Page 85 of Grave Flowers
“Treason surrounds you. Your uncle murdered your father in the memory garden and plans to kill you. You must slay him before the wedding. At your play, if you wish. Do as I say, exactly as I say, lest you succumb to fate.”
“Who are you?” Aeric spoke in the memory.
“A spirit, sent by your father. I speak with his words. If you follow not my instructions, calamity shall beset you. The throne shall be stolen, and your father shall not rest.”
“Maybe I shouldn’t act so rashly.” I could feel Aeric’s emotions. He was conflicted, torn apart, suspicious. “Perhaps I should wait while I investigate things for myself and lay a trap from which my enemies cannot escape. Such things take time.”
“No!” the figure screeched. “If you wait until after the wedding, you will lose the throne forever. Do as I say! Your father the king orders it of you.”
“I know not of your credibility.” Aeric’s voice was raw and broken. “I don’t know if you’re fiend or friend or if you truly were sent by my father. But if you were, tell him this: I’ve planned a play, and by the endof it, I shall avenge him. If my uncle proves himself as his killer, I shall run him through.”
Stars bounced across my vision. They grew brighter, obscuring the vision with white light. I thought I might be released, that the effects of the enmities were dwindling.
But there was one last secret.
It whispered in my ears as much as I saw it written out in my thoughts:
I fear I love Madalina.
x
I thought I could come back to my life.
But everything is changed.
Soldiers came to the shore. Not guards. Soldiers, sent from the palace by the advisor who is acting as regent until King Llyr’s son is of age to rule. They ransacked our home and killed many.
All looking for me and this book.
We Felys know the rocks well, though, just like we know our grave flowers. I hid away until they left. My hands ached to fight, and my heart broke because I could not. After, I learned the truth that severed my life into before and after. Florin had been murdered. My sister, my alter, my twin who wasn’t my twin, is gone.
We mourned her and the rest of our dead, burying them among the rocks as we always do and releasing a floating garden of grave flowers to the sea. My soul left with the floating garden. I know I will never have true harbor ever again.
Then we had a council with the elders.
Some wished to destroy this book. Father and Mother, though, were adamant it needed to be protected. They offered me up as its guardian. Privately, that night, I heard them crying and saying there must be some meaning behind Florin’s death and what I endured at King Llyr’s hands. I worry there isn’t, but I could never tell them as much.
Now I travel to Acus in hopes of sneaking into the kingdom and finding a way to live there and protect the book in secrecy. Before I left, Father told me he will set a system in place if I find a way to live in Acus. The Tachibana family will become the guardians of the book to protect our people. Once I age and die, another will be sent in my place, one raised specially to do so. And after that, another.
The stories coming from the palace are humorous. Those in the palace didn’t fully understand what occurred. There are cries to burn all portraits and ban their creation. However, little brings me joy, especially as I sit in themiddle of nowhere, days still from Acus. I’m hungry, cold, and tired. I finger my pendants but cannot bring myself to say any prayers. There is one pendant I do not touch. It’s a small portrait of King Llyr set within a gold casing. Queen Nerisa gave it to me, a small defiance of her own. I realize I can bring him back anytime and make him suffer as his body is destroyed. Still, I have no desire.
Whether I want this or not does not matter.
I am a Fely.
Our piety is familial.
I will do my duty to my family and my people.
And I will miss the sound of the waves until the day I die.
Chapter
TWENTY-FOUR
Iwas falling. Hands caught me, strong and certain. Aeric. I was back in my own mind, held around the waist. He steadied me, then pulled his hands away as quickly as he could.
I blinked. As our eyes met, he shuffled anxiously in place, as though afraid he’d made a terrible mistake. There was a dagger in his hand. Terrified, I raised my hands to protect myself, but all he did was hide it away within his pocket, the movement riddled with frustration.
