Aerenden: The Child Returns (Ærenden) (36 page)

“It
wasn’t like that.”

She
frowned, recognizing Nick’s voice, then turned and walked to the corner of the
cottage so she could peer around it. Nick had his back to her, but his mother
faced Meaghan’s hiding place. Her eyes blazed in the moonlight.

“I’m
not a fool! I saw the way you held her, the way you kissed her. Are you trying
to get yourself killed?”

“No,
Mom. Please, let’s go inside. I’d like to explain in—”

“What
is there to explain? You’re being stupid. If I’d known this would happen, I
never would have let you to go to Earth when Vivian sent for you.”

“Which
is probably why she didn’t tell you,” Nick said.

“She
knew?” May’s eyes narrowed and she planted her fists on her hips. “Then she’s
the bigger idiot. What was it she said to convince you? Did she claim there was
a prophecy involved? Or did she appeal to you with the promise of ruling the
kingdom?”

The
accusation spiked Nick’s anger and he took a step closer to her. His voice
rose. “Viv didn’t have to convince me of anything. What I feel for Meg is—”

“Meg?”
May interrupted. “Where do you get off calling your Queen such an informal
name?”

“It’s
what Viv and James called her.”

“And
they’re dead,” May snapped. “You will be too if you don’t detach from her.
There’s a reason these relationships are forbidden.”

“You
don’t think I know that?” he asked. He dug his hands into his pockets. “You
don’t think I considered that before—”

“Before
what?” May pressed forward, standing toe-to-toe with her son. “What did you
do?” Without waiting for Nick’s response, she threw up her hands. “Forget it. I
don’t want to know. You’ve lost your mind, and if you won’t do the right thing,
I will. As of tomorrow morning, the Elders will be removing you as her
Guardian.”

“If you’ll let me explain—”

She
spun away from him and entered her house through the side door, slamming it
behind her. Nick rubbed the back of his neck as he turned to stare in Meaghan’s
direction. “That didn’t go well, did it?”

Certain
he could not see her, she remained silent. He approached. “I know you’re there,
Meg. You have a habit of spying, you know. I’d rather you didn’t do that to
me.”

She
stepped around the corner. “How did you know I was listening?”

“It’s
another one of my sensing abilities,” he told her. “Guardians can sense the
presence of their charges.”

“You
never mentioned that before.”

“It
slipped my mind.”

“Or
you wanted to be able to use it against me.”

“Maybe,”
he confessed. For a moment, levity cocked a smile on his face before it faded.
“Guardians can also sense their children, which is what got us in trouble
tonight. Mom tracked us down after we left the party. She saw us in the alley.”

“How
much have you been able to tell her?”

“Not
much. I tried to tell her why Vivian brought me to Earth, and she cut me off. I
tried to tell her about the prophecy, but she wouldn’t listen. And now, well,
you heard.”

“So
she doesn’t know we’re wed yet?” she asked. He shook his head. “I suppose
that’s good news, but we need to get the whole story across or we’ll have a
mess to clean up by morning. Will she try to contact the Elders now?”

“No.
She needs to cool down first and she knows it.”

“Then
let’s get this over with while we still can.” Meaghan led the way to the
kitchen door and knocked. The door swung open to the beginning of another
argument.

“If
you think you’ll be able to talk me into going along with whatever idiotic idea
you’ve come up with, then you’re as much of a fool as my damned sister. If I
had known she planned this…” the rest of the words froze on May’s lips when she
saw Meaghan standing in front of her. Her eyes whipped to her son, who stood a
step behind. “Why is she here?”

“She
overheard us,” Nick responded. “Can we come in?”

“So
you’re in on this?” she asked Meaghan. “Are you that irresponsible? Of course
you are. Viv raised you. It seems her judgment was—”

Meaghan
grabbed May’s arm. Her glare pinned May’s mouth shut. “I won’t tolerate that,”
she said. Her voice remained low, but the ice in it conveyed her anger well
enough. “I know I’m not allowed to call Vivian my mother any longer, but she was
a wonderful woman and I will not allow you to continue to speak about her that
way. The only person having judgment problems at the moment is you.” She
released her grip, but not her glare. “Did you want to let us in or did you
intend to continue giving your neighbors a show? Some of them are awake and
curious.”

