Sewn & Scarred (The Fated Creations Trilogy #3)

Chapter ElevenEvaline

Chapter Eleven

Evaline

W e’d spent so many hours looking for Charlotte in Correnti, but somehow spent even more time in Rominia searching for her, that we had to have been well past night into the next day, if not nearing the next evening. It was impossible to tell time in the Night, where everything was cloaked in shadows.

I didn’t have the faintest clue where Charlotte’s family lived, and right now I was regretting never having asked Kovarrin that question. But we searched many of the homes, and called out her name—that we needed her help—in case she was close enough to hear us. But there was never an answer.

I looked to Sage, whose feet moved slowly as we walked. Her shoulders were slouched, and her eyes bloodshot, and I knew she was tired. We’d been awake far too long.

“It’s no use,” I said, halting my stride down the main street of Rominia. “We need to sleep.” I lifted my tired eyes to Sage.

Her spine straightened and all at once she looked completely alert. Her black hair shifted over her shoulders as she looked between my mother and me anxiously.

“Are you sure? We can keep searching. We don’t need to move on yet.”

I shook my head. “No, we need to sleep. Let’s portal back to Correnti. That way we can catch up with Lauden and Dean. When we wake up, if you’re still up for it, we can come back to look for Charlotte.”

Sage swallowed and chewed on her lip. “Isn’t there anything you want to do first?” she asked, swinging her eyes between my mother and me.

My mother turned to me. “You could go check on Maddox.”

I shook my head. “I didn’t want the Vasi to know that I wasn’t in Romina.” I shrugged. “Besides, Sage’s portaling ability is a secret. The others don’t know about it.” I pursed my lips. “Well, I guess Dean does now.”

Sage flinched at that.

My mother shook her head.

“No, not in the world of the living. Here, we can go check on Maddox while we’re in the Night.”

I shook my head. “But it’ll just be an empty room here.”

My mother smiled. “I’ll teach you how to focus and peer through the veil. You can see and hear what’s going on if you try hard enough and have a strong enough connection to the other person. They won’t know you’re there, and won’t see you, but at least you can see if your blood is working. Looking through the veil this way is how I watched over you and your father all these years.”

I nodded, it would be nice to see if my blood was having any impact after Wyott no doubt had been feeding it to him the last couple of days.

I turned to Sage. “Is that okay? Then we’ll head back to Correnti and get some sleep?”

Without hesitation, she nodded. “Absolutely.”

We made our way to Wyott’s old room, and as soon as we entered, I could feel Maddox. It felt the same as when I’d had the nightmare, when I’d accidentally gone into the Night when he was abducted. I walked into the room, where I knew he was sitting, and felt the warmth pass over me, smelled the amber and leather that always told me he was near, and smiled.

“I can feel him.”

My mother nodded. “You can do that with people who you have a close relationship with. Some days the only thing getting me through the pain of being separated from you and your father was to sit with you, to feel you both. To shut my eyes and pretend I was there when he’d braid your hair, or when he’d make you dinner.”

Sage sniffled behind her and we turned to her.

“What’s wrong?” I asked, seeing the tears in her eyes.

She shook her head and waved her hand as if to dismiss her tears, but didn’t speak.

I turned to my mother, we both sensed Sage didn’t want to elaborate.

“How can I see him?”

My mother came to stand beside me. “This will only work for you, not Sage or I, so we won’t be able to see or hear what’s happening. But you will focus on him. On everything about him that makes him real . His scent, the way he smiles, his hair, the feel of his hand in yours.” She listed off. “It’s a lot like when you summoned me, or how we show Sage where we want to portal. Picture him in your mind’s eye, and since he is here right now, he should come through.”

I nodded, my heart jittering in my chest from excitement, and took a deep breath.

“Okay,” I said as my mother moved to join Sage in standing behind me. “Here goes nothing.”

I squeezed my eyes shut and did exactly as my mother said. I pictured all of it, and it was only a moment before I felt something change. I opened my eyes and saw that the room wasn’t so dark anymore. There was a small circle of light in front of me, exactly where I knew the Vasi was sitting. I couldn’t see him yet, but it was as if everything was starting to filter in. As if I held a candlelight behind a sheet of fabric and watched it dance.

The soft glow of the room filtered in until I could see the outline of the chair, of the Vasi’s form sitting in it.

“She threatened to kill him?” I jumped when I heard the Vasi’s voice filter through. There was a pause before he spoke again. “No fucking way.”

“Oh my Gods,” I breathed.

“What is it?” Sage asked.

