Myopia (Young Adult Zombie Paranormal Romance) (Wisteria Series) (37 page)

CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR

Bach sat upright in the bed, unaware of how long he’d been forced to regenerate. Bolting out of his bed in the Hammond Village den, he raced to the living area, where Lluc sat reading his far eye.

“Why am I not surprised to find you here, Lluc?” Bach remarked.

“Because you know I will do what is in your best interests.” His brother rose.

Bach stormed to where the threshold normally was, but it was gone.

“I have taken measures to protect you from yourself,” Lluc pointed out. “You need to wait this out.”

“This is not a conversation, Lluc.” Not wanting to be poisoned again, Bach backed up against a wall, so he’d have a full view of the room. “If they kill her, you will suffer.”

The termination of Terrans often took place in a matter of days. It wasn’t an affair that the Seven Elders normally concerned themselves with, unless it involved someone important.

Bach was a Sen-Son, so he was pretty sure they would concern themselves. Therefore, he hoped it would take weeks before the Seven would get to Jarthan as they probably had more important things to do than sit and decide on his relationship.

“You are not a hateful person. You will get past this.”

“We have been at this place before, Lluc, and it did not end well for you.”

“Really, I am not the one facing judgment from the Family. You go back there right now with Father as furious as he is, and anything could happen to you.”

“This is not about me!” Bach exclaimed. “You think I care about myself right now?”

“Yes, because you just want to feel better because of what is happening to your Terran. If you go back, all you will be walking into is your judgment. You should be fully regenerated before you face that. The Sen has said they would probably send you into the Moon Desert to reflect for a few months, so it makes sense for you to be fully up for it before you go.”

“Impossible. How could the Elders be ready so soon?”

“Father decided we did not need to have all the Elders assembled to settle this matter,” Lluc replied. “There will only be a couple there, plus him and Lord Rafel.”

“Alba’s father?” Bach echoed.

“And Alba arrived safely, in case you wanted to know.”

“I do not,” Bach scoffed.

“Go now, and all you will see is her blood on the floor of Triad hall. Do not do that to yourself. Just know the Mosroc will finally be broken and it will be for the best. What kind of future could you have offered her? Could you really live among the Terrans for the rest of her life?”

Yes
. Bach discovered he’d no choice. He’d have to. “I see your point. This is probably the best way.” He placed his hand on Lluc’s shoulder. “You have made me see reason.”

Grabbing on to his brother, Bach pulsed him. “I am sorry.”

“Stop this.” Lluc struggled, but collapsed.

“Lluc?” Nular entered, hurrying to Lluc. “What has happened?”

“Where is the threshold?” Bach approached the girl. “Where did Lluc hide it?”

“Eminent Bach, I cannot tell you. My liege has asked me not to. I cannot disobey him. Please ask me anything else.”

“Do you want him to live? I know you would want that more than anything else.”

She scowled. “I am here to serve you. Do with me as you wish.”

“You will tell me where Lluc put the threshold. Understand I will search the den and if it is here I will find it, but your liege may not survive.”

“You cannot do that.”

He glared at her to show her he was serious. “What do you think he would do if it was you that was to be killed?”

Her eyes filled with tears as she looked over at her liege.“This way.” Nular led him to another floor below the underground apartment. In one of the rooms was the large black threshold mounted on the wall.

“You will need this. Eminent Lluc asked that I hide all the obsidian coral.” She handed him a red stone.

Grasping the stone, he stepped up to the glass. He emerged on the other side on the bridge that led to the Jarthan Castle. Bach was amazed by how calm the waters of the Astolat River were. Normally, the river was raging, the bridge shaking violently as it withstood the assault, but the water ran calmly, almost trickling. The normally hazy orange sky now looked bright blue with the sun shining overhead. The only semblance of bad weather was a cool breeze that dissipated in seconds. There had never been days like this on Jarthan.

Two sentinels appeared in front of him.

“Welcome, Sen-Son, your father asked us to ensure you arrived safely.” Mina emerged from behind the men. “We would not want anything to happen to you. After all, you are a person of great interest.”

Bach strode up to the empiric. “She saved Didan’s life and this is how you repay her.”

“My loyalty is to the Family and so should yours be, Eminent,” Mina seethed. “I hope after your judgment today you will start acting like a man instead of a spoiled child who throws a fit every time he does not get what he wants.”

“Mina, you do not know me.”

“Eminent, I know that if you had been another Famila, the Sen would have sent empirics to drag you back here to face the Seven. Instead, your papa allowed you to endlessly recuperate on Terra and would not even assemble all of the Seven for your judgment.”

There were no words to be said. Bach knew he needed to get through the judgment he was now walking into, and then hopefully, find Wisteria.

*****

“The Terran rat,” Didan grimaced as Wisteria was led into a dark hall.

A blast of bitterly cold wind slammed into her face and through her clothes. She shivered.