May
nodded and stepped aside. After Meaghan and Nick entered, she shut the door
behind them. “Would you like some tea?” she asked.

“That’s
not necessary, Mom,” Nick responded.

“Let
her make it,” Meaghan said. “She’s nervous. It will help her.”

“Thanks,”
May said and put a kettle on top of the stove before keeping busy by collecting
dishes.

Meaghan
found a seat at the kitchen table where a ceramic pot held a sickly looking
plant. She could not tell what it had been in its life, but near-death, it
looked like a twig. She ran her finger along the pot’s rim while Nick paced the
room. Minutes passed in silence before the teakettle whistled. May poured the
tea to steep and then brought the cups to the table. When she sat, the
conversation began again.

“Why
are you here?” she asked Meaghan. “Do you know how my son feels about you?”

“I
do.”

“Do
you feel the same way?”

Meaghan
hesitated, considering how she wanted to respond. “I care about him,” she said.
“But so much has happened since we left Earth that I haven’t had time to figure
out how deep those emotions run.”

May’s
relief came out as a sigh. “Then there’s still time to fix this,” she decided
and drew a cup to her lips. She took a sip and then clutched the cup in front
of her. “I don’t know if Nick has told you about our weddings, but it’s
important you don’t see each other anymore. If you were to fall in love, he
would lose his powers. That could get him killed.”

“I know,” Meaghan said.
“He—”

“You
know?” May asked. Her hands tightened around her teacup and her anger swelled
again. Behind it, panic surfaced. “Then why did you fight to keep him as your
Guardian? How could you willingly put him in danger?”

“Because
we’re already wed.”

Color
drained from May’s face, and then her cup fell from her hands. Tea flooded the
table. Nick stood to get a towel from the counter.

“Please
tell me you’re not serious,” May whispered. She turned her eyes toward her son,
beseeching him to deny it. He remained silent as he wiped up the tea. “Nick,”
she pled.

“I’m
fine, Mom. I promise you.”

“That’s
not possible.” Tears filled her eyes and Meaghan thought she would cry, but she
jumped from her seat instead. “How could you do this to him?” she demanded of
Meaghan. “Do you not understand you’ll be burying him within a year? Do you not
realize how that will feel?” She faced Nick, grabbing his arm. “She said she
didn’t love you, Nick. She told me. How could she lie about that? How could you
tolerate it?”

“Mom—”
he started, but May overran him with another tirade.

“How
could you do this to me? To us? Your job as her Guardian meant everything.
Meaghan’s our future. Vivian died for her. We’ve all sacrificed for her. And
you’ve invited your own death and risked Meaghan’s life in the process. How
could you? How—”

“May,
stop.” The authority in Meaghan’s voice cut through May’s yelling better than
any counterattack ever could. May turned her head and nodded. She sat again at
the table. “You’re good at acting angry,” Meaghan told her, “but I know anger
isn’t your driving emotion. You’re scared, terrified even, of losing Nick, but
you don’t need to be. If you’ll let him talk, he can explain everything to
you.”

“I
don’t see how anything he can say will fix this.”

“There’s
nothing to fix.” Meaghan covered May’s hand with one of her own. “Listen,
okay?”

The
older woman nodded. Nick discarded the towel, and then slid into the seat next
to Meaghan, taking her other hand and linking their fingers together. “Aunt Viv
asked me to come to Earth because she knew she had to die and because she knew
I had to build a relationship with Meaghan before I brought her home. Meaghan
had to trust me enough to follow me.”

“Yes, of course. That makes
sense. But I fail to see—”

“He
isn’t finished,” Meaghan interrupted.

May
pursed her lips and then sighed. “Continue.”

“Vivian
had a prophecy,” Nick said. “She hid it in Adelina’s amulet so we would find it
when we got here. It spoke of our wedding and of why it needed to happen.”

