Tainted Crown Page 4

  CHAPTER TWO

  LEEYA

  My entire body hurt as I slowly opened my eyes. Not even just a little bit. It felt like I’d been trampled, my body beaten to the point that I was afraid to even move.

  Still, I couldn't stop my eyes from opening. Thankfully, the light was dull. Nothing more than what was coming from the overhead lighting. The window had a soft glow, but that was it. Night, or at least early morning.

  “You’re awake,” someone said softly. I turned my head slightly to find a woman looking over at me from where she sat against the wall. She stood, a sweet smile on her face as she walked closer. No one I recognized, but at least her presence wasn’t frightening. “How do you feel?”

  I groaned, my throat dry as I tried to cough. Swallowing, I shook my head and pushed myself so that I sat up more. She moved forward to help, then tucked a pillow in behind me for support.

  “I hurt,” I croaked out.

  She nodded, which told me that wasn’t a surprise.

  “You had a significant number of injuries,” she told me. “The most severe of which were a skull fracture with an accompanying concussion, and a broken rib that lacerated your liver and kidney. We were able to repair all of the damage, but you’ll still need to be on bedrest for the rest of the day.”

  I was stunned. I knew I felt like I’d been injured, but nothing that would have said it had been that bad. I didn’t even know how that could have happened in the first place. What had taken place to leave me in such a state.

  “I’ll go let your Healer know you’re awake,” she said kindly. “You’ve had a lot of people very worried about you.”

  I nodded numbly and watched as she walked to the door. She stepped out, but it didn’t shut again before someone else came in. This time a man, and he definitely did look worried.

  “You scared the hell out of me,” he said, grabbing the chair from the wall and moving it to the side of my bed. And he certainly looked like he meant it. There were shadows under his pretty green eyes, and the look of relief on his face was strong enough for anyone to see. “Don’t ever do that again.”

  “What happened?” I asked, still not sure what had actually landed me here in the first place. Had I done something? Or had someone done this to me?

  He groaned and shook his head. His long blonde hair fell away from where it had been tucked behind his ears, but he quickly pushed it back. “Dex set off a bomb when we were trying to get out,” he stated, then actually gave me a small smirk. “But you did it, crazy girl. You rescued all of the Tainted from the facility, and you somehow managed to have Dex’s confession broadcast to the entire city.”

  Some of his tension started to fall away, his eyes actually holding a smile in them. “You should have seen it, Leeya,” he stated, that smile reaching his lips. “Citizens were stopping us as we were trying to get out to help us. A group of Sentry are blocking the exit as we speak, not letting anyone other than Tainted wanting to leave out. Everyone knows the truth now. It’s the beginning of change in Eden, and you played a major part in that.”

  He leaned forward and reached out to take my hand. Before he could, I pulled away. That smile left him immediately, worry once again taking over.

  “Leeya, what’s wrong?”

  “Who are you?”

  Fear made my voice crack, but it wasn’t even close to the level he displayed himself. He looked… broken. Like those three little words completely tore his entire world apart. I felt bad, but I couldn't pretend. I had no idea who this guy was.

  “What are you talking about, Leeya?” he asked. “It’s me. Rhydian. Please tell me you remember.”

  I shook my head. I couldn't. I didn’t remember him. I didn’t remember anything.

  He closed his eyes and let out a breath, then stood and walked to the door. I thought for a moment he was going to just leave, but he didn’t cross through it. He simply said something to whoever was on the other side of it. He was talking low, so I could only make out a few words. He said something about a sister, my sister. Then there was a name.

  When the door closed, he just walked back and sat down in the chair. I expected him to talk, to try to get me to remember what I couldn't. To tell me who he was. Who he was to me. He didn’t. He just sat there staring back at me.

  A few minutes passed in uncomfortable silence before it was broken by the door opening again. This time it was women that entered. Two of them. They couldn’t have looked more different.

  The first in had a troubled look that wasn’t far from the one the man was still displaying. She looked between the two of us, then crossed the room to stand at my other side. I shifted some, but her attention went to a small machine that was sitting on the table next to me.

  The other woman was younger. She had long blonde hair and a bright smile when her eyes landed on me. She started to rush toward me, but she was stopped when the man, Rhydian, reached his arm out in front of her.

  She looked hurt, confused. Her gaze turned to him for an explanation, but he just kept his attention on me.

  “What’s going on with her, Noella?” he asked. His tone had lost all of that joy that had been there before. The relief. Now he just sounded hollow.

  The other woman, the one who had come to the opposite side of the bed, stepped closer and shined a light into my eyes.

  “Can you tell me your name?” she asked.

  I shook my head, then remembered what he had called me. “He said it’s Leeya.”

  Instantly, the other girl started crying. I felt bad. Uncomfortable. I wanted to just tell them all to leave, that I didn’t want to deal with this. But I couldn't. The fact that I couldn't remember anything actually frightened me more than dealing with their emotions and questions.

