34. A Broken Glass
CHAPTER 34
A Broken Glass
ALIA
W hy does something so simple feel so hard?
The door leading into the Matriarch’s Palace seemed to tower above me. The door was a plain, simple wood grain, but was higher than two of me put together. There were carvings of figures in cloaks fighting werewolves, dragons, unicorns—you name nearly any magical being, and they were there. Around the outer edges of the doorframe was a twisting vine with Ambrose flowers interspersed throughout.
Brandt stood at my back, frowning up at the massive home with brown pillars of support for the upper stories and guards stationed around the upper balconies.
The quiet unsettled me the most. Even deep in the woods, there were sounds of critters, whistling breezes through the trees, and howls of wolves and other predators in the distance. There was none of that here. Instead, there was a stillness, a calm before a storm.
Before I lost my nerve, I counted to five and then opened the door. The two enforcers stationed there bowed their heads as I walked inside. Before me spread a massive red runner that lead to a throne—the matriarch’s throne. Twin spirals of light-grain wooden stairs on either side of the massive entry hall led to a balcony that spanned most of the second floor. High above was a ceiling made of intertwining branches with entire trees as pillars of support. It was a mixture of dark and dreary and warm and welcoming depending on if you looked at the massive ceiling or the red runner leading to the throne.
There were multiple doors leading from this room to other wings of the house, wings that I never much cared to explore. Mom moved us out of here at the first opportunity, and we’ve lived by our own means since. I still remembered what I supposed was a nursery of sorts, where I’d first been wounded by Grandma’s hand when she found I’d climbed onto a table and knocked off a precious vase.
“Granddaughter, how lovely it is for you to visit your dear old grandmother at long last.” Grandma stared down from the second-floor balcony, and I could feel the way her eyes judged me although I couldn’t see the pinch in her brow nor see the weight of her gaze.
She strode down the stairs wearing a crown on her head much larger than the one she wore when she was actually matriarch and a dazzling red gown with swirling hints of gold. Her gray hair was tied into a severe bun on top of her head, making the large crown with sparkling jewels much more pronounced. Her eyes glittered with something I couldn’t name but thoroughly disliked.
I stared at her, hiding my trembling fingers in my cloak. “Grandma, you look well,” I said.
“You do not. Is the weight too much to bear? I can always relieve you if you find it too burdensome.”
I snorted. “And let you continue killing innocent creatures?”
Her smile didn’t reach her eyes. “More’s the pity. You cannot blame me for trying. Brandt, are you her mere bodyguard now? I had such high hopes for you.”
Brandt remained silent, but his eyes went hard as flinted steel; it was a look I had seen very few times.
“Did you know about the original book?” I asked at last. If she did, if generations of Red matriarchs had just looked the other way while thousands of innocent creatures died… I didn’t know what to make of that.
She stopped feet from me and stared at who I’d become—and found me lacking. “That is not the right question, Matriarch .”
“Then what is?” I asked, frustration seeping through my words.
She turned from me, her gown gently brushing the ground as she walked down the red rug to the throne. She caressed the brown arm with her hand. The wood there was worn smooth, as if she had done so many times.
“You should ask why Reds would need to kill magical beings at all.” She turned to stare at me.
I met her gaze, knowing she was going to make me ask. “Why would Reds need to kill magical beings?”
“There is an imbalance in this world. Magical creatures came through a portal opened by a young man who did not understand what he was doing. The portal was not closed for over one hundred years. This created an unbalanced ecosystem where the magical creatures slowly killed off many animals vital to the livelihood of humans. Then many began hunting humans themselves.”
“Which is why we were taught all magical beings are evil…”
Grandma shook her head. “Not evil. Just wrong for this place. Wrong for this world. They belong where they belong, which is not here. And this is why I took it upon myself to create a more balanced world. A world of goodness, where everyone’s needs were met. One where humans can flourish and the invasive species are kept in check by predators.”
I stared at her. “These are living creatures.”
“When the massive snakes from across the seas came, you did not object when the werewolves naturally moved in to eat them, correct? It was a natural process. Imagine if no werewolves were here to keep them in balance? It would have toppled our ecosystem.” She paused, staring into the distance before jerking her eyes back to me. “We are the werewolves. We ensure balance is kept. And without us, the human kingdoms would have long ago fallen to the whims of the magical invasion.”
I was more confused than before. She actually believed what she was saying. In some ways, I saw her side. “But they aren’t a single invasive species. They are many, most of whom came over with their own forms of checks and balances. Many even made this world better?—”
“Those who made it better were by far less than those who did not. You have seen it, Aurelia. Do not try to ignore the children you have seen slain by monsters.” She was right. The hollow eyes of dead children were seared into my mind, their bodies mutilated.
“Then why try to exterminate all magic?”
She smiled. “You know better by now, Granddaughter. It was never about exterminating magic; it was about bringing back the balance to this world that was interrupted long ago—and making it better.”
I walked from the palace more confused than when I’d went in. I went searching for answers only to get more questions.
