16. A Connection #2
“Following whatever instinct led you to our farm. We would have died if you and Anara hadn’t come when you did. You’ve saved Halla twice.”
“You’re the one who rescued Halla from the barn,” Darien said. “You ran into those flames without a moment’s hesitation. You’re either exceptionally brave or stupid.”
“Maybe a little of both,” she muttered, her slight smile sliding from her face before Darien had the chance to appreciate it. “I’ve seen her too. The woman Aagen said he met.”
“You have? Where?”
“In my dreams.” She looked up, grimacing as she rolled her eyes. “I know, it sounds stupid.”
“No, it doesn’t,” Darien hurried to say, turning his body to face her. Their knees touched. “After everything we’ve been through, it doesn’t sound stupid at all. Obviously there’s more happening than we know. When did you start dreaming about her?”
“After Produce Day, my Pappa told us the story about the Kings and Queens of Old. He said the royals were descended from an Ancestral Bloodline that could practice the power of the gods. He called it galdr. When the Empress took over, she killed them all except for some Princess from Perle. Supposedly, the Norn prophesied to the Perle Queen that her daughter could overthrow the Empress. That woman you’re describing sounds like Queen Stjarna.
At least, that’s how I’ve been imagining her in my dreams.”
Darien didn’t know what to say. Not only because he wasn’t sure where this was going, but because Larissa had never said so much to him at one time before, and she clearly wasn’t finished.
“What if Queen Stjarna is the one who brought you to Aagen? What if she also hid her daughter at the same time she was hiding you?” Larissa’s voice grew more agitated. “It sounds impossible, but what if I was dreaming of the past?”
“Aagen said that this woman brought me to him only a year ago,” Darien said. “Even if the Princess did survive, Queen Stjarna’s body was burned inside the palace when the Empress took over decades ago.”
Larissa shrugged, her eyes cloudy as she gnawed at her lip.
Darien searched Larissa’s face. “There’s something you’re not saying.”
“It’s just…Queen Stjarna’s eyes. They remind me of Halla’s.”
The implication sunk in. “You think Halla is the lost Perle Princess? The one that has been missing for over fifty years? You do realize that sounds a bit—”
“Insane?” Larissa threw up her hands. “I know. Their eyes aren’t exactly the same, but they’re similar.
And when that draugr saw Halla, it said that she was the one they’d been looking for, remember?
Pappa told us that those of Ancestral Blood lived longer than everyone else because of the magic in their veins.
Someone who had lived sixty years would still be relatively young, right?
We don’t know how young the Princess was when she vanished.
We don’t know how old she would look today. ”
Darien had to admit that, despite Larissa’s assumptions about Ancestral Blood, it was a convincing argument. “You think Halla’s been alive for over fifty years? Wouldn’t she know who she is?”
“You didn’t know you were anyone else.”
“Point taken.”
Larissa rubbed her eyes so fiercely that Darien worried she might gouge them out. “I don’t understand why I keep seeing Queen Stjarna in my dreams if I’m not supposed to do something about it. She keeps telling me that I need to wake someone up, but what does that even mean?”
“Wait,” Darien chased after a memory that lay at the tip of his tongue. “Anara visited me before at the orchard. She said I needed to wake up. What if ‘waking up’ just means remembering who I was before I was brought to Aagen?”
“So you think the Perle Princess doesn’t remember who she is either?”
“She might not. She might be like me, believing whatever false memories have been given to her.”
“But if that’s the case, why were you chosen, Darien?”
He paused. “What do you mean?”
“Someone thought you were special enough to hide. If we’re right, the same people who hid the Perle Princess hid you too.” Larissa shifted, unable to meet his eyes. “So my question is, who are you?”
It was the question Darien had been hoping to avoid. “I don’t know.”
“Do you remember anything about your past yet?”
“A little. I’ve been distracted, what with battling a monster from Hel and all.”
“Technically, the draugr came from Rubin, not Hel.”
Darien paused, trying to determine if she was being sarcastic on purpose.
“Why don’t you try now?” Larissa asked.
For the first time since Aagen had given it to him, Darien looked at the ring on his hand.
He rubbed his thumb over the large square-cut sapphire.
Ever since he had put it on, it had been pulling on his mind, as if it could help him unlock the secrets of his memories.
Yet for all his love of stories, he’d put it off.
He’d been rushing to save Larissa, he told himself, but maybe that was an excuse.
Maybe he was worried that learning about his past would erase what he remembered about Aagen.
“Please, Darien.” The intensity in Larissa’s voice was enough to shake Darien from his thoughts. “Your memories might tell us if Halla is actually the lost Princess. I need to know what I’m protecting her from. She’s all I have left.”
Darien couldn’t have refused her if he wanted to.
Truth be told, he wanted to know. He needed to know.
He fiddled with the ring on his finger, its deep blue stone glinting in the sunbeams. Larissa leaned toward him and reached out a hand to cover one of his own, her golden eyes holding his, as clear and bright as the sun itself.
An electric current ran over her fingers, shocking Darien’s skin.
Then everything changed.