22. Nowhere and Everywhere – Rosemary #2
"Forgive me. I did not know," I replied, letting my gaze fall closed as I dipped my chin to my chest. I roused myself from where I lay until I knelt, my head bowed. These three women held my fate within their hands.
"We ask again, child, what will you give us?"
I swallowed back my unease. "I do not wish to rule a kingdom. I do not wish to rule anything. Should I have a path that leads me there, I offer that future to you as payment."
"What if that kingdom is not the one you are thinking of? What if it's a different one? One which holds much more power?" questioned the younger goddess.
"I do not crave power," I answered, my head still bowed. "If you truly are the triad, then you already know what my heart desires."
A shimmering light caught my attention, rippling through the air as if an invisible curtain had pulled back.
Three tall women emerged, their pristine white robes flowing in the breeze they brought.
The maiden, the youngest, gazed at me with long red hair framing her flawless cheeks.
The mother stood in the center, her piercing green eyes taking in everything.
The crone, with a weathered face, glared at me, her white hair tightly braided over her shoulder.
"She who is chosen by Anya must make the sacrifice knowing," the mother, Baela, said.
Alena, the flame-haired youngest of the triad, nodded toward me. "Should we tell her? Or should we show her?"
The crone spoke, her muttered voice wise and deep. "We cannot show her," Croela said. "It will ruin the surprise. I hate it when the ending is ruined, don't you?"
She held my gaze, and for a moment, I thought she had directed that question to me. "Are... Are you asking me?"
Croela rolled her pale gaze. "Obviously. Who else would I be asking?"
"I guess I hate when the end is spoiled," I replied.
"Exactly!" she shouted, her frail arms whipping skyward. She pointed a crooked, gnarled finger at me. "See, she gets it."
"So," Baela said, "how exactly do you expect us to explain what she would be giving up without her fully seeing it?"
Time continued to pass. Time that Elias didn't have. Time that I couldn't waste.
"Explain it without spoiling the ending?
Tell me only what I need to know? I don't care what you do, but please stop this incessant talking and do something!
" I shouted, my words echoing around the clearing so sharply that even the birds stopped their songs.
My heart stuttered in my chest. What had I done?
These were goddesses and I had addressed them so poorly!
"You are destined to rule a great kingdom," Alena said, her words soft and gentle.
"One that would forever put you in the history books as a great positive change to these lands," Baela added.
"You'll have everything you have ever wanted, and everything you could ever dream of," Croela added.
"What's the catch?" I asked. Every path had thorns.
"There is no catch on that path of yours," Croela spat the words as if it pained her.
"And if I choose not to take that path?"
Baela studied me for a moment before she spoke. "Then you will take the..." she pursed her lips together as if debating which words she should choose. Finally, her eyes furrowed, then pity softened them as she added, "the harder path."
Alena smiled. She twirled on her feet as if she danced to a beat none of us could hear. "Things... change." She blinked at me as if wanting to say more but not wanting to spoil the ending.
Time continued to pass. I shifted my weight, standing from the ground and folding my arms over my chest. "Look, I really hate to break up the party, but perhaps you three remember the dying unseelie male who is waiting for my return as if his life depends upon it?"
They stopped bickering, and Alena stared toward the sky with a faraway look.
I watched, amazed, as thin threads of gold flitted around the air where she glanced.
"Ahh, yes. He's one of my favorites." Her delicate fingertips brushed along one of the threads adoringly, and while my stomach twisted with a bolt of jealousy, that feeling dissipated quickly when I noticed how much dimmer that thread at her fingertips was compared to the ones flitting around it.
"Oh, dear," Alena pouted, her head tilting sideways as she watched the threads.
My brow creased. "What do you mean, ‘oh, dear’?" I demanded.
"Best to decide quickly, dear," Baela mumbled as she watched the threads twist and dance.
"If it is power that I must give up, or the chance to rule a kingdom, I will gladly give up either if it means I can save a life," I stated.
Alena's gaze snapped from the thread, pinning me with a hard stare. "What about love? Would you give up love?"
I hesitated. The way she watched me, her fingers hanging in the air an inch from that dimming thread, it felt as if I needed to be careful with my words. Slowly, I asked, "What kind of love?"
"Why, the only kind that matters, of course," she replied, her long lashes blinking as she held my gaze.
"Cut it out, Alena," Croela barked, "She has chosen."
"Wait!" I exclaimed, looking from goddess to goddess. "What do you mean?"
Their forms glimmered, the air shifting and lifting their dress hems in an unfelt breeze.
They exchanged knowing smiles as I stepped forward, grasping for answers just as they vanished.
The sky turned to night as we spoke, time both racing and standing still.
A sliver of moonlight cast an ethereal glow on the spot where I now stood alone.
The soft shimmer danced along the purple petals of a single tall flower, the daemonacus.
Only one bloomed before me, barely enough to heal Elias and break Briar's curse, but I hoped it would suffice.
Croela's surly voice drifted over me, her words coming from nowhere and everywhere. "Best you hurry, dear. Your time is up."
A shiver raced up the nape of my neck, and I shuddered. The air shifted again, and the darkness began peeling away into the dawning light of day. How long had I spoken to the triad? How long had they toyed with our fate?
I dropped to my knees before the flower, swiftly and carefully probing the soil around its roots.
My breath came in ragged gasps as I noticed the edge of a petal wilting.
Meticulously, I unearthed the entire root system, then tore a piece of cloth from my pack.
Avoiding any contact with the stem or flower, I wrapped it securely in the material.
With it safe, I sprang to my feet and hurried back the way I had come.
I didn’t even dare a glance back.