“Nothing, it’s just working. I can hear the Vasi speaking. And I can almost see him.”

“What did he say?” the Vasi asked. It was then that I realized he was talking to someone. My brows furrowed. I wasn’t sure who he’d be talking to, but I was willing to bet it was Wyott. He went far more often than anyone else to the Vasi. To feed him, and see if there was any sign of Maddox.

I didn’t know if it was possible for me to filter in Wyott, but I tried regardless, and after a moment I heard his booming laugh and watched as his form started to take shape, too. He sat across from the Vasi, and I couldn’t understand why he was being so nice to him. Wondered if it was a tactic Wyott was using, to disarm the Vasi and try to connect with Maddox inside.

“What’s wrong?” Wyott said.

“I…I can feel something,” the Vasi muttered, and I hoped it was Maddox fighting back, that he was getting stronger and that my blood was working.

“I can hear Wyott, too,” I said, shaking my head. “They almost seem like they’re being friendly.”

I heard something move behind me and then Sage was standing beside me and grabbing my hand.

“Can you see them yet?” she asked.

I shook my head. “No, just their shapes.”

She nodded. “Well, I actually have a migraine, so is it okay if we go to Correnti and sleep?”

I swallowed my annoyance, wanting to stay here after she was the one who was adamant that we come here, but I let the mirage of the two of them fall away until the room was darkness again, devoid of their voices, and turned to Sage.

“Sure.”

She nodded and turned to my mother. “Do you want to come?”

My mother’s brows furrowed and she looked to me, then back at Sage in confusion.

“What do you mean?”

Sage flicked her hand in urgency. “You can pass through the world of the living with Evaline, right? I figured you could come with us and stay with her tonight while she sleeps, that way when we wake up tomorrow and come back, you’re already with us and we can portal straight back here and keep looking,” she said, her words streaming out of her mouth quickly.

My mother pursed her lips and looked to me, and I just shrugged. “Would that even work?”

My mother bobbed her head back and forth. “I suppose it would, you’re using your magic to slip the veil when you portal out, and it’s the same mechanism I use when you call me. It’s worth a shot. If it doesn’t work, I’ll just remain here.”

I shrugged. “Okay.”

We both stood on either side of Sage and watched as she raised her hand over the ground and opened a black pool of portal. I looked over Sage’s head, at my mother, while Sage worked.

“Maybe we can go see Father’s resting place someday,” I said quietly, and Sage jolted at that. Out of the corner of my eye, I could see the light of the portal change as my mother nodded.

“I’d love that. And someday, when he wakes up, you can see him here too. He’d love to meet Sage. Out of all the Sorcerer abilities I’d taught him about, portals always interested him the most,” she said, and looked as if she was about to continue but Sage interjected with a tight voice.

“It’s ready,” she said, and my mother and I turned to see the soft glow of the now red portal. It must be sunset on the other side of the veil, the way the red hues filtered through.

I heard the crash of waves and wondered if Sage was dropping us off on the beach where we first landed in Correnti.

My mother and I each took one of Sage’s hands in ours and I felt the way her hand shook in mine as I turned to face the portal.

Sage gripped my hand tighter, but it didn’t do anything to calm the tremor in her hand that started to shake through her entire body. I didn’t make a move to step for the portal, because Sage hadn’t yet.

She only stared down at it and whispered something under her breath but I couldn’t hear it over the sound of the waves through the portal. She shook her head the slightest inch back and forth and mumbled a little louder this time.

“What?” I asked, turning my head to face her. Her skin had paled and a sweat had broken out over it.

I watched as her head shook and her black hair followed the movements.

“I can’t.” I heard her whisper.

“We don’t have to go back now, Sage,” I soothed at the same time as my mother turned to Sage.

“Are you okay, honey?”

She clenched her eyes shut and her upper lip pulled back into a snarl. The red hue of the portal reflecting off her skin only made her look more enraged.

What the fuck was she so angry about? Was bringing her into the Night a mistake? Guilt dropped low in my gut as I realized that the Night might be having negative effects on someone who was never meant to travel here while they lived.

“I can’t,” she mumbled again and her hand in mine shook so hard mine went right along with it.

I watched her eyes flash open and heard her screech.

“I won’t !” she screamed at the same time a deep voice shifted through the portal.

“The time is now—” but the voice was cut off by the sound of Sage’s heavy breaths, of her chant over and over.

“I won’t, I won’t, I won’t.”

She yanked her hand from mine. I was still holding onto hers when she made the move, so it jostled me off balance. I jolted forward.

