Veiled Innocence (Book One, The Soul Cycle) (16 page)

It smelled of dust and mold. The title read
Tales and Legends of Eresea
, with a picture of the continent beneath it. Elegant gold script laced its way across the page in precise strokes, but there was no
mention of an author anywhere. It was
odd; she read frequently
and yet had no recollection of this title sitting on her shelves.

She read a few sen
tences from some of the entries. They were
mainly poems and short stories over the lore of the land, everything from religion to ridiculous magical adventures, neither of which she believed in much. How could you be
lieve in gods you could not see
or hope for things that might never happen? She had given up such childish fancies long ago when she realized life was a far cry from one of those stories.   

As
she
skimmed the pages, she grew more and more frustrated. All of it was lore she knew. After finishing a section devoted to the creatures rumored to roam Dreaka’s Forest – complete with drawings and descriptions –
she
flipped the page and paused. The words
Inner Light
were written at the top
, accompanied by a depiction of Dreaka with flowe
rs dotting her long golden hair
. Intrigued, Lian drew her legs up bene
ath her and began reading aloud.

-
         
“At the end of the Age of Stars, the Inrah – the children of the Goddess, Dreaka – called upon their Mother to bless them with the power to heal the land. Dreaka warned them it would come at a heavy cost, for She would require their souls to create such a gift. The Inrah willingly offered Her their souls, the purest in the land because they were extensions of Her own, and Dreaka wove them together to create the
Inner Light
. She blanketed the land in the Inrah’s gift, purging it of the darkness and sorrow that had plagued it during the Age of Stars, and bringing Eresea to peace once more.”

The rest of the entry was too faded to read, and
she
scowled. 

She examined the teardrop. The passage had mentioned nothing about a crystal.
M
agic woven from people’s souls… was it lost after Dreaka used it to heal the land? Or could it have been trapped inside people and objects? What happened to the Inrah? Were they all extinct after their sacrifice?
The questions made her head swim.

Her eyes skimmed the next page. It was a song called
The Ballad of the Lost Queen
. Not in the mood for poetry or songs, she almost turned the page when her eyes froze on a watercolor picture of a dark-skinned woman with flowing black hair.
She looks familiar. Almost like the countess.

The woman’s face had been splotched in random places, as if someone had cried on it.
Maybe it’s just a coincidence. After all, if they were the same person, that would make Merí over a thousand years old. That’s not possible.

Her
eyes drifted up t
o the ballad above the portrait.

Summer’s breeze doth carried to the

Shore of poor
,
vain Stradvär

Midnight wings and fire lay siege to

Her fair city, now marred.

Sanctuary on the river

Did turn to Death’s cold grave,

Their race destroyed, their magic gone,

The price of pride repaid.

Poison seeks justice through blood spilled,

Her raven hair flows free,

Lady fair bargains her soul for

Vengeance’s power complete.

Oh, too late was she to return

The Oath that she had made,

Fair lady had no choice but to

Fulfill the task and aid.

Eternity is her savior
,

Forever is her curse,

Only when she completes her word,

Then will her binds disperse.

She
sat in a dream-like daze as she analyzed the meaning of the poem. 

Everyone in Asilee knew this story, which was more of a legend now because it was so old. It had been told so many times in so many different ways over the years that there was most likely very little truth left to the tale. 

During the Age of Stars, the most powerful country in the land was the Empire of Stradvär, ruled by a wise Empress. No one knew what her name had been since there were barely any records left intact from that time. For their dev
out
praying, legend had it the g
ods had blessed the Stradvärians with magical gifts which made them more attuned to the world’s innate power. But the Stradvärians grew proud of their power, abusing it to meet their own selfish ambitions, and they w
ere ultimately punished by the g
ods for the misuse of their gifts. The entire race had been completely wiped out, stripped of their powers in their time of greatest need. Stradvär became a place of ill-omen, and to that day it remained uninhabited. 

She
absently fingered the page, trying to imagine what it would be like for Accalia to be annihilated, to have everyone she knew taken from her, and she shivered.

She stared at the woman in the picture, feeling sorry for her. Images and sensations suddenly swam through her mind, as if she
were
look
ing through someone else’s eyes.
S
he watched as
moon-kissed smoke
rose
from a pile of debris;
she screamed
in terror as a mast crushed her; a young, handsome man with dark skin and black hair
kissed
her
, making her shiver at his familiar touch
; and
her eyes widened in fear as jagged claws
loomed closer to her throat.
She
squeezed her eyes shut, trying to stop the flow of disturbing pictures. 

She closed the book
,
and the images stopped. Her chin sank to her chest
,
and she closed her eyes.
How do I tell what’s real? Do I even know anymore?
She could talk to the
healer
about it, but anyone in their right mind woul
d come to the same conclusion and lock her up in the asylum.

