3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

Thea

S ybil and I sat in a comfortable silence the next afternoon in our small living space. Her sharp blue eyes glanced at me often, like she was waiting for something. Gods, it felt like she was worried I would combust or something.

“Is there something you want to talk about?” I smiled softly.

“You don’t remember very much,” she said after hesitating for a long moment.

“No one does.” I raised my dark brow at her.

Her frail hands twisted in her lap like she didn’t know what to say or how to say it to me. It made my chest tight and breathing difficult because she hadn’t looked like this, ever.

“You woke up one morning and you didn’t remember anything.” She looked back at me. “I know you’ve hidden it, but I just want you to know that I know you don’t remember all the years in Exile.”

Her features morphed into sadness. Relief that Sybil knew my secret filled me. But it twisted my heart to think that something was wrong with me or my mind.

“I’m sorry I didn’t say anything, but I was just trying to understand for myself.” I sighed and leaned closer to the small fire we had made. Watching the flames, something about it called out to me. The colors were so vibrant, and the heat of the fire made me feel calm. “The twins know I don’t remember either.”

“Yes, we’ve known that you couldn’t remember anything. You seemed more confused than I’ve ever seen you. Which concerns me.”

I frowned at her as she stood and walked toward the kitchen, but she paused with her back to me.

“Has he visited you in your dreams?”

My head snapped up to her.

“Do you know of him? How?” I stood up quickly. He wasn’t real.

“You had told me before. I was just curious if he was still around.” She looked over at me and frowned again, like she had so much more to say. I wish she would just tell me what was going on. I could help us out of here if I knew what was happening .

“He is a friend. No matter what happens, I want you to know that you can always trust him.” A small gasp escaped her as if she was in pain.

“He isn’t real.” I shook my head and sat back on the small bench. “I can’t remember him when I wake up, only his golden eyes.”

She smiled slightly at my comment.

“I’m sure he’s quite charming and handsome.” Her face looked as though she was thinking of a memory or a specific man.

“Why do I get the feeling that you and the twins know more than what you tell me?”

Sybil sighed before working on making bread again.

“I wish I could explain everything to you, Thea, but I cannot. One day you will remember, but until then, just know that the man in your dreams is important. He is always the right choice.”

Sybil gasped loudly in pain as soon as she said it. Her hands gripped the counter as agony took over her face. I rushed to her, but she insisted she was fine. My eyes drifted over her to see if she had wounded herself.

“Are you alright?” I asked worriedly.

Sybil finally sucked in a deep, shaky breath before looking at me .

“Yes, I said too much.” I wanted to ask her what she meant, but she spoke again. “Let's talk about something else.”

“No, I want to know what you do,” I demanded. I was so tired of not knowing anything.

“Thea, I can’t say much. The god, Mikel, forbade it. He tied our tongues with magic. I worry it will only confuse you more.” She seemed scared, but I was not letting this go.

“Sybil, you’re my family. What are you and the twins so scared to tell me? And what does the god, Mikel, have to do with this?”

“Thea, please.”

“No, tell me, Sybil.”

“We can’t!” She threw her hands into the air. “I've tried to tell you who the man with golden eyes is, and I’ve tried to tell you what you need to do, but I am silenced each time. If I could tell you, I would.”

I wanted to say something to Sybil, but a yell in the distance had both of us glancing at the door. The scream was blood-curdling, making both of us hold our breath for a moment. My body tensed; I had never heard screams like that here.

“What was that?” I whispered .

“Nothing good.” Sybil moved to grab a knife. Sybil was not a violent woman, so it surprised me to see her grab a weapon.

We both watched the door as I pulled my dagger out. It was dark outside now, almost as if a storm was approaching, but it did not rain in Exile. Dread filled me as I waited for anything to happen. Another yell somewhere closer to our home startled both of us. I stepped forward so Sybil would be protected. The twins said I was a natural fighter. I could protect Sybil if needed. Our door burst open a few moments later, and before I could lunge forward with my blade, I recognized Kai and Kaz.

“We're under attack,” one of them whispered.

“How? We’re in a shielded prison." I questioned. They looked to Sybil for guidance or something else. Sybil gave them a nod to their silent question.

“We need to get Thea to the border now. She’s who they are after,” Kai said. My heart raced quickly.

