Hereditary Read online

  You shouldn’t have made it so hard for me to reach you, little spitfire. This could have all been over a lot sooner.

  And little by little, the pain began to ease, until I was a whole again. Jerking up suddenly, I pushed weakly past Hazen and Cale, who seemed to be arguing with each other, and hadn’t even noticed me get up yet. I managed to make it to a pot plant not far from the chaise before I threw up, my stomach reacting violently to the overload of pain.

  “Nareon…” I managed.

  “He was here a few moments ago, he told us to open the door, said that he could help you… We didn’t let him in and now he’s gone.”

  I nodded weakly, and then pushed back from the plant, not trusting my legs enough to stand.

  “I didn’t hurt anyone?” I looked up, surprised at the haze of tears that blurred my sight.

  “No, but you screamed so loud I had to order them to get the band playing downstairs to drown you out.” Hazen answered lightly.

  “Thank you,” I whispered, “I’m sorry…”

  And then I passed out.

  When I woke up, I was in an unfamiliar bed, in an unfamiliar room, wearing an unfamiliar shift, and every inch of my body was aching. Though the room was quite beautiful, I had to concede, and I slipped out of the large bed with a wince of discomfort, and padded around to the window. I was in the castle, and as I looked down over the perfectly manicured grounds below, I found it hard to believe that the party had even happened at all, as there was no longer a single trace of it left.

  The sound of the door opening broke through my confusion, and a moment later, Rose skipped in, looking surprised to see me out of bed.

  “Oh my god! You’re awake!”

  The confusion deepening, I moved back to the bed, hit by an unexpected wave of exhaustion, and passed a hand over my eyes.

  “How long have I been… sleeping?”

  “Not just sleeping, you’ve been out for a few weeks now Bea.”

  “Wait, what?” I felt another wave of dizziness hit, and for a moment, I thought that I would faint, until Rose dashed forward and pushed me back against the pillows.

  “Wait right here, I need to call your Healer.”

  She gave me a stern look and then rushed back to the door, flinging it open and yelling, “She’s awake!”

  I grimaced, “I have a Healer? Is he hard of hearing?”

  She giggled and moved back to me, slipping onto the other end of the bed and drawing her legs up beside her.

  “Mother called him in the day after the party. Hazen said that you were sick, but when you wouldn’t wake up, we knew that something was wrong.”

  “Did the Healer find out… what was wrong?”

  “Parion.”

  “Eesh.” Parion was almost worse than the truth. It was something that mixed-breed children were somewhat susceptible to, though it was rare.

  It was, essentially the inability of the human body to cope with the two warring magical breeds that are what make them a whole. But I supposed the symptoms fit well enough, as when Parion hit, the patients often slipped into comas, though they rarely woke up. The Healer who strode into the room was an elderly man, which almost made me regret the ‘hard of hearing joke’, until he began to poke, prod and otherwise treat me as if I were still in a coma, until he was satisfied that I really was alive and breathing again.

  “She’ll need to stay in bed a little longer, maybe a week or so, and then I think she can be moved home.” He said to Rose, “I’ll go tell the others she’s awake.”

  Rose helped me get back under the covers, and just as well, as the next person to walk into the room was the queen herself. And then the reality of my situation hit me, and I wondered if I could still blush, even after being in a coma for weeks. I began to stutter apologies, but the woman just shushed me, and moved to sit beside my bed. The fae were generally a cheerful race, always welcoming and accepting of others, but I had to admit, even I was surprised at this.

  “I’m just glad you made it through. Everyone has been very worried about you.”

  I blinked at her, taking in the coal-black hair that curled to her waist, the dark brown eyes that seemed to hold nothing but kindness, and last of all, the delicate golden crown that was set into her perfectly groomed hairstyle.

  “Everyone?” I managed, not sure who would really worry about me, unless my father had returned from his mission.

  To my surprise, Rose sniggered.

  “Cale and Hazen have been impossible. Cale visits every single day and I have to basically kick him out so that he’ll go home, and Hazen…”

  At Hazen’s name, I couldn’t help but look back to the Queen, who seemed a little uneasy now. Rose trailed off, and for a moment, silence descended upon the room, and then someone appeared in the doorway.

  “Dad!”

  My father looked relieved, and when he rushed over to me and swooped me into a slightly painful hug, it was hard to believe that he had killed even so much as a rodent before.

  “When did you get back?” I asked, when he finally released me.

  “Last week. God, I’m so happy to see you Bea. I thought I lost you.”

  The Queen rose gracefully from her seat, motioning Rose to follow her out of the room, and I stared awkwardly after them, still unsure what to make of the Queen herself attending my bedside. My father looked ragged and tired, and his eyes were bloodshot, and it wasn’t until I turned back to him, that I understood. I was the daughter of the Black Commander, and my father was probably within the ten most influential people in the King’s court. It was a strange realisation to come to terms with.

  “Dad, I’m fine, really.” I wanted to tell him that it wasn’t Parion, but perhaps it was better for him to think that it was, especially since Parion was supposed to be a one-time thing.

