Regius Read Online Free PDF Page B

my
questions."
    I blinked in surprise when
she laughed. Vervaine didn't laugh often. Yet she should, it looked
good on her. "He was your Solenum before you met Solenum." That
stung. So much so, I stumbled back and away from her, gulping
audibly and feeling light headed.
    "He knows you didn't
purposely forget him, Cali." Vervaine murmured, the laughter gone
when she realized I hadn't taken it as well as she thought I
might.
    Wincing, I placed my hand
over my chest when it started to tighten. "But I forgot him
nonetheless." Tearing my eyes off the ground, I looked back up at
Vervaine. "Who took my memories?"
    "The Elders did. The
Rangers sell many types of products and substances that can mess
with the body and the mind." She paused. "Even with the soul
sometimes. In your case, a powder that is said to have been
scrapped from a tree as black as coal located deep down in the
Sunken Cities is what stripped you of a specific set of memories
when they made you inhale it." When she noticed I was light headed,
she gestured for me to sit down and had the kindness to sit as well
so our eyes would remain level. She took my hand in her gloved one.
"Because of the numerous harmful encounters you've had with the
Regius during your younger years, and the possibility that you may
or may not be Sage's as well as Kalmia's, the Elders feared that if you were
privy to such dark memories, you might harness them in the wrong
manner while growing up. We don't process things the same way when
we are children."
    "They thought I'd become a
danger to myself and everyone close to me." Some of the anger
faded. I knew that I'd be upset about them having made decisions in
my stead forever, but unfortunately their reasoning was logical.
Exhaling loudly and tiredly, I pursed my lips up at Vervaine. "Is
there a way to remove the barrier? I assume you risked telling me
because I'm no longer at an age where I may harness the knowledge
to do harm."
    "There is..." I blinked at
how fragile her voice had just sounded. Her hand clenched mine
tightly and her breathing sped up. "I can destroy the barrier." She
wasn't afraid, but neither was she the picture of comfortable.
"Seers can do more than see the future or the past, or get a good
read on people. It's said that when two Seers touch one another's
cores, they have the ability to create barriers that can keep them
out of harm's way. We believe the barrier placed around the Rangers
Alley and that which keeps the souls within the Valley were created
by Seers." Vervaine pulled her hand free from mine only so she
could pull off the thin black glove gingerly. "If we can do this,
it's because the power of foresight is wanted by many. It's the key
to knowledge. Many a King, Leader and Elder have been known to prey
on the Seers at one time or another throughout the centuries.
Barriers can keep the enemy outside."
    I gulped, nodding at her
words and watching as she pulled a short blade from out of her
boot. "And you believe you and I, both being Seer, can break the
one in my mind?"
    "Yes." She cut a small line
in the palm of her hand, wincing as the blood seeped from the wound
before offering me the hilt. "What is the one thing each and every
one of us in Zinc have in common, yet makes us different at the
same time?"
    "Blood." I gritted my teeth
as I sliced a small line into my own palm. "You think that is what
they mean by 'core'?"
    "What we are about to do
could kill us instantly." I scowled at her words. "The bright side
of that would be that you could enter the Valley again and see
Datura now."
    I rolled my eyes, offering
her my palm all the while eying her in amusement. "I think you need
to work on your jokes a while longer before testing them on your
audience." She shrugged, smirking as she smacked her hand against
mine, both of us simultaneously grasping one another's wrists to
hold on.
    For a long minute we just
sat there, staring at our clasped palms, our blood mingling yet
nothing spectacular seemed to be taking