“Me?” I frowned. “I don’t understand what’s going on.”

Sybil came up to me and grabbed my hands in hers to comfort me, but it only terrified me more. She looked at me with sadness and guilt.

“You don’t remember, but you can go through the border without dying. ”

I shook my head, trying to understand what she was saying. The twins were guarding the door, but the screams were getting closer to us, and I knew we only had minutes before they found us.

“It’s been almost a year since you’ve been back. I’m sure they are here to stop you from the trials.”

“Who? What trials?”

Tears streamed down my cheeks as confusion hit me in a new wave.

“We can’t say until your curse is broken, and only you can do that. You need to go, and don’t worry about us. Once they realize you're gone, we’ll be alright.”

“They are getting closer. We need to go now,” Kai demanded.

“You’re scaring me. I don’t understand.”

Sybil’s hand wiped the tears from my cheeks softly.

“I know, sweetheart, but it’s all we can say. Break your curse and free us all from Exile. Can you do that, Thea?”

“Yes,” I said.

“Yes, you can.” She smiled softly. “The twins will take you to the border.”

Kaz grabbed my hand and started dragging me to the door, but I pulled back so I could hug Sybil.

“I’ll get you out,” I promised.

“I know.” She hugged me back. "Remember, you just have to make the right choice when the time comes. Red is right, blue is wrong.”

I nodded, confused. What did any of this mean? Kaz and Kai rushed me from the house, and we ran towards the shadow border. I could hear houses being ransacked and other fae yelling in fear and pain. I didn’t look back. I couldn’t because it would make me want to stay and protect Sybil.

The twins led me through the field of dying grass to the spot by the border I always sat by. Once we were there, they stopped and turned towards me. Both of them bowed at me like I was superior to them.

“We can’t go with you, Captain, but you’ll figure it out this time.”

This time? Captain?

Kaz grabbed me and hugged me tightly, and then Kai did the same, but as Kai released me, he shoved me hard, so I stumbled through the border. I tried to grab the dead branches of trees to stop my falling, but it was no use. A searing pain shot through me as I hit the ground on the other side of the shadow border.

I called out into the night sky and to the stars twinkling above me. My body couldn’t move as the pain coursed deep within my bones. No doubt trying to kill me for crossing. After a long minute, though, the pain started slowing down. My lungs pulled the cold night air into them, and it was such a pleasant feeling after breathing in the hot air of Exile.

I stared at the stars for a moment, admiring them before rolling onto my stomach and standing. I leaned my body against a large tree that looked like no others around it. My hand traced the large ‘X’ carved into the side. Someone had marked the shadow border. My eyes drifted into the distance. A tall, intimidating black castle sat high on a hill with red light illuminating it.

It was so stunning that I took a step towards it so I could admire it more. The city below was lit up in the night sky, and I tried to remember if I had ever seen anything so breathtaking before.

My instincts were to go toward it, but I stopped myself. I didn’t know where I was or who that kingdom belonged to.

Panic shot through me. I didn’t know where to go or how to stop whatever curse I had. How had Sybil known about my curse, and why couldn’t she tell me more?

Suddenly, I heard a stick break somewhere in the distance, and I held my dagger in my hand tightly. Instead of heading toward the black castle that called to me, I went in the opposite direction and away from the sticks breaking .

I needed a plan. I needed a way to find out information. Where was I from? I knew my name was Thea, but I knew nothing else. I dreamt of nothing but a man whose face I couldn’t even remember. My feet seemed to have a mind of their own as I wandered farther into the woods. I walked for miles in the dark with nothing guiding my way.

Something in front of me caught my eye before I heard the soft voices in the dark. I stood behind one of the trees and held my breath. The voices seemed to be getting closer, but then suddenly they were gone.

I peeked around the tree to see if they were still coming. As my eyes adjusted to the moonlight, I could see a tall man ahead of me. Then a silhouette of a smaller man appeared too. My eyes widened when I saw black shadows swarming around the tall man. I stared, mesmerized by the way they tangled around him angrily. There was a dead body at his feet. I held my breath. It was a woman.

“We can’t cross Cerithia’s boundary until war is officially declared,” one of them said. “We’re running out of time. We need to find her before they do.”

