The Silvia Saga: Boxset

Chapter 9

Chapter Nine

Dara

Reluctantly, I leave Anna to rest in bed, giving a kiss to her cheek before I leave. She smiles sweetly at me before shutting her eyes. As I walk out of her room, my heart aches. She looks terrible but I’m glad she’s here with us now so we can keep an eye on her. We are on house arrest anyways doing intensive training, so it makes sense to keep her close.

Oliver meets me at the top of the stairs. He wraps his arm around my shoulder, giving it a tight squeeze. I can tell he’s worried, too, by the way his brows are drawn together. It’s so hard to see Anna like this—so lifeless. She’s always there for us, looking after us and lending an ear for a chat. Seeing her like this it isn’t right. I know she hates not being able to look after herself. But she will have to suck it up because she isn’t going anywhere and we’re going to take care of her. I pray that the healers find a remedy soon. I’ve been trained to heal injuries caused by magic—not some kind of natural disease.

We make it into the kitchen to find everyone else sitting at the table. A smile forms on my lips seeing that our table’s full to the brim with my family. Jolie’s sitting next to Elijah, laughing at something he must have said. I find myself a seat between Oliver and Blair, opposite the two new lovebirds. Speaking of lovebirds … Kayla and Alaric sit at the head of the table; Alaric has his arm around her chair, watching her every move, being the protective lover. Kayla looks at me, flashing a quick smile. Her eyes are really alive again, and it’s so good to see her improving each day. My best friend’s back and in Silvia with my family. God, that feels good.

Declan comes up to the table, holding a huge pot of pumpkin soup. He places it down in the centre along with some bread rolls. As soon as the pumpkin smell hits my nose, my belly grumbles in excitement. Luckily our crops within the village are still growing, producing our food. Without them, we would go hungry. We need all the strength we can get right now.

“Dig in,” Declan announces.

“Looks so bloody good, thanks to Declan,” Kayla says, leaning over and being the first to plough into her bowl.

I poke my tongue out at her.

She shrugs. “What? I’m starving.”

“Didn’t say a thing.” I smirk, gesturing for her to continue.

We all eat, and I sit back in my chair, watching everyone. Jolie’s laser-focused on Elijah, laughing at everything he says. Alaric is filling up Kayla’s bowl with more soup, and she watches him with so much love in her eyes. This is what I’m fighting for—to have more of these memories and more dinners with the people I love so much. I know that time’s ticking and we need to get out soon to locate the final stone. Something tells me this one will be the hardest to find. Why didn’t my father leave me with a map to help me locate them all? Surely that would have been an easier solution when it came to saving Silvia. But that would have been too easy for James; he would have found a way to snoop around and find the map.

Harlan clinks his glass with his fork, and everyone stops talking. I give him my full attention.

“Now, with our mother here with us, we need to keep an eye on her at all times. Something is going around the village—a bug the healers are trying to find a remedy for.” He pauses meeting my eyes.“Dara, I need you to stay focused on training with Jolie. I know you’ll want to help create a cure and find the source of this bug, but your main priority is finding the final stone. Can you do that for me?”

Everyone’s eyes are now on me. I dramatically flutter my lashes, letting out a little huff.

“Yes, sir. I obey your orders. That’s what I was going to do anyway.” I give him a little salute for good measure. Everyone starts cracking up laughing.

Harlan shakes his head, but I don’t miss his little smile. What else does he expect from me? I need to give him some Dara sass to lighten the mood. He knows me and orders don’t go down the best. I have been learning, don’t get me wrong, but it feels good to have a little joke with everyone.

“Glad we’re on the same page then. Training is still to be everyone’s focus,” Harlan orders those of us around the table. Everyone nods in agreement.

We continue finishing our dinner. I catch Jolie’s attention finally; she’s been glued to Elijah’s hip, and I haven’t talked to her for the entire meal. She’s leaning on him for support, which I totally understand.

“How are you guys doing with finding a cure, Jolie?” I ask, pulling a piece of bread apart with my fingers.

“Not good. I haven’t had much time to look into it outside of training. The other healers are working on something, but it’s hard without knowing what’s causing the illness. Most people just have fevers, nothing major, so it’s hard to work it out,” she confesses, lowering her head.

She’s clearly dying to find something that will help her mother feel better, but with her limited time, and no identifiable source of the illness, it hasn’t been easy. Especially since we aren’t going too far outside our village. James’s destruction has made us put up restrictions.

Harlan comes over, carrying a large plastic bowl. He fills it up with soup and takes it up the stairs to his mother. I have faith that we will work out a way to take away her pain, but something tells me she isn’t through the worst of it yet.