“What
did it say?” May asked.

Nick
pulled a slip of paper from his pocket and handed it to her. She read it,
smoothed it out on the table, and read it again. Then she looked up at him. “It
isn’t clear. It could be about anything. Please tell me you didn’t wed based on
this.”

“We
didn’t,” Nick said. “In fact, I didn’t see it for the first time until after
the wedding. It didn’t matter, though. It happened anyway.”

“Happened?”
she asked, narrowing her eyes. “Don’t you mean you kissed her anyway? You took
the risk anyway?”

“No,
I don’t. I mean it happened. We were standing across the room from each other
and it happened. I know that’s hard to believe, but—”

“Across
the room,” May whispered and stared at the paper again. “You weren’t kissing?”

“We weren’t even
touching. As I said—”

“Did
anything else happen?” she asked, turning her attention toward Meaghan. No
anger remained within her. Even her worry had disappeared. In its place, and
laced within her voice, she held only excitement. “If I’m reading this prophecy
correctly, something did. Am I right?”

“Yes,”
Nick confirmed. He frowned at his mother. “I’m confused. Why aren’t you upset
anymore?”

“I’ll
explain in a minute. What happened to Meaghan after you wed?”

“She
received a new power.”

May’s
eyes flew back to Meaghan’s. “Show it to me,” she commanded. “I need to see
it.”

Meaghan
hesitated. “I’m not certain I can. I don’t have much control over it.”

“You
can do it,” Nick said. “Focus. You’ll be fine.”

“All
right,” Meaghan agreed, and turned her attention to the clay pot on the table.
She touched the grayish-brown plant within it and then focused on the warmth
harboring next to her heart. She tugged on it, sent it down her arm, through
her fingers, and then sat back when the plant came to life. It grew tall and
green. It sprouted leaves, and at the top of the thin, delicate stalk now
standing where the brown twig had been, a white flower budded and blossomed.
She gasped in recognition. “It’s an orchid. I didn’t know those grew here.”

“They
don’t,” May told her. “Vivian brought it to me the last time I saw her. The
local Gardener has kept it alive, but he’s never been able to get it to grow.”
She turned to her son. “Your powers became stronger, didn’t they?”

“How
did you know?”

“Because
Meaghan’s power is stronger than yours. It’s why you didn’t lose your powers
when you wed. You took some of her power.”

“How
is that possible?” Meaghan asked. “I thought the only power stronger than a
Guardian’s was a Spellmaster’s, and then only when the Spellmaster grew older.”

“That’s
supposed to be true,” May agreed. “And your revival power is supposed to have
gone extinct centuries ago, but obviously that’s incorrect.”

“Revival
power?” Nick asked. “I’ve never heard of it. I thought we learned about all the
extinct powers in school.”

“Not
this one,” May replied.  Standing, she picked up her teacup and brought it
to the stove to refill it. “It only ran through the royal line. It was also
extremely rare, so common knowledge of it went away with the power.”

“Then
how do you know about it?”

May
turned to face them again. She brought the teacup to her lips and blew the
steam from it. “As Adelina’s Guardian,” she responded after taking a sip, “I
overheard some of the royal family secrets which were kept from the rest of the
kingdom. I’ve maintained those secrets, as was required of me, but I think it’s
also required of me to share them with you. I wish I knew them all. I’m afraid
most of them died with your mother.”

Meaghan
nodded and felt sorrow in her statement. “What do you know about the revival
power?”

“Not
much. I don’t know why it came to you later than your empath power, and I don’t
know the full scope of what it can do. But it seems to play a part in this
prophecy so I’m guessing there’s more to it than it appears.” She set her cup
down on the counter, and then rejoined them at the table. “I’m sorry I doubted
you,” she told Nick, clasping his hands between her own. “I should’ve realized
you never would have taken the risk. You deserve this, though. You deserve to
be happy, and I’m glad you are. And you,” she turned to Meaghan. “Don’t worry
too much about what you feel. Love will come to you in time. The other
prophesied weddings have proven that.”