Gerwin, again, nodded. “She was the only one.”
“Where is she now?” Maray hardly dared to ask.
“We have no idea…” He let his gaze wander to the window as if he’d find an answer there. “Heck has been spending every waking moment either thrashing at people who have offered him condolences or sneaking out of the infirmary to go looking for her…”
A fissure ran through Maray’s heart as it broke for Heck. “We need to find her,” she said. And Gerwin agreed.
“Neelis is devastated. Losing a daughter like that…” Gerwin locked his gaze on Maray’s and she saw it there, that he himself had thought, if even for a moment, that he’d lost her.
“What are we going to do?” Maray asked, meaning more than just Seri and the magic that had disappeared. The entire aftermath of Gan Krai’s terror was awaiting them once they were back on their feet.
In response, Gerwin took her hand again, gently so he wouldn’t hurt her.
“We have a wonderful, brave Queen who will lead us,” he said with a smile. “And she has the support of all of Allinan.”
Maray closed her eyes for a moment and focused, trying to summon a flame. Just one tiny flame.
Nothing.
And when she looked at her father again, she returned his smile—not quite the smile of victory she had hoped she’d find herself giving after defeating Gan Krai, but at least a smile; now Allinan had a future once more.
“Then let’s call the council.”
Heck
The air was chilly for an August evening in Allinan’s capital as Heck strolled through the park, uninspired by the tasks of his new job as the court’s lead counselor. Sometimes he wondered if Maray and his mother had insisted on him taking on the role out of pity for lack of borders he could protect between worlds. The guards of dimensions no longer existed, the same as magic was gone from the lands of Allinan. Even the Yutu were stuck here.
He rubbed his forearms, cursing his new attire—linen rather than Thaotine—as he slipped through the rows of hedges from alley to alley, ignoring the branches that caught on his sleeves. It didn’t matter that when he returned, he’d look no better than a random strider. But if there was one thing that did matter to him—feeling the twigs tear on his shirt and the leaves fall around him gave him a moment to remember the days he’d rushed from bush to bush to meet with Seri, unseen by the keen eyes of the palace.
The inconspicuous layers of green were his shelter these days—though not from the palace. There was nothing he had to hide any longer. The scars on his cheek and neck from fighting the Shalleyn were impossible to hide anyway, unless he wanted to wear a hood full-time. And so, what use was it to try to hide his scarred heart? He wore it on his flimsy sleeves.
Heck snapped a twig in response to the pain that welled up in his chest and stopped on a small patch of grass between the hedges where a large chestnut tree was towering over him like a leaf-dragon. He rested his hand on the gnarly bark tightly where an ornate S was circled around a clumsily carved H. Seri and Heck. It should have been forever.
A tear stung in his eye as he directed his gaze at the green above him, his head craned in a gesture of defeat. Why couldn’t it have been him instead? Seri had always been the stronger one of them. And she had left him behind, given herself up for him, shielded him with her body, and with her last breath transformed into that Yutu-beast that defied death, even with a sword run through her chest.
And now she was stuck in her Yutu body, unable to transform without magic. She had run, scared, in pain, potentially not even thinking like a human any longer, and was probably never going to return. A cry escaped his lips as he smashed his hand against the tree trunk.
“Are you all right in there?”
Heck froze at the sound of a voice. Had someone followed him? Not that he cared if anyone saw him like this. His days of grinning were long gone. But all the intrigue, the fighting, the years of being a soldier, a guard, had shaped his reflexes, and his body reacted accordingly. His sword weighed heavy as he pulled it from its sheath. With all magic gone, everything seemed to take more effort, as if Allinan had worked with him before, helped him protect it, and now, had forgotten he was even there.
As he wiped his eyes and glimpsed through the layers of leaves, another pair of eyes met his—dark, almost black. Blacker than even Seri’s. He took a breath, searching for his voice, when a quick hand darted through the bush and grabbed him by the wrist of his sword hand so fast he didn’t stand a chance.
“Ouch!” he protested as he was pulled ungently through a wall of leaves and twigs.
