Queen of Jastain (33 page)

“This Chad is still in love with you?” Abby cut her gaze to Avant and then looked back to her letter.

…You have been on your own so much of your life, Abigail. My heart breaks for you, so alone. I don’t want you to be by yourself ever again.

“And I suppose you are in love with him, too?” He was trying to engage her in his emotional warfare, but she was determined not to participate.

You must find me, my darling. You will need to come to St. Louis, Missouri. Do not use your Implanting. It can be traced here—

“It seems, Abigail, you can fall in love and into bed with any man who happens to be standing in front of you. I should have expected as much from a woman.”

That did it. Avant’s words cut more deeply than she could handle and a thorn pierced her heart. What difference did it make to him who she loved? He would never allow himself to love her, and even if he did, he would never trust her. She was alone now and would always be alone.

Tears spilled from her brimming eyes. Had it only been a few hours ago they had made love? “Then I guess it’s time for us to part ways. I’ll take you back to Jastain, and you can be rid of me.”

No matter how much she wanted it to be different, it never would. Too many obstacles kept them from ever being together. Looking up at him with broken honesty, she whispered, “I love you, Avant, but you know that. No secrets, right? I thought I could hold out until you decided to love me too, but that was just a dream.” Her voice shook so badly her words were almost lost. “I pray someday you’ll find someone you can love and trust. You deserve to be happy.”

“Abigail…I didn’t….” The sharp lines of his face fell, and his eyes widened in shock at her words.

“You know the saddest part is that we’re the same. I wanted so much to be the person who would never leave you, the one you could depend on no matter what. I wanted you to be that for me, but we’re too broken for that kind of hope. Some people are meant to be alone.”

* * * *

“Abigail…
No
…” Avant's heart broke with her words. He rushed to her side and took her in his arms, but it was too late. The light amassed and flashed through them. They stood at the falls. She softly kissed his lips and stepped away. He reached out to grab her, but she was gone.

Avant, what have you done?
Jealousy had raged within him and unable to contain it, he had lashed out at the one person he could trust. He trusted her as he trusted his own heart, the heart that now ached with her absence. He squeezed his eyes shut and shook his head.

Abigail was alone on this task with no way for him to get back to her. She was in danger.
Damnable Darkness.
The salt of her tears clung to his lips, and her sob still rang in his ears. If something happened to her…. He pressed a fist to his forehead, the pounding of the falls a mirror of the pounding in his temples.

He hurt her more deeply than Aesdil and all his army ever could've. The very thing he never wanted to do. He'd been so careful since the cave. Abigail was right; his brokenness precluded him from love. He certainly was alone now. And so was she.
The Light protect her.

Making love to her had been the purest, most beautiful moment of his life, but now, because of him, it had been tainted.

His Gift had failed him. After all the long years, he'd relied upon and rested in the truth of his Implanting. He had taken solace, and even pride, in knowing he would one day be king. He threw his head back and stared up at the early morning sky. How could he have been so wrong?

Sickened by his circumstances and his own actions, he turned for home. He may not be able to get back to his angel, but he could prepare for when she came back to him. For surely she would.

Abby implanted back to Chad. Although surprised by her sudden appearance, he asked no questions. She returned to the hotel, where she read the remainder of the letter.

She couldn’t use her Implanting to get to her mother? Why? She threw on a night shirt and fell into bed. Something in Raeida’s letter didn’t add up, but she couldn’t put her finger on it. Well, she and Chad would find her mother tomorrow and hopefully get some answers. The more she learned about her Gift, the more secure she felt in using it. Obviously, she could Implant to places she loved as well as to the people she loved. A sob escaped her. She could also use her Gift to leave those she loved. Thoughts of sapphire eyes and warm lips saturated her mind. Her body ached for him and she cried herself to sleep.

The next morning, she met Chad at his apartment. Wanting to make it through the day without having a meltdown, she would not allow herself to think about Avant until the evening, when she was alone.

“My mother wanted you to come, Chad. She said it was important to restoring the Crown.”

They took a cab to the airport. She paid for their tickets in cash. During the two-hour layover, she took the opportunity to catch up and clear the air. Chad was a good man. She owed him an explanation, and an apology.

