Keystone

by Chloe Adler

  “If I could, I would, but it’s not possible to change eons of history and prejudice in one day. Or by force.” He holds my gaze, his dark eyes wide and intense.

  “No. Of course not.”

  He leans down and kisses me, hard and forceful. “I know what needs to be done, but it will take time.” He reaches for my hand again and we continue walking around the mountain.

  I know he’s right. I know how important this is. I know I’m about to lose him forever anyway. These thoughts poison my mind and sour my stomach. I want to throw myself on him and beg him to forget these closed-minded people, forget his kingdom and come home with me. But I can’t and I won’t. I have to set the bird free and it hurts so bad that I may explode into a thousand tiny pieces of dust at any moment.

  “Hey,” he lifts my chin with a finger, “if there were any other way . . .”

  “I know.” I have to stay strong for him but in order to do that, I can’t meet his eyes. “Where are you taking me?”

  “There’s a doorway.”

  “Why didn’t we use it to get here then?”

  “It only works one way. A defensive measure, so that no one from Tara could follow us into Juna. My father created it when our people first discovered this plane, long before I was born.” He shrugs. “My father was a bit paranoid toward the end. He told me about the passage after anointing me his successor. Once he passed and I became king, I told Katrina about it, since she was next in line to the throne. My father also told me a synergist would be required to get to Juna, but Katrina must have found a way around that.”

  I worry my hands. “So I’m going back to Tara? How will I get to Earth from there?”

  He tosses his curls. “No, this doorway takes people back to their origin. Wherever you come from, it’ll take you back home.”

  “What if I don’t want to go home? What if I want to stay here with you?” Dammit, Amaya, stop.

  He kisses the top of my head. “Truthfully, it’s not safe here for you right now. The people are angry and don’t understand. Katrina is vengeful, and even in custody, she could cause much strife. I need you somewhere safe.”

  I pull Sanne from her sheath. “I can keep myself safe.”

  “Darling,” he caresses my cheek, “I don’t want you to have to look over your shoulder every second of every day. I don’t want you to sleep with your eyes open. I don’t want you to miss out on your life at home. And besides, someone has to go home and warn the others about Betty.”

  I sigh and resheathe the sword. “Why are you always the voice of reason?”

  “I’m kingly?” I swat his shoulder but he grabs my hand, brings it up to his lips and presses a long kiss into my palm. “I love you, Amaya Reynolds. You are my queen and I want you safe and happy.”

  I smile up at him but my mouth quivers. I was his queen. Back on Earth, I’ll just be a sad girl who lost the cornerstone of her heart. A loss that will crumble the entire house that was built on top of it. Now is not the time to be selfish.

  “You are brave, you are strong and you are mine.”

  “Not just yours.” My voice is sadder than I anticipated.

  He grins, obviously not focused on the future or lack of it. “That’s right, you belong to all of us, Ms. Reynolds. The Stetlers and me. They’ll take care of you in my absence. Don’t you miss them?”

  The truth cinches my heart with a pang. I do miss them. Very much. But how can I have them without Vasily? Can we all just be friends at this point or will I be forced to move out because staying among them will hurt too much? I don’t want to let him see my pain so I nod, numb.

  Vasily pulls on my hand and I follow him down the pathway. He veers off and into the desert. We walk in silence for a long time until we reach the tree where the two of us first arrived in Juna.

  “Here?” I press my hand to the bleached tree trunk, crying for water long evaporated.

  Vasily crouches at the base of the tree, rolling several small boulders to one side.

  “What are you doing?” I crouch beside him and gasp when he reveals a small opening in the tree. It’s barely big enough for one person to squeeze through.

  “This is it, the doorway. You crawl through and I’ll seal it back up.”

  I can’t hold this inside any longer. “Will I ever see you again?” My lip quivers.

  “What? Of course you will. It will take time to gather my people, but soon we’ll be on Tara and you will have to bring Sabin there to meet us and free Azotar. With the time dilation, it’ll pass in a blink for you.”

