Tainted Crown Page 7

  As we all watched, Rhydian leaned down and said something to the dog that was too quiet for us to hear. Whatever it was caused the animal to spin and run back out of the dining hall. He might have actually been my pet, but I was just as mystified as everyone else.

  “A registry needs to be made for anyone who is new to Alkwin,” Orson stated. As he said it, one person at each side of the room held up a chart for everyone to see. Then they handed them to the person at the end of the front row on both sides. “You will include your name and those in your family, as well as vocational assignments in Eden. Also list any experience you have in other areas. Finally, include everything you brought into Alkwin with you. This will tell us what you need.”

  “Clothes and personal items belong to you,” Rhydian announced. “Any Healer supplies go to the clinic for community use. That’s non-negotiable.”

  People just nodded along, watching as the charts started to make their way around. Several others had been dispersed at other points in the room. One made it to me quickly, but I just passed it on to the guy next to me. I had already been in Alkwin. Besides, it wasn’t like I would have the answer to anything it asked.

  “We will be sending a team out to a city about a day’s trip away,” Orson said. “Only people with combat training will be permitted to join. There are dangerous animals there, but also supplies that we’re going to need. If you’re interested, come see me after the meeting. Once you’ve filled out the registrar, you can come up here to sign up for the different jobs. More permanent schedules will be handed out once things settle down.”

  People started to get up to move to the front of the room. I might not remember anything about this place, but it was actually nice to see people so willing to go volunteer to help out. In fact, no one really looked to be lingering, as if hoping they would be able to weasel out of it. After everything Orson had said about Eden, I could see how it made sense. These people must have been willing to do anything if it meant having a safe place to live.

  I took advantage of the crowds forming to make my exit. They weren’t going to let me do anything anyway. Noella had said nothing strenuous. As for the rest, I was sure they would let me know what it was I needed to do.

  The yard was still completely void of people, which let me walk off toward the woods without anyone seeing. I wasn’t even sure where I was going, but I soon found a small clearing with a tree that had fallen that I could sit on. It was perfect.

  The cool air felt nice, but that was nothing compared to the quiet. I could hear the sounds in the distance from camp behind me. For the first time since I had awoken, though, I really felt like I was alone. Like I could think without being suffocated.

  I took advantage of the serenity to try to think about everything. Well, more like try to remember anything. Even one thing that told me I was still actually in there. That there was a chance that I could eventually get my life back.

  That seemed even more important now after what Noella had said. How could I have a baby with someone I didn’t know? It wouldn’t be fair to him to just exclude him. It wasn’t like he’d done anything wrong. At least not that I remembered.

  “How did I know I’d find you out here?” his voice asked, breaking the silence several minutes later.

  I actually smiled before turning around to face him. It was more of a reflexive response, like my body’s natural reaction. I might not have understood it, but I took it as a good sign. He apparently did too, because he returned it when I faced him.

  “Because you know me better than I know myself.”

  Now he just looked to be fighting back a laugh. Like he didn’t want to admit there was some humor to be found in this situation. He tucked his fingers into his pockets, then started walking toward me. Although he was careful not to move too close, he did sit down beside me on the tree. I waited for the sense of discomfort to hit me. It didn’t. This was okay.

  “Your first day here, I caught you sitting in this same spot,” he said. He looked around the clearing, almost like he was caught in the memory of it. When he turned, his lips were quirked in a playful grin. “Although it was a less than pleasant conversation.”

  I was surprised that he had admitted that. Oddly, it made me feel a little more comfortable with him. Like I could trust him. He wasn’t just telling me the good things. Trying to mold how I saw him.

  “One of your abilities is to tell when someone is lying to you,” he went on when I looked to him for an explanation. “I said something and you called me out on it. Then I proceeded to interrogate you, certain you were a spy sent here from Eden to kill me.”

  “You did?” I laughed. I wanted to think that he was just joking, but he had just said I could tell when someone was lying. Nothing about it felt like it had been a lie. The way he had been with me since I woke up still made it almost impossible to picture him being abrasive, though. He was gentle. Sweet.

  He just shrugged like it wasn’t a big deal at all. “To be fair, I was actually right. Well, not the killing part. Just about you being a spy sent to lure me out so my uncle could do it.”

  Again, I wanted to think he was pulling something over on me. Trying to be funny. But he really didn’t look like he was. Instead, he was just watching me. As if hoping that some part of that would trigger a memory. I couldn't have a memory if it wasn’t true.

  But what he was saying… Everyone had been talking like I was some hero. How I had fought to free people who were being held in Eden. Now he was saying that I had been a spy. How was that even possible? Who was I?

