Transmigrated Teri is an ongoing isekai/portal fantasy series about Teri Graves, an embittered middle-age GenX office lady who gets into a massive car accident and wakes up in the world of the fantasy series she loves to hate, The Allisar Fireborn Chronicles. She knows the characters, she knows the plot, and she knows that its all a massive coma dream…except for how nothing is as it should be. Worse? She woke up in the body of the doomed evil stepmother! She escaped a pandemic for this?
Previously: Teri reintroduced herself to the kids…
Robern Allisar wore his eldest-son’s dignity like armor that had been dented and never properly mended. He moved with a careful restraint that did not match his years, one shoulder held a fraction too tight, his breath sometimes catching as if his ribs still remembered the shape of old pain. The injury had not come from war or tourney-field glory, but from a night the castle pretended had never happened—when a father’s wrath had fallen like a mace and Robern had stepped between it and his little brother without hesitation. Gervyn could still see it, even when he tried not to: the way Robern’s hands had shaken afterward, the long weeks of silence and stiffness, the slow acceptance that something in him had been broken for good. And though Robern never spoke of it, the damage lingered in every measured step, a quiet ruin carried with grim, unsmiling loyalty.
~ Allisar Fireborn Chronicles, Book 1: Embers of Destiny
Lady Elisandar came back in later in the morning to sit down in her armchair, and it was like a bell ringing: everything was back to normal in Lady Greyrage’s quarters. The day rolled out much as the others had, with lots of tea and Lady Sariat looking nervous all the time and Doctor Dourwin pushing Teri through exhausting physical therapy.
But that night, she laid awake in bed and considered her options. They were limited for the time being due to her leg (had it been amputated in the real world, she wondered?), but the more she thought about it, the more she liked the idea of hightailing it out of Luttiron castle completely. Getting the kids away from Luttiron would reduce her own stress overall; Count Ferdiff Allisar was a violent man and she did not trust what her imagination might do with a character like that, especially if his cruelty turned on her.
Taking the kids and stealing away like a thief in the night was the best solution to getting everyone out of his line of sight.
If they would come.
Gervyn might since he had a penchant for adventure, but the older ones would balk. They only knew the mean ol’ Lady Greyrage, who had just married their father a year ago and made their lives a living hell since.
Not to mention, she had to account for the listening talisman hidden under her bed. The “maze spell” only worked for so long before needing to be reapplied, and the limit so far was about thirty minutes according to her tests. Why it was there in the first place was the bigger concern. Was Ferdiff worried that Lady Greyrage was cheating on him? For a change, she cursed her love of intricately plotted stories filled with political machinations and identity porn tropes. This was her coma dream; why did it need to be so complicated????
Theo snored nearby, for once not barging into her personal ruminations. Not that her ruminations were getting her anywhere, and she eventually fell asleep with more questions than answers.
After her morning ablutions, she demanded that she be moved to the matching armchair across from Lady Elisandar to sit up for a while. Lady Sariat fussed excessively, but eventually Teri was sitting in a chair like a real person, albeit with several coverlets draped over her and her bad leg resting on an ottoman.
“Lady Sariat, please send for Robern,” she said when she had her teacup in hand.
The young woman bounced out a curtsy and dashed out of the room.
“What does milady want with the young lord?” Lady Elisandar asked pointedly as she stabbed at her never-ending embroidery.
Teri sent her a fierce glare, since she did not actually have any good answers for that, but it worked. Lady Elisandar huffed and continued stitching. It was good enough for the moment, but Teri knew she would have to figure something out soon. At the moment, her two ladies-in-waiting were Teri’s sole support network. If anyone could convince the doctor and the count that “Lady Greyrage” had experienced a retrograde change of personality due to magical reasons, it was her. Teri needed to keep her story believable enough that Lady Elisandar did not go off script.
Teri thought she might be falling asleep when she heard a light tapping at the door before it swung open, and Lady Sariat ushered a very confused-looking Robern.
Theo sat up again, this time wagging his tail.