  Of course, that’s not what I meant. “No, I mean . . . after. After we free Azotar and this is all over. Will we be together?” His eyes darken and drop from mine. It’s all the answer I need. “Don’t lie to me.”

  “I wasn’t going to.” He looks back up, his eyes brimming with tears. “The truth is . . . I don’t know.”

  I wipe a tear away from my own eye and push back a curl. “Well, Your Highness, if this is goodbye . . .”

  “Your powers are growing, Amaya. We wouldn’t have been able to get here otherwise. I can’t promise we’ll be together always, but if your powers surge even more . . .”

  I shrug. “Then what?”

  “I hope, at the very least, that we’ll be able to communicate.”

  I snort. “Do you have cell service here?”

  He tosses his head. “Use Sanne to cut off some of my hair.”

  “Why?”

  “In the olden days, when Tara brimmed with our own magic, we communicated telepathically, but we had to have a lock of the other’s hair.”

  Unsheathing Sanne, I carefully trim off some of his and then some of mine. I rip strips from the bottom of my tunic and use them to bind each lock. Then I hand him the lock of mine and carefully fold the lock of his into the hem of fabric at my waist. “You wouldn’t be pulling my leg just to give me false hope, would you?”

  “No.” He looks away and then back again. “It’s true that it was a long time ago, hundreds of years. But with your new powers, our worlds are closer than ever before. And when you travel back to Earth, you’ll stitch them closer still. The closer they are, the less time will slip between them.” He scrubs his chin. “It’s worth a try, no?”

  “Of course.” I lunge at him, throwing myself into his arms, where I hold on as though he’s my last, dying breath.

  “I love you so much.” He presses a kiss to my ear. “If I can sneak out, even for a day to see you, I will.”

  We both know these are empty words. “How would you even get to Earth when you’re Taran born?”

  He cups my chin and pulls me to his mouth for a long, deep kiss. His tongue moves against mine as he pulls me close to his body, folding me against him. When he lets me go, seconds later, I’m panting. “I may be Taran born, but I belong to you. Wherever you are is where I will go.”

  “You don’t know that for sure.”

  “No, but your powers really are growing stronger, Amaya. If I can’t find my way back to you, you’ll find your way back to me. I believe in you, my sweet synergist. You can move mountains.” His lips rain kisses along my jawline.

  It’s just like Oceane said, I am stitching the planes together. Maybe I can even stitch us together.

  “Are you ready?”

  “No. Yes—no.” I grasp him closer, plastering my body against his. “I love you.”

  “I love you too, more than anything. So much that I’m tempted to throw all of this away, everyone and everything, in order to be with you.”

  “You can’t do that.” I pull back and hold his dark gaze.

  “I know. Now unsheathe your sword and bury her to the hilt here at the tree’s base.”

  I stick out my lower lip. “I want to take her with me.”

  “I know you do. But since Sanne was forged in our realm, it can’t travel through the doorway to Earth, that’s not her origin. You’ll just have to come back here to get her . . .” He winks. “And me.”

  “And bring you
both back to Earth with me.”

  “Yes.” He leans in, kissing the tip of my nose, sending a shiver down my spine.

  Standing, I pull off my sheath and yank Sanne free. I walk around the tree and, using two hands, sink her deep into the base on the other side of the exit. After laying the sheath over her, I return to Vasily.

  “Down on your knees.” He smiles up at me.

  I roll my eyes and drop down in front of him. He places a gentle kiss on my lips, points me toward the opening in the tree and pats my butt. With one last look over my shoulder, I crawl inside the pitch-black hole.

  Chapter Fourteen

  “Amaya.” Jules’s voice bleeds into my consciousness and I prick open my eyes. She’s crouched next to me in the mansion’s atrium. “Have you been in Tara? You promised not to go without telling anyone. Where’s Vasily? He went in after you.”

  I sit up and rub my eyes. “Jules?” I look around, blinking. Didn’t Vasily say I would go back to where I originated? Wouldn’t that be where I was born? In Edge General. It must be my powers, like Oceane and Vasily have been telling me. They are growing, this is proof. I must have some influence over where I land, instead of being bound to the rules of inter-plane travel for everyone else.