  “This stays between us, because no one in camp actually knows this story. Well, aside from Orson and one person you confided in. And I really don’t want people to know,” he said. He waited until I nodded to continue. “When you and Lillith tried to get out of Eden, you were both grabbed by the Sentry. Adler, Dex’s father, made a deal with you. He told you that I was responsible for killing my brother, and sent you here to capture me. In exchange, he would give you Lillith back. But you couldn't do it.

  “We became close, and you decided to go back to Eden alone to find her. I followed you out that night, and Adler grabbed us. He told you to kill me and you refused. May I?” He pointed down to my side, then looked up to meet my eye. I hesitated for a moment, then nodded nervously. Moving gently, he grabbed the bottom of my shirt and lifted it up just enough to expose a scar on the side of my abdomen.

  “That’s the first time you saved my life,” he said softly, looking down at the scar for another moment before releasing my shirt. “You jumped in front of me when he tried to shoot me. Then you stopped him when he tried to kill me with his bare hands. That’s when your abilities triggered. Well, your other ones.”

  “What are they?”

  It still seemed so strange, the idea of people having abilities. I would think it was just some elaborate hoax if Lillith hadn’t done that connection thing with me. Or maybe a group delusion.

  “Succubus based,” he said casually, as if it were an everyday thing to talk about. I guess it could be. “You hold onto people and you can drain their energy. And siren based. That’s how you can communicate with your sister, and how you know when people are lying.”

  “Succubus and siren?” I asked.

  Rhydian smiled. That question actually did appear to amuse him. “There are twelve supernatural races that contribute to our abilities. Without giving you a complete history lesson, there was a war a long time ago and scientist used the genes from those creatures to create the Tainted. Super soldiers. Then they turned on humanity. What we are is a diluted form. Hundreds of years of Tainted genes mixing with humans. That’s why people generally display abilities from more than one race. Even people in the same family won’t have the same.”

  That was… cool.

  “Tell me a lie.”

  He didn’t hesitate, didn’t take time to think of one. Instead, he simply said, “I don’t feel guilty for what happened to you in Eden.”

  It was strange
. Not really anything I could feel, no physical sensation. No alarm that went off that told me it wasn’t true. Instead, it was like a deep knowing. Like every part of me could tell that it was a lie. I couldn't even entertain the idea that it could be true.

  “Interesting,” I said, then gave him a sad look when I really registered what he’d said.

  “So why did you sneak out of the clinic?” he asked, clearly shifting the conversation. Had he known that I’d been feeling bad for the way he felt? Could he sense that there was a possibility I’d want to talk to him about it? Or maybe try to convince him it wasn’t his fault?

  I couldn't answer any of those. So I just focused on his question and shrugged. “Just needed some fresh air.”

  “You like fresh air. You like the woods. Eden doesn’t have any plants or dirt outside of the fields, and they didn’t approve your requested position as a Grower. That’s why I always caught you in the woods or river. Or lying out on one of the tables in the middle of the night looking up at the stars. If you weren’t training.”

  “Training?” I asked, remembering the word being mentioned during the meeting.

  “Combat training. You picked it up faster than most. To the point that you even impressed my brother, which I didn’t know was possible during a first meeting.”

  I nodded, although I didn’t think it could possibly be true. I know he said that I was on the rescue mission, but I never considered that I’d been there to fight. Or even could. But he wasn’t lying.

  Who was I?

  “You said I wasn’t a Grower,” I said. I didn’t really need him to clarify what that was. The name seemed pretty self-explanatory. From what I had understood in the meeting, everyone in Eden had a specific job. “What was I?”

  “You’re Healer trained, like Noella,” he answered. “You’re good at it, even if it wasn’t your first choice. Lillith is a Maker. They create the machines and new technology. Dallin is a Sentry. They’re the only ones in Eden who are trained to fight.”

  While I might not remember anything that I would have learned as a Healer, something about that felt right. Like one of the pieces clicking into place that would make up the whole of me. Maybe that also explained how I knew instantly when Noella said Rhydian and I had been together three or four weeks before that it meant I was actually five or six weeks pregnant. That was something a Healer would know.

  And as soon as that little piece of information came back to the forefront of my thoughts again, I felt myself tense. He knew, but he didn’t know I did. It definitely wasn’t something I wanted to talk to him about.

  “I don’t want to push you, Leeya,” he said, his tone so gentle and sweet again. Caring. “You gave me space after that thing with my uncle, and I’m going to do the same for you. Not that I’m going to go anywhere or anything. Until you get yourself back, you have three assigned guardians. Someone needs to be with you when you’re out like this. There are too many new people in camp right now, and until you’re in the condition to defend yourself, you can’t be alone. Orson’s orders.”

