Trendan stood looking out the window, waiting for his father and brother to get there. He didn’t want to be here right now in Solrelm. He wanted to go talk to Jerika and explain that his brother was a moron and then explain what the significance of his rambling meant.
This morning, his belief was just because Jerika was his intended other, he didn’t have to act on it. Not now, with everything that was going on. Possibly never had entered his mind on several occasions—being the other half to someone that was from the realm that had harmed so many others. He couldn’t see her being ecstatic about this union.
“I can never tell if you’re thinking or brooding.”
He looked down at his mother standing beside him. He’d been so lost in his thoughts that he hadn’t heard her come over. “At least I don’t blank out like Bas does.”
She laughed softly. “He has his moments.”
“That’s one way to put it.” he sighed. “He had a verbal spill today like no other.”
“A verbal spill?” She smiled up at him. “That’s a very quaint way to explain his outbursts.” She rested her hand on his arm. “What did he do?”
Trendan glanced out the window again and then decided he should tell her everything. There was a reason they always told her things first. She would weigh it with logic and emotion, whereas their father checked everything against the good of the realm and overall impression. “I’ve found my other.”
She sucked in a breath. “That makes me so happy.” She took a deep breath and then mumbled something about damned hormones and went over to the table and got a tissue. “I don’t remember being a leaking, emotional wreck with you boys.”
Trendan smiled and shook his head. he went over to her and hugged her. “I’d ponder a guess it’s because you have my sister in there and not another brother. Thank the gods of all for that.”
She nodded and dabbed her eyes. “Tell me about her.”
Trendan cleared his throat and rubbed her back once more before releasing her. “You met the woman that leads her—group.” He didn’t know how to explain that exactly.
“I did?” She had a thoughtful expression. “Who?”
“Capri.”
He watched his mother’s eyes widen, but she didn’t say anything. “She’s nothing like Capri.” He felt he should clarify. “She’s quiet, graceful—” He pondered telling her about the motorcycle she rode and decided that wouldn’t help the image at all. “She can see souls, mother, and I don’t mean like the DNA makeup or when they’re close to crossing. I mean, she can see what has happened to an old soul.”
His mother’s smile was slow. “I guess fate knows what she’s doing.” She went over and sat down and then patted the cushion beside her. “I suppose she’s seen much with yours.” She picked up her cup and took a sip.
Trendan’s leg seized mid-step. “You knew?”
Smiling over the cup, she took another sip before putting it down. “I am your mother. Of course I know.” She sobered. “I wished I’d known about Elyas sooner. Maybe I could have…”
“It’s not your fault.” He went over and sat down quickly. “None of us knew anything about it.”
“I know.” She took a deep breath slowly. “What’s her name?”
“Jerika, but others call her Jeri.”
“Does she know? She’s human?”
“Yes—” he dragged out that s, trying to think of how to explain the rest. “She’s partially human—she’s one of those with several realms DNA inside her.”
“Which ones?” She leaned closer, giving him her complete attention.
“Solrelm, FaTerra and Veiltide.”
“Oh my. That’s quite the mixing.”
“Some of the Gemini women have much more.”
She gave him a quick look. “Do you feel as guilty as I do about that?”
That surprised him. “I do. I think we all do—” He thought of Bastian. “Some of us just don’t show it.”
She grinned. “Bastian is motivated in other ways.”
“His mouth was sure motivated earlier.” He leaned back and looked up at the ceiling.
“What did he do?” Her tone was suddenly tired.
“He blurted out in front of Jerika that if we share our souls first, then we get the thrones, and was happy for it to happen so he didn’t have to be stuck doing it.”
“Ah.” She clasped her hands in her lap for a moment and looked at them. “He would step up and do that job, you know that.” She glanced at him and grinned. “It wouldn’t be without complaint, however.”
“That’s not the problem. Jerika and I have just barely discovered that our souls—” He thought of how it had felt when they’d touched and suddenly wished he was with her right now. “That our souls are mated. Now I have to try to explain that my brother is a moron with no internal filter…”
“You must be speaking of Prince Bastian.” Sigor walked into the room. “He does not have any sort of filter.”
Trendan smiled. “No, he doesn’t.”
Sigor went over to the table, lifted the lid on the teapot, and looked inside before replacing it and picking up a cup. “I am completely astonished that he hasn’t been screeching around the halls at the citadel, yelling everything for all to hear.”
“Like he did when he was ten and found out he was going to be a watcher.” His mother nodded, a small smile on her face.
“Yes—” Sigor turned and looked at her. “I believe that time he was screaming, I am going to suck the souls from the dead forever.”
