Soul Betrayed. Katlyn Duncan

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СКАЧАТЬ redirected my thoughts to the baby. We would start a new life together, one without secrets and lies. I breathed through the agony and mapped out our future. And as suddenly as the pain came, it disappeared to be replaced by numbness.

      Everyone in the room held their breath. The midwife was frantically working near my feet. Something wet touched my toes just as the silence was broken by a shrill cry. It was the most precious sound in the world. I tried to sit up to see my baby, but Father held me down by my shoulders.

      “Wha—” I began to protest when a pressure on my mouth cut off my words. I inhaled. A soft cloth touched my lips. I looked up at Father.

      He wasn’t looking at me, instead his eyes stared at the bed. Even in the candlelight I saw his eyes glistening and I caught sight of the stranger’s form again. It was a man dressed in a strange white outfit. My hands trembled and the rhythm of my heart slowed. Something cool touched my neck and I sucked in a breath. The room began to shimmer like sunlight on the water in summer. My eyes stung so I closed them, leaving everyone behind.

      ***When I opened my eyes again, I was no longer on the floor in Gemma’s bedroom. Instead, I stood in a strange space. A gray hue surrounded my body as if I were inside a storm cloud.

      “Where am I?” I murmured, but my voice carried across the expanse. Whirling around, I was unable to find a way through the fog. I looked down at my feet, which seemed to balance on air, but when I reached down my hand slid past my feet into nothingness. My vision tilted dangerously and I held out my hands to steady my body.

      Red spots peppered my skin. I lifted my arm and touched the sticky substance. Why did I have blood on my arms? I brought my nose close and inhaled. It was definitely blood. The scent filled my nose trailing down to my mouth leaving a coppery aftertaste.

      My shift was covered in blood as well. I touched my flat stomach and my legs were jelly underneath me. Where was my baby? I started in the direction I must have come from. I had to be dreaming. I pinched my skin but the space didn’t change.

      I turned around and Gemma and Tristan’s dead eyes bored into mine. But Gemma and Tristan were dead. I’d killed them. I knew what I had done, but this wasn’t what I expected to come of it. As I staggered back, the vision of my sister and husband faded and I stared into the space, a chill creeping up my spine.

      What was happening to me? I dropped to the ground and tucked my head in my arms. I had to be dreaming. But the taste of something sweet against my lips brought me back to this strange reality. What had Father done?

      “Margaret,” a voice boomed out of the empty nothingness.

      I raised my fists in the air at the unseen threat. “What do you want?” Father had taught me how to defend myself from a young age and I wasn’t afraid of whoever was here that prevented me from seeing my baby.

      “You have no reason to fear me.” A hulking dark-skinned man appeared through the fog. Even though I had no idea who he was, he radiated peace and warmth and I found myself moving toward him, my arms dropping to my sides. His bright golden eyes sparkled even though there was no direct light that I could see. I looked down at his hands, which held a beautiful object. It ebbed and flowed across his palms like the spirit of a snake. The object touched something deep inside me and I couldn’t control my body from moving closer.

      “My name is Felix,” he said softly. He turned his head as if someone had called him. “There isn’t much time.”

      “Where am I? Where’s my baby? Where is Jackson?” Jackson’s beautiful face filled my vision. He hadn’t left my side since I was born. Well, not until just recently. But I knew he had to be looking for me. At the very least, I thought, he would keep my baby safe until I returned.

      “I will take you to your baby,” Felix replied hurriedly.

      “Thank you!” I gasped. It was all I wanted, to see my baby.

      Suddenly, Felix wrapped his arm around my body. Something cool touched the back of my neck and the familiar sensation flowed through me. I glanced up into his golden eyes but he diverted them to his hand. My body was light and my skin was paling by the second. I tried to turn around but he grabbed my hand.

      “Who are you?” I asked. My brain was whirring to life but I was confused. “What is this place?”

      Felix’s lips pulled downward. “Do you know who your Guard is?”

      I wrinkled my nose. The title sounded like something I should have known but I couldn’t wrap my mind around the answer. “My Guard?”

      Felix nodded before saying in an efficient voice, “Margaret. I have to inform you that you have died.”

      My breath caught in my throat, but the man wrapped his arm around my shoulders, radiating a peace I’d never felt before. “You are very special.”

      As I looked up at him, something niggled at the back of my mind as if I should have remembered something important. But I could not grasp what was just out of reach.

      “I need you to come with me,” Felix said.

      “Okay,” I replied, trusting him implicitly.

      Then Felix nodded and the space around us shimmered into a bright white light.

      ***

      I sat up, burrowing my hands into a soft surface. The room was shrouded in darkness but deep inside of myself I knew I was home. What a strange dream! I inhaled deeply as if I hadn’t taken a breath in a week and let it out raggedly.

      “Jackson?” I called softly, but he didn’t come to me. I leaned against my pillows. He must be with the baby. I didn’t know the precedence on how Jackson would still be my Guard and my child’s. But I assumed he was with him or her in the meantime while I had slept.

      Pulling my fingers through the matted mess of tangles on my head I shoved the heavy quilts from my body, sliding off the bed and toward a sliver of light coming in from behind the curtains.

      What time was it? I normally didn’t sleep much, but childbirth had been more taxing on my body than I realized. Poking a finger through the hole between the curtains I moved it to the side and allowed my eyes to adjust before pushing the curtain wider.

      My hand lifted to my mouth extinguishing the involuntary gasp that rose to my lips.

      Outside the window, the plush green lawn reached out into the distance, leading up to a forest surrounding the grounds. The sun was high in the cloudless blue sky. I touched the cool glass with my fingers, realizing my body temperature was higher than I expected and pressed my forehead against the glass, closing my eyes briefly.

      This wasn’t right. Why was I in the servants’ wing? Dizziness swept over me and I leaned heavily against the window. Something was wrong. My room overlooked the gardens.

      I felt a presence behind me and immediately it calmed each of my taut muscles. Jackson would be able to explain this.

      I turned around, but I didn’t see him.

      “Hello?” I called. I listened for the sound again, but all I heard was the thudding of my heart in my chest. Had I been mistaken that it was Jackson? Maybe he had been assigned to my child and I was assigned to a new Guard? One that surely wouldn’t reveal him or herself to me like Jackson did.

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