Regius (6 page)

"I need her to confirm
Digitalis has gotten what I want." I blinked out of my vision when
a voice could be heard behind the door that led within my
conservatory. Conservatory was such a fitting quarter for me to
live in. I was being conserved.

"The only reason the army
is not revolting against you, Steward, is because I order them not
too. And I order them to do this because we struck a deal.
Cooperating soldiers for my child's life."

"Don't be so dramatic,
Sage. She is much too valuable. I wouldn't dream of ridding the
world of such a gift." Was today going to be the day my mother
wouldn't be able to stop Xania Reinhardt from entering my safe
zone?

"If I let you use her the
way you wish too, she might as well be dead." I heard her pause. "I
have only to snap my fingers and the army will take you down. As
they should have the moment you had us
run
and hide
from the Altors!" Things were
getting heated, hot enough for me to follow my mother's
instructions if it ever came to that moment where Xania may push
Sage aside.

Smoothing out my clothes, I
moved off the tree branch and climbed down to the first floor of my
conservatory. As I passed my distillery, I lowered the fire beneath
the transparent bottles with colorful liquids bubbling
inside.

"Mark my words, Sage. One
day I
will
get my
hands on your daughter." I heard the Steward growl, leading me to
pause in my steps. He would leave, which meant I wouldn't need to
hide in the trap beneath the floor. One of my mother's soldier's
had built it years ago. Sighing, I knew what would come next, and I
didn't need the gift of foresight for it.

One, two,
three...

"Mallow!" My mother barked,
throwing open the door carved into the tree I'd been lazily dozing
off on earlier. "What is he talking about?!" She locked the door
behind her and then went and shut all the curtains that would cover
the conservatory's windows. I wondered how long she'd keep me in
the darkness this time.

"Mother." I murmured,
bowing my head respectfully.

"Don't call me that." She
returned coldly, turning her sharp blue gaze on me once the room
was only being lit by the distillery. "What have you
seen?"

"The Altors still believe
you have the gift."

"Not that."

"Digitalis has kidnapped
Solenum Everhart."

"And?" She pushed. Pressing
my lips tightly together, I momentarily imagined that I wasn't
here. Not here with the Regius. "Snap out of it, child."

"Soon my gift will consume
me. Have you found a cure?" My voice sounded fragile to my own
ears, as though death frightened me. Sage shook her head. "The
Palliums are in an uproar." I finally answered. "They will grow
more and more vulnerable."

"Tell me when I am to
attack them or the Altors again." She ordered, hesitating for a
second before she reached out with a hand and patted my
cheek.

"I will, Sage."

* * * *

It had been too long since
I had just laid there, waking up at my own pace, enjoying the state
where I am half asleep. My mind was in a dream, yet I could control
it in a way. It was a boring dream; soldiers were training and
liking it, nothing spectacular about that when you're an Altor. Yet
for me it was because I hadn't had a boring dream since that
barrier had been created in my mind. Now that it was gone and I
remembered, the nightmares had gone too. It had been so powerful; I
hadn't even been able to remember that I'd already learned how to
ride a bike. I wanted to go to Lithium Village and tell Delph I
remembered who'd taught me.

Vervaine had been right to
compare Datura to Solenum. We'd had a very similar dynamic. So
similar in fact, it felt as though I'd tried to recreate it
subconsciously. If that were true, it wouldn't change the fact that
Solenum was everything to me and one day we'd see each other again.
Only now I hoped that Datura would come with me.

I assumed the feeling I got
from retrieving my memories was a lot like learning how to walk.
Before you take that step it's hard and scary. And then when you
finally do it, you're hit by this epiphany; it's just a matter of
balance. I doubt I worded it like that in my head when I actually
did start walking, but that is the only way I could describe it.
It's natural, but before you do it, it feels like the
opposite.

I had daydreamed many times
about my memories returning to me, and had always pictured it to be
grand and overwhelming. In the end it didn't feel grand at all,
which I was okay with. It was like the Altor trigger. Once it was
done, a missing part of you finally finds its way back and all you
can do is just sort of sigh in relief and move on.

Sitting up, I hoped that
tomorrow my day wouldn't start with such intense thoughts. This
meant that for one day, just for a little while, nothing intense
should happen.

I stretched myself out all
the while thinking it was not something you could really expect to
happen in this world.

Looking over at the crack
in the earth, Datura was still not there. It had been nearly five
days now, and that didn't include the days where I was out cold in
a bed in the Coliseum. Maybe the attack at the Pallium territory
had been worse than Aram had said. I'd never asked Datura how long
it took him to purge the Valley.

"Vervaine said that the
memory truck hit you hard and that I should let you sleep it off."
The voice was amused, carefree and relaxed. Snapping my head over
to the guest mat that normally held my guards, I saw that Vervaine
had given her duties over the person I'd been waiting
for.

"Datura." I breathed, the
exhale so strong it made me realize just how much I'd been
worried.

"How much damage has she
done to you and me?" I blinked when his earlier carefree demeanor
morphed into concern. Standing so I could make my way over to him,
he stood at the same time, making us both halt cautiously before
one another.

"She didn't change
anything." I murmured, trying to convey I wasn't lying by looking
at him intently, almost pleadingly. It was true; the way I felt
about him hadn't changed. Just because he was more rooted in my
life, didn't change the fact that I'd wanted to kiss him before
Rhamnus had interrupted, or that I couldn't stand the idea of
Datura dying.

His eyebrows raised and his
shoulders relaxed a bit. "You believe her?" And then it dawned on
me. He thought she'd only told me about everything, not backed it
up by actually breaking down the barrier and giving me back my
memories.

