Rueln Layheart

I trailed behind the group, close to the few servants who followed us as we circled the entire estate grounds. Seeing the stable in the distance, I thought over the odds of being caught sneaking off before I sighed in resignation and followed the group into the mansion itself. I much rather stay outside in the open air. As soon as we went indoors, it felt as if I were walking into a cage.

Stressed as I was about revealing too much to Bria, the tour was boring me to tears. We went through each room, the head butler giving the estate’s history as well as introducing us to practically every portrait of the great and noble house of NAME on the wall. It wouldn’t have been that bad if he hadn’t gone into the personal history of each as well and what they contributed to the family through the generations.

I couldn’t possibly be the only one bored with this, could I? Glancing around as we stopped at probably the tenth one, I saw most of the kids trying to appear like they were paying attention. Their glassy eyed expressions told me they couldn’t care less though. Bria hung back, letting the butler drone on while she whispered to Tara. I wanted to move a little closer to listen, but I wasn’t sure if it was worth drawing more attention to myself.

I was still debating when Bria encouraged the man to move on. “Enough with the portraits, Phillip. There was still much to see.”

“Of-Of course, Miss Gracy. Of course.” He seemed to deflate enough at her suggestion that I would have let him go on with it. He at least had been enjoying himself well enough.

With Bria’s interruption, however, it seemed to give the other kids permission to speak as well. It wasn’t long before I couldn’t hear the butler speak, even if I tried. Everyone was talking over him, but he diligently continued about his tour as if everyone was still listening to him. I had to admit, by the time we made it to the second floor, I was feeling pretty bad for him.

I guessed the butler must have mentioned the library was next on the tour, because I heard a few people around me talking about it. Libraries were rare. It showed off how rich someone was if they had a small one. Master Esra only owned a few books. It was definitely a statement considering how small even the academy’s library was with less than fifty books. From what I was hearing, the Decanthe’s estate had hundreds.

As we crossed the landing into the west wing, I heard music and looked out to find the room opened into the ballroom, where all the adults were enjoying their own gathering. Musicians played for their entertainment just under the landing between both sets of twin staircases. The men clustered together, enjoying a drink while the women gossiped near the tables, only a few intermingling.

I paused, leaning over the railing for several long seconds, letting the others get ahead of me as I searched for Lord Balec. Glancing back to see them reaching the far hall, I lingered a moment longer. If I could find him, then I might convince him to leave early. The only problem was, no matter how hard I looked, I didn’t see him anywhere.

“Where are you?” I mumbled, frustrated. I narrowed my eyes, wondering if there was something I was missing. He has to be here. Balec left with the lord and lady, and he certainly wouldn’t be outside on the ground looking for me. He’s the one who wanted to come to this stupid party.

“Young Lord, you must stay with the group,” a servant reminded me politely.

I glanced back to see her eyes downcast, her hands folded in front of her as she waited for me to acknowledge her. “I’m no young Lord,” I told her, then pushed myself away from the railing and trudged after the others. Luck wasn’t on my side today.

As I entered the hall, I paused, looking back and forth for the group, but they had gone out of sight. Guess I ended up losing them.

“Which way to the library?” I asked, glancing back at the servant who had spoken to me before.

“This way, young Lord,” she answered, pointing to the right. I took a step in that direction when another voice called my name.

“Rueln, there you are. This way!”

Turning to look back the opposite way, I saw Tara waving at me. Confused, I glanced to the servant who shook her head, not sure what had changed either. Sighing, I hurried after Tara after she disappeared through a door only to skid to a stop when I saw the door for myself.

“This isn’t the library,” I breathed, my eyes trailing down the dozens of runes and enchantments that circled the doorframe, floor, and ceiling all around the entrance. Inside, everyone was crowding together, fighting to get the better look at hundreds of treasures displayed like a museum with an even heavier guarded door toward the back of the room. “What is this?”

“The treasure room,” Bria answered, appearing at my side. “I asked Phillip to take us here. We can go to the library next. Tara wanted to see this.”

“Are we even allowed in here?” I asked, frowning at all the riches and thinking I wouldn’t want a bunch of kids with sticky fingers in here. Bragging was one thing, but asking to be robbed blind was another. This felt much more like the latter to me.

