Sleepers by Megg Jensen Page B

said, loudly, as he opened the door the rest of the way. “You shouldn’t be here. You’ve been banished and I can’t offer you a place to stay.”
    Tears filled my eyes. My last hope and I’d been turned down before I could ask for help.
    “Come back when it’s dark and sneak in the back. Kellan tells me you’ve done it once or twice before,” Aric whispered. I didn’t glance up at him. If anyone walked by they would have heard the first part, but not the second.
    I bowed my head down, in an attempt to look defeated, but I couldn’t help a smile. My hair hung over my face, shielding it from anyone who might be nearby.
    Instead of answering, for fear my voice would give me away, I nodded and walked away. I headed toward the forest, to my grove, to spend some time alone. It was probably for the best. I wasn’t sure yet how much I could tell Aric, how much I should tell him.
    He was kind to allow me sanctuary in his home, but if I told him the whole truth he would know too much. He’d never agree to help me kill the king and I don’t know if his conscience would allow him to keep quiet. He trained the men whose sole job it was to protect the king and the kingdom. Asking him to keep this secret would be going too far and I respected Aric too much to do that to him.
    When I arrived at my grove, I sat on the largest rock in the middle. My pack slid off my arm and dropped to the ground, barely making a sound on the lush grass. I rested my elbows on my knees and caught my face in my hands. Alone, I finally felt my body relax and the tears I’d held back began to flow.
    In my mind all I could see was Mags, screaming and begging for her son. The fires burned and for once I welcomed them. The pain helped me feel like there was something in this world that mattered; it told me I was alive and ready to fight.
    I wanted to know who did this to her. If I were to kill the king, there was still someone out there trying to get rid of the queen. I didn’t want to kill anyone else, but if the betrayals continued how would I know when to stop?
    A battle waged in my body. The flames in my belly licked upwards, striking at my heart, but it fought back by flashing pictures of the good times I had in my life, when things were simpler and I didn’t have to worry about using my skills as a fighter to actually hurt someone. I’d trained for love of exercise, of the way it made me feel power over my body, not power over someone else.
    I had never trained with the intention to kill, yet here I was with hatred and death creeping into the corners of my heart. I couldn’t stand it. I couldn’t stand myself. A life for a life. Why had it all come to this?
    I jumped off the rock and landed on the ground with a stomp that stung the bottoms of my feet. Raising my hands to the sky, I screamed. Every emotion I’d been feeling flew out of my mouth. I didn’t care if anyone was nearby, though the village outside the castle was a good fifteen minute walk away. I was probably alone in the forest, a feeling I treasured as much as the love I held in my heart for Mags and Trevin.
    When my voice cracked and the scream subsided I crumpled to the ground, landing in a tiny heap. The tears dried. The anger subdued. The only thing that remained was love and a strange tingling in my hands.
    Under the cave of my body, I opened my fist, one finger at a time. There were no nettles stuck into it, as I first thought. Nothing punctured my hands, but the tingling grew anyway. I stretched my arm out, afraid of what was happening. I looked beyond my hand at the rock I’d been sitting on. It wobbled and then toppled over. The tingling in my hand stopped as the rock settled in its new position. A rush of ice swept through my veins and my breath caught in my throat.
    “How?”
    I never would have been able to move such a huge rock on my own. I glanced back at my hand and again at the rock. The tingling started right before it moved and stopped when the rock landed.