“After Lyndsea lost the baby, I was still willing to go through with the wedding, but she knew I didn’t love her. She'd gone into a severe depression within weeks of coming here. I thought it was just hormones. One night I came home from the lab and she was gone. My mother's diamond ring was lying on the bar.”

The ring. Sentieve's ring. “Chad, I met your mother, when I was in Jastain.”

“You did?”

“She told me to tell you that she loved you. Of course, I didn’t know at the time you were the son she referred to.”

“What's she like?”

Abby sat back in the airport seat and stretched her legs in front of her. “Sentieve is tall and regal with brown hair and your brown eyes. She’s a queen. She sent you with Raieda, because your life was in danger.”

“A queen? Was my father the king?”

Abby took a deep breath and closed her eyes before speaking. “She believes your father was the man she was married to before she married the king. She thought he was dead and only recently found out he was still alive.”

 Chad sat forward in his seat, his elbows resting on his knees. “Do you know who he is? Have you met him too?”

“Yes, and so have you. It’s Avant.” Tears pooled in her eyes at the taste of his name on her lips.

“How? Abby, that man is not old enough to be my father.”

“He’s forty-eight. Aging in Jastain is a little different than here.”

“Is that why he left? Because he found out I was his son?”

She shook her head and dropped her gaze. “Avant left because of me. He doesn’t know you’re his son.”

“What happened, Abs?”

She told Chad the whole story, beginning with Sentieve’s infidelity, the king’s treachery, and Avant’s vendetta. She explained his irrational jealousy and inability to love or trust a woman. “Chad, he already loves you and doesn’t care if you're his biological son. He thought you’d died before you were a year old.”

“How do you know he'll even want to know me, Abby? The guy wanted to beat the crap out of me yesterday.”

“I know his heart. Trust me. He loves you, which is more than I can say for how he feels about me. He has a boy he raised…and loves like a son.” She'd forgotten Chad’s resemblance to Petra. Now that she knew them both, they seemed as different as night and day, and it rarely crossed her mind. If Chad was from Jastain, surely the resemblance to Petra couldn’t be coincidence, but what did it mean?

“You’re in love with Avant?” Chad asked.

“Yes,” Abby felt as if her heart had trekked across the Valley of Umbra in her Dolcini sandals. “Chad, the jewelry from your mother, may I see it?”

“Sure.” He opened his backpack and pulled out a small wooden box. “Here's the brooch.”

Studying the two green stones, she explained about the Crown and jewels. Raieda had requested, in her letter, Chad bring them. She couldn’t guess why her mother needed the emeralds or how her own Implanting could be traced. She knew so little about her mother. Her family’s mysteries kept unfolding like an accordion. What would Raeida be like? Why hadn’t she tried to contact Abby before?

They talked all the way to St. Louis and, in the conversation, many things were healed.

He rented a car, and they drove to the apartment located in a questionable part of the city. A couple of shady looking guys stood by the building and watched them as they pulled into the parking lot. Abby put her Gift on alert, ready in a moment's notice. She eyed the lean scientist next to her. Chad’s presence didn’t instill a strong sense of protection, but she'd do her best to take care of them both, if needed.

The apartment sat on the ground floor at the end of a dilapidated breezeway. They walked to the door. She knocked but had no way of knowing if anyone was even here. Her stomach lurched.

She knocked again. A woman in a hooded cloak opened the door. She couldn’t see the woman’s face, but her first instinct was to run. Speaking into Chad's mind, she asked,
“Is that my mother?”

“That's Raieda. She wore the cloak when she came to see me.”

Abby’s concern eased, and she stepped into the apartment. Chad followed and closed the door. The woman motioned them into the apartment held nothing but a small huddle in the far corner next to a sliding glass door. She couldn’t shake the feeling that something was hideously wrong. The room had no light except what seeped in from under the vertical blinds and the dank smell reminded her too much of the dungeons.

She grasped Chad’s hand.

