Chapter 37
After getting settled into my cabin for the night, we all sat around my little table and I waited for the explanation of why Rayne had brought Vincent to my house.
"I need you to hear me out little sister. There's trouble brewing in the capital of this country and we have to stop it," my new found brother reported and I raised my eyebrows.
"Trouble? What kind of trouble?" I asked curious but not ready to believe him yet. I had just met him, blood ties or not.
"There's a woman who's wants to put Seleniums back on the throne and wants to take it for herself," he replied and my eyebrows went higher.
"And how do you know this?" I questioned leaning forward on my elbows watching his face.
"We have a small colony of Seleniums watching the humans, merpeople, and dragons. Heven, one of our operatives told us about her when he went to go there with his king. She's been stirring up trouble for only the past year or so but she has ties to Princess Dalia in her exile as well as many other criminals. If we don't stop her, it could lead to another war. I don't want to have to face that again after losing my parents to it but I'll do it if I have to. Not to mention that she has the princes tied around her little finger. It's the kings that don't' trust her anymore and they have good reason not to," he informed me and I considered what he was telling me.
"What has she done so far?" I interrogated and he smiled warily at my interest.
"Careful little sister, you might be swept up in it too," he mocked but drew a breath to answer my question. "She's started putting spies in the court to see where everyone stands on the subject. My own spies were nearly caught at their weekly meeting with her around and it's gotten to the point where they have to be extremely careful just to send a note. The longer no one does anything about it the worse it gets. We have to act swiftly."
"What does Prince Aiden think about this?" Rayne piped up and we all turned to look at her.
"He doesn't know what to think. He's not even sure that Linessa is Linessa," he responded and I gapped at him in shock.
"Linessa is the one doing all of this?" I expressed my shock and he winced at the accusation in my voice.
"Yes. Now you see why you have to help us! Power has completely destroyed her and there's nothing left that just any outsider could do. We need to send you in to do something about it," he pleaded and I stood up to start pacing.
"Why does she want to put herself on the throne?" I urged him on and he followed my movements.
"He found out about the princes being changelings. They had been exchanged at birth by my father who had known the last Quartet and she had instructed him to do this in order to make sure that the future was changed. He ended up dying because of it and now we don't have a father to tell us about what happened. The Quartet had also told my mother to take you and run while she was able to but then she got attacked by Argons and there was nothing we could do about that without messing up our plans. I'm sorry about that," he offered but I ignored him.
"Why would she want to take the throne because they're changelings? It doesn't make sense. There have been plenty of changelings on the throne before. Why now?" I signaled for him to go on.
"Power corrupts good people. She didn't have any power until Aiden gave her some and then it was like an explosion blew up. She loved it and took advantage of it and now there's nothing we can do to revert it. Simple as that," he answered and I nodded pretending to let him know that I got it.
I let the rest of the evening pass away in idle chatter and when I was able to finally escape to my room, I began to pack. My prince was in danger and that was all I needed to know. My loyalty was to him first and to everyone else second whether I was supposed to take care of Rayne or not. I was sure that she would understand but I needed to fine out the extent of the danger between both of them if I was to deal with one of my friends. The silence and peacefulness of the people around me drew me out into their rooms and I found myself looking in on all of them.
Rayne didn't appear to trust Vincent as much as she let on because she hadn't transformed back into her true form. She also had a nice knife under her pillow for the occasion of him coming in there. I decided not to draw any conclusions. I knew that my charge didn't like new people but she was also a seer. A future teller to be exact and she never took to the title. I looked at her face for along moment before I decided to slip out but she managed to catch my wrist with her hand. Her violet eyes stared straight into me as I looked back at her and she sighed and sat up.
"As much as I hate to admit it, He's right. My other's corrupt and she plans to take over the throne. If you don't kill her soon, my mother will kill my father by the end of the week. You need to act fast. My predecessor knew this and made sure that you were in a position to take on the responsibility and if I judged it so, I could let you go. It's been four years hasn't it?" she murmured and I nodded deciding not to speak. "It's almost ironic. The smallest of all the races gets to save the kingdom. It would make a horrible bard's tale, too much pain for them to be able to sing properly without them knowing what went into the people's hearts and minds at the time that it was made. No, it's much better off letting everyone else never know what happened." Her sigh seemed to echo throughout our small home and she took my hand and squeezed it gently. Her sad smile etched its way into my soul and I was going to turn to leave when she brought a knife from under her pillow. She pressed it into my palm and I let my fingers take hold of the sheath.
"Kill her with this. It's the only weapon that can truly kill a Selenium. It wasn't just the power that warped my mother but not having me by her side for four years. First she mourned and then...not a story to be told. She never believed me dead but just taken away from her by a traitor to her own kind. She will never forgive you for taking me from her," she whispered letting emotion shine through her words and I pulled her into a hug.
"Would you like me to tell her anything?" I asked leaving the unspoken words left unsaid.
"Tell her...Tell her that her little Rayne cloud still thinks of her and would've liked to shower her with love if she was able to," she mumbled and tore away from me to stare out the window. "Leave." With that I left, letting the trails of countless threads of pain trailing behind me.
Author's note: only one chapter left!
