The Seelie Curse

Chapter 81

Rowan pulls a runestone from her bag and the boy quickly steps in front of his sister, his gaze sharpening. "What is that?"

"A runestone."

He frowns. "What are you planning on doing with it?"

"I'm going to show you what you need to know."

"Why can't you just tell us?"

"I don't think you would believe what I say if I just told you, the information you require has to be more concrete than words alone."

"And how will that stone show us?"

"Memories. It can show memories."

The boy pushes his sister behind him only for her to hit his arm, her voice soft. "Cailen, stop! Just listen to what she has to say."

Cailen turns to his sister. "She's not touching us with that stone, Anabla."

Before Cailen can panic any further, Rowan cuts in. "The stone isn't to use on you, you aren't the ones with the memories I need to show."

Anabla pushes past her brother and lifts her chin, watching Rowan with her sharp gaze. "Show us, please."

Rowan nods. "Star?" Astrila steps forward and turns to Rowan.

"My memory? Like before?"

"That's right. Are you ready?"

Astrila nods, giving Rowan a warm smile. "Whenever you are."

Rowan turns the runestone over in her hands and raises it to Astrila's forehead, the rune already swirling up to the surface. A soft light begins to be released by the stone once it makes contact with Astrila's skin, sending a beam of light into the clearing. The first memory begins to play, the one that speaks of what happened when Astrila and Kyma went to the merrow kingdom.

Instead of watching the memory, as she's already seen it once, Rowan watches Cailean and Anabla. She winces at their expressions of shock and horror, at the pain of knowing what their mother did. They haven't seen anything close to the worst of it yet and this is already affecting them badly enough.

She doesn't want to show them what is coming next, but she is going to have to. No matter how much it might hurt, they deserve to know the truth about their mother. Rowan sighs as the memory ends, keeping her gaze fixed on the two young merrows. Anabla takes a shaky breath and looks to Rowan, her eyes watery for a heartbeat. But then she blinks and her expression turns to stone.

"There's more, isn't there."

Rowan glances at the ground. "Yes, there is."

"Show me. I need to see how much worse it is."

Rowan's eyes flicker over to Cailean to see him nod, placing a hand in his sister's back. Sucking in a breath, Rowan removes the runestone from Astrila's forehead and places it against her own skin. The stone is warm, the light just barely soft enough that she can see the memory unfurling before her.

The memory begins with the frozen river, she thought it would be the best point to begin. It would give them the background they needed. Cailean opens his mouth to question what is happening in the memory, but Astrila steps toward him and lifts a hand. Rowan can hear Astrila murmur to them, trying to stay quiet enough to not disturb Rowan.

"She needs to concentrate. Just watch, you'll understand why she is showing you this soon."

Cailean opens his mouth again, only for Anabla to wack him and hiss something under her breath. Rowan snorts slightly in laughter and the memory playing out in front of them pauses for a moment before continuing. It jumps slightly, skipping past the walk to the clearing. Anabla sucks in a breath at the sight of her mother and makes a move to step forward, towards Rowan, when Ciorsdan tries to use Astrila's name against her.

Anabla inhales sharply when Rowan darts forward to remove the memory from Ciorsdan's head and moves slightly to look at Rowan. Rowan looks away from Anabla, not wanting to see the anger in her eyes. There is the sound of leaves crunching beneath footsteps and someone touches her arm.

Rowan can see the tips of brown curls out of the corner of one eye, so she keeps her gaze trained on the ground. Anabla doesn't speak, but her grip tightens when Rowan flinches at the hiss in Ciorsdan's voice. At the end of the memory, when Ciorsdan tries to kill Rowan, Anabla wraps an arm around Rowan's waist and pulls her into a sideways hug.

Rowan shudders as the memory continues, holding back a sob as it ends. It's different now that it isn't in the process of happening, now that she isn't fuelled by adrenaline. There is a touch on her shoulder and Rowan glances up, lowering the runestone. Anabla has tear tracks running down her face and she gives Rowan a small attempt at a smile.

"I'm so sorry that happened to you, we should have known."

Rowan shakes her head. "It's not your fault, really. I wouldn't have shown this to you but I thought you deserved to know what happened to her."

"And I thank you for that. But how did you manage? How did you stay strong?"

"I almost didn't. My friends got me through it."

Rowan looks past Anabla to see Astrila smile and dip her head. Cailean is frowning from a distance, staring at Rowan. His frown isn't angry, it's full of sorrow. Anabla turns to her brother.

"Cailean?"

"We have to go. Father has to know."

"But-"

"We can come back, but we don't have any more time. Father sent a message."

Rowan looks down to see a small water spirit by his feet, like the one Kyma made. Anabla sighs and pulls away from Rowan. "We'll be back to talk about this more, alright?"

Rowan nods and watches as Anabla walks to her brother's side. They turn to the river together, a boat of water quickly forming.
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Awww. I like Anabla. What do you think the message was about? What's going to happen next? Tell me your thoughts!

Happy reading and I'll see you next chapter!

~ Goddess of Fate, signing out