Chapter 15
BETRAYAL
The scent of cedar and rain jolts me awake.
The sunlight seeping through the windows and thin curtains gives me a pounding headache.
I tumble out of bed and to my feet. My entire body throbs and aches as if I’m one giant bruise.
I have no idea how they continue to train every day.
But I suck it up and head to my training with Julius.
It goes the same as it has the last couple of times, some kind of emotional abuse, followed by slight physical abuse, and then abandonment.
Today is pretty bad.
He wants to see if I can shoot a bow, and when I struggle to pull the bowstring, he not only has a marvelous time telling me what a disappointment I am, but he also pulls the string for me and lets it slice my cheek when he abruptly lets it go.
I’m really glad I agreed to Evander’s suggestion for additional training because I will never learn anything at this rate.
After the complete waste of time my morning training was, I find myself in the dining hall for lunch, and for once, it is not empty.
“Hey! I missed you leaving last night. Were you ok?” Mathilda asks, worry creasing her brow. Her opalescent wings are out on full display today, and I realize the backs of the chairs are thoughtfully designed for people with wings.
“I’m sorry I just left. I got really tired and knew I had double training today,” I reply, taking a bite of my apple. The juice spills over my lips and down my chin, and I wipe it away with the back of my hand.
“Oh yeah, you’re with me today after lunch.
” She winks. “I won’t take it easy on you, but you will definitely learn something, I promise,” she adds.
I’m looking forward to it. I can’t wait to see her in action again today.
The brief time I saw her sparring against Tane, I’ve held onto as an example of what I could be, what I hope to be.
“Thanks, I feel like a punching bag for Julius,” I grumble. The abuse he gave my ribs the other day is still tender to the touch, and I wince.
“You’re drinking your healing tonic at night, right?” She stares at the blackish-blue bruises on my ribs that peek through the gaps in my leathers.
“What healing tonic?” My food is forgotten on my plate as I stare at her.
“Gods, you haven’t been healing at night?” Mathilda practically yells the words, her wings ruffling with her agitated movements.
“Uh, no. No one told me.” I wince again, not just from her anger, but from the pain spearing through my ribs and the burning of my wing buds down my spine.
Mathilda’s wings vanish as she launches from the table and hurtles out of the dining hall. She yells over her shoulder, “Don’t move!”
I’m left staring at the door, but I only have time to blink before she swiftly returns with a gold vial.
“Here, drink this. Now.” She shoves the bottle in my face.
“What is it?” I uncork it. The smell of honey wafts from the vial.
“It’s what you’re supposed to drink every night.
It’s a healing tonic and heals any damage you sustained during training.
Since magic is fading, we aren’t healing as fast as we should be, and the healers created this to help speed up the process.
I cannot believe Julius, or even Odessa, didn’t give you a supply.
You could’ve been really hurt. I’m so sorry.
” Her eyes are tinged with sorrow as she presses her lips into a tight line.
“I’m sure it was just an oversight,” I mumble.
But her eyes continue blazing, not wanting her to focus that rage towards me, I throw the vial back in one gulp. It does taste like honey, but something more, something citrusy.
Instantly, my body begins to tingle. The bruises on my ribs begin fading away before my eyes, and the throbbing diminishes. The burning and itching from my wing buds lessens to a more tolerable annoyance as well. Small cuts on my exposed arms stitch together, the pink fading away to a soft white.
“Whoa, that’s incredible. What is that made from?” I ask, eyeing the vial.
“It’s made from the leaves of the Idir tree.” Sadness dims the rage in her eyes.
“What’s that?”
“It’s a tree on the island, in the middle of the city,” she answers.
I feel a pang in my chest.
“The sick tree,” I murmur.
Mathilda’s head cocks to the side, a question on the tip of her tongue, but she pauses as Odessa breezes into the dining hall, her cornflower blue robes trailing behind her. She approaches our table, and Mathilda glares at her.
“Is there a problem, Mathilda?” Odessa asks, staring down her nose at us.
“Yes,” Mathilda grits out between her clenched teeth. “Lena has gone to several training sessions without being given a supply of healing tonic.”
Odessa’s eyes widen slightly, but that is the only emotion that she emits before she turns her cold face to mine. “Apologies, Helena. Julius was instructed to explain the intricacies of that after your first training.”