She glanced at the necklace at her chest. It twinkled innocently up at her, and she didn’t know what she was hoping for, save
the possibility
that further inspection would reveal the reason behind her hallucinations.
Maybe it’s stress, a side effect of my illness, or perhaps from the medicine. I
cannot
be going crazy, I
simply
can’t…

She scooped up the book and promptly returned it to its place on the shelf.
Fresh air.
That will
help
. She walked to the door, still shaking off the trance-like state she had entered earlier.
This room isn’t good for my health. Perhaps the illness has taken to the air and is affecting me through my lungs somehow, seeping into my mind and making me dream strange things.
Some fresh air would help.

There was a sharp, hard knock at the door the moment her hand touched the handle, and before she could react, the door swung open
,
and Gabriel nearly collided with her. 

He drew up short, his fa
ce flashing from worry to shock
then back to worry. His eyes scanned her face, and she noticed how terribly sad they looked. She tried to swallow, but a nervou
s knot had formed in her throat
,
and she nearly choked.

“Are you all right?” blurted Gabriel, pushing the door shut behind him. He smelled of fresh flowers, a tangled mixture of sharp, sweet scents she had never smelled before. 

It hurt to look at him, as if Ursa’s lips had tainted his body.  “What? That is, I – ” she stuttered, glancing at the door.
She swallowed her nerves and steeled her voice, unable to fully meet his gaze.
The air felt stifling
, th
ough it possessed a damp cold that seeped into
her
skin
.
A shudder rolled through her, accompanied by a twisting
sensation deep in her gut, where the stomachache she had felt since returning from the Market dwelled
, but she ignored it.
“We should not be alone
,” she said tightly.
“
It
is improper.”
Her hands trembled
,
and she firmly clasped them toget
her before he could take notice, c
ursing silently at her weakness and how ridiculous she sounded. They had been alone plenty of times, and it never bothered her before. What did she care for impropriety when it was all the courtiers showed her?

Gabriel exhaled in an amused yet fierce half-laugh, half-growl. “Well, yo
u’re right on that account, my L
ady.” His eyes lowered to the floor. “
Forgive
me
.”

She
bl
inked, startled out of her brooding
.
“For what?”

“I’m not entirely sure,” he confessed, his voice sounding far away. “I suppose because I haven’t been myself lately. I didn’t want you to think, that is…”

As his voice trailed off,
she
became acutely aware of his proximity
,
and her heart skipped a beat.
B
reathe.
She tried to focus on him and force the image of him kissing Ursa from her mind, but it was like a stain that wouldn’t wash out. She noticed the stubble on his jaw line and chin
,
and his hair looked like a pile of bramble.
What’s happened to you, Gabriel? Where’s the man I love?

Her eyes flickered to his lips, which were bowed downward in a brooding frown. Images flashed before her eyes as Ursa’s lips met Gabriel’s over and
over again, and her heart twisted
, accompanied by a sharp pang in her stomach. A light sheen of sweat had broken out over her skin, making it glisten.

“
If you insist on staying,” she said rather sharply
, propelled by her agi
tated stomach,
“then
I think we sh
ould send for one of the guards
or perhaps
a servant.”

She was thankful she sounded more in control than she felt.
Without
waiting
for his reply, s
he started for the door.
What in the name of Dreaka is wrong
with me? For the past few months
,
all I’ve wanted is to be this close to him, all the
time, and now that I’m with him
,
I can’t stand it.

Gabriel
stared at the floor, not responding.
He
shook his head and blinked several times before finally looking up. “The guards and servants are gone. I sent them all away on a fool’s errand.”

She
came to an abr
upt halt
and turned around
. “And why is that, my L
ord?”

Her heart hammered
against her sternum.
She was so inexplicably afraid
, more so than she had been in the Market when she thought the demon was attacking her
.
Her lungs burned as she held
her breath
and
searched his tortured, weary posture for the answer she dared not have hoped for.

It can’t be. H
e wouldn’t feel that
way
for me.

Would he?

Gabriel stopp
ed breathing, or at least
it looked like he did when he closed his eyes for a long while and finally opened them. The way he was looking at her took her breath away. “I sent them away because I wanted to be alone with you.”

It to
ok her lungs a moment to remember
how they worked. “It would seem
we are now,” she whispered. Everything around her faded away
,
and all she could see was Gabriel. Every noise became insignificant;
the hammer
ing of her heart in her temples was the only sound left.

Without removing his eyes from hers, he closed th
e distance between them, placed
one hand at the small of her back and the other behind her neck, and kissed her. 

There was no image of a haunting
kiss she should never have seen;
only the sense that the moment was perfect in every way
remained
. Ursa faded from her mind, and she lost herself to the gentle brush of his lips upon hers and the feeling of his hands on her neck and back. His warmth enveloped her, chasing away her fears and worries, and filling her with such a complete feeling of peace she thought she would float away. It was as if a tremendous weight had been lifted from her, and she wondered if this was what it meant to be free.