  I throw my arms around by best friend, pulling her close. After everything I’ve been through—first evil Betty throwing me into Tara against my will, then almost being eaten by the merpeople, then groveling for my life in the harsh climate of Juna—this little waif is a welcome sight to my misty eyes.

  “I missed you too, dolt.” She holds me tight for several beats. “Where have you been?”

  “It’s a long story but Vasily is fine.” For now. She lets go of me, stands up and reaches out a hand to pull me to my feet.

  I look around, getting my bearings. The sky outside is dark and the lights in the foyer are muted. The twinkling fairy lights in the trees, the gurgling of the water, the soft glow of candles flickering in wall sconces. My home. It both warms and chills me. This is where I’m supposed to be comfortable, where I belong, yet there are problems to solve before I can rest. The unknown variable of Betty. And Vasily still in Juna with the unstable Katrina and a doozy of a job ahead of him. Then rebuilding my life after that.

  “I’ll go make you some tea.” Jules rushes off to the kitchen.

  The kitchen. Where Betty sent me to Tara. I call after her— “Wait Jules, no, it’s not safe.” But she’s already out of earshot. There’s no way I’m letting that evil witch hurt my best friend and I run down the hallway toward the kitchen only to stop, dead in my tracks, as the door to the kitchen crashes open on its hinges. Betty rushes past me, turning to glare at me for an instant before she storms out the front door, leaving it gaping open behind her.

  “Was that Betty?” Arch is bounding down the stairs, followed by his three hot warlock brothers.

  “It was.” I push into the kitchen to check on Jules, the men following. “Hey girlfriend, everything okay in here?”

  She turns from the stove, shrugging. “Yeah, everything’s fine. Betty got excited when I told her you’d returned. Did she talk to you already?”

  Before I can respond, the men have piled into the kitchen, where they bear-hug me and Jules commences making tea.

  “Amaya.” Forrest pets my head. “What happened?”

  “We’ve been so worried about you.” Arch holds my face with his hands.

  Cedar and Bodhi form a tight circle around me, each rubbing an arm and my back.

  “Vasily?” asks Bodhi.

  “He stayed in Juna with his sisters.”

  “He’s in Juna?” Arch leans close.

  “Yes, he’s trying to talk his people into moving back to Tara as soon as Azotar is gone.”

  “How?” Arch cocks his head, the red beard moving with the motion.

  “There’s a doorway there that will take them there. It’s how I got back here.”

  Arch looks down at his hands. “A doorway?”

  “It’s a dead loke tree, magically tied to the one in Tara, but it’s spelled to take whoever enters it back to their origin, where they were born.”

  “But how will that help Vasily get back here? To Earth?” Jules turns from the stove to ask.

  I look at each of the brothers, then glance at Jules. My bestie always asks the hardest questions. “I’m not sure. He thinks my powers may help him return but . . .” I look away, blinking furiously. “There’s a chance he may not ever come back.”

  The silence that follows falls like a tidal wave.

  Chapter Fifteen

  I wait a beat and then continue. “With the time difference between here and the other planes, it may take years there to remove Azotar, to convince the royalists to return to Tara, and then get them settled again after so much strife. Vasily can’t abandon his people.” I splay my hands. “He just can’t.”

  “Well then, we have a lot of work to do,” says Bodhi.

  “And a limited time in which to do it,” adds Forrest.

  “One more question,” says Cedar. “How did you and Vasily travel to Juna?”

  Heat courses through my veins and I clamp my mouth shut for a beat. “The loke tree.” My voice comes out in a squawk.

  “Amaya Reynolds,” Jules exclaims. “I know that look!”

  “Shut up, ho,” I grumble.

  She laughs. “Sounds like you the one that’s a ho.”

  “Oh, it was like that,” Cedar grins. “Wish I’d been a fly on that tree.”

  “Subject change!” I hold my hands flat out. “Has Betty been here the whole time I was gone?”

  “She moved out,” says Bodhi.

  “But she just bowled over me a second ago . . .” I look at Jules, eyes wide, searching.

