38. Chapter Thirty-Eight
Chapter Thirty-Eight
Astrid
Branches swipe at my face as I run through the trees, a sword clutched in my hand. I have to get away. The others are counting on me. I continue to run through the night, the moon and the stars my only company. I have to find somewhere, anywhere to hide. The rough bark of the trunk digs into my back, but I press further into it before finally getting the chance to take myself in. My elegant silver ball gown is covered in black ichor from the chest down the front. I reach a hand to my head and find a tiara pinned firmly in my tightly wound hair. A shocked gasp is all I give myself time for, and I’m turning to keep running, only to be confronted by glowing red eyes.
Choking on a breath, the feeling of falling forces my eyes to snap open. The midnight hour is obvious by the dark sky that greets me from my window. The soft sheets I try reaching for are nowhere to be found as I find myself on the floor next to my bed.
“One but many,” I mutter to myself wondering what that could even mean, and where the hell it came from. My thoughts turn to the black stone hidden in the bag under my bed. I’ve been too scared to even think about it, unsure what it is or where it came from. Anxiety rushes through me, making me feel antsy enough to pull the bag from under the bed. It scrapes against the wooden floors, and I pull the zipper open. At the bottom of the bag is the black circular stone, and my breath catches as I take in the white shining flecks that seem to grow brighter as I reach for it. Warmth spreads through my arms when I make contact.
“I’m going to find out what you are, I promise,” I whisper, and the heat in my arm seems to retreat into the stone until it becomes a cold rock again. The stone is special, that much is obvious. It tickles at the oldest of my memories, trying to bring them to the front of my mind, but I can’t quite grasp onto them. “I’ll figure it out.” I whisper my promise before closing the bag and sliding it back under the bed. I climb back into my blankets and pillows praying for a dreamless sleep.
“Wake up already,” a voice says accompanied by a couple of nudges against my shoulder. I groan as I roll over, opening one eye to see Effie standing over me, her locs hang over my face creating a curtain.
“What time is it?” I ask, resisting the urge to press a pillow over my face and go back to sleep.
“Early, I wanted to show you something. You’ll like it I promise,” Effie says with another nudge. “There are clothes in the dresser, get dressed and meet me in the lobby,” she says before scampering out of the room with a whole lot more energy than I have. After a restless night of sleep tormented by nightmares, I would much rather sleep in than go sightseeing. I roll to my back and stare at the ceiling, wondering if Effie would come back if I went back to sleep. I already know the answer so I throw the blanket off me and stand. Not wanting to deal with uncomfortable clothing, I grab a pair of leggings and stare at a loose scarlet red shirt. I’ve never been allowed to wear this color, and now that I’m outside of Demendia I’m tired of giving a fuck about following the rules. I’m just tired of being told what to do. I make a promise to myself as I pull the shirt on. I’m going to do more of what I want and less of what the Muren wants. I was never a big believer in that religion anyway. All the rules and regulations made it hard to feel like Malia was doing anything to help me.
Effie waits in the lobby bouncing up and down on her toes, excitement beaming on her face when she sees me. She chose to wear something similar: black leggings and a loose-fitting shirt.
“Where are we going?” I ask as I follow her out into the streets. The early morning light is barely breaking across the horizon, the bits of sky I can see between the canopy of trees is a myriad of cool blues and purples. The streets themselves are empty. Too early in the morning for the everyday hustle and bustle that I got to experience the day before.
“You’ll see, but come on or we’ll miss them,” Effie says snatching up my hand and dragging me toward our unknown destination. We pass tree after tree, entering a new part of the city, one of the ancient temples from before rises in front of me. Made of white marble, the structure looks like a box, but the back half is made of glass overlooking the river. Pillars line the entrance holding up the lip of the roof.
“Tah-dah!” Effie says, skipping up the front steps and placing her hands on her hips as she admires the building.
“What is this place?” I ask, anticipation swelling in my chest, wondering what we will find when we go inside. “It’s a gym.”
“Like where you learn how to fight?” I’ve been in those before, the training center with Erik. The thought of him pulls on my heart, and I don’t know what to do with the sudden ache I feel.
“Mmm, not quite, sorta,” Effie says, snatching up my hand and leading me inside. The ceiling is at least thirty feet high and littered with skylights. I can’t help the awe that fills me as I look out over the equipment. One woman sprints down the blue runway hurtling toward a springboard. But before she reaches it , she hurdles, punching her feet down on it and launching herself into a series of flips and twists over the padded table.
