Sapphire, by lyradaemon

Chapter 7: Answers

A/N: I am SO sorry for not updating sooner! Many thanks to all you lovely reviewers: I know I've been a very bad author about the updates, but things will speed up from here!

Daemon blinked, suddenly unable to see due to the darkness inside the room. There were a few sounds, but nothing which caught his attention. The faint smell of old beer wafted gently in the slight breeze coming in through the door, causing him to wrinkle his nose in disgust. One of these places.

"Can I help you?" A voice asked politely but warily.

He sensed Noelle jump somewhere nearby. "We're looking for someone; I'm not sure if you know them," Surreal replied cautiously, keeping her voice neutral.

"And who might that be?"

"Sapphire."

A silence. Then, "I'll go and tell her you're here." A door opened then closed quietly.

Daemon turned to Surreal. "Sapphire? Who's that?"

"Someone who should have the answers we need."

"Can we trust her?"

Surreal hesitated just a bit too long; Daemon's temper honed. "I hope so."

Now that his eyes had become used to the gloom, Daemon saw the door at the back of the room open again and a hooded figure slipped in. "You wanted to see me?"

Surreal whirled around. Glancing quickly at Daemon she nodded curtly. "Yes. But somewhere private."

"Alright. Come with me."

Setting her shoulders Surreal followed the shadowed figure, with Noelle following closely behind. Daemon glanced briefly at the man standing behind a bar of sorts, but he got all the information he needed. The man was used to this sort of thing; hushed gatherings, closed meetings. Information exchanged for money. No questions asked, no answers given. Trustworthy. Satisfied, Daemon continued.

The room they were taken too was clean yet sparse, with only a four old chairs and a table as furniture. The figure indicated for them to sit down. But when she looked at Noelle she seemed to pause. Surreal must have noticed it since she glanced sharply at Daemon. He shook his head; this person, whoever they were, didn't pose a threat. He could make sure of that.

Slender hands reached out from inside the black robe and pushed back the hood…revealing blue-black hair, golden eyes, tanned skin. Noelle.

A confused silence.

"Amaya?"

The other woman smiled. "Hello Noelle."

In a rush Noelle was on her feat and throwing herself into Amaya's arms. She laughed, hugging her tightly. "I never thought I would see you again," Noelle gasped, tears spilling from her eyes. "I thought they'd taken you too."

"They weren't going to get me that easily," Amaya returned with steel lacing her voice.

Surreal cleared her throat none too politely. "Would you mind telling me what in Hell's name is going on?"

Gently disentangling Noelle's arms from their chokehold around her neck, Amaya looked appraisingly at Surreal and Daemon. "I'm Amaya – Noelle's cousin."

Surreal frowned. "But I thought Noelle's family was dead."

"Not quite. I heard about her brother and parents a while back; they tried to kill me too but they failed miserably." She turned to Noelle. "I wasn't the only survivor either."

"You mean there's others?"

Amaya nodded. "My parents and both my brothers. And our grandparents."

"But I thought…those men said that…"

"I can guess what they told you. That the Queen had been driven out and was found dead some time after. That all her relatives had died – either in 'accidents' or from natural causes. But they were lying Noelle."

"Wait a moment," Daemon interrupted. "Noelle thought that her whole family was dead, but some of them are still here?" Amaya nodded.

"Why did you never contact her?" Surreal asked incredulously. "You've no idea what she's had to go through-"

"I do have an idea! It was my family who was killed too you know; I might have my parents and brothers, but both my sisters were murdered. Not to mention the cousins and aunts and uncles. I know very well how Noelle must have felt." She sounded angry. "If you're going to just insult me like that, then you can leave. Go back to wherever you came from, I don't care."

"Now wait a minute sugar-"

"Surreal," Daemon warned. "Don't."

There was a moment of strained silence while Surreal and Amaya glared at each other. It was broken by Noelle. "So where are they all? Surreal's right – you could have told me you were still alive."

"I know, I'm sorry," Amaya said gently. Surreal huffed. "It was too dangerous though. We didn't know what had happened to you, so if we'd sent a message and it was intercepted, it would have put all of us at risk. You must understand that."

Noelle turned away, anger and understanding warring inside her. All this time she had been alone, abandoned, an orphan forced to kill for a living. And now her cousin was here, telling her that all along she had had relatives, that they hadn't all died as she had been led to believe. Anger welled up, anger at her parents for dying, anger at her family for abandoning her, anger at those men for murdering the people she held dearest to her. Abruptly she turned to Amaya. "Why?" When she got now response her voice rose. "Why? Why did they kill them? Why?"

Amaya glanced at Surreal and Daemon, obviously shocked by Noelle's outburst. She cleared her throat nervously. "We – we don't know, Noelle. We can only guess."

"Tell me what you know. And don't you dare leave anything out. I've been left in the dark to long for that." Noelle's golden eyes flashed with anger and a cold, cold rage which took Amaya's breath away. She had never seen her cousin like this before. Surreal noticed it too… and was breathless for a different reason. Mother Night, she's so like Daemon…

So Amaya started at the beginning.

"Your parents came here a lot when you were younger and even before you were born. My parents lived here, along with our grandparents, and they would visit all the time. Dena Nehele has always been a haven for those of the Blood who refuse to follow Dorothea and succumb to her wickedness. For centuries, witches and Warlords have lived here together, just as the Blood once did long ago. The Queens were fair and kind, always just, never judging.

Occasionally, some of Dorothea's men would try to sneak into Dena Nehele; they would wheedle their way into courts, flattering the lesser Queens and her courtiers. As often as not some observant Warlord would realize what was going on and the person would be quietly dispatched – to the High Lord as often as not. When the people of Dena Nehele learned of this, they undoubtedly became troubled; Dorothea's attention is never welcome, especially when you are resisting her every attempt at ensnaring you in her net of lies.