“Terran.” The word rippled through the darkness.

At first, she couldn’t tell who or what was in the hall with her, but she knew she wasn’t with friends. Her eyes soon adjusted.

Around her were the piercing green eyes of the Family. The twisted faces of women dripped with hatred, while the penetrating stares from the men sent painful trembles through Wisteria’s bones.

“Move.” The Sentinel leading her yanked on her shackles.

The bands of iron were already cutting into her wrists. “Ohh,” she whimpered, trying not sound scared.

The soldier led her to the base of some steps. At the top, sat a very stiff silver-and-black haired man. His right arm was encased in a long, black stone-glove. By his regal and cold demeanor, Wisteria guessed he was in charge. Then the man scowled and for a second he looked exactly like Bach. This must be Sen Aleix, Bach’s father.

The Famila standing beside him, she knew too well—Didan.

“This is the
jaga
.” Didan descended and approached Wisteria.

“I saved you. You owe me your life,” she declared. “You know that.”

“Terran rat.” Didan struck her across the face and the impact sent her crashing down. “How dare you speak? Do you not know what you are?”

She braced herself on her hands and knees before slowly rising again.

“She is not much.” An ebony-haired woman standing next to the throne eyed Wisteria coldly. “Are you certain
she
is the one?”

“Sen-Dra Belem, clearly your stepson has lost his mind, because this is the Terran,” Didan said to the woman.

A few of the people around the hall chuckled.

“I have seen wild bonobos that are more appealing,” Belem chimed in, inspecting Wisteria closely. “Perhaps my stepson was ill. I am glad the Seven are not here to see this.”

“I do not need to see any more. Get rid of it.” Sen Aleix dismissed her.

A loud thud sounded as the main doors opened and closed. A slightly older and sterner, bearded version of Bach marched in.

“Prime Yordi,” Didan greeted him warmly.

“Prime Yordi,” Bach’s stepmother stated. “This does not concern you.”

“You believe my brother has kept a Terran and that does not concern me?” Yordi advanced. “From what I have learned, nothing happened between the Terran and Sen-Son Bach.”

Wisteria was bewildered about why anyone would stand up for her.

“This is a private meeting,” Didan sternly warned Yordi.

“Since when is a Prime excluded from the private meetings of the Sen?” Yordi fumed.

“We wanted to spare you the details of your brother’s depravity,” Didan explained.

“Eminent Didan.” Yordi was now steps away from Wisteria. “You are in no position to stand in judgment of a Sen-Son. Only the Seven can and they are not here. Even Lord Rafel thinks these are stories; otherwise he would be here.”

“
Prime, obviously Lord Rafel cannot attend. Thanks to the traitor, he is now fighting for his life. As for the other Elders, I will not humiliate myself in front of them,” Sen Aleix responded. “So, I convinced the remaining Elders that I would handle it privately within my Pillar.”

“And I am the Prime and must be included in these matters.” Stepping up the bottom step, Yordi turned to face his father. “Honestly, I am surprised you have taken the lies this seriously.” He smiled at her.

Wisteria’s racing heart calmed down. Maybe she was going to get out of this.

“I know Sen-Son Bach, and he has nothing to do with this Terran or any other.” Yordi’s smile transformed into an icy simper. “And this meeting implies he had. If we suspect
she
attempted to contaminate him, then Didan should just have disposed of her.”

Wisteria stared at his cold expression and knew he wasn’t here to help her at all.

“Sen, let me explain,” Didan protested.

Sen Aleix signaled to Didan to be quiet. “Yordi is correct. There is nothing I have heard to make me believe she has anything to do with Sen-Son Bach. Didan, dispose of her.”

“Wait, I will prove it to you,” Didan insisted. “I will in seventeen minutes.”

*****

The sentinels brought Bach to the Triad hall where he’d last seen his father. Now in addition to his bloodline and stepmother Belem, there were a dozen nobles and Didan waiting. However, there was no sign of the other Elders or even more strangely, Lord Rafel. He was always part of these events.

The hall quieted as be approached the steps that led to his father’s seat. He saw Yordi, and also Wisteria, standing with her head down and her hands clenched together.

“Lucky for me, you are still weak from the darkroot.” Lluc appeared next to Bach and held him back, before he could go to her. “Bach—”

“Stay out of this.” Bach pulled free from his brother’s grip.

“Listen, Yordi and I had hoped to resolve this before you came back, so you would not be judged.”

“Sen-Son Lluc and Sen-Son Bach, why are you interrupting this meeting?” Sen Aleix fumed. “Leave now!”

“No, let him stay. It will make him a man,” Didan derided.

Bach lunged at him, but Lluc stopped him. “Yordi is the Prime. He will sort this.”

“Why? He hates Terrans almost as much as you,” Bach whispered angrily.

“But he is your brother too. Give him a chance to end this with nothing more than words. After that, we will decide what happens to your Terran,” Lluc whispered.