  “That’s weird, I thought she wanted to talk to you. She’s been hanging out here a lot but Ms. Cheryl gave her a temporary room at the vectum.” Jules hands me a cup of tea and then grabs one for herself.

  Ms. Cheryl? The vectum? “Was she helping you with your spell work?” I step away from the men and place my hands on my hips. “What’s she been doing since I left?”

  Forrest’s brows rise. “She said she was waiting for you.”

  I snort. “Let’s talk.” I turn and walk out of the kitchen and into the dining room with the men and Jules on my heels.

  After everyone is seated at the dining room table, with the men flanking me and Jules across, we each sip our tea. All eyes are locked on me while I drum my fingers on the table. “I realize this is going to be hard to believe but you all know me well and you know I don’t make shit up.”

  “Go on.” Arch leans forward, spreading his large arms on the table in front of him. “We know you and we trust you, one hundred percent.”

  The others chime in with agreement.

  I let out a long breath. “Betty is not who she claims to be.”

  The table erupts in murmurs, each warlock exchanging glances with his neighbor.

  Bodhi leans forward. “Amaya, this is not a comfortable topic, but it must be addressed.” He exchanges looks with his brothers. Forrest shakes his head but Bodhi merely nods back.

  “What is it?”

  “It’s no secret that you’ve had a few bouts with the green-eyed monster in the past . . .”

  Jules sucks in a sharp breath of air and I hiccough.

  “That’s probably not the best way to describe it,” Arch cuts it. “She’s been a little territorial is all.”

  “And for good reason,” says Forrest. “After all, a five-some is new to everyone. There was a lot to navigate.”

  “That’s an understatement,” Jules throws in.

  Ugh. I brought this on myself. It’s time to clean up my mess. “My turn,” I say and they silence. “It’s true. I’ve had some issues in the past while feeling my way around all of this. I was even jealous of my best friend.” I throw Jules an apologetic look. “It was immature of me but in my defense, I was going through a lot, and that included finding out who I
really am, what I’m really capable of. Shit.” I roll my eyes at myself. Come on, get it all out.

  The men’s heads bob encouragingly as they lean forward in their seats.

  “I was an insecure, scared woman. I was afraid of keeping you all just as much as I was afraid of losing you all. And now . . .” I steeple my fingers on the tabletop, channeling a little of Oceane’s regal demeanor. “I may no longer be that insecure woman, but I do realize that without Vasily this whole relationship may not last, and that is the part that scares me now.”

  Bodhi sighs. “Thank you for explaining. I think I speak for all of us when I say we’re concerned about that too.”

  “Let’s not put the cart ahead of the horse,” Forrest says. “We have more immediate concerns, unless I’m mistaken.” He turns to me. “What were you saying about Betty?”

  I drum my fingers harder and everyone stops talking. “Yes of course.” I’m grateful that Forrest is reining us in for now. “Let me explain . . .”

  Almost an hour later I’ve told them of Betty’s plan and why, unfortunately, I need to go along with it. I’ve left out her death threats because that would just piss them off and they would try and stop me from freeing Azotar, if only to prove their own virility.

  “I knew she was up to no good,” Jules says.

  “Your instincts were right on,” I say. I’m not sure if Jules is being truthful or just trying to make me look good but no matter. I appreciate it.

  “You must be exhausted,” says Cedar. “Did you get any rest in Juna?”

  “Not really, no.” It’s true, I am exhausted. I hadn’t even realized how much. Plus, I’m pretty ripe and my clothing is full of rather conspicuously misplaced holes. I stand up and the men stand with me.

  “Why don’t we help you upstairs?” asks Cedar.

  Hell yes. “That’d be great, thanks.”

  “We’ll make you some food, you must be starved.” Bodhi trips over himself to get to the kitchen with Jules trailing behind him.

  Arch hoists me up, carrying me out of the dining room and up the stairs but not up the stairwell to my bedroom. He carries me up the other stairwell that leads to the back of the mansion and their wing. The other two follow, leaping up two steps at a time.