  He smoothed my hair back from my face, but didn’t answer me, and I wondered if he felt guilty that he hadn’t been here when I went down. I reached out and caught his hand, giving it a squeeze, but whatever consoling words I might have uttered were cut off when Cale burst into the room.

  My Father reluctantly stepped aside for Cale to pull me into a hug, but then quickly reclaimed his place by my side, while Cale flopped onto the other end of the bed, taking up the spot that Rose had vacated.

  “Hazen will be glad to hear that you’re ok, he flipped out a little when you didn’t wake up, and took a mission with the King’s Guard, but he should be home in a few days.”

  “That explains Rose and the Queen.”

  “They’re not too happy with him.”

  “What? Why? Shouldn’t they be upset at me?”

  Cale rolled his eyes, “Nobody really thinks you’re a monster anymore Bea. They’re upset because they thought that having your friends around you would be good, incase…”

  He trailed off, and the words that he didn’t say hung about us in the air.

  In case your body gave up. In case you died.

  Since the memory of Hazen almost kissing me was still burnt into my mind, I quickly changed the subject, even as his words echoed around my brain, taunting me.

  If you still want me to kiss you when all of this is over tomorrow, then you can look at me like that. Not now. Not like this.

  “The Healer is going to suggest I stay here for a week, but that’s ridiculous, I can’t hole up in the castle and be waited upon by other people’s staff. Dad can help me get home, right Dad?”

  I turned to the man in question, but his face had taken on a hard look, the kind of hard look that he used to wear in my childhood, when he was determined to get his way.

  “I can’t be with you all the time, you know that Bea. I think you should stay here.”

  “Of course she’ll stay here!” declared Rose, striding back into the room as if she had been listening at the door.

  I looked imploringly to Cale, but he shook his head, indicating that I was going to get no help from his quarter, and then I sighed, sagging back against the pillows.

>   “I’m so embarrassed… of all the places that this could have happened—”

  “You’re lucky it happened here,” interjected Rose, “and so are we.”

  “Why? You’d all be less one synfee in the world.”

  “Beatrice!” My father jumped up, looking outraged, but Cale only rolled his eyes.

  Rose, however, seemed to understand.

  “I was surprised too,” she said, “I was worried that my parents would just let you die, but you know what my mother said?”

  “Feed the naughty servants to her?” Quipped Cale.

  I could feel my father’s outrage deepening, but both Rose and I laughed.

  “No,” Rose answered, “she said that there are no good and bad races, there are only good and bad people, and every race has their fair share of either.”

  “Wow.” I said.

  Cale and Rose predominantly carried the conversation after that, and gradually my father seemed to relax again, until he had to leave, and then he dropped a somewhat awkward kiss onto my forehead and disappeared. And then, not long after that, the Queen returned.

  “How are you feeling Beatrice?”

  “Only tired, Your Highness.”

  I wondered if I should call her Your Highness, or Your Majesty having never actually visited the castle, or even laid eyes upon the royal family before starting at the Academy, I wasn’t very well schooled on the current politics, but she seemed to realise what I was struggling with, and smiled.

  “You can call me Miriam. You are as much a child of the court as Cale is, even though you have never visited.”

  “Thank you.” I managed a smile in return.

  “Now it’s been decided with your father that you’ll stay here until the Healer says you’re better, and—” she held up a hand, cutting off the polite protest that I was mustering, “that is not something to be negotiated.”

  I found myself wanting to laugh at her expression, as it was so achingly similar to something that I would expect to see on Hazen’s handsome face, and she softened a little when my smile became more relaxed.

  “I really appreciate it,” I told her, looking over at Rose to include her, “how much you have all done for me, if there is anything I can do in return, please tell me.”

  “I’d hazard a guess to say that you’ve already done it,” Miriam told me, her gaze touching on Cale for a moment, and then she was turning and heading back to the door, “try not to wear her out too much, you two.”

  “Does she think that Hazen is watching?” I asked Cale once she had disappeared.

  He nodded, “and once he sees that you’ve woken up, he’ll probably come home.”

  “I wouldn’t be putting all your chips on me. Maybe he left because—” I snapped my mouth shut then, almost having forgotten that Rose didn’t know as much as Cale or Hazen, and that she was suddenly looking at me with thinly veiled curiosity, waiting to hear what I would say.

  Luckily, Cale smoothly saved me, “ahh you heard about what happened after you left us a couple of hours before midnight.”

  “What happened?” Asked Rose, much to my relief, because I was also curious.

  “Hazen got rip-roaring drunk.” He seemed pleased by this prospect.

  “He did?” Both me and Rose asked, and I could hear that she was torn between laughter and disbelief.

  “Yup,” Cale perched himself on the windowsill and looked down over the grounds, “him and Kaylee finally sealed the deal too.”

  Rose made a face, “she’s been trying to get my brother to sleep with her for years.”

  “I thought they were a couple?” I asked, fighting to keep my tone even, despite the sudden, sickening feeling clenching in my stomach.

  “Well I suppose they are now.” Rose muttered, and flopped onto the bed, “which actually would be a really good reason to flee the kingdom.”

  I tried not to laugh, but it escaped anyway, and I was somewhat selfishly relieved that Rose also seemed to dislike Kaylee.