“His father almost had a heart attack that day…”
“Ah.” Trendan’s father walked into the room. “Bastian is the topic of discussion here today.” He stopped and frowned. “Most days.” He shook his head, went over to the counter, and touched the side of the coffee urn to see if it was hot. “What has our future king done this time?” He touched his chest. “The very fact that Nova is completely level-headed is the only reason I’m not in the medical ward right now.”
“Who is in the medical ward?”
Trendan turned to see Bastian, Nova, and Liri standing in the doorway with a hand on Abe’s arm. Getting from place to place seemed easier with an Alterealm other, he thought. Liri must be thrilled with that idea.
“No one.” His mother glanced at her king before waving to the furniture. “Come in, get some tea or coffee, and tell us how it went.”
Bastain gave Trendan a look. “You didn’t tell them?”
Trendan got up. Sitting wasn’t going to work now that the others were here. “No, I hadn’t—” He stopped and blew out a breath and then stomped toward him. He pointed at him. “Have you lost your mind? Saying all of that in front of Jerika. I’ll be lucky if she doesn’t hide in that warded building for the rest of her life now.”
Bastain leaned back away from his hand and then went around him and over to the counter. “What? I didn’t say anything that wasn’t true.”
Trendan closed his eyes. Of course, he wouldn’t see the problem with it.
“I think—” Nova gave Trendan an understanding look. “—what your brother means is he may have wanted to discuss things with Jeri before you blurted them out.”
Bastain turned and gave her a blank look. “Oh.”
Sigor grinned and put his head down while shaking it. “I don’t know what happened, but I think we should be brought into the discussion.”
“Right.” Bastian nodded abruptly and then picked up a cup. “Trendan—” He stopped and glanced at him. “—should probably explain it.”
“Okay.” Trendan gave his brother a long stare, waiting to see if he interrupted him, which was often the case. “Which part? Glen’s soul or Jerika?” The meeting had been to relay the results of Glen after the magic had been removed.
“Tell them what Jeri saw, Tre—it’s concerning.” Liri sat down, and Abe moved to stand behind her.
He nodded. Liri was right. That was worrisome. He went over and perched on the arm of the big chair beside where his mother sat. “She says his soul has dark spots on it now since the magic has been removed.”
Sigor glanced at Trendan’s dad and then looked back at him. “I’ve never heard of that outside of a mage.”
“I recall something—” His father stood up and paced to the other side of the room. “I can’t remember where I’ve heard that before.”
“You mean it’s not just in this—mess?” Bastian poured a cup of tea.
“It may not be the same—what do you mean this Jeri saw it?”
Bastian grinned but didn’t say a word as he took the cup to Nova before returning to get his mug of coffee.
“She can see souls, father, the old ones especially.” Trendan braced his legs apart and crossed his arms. He felt like he was going to need to be at the ready for what may be a difficult conversation.
“You mean their auras, like Nova can.”
He shook his head. “No, I mean the soul. She can see things that I’ve been through in my long life.”
Even Sigor’s expression reflected shock. “I’ve never heard of that. Are you sure she’s not some charlatan trying to dupe you?”
Trendan would have commented on the mixture of modern to old lingo his mentor used, but all he heard was ‘she could lying’. “I’m sure. She knows things that no one else knows about me.” He quickly looked at his mother but knew she wouldn’t speak up about knowing.
“That’s—” Sigor looked at his king for a moment and then shook his head. “How is this possible?”
“She’s one of the Gemini women.” His mother offered. “One of Capri’s.”
“She is?” His father gave Sigor a strange look and then looked at Trendan. “So, she has mixed DNA? Like that Capri?”
Trendan gave his head a quick shake. “Not exactly like her. Capri is such a mix of all the realms that it’s hard to see it at all, but Jerika is human plus three realms.”
“Solrelm being one of them obviously.” His father crossed his arms and watched him intently.
“Yes. FaTerra and Veiltide as well.”
“Do you think she can…” Nova reached over and put her hand on Bastian’s so he wouldn’t finish whatever strange thought he was going to say.
“The worry we’re having—” Trendan looked at Bastian. “—is Glen only under that magic for five or so years—other fathers have been that way for many decades…”
“Oh, I see where you’re going.” His mom gave him a worried look. “If Glen has a few spots on his, what’s to be of the souls of those affected by that magic for longer.”
“Yes.” He wanted to get back to Interealm and talk to Jerika. Leaving things the way he did after Bastian’s outburst left a knot in the pit of his stomach.
