CHAPTER XII #5
My eyes dart quickly to Cal at the end of the table, remembering his words when we sat with King Zander and discussed Hirovale’s prophecy.
He had no desire to summon, had no genuine interest in controlling magic or even considering the possibility of it.
But now that he knows it’s an option, would he want to recant that initial answer?
His own life is now leading him down a road with a Discerni lover, one that I can’t help but wonder if they’ll want to spend more of their years together.
Talk to him, my mind console, have that conversation with him again.
But what will I do if his answer has changed?
“Remove it from your mind,” Keane sighs and lifts his hand to the back of my neck. “At least for tonight. Let’s enjoy our celebration.”
“I am enjoying it,” I smile.
Or at least I plan to.
“Liar,” he chuckles, “but it’s a good thing I have something that will cheer you up.”
“Oh yeah? And what’s that?”
“Cal,” Keane grins at our friend. “Let’s start the night early.”
My glance is curious as I turn towards my big friend, watching his grin grow wide as he stands up from the table.
“No need to tell me twice, Your Grace.”
Alanna rolls her eyes next to him.
“I’ll be right back.”
“What have you done?” I laugh at Keane, noticing the young Woodlands Discerni girl eyeing Cal walk away.
“Go take a seat next to Cal and find out,” he grins, moving his hand down my rear when I stand up. He pushes me forward as I eye him suspiciously, his fingers pinching my ass before I walk down the table.
“It’s assembled now,” Cal’s beaming voice comes back into the room just as I sit down, “but the pieces will all come apart so we can travel with it.”
The biggest grin spreads across my lips as I watch him walk to the table with a long shisha pipe in his hands.
It’s the same we saw last night that the women were smoking out of.
Cal’s eyes are twinkling as he notices my new seat, his steps a bit hurried as he joins in excitement and places the device between us.
“I had the women in that café show me how to use this,” he grips it as I look towards Keane in appreciation. “Pretty standard. We should be able to smoke out of it at the same time.”
Cal takes out his matchbook and another small pouch, pulling out a few small pieces of wood that rest in the palm of his hand. Keane eyes me with his own smirk as I turn back to my friend and watch as he lights the pipe.
“The wood will keep the small fire going at the top,” he explains, handing me one of the hoses. “Let’s see how this goes, Alex.”
I laugh in pure happiness as the two of us smoke at the same time, reveling in the giddiness of the new contraption. The shisha fills my lungs as any other pipe would, calming me back into my seat as I sigh in contentment.
This is exactly what I needed. To be with my friends and unworried, feeling Keane’s eyes on me from afar just as he did that night in Marybeth’s Tavern.
“She needs a stronger door,” Heysan stands from his seat.
I stop my pacing next to the table and narrow my gaze on the Ancient. The amusement in his voice is still there but small, instead filled with determination as he crosses his arms in front of his chest in thought.
“I thought you didn’t want to help me?”
“Hmm,” he reaches down for his sparkling toddy with a shrug. “Maybe I now share the same sentiment as my sister and like knowing that you’re using my brother’s power against him. Or perhaps I just like knowing that this is a challenge for you and take pity…”
“Wow, great, thanks.”
“But no matter my reasons, you’re still not getting it, Human Reborn. There should at least be some block by now, even if small.”
We’ve been going at this all day. My head is pounding, no closer to shutting out the Ancients’ silent conversations in my mind than yesterday.
We’ve been in this temple room for so long that I can’t even recall when in the day it is, just vaguely remember that lunch was brought in a while ago.
My aching head now seems to be a common thing here in Woodlands, the pain pushing against my eyes and temples and making it that much harder for me to concentrate.
Is it bad that I already long for Gaumond?
Not even a fortnight in this new court and I’m already craving our travel back to the Black Capitol.
I need to take Millie through the different rises that are filled with smoke and fire, need to breathe in the pepper in the air and let the spice clear all this heaviness from my mind.
I can’t stop thinking of the Shadow Oak, desperately needing its dark limbs to surround me so that they can replace this bleak and bland room I now stand in.
Just looking at all these white walls has me frustrated beyond belief, and I’m not even allowed the simple task of leaving for a break.
“I want to take a walk,” I tell the Ancients. I need to clear my head.
“What door are you using?” Sianoa asks, ignoring me.
I sigh and turn back to her. Even with a heavy grimace on her face she still manages to be one of the most beautiful women I’ve ever seen.
