The Gifted Heart (Marks of Inheritance: The Orkeia Cycle #1)

12. Echoes of the Past

Chapter twelve

Echoes of the Past

“ M y father?”

I felt like my legs were going to give out and stumbled to sit down on the edge of the bed.

He smiled, his eyes misty. “You look so much like your mother. That was how I recognized—”

I wasn’t listening, my fingers curling into fists against the bedsheets. “Why did you abandon me? All this time—if you were alive—” My voice cracked. I felt a void in my life I’d never really noticed before.

His smile faltered and he placed both hands firmly on my shoulders. “I love you, Kenna. I wouldn’t have given you up for the world if I’d had a choice.”

“Then why did you?” I whispered.

He sighed. “Because you would have been killed if you stayed with me.”

The knot in my throat only tightened at this. He released my shoulders and joined me on the edge of my bed, his face somber.

“Your mother was a white witch,” he began. “I met her before the majority of the Ungifted knew magic existed. In fact, I didn’t know she was a witch at first.”

“How did you meet?” I asked.

“I was working in a blacksmith’s shop, as an apprentice,” he said with a wry smile. “She came in to pick up an order for her uncle. They had a farm just outside of town…”

His voice trailed off, and he rubbed his right arm with a heavy breath. “I’d heard of the Gifted, but only that they were dangerous. If I hadn’t gotten to know your mother before she told me about her Gift, I’m not sure how I would have reacted. But she showed me the truth about her powers, and it just made me love her more that she trusted me enough to share that part of herself with me.”

“What happened to her?” I asked.

Isaiah gazed at the window. His expression was difficult to read, but the hardness of it made my stomach turn with dread.

“Soon after we were married, King Rafael—Kiernan’s father—discovered a clan of witches while hunting. He claimed they attacked him and his men, killing four of his most trusted advisors.”

My jaw dropped. “Why would they do that?”

He shook his head. “I agree that it doesn’t really make sense,” he muttered.

It felt like he was holding something back, but before I could ask about it, he continued. “When the king returned to the city, he demanded that anyone bearing a mark be imprisoned. You were only a baby, and your mother, being the brave woman she was, decided to try to reason with him. I tried to talk her out of it, to tell her it was too dangerous, but—she was insistent.”

He began to shake. I felt the urge to take his hand, and he squeezed it in response.

“He wouldn’t listen to her,” he said, his grief evident in the heaviness of his tone and his watery eyes. “Instead, he executed her in front of his prisoners as an example. He found out she had a child and ordered his men to find and kill you as well.”

My eyes widened. “Me? Why? You said I was just a baby!”

“I don’t know, Kenna,” he said, his hand tightening its hold on mine. “I never knew why King Rafael did what he did.”

His jaw clenched and he let out a sharp breath. “Whatever his reasons were, I had to find somewhere you could be safe. My friends helped me steal a boat, and I began searching the coasts for a clan. Eventually, I met a woman who agreed to care for you. It killed me to leave you with a stranger, but for some reason, I trusted her.”

He paused, asking his questions without words. I squeezed his hand again. “Elizabeth. She treated me like her own daughter.”

He managed a pained smile before he continued. “I was right to give you up. The king was enraged that you disappeared. He found our home and destroyed everything. I changed my name for protection, but I still had to hide.”

“Why didn’t you stay with me?” I asked.

Isaiah released my hand with a sigh and crossed the room to look out the window at the city below. “I thought you would be safer without me,” he muttered. “And I wanted to help here. There were so many people imprisoned and scared. And the king’s mania only worsened. It wasn’t long before he decreed that anyone with magical abilities be put to death. I stayed to help the Gifted escape the city.”

I pressed my palm into the mattress, my eyes watering. I wanted to tell him that was a brave and noble thing to do, but I didn’t feel like words could really do his selfless actions justice.

His expression remained pained and he crossed his arms. “After seven years, hostility toward magic holders died down, but things didn’t stay peaceful for long. Unfortunately, there were some Gifted who were not content living in hiding. Five years ago, a sorcerer broke into the castle and tried to force King Rafael to surrender the kingdom to him. When he refused, the sorcerer—Pious, his name was—broke into the castle, seized the queen, and brought her into the throne room where he melted her with his gift.”

