“You lied to me!” I blurted. “You knew Fierce Wind was my mother. And you withheld information from me that could have saved us all! Now Roman may already be dead!”
I shook with emotion as the words tumbled from my throat. “We went on this journey to find answers, only I learned horrible, despicable things about my mother. I saw her doing disgusting acts with countless men. She was Balthazar’s lover, and she had another child beside me. She tried to kill me in her womb and poison me. I’m disgusted by her and no longer love her. I’m disowning her. She is nothing to me!”
The chief looked to Earth Bear, who stood behind me. “She is speaking too fast, and I can’t understand everything she is saying. Can you get her to slow down?”
“Olivia,” Earth Bear began, but I held up my hand to silence him.
“I get it. I get it! I’m to slow down in my speech. But I’m upset.” I exhaled a long breath and started again. “We all returned to Emily’s home and found her father’s journal. He was in love with my mother, and she bore him a child. Emily is my sister! And my mother kept this journal that everyone wanted me to find. And then Balthazar arrived, and he took Roman and me to his demon’s lair and tortured us. He broke Roman’s ankle and released cockroaches on us and—”
The chief lifted his arm to shush me. He looked past me to Earth Bear and said something in Sioux.
Earth Bear repeated what I said in his native tongue.
Grey Feather nodded, then turned his attention back to me. “Please continue.”
“I have met the darkest of the dark, Chief Grey Feather. I have met Balthazar. And now he’s got Roman and is holding him captive. Balthazar assured me he would keep Roman safe, but I don’t believe him. I don’t trust a word he speaks. He is despicable, capable of treachery far worse than I can comprehend. And had you not lied to me, all of this might have been prevented, and Roman might be safe by my side.” My hands shook with rage. “You’ve kept secrets from me, and now Balthazar is watching me. He kept my dagger and is using it to monitor my every move.”
I leaned forward. “I implore you to tell me everything you know! You owe me this!”
Grey Feather let out a long, heavy sigh. “You’re badly injured, Olivia, as well as ill. You need to heal. You need to rest.”
“Idon’tneed to rest! I need answers!”
“And I don’t have them,” Grey Feather said.
The words hung between us.
“What do you mean you don’t have them?” I said, dumbfounded.
“I don’t have the answers you are seeking.”
“How can that be? Surely you must knowsomething!”
“I’m sorry, child, I don’t. I don’t know where the journal is nor where the sun and moon daggers are. It’s up to you to find them. I’m sorry, but I can’t help you.” He paused before saying, “Forgive me for not telling you about your mother. I worried how you would feel when you heard the truth.”
My stomach churned with disgust and hatred at my mother. Despair rocked through me like an earthquake. Everywhere I turned, I hit obstacles. And now I would surely soon lose Roman, the love of my life.
“If I rest and heal, Roman willdie!”Sobs wracked my lungs in huge, heaving waves. And then a stab of pain, sharper than a knife blade to the gut, sliced through me. I let out another cry like a wild animal whose leg had been caught in a trap and collapsed in agony.
Earth Bear hurried from the teepee.
“Come quickly,” he said outside.
He returned with Marcellious and Emily on his heels.
“Pick her up and take her to Leaping Deer’s teepee. She needs healing at once!” Earth Bear said.
Marcellious crouched, slid his arms beneath me, and stood. He shifted me in his arms until I felt steady and firmly held. Then, he hurried through the door flap and raced toward Leaping Deer’s dwelling.
Emily sprinted by his side.
I moaned in Marcellious’ arms, my entire body feeling on fire.
Emily whipped open Leaping Deer’s door. “Please! We need your help!”
Leaping Deer looked up from whatever task she was performing by her fire. She bolted to her feet and gestured to a pile of bison furs.
“Place her here,” she said in Sioux.
