Shadow Wings (The Darkest Drae Book 2)(49)

The question made me nauseated, and I nodded.

“Is it true you saw visions of Queen Luna?” the eldest Phaetyn asked.

I shifted on the hard seat and stared into the empty bowl, contemplating my answer. The biggest problems I’d experienced in my life were because of other’s lies. I took a deep breath and raised my head to meet the three Phaetyn’s gazes. I didn’t want to be a liar. “Yes,” I said. “I did.”

“Then you must come back to The Sacred Elm tree and ask it to show you the truth about Queen Luna. Alani said it was her sister’s last wish to keep the Phaetyn safe. If that were truly her wish, we would all comply. She was our true queen. She held the ancestral powers.”

“But if Queen Alani is lying,” the stocky Phaetyn said in a deep voice, “then we would ask that you drop the rock barrier so those of us who want to leave are free to be one with the world again. If you can see the truth from the trees, you have the ancestral power, and it is your right to do it.”

“You can’t move it like Kamoi?”

He shook his head. “Only the royals have that power.”

I wanted to tell them not to be stupid or rash, but I didn’t know what life was like here or how it was affecting the Phaetyn. I also didn’t want to drop the wall and leave them exposed, but the safety they were told they had here, just like the high tower I’d once been in, was only an illusion. Alani’s grip on the barrier would inevitably fail.

Knowing the Phaetyn in Zivost were divided, I wasn’t about to agree to just anything. But they weren’t asking me to do anything more than tell them the truth, and I was more than willing to do that. Everyone deserved the truth.

“If you want to take me to the tree, we’ll have to do something to disguise me. Let’s face it,” I said, holding up my hemp sack tunic. “I stick out like a sore thumb.”





20





When we got to the Sacred Circle and no one stopped us, I mentally patted myself on the back. I could blend in with my new silver robes. I could be a Phaetyn spy. Wait. That was what I was doing. For some reason, I heard Tyrrik’s suffering sigh in my head at that moment, and my lips twitched.

The royal guard surrounded the Sacred Circle. The Phaetyn warriors, dressed in their purple aketons, created a barrier to the tree.

The smallest Phaetyn grabbed my hand and said, “Do they know you have Queen Luna’s power?”

I nodded, and the young Phaetyn cringed. A sinking feeling settled in the pit of my stomach. Why did I always have to blurt everything out? I was so going to get better at keeping secrets, starting right now.

“If we go around through the trees, you can climb over,” he said, pointing to where the branches of the large elm tree entwined in the forest canopy above.

My Drae vision told me that those branches were not very thick, and my climbing skills weren’t nearly as good as my nectar-making skills—which weren’t very good. As Ryn the Fearless, I felt obligated to do something. As Queen Luna’s surrogate, I felt honored to serve the Phaetyn, but I was done being an idiot.

“The trees can talk to each other, right?” I asked, repeating what Kamini said. “What about if I ask the trees to tell me?”

The three Phaetyn exchanged glances, and the youngest one blushed. “Of course, that will work if you have ancestral power.”

Al’right. Although, why did we have to come all the way here if they knew that? They just finished telling me I had the power, and now they were questioning it? “Then let’s go find out the truth.”

“We haven’t had someone among us with ancestral powers for so long,” the stocky Phaetyn said apologetically, leading us back into the forest. “Most of us don’t know how the power works, or what all can be done with it. Did one of the royals tell you that?”

“Um.” Was I not supposed to know? “Someone must’ve said something.” I shrugged, relieved when they let it drop. Plus, I didn’t have to fight my way through the Phaetyn guards or climb any trees. Good, good. I stopped in the middle of the trees and found a large oak that reminded me of the trees at the edge of Zivost. I placed my hands on its rough trunk, closed my eyes, and asked the tree to tell me what it knew about Luna.

The beautiful Phaetyn queen appeared in an accelerated blur of memories. She lowered and raised the wall multiple times as she left and returned. Sometimes, she had guards with her, and other times, she was alone. The images flashed faster and faster before one stilled with jarring suddenness. The Phaetyn Queen left, lowering the jagged rocks, but this time as she crossed the path, a man waited for her. She returned, and the images faded.

The scene sped up, and the next time Queen Luna left, her belly was swollen with child. She wore a hood, and two guards flanked her. She glanced furtively behind her, her eyes welling with tears. The images blurred, showing the queen holding a child. She was outside of the wall. She kissed the baby and gave it back to the man, and she kissed him before returning to Zivost.

When she returned to the tree line, Alani stepped out of the forest, her face contorted in rage as she faced her sister. Angry words flew between the two, and when they stood in the tense aftermath, both of their expressions were pained.

A new image of Queen Luna materialized as she left again, this time as a hooded figure, alone, stooped as she tried to avoid prying eyes.