Part 45 (1/2)

Okay. I'm talking to people. Focus. I'm feeling every hit.

He chuckled. Then quit talking to me, woman. Sum it up and meet us at Keiran's.

I stopped the flow of people with a raised hand. ”I want a chance to sit down with all of you and talk. But tonight, I came to meet my father, and then we're going back home. He's asked me to convey to you a message. He needs you. Our people need you. If you haven't heard, Sir Malax left with half the guards and all the knights, leaving us vulnerable. Most of our guards are trainees. Most of them are just like you.”

”Liar,” a familiar voice called from the back of the room, and people turned. Lady Nemea. She was dressed all in black, including a trench coat, like a hunter. Around her waist was a belt with a dagger. I could see the gilded pommel and a green stone in the center of the hilt. It looked like a replica of the Kris Dagger. ”Lord Valafar has forged an alliance with the Guardians and plans to destroy us all.”

Everyone turned to see my response. She might be right about my father and grandfather coming to an understanding, but she would twist the truth to make their a.s.sociation seem evil.

”That is a lie,” I said. ”I asked Father to talk to my grandfather, who you all know is a Guardian. It is time to bring our people together and stop the endless raids and wars. Are you tired of Guardians hunting you down?”

”Yes.” Their response was slow in coming.

”Are you tired of losing your brothers and sisters, mothers and fathers, sons and daughters?”

”Yes!” The response was better.

”Do you want to live peacefully, watch your children grow, prosper, and grow old with the woman or man you love?”

”YES!” they hollered.

”Then we will do it, but only if we work together as a people and stop killing each other.”

”That sounds nice, Lilith,” Lady Nemea spat, and heads turned to look at her. ”Where are we going to live in peace when the Guardians don't want us here on earth?”

The focus s.h.i.+fted to me. I had thought about this long and hard.

”We will go back to Xenith where we belong,” I said. ”The land G.o.ddess Xenia built for us all.”

Lady Nemea laughed. ”The Guardians will never allow us back there.”

”It is not a matter of allowing us. It is about reclaiming what is ours. We belong there as much as they do. I am the Chosen One, the voice of G.o.ddess Xenia and the Princ.i.p.alities, and I give you my solemn promise that we will go home.” I was pus.h.i.+ng it, but I had to calm the anxiety bubbling from these people.

”Just because she carries the Kris Dagger doesn't make her the Chosen One,” Lady Nemea said, lifting up a replica of the Kris Dagger, except her blade glowed. Gasps filled the room. ”Anyone can be the Chosen One.”

How did she do that?

The people moved back, fear replacing their curiosity, eyes volleying between me and Lady Nemea. I wanted to reach for my dagger and pull it out, but I refused to play her game.

”Don't be afraid,” I rea.s.sured the people, my eyes not leaving Lady Nemea. ”She will not hurt you.”

”That's right,” Lady Nemea said. ”I will not, but she will. How, you may ask? She's a fake, a Guardian plant supported by a father desperate to have his child with him. Follow her, and the Guardians will destroy you the way they did your families. Follow me, and together we will stop the Guardians.” She raised the dagger in the air. The blade glowed bright.

This was bad. The people were becoming confused.

Do something, Lilith, Gavyn snarled from behind me.

I'm thinking, I snapped.

Then I saw a flash of red in the tear-drop green gem in the middle of the guard and knew how she'd done it. That wasn't a replica of the Kris Dagger. It was Solange's dagger, Queen Coronis's Athame. How could Lady Nemea wield it? Why was the red gem looking like a jadeite? Maybe the dagger wasn't tailor-made for one wielder like my dagger.

I focused on Lady Nemea's Psi energy. I'd seen it often enough to know it was red with dark spots. Tonight, an aura of brilliant energy covered it. I didn't need to connect with it to know it was my own energy. She must have absorbed the drained energy she'd stolen from me and was using it to control the blade. I glanced at the sisters and Locke. They nodded encouragingly. At least I had their support.

”Prove to them you're the Chosen One,” Lady Nemea yelled. ”Show them what your dagger can do.”

No one spoke. Instead, they moved back, leaving a clear path between us across the restaurant floor, their eyes on me.

I knew what she was trying to do. If I attacked her, the people would always see me as a killer. That was not the kind of leader I wanted to be. ”No.”

Hatred flashed in her eyes. ”See? I told you she wasn't the Chosen One. She's just a Special with more powers than the others. The Chosen One is a myth, a story our fathers and grandfathers told us so we could feel better every time the Guardians attacked us. The thought of someone, one person, changing our lives is an illusion. The future is in our hands, not controlled by some chosen person with a special dagger.”

Silence followed.

”Then get rid of me,” I said. ”Right here, right now, blast me with your dagger.” Gasps filled the room. The twins moved closer. ”I won't resist and I won't fight back. I swore I'd never raise a hand against my people again, and I won't raise it against you.”

Lady Nemea laughed. The demented light in her eyes said she planned to kill me. Fight me, you stupid kid, she snarled, or your entire family is dead. I have your sister, father, and grandfather.

I smiled. My father and grandfather are safe.

She angled her head and asked, Malax, is everything okay there?

No response.

Malax, she screeched.

They took them and trapped us in light cages, he said.

Who took them?

The Guardians.

Lady Nemea's face contorted with rage. She pointed the Athame at me and green light shot toward me. I teleported out of the way.

”Get out of here,” I yelled to the people, but they only moved, and closer to the walls. No one left. ”She'll hurt you. She has Coronis's Athame.”

The green light hit me that time, and the impact threw me over the bar and into one of the gla.s.s cases. The gla.s.s surface exploded and shards rained down on me. Then I realized something when they bounced off me without making contact. The Kris Dagger had created a s.h.i.+eld around me. It glowed bright in its sheath.

”Stop this before you hurt someone, Lady Nemea,” I called out, jumping to my feet.

”I don't care. Fight me, you silly girl. Show these people your true colors. You're not a peace-loving person. You are a killing machine, a product of the Guardians' training.” Light shot from the blade again and cut across the room, hitting the counter to my right and leaving a large hole.

A blast of energy shot past me, and the next second, she was flying backwards. She spun, her shrieks filling the room. I looked over my shoulder and my eyes met Locke's.

”No, Locke. You could hurt her.”

”She attacked you, Princess,” he protested.

”She can't hurt me. The Kris Dagger is protecting me. See?” The blade was vibrating and glowing in its sheath, but I held it in place. ”Get these people out of here.”

”Leave!” Locke and the sisters yelled to the people, but their morbid fascination with the showdown, or maybe their need for proof, kept them rooted in place. Some stared at my dagger, noticing the glow shooting through the sheath and around the hilt. I had to force them to leave before they got hurt. Time to use persuasion.