This time Zach’s squeeze couldn’t stop me from speaking up. “What’s that supposed to mean?”
Yana pursed her lips and smoothed her worn, ruffled skirt. Jiaza raised a bushy eyebrow. “Why, the tale, maiden. The Tale. Of Queen Myriana and her sister, Saevalla.”
I stiffened. The history of my ancestors was not a campfire story to be told over drinks. It was something to be read, studied. It was not just a tale.
Brom leaned forward with wide eyes. “What do you mean, cleaning up their mess?”
Jiaza stroked his beard. “I’m surprised yeh haven’t heard it, lad. Well then, let ole Jiaza tell you the story the kingdoms don’t have in their books. Yeh see, they don’t want yeh thinking it’s their fault. They want yeh to believe the Legion is our savior—”
“Jiaza, don’t yeh say another word against the Royals. They’re honest young sirs and ladies putting their lives on the line every day. They deserve our respect,” Yana said.
I felt a rush of gratitude toward the woman, which was just as well, seeing as how I was inches from punching her husband.
“Aye, aye, yeh right.” Jiaza nodded slowly, and his eyes seemed to focus a little more, as if he were sobering up. “Nevertheless, we have our stories and they have theirs, eh? Oh it’s similar enough, mind yeh. Myriana Holly, hair as black as a starless night with lips the color of holly berries…”
Jiaza went on to recount the history I knew so well I could tell it in my sleep. I was reminded of the young princess in my class only a week ago reciting the same story. At least, it had started the same way…
“…driven by his deep feelings for Myriana, the beast put himself between her and the dwarf’s ax, sacrificing himself to save his true love.”
I snorted, but no one seemed to notice.
“The beast fell with a great boom that was said to have shaken the forest and emptied the trees of their leaves. But like her sister, Saevalla had also fallen in love with Raed, and through anger and grief, drew her dagger and plunged it into the dwarf’s heart—”
“Saevalla did no such thing!” I said, appalled. All eyes turned on me. “Myriana kissed the beast out of gratitude, and with her power, Raed turned back into a human with enough power to kill the dwarf.”
Jiaza lifted one eyebrow and regarded me. “Aye, maiden, that is what’s in the Royals’ history books. But the truth”—he shook his head—“the truth is far more twisted.”
I pursed my lips, not wishing to hear any more of these awful Romantica tales, but Zach kept his grip on my arm.
“The truth is that both sisters had fallen in love with the beast,” Jiaza said.
“Must’ve been some beast!” joked a man with short hair and a goatee.
“Hush, Tico, let him tell the story,” said a girl.
“While Saevalla stood over the dwarf’s corpse, shaking with tears,” Jiaza boomed, drowning out the others, “Myriana kissed her beloved Raed and this True Love’s Kiss turned the beast back into the hunter.”
Tico walked behind us, stroking his goatee and grinning. “Myriana and Saevalla were overjoyed to have their beloved back,” he said, deepening his voice to impersonate Jiaza, and pausing for dramatic effect. “Except…he loved but one sister.” He leaned in between Zach and me, his dark eyes catching mine. “He asked Myriana to marry him. She accepted, knowing her sister loved the man, too. The jealousy and hate within Saevalla grew dark and twisted.”
Jiaza picked the story back up. “And when Myriana’s and Raed’s first child was born, Saevalla stole the child away into the night.”
This time, the girl—the same girl who had hushed Tico before—drew her knees up to her chest and continued. “She went to the six brothers of the dwarf whom she had slain and told them an awful lie—that it was Myriana’s husband—her own beloved—who had killed their brother. Saevalla then handed over her niece to the dwarves as a peace offering and payment to help her seek revenge upon her sister and Raed.”
“Eager for the same vengeance, the dwarves granted her more than a curse.” Tico slipped his arm around Zach’s shoulders and mine and drew us closer, lowering his voice to a fierce whisper. “They granted her all their powers, sacrificing their own lives in the process, to turn her into something more evil than anything that had ever walked this earth. Saevalla was consumed by the darkness in their souls and turned into the Wicked Queen—Mistress and Mother of the Forces. With the dwarves’ powers, she gave rise to an entire army…to the Forces of Darkness.”
“No!” I yelled, standing so suddenly that Tico nearly toppled backward. Everyone looked at me in surprise. “Lies! None of you even—”
Zach squeezed my arm, and I tore from his grasp and stormed away. I kicked up leaves and dirt as I practically ran from the fire and the sounds of Romantica merriment, back into the forest.
I shook my head violently, as if the story I had just heard would simply fall from my ears. What terrible lies. Saevalla would’ve never done such a thing to her sister. And everything had happened because of Love? All the jealousy and hate…it was nonsense. This was why the Romantica were dangerous. They dwelled too much on emotion and allowed it to rule their thoughts, their actions, their very lives. Not only that, but they threw around lies about the Legion’s true origins. The Royal Three had discovered they were a different breed of mortals—not mages, but still holding unique magic. Romantica liked to think they were simply mortals and nothing special. But they were wrong. They’d had magic that had never existed before and produced heirs, hoping the magic would continue through their bloodline. And it did.
I was proof. All the Royals were proof.
The smells of the food and fire disappeared and were replaced with the crisp scent of pine and brucel. Branches tugged at my clothes and stung my skin as I hurried into the forest, but the stinging in my eyes was much worse.
Why did Jiaza’s version bother me so much? Was it because Zach probably believed in this awful, twisted version of Myriana and Saevalla? It tore up my insides. How could the Romantica think that of us? That the Royals’ ancestors were the cause of all this darkness?
A hand grabbed my shoulder, and I whirled around. It was Zach, his face drawn tight with concern. “Ivy—”
“You—you believe this tale as well, don’t you? This—this horrid lie?” I batted his hand away from my shoulder.
Zach took hold of my forearms instead. “Ivy, who knows what truly happened? It was five hundred years ago!”
“I don’t care how long ago it was. It matters! They think we’re the reason they’re suffering—how could they think that? And how dare they say that about Saevalla? She was loyal to her sister, she would’ve never—” I was so angry I could barely complete sentences.
Zach slid his hands down to my wrists and intertwined our fingers. With his touch I felt a sudden rush in my blood, remembering last night by the fire. It both shocked and calmed me.
“Ivy.” His voice was soft. “It’s just a story…a legend. Nothing more than that. And besides, what you do—what you fight for—is much more important than what a few entertainers think.” Zach placed his hands on my cheeks, his fingertips brushing my hair. “Think about the dragon. Remember the destruction it will bring, and forgive their words. What you and I believe…isn’t important. It’s what we do to help these lands that really counts.”
The raging storm inside me died down to a gentle breeze. Slowly, I nodded.
Zach smiled and moved his hands to my hair tied in a tight bun. “Now,” he murmured. With a quick tug, he removed the ribbon, and my hair tumbled down around my shoulders. “Let’s have some fun.”
Chapter
Nineteen
Distracted