12
Princess Bree Varlon
Sojee’s youngest daughter
Bree was sitting on a stone bench in the most beautiful garden she’d ever seen. She knew she should be wandering down the pathways, inhaling the fragrance of the flowers, and admiring the sculptures. Enjoying herself.
Most of all, she should be reveling in her freedom. Here she didn’t have to sneak around, didn’t have to hide.
But right now, death looked better than what she was facing. She glanced skyward. “What horrible thing have I done to deserve this?” she asked. “Who have I angered that I’d get such punishment?”
Of course there was no answer. Her lips tightened. Oh, how Reena had talked! It was still hard to believe that her friend, her mentor, the person she trusted second only to her father, had betrayed her.
Reena, annoyingly speaking through the chip she’d embedded in her dog’s hind quarters, had told Bree to pack a bag as she was going on a trip. She was to take the dark clothes she wore when slipping out at night to go to Reena’s house, but shewas also to pack some dresses that were exquisitely beautiful. “I want you to look your best,” Reena said.
Bree had done as she was told, then made the familiar walk to Reena’s house. She usually did it at night so it was nice to go in the daylight.
The island, now full of men, had a different feel to it. It seemed to vibrate with new energy. But she knew the cause was more than just the presence of men. After Aradella had fled her own ceremony, leaving the wimpy, sulking Nessa standing by himself, everything happened so fast that it took people a while to realize what had occurred.
Bree hadn’t been surprised by Aradella’s escape, certainly hadn’t been shocked by it. She’d known Aradella all her life and her cousinalwaysfound a way to get what she wanted. Even being imprisoned by the evil Olina hadn’t kept Aradella under control.
Throughout Bree’s life, looking after Aradella had been one of the many secrets she and her father kept. Her sister, Shay, hadn’t known what was going on, but then, keeping a secret was not something Shay could do.
One of the things Bree and her father did was get the books that were sent to Aradella past the guards. They were Earth books sent by Jobi, then later, someone from the Order of Swans began sending them. There were crude attempts to hide them under pastries, but they were easily found. Sojee, as head of security, had prevented the forbidden books from being confiscated then sent to Olina. It hadn’t been easy. More than once, Bree had hidden the books under her clothes.
Aradella never knew she’d nearly caused Sojee and Bree to be subjected to one of Queen Olina’s “punishments,” meaning torture, if not death.
For all that there was a deep bond between Bree and her father, he didn’t know his daughter spent a lot of time with Reena. But then, Reena was one of the four witches who hadgreat power. Her oldest sister was the evil Urah, Olina’s nasty, hate-filled mother. Another sister, deceased, was Garen’s mother. It was said that two of the sisters were for good and two for evil. Reena worked hard to be known as one of the good ones. But still, fathers didn’t want their daughters working for a witch. So Reena had put a spell—number 1A72—around Bree so no one would know where she went at night. No pure human knew, that is. People born with magical powers might know, but there were few of them.
When Bree was told to get ready to leave, she’d been excited.Is this it?she wondered. Years ago, Reena had conjured a “future spell,” as she called it, to see where Bree’s life would lead. When the spell showed itself, Bree remembered the shocked look on Reena’s beautiful face. But she’d quickly changed to her usual air of giving nothing away. “You will find a man you love.” She hesitated. “And he will love you desperately. Yes, I think that’s the right word. Desperate.”
“Have I already met him?” Bree asked but Reena didn’t answer.
While Bree packed, she thought of Reena’s words, and thought that this might be it. Maybe she was to meet “him.”
Her sister had already had three proposals of marriage, but then she was brilliant at flirting. Oh, how Shaylovedthe back-and-forth dance of teasing that she did with men! “I’ll have to ask my father,” she would say demurely, coyly hinting to each man that her answer would be positive.
For all that they were twins, the sisters were very different. This had greatly bothered Bree when she was a child. One time, after an incident at school, her father had held her while she cried. “I’m not like my sister,” Bree said.
“No, you’re not,” Sojee replied. “And your life will be different. Shay will marry some wimp of a man and have twelve children. All of them will depend on her for everything, and she’ll rule the household.”
“What about my life?”
“You’re harder to know. I can’t see you with a man you can boss around. What you need is a man who isn’t afraid of you.”
The wordafraidmade her cry harder. “I picked up the wagon off that boy. He didn’t even thank me. I think he was angry at me.”
Sojee hugged her. “I know. The truth is, I think you should keep all of this between you and me. Hide it. It would make your sister jealous and it will scare the skin off of most men. And the women will shun you.”
“That’s not fair,” she’d whispered.
“No, it’s not, but then, living on this island with so few men isn’t fair to anyone. We have to adjust to whatis.”
When Bree got to Reena’s house, she saw one of the queen’s great beasts waiting for her. She didn’t like the look in the creature’s eyes. She began to protest but Reena didn’t listen. Nor did she answer any questions of where and why. She told Bree to get in the saddle and that she’d contact her soon. Hours later, right after Bree had flown up and over a creepy-looking fog, Reena contacted her on the screen from the chip in Bree’s arm.
“After you meet Zeon, you’re to go to an island called Abicis,” Reena said. “I’ve never heard of it and I can’t find anyone who has been there.”
Bree had been told of Zeon and knew he had the ability to foresee the future. It wasn’t easy to talk while sitting on the back of a great creature that was flying through the air. “Why? What am I to do there?”
