Definitely delusional, Evie thought. Yet in her heart she couldn’t really believe it. She had never known a more sane person than Reg. Should she humour him now, call him Corbel? ‘King?’
‘King Brennus, eighth of the Valisars. We are from Penraven, which is southwest of here.’
It was all getting too much to keep clear in her mind. ‘Reg … er, Corbel, if you prefer —’
‘I do.’
She took a steadying breath. ‘Corbel, why are you telling me this? What does King Bran or whatever his name is —’
Now his gaze flashed angrily at her. ‘His name is Brennus and I served him faithfully.’
She was stung by the force in his voice. He had never taken such a tone with her before. ‘All right,’ she began again, calmly. ‘I want to know why I am here. What does all of what you’ve begun to tell me, including King Brennus, have to do with me?’
‘Plenty,’ he said flatly, eyeing her with a hard gaze. ‘This is the land where you were born. Your real name is Genevieve. You are a Valisar. And King Brennus is your father.’
She rocked back against the tree, stunned. Then in the silence that followed, which Reg clearly wasn’t going to fill, she hauled herself upright. She felt momentarily dizzy but the drug was wearing off and the water had helped. ‘Reg, this is not going any further. In fact —’
‘Look around you, Evie. Does anything look familiar? Smell familiar? Taste or sound familiar?’
She could feel pinpricks of perspiration and the hairs standing up at the back of her neck. She’d been trying to shut out all of the foreignness of where she was, hoping that as the drug wore off, so would the sense of dislocation. And while she couldn’t understand how they had not been splattered across concrete, her logical mindtold her that there had to be a rational explanation, no matter what insanity had taken over her friend. But it was true, nothing felt familiar. This didn’t feel like scenery from a world she knew; the air was cleaner, fresher and the land around them looked virgin.
Ignoring her silence, he continued, ‘None of it is familiar because we are no longer where you think we are. We have travelled through time and lands.’
‘You’re beginning to scare me, like you scared all the other people I used to defend you against.’
‘I never needed your defence.’
‘But still I gave it, because I loved you.’
He flinched as though slapped. ‘Evie, you’re going to have to trust me. Nothing you see from here on is going to be familiar to you. Hospitals don’t exist here, neither does any of the technology you have taken for granted. I know you think I’m crazy but I am all you have. And I promise you that I am sane.’
‘Why am I here?’ she demanded, her confusion mounting to the stirrings of panic.
‘I just told you. You were born here. I had to return you to your home.’
‘Return me? So you’d already taken me from it once … is that what you mean?’
‘Yes,’ he said, shocking her. ‘I took you from this world when you were a newborn.’
‘Twenty years ago?’
He shrugged. ‘Yes, but perhaps time passes differently in the world I took you to. How old do I appear to you?’
It was her turn to shrug. ‘I don’t know. I suppose beneath all that terrible beard and unruly hair you are in your late thirties, early forties. Why? How old did you hope to be?’
He nodded sadly. ‘I was just eighteen when I was given the task of taking you to safety.’
She needed to keep him talking while her mind tried to make some sense of what was going on. ‘So my father — the king,’ she said carefully, nodding at him to show that she was trying, ‘asked you, a young noble, to rush me away to safety from this Loethar fellow who was killing all the royals.’
‘Thank you for paying attention.’
‘So that makes me a princess.’
‘Yes. That’s why we had to protect you.’
She couldn’t help herself. As much as it galled her to humour this ridiculous story any further, she was intrigued as to where he’d take the tale next. ‘Do I have siblings? Fellow young royals?’
‘Two brothers, one of whom is adopted.’
‘Ah, so they were whisked off to other places, were they?’
He shook his head. ‘No, only you. You had to be hidden. The Valisar dynasty has never had a surviving daughter. In centuries of rule, all girls — until you — have either died in the womb or soon after birth.’
She hadn’t expected that and felt a fresh wave of panic. He really looked like he believed all this. ‘So I’m the first surviving female heir of the Valisars and they had to get me away. Why? Isn’t a male heir more important, or do they do it differently in the Denova Set?’ Even she could hear the sarcasm biting and hated herself as she watched those words batter against someone she loved.
‘Your brother, Leonel, is the primary heir. But Leonel is not gifted in the way we suspected you could be … and I now know you are. We were right to take the precaution.’
‘Gifted?’ She felt goosebumps rise on her flesh. ‘What are you talking about?’
‘The talent that was beginning to show itself through your work as a healer will actually have been severely suppressed in the world I took you to. Here, it will presumably manifest itself far more dramatically. At least that’s what I’ve been led to believe.’
‘You’re losing me, Reg.’
‘Call me Corbel … please.’ She really did feel lost, and she assumed it showed because his expression softened. ‘Let me tell you everything I know and then you can make up your mind.’
‘About whether to stay, you mean?’
He shook his head. ‘There is no way back, Evie,’ he said gently. ‘Hear me out, hear it all and then decide whether you still trust me.’
Her mind was reeling but she didn’t feel as though she had much of a choice. Carefully, she returned to her position against the tree and nodded. ‘All right, Corbel de Vis, tell me everything you know.’
Kilt Faris chewed on a piece of meat. Jewd had insisted that he eat. It had been several hours since he’d faced his nemesis and though his men had left him alone he knew that patience wouldn’t last. The sickness had passed but he could still taste its acid remnants at the back of his throat. How would he ever explain his behaviour to his people … to Jewd?
From the corner of his eye he saw Jewd and Leo nod between themselves and approach, sitting on either side of him. He knew they wanted answers.
‘Where is he?’ Jewd asked Leo, breaking the tense silence.
‘I’ve asked Gavriel to get him away. He and the woman have taken Loethar higher, heading east. I’ll meet up with Gavriel shortly … when we understand more.’
Jewd nodded and they both turned to Kilt.
‘Are you going to explain it?’ Leo asked.
‘I didn’t know, if that’s what you’re asking,’ Kilt growled.
‘Didn’t know you were an aegis, or didn’t know who your Valisar was?’ Leo said firmly.
Kilt ground his teeth, flung the piece of meat down. ‘What was the point in admitting