Page 15 of Riftborne
It took every logical fragment of my brain to stop me from spitting on his polished boots right then and there. I felt my palms twitch.
What should have been fear was replaced by rage once again, the kind I couldn’t control, and the familiar haze overtook my vision. I shoved my back further into the wood until I heard it crack in resistance, warning myself to calm the blaze that was igniting all over my skin and through my skull. I pressed my hands against the sides of my temples in an attempt to physically calm the power trying to flood me.
He had done his research.The fucking audacity.Everyone in the Guard was pure fucking evil. All they did was abuse their power, kill indiscriminately and manipulate for their own sick entertainment. My heart raced.
His footsteps became distant as he walked away.
“I just want to know about the other times this has happened. It’s simple," he insisted.
My eyes moved along the cracks in the floor, searching for something. I couldn’t let him involve Osta in this.
“It was last Spring. Inside the Apothecary.” My words were clipped, my breath labored. The familiar feeling of regret began its descent into my gut as the memories surfaced. I had pushed this so far from my mind, reliving it was going to be hard.
“Go on,” he urged, leaning back onto the table.
“I was in the front of the shop, restocking the potion cabinets.” My vision blurred as I replayed the events.
“I heard a commotion outside. I figured it was just some street vendors fighting over territory. But the sounds got closer, and I could hear her–Osta–screaming.” My hand found its way to my hair and raked through, catching a few snags.
“She was with her new boyfriend. I don’t even know what they were fighting over. But she ran into the shop, heading towards the back. He raced after her and she just kept telling him to leave her alone.... But he wouldn’t. At first, he was kind of pleading with her,but then he got really frustrated,” I looked away, swallowing the salt that had begun forming in my mouth.
“I told him he needed to leave, but he didn’t hear me. At that point, he was roaring at her. I couldn’t understand what he was saying.” My lungs sucked in a slow breath. “But he was starting to really piss me off. Ma ran in from the greenhouse.”
“ He reared up like he was going to hit Osta, and I totally lost it.”
“You lost it? Elaborate please,” the General said from across the room.
“I lost control. This… surge ran through me... It’s difficult to explain. But… it was as if pure force erupted out of me and grappled him.” My eyes widened, remembering how his body lifted off the ground. How he began trembling uncontrollably, unnaturally. What I had done… It still terrified me.
“Ma and Osta... they were screaming. I couldn’t hear them at first. I was completely consumed by what was happening.” A lump formed in my throat. “Eventually, Osta yanked me back, and broke my trance. He fell and hit the ground.” I winced, remembering the sound of dead weight striking the creaking floor of the shop.
“He wasn’t dead. Just unconscious. Ma was able to heal him. I guess it’s lucky we were in the Apothecary…” I trailed off. The way Ma had looked at me that day…
I felt my heart shatter all over again. There was so much horror in her eyes. I never once imagined she could look at me like that. The way that others looked at me.
Like I was a monster.
She knew that there was something… dangerous inside me. Her and Osta had always known. But I don’t think any of us realized the extent of it. Ever since then, I had stopped telling either one of them when I felt it coming… when I felt it taking over. I blinked, holding back the tears that threatened to fall.
My body was dying to recoil, I wanted to take it all back. I wanted to wipe the memory from their minds. I wanted to go backin time and change it. If I had known my curse would lead to this… Perhaps I should have left a long time ago, releasing the people I loved from the burden of being around me. Of fearing me. Of being dragged into whatever fate I had now sealed for myself.
“So, he survived?” The General asked, breaking through my internal spiral.
After a few seconds, my lips felt as though they could move again.
“They were able to revive him. He stayed unconscious for a while. But when he came to, he couldn’t remember any of it.”
We stood in silence for a long while. The room had gotten dark. Even the air seemed oppressive. After what felt like centuries, the General cleared his throat.
“They were on the brink of death when we found them. I mean, the two of them had mere seconds left. I thought there was no way they could have survived your attack, the shape we found them in was… well, let’s just say, they certainly looked dead.” He bit back a smile. “My alterationist had quite a time erasing the blood from their hair. It was no easy task. Genuinely. It took just about every ounce of our healer’s focus to revive them, the girls, I mean…” he trailed off.
I froze.
“He said it was like their minds had been crushed by something… Like an invisible force just squeezed and squeezed.” He started pacing as he rambled on. “You know, I was really curious about the memory loss. They had it too. Didn’t remember a thing… It was fascinating… absolutely fascinating. I’ve never seen anything like it.”
He turned to face me as a smirk formed on his lips.
Beckha and Jordaan were alive.