“How do we find out if it’s going to be worse for other men?” His mother looked at Sigor and then to her king. “Who can we talk to that will explain the spots and what it might mean in the future?”
His father had that look, the one that Trendan usually tried to avoid putting on his face. “They’re not human souls, but their soul’s other half are—mostly, so we do have to look into this.” He turned and looked at Sigor. “Any emptier walls in the chamber of souls, we could have some serious issue with the continuance of the human race.”
“Which makes us obsolete,” Bastain mumbled.
“It’s not that dire, son, but it needs to be dealt with.” His father turned and looked at Trendan. “What other part do we need to know?”
Trendan suddenly felt like he was eight and had done something he didn’t want to tell his father. His gaze flicked to his mother for a second. Her response was one of those smiles that told him to go ahead; she’d run interference if needed. He pulled his shoulders back and made eye contact with his father. “Jerika is my other.” He looked at Bastain without turning his head. “And thanks to my brother, she may never want to speak to me again.”
His father quirked one eyebrow at him but said nothing.
“His mouth spewed all the details that have not been thought about or decided on.”
“Such as?” His father turned his head slowly and looked at Bastian, who, Trendan noted, didn’t look repent in the slightest.
“If I share my soul before Bastian, then I am the heir in waiting.”
“Ah. I see.” With that information, his father walked over to the window, put his hands behind his back, and looked outside.
“The issue, I believe, is neither can, sir, until we’ve caught all of the ones that are…”
“Why do they have to wait?” Liri was on her feet. “Why can’t we announce to all of Solrelm that they’ve been deceived for hundreds—possibly thousands of years?”
Trendan jerked his head to see his father’s reaction to that.
“I’m with her.” Bastian walked over to their father and looked at him. “I say we call a gathering with an announcement and tell the truth and let the chips fall where they are.”
His father looked at him for a moment and then turned and studied Trendan. “The chips are lives that could be in more danger than they already are.”
Trendan and Bastain exchanged a look before Trendan stepped over to his king. “So, we find all the fathers, get them moved to safe locations, and then do it.”
“What about the women and children in Interealm?” His mother stood up. “Will they be in danger?”
“They have been their entire lives,” Bastian said quickly.
“I can speak to my family. We can work with Bohdi’s people and coordinate more patrols in Interealm to keep an eye on anything that draws our attention.” Abe put his hands on his hips and watched the king.
“If we start with the most recent fathers on that list and get names of their others, we can ensure they are safe.” Bastian looked at Trendan for his thoughts on that.
Trendan nodded slowly. “The most recent would be in the most danger. The older ones, the children are grown.” He looked at Liri, “I met an adult whose father was taken.”
“Except Reagan’s father,” Bastian said quickly. “I promised we’d get Aldis Hayden and see if his mind can be freed.”
“We owe her a lot,” Trendan suggested. “Without her, we never would have known what has been happening in our own realm.”
Sigor stepped forward. “We could start moving the fathers to the old royal complex, sir. Assign guards that we trust explicitly.”
“Some of my family’s guards can come over to help with security.” Abe offered.
Sigor inclined his head to him. “Shall I call a meeting with the Alterealm royals, sir?”
“All of them are going to want in on this.” Abe looked around at everyone. “I can call my Uncle Troy and tell him.”
Everyone looked at the king.
“Yes. We’ll do it as soon as can be arranged.” He looked at Trendan’s mother. “I don’t think porting to Alterealm would be good for you right now.”
She smiled. “We can have the meeting here in the ballroom, right here at the citadel.” She looked at Liri. “Call your mother and have her arrange seating and refreshments for—” She looked at Abe and smiled. “Many large guests.”
Liri nodded and took out her phone.
Trendan watched her walk out of the room, Abe right behind her, his phone in hand.
“As for the next heir to the throne.” Both Bastian and Trendan stiffened and looked at their father. “I would like both of you to wait until we’ve found these fathers and announced it to our realm.” He looked at Bastian and then Trendan. “Can you do that?”
Bastain snorted. “I’ve already been doing it, whether I want to or not.”
“I think your father is saying the shock factor would be less distracting if you didn’t show up for the announcement with your soul blended to someone outside the realm.” His mother got up and went over and hugged their dad.
“I need to talk to Jerika.” Trendan blurted out. “We only just discovered that our souls were mated when Bas’ mouth got away on him.”
Bastian chuckled. “I always know where my mouth is.”
Trendan leveled him with a cold look. “Too bad you can’t say that about your brain.”
“Children.” Their mother warned. “You have a lot to accomplish. I suggest you go now and bicker later.”