BK1 Chapter Thirty

Chapter Thirty

My feet carried me faster down the hill as I wiped my wet cheeks with the back of my hand. I did not dare to look back at Callan as he called after me. His voice drifted against the wind the further away I walked until it faded against the roar of the ocean waves.

My chest stung, my stomach clenching in a knotted mess.

I had not intended for that conversation.

Not now, not here.

It was like my words had vomited uncontrollably. I hadn't been able to stop once I started.

Callan had been trying to do something nice, an act within itself foreign to me. He had shown me the ocean, something I had never thought I would see. Why? Why did he suddenly care enough to do something like that? Why did he not ever show such effort in my previous lives?

Why now?

I clenched my fists as my heart quickened.

What made him suddenly show any semblance of care? Did it really take my 'death' for him to notice me? Or was it just his guilt seeing me die that made him care?

I reached our makeshift camp and immediately headed for my tent. My stride must have been strange as Teresa frowned up at me from her crossed legs near the fire. I flashed her a weak smile before ripping the tent flap open to hide away.

I did not want to deal with anyone.

I wanted to be alone.

I sat on the hard stone ground beneath the thin material of the tent's bottom sheet and hugged my legs close. I hadn't checked Callan's meter before I left. It has probably dropped even further than it had during our conversation.

I sighed and tucked my head into my knees, strands of black hair teased from its tie around my face. That day, if he hadn't told Roger Heversham that blatant lie about Cassandra's necklace, I may have had a different life. Roger may have trusted my words more. But, instead, I was branded a liar.

The ball in my throat I had held back leaked its grip. I quietly allowed my tears to soak into the material of my trousers as I muffled my sobs.

***

I sat waving my legs, watching the chess game on the table before me. A gentle hand rustled my hair, and I looked up at a woman's smile, her pale grey eyes glistening.

"Now, Callan, are you trying to lose?" She said, tucking her hand around my waist as I sat on her lap. Her ash blonde hair, neatly folded in a decorated hair net, did not move as she shook her head at the young boy across from us.

"I'm trying not to! You are just too good at this game, Mother". Callan scrunched his face as he pondered his next move.

"Oh? Is it not that you want to let me win" Cassandra teased with amusement. "What would you suggest he should do, Lynette?"

"Me?" I asked, blinking in surprise.

"Yes, my dear, what would you do?"

"I doubt she can beat you", Callan grumbled, crossing his arms as he bit the inside of his cheek.

I looked at the chess board and contemplated what Cassandra had taught me about the game. It was a game of wit and cunning, she had told me. The goal was to predict your opponents and outmanoeuvre them to capture their king.

I puzzled the board, then hesitantly raised my arm towards the rook. "I would move this here" I shuffled the piece across the board.

"Well done, Lynette! You have blocked my attempt to steal his queen," Cassandra beamed, making me blush at her compliment. I turned to Callan, excited to be able to help my brother but paused as he glared at the rook rubbing his chin.

"I could have done that", he said with a huff. "Still didn't take your king, though."

"I have no doubt", Cassandra chuckled. "You are both excellent, as expected of my children" She shifted her legs and removed her hand from my waist as she reached for her neck.

"As a reward, I want you to have this, Lynette" Cassandra unclasped her necklace and pushed it into my hands.

"Mother!" Callan protested, "That is your favourite necklace."

"Yes, and now it shall be Lynette's" Cassandra's gaze made me clutch it tightly. I had never received jewellery before. Cassandra had saved me from starvation; she had clothed me and given me a home and a family. I looked up at the woman of my affection and felt warm.

"Are you sure, Mother? You have already given me so much?" I asked, hesitant, opening my hand to give it back. I did not want to take more from her. This surely should not be mine but Kara's.

"It is yours now, dear" She wrapped my hand back around it.

"Why does she get your necklace" Callan muttered as his image blurred.

The room changed, and Cassandra and Callan faded away, the study warping in my vision.

My purple walls encased me as I sat alone on the four-posted bed of my room. Unable to touch the floor, my feet hung limply as I clutched a necklace in my small hands.

Cassandra's necklace.

It felt cold in my hands, the delicate metal worn from age. It was all I had left of her. Kara would inherit her dresses and other valuable jewellery. Eduard and Callan inherited her Jians and a ring each for their future brides.

I tucked it to my chest, wrapping my hand around the emerald setting. Cassandra's final gift to me before she left on her trip, before she died.

"Where is it!" A voice boomed, jolting me as the door to my room was thrown open. Roger stood in the door frame as he looked around.

"Father?" I asked, standing up, keeping Cassandra's keepsake close.

"Where is it, Lynette?" Roger's hands shook as he rushed to my dressing table, picking up my Jewellery box.

"Where is what, Father?" I asked again as he emptied its contents and began to rifle through the few belongings I had. Finally, he picked up the bracelet I had brought with me, glancing at its black onyx gems before putting it back down.

"Cassandra's Necklace Lynette, I can't find it" Roger slumped to his knees as his voice shook. My chest clamped as I saw his distress, his sadness.

"I-I have it, Father" I gingerly walked over to him and opened my hands to show him Cassandra's necklace. Rogers's eyes watered as he reached out for it, gently taking it from me as he studied it, relieved.

"I had thought I had lost it", he breathed, stroking the emerald longingly.

"Mother gave it to me before.." I couldn't finish my words as his sadness ignited my own grief.

"She did?" Roger glumly answered, reluctantly offering it back.

"No", a voice at the door made us both look at Callan with similar frowns.

"What do you mean, No?" Roger tensed, pulling back his hand, his grip tightening on the necklace.

"Mother did not give Lynette her Necklace" Callan directed his grey eyes away from me as I froze at his words.

"Callan-" I stuttered in shock "-but you were there" I did not understand why he was saying this.

"Lynette, is this true? Did you take Cassandra's necklace from her room?" Rogers's voice hardened as he stood, his tall frame towering above mine.

"It's not true! I swear Mother gifted it to me!" my heart raced in panic.

"Then why does Callan say otherwise?" Roger looked at us both, his brows drawing a line.

"I-I don't know! Mother gave it to me when we were playing chess!" I could feel wetness crawling down my cheeks as my vision blurred.

"Callan?" Roger looked at his son, knowing he and Cassandra often played together.

"I do not know what she is talking about" Callan pinched his lips.

Rogers's glare pierced my small body as he lifted the necklace and placed it into his pocket. "Lying and theft are not condoned in this house, Lynette." his voice held such anger I shook, stepping back from the man and rage I had never seen before.

"I will forgive this transgression once, Lynette. Do not lie to me again" he narrowed his eyes.

"But-but-thats-thats not true!" I stumbled on my words as I reached out after his back.

"Come, Callan". Roger stormed passed my brother and into the hallway.

"Callan!" I pleaded to the boy in my door frame, his light brown hair cut short but received only a look of conflict as he closed my door.

Leaving me alone, without my only keepsake.