Of magic and blood

Chapter Thirty-Four

The morning dawned bright and crisp, with a brisk wind making our eyes water and our cheeks rosy.

We stood on the overhang, waiting for the Pegasi to arrive. Nerves made me jittery and jumpy. Dread hung heavy in my stomach.

"Would you be still for just a moment?" Lily asked, exasperated, as she watched me pace.

I wrought my hands together, "No, Lily, I can't. There are so many things that could go wrong. And we don't know where any of our allies are."

"Maybe you should stop worrying about what could go wrong and think of all that has gone right. Look at what you've accomplished." Lily pointed out, gesturing in the general direction of my arms.

I knew she meant the marks of honor, but I still couldn't convince myself that what happened next would be in any way  good.

The very thought of facing Morgana, the enemy of my kingdom and people, made me want to vomit. My heart raced out of fear just thinking of it.

Lily watched me pace a little more, then took my arm and guided me away from Evander and Caleb, who were in an intense conversation.

"Lilac," I didn't like her tone of voice, "have you thought anymore about our birth parents?"

Out of all the things I had been expecting her to bring up, this came as a surprise.

I shook my head and she continued, a deep frown set into her features, "Well, something... odd happened when I met Yuna, Caspar's younger sister."

"What happened?"

"She addressed me as 'Your Majesty.' And called you Queen Lilac."

That was odd. It was my understanding that Yuna, and Caspar, were the children of Morgana. This had been completely new information. None of us had known Morgana had more children, other than her heir, Crowned Princess Khione.

But why would Yuna address Lily and I like that? Unless...

"Lily, do you remember who was queen before Morgana?" I asked, my words barely able to keep up with my turning thoughts.

Lily shook her head, "No, I know nothing about the history of their kingdom."

"Well," I started, "Morgana overthrew her older sister, Queen Calluna, and forced her into exile. What if..."

And I saw Lily come to the same understanding as I had.

"We wouldn't know for sure." She whispered, "The only way we have of knowing is if we meet this Calluna and she might be dead by now, Lilac."

I turned away, "It was just a guess, a wild one at that."

"Lilac, they're here." Called Caleb, pointing to two distant shapes soaring towards us.

We all watched as they grew in size until the winged horses landed on the protruding ledge. I gasped in delight and rushed forward to throw my arms around the neck of a particular stormy gray Pegasus.

"Andromeda!" She nickered softly and nosed my hair, sniffing around for apples or a sugar cube.

Seeing her filled me with such longing for home that tears pricked my eyes. I wanted nothing more than to be home with my parents, to be able to feel my father's arms engulf me in a hug and hear my mother's voice. A memory from long ago, of resting my head in my mother's lap by the fire with her fingers running through my hair, made my heart ache for that again.

"I missed you." I whispered, leaning into her warm body.

A gentle hand touched my waist, and although I had only been traveling with Caleb for a few days, I knew it was him without having to look.

"I miss mine too." He murmured in my ear, before wrapping both his arms around me.

I couldn't even imagine how much Caleb must've missed his family. I hadn't seen mine in days; he hadn't seen his in years.

Time was running out. Morgana would start to mobilize her forces soon. We couldn't effort to waste anymore of that precious time.

"Let's go." I murmured, Caleb pressing a tender kiss to my temple. He released me, reluctantly, and I turned to face Lily and Evander.

"Have you ridden a Pegasus before?" I asked Evander. I didn't doubt my sister, but it would benefit her better if she rode with an experienced rider.

Evander nodded his head, "Of course."

"Good," I answered, "then Caleb will ride with me and you'll be with Lily. We need to leave now."

None of us spoke a word as we mounted up. I felt the urgency of time weigh upon my chest, pressing down and crushing me beneath it. My magic was no help. The events of the future were murky and concealed in my mind's eye, just shrouded out of sight. Whatever happened next, it was so large in the universe that I couldn't foresee the future. It scared me, not knowing.

Did I really have what it took to defeat Morgana? Could I actually do it?

I knew that to defeat her, I would have to kill her. There was no way around it, but the idea of taking any person's life, no matter how truly evil they are, made my stomach churn. Killing wasn't right, it was as simple as that, but if Morgana wasn't killed, was it really eradicating the problem?

Too many questions. Never enough answers.

It felt good to be back on Andromeda's flank, even with the icy wind forcing tears from my eyes and numbing my exposed hands. Caleb held tight to my waist and one quick glance back at him told me all I needed to know; he still wasn't anywhere used to riding.

I couldn't help the chuckle and Caleb gave me a scowling look, "It isn't funny, you know."

"It is a little." I laughed, leaning back into his warm presence.

For now, it was enough to have him close to me as we flew into the uncertain future. The journey was far from over, I knew that.

It was just beginning.