Chapter 59
We rode nonstop for two days, and I wondered how much of my army was gone. How many had Nora stolen or killed of those who stayed loyal to me? Percy assured me that his friend noted Nora barely sent any men to protect the border. Most of them were either sent away on forsaken missions or left to return to their families.
I was grateful when they answered my call for aid.
I’d been glad to receive word from my cousin, Genu, who’d sent her fleet of ships, as well as herself towards the other side of the border. We enclosed on the Crystal Fae anyway we could.
I just hoped it wasn’t too late and the wind was on our side to bring them quickly to our aid. I needed all the help I could get, without harming Ornella’s family. I was lost at what to do or how I would get her back.
If it came down to her brother and me, I wondered who she would pick. Who would she shout to fight, and who would she beg to stay alive? I hoped it would be me, but after everything, I wouldn’t blame her if she chose her family.
“Nicholas, do you sense that?”
Vanessa rode beside me along with Morgana and April. Stupid of them to be so close together. It was always the best battle plan to spread the heirs out. They looked just as tired and weary as I felt. All of us longing to rest our aching backs and down a pitcher of ale.
“The air doesn’t feel right,” Morgana said.
I’d not noticed anything. I’d been too lost in my own thoughts to even pay close attention to what was around me. It was only when Vanessa pointed it out, did I feel a sudden charge, as if lightning had gone off recently.
“It feels as if something happened here.”
Raising my hand to bring everyone to a stop, we slowed down. Stopping in the middle of the treeline, concealing our men. Morgana jumped off her horse first and began to hold her hands up, feeling the air and everything around her.
“Magic. Old, ancient magic. Can you feel that?”
Vanessa joined her and lifted her hand up, too. Dismounting from my own horse, something shot through me suddenly as my feet touched the ground, making me stumble. April was quick at my side as was Percy, both asking if I was okay. Other than being dizzy, I felt fine.
Taking a few more steps towards my sisters, I felt as if something hit me square in the chest causing me to drop to my knees as a flash of Ornella’s face ran through my mind.
She was screaming, pleading, begging for them to stop as she was forced to her knees, her hands cut, and a mark placed upon her head.
No, this must be my mind playing tricks on me. I would know. I would feel it if she were hurt or worse, dead.
“What is happening!?” April shouted as she kneeled in front of me, cupping my face in her hands.
“Ornella was here.”
“Morgana what do you see?!” April shouted at our younger sister who closed her eyes and a silver glow wrapped around her body.
Her magic was always the most magnificent and beautiful of all of us. A power far greater than our parents could have imagined. They sadly weren’t here to see how their youngest daughter”s magic manifested. It created things out of nothing, but could also see things that happened in the past. Only if those events weren’t old. Any older than a few days would be lost to history.
“I see Ornella. She was here.”
“How? Where was she going?” April asked, still looking at me closely.
I couldn’t speak, locked in this memory of a spell, watching it play out the same time as Morgana.
“I don’t know, someone is doing some sort of ritual on her.”
“How did they cross the border?”
“April, I cannot answer your questions. Something happened here, something powerful.”
As the memory faded, my body shook with the aftershocks. It took a few deep breaths until I could stand again. I was thankful none of our soldiers had seen me at a weak point. Percy made sure everyone stayed back.
“How long ago did she pass us?” Vanessa asked.
“Two days ago. She seems to be heading back to the castle, but she wasn’t alone.”
My mind raced with all the possible reasons they could have done a ritual using Ornella. Perhaps they were trying to get rid of our bond. When one of us dies, the other also dies. That was our way—the payment. Our marriage bond was different, it went deeper than I could have imagined. I’d already questioned the priestess if it was something else and all her answer had been was to trust the Goddess.
I couldn’t feel Ornella’s pull anymore. The force that drew me to her was gone and it was only then did I feel the emptiness inside me. As if something had been taken from me, deep within my soul.
I’d never noticed it before until it was not there. That warm feeling I’d always got when I thought of Ornella or saw her. Even when I was angry and trying to push her away, that feeling still lingered there, urging me to find her. Be with her.
And now it is gone.
A single tear escaped my eye as the realisation of it all hit me at once. April kept her hands tightly on my shoulders, holding me up right with a look of concern on her face.
“Percy, send the rest of the soldiers towards the camp. My sisters and I will head back to the castle. We will get Ornella back and deal with these intruders.”
Percy didn’t question my orders, neither did my sisters. I half expected they knew I wouldn’t leave Ornella behind, especially if she was heading towards our home.
“It is too far for us all to travel back with magic,” April interrupted, “And we must keep our strength if we are to fight.”
“Agreed, we will rest for a moment and then make our way back. With my sisters at my side, they won’t even know what’s coming.”
“Death is what’s coming,” Vanessa spoke while a red and purple glow enclosed around her, her hands flicking with sparks of lightning.
My three sisters. Powerful on their own but unstoppable once together.