Chapter 13
One case in particular stood out: that of thirteen-year-old Summer Hanvers.
The eldest of six siblings whom she’d adored.
Her mother refused my request to train her, arguing that following the death of her husband, Summer was needed at home.
One month after Summer reported her first headache, I visited to ensure she trained.
Alas, I was too late. The house was awash with blood and viscera.
Summer had torn apart her entire family before ripping herself to shreds.
— MRS GLESNI GRACE’S ADVICE FOR MENTORS: THIRD EDITION
‘You’re telling me this is our new queen?’
I cracked one eye open as a stranger’s harsh voice interrupted my dreams.
‘She is,’ said a second, equally unfamiliar, though somewhat softer voice. ‘Sorrow’s lovely though. I met her once when I visited Matthias. I was about seven or eight, but I remember how much I liked her.’
I burrowed my face into the soft pillow, groaning as the exhaustion from the trip clung to me like a vice.
I surmised the softer voice belonged to Skye, my new sister-in-law.
I raised my groggy head and shuffled up against the pillow, blinking away the damned spots to focus on the two figures at the end of my bed.
‘Your brother said he had no idea how she’d fought off the effects of the blight for so long.’
‘True.’
‘Strange. She’s quite clearly incredibly sick. Look at the state of her!’
‘Glesni!’ Skye cried, approaching my bed as I dragged my hand down my face, wondering if my ears were deceiving me. ‘She’s the queen. You can’t be rude.’
Glesni barked out a harsh laugh. ‘It’ll be a cold day among the flames of Vyrus when I do as I’m told, Skye Elmswood.’
I almost pinched myself. Surely I was still asleep? Matthias had warned me I’d meet my match with Glesni, but was I supposed to believe this squat lump hurling crude insults, before I’d even opened my mouth, was the best mentor on Eusis?
I rubbed sleep from my eyes as the two very differently shaped intruders came into focus.
We’d arrived at the Palace of Solace in the early hours of the morning.
Asher had led me to my chambers – mine and mine alone, I noted with a slight pang.
Matthias already had a mountain of matters to attend to and, after I’d dismissed a rather petulant lady’s maid, I collapsed on the bed.
I recognised Ifan’s twin. As children they’d been almost identical. A weary smile lay on my lips as I recalled the countless tricks they’d played on me and Matthias. The slender figure twisting her fingers nervously seemed miles apart from her well-built, gruff brother.
‘It’s good to see you, Skye,’ I said, noting how her eyes twinkled more than when she’d been a child. Matthias was right. She was happier.
‘I’m so glad you’re here,’ said Skye, sitting on the edge of my bed and offering a scrap of bacon to Pablo.
She straightened her emerald satin gown.
It was the same perfect shade of deep green as hers and Matthias’s eyes.
It wasn’t the only attribute they shared, I noted as I took in her golden tanned skin and lean, toned form.
She bit the corner of her thumb, and Matthias’s words came back to me, her wish to gain a sister.
I wondered what her first impression had been.
The queen who’d slept with a huge wolf and wore the same filthy tunic and wool leggings she’d been travelling in for four days.
‘Either it was come here or throw myself into the burning heart of Vyrus,’ I said, attempting to untangle my hair.
‘Pah.’
My gaze flicked onto the mentor.
‘You’ll wish you’d taken the first option if we don’t train that blight out of your system. I expect you in my training room in the next hour.’
I blinked at the tiny figure. The ancient woman, who’d be eye to eye with Pablo if he stood in front of her, glared at me from a set of twinkling dark eyes in a deeply lined, leathered face.
I squinted at a ruddy rash spreading across her cheeks, reminiscent of a butterfly.
She’d pulled her snowy hair into a messy knot on the top of her head, and a threadbare olive-green cardigan was wrapped across her ample chest, a brown belt cinched at her waist. It all seemed at odds with her commanding voice.
‘My apologies,’ I said through gritted teeth. ‘But I won’t be able to make it. I need to get to the library and start my research.’
‘Vyrus’s hairy arse you do.’
‘Pardon?’ I was suddenly wide awake as the hunched-over figure limped back to the door.
‘You heard. What’s your wolf called?’
‘He is not my wolf. Pablo. His name’s Pablo.’
She grunted, wincing as she opened the door to my chamber. ‘Well then, Pablo?’ The wolf raised his head from the comfort of the bed and stared right at her. ‘After she’s washed and dressed, follow my scent and bring her to me. Understand?’
With a little sneeze, Pablo settled his chin down on the bed.
‘You can talk to animals?’ That would explain why Matthias wanted her to train me.
