Seven Wardens: Books 5-7

Chapter 3

Chapter Three

She was sitting on a swing made from seagrass, gently rocking in the current. Her father had built it for her. Now, he was watching her with a smile as she tried it out for the first time. She knew most kings wouldn't take the time to build something as whimsical as a swing for their daughters. But her father had. Even with all the important business he had to do, he'd still built it with his own hands.

"Do you like it?" he asked, even though the answer was obvious. She was using her own intuitive water magic to make the swing go higher and higher, even against the current. She laughed in delight, grinning at the fish watching her in awe.

"Be careful," her father warned, but it was too late. The rope snapped and she was catapulted upwards towards the water's surface, away from the king.

"Don't leave me!" he called, his voice full of pain and loss.

Macey tried to turn back, swim to her father and never let go, but the water ripped her away from the remains of the swing and spit her out. Breathing hard, she lay on the surface of the water, unable to move, unable to shift even while she was slowly suffocating.

She woke with a gasp, breathing in as much air as she could.

"Macey!"

Immediately, warm hands were all over her body, touching her as if to make sure she wasn't going anywhere.

Her eyelids felt heavier than they should. The ground was hard, cold, and the air smelled slightly of chlorine.

"What?" was all she managed to say, her voice barely more than a croak.

Jared laughed hysterically. "What? You don't remember?"

She blinked open one eye. Flint was above her, holding her head, and she could just about make out the others. All her men were surrounding her.

"What?" she repeated. The last she remembered was being underwater with Aunt Nessie and Rónán. She'd been told something terrible, something she still knew but kept locked in a corner of her mind she daren't yet examine.

"You drained the lake," Flint replied gently. "You made the entire Loch evaporate."

This time, she opened both eyes. Were they making fun of her?

"Your aunt was injured," Cam said from her right. His hand squeezed her upper arm. "She's fine now, she's in one of the guest rooms."

"I drained the Loch?" Macey asked weakly. "How did I do that?"

All four of them laughed.

"We have no idea," Rónán admitted. "I'm just glad Nessie was able to summon the Staran to get us back here. You were shifting from kelpie to human and back again, so we had to keep you here in the swimming pool until you recovered."

She closed her eyes. The ice within her was spreading even further. She'd drained a Loch without dying from exhaustion. That wasn't possible. It was unheard of. And it made her a monster much worse than her brothers.

"The other kelpies?" she asked, worry filling her at the thought. Nessie would understand what had happened but the others wouldn't have had the warning. If anyone was in kelpie form like she was...

"Everyone is fine. The Loch is fine."

"How do you know?" she demanded, trying to get to her feet and wanting to collapse almost instantly. She didn't feel as exhausted as she should but something still made her limbs feel like heavy weights dragging her body down.

The men exchanged glances.

"Tell me," she growled.

"We refilled it," Cam whispered.

"What? How?"

"Izban made a lot of ice and Flint melted it," he admitted.

Macey's eyes widened as the implications of that sunk in. "But that won't have created Loch water."

"We know, but it gave the kelpies enough water to be able to refill it themselves. Other than you and your Aunt, everyone else is fine," Flint assured her. "Izban and I included. It didn't take up too much power for us either."

"My brothers..."

"Are confused but have no idea what happened. We didn't tell anyone," Rónán assured her.

She scowled. Maybe they should be told. Then they'd be scared of her and what she was capable of and stop messing with the kelpies all in the name of power.

"We need to get your anger under control," Cam whispered.

"I don't have an anger issue," Macey muttered, resenting the implication even if she knew there was some truth in it. First the flames, now the Loch. If she carried on this way she'd destroy the world rather than saving it. That wasn't what she wanted her legacy to be. Not when the Wardens' job was to save not condemn.

"It doesn't matter," Flint soothed. "The Loch is fine now. Everything is back to normal..."

"Nothing will ever be normal again," Macey bit out, magic crackling throughout her limbs. "My father is dead."

"We know. We're sorry..."

