Now that I looked at them, felt their Wielding, I knew they weren’t Lumiére. I could feel the Wielding of Fire and Earth on them, though I couldn’t tell which person held which magic. But these three were not of the Lumiére Kingdom.
These were Obscurité.
The other kingdom.
And not my friends.
Chapter Four
“I have a note from Easton,” Wyn said, coming forward slowly, her hands out as if to say that she came in peace. She shook her head and sighed. “I knew he should have come with us, or at least had us bring someone you might have met in the court. But everything’s a little…uneasy at the moment, so we’re the ones who came to take you home.”
I didn’t take a step back like I wanted as she moved towards me. For some reason, I felt as if they were telling the truth. It wasn’t like I could truly trust them since I had no idea who they were, nor did I know if I could actually trust Easton, but he had helped me when I needed it. He had tried to help his people, as well. Now, he was trying to rule them.
I had no idea about his character or who he truly was, other than the fact that he had fought by Rhodes’ side as if they had done it for decades. Maybe they had fought like that for decades. Centuries. It wasn’t as if I truly knew anything about their history. The time I had been with Rhodes had told me that I could fall for him, that I thought maybe he would be mine. That perhaps the connection between us was important.
But I had been wrong about that.
I pushed those thoughts from my head, wondering why they had come at all. Because it didn’t really matter right then. The only thing that mattered was these three people in front of me as I stood in front of the crevice that led to the human realm. We were out in the open, the glaring sun from the Spirit territory shining down on us.
I had always thought that this area had a sepia tone over it as if the sun got a little too bright yet not bright enough at the same time. It was a large desert with craggy rocks all around, the ground so dry that it had broken pieces in it as if it had once been a great area of water but was now just barren desert.
I knew there were trees to the east of us towards the Earth territory, but I didn’t know if there were any north or to the west.
In fact, now that I really thought about the terrain, I figured the two courts were directly north of us. The way the Spirit territories were divided, each was a triangle of sorts, with the peaks coming together to contain the Obscurité and Lumiére courts. The courts themselves didn’t touch, their borders dark with magic until it was so opaque that I knew no one could get through. Maybe they could have in the past, but not after the Fall.
From what I’d read, the Spirit territories did not have courts. There hadn’t been a king or queen for those territories, especially not after the Fall. I didn’t know who ruled them, or if anyone had. Because once the Fall happened, all of the Spirit Wielders left the realm. They had either hidden amongst the others, died, or had gone to the human realm, never to be heard from again.
I knew there were at least twelve.
Twelve who had stood on a clock in my dreams, facing me in order to tell me that something was coming, that I was needed. Those twelve had all helped me, had tried to save me.
In fact, they had saved me in the end. Although, for some reason, I knew that might be the one and only time they could ever do it.
It had taken great energy to even connect to me. I knew that much somehow, but I didn’t really know much else.
“Lyric? Can we take you with us? Can we take you home?”
I blinked at Wyn’s voice, pulling my thoughts from Spirit Wielders and histories that didn’t need to be gone through just then. Some said you needed to look past the history and what had come so you could look towards the future. I didn’t believe that. Yes, I needed to look forward, but I also needed to know what had come before, what had made all of us so I could figure out where my place was, what my purpose was.
“You keep saying home. You mean the Obscurité Court. Your home?”
Wyn winced. “Yes, sorry about that. I know your home is in the human realm where you just came from. Right? That’s at least what Easton said. He said he actually took you back there before. And that you could have contacted him at any point to come and bring you back, but you didn’t.”
“You seem to know a lot about what Easton told me.” I didn’t know who this woman was, or her relationship to Easton, but she did have almost all of the information that Easton would have had about me. Almost.
“I’m just telling you what he told me.”
“And yet, you’re here. So that means you contacted Alura? How do you know her?” I didn’t just want to go off with these people, even though I really didn’t have a choice at this point. I couldn’t go back to the human realm, I knew that. I needed to find my place here. But I couldn’t find my way to the Lumiére Kingdom on my own. Rhodes and Rosamond hadn’t asked for me, but I also hadn’t asked to go to them. The fault lay with both of us, and only one kingdom had actually brought people out to come for me.
Maybe I had to trust in that.
The Air between my fingers sizzled, and I let out a breath. My Wielding loved being back in this realm, and I could feel it deep down in my bones that I was supposed to be here.
I had known that I was meant to be in this realm the first time I stepped onto its ground, though I hadn’t known what it really signified at the time.
Now, I was here for a purpose.
“I don’t really know what else to tell you other than we should probably get going. The Negs could be here. They’ve been patrolling more often.”
“Why is that? Is everyone okay?” I needed to stop thinking about just myself and instead think about the people here that needed help. They were dying because of not only what the knight had done, but also because the crystals that fed the Maisons their Wielding and life forces were failing. The more the crystals dimmed, the more people we would lose.
“We’re getting better. Lore screwed us up a bit, but we’re not going to let that stop us from rebuilding.” Teagan was the one who spoke that time. I turned to him. He was strong, and he looked it. His voice was low, and there was such promise in his tone that I really did believe that he wanted to help his people. I just didn’t know where I fit into that.
“I know you don’t know us, and you didn’t really have a lot of time in the Obscurité Kingdom to actually meet everybody, but we’re here to help you back to the court.” It was Arwin that spoke this time, and I looked at the younger man. For all I knew, he could be hundreds of years older than I was, but he seemed younger in the way he spoke and the manner with which he held himself. I didn’t really know. It was just a feeling.
“Alura told me to trust who was on the other side.” As soon as I said her name, the bracelet on my wrist warmed, and I looked down at it. The Fire and Earth elemental charms brightened on my wrist, and my eyes widened. It seemed the magic that she had put into whatever I was wearing wanted me to go to the Obscurité Court.
I might have been seeing things, but I knew I had to go. After all, there was nowhere else to go.
“Alura gave you that?” Wyn asked, her voice careful.