“ Melted her?” I breathed, a chill running down my spine as I gripped the edge of the bed.

Isaiah nodded grimly. “Yes. He melted King Rafael as well.”

The horror of the scene played out in my mind, and I shut my eyes as if that would erase the images. “What about the king—Kiernan, I mean. How did he escape? ”

“One of the servants smuggled him out through a secret passage,” he explained. “Pious took control of the kingdom. Everyone, Gifted and Ungifted alike, was afraid of him. He had so many people imprisoned on nonexistent charges that the dungeons were overflowing. It was a year before the knights managed to overpower and kill him, and Kiernan became the new king. He was only nineteen. That was when, at Captain Lewin’s counsel, he officially declared war, and the Slaughters began.”

“But why did you join the knights?” I interrupted.

“I didn’t,” he said. “I did everything I could to avoid being recruited—moving often, hiding out with friends—but eventually I realized that hiding wasn’t doing anyone any good. But,” he smirked, “if I was a scout, I would be able to find clans and give them time to relocate before the rest of the knights caught up.”

“Then why didn’t you warn us?” I asked softly, trying to hide the hurt from my voice. If we’d known ahead of time that the knights were approaching, we could have hidden ourselves, or at least had enough time to gather our supplies. I wouldn’t have had to stay behind—I could still be with Gideon and Neal, even if it meant establishing a new shelter once again. My heart ached at the thought.

“Lewin suspects me,” Isaiah said with a grimace. “He transferred me to the supply division at the back of the march two months ago, and there’s no contesting an order from the captain of the guard. I’ve done my best to put up resistance—throwing away food, hiding weapons—but it’s not easy.”

He shut his eyes tightly and rubbed his arm again. “When your spirits attacked, I abandoned my post and hurried forward, hoping I could help the clan. I can’t describe how I felt when I saw you, Kenna—I knew from one glance you were my daughter. I felt I would die if you died.”

His eyebrows creased with emotion. I stared at him, speechless. All these years I’d wondered why my family hadn’t loved me enough to keep me, but he’d loved me so much he gave me up to save my life. And he hadn’t stopped with just saving me. My heart swelled with pride at the knowledge that this brave man was my father.

Unable to find words to express myself, I stood, crossed the room, and threw my arms around him in a tight hug. I felt him take in a deep breath, wrapping his strong arms around me in return.

“I’m sorry you haven’t known any of this until now,” he said into my shoulder, something catching in his throat.

We sat like that for a while. I wasn’t really sure how to describe my emotions, and he seemed to be just as much at a loss for words now that his story was through. Eventually, I shifted and pulled away from the hug to look more directly at him.

“What was my mother like?” I asked.

He smiled softly. “She was the most beautiful woman I’ve ever seen—you look just like her. She was curious about everything and succeeded in anything she put her mind to. And she loved you so much. She made me promise that no matter what happened to her, I would keep you safe. It was her last wish.”

“What was her name?”

“Arabella,” he said, a fond reverence in his voice.

I smiled to myself before another question surfaced. “You said you had to change your name?”

“Yes.”

“What was it before?”

“That’s not important,” he said, brushing a strand of hair out of my face. “And it’s better that you don’t know. What’s important is that I found you again. And that you’re safe.”

He pulled me into another tight hug. I returned the embrace, my mind spinning as I registered all of this newfound information. It exhilarated me with its answers and overwhelmed me with knowledge I never would have guessed. But most of all, it made me feel…complete. I’d found a part of my story—my identity—that I didn’t know I had been missing.

As much as I wanted to just stay there asking him question after question, he insisted on giving me some time to rest and left. But, though I tried to rest in one of the soft chairs by the window, I was too preoccupied to close my eyes.

Maybe this king wasn’t the monster I thought he was. I actually felt sorry for him—a sorcerer invaded his home and murdered both his parents, with the intention of murdering him as well. I had to admit that as horrific and destructive as his actions were, I now understood them. It was only natural that he would want to hunt down people like the man who destroyed his family.