Bria laughed, “Of course. Everything here is enchanted. It can’t leave the room without special authorization or a member of the family removes it.”

“There are probably ways around that,” I said, more to myself than to her.

She smirked and eyed me. “Are you saying you want to try?”

“No,” I answered honestly and turned away to look around just to get out from under her nose.

I only pretended to look and be interested in whatever it was I saw. As distracted as I was, I could probably stare at something and still not know what I was looking at. I couldn’t tell if it was my imagination or not, but as I moved through the room, it felt like eyes followed me.

Did she have a guess that I wasn’t who I said I was? Did she suspect I was the real Vhal? What would she do if she did? It wasn’t as if I was telling anyone or trying to dispute her claim. I shouldn’t be as worried as I was about it. I had Lord Balec’s protection from the political side. She couldn’t hurt me there, not that I cared about all that to begin with.

If I were her, how would I react? Probably try to decide if I was a threat or not. It was hard to tell what she was thinking. Until the bout in the gardens, I thought she was a ditzy manipulator, seeking popularity and connections with potentially powerful people in the future. Now I wasn’t so sure. I think I saw more of what Bria has been hiding from everyone. Some of her true character came out to test me.

Stolen novel; please report.

What did she want from me? What was she thinking? I couldn’t guess.

Shaking my head, I tried to pull myself out of my confusing thoughts and focus on what I was doing. The treasures here were pretty cool, if I took a second to actually see them. There were several swords on display, the weapons probably magical, but to me, they looked more for decoration than anything practical. Vhal’s weapon of choice hadn’t been magical at all. Her own magic when she infused it with the blade had interfered with any enchantments or runes, at least the few she tried. I guess Vhal had passed her bias toward magical weapons to me because I had little interest in any of them.

Dodging a group of people crowding around a flashy magical item, glanced back toward the entrance when I froze. I stared opened mouthed at a black dagger on display, the shape as familiar to me as my hand. “Impossible,” I breathed, forgetting myself for a moment and walking over to pick it up. It only made my mind struggle with itself, as the weight and feel of the hilt were both familiar and foreign. I only just put it back, turning the blade in my hand to set it straight again, when images began flickering behind my eyes.

The blade was hilt deep in my chest, my mouth opening and closing, struggling to breathe. I couldn’t breathe. Red spread from my wound, soaking into the blankets as my hands struggled to keep enough strength to pull the blade free. Everything was fading. I was so cold. It hurt. It hurt so much, but even that was fading. My hand fumbled, then fell away, blood staining my fingers, struggling to live until the last.

My hand was froze, stretched out to put the blade back where it belonged. My other hand clutched at my chest. I could still feel the echo of the dagger plunged deep into my heart between my ribs. It threw me back into that moment until a heartbeat later, reality pulled me back into the present.

Looking down, I stared at my hand as I forced myself to let go of my coat. It felt heavy and sticky, red blood flickering in and out of my vision. I felt sick. The flashes were so strong it was like it had dumped me back into my recall and I was merging with Vhal all over again.

This... This was different. I was Vhal... and this was the dagger that had killed me... her... us.

Trying to hide how much my hands were shaking, I reached out to put the dagger back, nearly missing the base when someone plucked it from my fingers as easily as if I were a babe. Lifting my eyes up, I saw Bria holding it, playing with it as if it were a toy to her and not a deadly weapon. “This is my treasure,” she told me. “Do you recognize it?”

“I-,” I tried to speak, but my mouth was dry as a desert. My heart was running leagues inside my chest, compressing my lungs. Was I imagining it was getting harder to breathe? I swallowed and tried again. “I’ve heard of it, I think.”

“It’s okay to be in awe,” he preened herself, smirking over her shoulder at me, her blue eyes peaking out from beneath her long lashes. “It was Vhal’s after all. This triggered my recall. My parents requested it to be kept here. It’s only right for it to be returned to its proper owner, after all.”

I felt dizzy as she flipped the blade and caught it again. I couldn’t breathe, imagining that dagger plunging into my chest as it had Vhal’s while she had been asleep in her own bed. Everything fell into place at last.

I had my answer.

