Amaranth - By Rachael Wade Page 0,57
began peeling it with my fingers, unable to concentrate on anything but the sadness in his eyes. “What happened there? In Amaranth.”
He handed me a knife to cut my orange, plopped onto a barstool at the counter. “It’s a long story.”
“When are you going to tell me why Gavin’s doing this? The reason he wants to defeat her. It’s more than just her laws, I know it is.”
He looked at me for a moment, and I stopped cutting my orange, made sure he had my undivided attention. “There is more to it, isn’t there?”
“He went because of her laws. If he ends her reign, the curse will be lifted and we don’t have to live this way anymore.”
“There’s something else. You clearly hate the place, and you didn’t want Arianna to go there. Tell me why.” I set the knife down and sat on the stool next to his, leaned in to fix his eyes to mine. “It’s more than you not wanting to give up your life here. She said she was afraid in that journal. Please tell me what’s so bad about this place.”
He hung his head for a moment. “I told you he has a plan, and I just told you the reason. The details are too complicated and I can only tell you so much.”
“He left me with you not only to protect me, but for you to explain things to me, remember? How do you expect me to wait around for him to come back if I don’t know what this is all about? All of you have been trying to spare me, trying to keep these secrets from me, only giving me bits and pieces. I’m tired of it.”
“It’s for your own good.”
“I’ll decide what’s good for me. Look, you said work with what I’ve got, right? Well … you were right. I’m in your world now, whether I asked for that or not.” I placed my hand on his arm. “So let me in.”
He sighed heavily and stood up to retrieve the journal from the coffee table, slowly slid it toward me. “There was a war. A bad war. Samira is bound by Gérard, the original conjure father, the one who gave her power, to send immortals to Amaranth to be freed from their curse. But nothing stops her from running the city the way she wants to. Those who go there … pay a price. A lot of persecution goes on. The inhabitants rebelled against her and her servants, and almost everyone died.”
“Arianna?”
“No, thank God. But of course, Samira and her army won, and after they won, the survivors were forced to submit to her rule again, and it got worse. Eventually things settled down. All thanks to a leader who stepped in and helped restore the peace there.”
“A leader?”
He nodded. “Someone from the inside.” He watched while I casually flipped through the withered pages. “Once peace was restored, Samira executed the leader and his wife, then covered it up.”
“Okay, so Gavin’s angry with her for persecuting the immortals? She’s ruled for centuries, it doesn’t seem like that is going to change any time soon. What makes him think he can change that? Or that he has to be the one to do it?”
Joel pulled his eyes from mine and pointed to the necklace that hung from my neck. I followed his signal, grabbed the locket between my fingers. “I don’t understand.”
“Did Gavin give that to you?” he asked, looking at me now.
“Yeah, he told me it was his mom’s.” I looked down again at the locket, popped it open to examine the delicate inscription inside. If my heart had wings it would be with you always. My eyes ran over it, searched for any connection. All I knew from what Gavin told me was that his father was killed and then his mom disappeared. I looked back at Joel, stunned. “No. Please don’t tell me his parents had anything to do with this.”
“What did he tell you about them?”
“His parents were the leaders? They were killed … in Amaranth?” I sat back, heartbroken, my words strained, my throat tight. “I can’t believe this.” I pulled my old trusty menthols from my pocket, lit one up. “Samira killed them? So he went there for revenge? He’s putting his life on the line for something that can’t be undone?”
“No, it’s more than that. He wants justice, to help the people there. He wants to see everyone set free from her rule for good.”
“That’s