A Clove of Fates

28. Reunion

I woke up with a gasp.

Knowing came to me in stages.

My first knowing was that I was alive. That I was me and I was mine. That I was breathing and that my heart was beating and a vague awareness that there had been a moment there when this was not a certainty.

Secondly was that I was on the floor of my dining room and that the room was a mess. Broken chairs and broken plates and wine glasses littered the once pristine marble floor. I sat up abruptly, swaying a bit as the blood rushed to my head. 

I looked around and jumped back, clutching my chest. There was a dog whose tongue was lounging languidly on top of his incisors in a way that could only be interpreted as a death threat. Then I knew something new: this dog was not a dog, but a friend. His name was Osvik, and he was my friend.

And the rest of the knowings fell on top of me like an avalanche.

I knew Osvik and I knew Fraed and I knew Darby and I knew Jarelis.

I scrambled as best as I could to my feet, and Osvik barked as he observed my struggle.

"Hey, steady there."

Someone was grabbing me and helping me to stand firmly. I looked and almost melted with relief. I threw my arms around his neck. "Fraed! You weirdo, I was so worried."

"What did I do?" He asked.

"I don't know, but I'm sure it was something."

He winced. "Well, you might be right about that. But it was for a good cause." He held his fist under my chest and opened it up, revealing my talisman.

I could just imagine my eyes sparkling. "How did you get this back?"

He shrugged. "A bit of Elemental Magic. I knew that it wouldn't do much, but I thought that you having it was the only way we were going to make it through this thing. But then I sort of passed out, and Jarelis..."

Right. "Where is she? Is she okay? Shit, she's gonna be so pissed..."

He led me forward. "She's over here...she's kind of out of it, but I think she's okay."

I saw her and my vision went dark, for only a second, before brightening all together. She looked to be sleeping, more peacefully than I had ever seen her sleep, as she wasn't scowling. I knelt down to where she was laying on the ground, patting the side of her face, and her eyes cracked open. She smiled up at me, mouthing my name before falling back to sleep. I frowned, looked over my shoulder to Fraed.

"What's wrong with her? What happened?"

He shrugged "I'm not sure. I woke up and she was like this. Heillar and Aeska were gone and the doors unlocked themselves."

I bit my lip, taking a closer look at her. As I did so, I noticed something on my own hand. A vein on the back of my hand that was rarely visible pulsed a deep black now, spiderwebbing across my pale skin, stopping just short of my knuckles. I frowned down at it and went to look at Jarelis's hand. Sure enough, it was there as well, less visible due the the pigmentation of her skin. I shivered. "What the hells? Fraed, I–"

"Ifera! Ifera, are you alright?"

I snapped my head in the direction of the sound. Darby had thrown open the doors of the dining room. I stood and frowned at them.

"Yeah, I'm fine. Why? What happened?"

They shook their head. "I don't know. All of a sudden, the whole palace went black. I was so worried. Some of the other servants were talking, and then a lot of the maidens got agitated and talked about wanting to go home, and in the confusion I thought it was the perfect time to–" They swallowed around the words that were rushing too quickly out of their mouth. "–But then I got worried because, I mean, it only makes sense that it would be coming from here, and–"

I cut off the rest of their words with my hand. "Wait, do you have Elke?" I looked over their shoulder. "Is she with you?"

Darby's face dropped. "Yes. She's here."

They stepped aside reluctantly to reveal that Elke and Fraed had already begun their reunion, holding each other tightly, as if their lives depended on it. But then Fraed pulled away and frowned. In his face, I could pinpoint the exact moment that his heart broke.

I stepped towards them, feeling deeply that reaching them was something I should have been afraid of. Suddenly, I was recalling what Darby had said to me earlier. "But you know there are times when I can't."

Elke turned when she saw me approach. Her face was smudged with mascara that ran down her cheeks. She was dressed in the same robes that she wore the last time I saw her. Only this time, the white fabric was distorted by a bulge that grew underneath them.

I looked away from her, feeling the need to throw up.

No.

That wasn't right. This couldn't be real.

"Elke?"

We all turned to face Jarelis. She was sitting up now, squinting at the group of us that stood above her. She rubbed her eyes.

I locked eyes with her sister. We shared a silent message, the same plea for someone to come in and take charge, to tell us what to do.

We hoped that that person wouldn't have to be any of us, knowing all the same that it would have to be. There was no one else.