As he battled to free his hand from the grasp, he found himself staring at a young woman’s bronze face. Her features weren’t familiar, nor were the leathery clothes she was wearing. She took in Heck’s struggling shape, her fingers loosening around his wrist, and her eyes bore an expression that Heck had last seen when he had accompanied Maray to her public audiences. It was the look of surprise and recognition paired with a sort of fear that came with the unexplainable. She dropped his arm and took a step back.
“I apologize, Sir.” She dropped to one knee and bowed her head, apparently expecting him to know what to do with that gesture. “I thought you were someone else—”
“Someone else?” Heck repeated. For the first time in over three months, a hint of amusement began to fill him. He didn’t let his grip slide from his sword, though.
The girl looked up, a copper braid falling over her shoulder as she did, and fashioned a conspiring look. “One of the Allinan, I thought…” She leaned a bit forward, bracing her hands on her thighs as she seemed to be waiting for him to understand. “But it’s you…”
Heck shrugged. Whoever had thought of this hadn’t considered that he had a lifetime of practice at pretending he was in full control of most things and didn’t give a damn about the rest. Whoever had sent the girl had a queer sense of humor if they thought she might cheer him up.
“Yeah.” He ran his free hand through his too-long hair and forced a smile. “Those Allinans…”
“I am just glad that queen of theirs got the demon infestation under control in time.” The girl measured Heck’s face for a second, then seemed to come to the conclusion that she was good to stand up. “And, thank the gods I found you before they did.”
“Thank the gods?” There were no multiple gods in Allinan—or in the other world, which had sealed itself off. Who was she? Where had she come from?
“Yes.” She reached out her hand and, after a moment of hesitation, picked up his wrist again, inspecting his bracelet. A relic from the times of magic. “Wherever did you get this?” she all but accused him, apparently outraged by his sentimental token. Her eyes wandered up his arms and across his chest, screening the rest of him until her eyes bulged, horrified. “And whatever are you wearing?”
Heck checked his own attire with a glance down and found he didn’t look any different from this morning—plus the micro-tears in his shirt.
“And now let’s go back.” She stared him down as if she wasn’t going to accept any refusals, her head held high, eyes flaring with a sense of urgency. And something more… Something magical.
He leaned a bit closer to capture that sensation of magic.
This was not a joke. The girl was dead-serious. If she was real, that shimmer of magic in her eyes had to be, too. And if there was the slightest chance some magic still existed somewhere—anywhere—he wouldn’t let that opportunity pass. Wherever she’d take him, he’d go just for the tiny shred of hope that was blossoming inside his chest. Finding magic would mean a chance of getting Seri back.
“Back to where?” Heck asked slowly, bracing himself for a journey into the unknown.
“Home, to the temple.” She gestured in the air with one hand, and a puff of white haze surrounded her. Before Heck could protest, she pulled him forward into the cloud, her lip curving into a smile. “They’re waiting for you.”
Maray
Puffs of t
hick fog blocked Maray’s view as she turned, eyes searching the darkness for Jemin.
“Over here,” he whispered over the sound of slow waves.
Maray checked over her shoulder in the direction from which Jemin’s voice had touched her ears.
He was there, hidden in the trees beside the pool—their secret pool, where neither Allinan nor the horrors of their past could catch up with them. The hot springs in the south-east of the capital were a commercial success in the other world—the world which was no longer accessible to them. But here in Allinan, they were a secret only a few people, daring enough to wander through the woods, knew about. Most of them feared the remaining Yutu. It didn’t matter that all magic was gone for good. Those beasts were still monstrous when you ran into them, unarmed, in the middle of nowhere.
After months of helping her people get what they needed to adapt to their new situations, their magic-free Allinan, Maray and Jemin had finally found some time for a short get-away. And just in time before the wedding—theirs this time.
Maray smiled at her scarred hand, where a thin band of gold was circling around a purple crystal—the remains of the blood-test Corey had conducted when Maray had first come to Allinan. Her future king. King Jemin.