“Did we kill all the witches responsible for the attack?” the man with shadows spoke.

“Yes, there were only six.”

The man with the shadows held his hand up to silence the man next to him. My breath caught when the man turned his head in the direction I was hiding. If he could see me, he didn’t let it be known. After a long moment, they both walked in the opposite direction of me.

Suddenly there was a soft green flame floating above the ground. It mesmerized me as it flickered towards me like it was happy to see me. A moment later, my senses kicked in, and I ran from whatever the creature was.

I didn’t stop until the cool air turned hotter and the trees were different species. Then I kept going until a cave caught my attention. My eyes drifted around me. Someone or something was watching me; I could feel it. I climbed into the cave entrance and found a hidden crevice to squeeze into. Once I was sure that I was completely out of sight, I wrapped my dark green cloak around myself as I curled into the ground and prayed for sleep.

★★?★★

I scanned the darkness surrounding the field of flowers that I found myself standing in. I could feel the waterfall in front of me before I could see or hear it. The power of its roar made the ground vibrate under my feet. It was breathtaking in the moonlight. The field held every shade of red and orange flower I had ever seen. Something moving in the shadows caught my eye.

“Come out, coward.” I smiled.

“Are you flirting with me, little viper?”

I shrugged. His golden eyes glowed in the darkness. He watched me like prey as he stalked toward me. He only stopped watching me to look at our view. Something tender crossed his features as he gave me a big smile.

“Pretty view."

“Yes, it is.” I smiled. “You didn't visit me last night.”

“You wouldn’t let me.” He frowned. “You put up some sort of wall that wouldn’t let me see you. I thought maybe you were upset with me.”

“How can I be upset with an imaginary man I made up?” I laughed, but he didn’t. His eyes flashed something like hurt in them.

He took a hesitant step towards me and wrapped me in a hug. This is what I had been looking for. I wrapped my arms around his strong body. He smelled like forest and rain.

“Did you miss me, my love?” he whispered next to my ear. “Because I missed you terribly.”

I smiled as I pulled back to see his handsome face.

“Yes. I did miss you, my coward.” His eyes flashed with amusement. “Why can’t I remember what you look like when I’m done dreaming?”

His eyebrows knitted together.

“What do you mean?”

“I can only remember your golden eyes, but nothing else.”

“I’m not sure,” he sighed as his gaze looked over the waterfall. His hand held tightly onto mine as we stood in silence.

He turned his head, so his pointed ear was toward the woods, like he had heard something. I glanced behind us, but I couldn’t see or hear anything.

“Where are you right now?”

I opened my mouth to answer him, but a weird noise behind me had me turning to see what it was.

“Fuck,” he whispered as he looked over where I was watching. “Something is wrong; I need to wake up.”

“Wh-what? I want to stay with you.”

His eyes filled with a deep emotion before he leaned down and kissed me possessively. I felt the shift again. No. Not this.

When I pulled away from his kiss, his eyes were vacant. The man fell to his knees in front of me. Blood poured from a neck wound.

“No.” I kneeled and caught him as he fell. But it was too late; he was dead again. I leaned my head against his chest, sobbing loudly. I was begging him to come back. That’s when I felt it. His cold hand circled my wrist, making me look at him.

“Are you going to let me die, my love?” he asked.

"No. "

“Then save me."

★★?★★

I gasped for air as I sat up in the cave, trying to stop the tears from flowing down my face. Why was my mind torturing me? My breathing was too quick. I couldn’t steady my breathing. I tried lying down as the dizziness enveloped me.

That is when I noticed the floating green orb as she moved toward me. I prayed to the stars that she was friendly and wouldn’t kill me after I passed out. My eyes fluttered shut, and I fell into darkness.

★★?★★

When I opened my eyes, I was rocking gently in a chair, the cave still nowhere to be seen. I was surrounded by blackness, but then a small flicker of flames ignited. The roar of the fire in front of me was so comforting. After a moment, the black walls around me shifted into a small, inviting space with trinkets and art on every inch of it.

The rug under my chair was soft against my bare feet. I sensed him before I saw him. But I could not stop rocking back and forth. I did not feel any danger. The chair next to me began rocking in tandem with mine.