I thought back to all the hurt and anger I’d harbored in the months since losing Elizabeth and the rest of my clan. Like him, I’d wanted revenge. It had never once occurred to me to put myself in his shoes and try to understand his actions, just as it had never occurred to him to ask questions about the Gifted community.

But wanting revenge on his parents’ murderer was one thing. Going after an entire population was another. Even if he had been misled by his father and Lewin, it seemed so obvious to me that killing all these people wouldn’t feel right to him if he had a conscience.

As I lay there, there was a soft knock on my door. I didn’t immediately respond, not entirely registering it. After a few minutes, a maid entered slowly. It was the same girl who’d been helping me since I arrived.

“Excuse me, M’Lady,” she said as she curtsied, “but the king has requested that you attend lessons.”

I stared at her, pulled out of my thoughts. “Lessons?”

“To learn to be a lady of the court. You are to attend today and every day at this time until dinner, until His Majesty is satisfied with your learning. If you will follow me, M’Lady, I will take you to Miss Grayson. She is to be your teacher.”

For a moment, I considered refusing, but since I still hadn’t figured out what my plan was, I nodded and followed her. We again entered the maze of halls. She walked a ways in front of me, partly because she didn’t take the time to stare at all of the artwork around her. She’d undoubtedly passed it hundreds of times. Once or twice she took a turn that I didn’t notice and I scrambled to find her. Each time this happened, a small smile crossed her lips, but she hid it expertly. It was almost as if she wasn’t allowed to be amused by anything, and it seemed my continual astonishment was making that very hard for her.

When we finally stopped, a pair of large, ornate double doors stood at the end of the hall, towering over me. It almost felt like standing in front of the golden gates, but far less comforting and much more intimidating. I stared, wondering what lay behind them, feeling suddenly nervous. The maid cleared her throat and brought my attention to a smaller set of doors directly in front of me, and I relaxed.

“Miss Grayson is inside. I will be around for lunch, and to escort you to dinner and then to your room.”

She curtsied and turned. Just as she was about to leave, I took a few steps toward her.

“Excuse me!” I called, bringing her to a sudden stop. “What’s your name?”

She blinked, as if surprised I would ask. “Abigail Cobb,” she said, her face brightening. Almost as soon as I saw her expression, it was gone, and she disappeared around the corner.

Puzzled by her reaction, I turned back to face the door, only to stumble back in surprise. A tall, very elegant woman stood in the doorway, with graying black hair pulled into a very tight bun. She wore a gloomy black dress with subtle silver accents and a gloomy expression.

“You must be Miss Grayson?” I inquired when she didn’t say anything.

She pursed her lips. “First rule,” she squeaked, her voice sounding like the creaking of a door that hasn’t been opened for decades. “A lady never yells, especially not after a servant.”

I opened my mouth to respond, but thought better of it and just nodded.

“I can see we have a ways to go,” she observed, her lips permanently pursed.

Reluctantly, I stepped through the door she held open. Once I was inside, she shut it with a loud thud. I jumped.

“A lady is always composed,” she snapped .

“But you just slammed—”

“And a lady never interrupts or talks back to her elders,” she said, her eyes flaming. “Are we clear on those three rules at least?”

I was speechless.

***

Me being speechless turned out to be exactly what Miss Grayson wanted. According to her definition of ‘lady,’ I was supposed to be completely silent until told otherwise by a member of the opposite sex. No wonder she never married.

I thought when Abigail brought lunch that I would get a break, but I was sadly mistaken. Instead, Miss Grayson took the opportunity to criticize everything about how I ate—the way I was holding my fork, my posture as I sat at the table, and even the way I chewed my food. No matter how hard I tried to follow her instructions, I inevitably fell short of her expectations.

“We have a long way to go,” she creaked dismally.

