Chapter 58

This chapter has been copied from the original and may contain typos and grammatical errors.

~*~

Seneca grinned as he felt the warm, humid air of the dreamscape. It was rare that he didn’t remember to count the days until a full moon. He had to know if he had to cancel plans, or if his illness would interrupt an important lesson, but on the island with nothing to do but sit and wait he hadn’t worried about the effects of the dream. And now that Gloria can make me feel better, I don’t have to worry about that.

He didn’t hear any music yet, so either Gloria hadn’t fallen asleep yet or she hadn’t found the violin. It was always somewhere for her to find, she just had to look for it sometimes. He didn’t understand how she played it; it looked complicated.

Why had they been connected? No one else ever talked about seeing odd people repeatedly in their dreams. They were usually random, just pictures and scenarios that didn’t happen. Lucid dreams weren’t tied to the moon phases. They didn’t have anything to do with the moon, did they?

And this greenhouse? Why was it here? It never changed. The frame never became rusty even in the humid air. It never had broken glass, or fogged windows. There was no dust to speak of. It seemed timeless, both ancient and modern.

“Seems you beat me to sleep this time,” Gloria stated as she walked into the room. “It was fun feeling you fall asleep. You relax so much once you do. Why do you have so much tension before you fall asleep?” She raised an eyebrow.

Seneca remembered the position he had fallen asleep in and flushed. “I’m just a tense person, I guess. Can you blame me?”

“I listened to your breathing to help me fall asleep. It was relaxing.” She smiled and walked into one of the branching rooms, picking up her violin.

“Why didn’t you fall asleep first? Why’d it take you so long?”

Gloria remembered feeling her heart beating in her chest as she settled against Seneca and faintly feeling his against her back. Hers had been beating faster than was comfortable. She flushed and turned her face to look at the violin. “I was trying to get comfortable. You must not have noticed,” she lied.

They had been sleeping in this arrangement for the past three nights and it was still hard for her to settle with Seneca so close. The closer she got to him the more nervous she felt.

She put the violin to her shoulder and played a tender song with long, simple phrases. She hadn’t played this one in a long time, and she had to remember how the melody went, humming the notes to remember the correct progression.

“And often when the beetle's horn, Hath lulled the eve to sleep, I steal unto her shieling lorn, And thru the dooring peep.” Her voice was rusty and out of tune, but the simplicity of her quiet voice along with the delicate tune tickled Seneca. It was as uncomplicated as a sun setting over the trees of a wood, slow, steady, and soft.

“I can’t believe that my mother wouldn’t find the time to enjoy music,” Seneca marveld once she had finished. “It’s- it’s man made magic. To be able to pull emotions out of a box with strings and words... it’s a wonder.”

“One day you’ll have the time to enjoy it. When you’re king.” She set the violin down.

He was quiet, thinking. Gloria looked at him. “This is where you say how you’ll be a good king and will behead all those who stand against you,” she teased.

He felt a shudder of nervousness. “I’m- I’m not sure that’s what I want.” he said.

“What do you mean?” she asked, confused. “I know it’s your mother’s plan, but surely you want to be king. It’s ultimate power over a nation. I would have thought you would want that.”

“It’s my mother’s plan,” he motioned with his hands. “I’m a part of it, yes, and without me there would be no plan, but no one has ever stopped to ask me what I want. Not like I can back out of any of it. My mother arranged my marriage around the fact I would be king, I couldn’t leave Krista in the dirt just so I could have what I wanted. Not after what-” he waved his hands around in an ambiguous way, “we did. Yet, I don’t think I want to be king. But I can never say it to anyone.”

“You told me,” Gloria said.

He smirked. “You aren’t anyone. You’re practically a nobody.” he teased.

“I’m very important to some people!” she reciprocated with an equal grin. “Telling your rival for the throne that you don’t want the throne could be dangerous!”

“Eh, I know you want the throne less than I do.” He walked outside to find a bench to sit on.

Gloria followed him “If you don’t want to be king, what do you want?” she asked.

He breathed in deeply, relieved that the breath wasn’t cold as ice or full of woodsmoke. “I would rather have a simple life. Somewhere no one knew who I was, where I could make things, or I could own a bookshop. Maybe on the coast so I could live in a community. Have a little house with enough space for a kid or two. Nothing too big. A loving wife. Cotton sheets instead of silk or whatever the king has. Lose clothes over stuffy court ones.”