I smile up at my aunt, wanting the tension in the room to abate. “No worries. Mathilda got me squared away.” I hold the vial up in my hand. “I didn’t know anything like this could exist. Mathilda says it’s made here on the island from a tree?”
Odessa purses her lips and looks at the floor. The movement is unusual for her. I’ve never seen her look anything but composed and confident.
“Yes.” The word comes out in a hiss. “It’s made from the leaves of the Idir tree.”
“Oh, I thought I heard something last night about it being sick?” I force a frown, feigning cluelessness, but only Odessa buys it. Mathilda’s foot nudges mine underneath the table.
“Again, yes,” Odessa grits out.
“Is that the magic fading or some kind of omen?” I ask, looking between them.
Mathilda smirks, looking up at Odessa. She eyes the wall behind me and sighs before glancing back at me. I’m getting the feeling she does not want me to know anything about what that particular omen could mean.
“It could be an omen that the Fomorians are gathering an army and that a leaf falls for every soldier they possess,” she grumbles. “Nonsensical old tales, though. It is directly tied to magic fading.”
Mathilda’s eyes burn onto the side of Odessa’s face. “And how would we know if they were old tales if every book in the library about it was taken away?”
My breathing halts as I stare intently at my aunt, desperately waiting for her denial.
That is why the library was so empty.
No denial comes from Odessa, and I swallow forcibly. “You’ve taken away books?”
Something about this just doesn’t feel right. Hiding books is never a good sign, and what could you possibly gain from hindering the enlightenment of your people?
Odessa’s eyes flick to mine. “To begin anew, we had to build a foundation. Those books were a reminder of our past. A past that is better off forgotten.”
Her eyes darken in challenge, but mine burn brightly to meet hers. “You should never erase the past. Even if you want to forge a new path, you can always learn from it.” I grit my teeth. “And destroying books is an atrocity.” I throw it out there to see if she’ll rebuke my insinuation.
Odessa merely shrugs before turning on her heel and leaving.
She didn’t deny it.
I said “destroy,” and she didn’t rebuke it.
Oh my gods, she actually destroyed the books. My eyes burn from the thought of all that knowledge, all that history, just gone.
My muscles itch for action, craving the physical challenge to dissipate the growing unease from that encounter. The destruction, the hindering of study, should be illegal.
I would make it illegal.
I shove away from the table, and Mathilda follows. Rage burns in my veins as we walk down the hall.
Mathilda breaks the silence. “What do you know about the other realms?”
Her question makes me bristle. “Next to nothing. What about you?”
“From what I remember reading, the Fomorians,” she begins, “are a race of beings from a realm called Toraigh, a place much like the ocean. Long ago, they sought to conquer the human realm and enslave humanity. The Father battled them back with the help of the Fae, another race of beings from Tuadanaan, and some of our other allies that I can’t remember.
But the Fomorians weren’t defeated. They only fled back to their realm.
Legend claims they will join other malevolent beings in the other realms—like the giants from Jotnar, the dragons from Sutr, and the demons of Helheim—to battle us again in The Great War.
They seek to destroy every realm that stands in their way, and enslave the humans or any beings they deem less. ”
“And you think there have been omens, like the leaves falling because of the Fomorians?”
Mathilda nods. “The signs could very well indicate that magic is fading, but we wouldn’t know because the books that detailed the omens of the Great War have vanished.”
The tree could be the first bad sign of many, and we wouldn’t even know.
“So what’s been happening around here might not be tied to my mom leaving, but omens of the Great War?” The question slips from my lips, and Mathilda quickly pulls me to a stop.
She looks up and down the hall before whispering to me, “Yes, but to say such a thing is to question Odessa, and she hasn’t treated the people who question her too kindly. Just last night, a rebel sympathizer wound up floating face down in the Ayele.”
I nod, catching her meaning, but none of this makes any sense.
How long do I have to be here before Odessa realizes maybe I’m not the savior after all, and would that mean I’ll never get to go home if I won’t be able to restore the magic here?
If there is a war coming, who will protect the humans?
The answers to my questions lie just out of my reach as we make our way to the training grounds.
Tane is already there when we arrive. His back is to us, and he has one foot pushed against the fence. He struggles with all his might to pull the ax from the tree. Mathilda snickers as we walk towards him, his grunting becoming louder.