  “What do you remember?” the woman he had called Noella asked. I tried. Oh, how I tried. But all I could do was shake my head again.

  There was absolutely nothing there.

  The door opened again and another man walked in. This one with an animal. It pushed past him eagerly and jumped up onto my bed. I squealed, pushing back into my pillow. The creature didn’t seem deterred in the slightest. It moved forward, lowering itself down onto my outstretched legs. Assaulting my hands that had shot up to defend myself with its mouth as it started licking me.

  “What is that?” I asked frantically, trying to push it away.

  “He’s your dog,” Rhydian said calmly, not showing even the slightest bit of concern that the beast could harm me. I might not have remembered this man, but his ease actually did help to lessen my panic. Some. “You named him Kip. He’s just telling you that he missed you.”

  “That’s a dog?” the girl by him asked. Her face was still wet with tears, but her shock seemed to win in that moment. The way she was looking at him made me feel like I wasn’t the only one who had never seen one before. Well, not that I could remember.

  “What’s going on?” the other man interjected. He was older than the rest. Well, at least Rhydian and the girl. Closer to Noella’s age, although he was still a little older than she was.

  “She doesn’t remember, Dallin,” the girl cried, then turned and threw her arms around him. “She doesn’t remember anything.”

  “Who are all of you people?” I asked, unable to hold the question in any longer.

  They all stopped and looked at me. The girl had stopped crying for the moment, but she still clung to the man she had called Dallin. Her head pressed to his chest as she peered back toward me. Dallin had a look of sorrow on his face that matched Rhydian’s.

  Like my very words were causing them pain.

  Rhydian was the one to speak. “Noella is our Healer,” he said, motioning to the woman at my side. “You work with her here in the clinic. This is Lillith.” He tilted his head toward the woman in Dallin’s arms. “She’s your sister. Your twin. Dallin is your step-father. He raised you. And I’m…”

  He faltered, his brow dropping slightly as he actually thought about that answer. Like it was a
complicated situation. One that he wasn’t sure how to explain. I wasn’t sure how I felt about that.

  “He’s your fiancé,” Lillith answered.

  Well, that answered that. It was somehow so much more than being told someone was family. This was scarier somehow. More… I don’t know. Intimate. And I apparently wasn’t the only one shocked by the news. Both Noella and Dallin looked stunned as they faced Rhydian.

  “Thank you, Lillith,” he said dryly. “Again, we hadn’t really told anyone. Other than your father, and that’s only because I had to ask his blessing.”

  His answer was met by even more confusion from Dallin and Lillith. I was actually glad that I wasn’t the only one who didn’t seem to know what the hell was going on. Rhydian noticed and sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose and closing his eyes for a moment. He was frustrated. I didn't have to remember him to see that.

  “Right, sorry. So much has been going on. Our leader, Orson Blaker.”

  The name meant nothing to me, which wasn’t a surprise at all. It clearly did to them, though. The very fact that they didn’t know actually left me with even more questions. This was supposed to be my family, so why wouldn’t they have known who the leader of this place was? Why had Lillith been so surprised by the dog? Furthermore, why had my sister been the only one to know I was apparently engaged?

  None of this made sense, and it was starting to make my head spin. Part of me wondered if this wasn’t some trick. If these people hadn’t actually been the ones to cause my memory loss. They could have captured me for some reason and were now trying to convince me they were family.

  But that wouldn’t explain the genuine pain I saw in Rhydian’s eyes when I told him I didn’t know who he was. That couldn’t be faked.

  “Noella, when will she get her memories back?” Rhydian asked, giving me something to focus on. A question that I really wanted an answer to myself.

  Noella shrugged with a helpless look in her eyes. “There’s no telling with head injuries. It could be soon, or it could take some time. All at once, or in bits and pieces.”

  “But she will get them back?”

  “I can’t tell you that, Rhydian,” she told him. “I’ve never dealt with a case of amnesia before. It’s so rare that I doubt anyone has. The best thing to do is just immerse her in her life and hope that works.”

  The door opened, yet again, and another man walked in. This one stayed back, looking me over before turning to face Noella. She didn’t wait for him to say anything before walking toward him and entering into a hushed conversation. He nodded at something she said, then said something about someone named Linley. Her wanting to see me. Noella nodded, but Rhydian didn’t look happy.

  “She’s my little sister,” he said, obviously picking up on the next question I was going to ask. “You two are very close. I didn’t want her to know the kind of shape you were in.”

  I nodded and watched as the others started moving back to the door. Not Rhydian. He just sat in the chair where he had been, his eyes still on me. Then, after everyone else walked out, a little girl ran into the room. With his age, I had honestly expected someone older. She couldn't have even reached her tenth birthday. I could see what he said about us being close though. She had nothing but a big smile on her pretty little face as she ran toward me and jumped onto the bed.