“What is this?” I breathe, unable to take my eyes off the women who elegantly flip across the four-inch beams that are at least six feet off the floor.
“Gymnastics, while knowing how to fight is good and we can definitely keep that up, learning how to fall, recover, and so much other stuff that is taught in gymnastics is just as helpful,” Effie says, her eyes never leaving my face as a smile beams from her.
“I can’t do any of this, there’s no way,” I say quietly watching the fae as they continue their workout.
“We all started somewhere, for now you can start with the basics, and we’ll go from there.”
Hours pass and my body begins to feel like jelly as Effie pushes me through conditioning. I’ve never heard of it before, but it's a lot of running, jumping, and pushups.
“Why were you in Demendia?” I ask, collapsing in the middle of the spring floor, the gym now empty of anyone else. Effie doesn’t answer right away as she settles onto the floor next to me.
“I was looking for someone,” she says rubbing a hand on the back of her head ruffling her locs. “I was looking for my mother,” she admits.
“Why? Doesn’t she live in the wards like the other fae?” I sit up and inch closer to her, wanting to know her better.
“I don’t tell many people this, but I’m a result of a power ritual.” She drops her hand to the floor, unable to meet my gaze. “And when my mother found her mate, she left me in my father’s care. On the islands. I used to get so many letters from her.” Effie sighs drawing designs on the blue carpet with her finger. “One day, they just stopped, and I haven’t heard from her since,” Effie finishes, finally meeting my gaze.
“Why didn’t you go then?” I ask, stretching my legs out in a pike like she taught me and leaning forward to reach for my toes in a stretch.
“I was young, and my grandfather wouldn’t let me. He wrote it off as her settling into married life, then it was like everyone forgot about her.”
“Except for you,” I say, sitting up and pulling her into an awkward seated hug. She resists at first until she droops giving in. “I lost my mother when Embla was born, she died in childbirth,” I say, pulling away leaving my hands on her arms. “I don’t know what I would do if I was the only one who remembered my mother. Did you at least learn anything?” I remove my hands from her and open my legs into a straddle before reaching through the middle trying to make my chest touch the floor even though it is nowhere close.
Effie shakes her head. “No one had ever heard of Freya Banvaenn before.”
“Wait, you’re a Banvaenn? Why aren’t you leading the empire and uniting the continents?” I ask, recalling when Effie told me the only person the empire would follow is the missing Banvaenn heir, and there’s one sitting right in front of me.
“Ragnor, the Emperor of the realm changed his last name to hers upon their marriage in a show of respect for her lineage and our people. It is not I who carries his blood in my veins, and I’m starting to doubt I will ever find my long-lost half sibling,” Effie says, standing and holding out a hand to me. “I’m tired of speaking about this. There are only a couple of other things I want to teach you before we leave.”
Effie points to the trampoline built into the floor, a pit full of foam cubes laying on one side of it. I don’t hesitate to jump onto it, knocking my knees together when it has more oomph than I expect. I take a couple of bounces to get used to it before I turn to Effie wondering what it is she wants me to try.
“If you’re up for it, little kids do this all the time, you can do a front flip into the pit before we leave. You just throw a ball over your head with your arms and grab your knees while hoping for the best,” Effie says, encouraging me.
I nod practicing the arm movement a couple of times until I get Effie’s nod of approval. I jump once, twice, and then I launch myself completely forgetting about the ball I was supposed to pretend to throw. I careen into the pit landing directly on my head, the soft pit pillows around me as I settle. Slow clapping sounds from behind me, adjusting myself within the pit, I angle my head to see over my shoulder, but Effie is not who I find staring back at me.
“Way to almost kill her,” Augustus says, dropping his hands sending a glare in Effie’s direction. “If you’re going to teach her these things you need to do it properly.” He turns his gaze to me. “You can’t half ass these kinds of skills. You either go for it or you don’t. Going half-assed is how you get hurt,” he growls.
“If you know so much, why don’t you teach me?” I say, the challenge clear in my tone. He can’t know anything about this, all I saw were women in this gym earlier. Are men even allowed here?
“Okay, I will,” Augustus agrees, and my brain stops working.
“Excuse me?” I ask, looking to Effie for some help but she shakes her head like you got yourself into this mess.
“Who do you think taught Effie? Be here tomorrow morning at first light.” Augustus turns on his heel and walks out of the gym without another word.