Page 32

The Song of the Lost

Fallon

Loud groans wake me. I turn slightly and realize they’re my own. Thrashing pain racks my body, but my stomach especially feels as if I’ve been torn into two. Gods, what happened to me. My head is spinning, and nausea bubbles in my stomach. Oh, my stomach . My abdominal muscles have been hooked with a sharp, pointed gaff and fished me from the salty seas. I squint open my tired eyes and try to focus them. My confused gaze evaluates my situation. I’ve never seen this room before in my life. It’s small, with chestnut walls and a single window. An oil lamp gently illuminates the quaint bedroom, the low light not much brighter than the darkness outside. My gaze falls to my body. I’m draped in thick, scratchy blankets on a small bed that is somehow worse than my own. My body aches so intensely. How long have I been lying on this horrible bed? I try to get up and immediately wince in pain, my stomach is burning . I throw the beige blankets off to see that my mid-section is wrapped in bandages, bright blood striking through.

Memories come flooding back all at once.

Gracie . Oh, Gods, where am I? Where’s Grace? They drove a sword through me and took her. How am I alive? I need to get up. I strain pulling myself up, groaning at the effort. Every muscle in my stomach is in pain. I sit on the bed for a moment, trying to catch my breath and stand, stumbling to the door. I open it to see a dimly lit hallway; voices come from the right, and I follow them.

Clutching the wall, I inch my way down. Each step feels like fire is licking through my muscles and settling in my gut. Whoever has me might have Gracie as well, or at least know where she is. I turn a sharp corner, revealing some type of dining room and a group of people I don’t recognize. They hover, crowding around a table. There’s a map of the kingdoms placed on top of the hardwood with different figurines on it. Everyone is pointing and whispering to each other.

There’s an unusual man, incredibly tall with hair the color of powdery snow. Strange markings travel up his arm as he moves the figurines around on the lightly tanned map. The man speaks to the group with stern authority. “If we come in through here, we might be able to sneak—”

“Evie, he’s up,” pipes a voice from the crowd, interrupting the strange man.

My breath hitches. Evie is alive. Evie is here, and she saved Grace and me.

She comes around the corner quickly and spots me. “Fallon,” she breathes. “You shouldn’t be up. You’re not nearly healed enough.”

“You’re alive.” I smile, elated to see her. Evie rushes me, giving me a tight hug. My body seizes in pain from her touch, and I groan. “Not too tight, grandma.” I chuckle lightly.

She pulls away with tears streaming down her face. “I didn’t know if you were going to make it.”

“Eh, can’t kill me so easily.” I grin and look around, my smile fading. “Where’s our Grace?” Evie doesn’t answer. Instead, she stares at me solemnly. Wet tears stream down her face. “Evie, where’s Gracie. I need to talk to her,” I ask again, becoming worried.

“Fallon,” she whispers. “Maybe I should walk you back to bed.” Evie takes a couple steps toward me.

I get concerned, shooing her away from me. “Evie, tell me where she is right now,” I demand.

The strong Fae breaks down in sobs right before me. “Grace is dead.”

No.

No, I didn’t hear her right. She can’t be dead. She’s my little sister, I promised to protect her. There’s no way. “What do you mean dead … What happened, how are you here?”

“I tried to hold them off, Fallon, but there were too many. They overtook me and left me for dead in the street. I bled out from the stab wounds and fainted. I woke up to your scream, but I couldn’t move. I’d lost too much blood.” Evie cradles herself in her arms. “By the time I was healed enough to get to you, she was gone, and you were nearly dead. I healed you with what I could muster, but it wasn’t enough. I barely got you to stop bleeding. I brought you here to heal. You’ve been touch and go for a while,” she explains everything to me, but I’m still lost. The guards took Grace to the castle. How long have I been out? They probably haven’t even had a hanging yet.

“How long have I been out?” I ask, confused.

“Eight weeks,” Evie whispers meekly. “I was going back for Grace, I thought I had time. They were supposed to have a ceremonial hanging like they always do for traitors. It should have taken weeks, if not months.” She pauses, watching me, her breathing uneven. “Fallon—”

“What. Happened.” I stare at her, my harsh voice ordering her to continue.

“They took her to Verenfell Landing. They pushed her through the Veil,” she whispers.

All strength is zapped from me as I collapse. No . My heart breaks; it was supposed to be me, not her. I was supposed to be there for her. Sobs break free for my sister, my baby sister. Evie falls to my side and embraces me.

“You should have left me!” I push her off. “You said you would protect her! You should have left me!” Anger and hurt pulse off of me, and I rip into Evie. “What kind of friend are you? How could you let her die! You left her to die alone!”

The tall stranger comes behind Evie protectively. “You need to lay off, boy,” he warns .

“No, it’s fine, Drayk,” she says. “He’s right.”

I close my eyes and weep for my bright baby sister with her fierce loyalty and beautiful soul. Her biggest mistake was putting her trust in me, the fuck up that got his sister killed. Fuck, what do I tell Mom? “Mom, has anyone told Mom?” I manage through sobs. I hear no answer and look up to a furious Evie.

“Your mother is the one that got her killed.” She seethes.

My sobs slow, my breathing coming in hiccups. “What are you talking about?”

“She ratted us to the King’s Priest. How do you think they knew exactly who and where we were?”

“No. There’s no fucking way. You’re lying.” I shake my head in disbelief.

“I’m not. She’s been seen in close quarters with the King’s Priest, always in tow. She tried to have us all killed, Fallon, and she succeeded with your sister.” Evie glances around the room and back at me. “I’ve brought you to the Resistance of the Crowned Faith, Fallon, we’re going to take revenge and bring your sister justice.”

