Maeve
This isn’t real.
None of this is happening.
I can’t really be pacing the halls of the palace in Maatua, wringing my hands until they blister. I can’t be craning to hear the voices drifting in from the foyer, where my parents talk in low tones, their voices so wrought with anguish they’re unrecognizable.
This morning, before the sun rose, I woke abruptly to Mom screaming bloody murder and Aris shaking me awake, his eyes wide with shock. That was… hours ago. It’s nearly nightfall now. The deep red sunset–the sky after a brutal storm that swept through the islands surrounding the capital of this sea-faring kingdom–paints the hallways crimson as my shadow stretches toward what’s left of the sun.
I’m not sure my heart is beating anymore. How can it when it’s lost at sea?
“Fuck.” I sink into a crouch, bracing my back on the wall. I bow my head, pressing my face into my hands.
In the distance, I hear Mom’s strangled voice as she talks to… Maddy? Yeah. Maddy’s still here. She was here when we arrived after we got the news that Brie’s boat had lost contact with the mainland during the storm… right after a mayday had been sent from the ship's engineer.
“But we’re going to find her, right?” Mom’s voice cracks painfully. “Right, Evander? She’s not gone. Brie isn’t–she’s our fighter, remember? She’s going to be okay, right? She’s going to come home? Please–please just tell me she’s going to come back–”
I bite back a sob, trembling as her voice breaks over the words. I can’t hear what Dad says in reply and I’m almost thankful for it.
None of this feels real.
Brie was just here, being all weird, all out of sorts. I’d teased her, hadn’t I? She’s normally so unfazed and serious.
Now she’s just… gone.
I lift my head as hurried footfalls rush in my direction. Several warriors wearing the Maatua crest hurry by, stopping in the archway leading into the foyer.
“Your Highnesses,” their leader says, a commander, I assume, of Alpha King Derek’s naval guard… Derek being the dowager Queen Poppy’s grandson, recently crowned Alpha King in the last ten years or so.
I rise, watching as Dad comes into view. Mom’s behind him–pale and gray, like she’s been standing lifeless all Goddess-damned day, her very heart ripped from her chest.
I can’t hear what the commander just said, but several gasps echo from the foyer. Mom’s face twists with anguish as she slumps, grabbing Dad’s arm.
Dad just… stares at the commander, expressionless, but his eyes go wide and glassy. “Take me there,” he rasps, his voice like gravel.
“The seas are too dangerous right now. The storm is passing, but our boats are having a hard time battling the waves. The debris has been pushed inland, washing up on the shore on the east side of the island–”
“Take me there, now,” Dad demands, his voice dropping to a dangerous growl.
When the commander tries to argue again, Dad… hits him. Punches him directly in the face.
He’s normally so composed. So serious.
Just like my sister.
“Oh, no,” I whisper, bending at the waist as my stomach twists. “No, no, no…”
Footsteps hurry in my direction as all hell breaks loose in the foyer. I hear Isaac raising his voice over the crowd gathered in wait, shouting at the warriors to leave and for Evander to go outside, to take a breath.
Hands tug on my shoulders as I feel myself beginning to slide to the floor. Maddy’s warm, rosy scents hits me, embracing me in a familiar hug.
I look up into her stormy blue eyes and see tears. Her dark red hair is dappled with streaks of creamy white–the only thing that gives away her age. She’s edging on seventy, but beautiful as ever as she cups my cheek, a few of her own tears gliding free. She’s as much of a grandmother to me as my own grandparents are, and I lean into her touch, my mouth tightening into a pained grimace as the despair and guilt echoes through my body and twists in my chest like I’m being stabbed in the heart.
“Come with me,” she whispers.
“My mom–”
“She’s okay. Sarah’s here now. She’s with her.”
I close my eyes as Maddy guides me upright. I tower over her by nearly a foot. Other than my grandma, Ella, I’m the tallest woman in the family, but Lexa isn’t far behind. She has a few years of growing left, I’m afraid, and will soon look down at me when we argue over nail polish the next time we see each other.
Lexa’s memory forces my mind back to the tragedy, and I halt midstep. Maddy turns and looks up at me, smoothing a lock of my tear-soaked hair away from my face.
“Do Ryan and Aviva know?” It’s impossible to swallow past the vicious knot in my throat.
Maddy sighs, pursing her lips. “Y-yes,” she croaks, her voice heavy with dread she’s trying to contain. “Sydney is bringing them here. They should arrive within the next hour or so, and then we’ll all gather at the beach house and wait.”
“Wait for what, Maddy?” I sniffle, the numbness in my mind giving way to sudden fury. “Wait for someone to tell us they found Brie’s and Logan’s bodies?”
Maddy winces as she turns a corner in the massive, gilded castle. Maids rush around in a tizzy, carrying trays of tea and tissues to try to quell the tears. Maddy guides me up a wide, ornate stone staircase into the upper balconies of the palace, away from the drama below.
“Did you hear what the commander told your parents?”
I shake my head. She nods to herself, looking up from her feet as she guides me into a sitting room. We’re not alone.
The dowager Luna, the best friend of my deceased great-grandmother Isla, sits in an armchair facing a massive set of ceiling height windows overlooking the turbulent water, watching the naval cruisers and speedboats rush away from the port to no doubt continue the search.
Poppy turns her head, giving me a soft smile despite the heaviness in her eyes. She’s a very old woman. I honestly have no idea how old she is at this point, but she’s outlived my own great-grandparents by nearly two decades. Her wrinkled face is still lovely. Her hair is a deep silver in the fading light of the sunset.
