the castle, but they didn’t go away until soon after we went to live with Korman. I didn’t want to do or say anything that might bring those old memories back.”

“So why are you telling me now?”

Tears lined Debra’s eyes as she looked at the young woman who was so dear to her. “Apparently you look so much like your mother your aunt recognized you.”

Serra frowned. “What aunt?”

“Your Aunt Yani, your mother’s sister. From what I heard, she nearly fainted when she saw you. She said it was like seeing a ghost.”

Serra shook her head. “I must look like a lot of people then because everyone around here tells me how much I look like you.”

“You need to meet her, Serra. Talk to her. See what she has to say.”

“Why?”

“If she’s right, she’s your family.”

Serra shook her head as tears gathered in her eyes again. “Lose one family, pick up another one.”

“No, Serra,” Debra said with an edge to her voice. “It’s not like that at all. You’re my daughter and you always will be. I raised you. You’ve known all along Korman’s not your father, but has it ever made one bit of difference to you? Have you ever felt like he loved Janine or Randyl any more than he loves you?”

Serra shook her head and wiped at the stream of tears flowing down her cheeks. “It’s just … I don’t know … I don’t know how I’m supposed to react, how I’m supposed to feel.” She covered her face with her hands and cried.

“And that’s why, even though I thought about it, I never told you, and if Yani hadn’t spotted you, I never would have. But she did, and now she wants to meet you, so this is something we have to deal with.” She put her arm around Serra’s shoulders. “But not today. You’ve been through enough for one afternoon.”

~ ~ ~ ~

Serra returned to the playground and Debra dropped by Kevin’s office to let him know they’d talked. “I told her as much as I know about her natural parents, but that’s not much.”

“How did she take it?” Kevin asked.

“Not all that well. I told her Yani wants to meet her, but I don’t think she can handle that today. She needs a little time to adjust. Right now she feels like her whole life just got turned upside down.”

“I know that feeling,” Kevin said, thinking back to when he found out about his parents. “Yani’s waited this long. She can wait another couple of days. Thank you, Debra. I know this isn’t easy for you.”

As soon as Debra left, Kevin asked Ariel to locate Yani and Thanzer, but not to say anything to them, just find out where they were.

Ten minutes later, Ariel knocked on Kevin’s door. “They’re in the dining room. I’m not sure why. They’re not doing anything, not even talking. They’re just sitting there, staring out the window.”

Kevin nodded and stood up. “Thanks. I’ll take it from here.”

When Kevin entered the dining room, Thanzer stood up. Kevin nodded and walked over to the sitting area where they were waiting.

“We have good reason to believe you’re right, Yani,” Kevin said after he sat down. “Serra could very well be your niece.”

Yani’s hand flew to her mouth as tears filled her eyes. “I knew it. When can I see her? When can I talk to her?”

“I know you want to see her, but Serra needs a little time to think about everything she just found out. As far as she’s known all of her life, Debra was her mother.”

“Why?” Yani asked with a deep frown. “Didn’t that woman ever tell her about her real mother? About Elayne?”

Kevin took a deep breath. “Debra is Serra’s real mother, Yani. She took care of her, protected her, saved her life when Elayne was killed. She did everything a real mother does except give birth to her.”

Yani’s mouth dropped open and anger flashed in her eyes.

Kevin held his hand up. “Don’t get me wrong. Elayne and her husband died defending their home and their daughter. I’m not belittling them, or their sacrifice. But don’t minimize what Debra did either. She accepted the responsibility for a child she barely knew to keep the slavers from killing her. She didn’t even live in that village, she was visiting when the slavers struck. And she raised Serra to be a fine woman. Your sister couldn’t have asked for a better mother for her daughter. Don’t cast her as a villain in this.”

“But why didn’t she ever tell her?” Yani insisted.

“Why should she have told her?” Kevin answered. “Serra has no memory of Elayne, the raid, any of that. Had Debra known anything about Elayne’s family it would be different, but Elayne was a stranger to her. Debra considered Serra her daughter and treated her as such. Why tell her any different?”

“He has a point,” Thanzer said, taking his wife’s hand. “She knows now. That’s what matters.” He turned to Kevin. “So when can we meet her?”

“Things have been unsettled around here this weekend. What would you say to waiting a couple of days? I could take you home now and pick you up next Saturday. You could come here, have lunch with Serra, talk to her for a while, and then I can take you back home that afternoon.”

Yani shook her head. “That’s not enough.”

“It’s enough for the first time,” Kevin said. “I think this will go a lot better if you take it slow. At some point you’re going to want Serra to go back home with you for a visit, right?”

Yani nodded. “Mother and Father will want to get to know her. So will Ester, Allan’s mother. His father passed away a few years ago, but yes, she’ll need to go home with me. She needs to move there, to live there, with her family.”

Kevin hesitated. “Yani, Serra has a family, one that she loves, that she’s a part of, right here. Debra and Korman have two other children. Serra’s very much their older sister.”

“Are you going to forbid her to leave?” Yani snapped, anger flashing in her eyes again.

“Of course not, but neither am I going to insist that she go. It has to be her decision, and you need to respect that.”

Yani bit her lip and glared at Kevin. “But you won’t force her to stay here against her will.”

“No, but I won’t force her to leave either. It’s her choice, her decision.”

Thanzer cleared his throat and asked, “If Serra’s willing to come to Ridgeville, will you bring her?”

Kevin nodded.

Thanzer turned to his wife. “It’s only right the girl gets to choose where she wants to live. As long as she can visit, meet your parents, let them get to know her, that’s what you want, isn’t it?”

Yani closed her eyes and nodded. “That’s enough for now.” She opened her eyes and looked hard into Kevin’s. “But if she decides she wants to come live in Ridgeville with the rest of us, you won’t try to stop her?”

Kevin shook his head.

“And you won’t let Debra stop her?”

Kevin frowned. “I can’t see Debra trying to stop her if that’s what she wants to do, but Serra’s her own person. I haven’t known her long, but I can’t see her letting anyone push her around. That’s something you might want to keep in mind.”