By the time the day’s lessons were done, I was eager to return to the privacy of my room. The exquisite hallways didn’t hold nearly as much wonder in them as they had earlier in the day, or at least that wasn’t where my thoughts were focused. Now that I had had some time to recover from the harrowing journey here, I was eager to see if I could find where the Grison clan had gone. It was ironic that I had spent so much time thinking about how to get here , but now all I could think about was getting back to them. Neal’s parting actions certainly had something to do with it, but it was so much more than that. They had become my family—especially Gideon—and the thought of not seeing them again was painful.

Abigail offered to help me undress for the evening, but I declined. I shouldn’t have. My fingers fumbled unsuccessfully with the complicated laces on the back of my dress for so long that I almost gave up. Eventually, I found one spot that was just loose enough to pull and break myself free from bondage. With a sigh of relief, I let the fabric fall to a pool at my feet, not bothering to change out of the looser underclothing before laying on the bed.

I closed my eyes. My spirit floated from my body and out the window to soar over the top of the castle. I had to admit, seeing the castle and its city from above was breathtaking. I had never imagined so many people together in one place, nor had I ever seen so many buildings of various sizes and makes. There were even buildings made of wood, which wasn’t common on the rocky islands of Orkeia due to the lack of trees. They must have shipped it over from the mainland to have enough to build, and I could only imagine how much that cost.

Tearing my eyes from the slanted wooden roofs of the city, I began to explore the perimeter of the island I was currently on. Of course, they could be on any number of islands, and wherever they were, it would be hard to spot them if they were being careful, but I had to start somewhere.

I focused on any suspicious-looking or isolated mounds but didn’t find anything that resembled the first shelter I’d shared with them. There were some lone structures in the middle of the hills or scattered on the edge of the beach, but those all seemed to be abandoned. I supposed I shouldn’t have been surprised. If any clans had been living this close to the castle, they were likely the first to be targeted by King Kiernan’s armies.

When my search of the main island didn’t yield any results, I traveled southward over the ocean. I had never really considered the expanse of the kingdom of Orkeia before. There were islands in all directions, some of them closer together than others. Most had the same rocky cliffs as where we’d been living before, and before long I even spotted our second shelter, the wedding decorations abandoned and trampled. I couldn’t help but pause and stare at Gideon’s pond, remembering with an ache the joy on his face when he created it.

I explored two more islands before the strain of the magic I was using began to take its toll. The spirit and the body are not meant to be separated for long and I had been searching for what was likely hours. I did my best to commit to memory the path I had taken and which islands I had already searched, hoping that I hadn’t missed a telltale sign of their new location. Then, reluctantly, I traveled back towards the castle.

As I approached my body, the room seemed darker than before. At first I thought it was just because the sun had gone down, but the darkness felt heavy somehow, especially in spirit form. I stopped at the window. I had never felt the effects of cold while in spirit form before, but somehow, I was freezing. It felt like there was a wall of ice between me and my body on the bed, stopping me from going any further.

That’s when I saw it. At first, it looked like just a dark mist floating over my body, but as I stared it began to take shape. The form of a man appeared leaning over the bed, the same form I’d sensed the previous night. I’d only been able to make out the silhouette before, but now that I was in the spirit realm, I could see it more clearly. It was pitch black, the darkness emanating from it in a way that seemed to steal what little light there was in the room. The edges of the figure were wispy like smoke rather than solid. When it raised its head to look at where I floated, it had bright, red eyes burned into a featureless face.

Slowly, it lowered its head once more to look at where my body lay. I watched in terror as it reached out a hand, its fingers stretching out as if they were long tendrils and reaching for my closed eyes.

In a panic, I forced my spirit to move through the invisible wall of ice, rushing towards the creature. Just as those tendrils were about to make contact with my body, I rushed back into it, immediately opening my eyes. I could still see it, though not as clearly as before, and I threw out my hands on instinct, willing with all my might to push it back.

There was a sudden flash of light, one that began at my fingertips and quickly filled the room. I heard a shrill scream, but not with my ears. It was screaming in my mind.

As quickly as it had appeared, the flash was gone. The flickering of the candle on my bedside was the only light that remained. I scrambled backwards on the bed, sitting up and desperately searching the room for any remaining sign of the creature.

It was gone.