I chuckled. "Well, I didn't
have that much of a choice. First she nudges me about being Seer,
which is where I showed signs of being reluctant to believe it and
she then did certain things to make sure I couldn't second guess
any of it." I took a step towards him, the distance between us
little enough so that if I reached out, I could touch him. "We
combined our powers to break down the barrier, Datura." I paused
but then decided to spell it out. "The one created by the coal tree
from the Sunken Cities and placed there by the Elders." I watched
as his eyes grew wide and however stiff and unsure he had still
been, disappeared. He didn't seem to know how to react though, he
just stared.

"Datura," I closed the
distance, reaching up to let my hands cup his face. "I'm telling
you that I
remember
you and everything else. I remember how we met, how close we
were." I rubbed my thumbs over his cheeks, my eyes firmly fixed on
his red ones. "You liked to eat your chips in pairs and when you
finished the bowl and happened to end up with three remaining
pieces, you'd either give me the lonely piece or when I wasn't
there, you'd fill the bowl back up hoping you'd end up with pairs
that time around until it was empty."

"I still do that." His
hands closed around my elbows.

"You're ticklish under your
left armpit but not your right one." I murmured. "You wanted to cut
your hair when a kid in your class made fun of you, but didn't when
I told you I liked it long. You hummed that same melody I always
hear you humming now. Whenever I missed Jan or my parents, even if
I didn't remember them, you'd take me out into the meadows and we'd
count cows." Opening my eyes, I smirked. "And you're much more
vulnerable and sensitive then you make yourself out to
be."

He sighed, his hands moving
up on my arms. "There was a look in your eyes, one that tells that
you've gone through more than someone should. You already had it
back then, Cali. It's gotten deeper now." The tip of his index
finger traced the skin beneath my left eye. "I was determined to
make it go away."

"I need you to count on me
as I count on you." I told him firmly. "I'm not going anywhere." He
released a half sigh, but smiled all the while. I felt his arms
come around me, pulling me closer so that our foreheads and noses
bumped into one another.

"Why didn't you just tell
me?" I whispered. The embrace had my heart racing and my blood
pumping, but however shaky I felt, I wasn't going to give it
up.

"Would you have believed
me?" His voice sent shivers down my spine, and wherever his hands
touched, it set my skin on fire. "I needed to have you trust me
before I could reveal any of that."

"Or find a way to break the
barrier." Blood rushed up to my cheeks when his lips gently kissed
the tip of my nose. "Did you know Vervaine could?" I asked shakily,
finding it hard to concentrate as his mouth connected softly to my
temple, my forehead, my eyelid, the corner of my mouth.

"I didn't." He whispered.
"Thank you for waiting for me."

"Right back at you."
Swallowing nervously, I tilted my head further back so I could look
properly at him and with this gesture, my neck was exposed and he
took advantage, placing his palm against my throat, his thumb right
underneath my chin. He dipped his head down and when his lips
touched my skin, my heart skipped a beat and a noise of pleasure
escaped me.

"You are not pulling away."
He said against my neck.

"Once I make up my mind, I
don't change it back again." I assured him. His lips left me and
his hand on my neck moved so his fingers could grip my
chin.

"You are absolutely certain
you want this?" He asked. "Because if-" I cut him off by kissing
him. No warning or no words, not much flourish either. The only way
he could understand just how serious I was about him was if I could
make him feel it. His body pressed against mine and he responded by
letting the tip of his tongue slide between my parted lips. When I
placed my hands on his upper arms, I had every intention of just
clinging to him and let him take the lead, rather sure I wouldn’t
be able to keep track of everything I was feeling right now.
Instead though, this quick rush of need led me to thread my fingers
into his hair, gently tugging and kissing back feverishly, tasting
and teasing as much as he.

His hands fisted into my
shirt above my hips, squeezing before one of them slid down over my
butt. I broke away from the kiss, a noise escaping my swollen lips
and it didn't take me too long to understand I'd just moaned loudly
enough to give away our location, say there were enemies lurking on
the green hill neighboring us. I saw him grin in satisfaction
before he leaned in and let his mouth pay attention to my jaw, neck
and that spot that connects your throat and shoulder.

Opening my eyes, I vaguely
noticed a change.

"Datura." I panted
out.

"Hmm?"

"I'm seeing
grey."

He chuckled. "I promise
we're safe."

"Then why?"

His grin grew wider. "It's
because you're turned on. Your control isn't as focused and so it
turns on and off."

"How traitorous." I
commented absently.

"You sound very upset about
it." He laughed. I had never seen him this way before, as though he
didn't have a worry on his mind. It suited him.

Letting my fingers toy with
his braid, I asked. "When did you start having feelings for me?"
Out of all the memories I'd retrieved, there wasn't one that had
shown he'd told me about this. So I deduced that he
hadn't.

"When we met again on the
second floor." He smiled. "It might be best that our once upon a
time friendship morphed into something different. I wouldn't have
wanted to compete with Solenum."

"You don't have too." I
said softly. "I have space for both of you in my heart." He
surprised me by pulling me into a tight hug, his face pressed into
my neck.

"There were times I was
tempted to use the Sunken Tree's memory dust on myself." He
confessed.

"Let’s just be grateful for
the Seer in me that allowed its effects to be reversible." I
murmured, wishing that I could somehow understand how he had felt
all those years. Solenum and I hadn't been apart that long yet;
Datura might have been forced to give up on my return at some
point. I couldn't even grasp the idea of it.