And then they’d found Eaudne’s mate and some of her sons. Her daughters.
Loren, no matter what her life was, had always seen Eaudne’s suffering in her dreams.
She had never forgotten the pain of loss on the woman’s face.
When she’d looked up from Dekimos and the sword, she had seen Eaudne, the same one she’d known in that previous life, and had almost fallen to her knees weeping for all that they had lost that day.
Eaudne had said nothing, just turned around and walked away.
Loren understood. She had said nothing to Eaudne, either.
They would speak later.
Dekimos hadn’t wanted to leave her suite, either. But his brother had pulled him away.
Jushua.
She was happy to see that Eaudne had not spent the last five thousand alone, grieving her children. She’d had Jushua, at least.
And Kennera and Dekimos had been returned to her. “Eaudne and I will speak later. When she is ready.”
Jade hesitated. “Kennera had a friend with her that day. The Goddess Nelciana. Do you know about her?”
Loren looked at her. “Yes. I know who she is.”
“She’s your—the other you—her sister, isn’t she?”
“Yes.” And one she hadn’t known well. Nelci had been several thousand years old at the time Nelanora had been born. And they hadn’t been close, not like she had been with her youngest sister, who’d been but twelve when she died. “We shared the same mother and father. But we weren’t close.”
“Will you see her now?”
“I don’t know yet.”
“She has two small children, about the same age as Becca’s.”
“I see.” She hadn’t known that. “And her mate?”
It had once been Jushua, had they found each other again recently?
“I think it is the god Lothonos, cousin of the Wolf god. No one really speaks much about it. At least not that I’ve heard. And I don’t think they’re together. I think they just had children.”
“That does not sound like Nelciana.”
“It’s all been really mysterious since it happened. Heck, Lore…what am I supposed to believe? The last two years have been crazy around here. I never thought things would end like this. With us here like this, even Mara. We just found her a few weeks ago. She’s been here the whole time, and I didn’t know it.”
“Things are about to get worse, to get even crazier.” And people would be lost. Did Jade realize that? “It’s going to get bad, Jade. You need to be ready.”
Her friend sobered. “I will. I think. Are you going to live through this, Loren? Tell me the truth.”
Loren thought of the dreams facing her. What she was going to have to do soon. She touched the sword that rested on a table by the door. It was still warm to the touch. It hummed when she brushed a finger over the blade.
Estacles’ soul. So was he inside there? She hadn’t had time to think about that or process the entire idea of having found the sword. “I don’t know. I’m used to dying, Jade. And being reborn. But this is the closest I’ve ever come to finishing this. I’ve never found the sword before. Found Deki…”
“Can we say wow. I thought he was going to gobble you up for a moment there.”
“In another lifetime we were fated for each other. This one we are not. But the memories of that possibility are still there. I would not be good for him, now. He needs another.”
“Who? And how do you know?”
“I just do. The Four Fates, do you know anything about them?”
“I’ve heard a few legends. Mara is studying them, with her mate Rion.”
“Mara has a mate. Becca has children. You’re married to one of the greatest healers of the day. And I…” Loren thought for a moment. “I’m here to finish that day. To play out what should have played out back then. I don’t know if I’ll die. I don’t know if I’ll manage to do what I’m supposed to. And I’m scared.”
“I think you have the right to be.”
Loren nodded. She picked up the sword and held it. There was an inscription in ancient Evalanedean and she read it easily.
It hadn’t been there the last time she had used the blade. Had Estacles or Deki inscribed it after her death? She read it aloud, slowly.
The sword burned in her hand. Gold light shot from the blade; sounds similar to a human scream bounced off the wall.
Jade squeaked. Loren gasped, and raised her hands into a defensive position.
Chapter Eighteen
Jushua left the witchie’s suite and returned to his mother’s. She was waiting at the door. “Is all well? I don’t appreciate you barricading me in.”
“I do not trust the girl. It is too easy that she has found us.”
“I have lived long enough to know to trust my instincts. I thought you had, as well. She is Nelanora and she is meant. Why did they scream?”
“Something about old ghosts. Neither said anything else. I do not think the girl trusts me, either.”
“Do you honestly think this girl is not the real Nelanora?”
“Dekimos seems to think so.” And Jushua wondered at that. Wouldn’t his brother know?
His mother’s expression went sad, secretive. “Yes, Dekimos would know. I wonder…No. That is not for me to wonder, but for the Fates to decide. Tell me, Jushie, do you think she is the first of many to return? If the Dark Sorcerer didn’t kill her…”
Jushua clenched a fist, then slowly released it. His mother rarely mentioned the Dark Sorcerer who had destroyed their world, but when she did he was always filled with an extreme and dark anger. “He killed her, mother. I saw the fires consume her body.”
His mother paled. “But she is returned, as have so many of my children, Nevva’s.”
Jushua did not want to dash his mother’s hopes. How could he, knowing how much she had grieved these past millennia. “But what does it all mean?”