Well, the people here became more cautious: patrols were formed in order to survey the borders, just to make sure that no other unwelcome visitors slipped through. For a time it seemed to work: no strangers were seen in Dena Nehele.

However, soon there were sightings of strange men, dressed in black robes, hoods covering their faces. They would seek out the services of some of females from the Red Moon houses, taking their one night with them and then murdering them. Of course people were shocked, not least of all the Red Moon houses. But one night a woman escaped from such a man, and made her way to the Queen's Court, seeking shelter. It was granted and she told her story willingly: the man, apparently, had been asking all sorts of questions, about Dena Nehele, the Queen, the males in her Court, whether the people were for or against Dorothea. Questions which, if answered truthfully, would invariably mean the downfall of not only the Queen but of most of Dena Nehele too. The woman told him a few lies before managing to escape: she didn't, not as far as we know, anyway, give anything of any importance away.

Yet this news troubled many people, especially both my parents and yours. They had, along with several others in the family, been secretly working against Dorothea and all that she stood for. They couldn't bear to see their beloved Dena Nehele fall into her hands, not after all the effort their people had exerted in order to remain independent. The freedom of Dena Nehele was the most important thing in their lives; until, of course, you came along Noelle.

When you were born, so mother says, they immediately left, since several more of Dorothea's men had been sighted. They didn't want to stay here in case it was attacked: your father believed that by going to live in one of the cities it would mean that Dorothea would simply pass over you all, that she wouldn't notice you. It was risky, certainly, but since no one could be sure whether your parents' names had been mentioned as being part of those opposed to Dorothea, the risk had to be taken: you had to leave straight away.

However, after that, visiting Dena Nehele became much harder. Dorothea had set up border patrols in order to check who was coming in and out. She knew something was going on, but she didn't know what. Eventually your parents didn't come at all.

And that was when they struck."

Here Amaya paused, swallowing hard. Noelle, Surreal were listening so intently that she blushed. "After that, I can't tell you much else. I wasn't in Dena Nehele when it all happened – I was actually staying with an aunt in Dhemlan. I think, perhaps, that my parents knew what was going to happen, so they sent me away. Many people were murdered and houses were burnt. The only people who survived out of our family were our grandparents, my parents, Hakon, Belian and me." She shrugged. "No bodies were ever found. No one knew what had happened to any of them – it's believed they were killed – but there's always the possibility that Dorothea's holding them captive. And if that's true, there's no telling what information she can prize from them." Here she turned to Noelle. "And then they killed your family too."

Noelle looked away, overcome with emotions. She now had some idea of why her parents had been murdered, but there were still too many blanks in the picture. "How did they know where my parents lived?" She asked suddenly, her voice barely above a whisper.

Amaya shrugged again. "Who can say?"

They were all silent for several moments, each digesting the information. Surreal interrupted the silence. "Why is there no Queen in Dena Nehele? Was she killed? Why did no one take her place?"

Amaya smiled softly. "The Queen is our Grandmother – the Lady Ardelia."

Daemon gasped, almost falling of his chair in shock. "Lia?"

Noelle frowned. "Yes. Why, do you know her?"

"I did – many years ago. I knew her Consort…well, he wasn't her Consort, not really. Jared was his name. I always wondered what happened to him…"

Amaya and Noelle laughed. "Jared is our Grandfather."

Daemon's eyes grew even wider at this. "He is? But – Mother Night! I never knew! He actually married Lia? Why didn't he ever say?"

"I've no idea. I don't think he ever mentioned you."

Noelle's head suddenly shot up. "Wait! Are you the man who saved Lia after she was attacked by those spider things?"

Daemon's mouth twitched. "Viper rats actually."

"Then he did mention you! The 'most beautiful man in the world, but who couldn't make a decent cup of coffee.' That was you?"

He sighed theatrically. "I can make a very decent cup of coffee thank you." Amaya laughed.

Surreal stood up, stretching. "That's all fine and well, but we still have gaps to fill in. We've still no idea how Dorothea's men found Noelle's family." The mood in the room instantly darkened as the smiles slid from the cousins' faces. Surreal turned to Amaya. "Do you have any idea who we could speak to? To get some answers?"

Amaya frowned, thinking hard. "I've searched everyone in Dena Nehele and no one seems to know anything. All I can think of is that one of Dorothea's people managed to get information from somewhere. Maybe you could find one of them…?"

Daemon immediately stood up, facing Surreal. "No Surreal. No way. I'm not going hunting one of hers. It's too damn risky! I can't afford to be so near her – I'm not going to end up in her Court again!" He sounded angry but Surreal could tell that he was scared at the thought of being so close to Dorothea again.

"I understand that Daemon. I'm not asking you to come with us."

Daemon began pacing, muttering and swearing under his breath. The three women just watched him. Finally he stopped, a decisive look on his face. "I'm coming. I'm not going to let the death of innocent people go unavenged. I killed a man harming an innocent, and that led to my brother being sent to the mines. He would never forgive me if I just stood by now."

Noelle reached out and took his hand. Smiling shakily, she whispered a simple, "Thank you," before letting it go.

Not before Surreal noticed a warm smile flit across Daemon's face.

"Well sugars, I suppose we'd best get going then," Surreal said, voicing all their thoughts. "The sooner we leave, the sooner we get answers."

As they turned to leave, Amaya whispered to Surreal, "Who's his brother?"

Surreal grinned, "Lucivar Yaslana," and inwardly laughed at the startled looks she received.

"Oh," they replied. "That explains a lot."

None of them noticed Daemon's chuckle as he strode out the room.

A/N: Well, what do you think? If you have any comments, PLEASE just click the button down their and send a review. It won't take long! Love lyradaemon x