  Linley climbed right over the sleeping dog and wrapped her arms around me, hugging me tightly. I didn’t know what else to do but hug her back. Rhydian watched on silently, but he still looked like he was in pain.

  “I knew you’d be okay,” she said cheerfully. “You promised you’d come back and you did. And you brought Gryffin!”

  “Of course I was coming back, princess,” I said softly. “A promise is a promise.”

  Linley sat back and looked at me with narrowed eyes. For a moment, I actually felt like I was going to be scolded. Had I said something wrong? It had seemed like the safest answer I could give.

  “You aren’t supposed to let anyone know I’m a princess, Leeya,” she said, a little sassier than I thought could come from someone so young.

  I started to laugh at her joke, but Rhydian made a grunting sound that stopped me. Then he turned to his sister, a placating smile on his face. “She’s just teasing. No one is here to hear it, so it’s okay, Princess Myrah.”

  His eyes shot back to me, a request hidden in them for something. To play along? Surely it was just a joke. But the look he was giving me was so serious. One that promised to explain if I just wouldn’t say anything.

  Then I understood. She was a real princess. And if that was true, that meant that Rhydian was a prince. I was engaged to a prince?

  “Gryffin told me you and Rhydian are finally getting married,” Linley said, oblivious to the whirlwind of things going on in my head. “It’s about time. Does that mean I can go live with you when you do? I don’t like being with my pretend family, and I don’t want to stay in the dorm by myself. Even with Lillith and Gryffin there now.”

  “Of course you can,” Rhydian answered again. “I’ll take you after lunch to show you where our house is being built. I already have a room picked out for you.” She smiled brightly. “Now, Leeya needs her rest. Why don’t you take Kip and go to the schoolhouse. You’ll be eating breakfast in there today. Make sure someone’s out there to walk with you. We have a lot of new people in camp, and I don’t want you going anywhere by yourself.”

  Linley rolled her eyes and hopped off the bed, whistling for Kip to follow. He surprised me with a lick to the cheek, then jumped down to take his place at her side. Rhydian walked her out, telling whoever was waiting out there to make sure she made it where she was supposed to go, then closed the door and took his place in the chair again.

  “Thank you for that,” he said gently. He leaned forward with his elbows on his knees, his eyes on his entwined hands. “I’ll talk to her when things settle down. Make sure she knows what’s going on.”

  “We’re really engaged?” I asked.

  He gave a small nod and peered back up. “Since right before we left for Eden.”

  “What’s Eden?”

  It seemed like every question I asked just added to the pain he was feeling. He tried to hide it, but I could see it in his eyes.

  “Eden is the city we all came from,” he explained. “It’s about fifty miles from here. Some of the people there are different. It’s called Tainted. That’s what most of the people here are. We have abilities. It isn’t safe there for us, so we’ve left to live here. Your sister, Lillith, was taken by the government when the two of you were trying to escape. We went in last night and rescued all of them. Your sister, my brother. About sixty others.” He sighed. “And I’m giving you way too much information all at once.”

  He was, and it made my head ache. Tainted. Abilities. It sounded like something that came from a story book. Although, he was apparently a prince, and I was supposed to marry him. Did that make me a princess? Or, a future princess?

  My head was hurting even more now.

  “I need to go make sure everything around camp is running smoothly,” he told me. “I’m sure Lillith wants some time with you anyway. The Healer said you need to stay in bed today. I’ll make sure your meals are brought in. And if you need anything, someone will know where to find me.”

  “Okay,” I said softly. Should I apologize? Thank him?

  He didn’t wait for anything like that. He just stood and left. When he did, the girl from before walked in. Lillith.

  “So, tell me this is all some game because you’re getting cold feet, and you didn’t really forget about me,” she said, pulling the chair Rhydian had been sitting in even closer to the bed and sitting. She was no longer crying, which I was grateful for.

  “I wish I could.” I sighed, then narrowed my gaze at her words. “Why would I have cold feet? Is he not a good guy?”

  She reached for my hand with a sad little smile. I almost pulled away, but kept myself from doing it. I was tired of se
eing people hurt.

  “Honestly, I don’t know him,” she answered. “But I know what you’ve told me through our nifty mental connection. You said I could trust him. You wouldn’t have said that if you didn’t yourself. Besides, have you looked at him? You could do way worse.”

  I smirked. She was taking this much easier than Rhydian had. Well, she was doing a better job making light of it. “He’s a prince.”

  She laughed and nodded, not surprised. So it was true. “Yeah, I figured that one out. It’s funny, since he was supposed to have been killed years ago. I guess that’s just when they smuggled him out of the city.”

  Lillith’s story matched the one Rhydian had been telling me. While it did make me more prone to believing it, it was still so much information to take in. People being smuggled out of a city. Running from the government. Me being involved in a rescue mission.