Seeds of Sorrow (Immortal Realms Book 1)

Her mother hadn’t lied. Things were different, much different, now that she was home. Eden hadn’t been allowed outside without a household chaperone, and when Aurelie came to visit, they weren’t even alone in the gardens. It was stifling and ridiculous. Draven couldn’t step into Lucem, and Eden wasn’t about to run back to Andhera after she’d been cast off.

As Alessia had suggested, she spared no more tears, and focused on her current situation and how she’d convince her mother to loosen her control.

In the three days since she’d returned to Lucem, new drapes hung from her floor-to-ceiling windows, shielding her from the gray light. Despite the lack of sun, it was still brighter than Andhera, and she’d grown accustomed to the dark realm’s moons. As if she weren’t having a difficult enough time settling back in, the servants scarcely made eye contact with Eden, let alone spoke to her. She wasn’t certain if they feared her or what potentially lurked beneath the surface. Or maybe it had very little to do with her at all, and everything to do with the one she’d been betrothed to.

It didn’t matter.

The sky was dimming as the days passed on. A haziness that wasn’t normally there hung around, which made the sky more bearable.

Eden plucked up her hairbrush, but the sound of scurrying in her room forced her to turn on her heel. “What was that?” she murmured, stilling to listen.

Another scratching noise, then a gurgling. Not just any gurgle . . .

Eden dropped to the floor and stretched beneath her bed, one hand scooping back and forth until she felt the clammy skin of the creature. She gasped and then pulled backward until she tumbled onto her bottom.

“Who came here?” she whispered, and her eyes grew wide as she recognized the flesh of a goblin.

After a moment, the little being slid out from under the bed. His ears drooped instead of perking up to the side as they normally did. Drizz.

“By the sun . . . What are you doing here?” Eden choked out. She plucked him up only to sit him on the edge of her bed. “It isn’t safe here.” She paused. It wasn’t as if Andhera was safe either, but Lucem wasn’t a place for little goblins. “This isn’t Andhera. Besides, Draven will be upset with you.” So that’s where my snacks had disappeared to, she thought. All of those extra slices of fruit bread, honey cakes, and tarts had fed Drizz over the past few days. At least he wasn’t starving.

Drizz’s lips thinned, and he trilled a soft purr before pointing to Eden. She didn’t know how to interpret their odd language, but she gathered he was trying to tell her something.

“I don’t understand.” She frowned.

His cool fingers wrapped around her hand, and he tugged on it. He chirped softly, then pointed to the window.

Eden laughed even as she felt the prick of tears. “No. I cannot leave. I have no place in Andhera, Drizz.” Neither did she have a place in Lucem, it seemed. She sighed, closing her eyes as she stood. “Perhaps Zryan can return you . . . ” She’d scarcely got the words out when Drizz squawked in protest. Eden lifted a finger to her lips and hissed. “Don’t do that. Not here. I need you to promise me you’ll hide when you hear someone coming. I don’t want anyone to hurt you.” And she had no doubt they would. Drizz’s razor-sharp teeth didn’t inspire warm and cozy thoughts, nor did his clawed hands. Although sometimes a thief, he was never malicious.

Outside her room, she could hear her mother calling her. Panicked, Eden lifted Drizz and helped him scurry under her bed. “Not a sound!” she whisper-yelled to him and quickly grabbed up her brush just as the door opened.

“Eden. Do you have wool in your ears?” Naya stood in the doorway, her brow furrowed and lips pinched.

“No, Mama. I was trying to grab my brush. It fell and slid under the bed.”

Naya looked annoyed, but it faded quickly. “I will be gone all day. You’re not to leave or have visitors while I’m out.”

Eden frowned and twisted the brush in her grasp. “But Aurelie wanted to visit today . . . ”

“She can visit another day. Surely you still need time to adjust.” Her eyes flicked to the heavy drapes on the windows.

“I am fine, Mama.” Eden’s tone hardened.

“I wish you were.” Naya sighed, then left the room.

How Eden had lived her life this way for so long was beyond her. But after the experience of freedom in Andhera and the respect that came with it, to then come back to this was maddening. She couldn’t remain cooped up in her home with little to no interaction except for staff.