:PUPPY!!!!!:
:Oh my God, okay, fine, go say hi.:
Theo leapt off the bed when Teri gave her permission but misjudged the distance, his back legs catching on the edge of the mattress and sending him crashing to the ground in a heap. While Lady Elisandar gasped in genuine fear and Robern froze mid step, his eyes wide, Theo rolled over and bounced up off the floor. He scrambled a bit on the stone flooring before trotting up to Robern.
“Ah?” The boy looked over at Teri uncertainly.
“He’s happy to see you. Might as well make his day and pet him.” She waved a hand at him in vague permission.
Theo immediately pushed up against Robern in absolute joy as the boy scratched behind his ears. Robern started to relax the longer Theo wiggled around happily at his feet, but he also kept glancing over at Teri as if trying to make up his mind about something.
Teri thought maybe he would be more open around her without an audience, and wondered how to get Lady Elisandar out of the room for a moment, before remembering that she was supposed to be a high ranking noble lady with an “I want to talk to the manager” attitude.
“Lady Elisandar, Lady Sariat, I would like to speak with my step-son alone.”
“Alone?” Lady Elisandar asked in confusion, before smoothing out her expression. “Of course, milady. We will return in a bit.” She said the last with a suspicious glance at Robern, but then scuttled out of the room, all but pushing Lady Sariat in front of her. She obviously expected “Lady Greyrage” to punish him for some infraction.
He let out a heavy breath but kept petting Theo.
Teri tried to look at him through Lady Greyrage’s eyes: a gangly boy who was tall for his age and set to be even taller, with the pale, soft complexion of someone who spent most of his days in diligent study as opposed to martial arts. As a character in the books, he had always been described as a limp rag, not particularly interesting outside of the role his death played in Gervyn’s character arc.
He finally stopped petting Theo and shuffled over to her chair. Teri could see the resemblance to Ota that he was often mocked for in the books: “pretty, but useless.” Not a fighter, not a soldier, not a “manly man” the way his father, the count, was, according to the toxic masculinity standards of Funkin’ Chad. More reason for his father to be merciless with him as a plot device, Teri reasoned.
She took a breath and Robern steeled himself, but instead, Teri scribbled nonsense in the air with her pointer finger while once again thinking the phrase, hide my words in a maze.
She looked over at Theo. :Did it work?:
He hopped over to the bed and stuck his head under it, wagging his tail, while Robern stared at him in mystification.
:The microphone is off!:
:Thanks.: She turned back to Robern, who straightened up like his back had been slapped with a board.
“You are probably curious about why I asked for you,” she said, trying to stay in character while not being too harsh.
He gulped nervously, but also nodded.
“I want to know why you snuck your siblings out of their lessons to take them out into the wilds for a picnic.” It was a mild opening volley, but it made him blanch.
“Milady?”
“Would it help if I promised not to tell your father what you tell me?”
He side-eyed her for a moment, which Theo took as permission to trot back over for more pets. Teri realized she would have to push him a bit harder.
“I know that you don’t trust me, and I don’t blame you. I know it has been difficult for you since I married the count…ah, your father.”
He nodded slowly, obviously thinking her words over and looking for a trap. The trap that someone like the original Lady Greyrage had probably set for him many times.
Teri took in his posture, the way he had clasped his hands in front of himself even as Theo was sitting on his feet, hoping for more pets. How he refused to look her in the eye. He was a teenager and looked particularly young just then, trying hard to look older. She remembered that in the books he had been remembered by his siblings as honest, kind, and brave. His relationship with Lady Greyrage had never been brought up much outside of Gervyn talking about how her actions had ruined Robern’s life. Despite being the only mother figure he had known since his mother had died giving birth to Gervyn, Lady Greyrage only thought of the children as competition for her and any heirs she might have produced, but never did.
In other words, he was just a kid.
“Come here,” she said as softly as she could.
To his credit, he gave her a suspicious glance before obediently shuffling across the rug to stand by the chair.
“We haven’t gotten along much, have we?” She said, keeping her hands on her lap—visible, and non-threatening.
He took a deep breath before nodding in agreement.
