Page 32 of All's Fair in Lion and War
Then she remembered something else.
Rivian had stared her down after Tallix’s body had been carried away and vowed that he would make her forget Tallix. That he would make her love him or make her suffer for the rest of her life.
She remembered a magick-bender priestess being brought forward in chains. She remembered hearing words she didn’t understand. Seeing swirls of magick she’d never seen before.
And then the fog had descended. The blankness.
It was still jumbled. She still didn’t have it all, but it was starting to come together. And it was happening because of Saul. Because of their bond. There was no other explanation. If she’d really been in this world, trapped with Rivian and his pride, the only changed variable was Saul.
“I remember something,” Lorelei whispered. “I remember why I lost my memory. It was a magick-bender. Rivian had a priestess in chains. She did something to me.”
Saul pulled the truck over on the side of the road and looked over his shoulder at her, his eyes blazing. “You remember this?”
She nodded. “I remember seeing Tallix die. I remember Rivian saying he would make me love him instead of his brother. And if I didn’t, he’d make my life a living hell. And I remember her now, so clearly before the fog—the priestess. Before I lost everything.”
Tara was in the front seat next to Saul. She turned to face Lorelei too. “Do you think they still have the priestess?”
“I don’t know for sure, but yes, I think I remember seeing her recently. But it’s still so jumbled. I’m barely putting it together. There are so many blocked memories. So many lost days.”
“It’s okay.” The woman pulled out a small black rectangle from her pocket. She tapped on the surface and it made clicking sounds.
“Are you telling the others?” Saul asked.
“Yep. Kann and Penny, too.”
“How are you telling them anything? What is that in your hand?” Lorelei watched the woman continue to tap the surface of the item.
“This is a phone. It’s technology in this world that allows people to communicate over long distances with each other. It works most of the time, occasionally the signal is blocked. Like once we are down in the bunker, we won’t be able to use it. So I’m sending the message now.”
“It’s magick?”
“No, its science. We have people in our world that create things that run on electricity. They do tasks for us.”
“Like the light you have in your house without fire?”
“Oh, yeah, that’s electricity too.”
“And this thing moving us?”
“It has some electricity, but it burns fuel to run the motor.”
“It has a heart of fire?”
“I mean, I guess it could be described that way. The truck is still a machine. It’s made of metal and plastic,” Tara said. “It’s not alive.”
Lorelei nodded her head, understanding Tara’s words, but still not comprehending how such a thing was possible. Still, she had seen othermachineslike this. There were now also blips of them in her memories.
Rivian had mostly kept them in the forests and countryside. Away from people. Always away from people.
Saul started the truck again. They drove a few more minutes before he turned into an area where other trucks were parked. They looked different. Different shapes and sizes and colors. It was fascinating and a nice distraction from the chaos in her brain and her heart.
“Bunker is open. Katherine is here with Knox. The others are still at the Jenkins store.”
“Everything good there?”
“I haven’t heard otherwise,” Tara said, but Saul could see the tension stretching her mouth into a tight line. She was waiting to hear that her mother was safe.
Saul and Tara got out of the truck and opened the back door. The two babies in the backseat with Lorelei opened their eyes, but stayed quiet while their carriers were unlocked. Lorelei climbed out of the truck too and followed them inside a building with a big sign on it that readMystery Community Center.
