The White Forest (Mages and Kingdoms Book 2) (11 page)

Amelie

Amelie chose the back
of the castle near the grove to make her entrance. The recuperation the group had received at Millie’s home allowed them to press on for longer days. Amelie was anxious to see the palace, her sister, and the captain now that the course was set for her return. She hoped she could remain composed when she finally had Seth in her sight again. She hoped her hands would be steady as they took his to give him the welcome bow into her family. Her grip tightened on her horse’s reins. They would be steady. They would not fail her. She could do this. It was a large part of the reason she left in the first place.

She glanced to her left. Talon sat sure atop his horse, his ordeal finally releasing his body. He still wore traces of it in his eyes but Amelie could tell he was stronger than he was even a few hour ago. Knowing their travel could shift to horseback, she’d spent some energy on him last night, taking on the last of his ailments. A slight heat was all that was left. Amelie didn’t know if the flush of it was from her healing or seeing Seth. She supposed it was comprised from a bit of both circumstances,

The palace came into view suddenly, startling Amelie even though she had traversed these lands all her life and could pace the landmarks to the palace grounds. One moment she’d been deep in thought about the implications of her return and in the next moment, it was a reality.

She sat still for a moment, the horse’s tail swishing silently in the powder of dust the group’s hooves kicked up from the graveled road leading through the orange grove. Millie reared her horse and turned back to look at her.

“Are you ready?” she asked. It was a weighted question in Amelie’s mind and by the look of Millie’s face, she’d asked it with the same gravity.

Amelie nodded and the group resumed.

Sir Duncan came out of the back hurriedly, his steps a series of stumbles.

“Great angels, great angels.” Amelie couldn’t hear him clearly but knew he was mumbling something along those lines as his steps picked up speed. It wasn’t until a loud, “Great angels!” left his throat in a surprised cry that she confirmed it and she dismounted off her horse in a hurried fall as Sir Duncan closed in and wrapped his arms around her. She clutched his bony body through his soft thick robes and cried. He swayed with her, stroking her back and suppressing sobs of his own. It was the most emotion Amelie had ever seen this man display in all her life.

“How is this possible?” he implored holding her back at an arms-length to study her face. “How are you here?”

“There is much to tell,” Amelie answered cryptically wiping the tears from her face. “On both our parts, I believe.”

Sir Duncan nodded solemnly in agreement. His eyes lingered intensely before he shook himself from his reverie. “Forgive me, I am in shock.” He nodded acknowledgement to the rest of the party as they dismounted their horses.

“Understandable, as I have risen from the dead. Please, can I see…” Amelie struggled with who she requested to see next. Claudia rose in her mind but her mouth almost betrayed her heart.

“He’s away at the moment on a hunting trip with his brother,” Sir Duncan said quietly.

Amelie shook her head, even as her skin prickled with the news. She wanted to know where he was, what he was doing, how he was feeling. Her mind thirsted for any and all knowledge that included him but she needed to suppress the ache.

“No, I meant to ask after Claudia,” she said. “May I see her?”

Sir Duncan’s face clouded but he nodded. “She awaits you in the King’s Study,” he said. “I will accompany you. I will speak for you.”

“Speak for me? There’s no need for ceremony, where is my sister?”

Without waiting for an answer, Amelie pushed by Sir Duncan and ran into the palace. She took the turns she knew so well until she was in front of the study. Pushing the door open, she burst into the room out of breath.

“Claudia,” she huffed anxiously, her eyes settling on her younger sister.

Claudia rose, but did not come forward to greet her. Her eyes were cold and her posture was stiff.

“Amelie,” she replied without moving from her stance. Amelie, her muscles itching to go and embrace her sister, stilled at the detached address.

Frowning slightly, she bowed. “Your Majesty,” she said. Her eyes rested on the ring on Claudia’s finger. “Congratulations on your wedding.” Amelie could see the frustration on Claudia’s face. Worry and lines were etched into her features. Perhaps this was the reason for the coldness. “Talon sent word that the king has not awoken. That the situation is stressed.”

Claudia’s eyes narrowed. “Yes, funny how Mr. Talon neglected to mention his talent for raising the dead to deliver messages.”

Amelie cast her eyes down. “I am sorry. I only disappeared because I thought it would be best for everyone.”

Claudia finally walked towards her. In a regal form Amelie did not remember from before, she circled her much like her mother used to do during a scolding.