Gloria sat down with him. “So, what you’re living now is what you want, just with a wife and kids with you.”

He smiled at her, hiding some pain in his heart knowing that he couldn’t have what he wanted. Not without letting everyone down. “Yeah, I want what I have now.” What we have now.

There was a long pause while they both sat and looked out at the swirling landscape. “You know, you could have that on the Islands,” she remarked.

“Too warm,” he replied simply as if there weren’t a million other variables. Gloria snorted, trying to hide a laugh, but they both broke into laughter.

Once they had successfully suppressed their laughter, Seneca smacked his knees and stood up. “Care to show me how to play that box of yours?” he asked.

“You want to learn to play the violin? You’re sure? It’s not easy.”

“I’ve got the time, don’t I? I mean, how hard could it be?” Seneca extended his hand to her.

Gloria raised her eyebrow and took his hand, just as he disappeared, waking up.

~*~

Midshore set about to get her pack ready. She shouldn’t be gone long, just long enough to get Gloria and her family back. From the tyrant king. In a land she hadn’t been to in ages. And she had to break the tracking charm placed on Gloria. How hard could all that be?

“Love, Anwyn’s team has only been gone for around two months. They could be back soon,” Everstar said. “You can’t leave. What if we need you?”

“You can defend the Islands on your own, and if you need help you have Flagsworth to help you. I have to go. You felt the disruption, it’s powerful and dangerous. Gloria isn’t just being searched for. She’s being hunted. She needs my help.”

“Enough people have gone to help her. We can’t spare more people leaving the Islands! What will the council say when they’ve found you’ve left?”

“That can’t stop me from doing what’s right!” she shouted, surprising herself and Everstar. She took a deep breath. “I can’t let that stop me from protecting our family. Gloria is family, Everstar. Anwyn, Liam, even Romeo is like family to us. I know- I know- that something horrible is going to happen, love, and I need to stop it, or I’ll hate myself for the rest of my long life. I need to do this.”

Everstar looked at her with the beginnings of tears in her eyes. With a lump in her throat she said “I understand. And I would go with you if I could. But it’s not like we can just drop the kids off at Lily’s house and say ‘sorry, two more children to add to the five you’re already looking after.’”

They both gave tense giggles. Everstar looked at her wife’s pack, wiping her face. “How will you teleport that long way? It’s pretty far.”

“I’m going to try to teleport to Beatrice’s house. It was pretty easy to teleport to before since she teleported so regularly. I’m hoping I’ll be able to reach it.”

“Alright. When are you leaving?” Everstar asked.

“At the first light of dawn. Hopefully that would mean the East will be sunny and I won’t be arriving in darkness.”

“That’s a good idea.” Everstar sniffled. “Come here.” She held out her arms and pulled her wife into a strong embrace, holding her close. Too many families had been broken by this man hunt, and now she feared that hers would share the same fate. She could hope that everything would return to the way it was and no one would be hurt, but she had a hard time believing it. How could they all make it through this? The stakes were too high. She felt that she only had hope that her own family wouldn’t be shattered at the end of this.

After a sleepless night of family activities and cuddles, Midshore stood in front of the greenhouse, awaiting the sun. She held Everstar’s hand, praying for every moment she was still standing there with her to last longer, but no one can stop the sun.

“I love you, my love,” she said as she teleported away, becoming bubbles in the wind. She didn’t always teleport this way, but for long distances it was easiest.

“I love you, my love,” Everstar repeated back to the empty air, her chest feeling like it was going to cave in from grief.

~*~

It had been three days. Three days of walking up and down hills, across streams and fields, though places where snow had accumulated, and muddy banks. Blake was tired, and he didn’t feel like he was getting any closer to finding Gloria.

He had started to suspect the Seer of walking them in circles for fun a while back, but she refused his suspicions without him even saying them.

“We’re walking in the direction the charm is pointing,” she would say. “Do you think I would do this for fun?”

Sometimes he believed her, like when they were climbing over giant roots sticking out of the ground or when they were crossing a half frozen river, but other times when they were strolling along on even and flat terrain he wasn’t so sure.