  I wanted to argue, to tell him that I didn’t need a babysitter. Looking at him, the determination in his eyes, I knew it wasn’t a fight I was going to win. “Who?”

  “Dallin, Lillith, and myself. Paxton will probably be added to that list. He was your best friend growing up. You decided to tell your sister during your first connection with her that he was in love with her as a way of calming her down. Now they’re sharing a room together.”

  Sharing a room. I hadn’t even thought about sleeping arrangements. Nothing more than I knew I would be going back to my room now that I was out of the clinic. Was it my room, or…?

  “Do you and I…?”

  “Not until recently,” he answered, the smirk he had looking more guilty than anything else. “But I told you I wasn’t going to push you. I’ll stay with Gryffin. Just be prepared, because Linley has a tendency of sneaking into your bed in the middle of the night. Every night.”

  “Mine?” I asked. “Not yours?”

  His smirk only grew. “You’ll learn quickly how crafty that one can be. She would wake me up and expect me to follow her to your room.” His eyes shifted back to camp for a moment, then to me again. “And speaking of beds, you should get into yours. Otherwise, Noella is going to make you go back to the clinic where she can keep an eye on you.”

  CHAPTER FIVE

  RHYDIAN

  I left Leeya in her room after showing her quickly around the dorm. It was Lillith’s turn to watch her. Not that I really wanted to hand over the duty, but I had too much to do.

  Seeing her sitting out in the clearing actually gave me a little bit of hope. It definitely helped to knock away the panic I had when Noella told me she was missing from the clinic. She might not have gone out there because she remembered, but I could still see some of my girl there when we talked. She was still in there, and I had to hope she’d come back.

  It wasn’t really at the top of the priority list at the moment, but I went straight out to our spot on the river when I left the dorm. I rationalized it as saying that finishing the house would free up two of the dorm rooms. Well, as soon as Leeya got her memories back and we were back to being us. Really, I just needed to do something. I had to take my mind off of all of this. With crews already working on getting new houses going, this was still a better option than training. The only people who would be available were the children, and they wouldn’t give me the fight I needed.

  It didn’t take long to get lost in the task as I got to work finishing the foundation. I was so caught up in it that I barely heard someone approaching before the figure actually stepped into my line of sight.

  Dallin.

  He looked over what I was doing for a moment. This wasn’t how houses were built in Eden. There wasn’t really wood there at all. Once he seemed to understand the mechanics of it, he grabbed a board from the stack, hopped up, and started hammering it into place.

  “How are you doing?” he asked, not looking up from his work. Like me, I think he found relief in the manual labor.

  “As well as can be expected,” I answered honestly. “You?”

  We hadn’t really talked after learning of Leeya’s condition. Nothing more than letting him know she would need to be watched. I couldn't even imagine how he was feeling. It wasn’t just Leeya’s current situation he was having to deal with. There was Lillith and making sure she was okay after her ordeal. Being in a completely new environment, where pretty much everything we had to do was beyond what people in Eden even knew about. And finally, the fact that he had been dealing with the loss of at least one of his daughters in one form or another for six weeks now.

  “Same,” he nodded, then gave a dry chuckle. “I can honestly say I wasn’t expecting Orson to be here. Or alive in general.”

  Oh, right. Yet another thing for him to have to process.

  “Don’t worry. Leeya doesn’t like him,” I assured him. “To the point that they’ve gotten into some pretty heated discussions. As far as she’s concerned, you’re her father. Always will be.”

  I looked over for a reaction and saw him making an admirable attempt at not smiling.

  “So you two are getting married?”

  “That was the plan,” I sighed. I hammer down the board, then drop back on my haunches. “I was going to wait to get your blessing too, but I couldn't stop myself from telling her. Asking her.”

  I watched him nervously, hoping he wouldn’t be offended by that. Things weren’t as heavily enforced here with such things. He was fresh out of Eden, though, and wouldn’t be used to our ways. I also knew from what Leeya told me that he had his own ways of doing things when it came to courting and his daughters. So much so that he had turned a possible suitor away before. Orson might be our leader, but when it came to Leeya, Dallin was the one I really cared about.

  Thankfully, he didn’t look bothered at all.

  “I was with her when she realized you were still in Eden,” he sai
d instead. “Not that I hadn’t figured out when I first saw the two of you together that there was something there. Leeya’s never been one to give even a second thought to guys. I saw that look she had when I told her you never made it back. That love. As far as I’m concerned, you have my blessing. Things will work out.”

  “Thank you,” I said, and I really meant it. “This is supposed to be our house. Right by the river.”

  Dallin looked out at the waterfall in the distance and smiled. “She’ll love it. She’s always liked the outdoors.”