‘Don’t be stupid, child. That’s your gift from what I hear. I can, however, recognise an intelligent creature when I see one.’
It was hard to tell, but it looked as though the old woman peered at me from the doorway.
‘And once I leave, he’ll be the only one left in this room.’
She slammed the door behind her, and I turned to Skye, who had a weak smile on her face.
‘She’s actually lovely, when you get to know her. Or at least that’s what I’ve heard.’
‘Evella help me,’ I muttered under my breath. I slumped back onto the bed and, grabbing a pillow, placed it over my face before screaming into it.
An hour later, I left my chambers wearing a plain grey dress Skye had tried her best to talk me out of.
She’d produced a scarlet gown with layers of taffeta, a tight bodice embroidered with silver filigree and actual diamonds that would, apparently, enhance my natural colouring and assets.
Disappointment had flashed across her pretty freckled face when I informed her the gown would only enhance my temper, and I’d rather leave my chambers naked than wear it.
After exhausting a thousand options, she’d found a simple grey satin gown with long sleeves and a scalloped neckline. She frowned when I told her it was perfect.
‘But Sorrow,’ she said, looking a tad green, ‘this is a mourning dress.’
‘As I said, it’s perfect.’
She didn’t argue again.
‘I’ll show you where Glesni’s training room is,’ she said, offering me her elbow.
I shook my head as I peered down the hallway, past two guards standing outside my chambers.
‘Thank you. But I’m going to the library instead. I need to know what texts are available.’
‘I don’t think you should do that, Sorrow. You really don’t want to make Glesni angry.’
‘And she won’t want to risk my ire, either,’ I said, curling my fingers into the comfort of Pablo’s fur. ‘The library, Pab.’
Skye rushed to my side as Pablo led me down the unfamiliar corridors. My heart stuttered at the strange darkness of Matthias’s home. I inhaled deeply, absorbing the oak and candles, floor polish, noticing the whisper of warm bread. I hoped the scents would relax my taut muscles.
‘You know, Glesni’s a fire wielder,’ Skye said, nodding to a guard. ‘That’s her first power. She’s been known to singe the hair of those who upset her.’
‘First power?’
Skye leaned in. ‘Glesni is a Deviant. She can also do that… moving objects with her mind business.’
‘Telekinesis.’
‘Yes, that’s it. She once summoned Matthias when he was in an important council meeting. Yanked him right out of the chamber and into her rooms.’
‘At least she didn’t burn him,’ I muttered.
‘He had a huge hole in the seat of his pants. I’ve never seen him so angry.’
I prayed Skye missed my nervous swallow.
If Glesni was a Deviant, a highly sought-after rarity ‘blessed’ with two gifts, that was another reason to avoid her.
I didn’t need her poking her stubby nose into my past and unearthing things buried for good reasons.
I threw my shoulders back. That was it then.
There was no way under Evella’s sky I would ever be in the same room as Glesni.
I smiled, satisfied with my resolve.
Less than ten minutes later, I sat in a rather uncomfortable rickety chair glaring at Pablo, who’d led me straight to the training room.
Perhaps Glesni had lied and possessed an unheard of third power where she could indeed talk to animals, and she’d threatened the wolf with fire.
I couldn’t think of another reason why the damned creature had betrayed me.
The old woman hissed as she sat in a padded velvet chair opposite mine, a smug grin on her lined face.
‘You’d better be on your best behaviour, Sorrow Elmswood,’ she said, leaning forward and peering at me. ‘I’m not in the best mood since your husband dragged me out of my warm bed in the early hours to inform me my new student had arrived.’
I sat straighter, maintaining her harsh gaze. ‘I certainly don’t want to be here.’
Glesni tilted her head, her eyes searching my face for a few moments before she spoke.
‘Have you ever seen the effects of the blight, Sorrow Elmswood?’
I looked away, examining her rough wooden table laden with hazy jars and tubs. Anything to avoid meeting the truth lurking in her gaze.
She snorted. ‘I thought not. I have though. I’ve lived a long life, seen many wondrous things.
I’ve lived through some of the worst atrocities mankind inflicts upon itself, but the only memories haunting my dreams, dragging me from my slumber sweating and screaming, are those of Anomalies taken by the blight.
‘It starts as a niggle, a pain in the head that thunders through the mind, but I don’t need to tell you that, do I? I’ll explain the next stage, Sorrow, so you’re prepared.’
My fingers dug into the arms of the chair as I flinched. I wanted nothing more than to leave this dark room, where harsh, sour scents and eerie creaks from the jars assaulted me. I glared at the woman.