“Yes, I read as much in your message. You thought it would be good for everyone. It seems like it was for your own good, more like it,” she accused. “It has always been about you. My brother died because of you. My mother died because of you. My father lies near dead because of you.”

She walked back to the desk and leaned on it, her knuckles resting on the wood, her back towards Amelie heaving slightly. When she whirled around again, her cheeks were lined with tears.

“Everyone always loved you more,” she said bitterly. “Phillip worshipped you. He’d rather hang himself than harm you. My father sacrificed himself to save you. My mother died going after you. Sir Duncan keeps to his room every night in heartache when I need his counsel. Even Seth couldn’t help seeing you when he looked at me.

“I had no one. No one! The only one I had was you and you left. I kept this kingdom together! All you did was cause destruction and harm to everyone you touched. So don’t you dare gallop back in here to save the day. Don’t waltz in here and expect me to embrace you. You were once hidden, once dead, and as far as I’m concerned, forever gone.”

She cut her eyes to the other end of the room. “Guards,” she demanded curtly and Amelie was immediately seized on either side from palace soldiers.

Amelie had no words. Her eyes filled with hurt and she knew that’s what was shining back at her sister at this moment.

Claudia squeezed her eyes shut, stifling a frustrated scream. “The dungeon,” she ordered and without another word, Amelie was pulled from the room.

Seth

He’d left the hunting
party early. Handing his kills to Derrick, he rode his horse hard in the direction of the castle as soon as the page found him to tell him of Talon’s return.

“He found them, did he? All the scoundrels Rankor worked with? He felled them all?”

Seth was maniacal with pleasure. He hadn’t heard a word from his friend since his last communication from the Stone Ridge village in Draeden. He’d been silent for weeks. The page tried to interject as Seth clapped his hands victoriously and paced between the trees.

“Your Highness, that is not all,” he tried to tell him.

Seth laughed. “Oh, this shouldn’t feel so good. I must see him. I must ready my horse.”

Seth took to saddling the horse he came to care for after all those morning rides.

“Your Highness, there is more. He is not alone.”

“Even better. He saved some for me. My sword is ready.”

“He rode in with her, your Highness.”

Seth stopped abruptly. His arm was frozen in fastening a buckle. Swift shifted nervously at her rider’s sudden change in demeanor.

Her.

He didn’t like the way the page said it, flooding the word with importance. Slowly, Seth turned to face the him, finally listening.

“He rode in with whom?” he asked evenly.

The page faltered, suddenly feeling the weight of the prince’s full attention. “With Princess Amelie. His riding party included…” he trailed off scared to continue, so piercing was Seth’s look. Seth moved to the page in two strides and took him up by the front of his shirt. His breath was angry and close.

“Do not speak lies to me!”

“It is the truth I speak!” the page cried frantically. “I was sent straight away by Sir Duncan himself. She has returned!”

“She is dead!”

“No, your Highness. Alive in the flesh, I saw her. She is alive. Alive.”

Seth released the page and ran a troubled hand through his short, midnight hair.  He walked back to the horse and pulled the buckle he’d started taut. Derrick emerged from the woods, perplexed at all the commotion. Seth unhitched his bounty from the hunt and heaved it at Derrick. “I must depart. There’s no time to explain. You can gather further information from this one,” Seth said quickly, nodding his head in the direction of the page. He mounted his horse and with a “Yah!” he was gone.

*                            *                            *

He didn't bother with his muddied boots as he banged through the entrance hall. His heart raced wildly. His skin was on fire. He cared not for his windblown hair and he was out of breath as he quickly scanned each room he passed. All empty. There had been someone to torment him in these hallways with a question or a comment every single day he mourned, where were all these blasted people now when she was so close?

He passed the study and sailed through the door without knocking.

Claudia looked up at him from her seat behind the desk with boredom. She placed her quill down on the parchment she was working on and crossed her hands on the surface in front of her.

"Did you cut your trip short?" she asked tartly.

He could not bring himself to exchange the idle pleasantries he should after returning from an extended trip in the country. His chest heaved with impatience. "Where is she?"

"Good day to you as well," Claudia returned darkly.

Seth could hardly contain his composure. He gave a short bow. "It was a pleasant trip but urgent news called me back," he said emptily. He was hungry for the small talk to be over. Apparently, Claudia didn’t feel like participating either.

"I knew it would only be a matter of hours until you burst in here," she muttered. "You never could hide how you felt about her. Everyone bends to her. Magic or no."