Did Grandma truly believe we had to help achieve balance? I felt there was something more there, something buried beneath the ‘why’ she gave, and yet, it seemed she was telling the truth. I just didn’t know how that truth translated in her mind.
Markus took over for Brandt.
“Later, ma’am,” Brandt said.
I sent him a rude gesture, and he saluted. I shook my head, a smile teasing at my lips for the first time since exiting the palace.
My feet turned to the massive tent and the creatures there. I understood them. They were simple. They liked some and disliked others. There were no games, no questioning. They just were.
The sphinx bowed her head to me as I walked in. I set a hand on her beak. “Hey there, beautiful.”
She trilled, the feathers at her neck standing on end with the sound. Her eyes told me her grief was still raw, but that she would make it. That’s all I wanted. Her little one needed her now. They needed each other.
I went to her baby, picking her up and scratching the feathers beneath her beak. She warbled in happiness. She curled up in my arms, her big blue eyes staring up at me with questions I couldn’t answer. So I kissed her fuzzy little head and rocked her until she slept.
“Matriarch!” Brandt called out.
“In here!” I said, trying to keep my voice low so as not to wake the baby sphinx.
Brandt came around the corner, Elder Vera at his heels.
“There’s been a breech, Mistress. Graham and Verald have escaped,” Elder Vera said, her long hair folding over her face as she doubled over to catch her breath.
I stared at her. It took a moment for my brain to catch up. “How?” I whispered. I gently eased the baby under her mother’s wing, who looked at me with dull eyes. She nuzzled my hair with her sharp beak, being gentle with my thin skin.
I rose and walked outside, being careful to keep a lid on my panic as I nodded to a dryad who held the hand of an elf. I gave a quick hug to the center hydra head, Brandt and Elder Vera close behind me.
When I crossed the threshold and no one was about, I spun to Brandt and Elder Vera.
“How?” I snapped.
“The guards saw nothing. It is as if they disappeared into thin air,” Elder Vera said, her eyes darting around as if they would come to attack us here and now. I doubted it. More than likely, they wouldn’t strike until they thought we least expected it.
“Take the werewolf trackers. Hunt them down,” I said.
“Yes, Mistress,” Elder Vera said with a bow of her head.
She trotted off, huffing and puffing. “Go with her, Brandt. Ensure the safety of the werewolves and the Reds who follow the trail.” I wished I could go personally, but I had other duties.
Brandt nodded. “Stay safe.” He saluted to his heart before running to catch up with the elder.
I leaned against a tent post outside, watching the people dart in and out of the entrance. A man I hadn’t seen before darted inside, his pale gray eyes briefly meeting mine. We were often conscripting new folk to help with the ever-changing needs.
“Can I help, madame?” Enforcer Markus asked, coming up behind me from his post by the door.
“No, Enforcer. Not with this,” I said. Though leadership was a heavy burden, one I wasn’t sure I could handle, it was mine to bear.
You aren ’ t alone, Two-Legs. Lean on us when it becomes too much, Ran said.
A flap of wings came from above. A few children squealed and most darted away from the area, but otherwise, the people had become used to Ran mighty quickly. She carefully folded her wings back, reaching her long head down to nuzzle my chest.
“Hey, girl,” I said, hugging her head and kissing her nose.
She leaned down so we were eye to eye. Are you taking on too much?
I scoffed. “I just sent Brandt off to find the traitors instead of going myself.”
Her eye twinkled with mischief. She gently grabbed me with her front foot. I froze, uncertain of what she was doing.
“What are you—ACK!” I screamed as she lifted me from the dirt and leapt into the air. My stomach dropped as the ground fell away beneath us.
“Put me DOWN !” I shouted. “ Help!” I shouted, but Enforcer Markus was zero help. He saluted Ran of all things before going back to his post, smiling . Markus does not smile. His eyes get mischievous and his lips may make a tiny quirk, but this was a full-on, white-teeth-glimmering freakin’ grin.
“SO HELP ME YOU BIG LUMP OF SCALES!”
Ran craned her head down. I shrieked cause there was a tree coming up ahead. She swerved, missing it by inches—the crazy bag of bones—and winking.
You need a break. This is necessary.
“NECESSARY? PUT. ME. DOWN !”
The werewolf left me in charge of your mental capacity. You ’ re empty. I’m here to assist.
I put my hands on the warm scales of her hand—paw?—trying not to look down. But it was freaking hard when you were hanging in thin air at least thirty stories above the tree line, kicking your feet like a toddler having a tantrum.
Antagonistic, annoying beasts.
I once thought Ran and Shen would never join forces because they were both so stinkin’ hard-headed and prickly on the outside. I was wrong. With those two in cahoots, I’d be sunk quicker than an earth golem in the ocean.
My shoulders slumped and a sigh passed my lips. “Where’re we going?”
Ran snaked her head around—again not looking where she was going, but there were no trees ahead so I was less anxiety-prone—and mischief twinkled in her eyes.
Away.