Slowly, Maray pulled her cloak tighter, wanting to make her way toward him, her heart already picking up speed at the thought that within a few weeks, they would rule side by side. But before she could take a step, his arms caught her around the waist from behind. She shivered as his fingers slowly dug within the cloak, making the cold of the winter disappear at the heat of his touch.
“You need to stop doing this,” she laughed, grateful the darkness was hiding her blush.
“Commands my Queen?” he asked and chuckled quietly, his lips gliding over her ear.
Maray shuddered—not from the cold—and turned around in his embrace. “I am not your Queen,” she objected in a whisper. “Not right now.”
“You’re always my Queen.” He chuckled mischievously. “But I am the only one in the world lucky enough to call you my Queen behind closed doors, too. And soon, ‘my wife’,” he added, eyes sparkling like the stars above.
“I don’t see any doors here.” Maray stood on her toes to close the gap between his curved mouth and her longing lips.
Before she could make it, he had scooped her up and dropped her into the steaming water behind her.
With a splash, the warmth enveloped her, and she dove out of the water, spitting out gulped mouthfuls of mildly salty fluid while Jemin crouched beside her, shaking with laughter as she shook out her wet hair at him.
“Heck would have found this beyond hilarious.” His chuckle faded as he realized what he had said.
After three months of searching and countless attempts from Corey to locate Heck, they had given up the search four months ago. It was useless. Without magic, they didn’t stand a chance, especially when they didn’t even know whether Heck wanted to be found. He had told them over and over again that without Seri, there was no need for him to remain at court. That he would only give up on her when he found her dead.
“It’s okay, Jem.” Maray reached out her dripping hands for his, and he let her take them. “We tried everything. All we can hope is that he is happier where he is now.”
“If he is still alive,” Jemin added.
“I tend to think he is.” Maray refused to think of anyone else as permanently lost.
Jemin nodded, his face serious once more. His features were strikingly beautiful in the half-light of the moon—pale, with sharp angles and smooth planes. His eyes, two pale orbs full of reflections, shimmering like stars behind strands of hair.
Maray’s heart picked up speed. “We have until daybreak before I need to return to my new council,” she reminded him, and his hands, as if commanded by her thoughts, let go of hers to unfasten his cloak and drop it to the ground. He got to his feet and slid out of his clothes, never taking his eyes off Maray, making it difficult to focus on anything but the smoldering of the blue fire behind his irises.
He let himself glide into the pool beside her, one hand cupping her face, fingertips reaching into her hair. Maray closed her eyes as Jemin’s lips found hers, letting his free hands liberate her of the weight her wet clothes presented, until there was nothing between them. No worlds, no magic, no evil warlocks, no ancestors, no protocol or status.
“What a coincidence you were hunting a Yutu in the gardens when I happened to be on a walk…” she mused aloud. It seemed like a different life now that their worlds had finally become one, and yet, everything was as fresh in her mind as if it had happened yesterday. The sounds of swords, the wounded stranger on the gravel, his skeptical eyes when he had first studied her face. How he had saved her from the Yutu, kidnapped her from a world that was fading more and more from her memories. “It’s almost like a miracle we found each other.”
“It wasn’t a miracle,” Jemin clarified between two gentle brushes of his lips against her jaw. “It doesn’t matter what I was doing back then, for every path I chose, every step led me toward you.”
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About the Author
“Chocolate fanatic, milk-foam enthusiast and huge friend of the southern sting-ray. Writing is an unexpected career-path for me.”
Angelina J. Steffort is an Austrian novelist, best known for The Wings Trilogy, a young adult paranormal romance series about the impossible love between a girl and an angel. The bestselling Wings Trilogy has been ranked among calibers such as the Twilight Saga by Stephenie Meyer, The Mortal Instruments by Cassandra Clare, and Lauren Kate’s Fallen, and has been top listed among angel books for teens by bloggers and readers. Angelina has multiple educational backgrounds including engineering, business, music, and acting. Currently, Angelina lives in Vienna, Austria, with her husband and her son.
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Also by Angelina J. Steffort
Two Worlds Saga
The Wings Trilogy
The Wings Trilogy: Adam
Two Worlds of Dominion Page 27