Not to mention her mother’s mood had grown increasingly odd. She spent hours holed up in her study, and when she wasn’t there, she was running errands. There was very little time spent with her daughter, and when she did manage a meal with Eden, it was stilted and short. Had she truly even missed her?

When Eden finished preparing for the day, she opted for a soft pink sheer dress. Despite the sun’s strength dwindling—which worried her—it was still warm, and the air thick with moisture.

Silence filled the manor. No chirping of goblins, no shouting from outside as harpies and were-wolves sparred. The sound of Eden’s sandals clapping on the floor echoed off the walls, disturbing the quiet.

With a quick glance around, Eden turned the knob to the study, but it was locked. Her shoulders slumped forward in defeat, but she wasn’t about ready to quit yet. She hurried back to her room and fetched a few hair pins, then back in front of the study door, she fiddled with the lock. It took longer than she would have liked, but thankfully, no one caught her.

When the lock clicked, signaling it had shifted, Eden sighed in relief. She opened the door and expected to see something drastically off, but nothing was. It was a brightly lit room, with several vases of flowers and potted plants. The same study she’d crawled around in when her father was writing letters or reading. But why then would her mother lock it? It didn’t make sense.

She searched the bookshelves, the cabinets, and even the closet in the room. Nothing was amiss. Eden grumbled as she plopped into the chair at the tidy desk. Her knee bumped into the bottom of it. “Of course,” she whispered. Hurriedly, she reached for a small, gilded statue and turned it upside down. Eden’s father had always kept the key hidden beneath it, and it wasn’t something she made a fuss over. Had her mother hidden it in another place?

As she glanced at the bottom, the bronze key stared up at her. Eden pulled it free and shoved it into the keyhole. The drawer sprung out, and in it, a leather book sat. Eden’s hand hovered over it, and she felt a thrum of power surge from it.

“Mama, what have you done?” Eden whispered as her eyes caught the name etched on the worn cover. Horror washed over her. This couldn’t be the book Draven and Alessia were talking about. That would mean . . . it was her mother that had stolen it? The notion didn’t align with her emotions, but when she pushed those aside . . . The letters, her odd moods, her hatred for the kings.

Zryan needed to know immediately.

Eden jumped to her feet, then ran to the shelf in the study which held some herbs. She gathered them, then a bowl and water. As she murmured, she added each herb, some water, then pricked her finger on a letter opener for a drop of blood. The water rippled before her, glowing as she spoke Zryan’s name. When a face appeared, it wasn’t Zryan but Alessia.

“Eden?”

“Alessia! Where is Zryan?”

“He left with Ruan to inspect the portal to the Veil.” Alessia’s eyes narrowed. “Why? Are you all right?”

Panic crept up Eden’s neck. She splayed her hands on the table as she peered into the water. “It was my mother, Alessia. My mother stole the book. I found it in the study.” She sucked in a breath, trying to soothe the climbing hysteria. “You must tell Draven and Travion.”

She peered out the window to the sky, which seemed darker than it had prior to her entering the room. How long had she been in here? “Hurry.”

“Promise me that you’ll—”

Whatever Alessia was about to say was silenced as the desk flew against the wall, splintering on contact. Eden managed to snatch the book away just in time, but her mother approached in quick, angry strides.

“You foolish girl,” Naya said with a sad, strange smile. Her light green eyes darkened as she held out a hand and thrust a blast of power at Eden, which sent her back into a wall. She was pinned, unable to move.

“Mama, please.” Eden’s quaking fingers clutched the book with every ounce of strength she had. “You don’t have to do this. Whatever you think you’re doing . . . ”

Naya strode forward and, with ease, plucked the book away from her. “What I’m doing is fixing everything. The kings are no better than their father before them, and they’ve ruled for far too long.” She swept her hand through Eden’s hair and smiled. “I told you I had a plan. You will be spared from all of this, and safe.”

Eden fought against the hold of the spell but only grew frustrated with herself and her mother. “Please! Don’t do this.”

Naya released the spell and turned away. Eden lunged for the book, and a crack filled the quiet room. Pain bloomed against her cheek, then warmth trickled down her face. When she touched it, her hand came away bloodied. Hurt filled her eyes as she stared at her mother.

“Eventually, you’ll come to see how this is the right thing. But don’t get in my way, Eden.” Naya tucked the book in the crook of her arm and grabbed hold of Eden’s bicep. “You’ve left me no choice.”

