I looked up from where I knelt at my father’s corpse.
A stocky male on the tail end of middle age with close-cropped black hair emerged from the dark of the stairwell. His sneer oozed arrogance, and I would have dismissed him as nothing more than a courtier who wondered upstairs if it wasn’t for his eyes.
Pale blue with gold-ringed irises.
My father’s eyes.
My eyes.
“And you are?” I asked warily. He didn’t seem to be the slightest bit bothered that my father’s blood coated my hand and flames covered the rest of me.
“Do you not recognize me, Raynella?” he asked, taking a step closer. His eyes scanned my body, taking in my flaming dress then dismissing my power as if it was no concern to him.
There was something about him that felt so familiar, but I couldn’t put my finger on it. “I’ve never seen you before.” As I spoke the words, it dawned on me that the male in front of me was speaking English.
The confidence with which he sauntered toward us set me on edge. The king was dead at my feet, and this male seemed completely unbothered or even surprised.
The stranger halted two steps shy of me, and I rose to my feet with Sin by my side, my anger with him temporarily delayed while I assessed the potential new threat.
“Belarius,” the male said simply. “My name is Belarius. And you do know me, Raynella.”
I scoffed. “That’s not possible. My grandfather is a sweet older male. I met him a few days ago.”
Had it really only been a few days? It felt like a lifetime ago.
The sneer on his face grew wider, the dreadful smile stretching ear to ear.
“Tell me, Raynella,” he said smugly. “What exactly do you recall about your conversation with your dear old grandpa?”
I thought back to the day I followed a random yummy smell into a small study. I pictured my grandfather: frail, gray hair, a face full of wrinkles.
“He was older, very old. And kind,” I said defiantly.
“No, Raynella. Tell me what you spoke about.”
I hesitated, racking my brain. “We had a nice chat. It was nice.”
“Specifics, Raynella,” he pressed. “What specifically did you talk about? Name one thing. Just one.”
Sweat began to bead on my forehead, and I struggled to maintain my grip on the flames that coated my naked body. “I… we…. It was nice.” I searched for snippets of our interaction, but the details were fuzzy, slipping from my mental fingers before they could solidify. “There was… food, I think. He gave me hismeal, and he was… nice. So nice.” My knees shook under the strain, and I unconsciously placed a hand on Sin’s shoulder for support.
“Stop it,” Sin pleaded with Belarius. “Just let us go. We can leave, and you’ll never see us again. We won’t tell anyone.”
Why was Sin begging? Sin didn’t beg. And why did my head hurt so bad?
“I am afraid that was never an option, Dreisin. For her anyway.” He took another step closer to me, secured my gaze with his piercing blue eyes and said, “Remember.”
My head exploded as the memory of our first meeting came rushing back in, false memories overlapping real ones, and I struggled to separate them.
“Hello?” I called out, pushing the door open.
“Come in, Raynella,” a smooth male voice answered in English.
I stepped into the small room, and my eyes scanned the furnishings before I noticed a male seated in a large cushy chair with a plate of food near him. He appeared to be pushing fifty based on the creases around his eyes, but his short hair was still a strong shade of black. What caught my attention the most, though, were his eyes. I would recognize that pale blue color anywhere, and the golden sunburst around the pupil just confirmed it—whoever this guy was, we were definitely related.
He gestured to the chair beside him, and I sat, eyeing his plate of food with thinly-veiled desire.
“I am sure the kitchen will make you something should you wish, Raynella, but please do refrain from ogling my lunch.” He took a bite and chewed it deliberately as he evaluated me.