And the idea of her proposal was beginning to weigh on him, too. What if she could find Gloria easier after the fact? He suspected that they would be walking for another week if he didn’t go along with her plan. The Seer had no reason to try and find Gloria faster; she could be stalling for time or trying to break his resolve. And it may be working, he admitted to himself before internally lecturing himself on it again for the third time that day. He wasn’t sure, but he thought the Seer smirked every time he thought of it, and he didn’t like it when she smiled. Whatever her intentions may be, they weren’t wholesome.

Evening came and Blake was happy to pitch his tent. It got heavier and heavier everyday, wearing into his shoulders and bumping his hips. Taking it off at the end of the day was one of his favorite moments.

“You should bathe,” the Seer said, eyeing him. “It smells like it’s been a while.”

“I don’t get much of a chance to bathe.” He waited for the Seer to enchant the tent once again, and followed her in, kicking off his boots. The Seer rolled her head along her shoulders, one of the few signs she had shown over the last few days of her getting tired. If she was as old as she said she was, she was incredibly spry for her age.

“You can use my tub, and if it suits you, I’ll wait outside while you do. I won’t even peek,” she said with a wink.

Blake was quiet for a moment, considering. It had been awhile since he hadn’t felt grit between his toes, or since his hair had been clean. Even before he had met the Seer four days ago it had been a while since he had been clean. “No tricks?” he asked her.

“No tricks.”

“Fine,” he huffed and crossed his arms as she smiled and summoned the tub to the center of the room.

She waited outside as promised, and Blake scrubbed as quickly as he could, but he didn’t have a clean change of clothes and he didn’t want to wear the dirty clothes he had…

A sparkle caught his eye as fresh clothes appeared next to the tub. Of course she had read his mind. She was never out of it.

The water, which should have been filthy after he scrubbed himself from head to toe, never got dirty. Alright, her voice reverberated in his mind. [/i]Maybe one trick[/i].

He dried off quickly and threw on his new clothes, obviously meant to be bed clothes. He didn’t want the Seer to think he was suggesting anything with prolonged skin exposure.

Her bed does look roomy, he thought, and he shook his head again, closing his eyes and biting his lip. He had to stop those thoughts.

“No, you don’t have to stop. It’s doing you no good trying to stop, in any case. I would know. I read minds. The more you think that you should stop, the more you think of it. It can be fun, but it can also be annoying after a while- the repetition. It’s much more fun to let those thoughts wander.”She smirked, making Blake tense up.

“You won’t tempt me, witch.” he said through gritted teeth.

She leaned in next to his ear. “Would you like to compare your imagination to the real thing?” she asked in a seductive tone.

He could try to deny everything, but she would see it was a lie. If she already knew where his mind had gone, he wouldn’t be able to refute where it hadn’t.

“No,” he said defiantly.

She arched an eyebrow. “Lying is a sin in your religion, is it not?” she asked.

“As is adultery. You won’t catch me in both,” he answered, glaring at her.

“Child, I know how tired you are. Bruised. Worn.” She spoke slowly and softly. “As easy as I make all this journeying look, it’s taking its toll on me too. As charming as your company is, and as riveting as the conversation is, the faster we find Gloria the better, no?”

Blake didn’t say anything in argument, so she continued. “I won’t even enjoy it, how about that? Just two people, working to solve a problem that can only be solved in one way. I know you’ve considered it three times- now four. Why don’t we just get it over with and move on?”

Blake eyed her, tensing his jaw. What was another sin if he could find Gloria and bring her to safety? Who knew what they were doing to her, or where she was? Who was she with? If they had harmed her… They would all pay with their lives.

The Seer drew back the sheets and sat on the bed. “I promise it will be quick and painless. Close your eyes and think of England, if you like.” she said.

“Think of what?” he asked, confused.

“Come, child, and let’s get this over with.”

Creator, help me say no to this, he thought.

She rolled her eyes, stood up from the bed and took his hand leading him to the bed with its rich coverings and silky pillows.

I don't know how to say no to this.

She placed him down and sat beside him. His heart was racing and his palms were sweaty.

He didn't say no.

Had to throw on some Hamilton references! 'Say No To This' is a song from the musical where Alexander Hamilton commits infidelity.

Big thanks to my irl friend for taking the time to suggest edits to the chapter!

Next chapter is a big one, And I hope it pays off! I often feel like I build to these big climaxes and I want them to be everything we all want them to be. As always, if you liked it, let me know it!

Stay healthy, Stay inspired.