Time slowed around us and I watched as she turned to my mother, who had an equally confused look on her face as Sage ripped her hand from my mother’s, too, and planted both hands on my mother’s chest, shoving her back until my mother fell onto the ground.

I tried to shriek at Sage, to ask why she’d done that, but couldn’t open my mouth fast enough in my rage and in my fall. My feet shuffled below me. I tried to catch my footing, but we’d already been standing on the edge of the portal when I lost my balance.

I flung my hand out toward Sage, to grab onto her hand or her shirt as I fell, and she turned back toward me.

Her eyes widened. “No!” she screamed and flung her hands out toward me, trying to grasp onto something and pull me back.

“Evaline!” she screamed behind me.

I felt her fingers brush along my back, trying to gain purchase on my shirt, but it was tight and there was no room for her to get a grip.

As I fell face-first into the portal, closing my eyes at the impact I knew I’d hit on the beach of Correnti, her hand wrapped around my braid.

I shrieked from the pain of both her pulling my hair, and the impact of my knees with the ground.

Sage yelped behind me too as she released my braid and I heard the soft thud of her boots land behind me.

My eyes were still clenched shut from the impact when she whispered behind me, “I’m sorry.”

My eyes shot open, I was ready to turn and ask her what in the Gods name had she been doing back there, but my movements were halted by the dark, blood red stone beneath me.

The words I wanted to say only came out in a confused breath as I looked at my hands, at the way my fingers splayed on the crimson floor, from where I’d caught myself when I fell.

That was why my knees hurt so badly, I didn’t land on the rocky shore, I landed on granite.

It was only when I heard her footsteps walk away from me that I tilted my head. “Where are we, Sage?” I asked, wondering if this was hers and Lauden’s room in Correnti. But I wasn’t sure why the Ladies would’ve decorated the rooms so drastically different.

“You’re home,” a low voice said.

I jolted at the sound of it, both because I recalled the odd voice that had come through the portal, and because I knew whose it was.

Where in Rominia was there red granite?

I raised my eyes to look at Kovarrin standing a few feet in front of me, but when my gaze rose over his form, up the black pants he wore and the black buttoned tunic, to meet his eyes, a soft breath expelled from my lips.

A ringing noise filled my ears and I felt as if I was both experiencing this moment in my own body, and above. As if I was a God, looking down at this horrific affair.

My eyes, which were quickly filling with tears, flicked over to his side to see that Sage stood next to him. Her eyes were on the ground, refusing to look up to meet mine. The room was silent, save for the waves crashing against the windows beside us. I turned to look at them now, and in the movement saw that Lauden stood on his other side, a reflection of Sage.

My chin quivered in rage before I locked my jaw down at the sight of the Sorcerer.

He gave me a smirk, his hazel eyes alight. I had to look away or I knew I’d explode at him. Burn him up in the very fire he so loved to brag about.

Out of my peripheral, Sage rubbed her hand over her pant leg, and all of us moved to look at it.

From here I could see the way the blood trickled down her fingers, and to the ground. Could see the several pinpricks embedded in it, from where she’d grabbed my braid when I’d fallen.

“That’s what you get,” Vasier hissed at her lowly, his head tilted down toward her. In this position, his light brown hair fell over his forehead and nearly hid his eyes.

And he looked like Kovarrin.

But they were still crimson, and I watched how his angry gaze bore down on Sage, and how she seemed to shrink away from his stare, how her shoulders tightened.

“I’m sorry,” she said softly.

“You think we didn’t hear that little fit you threw on the other side of the portal?” he said, waving his hand around the room.

I straightened and followed it. Realized that all behind me were several Vasi standing around the large red, granite room.

We were in Mortithev.

Sage brought me to Mortithev.

To Vasier.

“It won’t happen again,” she said quietly, responding to him.

My eyes still looked around the room, as I had realization after realization. All the times I’d been kind to her, all the times Maddox had voiced his distrust of Lauden. I should’ve listened to him.

“Of course it won’t happen again,” he snapped. “I thought you were going to prove yourself, finally , but you’ve done quite the opposite,” he said, and I noticed the throne over their shoulders.

“It won’t happen again because you will never be trusted with something as important as this, ever again.”

Out of my peripheral, I could see Sage hang her head low, saw her close her uninjured hand over the bleeding one.

“Yes, Father.”

My eyes snapped back to hers in an instant. Rage, disbelief, and devastation all hit me at once as I sucked in a panicked breath.

I saw Lauden and Vasier turn to smirk at me, to revel in their deception, but I only witnessed it for a second, before my wind blew out the windows on either side of the room, and shattered glass filled the space between us.