“What?” Eden dragged her feet as her mother led her up the stairs, down the hall, and toward the attic stairwell. “No. You can’t! Mama, don’t do this.” She fought against her mother’s grip but was thrown into the stuffy room. She stumbled backward, tripping on her skirt, and crashed to the dusty floor. “If you do this, they’ll kill you,” Eden rasped through tears.

“No, it isn’t me who is going to die.” Naya said no more and slammed the door shut.

She couldn’t kill them! Eden lunged forward, pounding on the door. “Don’t do this! Let me out!” With the book in her hand, her mother could kill every one of them, and that notion terrified Eden as much as it angered her.

When Eden was coated in sweat from her efforts and her throat sore from screaming, she crumpled to the floor. The stifling attic only grew darker as time ticked on, which could only mean the sky was darkening all the more.

A chirp from the rafters caught her attention. Eden glanced up and saw Drizz scaling the wall. He hurriedly ran to her and then eyed the door.

Eden frowned. “It’s locked.”

Drizz scampered away in the shadows. The sound of scuffling filled the space, then as Drizz grunted, an easel collapsed to the floor, exposing a small hexagonal window. He squawked and pointed to it.

Eden rushed up to it, pressing her fingers against the warm glass. “If I go . . . you must hide. I’ll come back for you.” She had to warn Alessia that her mother was on her way, if she wasn’t there already. It dawned on her then that her mother could have emptied the Veil of its beasts and unleashed them on the two realms. At the same moment, screeches filled the air, and it wasn’t a horse whinnying. Eden knew that sound well enough.

Drizz pointed to a chair, then the window again, and nodded.

She gathered his meaning and grabbed the chair. With a steadying breath, she slammed the chair into the window, which shattered on impact. Wind howled through the space, and in the distance, Eden saw a black sky. “By the sun . . . what have you done, Mama?” Fear spiked in her, then quickly, anger that was unlike any she’d felt before. No . . . that wasn’t true. She’d felt it not a week ago.

Draven.

Draven was in Lucem?

Eden stuck her head out the window and surveyed the roof. If she could manage to find a spout or trellis, she could easily climb down the manor without snapping her neck. Time was of the essence, and with little more thought, Eden stepped out onto the roof. She crouched down and peered over the ledge. The trellis wasn’t close enough to the ledge for her to safely make it, but as she lifted her gaze, she spotted her favorite tree. One she’d climbed more times than she could count.

Eden sucked in a breath. She could jump and chance missing the branch or slipping, or she could utilize what she had within.

She lost her footing, and tumbled onto her backside. But she slammed her palms out, catching herself. Above, Drizz wailed from the window, holding onto his oversized ears in dismay.

“I’m okay,” she grunted as she sat up. This time, Eden remained still and extended her hand, allowing the thrum of magic to call to the tree. At first, nothing happened. But then the tree’s limbs bowed. A slight motion to begin with, then, with a groan, they stretched forward, twining together to form a makeshift bridge.

Once it was secure, Eden clambered onto the boughs, and as she walked, two sturdy branches secured themselves around her waist. As if they were nothing more than hands, they passed her down the height of the tree until she safely stood on the ground.

“By the sun, I’d never thought I could do that . . . ” Eden glanced up at the tree and placed her hand against it. Energy poured from her palm into the bark as a thanks for aiding her. The tree shuddered, raining white petals down on her.

A flash in the distance caught her attention. Lightning speared the sky in a mesmerizing spider web of purple and white.

Eden ran as fast as she could to the stable. Aiya frantically swirled in her stall, ramming her chest against the door. “It’s okay, girl. We’re going to ride out of here.” She opened the stall door, readying to grab a hold of her frantic mare’s mane. She did just in time, as the horse bolted forward. Eden pulled herself up and guided the mare down the drive and toward the palace.

To her horror, as Eden rounded a bend in the road, she saw a creature stalking toward Aurelie’s house. “Oh no.” She spurred Aiya forward, much to the horse’s dismay. Eden searched for something, anything to use as a distraction or a weapon.

There was nothing.

Nothing except for the monstrous wisteria that loomed over the manor.

Aiya reared up as the Veil beast screeched. The sound was like a fork scraping against porcelain.

“I’m sorry, Aiya. You’re not going to like this.”