The general folded his hands and leaned forward. “You must understand that Savion is evil. There is not an iota of compassion in him. He would do whatever he wanted. He still does. I had to get her out of there.”
Staring at my own folded hands, I could feel my world collapsing. “It’s not possible. My parents waited nearly seven hundred years to have a…” My lip trembled. “Oh, gods. They didn’t have a baby. They didn’t want a baby. When Cely died, they just took over… that’s why they were so bad at being parents when I was little. They didn’t want to be parents.”
The entire world was trembling at the edges of my vision, and there was no way to stop the crumbling sensation that tripped over my skin.
“Cely was my mother… Oh, Gods. She was my mother…”
GENERALODOM LET MEFREAK OUTand cry and scream.
He didn’t try to console me or quiet me. He just let me rage and cry for nearly an hour.
I didn’t know how I was going to survive this.
Danai, Elex, Carolee—now my parents were a lie.
Celine Stormbreaker. First of Rest. The woman who slept for three thousand years.
My mother.
Eventually, I came back to myself—although it was really starting to feel like I was just shutting ‘Kimber’ off and letting the ‘Breaker’ take over.
Still, it was necessary. I couldn’t let the emotions rule me yet. Not until I knew I would be safe back in the temple.
The general saw I was calming and started to gather the dishes so he could take them away.
“You need to know that anyone who is in my company is on my—our side.” He spoke so the clang of dinnerware could drown out his words. “You should also know that Aiko, Billan, and Kane are aligned with us. You may trust them if you need to do so. I will be leaving during the Blood Rite tomorrow night.”
He stared at me, as I was once again seated across from him.
“You will not like the Blood Rite. It’s primitive, horrible, and savage. Those of us who defy Savion, and who have left this place, have changed it. He has kept it as it was millennia ago—and it is a bloodbath. He will make you go. Whatever you do, please, do not offer your blood, and do not let anyone give you any. It could well be drugged, and I don’t know what that would do to you.”
I nodded. “And your plan for me?”
“One week from tomorrow night. Aiko will relay the details when he can beforehand. Can you hang on that long?”
Giving him a terse yes, I released the bubble of magic and the sound flooded back in. “General, thank you for the meal. I will be ready for dinner at the usual time.”
Picking up the tray, he bobbed his head and left the library.
I managed to walk to the back corner and found a couch I had seen earlier. I couldn’t even say I sat—I fell into it.
My whole life was swirling around and around.
Why had my parents gone to such lengths to excuse me from so many of my magic training classes? If I was the daughter of the First, her magic had been documented in the Rest as tremendous.
The more magic a druid had, the longer they could take rest. Only the most powerful could rest more than two or three hundred years.
Had they suppressed my magic when Cely died? Hid it from me? It would go a long way to explaining why my magic felt so incomplete, why there were parts of my life I had trouble remembering. Was it possible to do that?
My reverie was ripped away when the screaming started again.
I was starting to wonder ifIwas going mad. Even when it happened in the hallways and common rooms, when I was accompanied, no one reacted to it.
And it was usually the same screaming, accompanied by a long, low sound after.
I just didn’t know who to ask without seeming insane.
Though it seemed, Iwasinsane.
