The parallel lives of two princesses living a millennium apart are bound together in the most unlikely of ways.
Princess Aebbé of Ardam, haunted by memories of a flash of lightning and burning flesh, returns to her home amidst a seemingly hopeless...
"We have all hurt someone tremendously, whether by intent or accident. We have all loved someone tremendously, whether by intent or accident. It is an intrinsic human trait, and a deep responsibility, I think, to be an organ and a blade." – Nayirrah Waheed
The Second Order, Raven's Peak Ardam 40
Idunn wakes up from her nightmare. The details are already foggy, but the horror it made her feel clings to her bones. The suspicion that the nightmare has something to do with why she can't remember takes root. As she rips the clammy sheets from her body, she realizes that it is daytime. It is not proper to be sleeping in the day. She sighs. It is so hard to remember how she should do things.
She stands up and walks to the other end of her room, only to realize that the canvas door leading to the tent's main room is on the other side. Instead of cursing, she turns around and smiles.
She trips over something. She looks at the pillow at her feet.
How did that end up there?
She shrugs: the pillow doesn't matter. She walks to the tent's main door, only to run into the invisible barrier keeping her inside - the one she temporarily forgot existed.
She nods absentmindedly: that was why she is here -the human city that would be destroyed.
She frowns.
Not this one, Idunn.
Yes, this city, she chides her voices in her mind. Raven's Peak was the name of it.
This city, but not this war.
Her fragmented memory had something to do with the war that was still to come. She frowns at this unexpected revelation. There will be three wars. She counts them on her fingers: the one that was, the one that is, and the one to come.
She nods her head enthusiastically.
She needs to tell him. What was his name again? She couldn't recall it.
She walked to the fountain in the middle of the tent: "My lord?" she asks hesitantly while placing her hand in the water.
A moment later he enters through the main door. His name slips into her mind. She grins. She knows his name. She can see through his deceit, but for now, she will allow the ruse.
"Idunn, you spoke into the water?" he asks unsure.
He knows that she wouldn't call him for anything that is unworthy of his time. He visits her every day, even though he is the one keeping her here.
"Caith, why do you prevent me from leaving?" she says as she gestures to the mess all around her. Yes, to know this is more important than to tell him.
He gives her an empathetic smile: "Because Idunn, I need you here to help us."
"Why caged animal I am?" She shakes her head at this wrong sentence, but she cannot think how it should sound.
"Do you remember your sister, Aylissa?"
Idunn feels her face lighting up: "Lissie?"
"Yes, Lissie."
"Is something wrong with her?"
"No, Idunn. You betrayed her when you slept with the man she loved – Reynyn Floodfinder."
She frowns: "That is why I do not know what I know?"
"I think so, but only you know why you do not know what you know."
She sighs as she remembers his patience with her. He has been calmly helping her and repeatedly filling the blanks in her memory.
"And you and I decided that it would be best if you were not able to leave until you are at least healthier, and because Reynyn Floodfinder and Aylissa's betrothed, Prince Eoghan Elderlight is here."
"Eoghan is mine!" she says with bulging eyes.
"Yes, you were going to marry him, but you betrayed both him and your sister."
She feels a crushing weight in her chest. Yes, she knows this.
He waits until she is ready to tell him what she called him here for.
"There is a child that has just come to Raven's Peak from the Forest. Tried as I tried I could not see her healing."
He looks at her without any confusion on his face: "I know whom you are speaking of - Princess Aebbé Ardam."
She smiles and jumps up and down: "I want her to drink tea."
"Why do you want her to drink tea?"
"I cannot remember."
"It might take me some days to invite her over."
Idunn nods. "I know."
He looks at her with a marble expression on his face: "You have had visions about her?"
"No, rumour has reached my ears."
He smiles: "I have heard those rumours as well."
"My lord?" She asks hesitantly.
"Yes, Idunn?"
"Thank you."
He looks at her sadly: "It breaks my heart to see you like this, dear one. You were quite magnificent."
"Your heart still needs to break," she says ominously when a marble rolls into place.
"I'm not sure what you are saying, Idunn."
"Your heart will break," she says more certain of it.
"I'm afraid what you are referring to, if you are referring to it, is in the past."
She takes one of her golden armbands off and hands it to him.
He takes it with a frown.
"Past. Present. Future. All one."
"Thank you, Idunn," he says but she can see that he doesn't understand.
She pulls at her hair in frustration: "Your heart will grow again, and it will die again, and grow again, and die again, and then be unbreakable and returned."
His eyes become ice as he looks into her being: "My heart has nothing to do with the reason you are here, so do not talk about it again. I am not a subject for your prophecy."
He leaves.
An hour later she lifts her head, wipes a tear and looks at the door where he exited. Her thoughts are clear and her own – even if only for a moment.
"Your heart is the subject of prophecy. She is the one."
"But learning to forgive ourselves and others because we have not chosen wisely is what makes us most human. We make horrible mistakes. It's how we learn. We breathe love. It's how we learn. And it is inevitable." – Nayirrah Waheed
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
Hi, all my dearests! Thank you for your support and motivation! Please vote on chapters and feel free to comment. Much love.
