Origin of Magic (Dragon's Gift: The Protector #3)(14)

“Okay.” I looked at Orion, the solemn giant who stood at her side. I still liked the name Morpheus better, but I was sure he wouldn’t get the joke. “What is this place?”

“We are a kingdom, cut off from the world by magic,” Moira said.

“Like another realm?” I’d already had enough with the Vampire Realm.

“Not exactly.” Moira gestured. “Come. I will take you to your room so that you can freshen up. Your mother will be here soon.”

My mother. That sounded crazy.

Could this really be true? I believed her. I wanted to believe her. I’d been missing my family so badly for so long. The not-knowing was one of the hardest parts. And now there were answers.

“Okay, let’s go.” I clutched the box and walked over to join her.

Moira nodded and led us from the room. Orion stayed at her side and I trailed behind.

“This way.” Moira led me up the main street, which was just as beautiful—and barren—as the lower part of the city.

“Why are there no plants?” I asked. “It’s terrible.”

“That is not my story to tell.” Moira gestured. “Come.”

She repeated Morpheus’s earlier words, which was odd. I tucked that bit of info away for later.

“Has this place been cursed?” There was a sadness here, and that darkness I’d felt earlier.

“I cannot say.” Moira’s gaze shuttered.

A shimmer to my left caught my eye. A short alleyway diverted off the main street. It dead-ended at a glimmering opalescent wall. Just like the large wall at the base of the city, near the courtyard.

“What’s this?” I started toward it, hoping it was a portal. I’d need a way out of here when it was time to go.

“Don’t!” Moira’s voice was sharp.

A hand grabbed my arm, strong and sure.

I spun, striking Orion’s arm. “Let go!”

He dropped his hand, stepping back. Moira rushed forward. “It’s nothing. It’s just the barrier between here and the rest of the world. But you cannot leave.” Desperation filled her eyes.

“Cannot?” Annoyance seethed in my chest.

“No, you cannot. It’d be—” She drew in a shuddering breath. “You just cannot. You are home. You cannot leave.”

She meant it. Her eyes were fierce, her cheeks flushed.

Ah, shit. This was going to be a problem.

There was something very weird about this place and the inhabitants telling me I couldn’t leave.

I spun, racing away from her, toward the wall. I had to test it—had to see.

They didn’t follow me, which should have been my first indicator. I stopped right before the barrier and thrust my hand toward it. An electric shock drove me backward, I crashed to the ground, pain singing through my back. I barely managed to keep my grip on the wooden box.

Shit.

I scrambled to my feet, spinning to face them. Moira’s eyes were unreadable. So were Orion’s. “You knew that would happen.”

“We tried to stop you,” Moira said.

“You cannot keep me prisoner here.” Even if it was my home, and my parents were here, I couldn’t stay here. I had a life to live. A battle to fight.

Had I walked into a trap?

“You aren’t a prisoner.” The words rushed out of Moira. “You aren’t.”

“Kinda feels like I am.”

“You aren’t!” She shook her head, gaze a bit manic.

Moira was not holding it together well, and something was definitely weird. Orion was a statue next to her, his face completely unreadable.

“Will my parents be back soon?” I asked.

“Yes.” She nodded, grasping the lifeline of a change in topic. “Come, come. I’ll show you to your room.”

I followed Moira out of the alley and back down the street, taking in the people and architecture, all of which were foreign yet familiar.

She led me to a large building in the middle of town. The sculptures decorating the structure were magnificent. Vines and leaves and trees so lifelike they only lacked color to appear real.

“This is where you live,” she said.

“Lived.”

“Of course.” She took me through a room that was decorated with colorful paintings and up a set of stairs to a medium-sized chamber featuring a bed, a couch, and a dresser. “This is your room.”

It was familiar, in the way that dreams could be. “Thank you.”

She left me.

Immediately, I pressed my fingertips to the charm around my neck, igniting the magic. “Cass? Del? You there?”

I got nothing. The magic was blocked by the barrier.

Not a surprise. But it sucked.

I put the box containing the beaker on the bed and spun in a circle, taking in the space. No memories came. Damn the spell that had taken my memory. It’d saved us from the Monster, but the trauma of so much magic had stolen our memories. Now, even my childhood bedroom was a mystery.

Moira had called me Phoenix Lividius. Phoenix. When I’d woken in the field at fifteen, I’d given myself that name, thinking that I’d chosen it from the constellation above. Except it had always been my name. I smiled.

Lividius, though. I’d forgotten that. Frankly, I preferred my chosen last name of Knight.