Maddy smiles sadly at her while escorting me to a chair and depositing me into it, pulling a blanket off a nearby chaise and draping it over my shaking knees.
“Two survivors were found,” Maddy explains, smoothing the fabric over my lap.
“Who?”
“The yacht's chief engineer and the second officer. They are… in horrible condition,” she manages to gut out, swallowing hard as she sinks onto the footrest of the armchair.
“But they’re alive?” I ask, hope flaring behind my eyes, only to be extinguished like water to a flame when Maddy turns her sorrowful gaze back to mine.
She licks her lips. “For now, but it’s not looking great for them. The boat is washing up in pieces twenty miles east, on a rural beach. It’s hard to get to by land, but the navy is going to try.”
“I can take us there, right now,” I tell her, pleading.
She straightens her spine as heavy footsteps echo in our direction, and then my grandpa arrives, dashing any hopes I might have had.
Alpha King Ryatt looks both murderous and torn to shreds as he looks around the room before settling on me. “Maeve, you’re going back to Veiled Valley.”
“Why?” I ask, turning my eyes to him. His eyes are bloodshot with the darkest of circles lining them. “I want to stay here, with the family–”
“It’s out of the question now. You’re leaving in five minutes. I’m escorting you and Aris personally.”
I rise, digging in my heels. “No–”
“The second officer is talking,” Ryatt cuts in. “This wasn’t a shipwreck. The storm wasn’t the reason the yacht went down.” His eyes flash with fury. “This was an attempt on your sister’s life.”
“What?” I rise, confused. “What the fuck are you talking about, Grandpa?”
Maddy stands, holding out her hands like she’s going to try to get between us to diffuse the situation. Poor Poppy probably can’t hear a Goddess-damned word we’re now shouting at each other, old and deaf as she is.
“Brie wouldn’t have just–have just let someone hurt her!” I scream. “She’s not gone. I know she’s not. And Logan was with her! Do you think he would have let anything happen to her? You’ve known him since he was a boy! He saved my life once, you know. You were fucking there!”
“Do not,” Grandpa sneers, pointing his finger at my chest, “use that tone with me.”
“I am not leaving this island until my sister is found!” I shout at the top of my lungs, my resolve shattering like glass at my feet. The moonstone necklace resting against my chest flares with crimson light, my powers crackling and clawing to the surface, desperate to be let loose.
Grandpa stares at it for a moment before taking a calculated step away from me. “You’re going back to Veiled Valley. You’ll be under lock and key until further notice–both of you.”
“You can’t keep neither me nor Aris contained.”
“You will be queen soon, Maeve, but there’s still so much you don’t understand, and I don’t fault you for it. You’re young. This is your first taste of hardship, of heartbreak. If you think you’re safe from the same threat that just killed–” His voice cracks. He closes his eyes, breathing deeply, but his entire body shudders.
Maddy, teary eyed and washed with despair, steps toward him and lays a hand on his shoulder, squeezing. “That’s enough for now, Ryatt. We all need some time, I think, to just… be here, with each other, everyone together. We’re safer that way, and you know it. Let her stay.”
I eye the group, casting a weary glance at Poppy, who’s back to watching the boats skid across the water, then I turn and race for the door, skipping steps as I jog down the stairs and hurry back to the foyer.
My parents are no longer there. I have no idea where they went, or where Aris is, but Sarah is huddled with a few of the castle guards, speaking in low tones.
Her violet eyes meet mine and she quickly dismisses the guards, turning in my direction.
“Oh, sweetheart–”
“Is Blake here?”
“No, he’s in Crescent Falls. I don’t know if he’s going to be joining us–”
“I need him. I need him to use his powers to try to track her down.”
Sarah hisses out a breath, closing her eyes for a moment before shrugging. “I know the thought also crossed my mind, but you… know him.”
“I don’t give a fuck if he doesn’t want to use his powers, or whatever the hell his problem is lately. I need him here. I will go get him myself and drag him back, kicking and screaming, if I must.”
Sarah blinks, then smiles sadly, giving me a weak shrug. “I wouldn’t say anything to the contrary if you did just that, Maeve. He might need encouragement. However, meanwhile, I’m here now. If Brie’s still out there, I should be able to find her. Your dad’s making the arrangements now so I can scry.”
The shine in her strange, violet eyes draws me back to memories of my cousin Blake when we were teenagers, and he came to live in Moonrise to train with the Mystics. Blake is like Isaac and Sydney–emotionless. Stern. Rational.
But he spent a year with the Mystics, and… something changed. It was like he left that training with missing pieces, like he’d been stripped down, broken apart, and badly put together again.
That emotional void only deepened as he matured.
I doubt he’d be any use to me… willingly. I’m not beyond forcing him to do what I need him to do, however, even if it involves a few threats to test my many, many powers on him. He’s more powerful than his mother. If she can’t find Brie, Blake can. And will.
My nostrils flare as I glance around. “Where did everyone go?”
“To cool off, I’m guessing. Your mother is….” She bites down on her lower lip. “Maeve, I don’t know what to say. I am… so sorry–”
“Don’t be sorry yet,” I breathe. “She’s not dead. I can’t imagine a world where my sister is dead.”
I won’t accept her death.
Whoever is responsible for this… well, let's hope they’re on their knees begging the Goddess to spare them…
From me.