The woman turned to the huddle in the corner and spoke in a melodic singsong voice that snaked a sickening chill down Abby’s spine. “Look, my sweet, I told you they would come. They come to take the last of what you have, my poor sweet child, but you won’t let them will you?”

The creature removed the hood and turned to face her, but she already knew who it was. “Hello Abby, I'm so glad to see you again. We parted badly last time, but this time will be better, I think.”

She glanced up at Chad, and his eyes glazed over like he was in a trance.

“Chad, do not listen to this creature or speak to it.”
She said into his mind. He blinked and some of the fog cleared.
“Chad! Do not speak to this creature!”

“Seppitent, where is my mother?” Abby demanded.

“Abby, pardon my little deception. Your mother died years ago, just as you've always known.”

Shit.
Avant had been right. Why couldn't she learn to see the truth of a situation? The pain of the words knotted her gut but she had to keep her wits. This creature wouldn't destroy her. “Why are you here?”

“I told you, Abby, we're alike. We can find treasure in any world. Sadly, your treasure is now the treasure I'll be taking.” His hideous face contorted to an expression of pure evil.

Abby focused her energy to get them out of there. The huddle from the corner stood and gazed out with hollow eyes. She caught her breath at the sight of Lyndsea. Her matted hair clung to her face as her filthy clothes clung to her body. With a blank expression, she stepped forward, clearly out of her mind from Seppitent’s lies.

“Lyndsea, it’s Abby. Don't believe him. He's a liar.
Lyndsea
, tell him to begone. Can you do that, honey?”

Lyndsea looked so pitiful, but a rage grew in Lyndsea. They had to escape. Abby’s light amassed again. Wanting so badly to run, she couldn't leave her sister, her friend.

The Seppitent spoke. “Poor Lyndsea. She'll surely do harm to herself and others. Hand over your earrings, and I will release her.”

“Seppitent, I’m not handing you shit.” She gulped and tried to school her face. At least her voice didn't tremble…too much. “Why do you want my earrings?”

The creature laughed. “Don’t you even know, Chosen One? You carry the Stone of Light in your ears, or so the prophecy says. Surely your companion told you that before you parted ways so bitterly.”

Abby’s heart thudded in her chest and, with each beat, a sharp pain pierced her. How did he know about Avant? How did he know about the diamonds? Light filled her. “You orchestrated this so Avant wouldn’t be here. You can’t stand against us both, can you? Your enchanted letters caused me to distrust all the people who could help me, and you did something to Avant, too!”

“The queen’s true love was in quite a state, wasn’t he? I may have put a few simple ideas into his mind, and he did the rest.” Seppitent sneered with pride. “I'm looking forward to taking over Jastain and making it my own. I’ve been working on this a long time. It is the last known world that hasn't fallen to me. You, of all people, would appreciate my shrewdness and strategies, but I must insist on those earrings. Lyndsea, it's time to kill her.”

The creature’s words moved through the room, like tentacles, into the mind of the girl, whose face contorted to reflect that of its master.

Lyndsea took another pace forward. Abby gasped. The crazed girl held a baby in one hand and a terrifying Michael Myers knife in the other. Her heart stalled. What was Lynds doing with a baby?

“Lyndsea, don’t listen to him. He's a liar. You don’t have to kill anyone.” Abby pleaded, but Lyndsea was gone. Only Seppetent's lie remained.

For the first time, Lyndsea spoke. “I do have to kill my baby. We don’t have anything to live for. What difference will death make?”

“Lyndsea, don’t say that. You have your future to live for, and me. I love you. We're family, Lynds.” A flicker of life shot through Lyndsea’s eyes. “I forgive you, and I'm so sorry you thought I abandoned you.”

“Lyndsea, you mean nothing to her. She doesn’t want you to be happy.”

“Abby, I'll kill this baby unless you give my friend what he wants.” She raised the knife high over her head and pointed the blade at the tiny baby.

Abby cried out and tried to pry it loose with her mind, but Lyndsea held onto it with unnatural strength.

For the first time, Chad’s voice pierced the room. “Lyndsea, stop! Please don’t harm the baby.” He turned his desperate plea on Abby. “For God’s sake, Abby give him the damn earrings!”