"Sorry doesn't cut it." She finally succeeded in rising to her feet, the rage within her giving her a strength she hadn't expected. "I will bring the world to its knees to bring his murderers to justice."

No one said a word and she tried to ignore the concerned looks on her men's faces. She could tell they didn't believe she was capable of doing that. But everything she did seemed to make the world worse anyway so it barely mattered. Why bother to save what she was destroying accidentally? It seemed like a colossal waste of time.

"Macey..."

"Don't Macey me," she snapped. "Where's Nessie?"

They exchanged more glances, probably trying to work out why she wanted to know.

"Third room down," Cam said eventually. "But Macey..."

She didn't wait for him to finish and pushed past them all. Her Aunt had a lot of questions she needed to answer and it was about time she started. Macey was fed up of the hiding and the lies and it would stop.

Now.

Macey barged into the room, not caring about knocking. Nessie had forfeited the right to anything approaching decency with all the lies and Macey was determined to get the truth out of her now. There wasn't any more space for hiding things.

"Macey?" Nessie croaked.

"I want the truth," she demanded, not even trying to dress her words up better. There was no room for that in her mind. Not when she was as hurt as this.

"I told you, your brothers..."

"Not about Dad. Though I have questions about that too." Like how it had been allowed to happen. How no one had thought to keep an eye on her brothers once they'd suddenly reappeared. And how her weakling brothers had managed to overpower the kelpie king.

"Then what about?" Nessie frowned.

"Are you my mother?"

The blood drained from the older kelpie's face as the question sunk in but she didn't say a word. She didn't need to. Macey could tell from her reaction what the answer was.

"Why did no one ever tell me?"

"We didn't know how to, Macey."

"So lying to me about it was the best option? Only for me to find out from the ghost of one of the previous Wardens? What was my real father like?" If she focused on this, maybe it would stem the pain over her Dad's death. Just because he hadn't been her biological father, it didn't mean she hadn't loved him. That she didn't love him still. Or that there wouldn't be a hole in her heart where he should be.

"We didn't know what else to do," Nessie replied. "Your real father wasn't a kelpie and we didn't want any rumours about you getting around. Can you imagine how people would have treated you if they thought you weren't a full kelpie?"

"Which maybe explains the first ten years. But couldn't you have told me after that? What about when I was fully grown? Or when I'd gone to live on land with the humans? Wouldn't it have been common decency to tell me then?"

"We didn't know how, Macey." The older woman pushed herself up in bed, groaning at the effort.

A softer part of Macey wanted to go to her and lend her a helping hand. The part that loved Nessie. Yet the rage inside her kept her stood stock still in the doorway, not wanting to fully enter the room or to leave it. Her anger was the only thing keeping her going at this stage.

"I'm not saying it would have been easy, but that doesn't mean you should have kept it secret. How would you feel if you suddenly learned that the people you thought of as your family suddenly weren't? Are you even related to my Dad?"

"Yes, he's my brother-in-law. My sister..."

"Right. So your response to having a child with a human was to hide that child as a member of the royal family?" Macey raised an eyebrow, interested to see how Nessie would try and talk her way out of that one.

"We thought it would raise fewer questions if you didn't exhibit normal kelpie behaviour. Neither Bruce or Jerry showed particularly strong powers. They were just normal kelpie strength."

"Right."

"Macey..."

"And when it became clear I was stronger than my brothers?"

"We didn't understand why. Your father was as human as they come and yet there you were with all the powers a kelpie should have. Not just that, you were always so much stronger than everyone else. I guess that makes sense now."

"That I inherited my father's position as Water Warden? Yes, I guess it does," Macey muttered bitterly. "Did it not cross your mind to tell me when there was a chance of that happening?"

"It's never happened before. In all the years, Wardens have never been related. And they've never been anything more than human before. The chances of you becoming one were so slim it didn't even cross my mind."

"And yet, when I became one, you still didn't tell me my real father had been one. Or that you were my mother."

"Just how long have you known?"