She stared at him, then touched his cheek. “I do not know, but at least there is hope. Finally hope. For so many years you have been my solace, and if you were the only child to live, I would have still been blessed. And I know this. And you need to know that I will always love and cherish the years we have had together. I know them for the gift they have been. But now there is hope. For all of us. Even if we are to fight again, the days I have with you and your brother, your sister and her children, are more than I could have ever hoped for. I wish only that Nevva was here to say the same.”
Chapter Nineteen
Dekimos was sharpening a sword when next Jushua found him. He’d waited until his mother had fallen asleep before leaving the suite she used when in Thrun City. She divided her time between his Galaosis, Thrun, and the city of Healers where his brother often stayed. Dekimos City was named in honor of his brother shortly before Dekimos had returned from the proverbial dead.
In actuality, Dekimos had been somewhere, spending his days in complete isolation.
Jushua had wondered at that. Was his brother truly mad? Sometimes Jushua had his doubts. “Mother rests. The girl Druid is next door.”
“I know. Her name this life is Loren. A beautiful name. It suits her.” His brother’s tone never changed.
‘You knew she would come.”
“Yes. I have waited many years for her to return. I knew when you said her name.” Dekimos barely looked up from the sword.
Jushua glanced down at it. “That’s father’s sword. Where did you get it?”
“I have my ways. And it is father’s. I’ve had it from the moment I found his body. I found him, and Rixne, and Kilan and Rajna. Rhomma. I found them, and buried them. And then put their treasures somewhere where they would be safe. In case they were needed. Estacles’ sword, I kept it with me. For her. Now father’s sword is needed.”
“I see.” He wanted to hold that blade, to touch the jeweled hilt and remember the man who had first taught him to wield a blade. Taught him in what situation to use it, and which to sheath it.
Jushua had never been particularly close to his father—nor his mother back then, either, for that matter—and he’d felt that lack for five thousand years. Especially when his mother would speak of the mate she’d lost so long ago. “You’ve cared for it well these years.”
“When trinkets are all you have left of those you love, you guard them religiously, do you not? I have something of yours. I have been meaning to return it.”
Dekimos turned to the pack he’d carried with him everywhere since he’d returned to their fold.
Jushua took the small purse from his brother and turned over the ancient leather. It looked as fresh as it had the day his father had given it to him. Jushua remembered that day so clearly. He’d been but sixteen, and had earned the right to have a piece of the family coin for himself. His father had presented him his first money in that purse.
It had been his father’s before his.
Jushua let the tear slide down his cheek unheeded, knowing his brother would understand how he felt. He untied the strings and slipped it open. Inside were most of the things he’d placed in it that morning. He wasn’t even sure where he’d lost it. But he had. And Dekimos had found it.
Inside was a small purple jewel, given him by Nelciana the day she’d agreed to the betrothal. Four coins, two with his father’s image and two with his mother’s engraved upon them, a green rock his little sister Pin had gifted him with the last time he’d held her, and a few other small trinkets. Things that were infinitely precious to him.
Including a small carved figurine of a sharlo kitten he’d nabbed from one of Nelciana’s little sisters when he’d been tormenting the girl for some long forgotten reason.
Nelanora. She had been young that day, twelve or thirteen. And he’d enjoyed teasing her about the little kitten toy a girl on the cusp of womanhood still carried. He didn’t recall why he’d kept it in his purse, but he had.
He would have to return it to her, wouldn’t he?
For now he just ran his finger over the carved wood, and remembered.
“Dear Fates, it still hurts.”
Deki looked at him. “Every moment of every day. Tomorrow, Jushua, the girl will leave Thrun. It is my path to go with her. There are still more things I have need of doing.”
“Where will she go?”
“I do not know. But I will go with her.”
Jushua thought for a long moment. “No matter what I think of the girl, and I do not trust her yet, if you are going somewhere unknown, you’ll need your brother at your side.”
Dekimos looked at him, long and hard, with an inscrutable expression on his face. “I know. That is why I have one more thing for you. I do not know if we will need it. I had originally thought to give it to Kilan—Nalik—but I think it is more to be yours than the reborned’s.”
He held out another blade, this one much smaller than the sword.
Kilan’s ceremonial dagger. Small, deceptively simple, but Jushua knew Kilan would have kept it razor sharp.
A simple thank you would never be enough.
Jushua pulled his brother to his chest and just held him.
Thank the Fates he had always cursed that he had this brother back with him.
A resolve filled him. He had spent five thousand years protecting his mother. But now every instinct he possessed was telling him his brother needed him more.
Chapter Twenty
Loren woke the next morning knowing that Thrun City was just the first leg of her journey, and that her mother was fated to stay behind.
Her heart hurt for that; she and her mom had been each other’s world for a very long time. But Becca and Jade would see to it that her mom was protected and cared for. And Becca loved her mother, too. Loren would talk to her friends, ask them for this one favor.
And she knew they’d do it. Her mother was sleeping in the bed, and Loren folded up the blankets she’d used and straightened the couch. Thrun’s furniture was more curved and flowing than her old world, and very beautiful in design. And very, very comfortable.