  “Which reminds me,” piped up Cale, “you had a gentleman caller of your own, little synfee. He said his name was Nareon.”

  “Who was he?” asked Rose, disturbingly eager, “I saw him myself, he was well… he was so hot Bea, is he your boyfriend or something?”

  “Or something,” I clarified, “he helped me out in a bad situation a little while ago, and now I’m not sure what he wants.”

  “I’d say he wants a piece of Beatrice Harrow.” Rose wiggled her brows, and I suddenly laughed so hard that I momentary got dizzy and had to gasp for breath.

  Cale also seemed to be amused, but Rose shook her head at me.

  “Nareon isn’t to be trusted Rose,” I stared at her seriously, to emphasise my point, but she only rolled her eyes.

  And then Cale suddenly jumped off the windowsill, eyes wide, sliding to fix upon me, his expression saying very clearly that he had just figured out my secret.

  “Rose,” he said, his voice uncharacteristically hard, “give us a minute, will you?”

  Rose jumped up, a little shaken, and threw me a look. I nodded to her, to let her know that it would be ok, and she hurried out of the room, closing the door behind her.

  “He’s a synfee. That’s why he’s wearing a glamor.” Cale hissed, storming to my side and pinning me down with a sudden, furious glare.

  “He is.” I said carefully.

  “Why didn’t you say so?”

  “You would have thought I was working with him.”

  “Don’t be absurd, Bea.”

  I shrugged, and sat up a little straighter, feeling self-defensive.

  “He only approached me on my first day at the Academy. He said that he needed to help me control my…” I hesitated, and Cale’s eyebrows shot up.

  “The time for secrets has passed, little synfee.”

  I winced, “He told me that I would come into my inheritance power, when I turned eighteen.”

  “What the hell is that?”

  “Something called Force. He said I would be able to control the forces of nature around me, like the wind, the temperature, the rain, that kind of stuff.”

  “Well you did specialise in those elements, so that’s kind of a no-brainer.”

  “I think he was talking on a larger scale than specialisation.”

  “Like hurricanes? Stor—”

  He cut off abruptly, and I knew that he was remembering the sudden clap of thunder that had surprised him when I had been compelled to kiss him.

  “That doesn’t really make sense,” he mused, “if your inheritance power was that volatile that the synfees had to send someone to keep an eye on you, wouldn’t that be a good thing for them? I mean, you’re in the middle of our kingdom, not theirs, so a sudden natural disaster would be a gods-send as far as they are concerned, wouldn’t it?”

  I shrugged again, “He wouldn’t tell me anymore, though he did manipulate me into dropping my glamor a few times, which also doesn’t make a lot of sense.”

  “Unless he specifically wanted your glamor down for the moment that you turned eighteen.”

  “What would that do?”

  “Beats me, little synfee.”

  We spoke a little longer, and then Rose knocked on the door and poked her head in to tell Cale to go home, because I needed to rest.

  Once alone, I sank quickly into sleep, and didn’t wake up until the next day, when the door suddenly slammed open. I jolted up and quickly rubbed my eyes, blinking as Hazen’s face slowly came into focus. He strode to the side of the bed, and I found words stuck in my throat. Unfortunately, he also didn’t seem inclined toward speech, and the silence stretched on, with him gazing down at me as if he couldn’t quite believe I was really awake, or alive, and then Rose also busted into the room, gasping to catch her breath.

  “Man you’re fast,” she mumbled, as she threw a dark look at her brother and came to flop down on the bed beside me again, “Sorry Bea, I did tell him that you were sleeping.”

  “It’s fine.”
I muttered, finally dragging my eyes away from him, which seemed to spur him into action.

  “You look better,” he offered, pulling up a seat beside the bed, “before I left, you were so pale…”

  The silence stretched on again, and Rose cleared her throat, “you’re going to go crazy, locked away in here for a week, maybe we can sneak you down to the garden tomorrow.”

  I turned to smile at her, “that would be amazing.”

  Cale ambled in then, and didn’t look the least surprised to see Hazen sitting there.

  “And how is everyone this morning?” He asked.

  “Rose is relieved that I’m back, Bea is exasperated that you’re not surprised to see me here, because she thinks we’ve been communicating secretly in your head, and I am fine.” Hazen answered for all of us, causing his sister to reach over me and punch him in the arm.

  “Well, you did contact me as you were riding past my house,” Cale spoke, moving to sit on the bed beside Rose, “if I remember correctly. What was it again? Oh yes, ‘Wake up, I’m home.’ Eloquent, as always Hazen.”

  Hazen’s lips twitched in that half-smile of his, and Miriam appeared in the doorway, her eyes falling on her son with no small amount of relief.

  “Hazen, you’re back!”

  Hazen stood and walked to his mother, kissing both of her cheeks and walking her to the chair he had just vacated, all in his typical, unemotional manner. Though I got the feeling that she was used to it—or perhaps saw beyond it—as the brightness in her eyes never dulled, even when she turned back to me.

  “And how are you today, darling? The Healer checked on you while you slept earlier, he said you were moving along exponentially fast.”