“It’s a strong door,” I nod quickly, watching in my mind as the tall pines inch closer to the wood in a strong embrace. I’m unwilling to give it up.
“Perhaps,” Sianoa keeps her thoughtful green eyes on mine, “but is it a door that brings forth any emotions? Associating feelings with the door will only hinder the guard you need it to be.”
I hold her gaze firmly.
No. I loved my door.
Loved what it represented between Keane and I and our future.
Sianoa’s voice goes soft. “You’ll need to choose a new one, Alexis.”
“I wouldn’t even know where to start,” I press my hand to my temple. “Every door in my life holds some form of emotion behind it…”
I think of the door to my room in Bardot that I left behind, the sturdy wood holding so much history of my life behind it.
I think of the double doors that grace Castle Bardot and the way they stood so proudly behind Keane’s coronation with the sun shining through.
I think back to Gaumond and its towering black structure that rests above all the rises, of all the dark doors that line the halls.
Too many doors. They’ve always been so welcoming to me, even if I can’t navigate them properly.
“You need something that you’re disassociated with,” Sianoa reaches for the chair in front of her and pats the seat. “Not one that you’re disinterested in, but rather, one that you know will stand firm on its own even when you’re not there.”
I furrow my brows in thought.
Did the library at Red Falls have a door?
No.
Only a few on the heights that led to the staircases.
I could use the icy archway of the thirty-second height from where I found Stormfall, but even that entry holds so many mixed emotions behind it.
“A door that you know guards secrets…”
I pause as the vision of a black snake grips me to my core.
No.
I can’t use that one.
Why would that come to mind?
But even as I try to convince myself otherwise, all I see now is the black creature that sits so proudly guarding Rivian’s temple.
Ancients, if that isn’t the most foreboding door I’ve ever come across.
The full of it is daunting, from the snake and the strong wood to the glittering white pyramid that waits for me to enter its depths and find out more.
It’s a door that urges me to peek inside, to learn the secrets of the Ancient that I absolutely abhor.
Can it work?
Do I even want it to work?
“Let me build this new one in my mind,” I whisper.
Sianoa peers at me thoughtfully. I take a seat next to her and close my eyes, holding the vision of Rivian’s temple so firmly in my mind.
The towering temple genuinely doesn’t want to leave my thoughts, sending a small shiver down my spine as I watch the wooden door close sharply into the marble around it.
The full structure is calling to me, begging me to use it as a safeguard, telling me to utilize the snake just as it moves towards my hand and reaches out-
-What in the actual Ancients?
I quickly grab my sparkling toddy, feeling the pull of the door holding me firmly on its other side.
The door is shut so tight in my mind that I nearly laugh, so caught off guard at how easily it wants to help me.
My mind and thoughts become surrounded by the inside of the pyramid, all of them locked in the bare walls that move sharply up to the sky.
Sianoa eyes me as I take a heavy gulp.
“You have it.”
“I have it,” I nod to her with a steadying breath. “If this works… Ancients, if this works. Don’t ever ask me what door I’m using.”
“If this works…” Heysan grins from the other side of the table, “I’ll let you know what the wager is between me and your friend.”
“I’ve been wondering why you’ve been avoiding Cal during our time here, Heysan,” I smirk. “Are you scared you may lose that wager?”
Heysan scoffs and brings a hand mockingly to his chest. “No one wins against me unless I let them, Human Reborn.”
“Then why not seek him out? Should I tell him that you’re here?”
The Ancient sighs in exaggeration. “And here I thought I wanted to help you, Queen.”
He takes a few easy steps around the table and places a soft kiss on Sianoa’s head.
“Are you good here, sister?”
“Yes, yes,” she brushes him off with a wave of her hand, “go play your game with the mortal.”
“I will,” he sends me a large wink before walking away. “Don’t blame me if your big friend can’t make it back to his room tonight, Alexis. In fact, blame yourself.”
“He can hold his own, Heysan!” I laugh at his retreating back. “Though I doubt you’ll find anywhere to drink here in Alston.”
Heysan looks at me over his shoulder.
“I am the Ancient of Good Fortune and Celebration. Do you really not think I have my own temple of fun waiting for me in this city?”
“Of course you do,” I mumble, hearing his laugh fill the room.
I turn back to Sianoa, catching her eyeing me quietly over her toddy. Her glance dips to my features and my lips, then to my shoulders as I sit squarely in front of her.