The Immortal Secrets

Chapter 11

" Get up" Jace said, kicking Kara. " I've been kicking you for the last minute" he said. " We're here". Kara opened her eyes an rubbed them, still tired. Jace opened the door for her and offered her his hand out. When they arrived back at the castle, Jace went right into a long story about how he and Erik had defeated some evil sorcerer, and Kara nodded, pretending to listen. Instead, she was still thinking about how Jace had scared those 4 guys off . Her fingers were still tingling, and she balled her fist hoping to send them away. " He's bad" she repeated to herself over and over". " Hello" Jace said. " Kara were you even listening to what I just said". " What" Kara said, snapping out of her daze. " You need to work on your listening skills" Jace retorted. " Sorry, I just have a lot on my mind" Kara admitted. Jace turned towards her and said " Is it what Conrad said? None of that is true. He's the one trying to brainwash you". Conrad. Kara's heart lurched when she heard his name. He had helped her, was he even still alive. " Did you kill him?" she asked quickly? " No" Jace admitted. " We ran after you instead. You were more important". " Oh" Kara said, breathing a sigh of relief. Conrad was still alive. Kara didn't know what to say to him next time they met.

" So, now you know why Erik said he thinks Conrad likes you..." Jace said awkwardly. " Well yeah" Kara admitted, embarassed" Do you feel the same way about him..?" Jace said quickly, looking at the ceiling. " No. I barely know him" Kara laughed. Jace just looked at her and smiled. Kara smiled back, and turned to walk into her room.

Her room was just as she had left it, the bed messy and the closet door open. Kara noticed that the balcony door was open, and she felt a faint breeze wind its way around the room. She walked over to the door to shut it, and when she turned back around she saw a letter on her vanity. Her heart beating loudly in her chest, she walked over to read it. It read-

Dear Kara,

Don't worry about me, I'm fine. I know you've probably gone back with Jace and Erik, and thats fine for now. I heard what they said to you. You should believe them. I know for you things might not seem good right now, and I'll try to help you in every way I can. I meant what I said that night, and I'm not going to take it back. Maybe they will change with someone like you around, but maybe they won't. I know I've only met you twice, but I really do care about you. Until we meet again.

Conrad.

Lying next to the letter was a single red rose. Kara took the rose and looked at it. Her heart stopped beating for a few seconds, and she turned to look out the window. She sighed to herself, and wondered how things could get any more complicated.

Her door opened abruptly, and Kara shoved the letter and the rose into one of the drawers of her vanity, before turning around.

"Jace wants you to be in a council meeting" Erik said, giving Kara a weird look. " Why so jumpy" he added with a smirk. " I'm not jumpy" Kara stammered, moving away from the vanity. Erik chuckled and said " Come on. You don't wanna make us late. Jace will throw a fit." They walked down the hallway until they reached a gold set of double doors. Erik opened the doors, revaling a room with a large window and a round table to seat 5 people. All of the chairs were filled, and everyone in the room was staring at her. "Hi.." Kara said awkwardly. " Guys this is Kara" Erik said. " She's attending this meeting". One by one, each of the people began to introduce themselves. A boy to the left of the grand gold chair stood up and said " I'm Ashe, Jace's cousin. Captain of military" he smiled at Kara. He had the same hair as Jace, except his eyes were a light brown, and he was a little shorter. " I'm Norrin. Captain of Foreign relations" another boy with wavy black hair and dark blue eyes said. "I'm Marc" said a boy with curly medium brown hair and bright blue eyes " I take care of the money" he said, winking at Kara. The last boy was the most peculiar boy Kara had ever seen. He had dark black hair that curled up at the ends. His eyes were dark blue, like the other boys. The only thing that set him apart was his skin. It was a silvery white color, and it had a metallic sheen to it. " Jasper" he said, looking straight into Kara's eyes. " Captain of magic". " Great, you've met everyone" Erik said taking a seat to the right of the gold throne. " Sit here" he gestured to a seat between him and Jasper. Just as Kara sat, Jace burst into the room. " Sorry I'm late guys" he said. When he walked by Kara he patted her head " Nice to see you here". Kara rolled her eyes. Ashe snickered. Jace turned to Ashe and said " Do you have a problem here?". " No not at all your highness" Ashe replied with a weird accent, causing Jace to burst out laughing. To her left, Erik rolled his eyes. " Can we please just get started?" he said. " Fine fine fine" Jace said, but after a few seconds, he burst out laughing again. Erik put his face and his hands, then stood up. " Ok, I'll start then" he went into a long speech about some riot there had been in a southern city. After the group had talked a while, they decided to send troops there to stop the riots, and raise the pay for the jobs there. " We have more then enough money here" Jace added at the end. " Why not give it to them.". They went down the line until every person had given a speech about problems they were having in their field. Kara couldn't help but notice Jasper looking at ther when he was talking and it seemed like Jace had noticed too. He sent dirty looks towards both Kara and Jasper for the rest of the meeting.

The meeting took a total of 2 hours, but Kara found it very interesting. She was able to see the new world she was in, as well as find out about Jace's country. Now she knew it was called Newvalia, and the most powerful country in the Evoni world. As they exited the meeting room, Jace came up to Kara.” Wasn’t that so boring” he said with a yawn. “ I actually thought it was really interesting” she replied. “But didn’t you kind of know all that stuff before” Jace asked, raising his eyebrows. “Your forgetting I’m not from here” Kara replied, sucking in her breath. “Oh yeah” Jace said. “ t seems like you forget that all the time” Kara replied looking at Jace. “Sometimes” he said smiling at her. “Let’s go eat. I’m starving”

After a long dinner, Kara emerged from the dining hall with Erik, laughing. “ He really did that?” Kara sputtered between laughs. “ Hell yes! It was one of the first stupid Jace moves he pulled” Erik replied, doubling over with laughter. “ Kind of like him climbing the wall of the castle” Kara replied with a grin, causing Erik to laugh even harder. “ What’s so funny?” Jace said, coming up to them with an amused look on his face. “ You” Kara replied, because Erik was too busy laughing. Jace shook his head with a smile and said, “So listen, the moon year ball is this Saturday”. Erik stopped laughing and said, “ It’s next Saturday”. “Nope” Jace said “ It’s this Saturday. I was just talking to the captator and he said there was a mistake”. “What’s a captator” Kara interrupted. Halfway between annoyed and amused Jace answered “ A captator is someone who studies the 3 suns and 2 moons. Every turn the two moons make counts a year. This Saturday is the new year”. “Mhmm” Kara murmured, someone behind Jace catching her eye. Jasper had exited the dining room, his bright purple eyes twinkling in laughter as he walked with Ashe. Jace, losing Kara’s attention, tensed up. “You’re invited too. It’s black tie, so wear something nice” he added before turning around and walking away. “What’s his deal” Kara said, turning to Erik. “No one knows” Erik said.

Kara walked into her room and shut the door quietly. Her abs hurt so much from laughing with Erik. She giggled as she walked towards the vanity, remembering everything Erik had told her. She picked up her hairbrush and began to brush the knots out of her curly hair. Suddenly remembering the letter, she dropped the brush and yanked the drawer open.The letter was still there, and she opened it and read it 3 more times. Her heart grew heavy as she thought of Conrad, and she looked down at the rose at the bottom of the vanity drawer. It had died.