“Can I tell you a secret?” She kept her voice soft and low.
He looked up in confusion, but leaned in closer to her.
“I have partial amnesia from the void howler attack.”
He frowned. “You don’t remember the attack?”
“It’s true I don’t remember the attack, but more importantly, I don’t remember the past fifteen years of my life.”
He snapped back up straight in shock. He looked around, spooked, before leaning back in. “Does Father know?”
She shrugged. “He might, by now. Doctor Dourwin knows. But that’s only part of it. Lady Elisandar and I have figured out something else.”
“What?” His eyes lit up in curiosity, his youth showing through.
“That my bad temper might have been due to a longstanding curse, from a void howler attack when I was thirteen.”
He gasped.
“Don’t tell anyone!” She finally lifted one hand in a ‘stop’ motion. “We’re not sure, and there might be other consequences.”
He looked thoughtful for a moment, then bounced a little in place. “Do you think the latest void howler attack cancelled out the old one? That the umbruus of the curse folded back in on itself?”
She wasn’t sure what that even meant, but it sounded reasonable. “Sure. Maybe?” She shrugged again.
“Do you want me to do some research on that, Milady?” He gave her a hopeful expression full of puppy eyes.
:PUPPY! He’s a good puppy. Good boy!: Theo pranced around Robern.
“Yes, he’s a good boy,” Teri said to Theo without thinking about it. She heard Robern take a sharp breath and looked at him again. His eyes were watery, and he used his sleeve to wipe at them while trying to pretend he wasn’t doing it. She realized he was starved for both attention and approval. Unsurprising, but it tugged at her heart. She firmly reminded herself that he was a fictional character in her coma dream.
“Uh. Well. It was Gervyn’s birthday.”
She stared at him, utterly baffled. “What?”
He rolled his shoulders, standing straighter and tightening his jaw.
“The day of the shadow hunt. It was Gervyn’s birthday. Vycette wanted to give him a picnic. We knew…we knew Father would not remember, or care.”
He said the last defiantly, and Teri had to concede that it took a lot of bravery to admit just how awful his own father was.
“Gervyn didn’t even remember!” Robern huffed in displeasure. “I helped everyone duck out of classes and that was why we were in the woods when your hunt circled back around the old mine chasing the v’howler.”
She had no idea what or where “the old mine” was, since there was nothing like that mentioned in the books. Apparently that was where she got attacked by a void howler, by the sound of it.
“I understand why you did what you did, but it was still disobedient and unruly. It put people’s lives in danger.” She paused as he paled even further, quite a feat for someone with such a deeply bronzed skin-tone. “Don’t worry, I will not tell the count.”
He crumpled with relief, losing all his nascent bravado. “Thank you, Milady.”
She caught herself before she replied with a too-casual and anachronistic “no worries!” and just nodded instead while she considered her next move. At the very least, she could count on Robern to corral his siblings when it was time to leave, but that was a few weeks away yet, and she needed to keep building up his trust in her.
It was far too on the nose to think of it as taking candy from a baby.
“Robern,” Teri said, gently reaching out to take his hand in hers. She could feel his nervousness in the slight tremors of his fingers, so she kept her hold loose. “Things are going to change. I’ve already changed. I have a familiar now, and Theo loves you and the children. He considers you his puppies, his responsibilities. I do not think your father will approve of all these changes. Will you help me?”
“I will, I promise!”
“Robern,” she repeated, more sternly, and he flinched a little. She did not let go of his hand. “I don’t want you to do anything that will get you in trouble with your father.”
“Of course, Milady.” He bowed.
She sighed. In for a penny, in for a pound, as her own aunt used to say.
“When we’re alone, why don’t you call me Aunt…uhm, Aunt Bonae? But only when we’re alone!” It was close enough to “Aunt Teri,” which she was used to answering to already. She pushed aside the pang of homesickness that thinking of her niece and nephews brought up.
His eyes went wide and round and watery again, and his answering smile was a fragile, tragic thing. “Yes, Auntie Bonae!”
NEXT: Roos
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