I smiled when my eyes met the frail older man smiling at me. His wild white hair seemed to fit him, even if I didn’t know who he was.

“Thea, my dear,” he said with a smile. I watched him. “My name is Brim, and we are friends.”

Brim. His name was so familiar.

“I don’t remember dreaming of you before.” I frowned.

“You aren’t dreaming.” He glanced away from me and to the fire. “You have been having visions like your mother used to, and you are about to have another one. I am here to guide you. You called to me for help.”

I did?

“My mother...” An image of a woman who looked similar to me popped into my mind but was gone before I could appreciate her beauty. “A vision of what?”

Brim looked at me curiously.

“I am unsure. But your mother had them to show her events that would alter her life forever.”

“You look scared.” I frowned. Why was I getting worried all of a sudden?

“It’s going to feel like a dream. You need to try and remember every detail possible, but it will be hard. Visions do not like to give us a straight answer to anything.”

When I turned to ask him a question, he was gone, and I was standing in a field. There was an arena in front of me filled with loud cheering that pulled my attention toward it. They were chanting my name. Hundreds of fae shouted. Thea! Thea! Thea! But for some reason, I was angry about it. I sucked in a lungful of dust and hot air.

The sun was too hot. I glanced down and saw I was wearing a dark blue dress. There was blood on my hands. The veins in my arms were black. I felt fucking furious. There were so many fae standing by me in the arena, but they were a haze. I couldn’t make out anyone’s face.

I felt nauseous as time faded and blurred my vision. As it came back into focus, I was staring down at my leg as a dagger stuck out from it. My eyes pulsed red.

“Thea!” His voice boomed through all the chaos—deep, peaceful, perfect. It distracted me from the man coming up behind me. “No!” His voice echoed in the space around me. My eyes snapped up to where I heard the deep voice coming from. The man with golden eyes was trying to get to me. His magic was ripping and tearing against a barrier I couldn’t see. Suddenly, his shadows burst from him as someone hit him with something that I could not quite make out through the haze. He fell to his knees, wounded.

Another blade sliced across my back, but I turned and killed the man who was hurting me. Then time faded away again, and when I looked forward, the man with golden eyes was kneeling in the dirt, bleeding still.

A sense of urgency filled me. I needed to get to him. I needed to save him. Nothing else mattered but him living. But as I took one step closer, he glanced up at me. What I saw in his eyes would haunt me for a lifetime. They were filled with regret, sadness, and longing.

“No!” I released my darkness to shield him.

“I love you,” he called out to me before a man, whose face was blurry, swung a sword and beheaded him. My whole body burst into flames.

I was too late. I was too late.

I ran toward him, desperate. A sharp pain on my wrist caught my attention. I gasped as my crown tattoo broke and shattered on my arm.

“No!” I was frantic. I was devastated. Time faded again before I was standing right where the man died. I couldn’t look at his dead body. I wanted to burn the realm down in my grief. I turned and let all my magic tear through me as a vicious scream tore from my throat—destroying everything in its path.

I gasped for air as my vision pulled away from me, and I was rocking with Brim again. Tears were streaming down my face as I tried desperately to catch my breath.

“What did you see, Thea?”

“He died,” I cried. “The man from my dreams. The one with golden eyes was killed. ”

Brim didn’t say anything, and I couldn’t hear the rocking of his chair anymore. When I glanced up at him, he was in shock.

“Are you sure that is what you saw?”

I nodded. I couldn’t breathe.

I glanced at the crown tattoo on my wrist to see it still intact, and the sight brought me comfort. Tears burned and fell from my eyes unrelenting. My chest squeezed so painfully at the man’s haunting golden eyes that I started hyperventilating. I was going to pass out or die.

“That can’t be right.” He stood up and began pacing. “What else do you remember?”

I closed my eyes tightly, trying to remember what I had been doing, but my mind and chest ached with grief.

“I was fighting in an arena. There were lots of fae. I was hurt, and he tried to help me.” I began crying again.

“Why would the stars do this to you?”

I looked up at him as he became furious. He was muttering something about the gods and how I had given enough to the realm that I didn’t deserve to lose him.

“Who is he? Is he real? I thought he was just in my imagination.”

Brim stopped and gave me a look of pity.

“He’s real, and he is going to die.”