Apparently demons liked their comforts. Loren looked down at her mother for a long time.
Her mother didn’t look much past thirty, though she was just past her forty-first birthday. Loren wanted to remember her mother just like this. So she watched her for a long time.
Finally her mother rolled over and looked at Loren. “Going to stare at me all day, baby? Or do you have things to do?”
Loren sank down on the strange round mattress. “Mama, I…I have to go.”
Renee sat up. “And? You know I’ll do anything you need.”
“No. I need to do this alone.”
“Like hell you are. I’m your mother, it’s my job to keep you safe.” Her mother was out of the bed fast. “It’s the way it is.”
“No, Mama. This is what I’m supposed to do. And I’m supposed to do it with someone else. Not you. I think…I think you are needed here.”
“I need to be with my daughter.” Her mother’s fear was so plain on her face, and Loren hurt for her. She’d never had children in any of her eighty lives, a fact for which she was still thankful as she’d never be able to survive knowing they were dead and gone, but she could imagine how terrified her mother was.
“Mom, I have to do this alone. I know it’s scary, but this is what I was meant to do.” Please don’t make this harder for me, please. If her mother pushed, Loren knew she’d cave.
And there was no way she was taking her mother where she suspected she’d end up going.
The monster in her dreams was never getting close to her mother. No matter what Loren had to do. “You need to stay here. I need to…I need to do this. And I’m afraid…I’m terrified that while I’m doing it you’ll be hurt. I can’t do this if you’re not safe.”
“And I’m just as scared…for you. You’re all I’ve got, Loren. But I get it. You’re more than just my daughter, you’re one of these people. And I can’t understand why you.”
“I…”
“Why didn’t you tell me? I would have tried to help you someway. Been there for you even more.”
“Because you matter too much. I…I’ve had other mothers, other parents. But…the thought of anything happening to you is so, so much worse.”
“So I’ve been one of many. I get that. It’s a bit hard to swallow, but I get that. But that doesn’t mean I can’t help you.”
“Yes, it does. And you’re not one of many. I loved them, of course I did. They were my family. But you and I—we’ve been each other’s only family for a very long time. I can’t bear the thought of you being hurt. And if I can keep you safe by going alone, then that’s what I’ll do. I have to. I have to know that you’re here, safe. With Becca and Jade and their families. Keeping them safe, too.”
“And because I’ll get in the way.” Her mother pushed the hair off of Loren’s shoulder, then put her hands on Loren’s cheeks. “I can’t help worrying. I’ve done it your whole life. And even in a strange world with some pretty freaky looking creatures I will always worry and try to protect. I love you, and I have from the very moment I knew you were in me. I can’t change that, and I won’t. And I don’t care about any other mother you may have had, I don’t care if there were fifty of them—“
“Eighty. I think.”
“Whatever. Eighty, one hundred eighty, it doesn’t matter. What matters is that I love you and I will always do whatever I have to in order to protect my baby girl. And if you think that means me staying behind, then dammit, that’s exactly what I’ll do. I won’t like it. And I’ll be right here waiting until you do need me. I’m your mom, it’s in the job description.”
Loren just hugged her, clung to her like she had when she was a little bitty girl and the nightmares would come. When she’d wake from the night and it would hit her that her father was never coming home, that she and her mother were alone.
And probably always would be. “I’m so scared.”
“Baby, everything worthwhile is terrifying at ti
mes. You trust in your Fates, or whatever you call those divinities you are always talking about, and just like your father always did. I’ll trust in my God to protect and keep you safe. To help you do the right thing. Am I terrified something will happen to you. That is my only nightmare, sweetie. And to know that you are capable of jumping between worlds, of standing shoulder to shoulder with vampires and demons and werewolves, scares me out of every last bit of wits I have. But if this is what you are meant to do, don’t I have to support you in that? I’m your mom, part of the job is helping you do the things you are supposed to. No matter how much that hurts me.”
And Loren knew that it would hurt. They’d both be hurting before it was all said and done.
She just hoped she’d be alive when it was all over.
Yeah, she’d definitely be talking to Becca and Jade before she left Thrun for the next part of her journey.
Chapter Twenty-One
The girl had a pack on her back, and the women surrounding her were all wet-eyed and sad. Jushua immediately filled with the urge to throw up his hands and back away. He so did not want to deal with weepy females. He couldn’t think of a damned thing worse than crying women.
What had the witchie done now? The healer’s female had a stoic look on her face—she really was an exceptionally beautiful female for a former human woman—but she stood strong at her friend’s side.
It took him a moment to realize something had most likely had happened.
Or was about to.
A large hand landed on his shoulder and Nalik was there. “She leaves soon.”
Jushua frowned. “Where is it she goes? She just arrived in Thrun yesterday.” He wasn’t sure he trusted the girl, and to give her free reign throughout the realms…it did not sit well with him, not at all.
He wasn’t even entirely certain who she was, or what she was. And with her being able to do things no ordinary girl should—like stepping through worlds without a key—there was too much they didn’t know of her.
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