"Did she return to the convent?"

"That drab place? No. I've upgraded her quarters to the dungeons below."

"What in the name-"

"Do you know where she's been the last year while I dealt with everything going on? While you thought your precious love to be dead? Having a grand time learning the mage ways in the White Forest. She gave not a thought to you, to me, or to this kingdom." Claudia rose roughly from her seat and took a position next to the tall windows overlooking the orange grove. "She did not arrive alone," she continued, not looking at him. "Talon knew her whereabouts all along. He brought her back. And she came with a mage. Handsome one, too. He rode alongside her, very protectively I might add."

Each word Claudia spoke buried Seth under more grief. Amelie had lived freely this last year? Not dead? Not captive? With mages? He shut his eyes painfully and when he opened them again his voice was quiet and sure. "Even so," he spoke. "That is your sister you imprisoned."

Claudia's eyes danced with fire. "My sister would not have abandoned us in this time of need. I don't know who it is down there, but she's no sister of mine."

Her words struck Seth. Yes. Rankor could shape shift. Talon had detailed some of Rankor's powers in his letters back. Suppose it wasn't Amelie at all. Amelie would have never run from her kingdom. He remembered their night in the forest when she refused to run away with him, when she refused to turn her back on her kingdom.

"I shall see for myself. If you'll excuse me."

Claudia waved a dismissive hand. "As if you would be bound to my permission. All rules are worthless to you where she is concerned. Go. Go and see for yourself."

Seth noted Claudia's bitter tones but she was right. He would go. He would always go.

Amelie

The clang of the
prison gate reverberated so loudly the walls seemed to vibrate in its wake. His heavy footfalls hurried down the descent of the stairs. She saw no face and heard no voice but the urgency of the movements told her it was him. Her heart caught in anticipation.

“I was told no visitors, your Highness,” the guard said desperately. It was a stark contrast to the taunting gruffness he’d used on her as he locked her in the cell.

A jingling of keys and the soft thud of a body hitting the stone floor was the answering sound to the guard’s protest.

Amelie scooted back in her cell, moved forward, scooted back again. She didn’t know how to position herself. She didn’t know what to expect.

He rounded the corner quickly. He brought himself all the way to the cell, pressed his face into the bars. Amelie and Seth said nothing. They stared at each other over the expanse of space in her confinement.

“Rankor can change into other people,” he finally said. “Are you him? Are you that disgusting mage here to torture me with her image?”

“Seth,” Amelie pleaded. What could she say to explain her actions?

“Don’t. Speak. My. Name.” Each word was deliberate and full of hurt. He eyed her angrily. “Are you him?”

“I am not he. I am the woman you once knew.”

“The woman I once knew would not leave me to grieve her death, a fate I consider worse than my own demise.”

Amelie shut her eyes painfully. “That was not my intent.”

“How do I know?” he almost whispered. “How do I know you are her?”

“You once told me that it didn’t matter what world we lived in. A world we created of trees or the real world. You told me I was your world.” It hurt to speak the words but Amelie had to choose the most private moment she could think of to convince him of her authenticity. Even if those words were no longer true.

His eyes shimmered with tears as she spoke. He sucked in a large breath to draw them back in, draw in his sadness. He looked at the ceiling, the side wall, the small square window above her head. He looked everywhere but at her, not trusting his voice. Finally, he pressed his forehead into the cool steel of the prison bars. The keys dangled from his hand. Still he did not move to open the cell.

Amelie, though she ached to, didn’t dare touch him. She didn’t know if it would make it worse or better.

“You’re alive,” he finally said. Confusion and relief seeped into his eyes where wariness had clouded them.

"Yes. I am. I've been in hiding. I thought it was best for everyone if I just disappeared."

Those were the wrong words. Seth reeled at this. The relief on his face darkened until his features were twisted in anger. He began to pace in front of the cell. "It was not best for me! A part of me died that day, Amelie. A part that I can never get back."

"It wasn't easy for me either, Seth."

Seth wheeled to face her. "Don't you dare compare yourself to me in this. You
chose
to walk away. You had the peace of mind to know I was alive. I tore myself apart every day thinking I should have damned everyone and all their orders and advice and gone after you myself. That maybe if I had been the one to get to you, I'd have fought harder, I’d have gone longer, I’d have given more to get you back safely. That my hands were as dirty as Rankor's for the part they played in your death. I cursed myself because I didn't even
try
to save the woman I loved. That's what I lived with on top of feeling your loss."