“I have to go,” I mumbled, not caring if she heard me or not. Turning, I made my way to the exit, lucky that I stayed relatively steady on my feet. “Excuse me,” I said, bumping into someone. It took me far longer than it should have to notice it was Tara.

“Rueln? Are you alright? You look rather pale.”

“I’m fine,” I mumbled and walked faster, stumbling just as I got out into the hall. The lack of other kids only helped so much. I felt trapped. I needed to get out of here. Where was Balec? I needed to leave. I couldn’t breathe. The edges of my vision kept darkening like I was about to pass out. I needed to find Balec.

My vision spun as I looked over the railing into the ballroom again. Desperately, I searched for Lord Balec and refused to move until I found him. I was afraid I would be too late and get sick all over the marble floors when I spotted him leaning against a pillar at the far side of the room near a hallway. He looked relaxed, but even from here I could sense there was an alertness about him.

I’m not sure how I managed it, but I walked down the stairs and was about halfway to him when he spotted me. Surprise flickered across his face, then concern when he noticed my complexion and moved to meet me.

Handing his drink off to a passing servant, he reached out and steadied me. “Rueln? Are you alright?”

“We need to go,” I mumbled, probably saying the words too quickly to be understood.

“What? Whatever for?”

“Hard to explain,” I said, before raising my eyes up, pleading. “Please. I need to get out of here.”

He studied me, that calculating mind of his so clear behind his red eyes. I could see him weighing the options, before at last he decided and nodded. “Alright. We’ll go.”

“Thank you,” I said, surprising myself when I leaned against him for support.

He put a hand around my shoulders, then looked around for our host and hostess and lead me over to them. “Rueln is feeling unwell. We shall take our leave early,” he said, offering them an apologetic nod of his head. “It was wonderful to be invited. I will have to invite everyone to dinner at my estate in the future.”

“It would honor us to receive such an invitation,” Lady Liara said, smiling, then offering me pitying eyes. “I hope you feel better, dear Rueln. Please, safe journey back home.”

“Yes, safe journey,” Lord Simone said, offering Lord Balec his hand to shake. Balec took it, then quickly ended the farewells and followed a servant out for his carriage.

Lord Balec pulled me to a stop just inside the door as the servant left to call for our carriage. Since it was so early, of course, it wouldn’t be in the drive ready for us to leave. It was stupid of me to think we could escape this place so easily. I stared blankly out the window, searching for it.

“Rueln,” he said, shaking me a little as if he had said my name several times without me responding. “Rueln, drink this.”

Looking down, I saw a glass in his hands and a maid a few feet away. When did she get here? She wasn’t here a moment ago. Did she bring the water? It wasn’t from the party. How long have we been standing here? “Rueln, drink,” Lord Balec ordered me. I nodded, then opened my mouth. The cold liquid was like a shock to my system, pulling me out of my stooper I had been falling into since my discovery. I nearly choked. “Slow down,” Lord Balec chided gently, finally trusting me enough to hold the glass myself. “Drink it all.”

“Will he be alright, Sir?” the maid asked him. “If it was the food and drink, our master would have a word with our staff.”

“No,” Lord Balec was quick to dismiss the idea. “He wasn’t feeling well this morning,” he lied. “It seems to have just caught up with him, is all. No need to worry about yourself. Please relay that to Lord Decanthe.”

“Of course, Lord Milon,” she answered, taking the now empty glass and hurrying away.

“Do you feel well enough now, Rueln?” Lord Balec asked me once she had gone.

I nodded, though I wasn’t really sure.

He took me at my word and opened the door so we could walk down to the drive. I could see the carriage now, climbing up the hill, the horses restless to be moving again.

“Rueln,” Lord Balec said, glancing down at me as we came to a stop. There was something in his expression that I couldn’t read. “Are you willing to tell me what happened back there?”

I opened my mouth, hesitated, then shook my head. “I don’t know if I can explain,” I said again.

“Can’t or won’t?” He asked, lifting his gaze from me. His tone remained calm, gentle even, but there was something there that he wasn’t saying. I couldn’t answer. As if he expected it, he pressed, “Does it involve the fact that you are the true reincarnation of Vhal Aairith?”