I look around the room to a sea full of eyes, all watching me. There are several men and a few women, armed with swords and daggers. I stare up at the man hovering over Evie, his hair is cut short to his head with icy blue eyes shooting me daggers. His long, pointed ears indicate he is Fae, but there is something off about him. The stranger stands tall with his tanned muscular arms crossed, looking down at me with a scowl.

“Fallon, let me help you back to bed, you’re bleeding,” Evie whispers to me, sincerity shines from her eyes.

I don’t say anything as I start to get up. She rushes over and comes under my arms, gripping me around my chest and pulling me up carefully. I grip onto the wall as pain lashes around my stomach, making me wince in discomfort. My legs shake as we start to walk back to my room, Evie never leaving my side.

I cannot think as we walk; I cannot think of my baby sister. If I think of her now, I will start to drown and never come up for air again. I cannot think of the beautiful way she trusted and loved everyone. I cannot let myself think of her loyalty to her family and friends.

Grace took care of Mom throughout the worst of her sickness. She stayed loyal to me, following me with my pea-brained ideas. She was brave. She was a true soul. My sister sacrificed herself for me. I should have been the one to protect her. Images of her beautiful smile dashes into my head, her melodic laughter filling my brain. My heart is heavy. I am heavy. Tears stream down my face, my chest heaving silently as we go into my room.

I will avenge you, Grace. I will make them pay.

“Can you sit? I need to change your bandage,” Evie says softly, setting me onto the small bed.

I don’t say anything, but I sit up, making pain radiate across my stomach muscles. I don’t care about the pain, I’m too numb to care about anything right now.

Evie starts to unravel the bloody bandage with soft touches. I sit there silently, watching her move with such grace. At one point, I would have relished in her touching me so intimately. Now, all I see is the woman that failed to fulfill her promise. We discussed this at length. I made Evie promise to protect her at any cost, and she lied . She failed me, and worse, she failed Grace. I turn my head away in disgust as anger grips my empty chest, filling me with hatred.

“How did you heal me?” I ask almost silently. I’m not sure how I manage the words. I have no desire to talk, especially to her.

Evie glances up at me, removing the last of the bandage. She inspects my wound before grabbing some cotton wipes with disinfectant. She starts to clean it, the touch stings and burns as she dabs, but I stay still, welcoming the pain.

“My name is Evangeline Elowen, and I am a princess of Thelios.”

My eyes darken at her reveal.

She continues to explain, “The royal Elowen line is derived from a Goddess. She was killed in the War of Gods, but her offspring survived. We’ve seen several generations pass since then. They passed on their gifts, but the Gods’ blood has been severely diluted over the many generations. My father told me Asteria gave birth to our line. She gave us her power of prophecy and necromancy, but the necromancy comes at a great cost. We can heal the dying, but it steals life from someone in our line. If you had died, and I brought you back, it could have killed someone in my family. We never use our necromancy powers … but I used some on you. I pushed the limit, but I got enough to heal your wound without killing anyone. The rest was up to you,” she explains calmly, finishing my wound and grabbing a rectangular bandage, placing it over the large cut.

“If you’re a princess … Goddess—whatever you are, then why are you here?” I interrogate her, not hiding my detest. Evie winces, from my words or my tone, I don’t care .

“When I was younger, I met a man, a human. I thought him charming, and I fell for him quickly. We were in love, but he was not of appropriate standing. My father despised him and refused our proposal. I ran away with Arthur that very night. He brought me to a hideout, and I quickly found out he led a group, a resistance to the crown. He taught me of all the injustices going on in the kingdoms. I already knew the Moon Mother faith was a lie, my father told me early on of my heritage. We kept up the lie, so we weren’t killed by our own people or start a war with Calibria. I was incredibly angry with what Arthur told me. There was so much I was oblivious to, things my father had left out purposefully.” Evie shakes her head like she’s reliving her unpleasant memories. Her hands pause as she lets out a forceful breath. I guess that wound has never healed.

After a long pause, Evie glances at me before continuing her story. “I stayed with him and helped the rebel group. I needed to help. Except, Arthur grew old over the years while I stayed young. Eventually, he passed away from old age. After that, I needed to take a break from the group, there were too many memories. I moved out to Mennola and started something I knew well, swords.” Evie starts wrapping a new cloth bandage around my mid-section as she continues talking.

“That’s about the time I met Gracie. The first day I met her, I had a dream, Fallon, a prophecy. She was the key to bringing change to our kingdoms. I couldn’t believe it at first, that small girl who always trailed me around with her incessant questions, touching my swords.” She chuckles sadly before dark brown eyes meet mine. I stare into her irises; I don’t see what’s funny. Gracie trusted her. She loved her like a sister and was betrayed. Evie couldn’t hold a simple promise, Grace over me.

She sighs. “I did not see her death, Fal. I am deeply sorry for that. I wish I did things differently. I wish I had protected her better. Her death is not in vain. She has set something in motion out here. We will bring her justice, but not only her, everyone who has died unfairly by the hands of the crown. Something happened in the King’s Priest castle the day they had Grace. Some of the Moon Guards have joined our side, they’re revolting. We are going to rise, Fallon. The resistance has hideouts all over the two kingdoms. We are full of Gods-touched and derived, Fae and human, men and women. We have been waiting for something like this. I don’t know when we will strike, but I have seen how. A great war is coming, Fallon. It will change the course of our lives. ”

I look at her, cold resolve washing over me. “I want you to teach me how to fight.”

The war is coming, and I will be ready.