He began to pace again, the anger trying to work its way out through his fevered movements. "And to know after these months that you simply left. Because you decided it'd be
easier
for me.” He finally stopped walking and sagged against the bars. “Great Angels, Amelie, I'd have suffered happily a hundred times over just being able to see your face. What you did to me..."

Amelie couldn't stop the tears from falling down her cheeks.  She wiped impatiently at them with her filthy sleeve, surely smudging her face. "I wasn't trying to do anything to you. I wanted you to be happy and I didn't think you'd ever fully allow yourself to be if I was always in the outskirts of your life. I thought you'd move on and I'd be the one carrying the burden."

"Well, you were wrong." He paused to sigh and give a small, bitter laugh. "And now you're imprisoned in your own kingdom."

Amelie shook her head. "I'm still confused. Claudia took one look at me and threw me in here."

Seth nodded as if that kind of response was expected. "Yes," he said. "Turns out she has a jealous streak." He shook his head and dragged tired hands over his face. Amelie knew this gesture well and she wished to ease his frustration. At the same time her stomach clenched. How much did Claudia know about the two of them? She had to see her, to make it right. To make her understand she wasn’t back to get in the way. She was back to help.

“Well, it won’t do to leave you in here,” Seth said taking the keys and finally unlocking the door. “As furious as I am with you, it doesn’t compare to my joy at discovering you’re still alive.” His eyes softened and he paused for a moment in his movements. Then he hastily resumed and the cell dragged open with a metallic groan. The open path spread before her. Amelie itched to cover the short distance to him. A year of absence did nothing to cool her desire.

His eyes finally rested on hers, steel blue and a deep longing contained within them. They were also cautious. Conflicted. The same emotions that stormed within her. She forced Claudia into her mind to combat the storm. She needed to dissipate this charged energy between them. Remembering that King Byron had little time left, she chose to leave this moment and continue with what needed to be done.

“I rode in with a mage,” she began. She tried to make her voice steady. “He wore black riding gear and carried a short sword. Please…do you know what my sister did with him? Is he all right?”

Seth’s expression hardened before it neutralized. His smile was empty and the look between them soured. “On that, I do not know. Upon my return to the palace, I made freeing you from the dungeon my first priority. I made no time to inquire about the rest of your party.”

“I see. Thank you. For releasing me.”

Seth sighed. It was a defeated sound that melted his features into resignation. “I will see what I can find out. I’ll have the staff ready a room in the east wing, far away from Claudia’s wrath. There’s no need for you to cross paths again until she’s cooled down and thinking more clearly.”

“Thank you,” Amelie said again. “It is most appreciated.”

“You can request anything of me anytime. I will never deny you. I cannot deny you.” He took an absent step towards her. The last words were spoken with a fervor and his expression betrayed feelings that still simmered for her. She looked down and away, steeling her face impassively. She felt his withdraw.

“If you’ll excuse me,” he said quickly before turning and striding up the stairs he came down minutes before.

Amelie stepped forward and touched the bars gingerly. So Seth had cracked open her path to freedom but she was scared to take it. To face her sister, her dying king, to feel the absence of her mother rush in where the White Forest had shielded it for so many months. She had to figure out how to exist in this kingdom where she was no longer a mystery and the amber around her neck fed her normalcy among her people.

Before she could slide out of the gate standing ajar, heavy footfalls descended down the steps, too clunky to be Seth returning. She slid the door in so it appeared closed but didn’t latch it so she could add surprise to an attack if she needed one to leave the dungeon.

In a quick moment, two burly guards appeared clutching Talon in between them. With a loud cry from the archer, they threw him into the standing cell to Amelie’s left and banged the gate shut. Wiping their hands for effect, they nodded briefly to Amelie before heading upstairs.

Amelie turned an incredulous look on her new prison mate.

He righted himself, bringing his body to a crouch in his cell. He shook fingers through his ruffled hair and he looked up at her questioning gaze. “So, Seth is quite angry that I told him you were dead,” he explained.

Amelie sighed and opened her cell. She went over to Talon’s and yanked. “Let me talk to him. I’ll get you out,” she promised.

Talon stretched out slowly and laid back on the stone floor. “No, I’m safer in here for now,” he said. “Let me rot in here for a couple days. It will be more peaceful than his yelling.”