"Since we went to St Kilda," she responded honestly. "I found out while we were in the Warden chamber."

"Macey..."

She waited for the older kelpie to say more. Whether she liked it or not, some of the anger that had been filling her had waned a little, now she was just left with a burning desire to understand.

"I'm sorry," Nessie said eventually. "I know nothing I can say can make up for the hurt we've caused by not telling you, but it was necessary to protect you..."

"And it would have protected me more if you'd been honest. Especially with what I've been through recently." Tears pricked at the corners of Macey's eyes but she blinked them away, unwilling to let them take over completely.

"We were so proud of you. Me and your Dad both. He may not have been your real father, but he loved you like a daughter. He truly did."

"I know," Macey whispered. "And now he's gone."

"We've lost a good man," Nessie agreed.

"No. Not a good man, a great man. No one could possibly live up to him," she swore.

"I can think of one person but she needs to accept her destiny."

"I can't be Queen," Macey insisted. "As much as my brothers need to pay, I can't put the kelpies through a civil war just to give them a Queen who doesn't even live in the Loch. That isn't fair to any of them."

"I think you need to give them a chance, Macey. You'd be surprised what they'd do for you."

Macey sighed and finally moved from her spot in the door, sitting herself down on the chair next to Nessie's bed. "I don't think I have what it takes."

"You're the strongest kelpie, it's yours by right." A proud look crossed over the older woman's face. "My beautiful daughter. I've waited forever to be able to admit that to someone. I'm sorry we lied to you. I am. But we did what we thought was best for you. If you're willing to forgive me, then I'll do everything in my power to help you honour your Dad's memory. And I'll never take him away from you. Just because you're not his by birth doesn't mean you're not his by heart. I know that."

"I'm not sure I completely understand why you did it," Macey started. "But there's nothing we can change now. I'm sorry I was so angry..."

"You don't need to be sorry about your emotions, Macey. You need to own them, even the negative ones. If you don't, they'll eat you up and control you."

"I think they're doing that anyway," Macey admitted, hanging her head in shame as she thought about the state of the Loch.

Nessie placed a hand over Macey's and gave it a quick squeeze. "Then learn to harness them. Control them like you control the elements. You have good men beside you. They'll help you no matter what."

"They will." Macey smiled at the thought of her men, each of them staying with her despite the mistakes. Despite the anger. Despite the stupidity of her actions.

"So use them. Build up something better. From what they've been saying, you have bigger things to worry about than the kelpies now anyway. But you can deal with them and then come back for us. I'll push for the funeral your Dad deserved. Maybe I'll tell them it was me who drained the lake and they'll be so scared they'll just do what I say."

Macey tittered. "Not the worst plan."

"Until they ask me how I did it."

"Even I can't give you an answer to that one," she admitted. "I have no idea how I did that."

"You only could because you're a Warden. You have control over all the elements unlike any other."

"But why me?" Macey whined.

"Because you're the daughter of a past Warden. The position isn't a hereditary one. As far as I know, you're the first child of one to come into the power. That makes you stronger than any who have been in the past or are coming in the future."

"I'm not worthy of that," Macey said.

"It doesn't matter whether you think you're worthy or not," Nessie said. "You have this power. You have the responsibility. Nothing is going to change the fact it's yours. All you can do is try your best to make sure you do the right thing and you change the world for the better."

"Everything just seems to be going wrong."

"At the moment, maybe so. But that's because you're still learning how to channel your powers and what to use them for. Give it time, Macey. I know it feels like you don't have any, but you need to relax and trust yourself a little bit more. Then, the right things will start to happen and you won't need to worry about draining any more Lochs."

"Or burning houses to the ground," she muttered.

Nessie chuckled. "Did you do that?"

"Not quite. But nearly." She filled her in on what had happened after she'd been given a flame from the lampads, leaving her Aunt nodding along in understanding.

"That's exactly what I mean. Trust in yourself and your instincts and things like that will stop getting out of hand. I promise."

"I really hope so," Macey responded.